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New Day Sunday

Spain Arrests Four Terror Suspects; GOP Frontrunners Sit Out Iowa Summit

Aired January 25, 2015 - 07:30   ET

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

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: The questions here, of course, let's get to the serious element here. Was it the weather or did someone intentionally deflate 11 of the 12 footballs provided by the Patriots in last week's AFC championship title game? So, there'd been no officials answers really.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: We really don't know. A news conference on Saturday, Coach Bill Belichick maintains his team did nothing wrong, but admits he is no expert.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL BELICHICK, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS HEAD COACH: I'm not a scientist. I'm not an expert in football and I'm not an expert in football measurements. I'm just telling you what I know. I would not say that I'm Mona Lisa Vito of the football world as she was in the car expertise area. All right?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: All right. We want to get our latest from Sara Ganim, who's got the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BELICHICK: I'm embarrassed to talk about the amount of time that I've put into this relative to the other important challenge in front of us.

SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick in front of the cameras for the second time in three days addressing the deflate-gate controversy at a surprise press conference Saturday, telling the media that he conducted his own experiment to determine what might have happened.

BELICHICK: We simulated the -- a game day situation in terms of the preparation of the footballs and where the footballs were at various points in time during the day or night, as the case was Sunday.

GANIM: Belichick delved into the science behind the issue, at times, sounding more like a physicist than a football coach.

BELICHICK: The atmospheric conditions, they were adjusted to the climatic conditions. The balls, you know, reached an equilibrium, they were down approximately 1 1/2 pounds per square inch.

GANIM: Belichick said his experiment found that the footballs exposed to the elements did lose 1 1/2 pounds of air pressure. He added that it's league officials who monitor the pressure of the footballs not his staff.

BELICHICK: When we hand the balls to the officials, the officials put them at whatever they put them at but let's just say it's 12 1/2, that's where they put them. Then the air pressure at that point from then on until the end of the game, we have no knowledge of.

GANIM: One former official backed him up.

JIM DAOPOULOS, RULES ANALYST, ESPN AND MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL: It's something that the officials take very seriously and they make sure that they do what they are supposed to do.

BELICHICK: Earlier in the day, Patriots players downplayed the controversy saying it wasn't a factor in their Super Bowl preparations. The NFL players union visited them not to comment until the league's investigation is complete.

MATTHEW SLATER, PATRIOTS PLAYER: We have been instructed by our union, as players, to reserve comment on this situation. It's an ongoing investigation, so in order to protect our players, we will go ahead and not talk about that.

GANIM: Meanwhile, Belichick is ready to move on.

BELICHICK: This is the end of this subject for me for a long time. OK?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GANIM: So, coach Belichick, wrapped -- he basically says all of this deflate-gate controversy is chalked up to science, to the rubbing of the footballs that quarterbacks do before they hand the balls over to the officials and then also to this atmospheric pressure. It really felt like were in that room he was giving this press conference a direct explanation basically in relation to all of this talk that this was somehow a deliberate action and the NFL statement, the day before, which said they were specifically investigating whether or not this was a deliberate action on the part of members of the team -- Victor and Christi.

MALVEAUX: All right. Thanks, Sara. Appreciate it, Sara Ganim.

BLACKWELL: All right. So, let's bring former NFL player Coy Wire.

Coy, coach Belichick says I'm not a scientist but let me explain the equilibrium of the ball and how the drop of 1 1/2 point of the PSI.

COY WIRE, FORMER NFL PLAYER: Right, right. Yes, one thing is clear about this. I mean, this is a guy who often avoids the media and understated in his comments but this has clearly perturbed him to get to the bottom and talking about PSI and equilibrium and atmospheric conditions. So, this is something that has really perturbed him.

And I think what has come from this press conference is likely now the NFL has to include science in their investigation. They may have go and recreate the conditions that existed on game day to see if the footballs actually do become deflated when they are left out in those temperatures, in those conditions over a period of time.

The problem is, though, Ted Wells, who is conducting the investigation, will take quite sometime to give us findings. The last report he was involved in took three months for him, for his investigation to come out. So, it will be sometime before we hear the results of what they find.

MALVEAUX: And, Coy, just walk this through for us. How seriously are these guys taking this? We are looking at the optics of it all. The caps on and coming out. It looks like they are not in their suits.

It kind of looks like it's giving this image, hey, you know, we are just on the fly going to talk about this and then head back to practice or something.

WIRE: A bit of nonchalant. I think there's probably some truth to their demeanor. They do have to focus on this game, the biggest game of the year and very few have a chance to play in the Super Bowl.

So, these guys, I think that was a last push to talk to the public and let them know their stance as an organization, coming from the head man there, but now it is game time. You heard them say I am done with this and moving on, the last time you hear from me in a lot time regarding this subject.

BLACKWELL: They've got one week until Super Bowl, so that's what they're focusing on. You know, it's all over social media. We obviously are talking about it. And, of course, that means that "SNL" has to offer its take on it. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good evening! As you can tell, I'm taking this very seriously. That's why I got dressed up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look, all I know is that a football is a pigskin so I just assume that the air in the football is how much air was inside the pig when it died.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tom, I think you're pretending to know a lot less than you actually two.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What? I'm not worried about the air pressure in the ball. That's nerd stuff! That's honestly above my pay grade.

UNIDENTIIED MALE: You make 26.5 million a year.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Well, is that a lot? Guys, I don't know things!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: I don't know things, come on.

BLACKWELL: A bit of truth in the way that was portrayed. As if he is saying, listen, I just -- they toss them back in the pocket and I throw. That's all I got.

WIRE: As serious as the accusations are a lot of fun happening in social media and "Saturday Night Live" was a good clip. Watch the full clip. This is sports and supposed to be fun and people are clearly having a lot of fun with this one.

MALVEAUX: When you talk to fans, do they really care and take it seriously or is this important to folks watching that game, right?

WIRE: The radius around that Boston area they are taking this very seriously because how dare you call their team cheaters. But we will find out with all of the investigations if, whether or not, it simply was the weather having an effect on the footballs.

BLACKWELL: All right. Coy Wire, thank you so much.

MALVEAUX: We'll be watching.

WIRE: All right. Thank you.

MALVEAUX: Thanks. Appreciate it.

BLACKWELL: Well, seriously now, Spain has arrested two pair of brothers suspecting of plotting a terror attack. We'll tell you about the striking similarities of those brothers and the brothers who attacked the "Charlie Hebdo" magazine in Paris.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Spanish authorities have arrested four suspected members of a terror cell in Spain's North African territory of Ceuta.

MALVEAUX: They say the two pairs of brothers were well-trained and prepared to attack and there are many similarities to the brothers involved in the "Charlie Hebdo" attacks in Paris.

Our CNN's Al Goodman has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AL GOODMAN, CNN MADRID BUREAU CHIEF: The difference between the arrest of these four men and the arrest in Spain last year of dozens of suspected Islamic militants for allegedly recruiting and sending combatants to fight alongside ISIS in Iraq and Syria is that authorities think these four men were ready to carry out and attack in Spain, right here in Europe.

JORGE FERNANDEZ DIAZ, SPANISH INTERIOR MINISTER (through translator): What is especially noteworthy with the breakup of this cell is the parallels with the attacks in Paris recently carried out against the "Charlie Hebdo" magazines. There are two pairs of brothers strongly radicalized, with a lot of military, physical and mental training, and willing to carry out an attack, and according to the police, to blow themselves up while trying that.

GOODMAN: This arrest coming in the Spanish territory of Ceuta, on Morocco's north coast, Spain has another territory, a bit further along on the coast called Melilla, and these two places are considered a front line in the fight against terrorism. They are small cities each with about 85,000 people, they have significant Muslim populations, they have borders with morocco.

People going back and forth for trade and high fences keeping migrants from Africa trying to get in because once you're in, you're in Spain and you're in the European Union, and then it's a short ferry ride across the Mediterranean Sea, to the Spanish mainland, and on up to the France and the rest of Europe. And that's why authorities are focusing on those two territories trying to weed out from the Muslim populations people they think might be terrorists.

Al Goodman, CNN, Madrid.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: All right. Thank you, Al. Appreciate it.

BLACKWELL: Scott Walker and Chris Christie, they poured on the charm on yesterday's Iowa Freedom. We will tell what they said that won over the conservative crowd there.

MALVEAUX: And, plus, front runners like Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, may have sat this round out in Iowa, but they are on the stage tonight in California. We're going to tell you what that means, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Conservative heavyweights hit the stage in Iowa yesterday, courting voters and donors at the Iowa Freedom Summit.

CNN national political reporter Peter Hamby was there covering the potential candidates.

All right. Peter, how did it go?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETER HAMBY, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: Victor, the Iowa Freedom Summit here in Des Moines sponsored by conservative Iowa Congressman Steve King marked the starting gun for the 2016 Republican presidential race. Republicans thinking about president across the GOP spectrum came here to introduce themselves to Republicans, throw red meat to the crowd. Everyone from Donald Trump to Sarah Palin to Chris Christie and Scott Walker came here today to meet Iowans say, hey, I'm interested in running for president. I'm going to be here often, get to know me.

Now, this was just as interesting for who was here as who wasn't here. Jeb Bush the perceived establishment front-runner chose to avoid coming to this event because in part the sponsor of the event Steve King is known as a conservative immigration hard liner. Jeb Bush, of course, you know, preached moderation, comprehensive immigration reform, and wants the party to do more to reach out to Hispanics.

King, of course, has said a number of inflammatory comments about Hispanic voters over the years, so Jeb chose not to be here. But as opposed to who did come, you have to think that Scott Walker, the Wisconsin governor who is normally low key, some call him boring, he gave a great, well-received speech here in Des Moines.

GOV. SCOTT WALKER (R), WISCONSIN: Today, I'm proud to tell you more four years after because of my reforms, my sons are growing newspaper a state that is each better than the state that we grew up in.

HAMBY: Chris Christie too. He's sort of not known to connect with the conservative base. They are very skeptical of him.

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: If I was too blunt, too direct, too loud and too New Jersey, for Iowa, then why do you people keep inviting me back? And even more importantly, if the values I'm fighting for every day in New Jersey and all across this country are not consistent with your values, then why would I keep coming back?

HAMBY: He gave a great speech out here today and got a lot of applause lines and people laughed at his jokes, he told some moving personal stories. So, you have to think it's a win for him here in Des Moines -- Victor.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Big performance there. Peter Hamby, thank you so much.

Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: All right. To dig a bit deeper, I want to bring in our senior political reporter, Stephen Collinson.

Steven, so, we saw Peters. He was there and he mentioned that the Governor Chris Christie certainly was great for this crowd but the real question here is: does that going to translate? Do voters actually see this in him? Can that take him all the way through the candidacy here or is he going to need more to do?

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: I think Christie actually gave a signal last night that he is actually going to compete in Iowa. There have been some questions about whether he would sort of bypass it completely and going to New Hampshire and Florida. But it seems like he's trying to make a connection with that sort of social conservative evangelical crowd.

And he made the argument I'm a conservative. You might not like my style but my brass New Jersey political style can be toned down a little bit. He talked about some personal stories as Peter said. He talked about his dying mother. He tried to make an emotional connection with the crowd. The core of his argument was that conservativism must defend itself and appeal to people outside the sort of heartland conservative states like Iowa.

So, he was sort of putting himself forward as the governor of New Jersey, a state that tends to go Democratic in presidential elections and saying I'm a conservative but I got wider appeal and that is what we need to be able to win the White House.

MALVEAUX: Right. We saw Ted Cruz who was there as well. And he was advocating for the abolishment of the IRS. Now, that might fly when it comes to a primary election when you're looking at all of these guys and those who are going to be voting tend to skew to the right and that would be appealing to them.

But could it be too far to the right for the general election where voters are looking for something a bit more moderate?

COLLINSON: Certainly. Republicans in the next election have to find a way to win those battleground states which meant Romney couldn't win. We are talking about places like Virginia, Ohio, Florida, or even somewhere like Pennsylvania or Colorado. So, that kind of message might put off voters in those states.

But Ted Cruz is going big to win in Iowa because it's, obviously, he is very appealing to the evangelical Christian base of the party so he needs to build momentum there. So, Ted Cruz's message right now is sort of his brands of sort of radical the Republicans can't win a general election if they don't embrace conservative ideas. People in the Tea Party says turnout in the Republican base has been depressed. They don't think that the candidate, John McCain and Mitt Romney, that was nominated as a true conservative.

MALVEAUX: Yes, we know how important Iowa has been. Just less than, about a year away, the Iowa caucuses.

Let's talk about the front-runners. Rand Paul, Marco Rubio who actually they sat out the summit, but they're going to be attending something else, the Koch brothers event tonight. They're willing to sit out this event but they're going to be in front of an important audience today.

COLLINSON: Right. Well, both of those candidates you mentioned sort of need to get the sort of super PAC money, the big money in the campaign, the sort of Koch brothers have big resources. Other candidates that sat out last night were Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney.

They appear to have been making a calculation possibly along with Rubio. They don't want to appear at an event for Steve King that is renowned for inflammatory remarks about illegal immigration. If they're going to end up in a general election and they're going to try to appeal for the Hispanic vote. Mitt Romney had real trouble last time around appealing to Hispanic voters. That was one of the reasons he lost the election. So, these candidates didn't want to stand up there with Stave King and gift the Democrats of attack ads who we might in September, October 2016.

MALVEAUX: Yes, the Koch brothers, a lot of money there. Thank you so much. Stephen Collinson, thank you so much. Appreciate it this morning. Thanks.

BLACKWELL: All right. Coming up at the top of the hour, President Obama makes news this morning during his trip to India, including a possible nuclear deal and in the fight against terror. We'll take you there live for more on this historic visit.

Plus, coming up next, more snow. Another storm is heading to the Northeast.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Just as people on the east coast are digging out from yesterday's snow, another major storm is expected to make its way up the east coast.

MALVEAUX: A second nor'easter on track to hit much of New England tomorrow night. This one will be even worse than what we saw yesterday.

Ivan Cabrera is live at the CNN weather center with more.

Ivan, whoa, what are we talking about here?

IVAN CABRERA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Not good. No bueno. Terrible. Monday night, it's going be triple worse, quadruple worse, whatever you want to call it.

This is a paralyzing storm. Airports will be closed. Schools will be closed. This is the kind of storm you're going to have to stay indoors for a couple of days. Serious stuff here.

This is the setup. Yes, we've been talking about the second storm, the Alberta Clipper. Normally these storms don't produce the amount of snowfall that we're forecasting here. What's happening is the jet stream orientation is going to juice this up. It's going to essentially explode here across the eastern seaboard here and that means a couple of things. Significant snowfall, yes, but also the snow will be coming down with winds in excess of 50 miles an hour, which is why the National Weather Service has already posted blizzard watches. I'll show you that. There's the developing storm.

We are going to see some snow across the Ohio valley. This is Sunday as we head through the evening hours here. This isn't the big deal. Once it hits the coast we're going to have a secondary low forming here, and that is your nor'easter. That is the one that's going to be bringing us incredible amounts of snowfall here. Monday night heading into Tuesday we are thinking that we are going to be measuring this in some areas not in inches but in feet. That's the kind of snow potential that we're talking about here.

The winter snow falls look at this, long island, southern Connecticut, Rhode island, the entire state, eastern Massachusetts now under a blizzard watch which will likely be upgraded to a warning in the next 12 hours as you can take a look at this is what we're forecasting at the CNN weather center. One to two feet from New York to providence to Boston. I think Boston has the potential to get close to 30 inches, 30 inches by the time we get into the early part of Tuesday.

So, this is going to be a disruptive storm. Obviously millions of people will be impacted and it is not coming on a weekend like this last system here. This is coming in the middle of the week. So we're getting ready.

MALVEAUX: So I'm going to be going back to D.C., we're talking about a foot of snow?

CABRERA: When are you heading back?

MALVEAUX: Today.

CABRERA: You're fine. You're fine today. But any time after tomorrow and you're trying to get up to the northeast isn't going to happen.

BLACKWELL: All right. Get it all done today whatever you need to get done. Just saying.

Thank you, Ivan.

MALVEAUX: I appreciate it. I'll be out in that snow covering it.

BLACKWELL: Me, too, probably somewhere.

Here's a look at other stories developing now.

President Obama wrapped up a joint news conference with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They addressed everything from climate change to differences to help advance nuclear cooperation between two nations. President Obama arrived in New Delhi greeted by Modi at the tarmac at the foot of the plane. He's on his second visit to the nation.

MALVEAUX: And President Obama says the U.S. will continue counter terrorism efforts throughout the region including Yemen at a news conference and a short time ago Washington said the Yemeni government has collapsed while a power vacuum is deepens as the country's parliament postponed a second session on Yemeni's president resignation. We'll have a live report from India at the top of the hour.

BLACKWELL: Talk show pioneer Joe Franklin has died. If you don't recognize the name or face, he's credited with developing the modern talk show format. "The Joe Franklin Show" aired in New York city but was well known enough to be parroted by "Saturday Night Live" and even mentioned on "The Simpsons." he joked that the show had washed up celebrities and many up and coming ones. Joe Franklin was 88 years old.

MALVEAUX: And friends and family continue to mourn the loss of baseball great Chicago Cub Ernie Banks. Hall of Fame manager Leo Durocher was known for saying "nice guys finish last" made an exception for Banks, saying Banks is one nice guy who finished first, but he had the talent to go with it.

Banks died Friday unexpectedly at his home in Chicago. His family is expected to have a fuse conference sometime later today.

And thanks for starting your day with us.

BLACKWELL: The next hour of your NEW DAY starts right now.

(MUSIC)

MALVEAUX: President Obama receives a warm welcome in India in a state visit officials are now calling in U.S., India relations.

BLACKWELL: A short time ago, he wrapped up a joint news conference with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

MALVEAUX: Good morning, everyone. I'm Suzanne Malveaux, in for Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to be with you.

This new era is a dawning in the U.S. relationship with India, according to those two leaders. A short time ago, President Obama wrapped up a joint conference there.