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New Day

Anti-Tank Missile Fired on IDF Vehicle; Patriots: Deflate-Gate Not a Distraction; Obama on Netanyahu: "We're Declining to Meet With Him"; New England Walloped by Monster Blizzard

Aired January 28, 2015 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to NEW DAY. We're live in Boston, suffering some of the worst of the monster blizzard here. More snow overnight, all over New England.

Take a look. Had you two feet plus here in Boston, making this the snowiest January ever in this city. A record they did not want to need or break. In Worcester, about 40 miles west of here, they had the worst. A record, with more than 34 inches.

Remember, a blizzard is about more than snow, by definition and by practical impact. You have punishing wind that was yanking power lines loose and whipping the sea into a frenzy. The sea wall failed, was showing you pictures of it, sending gushing water into towns in southern Massachusetts, waves as high as 20 feet.

So, how do we get back to normal? Time and hard work. That is the answer. School is still out here. We don't know about tomorrow. But probably Thursday, Friday, hopefully they get back.

Airports still canceling hundreds of flights for today, Alisyn, mostly in and out of New York, Boston and Philadelphia.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, it's going to take a while to get back to normal, Chris. We'll talk to you about your odyssey of getting there later in the hour. Be back to you in a minute.

Well, meanwhile we do have breaking news to tell you about. The Israeli Defense Forces say an anti-tank missile struck one of their vehicles in the Golan Heights near the Lebanese border. CNN has learned that there were casualties, but at this point it is not clear how many people are dead. The incident reportedly comes several hours after Israel launched an airstrike in Syria.

And the White House expected to field questions about security after this drone that you're about to see crashed on the White House lawn. The first briefing since the incident takes place today. The Defense Department intelligence staffer who was behind the controls was off- duty, and was reportedly drinking when the drone went down on Monday.

And a decision is expected soon on whether the Army will pursue desertion charges against Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl. He was freed by the Taliban last in exchange for five Guantanamo detainees, but fellow soldiers have said that Bergdahl actually abandoned his post in Afghanistan before his capture. The Pentagon insists no final decision has been made despite reports that Bergdahl will be charged with desertion.

And who you are going to call? How about these four women? The new all-female cast of the "Ghostbusters" reboot is reportedly set and has a heavy "SNL" flavor. Melissa McCarthy, "SNL" alum, Kristen Wiig, and current cast members Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones, make up the phantom foursome. The new "Ghostbusters" could start shooting this summer. It's slated for a summer 2016 release.

Well, the Patriots and Seahawks taking part in Super Bowl media day on Tuesday. The big topic of discussion as you might guess was deflate- gate.

Andy Scholes is in Phoenix for the big game. He has more in this morning's "Bleacher Report".

Hi, Andy. How did it go?

ANDY SCHOLES, BLEACHER REPORT: Hey, good morning, Alisyn. You know media day, always a crazy day.

We're right here in downtown Phoenix, in the heart of Super Bowl Central. This place will be crawling with NFL fans later today. We're right next to the U.S. Airways Center. That was the site of media day yesterday.

As I said, as always, crazy atmosphere, you had puppets, a guy wearing like 15 GoPro cameras, you had clowns even in attendance and the big topic was deflate-gate.

Patriots owner Robert Kraft came out in defense of his team on Sunday, going as far as to say he expects an apology from the NFL if they find no wrongdoing. And the Patriots players say they appreciate their owner having their back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROB GRONKOWSKI, PATRIOTS TIGHT END: It means a lot. He's a great owner. And it's great to see him on our side. It just shows how much support he has for us players. Obviously, when you have doubters, you always want to prove your doubters wrong. We want to go out there and show everyone what's up.

TOM BRADY, PATRIOTS QUARTERBACK: We've always done a great job overcoming obstacles and being mentally tough. You know, we've just got to do it for one more game.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch not a big fan of media day. He was fined earlier this season for not speaking with reporters and if lynch did not make himself available, he was looking at a $500,000 fine. So, to avoid that, Lynch sat at his podium and he kept repeating this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARSHAWN LYNCH, SEAHAWKS RUNNING BACK: I'm here so I won't get fined.

I'm here so I won't get fined.

I'm just here so I won't get fined.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: So he said that 29 times. Then got up and left after the mandatory four and a half minutes. Just classic Marshawn Lynch there.

So, not too far from here, up in Scottsdale, Tiger Woods set to play in his first PGA event at Waste Management Phoenix Open. Yesterday after a practice round, Tiger, he came out and finally explained the mystery surrounding those photos from Italy of him missing one of his front teeth, take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIGER WOODS, PRO GOLFER: I still had my mask on, so no one knew who I was. Trying to blend in, because there's not a lot of brown dudes at ski races, OK? And the dude was one of the video cameras on his shoulder was kneeling right in front of me, stood up, turned and caught me square in the mouth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Alisyn, Tiger said very painful ordeal. Of course, he chipped one out completely, cracked the other one, he got them both fixed when he got back to Florida and as you can see, they look perfectly fine now.

CAMEROTA: Mystery solved. I mean, we were wondering what had happened to his teeth. So, that's great.

SCHOLES: Tooth-gate is over.

CAMEROTA: Tooth-gate is over. Good. We'll see if deflate-gate follows.

Andy Scholes, thanks so much.

All right. Next, we have a CNN exclusive for you. President Obama, one-on-one with our Fareed Zakaria, insisting he will not meet with Benjamin Netanyahu when the Israeli prime minister comes to Washington in March. So what's behind this snub? He'll answer it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: President Obama says he will not meet with Benjamin Netanyahu when the Israeli prime minister addresses a joint session of Congress in March.

House Speaker John Boehner ruffled some feathers when he did not notify the White House before inviting Netanyahu.

The president shares his feelings on this dust-up in an exclusive interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST: Last week, it was announced that the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is going to come to Washington and do a joint session of Congress at the invitation of the Republican speaker of the House. Many people are saying this is rebuttal of your arguments of negotiations with Iran, or a possible deal with Iran. Do you think it's appropriate for him to come in this manner at this time to Washington?

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I'll let Mr. Boehner answer that and Mr. Netanyahu. I speak with Prime Minister Netanyahu all the time. You know, we're declining to meet with him. I'm declining to meet with him, simply because our general policy is we don't meet with any world leader two weeks before their election. I think that's inappropriate.

And that's true with some of our closest of our allies, David Cameron who's got an election coming up recently came to visit because we insisted if he wants to come and it's a very important meeting, he needs to be far away enough from the election so it doesn't look in some ways we're meddling or putting our thumbs on the scale.

To the broader issue, Fareed, I don't think there's been any rebuttal of my argument. I haven't heard a persuasive rebuttal of my argument that we crafted very effective sanctions against Iran specifically to bring them to the negotiations table to see if we could resolve the Iranian nuclear issue through diplomatic means.

By all accounts, including the accounts of Israeli intelligence, Iran has abided by the terms of this interim agreement. They have not advanced their nuclear program. They have actually rolled back their stockpiles of highly enriched uranium and so, we have lost nothing during this period of negotiations. Iran's program has not advanced.

And we have the chance of providing a mechanism where we can verify that Iran doesn't have a nuclear weapon and Iran has the ability over time to re-enter the community of nations, as a responsible player. Now, I don't know that we're going to be able to get that done. But my argument is for the United States Congress to insist on imposing new sanctions that all our partners, as well as the Iranians, can interpret as a violation of the interim agreement. For us to undermine diplomacy at this critical time, for no good reason, is a mistake.

And that what we need to do is to finish up this round of negotiations, put the pressure on Iran to say yes to what the international community is calling for and what's been remarkable is the unity we've been able to maintain in the P5-plus-1. Even with Russia, given all the strains we have with them, China, which obviously has a great hunger for Iranian oil, we've still been able to maintain that unity, which shows how effective our diplomats have been.

And if, in fact, we don't get a deal -- make sure that it's the Iran Iranians' fault, because they couldn't say yes to a reasonable deal. And so, I haven't heard a good counter-argument yet. I will veto legislation if it comes up that imposes additional sanctions. And, by the way, what I've said to members of Congress and what I've said to the Israelis is, the day after Iran walks away from a reasonable deal, the easiest thing for me to do in Congress is pass additional sanctions against Iran. It would take about two days for me to be able to assign a bill like that.

So, we have ability to exert additional pressure. But it's important for us to show that we've exhausted every possible avenue of diplomatic resolution.

ZAKARIA: But f you listen to what people are saying in Congress about the prospective deal and I think everyone knows where it is, somewhere in the range of 5,000 to 6,000 centrifuges, it seems almost any deal you're going to bring do this Republican Senate, they're not going to go for. Doesn't it doom the negotiations?

OBAMA: I think it's important for us to actually have a deal in place, and then make an argument for what the deal is. I've said before that we will take no deal over a bad deal. But if I can prove that the deal we've put in place assures us through indisputable verification mechanisms that Iran cannot achieve break-out capacity, if I've got a bunch of scientists and nuclear experts saying this assures us that Iran is not on the brink of being a nuclear weapons power, then that's a public debate we should have.

And I will then ask every member of Congress, to ask why would we reject that deal and prefer a potential military option that would be less effective in constraining Iran's nuclear program and would have extraordinary ramifications at a time when we've already got too many conflicts in the Middle East. And I'm pretty confident I can win that argument.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: You can see Fareed's full exclusive interview with the president this Sunday at 10:00 a.m. on "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS" only on CNN.

Well, parts of the Northeast are buried under heavy snow from the monster storm. And flooding is still a major concern this morning. So, we will talk to the mayor of one town trying to dig out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Michaela Pereira and I'm live in New London, Connecticut. Here on NEW DAY, we're watching the weather and the storm and the aftermath of the blizzard that's really hammered the Northeast.

New London, Connecticut, a beautiful town before 30,000 people.

I'm joined right now by the mayor of New London, Mayor Daryl Justin Finizio.

Good morning to you, sir.

MAYOR DARYL JUSTIN FINIZIO, NEW, LONDON, CT: Good morning.

PEREIRA: You've had a busy night here.

FINIZIO: Couple of busy nights, but we're doing well.

PEREIRA: So, talk to us about the snow levels, we're hearing reports in Connecticut that the accumulation of snow in this area was up to 26 inches.

FINIZIO: Yes. We haven't gotten a final number here in New London, but we know we're over two feet we had a little bit of snowfall last night. We'll get the last numbers this afternoon. But we're looking at a top five storm for the city of New London.

PEREIRA: So, talk to us about how the city fared, because we had to hunker in place, we got stuck here along with other people hoping to get further in their travels. For the most part, no power outages, very few outages in the area. Very few downed trees. The city fared well.

FINIZIO: The city fared very well. It was a light snow, although we got a lot of snow. And that was very challenging, but it didn't break lines and we have a great DPW crew here in New London and they've been doing a lot of proactive tree trimming and line repair as we've been getting these more intense storms and that helped us be prepared from a precautionary standpoint well in advance.

PEREIRA: I want to talk to you about the travel ban, because I know that it has now been lifted for this area. However, the state travel ban had been lifted earlier than the state ban that you had, or the city ban had you here locally. Why did you choose to keep the travel ban in place for your city?

FINIZIO: Well, in the eastern parts of the state, they got six or eight inch, here we got over two feet. So, to get our crews through last night, to punch through every street which we hadn't broken through until this morning and there are still a few dead ends that we still need to punch through to get to, to make sure people can get out of their houses. And so long as we had people on the roads, that was hindering our efforts.

So, you know, keeping people off the roads until at least midnight last night was the right move. The main arteries are open. They've been open since midday yesterday, and for the major employers that are ordering people into work. People are able to get into work. But we're still advising people, if you don't need to drive into the city or you don't need to leave your house -- don't. It's smarter.

PEREIRA: Do you think it's business as usual in New London? Not quite.

FINIZIO: No, it's not business as usual. But we're functional. We have full power, our roads are passable. Our main arteries are open.

So, you know, we're getting there. But it will be another day or two digging out from this. This isn't going anywhere.

PEREIRA: We were in this spot yesterday. It's a very different vision, and you saw it as well.

The fact that the main artery is clear, they've been putting salt down. Your crews have been working overnight. We're hoping they're getting a little rest because they'll have to be back at it today. What is the focus today here in New London in terms of city crews?

FINIZIO: Well, the first thing is to break through on those last few spots we haven't fully gotten people access out of their homes, or out of their homes. And the second priority will be on downtown, you're on the edge of downtown right here. But as you see these snow banks that we're standing in.

PEREIRA: The drifts are huge.

FINIZIO: They're huge. We have five-foot to eight-foot drifts in certain areas. That's blocking businesses downtown in an urban setting, there's nowhere for the snow to go. It's either going to be on the street or it's going to be the sidewalk. So, you're either preventing drivers from moving around or you're preventing businesses from opening.

So, we're bringing in private contractors to literally haul the snow out of downtown. That will be about a 12-hour operation today.

PEREIRA: Final question for you, we know snow removal can be very expensive. We know Governor Malloy was looking to get some federal assistance there. What are you hoping to see in terms of aid coming to your city?

FINIZIO: Well, any federal state or state assistance is very, very welcome. We are fortunate this is our first major storm of the year. So, our budget is holding up and our salt supplies are holding up. But we go through two or three more big storms, we're going to be in a lot of trouble, and it's still early in the season. So any federal assistance would be welcome here in New London.

PEREIRA: Mayor Justin Daryl -- I want to change your name -- Mayor Finizio, real pleasure.

FINIZIO: Thank you.

PEREIRA: And thank you for extending the wonderful New London hospitality to our crew. We enjoyed our 48 hours here.

FINIZIO: You have to come back in summer. We'll take you to the beach.

PEREIRA: We promise we'll do that.

So, Alisyn, obviously, the story here today, it is good news there hasn't been the power outages that were anticipated. That, you know, obviously snow removal is going to be key, key, in keeping people off the streets if they don't absolutely have to be is also going to be very important as the city struggles to get back to normal and business as usual as the mayor says they hope to achieve in the next few days.

CAMEROTA: So, Michaela, I was expecting you to be back here in the studio next to me this morning. Did you get stuck there?

PEREIRA: No, Alisyn, we did. It was interesting you saw what we were in the thick of right in this exact spot. We were actually standing on the street. We can't do it now because the street is obviously a major thoroughfare and it's clear now and cars are going by.

We have to make a decision, my producer and I, we were looking at the situation, we knew the travel ban that the mayor had in place. We knew the travel ban that was statewide. We knew that some of the roads and the freeways on the way to New York were getting better.

But we couldn't get to our car. We couldn't get there. We hitched a ride with a plow driver to get us to this hotel where we stayed the night. He was kind enough to get us here. But it wasn't safe for to us get around in our vehicle. We had to make a call to talk to our producers, because you know I grew up in Canada. I'm a winter driver. I didn't feel confident about hitting the roads at all.

CAMEROTA: Wow, Michaela, that is some incredible video. You are an intrepid reporter. So, you know, two or three hot toddies when you get back.

PEREIRA: At your service, my dear.

CAMEROTA: Fair enough. All right.

PEREIRA: Really? We've upped the amount from yesterday.

CAMEROTA: You've earned it. I will look forward to seeing you and check back in the rest of the show. Thanks so much.

PEREIRA: You got it.

CAMEROTA: We're following a lot of news this morning. Let's get right to it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Boston is bearing the brunt of the storm.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Blizzard-like conditions, most of the day with record tides.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the storm surge that's created tremendous problems for people out here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is brutal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just the wind, the winds are killing us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a long-term event.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's great, I love it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: American contractor David Barry was killed when gunmen stormed a hotel in Tripoli.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A group said to be supportive of ISIS claiming responsibility for the attack.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jordan state TV put out a notice, quoting a government official saying that Jordan is ready to hand over terrorist Sajida al-Rishawi in exchange for a Jordanian pilot, what will happen to Kenji Goto?

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY, with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota and Michaela Pereira.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Good morning, and welcome to your NEW DAY. I'm Chris Cuomo live in Boston this morning.

Michaela Pereira, as you know, is in Connecticut, and Alisyn Camerota leading us from New York.

The blizzard is still making all kinds of history in New England. Boston, here, suffering the sixth biggest snowstorm since 1935, and certainly the most snow ever for a January. Most of Massachusetts is encased in snow. Let's go wide for a second my brothers. We're not on the ground. We're about a foot off the ground.

As you can see here, if we pan down, there's still another foot, plus of snow. They saw 24-plus inches here in Boston. But Boston just part of the story, the whole Northeast coast -- white. Some places like the towns of Auburn, Hudson and Lunenburg, Massachusetts, got three feet of snow. Connecticut, 33 1/2 inches in Thompson, 33 in Nashua, New Hampshire.

Long Island, the New Yorkers are complaining, oh, this wasn't as bad as we thought. Tell that to people on Suffolk County, the town of Orient saw 30 inches, Alisyn, and that's where I live on the island. People got hit on the island, hit hard and it ain't over.

CAMEROTA: Absolutely, Chris. So, you contrast those record-breaking results that you just showed us in New England, with what happened here in the city in New York and in parts of New Jersey, where some people think the dire warnings were overblown.

So, this morning, we'll tell you why the forecasts were off and how a new weather model may be the wave of the future.

So, back to you for the moment, Chris.

CUOMO: I know. Alisyn, as you know, I'm confused by why people are upset about that. I look forward to hearing your discussion on it.

But here's what I do know: the monster storm wasn't just about snow and snowfall. It's about everything that a blizzard -- remember, that's a defined term. It means wind, it means damage, it also means flooding along the coast. So, you have that combined with a failing sea wall, which happened here in Massachusetts, you had residents forced to run for their lives.

So, people all in the Northeast saw, heard and felt things that they will never forget. Here's what it was like to be in the blizzard.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO (voice-over): The sound of a blizzard. Hurricane-force winds, 78 miles an hour in Nantucket, the sight of storm surge breaching a sea wall. Along the southern coast of Massachusetts. Roads like sled paths. Drivers crawling through a whiteout near Boston. This is New England, buried by the year's first and historic blizzard.

Snow not by the inch, but by the foot from Connecticut to Maine, towns like Worcester and Framingham, surpassing 30 inches, cars turned into igloos in a sea of white.

The snow different depending on where you were. Inland, small, dry crystals from the bitter cold. Along the coast, flakes were wet and clumpy, like white mud on the ground. High tide coupled with near hurricane-strength winds flooding homes.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This water coming up right over the sea wall right now.

CUOMO: CNN's Alexandra Field in Scituate when the freezing water surges on to shore.