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Heavy Snow Slams Northeast; Flights Canceled Amid Winter Storm; Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) is Interviewed about the Storm; Gov. Ned Lamont (D-CT) is Interviewed about the Storm; Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA) is Interviewed about the State of the Union; Scott Posilkin is Interviewed about being Stranded in Puerto Vallarta. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired February 23, 2026 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Both Laguardia and JFK as well, Long Island, more than 22 inches.

Let's get right to CNN's Gloria Pazmino here in New York City. She -- the wind. I can see you're shielding your eyes. It's blowing right into your face there, Gloria.

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right. And honestly, John, right now I am loving it. It looks absolutely gorgeous here inside Central Park. And as you said, we just crossed that 15-inch mark. So that means we are now in official historic territory. We haven't gotten this much snow here in New York City in the past five years. And there's a lot of things you see around New York City, but not very often what I'm about to show you here.

I want to introduce you to Clayton.

I just caught him coming out of Central Park. He is in full blown skis. What I assume was cross-country skiing, is that what we call it?

CLAYTON: Yes. Did the loop and there's enough snow that I could go all the way around.

PAZMINO: How long do you think you did? How much -- how much mileage do you think you got in?

CLAYTON: I don't know, maybe five, six. In the trees as well too it's beautiful. It looks like a whole different Central Park.

PAZMINO: Walk me through your gear here. I see that you got the overalls. You got the sticks. You got the skis.

CLAYTON: It might be a little bit overkill, but for today there's a lot of snow out there. So, I think -- I was well prepared. And hopefully we get another blizzard and I can do it again.

PAZMINO: You want more of this even though it's March? You're telling me you haven't had enough?

CLAYTON: Yes. Yes. Yes, yes, I might be the outlier, but I love it.

PAZMINO: OK, perfect conditions for cross-country skiing inside of Central Park, if that's the type of thing you like to do, if you just happen to have some skis, some poles, perhaps the proper gear to be out here.

We all have the proper gear. It is a little cold. So, you got to be well dressed. Get your boots on. Have your coat. Lots of layers will -- it does make a difference when you're out there. But I think we are going to be seeing a lot of this throughout Central Park throughout the day today, John.

Thanks very much, Clayton.

CLAYTON: Stay warm and stay safe. (INAUDIBLE)

PAZMINO: Thank you.

CLAYTON: It's nice to meet you.

BERMAN: Is cross country skiing a -- wait, can you just -- cross- country skis I know, but those were downhill skis. He's in downhill skis, yes?

PAZMINO: Let me give --

BERMAN: All right, well, he's gone there. We didn't -- I mean cross country skiing on the streets I get, but he's in downhill skis. It's going to be hard for him to get up a lot of speed there, Sara, because --

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Almost none.

BERMAN: There are some hills in Central Park, but it's not like, you know --

SIDNER: Yes. No.

BERMAN: Wow. OK.

SIDNER: It's like a bunny -- it's not even like a bunny slope.

BERMAN: No.

SIDNER: It's -- yes.

BERMAN: There you go.

SIDNER: But he's enjoying himself.

BERMAN: I mean I applaud the initiative.

SIDNER: Not everyone is enjoying themselves.

BERMAN: No. SIDNER: Because this storm has been incredibly dangerous as well. The major storm is also causing a huge mess at airports where no one enjoys wearing skis or not skis just sitting there waiting for their flights to go out.

CNN's Jason Carroll is at Newark Liberty Airport.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ohm (ph).

SIDNER: Yes. I'm just going to go ahead because I know you're like, this is a place where people do not enjoy the fun winter weather.

CARROLL: Sara, Sara, Sara, have you ever seen an airport in New York City look like this? Or in the surrounding area?

SIDNER: Never.

CARROLL: Look at this. It's empty. It is a ghost town here. And the people -- the people that we have seen, Sara, are those people who actually had to sleep here overnight because they couldn't get out. They were stranded. That has been the story here. It's a story of cancellation after cancellation, people having to sleep wherever they can. And in fact, just even getting here, in the state of New Jersey, the travel ban, as you know, was lifted at about 7:00 a.m., but even getting here is still pretty treacherous.

I mean my producer, Carolyn Sung, we got stuck trying to get here, coming to the airport. Fortunately, she did her job and was able to get us here.

But look at this. These flights here, the departures, I mean this doesn't even really tell the whole story because even though you see cancellation after cancellation, you do see some of these flights that say they are going on time. Look, that is wishful thinking. A lot of these flights, even though the board is showing are on time, they're not leaving on time, Sara.

I mean let me just give you the rundown here of the cancellations that we're seeing so far. JFK, 89 percent cancellations. Laguardia, 98 percent. Boston Logan, 92 percent. Newark, where we are, 83 percent. Philadelphia International, 82 percent cancellations.

We spoke to a lot of folks who were just upstairs who were sleeping here overnight. Here's one woman's experience. And she says that if she can get out, she's hoping it could be today, but she's not too hopeful.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUNE CONKLIN, TRAVELER STUCK AT AIRPORT: We got on the actual plane, they were deicing it. By the time they deiced it, it was -- the winds, I guess, picked up.

CARROLL: And what time was that?

CONKLIN: Maybe around -- we were supposed to board -- we board at 6:00 maybe, 6:30 7:00. So, we all got off the plane and then winded up sleeping here. So, this is something I'll check off my bucket list.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: That is the story we've been hearing over and over again. And so, look, best advice is this, even if you think you can get to the airport, in all likelihood, if you're -- at least you're -- if you're in the New Jersey area, you might want to give that another thought because, again, just for us trying to get here, it was extremely treacherous.

[08:35:06]

The roads outside here, some still have not been plowed. And the best advice, double check with your carrier before you're heading out to whichever airport you're trying to get to in the northeast.

Sara, back to you.

SIDNER: Yes, it took me planes, trains and automobiles on Saturday night to get to New York. So, it's a hot mess.

CARROLL: I bet. Yes.

SIDNER: And I think the best thing we just heard there is, sleep in an airport, check, off the bucket list. Let's not do it again.

Jason Carroll, thank you to you and Carolyn and your crew out there for getting us the story.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, joining us right now is New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill to talk much more about, well, all of this.

Governor, thanks for jumping on with me. I appreciate it.

Just give me the latest, your latest assessment of how things are going. Are things getting better or worse at this hour in New Jersey?

GOV. MIKIE SHERRILL, (D-NJ) (via telephone): Well, here in New Jersey, we are still not finished with this storm. We are expecting another six inches down the shore in certain areas. It's still coming down in many areas across the state, including here in north Jersey. And then we're seeing a bunch of snow drifts. So, you know, just really whiteout conditions on some of the roads, which is why I've extended the travel ban until noon today because we are really still hearing of unsafe conditions on the roads.

The snowplows, the icers -- the deicers, the salters, you know, they are still out there saying, look, these roads are really, really difficult to traverse, especially when the winds really pick up. And we're still seeing incredibly high wind gusts, which are making, like I said, whiteout conditions, as snow is still coming down.

We're also seeing problems with trees coming down. This is heavy, wet snow. And, unfortunately, as predicted, given the heavy nature of the snow, the amount of it, as well as these wind gusts, we're seeing trees and branches come down. So, we have tree cutters out in force.

We've also seen people losing their utilities. So, the public utility companies have called in mutual aid and called in workers. So, we had about 5,000 -- over 5,000 public workers, public utility workers across the state deployed. They are really getting people back up and online as quickly as possible. We've had over 200,000 people lose power, over 100,000 people's power has already been restored. Continuing to work. I know that's cold comfort for the people who are still without power, but they are hiking into places. The municipalities are working hard to get the utilities workers where they need to go to get everybody back up and online.

BOLDUAN: Yes, an important part of that you mentioned. The travel ban you had in place was from 9:00 p.m. last night to 7:00 a.m. this morning. You've now extended it just because of the conditions that are still dangerous all throughout the state.

What is your biggest concern right now as this continues to unfold?

SHERRILL: My biggest concern now is really with some of these trees and branches coming down. That presents a very dangerous situation on our roads and to our utilities. If you see downed wires, stay away from them and call it in immediately. That's a really dangerous situation. And then certainly being out with some of this, really worried about trees and branches. So, we're getting those taken care of.

And then the whiteouts. You know, just the fact that this wind is making some of these whiteout conditions.

And, finally, we're still not through it. So, we're digging out while snow is still coming down. So, we'll continue to do that. And we're seeing some good results there. We've been down to pavement on the turnpike. We're working on it on the garden state, but the roads, especially some of those municipal and county roads, are still not clear. And it is very dangerous outside right now. So, that travel ban remains into -- in effect until noon today.

BOLDUAN: Until noon today. I mean still -- in -- we're really in the middle of it and you've got hours and hours to go.

Governor, thank you for taking some time to jump on with us to give us an update. Appreciate it. Good luck.

John.

BERMAN: Let's stay in the tri-state area. With us now is the governor of Connecticut, Ned Lamont.

Governor, nice to see you. What do the next three hours look like in Connecticut?

GOV. NED LAMONT (D-CT): Hey, John. Just like you heard from Mikie, we're sort of a foot, foot and a half under snow. It's a wicked nor'easter.

What we try and do is make sure DOT, Department of Transportation, has the major thoroughfares cleared. We can only do that if you stay off the roads.

Then they coordinate with Eversource and U.I., our two electric utilities, make sure they can get access to any trees that are down, powers that are out. We try and prioritize hospitals and nursing homes, those places where folks are most vulnerable.

BERMAN: I appreciate your use of the word "wicked" there. Wicked in true New England fashion. A wicked bad nor'easter.

This is not the first storm this season that's hit Connecticut.

[08:40:01]

You know, you're just coming off another really bad one, too. How much is this taxing the systems there?

LAMONT: We have to aggregate salt as best we can. That storm we had in late December, you know, had a lot of snow, but it was lighter and fluffier snow. Easier for us to manage. This is heavy, wet snow. It starts freezing on the limbs. Then the limbs come down and take out power. Most of our power lines are above ground, because we're sort of a semi-rural state. So, that's what we're paying special attention to now.

I just urge everybody -- I know people start getting impatient, want to get back out on the roads, stay back. Let our guys do the job.

BERMAN: So, we got live pictures right now. You're inside in Hartford. We have live pictures right now from outside in Hartford, Connecticut, of an SUV. We can barely see it, by the way, because of the whiteout conditions there. And that car doesn't look to be going anywhere. And I imagine that not many cars will be going anywhere in Connecticut for some time.

When do you expect this to clear up today?

LAMONT: I'm hoping by early afternoon things lighten up. We've had a chance to catch up on our major roads. That gives Eversource a better opportunity to take care of things. Schools are closed. We had the UConn basketball game yesterday and the president of UConn held up a big sign saying, no classes on Monday. That created a little celebration.

BERMAN: What's the power situation right now in Connecticut?

LAMONT: We probably got about 20,000 folks without power right now. That's going to pick up as the winds continue to pick up. So that's what I really worry about. And that's going to take a little longer to fix. So, that's why we need patience.

BERMAN: Yes, people really just need to be careful still over the next few hours. The snow is still falling. The winds, still fierce. And with the branches being pulled down, the roads could really be treacherous.

Governor Ned Lamont, in Hartford this morning, thank you so much for this update. Stay safe.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you, John.

Tomorrow, President Trump is set to deliver the first State of the Union in his second term, of course. He'll have an uphill battle appealing to Americans as new CNN polling today shows record low approval for the president one year into his second term. Something else he'll have to answer for, his administration's handling of the Epstein files.

CNN has learned that the brother and sister-in-law of Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre will be at the State of the Union as guests of Representatives Suhas Subramanyam and Jamie Raskin. It comes just days after the arrest of disgraced former Prince Andrew in connection to revelations from the Epstein files.

With me now is Democratic congressman of Virginia, Suhas Subramanyam. He is sitting on the House Oversight Committee.

First of all, why was it important for you to bring the family of Virginia Giuffre to this State of the Union? What is the message you're hoping to send to the president?

REP. SUHAS SUBRAMANYAM (D-VA): The president is trying to get the American people to forget about what's happening with this coverup of the Epstein files. And I want the president to look them in the eyes, look the victims, look their families in the eyes and tell them that he's moved on and doesn't care about them anymore. Because that's what he's saying in public. And so, I want them to be there to hear it. I want him to tell them to their faces. I want an apology from the president to them for his handling of the Epstein files to date because he has continued this coverup despite promising he wouldn't. He has been anything but transparent. And he and the attorney general, Pam Bondi, have been violating the law. A law that he signed into law that would release all the files.

So, we want to continue our investigation. We want him to look them in the eyes and say that he's going to continue it or not.

SIDNER: The law was clear that all of the files were to be released, no matter who was, you know, potentially in some very, very deep potential legal trouble, that those names should be released, and instead some names of the victims have been released.

You said that released portions of the files suggest, as you put it, deep ties between the president and Jeffrey Epstein. What specifically are you referring to?

SUBRAMANYAM: Well, a lot of that is already out there. I mean the president was in Jeffrey Epstein's birthday book. The president actually had the DOJ redact certain files that talked about things that have -- that completely contradicted what he'd said before. He said that he kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago, but then a conversation between Epstein's lawyer and his lawyer showed otherwise. And that was redacted in the files. That has nothing to do with protecting victims.

So, there was clearly a connection between the president and Jeffrey Epstein. Our investigation isn't about the president. It wasn't supposed to be anything about the president. The president was supposed to be someone who helped us with our investigation. But instead, not only does he keep coming up in the files, but he's actively covering it up and having his administration cover it up.

[08:45:02]

And so that's why we have to continue to push and put the pressure on him to release all of the files

SIDNER: I'm curious what you think about what is happening in the U.K. where we have really seen movement, where authorities there, someone has been arrested, a very high level member of the royal family who has been stripped of his title and then arrested. The arrest of Prince Andrew.

When you look at what is happening here in America, where you heard from, you know, the authorities, the DOJ, that basically there's nothing -- there's no one that's going to face any kind of legal punishment. I mean what does that tell you about how we are handling it versus other nations?

SUBRAMANYAM: Isn't it unbelievable, a prince is actually getting arrested. And that hasn't happened in 400 years in the U.K. and yet we're not holding people accountable, like Les Wexner, who continues to skate around this issue and pretend like he never really knew Epstein that well personally. So, we are not holding people accountable the way they are in other countries. It's a shame. And I tie it directly to this Department of Justice, which has said that they are not going to continue investigations into this matter, except when it comes to Democrats. They've made it partisan. And the president has tried to make it partisan.

So, we're going to continue our investigation. We're not going to let the president stop us. We're going to find information from other sources and people who think that they have escaped, that they're not going to be held accountable. We will find the documents eventually, and we will hold them accountable.

SIDNER: I do want to finish asking you, not about the Epstein files, but about something that has just happened where we have seen violence that is exploding in and around Puerto Vallarta in Mexico after the killing of a cartel leader known as El Mencho. His name is Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes. And there is this situation where Americans are stuck there. We're even seeing them scramble around in the airport as the violence started to explode.

Have you learned anything about what is happening there, and what will happen with those Americans who are stranded there? SUBRAMANYAM: Yes, this cartel was one of the most violent and militant

cartels out there. And so, this was predictable.

I think one of the things I'm disappointed about is that Mexican authorities did not alert, at least our country, in advance of this so that we would know to at least put out some form of travel advisory. But clearly, they wanted to do this discreetly. And by doing this, they've actually put a lot of folks in harm's way.

And so, we ask those who are right now in Puerto Vallarta and other parts of Mexico affected, American citizens, to reach out to us, reach out to our office and other offices and we will help you navigate this very turbulent time. And moving forward, I'd like to see a more collaborative relationship between Mexico and the United States. One of the problems we're having in our diplomacy, in foreign policy right now is our allies don't trust us anymore. You know, where our DOD is giving away state secrets, or simply we're burning them over and over again. So, we need to restore that trust and have a great relationship with Mexico so that we can be collaborative in these types of operations.

SIDNER: And just as I understand it, the U.S. did help with intel according to our reporting, according to the White House there.

So, it appears the U.S. knew something about it. The Americans clearly did not, who were stuck there in this madness right now. And so, there are a lot of questions that need to be asked.

But thank you so much, Congressman, for coming on and walking us through that. We will certainly want to hear from you after the State of the Union to see what happens there with the Giuffre family.

Appreciate you.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: And as Sara was just discussing there, American tourists stranded and told to shelter in place in Mexico as this wave of violence is still unfolding. One of those Americans now stuck is our guest.

And a woman wrote a book to help her kids grieving the death of their father. And now she is on trial for his murder.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:53:08]

BOLDUAN: A vacation paradise has turned into something more looking like a war zone right now. Thousands of tourists are left stranded in popular Mexico resort locations like Puerto Vallarta following the military operation that killed Mexico's most powerful drug cartel leader. The death of kingpin El Mencho triggered a violent backlash from cartel members kind of retaliating. And it left people in several Mexican states caught in the middle of the backlash. Just look at some of these images. Cars, torched. Businesses, attacked. Roads, blocked. Airlines suspended flights in and out of several Mexican cities, including Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara.

The message from the U.S. State Department to U.S. citizens, shelter in place. Do not leave hotels. And stay put until, well, really, I guess, the smoke clears.

Joining me right now is Scott Posilkin. He's from Colorado. He's been on vacation in Puerto Vallarta.

And quite a turn this vacation has taken, Scott. Thank you for jumping on here.

SCOTT POSILKIN, AMERICAN STRANDED IN PUERTO VALLARTA: Yes.

BOLDUAN: I mean, I was -- you were talking to my producers ahead of -- ahead of us speaking, and you were headed out with a group of friends to go snorkeling and then kind of got -- found yourself essentially trapped on the road, not knowing where to go in the middle of some of this violence. Can you just describe what happened?

POSILKIN: Yes. Sure. So, I'm down here with a group of about 13 of us. And yesterday morning -- or, yes, yesterday morning, about seven of us left to go snorkel. We were in our shuttle, which was driven by a local. And we were just heading down to the actual town of Puerto Vallarta from where -- Puerto Vallarta, from where we're staying here.

And we were on the road and we saw a bus, like a full coach-sized bus, horizontal across the road.

[08:55:00]

At first we thought it was a car accident, just like the bus had hit a tree or something like that. But then we noticed people kind of running away from the bus in a way they wouldn't from an accident.

And kind of while we were registering, a man with a gun came around the other side of the bus and kind of waved it at us and gave us kind of a hand signal to reverse.

So, one of the women who'd been on the bus ran up to the shuttle and asked if she could get in. And, of course, we let her in. And she explained that they'd all been forced off the bus by armed men, who were going to light the bus on fire.

We took her in our shuttle, and we tried to go back in the opposite direction, actually to go back to our Airbnb, and we ran into another car on fire. So, at this point, we were sandwiched between these two cars. So, we took the only turn we had available to us, and went down to a smaller beach. And after just kind of just talking to the locals and deciding what to do, they said the safest thing would be for us to just go out on the water and hang there for a bit.

So, we went on the water and we hung out there. And crazy to watch, you know, the town burning and all these cars being set on fire one by one. Yes, and getting back from that was also quite a journey.

BOLDUAN: Wow. POSILKIN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: I mean, if -- this was yesterday. You guys are now back at the -- at the house.

POSILKIN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: And I assume just staying put.

POSILKIN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: How are you feeling about all this? I mean, I've vacationed in Puerto Vallarta many a time. I can't imagine this happening.

POSILKIN: No. It is very surreal and shocking. I also come to Mexico quite a bit. I've been to weddings, you know, in Tulum, and I've been to Cancun and lots of other places, Mexico City. Like -- but this, I've never seen anything like this in Mexico ever. And if -- and the locals -- our local who was running the boat that we are on, the local who was driving us told us that they grew up here and they've never seen anything like this in their lives.

And, you know, we were definitely scared yesterday to, you know, we had to walk back to the house on that road. And that was pretty harrowing. We saw some people on motorcycles with weapons. And that was pretty scary. But we made it back to the house.

And now that we're all back here and together, you know, I'm lucky I'm with a large group of my friends, and we're stocked up on food and anything else we would need. So, we feel safe. I think we're all wondering how we're supposed to get to the airport with -- between all the cars on the road burnt out and all the streets shut down. And I think all of our flights being canceled. But we're all registered with the State Department. And we're just going to have to be hearing what will happen then.

BOLDUAN: Well, and that's what was going to ask you, Scott, what -- yes, what have you heard from the U.S. embassy or the State Department, because clearly you all now need to get out of Puerto Vallarta.

POSILKIN: Yes. Yes. We have not heard much. I saw -- I manually went and looked at the travel update, which, you know, as you said, is shelter in place. But beyond that we really haven't heard anything. We're going to try calling later today. I've tried calling this morning. And first I kind of got one -- a voice recording that said, you know, that shelter in place order and that more instructions to follow. But other than that, we haven't heard anything from anyone. But we are going to work today to really reach out and see what our best course of action is and to see what, you know, when we can stop sheltering and go home.

But, yes, I'm hoping that they'll work with us to help us get out quick.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Well, Scott, thank you and best to everyone that you're with. But thank you for coming on. And we'll stay in very close touch and hope that next time we're speaking you're getting out of there and back to Colorado real quick. Thank you so much.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, what a great interview, and we feel for those who are stuck there.

On our radar for you this morning, new surveillance video showing the moment burglars smashed through a wall to steal valuable Pokemon cards from a store in California. The store owner estimates that more than $100,000 worth of trading cards were taken. What the thieves left behind, a giant hole in the wall. The shop owner says now his most expensive cards will be hidden in a vault.

All right, there is this anti-billionaire group which calls itself Everyone Hates Elon, and they have turned their sights on former Prince Andrew. They staged a protest inside The Louvre in Paris by hanging that wild photo of the former prince, taken by Reuters, as he left the police station last week following his arrest linked to the Epstein files. They added a label that said, "he's sweating now, 2026," a reference to the former prince famously saying he doesn't sweat.

[09:00:01]

The photo and caption were on display for about 15 minutes before the staff realized and removed it.