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Final Goodbye For President Carter Begins In South Georgia; Today: Jimmy Carter Begins Last Trip From Plains, Georgia; Six Days Of Observances Begin Today For Former President Carter; New Orleans Terror Attack Suspect Caught On Doorbell Video; Biden Awards Medal Of Freedom To 19 People; Massive Winter Storm to Impact Over 1,300 Miles In The U.S. With Snow, Ice, And Severe Weather; Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter's 77-Year Love Story. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired January 04, 2025 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:]

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going in-depth on his enduring legacy of service to the nation and the world.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: And just before he is set to return to the White House, President-elect Donald Trump will be sentenced in the New York hush-money case.

FREEMAN: And a CNN exclusive. The new video showing what the suspect in the New Year's Day attack in New Orleans was doing just moments before that deadly rampage.

WALKER: And the strongest storm of winter is ramping up. Meteorologist Allison Chinchar is tracking the snow, ice, and severe weather threats start stretching more than 1300 miles.

Today begins six days of tributes to the life and legacy of former President Jimmy Carter. The public observances began and end will end where it started for Jimmy Carter in rural South Georgia.

FREEMAN: Now, before he lived in the White House, President Carter called this place his home. This is a live look from Archery, Georgia, where Carter grew up on his family's peanut farm. It's one of several places his motorcade will stop today. And later this morning, Carter's body will be moved from the Sumter Medical center in Americus, Georgia, to Atlanta.

There'll be a pause for a moment of silence at the Capitol where he once served as state senator and Georgia's governor. His body will then be brought to the Carter center in Atlanta where flowers and cards have been left since his death. It will then be moved to Washington ahead of a state funeral on Thursday.

WALKER: Carter, a Democrat, served one term as the 39th president from 1977 to 1981. He became the oldest living former president when he surpassed the record held by the late George H.W. Bush in March of 2019. He died on Sunday at the age of 100. CNN's Eva McKend is joining us now from Plains, Georgia.

EVE Good morning, Eva. As you've been saying, Carter's presence loomed large over this small town.

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: It did, Amara. And it was perhaps the most consequential personal decision for him to return to this tiny community post-presidency. All throughout the week, we've been speaking to residents here, sharing their Jimmy Carter stories. And we heard things like he attended my grandfather's funeral or he came to visit me and pray for me when I was sick or I would see him out and about before he fell ill, participating in food distribution at food pantries. And so that is how he will be remembered for all of the many national and international accolades. It is for how he conducted himself as a neighbor in this small town that the people here say resonated with them most.

Take a listen to how those who know him best are thinking about this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULL STUCKEY, SUPERINTENDENT, JIMMY CARTER NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK: Moment One time I looked up and President Carter actually was carrying a chair out the back door of my house. I said, what are you doing? He said, it was broken. I'll bring it back in the morning. 7:30 the next morning, he brought my repaired chair back to my house, put it back where he got it, walked out.

MCKEND (voiceover): Wow. How old was he when he did this?

STUCKEY: Oh, that was maybe 10 years ago. So 90.

PHIL WISE, LONGTIME CARTER FAMILY FRIEND: He and I had a chance to say goodbye a while back, and we knew this time was coming. He knows how much I love and respect he and Rosalynn, and he let me know how much he loves and respects me. And I'm at peace with that because I know he was at peace with it. But does it leave a void for me? It leaves a void, but that void is all filled with so many wonderful memories and opportunities that he provided me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCKEND: And something else that stuck out to me. I was speaking to a shop owner here earlier this week. He told me that to the Carters, it was much more important to them how you conducted yourself, your values, what type of person you were over your politics. The motorcade will pass through here in Plains this afternoon. We already see people lining the streets here to pay their respects. Amara, Danny.

WALKER: Eva McKend, thank you very much. Joining me now is Ernie Suggs. He's a reporter with the Atlanta Journal Constitution. And Suggs covered Carter for the AJC, and he developed a close personal friendship with him.

Ernie, thank you so much for coming in this morning.

ERNIE SUGGS, RACE AND CULTURE REPORTER, ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION: Thank you for having me.

WALKER: Before we get to your relationship and how you're remembering him, I want to talk a little bit about this tiny town you visited many times. You've been to the peanut farm. You've been to Carter's boyhood home, and you just heard there from some of the people that even McKend spoke with. I mean, there's so much love and reverence for the former president.

It's a tiny town, right? And the fact that just a year ago, it lost Rosalynn Carter, and now you have former President Carter, who is now gone. Can you talk about just this profound sense of loss that this tiny community is feeling today?

SUGGS: Well, when you think about Plains, Georgia, we think about the Carters, you think about love. And President Carter has lived there for. President Carter was 100 years when he died. He lived there for all of his life. Rosalynn Carter lived there all of her life. So when she passed away last November, he passes away now. The town has been ready for this moment.

[08:05:10]

They've been preparing for this moment because he's been such an indelible part of this community for so long that, you know, he is. You know, he's Mr. Jimmy. If you go to anyone's house, they have photographs of Mr. Jimmy. They have stories about Jimmy Carter. So he is part of that community. He's part of that whole community, and he's truly loved there.

WALKER: And when we say tiny, I mean, what is this?

SUGGS: It's 500 or 600 people? There's no stoplights. There's no grocery store. There's gas station. You know, you drive down the street, you see his house. You drive down further, you see his birth or his family farm, his high school. You can walk to all of this stuff. That's how small this town is.

WALKER: And it's just about two and a half hours due west of Atlanta.

SUGGS: Two and a half, yes.

WALKER: And this is a tiny town that really shaped who Carter is, right. I mean, it's really interesting the way that he grew up. I was reading, and I think it was one of your articles in archery, which is an unincorporated area of Plains, and he was one of two white families surrounded by 25 black families. And he grew up in the deeply segregated South.

SUGGS: Yes, he was born in 1924. So he was born in a time in Georgia, deeply segregated, but he lived amongst African Americans. So his family immersed him in African American culture early on, when his parents would go out of town, where they would go on vacation, he would stay at the home of a black family who lived on campus or who lived on the farm. So he writes eloquently about how black women shaped him, how they shaped his thinking, how they shaped his philosophies on life, how they shaped his philosophies on diversity, and that how he grew into a man shaped by black experiences.

So he was very -- and again, in the deeply segregated south. He was very, very astute to what race relations were and how important they were.

WALKER: He was ahead of his times as part of his legacy, but also an outlier, right. As a Southerner in the Deep south, as a liberal and something that I remember. Well, I wasn't alive back then, but just hearing about his legacy and some of the sound that's been played over the years was when he was inaugurated as the governor of Georgia, where he said, this is the end of racial discrimination.

SUGGS: Yes, I mean, you know, one of the things you talk about when he ran for governor, he ran, and he kind of appealed to Lester Maddox's base, and that's political expediency. But as soon as he won, he told Lester Maddox that I'm in charge. We're not having any of these problems that we had when you were governor. And the age of discrimination in Georgia is over. So that what this --

WALKER: That was shocking, right? At that time. Yes.

SUGGS: That was shocking. Again, when he ran for president, you know, no one knew who he was. There was never -- there hadn't been a Southern elected president in over a hundred years. So here's this guy who comes out of tiny Plains, Georgia, as you said, who rises to become president, United States.

WALKER: Really a remarkable story.

SUGGS: He's a remarkable man.

WALKER: Tell me about you and how you got to know President Carter. It started with your mother.

SUGGS: Yes, my mother. I grew up in Brooklyn, New York. My mother voted for Jimmy Carter in 1976. So that was my first exposure to presidential politics and what -- understanding what a president was. So moving to Georgia, covering him, every time I talk to him, I told him about how my mother introduced me to President Carter. How my mother introduced me to your work and your thoughts and your thinking.

And the last time I actually physically saw him, I did not mention that my mother had -- I did not mention that. But he brought it up. He said, hey, how's your mother doing?

WALKER: He remembered.

SUGGS: He remembered. And at the time, my mother was going through the first stages of dementia, and he talked about what Rosalynn Carter was doing with mental health. And he said, hey, can I talk to your mother on the phone? And I picked up the phone and he called my mother. And that's the kind of person he is.

I tell that story as if it's unique, but it's not, because Jimmy Carter touched so many people in so many ways similar to how he touched me. He wrote the forward to my book, my first book. So he has been touching people for a hundred years in different ways. And everyone has stories. I've written a story called the man of the people, and everyone has these stories about Jimmy Carter. Photographs of Jimmy Carter, even, you know, tired, grizzled old journalists and grizzled old politicians have stories about how Jimmy Carter touched them. And that's the kind of person. That's the kind of legacy I think he's leaving.

WALKER: For you, is that the legacy he's leaving?

SUGGS: Of course. Of course. He's, you know, as a journalist, and, you know this, we don't want to get too close to sources, but there are people that we like. And there are people that touch us in certain ways. And Jimmy Carter was one of those people. So he touched me in a lot of ways.

WALKER: I can tell. You know, just reading the tributes, hearing them from around the world. And, you know, Carter even said in an interview, I think, a few years ago that, you know, he had a better reputation, his presidency and during. Even though he had some major accomplishments with the Camp David Accord, in the Panama Canal Treaty. But when you listen to some of the tributes that are pouring in, do you think that this is the way Mr. Carter would have wanted to be remembered?

SUGGS: Yes. As a journalist, we all talk about obituaries. We all read obituaries. And I think we talk about the first line of an obituary. The first line of Jimmy Carter's obituary is that he was the 39th president. But I think if we talk to him, if we ask him about what his legacy is, he would talk about the last 43 years. When he started the Carter center in 1982, the work he's done in Africa, eradicating diseases. Guinea worm is almost eradicated. The work he's done with Habitat for Humanity, building homes.

[08:10:04]

The work he's done with Habitat for Humanity, building homes, the work he's done all over the country as a global ambassador, monitoring elections, helping with democracy. That's his legacy, I believe. What he's done after the presidency. He is without a doubt the greatest former president ever. His legacy and his four years in office, that's going to be left to scholars and historians to discuss. But I don't think there's any question that after he left office, there's never been a man or president who has done as much as he has to better the whole globe.

WALKER: It's really impressive how many lives he's touched personally as well, not just the work that he's done around the world.

SUGGS: Of course, yes.

WALKER: Ernie Suggs, really appreciate your perspective.

SUGGS: Well, thank you very much for having me this early Saturday morning.

WALKER: Thanks for coming in. Well, thanks for getting up this early on this Saturday morning. Appreciate it. Have a good one.

SUGGS: Thank you. Thank you very much.

WALKER: All right.

FREEMAN: Great conversation there, Amara.

WALKER: Thank you.

FREEMAN: All right. Coming up after the break, a New York judge in Trump's hush money case upholds the president, elects felony conviction and sets sentencing for just 10 days out from inauguration. We'll talk about what penalties Donald Trump may face as heads back into the Oval Office.

WALKER: Also, House Speaker Mike Johnson secures the gavel how some Donald Trump phone calls helped him navigate his way through a number of Republican holdouts.

FREEMAN: And two ongoing FBI investigations. We'll tell you what we're learning about the unfolding details into both suspects in both New Orleans and Las Vegas.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:15:17]

WALKER: Sentencing is this coming Friday for Donald Trump's hush money case in New York. Judge Juan Merchan upheld the president-elect's conviction.

FREEMAN: But sentencing really won't amount to much, as CNN's Paula Reid explains.

PAULA REID, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Amara and Danny. Well, after this opinion, President-elect Trump is still a convicted felon, but there is certainly some good news here for him and that the judge is signaling that he does not intend to impose any penalties against Trump. The judge had the option to impose even a jail sentence after Trump was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records last year. But the judge said that he does not intend to do that. He says, quote, "It seems proper at this juncture to make known the court's inclination to not impose any sentence of incarceration." So this really means that next Friday's sentencing will be mostly performative.

It's also notable that the judge is really conceding to the demands on Trump's time right now. Judge Juan Merchant, throughout this case has been pretty dismissive of a lot of the arguments the Trump team has made when they invoke his status as a former president or now president-elect. But here he says, quote, "To assuage the defendant's concerns regarding the mental and physical demands during the transition period, the court will permit defendant to exercise his right to appear virtual for this proceeding. So he's essentially saying, yes, we know you have a lot going on. You're president elect, so you should not be burdened with traveling up to New York for this. You can appear virtually.

Now the Trump team was pushing to get this entire case tossed out. They were not successful in doing that, but they can continue to appeal the conviction itself even after the sentencing. But it appears the Trump team is not fully satisfied with this opinion.

Steven Chung, Trump's communication director, said in a statement, "There should be no sentencing and President Trump will continue fighting against these hoaxes until they are all dead." The hoaxes, of course, being the four criminal cases Trump has faced. The two federal cases filed by the special counsel are effectively dead. They were both dismissed. The Georgia state case is on life support after a court disqualified the district attorney, Fani Willis. And then the New York case, of course, the trial went last year.

The sentencing will be next Friday. And while Trump was convicted, it appears he will not face any penalties. Danny, Amara.

FREEMAN: Paula Reid, thank you very much.

So without A single vote to spare, Speaker Mike Johnson won his bid to oversee the narrowest House majority in nearly a hundred years. Two holdouts, Representatives Ralph Norman and Keith Self, briefly stood between Johnson and the gavel. That is, until President-elect Trump picked up the phone. Sources tell CNN that Trump argued Republicans needed unity and voters would not tolerate the dysfunction that would ensue if they could not rally together.

Now, with some members of the GOP House expected to join Trump's administration, the House majority is set to drop to 217. That means House Republicans can't afford even one defection if legislation passes along party lines. CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein is joining us now to break it all down.

Ron, first of all, good morning. Second of all --

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning.

FREEMAN: The -- I feel like I saw two takes after yesterday's vote. First, that it was actually impressive that Johnson wrapped it all up on that first ballot, but also that Republican dysfunction still very much there. My question for you is, will yesterday end up being the strongest day of the Johnson speakership?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, it's a really good question. Look, I think one of the things Johnson had going for him is that there was really no alternative. I mean, there was no one who would be more acceptable to his critics on the right who could have attracted enough support, you know, in the other factions of the party to reach a majority themselves. And so, you know, the opponents had nowhere to go.

Danny, to me, what's significant and revealing and sets a very clear trajectory, I think, for this Congress is that all of the pressure, all of the resistance came from the right. It's the same thing we saw with Kevin McCarthy and it's the same thing we saw in the battle in December over keeping the government funded and potentially lifting the debt ceiling.

What you have is a kind of a phalanx of very conservative House Republicans who are demanding big spending cuts to be tied to the big tax cuts that Trump wants extending his Trump tax cuts at a cost of 4 trillion or more over the next decade. And that means that we're going to see Congress battling over terrain. Democrats are very comfortable fighting on and have fought on before, which is arguing that Republicans are advancing big tax cuts for the wealthy at the expense of programs that benefit the middle class. And I think that is what the die was cast for in yesterday's balloting.

FREEMAN: Well, and also the person perhaps casting the die, President Elect Trump, he really did seem like he had to help Johnson across the finish line.

[08:20:07]

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

FREEMAN: I'm curious your thought here. Will Republicans, including that flank that you're talking about, will Republicans in Congress fall in line but only if President Trump picks up the phone?

BROWNSTEIN: I think they will fall in line where their interests align with Trump's and that they will be very resistant to falling in line on some other questions. I mean, certainly, you know, big parts of the Republican agenda are going to have very broad support in the congressional GOP, both the House and the Senate. More domestic energy production, tougher enforcement at the border, even mass deportation.

I think where, you know, I think where Trump is going to run into trouble is that he has never really been a true fiscal hawk by any means. And you know, where he failed in December was when he asked House Republicans to do something that Democrats usually prefer, which is lit the debt ceiling, raise the debt ceiling without any offsetting budget cuts. The right said no.

The right said no when to lifting the debt ceiling even when he was President. There are about 70 House Republicans who voted for it even then. And so I think that Trump, you know, Trump's lowest point other than January 6th in his first term came in 2017 in his job approval rating when he was trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act. And I think the dynamic that set in motion, as I said in both December and in yesterday's vote, are going to pull him in more into more fights like that will be demanded by the conservative end of the House Republican caucus.

FREEMAN: One of the things that was also notable specifically about yesterday, Ron, was the House did manage to pass some new rules that will make it tougher to oust the Speaker. That was one of the big problems that McCarthy had before. Do you think does this give Johnson the ability to sleep at night?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, look, I mean, there were 11 members of the House Freedom Caucus who signed a letter yesterday saying their support was only contingent on Johnson advancing a number of conservative priorities, in particular the cuts in spending programs that we've been talking about. I do think that his, you know, he is not on a hair trigger for the reason that I said. It's not clear what the alternative would be. But the threat isn't gone. And the reality is, given that there are a certain number of fiscally conservative, very conservative Republicans who will not vote to raise the debt ceiling, which is coming up sometime this spring, not usually vote for continuing resolutions to keep the government open, he's going to need Democratic votes to do those things, which is kind of the bare minimum of what the House has to do.

And each time he does, you are going to see some level of rebellion on the right. So, yes, I think his position is stronger than McCarthy. But no, I really would. I would still sleep with one eye open. Sure analogy.

FREEMAN: Yes. Such is the way in D.C. These days. No. And I also do appreciate you just continuing to emphasize because it is true that without an alternative, it becomes moot almost. And it's again, very different from what we saw with McCarthy. There was the effort with Jim Jordan. So this is different in that case.

Just quick run, I want to talk about the certification of the electoral vote that's coming up on Monday. There's heightened security at the Capitol. They're locking everything down. How is this January 6th going to be different from four years ago?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, for one thing, there won't be a violent insurrection aimed at the Capitol. And it really does raise the question of, I think, of what happens going forward. Certainly, this is, you know, Democrats and Joe Biden have responded to Kamala Harris's defeat very differently than Donald Trump did to his defeat in 2020 with all of the multifaceted efforts to overturn that election.

I wonder what this means for future elections. If in 2028 a Democrat, you know, win -- beats whoever the Republican nominee is. Are we back to 2020 where Republicans are claiming it's stolen? Was Donald Trump's victory a kind of a one-time anomaly there? They would be arguing, I think Republicans here are, you know, establishing a precedent of accepting election results when they win. Will it hold when they lose and how will they the next time they lose?

Because certainly they will lose again. And how will they respond to that? But I do think, you know, it's essentially night and day. And as I say, can you plausibly argue in the future? Well, you know, it's only fraud every time we lose.

FREEMAN: Yes. Well said. Rob Bronstein, as always, so good to see you. Thank you for sharing some of your time this Saturday morning. Appreciate it.

BROWNSTEIN: Hey, thanks for having me this morning.

WALKER: Up ahead, CNN's exclusive footage that traces the footsteps of the suspected driver in the Bourbon Street terror attack in the moments leading up to the deadly rampage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:29:14]

WALKER: This is a live look from Americus, Georgia, right outside the Phoebe Sumter Medical center where the six-day commemoration of former President Jimmy Carter will begin this morning. From the hospital, in about two hours from now, the motorcade will depart. It will pause at Carter's boyhood home in Plains, Georgia. And then will stop at the Georgia State Capitol in downtown Atlanta for a moment of silence. His body will then lie in repose at the Carter Presidential center for two days. CNN has special coverage of all the observances and tributes today.

FREEMAN: Here's some of the top stories we're following this morning. Weeks before their resentencing hearing, the L.A district attorney says he has not made a decision on the Menendez brother's case. After meeting with Lyle and Erik Menendez family, Nathan Hockman says he's still reading thousands of pages of recordings or records rather.

The brothers were convicted in 1996 of killing their parents. They confessed to the murders but claimed self-defense, alleging abuse by their father. That's a claim disputed by prosecutors.

Meanwhile, a recent letter from Erik has renewed family support for their release, though at least one relative is still against it. The brothers are set to appear in court later this month.

And thousands of criminal convictions in Minnesota have now been expunged. The Clean Slate Act went into effect this week. It's a new law that expunges lower level nonviolent crimes for those who have stayed crime free for several years.

A 2023 study estimated at least 470,000 Minnesotans are eligible for expungement, but only 5 percent have done it. Law enforcement, courts and prosecutors, though, can still access those records. Amara.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Let's turn now to the terrorist attack in New Orleans on Bourbon Street that killed 14 people on New Year's Day. There are new questions about the explosive devices planted by the attacker.

Sources tell CNN they contained a rare organic compound not previously seen in the United States. It's unclear what the compound does and where they're from, and investigators are now trying to learn how the suspect obtained it.

Exclusive new video obtained by CNN shows the New Orleans attacker preparing for the deadly rampage just shortly before he drove his truck through Bourbon Street. CNN's Kyung Lah has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New video shows the attacker preparing the pickup truck for the New Year attack just after midnight. Shamsud-Din Jabbar puts what looks like a white pole with a black covering into the bed of the pickup. It appears to be the ISIS flag that was attached to his truck as he plowed through the crowd on Bourbon Street.

The doorbell video also shows him spending several minutes bending over the hitch where the flag was attached. For nearly 10 minutes, he continually moves back and forth from the Airbnb to the truck getting ready. And then this.

Jabbar pulls out what appears to be a gas can out of the truck and brings it inside where authorities say he started a fire. He then pulls up the street, stops, backs up and goes back inside the house for less than a minute before finally leaving for good.

New Year fireworks can be seen in the distance. Ten minutes after Jabbar finally drives away, a neighbor told CNN he smelled smoke. Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: Joining me now is CNN Law enforcement analyst Jonathan Wackrow. Jonathan, good to see you this morning. I want to first get your take on the surveillance video that we're just see Kyung Lah. And it shows really just how much planning went into this attack in New Orleans. What stands out to you there?

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, what stands out is really what we're seeing here is the premeditation, right. This was not -- and I think we -- we know this now from reporting information that's coming out from investigators is that, you know, the suspect here put a lot in the planning process in really thinking about the various types of attacks that he was going to launch. From the very simple vehicle ramming attack that actually took place, all the way to an extreme level of sophistication with the explosives that were pre placed throughout the area.

Why is he doing that? Why? Because that is a tactic. If the first method of attack, which was the vehicle ramming method, if he was not able to execute on that, then he could quickly go through various other options to again impose mass casualties in this area.

Again, you know, this was a target of opportunity for him. He knew that there would be a lot of individuals in a very confined space. So whether it was a vehicle ramming explosives or just going in with, you know, with weapons, he knew that he could really have devastating impact no matter which pathway he chose. So the premeditation here that we're seeing in that video is key for investigators.

WALKER: Also have so many questions about this rare organic compound that were used in these IEDs that have never been previously seen in the US. They were placed, as you said, at two different locations in the French Quarter, and these blue coolers, as you see there in that photo.

Given that authorities believe Jabbar was inspired by ISIS, does this lead you to believe that he may have perhaps not acted alone? I mean, you know, where could he have gotten this organic compound?

WACKROW: Yes, and I think that is a critical aspect that investigators are looking at right now. Not just law enforcement here in the United States, but intelligence sources. Right. If this is a new compound that has been introduced domestically that is used by foreign terror groups, where did the suspect learn that?

[08:35:02]

Was this overseas? Again, it points to, you know, while this act was individual, we do know that he was inspired by extremist groups. But does it transcend that into actual training by those groups on how to either, you know, import or manufacture that type of organic compound into this explosive product?

So really, investigators and foreign intelligence sources working together need to get to that answer very quickly. Why? Because, you know, is this compound out there anywhere else? Is it being disseminated through distribution channels from foreign extremist groups that now can be picked up and utilized by copycat attacks?

WALKER: You know, the suspect also, by the way, regarding copycats, and is that a concern right now that there could be copycat attacks? And that also leads me to, you know, are ISIS inspired attacks continually a threat then?

WACKROW: Yes. So to answer your question, the first part, yes, copycat attacks are always a concern, you know, from law enforcement any time that we have a critical event such as this. This is why DHS, the FBI, and local and state law enforcement agencies have been sounding the alarm, you know, throughout their communities that, you know, they need to be at a heightened sense of vigilance for these type of copycat attacks, bolstering the security around, you know, public events. Any events that have mass gatherings of the public, they need to be fortified. We're seeing that happening across the country.

So, you know, there's been multiple communications put out by the FBI and DHS recently on, you know, basically observations of what to look for war as the actions that you could lead to these vehicle ramming attacks.

So law enforcement is in a heightened sense of awareness right now that there could be multiple attacks coming down the road and they're putting the warning signs out now.

WALKER: Yes, a lot of questions still about these bollards and why they were not up and of course how quickly they can be repaired and implemented there in the city. We're going to leave it there. Jonathan Wackrow, thank you so much.

WACKROW: Wonderful. Thank you very much.

FREEMAN: Coming up, today at the White House, President Biden will award the nation's highest civilian award to 19 recipients. We'll tell you who after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:41:34] FREEMAN: Today at the White House, President Joe Biden will award the Presidential Medal of freedom to 19 different honorees. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the nation's highest civilian award.

WALKER: It comes just days after Biden awarded the Presidential citizens medal to 20 recipients, including former Congresswoman Liz Cheney and Congressman Betty Thompson. CNN's Betsy Klein is live at the White House today. Hi, Betsy. Tell us more about who will be honored today.

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE PRODUCER: Well, Amara and Danny, President Biden set just hours from now to dole out 19 of those presidential Medals of Freedom. And as you mentioned, that is the nation's highest civilian honor. You might remember back in 2017, then-President Obama, at the very end of his term, surprised his Vice President, Joe Biden, with that honor. And now it's Biden's turn. He will pass out 19 to individuals that the White House says are great leaders who have made America a better place.

But really, a wide ranging list of honorees expected today, including Hillary Clinton, the former Secretary of State, who will also be honored as the first female presidential candidate for a major party, as well as U2 frontman Bono for his contributions to ending AIDS and poverty. There's also going to be actor Michael J. Fox, honored for his advocacy against Parkinson's disease designer Ralph Lauren, who, as you know, has outfitted the first lady on many occasions, the chef Jose Andres, who has made global food aid a key priority and Vogue Editor in chief Anna Wintour, who also herself has been a key Biden supporter, hosting multiple fundraisers for his campaign.

There are other notable honorees, including the soccer great Lionel Messi, actor Denzel Washington, conservationist Jane Goodall, billionaire philanthropist David Rubenstein, and the Democratic mega donor George Soros, as well as Bill Nye the Science Guy and basketball great Magic Johnson.

Biden's also going to bestow a few posthumous medals, including one to George Romney. That's the father of Republican Senator Mitt Romney, who was notably the secretary of Housing and Urban Development as well as the Republican governor of Michigan. And one more to Attorney General the late Robert F. Kennedy. Of course, his son, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is President-elect Trump's incoming nominee for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. So really a wide ranging list there. Amara and Danny.

FREEMAN: Only a wide range list. I'm surprised that Jane Goodall hadn't gotten something like this before some people.

WALKER: Right. I agree.

FREEMAN: Betsy, tell us though, before you go, how is the president planning to spend some of these final days he has remaining in office?

KLEIN: Well, Danny, we are seeing, just as his predecessors have, the president really leaning into the trappings office, tying up some of those loose ends. We saw him use that executive power one long held promise to block the sale of U.S. steel just yesterday. You see him doling out these awards just today as well as yesterday, the Medal of Honor and the Medal of Valor.

And he's also taking a couple of notable trips. He's going to California next week where he's going to designate a new national monument and then on to Italy later in the week where he will meet with the pope at the Vatican and other Italian officials. So clock ticking. 16 days here and a lot on his to do list.

WALKER: Betsy Klein, good to see you. Thank you so much.

FREEMAN: Right now, 62 million people across the U.S. are under winter weather alerts.

WALKER: Travel is expected to be nearly impossible in certain areas as a storm spans over 1,300 miles, bringing snow and ice followed by bitter cold air.

[08:45:03]

CNN's Allison Chinchar is watching the storm from our weather center. What's going on?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, so this is going to be a pretty big storm in terms of size. We take a look right now. This is Cleveland. Again, you can see what should be a very sunny day, but it's not. You've got those snow squalls coming in at times very heavy.

Now one thing to note though, this is from a separate system. This is really just lake effect that has been impacting not just Cleveland, but several other cities right there along the Great Lakes. But we zoom out a little bit farther to the west, you can see the beginnings of what is going to be the next system to take shape. And that's the one that has the really big concerns about big impacts stretching from the Rockies all the way over to the Atlantic Ocean.

Here you can see the orange, the red color indicating the moderate and even major impacts expected from that blowing snow. Visibility could be zero in some spots, very gusty winds which could lead to trees down and power outages. So a lot of impacts here over the next several days.

Now one of the bigger impacts is going to be snow. You can see this wide swath here impacting more than a dozen states. The pink area indicating at least a foot of snowfall is expected in some of these areas. But even on the south end, maybe where you saw that white, thinking that's just a couple of inches. The key thing there is that it's first going to be a bit of a wintry mix.

You're going to have a thin layer of ice underneath that snow, which makes it more dangerous because you can't see the ice on the roadways. In some of these areas that ice could be a quarter of an inch or even half an inch thick. Then you add the snow on top of it.

Here's a look at the system. It really starts to develop and take shape later on today. So that by very early Sunday morning, a lot of impacts expected over the central U.S., then as we spread into late Sunday now it's starting to overtake into portions of the Midwest, the Ohio Valley. And then by early Monday now we start to see more of those impacts into portions of the Mid Atlantic and even into the Northeast.

Now by Monday night, the center of this system is out over the water again, but you still have some of that residual snow and ice still impacting some of these areas. This is going to be a multi-day thing. Now on the southern edge, most of these areas expected to get just rain but also could have some severe thunderstorms mixed in as well. So you're talking damaging winds, the potential for hail, and yes, even some tornadoes, especially in the yellow and orange colored areas that you see there.

So a lot of components here. Snow on the top, ice in the middle, the severe storms on the bottom. But another thing to note, those temperatures are going to stay cold the next few days, which means the snow will likely stay on the ground.

FREEMAN: Snow to stay, weather, travel delays.

WALKER: Got to go out west where it's above average.

FREEMAN: Exactly.

WALKER: Allison, good to see you. Thank you. Straight ahead, hometown sweethearts and 77 years of marriage. We're going to take a look at the legendary love story of former President Jimmy Carter and former first lady Rosalynn Carter.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:52:02]

WALKER: Former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn were hometown sweethearts who were married for more than seven decades when the former first lady died last year.

FREEMAN: Jimmy Carter will be buried beside her at their longtime Georgia home in plains, Georgia on January 9th. For more on their love story, here's CNN's Randi Kaye.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIMMY CARTER, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: I knew that she was -- she was quiet. She was extremely intelligent. She was very timid by the way, beautiful. And there was just something about her that -- that --

OPRAH WINFREY, HOST: You're blushing.

CARTER: Well I can't help it.

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jimmy Carter telling Oprah why he fell in love with his wife Rosalynn. The Carters grew up together in Plains, Georgia before tying the knot in 1946. Theirs was the longest marriage in the history of U.S. presidents. Seventy-seven years until Mrs. Carter's death in November 2023.

As President Carter told it he took her to a movie on their first date and was smitten.

CARTER: The next morning my mother asked me what did I do when I know had a family reunion? I said, well, I had a date. She said who'd you go with? I said Rosalynn Smith. She said what did you think of Rosalynn? I said she's the one I'm going to marry.

KAYE (voice-over): They married after he graduated the U.S. Naval Academy. He was 21, she was 19. Their decades-long marriage had its challenges but shared interests seemed to be the glue. Over the years they skied, fly-fished and bird-watched and read the Bible together every night. Both volunteered with Habitat for Humanity.

ROSALYNN CARTER, WIFE OF JIMMY CARTER: I'm going to talk a little bit about Jim and he's not going to like it. That has never been any kind of damage at all to Jimmy Carter's heart. I knew he had a good heart.

KAYE (voice-over): On the campaign trail Jimmy Carter called his wife his secret weapon. Rosalynn reportedly visited 40 states during the 1976 presidential campaign. After her husband became president in 1977.

CARTER: I, Jimmy Carter do solemnly swear --

KAYE (voice-over): The Carters teamed up in the White House. When he lost his bid for re-election, they moved back to their same home in Plains, Georgia. In this interview, Barbara Walters wanted all the details.

BARBARA WALTERS, HOST: I don't how to ask this, so I'll just ask you. But do you sleep in the double bed or twin bed?

J. CARTER: Double bed.

R. CARTER: Double bed.

J. CARTER: (INAUDIBLE). Sometimes we sleep in a single bed -- bed, so much more comfortable having a double bed.

KAYE (voice-over): Rosalynn was by his side through it all, skin cancer that spread to his brain in 2015, a mass on his liver, a broken hip. Jimmy Carter credited his loving marriage as the reason he was otherwise in good health.

The Carter's certainly slowed down with age, but still enjoyed a full life with four children, 12 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. According to The Washington Post, the couple had a Saturday night routine of walking half a mile to a friend's home for dinner and a single glass of Chardonnay.

[08:55:08]

They also managed to figure out what else it takes to keep their love alive. CARTER: First of all, we give each other plenty of space to do our own thing.

KAYE (voice-over): If anything, their love only grew stronger. Jimmy Carter said marrying Rosalynn was the pinnacle of his life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you look back, what are you most proud of?

CARTER: In my entire life's experience, I would say it was marrying my wife Rosalynn. She's been a very profound beneficial factor in my entire existence and still is.

KAYE (voice-over): Randy Kaye, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: Wow. What a beautiful union, huh?

FREEMAN: Yes. So sweet. I can't get enough of Jimmy Carter in the Navy uniform when he was a young man.

WALKER: Very handsome. Well, at 10:00 a.m. we're going to have special live coverage of President Jimmy Carter's final journey from his hometown of Plains, Georgia to lie in repose at the Carter Center in Atlanta. Smerconish is up next.

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