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The Lead with Jake Tapper
Ginsburg And Scalia's Wild Adventures; Coast Guard Sent To Save Fishing Crew; Oregon Governor Resigns During "Ugly" Scandal; "New York Times" Media Critic David Carr Dies
Aired February 13, 2015 - 16:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome back to THE LEAD. It is a CNN exclusive in national news today. Something of a peek behind the curtain of the highest court in the land like you has likely never seen before.
They are ideological opposites, but Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia together on an elephant, and there are no dissenting opinions apparently.
This was supposed to be a forum on constitutional law last night, but it turned into a raucous recounting of the exotic vacation escapades that make the original odd couple look like the Olson twins. Our CNN justice correspondent, Pamela Brown, has all the amazing details -- Pamela.
PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: You know, Jake, it's no secret that they were close friends, but I had never seen them like this in such a casual interaction. Elephants, parasailing, drinking, it seems nothing was off limits for these self-proclaimed odd couple during a discussion at George Washington University last night.
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BROWN (voice-over): Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia may butt heads on the bench.
JUSTICE ANTONIN SCALIA, SUPREME COURT: What's not to like except her views of the law, of course.
BROWN: But surprisingly, share the closest friendship of all the justices.
SCALIA: Why don't you call us the odd couple?
BROWN: Their political differences are an elephant in the room they aren't afraid to confront or ride as they did on vacation together in India in 1994.
JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG, SUPREME COURT: It was a rather bumpy ride.
BROWN: Scalia clearly admires his pint-sized partner's taste for adventure on their trips.
SCALIA: Ruth honest to goodness went up behind a motor boat --
GINSBURG: Parasail.
SCALIA: Yes, I mean, she's so light you would think she would never come down.
BROWN: Scalia even helped his friend out by giving her an advanced copy of his dissenting opinion so she could better write what is now a landmark majority opinion, striking down an all-male admission policy at a public college.
GINSBURG: So I took this dissent, this very spicy dissent, and it absolutely ruined my weekend.
BROWN: Another point the duo disagrees on? Attending the "State of the Union."
SCALIA: I think I stopped going when Reagan was still the president just because it turned into such a childish spectacle.
BROWN: Justice Ginsburg goes but is known to occasionally nod off and sometimes she was saved by the now retired Justice David Suiter.
GINSBURG: He had an acute sense of when I was about -- he would give me a pinch.
BROWN: Just last month, the cameras once again caught the sharp as a tack 81-year-old asleep and she's not afraid to admit why.
GINSBURG: At least I wasn't 100 percent sober because before we went to the "State of the Union," we had dinner together and Justice Kennedy --
SCALIA: That's the first intelligent thing you've done.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Got to love their interaction. The unlikely friendship will soon be taking center stage. A comic opera inspired by their differing opinions and unique relationship will be premiering in July in Virginia.
TAPPER: You know what? It won't be better than the real thing.
BROWN: It won't. They could have their own show.
TAPPER: They should act the roles themselves. Pamela Brown, thank you so much.
In other national news, it is official. A blizzard warning issued just minutes ago for the Boston area this weekend. More than a foot of snow is expected with wind gusts that could hit 75 miles per hour. When is this storm going to start? That's next.
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TAPPER: We're back with some breaking national news. The National Weather Service just put out a blizzard warning for Boston that could mean power outages and whiteout conditions, which would make travel nearly impossible.
New England will start getting the blizzard conditions again by this time tomorrow. The strong winds and heavy snow come after crews spent much of this week clearing streets and rooftops from six feet already on the ground.
On top of that, more than a third of the country is shivering in freezing temperatures. Get this. Minneapolis had a low of eight degrees this morning, 8. Portland, Maine dipped down to minus 14. International Falls, Minnesota, you win, you clocked minus 28 degrees as a morning low.
That's not wind chill, people. That's an actual temperature. Crank up the heaters. Our CNN meteorologists say cold weather will stick around until the middle of next week.
Now on to our Buried Lead, extreme weather is slowing down the U.S. military rescue of an Australian fishing crew whose boat is stuck in the ice near an Antarctica. The Coast Guard sent one of its largest ships to help. Now that ship called the "Polar Star" is inching closer to this trapped vessel.
Commander Kenneth Boda is on board that Coast Guard cutter and he joins me now on the phone. Commander, thank you so much for joining us. We understand you just reached this fishing boat. What kind of weather have you been facing before getting to this point?
COMMANDER KENNETH BODA (via telephone): Good afternoon. We have been battling a few little snowstorms here and there. The challenge right now is the ice coverage. We are in six feet of ice with two feet of snow on top Blocks of ice all around us. Everywhere you look there are big icebergs. It's been a pretty difficult slog through the ice to get to the fishing vessel.
TAPPER: How far away are you from the fishing vessel?
BODA: Right now, we're probably about 100 yards away from the fishing vessel. We have our bow right up alongside her pilot house and passed the line between the fishing vessel and us.
TAPPER: That's great. There are 26 people on board the fishing vessel stuck in the ice, about 900 miles from Antarctica. Three of the four propellers don't work. How much danger would they have been in?
BODA: Well, we are a pretty powerful ice breaker and we are really the only one around. I think if we weren't here, they would have to wait for a serious shift in wind and that might not come. They could potentially have had to winter over without us showing up here.
TAPPER: So the Polar Star is one of the strongest ice vessels in the world. It sounds as though you believe you will be able to save this fishing crew.
BODA: Absolutely. That's what the Coast Guard does. We save lives and we save property and this is just a little part of our mission, of course, but we are always there for mariners.
TAPPER: Commander, once you do save this Australian crew, it's my understanding you have 130 crew members of your own in what I imagine are fairly tight quarters. Do you have space on your own ship to accommodate this new group?
BODA: Well, we have 150 people on board right now. We will definitely make room for whoever we need, if we do have to evacuate the vessel. We are hoping to be able to escort this vessel out of the ice, though.
TAPPER: All right, Commander Kenneth Boda, thank you so much for your time. Appreciate it. I know you're busy and best of luck finishing up that important rescue mission.
BODA: I appreciate it, Jake. Thank you very much.
TAPPER: Coming up, a Democratic governor resigns after a member of his own party called his behavior bizarre. What is he accused of doing that had so many so shocked? That's coming up next.
Plus another legend in journalism, "New York Times" columnist David Carr gone, a man who loved a great story and never lied about who he was. We'll remember my friend coming up.
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TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. Some breaking news now in our politics lead, just under an hour ago, with another governor's mansion dripping with scandal, Oregon's four term Democratic governor, John Kitzhaber, announced he's stepping down.
He was facing growing pressure to resign even from officials in his own party, the Democratic Party, and from normally friendly editorial pages after troubling revelations about his fiancee.
Suzanne Malveaux is covering this developing story for us. Suzanne, criminal charges could come next?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they certainly could because this is really the end of an era. We are talking about a 35-year career in public office in Oregon's House, the Senate, the Governor's Mansion, and one Democratic legislator likened this to a Greek tragedy where neither the governor nor his fiancee could recognize how the benefit from their personal and professional relationship was a conflict of interest.
But ultimately, it was the governor's fellow Democrats who united in pushing him out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MALVEAUX (voice-over): It's the end of an era in Oregon politics. John Kitzhaber, who was re-elected to a fourth term last November and first took office in the state in the early 1980s, bowed to mounting pressure to resign.
JOHN KITZHABER, OREGON GOVERNOR: Oregon voters will see I have never put anything before my love for and commitment to Oregon and faithfully fulfilling the responsibilities of the public offices I have had the honor to hold. I have always tried to do the right thing. Now the right thing to do is step aside.
MALVEAUX: The stunning fall comes amid a growing scandal involving the role of his fiancee, the state's first lady, Sylvia Hayes, and her influence over state business. Investigators are looking into concerns that Hayes' advised state employees on energy policy while getting paid by a group advocating for a specific position.
The state attorney general has given Hayes seven days to disclose her private e-mails regarding state business. This is not the first time controversy has swirled around Hayes.
In 1997, she married an Ethiopian immigrant for $5,000 to help him get a green card. She also bought land with an ex-boyfriend that year allegedly to grow marijuana but denied financial involvement.
Today's news caps a week of will he or won't he speculation. On Wednesday, it seemed Kitzhaber was ready to step down. He requested his designated replacement, Secretary of State Kate Brown, to fly back from Washington, D.C. to Oregon.
But then it appeared he had a change of heart. Brown detailed the exchange in a statement Thursday saying, "I asked him what he wanted to talk about. The governor told me he was not resigning after which he began a discussion about transition. This is clearly a bizarre and unprecedented situation."
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MALVEAUX: What is also unprecedented is the history that Brown will make as the nation's first openly bisexual governor. The human rights campaign put out a statement saying while she'll make history as the nation's first sitting LGBT governor, the more important truth is that she is supremely capable of leading the state to better days ahead.
Meantime, Brown will assume office this coming Wednesday and Oregon's attorney general said that the governor's resignation is not going to deter them from this ongoing criminal investigation.
TAPPER: Shocking story in Oregon. Suzanne, thank you so much.
Coming up, two say it's been a bad week for the media. That would be an understatement. Just last night, a dear friend of many journalists and mentor to many journalists, one of journalism's best, David Carr passed away suddenly, much too soon. Next, the best advice he ever gave me.
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TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. As if this has not been a bad enough week for the news media, last night, David Carr, the 58-year- old media writer for the "New York Times" collapsed in the newsroom.
He was taken to St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan and pronounced dead. Again, he was only 58. Carr was a beacon of journalistic ethics.
You may have known him from his star turn in the documentary "Page One" where he was as honest as he always was about his past struggles with addiction before becoming one of the most respected media reporters of our time.
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DAVID CARR: At the tender age of 31, I still had a year left before hitting rock bottom. A year left to being that guy, the violent drug- snorting thug, before I found my way to this guy, the one with the family and the job at the "New York Times."
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TAPPER: Carr was a fierce critic of phonies and a fierce critic of the people who deplete media assets including journalistic credibility for the sake of a few bucks.
David Carr believed in journalism. He believed in journalism being engaging. He believed in journalism making a difference. Although he embraced new media he was also a fierce defender of those who practiced responsible traditional media.
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CARR: I love Twitter. I'm on there every damn day. But the best links in Twitter are always, always into the data stream of mainstream media. To suggest that somehow a hand-created citizen media is going to supplant for instance "New York Times" has a news budget of $220 million.
Dozens of bureaus all over the world, many other news organizations, the same footprint, and we are going to toss that out which is the proposition, toss that out and see what Facebook turns up. I don't think so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Over the years, at various media outlets, David Carr served as an editor and a mentor to many young journalists. I was one of them. David Carr convinced me in 1997 to become a full-time journalist and to come work for him at Washington City paper. He was a one person journalism school.
Coincidentally, as I found out today while writing this piece, today is the 17th anniversary of the first mistake I ever made while working for David Carr, I mixed up names in one of my first stories for him and I can still hear him making sure that I fully understood the gravity of the error.
I still hear that voice when I mess up because as taught to me by David Care -- Carr, I know how important it is that I get it right.
He made me better. He made all of us better, and the world is a poorer place for his passing. Our condolences to his wife, Jill, and his daughters, Maddie, Erin and Meagan, whom he loved so much.
That's it for "THE LEAD." I'm Jake Tapper. Wolf Blitzer and THE SITUATION ROOM is next.
