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85 Million People in the Path of Epic Snowstorm; Virginia Braces for Widespread Power Outages; Republicans Clash Over GOP Frontrunners; Clinton Backer Blasts New Sanders Ad; Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired January 22, 2016 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:00] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

For millions of people along the East Coast, this could be the storm they will someday tell their grandchildren about. Overnight this monster storm has raked across the south, dumping freezing rain, sleet and snow from Arkansas to the Carolinas. Parts of the Carolinas could see a foot of snow or more and the storm will only get more ferocious as it churns up the East Coast.

Washington, trapped in the bull's eye. Up to 30 inches of snow. 60- mile-per-hour winds are possible.

This is what a couple of inches did just two nights ago. It crippled the city. People apparently do not want a repeat. These are grocery store shelves in the D.C. area. As you can see, they are picked clean by people who want to hunker down for the -- my goodness, is that crazy or what?

New York City also in the danger zone with more dire predictions saying two feet possible and all 29 million Americans start the day under a blizzard warning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK: Everyone is on high alert right now. We take this very, very seriously. And the most important thing is for the people of New York City to recognize Saturday and Sunday don't go anywhere. Don't assume you're going to be traveling. Stay indoors. Let our Sanitation Department get out there and clear the streets because they've got a lot to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: CNN correspondents are covering all of the angles of this major weather event as it unfolds. Chris Frates is in Washington, D.C. ahead of the storm. Meteorologist Chad Myers is in the weather center here in New York City, and Polo Sandoval is in Charlotte, North Carolina, where the snow as you can see has already started -- actually the snow has fallen.

So let's begin with you, Polo. Good morning. POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT:: Hey, Carol. Good

morning. You know, here in the heart of Charlotte we've seen just about all kinds of precipitation. We saw the drizzle overnight, then early in the morning we saw really that fluffy snow.

Now that's been settled and so now what we're seeing at this hour is really this frozen precipitation, which is what worries officials so much because now when you have -- when you add ice into the equation here, you tend to have power outages, a lot of travel trouble. Obviously, a dangerous situation on the roads and highways. So I look around. Not only the streets surrounding the park, but also the highways nearby.

I can tell you that they're relatively clear. So it does appear that the people here in south and north, and also South Carolina, and also about four other states that are in a state of emergency, are at least listening to officials. They are heeding those warnings. They are staying inside. We've only seen a few people make their way out on to the streets to take their dogs out for a walk. But aside from that, it really is incredible. It's the start of what's expected to be a very busy weekend and yet the streets of uptown Charlotte are empty at this hour -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And that is a good thing. Polo Sandoval, reporting live from Charlotte, North Carolina.

Of course, the timing of the storm critical. Chad Myers has traveled up here to New York City before the big storm hits, so tell us when.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: D.C. about -- pretty soon. Almost now. I mean, you're talking about Petersburg getting snow. It's already been snowing in Richmond for quite a few hours. So yes, it's on its way.

This is -- this is not a near miss. This is a direct hit. This is what we expected. This is what the models have been predicting now for 72 hours. Snow into Charleston, into Raleigh, mixing into that ice, sleet and ice into Charlotte and Asheville. But 29 million people in a blizzard warning right now. That is the get home, hunker down, stay there. Don't plan on going out for quite some time.

Twenty-nine million people. There's your blizzard warning from Long Island all the way down past and into D.c. and that means that even though we're talking about 24 inches of snow in Baltimore and the District of Columbia, maybe Philadelphia and a little bit points to the west of there and as far north as almost New York City, almost.

We will have wind gusts of 40 to 50 miles per hour. So if you get a two-foot snowfall, it's going to be zero in some spots where the wind has scoured it clean. And then an eight-foot drift right next to it. So that's the weather we're going to continue to see. If you're on the road, you're not going to get through an eight-foot drift. You're not going to be able to see where you're going because blizzard conditions means that the winds are so strong, there's no visibility either, Carol. COSTELLO: That's just incredible, Chad. OK. So we will take your

advice. We will hunker down and apparently in Washington, D.C., everyone has groceries, so they're cool. They won't starve.

MYERS: I hope they weren't the last one to that store. Oh, my goodness.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: I've never seen any shelves emptier than that.

MYERS: There wasn't even in the (INAUDIBLE).

COSTELLO: I know.

MYERS: Holy cow.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: Thanks, Chad.

All right. So less than three hours from now, federal agencies in D.C. will shut their doors well ahead of the blizzard's arrival.

CNN's Chris Frates is in the northeast in the big salt barn. He joins us now with more. Good morning.

CHRIS FRATES, CNN INVESTIGATIONS UNIT CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Carol. So these salt trucks have been coming through all morning. We've been here since the crack of dawn. And they're loading up in preparation for the storm. And for the past few days, officials here were trying to convince a pretty jittery public that they were, in fact, ready for this storm. That's because on Wednesday night we saw a small squall come through. Just put down about an inch of snow around the region and have brought the region to a standstill.

[10:05:02] There was cars skidding all over the place. Hundreds of accidents. Even President Obama's motorcade got caught in it. He was coming from Joint Base Andrews to the White House. That's a 20- minute, half hour ride almost. It took the president an hour to get home. And for all the rest of us, many people, five, six hours to go 10 miles or so. They got out of their cars and just walked. Some ran out of gas.

Now D.C. mayor, Muriel Bowser, apologize for that yesterday, said that they weren't ready and they're going to be ready this time. And that's what you're seeing behind me, is these guys getting ready. And D.C., Maryland, Virginia, all have issued a state of emergency. That gives the federal government help if they need to call them in, even including the National Guard.

And as you mentioned, the federal government closing at noon today. D.C. city government also closing at noon. They didn't even bring the kids into school today. The kids got a snow day before the snow even started to fall. And that's largely because they want to try to keep the streets clear. They want to get cars off the road early so that these big plows can get their job done and hopefully get ahead of this storm and avoid the disaster we saw on Wednesday and Thursday -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I hope so. Chris Frates reporting live from northeast Washington. Thank you.

Of course massive snowfall is being forecast for Virginia, too, today. Right now hundreds of people are without power. And that number will probably rise.

I want to bring in Kevin Curtis of Virginia Dominion Power. He's the vice president of Technical Solutions.

Good morning, Kevin.

KEVIN CURTIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS, VIRGINIA DOMINION POWER: Good morning, Carol. Thank you for having me.

COSTELLO: Thanks for being here. So where is the power out right now in Virginia?

CURTIS: It's a small number of outages right now that we expect could be significant as the storm grows. It's certainly a significant weather event and we're certainly prepared for some widespread outages and have about 4,000 resources strategically placed around our service area.

COSTELLO: When you say significant, do you have a number attached to that?

CURTIS: No, we don't. We're certainly prepared for the worst. And at this point in the storm knowing that the potential for a wet snow and some significant winds cause us some -- obviously a lot of concern for extensive outages because of what the wet snow and winds do to trees and the potential to affect our electric system.

So at this point, we're prepared for extensive outages but I wouldn't try to predict a specific number this early in the event.

COSTELLO: Yes. Those big, old beautiful trees in Virginia, they get weighted down with snow and they interfere with the power lines. We know how that goes. So what advice do you have for residents today?

CURTIS: It can -- it aligns with what you've heard from others this morning. Our customers should be prepared for the potential for power outages. We're certainly concerned about their welfare and the impact that no power has when it's cold outside and it's cold in your home. But I'd be prepared with food and water and batteries and recognize the possibility exists for widespread multi-day outages. But that --

COSTELLO: So --

CURTIS: We are committed with the resources that we have to restore service as quickly as possible.

COSTELLO: So, Kevin, you know people are going to be flooding the phone lines. Should people call or just wait?

CURTIS: Yes, they do. Each, you know, customer should call the number for each of their utilities. For Dominion it's 1-866-DOM-HELP. Any time that your power's out, customers should call their respective power provider to make sure that we all know exactly who's out and where those -- the damage is located. I would at this point caution customers in the interest of safety to recognize that wire down may still be energized. And at all times to stay away from any wire that's on the ground. And make sure that they call their power provider to let us know that that safety issue exists out in the -- in the neighborhood.

COSTELLO: All right. Kevin, I'll let you get to work because I know you have a long, long weekend ahead of you. Kevin Curtis --

CURTIS: Yes, we do. Thank you for having us.

COSTELLO: You do. Thanks, Kevin.

All right. Let's talk about flying because more than 5,000 flights have already been canceled. A live look now at Reagan National in D.C. Travelers frantically trying to get out before that epic snow moves in. Roughly half of the flights scheduled for tomorrow are still scheduled at this time, but that could change. The snow impacting several major airports. A more drastic approach just taken in Philadelphia. All flights to and from Philadelphia's international airport have been canceled for Saturday.

Rene Marsh is in D.C. talking to travelers. We'll check in with her later this hour.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, forget he Democrats, Republicans trying to take down the two top GOP frontrunners. It's getting downright vicious.

[10:09:40]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It's war. Not just between Democrats and Republicans but between Republicans. One week before the Iowa caucuses, establishment Republicans are trying to topple the top two Republicans, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. Look no farther than the "National Review." 22 prominent conservatives, 22 of them, writing a manifesto on Trump, calling him everything from a charlatan to astoundingly ignorant and not fit to be president.

On the Cruz side of the coin, senior GOP leaders including Orrin Hatch, Dan Coats and Jon Cornyn joining with their voices -- joining their voices with former senator Bob Dole saying a Cruz presidency would be detrimental to the country.

Cruz firing back on "GMA" this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you're someone in this country who thinks we need more Republicans in Washington to cut a deal with the Democrats to agree with Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, then you ought to vote for Donald Trump.

I would suggest that the next commander-in-chief instead of living and dying by the daily polls and by the latest Twitter storm should focus on identifying our enemies and doing whatever is necessary to keep this country safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[10:15:13] COSTELLO: CNN Politics executive editor Mark Preston is in Washington with more on this. What do you make of this, Mark?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Well, Carol, the bromance is over. It was only, what, a week ago or, you know, maybe just a few more days longer than that where Donald Trump and Ted Cruz were friendly to each other. That they weren't going to attack each other. In fact, Ted Cruz made a visit -- visited Donald Trump late last year as well. \

However, when you're locked into a big fight for the Republican nomination, you're going to see them going after one another. Now Donald Trump never a shrinking violet took after the "National Review" last night after he heard that they put out a special issue attacking him.

Let's listen to what Donald Trump had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: "The National Review" is a dying paper. It's got -- its circulation is way down. Not very many people read it anymore. I mean, people don't even think about "The National Review." So I guess they want to get a little publicity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PRESTON: And, you know, Carol, I think that's probably the first of many jabs we'll hear from Donald Trump at the "National Review." As you said, it wasn't just the "National Review" editors, it was also folks who are very important in Republican conservative circles such a Glenn Beck, Erick Erickson and certainly some others.

Now this comes as a new CNN-ORC poll shows that Donald Trump continues to lead the pack here in Iowa. Let's take a quick look at these numbers right now, Carol, 37 percent of Iowa caucus goers are supporting Donald Trump in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Ted Cruz at 26 percent.

What this poll shows us, though, is that Ben Carson, the social conservative, certainly one social conservatives were rallying behind has lost an incredible amount of support. That support now is being divided up between Marco Rubio, a little bit to Ted Cruz and a little bit to Donald Trump. But this race is certainly not over. Let's look at these numbers right now.

Carol, if you look at this number right now, it shows you that half of caucus goers, Republican caucus goers, have decided who their going to support. That still leaves the other half in the final 10 days to make a decision -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Mark Preston, you're actually in Iowa where the action is. There's a different kind of action in D.C., and I'm sure you're glad you're missing that action.

Mark Preston, thanks so much.

Things between the Democrats are getting downright nasty over this Bernie Sanders ad. Well, I wish I could show it to you, but I cannot. We must have that ad. Clinton supporter David Brock says the ad featuring Simon and Garfunkel is focused on white voters. He told the Associated Press, quote, "From this ad it seems black lives don't matter much to Bernie Sanders." And if I could show you that ad, you could see there's like a million faces shown all over the screen and -- oh, here it is. You'll see what I'm talking about now. Put it up there.

All right. As I said, David Brock, who's a Hillary Clinton supporter, told the Associated Press, from this ad it seems black lives don't seem to matter much to Bernie Sanders.

With me now, Mindy Finn, she's a Republican political consultant and founder of Empowered Women, and Keith Boykin, who's a Democratic strategist.

Welcome to both of you.

KEITH BOYKIN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Good morning.

MINDY FINN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning. So, Keith, the Sanders' camp called Brock a mudslinging, right-wing extremist who should not be working for Hillary Clinton. How do you see this?

BOYKIN: Well, I don't understand David Brock's attack or the point behind his being the messenger for the attack. This is a brilliant ad from Bernie Sanders' campaign. The ad is very hopeful. It's optimistic. It's inspiring. It's one of the best ads I've seen since the 2008 Barack Obama ads.

The problem is, and I think Brock is right about this, it is a very white ad. The first 30 people you see in the ad are all white. However, it's targeted for the first two states in the primary process, Iowa in particular, and New Hampshire, both of which are very, very white states. Unrepresentative of the larger Democratic electorate and of the Democratic base. So I think it's going to be a very effective ad especially for those first state Iowa and also for New Hampshire. And I think Bernie Sanders --

COSTELLO: Yes, but, Keith -- Keith, isn't Bernie Sanders having trouble with minority voters?

BOYKIN: He absolutely is having difficulty reaching minority voters. Hillary Clinton is doing very well, particularly in South Carolina and the SEC primary states in the south. But I think that will be her firewall, at least she's hoping it will be her firewall. So I think he has to do more to reach out to African-American voters.

His comments about reparations last week or this week that were criticized by Ta-Nehisi Coates and others, I think will force him to sort of up his game and trying to reach out to people of color.

We could be facing some sort of division in the party here between the traditional African-American minority voters in the party and the younger, whiter, more liberal voters in the party. I think we've got to sort of work on reconciling that.

[10:20:04] COSTELLO: All right. You can see Bernie Sanders on the stump in New Hampshire.

So on the Republican side, conservatives are split over Trump and Cruz. North Carolina Senator Burr said in a private meeting, he'd actually rather vote for Bernie Sanders over Ted Cruz, although he later denied saying that.

So, Mindy, could you say it's a Republican war to topple -- to topple their own candidates?

FINN: Well, I would correct one thing. I don't think the conservatives are just in a decision point between Trump and Cruz. I think many would like to decide about somebody else, but Trump and Cruz are topping the polls right now. And so they're in a moment of acceptance that if it comes down to these two guys, who would we rather have or who, in fact, would be the worst of the two bad options?

That's how a lot of conservatives are approaching it. The Republicans, I should say. And so, you know, I think that it's not so much a war. I mean, let's see what happens with the voters. But it's really interesting --

COSTELLO: You don't think it's so much a war? Have you ever -- have you ever experienced something like this happening during a primary race?

FINN: It is the most contested primary. And I think what's so interesting is a lot of the -- I hate to use the word establishment because that's really an expansive definition at this point, but they're really shocked at Donald Trump's longevity in this race. So many expected him to fade. And now he tops all polls. He's led nationally, he's led in early states for months and months and months. So there really shouldn't be a shock that at this point it looks like he is the frontrunner. He has the biggest, straightest shot to be the nominee.

And many are kind of swallowing that poison pill and at a point of acceptance. But what's interesting is that, you know, these two guys, you know, maybe the establishment doesn't to want come around to either, but Donald Trump -- he's this cult of personality and he's winning over a lot of Republican professionals by that personality, too. I think they kind of see him as this affable guy who plays a jerk on TV, where Ted Cruz, it's this personality that they think he's a jerk who's trying to play an affable guy on TV.

And when it comes down to it, you have those who really care about the party and the future of the party, more likely to support Cruz and doing everything they can to stop Trump. And those who care about Congress and legislating on the Republican side doing what they can to stop Cruz.

COSTELLO: All right. I have to leave it there. Mindy Finn, Keith Boykin, thanks to both of you.

As we just told you, Bernie Sanders taking the lead in Iowa in the most recent polls. A sharp reversal just a month ago where he trailed Hillary Clinton by double digits.

Today is Sanders' first of four events in New Hampshire where he's trying to shore up the vote. Not to be outdone, Hillary Clinton will also appear in the state at both a town hall and a dinner before being joined by her husband, Bill, at a rally tonight.

Want to let you know about a big event that's coming Monday night in Iowa. It will be seen only here on CNN. Exactly one week before Iowa chooses, Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton and Martin O'Malley will go face-to-face with the voters in Iowa. In a CNN Democratic presidential town hall live from Des Moines, Chris Cuomo will moderate. It's the final pitch for all the candidates before the first votes are cast. That's Monday night, 9:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the blizzard gets closer, the lines grow longer. Racing the storm to grab one of the last flights out. We'll take you to Reagan National next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:27:41] COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

Let's head right out to Nashville, Tennessee, because you know that big blizzard is coming. Well, the snow has already started to come down in Nashville. This is what it looks like on the roadways in Nashville right now. The white SUV there has been trying to move for the past, oh, half hour or so. He just cannot do it. So cars are now going around him.

This is dangerous, people. It's why officials say, please stay home and stay off the roads. Now you can see people are getting out of their cars. I can't tell if they got out of their cars or they're pedestrians. But maybe they'll help that poor guy in the white SUV because he cannot move. Yes, maybe that big truck will push him. Who knows. But anyway, this scene playing out in cities all across the eastern seaboard. That snow expected to start coming down in Washington, D.C., at any

time. That's actually the bull's eye for this big blizzard. They're expecting 30 inches of the snow. The mayor has ordered all residents to remove their cars from the streets by 3:00 p.m. Eastern.

Let's head out to Reagan National because it's kind of a mess there, too. People trying to get out ahead of the storm. Rene Marsh is there. Good morning.

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. You know, I'm watching as these aircrafts, they are taking off one after the other. We're still seeing takeoffs at this hour, which is good news for people that are standing behind me here. They're at the ticket counters. These are the folks who are trying to get out way before that storm gets here. They may be in luck. But in a matter of hours, I can tell you at airports like Reagan National airport and other northeastern airports, it's going to be a ghost town.

You may not even see any aircraft on the tarmac because these airlines are pulling their planes from the affected airports, getting them out of the way because what they do not want is for them to get stuck.

So the situation that we have here is that these cancellations continue to build. We're at nearly 5,000, more than 2,000 today alone. When does it get better? Well, it usually takes about 48, 72 hours for them to start getting service back, but it's hard to say when things will actually be back to normal, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Rene Marsh reporting live from Reagan National.

Six states have already declared states of emergency, including North Carolina. Conditions worsening there right now. We're awaiting a press conference, actually, any moment now from Governor Pat McCrory from Raleigh. The governor urging residents to stay --