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Snow Storms Threaten East Coast; Interview with Boston Mayor Martin Walsh; Unidentified Drone Lands near White House; ISIS Demands Hostage Turnover

Aired January 26, 2015 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It's Monday, January 26th, just before 8:00 in the east. And it is coming. It is a blizzard and the northeast is going to remember it for a while. As much as two feet is set to fall in parts of New England. Some places may see three feet. There are a lot of different estimates but none of them are good. More than 20 million people from New Jersey to Maine are under a blizzard warning. And the snowfall may not be the worst part.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Right. Hurricane force winds up to 75 miles per hour will be a big issue as it whips the snow into major drifts. Officials in New York, Philadelphia, and Boston and everywhere in between are all preparing and urging their residents to do the same. Thousands of flights already canceled today and tomorrow as the region gears up for what could be the storm of the century.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: We have this storm -- sorry about that, Alisyn, covered from all angles this morning. Ahead we're going to speak with the mayor of Boston in just a few minutes to talk about the preparations his city is preparing for. But we begin with CNN meteorologist Chad Myers with a look at which areas are going to be hit the hardest. Chad, you can use that ho-ho explanation again this hour.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I will try. And it's all part of the low pressure coming out of the Midwest, dropping down into the Atlantic Ocean, and then running up towards Boston. The closer you are to the low the worse your weather is going to be. And the winds will be 70 per miles out on Cape Cod and maybe 60, 65 in Boston.

But the story will be how the storm winds up when it gets here. When it gets in this warm Atlantic water that's when it bombs out. It gets much lower in pressure. It gets much stronger, it gets much more wind. And also something else, gets ocean effect snow blowing back onshore. I know we talk about lake-effect snow for Buffalo, and that's a lake. Well, this is an ocean, and warmer. So this moisture that's it picking will be pushed back toward New York City, toward Hartford, not so much to Philadelphia. You'll get a little bit, maybe four to six inches for Philadelphia.

But the big story as it runs up the east coast and gets close right to Boston, its closest approach to New York City as well, we could get thunder snow, we could get two to three inches of snow per hour. You get two inches of snow per hour for eight to 10 hours, all of a sudden these numbers already work. And the numbers here from a number of models here, about 20-inches for New York City and 20 for Boston.

I'm not so sure we are going to get that much here in New York. Probably a little bit less. A lot of the models now taking rain and the snow and pushing it offshore. Maybe a little rain for the Cape but all snow through here. New York City somewhere around 15 to 20 inches of snow. But you'll never see it because you will see bare ground right next to an eight foot drift. That's what the winds are going to do to this storm.

CAMEROTA: Wow. All right, thanks so much for tracking it for us, Chad. We'll check back in. Storm preparations are well under way where the heaviest snowfall is expected. CNN meteorologist Jennifer Gray is live on the ground in Boston this morning with more on how that city is coping. What are you seeing Jennifer?

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, up to about 30 seconds ago one of those front end loaders just rolled by. So this city is gearing up. They have about 600 trucks ready to go, 35,000 tons of salt. People are on the roads this morning. Of course it hasn't started yet. It's business as usual. People have been getting off the ferry, walking to work, and people are going to work, kids are going to school today. They are going to make that decision later today whether to cancel school for tomorrow.

But look around me. You see snow already on the ground. They had a snow storm just a couple of days ago. The temperature has been very cold, so none of this has melted. So we have foot or two of snow piled up across much of the sidewalks here and we also have about an inch or two across much of the grassy areas. The streets are totally clear, but by later tonight, 7:00 p.m., when that blizzard warning goes into effect, until about midday tomorrow, we are going to see up to two to four inches per hours of snow at time. And so it could possibly be up to my waist, and then with those snowdrifts with the winds blowing at 50, 60, 70 miles an hour, we could see snow higher than my head in some locations or possibly about halfway up that light pole across my shoulders.

So we are going to see very dangerous conditions. It's going to be life-threatening if you try to get outdoors and get out in it. So the mayor's office has been urging people to get ready before the storm hits. Hopefully you've already made preparations going into the storm, gassing up your car, things like that. Also power outages are going to be a main concern as we go through the next couple of days, not to mention the travel nightmare about to hit the east coast for the rest of the country and the ripple effect across the world, guys.

PEREIRA: Yes, Jennifer, that's the thing, we really want people to take this seriously here. Talking about preparations, let's talk about how that's going to affect air travel. A lot of people if you were smart you maybe already tried to reschedule or rebook your flight because 1,800 flights have already been canceled. They are expecting it to be even worse on Tuesday. Our Cristina Alesci is taking a look at things from LaGuardia Airport in New York City. I imagine a lot of people have smartly called ahead or gone online to reschedule that flight. CHRISTINA ALESCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They have, Michaela, because the number of cancellations just keeps building. United has already said it is going to cancel all of its flights out its northeast hub tomorrow. That includes JFK, LaGuardia, where I am now, and Newark. And now we're hearing, my producer and I, that more announcements are going to be coming from major carriers about cancellations tomorrow.

Now, you ask, why are airlines getting so much in front of this? Bad weather hasn't even started and they're already canceling flights tomorrow. The last thing they want to see is people sleeping here at the gate and waiting to rebook their flights when they're here. It's much cheaper for the airlines to have consumers call in, go online, change their flights there.

Luckily this is a major financial event for airlines, but luckily they're saving a ton of money on jet fuel this year so it shouldn't have that much of an impact. One pilot that I was speaking to here said this is very similar to what airlines did in 2006. That was a historic storm for New York and they were preemptive in that one in canceling flights as well. He said anything above 50 knots, which is about 57 miles an hour, will shut down an airport. And we just heard your meteorologist say that we will see winds much more in excess of that, Michaela. So there are no major delays for the flights that aren't canceled obviously right now. But I would expect that board behind me to become red as the day goes on.

CAMEROTA: OK, Cristina, I'll take it from here. Thanks for that airline update.

So this potentially historic airline blizzard is about to bear down on Boston. And the city is bracing for possible record setting snowfall, which is saying a lot in Boston. We want to bring in Boston's Mayor Martin Walsh. This is the first major weather event that he will deal with as mayor. Mr. Mayor, thanks for joining us on NEW DAY.

MARTIN WALSH, MAYOR, BOSTON: Thanks for having me today.

CAMEROTA: How are you dealing with it at this hour?

WALSH: Well, we're prepared. Yesterday, we had a meeting yesterday with all of our team and we will have another one this morning really talking about being prepared for the storm, making sure people take the proper precautions leading into the storm, and then we were going to work on clearing the roads as the storm goes. It seems like the storm will be going several hours so there might be a couple different efforts as far as cleaning the streets.

CAMEROTA: See, Mr. Mayor, they're predicting two to three feet in your city. I used to live in Boston. I lived there for nine years. I loved every second of it. And as far as my memory serves, it snowed every day there. That's how I remember it. Even in the summer. It just constantly snowed in Boston. So I know your city officials are used to it.

But this one is going to recordbreaking. Let me put up on the screen for our viewers what the record totals in Boston have been that they think this might break. You can see there from February '03, February, 1978, February, 1969 was a huge one. I remember this one, in March of 1997. And then of course in January of '05 the most you got was 27.5 inches. Do you think that this one, the weather predicting, is going to beat all those totals?

WALSH: Well, it's hard for me to say that. I kind of hope it doesn't because as the mayor of the city of Boston we have to clear the streets and make sure we get people back to work. But if that's the case then we'll be ready for it. I think that our crews are working hard and what we're trying to do now is prepare for any type of incidents so that we don't have serious impacts to our residents here in the city of Boston. So that's my goal right now over the next eight, 10 hours, 12 hours. And then after that we talk about snow removal and how we move forward.

I've been watching all the reports over the last couple of days, and as we get closer to this storm we are going to get hit. You can tell by the seriousness of the weather forecasters in CNN and other places. Now for me, my concern is making sure the residents of Boston are safe, making sure that our elderly residents in Boston are safe, making sure that the people in most need are safe. We are going to be working to get our homeless folks off the streets and get them into shelters so that they have a safe place to be.

If we have with the wind drifts, you could have one side of the street, as was reported earlier, one side of street could have a few inches on the ground, and across the street could have five feet the way the wind blows. So, again, we're trying to do the best we can in this city of Boston to be prepared for it.

CAMEROTA: So in terms of keeping people safe, are you going to shut schools today?

WALSH: Yes, we are going to make an announcement at 1:00. We're going to be looking at -- schools will be closed tomorrow. But we will be making a formal announcement and be looking what happens Wednesday. We'll be looking at what personnel has to report to work tomorrow in city hall itself. We do have a mayor's hotline in this city hall in Boston that's open 24/7. We're going to have extra people working on the hotline. So we are going to be announcing all those decisions later on today. We also happen to have a Patriots rally at 11:00 in City Hall Plaza.

CAMEROTA: How is that going to go?

WALSH: So in between preparing for the storm we're going to send the Patriots off. It is going to go great. So they'll be happy. We will send the Patriots off hopefully to victory in Phoenix. But what's in front of us right now is really preparing for this storm and again the aftermath of it. We have 700 pieces of equipment. We have 35,000 tons of salt. We have all the things we need to clean the city. It's really just being prepared heading into the storm.

CAMEROTA: We appreciate you giving us a preview that you are going to shut schools tomorrow. Are you going to have early dismissal today? WALSH: Not sure. I don't think we will have early dismissal today

because it seems like the snow will start a little later today. So we're going to have a full day of school today and then we'll see what happens Wednesday.

CAMEROTA: All right, Mayor Martin Walsh, thanks so much for coming on NEW DAY and giving us a preview of how Boston is going to handle it. Good luck with the Patriots rally and everything else that you need to do there today. We know you'll be busy. Thank you.

We want you to know we'll stay on the storm so you can prepare. Send us any pictures that you have from your area. We'd love to see those and show those as well. Let's go to Chris.

CUOMO: And of course once the story really hits we will be there all for you.

We do have breaking news this morning. Another breach of White House security, this time it's not a person but a plane that is the culprit. Let's get to Joe Johns at the White House. Joe, what do we know?

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's been described by a White House official, Chris, as a small drone. This device apparently ended up here on the White House lawn at 3:15 a.m. eastern time or sometime shortly thereafter as far as we know.

What's happening right now a little over a dozen Secret Service officers are out on the lawn essentially doing what's referred to in law enforcement parlance as a grid-search. They're walking about arms-length apart across the north lawn looking apparently for any other evidence of this device that appeared here on the White House lawn today. It's not perceived to be a threat of any kind. Nonetheless, authorities are obviously taking this seriously. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest talked about this while traveling with the president in India earlier this morning. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: A device has been recovered by the Secret Service at the White House. Early indications are that it does not pose any sort of ongoing threat right now to anybody at the White House.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: So they had the wait until daylight to try to do this grid- search and get any idea if there's anything else out there that they need to be concerned about. As you know, drones can range from a small toy to a surveillance device. But no indication of any payload or any other type of problem associated with it at this time, Chris.

CUOMO: That is this concern, not just that it's drone, but what could it be carrying, what could it have done. Thank you for the reporting. Michaela?

PEREIRA: All right, as Joe mentioned, the president is in India today meeting with CEOs and also striking new nuclear trade and defense deals. White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski joins us live with the latest. She's in New Delhi, and I understand Yemen is certainly a big topic of discussion there.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Right. I mean, the president is here to meet with the Indian prime minister and find cooperation any way they can. Now, he's about to speak to a group of CEOs here.

But in the questioning during a White House briefing of course a lot of that had to do with other pressing topics, one of them being Yemen, because even while the president's been here we heard him stay without going into a lot of detail that counterterrorism efforts will continue. Of course we have a lot more questions in that how is that possible given apparent lack of a government right now and the loss possibly of those relationships and intelligence gathering.

Well, today, White House officials gave some more information on that, emphasizing that they still have those relationships, saying that they have long standing methods for gathering information, that they can still act directly against al Qaeda operatives, yes, meaning drone strikes, and that they have broader relationships still remaining in Yemen including within the security force.

They also said that they have other contacts with many of the players there in Yemen on the political scene, meaning others than who are in the government. So they emphasize again that counterterrorism operations will continue, although I think it's worth pointing out that we have seen the number of drone strikes drop quite a bit over the last few months, Michaela.

PEREIRA: All right, Michelle Kosinski, our thanks. Tomorrow, CNN's Fareed Zakaria will have an exclusive interview with President Obama in India. We're going to bring you that interview on NEW DAY tomorrow starting at 6:00 a.m. eastern.

CUOMO: ISIS changing its demands this morning, offering to spare the life of the remaining Japanese hostage in exchange for the release of a convicted female terrorist being held in a Jordanian jail. Is that going the happen? Let's go live to Tokyo and bring in Will Ripley. What's the latest from there?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Chris, we just don't know if that's going to happen because, just like ISIS itself, this hostage situation is highly unpredictable, volatile and this terror group is setting all of the rules and then they're breaking them as they go. Remember, they posted that video, they gave a 72 hour deadline, but then they refused to respond to the Japanese government when they tried to negotiate, only to have this horrendous video pop up over the weekend showing the beheaded body of a Japanese man. And his friend forced to hold a picture of the body and read a message where he essentially shames his government, pleads to his wife, the mother of his two young daughters, and asks for a prisoner exchange.

ISIS now demanding that this Jordan turnover, a convicted terrorist, Sajida al-Rishawi, responsible for an attack where some 60 people died. It's not something that Jordan would do easily considering she's a high profile prisoner and they have their own ISIS prisoners, which means that the situation right now is looking very grim and hope is fading that Kenji Goto will make it home alive. Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: Will, thanks so much for that update.

Also breaking overnight, two planes evacuated and one flight diverted because of security concerns.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

CAMEROTA (voice-over): A Delta flight headed from Los Angeles to Orlando was diverted to Dallas after a reported bomb threat on Twitter. And two other flights, one JetBlue and the other SkyWest, quickly evacuated after arriving in Seattle. Airport officials were vague on the cause, saying it was only a precaution and that they are investigating.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

CUOMO: Boko Haram is on the attack in two key cities.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

CUOMO (voice-over): The Nigerian military says they fought off the militants in one of those cities, but the second one is completely overrun. Secretary of State John Kerry on an official visit to Nigeria has pledged continued support in the fight against Boko Haram. Clearly more help is needed. (

(END VIDEOCLIP)

PEREIRA: Coach Bill Belichick tried again over the weekend to deflate the controversy over deflate gate.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

PEREIRA (voice-over): Belichick, who's known for a loose, easy going manner, not, used a '90s movie reference that got a little bit of attention.

BILL BELICHICK, HEAD COACH, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS: I'm not a scientist. I'm not an expert in footballs, I'm not an expert in football measurements, I'm just telling you what I know. Would not say that I'm Mona Lisa Vito of the football world.

PEREIRA: And if you can't remember who Mona Lisa Vito was, well, Marisa Tomei plays that character in "My Cousin Vinny." Here's a reminder of her level of expertise.

MARISA TOMEI, ACTRESS: Chevy didn't make a 327 in '55, the 327 didn't come out till '62. And it wasn't offered in the Bel Air with a four- barrel carb till '64. However, in 1964, the correct ignition timing would be four degrees before top-dead-center

(END VIDEOCLIP) PEREIRA (on camera): Mind-numbing stuff, isn't it? All this deflate gate stuff may have you forgetting that Super Bowl XLIX, folks, is Sunday night. Have you made your dip? You better do it.

CAMEROTA (on camera): However - -

PEREIRA: However - -

CUOMO (on camera): She was great, won the Oscar for that. It makes me remember how tough it was to do the timing on those old points distributors. Love electric ignition.

(LAUGHTER)

CUOMO: Love it, love it.

(LAUGHTER)

PEREIRA: Gear head alert. That went right over both of our heads.

CAMEROTA: That's right. I didn't know if he was talking about football, but I think it was cars.

Well, a blizzard of epic proportions gearing up to slam the Northeast. We're monitoring the massive storm, and the latest for you ahead.

CUOMO: Plus, the demand has been changed to save the surviving Japanese hostage being held by ISIS. What have - - we have what could be the best chance for his survival coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: In a new video, terrorists appear to have killed one of two Japanese men being held hostage. They make a new demand as well. Forget the 200 million, we want the release of a convicted terrorist in exchange for the other prisoner's life.

Let's bring in Phil Mudd, CNN counterterrorism analyst and former CIA counterterrorism official, and CNN terrorism analyst, Paul Cruickshank. First, I need help with vernacular. Mr. Mudd, I'll start with you. I've now heard people calling ISIS Daesh or Daesh again. Tell me what that means and why we're now hearing it.

PHILIP MUDD, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: What we're seeing is people trying not to use language that portrays ISIS as a state. ISIS wants to call itself an Islamic State, people like me don't want to see that happen. So, you're going back to traditional names that get out of giving ISIS the kind of credibility they want when people say this is the Islamic State that owns territory in Syria and Iraq.

CUOMO: What is Daesh, what does that mean? What is it?

MUDD: I can't recollect the translation of the word, but, again, you want to get out of a situation where you - - In the past it was ISIS, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Now, they're trying to say we're just the Islamic State that is asking for support from places like Yemen, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and people like me are saying don't use the language that ISIS wants us to use.

CUOMO: Paul, tell me what Daesh means if you know, and also tell me whether or not you think this video is legit. Why are there questions about it?

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Well, it's a play on the initials in Arabic, but ISIS considers Daesh a pejorative term. They're made when people use it.

CUOMO: That's good enough to reason - -

(CROSSTALK)

CRUICKSHANK: So, it's perhaps a reason, you know, why people use it. The French, for instance, have argued for using this term. They don't like it one little bit.

CUOMO: And the video, there are questions about its legitimacy. Why?

CRUICKSHANK: Well, there are questions about the legitimacy of the video because it's not a video, for starters. It's just audio.

CUOMO: Right.

CRUICKSHANK: You just hear one of the hostages, you don't see things happening. The editing is a much poorer quality than before. There's no ISIS logo on the video. And, also, the mother and the step father have said the voice doesn't sound like their son would sound speaking English. So, there's certainly some doubt from experts about this video, audio that's been put out. The United States government, the Japanese government, have said so far that they believe it's authentic. It was also a radio station in ISIS controlled territory that put out the same message.

So, quite possible that it's the real deal, but still some doubts.

CUOMO: Why are people in your community, Mr. Mudd, so intrigued by whether or not this is legit or why it's different than others?

MUDD: Well, you get indications from these kinds of videos or this kind of audio about what's going on within the organization. In this case, as Paul said, the characteristics of this audio are so much different than what we've seen previously from ISIS, it leads you to believe, why would this change? One of the reasons I think this might have happened, and I've been reflecting on it the past few days, is ISIS has been suffering some setbacks, they've lost some territory, the Kurds, for example, have taken territory back from them. This might be an indication that they don't have the same level of security that allowed them to make the higher quality audio-video that we've seen in the past. Obviously we're not certain what's going on here, but that's one thing I've been thinking about.

CUOMO: Any chance that the Jordanians release this hostage for the Japanese man? And we know that the U.S. has done swaps before. Would this be seen as a good or bad swap to make? CRUICKSHANK: I think very little chance. I mean, this attack in Jordan in 2005 was traumatic. 57 people were killed, 3 American hotels targeted, a lot of Jordanians lost their life that day, and this woman was involved in that. The only reason - - I mean, she had an explosive vest, but it didn't explode. She had then - - there was a confession on television. She's now spending life in prison. Very unlikely that they would swap her. If they were to swap her for anybody, it would be for that Jordanian pilot that was captured by ISIS late last year.

CUOMO: Swaps, good policy, bad policy?

CRUICKSHANK: Well, you don't want to incentivize this kind of thing because the more swaps you do, the more they're going to try and grab Western international hostages. So, you could see more of these types of hostage situations in the future. Obviously, you know, there are some cases where there are arguments made that swaps could be made. We saw that with Bergdahl last year, but very, very difficult because you don't want to incentivize it.

CUOMO: Phil, is the media hurting the strategy in these situation from the U.S. perspective of just saying do whatever you want, we're not going to negotiate with you? Is the media creating a dynamic where it's going to force the hand?

MUDD: I think what's going on here is the media is an opportunity for ISIS to write the script here. Chris, I don't think this is about a swap, and this isn't about a hostage. This is about ISIS saying it's our opportunity to show our world, that is the Islamic world, that we represent traditional values. That's why they're shifting over to asking for a woman. The woman is the center of the home in traditional Islamic world. $200 million, their previous request, might not mean a lot to a lot of people in the Islamic world, but representing themselves as a defender of women means something. So, what ISIS is doing is using the media to portray themselves, not just a terror group, but sort of taking a step up and saying we're a group that represents traditional interests, and that's why this story is playing out so long. This is their chance and they're using it.

CUOMO: Hopefully, by any reasonable estimation, they are a world away from representing anything virtuous in any culture. Philip Mudd, thank you very much. Paul Cruickshank, as always.

Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: All right, Chris. You know we're keeping an eye, a very close eye, on what's being called a life threatening blizzard that is ready to strike the Northeast.

PEREIRA: Yes, that storm, Alisyn, is expected to be a real bear. Snow falling hard for up to 48 hours. Our meteorologist, Chad Meyers, is in house. He is breaking it all down and let you know how you can prepare, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)