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Heavy Winter Storms Affecting U.S. Northeast; New York City Mayor Eric Adams Interviewed on Winter Storms Hitting New York and Funeral Held for Slain New York City Police Officer Jason Rivera; Former Deputy Trump White House Press Secretary Judd Deere Subpoenaed by January 6th Committee for Testimony; National Transportation Safety Board Investigating Bridge Collapse in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired January 29, 2022 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:00]

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN ANCHOR: But you saw all the employer tricks, and wage increases still aren't bringing people back. So, it has gotten better and still the jobs aren't getting filled.

Wish I had more time, but I don't. I'll see you next week.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning on this Saturday, January 29th. We are so grateful to see you. I'm Christi Paul.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Christi. And I'm Boris Sanchez, and you are live in the CNN Newsroom. We hope you are nice and warm this morning, because millions of our friends in the northeast are not. They are hunkered down and watching the sky as a powerful winter storm moves through the region. Nearly 55 million people from the Carolinas to Virginia to New England are under winter weather alerts this morning.

PAUL: It's called a bomb cyclone, and it's bringing a dangerous mix of heavy snow and some pretty vicious winds, also some potential coastal flooding in some areas. Take a look at some of the pictures we're getting out of Suffolk County, New York, there. This is a live picture, now, from Philadelphia. The combination of near hurricane- force winds. We're talking up to 70-mile-per-hour gusts in some areas. You couple that with the massive amounts of snow that are expected to bring blizzard conditions here and this is what you are looking at. Visibility obviously very cloudy, let's say. Right now, there is a travel ban in place across all of Rhode Island. And in other states officials are warning people to stay home and keep off the roads.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM GUTHLEIN, ACTING DIRECTOR, RHODE ISLAND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: If you didn't prepare, the time is past now here. We already have three inches on the ground. The wind is starting to pick up. So, a lot of the roads are still very snow covered and slippery.

MAYOR THOMAS KOCH (D-MA), QUINCY: It's really almost a minor hurricane with snow. The big issue that I see is us getting streets back opened up again. There's no question we're going to lose control for a period of time. There is no way plows can operate when they can't see in front of their face.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: So, let's start with CNN meteorologist Tyler Mauldin. Talk to us about how things have progressed so far this morning.

TYLER MAULDIN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Take a look at some of the snowfall totals. Since I saw you earlier this morning, since we started at 6:00 a.m., these snowfall totals have really started to pick up. You can see down here across the Delmarva, roughly a foot, but then you get north of the Delmarva, and you get into New York and New Jersey, and we're looking at more than a foot of snow.

We're going to see these snowfall amounts continue to increase as we go through the day because this snow really isn't going anywhere anytime soon. So, it's going to sit here, it's going to continue to pile up. You can see a really nice band moving into Boston right now and also Nantucket. Notice the cold air in place as well, 17 degrees in Boston, 15 degrees in New York. Single digits as you get away from the coastline. The wind is making it feel much colder. But the wind is also leading to whiteout conditions across portions of the mid- Atlantic going on into the northeast.

I want you to look at Nantucket here. Sustained wind of 49 miles per hour, gusts up to 64. We've actually seen gusts in Nantucket up to nearly 70 miles per hour. So that is near hurricane forces conditions. And we have the wind from basically the northeast that is leading to a storm surge threat across the region as well. So, a lot of factors are at play here across the northeast with this system.

We have a blizzard warning in effect from the eastern slope or the coast of Maine all the way down into Virginia. New York and Philadelphia, you are not included in that, you are in a winter storm warning, but Boston is in a blizzard warning. Heavy snow nearly 70- mile-per-hour winds for several hours will lead to absolutely terrible driving conditions out there, whiteout conditions for sure, guys.

SANCHEZ: Difficult conditions and the potential for coastal flooding as well we should note in some parts Tyler Mauldin, thank you so much for that forecast.

PAUL: So in New York nearly a half-a-foot of snow has fallen already. The city is bracing, though, for twice that amount at least as you heard Tyler say there. And that wind threat is very serious.

SANCHEZ: Yes, joining us now is New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Mayor, good morning and thanks for sharing part of your weekend with us. Just wondering how you see things from where you are right now.

MAYOR ERIC ADAMS (D-NY), NEW YORK CITY: Good morning, and thank you for allowing me to be on with you. And I think the message at the top of this broadcast states it all. It's really important for people to be off the roadways. This allows emergency vehicles and the Department of Sanitation to pass through. I've visited sites throughout the city this morning and visited one of our sanitation garages. It is clear that the streets are passable, but we are still receiving continuous and steady snowfall. And so it is important to not be on the roads at this time.

[10:05:00]

PAUL: Governor Hochul said earlier that certainly people in New York are used to this to some degree. She says it's manageable when this happens over days, but when it happens within hours, that's what could be problematic. What are you most confident in over the next 24 hours in terms your response to what we're seeing so far?

ADAMS: Our coordination. If we de-silo how we perform during emergencies or during storms like this, it operates better. And that coordination is crucial. This morning I had calls with my public safety -- deputy mayor of public safety. I had calls with the Fire Department, Department of Sanitation, Office of Emergency Management. We were all on the calls together because we must coordinate together. We must look at how many emergency calls that we are receiving, how many fires we're dealing with, what the roads look like with the department, DOT. And so that is the important part. This is almost like a symphony. In order for us to play the right tune, we must coordinate together.

PAUL: Mr. Mayor, we are looking at live pictures. And we see some traffic on the streets. You're right, it is certainly passable right now. Are the subways running? I feel like we've seen a lot of people come up from the subway staircase.

ADAMS: Yes, we have systemwide disruptions because in New York, similar to places like Chicago, we have elevated subway stations. So, yes, we do have systemwide disruptions. But the system is not closed down. It's slower, but for the most part it is the best way to move around the city instead of utilizing your vehicles. And so it's imperative that people must know if you are stuck on the road, you're going to get in the way of our plows, you're going to get in the way of FDNY vehicles and EMS. So it's best to use public transportation.

SANCHEZ: Mayor, we're going to keep our eye on this storm, and we appreciate the update. But while we have you, we do want to ask you about the scene that we saw unfold in New York yesterday during the funeral for officer Jason Rivera. Really impressive display of solitude, of unity from the NYPD. Just wondering if we can get your thoughts on what you saw, this symbol not just representing the department but the city, especially yourself being a former police commander, what did it mean to you to see that?

ADAMS: It was very important because there is a feeling in the city and the country that we have surrendered our country to violence. And I believe the police commissioner, Commissioner Sewell, stated it best. NYPD will not surrender our city to violence. We will never give up our city to those who believe they are going to carve highways of death with bullets through our city. That is not going to happen.

And we mourn the loss of two brave officers. And we also lift up Officer Sumit who was able to terminate the life of the person who was guilty of these shootings. But think about the flow of guns in our city, in big cities across America. This person had a 40 round magazine that he could have created more harm, and an AR-15 under his mattress. There are too many guns in our streets, and we must get help from the federal government.

We're going to do our job. We took 6,000 guns off the street last year, over 300 since I've been in office. We will do our job, but it is time for all of us to be partners to keep dangerous people off our streets and dangerous guns off our streets.

SANCHEZ: A moving moment of solidarity and an important message. Mayor, keep us up to speed with what is happening with the storm. We'll be in touch with you later this hour and throughout the day. I hope that everyone follows your suggestion to stay inside and stay safe. Mayor Eric Adams, thank you so much.

ADAMS: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

Let's pivot now to Brian Todd, who is not that far from New York City. He is actually in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Brian, you've been seeing whiteout conditions that forecaster have been warning us about. It doesn't appear that things have changed much in the last few hours.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They haven't changed too much, Boris. I can tell you that, as far as good news, we are getting a little bit of good news. It has been bad news all morning long, but now it's time for a little bit of good news. Governor Phil Murphy was just on a radio show talking about the power outages. He said that there are only about 1,000 throughout the state, lower than they expected. That is good news. About a third of those are here in Atlantic County, though, and you can see why. Visibility is still very poor here. You can barely see down Pacific Avenue, about maybe a block or two down this way, and down South Carolina Avenue this way, the visibility is even worse.

But we do have some other good news to report. One of the main arteries in this city, Route 40, which goes in and out of Atlantic City, that had to be shut down a few hours ago because of flooding.

[10:10:03]

That has since reopened, we're told, about an hour ago, so that's good news. As you can see, the wind speed here has really varied, and sometimes it really kicks up and you can barely see in front of you. And sometimes it will slow down a little bit.

Again, with some of this, the governor and other officials here are telling people, as a matter-of-fact Governor Murphy just said a short time ago, folks, sit this one out. Today, just sit out the rest of the day, stay inside, do not venture outside. But still, I'm kind of incredulous. This is one of the main drags here in Atlantic City. A lot of vehicles out here this morning. And again, if you look down here, visibility is just nothing. So it really is treacherous to try to get out. We are still told by city officials, though, that people are venturing

out and they are getting stuck. So one of the problems with that, of course, is that when you call 911 and you are stuck, it is going to hard for some of the emergency crews to get out to you to try to rescue you. So that's another thing that they warn people about. They always warn about that in the warmer climates during the hurricanes. They're warning about that right now.

We were told before this happened that this was going to be kind of like a hurricane but a winter version of it, just with heavy snow replacing heavy rain. And that really has been the case here in Atlantic City. You can see it is still driving. This snow has been coming down now for, let's see, more than about 14 hours, and it's still going to continue for several more hours.

And they are also worried about some of the areas that got flooded at least slightly in the area near the bay. Some of that flooding has receded, but there is a little bit of floodwater in some of the streets, not threatening homes, but they are worried now that some of that flooding is going to freeze over, some of that water is going to freeze over later on today as some of these temperatures drop, Boris. So still not out of the woods here.

PAUL: Brian Todd, you are a trooper if I ever saw one. He's been out there for hours. Thank you so much to you and your crew. Do stay safe out there. Great comparison of that being basically a winter version of a hurricane, because that is what it has looked like today.

Listen, former deputy White House Press Secretary Judd Deere is the latest Trump administration official to be subpoenaed by the January 6th Committee.

SANCHEZ: Committee member Congressman Adam Schiff tells CNN he hopes that Deere can shed some light on conversations inside the Oval Office before and after the insurrection. Here is more from Congressman Schiff.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): He was reportedly asked his thoughts by the president or others in the room about how they could get Congress to essentially stop the peaceful transfer of power, to stop the results of the election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Let's bring in Zach Cohen. He has more on this story. Zach, what exactly is the committee trying to get from Deere?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Well, Boris and Christi, the committee thinks that Deere can shed a lot of light on what was happening inside the White House on January 6th itself, but also on the day before, January 5th. Now, on January 6th specifically, Deere was at the White House and with the president as the attack was unfolding. The committee says that he helped formulate the White House response as the riot was happening. The committee has long said that they want to know what was going on

behind closed doors at the White House during those 187 minutes that nobody heard from former president Donald Trump, and they think that Judd Deere can shed some light.

Now, interestingly, their letter to Judd Deere references a January 5th Oval Office meeting where they say that Deere was present during this meeting. The former president allegedly asked the people in the room, quote, "What are your ideas for getting the RINOs," Republicans in name only, "to do the right thing tomorrow? And how do we convince Congress?" This is what Congressman Schiff was referring to during that soundbite earlier. The committee view this is as a key line of inquiry. And really what this show is that they are not only looking at the events and the violence on January 6th itself, they want to know about the former president's state of mind in the days leading up to it.

PAUL: So let's talk about the subpoenas that were sent to more than a dozen Republicans tied to that fake elector plot on that day, Judd. What do we know about who those people are?

COHEN: So these subpoenas went to 14 individuals. They were Republicans from seven states. Now, these are key swing states where the former president and those around him attempted to overturn the outcome through various ways, and this was part of that plan.

Now, we're looking at not -- these are just not a random collection of people. These are state party officials from the Republican Party who the committee believes may have had an organizing role or knowledge of who was organizing or putting together a plan to bring these fake electors together, have them sign these certificates, and submit to Congress. Big picture, like the subpoena with Judd Deere and the fact that they believe that he can shed light on more than what was happening on the 6th, this also reflects the scope of the probe expanding.

PAUL: Zach Cohen, we appreciate it so much, Zach. Thank you.

[10:15:01]

SANCHEZ: Thanks, Zach.

And still to come this morning, the NTSB is in Pittsburgh investigating that massive bridge collapse that hurt 10 people. You are going to hear from a witness about what it was like to watch it crumble right in front of their eyes. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: We are soon expecting an update from the National Transportation Safety Board on that bridge that collapsed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, yesterday, leaving several people injured. President Biden, coincidentally, was visiting Pittsburgh and he stopped by the site. And during a speech he underscored the importance of rebuilding America's infrastructure. PAUL: CNN's Athena Jones is in Pittsburgh this morning. As I

understand it, it's amazing to think this bridge usually sees more than 14,000 vehicles a day. What are you hearing from the community about this?

ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Christi. I want to show you what the picture is behind us. You can see the bridge fallen into the ravine here.

[10:20:02]

And yes, almost 15,000 vehicles a day. I talked to a neighbor nearby who witnessed the collapse early yesterday morning, who said that he crosses that bridge three or four times a day. He lives in a home about 50 feet from where I'm standing. Listen to what he -- how he describes what he saw and heard and felt in the morning yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOWARD ENGELBERG, WITNESSED PITTSBURGH BRIDGE COLLAPSE: I was doing my exercise, and I live in a house that is mainly glass windows. And suddenly there was this excruciating sound. My wife thought it was the snowplow, but I said nothing could be that loud to be a snowplow. But I looked out to see if it was the snowplow, and the sound continued one minute, two minutes. And I finally glanced over towards the bridge. And I realized that the bridge was caving in in the middle. And you could see because it was still dark, you could see the headlights going down towards the bottom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: And so that man there is one of many people who are going to be majorly inconvenienced by the lack of this, the loss of this vital artery.

But as I mentioned, the National Transportation Safety Board, their team is here on the ground already. They arrived Friday afternoon, and first order of business this morning was to send a drone up over the incident scene to be able to map it out. They are also doing that on the ground. More than a dozen members of that team have passed right behind us heading down into the ravine.

They of course, want to map it out so that they can have a record of it before they start moving any structural pieces. There are also, up at the top, at one end of the bridge, on the street there are several cranes pre-positioned to begin that removal process. And of course, these engineers, they say, the structural material engineers from the agency, say that it is going to take anywhere from 12 to 18 months or more to determine what caused the collapse of this bridge.

PAUL: Athena Jones, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

So the recent rash of these high profile shootings of police officers obviously highlights the dangers that they face on a daily basis. In fact, in the past week alone, we've reported on officers either killed or wounded in the line or duty in towns and cities across the country. SANCHEZ: Let's bring in our national correspondent Isabel Rosales. She

has details for us, because one of those officers, Jason Rivera, was laid to rest yesterday. Isabel, tell us about that and some of these other incidents.

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Boris and Christi. It is a dangerous enough job, and over the last couple of days we've seen a wave of gun violence directed at law enforcement all over the country. One of the latest ones, you mentioned there, happening in Harlem. And we saw just those impressive images of the sea of police paying going down 5th Avenue, paying their final respect to Detective Jason Rivera there. Him and his partner Wilbert Mora were shot and killed while responding to a 911 domestic call.

And it's not just in New York. We've seen this happening across the U.S. This week alone, we saw shootings out of Kentucky, out of Georgia, St. Louis, Milwaukee, and over the weekend in Houston as well.

There was another incident, Boris and Christi, happening out of Houston. We have video we want to show you here. Take a look at this surveillance video. You will see that car crashed right there. When police go to answer, the suspect just starts firing off at the officers, managing to hit three of them. But the good news here is that they are expected to be OK. Boris, Christi?

SANCHEZ: Isabel Rosales, thank you so much for the update.

An important conversation still to be had tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. right here on CNN. CNN's Sara Sidner rides along to find out why driving while black in America can be deadly serious. It's a new CNN Special Report, "Traffic Stop." Again, that is tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. right here on CNN.

PAUL: And listen, we're tracking that massive nor'easter for you. Take a look at some of the pictures that we're getting in. Visibility is nearly nothing in some areas. This is Providence, Rhode Island right now. We're going to have a live update from New York, also check on Providence as we talk to the mayor there. Stay close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:28:31]

SANCHEZ: We're continuing to follow our breaking news this morning. Right now at least 55 million people are under winter weather alerts as a powerful and dangerous snowstorm is slamming parts of the east coast. These are live photos out of Boston where you can see just how bad conditions are getting. Somebody out there walking with an umbrella, Christi. I'm not sure how an umbrella helps when the snow is hitting sideways.

(LAUGHTER)

PAUL: Very true. You have got to hold the umbrella differently, then, I guess. (LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: CNN's Brynn Gingras is a trooper. She is in New York. She has been out and about all morning long. So talk to us about -- I know that you've seen dogwalkers, you've seen runners. This is New York tough. We know that you guys know how to deal with this. However, what is it like, and how much more do you think that they can handle?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know what, Christi, the thing is, if this happened during the week, it would be a totally different story. It is happening on a Saturday which I think that people are actually enjoying at this point.

Quickly, I want to go over to the street to show you this is what we've been seeing all morning. Multiple plows are coming together, and basically you can see it is blacktop here on the street at Columbus Circle, and that is after six inches of snow we believe have already fallen.

Of course, it is still snowing right now, and we expect more snow to come. But that is not really stopping anybody from coming out. Come over here and take a look at all of these people in Central Park. We have got a bunch of tourists here that are going to get into this bicycle and get it toward Central Park. It is quite funny to see everyone just excited to see the storm. We see dogwalkers, we see runners, we see tourists. Everyone just has a happy spirit about the snow.

[10:30:07]

Of course, we know that it is much more serious in other parts of New York, especially out east on Long Island where there is coastal flooding in the storm, and it's not going to be great, as you guys already pointed out in the Boston area as well. But here in the city proper, so far this morning, so far, again, New Yorkers tend to get a little bit annoyed with the snow as the day goes on, but so far everybody seems to be enjoying it.

PAUL: That is good news, and we're glad to see that. I would be interested to see how they think they are going to get around on that bike. Just saying.

(LAUGHTER)

PAUL: Brynn Gingras, stay safe there. Thank you.

So let's talk to the mayor of Providence, Rhode Island. We just showed you some of the pictures that were coming out of that area. Jorge Elorza is with us. Mr. Mayor, thank you so much for taking time. Can you tell us what the conditions are like where you are right now?

MAYOR JORGE ELORZA (D-RI), PROVIDENCE: Good morning. Great to be on here with you.

So I'm looking out my window, and it's pretty whiteout conditions here. There is a lot of snow coming down. And the wind gusts are picking up as well. So it is going to be like this the next several hours, we're anticipating. We're just asking everyone throughout our city and state to please observe the travel ban, please stay home unless it's an absolute emergency. Just stay home. It is the best thing that you can do.

PAUL: Yes, we understand the outlook for Providence is pretty brutal. Up to two feet of snow. You are under blizzard warnings. This morning I know there is a statewide travel ban that went into effect, and that goes through 8:00 p.m. tonight. You've got bridges that are closed as well. Are you seeing that people seem to be complying with your request that they stay in?

ELORZA: Yes, for the most part, yes, people are staying in. And I really appreciate that. I've lived here my entire life, and what I'm seeing outside my window is about as bad as I've ever seen throughout my lifetime. And it is going to be this way until about 4:00, I'm being told. You know, we're hearing that several inches an hour of snow are going to be falling. That is a lot of snow for us to handle. And as we clear the streets of snow, we can't guarantee that we can keep every street passable. We're focusing on the mains. And so if anyone does venture out and they do get stuck, it is going to be very difficult for emergency personnel to get to them. So please, everyone, just stay home. It's the best you can do.

PAUL: I can't help but in these times when we see these storms think about the people who don't have a home, the homeless. I know that you do have warming centers available. Do you know status of those and how busy they might be?

ELORZA: Yes, we've been coordinating with all of the service providers for folks experiencing homelessness. And we've opened up shelters and we did everything we could to get folks under a roof with the incoming storm. So thank you to everybody who did all of that outreach. And you've really have to count your blessings. If you have a roof over your head and you can wait out the storm in the comfort of your living room watching Disney Plus, there are a lot of people out there that just don't have that home, but we did everything we could to get them to shelter.

PAUL: That means so much. We're looking at these pictures, and we can see how really dense the visibility is at this point. Do you anticipate or have any ideas in terms of how expansive interruption of power might be and how prepared are you to respond to that on the backside of this?

ELORZA: That is a great question. So thankfully up to this moment we haven't had any major power outages in the city or in the state. That may change as the snow accumulates on tree limbs and wind gets stronger. If that does happen, we've been in touch with the electricity company. They're ready to go out. However, the streets may not be passable, and they can't get up on to their buckets until the winds come down to a manageable level.

So we're on alert. We have all of our public safety and security personnel. They are ready to respond to any emergency calls that we do receive. But we're asking everyone please keep your cellphones charged so that you can communicate with us throughout the storm in case you do lose power. And we'll be ready to respond. But just know that the conditions out there are really, really tricky, tough, and unsafe. So don't venture out. If you need us to come to you, call us and we'll do everything that we can to get there as soon as possible.

PAUL: And remember, there is a travel ban there again until 8:00 p.m. tonight for people watching. And based on what we're seeing via the cameras, I'm surprised if anybody would try to get out and figure -- I don't know where they would go. I'm assuming that everything is closed anyway.

ELORZA: Everything is closed.

PAUL: Mr. Mayor, Jorge Elorza, we appreciate so much you taking time for us this morning. Do take good care.

[10:35:03]

ELORZA: Thank you. All the best.

PAUL: You as well.

SANCHEZ: So we could be on the cusp of history as President Biden decides who he will nominate to the Supreme Court to replace Justice Breyer. Who is topping his list? We'll discuss next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Right now, dozens of U.S. governors are in the nation's capital for the National Governors' Association winter meeting. Several will not be in attendance, of course, due to what we've been seeing on our air, this morning, the powerful nor'easter that is bringing heavy snow and some pretty wicked winds to the east coast, as you can see there. This is coming to us from New Jersey.

[10:40:10]

SANCHEZ: Yes. Let's get to Daniella Diaz. She is live for us this morning with more on the governors' meeting. And Daniella, what are we expecting will come from this gathering?

DANIELLA DIAZ, CNN CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Well, Boris, Christi, I do want to note this is the first gathering for the National Governors' Association since February, 2020, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. And that is why the two governors who had a press conference moments ago were discussing what they were hoping to accomplish, the two governors being, of course, Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, Republican governor, and Jared Polis of Colorado, a Democratic governor, both in executive leadership for the National Governors' Association.

They said that they are hoping to accomplish discussing implementing the bipartisan infrastructure bill during this meeting as well as the American Rescue Plan, that funding that was going to help states and local governments. But there were some questions about personal choice for COVID-19 vaccinations and even a question that was -- Asa Hutchinson got on President Donald Trump and whether he believed in the big lie, which of course Asa Hutchinson being one of those governors that continues to denounce the big lie that the election was stolen from former president Trump.

But I do want to note, as you all said, a lot of governors are not in attendance, mainly those governors from northeastern states because of that big northeastern storm, including Phil Murphy of New Jersey who is in leadership here at the National Governors' Association. And also want to note this group of governors are going to see President Joe Biden tomorrow at a black tie dinner in Mount Vernon tomorrow, so we expect a lot from that. Back to you guys.

SANCHEZ: A busy day on Capitol Hill even on a snowy Saturday. Daniella Diaz, thank you so much.

So President Biden now has the opportunity to make good on his promise to appoint the first black woman to the Supreme Court after liberal justice Stephen Breyer announced that he is going to retire after his successor is confirmed. Here with us to discuss the process ahead, Loyola University Chicago Law School Professor Christine Kexel, and Constitutional Law Professor at John Jay College, Gloria Browne- Marshall. We should note Gloria is also the author of "She Took Justice, The Black Woman, Law, and Power." Ladies, thank you both so much for sharing party of your Saturday with us.

And Gloria, I want to start with something that Republican Senator Roger Wicker said yesterday about Biden's promise to appoint a black woman. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ROGER WICKER, (R-MS): That is exactly what Biden said he would do in his campaign. So he is just fulfilling a campaign promise, and he told the whole world that's exactly what he was going to do. The irony is that the Supreme Court is at the very same time hearing cases about this sort of affirmative racial discrimination.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

WICKER: And while adding someone who is the beneficiary of this sort of quota. The majority of the court may be saying writ large it is unconstitutional. We'll see how that irony works out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Gloria, do you think that whoever President Biden nominates is the beneficiary of affirmative racial discrimination?

GLORIA BROWNE-MARSHALL, CONSTITUTIONAL LAW PROFESSOR, JOHN JAY COLLEGE: Not at all. What is so ironic about this, we've had white male affirmative action for nearly 400 years by law and by violence. And yet we have now these black women who have Harvard, Yale, Princeton backgrounds who are looked upon as though everything they have gotten was given to them, when they have worked hard. They're of the highest integrity, the highest intellectual minds. And I think the other thing that needs to be understood here is that

the first white female lawyer was part of us back in 1869, she became a part of the bar. The first black female lawyer was in 1872. So the black woman has been a judge in 1939, a federal court judge in the 1960s, and these women are beyond reproach when it comes to their credentials. So, yes, this whole idea that she is going to be tainted by affirmative action. But no matter what this nominee is or does, they will be tainted by something that someone comes up with to try to undermine their credibility.

SANCHEZ: I find it notable that he hasn't noted any of their qualifications because he doesn't know who President Biden is going to nominate. So this seems like a blanket statement.

Christine, before we look at the future and who is next on the bench, we want to take a moment to look back at the career of Justice Breyer. How could you describe his legacy? What mark has he made on the court?

CHRISTINE KEXEL CHABOT, PROFESSOR, LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO LAW SCHOOL: Yes, he has a remarkable legacy he will leave on the court. He has written so many leading majority and dissenting opinions both on constitutional rights of abortion, free speech, equal protection.

[10:45:01]

There's also some really important separation of power cases. He has been a strong advocate for deferring to political branches of the government. So he will leave a strong legacy in that sense.

SANCHEZ: And now I kind of want to look at some of the early favorites that President Biden might nominate. We have a screen full of them. A lot of shiny resumes, you could say. There is Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. She's an appeals judge in D.C. Notably, she was confirmed by the same Senate last year. Justice Leondra Kruger of the California Supreme Court. And a name that was confirmed as a potential nominee by the White House, U.S. district judge J. Michelle Childs. She is on South Carolina's federal court, very close to Trump ally Jim Clyburn.

Gloria, first to you, out of all these impressive names and resumes, which ones stand out the most to you and why?

BROWNE-MARSHALL: They are all brilliant. Ketanji, of course, on the Court of Appeals, when we think about our Court of Appeals, that is the court that is closest to the U.S. Supreme Court. They take these appellate cases. My background is as a law clerk on a state court as well as a court of eastern district, which is a trial court. And we always looked up to the Court of Appeals because that is so close to the Supreme Court.

I think that Judge Childs, of course, is amazing. I've had the chance to interact with her on occasion for full disclosure. And these women, all of them in the Second Circuit, we have Eunice Lee, judge for the Second Circuit there, that's the New York circuit. These all are amazing people, Leondra Kruger. There is nothing about this, the background of these women, that would prevent them from being excellent jurists on the U.S. Supreme Court. The only thing that is holding back any situation here for their

ascent to the court is the fact that they are black, they are women, and that President Biden mentioned that he was looking forward to nominating a black woman because there is this void that, based on history and the natural progression of things, these women should have been looked upon as potential candidates. And there were black women who were put forward during the Obama administration, too. So this is to the just a last minute political game that is being played.

SANCHEZ: And Christine, quickly, your thoughts on the potential nominees.

CHABOT: Yes, I agree that some of the top choices are exceptionally well qualified. If you look to Judge Jackson, she has sterling academic credentials. She was a clerk for Justice Breyer and had many years of judicial service. Judge Leondra Kruger as well has extensive experience, not only serving as a State Supreme Court justice, but she also served in the Solicitor General's office, arguing many key cases before the Supreme Court, and is someone who also clerked for Justice Stevens on the Supreme Court and also has sterling credentials. Judge Michelle Childs also has extensive judicial experience. It's a different type of judicial experience on the district court, so she has trial court appearance. That made might add an interesting type of professional diversity as well.

And I think that many of the leading contenders are judges will also, they get an easier path for them to be confirmed. Judges tend to be more mainstream than, say, a pick from the legal academy which might be easier to brand as a radical, potentially.

SANCHEZ: And we should note, we can expect the pick in a matter of weeks, early February at the earliest. We've got to leave the conversation there, ladies. Christine Kexel Chabot, Gloria Browne- Marshall, thank you both. We appreciate the time.

Stay with CNN. We'll be right back.

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[10:53:19]

PAUL: Let's get you caught up on a couple stories that we're following today. President Biden says he is now preparing to send more American troops to eastern Europe. This move comes as the top U.S. General, Mark Milley, tells CNN that the buildup of Russian troops at the Ukrainian border hasn't been seen at this magnitude since the Cold War era, and if they invade, it would have, quote, horrific consequences. As many as 8,500 U.S. troops were on heightened alert earlier this week to prepare to deploy. The United Nations Security Council is expected to meet Monday to discuss the growing tensions and Russia's aggression in that region.

SANCHEZ: Alabama has asked the Supreme Court to freeze a lower court's decision, ordering the state to redraw its congressional map. Earlier this month a panel of judges said the original map likely violates part of the Voting Rights Act preventing race-based discrimination. This is the first 2022 election dispute to reach the nation's highest court.

PAUL: More than 2,200 people on average are still dying from COVID-19 every day here in New York. But Dr. Fauci and many health experts say they are still cautiously optimistic. There are daily cases and hospitalizations that are declining across the U.S., and as a new Kaiser poll reveals, about seven in 10 people who are eligible to receive a booster shot have received one. In the meantime, the White House says that 16 million households have requested free COVID-19 rapid tests thus far as part of the Biden administration's program to mail out more than half a billion tests to people.

SANCHEZ: Legendary singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell says she also plans to remove her music from Spotify, acting in unity with Neil Young, who did the same, in a protest over vaccine misinformation.

[10:55:01]

You might recall earlier this week Young pulled his music from the streaming service, citing Joe Rogan's podcast, which is known to spread false and inaccurate claims about the pandemic. In a statement on her website, Mitchell wrote, quote, "Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives."

PAUL: It has been such a pleasure to be with you this morning. Take good care of yourselves out there. I know that a lot of you are very cold, there is a lot of snow. I'm a little jealous, I admit, but go make good memories today.

SANCHEZ: Yes, stay with CNN. We're going to keep tracking the storm all day. Much more ahead in the next hour of CNN Newsroom. Fredricka Whitfield is up next.

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