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The Lead with Jake Tapper

FBI Busts Alleged Russian Spy Ring In NYC; Storm Kills Power On Nantucket; Charging Bo Bergdahl; Dangerous Flooding in Massachusetts; Storm's Effect on Aviation and Air Travelers

Aired January 27, 2015 - 16:30   ET

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

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Let's bring in Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey Corn, who is a former attorney in the JAG Corps. He's now a law professor. Sir, thank you for being here, thank you for your service.

Other news organizations have reported that the army is ready to go ahead and charge Bergdahl. But here's how Pentagon press spokesman John Kirby, Rear Admiral John Kirby, addressed that just a few hours ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REAR ADM. JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: Let me just put a fork in this right now, if I can. No decision has been made with respect to the case of Sergeant Bergdahl. None.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Kirby also said there's no timetable for a decision, but like I said we do expect a decision within days. What do you expect, based on your knowledge of the case that the Army is going to do? Do you think they will charge Bergdahl?

LT. COL. GEOFFREY CORN, U.S. ARMY (RET.): I think it's really speculative. I think there's certainly evidence from what we've seen that would support charging him with an unauthorized absence and potentially desertion. But there are other factors that play into the equation. The commanding officer who has the responsibility to make this charging decision has to consider all factors, deterrence questions, good order and discipline in the force and also candidly to look at what he's been through and whether or not further criminal proceedings would be justified. I wouldn't be surprised if the decision is made to charge him, but there's no guarantee that will happen. And I'm not surprised either that the admiral made that point so emphatically.

Because the first step when you charge a soldier is that the charge sheet is served on the soldier. And there's been no information or news that Bergdahl has actually received a charge sheet and been called in and told that he's been charged. So I think it was speculation from the outset.

TAPPER: Well, Colonel Corn, so you're saying that it's possible that the Army might decide there is evidence that he deserted and, as we heard on my show and others, members of his platoon, members of his brigade saying that he did desert his post, but there are extenuating circumstances because he spent five years in Taliban custody so they might - and obviously this is all speculative - that they might take that into account and say, we'll give you a dishonorable discharge or we'll just let you discharge?

CORN: Well, let's be clear. He cannot receive a dishonorable discharge unless he's charged and brought to trial by a court-martial and the charge would have to be desertion. A dishonorable discharge is a punishment discharge. There are other ways you can essentially fire a soldier and give him less than an honorable discharge.

For example, an other than honorable discharge through an administrative proceeding that would have a hearing, but it wouldn't be a criminal trial and it wouldn't result in a criminal conviction. And that's always a possibility. And let me make another point. It's not the army that's going to decide this. It's his commander that's going to decide it. And that's the commander's responsibility under the military code and it's a solemn responsibility.

And the commander is going to get input from his investigating officer that did the report, commander is going to get input from the military lawyers that would have to try the case if it were brought to trial. But ultimately we expect the commander to use his best judgment to decide what justice demands in this case. And there's no rule that says you have to be charged simply because there's evidence and offense was committed. As I say, I wouldn't be surprised if he was charged, but there's no guarantee that that's the disciplinary reaction that the commander is going to select in this case.

TAPPER: All right, Lieutenant Colonel Corn, thank you so much. We'll talk more about this when we actually have evidence in the decision. Let's go live now to Alexandra Field who's in Scituate, Massachusetts, with the latest on the rising waters. High tide is approaching. Alexandra, what do you got?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jake, this is exactly the moment that people here in Scituate have been bracing for. Here it is, this water coming up right over the seawall right now. We're still about a half an hour way from high tide, but this is the kind of floodwater, these are the wind forces that we've been talking about. This is the storm surge that has created tremendous problems for people out here in Scituate.

This water, it is flooding down into these neighborhoods behind me. It's coming up over the seawall. And this is why so many people woke up this morning with feet of water flooding their basements and pouring down into the streets. This is the situation that became incredibly difficult and dangerous out here this morning for people who live in this community who are used to seeing flooding who are used to seeing high tides breach this seawall say that what they saw this morning when the high tide rolled in was more dramatic than something that they've seen in all of their time here.

Power lines are a tremendous concern. Power has been shut down to a number of neighborhoods in Scituate. We have seen police out, we have seen the National Guard out. They evacuated people this morning and they have been back out here again doing evacuations for people who want to get out of these areas that are most prone to flooding. I want to give you one more look at this. This is probably the closest we'll be able to get to the seawall for some time. These waves only picking up steam, the wind only picking up here and this water just rushing into these neighborhoods, Jake.

TAPPER: Alexandra, as you know from covering these storms as I do, sometimes you get dead enders, people who are just refusing to leave the neighborhood no matter how dangerous it gets. Has there been anyone you've seen like that, or are people leaving Scituate?

FIELD: Absolutely, Jake, there are people who have decided to stay here in their homes. Some of them do in fact have power, they have got heat. They have stocked up provisions. They have said that they've weathered out storms before and even if this is a bad one, they don't want to leave. But we did, again, see, the National Guard was coming through helping people to get out if they wanted to. Police have also been coming up through the streets in high axle vehicles, you know, reminding people of the danger out here and warning them that if they want to get out they have got to do it before high tide, which Jake is exactly what we're going to do. We're going to peel back now as this water continues to breach this wall here so we can get our vehicle a little further inland.

TAPPER: All right, it looks like the wind is hitting you pretty hard, Alexandra. As you get out of there, just describe for us if you could, is it tossing you around?

FIELD: Yeah. I'm bracing myself about as well as I possibly can here. I've been knocked around if I try to move. A little bit earlier the reading was that the temperature out here was about 14, 15 degrees so very cold. And we're told that the wind gusts were about 30 miles per hour. I have to say, you know, I can't measure it myself --

TAPPER: All right. We just lost Alexandra Field. And I'm assuming that she is going to go head to safety along with her photojournalist. Our thanks to her for that great reporting.

Coming up, the travel nightmare continues. More than 7,000 flights canceled. Passengers have been stuck in airports for hours, even more than a day in some cases. And the worst part of it, travelers throughout the U.S. and even around the world are now being impacted by this blizzard. When is this mess going to be over? Will it be days? Will it be weeks? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Hello there. Welcome back to "THE LEAD." The money lead now. The ripple effect of this blizzard felt across the country. Thousands of flights have been canceled, some are grounded until tomorrow.

And that is affecting airports nationwide. Let's look at just how much snow feel here in the northeast, 11 inches recorded at LaGuardia here in New York, more than 20 inches in Boston. But take a look at Auburn, Massachusetts, 32.5 inches there. That's almost three feet. That's about an hour's drive inland from Boston. Let's go to aviation correspondent Rene Marsh. She's live at LaGuardia airport. Rene, it's going to take days for airlines to get this intricate system back on track.

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is going to take some time and also consider at Boston's Logan airport, the runways are still shut down there. But although you look around, you look at this airport, LaGuardia, one of the busiest, it doesn't look like it, but, Jake, there is small progress. We saw it today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARSH: One of America's busiest airports nearly deserted. The ticket counters empty and about 60 passengers called this terminal their hotel for the night.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I slept right here right on the floor and by the window. Used some clothes as my pillow and just bedded down for the night.

MARSH: Stranding passengers like Kenzie Knopp who has been trying to get to Denver.

KENZIE KNOPP, STRANDED PASSENGER: At this point, my family just wants me home. So, we're looking for the earliest time in the morning.

MARSH: At Boston's Logan Airport, the tarmac is buried in snow. In Atlanta, exhausted passengers are everywhere.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, we were able to find some seats to pull together and kind of -- I had a blanket luckily with me. And pulled together the seats and tried to get some rest.

MARSH: Even Las Vegas saw canceled flights. International passengers also felt the pain, perhaps the worst was at JFK. This Virgin Flight was canceled after a six-hour delay, stranding passengers in the terminal at midnight. One airline company estimates the storm impacted more than 400,000 passengers, costing upwards of $235 million. And the price tag for airlines about $10 million. Here at LaGuardia, there was some good news this afternoon. The first flights started arriving and departing. And that meant Knopp was on her way home.

(on camera): You just got some really good news.

KNOPP: I did. I'm getting out of here at 2:45 today. I'm so excited.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARSH: Well, Spirit Airlines is the only carrier we see operating here at LaGuardia at this hour. Limited flights at JFK as well as at Newark. Airlines are saying that they hope to get to more normal operations by Wednesday. Of course, we'll wait and see. We still see cancellations listed for Wednesday. Jake. TAPPER: All right, Rene Marsh, live at LaGuardia. Rene, thank you so much.

Coming up, stranded on Nantucket. It's a desperate situation on that island, it's right now completely cut off from the rest of Massachusetts and out of power. How residents there are handling the power outages and the flooding and more. That's right ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper live today from New York City, the city that dodged the brunt of this massive blizzard that is now crippling parts of New England. More on that in a bit.

I want to shift to some other news right now that is also rocking Gotham. It's a simple proposition that sounds innocuous enough on its face, "You want to go to a Yankee game?" But the FBI says, phrases like that may have been trade craft for Russian spies. CNN's Joe Johns has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He claimed to be a Russian banker working in his company's New York office. But the Justice Department alleges he was actually one of three Russian spies, who have been under surveillance in this country for years.

The U.S. attorney said two decades after the presumptive end of the cold war Russian spies continue to seek to operate in our midst under cover of secrecy.

BOB BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY ANALYST: When the Berlin wall came down, the Russians never stopped spying. They continued to run sources in Washington. They never reduced the size of their station in Washington or in New York.

JOHNS: The investigation started almost five years ago when ten other Russian agents seen in these FBI surveillance videos including the now infamous, Anna Chapman, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and were shipped back to Russia as part of a spy swap.

Fast-forward to 2015. Court documents say Buryakov used two other men working under diplomatic cover in New York to relay information back to Russia. That the three intelligence agents would schedule meetings over the phone using code words claiming they needed to transfer things like tickets to sporting events or movies they never attended or other items like books or hats.

They met on dozens of occasions between 2012 and 2014, watched by the FBI. Meetings usually occurred outdoors where surveillance was more difficult where one man would hand a bag, magazine or slip of paper to another. Prosecutors say they tried to recruit U.S. citizens as intelligence sources in New York.

The target, people working for major companies and young women with ties to a university located in New York. Intelligence of interest included information on U.S. sanctions against Russia and U.S. efforts to develop alternative energy sources.

BAER: The Russians are in trouble right now with the price of oil, having halved over the last six months. They look at this as in fact a Saudi-American conspiracy to take down their oil industry.

JOHNS: The spies seemed disillusions about their jobs, frustrated that the real life world life of a spy isn't like the movies. In one conversation quoted in court papers, saying, "It wasn't even close to the James Bond movies and I also thought that at least I would go abroad with a different passport."

A story that could have been lifted straight out of the Tv series "The Americans."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: Our thanks to Joe Johns for that report. Let's go back to the weather. CNN meteorologist Chad Myers is right here braving the cold with me. Chad, what are you expecting from the storm this evening? I guess we're OK, but New England is still in trouble.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You look down at that street, it's wet. Why is it wet? Not because of salt because the sun's been out. As soon as the sun sets behind this building, which it will do pretty soon, every single road in the city will re-freeze.

TAPPER: They haven't been salting them.

MYERS: Not very much. They'll have to go up and down with the salt trucks salting them. Be careful walking across the streets. Sidewalks are pretty good. But the streets will re-freeze.

Boston, you're actually getting more snow. Not a lot, but six inches. Every swoop of snow that's coming in is slightly less intense as the last one. But did you see the wind at Scituate?

Alexandra Field was just getting blown off her feet -- and so winds are still 50 to 60 miles per hour.

TAPPER: So that's tough. People in Boston and New England, take it easy. Chad Myers, thanks so much for sticking with us for the hour.

Coming up, imagine being stranded on an island with no power, no help to get to you. That's what my next guest is dealing with. He's on Nantucket with his family including a 3-month-old baby. He'll join me right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Listen to that. That is a blistering wind hitting Nantucket off the coast of Massachusetts. It's downright miserable for the people on that island right now. Most of the island of Nantucket has no power. About 15,000 people live there year round, stranded on an island only accessible by ferry or by plane. Tyler Herrick is one of them. He lives on Nantucket with his wife and 3-month-old baby. He joins us now on the phone. Tyler, thanks for risking your cell phone battery life to join us. How are you doing? Is your family OK?

TYLER HERRICK, NANTUCKET RESIDENT (via telephone): Yes, our family is okay. The temperature in our house has dropped down to about 54 degrees so we're going to be moving over to our friends' house, who have a wood stove.

TAPPER: That sounds like a good idea. When did the lights go out at your home? Did you think it was going to last this long?

HERRICK: Honestly, after we woke up at about 1:00 and saw how hard the wind was blowing, we thought for sure that the power would have been out about then. But I think the power went out about 7:00 this morning.

TAPPER: Ferry service to Nantucket has been suspended so it could be, what, another day maybe before power crews get there? You have a 3- month-old baby. You're going to your friends' house. What have you been doing in the meantime to stay warm?

HERRICK: We've just been kind of staying covered up, lots of blankets. I've been constantly going in and out of my truck trying to keep my phone charged. We've just been putting every layer we have on our child.

TAPPER: In addition to power outages, has there been any damage to your property, your house, your truck, anything else?

HERRICK: Yes, we had a downed tree in my front yard this morning, just missed our house. And a big limb actually broke and snapped on the hood of my truck, which took the better half of the morning to clear out. But it seems to be still working so we need to leave now, it's totally possible.

TAPPER: The main hospital there, Nantucket Cottage, is running on a generator. That must cause concern for you.

HERRICK: That's right.

TAPPER: Just in case something happens and you need medical care.

HERRICK: No doubt about it. They're great over there at the hospital, though. I know they would risk themselves for others. You know, I just spent a good time over there with my son being delivered on Nantucket. I know how much they care for their patients there. So I know that they'll definitely be there.

TAPPER: How bad is the damage around you, any major flooding?

HERRICK: Yes. The whole downtown is completely under water. I mean, not completely, but I'd say there's probably about 1 to 2 feet under water. High tide is going to be in the next hour or so, so along the wharf and along of the downtown businesses right now are definitely under water.

TAPPER: All right, Tyler Herrick, keep us updated. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family, your little baby, best of luck. Stay in touch. We want to know how you're doing.

That's it for THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. I now turn you over to Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATION ROOM."