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CNN This Morning

Historic Winter Storm Kills At Least 17 in Western New York; House Committee Says, Trump Tax Returns to be Released Post-Christmas; Busloads of Migrants at V.P. Harris' Home in Frigid Temps. Aired 7- 7:30a ET

Aired December 26, 2022 - 07:00   ET

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

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: And the man in red.

[07:00:00]

We've seen that this season as well. Most of the game not up to his standards. He threw a pair of interceptions to Marco Wilson in regulation, the second one coming while the game was tied at 6-6 in the third quarter. With eight minutes left in the fourth quarter, though, the Buccaneers would find themselves down 10. This is when Tom Brady really went to work, third in goal here, finds Rashad White to cut the Cardinal's lead down to 3 and from there, Tampa Bay would force over time.

The 45-year-old quarterback, we have seen him do this time and time again. He completed all six of his passes on the drive for 69 yards, coming up clutch when it mattered. (INAUDIBLE) capping off Brady's 57th career game-winning drive as the Bucs keep their playoff hopes alive with a 19-16 win.

And elsewhere, the Dolphins taking on the Packers. It was 46 degrees at kickoff, the coldest home game since 1989 for Miami. But that did not seem to bother the Dolphins one bit early on at least, Tua finding Jaylen Waddle here for the 84-yeard in the opening quarter. Good luck catching him when he takes off like that.

Second half, though, was all Packers, A.J. Dylan running this one in for the score in the third quarter to tie the game up to 20. And then in the fourth, it was Green Bay's defense that really came to life and might have saved the Packers' season. Going to be tough for them but they would pick off Tua three straight times, the final one coming with just about 90 seconds left to seal the 26-20 win.

So, if these games are any indication, guys, the next two weeks, the final two weeks of the season, are going to be completely wild. A lot of teams still in the playoff hunt right now.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: You forget one, the Vikings.

MANNO: Yes, I know. You've been talking about that all morning.

HARLOW: Yes. I'm very excited. You'll the Packers and the Rams.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: The Rams aren't in it, but they did won 51- 14, I would like to point out.

MANNO: Okay. So, Rams, Vikings, I'm writing this down, I'll have it ready for next time.

HARLOW: Don't forget. All right, thank you.

SIDNER: Carolyn, thank you.

CNN This Morning continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. KATHY HOCHUL (D-NY): It is devastating. It is going to a war zone.

We have a real challenge right now where we have roads blocked. Roads are literally blocked by emergency vehicles, so that has made it extremely challenging for us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Good morning, everyone. We are so glad you are with us here on CNN This Morning. Don and Kaitlan have the day off. Sara Sidner, we are lucky, she is by my side this morning.

SIDNER: Happy to be here.

HARLOW: The city of Buffalo is buried this morning by the worst winter storm in its history. The death toll has also risen overnight. We'll take you there live.

SIDNER: Holiday travel torture, thousands of flights that are delayed or canceled impacting millions of air passengers and countless holiday gatherings.

HARLOW: Over 10 million people are facing a freeze alert this morning across the south, and that includes parts of Florida.

SIDNER: Historic, epic, deadly, a devastating winter storm burying Western New York State. At least 17 weather-related deaths have now been reported, most of those in Buffalo. Governor Katy Hochul requesting emergency disaster relief from the Biden administration, a state of emergency remains in effect.

This paralyzing weather event brought the region to its knees. More than 12,000 customers remain without power in Erie County at this very hour. Most of the outages are in Buffalo and additional 200 National Guard troops have been deployed to Western New York to assist with the state's emergency response.

Polo Sandoval has been live all weekend for us. It is still snowing there, Polo. How are you and the team doing?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're doing well, you know, but there are people here in Buffalo that are certainly having a very, very difficult time with this. Travel is torturous in other parts of the country but Buffalo, it was widely considered as ground zero of this massive winter storm, it's nearly impossible. Plus, it's also restricted right now with a driving ban still in place here in Buffalo. They're going to obviously reassess.

But the thing is we woke up to this snowfall. There was break in the clouds over the weekend. We actually finally saw the sun. So, that gave utility crews and public works crews an opportunity to actually go through some of the streets and clear them out.

But the concern now is with this fresh coat of snow falling about an inch an hour, we are expected, according to local forecasters here from the National Weather Service, expecting potentially a foot of snow when everything is said and done on top of what we have received. So, that is certainly fuelling the concerns right now and why the driving ban is going to remain in place here in Buffalo.

You mentioned some of the deaths. Unfortunately, just a little over a dozen deaths already confirmed in and around Buffalo. That's a mix of individuals that experienced a medical emergency during the storm and EMS couldn't get to them over the weekend. And then you also have at least two individuals, including a 22-year-old woman who was found dead inside of one of the stranded vehicles that were reported, out of hundreds of them over the weekend.

But, really, we'll tell you everything, Sara, is that the rescuers needed rescuing this weekend.

[07:05:04]

And that is why for the first time ever in the history of the Buffalo Fire Department, they were unable to respond to calls at one point over the weekend. But now, at least the winds have subsided significantly. The temperature is at least manageable. And except for the snowfall, we are still continuing to experience these winter conditions here in Buffalo. And the full relief may not come for another day or two, according to local forecasters.

HARLOW: Wow.

SIDNER: It's crazy to see that much snow still coming after the whole weekend. And I know, Polo, you're there I think with Tom and Nicole. Still they have been out in this like four days.

HARLOW: Thanks for naming the team. But it's a true team effort, Polo. We've both been in it before. We thank you and the whole team for being there.

SANDOVAL: It sure is, absolutely.

HARLOW: Thank you, friend.

All right, well, this morning, a Buffalo family is very grateful for the help of firefighters who came to the rescue in a big way and saved Christmas. The family of six, including four children ages nine months, two years old, four years old and eight years old, they were left stranded after trying to find a hotel after losing power at their home. They ended up stuck on an impassable road. Like others who were just looking for a warm place to stay, after being rescued, the firefighters invited the whole family to spend Christmas at the firehouse with them, right? How picture perfect is that?

Joining us now, I'm so happy to have the parents, Danielle and Demetrice Tisdale, along with Joel Eberth and Mike Carrubba of the Buffalo Airport Fire Department. Thank you, guys.

And you have the kids, including one sleeping maybe, sleeping child. So perfect.

DANIELLE TISDALE, SPENT CHRISTMAS AT BUFFALO FIREHOUSE: Yes. This is their first night, and so they're kind of tired. This is their first night home so they're pretty tired. But we just wanted to get them all on so you guys could see the family all together.

HARLOW: What a beautiful blessed family you have, Aiden, eight, Aubrey, four, Jordan and nine-month-old Judah. Merry Christmas to you guys. Mom and dad, how are you doing? Because if they're tired, I know you're tired.

DEMETRICE TISDALE, SPENT CHRISTMAS AT BUFFALO FIREHOUSE: Pretty tired but blessed.

HARLOW: Can you talk to me about --

DEMETRICE TISDALE: I'm very blessed with the whole situation.

HARLOW: What was it like?

DEMETRICE TISDALE: Scary. I'll let my wife --

DANIELLE TISDALE: It was -- it was very -- it was very intense. We tried to keep it together for as long as possible, because we didn't want to frighten the kids. But I've never seen anything like it. It's almost like a cliche when you hear people say you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. But I can just describe it as it was like looking at a white piece of construction paper. You couldn't see anything at all, like absolutely nothing until you were probably about a foot away from it. Even cars with their bright lights on, you just couldn't see anything, not yellow traffic signs, not orange traffic cones, you couldn't see anything. You couldn't see a stoplight, so I'd be kind of just had to drive through the intersection praying, basically.

HARLOW: Wow. And there you are, Danielle, and you have got your four kids. And I know as a mom, that's all you're thinking about, right, is how do I get these kids to safety?

DANIELLE TISDALE: Absolutely, absolutely. When we lost power, we have electric appliances and we live out like in a country area of Buffalo called Williamsville. So, when we lost power, because we have electric appliances, we were unable to just like try to heat our house with like our stove or anything like that. And the conditions were deteriorating so bad, (INAUDIBLE) dropping in our home maybe about two degrees every ten minutes. And because we had the children, if it would have just been me and my husband, we would have just tried to stick it out on our own. But because we had the children, that wasn't a choice for us. So, we packed our bags as quick as we could and just tossed in essentials and we jumped in the car and just tried to make it to a hotel.

HARLOW: Well, let me bring in the folks who helped you guys out. Assistant Chief Joel Eberth is with us and also Mike Carrubba. Thanks so much for being here and for what you did.

Assistant Chief Eberth, let me begin with you and talk to me about the rescue experience and what you guys were able to do to pull off a little bit of a Christmas miracle?

ASSISTANT CHIEF JOEL EBERTH, BUFFALO AIRPORT FIRE DEPARTMENT: When we received the call from a person who was having a medical emergency in the tunnel and come to find out they had helped this family get into the tunnel, and then they in turn helped him after he began to have a panic attack. So, when we got out to a tunnel that goes under the airfield, we found a lot of stranded motorists and people in need.

[17:10:00]

So, it took us a long time to get out there. Firefighter crew who was instrumental in bringing us resources to help us start bringing all of these families and people back to the firehouse.

HARLOW: And, Mike, he's talking about you and what you did. Once you see this family and you think, all right, they're coming with us, right, I'm going to take them to where I know it's safe. Talk to me about that experience and then also, you know, pulling off a little Christmas miracle for the morning.

MIKE CARRUBBA, BUFFALO AIRPORT FIRE DEPARTMENT: Yes. When we finally got to them, it took us a little bit obviously because of conditions. They were one of the first vehicles we came upon. Demetrice says -- he opened his window and said, please don't leave us. And I said, don't worry, man, I promise we won't leave you but we have got other motorists we have to attend to.

So, I walked down to the other end of the tunnel and I think about probably 20 or 30 more motorists were at the other end. So, we scooped them up and organized a plan to come back, get all these people back to our firehouse.

And we tried to get like a convoy back to the firehouse with pickup trucks in front and SUVs in back, piling everybody in vehicles. We got about probably 40 feet out of the tunnel because that was our safe haven at the time underneath the runway and we were stuck.

So, I was at the back of the pack walking behind the vehicles to make sure we didn't lose any. Unfortunately, the first half made it back and we were stuck in the back, so it was time for an audible. So, again, Demetrice was pretty shaken up, and he said, just please don't leave us. I just told him, I said I'll never leave you.

And at that time, it was time to get some resources to help us out. So, I requested from one of our local volunteer agencies, Hy-View Fire Department. They have an off-road vehicle, so we got a hold of them and they got to us. They said we'll be right over as fast as we can. About 45 minutes later, they were there.

And we had to walk them back just so we could see. I mean, the visibility was zero. The drifts were four or five feet high at the time. So, we made it happen. We were just super fortunate to be able to help people and kind of make their Christmas.

HARLOW: And I bet those smiles from those kids made your Christmas as well. Demetrice, Dad, last word to you, what was it like waking up on Christmas morning? I think Santa came, right?

DEMETRICE TISDALE: Santa came, it was very awesome. Those guys were amazing at the firehouse. They treated us with nothing but love and welcomed us with open arms. We felt like family there. They even cooked for the kids and everything, pancakes. It was just a beautiful experience, like this is something we will never forget. We actually felt like we formed a bond with the guys and they made it a beautiful Christmas, the smiles on my kids' faces were priceless.

HARLOW: Wow, the best kind of stories with a happy ending in the middle of a real tragedy for other families who lost loved ones. Guys, thank you very much, to all of you, especially you, kiddos. You're being way better than my kids would be on national television, that's for sure. Merry Christmas, everyone and -- Merry Christmas, thank you very much. Have blessed year.

DEMETRICE TISDALE: Go bills.

HARLOW: Go bills. Sara?

SIDNER: That is the Christmas story we all needed this morning, though.

A little bit of bad news for you, sorry to bring the mood down, more than 1,400 flights have been canceled nationwide leaving thousands stranded and frustrated thanks to frigid temperatures and black ice. The world's busiest airport, Atlanta, has the most disruptions.

CNN's Carlos Suarez live there at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International with more. I see that families are there, they brought their dogs, which makes me smile but they are in line and waiting. What's happening at this hour?

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, good morning. You really cannot walk too far around this airport at this hour without running into a line. Things really are a bit of a mess. There's one guy out here with Delta Airlines who is trying to sort things out for travelers, but, really, the airport is as packed, as we've seen, and we've been here since about Saturday considering all of these canceled flights at this hour, out of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. We're looking at 146 canceled flights. And the lines, again, they're about as long as you can see them on this side here, you have got folks that are just trying to drop off their bags, other folks need to see a ticket agent to see if they can get on another flight because their flight is canceled. Over by TSA pre-check, well that line is also the longest that we have seen throughout the weekend.

Now, when you take a look at the numbers across the U.S., as you said coming out to me, we're looking at well over 1,400 flights that have been canceled because of all of this cold weather that has moved over a good part of the country. That number just yesterday was well over 3,000 flights and, of course, we're talking about thousands more flights that have been delayed.

[07:15:02]

We caught up with one guy a few minutes ago. He was trying to make it out to Las Vegas for what he said was a party but he wasn't able to do that. He came to the airport, he's making this line right now, just to see if the airline can get him on a flight at some point this week. Here's what he told us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Leaving Atlanta to Vegas, got canceled in Vegas to Reno got canceled. So, two separate Delta and Southwest got canceled today. So, this is unfortunate.

I literally found out about my Southwest flight while going to the kiosk for the Delta, and then the Delta flight got canceled. So, I don't know. So, I'm just in line right now hoping to get home today, if not, tomorrow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SUAREZ: And so he is now on his third flight with two airlines.

Again, Atlanta really has been one of the busiest spots when it comes to the overall number of canceled flights. However, Denver International is not too far behind, they're kind of going back and forth. Ladies?

SIDNER: Carlos Suarez, thank you so much for joining us.

HARLOW: Sending them all luck that they get on flights soon.

All right, this morning 10 million people across the south remain under freeze alerts. The city of Jackson, Mississippi, has once again issued a boil water notice as frigid temperatures trigger breaks in their water lines. That is the last thing they need, right, Martin Savidge, who joins us live from Atlanta. They just went through this water crisis and now this.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Right. They've had a terrible year when it comes to water. They've had a terrible number of years when it comes to the water system in Jackson, Mississippi. But as you point out, it was cold in the south here, the biggest problem we get is burst pipes, and that's been the problem in Jackson, Mississippi. It's suspected that underwater main lines have ruptured.

So, on Christmas Day, people had to line up to get water that was being delivered in a number of places within the city. Water pressure dropped, that meant the filtration plant suffered, as a result, a boil order in effect.

You'll remember back in August after heavy rains, the system went into a partial collapse due to problems that they have. And these are systemic problems that are going back decades of neglect, of improper funding. There are a number of investigations under way. That budget bill that was just passed by Congress, I believe there's $600 million they're focusing on repairing the Jackson water system but the city believes it will take well over a billion dollars to do that. It shows you the fragility of water in Jackson and how it continues to be problematic for the residents there. Boil water until further notice. Poppy?

HARLOW: Wow. And so necessary for everyone and especially in a crisis like this. Martin, thank you very much for the reporting.

SAVIDGE: You're welcome.

SIDNER: An update now for you on former President Trump's tax returns. The House Ways and Means Committee is telling CNN they will be released to the public post-Christmas.

Melanie Zanona is live in Washington for CNN This Morning. Do we have any true idea? Is there a date we're certainly going to see these documents?

MELANIE ZANONA, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER: Well, Sara, we do know it will be this week because this is the very last week before Democrats hand over power to Republicans. This has been a four-year-long legal battle but we did learn some key information last week because Democrats did release two reports about their investigation into the IRS presidential auto system.

And what we did learn is that the IRS did not audit President Donald Trump in 2017 or 2018. In fact, the IRS did not start auditing Trump until April 2019, the very same day that Chairman Neal asked for Trump's tax returns.

Democrats also revealed how much or how little Trump actually paid in income tax while he was president in 2017. For example, he only paid $750 in income tax. And in 2020, he paid $0 in income tax.

And, finally, Democrats also revealed this pattern that Trump had of generating huge net operating losses, carrying those forward for years, so that essentially he could zero out his tax liability.

But there's still a lot more we could learn from those tax documents. The committee is just taking time to redact them. We should learn more about Trump's finances, how wealthy he is, how much he gave to charity. And so this just caps off a four-year-long legal battle and it's a big victory for Democrats and a big loss for Donald Trump.

SIDNER: It will be interesting to see what are in those documents. Melanie Zanona, thank you so much.

Ahead, the White House blaming the governor of Texas for shipping busloads of migrants to the vice president's home in bitter cold weather.

HARLOW: Also ahead for us, how two women helped find a kidnapped five-month-old baby in Indianapolis.

[07:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: This week, the Supreme Court is expected to rule on whether to keep the controversial Trump-era border restriction known as Title 42 in place. It allows border officials to deny people the right to seek asylum. This as several busloads of migrants were dropped off in front of Vice President Kamala Harris' residence on Christmas Eve in 18 degree weather, many of them wearing T-shirts.

The nonprofit group SAMU First Response was prepared, though, for the arrivals. The group's managing director wrote on Twitter, my team spent Christmas Eve giving their best, supporting migrants that arrived at night from the border, a very different Christmas for all of us. But I feel so proud to count with such an amazing group of humanitarians.

And joining us now is the managing director for SAMU First Response, Tatiana Laborde. SAMU, by the way, stands for Servicio Ambulatorio Medico de Urgencia. I thank you for coming on.

Can you give me a sense of what it was like? Did any of the migrants have any idea where they were going?

[07:25:01]

TATIANA LABORDE, MANAGING DIRECTOR, SAMU FIRST RESPONSE: Good morning and thank you for having me. Yes, a majority of them already reached their final destination. We had about 60 percent of those migrants headed to New York City to either shelters there or to meet friends and family. This is a pattern we've been seeing over the past couple of months.

SIDNER: What did you and your staff see when you got there and experienced?

LABORDE: So, we were prepared for very cold weather, so there were blankets available for all migrants and we already had a center ready to receive them. We had warm food and our team was there understanding that Washington was not their final destination and ready to help them move forward.

SIDNER: Do you have a sense -- the Texas governor has not, at this point, said anything or responded to comments from the White House that they believe that Governor Abbott is responsible for sending the buses there. Do you have any sense of, you know, how you decided they came from Texas? Did they tell you that?

LABORDE: Yes. We got a heads up from one of the nonprofits at the border that these buses were heading our way. We were expecting them yesterday morning but they showed up the night before. Thankfully, we had enough time to shift our logistics for Christmas Eve.

SIDNER: Tatiana, what do you make of the fact that they were dropped off in front of the vice president's home?

LABORDE: At this point, they've been doing that for so many months that we have the system already down and it's just another spot that has very little impact. We have buses on site ready to just move them quickly and get them to a safe place.

SIDNER: Do you think this is, as the White House has said it, sort of a cruel decision being made with people's lives?

LABORDE: Well, there's two ways to look at it, right? The way they're doing it is extremely humane but it is a service to the migrants. A lot of them don't want to stay in Texas. A large majority keep wanting to go up north. So, this gets them closer and it gets them away from places with very little connectivity into metropolitan areas where taking a bus is much easier or a train or a plane. So, if it's done correctly, it could really help ease the tensions at the border.

SIDNER: How is your staff able to support all of the people coming in?

LABORDE: Well, we've been doing this for seven months now. We now have a staff of 35 and we're able to take shifts so that nobody is extremely overtired. Now, doing this on Christmas Eve when you have a staff of Latinos where that's our main celebration and it's extremely taxing but they were all very happy to be able to share and give a little hope and a warm welcome to these migrants.

SIDNER: The migrants are here legally, as we understand it. They are seeking asylum. And so what do you make of how they have been treated and what are they telling you about their journey?

LABORDE: So, the journey on bus is extremely long. They get not the best food. They get meals ready to eat, military food. So, they are exhausted when they come here. They're also, now because of winter, experiencing very, very different temperatures than they're used to. So, it's a first shock of what's coming ahead in the winter.

But and at the end, what we see on them is that hope that that they are -- that they've made it to where they really want to be and they're able to provide their family a better future.

SIDNER: I do want to ask you quickly about border towns. El Paso, I've spoken to a council woman there who has talked about this crisis. And she said, there is no doubt there's a crisis and that they are inundated with people. What can border states, like Texas, do to sort of streamline this process? LABORDE: Absolutely. What they're seeing is much worse than what we see here. About three buses is just a small portion of what they experience on the day-to-day. If things like this are done in a coordinated and humane manner, it could really be a good option for those border towns that are struggling.

SIDNER: Tatiana Laborde, thank you so much for joining us and sharing the experience of those migrants and your work.

LABORDE: Thank you.

HARLOW: Amazing work that they do.

This morning, a family reunited after police located a missing five- month-old in a stolen car in Indianapolis. The ordeal began a week ago in Columbus, Ohio, when a mother went into a restaurant to pick up an order leaving her twin sons inside the vehicle. That car was stolen. One baby was found the next morning.

Jean Casarez joins us now. Do I understand this right that she was working, she was actually delivering meals, right, working?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: She was a DoorDash delivery driver and she was picking up the order.

SIDNER: She was just trying to do her job.

CASAREZ: Yes, she was working. You're not going to believe this story. And the twins, the babies are in the backseat, she comes out with the order and the car is gone and the babies are gone.

[07:30:00]

Now, this is December 19th, all right? So, on December 20th, of course, there's an all-points bulletin. It gets on the news and there is.