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Nine People Dead After A Plane Crashed During A Brutal Snowstorm In Chamberlain, South Dakota; White House Now Has A Little Over Three Hours To Decide; Democratic Presidential Candidate Andrew Yang Tries To Be Included In The Next Debate; Police Are Searching For A Gunman Who Shot At Least 10 People In New Orleans. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired December 01, 2019 - 14:00   ET

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

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FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, deadly weather marches across the U.S. on the busiest travel day of the year.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We knew if we got stranded and had to spend the night on the side of the road we kind of prepared for that.

WHITFIELD: In South Dakota nine people killed when their small plane goes down in blizzard-like conditions.

Gusty winds, heavy snow and rain, forcing water rescues and shutting down freeways.

CNN NEWSROOM starts now.

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

WHITFIELD: Hello, everyone. And thank you so much for joining me this Sunday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

We are following breaking news. Nine people dead after a plane crashed during a brutal snowstorm in Chamberlain, South Dakota. The victims reportedly belong to one family and two are children. Miraculously, three passengers on the downed plane survived. Officials say visibility in the area at the time was less than a mile and snow was falling up to an inch an hour. That storm that has blanketed the Midwest is part of the same system that is now moving through the northeast right now.

We have a team of correspondents scattered across the country covering these breaking stories.

Let's begin with Nick Watt and this tragedy in South Dakota. Nick, what are you learning?

NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, as you say, nine of the twelve people on board that plane have been confirmed dead. Two of them, two of the victims children, also among the dead the pilot of that small single-engine swiss-made plane that came down shortly after takeoff, as you mentioned, during terrible weather conditions.

Now the plan was to fly 600 or 700 miles to the west to Idaho falls. There are reports this was some kind of family trip. We are still trying to nail that down. NTSB and FAA officials are already investigating. And of course one major focus of that investigation will be the weather. About an inch of snow falling an hour at that time. A huge storm in the area. So that will be a focus. But right now it is just a tragedy. That's the headline. Nine people on this small plane dead. Weather likely a factor but still not confirmed -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Horrible and treacherous conditions.

All right, Nick Watt, thank you so much. Keep us posted.

All right. Let me turn now to CNN Meteorologist, Karen Maginnis live in the CNN weather center.

The NTSB, Karen, has not officially released the cause of the crash, but you know, walk us through the kind of weather that happened at the time of that accident.

KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Horrendous weather, Fredricka. We are looking at very poor visibility. If this was an alternate airport, meaning they were looking for an airport to land at because the weather was deteriorating, this was not a good choice. I'm not sure there were very many good choices at all across this region.

Over the last 48 hours the weather has steadily deteriorated. Visibility was at best a half a mile. This is a very small airport. It's about 140 miles to the west of Sioux falls, South Dakota. It lies right along interstate 90. And you can better believe they're having a very difficult time doing any kind of research, rescue, recovery across that region because the weather is so dreadful across this region. They have seen snow, ice, and very poor visibility.

We had another incident at the Buffalo airport. There was ice and snow there. Now it is changing over to rainfall. But earlier today a commuter jet, a small delta commuter jet, exited the taxiway as it has been described. That's probably because the taxiways were in very poor condition.

It happens very suddenly. This weather is very changeable. We are going to see this over the next 12 hours. Not everybody can count on the snow or count on the rain. But everybody is going to be in the mix of all this messy weather across the U.S. Almost 50 million people will see the likes of winter weather as this monster storm system moves across the great lakes and into the east. Boston, I think you are going to fare just about the worst, seeing

that icy mix and changing over to snowfall before it's all said and done with gusty winds. Albany, New York tucked down across the Poconos and into southwestern sections of Pennsylvania. You are looking at extremely messy weather with winter storm warnings.

All right. Area of low pressure is going to trek across the lower great lakes, pushing to the northeast and New England. And we have got a multiday event. So today maybe you are saying yes, thank goodness we only have rain. Well, don't count on that because it's going to change over. In Boston and New York and Philadelphia. Washington, D.C. I think you're sticking with all rain but it's going to be a cold rain expected there.

This is a look at the view across New York city. And we have got some ice and snow. They're playing a football game in east Rutherford. And there is snowfall being reported there now. So not everybody receiving the same reports of weather.

Also Boston, you are kind of in the thick of things now but further to the west it is all snowfall. But the winds could gust up around 40 miles an hour for tomorrow. Interior sections of the northeast and New England, this is going to be a snow event for you. But right now we're looking at places like state college and Pennsylvania towards Harrisburg. An icy mix is in store going into the afternoon.

Fredricka, when is just a gigantic headache for people who are trying to head home after having fond memories of a thanksgiving turkey day. This is not going to be adding to that.

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WHITFIELD: No, it's not. You are so right, Karen. It couldn't come at a worse time because this is one of the year's busiest travel days.

Thank you so much, Karen.

Let me check in with Athena Jones. She is at LaGuardia airport in New York.

And so lots of cancellations, lots of delays. What are people experiencing?

ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. Well, as you mentioned, this is the biggest -- it's expected to be the biggest travel day for U.S. airlines ever according to an industry trade organization. 3.1 million passengers expected to fly today and that's on top of what's already a record, almost 32 million who are traveling over the course of the entire thanksgiving holiday, period, on airlines.

Now, here at LaGuardia we are seeing there's a traffic management in place. So they are delaying the arrivals of some flights due to the weather. Here the rain is just beginning to turn into snow. And so the delays have not been that bad if you look at the board of the airlines. Only a few delays. And that's because a lot of these -- I should tell you, a lot of these

airlines, American, delta, united, and others offered their passengers waivers so they can change or cancel their flights. But many of the people we have spoken to today say their flights are on time, their fingers are crossed it's going to continue that way.

But as of right now the weather is only just beginning to get more treacherous in this area. So we could see that change.

As you mentioned, we have seen some impacts that could be related to weather in upstate New York. An airline -- airplane exiting the runway upon landing, this is a delta airline flight, exiting the airline upon landing. That is under investigation. There were no injuries. But that is just the sort of thing that can happen when you have this winter weather mix, snow, ice, and that is what we expect to see here in New York and north of here over the course of the next day or so -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Athena Jones, we'll check back with you from LaGuardia airport.

So it has been indeed a weekend of a lot of weather-related tragedies. The desperate search is ongoing for a 6-year-old right now after she was swept away by flash floods. The little girl's family was driving over a creek yesterday when their vehicle was suddenly overcome by flood waters. Two other children who were swept away with the little girl have been found dead. Four other children and two adults managed to get to safety.

All right. Still ahead in the NEWSROOM, Joe Biden may be sitting on top of the Democratic field but he is not a frontrunner in the key state of Iowa. Could this be an opening for another candidate?

2020 Presidential candidate Andrew Yang is hoping to seize that top spot, raising $2 million in just the last week. He is joining me next.

And a critical week for President Trump. Will he or his counsel be present in the upcoming impeachment hearings? We are live coming up.

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WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. Police have now identified both people killed in Friday's terror attacks on the famed London bridge. Twenty-five-year-old Jack Merit and 23-year-old Sakia Jones were both college students volunteering at the prisoner rehabilitation meeting where the attack began. One of the injured victims has returned home while two others remain in the hospital. The suspect, Usman Khan, was on early release after serving less than half of his 16-year sentence on a terrorism conviction.

Nina dos Santos is in London.

Good to see you, Nina. So you know, British prime minister Boris Johnson said it was repulsive that khan was freed early. Is this becoming a political issue?

NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN SENIOR EDITOR: It is fast becoming a political issue. I suppose that was probably unavoidable given the timing of this incident just two weeks out from a general election.

When the British prime minister, the incumbent of the ruling conservative party, is trying desperately to pitch himself as the man to get tough on law and order, well before this incident on Friday at London bridge, Boris Johnson had been pledging to hire 20,000 police officers and also pledged to end things like these types of longer sentences.

Now in a television interview to the BBC earlier today he did confirm that. He said he wanted to end the system of automatic early release. This is the system by which as you mentioned in your introduction a man like Usman Khan who when he was originally convicted in 2010 of these terrorism offenses was deemed to be such a danger to the community that he was given an indeterminate sentence but then upon appeal by the time the law had changed and the opportunity to give him an automatic early release had come along obviously his sentence ended up being only eight years instead of a much, much longer period.

That raises all sorts of questions for authorities, not just political ones, also counterterrorism officials who should have been monitoring this individual at this time. And what we know in the meantime is that the authorities have already stepped up their vigilance of some of these individuals. The prime minister said that 74 convicts, ex- convicts who were out on license in similar conditions to Usman Khan are now being monitored far more closely. We have just learned over the last hour that one of those individuals as a result has been taken into custody and arrested -- Fredricka.

All right. Nina dos Santos in London, thank you so much.

We have so much more straight ahead in the NEWSROOM right after this.

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[14:18:54] WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back.

It's the first day of December. And it's the first day of a consequential month for President Trump, starting with this week. The White House now has just a few hours to make a major decision. Will White House lawyers participate in the Judiciary Committee's first impeachment hearing set for Wednesday?

Chairman Jerry Nadler has also given the White House until Friday to determine whether it will be involved in the process at all. House leadership has signaled a vote -- a wish to vote, rather, on impeachment by Christmas.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is in West Palm Beach where the President is spending this holiday weekend.

So Jeremy, you know, is the White House any closer to making a decision about these deadlines? JEREMEY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, so far, Fred, there

is no indication that the White House has made a decision yet as far as these deadlines are concerned. Again, one of those is coming up in just under four hours, but so far radio silence from the White House. We have put in numerous requests for comment, asking which way they are leaning.

Look. Our sources have told us as far as this first deadline is concerned as it relates to whether or not the President will send an attorney to this first impeachment hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, our sources have told us the White House is leaning against sending lawyers.

But the real question, Fred, will come at the end of the week, when the White House must decide by Friday whether they will send attorneys to any of the impeachment proceedings coming before the House Judiciary Committee.

As you know, Fred, the House Judiciary Committee will be responsible for drafting those articles of impeachment and therefore -- and of course the White House has repeatedly criticized and complained about the fact that they have not been able to have lawyers before the House intelligence committee thus far in this impeachment process. So it is an interesting kind of dynamic that we're seeing play out over the coming week.

Either way, though, Fred, the President will be out of town this Wednesday as that first impeachment hearing takes place. He will be in London for the annual NATO summit.

And the President yesterday on twitter was very much reveling in that dynamic, that split screen dynamic that we will see on Wednesday. He criticized Democrats for holding that impeachment hearing on the same day that he is representing the United States abroad.

That is of course a familiar theme for this President, who complained back during the special counsel's investigation carried out by Robert Mueller that that was very much a cloud over his head as he so the to carry out diplomatic business on behalf of the United States. But again, we will wait and see what the White House decides in the next few hours as it relates to that first impeachment deadline -- Fred.

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WHITFIELD: All right, the clock is ticking. All right, Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much.

All right, Let's dive in to all of this now. Joining me right now congressional reporter for "Politico" Melanie Zanona, impeachment law professor at Tulane law school and CNN legal analyst Ross Garber and the former director of the Nixon presidential library and CNN presidential historian Tim Naftali.

Good to see all of you. Happy holiday weekend.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Happy holidays. WHITFIELD: All right. So Ross, you first. You know, the White House

now has a little over three hours to decide if its lawyers will be present at the White House Judiciary Committee's first hearing on Wednesday which focuses on how constitutional and historical standards on impeachment are met. So what would be the role of those White House attorneys if they were to decide to be present Wednesday?

ROSS GARBER, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes. And it's a great question. I assume the potential role would be the ability to question these legal experts. But what we are hearing is the legal experts will have been chosen by the Democratic majority. And so I would be very surprised to see White House lawyers show up particularly for this hearing but also for the whole process.

I think from the White House's point of view I think they are actually feeling pretty good about the process. It doesn't seem as if -- meaning feeling pretty good about where they sit in the process, you know. It doesn't look like they have lost any Republican votes. And I bet they calculate that they don't actually get any advantage from sending White House lawyers to participate and if anything it would sort of legitimate the process they've tried to undermine.

WHITFIELD: So Tim, Presidents Nixon and Clinton both had attorneys involved during their impeachment hearings. Why wouldn't President Trump want to do the same? Aside from the whole, you know, not a legitimate process and it's been a sham in his words. But you know, to have your counsel present like previous presidents had, why would this President not want that to happen?

TIMOTHY NEFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: I think it goes back to what your previous guest said, which is that the President, this President, has decided to act as if the entire inquiry is illegitimate. And I think this President believes that if you participate a little bit it's like participating a lot.

I think it's a big mistake on the part of the President. I think the President should seek to have witnesses called before the Judiciary Committee. President Nixon was not only allowed to have his attorney, James Sinclair, sit in on the hearings of the impeachment inquiry but he was also allowed to call witnesses.

Now, that doesn't mean the democratic majority will approve these witnesses, but the President should participate and should give the Democrats an opportunity to show the American people that this is a fair process. Why not have some of the President's witnesses appear?

But if the President decides not to appear, have his attorney appear, if the President decides not to engage the process, then he is leaving it open to being seemingly completely partisan. And I think that's his goal.

His goal is to say and to run in 2020, this was completely partisan, the Democrats didn't do the business of government, they just went after me. It's a very unfortunate thing because the charges against the President appear to be very serious. WHITFIELD: So there are four constitutional, you know, law scholars

who will appear before the Judiciary Committee this Wednesday. And now the ranking member, congressman Doug Collins, sent a letter to chairman Nadler asking for more experts to appear, to your point, Ross. Listen to the explanation.

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REP. DOUG COLLINS (R), RANKING MEMBERS, JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Why are we doing this on a normal 3-1 ratio? If it's so important like we did in Clinton where we had almost four times as many of these witnesses, why don't we at least get two for two? Why don't we at least have more witnesses in the process?

If the Judiciary Committee simply has a constitutional scholar hearing and then they have a presentation of a report by Adam Schiff and we go straight to a markup, that is a failure on chairman Nadler of the ultimate proportion because this is a failure of the Judiciary Committee to be able to talk to fact witness, to be able to talk to people that have actually been a part of this and actually have the President viably participate in his own defense.

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WHITFIELD: So Melanie, it's very confusing because you know, in one respect you have got this Republican who says OK, you know, involve more people at the Republicans' or the President's request. And now an extension is being made to the White House. And thus far there has been, you know, no affirmative on coming to the table. So will -- would the Democrats even entertain a list of potential candidates that the Republicans might extend, you know, aside from the request for a White House counsel.

MELANIE ZANONA, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, POLITICO: Yes. Well, Republicans, if they submit a serious request for witnesses, then I think Democrats would absolutely entertain that idea. But Doug Collins has also said that they want Adam Schiff, the chairman of the intelligence committee, to be their first witness, which Democrats of course are not going to entertain that idea, you know.

This is someone who's just become a punching bag of the GOP and the President throughout the impeachment fight. Republicans have really seized on the fact that the whistleblower initially went to Adam Schiff's staff before filing the complaint.

But this is more of a distraction than a serious defense. I think Republicans will try to still make this process argument. It's an argument that they felt was very strong for them, especially in the beginning of this process during the closed-door deposition phase.

But as you mentioned, I think that's a difficult argument to make when the White House and the President are deciding to give up a seat at the table. It's very difficult for Republicans to argue that they are being shut out of a process when they are choosing not to participate. But yes, all the signals we are hearing right now is it looks like

Trump is not going to be participating, especially in this first hearing.

WHITFIELD: OK. So the scholars and lawmakers on the judiciary, Ross, will examine, you know, the merits of the proceedings on Wednesday. But then what happens after that? What happens after Wednesday?

GARBER: Yes. It's a good question. It appears there's not very much left for the house Judiciary Committee to do. And I think it's something that we are going to hear from the Republicans, that when you know -- in the Nixon process when the process started the vote was overwhelmingly in favor of starting an impeachment inquiry. I think there were only four votes no. In the Clinton process 31 members of the President's own party voted to start the process and the rules were approved unanimously.

This is very different, you know. This is a much more partisan process to start up. And the rules were much more kind of one-sided. It's something we are going to hear from the Republicans. The fact of the matter is there's not very much for the Judiciary Committee to do. All the action happened before the Senate intel committee and the Presidents lawyers were shut out there.

So I think right now there's not very much left. It's going to be -- we are going to hear from experts. We may hear a presentation and then a vote on the articles.

WHITFIELD: And Tim, although polling shows, you know, half Americans want President Trump impeached and removed from office, could he actually gain support the way in which this is playing out?

NAFTALI: He could gain a little bit. Richard Nixon got a slight bump from the arguments made, because of the arguments made in the House Judiciary Committee. But it's unlikely he is going to gain a big bump.

Let me explain one thing in my view of how this has gone. The House Judiciary Committee can do real work at this point. There is an opportunity to clarify the nature of this process. Yes, the House impeachment committee -- sorry, the House intelligence committee did do an investigation, but the impeachment inquiry is continuing under the Judiciary Committee, as has been the case historically. They can call more witnesses.

This is an opportunity for the President to get more witnesses. If he is really concerned about an allegation of abuse of power he should be defending himself. So I don't think it makes sense to say it's foreclosed, not that Ross said that. But there is a feeling out there that somehow this is all done and that once the intelligence committee's report comes in that's all that the Judiciary Committee will need, just as the Starr report was the basis for the house Judiciary Committee's work in the Clinton era.

I don't think it has to be the case. I think there's an opportunity, there are people that need to be heard from like Mr. Bolton and others. So I would say that the house Judiciary Committee don't run, don't rush, you have an opportunity to do this right. Do it right.

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WHITFIELD: And do you believe, Melanie, that that is going to be the approach of the Judiciary Committee while it has been said publicly that there's a just before Christmas deadline there is a span of time about two-and-a-half weeks, you know, between this Wednesday, you know, handing over the intel's report and, you know, the Judiciary Committee assessing things. Might they call witnesses?

ZANONA: Well, Adam Schiff has said he is open to the idea that if there's new evidence or new witnesses that come forward they will take those depositions, even as the rest of this process plays out. But all the signals that we have gotten from Capitol Hill and all of what our sources are telling us is that Democrats are trying to wrap this up before Christmas.

We are hearing there's going to be two weeks of hearings in the Judiciary Committee and then followed by a week of a vote on the house floor. So it's very possible that new evidence could come forward. We don't know if new evidence cropped up over the last week, but Democrats are moving full steam ahead with this thing.

WHITFIELD: All right. Melanie Zanona, Ross Garber, Tim Naftali, good to see all of you. Thank you.

ZANONA: Thank you.

GARBER: Good to see you.

WHITFIELD: All right. A key player in the house impeachment inquiry, house speaker Nancy Pelosi. She will take questions on impeachment, the 2020 election, and more in a live CNN town hall moderated by Jake Tapper. That's Thursday night, 9:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

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[14:35:29] WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back.

Right now in the key state of Iowa it is day two of former vice president Joe Biden's eight-day, 18-county, 800-mile Iowa bus tour. He just wrapped up a breakfast last hour at a coffee house in the town of Carroll.

Our politics reporter Arlette Saenz was there and asked him why his front-runner status nationally is not translating to the first in the nation caucus state.

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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think it is translating. That why we are here. We are here to translate. We are here to translate the polls nationally to here.

Look, I feel good about Iowa. And the fact is that my impression and the real check (INAUDIBLE) is that Iowans make up their minds late and they change, the front-runner ends up getting behind and the front- runner comes back. And you know, so we are going to the last two months here and we are getting down the stretch and time to, as they say in Iowa, the time to peak is right about now. That's what we planned all along, to spend an awful lot of time in Iowa.

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WHITFIELD: The latest CNN/"Des Moines Register" poll shows Biden at 15 percent in Iowa trailing both mayor Pete Buttigieg and in a virtual tie with Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren there. You saw those numbers.

So my next guest is hoping to sway some of those voters his way. In a recent CNN poll Andrew Yang is registering at three percent. He tweeted he has raised $2 million in a week and now on the cusp of qualifying for the next debate, scheduled for December 19th.

Andrew Yang with us now joining us from Poughkeepsie, New York. All right. Good to see you.

ANDREW YANG (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hi, Fredricka. Happy Holidays. Great to be here. And that is Hudson valley animal rescue.

WHITFIELD: Tell me all about them. Sorry about that. We have a little delay.

YANG: Happy holidays to you. I never get to do these interviews in casual clothes. It makes me so happy.

WHITFIELD: I understand. I totally feel that. I was just fussing with this blouse I have been wearing.

Anyway. So you are surrounded by a lot of critters there, and I don't mean, you know, in the race for the White House. You're at an animal sanctuary. We are hearing the dogs barking. This is an extension of your pledge for humanity effort. You know, pledge an hour of your time, do something good for humanity. Where did this come from? Why is this important to you?

YANG: Well, our campaign slogan is humanity first because we need to rewrite the rules of the 21st century economy to work for us. And we thought about ways we can actually demonstrate those values. And so many of our supporters around the country are doing incredible work in their communities.

So we decided to have a pledge for humanity. And I'm proud to say that over 3,000 hours of community service have been pledged and they are taking place today. So this is my contribution. But again, there are thousands of other Americans around the country doing great stuff in their communities.

WHITFIELD: And it's a fantastic reminder, you know, in this season of giving here on thanksgiving weekend, you know.

So I mentioned earlier where you are in the polling in the race for the White House. $2 million recently raised. You have got 200,000 unique donors which helps you qualify for the next debate. The other part of the equation to qualify is higher polling. So what can you do at this juncture to make sure you qualify?

YANG: Well, first I'm happy to say we are actually past 300,000 individual donors. So we are growing by leaps and bounds all the time. And I will be back in Iowa. I'll have a bus tour of my own starting next week. We are seeing incredible growth in Iowa and New Hampshire and in the early states. We are one of the few campaigns that's been growing this whole time. And I'm happy to say the growth is accelerating right now at the most important of times.

WHITFIELD: So how important is it for you to be on stage, on the debate stage? And I ask because in the last debate on MSNBC you challenged the network saying they omitted to you 12 times and that you vowed not to join any of that network's shows until they acknowledge that. So a, how important is the debate stage for you and has MSNBC acknowledged your experience and observation?

YANG: Well, I'm happy to say that this debate, as you know, will be simulcast on CNN. I enjoyed working with your colleagues, Fredricka, who I thought were incredibly professional and right up the middle. So the debates are important for us because it's another chance to make our case to the American people that we need a new way forward and we need to rewrite the rules of the 21st century economy to work for us.

But we are excited for the next debate. As you said, we're on the cusp of qualifying. We expect to qualify sometime this week.

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WHITFIELD: So talk to me about the frustration or perhaps it's the motivation, you know, to get your platforms on automation, value added tax for tech, you know, cannabis legalization, your freedom dividend, you know, to really resonate or to get more, you know, get more to, you know, join your Yang gang.

YANG: Yes. Well, the Yang gang is growing every single day. And Americans are smart. We realize that this economy's not working for us anymore and a freedom dividend of $1,000 a month would be a game changer for millions of American families. It would make us stronger, healthier, less stressed out. It would improve our relationships and our decision-making.

So this is the vision that has caused us to continue to climb in the polls. As you said, we are -- you know, nationally right now we are sitting in fifth or sixth place depending on which polls you're looking at and we are still growing while other campaigns are actually contracting. We are hiring people who are leaving other campaigns that are shrinking.

So this is a fantastic time for us. And the important thing is that we are going to peak at the right time when the voting starts in February.

WHITFIELD: Voters like to be inspired by their pick for the White House. And as a candidate what inspires you about the job of President and what keeps you motivated to keep fighting for it?

YANG: Well, to me running for president was the only way that we could actually advance meaningful solutions to the fact that we are going through the greatest economic transformation in our country's history, the fourth industry revolution. To me the reason why Donald Trump won in 2016 was that we blasted away four million manufacturing jobs that were based primarily in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and the swing states.

I would not be running for president if I thought there was another way that we could actually advance meaningful solutions in the time that we have. And that's what keeps me going. That and the fact that the yang gang is so passionate and idealistic and wonderful everywhere I go around the country.

WHITFIELD: And then let me ask you about the impeachment process. This is a big week. You have been very vocal on the process and you argued that it may only help Republicans next November. Americans virtually split on whether the President should be impeached and removed. What is your view? Since the process is under way. Should he be impeached and removed?

YANG: I am pro impeachment, Fredricka. But we have to face facts that not a single Republican has come forward to support these proceedings. And we need two dozen Republican senators to actually have impeachment be successful. So we have to face facts that this is not likely to happen. And we need to take every second to make a positive case to the American people that will get them excited about moving us all forward, a new way forward in 2020.

When we are talking about Donald Trump, the only person that wins is Donald Trump. And unfortunately, that includes in the context of impeachment.

WHITFIELD: And then do you see the subject of impeachment, the process of it either hurting or helping the Democratic chances of getting into the White House?

YANG: No, unfortunately what I see happening is further polarization where if Donald Trump is still President after the impeachment proceedings, which I expect he will be, then he will be crowing about how he was completely exonerated and the Democrats were on a witch hunt that had been discredited. And his supporters will be very galvanized around that message while Democrats will still be needing to put forward a positive and optimistic vision for the country.

So fortunately, I do think this could end up energizing Donald Trump's base after he gets through this process which unfortunately I expect he will. I expect him to be at the ballot box for me to defeat in 2020. That's my job.

WHITFIELD: All right, Andrew Yang. Thank you so much. Joining us from Poughkeepsie, New York. You and your friendly critters around there.

YANG: Happy holidays, Fredricka. I'll see you soon. WHITFIELD: All right. Happy holidays. Thank you so much.

The 2020 candidates may not agree on the right message to defeat President Trump but as they fight to win over Iowa voters, are they all consulting the same 2008 playbook? That is next.

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WHITFIELD: Right now police are searching for a gunman who shot at least ten people in New Orleans. Authorities tell CNN a gunman opened fire on a crowd of people near the famed French quarter. Two of the victims are in critical condition.

Natasha Chen is live for us in New Orleans. So tell us about this investigation. Where does it stand?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. Well, Fred, it happened just before 3:25 in the morning. About a block away from us down canal street from where we are standing. And police are still, as you said, looking for the people responsible.

There are ten people who were shot when this happened. Two of them in critical condition. Police say that one of them was shot in the chest. Another shot in the torso. They are all at local hospitals.

And this was a very crowded evening yesterday. A lot of folks were here in town for the bayou classic that was played at the superdome last night. And so police say there was a large law enforcement contingency here because of the game. So they were within feet of the shooting when it happened. Here's the police chief describing their response tots incident.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[14:50:07]

CHIEF SHAUN FERGUSON, NEW ORLEANS POLICE: You had officers right there within that very block that actually thought that they were being fired upon and took a position to respond to this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN: And the mayor has also released a statement today. She says the shootings on canal street early this morning were an ugly disruption of an otherwise beautiful holiday weekend. We will do everything we can to wrap the victims and their families in our love and support and to bring the criminals responsible to justice. The city of New Orleans will not allow incidents like this to derail the progress we have made or to further disrupt our community.

And right now we are asking the police some more questions to update this investigation, to find out how those ten people were doing and whether they have any people for questioning at this moment, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Natasha Chen, thank you so much in New Orleans.

And we will be right back.

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[14:54:32]

WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back.

There are still 18 people running for the Democratic nomination and there's one person who could help narrow down that field, President Obama. But he's not going there.

CNN's Dana Bash has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What's going on out there?

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Obama staying on the sidelines of the Democratic primary. Some 2020 hopefuls are doing what they can to draw a personal connection to the last Democratic President, especially where it all started for them in Iowa.

[14:50:01]

OBAMA: It is good to be back in Iowa!

BASH: Where mayor Pete Buttigieg certainly seems open to comparisons with Obama and his message of generational change.

MAYOR PETE BUTTIGIEG (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I was knocking on doors in rural Iowa for a different young Presidential candidate with a funny name.

BASH: And if this drumline with senator Kamala Harris in Iowa looks familiar, it's the same one that Obama marched with in 2007.

In an Iowa campaign video Harris reminisced about breaking barriers and --

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Campaigning for a senator by the name of Barack Obama.

BASH: And of course former vice President Joe Biden has made his relationship with the President he served with central to his 2020 pitch.

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

Barack and I never disagreed on the strategy.

Barack and I did a pretty good job. BASH: In a race where most Democrats say their top priority is

finding someone who can beat President Trump, Obama is giving some hints about how to do it. The former President warned the 2020 field to remain quote "rooted in reality."

OBAMA: The average American doesn't think that we have to completely tear down the system and remake it.

BASH: But he also gave a nod to progressives in his party.

OBAMA: I wouldn't run the same campaign I did today in this environment as I ran in 2008.

BASH: So for those looking to take on the Obama mantle his message seems to be you need your own.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. Dana Bash, thank you so much.

Still ahead, deadly winter weather. A plane crashes, killing nine people on board during a blizzard-like storm. A live report next.

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