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Part Of Alaska Airlines Cabin Out, Forcing Emergency Landing; Countdown To Caucuses: GOP Field Storms Iowa; Trump Ramps Up Attacks On Nikki Haley; Pentagon Press Assn.: An "Outrage" That Pentagon Didn't Disclose Defense Secretary's Hospitalization For 4 Days; Supreme Court To Review Decision Removing Trump From Ballot; 40 Million People Under Winter Weather Alerts. Aired 12-1p ET

Aired January 06, 2024 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Now, that's all we have time for. If you want to ask me a question, scan the Q.R. code on your screen, or e-mail AskAmanpour @cnn.com. And remember to tell us your name and where you're from. And don't forget, you can find all our shows online as podcast at cnn.com/podcast and on all other major platforms.

I'm Christiane Amanpour in London. Thank you for watching and see you again next week.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me and Happy New Year. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

All right. We begin with this breaking news. Alaska Airlines is now grounding its entire fleet of Boeing 737-9 MAX planes after a terrifying trip on Friday. Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 had just taken off from Portland, Oregon, when a section of its cabin ripped off. Leaving a gaping hole as you see right there in the jet, with more than 170 passengers on board.

One passenger captured the scene during the very tense but silent moments after the incident happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD (voice over): They are all nearly paralyzed in fear there. the plane was only airborne for about 20 minutes before the pilot made an emergency landing back in Portland. One person was taken to the hospital with a minor injury. Another passenger describes the harrowing ordeal.

EVAN SMITH, PASSENGER, ALASKA AIRLINES FLIGHT 1282: I understand talking to a lady who was sitting in the row immediately behind where the panel blew at, that there was a -- you could see later that there was a two windows Section panel that blew out. it's about as wide as a refrigerator and but two thirds as high.

And she said there was, I guess, a boy and his mother was sitting in that row and his shirt was sucked off him and out of the plane. And his mother was holding on to -- onto him. And she said her own little boys phone went out too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Incredible. CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean is tracking all of the latest developments. Pete, I mean, what do we know about how this happened?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: This happened in a really explosive moment, Fredricka. Like the most violent convertible ride you've ever been on. In this case, a Boeing 737 Max 9, in row 26, where there could have been a door. This plane did not have it, known as a door plug. More on that in a second.

That's really happened in a bang, seven minutes into the flight, at 16,000 feet. This plane experience what is technically known as a rapid decompression. The high-pressure breathable air inside goes rushing outside, the cold thin air outside comes rushing inside. And you heard about that boy who had his shirt pulled off, the oxygen mask came down, the pilots had to deal with this very quickly.

And I want you to listen to the calm from the new air traffic control recordings we just got. Step one, fly the airplane; step two, run the checklist, descend back down to breathable air. You don't have a lot of consciousness time at 16,000 feet, and then communicate to air traffic control what is going on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Alaska 1282, need to declare an emergency, descending down to 10,000, just depressurized.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Alaska calling descend one-zero thousand. When able, give me the nature of the emergency and your intentions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seattle, Alaska 1282 just depressurized, need to declare an emergency, we do need to descend down to 10,000.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: You can hear the pilots with their muffled voices, likely, they had oxygen masks on to the left side of the airplane's fuselage is where this failure occurred. There is a door that can be installed at the Boeing factory. It depends on the seating configuration ordered by the airline.

This airplane, in particular, did not have it. Instead, it is a plug that you can see on the outside of the airplane there. You wouldn't know about it from the inside.

This plane, in particular, rolled off the factory floor only 10 weeks ago from Renton, Washington. First flight, October 15th. 150 flights for Alaska Airlines since then.

Boeing now, under the microscope once again after a litany of issues with the 737 Max, two major crashes abroad, 346 people killed, grounded in the U.S. for 18 months. And the Boeing has been dogged by quality control issues since.

The good news here, 171 passengers on board, six crew, all OK. And the crew did an exceptional job.

WHITFIELD: Oh, they really. I mean, that is great news -- great news there. But this is really rattling, you know, a lot of people.

So, any indications now that other airlines might ground their 737-9 Max jets --

MUNTEAN: This is the latest data from Cirium, which looks at the global airline fleet. And they say they're about 215 737 Max 9s in use around the world. One of the biggest operators, United Airlines they have 79 of them.

We've reached out to comment to see what they will do. Although, we do know now that Alaska Airlines, all 65 of its planes are temporarily grounded pending inspections of this specific spot.

[12:05:09]

Alaska Airlines CEO says that will take only a few days' time. Although, we will see what transpires here. The National Transportation Safety Board, digging into this along with the Federal Aviation Administration, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Yes. And adding to the alarm, and this is a young aircraft. I mean, it is just 10 weeks old.

MUNTEAN: Yes.

WHITFIELD: All right. Pete Muntean, thank you so much. We'll check back with you as you learn more.

MUNTEAN: Any time.

WHITFIELD: So, let's talk more about the analysis of this. Let's go to retire 777 Captain Les Abend. Good to see you. So, what's your rate action, your initial reaction to hear that a piece of a Boeing 737-9 Max plane would simply, you know, fall off, gets sucked away, and frightened a whole lot of people?

LES ABEND, RETIRED 777 CAPTAIN: Well, I'm flabbergasted, Fredricka. I just -- it's hard for me to imagine regardless of the fact that Alaska uses that or does or does not utilize that particular section as emergency exit. That was a service door.

Pete, did a great job of pretty much describing, you know, what that was all about. But at the end of the day, it's a plug-type door is what we call it. It's like, like a bank vault.

That door, if it was used as an emergency exit, you should have sealed tight against that airplane, how it came out is just unfathomable to me.

But in any case, the crew did a tremendous job as we -- (CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: Yes.

ABEND: As Pete and you just talked about. But the first thing you've got to do is take care of yourself up in the cockpit. And that's -- and the very first thing that we do is we put on our oxygen masks. Now, they were only at 16,000 feet. So, they had enough oxygen, it would have gotten a little dicey had they'd been up there longer, but -- or have been at a much higher altitude. That's the other part of it.

It's good that it came off when it did. The -- and then, once you start with the oxygen mask, you start a checklist, like Pete said, then, you come down very quickly.

However, one of the caveats of coming down is to -- is to say, well, should we come down fast? Or do we have a possible structural integrity issue.

And guess what, they probably thought they did, got a call from flight attendants and say, hey, this side of the fuselage has a big hole in it.

So, they probably took a little more time than they would have, when I looked at the FlightAware data, they could have come down a lot faster. But I think they were -- they were using their best judgment, and I -- and I applaud them for that.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

ABEND: So, in any case, the oxygen mask will automatically come down. But it certainly was a very harrowing situation for the passengers back there. But the crew did tremendous.

WHITFIELD: And we celebrate them. Thank goodness. So, when it comes down to the analysis of the what happened, you mentioned a seal. OK, this is a space where there's an option for it to be a door or the windows. In this case, you said you know, it was a plug door.

So, what kind of seal is traditionally around it? Might that be the area that's compromised, because this isn't a new configuration, this is something that is, you know, customary and on a lot of planes. But something obviously went wrong. This is a 10-week-old aircraft. What's the first order of business in trying to figure out how and why this was compromised?

ABEND: Well, if this was a plug type door, that could have been used as an option as a service door, which would become an emergency exit. Like I said, it's a bank vault type door situation. So, having those -- there is pins that surround that whole thing. The seal is just to just in reinforce all of that.

So, having that door come open with a pressurized airplane, it just -- it's amazing to me. I don't know how that could happen, unless if plus and constructed properly. And if this door was functional in any particular way, the cockpit would have seen a message that said, hey, this door is open.

WHITFIELD: And so, it's wise in your view, then that, you know, immediately these kinds of aircrafts, you know, part of any fleet would be suspended, you know, grounded while they carry out the investigation.

The NTSB is sending a go team to Portland to investigate from that standpoint.

ABEND: It's an extraordinary circumstance and I understand why they are doing it.

You know, let's not start talking about the history of the MAX, now, this certainly isn't related to the -- to the MKS system that we knew back, you know, in 2019. But you know, like Pete said, there are some quality control aspects to this airplane. And we're hoping that Boeing gets it right or this is an anomaly, you know, this is a one-off situation that could have been under human control that we're not aware of at this point.

[12:10:05]

WHITFIELD: Is it an anomaly to have this kind of door option configuration? Is it, you know, specific to the 737-9 Max planes? Or do we need to be concerned about this same kind of option configuration on other aircrafts?

ABEND: We shouldn't be concerned about this. All airlines order their planes in different types of configurations when it comes to seating, when it comes to the cockpit arrangement.

So, you know, this is not unusual from that standpoint. That, I guess, Alaska decided to, you know, because they have enough emergency exits for an evacuation situation that they didn't necessarily have to utilize this door, so they utilized it for seating.

WHITFIELD: All right. Les Aben, thank you so much.

Of course, we are all glad that all passengers, all crew are OK. Pretty shaken up, probably, but OK.

All right. Still to come, the GOP presidential candidates campaigning in Iowa today in a final push to voters ahead of the Iowa caucuses. Our team is there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:15:05]

WHITFIELD: All right. The official kickoff to the 2024 race, the Iowa caucuses now just nine days away. And the Republicans battling to take on President Biden this fall are crisscrossing the state today in a bid to shore up support. CNN is out on the trail with the candidates.

Alayna Treene is in Newton, Iowa, one of Trumps two stops today. And Steve Contorno is following the DeSantis campaign in Cedar Rapids.

So, Elena, let's go to you first. Donald Trump is ramping up his attacks against Nikki Haley. What is he saying?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN CONGRESSIONAL AND PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS REPORTER: Yes. Well, Fred, as someone who has covered the former president his campaign for quite some time, I'd argue that his comments last night going after Nikki Haley are some of the sharpest attacks, we've heard from him on the trail today.

Trump really leaned in to those attacks, and he argued that Nikki Haley is in the pocket of Biden donors. And he also tried to paint her as an establishment figure who was a threat to his America First ideals. He also argued that he doesn't think that she's quite ready to be president. Take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Nikki Haley has been in the pocket of the open borders, establishment owners her entire career, and she is a globalist, you know, she likes the globe. I like America first, the people in this room like America first.

And Nikki Haley's campaign is being funded by Biden donors. Did you know that? Biden donors, because they are trying to get her like, in particular, here -- we're doing so well, I think they've sort of given up. You notice it's sort of like data here.

But in New Hampshire, they have a lot of Biden donors and contributors, putting money into our campaign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now, Fred, I think the timing and the context of these remarks are very important to note, we know that. Donald Trump has really spent almost all of his time on the campaign trail, focusing attacks either on President Joe Biden or Ron DeSantis, the Florida Governor.

But in recent weeks, he is really been ramping up these attacks on Haley. And it comes as even though Trump's campaign has been publicly saying they're very confident about both Iowa, but also New Hampshire, privately, there are some concerns about how Donald Trump will fare in New Hampshire, particularly, as they are seeing Nikki Haley rise in the polls.

And I think one of the clearest examples of that perceived threat is Donald Trump's campaign, but also his leading super PAC MAGA Inc have poured millions of dollars in recent days into attacking Nikki Haley in New Hampshire, trying to tie her to President Biden's immigration policies. And also, just tie her to Biden overall. Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right, Alayna.

And Steve, you know, how are Trump's rivals talking about January 6th, on what today is the three-year anniversary? STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Fred, DeSantis and Haley, especially, have been trying to strike this balance between criticizing Trump for his involvement in what happened that day, but also downplaying the ramifications of what transpired.

DeSantis, for example, today, he actually said, "at some point, are we going to move on, and focus on the people's issues?" And yesterday, on one of his events in Iowa, he suggested that President Biden could actually be removed from the ballot in Florida. He was considering that as an option as retaliation for what's happened in Maine, and Colorado. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is just going to be a tit for tat. And it's just not going to end well. You could make a case and we're actually -- I'm actually looking at this in Florida now. Could we make a credible case that Biden, because of the invasion of 8 million? And again, I don't think that's the right way to do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONTORNO: Haley has also changed her position on this quite a bit in the days after the January 6 insurrection. She said she was "disappointed, disgusted." She said Trump let us down. And she actually predicted that Trump had, "lost any sort of political viability he was going to have. But more recently, while she has been critical of what Trump did that day, she is also sometimes in the same breath, said, he was the right president at the right time. Fred.

WHITFIELD: Meantime, Alayna, President Biden called Donald Trump straight out a threat to democracy. How is Trump from Iowa responding?

TREENE: Yes. Well, Fred, just hours after the president argued that Donald Trump isn't a threat to American democracy, Trump responded by arguing that Biden -- or accusing Biden, I should say, of "pathetic fear mongering". And as we've seen Donald Trump do before, he's trying to flip the script on Biden. He's trying to argue that Biden is actually the real threat to democracy.

And he pointed to the series of indictments that he is facing, as what he argues an example of political weaponization, of course, we should note that there is no evidence that Biden has been directly involved in the charges that Trump is facing.

But also, in part of that speech, Donald Trump mocked Biden's delivery, specifically his long-time struggle with a stutter. Take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[12:20:09]

TRUMP: Biden's record is an unbroken streak of weakness, incompetence, corruption, and failure. That's why crooked Joe is staging his pathetic, fear mongering campaign event in Pennsylvania today. Did you see him he was stuttering through the whole thing. He's gone by because he's a threat to democracy. They have weaponized government. He is saying I'm a threat to democracy. He is a threat to democracy. Well, OK.

I couldn't read the word.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now, Fred -- now, Fred, Donald Trump also downplayed the events that happened on January 6th. He called the prisoners who are currently facing time for their role in the January 6th Capitol attack hostages a comment he has made before.

And he also called it one of the saddest days in American history. And I think, you know, just looking back at many of Donald Trump's characterizations of what happened on that day of January 6 2021, I wasn't surprised to hear him tried to downplay it, and also expressed sympathy for those serving time for their role on the January 6th attack.

WHITFIELD: All right. Alayna Treene, Steve Contorno, thank you so much. Let's talk more now with Igor Bobic, senior politics reporter for HuffPost. Igor, good to see you.

And even Trump's you know, display there was kind of reminiscent of when he was making for fun of a reporter when he was on the campaign trail the first time.

Meantime, despite all of that, President Trump has strong support heading into the Iowa caucuses. Is there any scenario in which a last minute surge could propel Ron DeSantis or Nikki Haley to the top?

IGOR BOBIC, SENIOR POLITICS REPORTER, HUFFPOST: Well, as of -- as of right now, all the polls are showing him leading by a mile. Now, of course, polls have been wrong before. But every evidence that we've seen so far of the data -- polling data shows him leading by quite a bit. And I think, you know, it's very likely that he could seal this nomination up in the next week or two in Iowa, and if not in New Hampshire and deal a really strong blow for himself to win that nomination.

Ironically, just three years after the January 6th insurrection, where he tried to engineer and overthrow of his election loss. And it's something that he and his supporters are using now as a rallying cry to engage voters ahead of Iowa and New Hampshire, and calling, calling these people who wrongly stormed the Capitol as hostages. It's a -- it's just one more way he's trying to deflect blame for his role inciting the attack.

WHITFIELD: And you see him clinching the nomination, despite the fact that you've got Colorado and Maine, keeping him off the ballot in the primary, of course, that is, you know, under consideration with the U.S. Supreme Court? There are still other states who might be taking the same route to see if they can remove him despite all of that, you see that he is still going to remain the front runner and the one who clinches the nomination for the GOP.

BOBIC: There is a -- there is a very quixotic effect that Donald Trump has on the electorate, whereas any kind of bad news or an impeachment or a judicial decision, or a conviction, or criminal charge actually helps him each successive time. So, I don't see that, that would change in this regard.

Perhaps you know, what, we, we will see him be charged, the -- be convicted, but I don't see that changing his political support, even if he's shown a way of playing the martyr to his -- to his supporters. And I think he is going to do that again. WHITFIELD: In a recent HuffPost piece, you and your colleagues wrote the Republicans are, your words now, more pro-insurrection than ever.

Three years after the January 6th attack, saying, "In its immediate aftermath, proponent Republicans criticized Trump and held him responsible. Now, that's almost hard to believe; many have since recanted and endorsed his 2024 presidential bid."

You were in the capitol that day. How and why do you think some in the party have shifted their position so dramatically?

BOBIC: Yes, you saw glaring example of that this week, where the latest Republican senator to endorse Trump's bid, Tom Cotton from Arkansas, actually criticized him that day along with other Republicans, you know, calling him out and saying he should -- he should move to end the mob violence and now, of course, he is backing his 2024 bid.

And I think Republicans are all going to fall in line here shortly soon after if he does manage to take Iowa, just another example of his continued sway over the base, and then, how they are unable to really deal with that.

[12:25:03]

WHITFIELD: From the president's -- sitting president's standpoint, it is opening speech of the campaign. President Biden called Donald Trump a threat to democracy. Do you think Biden's words will resonate with those still weary Republicans? Or does it make his base even more determined to, you know, as you -- as you say, you know, kind of clinched the nomination for Trump?

BOBIC: Yes, I think Biden was trying to do think -- two things there, he was trying to, you know, engage those Republicans and independents who supported him in 2020, or at least at the very least, did not support Donald Trump into back into the fold, who Republicans who might be, you know, not pleased with his economic policies, or his, you know, his age or things like that, to support, at the very least not support Donald Trump.

And also engage the Democrats who are displeased with Biden's presidential administration right now, at least, younger voters and voters of color. So, I think he is going to have to hammer this message home over the next year in order to really have an effect. WHITFIELD: Preserving democracy, it's the key theme for the Biden campaign, which dropped its first ad, focusing on that very issue this week. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There is something dangerous happening in America. There's an extremist movement that does not share the basic beliefs in our democracy.

All of us are being asked right now, what will we do to maintain our democracy? History is watching, the world is watching.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: It was an impressionable winning message and 2020. Three years later, with the economy, geopolitical concerns, and more, do you believe it is resonating in this same way? Can the Biden White House get its message across in this manner?

BOBIC: I think it'll be more difficult this time around. In 2020, he was, you know, at least fresh on the scene. He did not have this, this record in office as president hanging over him. He could make the message that -- he could -- he could send out the message that he was -- he was going to, you know, be a -- bring normalcy back to the White House, and clear out some of the chaos that Trump had created every -- nearly every day.

Whereas now, his critics and including in the Democratic Party have things to point to as perhaps reasons why not to support him. And I think what he's trying to say is that, yes, you know, there might be legitimate areas of criticism, at least on the economy and things like that, which is doing better now.

But, you know, some things are a higher moral calling, and that's what he's doing with these ads now to play on people's morality and defend democracy.

WHITFIELD: All right. Igor Bobic, good to talk to you. Thank you so much, and Happy New Year.

BOBIC: Happy New Year.

WHITFIELD: All right, a startling revelation by the Pentagon. The secretary of defense has been in the hospital for nearly a week. What's going on, and why is the public just now learning about this?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:32:35]

WHITFIELD: All right welcome back. The White House is responding to growing questions about the health of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. He was admitted to Walter Reed Medical Center on New Year's Day for complications following an elective medical procedure. The Pentagon didn't mention the hospitalization for four days and made no mention of it at a press briefing on Thursday. And a short time ago, a National Security Council spokesperson said President Biden was informed of the Secretary's condition but didn't say when that occurred. CNN's Arlette Saenz is covering all of this for us. Arlette, what do we know about Austin's condition?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, the Pentagon says that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is recovering well. But beyond that there were very few details known and disclosed about what sent him into the hospital. Now in announcing and disclosing this, they did not detail what that initial procedure was, what the complication was after it. And they haven't answered questions about whether he was unconscious during any of this period, or if he was ever in critical condition.

It took the Pentagon -- he was admitted on New Year's Day and it was not until late Friday that they made this disclosure. The Pentagon Press Secretary, a Major General Pat Ryder are telling CNN that the reason it took so long is because it was an evolving situation that they had to take into account, a number of factors including medical issues, and patient privacy. But it does raise serious questions, especially at a time when the Pentagon and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are dealing with a host of issues on the world stage including the war in Ukraine as well as the conflict between Israel and Hamas and the concerns of any type of regional conflict expanding even wider.

Now, the National Security Council spokesperson today said President Biden was informed of Austin's condition but they did not detail exactly when the President was told. They said that the President wishes him a speedy recovery but there is some frustration bubbling up, including from the Pentagon press corps. The Pentagon Press Association sent a letter to the Pentagon communications team calling it an outrage that it took so long for them to disclose the fact that Austin was hospitalized and not provide that information.

They said that this is breaking from standard protocol and in that letter they wrote, quote, the public has a right to know when U.S. Cabinet members are hospitalized under anesthesia or when duties are delegated as a result of any medical procedure that has been the practice even up to the President's level. As the nation's top defense leader, Secretary Austin has no claim to privacy in this situation.

[12:35:12]

So we are still waiting to hear more details about the -- his condition at this time. What prompted the hospitalization? The Pentagon had said that he remained in the hospital at Walter Reed Friday afternoon and was expected to take on full responsibilities and become engaged later on in Friday, but it's unclear what exactly he's said to be released from the hospital. We'll see if we got any other developments on that front today.

WHITFIELD: All right, of course, and even with that everyone wishes him a full and speedy recovery. All right, Arlette Saenz, thanks so much. Donald Trump's political future now rests with the highest court in the land. The U.S. Supreme Court said Friday it will review Colorado's unprecedented decision to remove the former president from the state ballot, claiming he should be disqualified under the 14th Amendment's insurrection clause. It's a decision that could significantly impact this year's presidential election and puts the nine justices squarely in the middle weeks before voting starts in the early primary contests.

I want to bring in now Seth Waxman for more legal perspective. He's a criminal defense attorney and former federal prosecutor. Seth, great to see you and Happy New Year.

SETH WAXMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Happy New Year.

WHITFIELD: All right, can you explain the significance of what the U.S. Supreme Court is taking on?

WAXMAN: Yes, sure. Them jumping into this fray is an incredibly important step given this election cycle that we're now heading into. And we should also point out that this is the third anniversary today as you and I talk of the attack on the Capitol, and that begs the fundamental question of whether Donald Trump engaged in an insurrection or rebellion against this country. Now, myself and many other legal scholars believe that this Supreme Court may try to avoid that significant question and use what have been called kind of procedural off ramps or procedural issues to avoid the ultimate question.

So some of those procedural off ramps may include the idea of whether Donald Trump qualifies as an officer under the 14th Amendment. And if he doesn't, then he would still appear on the ballot and would not be disqualified. Another off ramp may be that it this is a congressional issue, and Congress should issue legislation to address who appears on the national ballot, and that's under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

But in any case, practically speaking, I find it somewhat difficult to believe that there are going to be five Supreme Court justices, three of whom had been appointed by Donald Trump, who will remove Donald Trump from this ballot, given that a large portion of this country certainly seems to want to consider him as president. And ultimately what this may cause is a boomerang effect. While there's a lot of negativity, in legal pleadings, and in discussions about Donald Trump right now, if and a month or two from now, the Supreme Court issues a ruling in his favor, he will certainly wave that opinion around as his vindication and use that as a political platform to say that he did not engage in an insurrection and is innocent.

Now whether the opinion actually says that or not, you know, we've seen Donald Trump go to that playbook before and I expect that he would use it to his full advantage politically.

WHITFIELD: Meantime, Trump's lawyer spoke out on Thursday about how she expects the court's ruling to go. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ALINA HABBA, LAWYER & LEGAL SPOKESPERSON FOR DONALD TRUMP: I think it should be a slam dunk in the Supreme Court. I have faith in them. You know, people like Kavanaugh who the President fought for, who the President went through how to get into place, he'll step up, those people will step up not because they're pro Trump, but because they're pro law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Is that the way it will be looked at? Or is it I mean, her explanation kind of infers that there's an allegiance to the guy who nominated him to sit on the Supreme Court. And so there will be payback, so to speak.

WAXMAN: Right. Again, this is right out of Trump's playbook, isn't it we've done for you for years now it's time for you to do to us do for us. And we've seen how that's played out for the other people on the other side of that quid pro quo common arrangement on look at the Paul Manaforts, the Rudy Giulianis, the Michael Cohens, they've been left holding the bag, but of course, we're talking about a different environment here. We talk -- we're talking about a lawyer for Donald Trump, who is an officer of the court making comments directly to a Supreme Court justice, and that is wildly inappropriate.

So, you know, I don't see the justices, any of them, including Justice Kavanaugh being moved by this at all. They are life tenured judges. So I just see this as more of an inappropriate comment by a lawyer who should not be making those kinds of statements.

WHITFIELD: And to follow up on what you said would be some potential procedural off ramps. The whole issue of whether a sitting president is an officer, you know, whether that person qualifies as an officer. That is going to be a primary argument that Trump's team makes, how will it be a defined who was an officer isn't the presumption that the commander-in-chief, the President, would be an officer when he is -- when he took the oath on inauguration day to uphold the Constitution?

[12:40:22]

WAXMAN: Yes, wouldn't it be an odd result if the Secretary of Transportation or the Attorney General is an officer of the United States, and if he or she were to engage in insurrectionist, or rebellious activity could remove -- be removed from office. But the President of the United States, the highest office, is somehow excluded from that analysis just because the word president isn't used in the 14th Amendment.

So, you know, as a textual matter, and that's what many legal scholars look at is what does the text of the Constitution state, and it says, officer, and if anyone wants to ask someone in a plain everyday conversation, do you think the president is an officer of the United States, I think everyone would readily say yes. But of course, this decision hasn't been ever rendered before. The Supreme Court is the ultimate arbiter on this question. And -- and they may use this to avoid the question of insurrection and could use this to avoid removing Donald Trump from the election ballot. WHITFIELD: Fascinating. All right, Seth Waxman, great to see you. Thank you so much. And the next hour, the Colorado Secretary of State will be joining me live.

All right, coming up, we're tracking a major winter storm system right now in the northeast, that could dump up to a foot of snow in some places, where it's heading, next.

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[12:46:01]

WHITFIELD: All right, 40 million people are under winter weather alerts as a powerful storm packing rain and snow barrels up the East Coast. Connecticut is bracing for its first big winter storm of the season. The storm could drop 12 inches of snow across most of that state and crews in New York City are loading sand trucks ahead of the rain and snow mix that is expected to fall across the city today. And areas of Kansas saw heavy snowfall, drivers in Wichita braved snow plowed streets. I'd like to bring in CNN correspondent Gabe Cohen, who is in a snowy Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. What's expected there?

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As you can see, Fred, the snow starting to pick up this afternoon. We've seen it over the past hour or so. It's really nice conditions, it's like 32 degrees. Not too breezy at the moment. There is some limited visibility, you can see just based on looking at the state capitol about a block behind me and some of the snow is starting to accumulate which you can see on the ground here. It's this really heavy, more packable dense snow which is creating some slick conditions out here.

I'm going to try not to move around too much because I don't want to fall on my face on live T.V. and have that exist forever. But if you look at the roads, they look pretty clear, driving around, they are a bit slick. But we know that crews pretreated a lot of roads here in Harrisburg and really across Pennsylvania. But if you're looking at the side street here, it gives you a sense of what a lot of conditions or conditions are going to look like on a lot of streets still snowy, icy.

And all we have seen, Fred, throughout this early part of the afternoon these roads getting more and more slick. The sidewalks are definitely slippery. If you look outside this business, you can see some owners, homeowners, different people took the initiative and assaulted the sidewalks trying to stay safe, Fred, but it's definitely coming down early this afternoon.

WHITFIELD: Yes, all right. Well, that's nice to some are able to take the kind of precautions that they can because, yes, we don't want to see you slip on, you know live T.V. either. Gabe Cohen, we'll check back with you. Thank you so much.

All right, let's turn to Elisa Raffa in the CNN Weather Center. All right, Elisa, everybody's anticipating their first big storm. The first we've really seen in a couple of years, right, in the Northeast like this? ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, I mean, where Gabe is in Harrisburg, even State College, they haven't seen significant snow in one year for most of those big cities along the east coast. We're talking D.C., Baltimore, and New York. It's been two years. So it's definitely been awhile. You could see the pinks roll. The winter storm warnings are in effect for the southern part, portions of it in West Virginia. And in the white, this area here, that's where we've got it in effect for some ice accumulations going into Pennsylvania, and then up into New England we're talking about 5 to 12 inches of snow in some locations.

So here's a look at what we've got so far. You've got showers and storms across Florida here that could also create damaging winds and maybe a brief tornado not to let that go. Then you have the northern part of the system with a cold air punching in you've got some of those icy conditions in Appalachian mountains and then the snow starting to dump into areas in D.C., Philly, New York that will start to peak later on tonight.

You have some major impacts possible for parts of the Northeast New England here, we're looking at a heavy wet snow some gusts to 40 miles per hour with some of that ice too, a couple of power outages will be possible. So you'll see the storm continues to work its way north through the evening. By tonight you're looking at that snow really peaking in New York City, the New York City kind of right on that rain snow line. Most of the snow is going to be to the north and west.

Then it starts to work its way into New England, peeking in Boston overnight. And then you get a second push of snow as that cold air comes in overnight tonight and into tomorrow morning, where you might get an inch or two of swash on top of all of this. So again, the snow totals highest from Central Pennsylvania, upstate New York, interior New England where you can get some of those 6 to 12 inch total. And then that rain snow line sitting right where we wanted to see some of those totals because that's where we've got that snow drought that's been playing out for the last two years. Philadelphia hasn't seen an inch of snow in 706 days, Central Park sitting at 691 days, D.C. 664. And all of these cities, it is the longest stretch on record that they haven't seen an inch of snow. So we'll be watching it pretty closely today.

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WHITFIELD: They are getting ready now because you said so. Elisa, thank you so much. We'll check back with you.

All right tomorrow, the legacy of the Miracle on the Hudson, 15 years later, how did it change the lives of Captain Sullenberger and the passengers and crew. The whole story with Anderson Cooper airs tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. right here on CNN. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, back in the Middle East as the U.S. desperately tries to stop the Israel-Hamas war from expanding into the region. We'll go live to Tel Aviv, next.

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WHITFIELD: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken back in the Middle East as the U.S. races to prevent the war in Gaza from spreading through the region. If you're meeting with Turkish President Erdogan, Blinken will make stops including Israel, the West Bank and Egypt among others. Even as Blinken arrives in the region, militant group Hezbollah launched 62 rockets at an Israeli observation posts along the border with Lebanon. The group says it is an initial response to the killing of a senior Hamas leader in Beirut earlier in the week. CNN's Nic Robertson is in Tel Aviv. What exactly is Blinken hoping to accomplish on this trip?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, one of the top priorities is to make sure that there isn't an escalation in the region that Iran and its proxies stay out of escalating tensions at the moment. This is a message Secretary Blinken will take to those countries, you mentioned, to the Emirates as well where he'll stop to Qatar as well to Saudi Arabia to Egypt. So this is a very, very important message.

But when he gets here to Israel, it will be more specific. It will be about security along the northern border with Lebanon, which is tense, as you just mentioned today, but it will also be about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, making sure that enough humanitarian supplies can get into people there and reach the people there. Here we're talking about food, water, medicine -- medical supplies as well. And also enable the people of Gaza to be able to return to their homes, particularly in the north, a lot of homes there are destroyed, but people still want to be able to get access to go back there.

That will be part of it. He will also listen to what Israeli officials have to say about their plans for a day after he was going to push them to make sure that the civilians in Gaza are not only getting humanitarian supplies, but that they are safer, and that there is a realistic plan for the day after when the hostilities end in Gaza, to turn the situation into one where there is a political authority and there can be rebuilding that can begin.

And the Israelis have been laying out some ideas about that. But I suspect that on that Secretary Blinken will want to drill down because they are quite ambiguous at the moment.

WHITFIELD: And Hezbollah launched dozens of rockets at an Israeli military post along the border with Lebanon, they say it's in retaliation for the killing of a Hamas leader, are we expecting this retaliation to escalate further?

ROBERTSON: That really is a key question and certainly one that the military here, the IDF will be watching closely. Hezbollah claims to have fired 62 missiles to this surveillance location, the top of a mountain and in the north of Israel. The IDF say they counted about 40 or so incoming missiles, they targeted the terror cell as they described it that was responsible for this attack. We don't have details beyond that.

But of course, this was a very careful strike by Hezbollah targeting what is very clearly a military post in the north of Israel. And they've announced that it's in connection with the killing of that Hamas leader in Beirut earlier on in the week. If they were to expand, then that will obviously raise the tensions at the moment. And that fear of an escalation could come into play. But another analysis at the moment could be that if Hezbollah had really wanted to escalate tensions, above the sort of accepted threshold, if you will, they could have fired more missiles, they could have fired more accurate and heavier missiles at that particular base. And in this case, it appears as if it is a strike back but below a threshold to certainly trigger a bigger response from Israel at this time.

WHITFIELD: All right, Nic Robertson in Tel Aviv, thanks so much.

All right, hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. And we start with this breaking news just into the CNN Newsroom. United Airlines is now joining Alaska Airlines and plans to ground its fleet of 737-9 Max jets following a terrifying flight on Friday. Alaska Airlines flight 1282 had just taken off from Portland, Oregon, Friday, heading to Ontario, California, when a section of its cabin blew off, leaving a gaping hole in the jet with over 170 passengers on board. One passenger captured the tense moments after the hole opened up.

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