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Snow, Ice Snarl Roads, Runways; Flights Cancelled; Desmond Tutu Leads Mandela Tribute; Obama Leads Delegation To South Africa; Defense Secretary In Pakistan For Talks; Hagel Met With Troops But Not Karzai; Congress Has Long To Do List

Aired December 09, 2013 - 13:00   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting today from Washington. It doesn't seem to matter where you are in the United States today. We all have one thing in common, pretty much miserable weather. If you're headed to the airport, pack your patience. More than a thousand flights already have been canceled today.

On the roads, it's no better. This was the scene in Yonkers, New York outside New York City. Police say 30 people were injured in a 24-plus car pile-up on the Bronx River Parkway late last night.

One reminder, falling ice also posing a huge threat. A sheet of melting ice fell to the ground in Plano, Texas, damaging at least eight parked cars. Thankfully no people were on street at the time.

CNN is covering all these developing weather stories for you. Our meteorologist, Chad Myers, will be joining us in a moment with the forecast.

Let's go to CNN's Rosa Flores first. She's watching the comings and goings out there on the New Jersey turnpike. What's going on out there, Rosa?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, one of the things that we're dealing with is low visibility so all the drivers out there are using their low beams. There is precipitation in certain areas so they're using the windshield wipers. And it's cold. It's in the 30s. So, they're also cranking up the heat.

Let me set the scene for you. Take a look. You can see that visibility is low. The clouds are low. So, drivers are being very careful out there.

You're taking a look at the New Jersey turnpike. Traffic is moving at a pretty good clip right now. Now, the Office of Emergency Management tells us that they're dealing with two things, the southern part of New Jersey, they're dealing with ponding and flooding. And in the northern parts of the state, they're dealing with snow, sleet, ice on the roads so it can be pretty treacherous.

The Department of Transportation said that they were preparing for the absolute worst. They have about 2,000 pieces of equipment that can spread salt or that can plow the roads. They used 800 overnight and right now, they are assessing the situation.

I talked to state police, as well. They tell me there are no major accidents in the state right now. But, of course, they're monitoring that situation.

We talked to a couple of drivers just so they could tell us a little bit about the road conditions. And here's what one had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL HANCOX: It wasn't too bad. It was just really slow going. Cars -- the speed was about 10 to 15 miles per hour for quite a long time. And then, the Delaware Memorial Bridge was closed for a while because there was an accident on it. So, it took about seven hours to go what normally takes two hours.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: And here's the bad news. More snow is expected, Wolf, so the state assessing the situation right now to develop a plan for the coming hours and, of course, for tomorrow, as well -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Rosa, thanks very much.

Let's get the forecast. Chad Myers is standing by at the CNN Severe Weather Center. Much of the U.S. experiencing these miserable freezing weather conditions at the same time, is that right, Chad?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. You know, we have blizzards going on in the Dakotas, temperatures, wind while factors 20, 30 degrees below zero. In the Northeast, snows like this. Snow totals from Newark, Delaware at 12 inches. And even into Philadelphia had eight inches of snow with this. LaGuardia, Newark, Philadelphia all slow and that's going to be the story for the rest of the day. This isn't going to get better really today.

We will see another round of snow tomorrow for you, Wolf. Four to fix more inches for BWY, for DCA, up to Philadelphia. It's not here now but another storm, another small low is running up the same place that the low moved up this weekend. We're not going to see enough ice or as much ice in D.C. as we saw. This is going to be a snow event. Snow covering up the icy stuff that's already there so you can't see it.

It starts to snow tomorrow morning in D.C. I suspect there will be many school closings. All the way up to BWI, in Baltimore, into Philadelphia and then offshore. This is a quick hitter. This is come -- it's gone in 12 hours from when it starts. But four to six inches in 12 hours will put the beltway, will put a lot of roads at a standstill.

Now, it's gone on Wednesday, it's completely gone. And here's the cold we talked about. Minot, it is three below zero. That's the thermometer. That's when you look at that red alcohol in the thermometer, it says 3 below. When you walk outside, your face feels like 21 below. And so do all the pets and all the animals out there. Make sure the pets have some kind of cover from this wind. Make sure that they have water or at least maybe just bring them inside if you can, Wolf. This is really cold.

BLITZER: Excellent advice from Chad as usual. Chad, thank you. We'll stay on top of the weather story for all of our viewers.

Nearly 100 world leaders are making the trek to South Africa right now to honor Nelson Mandela. Crowds continue to gather outside Mandela's home to mourn his death and to celebrate his life. Tomorrow, as many as 80,000 people will pack the soccer stadium in Johannesburg for the official memorial service. One of the last known photos of Mandela has now been made public. The touching image shows the iconic leader holding hands with his three-year-old grandson that was taken, by the way, in May.

And last hour, Archbishop Desmond Tutu took part in a special tribute t Mandela. In his remarks, he said, what a fantastic gift god gave us -- gave to us in this Mandela.

President Obama is among those heading -- heads of state traveling to South Africa right now. The president and the first lady left this morning aboard Air Force One. They're accompanied by the former President George W. Bush and Laura Bush and the former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton. They'll be joined in South Africa by Bill Clinton and former President Jimmy Carter and Mrs. Carter.

Our White House Correspondent Brianna Keilar is standing by. Brianna, what do we know about the president's itinerary and his specific role in the memorial service?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, he will be among six foreign dignitaries who will be giving remarks during what is really an extensive program to take place in South Africa honoring Nelson Mandela. He is on this historic flight to what we're expecting will be the largest gathering of world leaders in Africa's history. He is preparing his remarks as we speak. We're told by a White House official that this is not something that he had worked on until he was, I guess, instructed or invited by the South African government to make these remarks at the memorial service.

But there's also another sort of historic element to this trip, this flight that President Obama is on right now, Wolf. Imagine this, sitting around the conference table of the private conference room on board Air Force One, the Obamas as well as former President George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, also, of course, the former first lady. And all of them were told by a White House official discussing their various experiences with Nelson Mandela which span over three administrations.

So, quite a conversation you'd want to be a fly on the wall for. And we are expecting, as well, that President Obama may be touching base with Nelson Mandela's wife, Graca Machel, when he's in South Africa. This is something he wants to do. White House officials say they're trying to make it happen. It's not definite at this point but certainly something that he is interested in doing, Wolf. And also, of course, this is such a logistical feat when you think of all of these world leaders going to South Africa and just how big of an effort this is to get President Obama there. But we're told by the secret service, Wolf, that because Nelson Mandela has been ill for so long, unfortunately, this is something they had some time to plan for.

BLITZER: There could be a little diplomatic awkwardness up on the podium there. I'm looking at the official program that has now been released by the South African government, Brianna. We see President Obama will pay special tribute. These are tributes by foreign dignitaries, as you point out. Six of them have been selected. The leaders from the U.S., Brazil, the vice president of China, Namibia, India and President --

KEILAR: Cuba.

BLITZER: -- Raul Castro of Cuba is going to be up on the same stage with the president of the United States. I wonder if they'll shake hands, if they'll exchange words. Could be a little awkward since the U.S. does not have the full diplomatic relations with Cuba and still Cuba is regarded as a state sponsor of international terrorism. Have they said anything about -- at the White House about this?

KEILAR: The White House has not commented on this specifically, Wolf. I expect that we'll get some comment on this as we just have gotten the program really in the time that President Obama has been on board Air Force One and a lot of officials are travelling with him. But, yes, fascinating because the U.S. and Cuba former cold war enemies have had very much limited ties. There's been some conciliatory language, I guess you could say, in recent years. But certainly this is not any sort of relationship that you see on a day-to-day basis the way President Obama has with other leaders.

But I think what's sort of fascinating here and that a lot of people who are looking at this program and are fascinated by the fact that President Obama is speaking first and Raul Castro is speaking last that in a way it signifies just how much of a unifier Nelson Mandela was not only in his life but also in his death that you have these very interesting and disparate folks who are going to be at this event in South Africa -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes. When he was inaugurated back in 1994, Nelson Mandela, Al Gore, the then Vice President of the United States, represented the United States. But representing Cuba at the time at the inauguration in South Africa was Fidel Castro, who was then president of Cuba. So, there was an awkward moment at that time. We'll watch that closely. Thanks very much, Brianna Keilar over at the White House.

KEILAR: Thank you.

BLITZER: A long list of pending problems with very little time to make progress. That's what Congress is looking at as they get closer and closer to going back on vacation. We're taking a close look at some of those priorities hanging in the balance right now

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: The defense secretary, Chuck Hagel, arrived in Pakistan today for talks on security and U.S. drone strikes. Pakistan is pushing the U.S. to halt the drone strikes while the U.S. is urging Pakistan to keep supply routes into Afghanistan open.

During a stop over the weekend in Afghanistan, the defense secretary visited U.S. troops, thanked them for their service. He did not, repeat not meet with the Afghan President Hamid Karzai who apparently didn't even invite him in for coffee despite what the U.S. has done in Afghanistan over these years, spending hundreds of billions of dollars, losing thousands of troops. I was pretty shocked that Hagel, the Defense Secretary of the United States, was not apparently invited by President Hamid Karzai for a meeting.

It's pointed though because the Afghan leader has delayed signing a security agreement to extend the U.S. military troop presence in Afghanistan for another 10 years. Hagel downplayed the significance of not meeting with Karzai. He says the Afghan defense minister assured him the security agreement will be signed in, quote, "a timely manner." Right now, we're almost -- about 50,000 U.S. troops are still in Afghanistan, supposed to stay most of them throughout this year.

But all of them were supposed to be out by the end of 2014, the coming year, unless there's a security agreement in place. Then there could be eight to 8,000 to 10,000 or 12,000 U.S. troops for another 10 years at a cost of billions of dollars a year. But so far, Karzai has refused to meet the U.S. conditions to allow those kinds of troops to remain in the country. A very awkward situation between the U.S. and Afghanistan right now.

Other news we're following. They've earned the reputation of the do nothing Congress but lawmakers on Capitol Hill have a long list of to do things that they need to do leading up to the holiday recess. Among the items on the list, budget negotiations to prevent another partial government shutdown, passing a foreign bill to avoid a dramatic increase in milk prices, deciding whether to pass an extension of the unemployment insurance payments and a defense spending bill delayed in the Senate. Joe Johns is here with more on the unfinished business that we're watching, budget negotiations. They really haven't worked on a budget since 2011, but they're close this time.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No. That's right. I mean the target, this deadline, is the end of the week. But if they miss the deadline, there's no immediate consequence except more stress, more pressure. And there's still some optimism that the negotiators can actually reach some kind of meager deal that heads off another showdown like we had last year, even though this isn't the best environment for Democrats and Republicans to try to work together.

What they want, Wolf, is a deal that sets spending levels for fiscal year 2014 and 2015, and this would be a deal that gives the agencies a work around from the infamous Budget Control Act, which sort of tied the hands of the agencies and slowed spending to a trickle.

BLITZER: Yes, there's another sensitive issue that's part of all of this, extending unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed, if you will. The Kentucky senator, Rand Paul, he spoke about this. He thinks that expending those benefits beyond the current 26 weeks would be a disservice to all of those unemployed. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RAND PAUL (R), KENTUCKY: There was a study that came out a few months ago, and it said, if you have a worker that's been unemployed for four weeks and on unemployment insurance and one that's on 99 weeks, which would you hire? Every employer, nearly 100 percent, said they will always hire the person who's been out of work four weeks. When you allow people to be on unemployment insurance for 99 weeks, you're causing them to become part of this perpetual unemployed group in our economy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: You know, I want to get your response on what we just heard from him, but there's a news conference underway. The Sandy Hook Elementary School parents are now speaking out. I want to hear what they're saying.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Since that day, we have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of kindness, love, prayers, generosity, received from the entire world. To simply say thank you is not enough to express our sincere gratitude.

In the midst of our grief, we have come to realize that we want our loved ones to be remembered for the lives they lived and how they touched our hearts. We have been uplifted by the support of so many people. And we would like to keep that spirit of unity and love alive in all we do to remember those we so dearly miss.

It is with this in mind that we have created the mysandyhookfamily.org website. This website is intended to serve as a singular place of sharing, communication, and contact with the families of those who lost their lives that day. Mysandyhookfamily.org allows us the opportunity to honor those taken from us so violently.

Krista (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello, I'm Joann (ph).

We ask that you understand that each of us, each family, is unique in our own experiences following in this tragedy and we each have our own voice and perspective. By creating this website, we hope to offer an opportunity to communicate with our families and honor the ones that we love, while at the same time respecting each family's individual journey and unique experiences.

On the one-year mark of this horrific day, we know that many people across the country will be thinking of our children and educators so tragically taken from us and wondering how to help. We ask that you consider performing an act of kindness or volunteering with a charitable organization in your own local community. We hope that some small measure of good may be returned to the world. This concludes our family statement. I'd like to add that our family will be lighting a candle on the eve of 12/14, the last night we spent with our sweet Charlotte.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we will be lighting a candle for our beautiful little girl Jessica.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We will be lighting a candle on behalf Jesse McCord Lewis.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to light a candle in honor of our daughter Emilie.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We will light a candle for my mom, Dawn Hochsprung.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We will light a candle for my older sister, Victoria.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We will be lighting a candle for my sweet boy Jack.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We will be lighting a candle in honor of our beautiful girl Grace.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We will be lighting a candle for our gorgeous daughter Avielle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll be lighting a candle for our beautiful daughter Ana.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We will be lighting a candle for our sweet son Daniel.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We'll be lighting a candle for my daughter Lauren.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We will light a candle for Chase.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will be lighting a candle for our irrepressible Benny.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That concludes the formal statement. Thank you.

BLITZER: And our deepest, deepest condolences to those wonderful, wonderful families.

Our own Poppy Harlow is covering this story for us. We'll take a quick break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Markets are taking a bit of a pause today after a big jump on Friday. The S&P 500 and the Dow both soared after the jobs report Friday morning. We're checking the big board right now. Check it out. The Dow Jones up about 38 points. Investors are now waiting to see retail sales, inflation numbers both due out later this week.

It's official, the newly merged American Airlines and U.S. Airways now the world's biggest airline. The two airlines signed the final deal this morning. The U.S. Justice Department originally tried to block the merger saying it would hurt consumers. American Airlines CEO Doug Parker spoke to CNN this morning and addressed concerns about airfares going up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOUG PARKER, CEO, AMERICAN AIRLINES: What I know is, this merger won't have any impact on that. This is a merger of two airlines that are highly complimentary. Only 12 of our routes overlap out of over 900 routes. We're going to put these two airlines together. We need all the airplanes we have. We need all the employees. So we're not going to put the airlines together and reduce the supply of seats. So nothing about this merger should therefore - should result in anything changes on prices that wouldn't have happened otherwise.

BLITZER: The new airline will fly under the American Airlines name, by the way.

Former San Diego Mayor Bob Filner appeared in court last hour to hear his sentence. He was given 90 days of home confinement and three years' probation. He also has to wear a GPS device so he can be tracked. Before the sentence, Filner apologized to his family, former constituents and to the women he, quote, "hurt." As part of the plea bargain, Filner pleaded guilty to sexually harassing three women, though more than a dozen women came forward with complaints. Filner resigned as the mayor back in August.

Still ahead here in the NEWSROOM, newly disclosed documents allege the NSA is not only gathering data from France and Germany, but also from various places that you might not know about. We're going to explain the latest spying allegations. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)