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Heavy Snow & Whiteout Conditions Slamming the Northeast; CNN Poll: Trump's Approval Now Just 36% Ahead of State of the Union; U.S. Men's Hockey Team Wins Gold Against Canada. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired February 23, 2026 - 06:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

[06:01:02]

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Audie Cornish, and here is where we begin: that breaking news of this powerful winter storm that is getting more and more intense.

This morning, a bomb cyclone slammed into the Northeast with heavy snow and whiteout conditions. Overnight, snow was falling at a rate of two inches per hour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Had it with the snow. This winter has been too cold, too snowy, too -- too miserable. I'm ready for it to be over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: OK, so this is video just in of New York City's Central Park: people starting to attempt to shovel out.

More than 40 million people are under blizzard warnings. That's across 11 states. And once it's all said and done, some places could get more than two feet of snow.

The storm is creating treacherous travel conditions. This morning, more than 10,000 flights have already been canceled, and officials are urging everyone in the storm's path to take it seriously.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR MICHELLE WU (D), BOSTON: Boston is no stranger to nor'easters, but this is going to be a big one.

MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NEW YORK CITY: New York City has not faced a storm of this scale in the last decade.

GOV. MIKE SHERILL (D), NEW JERSEY: There are incredibly high winds: up to 60 miles per hour. That means that we could see branches and trees falling into the highway; drifts and whiteout conditions. MAYOR BRETT SMILEY (D), PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND: Our statewide power

utility estimates that there could be 100 to 150,000 power outages. There's only a million people in Rhode Island.

GOV. MAURA HEALEY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: For your own safety, bottom line: stay off the roads.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Philadelphia has already gotten more than 6.5 inches, and this is far from over. And that's where we find CNN's Brian Todd.

Brian, I was speaking to you earlier. How have conditions shifted?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Audie, interesting you mentioned our conversation earlier. That hour at 6 a.m. -- excuse me, 5 a.m Eastern Time, we were at the foot of the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Rocky steps.

And right after that live shot, a Philadelphia police officer came over to us and talked to us about some of the conditions in the general area. And she told us about what had happened here.

This is Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard, about two miles from where we were last hour. This officer told us about this downed tree, saying it made part of the road impassable. And you can see that right here. It's not completely impassable. You've got a lane open here.

But this tree just came down overnight and it's -- this -- these are the kind of conditions that you're going to be faced with here in the Philadelphia area.

You know, Governor Josh Shapiro talked about possible accumulations around Philadelphia and some of the other conditions. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JOSH SHAPIRO (D), PENNSYLVANIA: We expect there to be very, very significant snowfall in the Philadelphia region. Right now, those estimates are about 18 to 24 inches.

To Pennsylvanians out there, especially to our kids, I hope you enjoy the storm. I hope you have fun in the snow. But I also hope that folks take it seriously.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: Right. So, he talks about those accumulations, 18 to 24 inches. The latest we have heard and seen from the National Weather Service and people reporting accumulations are that we believe it's roughly 11 inches so far in the Philadelphia area and about 14 inches in some areas of Bucks County not far from here.

Here are some of the dangers we're talking about, though. When Governor Shapiro says to take it seriously, well, look at that snow shower that we just experienced coming off the trees.

This is -- this is really what we're talking about here. This is the heaviness of the snow on the trees. I'm going to come up here just to kind of show you the depth of the snow. You know just in regular conditions here.

But this is what you want to watch out for. You see those power lines there? That and how low that power line is. And that tree right there seems to have brought down that power line. We don't know if that happened in this storm, the last storm, or not. That power line could have been already down by the time this storm started.

But look, you can see the heaviness of the snow on the trees and on the power lines. That's really where the danger is and where the where the outages are going to come into play.

[06:05:05]

So far, we can tell you that in -- Pennsylvania has been pretty lucky so far with power outages: only about 14,000 power outages in Pennsylvania so far, compared to more than 100,000 power outages in neighboring New Jersey.

But this is really kind of what we're talking about as far as what we're going to be watching for in the next several hours, some of the dangers and some of the hazards in these areas with downed power lines and heaviness of the snow on the trees.

Lots of deteriorating conditions here in the Philadelphia area, Audie, and it's only going to get worse in the next several hours.

CORNISH: OK, Brian Todd, please stay safe.

We're going to go next door to New Jersey; some places have already picked up more than a foot of snow. More is still falling. The state hasn't seen a storm like this in decades.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERILL: The entire state of New Jersey, all 21 counties, is under a blizzard warning for the first time in 30 years. This is likely to be the worst storm that we have seen since 1996. There is a 90 percent likelihood of the whole state getting a foot of snow or more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: OK, I'm going to bring in now the mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey, Emily Jabbour.

Welcome to the program. I know you are probably keeping an eye on conditions right now. And we were just seeing in Philadelphia the heaviness of the snow on trees and power lines. What's your biggest concern?

MAYOR EMILY JABBOUR (D), HOBOKEN, NEW JERSEY: Absolutely. Right now, we are experiencing the same heavy snow and it is impacting some of our power lines, as well. We had some outages last night. Thankfully, all has been resolved by now, we believe.

But if people continue to experience outages, they should contact PSE direct -- PSEG directly.

We are still going to continue to get a heavy volume of snow. The timeline of this has shifted to be later today, so we're experiencing 9 to 10 inches already and expect to get another ten inches at least.

CORNISH: What is your message to residents? Is it to stay off the roads completely, or what are you saying?

JABBOUR: As Governor Sherill mentioned, there is a statewide travel ban. We're asking people to please take that seriously and stay off the roads. That allows our public works crews to be out clearing.

We've been out since Saturday pretreating the roads. Our team is ready and out, but we need residents to really stay home and heed that warning.

CORNISH: I also want to mention something that the governor spoke about, which is the concern about the partial government shutdown and its effects on FEMA. Here's what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERRILL: Let's also not forget that our FEMA workers, who are embedded with our emergency managers, are now working without pay, due to the current administration's inability to keep the government open. So, they, too, deserve a debt of gratitude.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: When we reached out to DHS, the statement, actually, from the department: "FEMA continues mission -- mission essential operations for active disasters, including immediate response and critical survivor assistance."

What's your concern as this partial government shutdown goes on? What it could mean, given that you've probably got some recovery ahead?

JABBOUR: Well, certainly, we would want to have all resources available at our disposal. So, it is something for us to keep an eye on.

Thus far, we've really been able to manage all of our storm preparations within the municipal governance. Our Office of Emergency Management leads this operation. And so, so far we've been OK. But certainly, it's something that we'll keep an eye on.

CORNISH: In New York, there were some deaths on the street during the last storm. Can you talk about what the city is doing in terms of warming shelters or outreach to try and prevent something like that from happening in Hoboken?

JABBOUR: We've been in close contact with the Hoboken shelter in terms of their capacity, if people are out and about on the streets. Our police officers and our EMS have been prepared to bring them into places where they can make sure that they are safe.

I know I've been in touch with Hoboken Hospital, as well. To the extent they've been able to provide some care in that aspect, as well as Hudson County. We have a warming center here in Hudson County in Kearny that's been able to also have some capacity. So, thus far, that hasn't been an issue for us, thankfully.

CORNISH: OK, Mayor Jabbour, thank you so much for sharing with us the preparations. Appreciate it.

JABBOUR: Thank you.

CORNISH: And coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, violence in the streets in Mexico after a drug lord is killed. We're going to have an update from the region.

Plus, magic on the ice. U.S. men's hockey team is golden for the first time in 46 years.

And tomorrow night, the president will address the nation. New polling just into CNN show how voters think he is handling his second term. And I can tell you, the group chat has some thoughts.

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[06:14:36]

CORNISH: This just in: with just a day to go until President Trump addresses the nation in his first State of the Union of his second term, a new CNN poll finds he's got some convincing to do.

When he addressed Congress nearly a year ago, his approval rating stood at 48 percent. That's the highest across both terms. Now, that is down to 36 percent.

Some of the steepest declines include a 19-point drop among Latino Americans and a 16-point drop among adults under age 35.

When we looked at independent voters, his approval has dropped 15 points to 26 percent. That's the lowest in either of his terms.

So, I'm bringing in the group chat to talk today: Margaret Talev, senior contributor for Axios; Francesca Chambers, White House correspondent for "USA Today"; and Seung Min Kim, CNN political analyst and White House reporter for the Associated Press.

I'm going to turn to my White House folks first, because, you guys, this is when, this week, we start to hear them setting expectations for the speech and setting expectations for what he feels he needs to accomplish. What are you hearing about what they think he needs to do on Tuesday?

SEUNG MIN KIM, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Oh, I think what -- we're actually getting a little preview of kind of the theme of his address later today at the White House when he hosts the so-called Angel Moms. So, really focusing on immigration as he kicks off his big State of the Union week.

But as we see in the poll, the No. 1 concern for voters continues to be affordability.

CORNISH: Yes. Let me show that part of the poll, because it's interesting. You mentioned immigration, but when you look at -- at least in this, among independents, immigration, 12 percent of them want to hear about this in this address.

KIM: Right, right. I mean, this is a base issue. I mean, this is something that his core voters really care about.

But if he wants to appeal to the broader public, the -- the population of the vote or the -- the segment of the voters that he actually brought in, in the -- in the election because they were concerned about the economy. That's the -- that's the target audience that they want to hit.

CORNISH: Yes.

KIM: I'm sure we'll hear about it at the State of the Union tomorrow night, but how much of a focus is it? I think that's still to be determined.

CORNISH: So, we had -- we called up one of our -- the people we polled a Republican voter, Sean from new Mexico. He said, "I think people were expecting Trump to provide a bit of relief to their suffering. Grocery prices are just through the roof. Everything is so expensive."

So, this is even, like, a Republican voter knowing, like, look, we all knew what the ask was when voters supported him for a second term.

FRANCESCA CHAMBERS, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, "USA TODAY": And nearly 6 in 10 Republicans, I believe, in the CNN poll, also said that they want to hear about the economy.

So, this isn't, you know, just independents or just Democrats who want to hear him talk about this tomorrow evening. That comes on the heels of him saying in Georgia that they've solved the affordability crisis or solved the affordability problem.

CORNISH: I was going to say, you're listening to the speeches. He's saying we've solved it. He's saying it's a hoax. He's saying that, as we heard from Pam Bondi, the Dow is up 50,000. And so, it feels like their message is, no, actually it is pretty good. Am I misreading that?

CHAMBERS: I mean, he did also say that they still have more to do to bring down the prices. They want to lower the prices, as well.

And so, our expectation is that he'll talk tomorrow night about bringing manufacturing jobs back to the United States, as well as lowering inflation.

But as we saw with the numbers that were just released, I mean, inflation was still at 3 percent over the previous year coming out of December. So, it's still a persistent problem for Americans.

CORNISH: Yes. So, how do you solve that problem?

MARGARET TALEV, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, the -- one of the challenges for him is that his signature economic piece to date is the tariffs, which the Supreme Court just --

CORNISH: On Friday. Just --

TALEV: Yes, it just happens.

CORNISH: -- before the speech, yes.

TALEV: So --

CORNISH: But does it give him something to rail against?

TALEV: For sure. And we can expect that.

But I think what we have seen month after month, not just in polls like this poll, really shows the trajectory. But in focus groups is voters who voted for him --

CORNISH: Yes.

TALEV: -- especially independent voters, saying I voted for him because he's a billionaire who knows how to run businesses, and he will treat the U.S. like one of his businesses. And that will confer to me, and my money will get better, because he understands how to make money better.

CORNISH: And now that same group -- let's say independents -- looking at Trump policies that will move the U.S. in which direction?

TALEV: Yes.

CORNISH: The direction, they're saying, is the wrong one. And again, obviously, Republicans very into what the president is doing. Democrats very not into what he's doing.

TALEV: And so is independents.

CORNISH: But 70 percent independents, it's being like, "No, wrong direction."

TALEV: It's those independents. And look, it's a midterm year. So, Trump's not on the ballot. But if this is a referendum on him, that could be really tough, precisely for the Republicans who are in the swing districts where, if he asks Congress when his 150-day clock runs out on the tariffs, if he asks Congress to follow up with tariff actions, you're going to be putting those guys on the hot seat. Those guys in the swing districts who are Republican office holders.

CORNISH: Yes. One more number I have to look at, which is looking at who approves of Trump's job as president.

TALEV: Yes.

CORNISH: When you look at men, back -- it's now 40 percent. It used to be 54 percent. OK. We talked about the gender divide election.

When you look at Latinos, it used to be 41 percent approved of his job as president. That's now down to 22 percent.

I'm bringing this up, because it is a shift among the groups that gave the president a chance for this second term.

[06:20:02]

KIM: Right, right. I mean, he kind of really reoriented the electorate, if you will, in 2024, when he got so --

CORNISH: A new coalition was being built.

KIM: Yes. A new coalition. Republicans were very excited about the surge of Latino support that maybe Republican lawmakers didn't have. But Trump himself certainly did.

But that 19-point drop, that is a significant concern for the president and the Republican Party. You could blame that on the immigration tactics that we've seen.

But I do think it's largely the economy and the discontent that we're seeing right now.

And you're already seeing some expectation setting from the president. He's talked, you know, more than once in public about how presidents generally don't do well in their midterm elections.

CORNISH: Yes, he does.

KIM: He's like, I don't know why that is.

CORNISH: Yes.

KIM: But I think he's -- I mean, even as -- even as he boasts of his policies and what the Republicans are doing, he knows deep down that this is not going to be a good election.

CORNISH: OK, you guys, stay with me. We've got a lot to talk about this hour.

By the way, you might want to watch that State of the Union address. It is tomorrow night, right here on CNN. You can also watch it in our app. And the coverage is going to start here at 8 p.m.

Now after the break, we're going to talk about the whole tariff tit- for-tat. The president's inner circle says that their policy hasn't changed. And this is despite the Supreme Court ruling.

Plus, more than 40 years since the Miracle on Ice, USA hockey does it again to bring home the gold. We're going to continue, of course, to monitor conditions in the

Northeast as this heavy snow is hitting the region. This is a live look right now in Norwood, New Jersey.

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[6:25:54]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jack Hughes wins it! The golden goal for the United States! For the first time since the 1980 miracle, the United States takes the gold! Jack Hughes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: A moment of magic. The U.S. Men's Hockey Team bringing home Olympic gold for the first time since 1980's Miracle on Ice.

It was another overtime thriller for Team USA, Jack Hughes scoring the decisive goal to take down longtime rival Canada.

Joining me now from Milan, CNN sports analyst Christine Brennan, who is probably up partying. Christine, I know how you are. This must have been an exciting moment.

We have been talking about the women's game. Tell me about the men's game. What made the difference for this team?

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: As you know, the -- the NHL players have been coming to the Olympics now for quite some time. Then they stopped for a few years, and they went back to the college or amateur, quote, unquote, amateur players.

The Olympics and NHL wanted the NHL, the top players in the world, to be back.

So, in many ways, it's just a -- there's a parity, because all these nations have NHL players. And the U.S. certainly has been stung by the fact that the men have not won a gold medal since -- in 46 years since 1980.

Very different. The parallels almost don't exist. That was a bunch of college kids against the big red machine of the Soviet Union. It was one of the -- it's the greatest upset in sports history, in my opinion.

This is men who know each other, often play on the same teams, now playing for their country. More of an all-star game kind of feel.

It was really just about time for the U.S. men to finally win one of these again. And -- and I think that's a lot of it. I don't know that there's much more.

CORNISH: Yes.

BRENNAN: But the U.S., of course, cares very much about men's and women's hockey.

CORNISH: No, no. And you know who agrees with you? Is the coach, the person who was the captain, actually, from that 1980 U.S. Men's Hockey Team. And he talked about how special these moments are. Let me play some of it for you.

BRENNAN: OK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE ERUZIONE, CAPTAIN OF THE 1980 U.S. MEN'S HOCKEY TEAM: It was a great moment for -- for me, obviously for my teammates. And then what we found out later, a great moment for our country. You know, we didn't know. We were in a little place in Lake Placid playing hockey and no clue or idea that the world was watching the way they were.

I was telling someone the other day, you've got to remember there were only three TV stations. There was no Twitter, Facebook. You know, there was no podcasts. There was nothing like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Can you talk about sort of the history here, sort of how significant this is?

BRENNAN: Oh, for sure. Well, that was our "Milan Magic" podcast. I've known Mike Eruzione for -- for years, and I think I even asked him that question.

And you know, it's -- it -- the meaning. He gets it. Mike gets it. In fact, on our podcast, Audie, he talked more about the women, who had just won the gold, than the men, who were still in the semifinals.

That's a huge change here. As the U.S. women continue to dominate the Olympic games, third straight Olympics that U.S. women have won more gold medals and more overall medals than the men. Summer Olympics, four in a row, including 65 percent of the U.S. medals in Paris a year and a half ago were won by women.

I mean, this is Title IX personified, Team Title IX.

And Eruzione gets it. And he's one of those guys -- he'd be the first to admit it -- to say that he wasn't into women's sports, and he couldn't have cared less.

I remember in '92, when the International Olympic Committee announced that they would have women's hockey at the '98 Olympics in Nagano. So, six-year advance. Most of the male sportswriters I was around at those Olympics in France in '92 laughed out loud. They thought it was hilarious that there would be women's hockey.

How far we have come. When those guys -- those are the guys, you know, kind of the, you know, the macho guys -- now love women's hockey and praise it. And that's what we're seeing, in a way, a sea change that I don't know that I would have, you know, thought I'd see in my lifetime. But it's happening. It's real. And if you love the Olympics, you love

Title IX, because that's what this is all about for U.S. success.

CORNISH: Well, it was a fantastic game and a fantastic Games. Christine Brennan, thank you so much for your coverage.

BRENNAN: My pleasure, Audie. Thanks very much. Appreciate it.

CORNISH: Straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING -

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