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Millions Under Blizzard Warnings Across Northeast; Cartel Leader El Mencho Killed In Mexican Military Operation; Trump To Deliver State Of The Union Address On Tuesday; New York City Prepares For Potentially Historic Nor`easter; Trump Weighs Iran Action Amid U.S. Military Buildup In The Middle East; California Launches Civil Rights Probe Into Fire Response In West Altadena. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired February 23, 2026 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:51]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. Hi, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean here in New York.

And we begin this hour with the blizzard warning in effect tonight for New York City and parts of New Jersey and Connecticut as the potentially crippling snowstorm intensifies in much of the northeast. This one is expected to dump one to two feet of snow on New York, Philadelphia, and Boston.

Tonight non-emergency traffic will be banned in New York starting in just a few hours. Connecticut has already banned commercial traffic on its highways, and New Jersey suspended bus and light rail service. More than 8,000 flights have so far been canceled or delayed.

I want to bring in CNN correspondent Gloria Pazmino, who is outside here in New York. We also have Chris Warren at our CNN Weather Center. But let's go to Gloria first. She is outside.

So, Gloria, you get to go first because it is very cold out there and snowing. This is the second major storm here in New York in just one month. How are things shaping up right now?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jessica, you know, I will say that having been out here during the last storm, it is not as cold as it was the last time. And that is making a huge difference. We are getting a lot of snow this time around, but it's not going to be as cold. It's still a very dangerous and serious storm that's coming down on the city right now. And city officials have taken drastic measures to make sure that the city is prepared and that New Yorkers are safe.

And I can tell you, just in the last hour or so, the snow has really started to stick. It is starting to pile up, and as soon as we get two inches the city's snowplows will be out in force in addition to thousands of sanitation workers who will be preparing the streets ahead of what is likely to be a historic snowfall here in New York City. Now, I want to put it in a little bit of context because over the

years there have been record-breaking snowstorms here in the city. The top three and the number one was back in 2016, where we got 27 and a half inches of snow in Central Park. We are on track now to get somewhere in that neighborhood, at least a foot and a half -- excuse me. Yes, a foot and a half of snow could fall between now and tomorrow morning.

Now, we've been speaking to New Yorkers throughout the day. A lot of them a little bit tired of the snow, a little bit tired of the winter. We're getting to that end of the winter where people are kind of over it. And also many travelers who might be stuck in the city for a few days.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KYLIE RYU, NEW YORK RESIDENT: I'm so over it. I mean, just when you thought you were so done with the mountains of snow on the side of the street, we got another one. Are you kidding me? It's insane.

We hope we can enjoy the snow and the weather.

PAZMINO: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because we're here on vacation and we want to see the city and walk on Central Park.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: Very importantly, Jessica, in the next few hours, the mayor of the city of New York said that the city will institute a travel ban, which will begin at 9:00 this evening. That means that the streets, highways and bridges here in New York City will be closed to traffic. That is an effort to just keep people off the road, not just for safety, but really to allow sanitation workers to clean in the next several hours into tomorrow morning.

That travel ban will lift at noon. And New York City is not the only place that has instituted a travel ban or restriction. We're seeing similar rules in New Jersey, Connecticut, and the surrounding area where this nor'easter is expected to drop a lot of snow. So the cleanup not even started yet. Tomorrow, though, one good bit of news for students. Schools will be closed and kids will have a full snow day without remote learning -- Jessica.

DEAN: That's a big one. Without remote learning, they actually get to have a snow day.

All right, Gloria Pazmino, thank you.

I do want to go now to our meteorologist, Chris Warren.

Chris, walk us through the path of this storm. There's a lot of colors there on that map. What all does it mean? And what are we expecting broadly? CHRIS WARREN, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, I'll tell you what, Jessica,

the colors here on the map, the pink and the orange alone are big deals.

[18:05:05]

It means we're expecting these types of conditions. The pink winter storm warnings and impactful winter storm, so a lot of snow and then the orange blizzard warning. Expecting blizzard somewhere in here as this storm strengthens overnight into the morning hours. The winds are really going to get going here. So this is going from Virginia all the way up to Maine with some of these blizzard warnings.

And the snow is ongoing. This is the radar. So where the snow is falling right now. Green is rain and the green is going away as it's getting colder. And as the system is winding up and strengthening, it's helping to change over the rain to snow. And we're starting to see more and more of it moving up from the south and we're seeing the darker purples where there's more of that moderate and eventually it's going to be heavy snow.

We've been looking at these forecast models for the past several days, and what has changed over the past couple is that the European forecast model, which has not been showing a lot of snow the past couple of days, so if you're thinking like, where did this come from? It seems to come out of nowhere, well, the models were very different for a couple of days. They're coming into line now.

Of course, we're getting really close to the event. It's starting right now, but we're seeing the potential for high totals with the European and the GFS has been locked in on a big time snow event. Some of these colors a foot to even two feet of snow a possibility. The way this is all going to play out here with temperatures that are right around the freezing mark, that means we're going to have this very heavy, wet snow as the wind is absolutely driving, Jessica, with those blizzard conditions.

We're going to be seeing a very high impact event. Some coastal flooding also a possibility. But extreme impacts. One piece, I guess, you know, one piece of fortune would be the fact this is happening overnight coming off of a Sunday. This was the middle of the week, the middle of the day, could be a much worse scenario. It's going to be bad enough.

DEAN: Yes, it's going to be bad enough indeed. And the coastal areas are going to likely be especially hard hit. Why is that?

WARREN: Well, so when we're dealing with this system, this area of low pressure and how large it is and how much of the wind that will be pushing on shore, so if the wind was blowing from the land out to sea it essentially pushes the water away. But with the water and a nor'easter, the winds coming out of the northeast, you're going to see that water being pushed in and the water still going in the same direction over a long period of time.

So there's minor to moderate flooding possible, which is just kind of that much worse, made that much worse, Jessica, when you're dealing with snow on the ground as well. So snow and ice and water coming into some streets. It could be a tough go at the immediate coast.

DEAN: Certainly. All right, Chris Warren, thank you so much for that update. We certainly appreciate it.

Let's go to Mexico now where a wave of violence erupted in several states there after one of the most wanted cartel leaders died following a Mexican military operation. The outrage coming after the leader of the powerful Jalisco New Generation Drug Cartel was killed. The governor there saying suspected gang members have set busses on fire, blocked roads in the area, and clashed with authorities.

The cartel boss known as El Mencho was widely regarded as one of the country's most violent criminals, and this is key. A U.S. Defense official telling CNN an American task force also playing a role in this operation. El Mencho was also wanted in the U.S. The Justice Department had a $15 million reward out for information leading to his arrest, so they were certainly keen to see him arrested or detained.

The U.S. embassy in Mexico has now issued a shelter in place order to all U.S. citizens in areas where security operations are taking place.

Let's bring in CNN's Valeria Leon from Mexico City now.

What more can you tell us, Valeria?

VALERIA LEON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jessica, the situation is serious enough that even the U.S. government is now telling its citizens in Mexico to shelter in place because of ongoing security operations, road blockades and cartel related violence. U.S. officials are warning people to stay inside their homes or hotels until further notice.

This disruption is already spreading beyond the streets. Roadblocks have begun affecting airlines operations. Some domestic and international flights have been canceled. In Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta in the Mexican state of Jalisco. In Puerto Vallarta, taxis and ride share services have been suspended entirely, leaving many travelers stranded.

All of this is unfolding in the aftermath of the detention of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, better known as El Mencho. And authorities say the operation against him was the result of months of intelligence work carried out with U.S. support. But almost immediately after, cartel gunmen began responding with coordinated violence, blocking highways, burning vehicles and cutting off access to entire areas.

[18:10:12]

And this kind of response didn't come as a surprise to many in Mexico. El Mencho wasn't just another criminal leader. He built the Jalisco New Generation Cartel into one of the most aggressive and powerful criminal organizations in the country -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Valeria Leon in Mexico City, thank you so much for your reporting. Still ahead, President Trump will have a lot to say when he addresses

Congress and the nation Tuesday. Harry Enten runs the numbers on what to expect during the State of the Union Address. And later, parts of the northeast are about to be shut down as this historic nor'easter makes its way across the region. We're going to talk to the acting commissioner of the New York City Emergency Management Department.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:15:33]

DEAN: The stakes are high as President Trump heads to Capitol Hill Tuesday night to deliver his State of the Union Address. It will come just days after the Supreme Court ruled his sweeping global tariffs are illegal. Of course those are the centerpiece of his economic agenda and just a week ahead of the first primaries of this year's midterm elections.

CNN's Harry Enten is here to run the numbers -- Harry.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Happy Sunday evening to you, Jessica.

Look, it's snowing outside, but I'm looking here in the studio. And it turns out we have roofs over our heads. We're staying dry here.

Look, Donald Trump's State of the Union is happening on Tuesday, and he enters that State of the Union weakened, weakened, weakened, compared to where he was a year ago. What are we talking about here? Well, let's just take a look at Trump's net approval rating according to my average of the polls. A year ago Trump was actually above water. He was at plus two points. Not too bad, right? Not too bad, given that a lot of presidents these days have a tough time staying above water.

But down he goes like the Little Mermaid. Now Trump is well below water. He's 15 points below water, a nearly 20-point drop from where he was a year ago. We see this on the key issues of the day as well immigration and the economy. Two issues that got Trump elected to a second term. He's well under water on both of those.

Now, besides the issues, when we're talking about key political groups, what's driving this 17-point drop for Donald Trump? It's all about independents, baby. It's all about independents. When you lose the center of the electorate you lose the electorate overall. Just take a look at these numbers according to Quinnipiac. Among independents, his net approval rating, a year ago Trump was below water but not too below water. Right?

He was at seven -- he was at minus seven points. But hello? Now he's 27 points below water. That's a 20-point drop over just a year's time. You can't be surviving overall when you're 27 points below water politically speaking. My goodness gracious. And I will also note that this negative 27 points is lower, lower than where Trump was not just a year ago, but at this point in his first term when he was at minus 20 points among independents.

So that was not a great number. But this minus 27 points is even worse. Now, of course as we go into that State of the Union that's occurring on Tuesday, a question is, can Trump turn his political fortunes around, turn this minus 27 points among independents around, turn this minus 15 points among the general electorate around?

Well, history is not so kind. It's not so kind. Because take a look here OK. Average shift in approval ratings post-State of the Union, since 1977 the average president has seen a zero, zero, zero point shift in their approval rating. That will not work for Donald Trump. He wants to see a positive jump in his approval rating.

Now, if we look at Trump in particular we look at the history of him during his first term. Did he see big jumps in his approval rating on average? Not really. Take a look here. He saw, get this, just a boost of a point. A boost of a point his approval rating when you're 15 points below and your net approval rating, well, that is not going to work.

Now, one of the questions I also have going into Trump's State of the Union Address this year, is just how long is it going to be because last year's spiel by the president to a Joint Session of Congress was really, really, really long to a historic degree. I mean, just take a look here. OK. Presidential address to Congress, these are joint sessions, in minutes. The average speech since 1964, 55 minutes, 55 minutes.

Look at how long. Look at how long Trump's speech was last year. It was 99 minutes. By far the longest in modern political history. The longest spiel to a Joint Session of Congress from a president of the United States. And of course, there's no real correlation between how long your speech is and whether or not that will actually cause your approval ratings to increase as much as the president may wish it to because last year we had a really long speech and Trump's approval rating continued a gradual decline over the first year of his second term.

So this year, we'll see if Trump is able to be a little bit more concise. And maybe that might lead to higher approval ratings. We'll just have to wait and see.

Jessica, stay warm. Happy Sunday.

DEAN: Thank you. Happy Sunday to you, Harry.

CNN political commentator and Republican strategist Shermichael Singleton joins us now, along with Lulu Garcia-Navarro, CNN contributor and "New York Times" journalist and host of "The Interview."

It's great to have both of you here on this Sunday.

Shermichael, I want to start with you. Harry just laid out a lot of polling there and a lot of just like, you know, directional, where we're going, what direction we are going in right now and what we're looking at on the side here is that the president's approval rating is currently sitting at 39 percent.

[18:20:06]

What are your thoughts as the president heads into this State of the Union Address really a curtain raiser, as Rahm Emanuel was just talking about with us, on this midterm season?

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, I would probably focus less on immigration and more on the economy. And I would speak directly to independents in particular. I would talk about the fact that you understand people are still struggling while you have seen some improvements with inflation, while unemployment numbers have dropped here and there, you still have to recognize that there is more work to do and lay out a plan for what that work could look like.

And I'll just quickly add here, Jessica, from a midterms perspective, since World War II, the party of the president has lost 19 out of 21 of those midterm races. The party out of power has seen a seat gain in 90 percent of those midterms. Now, the difference this time around is that Republicans only have eight seats to defend against, meaning eight seats that Donald Trump did not win.

So this is not going to be, in my analysis here, a 2018 potential victory for Democrats. I do expect that they will probably win. But I think the big question at this point is, by what margin?

DEAN: Yes, I mean, that is certainly a big question.

And Lulu, Shermichael lays out some good things that I think Americans would like to hear from the president in terms of him talking about affordability talking about the economy and yet, you know, if his reaction to the Supreme Court ruling was any indication, it may not be that. He, you know, they're going to all be sitting there in front of him. We could hear something very different on Tuesday.

LULU GARCIA NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, if only the president would listen to Shermichael, then I think he might be in a better position. But sadly, that is not what the president is doing. The president doesn't listen to his smart political advisers. And we've seen that over and over again. The president in this term is sort of unconstrained because he's not up for reelection. And so he is indulging himself on putting his name on various buildings, on rebuilding the White House, on getting involved in Iran and other places.

And that's not what the American people are particularly interested in. And, you know, this recent polling, I've got to tell you the numbers that I also really looked at 56 percent now say that he lacks the mental sharpness to lead. 69 percent, rather 70 percent don't think he's honest and trustworthy. 62 percent think that he's out to enrich himself and only 20 percent support using military force for regime change in places like Iran and Venezuela.

And so, you know, those numbers aren't only about his popularity. Those numbers are about his policies. And so I think if he spent less time focusing on the things that are just very unpopular and more time on really changing people's lives in the way that they had elected him for, he'd be doing a lot better.

DEAN: Yes, and --

SINGLETON: Jessica --

DEAN: Yes, go ahead, Shermichael.

SINGLETON: I just want to add something to what Lulu just said with the data she just cited. Now, for the person who's watching this, they probably say, OK, why does that matter electorally speaking? Well, if you look at some of the more recent elections, midterms, under the Bush years, under the Obama years, you will see a direct correlation to presidential approval and how their party performs in the midterms.

And so some of those statistics really do matter for people like me who are strategists. And you're really trying to quantify and figure out what is the messaging looking like, how do you engage with the broader electorate. Then you also want to focus on the president's approval and try to stabilize those numbers as much as possible.

DEAN: Yes, and I think that's important context because you're right. Sometimes we can toss around a lot of numbers and people say like, well, OK, but what does that actually mean? And to your point, it does actually have a through line into oftentimes what we see as the outcome.

Lulu, I do want to ask you, because we went through all of those numbers and yet polling also says Americans don't trust Democrats really any more than Trump on a lot of these things. And so what are they to do?

GARCIA NAVARRO: Yes. Democrats are not the natural winners in this, except for the fact that this is a two-party system.

DEAN: Right.

GARCIA NAVARRO: And so therefore if you don't, it's who do you like less, right? And if you want to -- and what we've seen in the past few elections is Americans coming out and doing protest votes. They don't like the person in power and so they vote for the other guy or gal. Be that as it may. And so I think the Democrats can take some comfort in that. But let's face it, they are -- their message is still not resonating with the American people.

And more than that, the reason that their numbers are so low is because they are unpopular with their own voters. And that has been consistently the case since they lost the 2024 elections.

DEAN: Yes. And so what do you do? I mean, Shermichael, obviously, you're a Republican. I know you're not in the business of advising Democrats. But when you're unpopular with your own voters, where do you go from there? You got to start there.

[18:25:03]

SINGLETON: If the roles were reversed, let's put it that way, Jessica. If Republicans were in this situation, I would advise the party writ large to hyper focus on local elections. If sort of the broader moniker of the party is unpopular with our voting constituents, then I'm going to say, well, let's focus on individual members who are running in specific districts on the things that people may like about them and hyper focused a message from those candidates in a way that has resonance with those potential voters.

I would ignore the broader party because the broader party is just not popular, frankly on both sides, to be quite honest with you. So get away from that hyper focus on specific races.

DEAN: And be specific. And just quickly, Lulu, I'll give you the last word but, you know, Democrats would say, oh, but look, you know, we've done so well, we've overperformed in all these special elections, and that means good things for us.

Do you think that's a correct way of thinking about this?

GARCIA NAVARRO: I would say don't be too sure because, you know we've seen red waves predicted and it was like a red trickle. And I think, I think Democrats are going to do well. I think the electorate is angry. That said, I don't think Democrats can take anything for granted right now, and they're going to have to fight every race as if the -- as if they really want to win it.

DEAN: It will be interesting. And we look to Tuesday as we get this whole thing started.

Shermichael Singleton and Lulu Garcia-Navarro, great to have both of you. Thank you.

SINGLETON: Thanks, Jessica. Stay warm.

DEAN: Thank you.

Well, speaking of that, the snow is already falling across parts of New York and New Jersey. And there in Philadelphia. That looks a lot heavier than when we checked in just a little bit ago. Conditions are rapidly deteriorating throughout the region. We're going to check in across the region when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:31:08]

DEAN: We're back now with more on the blizzard emergency that we're following here in New York City and throughout the northeast. It's been snowing for hours, but the real impact of the storm is expected throughout the night and into tomorrow. Ultimately one to two feet of snow expected.

And we're joined now by Christina Farrell. She's the commissioner of New York City's Emergency Management Department.

Christina, thank you so much for being with us on what I know is a very busy night for you and your department. Tell us what you're expecting and how you're preparing for the impact of this storm.

CHRISTINA FARRELL, COMMISSIONER, NEW YORK CITY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT: Yes. So like you said, we are getting into blizzard conditions. It's been snowing all day, but it's really picked up the last couple hours. We have two inches on the ground now but were expecting much more overnight. The heaviest snow is going to be on the overnight. We have a travel ban in the city starting at 9:00 p.m. for all nonessential vehicles on all roads. That is scheduled until noon tomorrow.

We're in a state of emergency that the mayor set at noon today. Kids have a snow day tomorrow. And, you know, we are urging everyone that can stay home until we get through this to please do so.

DEAN: Yes. And so this travel ban, again, this is something we don't normally see here in New York City. And we see snow. We just had a pretty decent snowstorm a couple weeks ago. But this one is certainly different for a lot of reasons that we've been going through over the last couple hours. That the travel ban is in place you note as from 9:00 p.m., right, to noon tomorrow you said?

FARRELL: Yes.

DEAN: Yes. And so the goal of that being keep everyone off the streets and then also allow the plows and such to do their jobs.

FARRELL: Yes. It's both. It's first and foremost public safety. I know we have seen a few accidents in the last hour around the city as the snow intensifies. You know, also first responders, they don't get to stay off the roads, right? They have to keep responding to 911 calls emergencies. We don't want those emergencies to be traffic pileups and things like that. And we want the emergency workers to be able to go where they're going.

And then the second, like you said, this is going to be a very big job for the city's Department of Sanitation. They are ready. They have plows. We have two inches. So we can start to plow. But, you know, the less cars on the road, the easier it is for them to get the roads clear.

DEAN: Certainly. And to that end, a big piece of all of this, once you get past the obviously keeping everyone safe, which is the number one priority, but is getting that snow off the roads, clearing the roads so then people can get back to normal as soon as possible. What is that preparation like and how are you all thinking through that?

FARRELL: Yes, so the Sanitation Department, you know, they have 2600 workers on split shift, which means 12-hour shifts. And then the next shift comes in and so on and so on. They are out in force. They'll be out all night, all day tomorrow. You know, just running over the roads over and over. Also our Transportation Department, the parks department, the -- all of the agencies are out there working.

The schools will be working so kids go back, you know, later this week, and we're coordinating all of that, looking at where there may be issues, where people need help. And we're also bringing in paid snow laborers starting tonight. And they will be working on bus shelters, sidewalks, you know, things for pedestrians so we can also clear all of those areas.

DEAN: Yes. And you mentioned the schools. I know they'll be closed tomorrow. They're actually getting a full snow day. No remote learning. What factors into a decision like that?

FARRELL: So we, you know, there were several things. We are just coming out of winter break here. And so a lot of families were away. Some teachers were away. They still may be away. You know, obviously transportation was very difficult coming into the city today. And so, you know, there were challenges with that. And so the mayor's office spoke to the state, they got a waiver so we could have a full snow day so kids can enjoy that and be ready to get back into learning after that day.

[18:35:05]

DEAN: Yes, I do think that's the silver lining and the fun, happy part about a big snowstorm like this is after it clears out a full snow day can always be very fun and memorable to play in.

So, Christina, thank you so much. We really appreciate it. I know you all will be quite hard at work, but thank you so much for your time tonight.

FARRELL: Thank you. Stay safe.

DEAN: Thanks.

We are seeing the largest buildup of American forces in the Middle East in 22 years. And with that in mind, we're going to talk about what we might expect over the next few days.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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[18:40:13]

DEAN: Iran's foreign minister says further nuclear talks with the U.S. could happen as soon as Thursday. On the U.S. side, those talks are being led by Special Envoy Steve Witkoff. And today, he said President Trump was, in his words, curious as to why Iran had not, quote, "capitulated" to military pressure. Over the last several weeks, the U.S. has amassed the largest buildup of American forces in the Middle East since the Iraq War.

And we're joined now by former NATO Supreme Allied commander, General Wesley Clark.

General Clark, great to have you here on this Sunday evening. We have this massive buildup of forces at the ready while these diplomatic talks continue, but their scope kind of remains exactly unclear. Where do you see this all going? GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), FORMER NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER: I see

us possibly doing a limited strike early in the week, depending on how we're looking at the potential negotiations that might occur on Thursday. And the idea would be strike, pause, wait for negotiations, put more pressure on, strike again, and see if we can't squeeze the Iranian regime into concessions that go beyond the 2015 agreement that President Obama got.

And as you know, the American position is we want to halt the nuclear processing. We want -- or enrichment. We want a halt to the ballistic developments that could threaten the region. And we want an end to the Axis of Resistance that's out there. Those are three big asks of the Iranians. And if they were all conceded to, Iran would be stripped of what it considers its defense and deterrence.

So this is a big ask and Iran sees -- may see itself as actually being in a stronger position. It may believe that it can see like a turtle pull its head in, get in the shell, wait for the inevitable attacks, wait them out. I know they're watching very closely the U.S. political system. They know what MAGA believes and what they said after the last strikes in June. So we have a really complicated situation here, Jessica.

DEAN: Yes. And so to that end, does it then put the -- force the president, again, you've got all of this military buildup there. If let's say that option is used which is this more targeted military strike to try to get the Iranians to agree to what the president and his administration are asking for. If they don't do that, does it then -- would it then potentially force the president to continue with military action?

CLARK: I think that's what the Iranians are hoping for. I think they're hoping that they can absorb the first strike, absorb the second strike, not give up much. And that the United States will eventually just run out of energy or run out of political will to continue the strikes.

I think they're making a mistake in that because so many of us believe that Iran having a nuclear weapon is really an existential threat not only to Israel but to the region and ultimately to the United States. So I think the Iranian leadership may be misunderstanding the broader support for this action in the United States.

DEAN: And we've used some superlatives trying to explain to people how large this military buildup is. But can you help contextualize what we're seeing on -- you know, based on your experience?

CLARK: Well, it's a full scramble. And so you have the two aircraft carriers. Also you have off those aircraft carriers, maybe 180 aircraft. Then you have several other squadrons of fighters. You have the availability of the B-2s that can deploy. We had seven that deployed in June. We could put more B-2s in there at this point. You have the tanker fleet there to support them. You have airborne command and control and the AWACS system to support continuous presence overhead. Still, it's a big country. And you have probably a limited number of

special operations forces. They could go in, they could be inserted on top of a suspected Iranian nuclear site. They could blow open the doors, let's say. They could hold a limited perimeter for a period of time and be supported by the forces that are there. So it is something that we haven't seen before, this scale of buildup.

It's large, it's big. And don't forget, Israel probably would be engaged in this also so they've got another several hundred attack aircraft that could be deployed against Iran with appropriate air-to- air refueling.

[18:45:02]

DEAN: That is quite something. All right, General Wesley Clark, always great to have you. Thanks for your time.

CLARK: Well, thanks, Jessica.

DEAN: One year after a massive fire nearly wiped out a California neighborhood entirely, the state is investigating the evacuation response, and if it was fair and equal.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: After last year's deadly Eaton Fire, California authorities are now launching a civil rights investigation into the response to the massive fire that killed 19 people and destroyed thousands of homes.

[18:50:09]

Eighteen of those victims were from West Altadena, a historically black neighborhood. And that area now the focus of a probe looking into whether residents were discriminated against during the emergency response.

I want to bring in CNN's Julia Vargas Jones who's in Altadena.

Julia, it's been more than a year since that devastating fire. Why is this investigation happening now and where might it go?

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is at least in part due to the efforts, the tireless efforts of the residents of Altadena, Jessica, that this investigation even started. And what they told me, this one group of advocates, is that it took them that long, this long, really to get in front of the attorney general. And once they did have that meeting with the AG they said they told the stories of this community and what they all went through. And soon after that investigation was launched.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REV. AL SHARPTON, CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST: You got a whole community burned down that needs to be investigated. What happened? What started it, and why did it expand? And why did some folk get noticed seven hours before other folks got noticed?

JONES (voice-over): February 2025, families were just beginning to mourn those who died in the Eaton Fire. But questions about the late emergency alerts and evacuations in historically black West Altadena were already swirling.

ZAIRE CALVIN, ALTADENA RESIDENT: This is my lot that I bought after college. Yes, this is where my house and then my mother -- this is my childhood home.

JONES (voice-over): Zaire Calvin lost his sister Evelyn.

CALVIN: So my cousin came and that's where he found her.

JONES (voice-over): He says the pain of her loss is made worse by the feeling that during one of the deadliest fires in California history, his community was left to fend for itself.

CALVIN: We were left alone to fight for ourselves. Our community was left to, you know, get itself saved, rescued ourselves.

JONES (voice-over): Residents reported the late emergency alerts, a lack of firefighters and engines, and no one going door-to-door warning them to evacuate. The Los Angeles County Fire Department says it made every effort to quickly bring in fire resources from across the state, but was overwhelmed and outpaced by the speed and unpredictability of the fire.

More than a year later, the state is investigating whether there was potential discrimination in the emergency response in West Altadena.

ROB BONTA, CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: There was indisputably a delayed emergency notification and evacuation of West Altadena. We're here to ask why.

JONES (voice-over): L.A. County officials said agencies have fully cooperated in all independent reviews so far, and that none have found any discriminatory or structural bias in the county's response, adding that they will fully cooperate with the investigation and that they believe the attorney general will find that emergency responders did the best they could under unprecedented and extreme conditions as they fought to save lives, homes, and businesses.

CALVIN: How do you not see a certain level of discrimination? Because there was a lack of help. So if you didn't have anything in place or you weren't worried about making sure that there was something in place to make sure the community is OK, how is that not discrimination?

JONES (voice-over): Calvin says West Altadena has long operated with fewer resources than other parts of town. He says that's why he coaches to give back to the community that raised him and to be a source of normalcy for these kids who are navigating loss and displacement while much of their town is still leveled foundations on otherwise empty lots.

How many of these are black families?

CALVIN: There's Steve (PH), and then black, and then black. And then white next door. And then black, black. And then there's Fair Oaks Burger.

JONES (voice-over): Fair Oaks is a longtime neighborhood staple. Here, Calvin and his neighbor Randy say you can still feel what this community was built on, black families' fight for home ownership. Like in the 1960s when the construction of a highway displaced thousands of residents, they remember.

CALVIN: It's always -- it's always a fight, especially with us.

RANDY VANCE, ALTADENA RESIDENT: It's been a fight for land since they made everybody move from Pasadena to Altadena so they could build the freeway, and we're always the ones that have to suffer from it.

CALVIN: And, you know, as black people we always get marginalized and we work so hard to be here. And our families worked hard and generationally every single day hard work in being there and being part of the neighborhood and the community and being involved.

[18:55:09]

JONES (voice-over): Calvin calls the investigation historic but says that what matters most is whether it leads to restoration.

CALVIN: When you go into this, are you really going to make sure that there is an outcome that helps the community?

JONES: What would that look like?

CALVIN: Money, finances, building back, making history, period. Just to build back.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JONES (on-camera): And it's striking, Jessica, just how many of these lots are still empty. Only one-fifth of the homes that were burned in the fire had gotten permits from the county to start that rebuilding process, but very few of them have actually broken ground. And then there's another struggle, which we get into a bit which is this community wants to stay as they were before this fire.

They want to rebuild this black, historically black community back up and the struggle with both, the insurance agencies that they're still trying to get funds to start building back as well as many of them now suing Southern California Edison, the utility company that they accuse of being part of the beginning of this very fire.

So this process is still very much depending on those funds. And that's in part why you see this delay in the reconstruction of West Altadena that could go for months or even years.

DEAN: All right. Julia Vargas Jones, great reporting. Thank you so much for that. Across the northeast, drivers being told to stay off the roads. States

of emergency have been declared. We are following what is a major winter storm. We'll have the very latest for you.

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