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CNN This Morning
High-Impact Nor'easter Set To Slam Northeast; Deadly Explosions In Ukraine Investigated As Terrorist Attack; Iranian Students Protest As New University Term Begins; Huckabee Slammed For Comments On Control Of Region; Trump Announces Global Tariffs Will Increase To 15 Percent From 10 Percent; Minnesota Vikings Wide Receiver Rondale Moore Found Dead At 25; Monday: Trial Begins For Utah Mom Accused Of Poisoning Husband; DHS Suspends TSA PreCheck, Global Entry Amid Shutdown. DHS Suspends TSA Precheck, Trump Rages Against Supreme Court Decision on Tariffs; Secret Service to Offer Tailored Suits to New Protective Detail Agents. Aired 7-8a ET
Aired February 22, 2026 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[07:00:30]
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Brand new week, let's make the most of it. It's Sunday, February 22nd. Good morning, I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to have you along.
Right now, millions of people are under blizzard warnings. A nor'easter is expected to hit the East Coast in a matter of hours. Live look here at the uncharacteristically empty and calm Times Square in New York right now.
The blizzard is expected to dump more than a foot of snow on major cities like New York, Boston, Philadelphia. Meanwhile, New Jersey is under a state of emergency as well, and this is the first time the entire state has been under a blizzard warning since 1996.
Jenn Sullivan is in New York and has details of how states are preparing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JENN SULLIVAN, CNN JOURNALIST (voice-over): Snow preparations are underway as millions of people from Delaware up to southern New England are under blizzard warnings as a powerful nor'easter is expected to dump more than a foot of snow in many areas, including New York City.
MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NEW YORK: New Yorkers can expect that Monday morning commute will be extremely hazardous, with heavy snowfall and peak winds coinciding to create slippery conditions and greatly reduced visibility. SULLIVAN (voice-over): The last time all five boroughs were under blizzard warnings was in 2017. Officials warning travelers to expect whiteout conditions and even closures.
GOV. KATHY HOCHUL (D), NEW YORK: New York State is in the crosshairs of a very dangerous, fast-moving, potentially life-threatening winter storm.
SULLIVAN (voice-over): New York's JFK International Airport, one of the busiest in the world, already warning of significant travel impacts and telling passengers to check their flight status. The governor of New Jersey declaring a state of emergency beginning noon Sunday for all 21 counties.
GOV. MIKIE SHERRILL (D), NEW JERSEY: Across New Jersey, we expect between 10 to 20 inches of snow.
SULLIVAN (voice-over): This system could also bring wind gusts up to 55 miles per hour, causing widespread power outages and coastal flooding. Other big cities like Boston and Philadelphia could also see more than a foot of snow by Monday evening. Many of the areas expected to get slammed Sunday still have leftover snow on the ground from last month's winter storm that dumped nearly a foot of accumulation in many areas.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We wanted to go down in drain. Where's it going to go? You know, it's hard to park. I'm handicapped. It's hard to get in and out.
SULLIVAN (voice-over): Even the D.C. area could see 5 or more inches of snow by Monday. The mayor announcing Saturday that they're deploying the city's full snow team ahead of the storm.
In New York, I'm Jenn Sullivan reporting.
BLACKWELL: CNN's Allison Chinchar is tracking the storm's path. What are you looking at?
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Again, the National Weather Service, the wording they used was potential historic storm for several of these cities, just noting that, yes, it's the northeast. We know they get snow, but not this volume of snow. So let's take a look at where the storm is right now.
It's pretty widespread. You can see we've got rain down to the south and all of that snow along the northern side is that low-pressure system is going to kind of ride right there along the eastern seaboard. Now, what we have right now is mostly snow across the northern tier, but not right along the coast.
We're still looking at rain right now coming down in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and even into New York, but we expect that's going to transition over fully into snow here in just the next couple of hours. So you can see by about lunchtime, almost all of these cities now looking at snow entirely, and that will continue into the evening and the overnight hours, with some of it being very, very heavy snow coming down.
You could be looking at several inches per hour with some of those bands, and then even into Monday morning, you've got some pretty heavy snow. Now, one thing to note, the weather models still are not in great agreement with this. There could be varied totals.
Take Washington, D.C., for example. The European model thinking maybe roughly 3 to 6 inches, but you fast-forward into the European model, and they think they're going to get maybe as much as 8 inches of snow. So again, they're still a little bit off by several inches. Some of these areas could be off by 6 to 8 inches, depending on which model.
But many of the National Weather Service offices are now leaning more into the GFS, which is the higher totals for many of these cities. So keep that in mind, that yes, they may not line up, but we're leaning over towards some of those higher amounts, and that could include some areas getting up to 2 feet of snow in portions of New Jersey.
Another big component of this storm is going to be the wind gusts. Now, those really don't ramp up until late this evening and into the overnight, and will continue into Monday morning. But the key thing here is some of these winds are not only going to take that snow, blow it all around, reducing visibility to pretty much nothing, but especially when you're talking 40, 50, even as much as 70 mile-per- hour winds, then you could also be looking at the potential for trees to come down.
[07:05:07]
Widespread power outages, not to mention travel, is going to be disrupted widespread up and down much of the East Coast.
BLACKWELL: All right, Allison, thank you.
And speaking of travel, I'm looking at FlightAware right now. Thousands of flights canceled. Latest count, 2,700. The most we're seeing at JFK, LaGuardia, Boston, Logan, Philly as well. Now, even if you're not facing those cancellations because of the weather, there's a good chance if you go into the airport, you're going to see a longer wait time at the security lines because the Department of Homeland Security, within just the last hour, temporarily suspended TSA pre- check and global entry as part of this partial government shutdown.
Millions of travelers use the programs to get quickly through the airport security lines, fast-track customs processing. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem says that shutdowns like this have serious real-world consequences that endanger national security.
New this morning, Ukraine says it's investigating a deadly double bombing as a terrorist attack. The attack happened this morning in the western city of Lviv. Investigators say a police officer was killed. Dozens of others were hurt. The first explosion struck after officers responded to reports of an intrusion at a store, and then that explosion was followed by another one.
CNN's Nada Bashir joins me now. Let's talk first about any word on suspects.
NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Authorities have confirmed that they have detained and arrested one individual believed to be the key suspect in this double bombing attack which took place in Lviv this morning. According to officials, those investigations are still ongoing, and the question remains whether there are other suspects. That is something that investigators and police officials are still looking into.
Now, at this stage, officials have confirmed that at least one person was killed in that attack, a 23-year-old police officer. Some 25 others at least are reported to have been injured, and among them six law enforcement officers who are said to be in a serious condition.
Now, we have been learning a bit more about how this attack unfolded. As you mentioned, Victor, according to officials, police were notified of an emergency alert of a potential intrusion in the city center in a shop. Following their response, that first blast went off, and then as a second crew of law enforcement officials arrived, a second blast also went off, impacting those in the vicinity.
And according to the preliminary investigation, they believe homemade explosives were detonated in the area, and they are describing this as a terrorist attack. Take a listen to these remarks from Lviv's mayor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR ANDRIY SADOVYI, LVIV, UKRAINE (through translation): Police are working on site. As for damages, many windows were blown out. An investigation is underway. Once it is over, we will clear everything up. We will help people. It was a very difficult night.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASHIR: Now, of course, while one individual has been detained, as I've mentioned, they are still looking into other potential suspects. At this stage, while this is being characterized as a terrorist attack, there has been no clear announcement of a specific motive behind this attack. And at this stage, no official linking to Russia or a potential Russian attack. Although, as we know, overnight, as well, in the country's capital, in Kyiv, we did see a continued barrage of missile attacks targeting the capital.
BLACKWELL: Nada Bashir, reporting from London. Thank you.
Let's turn now to the Middle East, where there are new protests this weekend in Iran. Local media is reporting students at several Iranian universities held demonstrations at the start of a new semester, some classed with pro-government groups.
Iran's foreign minister is expressing optimism that a nuclear deal could be reached with the U.S. quickly to avoid military confrontation, and that a new proposal would be handed to the U.S. envoy, Steve Witkoff, soon. But Witkoff says President Trump is wondering why a deal has not happened already.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE WITKOFF, U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY: He's curious as to why they haven't -- I don't want to use the word capitulated, but why they haven't capitulated. Why under this sort of pressure, with the amount of sea power, naval power that we have over there, why they haven't come to us and said, we profess that we don't want a weapon, so here's what we're prepared to do. And yet it's hard to sort of get them to that place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: The U.S. ambassador to Israel is facing pretty strong backlash this morning over his comments about the control of land in the Middle East. Ambassador Mike Huckabee says that he's fine with Israel taking over much of the region when conservative commentator Tucker Carlson asked him about what land belongs to the Jewish people.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TUCKER CARLSON, HOST, "THE TUCKER CARLSON SHOW": I'm not going to let you off on this because you have said it --
MIKE HUCKABEE, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO ISRAEL: Go ahead.
CARLSON: -- three times --
HUCKABEE: OK.
CARLSON: -- that God gave this land --
HUCKABEE: Yes.
CARLSON: -- to this people, and so it is entirely fair for me, with respect to ask, what land are you talking about? Because I just read Genesis 15, as I have many times.
[07:10:09]
And that land, I think it says, from the Nile to the Euphrates, which is once again, basically the entire Middle East. So God gave that land to his people, the Jews, or he didn't. You're saying he did. What does that mean? Does Israel have the right to that land? Because you're appealing to Genesis.
HUCKABEE: Yes.
CARLSON: You're saying that's the original deed.
HUCKABEE: It would be fine if they took it all. But I don't think that's what we're talking about here today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Well, Huckabee added that Israel is not trying to take land from countries like Iraq, Syria, or Jordan. But the Organization of Islamic Cooperation condemned Huckabee's comments. They said that it's unacceptable call for the expansion of Israel, and that the seizure of Palestinian and Arab lands as well.
This morning, businesses and countries around the world, they are doing a bit of a double take. President Trump changed his mind and imposed a revised 15 percent global tariff. That's less than 24 hours after the president announced that tariffs would be 10 percent. He posted the new message on social media, increasing them. These revisions are Trump's response to the Supreme Court declaring his emergency tariffs were unconstitutional.
CNN's Correspondent Julia Benbrook has more on these most recent changes.
JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tariffs have played a big role in President Donald Trump's agenda during his second term, and he is making it clear that he doesn't plan to walk away from tariffs completely anytime soon. Following the Supreme Court's ruling on Friday that Trump violated federal law when he unilaterally imposed sweeping tariffs across the globe, he announced that he would be placing an additional 10 percent tariff on levies already in place using a different law, Section 122.
And then over the weekend, he raised that rate to 15 percent. I want to pull up that social media post for you now. In it, he said in part, "I, as president of the United States of America, will be effective immediately raising the 10 percent worldwide tariff on countries, many of which have been ripping the U.S. off for decades without retribution until I came along to the fully allowed, legally tested 15 percent level."
Now, this new rate could stay in place for up to 150 days, and then after that, he would need congressional approval. During a press conference after the ruling, Trump was obviously frustrated, angry by this decision, and he was pressed by a reporter on if he should work with Congress going forward to respond to the bipartisan criticism he's received on that. And essentially, he said that he still doesn't believe he needs to. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's several --
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A few people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- have said that. Well, why wouldn't you just work with Congress to come up with a plan --
TRUMP: I don't have to.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- to push tariffs through?
TRUMP: I have the right to do tariffs. And I've always had the right to do tariffs, and it's all been approved by Congress, so there's no reason to do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BENBROOK: Trump has made it clear that he is not happy with this ruling, calling it deeply disappointing and saying that he is ashamed of some of the justices. In the 6-3 ruling, two Trump appointees, Justice Amy Coney Barrett as well as Justice Neil Gorsuch, sided with Chief Justice John Roberts and the three liberal justices.
On the flip side of that, Trump has praised those who sided with him, calling Justice Brett Kavanaugh his, quote, "new hero" on the Supreme Court. He also said that those who dissented he believes want to make America great again, using his own campaign slogan to describe those in the judicial branch. Victor?
BLACKWELL: Julia, thank you very much.
Still ahead, nine skiers were killed in that horrible avalanche in California. Authorities have launched now a criminal investigation.
And a mother in Utah wrote a book about grieving her dead husband. Now she's on trial for his murder. We have a preview of her trial.
And new Secret Service agents will get a new wardrobe upgrade, courtesy of, well, you, the American taxpayer. Why? We'll explain.
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[07:19:07]
BLACKWELL: Here's a look at some headlines we're following this morning. President Trump is putting aside the blame now when it comes to the massive sewage spill in the Potomac River. The president has now authorized FEMA to assist D.C. as it cleans up this spill.
Initially, the president wanted Maryland and Virginia to ask for help, but Maryland Governor Wes Moore insisted the federal government is responsible since the pipe belongs to D.C. water and sits on federal land. Now, FEMA said in a statement that the agency will proceed with disaster relief efforts and provide necessary resources.
The death of NFL wide receiver Rondale Moore is under investigation this morning. He was found dead Saturday night in Indiana, 25 years old, played most recently for the Minnesota Vikings. Authorities say they suspect he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and they added there was no threat to the public. An autopsy is expected later today.
[07:20:04]
And there will be a vigil tonight for the nine victims who died last week in California's deadliest avalanche. Authorities say three guides and six female friends, they were all experienced skiers. Five skiers, one guide survived. The sheriff's office says it's investigating whether criminal negligence contributed to that tragedy.
And tomorrow, the trial begins for a Utah mother of three accused of poisoning her husband and then writing a children's book on grief. Prosecutors claim that Kouri Richins gave her husband a cocktail laced with fentanyl in an attempt to cash in on a lucrative life insurance policy.
CNN's Jean Casarez has a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Prosecutors allege the Utah mother of three killed her husband, Eric, with poisoned booze, specifically a fentanyl-laced cocktail. His death coming, they will argue, only after she tried but failed to kill him previously with fentanyl-laced sandwiches. They will argue that she needed money and a lot of it.
Her real estate business was failing and she was deep in debt. Her husband had a lucrative business as well as a life insurance policy and the couple a multi-million dollar home. But prosecutors also plan to present evidence that Kouri was having an affair at the time of her husband's passing.
Eric Richins, a businessman and doting father was found dead inside his home in March of 2022. But Kouri Richins wouldn't be arrested in the case for over a year. In between, she authored and self-published a children's book on grieving, even dedicating it to her late husband.
While on a book tour, she told a local television program that her husband's passing was a total shock.
KOURI RICHINS, WIFE OF ERIC RICHINS: He was 39. It completely took us all by shock.
CASAREZ (voice-over): Richins faces multiple charges including aggravated murder, insurance fraud, and forgery. Attempts to move her trial out of Summit County were rejected by a judge. The trial may last up to five weeks.
The defense is expected to challenge key state witnesses who allegedly provided the fentanyl to Kouri Richins. For her part, Kouri Richins has pleaded not guilty to all the charges and has long maintained her innocence.
Jean Casarez, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: Still ahead, investigators in the U.K. are gathering evidence after the arrest of Andrew MountBatten-Windsor. And Team USA speed skater Jordan Stolz won three medals in the Olympic Games. More of his sit down with Coy Wire in sports.
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[07:27:10]
BLACKWELL: Time now for the morning roundup. And developing right now, the partial government shutdown is dragging on, and the Department of Homeland Security says it is temporarily shutting down its trusted traveler programs like TSA PreCheck and Global Entry. And even if you don't have PreCheck, that means that your check-in line is about to get longer, too.
Joining me now, Judge Ashley Willcott, Author Michael Harriot, and WABE Political Reporter Rahul Bali. Welcome to you all.
And Michael, of all the things we talk about in the show today, this will be the one that people will feel first. Yes.
MICHAEL HARRIOT, "CONTRABANDCAMP" SUBSTRACK: Yes. And I think we have to also understand that, you know, there aren't going to be more people traveling, so there might be a way for airport logistics to kind of abrogate the problem by spreading, opening more precheck -- more lines. Because, you know, you go to the airport and it's like three lines open is a thousand people in line. So that's one fix.
But we also have to remember that this is a response to the Democrats defunding ICE, which is a part of Homeland Security, and this is part of Trump's retribution for that. And in any case, this may just be the cost that we have to pay for that resistance to not let ICE shoot more people in the face, right, is longer lines and getting to the airport earlier.
ASHLEY WILLCOTT, JUVENILE COURT JUDGE (RETIRED): I think it's targeted, but I also don't think, Victor, that it is going to -- I don't think they're going to open more lines. I think we're going to see long lines. I don't think that they are going to regroup and say, let's do this differently. I think that the consumer is going to be the one affected.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
RAHUL BALI, WABE/NPR NEWS POLITICS REPORTER: And beyond the politics, you know, there's obviously going to be the blame game between Republicans, Democrats and the White House. I'm also going to watch how the airlines react to this. You know, if there's a plane of 160 people and there's -- they know there's 25 people still stuck behind TSA. What's that reaction going to be? And obviously the reaction from the public to this and who they blame for it.
BLACKWELL: We're just getting this in from CNN senior national security analyst. She posted this on her social media, Juliette Kayyem. She says this, "This is a ploy by White House and DHS to disrupt air travel in order to blame Democrats. Think about it. Rather than just repeat their headlines, why would the more efficient system, which uses fewer agents and gets more people through, be shut down? It makes no sense."
So that makes the point that maybe the pain from the administration, according to Juliette, is the point.
HARRIOT: And you also have to remember that he's doing this instead of decreasing ICE officers, right? Because it's just an overall funding for the Homeland Security, right? So they could have made the choice to say, hey, we'll get people to their plane on time and stop shooting Americans in the face.
BLACKWELL: Homeland Security is funded through the rest of -- not Homeland Security, the ICE department is funded through the rest of the Trump administration up until 2029. However, those agents still have to show up at work, right?
WILLCOTT: And they're not getting paid.
BLACKWELL: Whether you're not working at precheck, you still have to come into that line.
WILLCOTT: And I was just in the airport. They're not getting paid.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
WILLCOTT: None of them are getting paid right now.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
BALI: And we are going into spring break.
BLACKWELL: And we're going to spring break. So, let me move on to this, the tariffs. This is the other thing that the president -- Rahul, I'm coming to you on this -- is livid about he's been on social media. We saw what he did on Friday in the briefing room.
This for his administration was part of his domestic economic strategy. Also, the leverage he had in foreign policy. Is it an overstatement to say that this reshapes a lot of what this administration will have to do for the rest of their term?
BALI: It's going to depend on what powers and what he tries to do next. Obviously, he's using a different part of the law to try to keep some of these tariffs in place. But yes, and even going back to Thursday when the president was here in Georgia for his rally. We already started getting signs of what you know where he's going to go with this. He's saying that there's foreign influence. He's blaming economic partners and economic adversaries for being behind this lawsuit that led to this overturn.
But yes, this is a big deal for the administration because of everything you just mentioned. How it was a tool domestically and how it was a tool internationally for leverage. And think about it, one of the things he had talked about was giving aid to farmers funding it through some of these tariffs. So, yes, this is a big deal.
WILCOTT: You know, and I think we can always rely on the unpredictability of Donald Trump. You just don't know what he's going to do next.
MICHAEL HARRIOT, "CONTRABANDCAMP" SUBSTACK AND AUTHOR, BLACK AF HISTORY": And I think it's also important to note that these tariffs, the revenue from these tariffs were used to pay for that big tax break for the wealthy that was in the big, bad, beautiful bill, right?
And so, that now we're left without that revenue while the billionaires still get that tax break. And we're going to have to shoulder that burden. The regular American, the middle class and BNU. BALI: And it's going to be interesting to see if you're already hearing the rumblings of, hey, do people get money back to corporations, get money back? How does that even work? How would that process even work?
BLACKWELL: Yes.
HARRIOT: And you're talking about a $2 trillion shortfall.
BLACKWELL: Let me also say this because the president on Friday and over the weekend has railed against the Supreme Court. Well, they will be face to face on Tuesday night as he delivers the State of the Union address. Let me play what the president said about their attendance on Tuesday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Supreme Court justices who ruled against this policy, the policy striking it down. Are they still invited to your State of the Union next week? And will you still speak with them?
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: They are invited. Barely. Barely. Three are happily invited. No, no. They're barely invited. Honestly, I couldn't care less if they come. OK.
I'm ashamed of certain members of the court. Absolutely ashamed for not having the courage to do what's right for our country.
I think it's an embarrassment to their families.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Judge, we've covered on this show the threats against the judiciary, the violence against judiciary. And what do you see here, this engagement from the president?
WILCOTT: I don't like it at all. I actually really despise it because it's separation of powers. You should respect the judicial branch. It is the judicial branch. And to hear him say those things that just incites people against the individuals that sit on the Supreme Court, as well as the Supreme Court as an institution.
BLACKWELL: Go ahead.
HARRIOT: But we also have to remember that he doesn't have to pay a price because that saves freedom. Court made him immune to legal and civil action taken against him.
BLACKWELL: This is one of the few defeats that they've handed him after a line of successes from this court. Let me come to you, something you wrote this week -- or last week about the death of Reverend Jesse Jackson. And you wrote that -- this piece called, "How Jesse Jackson Made Politics Woke." Now, woke today is a catch all for everything that that some don't like. But tell me what your view is there. HARRIOT: Remember, right, when Jesse Jackson ran in '84, he didn't really have -- the Democratic Party didn't really have an identity. They were still trying to struggle to appeal to southern segregationist while trying to keep black voters. Remember, Ronald Reagan won young voters. Ronald Reagan won college educated voters. Ronald Reagan won union voters in '80, right?
So, Jesse Jackson's platform is the platform that we see from the Democratic Party, that woke platform that they call it, right? No one had ever mentioned the word gay in a Republican or Democratic convention speech until Jesse Jackson. It never appeared in the platform. He introduced the idea of government sponsored health care. He introduced the idea of using the Justice Department to investigate police. What we think of right now as the Democratic platform was introduced in that '84 campaign.
BALI: And a couple of other important things that I've learned because around the 88 campaign, being down to the Georgia state capitol where I normally work, the number of political figures, politicians and that came out of that 88 campaign is so important.
And something else that was mentioned to me by the number of black journalists.
BLACKWELL: Yes. Who --
BALI: Which I did not know. These are things I did not know.
[07:35:00]
WILCOTT: For the first time.
BLACKWELL: For the first time.
WILCOTT: For the first time.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
HARRIOT: Right. And that was a lot of black journalists entree into mainstream politics, right? Because we really didn't have a voice in the political field of journalism. We were in sports and we were in lifestyle.
WILCOTT: Not politics.
HARRIOT: And this was the politics entree, And Jesse Jackson did that for black journalists.
BLACKWELL: All right. Everybody, stay with us. We've got a lot more to talk about coming up in the next portion of our Roundup. Move over peaches and peanuts. Ahead in the Roundup, the chicken wing flavor that could soon join the list of Georgia's official foods.
And if you're heading out, remember, you can stream our show from anywhere in the U.S. right from the CNN app. You can also go to CNN.com/watch. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:40:00]
BLACKWELL: Welcome back to the Morning Roundup. CNN exclusive now. New Secret Service protective detail agents are getting a wardrobe upgrade and you're paying for it. Sources tell CNN the Secret Service will soon offer agents to taxpayer funded tailored suits.
Judge Wilcott, Merrick -- Michael Harriot and Rahul Bali are back with me. So, sources tell CNN this is because Secretary Noem didn't like how a protective detail was dressed in the suits that they bought for themselves. Should taxpayers be buying these suits?
BALI: First of all, one of the reasons I love this story. It's one of those you never even thought about, you know?
BLACKWELL: Yes, I know.
BALI: And I actually -- again, I've covered the president on Thursday and -- I mean, their suits -- in my opinion, look great. But it's just one of those things you didn't even think about. But, I mean, these are the people who basically protect the president. And I mean, that's -- the uniforms for other folks are paid for. So, I see this as one of those --
WILCOTT: But is it hard to justify when we have all these other cuts? All these people whose salary, government salaries have been cut, not hiring as many people --
BLACKWELL: And they're not being paid right now.
WILCOTT: Right, right. They're -- TSA is not being paid. So, is it really the best use of money to say, and we're going to pay for two suits for Secret Service?
HARRIOT: I think it would be OK to pay for Secret Service suits if, you know, they had the John Wick fabric that (INAUDIBLE). But just because Kristi Noem wants to say, like I think they should look better, it's a weird thing. Like if it's no functional purpose to them besides this lady wants these guys to be more handsome.
BLACKWELL: Well, the DHS spokesperson says that this is the fix in an equity that non-uniformed officers have to pay for their uniform when there are uniformed officers who get those uniforms paid for by the government. Agents make between 70,000 and 90,000 a year coming out.
However, the other members of the federal government who have to wear suits every day. Think about IRS. Think about other lawyers in the White House.
WILCOTT: Lawyers, right? Lawyers who are --
BLACKWELL: They're going to buy their their suits.
WILCOTT: Yes. HARRIOT: Or just do them like how they -- the Republicans do all of the other things that people actually need. Say, oh, you'll get a tax break at the end of the year because you can write off clothing for work. That's a tax break.
WILCOTT: Right.
BLACKWELL: So, here's another controversy. Brad Reese says that Hershey is bastardizing his granddaddy's peanut butter cups. He posted on his LinkedIn page. How does the Hershey company continue to position Reese's as its flagship brand, a symbol of trust, quality and leadership while quietly replacing the very ingredients, milk, chocolate and peanut butter that built Reese's trust in the first place? Any Reese's Cup fans?
WILCOTT: I love them. Now, they haven't changed the recipe in the original, right? That's still staying the same. But new Coke. We were talking about that off air.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
WILCOTT: Was not successful. I think this is a mistake.
HARRIOT: I mean, do you even know it changed if you don't remember? Like you got some peanut butter in my chocolate. But --
BLACKWELL: Yes. (INAUDIBLE) chocolate peanut butter.
HARRIOT: But listen, I think that like I feel with a white man saying we lose the recipes, right?
BLACKWELL: Yes.
HARRIOT: Right. But the other thing is, right, I don't know if I'll be adequately able to judge this unless they send me some --
BLACKWELL: From 1919?
HARRIOT: From both eras. The original recipe Reese's and the new Reese's. And let me --
WILCOTT: Oh, I think you can tell the difference.
BALI: And the other thing is reading that story, the family drama. There's so much family drama that's tied into this. But my favorite two words in that story were recipe adjustment.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
BALI: That's what they called it.
BLACKWELL: Well, the company says that they've had to make some to make sure that they stay in line with all of the requests from customers. And so, what Brad Reese says, instead of milk, chocolate and peanut butter, they're now using peanut butter, cream and chocolate candy. He says it's not edible. Nobody told me. HARRIOT: I'm saying, this is how it happens, man.
WILCOTT: And it's cheaper.
BLACKWELL: Because I've been -- for years.
HARRIOT: Next thing you know, you're eating Velveeta at Thanksgiving. I'm telling you, I stand with you, Reese.
BLACKWELL: Speaking of what we're eating, a Georgia lawmaker -- and, Rahul, this is your story.
BALI: Yes. ' BLACKWELL: Wants to make lemon pepper official. Tell us about it.
BALI: So, this is State Representative Eric Bell from Jonesboro. And he wants to make lemon pepper the official chicken wing flavor of the State of Georgia. And, you know, we were at the Capitol, I want to say Monday or Tuesday. And we're sitting in the press box and the smell of chicken. He had brought chicken wings to a side room and it filled the whole chamber, eventually smelled of chicken wings.
The interesting thing with this story was the amount of negative -- I tweeted about it. I got a picture of it, tweeted about it. It was a fun tweet.
[07:45:00]
I mean, this was happening while lawmakers were taking up other bills. So, much negative behind it. People are saying, you know, don't they have anything better to do? And I just remind people this was happening at the state. We have bills like last year we did a cornbread bill.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
BALI: As the official bread of --
WILCOTT: Your bill said this all the time.
HARRIOT: Yes. It isn't like that -- ignoring the saving the baby's bill for the lemon pepper bill. But I want to know if it's going to have to be lemon pepper wet? We got to know this for a little lemon pepper --
WILCOTT: So, why lemon pepper. Why -- I love lemon pepper. But why lemon pepper?
HARRIOT: Black history fact, right?
WILCOTT: OK.
HARRIOT: So, lemon pepper -- as in Atlanta -- as an Atlanta staple emerged out of the gentleman's club culture and specifically a black owned business called Magic City, which is a talent -- a dance troupe. WILCOTT: And this is why I did not know lemon pepper originated here.
BLACKWELL: You know, I've been here 14 years and I just had my first lemon pepper wings last year. I mean, I can't believe I've been in Atlanta all this time. Oh, it was flat and dry.
WILCOTT: And?
HARRIOT: You're a good man.
BLACKWELL: Oh, fantastic.
WILCOTT: They're fantastic?
BLACKWELL: Yes, yes.
BALI: I do have to tell you, the question of the press box, though, was do you have it with a ranch or blue cheese?
BLACKWELL: Nothing. You do not put anything --
BALI: No, on wings in general.
BLACKWELL: OK. OK.
BALI: Wings in general.
WILCOTT: That'll be part of the bill too.
BLACKWELL: Blue cheese.
BALI: Yes.
BLACKWELL: I can't -- I don't -- ranch tastes like somebody else's mouth to me. So, I don't do ranch dressing, but lemon pepper wings, flat, dry. That's the way to go.
HARRIOT: Yes.
BLACKWELL: Judge, Michael, Rahul. Thank you all. All right. Still to come, Italy's Winter Olympics come to an end with a clash between Team USA and Canada for hockey gold. And Coy Wire has a look after the break.
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[07:50:00]
BLACKWELL: In a little more than 15 minutes, the U.S. and Canada face off in the men's hockey gold medal game. Team USA has not delivered a gold medal in men's hockey since the Miracle on Ice in 1980. Coy Wire, man of the people, is in Milan. Hey, Coy.
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes. It is almost time for puck drops, so it got pretty quiet out here since the last time I talked to you, Victor. For this men's hockey final, we get an epic matchup just like the women's final. Team USA versus Team Canada. These two teams have combined for 27 hockey medals at the Olympic Games. Team Canada has the most all-time. Team USA third most.
Now, Team Canada will be without their team captain, Sidney Crosby. We'll see if that factors in just a moment. A minute ago, I caught up with some rowdy, rowdy fans getting ready for this puck drop. Check out the scenes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: All right. Here we are. It's about to be on. Mr. Matt here representing Team USA. Why is the U.S. going to win today?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got heart. We got physicality. They may have us on talent, but we're playing for our country. We're going to play hard. We're going to lay the body.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's our sport. We invented hockey. This game belongs to us. We're more talented. We're tougher.
WIRE: Tony, what do you have to say about that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Miracles happen once in a lifetime. Theirs happened in 1980. That's it. That's all. We invented hockey. This is our game.
WIRE: Let's go. Prepare for some drama ahead of the closing ceremony in Verona tonight.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: Drama indeed, Victor. Now, American speed skating sensation Jordan Stolz stoles the show here at these games, setting two new Olympic records. He won two golds and had three medals overall. He's just 21 years old. He used to be the face of the future of speed skating. Now, he is the face of it. He learned to speed skate in his backyard on a pond in Wisconsin. I asked him if all of this has started to sink in yet. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JORDAN STOLZ, THREE-TIME OLYMPICS MEDALIST: I think after winning the first, you know, two gold medals was just a surreal feeling. I mean, you're an Olympic champion, and it's something that you've worked for since you were a kid, pretty much, if you think about it like that way.
WIRE: There's been a lot of talk about quad god at these games.
STOLZ: Right.
WIRE: But hold on, man. Let me see these thighs, dude. Stand up. Stand up. Let me see. Let me see. Oh, God. Look at this. What the heck? He's got creatures, monsters growing out of his quads.
(END VIDEO CLIP) WIRE: Yes. Each thigh was about as big as my waist. Speaking of thighs, did I hear Victor say that you hadn't had lemon pepper wings until just last year, and you've been in Atlanta 14 years? What's up with this?
BLACKWELL: I was hoping you didn't hear that. Yes, I've been here a long time. You never invited me, bro. You never invited me to lemon peppers. So, I had to wait, but I got them.
WIRE: Oh, I got the spot for us, baby. Yes. Hey, Victor, Allison, all our viewers, be ready for this epic matchup. Puck's about to drop. It'll be some drama ahead of the closing ceremony in Verona also tonight.
BLACKWELL: All right. Coy, thank you very much. Coy joining us from Milan. Let's talk about this Nor'easter, about the slam. Last look.
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. So, we've got some rain right now for the big cities, so New York, Philadelphia, D.C., but that is going to change back over into snow here in just the next couple of hours for many of these cities. This is a live look at the radar, all the rain on the south side and along the eastern seaboard, but, again, that snow line is so close to so many of these cities, and, again, it's already coming down across the interior portions of the northeast and into the mid-Atlantic.
This is the GFS model. This is what more and more of the National Weather Service offices are leaning into in terms of snowfall totals. These are impressive, and in some cases, the National Weather Service is calling these historic totals.
[07:55:00]
Some of these areas have not seen numbers like these in years, so we are continuing to keep an eye on a lot of where this is likely. The National Weather Service is calling these historic totals. Some of these areas have not seen numbers like these in years, so we are continuing to keep an eye on a lot of where this is likely going to end up.
Also do keep in mind, in addition to the snow impacts that you're going to have, wind is going to be a big factor. Wind gusts up around 30, 50, even as high as 70 miles per hour in some of these areas as that low slides up along the coast. So, yes, you're going to have the snow, but you're going to have the wind, and the wind is a concern, Victor, because you not only have, it's going to take that snow and blow it all around, reducing visibility, but trees coming down, power outages, those could also be some widespread problems across the Northeast as well.
BLACKWELL: And you have the concerns about people making sure they have heat to warm their homes when they start to lose all that power. Allison, thank you so much. And, of course, we will have updates throughout the day of this Nor'easter that is coming for that region.
Thank you so much for joining us for CNN this morning weekend. Stay safe out there. Inside Politics Sunday with Manu Raju is up next.
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[08:00:00]
