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CNN This Morning

Massive Winter Storm Blanketing The U.S.; Five States Blaming Winter Storm For At Least 12 Deaths; 1,500 Flights Canceled Across The U.S.; January 6th Select Committee Issued Final Report On U.S. Capitol Riot; January 6 Committee: Trump Was "Central Cause Of Insurrection; Biden Administration Will Make Renewed Push For Immigration Reform; Shortage Of Children's Pain Medications; Interview With Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz; Clive Davis Talks About Whitney's Story. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired December 24, 2023 - 08:00   ET

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

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[08:00:00]

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: The next hour of "CNN This Morning" starts right now.

Good morning, and welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. I'm Martin Savidge.

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESOPONDENT: And I'm Whitney wild.

A massive winter storm is blanketing the U.S., leaving thousands without power and making a mess of holiday travel. This is Buffalo where a blizzard warning is in effect until tomorrow morning. All of the impacts, but when we'll see some relief coming up.

SAVIDGE: And the January 6th Committee lays blame for the insurrection squarely at the feet of former President Trump. We'll have the key takeaways from that 845-page document, and also what's next in the investigation.

WILD: Plus, parents in search of children's medication are finding shelves bare in some places. So, what's behind the shortage and what to do if your local pharmacy doesn't have what you need.

SAVIDGE: And CNN sits down with legacy music producer Clive Davis. With a look at his storied career, the moment he knew that something was very wrong with Whitney Houston.

It is Saturday, December 24th. Merry Christmas Eve. Thank you very much for waking up with us. We're going to begin --

WILD: We're beginning --

SAVIDGE: Sorry, Whitney. I do that to you all the time.

WILD: Go for it, Martin. SAVIDGE: We begin with the frigid and frustrating start of this holiday weekend. More than 200 million Americans are under windchill alert, with the Arctic blast that is delivering freezing temperatures, powerful winds and heavy snow and ice. Just about everybody is aware of this. High winds produce dangerous windchills across the United States cities from the Midwest to the east coast.

Now, experiencing their coldest Christmas Eve in decades here in Atlanta. I believe, it's the coldest ever this week in Wyoming. Windchills dropped to around negative 75 degrees.

WILD: That doesn't even sound real, Martin. That sounds Arctic, and in some ways made up. The storm has placed enormous strain on America's energy infrastructure. This morning, 1.5 million homes and businesses are without power. And utility companies in Tennessee have ordered 15- minute rolling blackouts to try to manage these power demands.

Across the country, snow, ice. Powerful winds have caused multivehicle crashes and left drivers stranded on the roads and highways. Many spent hours in those freezing conditions. Now, officials in five states are blaming the winter storm for at least 13 deaths. And they are reminding drivers, if you don't need to travel, don't travel. But it's not just the snow and ice. In New Jersey and in several coastal cities across the northeast, the storm brought some major flooding.

SAVIDGE: Meanwhile, air travelers bracing for another day of frustration. Hopefully, you packed your patience. This morning, more than 1,500 U.S. flights were already cancelled, that comes the day after 5,700 flights were cancelled nationwide, Friday.

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TRISHA QUIGLEY, STRANDED IN SEATTLE: Every solution we went to, we couldn't reach anyone. I stayed on hold actually for eight hours today and then we've disconnected, so, that wasn't fun. It's super frustrating because, you know, there's nothing they can do and there's nothing we can do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: We're going to go now to CNN's Polo Sandoval in Buffalo, New York. Polo, I watched you yesterday. And it was amazing. You started off the day, it was pretty balmy looking and then two hours later you were in the thick of a blizzard. How is it this morning for you?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Martin. It was just a little over 24 hours ago, you could get away with a fleece, a little bit of a drizzle. And, man, did things begin to deteriorate throughout the morning. And I have to tell you visibility has improved. So much so that authorities here in Erie County are sending crews back out to clear out some of these roads with whatever snow is on there.

You know what's different compared to what we experienced here last month with the historic snowfall, this wasn't really much of a snowmaker. A lot of snow that you see in the air, this is basically a ground blizzard effect where these high winds that we've been experiencing for about -- in the last 24 hours here in Buffalo, that snow is getting whipped around. And that's also what's complicating measuring efforts.

So, our weather experts are having a tough time in getting a good idea of just how much snow has fallen in and around the Buffalo area because these winds are basically just forcing the snow up against the street corners and under awnings and such. But really, the wind is just unbearable. That's actually one of the reasons why I'm having to, sort of, stay at an angle here. Windchill of about negative 12 degrees. So, you have to shield yourself from the winds.

What is concerning for officials on this Christmas Eve is that people will be tempted to get in their cars and head to their loved ones homes to celebrate Christmas. And what we've heard from local, state, and even federal officials say that it's not a good idea to do that in and around the Buffalo area which is seen as perhaps ground zero right now with this Christmas winter blast.

[08:05:00]

You see, these conditions will continue much of today in terms of the wind. Again, visibility is getting better, but these roads are still treacherous. One official, Martin and Whitney, reporting that a drive that usually takes about 10 minutes, this morning, it's taking up to three hours, and that's if you make it there safely. If you don't get stuck on the side of the road, as hundreds of people did last night.

So, the situation, again, will continue into Christmas day. And there is hope that perhaps there will be some improvement come tomorrow. Flights may be flying again. And folks may be able to venture out. But, again, it is Christmas day. If you have everything you need. Officials saying, stay at home. If you are experiencing a power outage, eventually crews will be able to restore it.

Listen, the main message here, hunker down. Shelter in place. Even the dark interior of a chilly home is much safer than being stuck on the side of the road in these conditions. Martin, Whitney.

SAVIDGE: Yes, absolutely. And we feel for you, Polo, very much. We hope everyone up there in the Buffalo area and beyond are safe this holiday. Thank you.

Well, it may be one of the busiest times of the year for travel, but extreme weather, of course, is hampering many of the airports' ability to operate. Long lines, delays, cancellations are all making it hard for anyone to get home in time for the holidays.

WILD: Let's get to CNN's Carlos Suarez at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport. That is already the busiest airport on the planet.

So, Carlos, what are you seeing there? It's got to be just chaos.

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Martin and Whitney, good morning.

From a very, very busy Hartsfield International Airport where, as you guys said, the race is on to try to get home in time for Christmas. It has been a pretty spectacularly busy morning here at Hartsfield International Airport. We're at the Delta Terminal where this is the line just for folks that have already checked in and they've got to drop their bags.

Now, depending on where a lot of these folks are flying, the experience they're going to have today might be differing. At least 100 flights out of Hartsfield International Airport have been cancelled. A majority of those flights are going to upstate New York, Illinois, as well as parts Texas. There are two flights that are going out to California that have also been cancelled.

The numbers nationwide, they're not a whole lot better. We're talking about well over 1,500 flights that have been cancelled across the U.S., another -- about 1,200 or so flights have been delayed. Here at the airport, things, again, busy, manageable. Folks are just trying to make sure that they get here with enough time. There's an entire assist agent side to the Delta Terminal where folks there are trying to trouble shoot their itineraries considering that chances are they're probably going to be delayed if they're trying to get to certain parts of the U.S.

And then just on the other side of where we are, of course, is the TSA pre-check line. Folks there are making a line just trying to get their travel plans through. We caught up with two passengers who told us their flights were around 10:00 this morning. But they got here three to four hours early in hopes that they would be able to get on their flights.

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THERESE MINELLA, ATLANTA TRAVELER: We -- yes, we were watching it all week but we try to keep hope alive. I haven't seen it this -- I've traveled maybe half a dozen times a year, I've never seen it this busy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SUAREZ: And so, we also talked to one passenger who's been here since, I guess, last night. He told us his flight to Texas was cancelled. We told him, at this point in the day, he might be better off going to the car rental site at the airport, getting a car and driving to Texas where he can spend the holidays with his family in Houston. Guys.

WILD: Wow. That's a holiday movie plot right there. Carlos Suarez, thank you.

SAVIDGE: Well, for more on the most affected areas, we want to bring in now Meteorologist Allison Chinchar, she's got the latest from the CNN Weather Center. And what's it looking like out there?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Very cold, and in some cases, a very white Christmas for a lot of places. The good news is we are finally going to start to see those temperatures rebound over the next couple of days. Take, for example, Denver, Dallas, and New Orleans, all likely to get back above that freezing mark today. However, not the same for a lot of other areas that are still dealing with windchill advisories, windchill warnings. Take a look at this, the temperature in Minneapolis is minus five, but with that wind, it feels like minus 25, on any of the exposed skin that you might have. Buffalo not much better, the actual temperature of five, feels like it's minus 19.

Here's the thing, that wind not only making it very cold if you stand outside, but it's also taking a lot of that snow that's already on the ground and just blowing it around. Reducing that visibility even more. Making it very difficult for travel. So, in Buffalo, that sustained wind about 31 miles per hour, gusting up to 47. Cleveland, 28 miles per hour, gusting up to 36. And a lot of those winds are expected to stay relatively the same as we go through the day today.

[08:10:00]

You've got your blizzard warnings, winter weather advisories, and winter storm warnings because we do still anticipate additional snowfall today. It is going to be limited around the Great Lakes Region, however. So, areas of Michigan, portions of Ohio, and especially Upstate New York is really where the snow is going to be focused. Most to these areas about two to six inches on top of what they've already had. The exception to that is here, right here along Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, get -- dealing with lake-effect snow, they could pick up an additional one to two feet on top of what they've already had.

Now, we talked about some of those places, Denver, Dallas, New Orleans, finally getting back above freezing. For a lot of these other areas though, it's likely going to be early next week before we see a lot of those cities begin to rebound. But the warmth is coming, I promise. Take a look here, even above average temperature, so not just getting back to normal, but getting above normal by the time we get to Wednesday, Thursday and especially Friday of next week. Guys.

WILD: Allison Chinchar, thank you.

And coming up later this hour, we'll talk live to officials in the Buffalo area who spent part of last night helping people stranded in their cars in the brutal cold.

SAVIDGE: Plus, the January 6th Committee makes it clear they believe the cause of the insurrection was former President Trump. The key takeaways from the more than 800-page report that's still to come.

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SAVIDGE: The House January 6th Committee rather released its final report on the riot at the U.S. Capitol which places the blame squarely on one person, and that's Donald Trump.

WILD: The panel's more than 800-page document comes after nearly 18 months of interviews and investigative work that dived into the efforts by former President Trump to overturn the 2020 election. CNN's Jessica Schneider gives us an inside look into this historic report. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: And we fight. We fight like hell. JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): The January 6th Committee leaving no doubt that former President Donald Trump was the one singularly responsible for the attack on the Capitol. The 845- page report saying none of the events of January 6th would have happened without him. Drawing a clear line between Trump's election denials and the violence that unfolded that day.

[08:15:00]

After sending four criminal referrals for Trump to the Justice Department, the Committee is also recommending that he's barred from holding government office ever again. Zeroing in on the section of the constitution that says, any officeholder who engaged in an insurrection can be disqualified from serving again.

REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY), VICE CHAIR, JANUARY 6 SELECT COMMITTEE: No man who would behave that way at that moment in time can ever serve in any position of authority in our nation again. He is unfit for any office.

SCHNEIDER (voiceover): House investigators say Trump and his inner circle engaged in at least 200 attempts to pressure state officials to overturn the results, including this call with Georgia's secretary of state.

TRUMP: I just want to find 11,780 votes which is one more than we have, because we won the state.

SCHNEIDER (voiceover): The report also highlighting other key players in the alleged conspiracy. Identifying pro-Trump lawyer Kenneth Chesebro as the architect of the fake electors' plot. And a 23-minute call between Trump and Attorney John Eastman as the genesis of the pressure campaign against Vice President Mike Pence.

TRUMP: If Mike Pence does the right thing, we win the election.

SCHNEIDER (voiceover): This, leaving the Committee to recommend and overhaul of the 1887 Elector Count Act that's close to becoming a reality as the House and Senate have each passed their own reform bills. But back in 2020, Trump did not agree with every outlandish theory his team presented.

SIDNEY POWELL, ATTORNEY FOR DONALD TRUMP: The massive influence of communist money through Venezuela, Cuba and likely China the interference with our elections here in the United States.

SCHNEIDER (voiceover): When Sidney Powell repeated these conspiracy theories in a phone call to Trump, White House aide Hope Hicks told the Committee the president muted his speaker phone and laughed at Powell, telling the others in the room, this does sound crazy, doesn't it?

The Committee also laying out Trump's failure to act for 187 minutes during the riot, writing President Trump did not contact a single top national security official during the day.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President. SCHNEIDER (voiceover): Trump responding to the report, calling it a witch hunt. And today, he is still falsely claiming he won the 2020 election.

SCHNEIDER (on camera): The Committee's work is officially wrapped up. But we will see more in the coming days. The Committee plans to release additional transcripts from their 1,000 witness interviews before the end of the year. But then we should really see things ramp up in terms of criminal investigations. The Fulton County, Georgia D.A. is deep into her investigation of election interference and Special Council Jack Smith, of course, has issued a flurry of subpoenas in the recent weeks. Jessica Schneider, CNN. Washington.

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SAVIDGE: Thank you for that, Jessica.

Meanwhile, we want to dig deeper into all of this and CNN Political Analyst and Axios managing editor, Margaret Talev, is with us.

Hello, Margaret.

MARGARET TALEV, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST AND MANAGING EDITOR, AXIOS: Hello, Martin. Happy Christmas Eve.

SAVIDGE: Thank you. And to you as well. Let me ask the question that I think everyone is, sort of, at this point now. And that is, do you expect this report will have any effect on Trump's foreseeable future, especially 2024?

TALEV: Martin, I do think it will but not in the most obvious ways. I think this now moves to the Justice Department. And how will that impact politics? Republican strategist that I talked to say it is not going to. The release of the report itself is not going to dramatically change potential rivals' thinking on 2024. It really is already baked in.

But what it does do is it just provides a lot more connective tissue and all of that could matter in the criminal investigations. And that is the DOJ's investigation of what happens next on the criminal front could absolutely have an impact on the 2024 field.

But I also think, politically, we're going to see Republicans in the New House majority in Congress in January immediately start to investigate the investigation. So, I think that's the way the political narrative is going to go. But what Republicans are thinking about in terms of 2024 is not the primary so much as how this could impact the general election. And what you're seeing is Donald Trump's overall national approval numbers going down to lows not seen since before he became the nominee the first time around, back in the 2016 race.

So, republicans are thinking about how they could win in 2024. And they don't like the Donald Trump bet for the general election.

SAVIDGE: All right. Do you see this report as possibly having an impact on the other investigations, federal and state level, that Donald Trump is facing?

TALEV: I do. I absolutely think it could have an impact. I mean, there's two ways to think about this. One is the kind of counterintuitive way which is that if there's any discrepancies between what's happening in interviews in the criminal investigation and what people said in the congressional testimony, that could actually help Trump.

[08:20:00]

But I think more likely, this is just a tremendous amount of evidence narrative threats, tip sheets, connective tissue, for prosecutors to try to put the pieces together. It's text messages, it is the potential pressure on witnesses to flip or to offer testimony. So, there's a lot there that could absolutely translate from a congressional investigation into a criminal investigation.

SAVIDGE: Mitch McConnell seems to, you know, be putting some distance between himself and Donald Trump. The Senate minority leader telling NBC News that the former president's clout has, "Diminished." And he called on him to back off the 2024 Senate primaries. I'm wondering, you know, is this kind of an indication that Republican walls, so to speak, are closing in on Trump?

TALEV: Republicans have really lost patience with Donald Trump, that's true. The question is, like, sort of, so what? Where's it going to end? McConnell has been distancing himself from Donald Trump since December of 2020. But he was still saying just a few months ago that if Trump were to become the 2024 nominee, he would support him because Mitch McConnell is an institutionalist who supports the Republican Party.

That may be changing now after Trump's recent dinner with, you know. white nationalists and after his comment that the constitution should have been suspended, perhaps, to keep him in office. McConnell seems to have moved further away. But if Republicans are discussing with Trump but saying they will back him anyway if he's a nominee, I'm not sure what it adds up to. That's the area that I'd watch for a shift in the coming weeks or months.

SAVIDGE: Axios is reporting that the Biden administration is looking into making a new push for immigration reform in the new year. That's been talked about before. But do you think we could actually see a deal, especially with the way Congress is going to shift?

TALEV: It's like Charlie Brown with football, right, Martin? You and I have been covering this so long. 1986 was the last big year of truly sweeping immigration reform. There obviously is a real appetite for some bipartisan deal that would create a plan for labor. There is a need for jobs to be filled. But immigration is such a powerful political hammer for Republicans right now. And, look, they're talking about impeaching, you know, Mayorkas. So, it's just hard to imagine an impeachment, political theater on Mayorkas and then an immigration deal somehow happening at the same time. They weren't able to get anything like that done earlier this month when they tried. I think the immigration deals are, right now, really going to be in the realm of helping avoid government shutdowns by procedural votes. But I'm just -- I'm not seeing the appetite or the ability for the parties to come together around this right now, given how tempting it is as a political tool for Republicans.

SAVIDGE: Well, there is always hope. And this is the perfect time of year to hope such a thing. Margaret Talev, thank you. It's always a pleasure and we wish you Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

TALEV: Thank you. You as well.

WILD: Still ahead, frustrated and concerned. Parents are struggling to find children's pain and fever medications in pharmacies, this as a trio of respiratory viruses plague the nation.

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[08:25:00]

WILD: Welcome back to "CNN This Morning." 8:26 is your time on the east coast. We're tracking the winter weather gripping parts of the country this morning. There are live pictures out of Waterloo, Iowa from our affiliate KWWL. You can see snow-covered roads there. Currently in zero degrees in Waterloo, but when you add in the windchill, it feels like negative 26.

SAVIDGE: If you've been looking for cold or fever medication for your child, you could find that many of the store shelves are empty. The shortage of over-the-counter medicines for children has parents scrambling.

WILD: The surge in respiratory illnesses is driving up demands and Pharmacies are struggling with low supplies or they have none at all. CNN's Athena Jones has the details.

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MELISSA HALFON, MOM LOOKING FOR KIDS' MEDICINE IN NEW YORK: It's pretty brutal for all of us.

ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Melissa Halfon's 18-month-old twins are teething, a painful process.

HALFON: We just had an incident a few days ago where one of them didn't eat for three days because he had so much teething pain.

JONES (voiceover): Lately, the Brooklyn mother has struggled to find medicines to treat her boys, Walt and Henry, who generally fall ill at the same time.

HALFON: Every drugstore within walking distance of me is totally bare. My husband did have to drive all the way across Brooklyn. JONES (voiceover): As communities nearly everywhere battle a surge in respiratory illnesses like the flu, COVID-19, and RSV which can be particularly dangerous for young children, increased demand is driving a shortfall across the country of prescription and over-the-counter medicines for children. The result, empty shelves and limits on the amount of medicine you can buy at CVS, Walgreens and, Rite Aid. Leaving parents frustrated and concerned.

From Reno, Nevada --

CAMILE WEB, MOM LOOKING FOR KIDS' MEDICINE IN RENO, NEVADA: They really got bad fevers, our kids, so. Really, I was pretty, pretty scared. Nowhere over here, they didn't have anything in stock. So, I had to drive 30 minutes to Carson to find some.

JONES (voiceover): -- to Los Angeles.

SUSANNA KESHISHIAN, PHARMACIST IN GLENDALE, CALIFORNIA: Really, really hard to order Tylenol generic brand, ibuprofen generic brand, cough syrup especially for kids.

JONES (voiceover): To Spartanburg, South Carolina where children's Tamiflu is out of stock.

KEN ROGERS, PHARMACIST IN GREENVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA: There's not a delivery date to my wholesale, which is in North Carolina, so -- and they can't -- they're telling me they can't get it from the manufacturer.

JONES (voiceover): At Cherry's Pharmacy in Manhattan --

CHARLES TABOUCHIRANI, CHERRY'S PHARMACY, NEW YORK: This is absolutely extraordinary.

JONES (voiceover): -- now even alternatives to liquid medicines like chewables and suppositories are unavailable.

TABOUCHIRANI: It really is a huge problem in our community and across the country.

JONES (voiceover): Sales of children's medications to treat pain and fever are up 65 percent from this time last year, according to the consumer healthcare products association. And manufacturers don't have a timeline for when supply may catch up with demand. Pharmacist Charles Tabouchirani is trying to make the best of a bad situation.

TABOUCHIRANI: So, our shelves where we normally stock Tylenol, Motrin, Advil are completely empty. So, I just substituted what is supposed to be there with toys to give it a little scenery. But it is sad that these shelves have been empty for more than six weeks.

JONES (voiceover): As for Halfon and her family --

HALFON: It's frustrating and it's scary. First we couldn't feed our children because of the infant formula shortage. And now we're facing just another challenge with -- being able to take basic care. JONES: Athena Jones, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

SAVIDGE: Thank you, Athena for that. Up next, encouraging news for the economy. New data indicating inflation could be cooling. But can the Fed still make that soft landing the White House is hoping for? We're going talk about it after this.

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[08:30:00]

WILD: Well, there's some good news for consumers heading into 2023. One indicator shows inflation could be cooling off after a painful year of record high prices. New data from the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation says, prices have increased five and a half percent last month from a year earlier. That's a little bit lower than October when prices rose just more than six percent compared to the same time last year. That news comes as the White House says, it is cautiously optimistic that the economy will bounce back next year.

So, let's get some perspective now. Joining us is CNN's Economics and Political Commentator Catherine Rampell. She is also an opinion columnist at "The Washington Post."

Catherine, good morning to you. Catherine, based on these numbers, should consumers feel confident that inflation finally might be under control and will continue to improve?

CATHERINE RAMPELL, CNN ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL COMMENTATOR AND WASHING POST OPINION COLUMNIST: Well, those of kind of two different things, right? One question is, has inflation peaked? And it does look like it probably has. It looks like we saw the highest year over year measures of inflation earlier this year. Prices are still growing and they're still growing at a faster pace than any of us are comfortable with, especially Federal Reserve.

But it's not as bad as it was. Things are, sort of, trending in the right direction. I think the way that I would -- the metaphor that I would use would be something like, the car has been driving really fast, it's slowing down a little bit, but it's still moving forward.

[08:35:00]

It's not moving backward. So, in any event, inflation does seem to be showing some signs of improvement, whether it is back to where we want it to be is a totally different question. It's still much higher. Multiples higher, in fact, than the Fed's target rate of about two percent.

WILD: Gas prices, though, are falling, and that is a huge relief for consumers. There were just so many painful prices at the pump, but can we -- I mean, should we be careful what we wish for? Give us a little bit perspective on what it means that gas prices are falling?

RAMPELL: Sure. So, it's a huge relief to consumers that gas prices are down. Obviously, people can't cut back on how much gas they need to fill up their tank if they have to drive to work, they have to take their kids to school, et cetera. So, this is definitely a good thing on its phase.

The question is why are gas prices falling? And they're falling because of a mix of both good reasons and bad reasons. The good reasons would be some of those supply chain problems have unwound themselves. There was less of a disruption in global oil supply related to the sanctions placed on Russia earlier this month by the G7, as well as the E.U. specifically. That -- there was a fear that suddenly there was going to be much less access to oil globally, and that would cause prices to shoot up for both oil and gasoline.

So, there are a number of reasons to think that there are good factors influencing the trends that we're seeing in gas prices -- oil prices and gas prices. However, part of the reason why gas prices have been declining is that there are still high risks of recession next year, including recession, actually, that's already ongoing probably in much of the world right now, including the E.U. and the U.K.

And when there is a recession, there is much less demand for fuel, right? You have factories needing less energy. You have consumers going out and driving a little bit less, or otherwise feeling a little less flushed, so they cut back on how much energy they consume.

So, some of the reason why gas prices are falling has to do with the fact that there are these expectations, that there could be a big drop in demand. And in fact, we already see demand declining to some extent, including the U.S. So, it's a -- obviously, we would rather have gas prices falling for good reason, that supply chains are normalizing rather than the bad reasons that there's a recession, that there are continued lockdowns in China, et cetera. But it's a little bit hard to parse how much you attribute to the good versus the bad at this point.

WILD: With what you're seeing right now, is this economic soft landing that the Biden administration and the Fed has been talking about a lot, is that still possible?

RAMPELL: I think it's possible. It's hard to quantify how likely it is. There are still a lot of people who expect a high chance of recession next year in the United States. Again, there are other countries in the world that are already experiencing recession. But we're talking about the U.S. I think there is still a high chance of recession. It's not inevitable.

It does look like, as we've discussed, inflation has been coming down. Those prices are moderating -- price growth is moderating, even if it's not back where it was. And so far, the job market seems quite strong. Unemployment is close to record lows for example.

So, in theory, it is still possible you that could get inflation coming back to something around normal without huge numbers of workers losing their jobs. Whether that will definitely happen, we don't know. Historically, it's been very difficult to achieve that soft landing.

WILD: Catherine Rampell, thank you.

RAMPELL: Thank you. SAVIDGE: Coming up, up to three feet of snow and ice, hurricane force winds, Upstate New York getting hammered by this winter storm system. An Erie County official will join us next with an update from the region.

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[08:40:00]

SAVIDGE: If you're looking for an epicenter of what has been a historic winter storm already, perhaps Buffalo, New York is it. It's experiencing some the worst winter weather from this Arctic blast. The governor has already deployed the national guard to help assist in life-threatening situations. The storm continues to hammer the entire region with up to three feet of snow, ice, and as you can hear there, almost hurricane force winds.

Joining me now is Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz. And, Mark, thank you for joining us today. I want to start off with this very -- what sounded like very serious situation. You had hundreds of people, I believe, stuck in their vehicles. I'm wondering, what's the situation now, and how are they doing?

MARK POLONCARZ, ERIE COUNTY EXECUTIVE: Good morning, Martin. It was a horrible situation. We measure storms here like the blizzard of 1977, and this storm may actually surpass it with regards to its ferocity. Yes, there were hundreds of individuals who were stuck in cars in the overnight hours. Two-thirds of the first responders that we sent out to try to get to individuals in life-threatening situations themselves got stuck. We're talking about fire, police, EMS. It was a horrible situation.

The blizzard conditions are such that you cannot see beyond pretty much your windshield or the front of your vehicle. We had to pull our Department of Public Works plows off the roads. Everyone did. The state, the county because it was just so unsafe.

Thankfully, conditions have cleared up a little bit in parts of the worst affected areas. Now, we've got plows on the roads again. But we're still going out there to do these lifesaving missions that's because unfortunately, people have been stuck in the cold, bitter cold. Windchills of minus 20 in the overnight hours. And the best thing we can do at this situation is just try to get to them one by one because this has just been a horrible, horrible storm. And we know snow in Buffalo. We can handle snow, but this is a totally different thing with the blizzard and conditions in which you can't see going anywhere.

SAVIDGE: And then I wanted to ask you that, you know, just a couple of weeks ago, you were dealing with feet and feet of snow which most of these would have been paralyzed with but yet you say this seems to be worse. Is it the visibility issue that's the biggest problem?

POLONCARZ: This is worse. The seven feet was a lot of snow, it was falling at a rate of two to three inches per hour without having as much issue with the wind. The winds were near -- actually over hurricane force winds, or winds recorded approximately 80 miles an hour at various times which would have been a category 1 hurricane, that have just been straight. They've been continual.

[08:45:00]

And even if you don't have the 80-mile per hour winds, we've had 60 to 65-mile per hour winds for sustained periods. Add that with the snow that's falling, it's just a situation where you cannot see where you are. For the first time in approximately 24 hours, we can actually look out and see outside our emergency operations center in the town of Cheektowaga, just outside of Buffalo and look more than just a few feet because the snow has subsided. But the winds are still blowing hard and it -- you don't have to have snowfall when you have blizzard conditions. As long as it just picks up the snow that's already on the ground. And that's what we're dealing with across the county.

SAVIDGE: You've got the national guard now helping out, what assets did they bring and how are they bringing?

POLONCARZ: I did make a request to Governor Hochul last night to bring up the guard, she did. They are arriving right now from the Niagara Falls Air Force Base and they're being sent out immediately on missions to rescue people that are stuck in vehicles. We're also using them to transport medical workers to hospitals so that they can replace individuals who have been working for more than 24 hours in a row.

And I just want to thank Governor Hochul and the team from New York State for all that they've done to try to get us through this really terrible storm.

SAVIDGE: And real quick before we go. Anything you want to say to people who are listening, not just in your area, but dealing with this across the country?

POLONCARZ: Well, this is a tremendous storm. It's affected from the Great Plains to the Great Lakes and will be affecting more parts of the United States on the eastern seaboard. I just want to say to everyone who's been thinking about our community, thank you. Thank you for holding us in your hearts. We know how to handle snow but this is a blizzard unlike any other. And we'll get through it.

And the other thing for people who may be watching that are localized in the Buffalo area or thinking about driving into Buffalo to go to grandma's house for Christmas Eve, stay where you are. Don't leave your home. If you happen to be in a work establishment, stay in the work establishment. It's much safer even to be inside, even if you lost your power, with it only being 45 degrees inside, than going out and dealing with minus 20 windchills and blinding conditions. So, stay where you are and we'll all get through this. SAVIDGE: All right. Mark Poloncarz, thank you very much. We wish you and your fellow Buffalonians a lot of heat success and hopefully a warm front to come.

POLONCARZ: Thank you, Martin.

WILD: Coming up, one music icon remembering another. Legendary record executive Clive Davis sits down with Don Lemon to talk about his upcoming movie about the life of Whitney Houston.

And Dionne Warwick is a music icon, 56 worldwide hits, six Grammy Awards, and one extraordinary legacy. She brings her exclusive story to CNN in the new film, "Don't Make Me Over" premiering New Year's Day at 9:00 p.m.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dionne Warwick, one of the great female singers of all time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dionne was the first African American woman to win a Grammy in the pop category.

DIONNE WARWICK, SINGER: The music I was singing was nothing like anything of any of them were singing.

The legacy in my family, music. Pure and simple, music.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dionne Warwick, "Don't Make Me Over". Premieres New Year's Day at 9:00 on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:50:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHITNEY HOUSTON, SINGER: How will I know if he really loves me? I say a prayer with every heartbeat. I want to know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: That is one of Whitney Houston's early hits in her career filled with chart-topping songs. There's a new movie about her life, titled "I Want to Distance with Somebody." It's out now, chronicling her incredible career, as well as her struggles with addiction and other behind-the-scenes drama.

WILD: The biopic is produced by legendary music producer and Whitney's mentor Clive Davis. Our Don Lemon sat down with him to talk about Whitney's story and what he considers the highest and the lowest moments of her career.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

DON LEMON, CNN THIS MORNING CO-ANCHOR: Tell me the story. You have this wonderful new movie coming out. The first time you met Whitney Houston.

CLIVE DAVIS, GRAMMY-WINNING RECORD PRODUCER: The first time I met Whitney was really her audition for me. She had been doing background singing in a mother (ph) Cissy's act. They were -- Cissy was playing Sweetwater's at club. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tonight, legendary record executive Mr. Clive Davis.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My voice is gone.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You start the show tonight. No talking back.

DAVIS: And Whitney sang two songs that night. One was "Home" from The Wiz, and the other was "The Greatest Love of All." Now, she didn't know -- I don't know how many know it. I had commissioned the song "The Greatest Love of All" eight years earlier for the life of Muhammad Ali the movie. And I got Michael Masser and Linda Creed, they wrote "The Greatest Love of All." I had recorded it with George Benson. We had a top 10 R and B hit.

And then this beautiful 19-year-old girl, OK, gets to the microphone, and as soon as she started singing that song, I was done.

HOUSTON: Learning to love yourself, it is the greatest love of all.

LEMON: You said the purpose of this film is to show the full Whitney. You shared stories about Whitney being at your house. You advising her, going over the catalog. What she should sing. What she should do with her career next. What you say people don't know the full portrait of Whitney. So, tell us about the full portrait of Whitney.

DAVIS: Well, I know what the public's interested in. And with the great writer Anthony McCarthy who wrote the script, who wrote "Bohemian Rhapsody" and the two pope (ph). Whether it's Whitney's sexuality, whether her reaction when they was in U.N. the way she sing "Black Enough". Whether it's how she and I collaborated, I just didn't sign her.

Going through all the years, except for the movies where the process was different, it was Whitney and me alone. I would work all during the year with my very valuable and incredible staff, you know, staff, to go through hundreds and hundreds of songs. I would narrow it down to 20. She and I would meet, either in my office or my monthly bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel. OK. And it was just Whitney and I. And I'd put the demo in. She would react. We would talk about it. All of that was captured in the film.

[08:55:00]

LEMON: What was her biggest moment? What was the height of Whitney Houston's career?

DAVIS: Whoa. LEMON: Was it "The Bodyguard"? No.

DAVIS: Certainly, "The Bodyguard".

LEMON: But the height of her career.

DAVIS: The height of her career are two things, one is "The Bodyguard".

HOUSTON: And I will always love you.

DAVIS: "The Bodyguard" was the biggest selling soundtrack album to this day, of all time. It's going -- it's very close, maybe now it's over 40 million copies. So, the combination of "I Will Always Love You" and "I'm Every Woman" and "I Have Nothing", I mean, coupled with the movie being seen all over the world. There's only one rival to "The Bodyguard", as far as the highest point, and that's the national anthem. There's no one before or since, that approaches what Whitney does with the national anthem. And that is still the largest female selling single of all time.

LEMON: So, you saw the heights, the highest of the highs?

DAVIS: Yes.

LEMON: Were you there for the lows?

DAVIS: I was there for the lows.

LEMON: When did you figure out the lows were coming?

DAVIS: Later than some, because she was loyal, devoted. She always was on when she was with me. So, admittedly, I didn't see the sign early on. But I would say, at that time, when she auditioned for the -- or met with the Academy Award people and there was a problem she was not prepared for. For me, she was always prepared. But, clearly, unmistakably, the lowest -- if you ask me the lowest would be the Michael Jackson concert at Madison Square Garden.

She walks out on the stage, and I can't believe my eyes. She's a skeleton. Now, Whitney was so prideful of her fashion, of her look, of her dress. You never suggest to Whitney what to wear or what her hair style should be. I never saw her looking like that. I was scared, still, I wrote her a letter.

LEMON: What did you say in the letter?

DAVIS: I said, you have a severe problem and you have to deal with it. And it's a matter of life and death. She didn't listen, or never replied to the letter.

DIANE SAWYER, ABC NEWS ANCHOR: Is it alcohol? Is it marijuana? Is it cocaine? Is it pills?

HOUSTON: It has been, at times.

LEMON: Did you deal with the Diane Sawyer interview in the movie?

DAVIS: No, we don't -- we don't -- we deal enough with hellos that we don't try to recreate a TV interview or another TV show. But it is dealt with at length. It is dealt with how it happened. And -- she sings as low as you can get.

LEMON: So, let's talk about then, Clive, I was on the air. You're having the Grammy party at the Beverly Hilton. I walk out of the studio, and they said we just got word that Whitney Houston died.

ANNOUNCER: Breaking news --

LEMON: You know, every once in a while, you have to report something that you thought would be the worst thing that could happen and it was going to happen, and now it has. Singer Whitney Houston, one of the greatest voices of our generation, CNN has gotten confirmation from a representative has died.

And you're there at the Beverly Hilton where it all happened. What do you -- what is going through your mind? What is happening behind the screens for Clive Davis?

DAVIS: Well, when I got the call, it had to be 4:00 or 4:30 in the afternoon. Well, first of all, I was shocked. I mean, two days earlier, Whitney had spent the whole day with me. I mean, she had finished the movie "Sparkle." She played me the songs from "Sparkle" that she had done. I played her the (INAUDIBLE). We spent the whole afternoon. She was totally her old self.

She showed me, as far as cigarettes were concerned, how she had cleared her throat of all of the nicotine. I'm ready to make another album.

[09:00:00]