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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Winter Storm Headed For East Coast; "The National Review" Publishes Article Criticizing Trump; Two Americans Freed From Iranian Prison Return To U.S.; Jason Rezaian Headed Back To U.S.; Iranians Look Forward to Better Future; Stocks Up After Rough Week. Aired 5:30- 6a ET

Aired January 22, 2016 - 05:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:30:52] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The East Coast set to be crippled by a monster blizzard. 75 million people in its path. Thousands of flights already canceled. We're tracking when and where it'll hit.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump skewered by conservatives. A new edition of the national review making its case against the republican front-runner. How Trump and the NRC are fighting back. That's ahead.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Alison Kosik.

ROMANS: I'm Christine -- good morning. So nice to see you this Friday morning. I'm Christine Romans. It's 31 minutes past the hour on this Friday.

Up first this morning, the biggest winter storm of the season bearing down on the East Coast. 75 million people in the path of the storm shaping up to be a storm for the record books, frankly. States of emergency declared in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee. Blizzard conditions expected in Washington where more than two feet of snow could fall. And blizzard warnings now extending to Philadelphia and New York City. More than 4,600 flights already canceled in the U.S. today and tomorrow.

Derek Van Dam is tracking the storm for us. We're going to get to him in just a second.

We begin, though, with CNN's Rene Marsh. She's got the mess at the airports up and down the East Coast. Rene --

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The potential for more than two feet of snow is threatening to shutdown airport operations at major airports in the Northeast. We've already seen airlines cancel thousands of flights and we expect today, throughout the weekend, we will continue to see those cancellations build. What a lot of airlines did ahead of the storm is offer passengers the opportunity to change their flights plans free of charge, but at this point, if your reservation has not been changed yet, your chances of getting out before the storm, slim to none. There is no clarity at this point when things will be back up and running smoothly normal operations for these airlines. Back to you.

KOSIK: OK, Rene, thanks for that. And of course, we're all asking the question, who's going to get the most snow? Let's get to meteorologist Derek Van Dam. Do you even know the answer yet?

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I do. Come on, give us some credit here. Good morning, Alison, Christine, and good morning to our viewers this morning. Our weather computer models have been very consistent narrowing in on Washington D.C. being the bull's-eye but you can see the discrepancy still between the models. Look at the European model versus the American global forecast model. The difference is, the bull's-eye, still across Washington D.C. for both models and into Virginia, but it's really the northern periphery of the heavy snowfall. Does it reach New York City or not?

Regardless, there's still a major, epic winter storm that is setting up and the national weather service has extended that blizzard warning all the way to Philadelphia and New York. Over 30 million people under a blizzard warning. But remember, a blizzard doesn't get defined by the amount of snowfall. It's about 35-mile-per-hour winds, reducing visibility below a quarter mile for a period of three hours or more. So New York City certainly could see that even if they receive only a few inches of snow.

Regardless, winter storm warning stretching inland all the way to Little Rock, Arkansas where they had reports of 2.5 inches of snow per hour overnight. Here's the storm developing along the East Coast. We start to transfer that energy to the coastal low and this thing is going to bring a swath of ice accumulation across the Carolinas that could accumulate to upwards of half to even three-quarters of an inch. So that's going to be a major concern. On top of that, coastal erosion is also going to be a concern, especially across Long Island into the coastal areas of Delaware, all the way to Virginia. Moderate to major coastal flooding anticipated. We're going to monitor the system very closely in the CNN weather center. Look at the wind gusts in excess of 40 to 50 miles per hour. That means blizzard conditions will certainly be in place. Alison and Christine --

KOSIK: It looks like it's going to be an amazing storm. Derek Van Dam, thanks so much.

ROMANS: All right, get ready, D.C.

KOSIK: All right, turning to politics, breaking overnight -- Donald Trump fixating on a new target. He is now slamming the conservative magazine "The National Review" and this comes ahead of a special issue of the magazine that's being released today which opposes Trump's presidential bid. It features an editorial labeling Trump a threat to conservatism and includes essays from 22 prominent conservatives opposing Trump's candidacy. Some of those essays are really, really scathing. We're going to have some of that for you in a moment.

[05:35:12] In the meantime, Trump speaking after a late night rally in Las Vegas. He's dismissing "The National Review" issue entirely.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: "The National Review" is a dying paper. Its circulation is way down. Not very many people read it anymore. I mean, people don't even think about "The National Review." So I guess they want to get a little publicity. But, no, that's a dying paper. I have to say, it's pretty much a dead paper.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: And overnight, the publisher of "The National Review" says the Republican National Committee has disinvited the magazine from its role as a partner in the February 25 GOP debate right here on CNN. Jack Fowler says the RNC cited this special edition of the magazine as the reason for that. Fowler says "The National Review" expected the move, calling it quote, a small price to pay for speaking the truth about the Donald. Meantime, ten days to go to the Iowa caucuses and Trump firming up his lead in a new CNN poll. 37 percent of likely caucus-goers say, they're behind Trump. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, the only other candidates in double digits. However, there's a big caveat with this. If you factor in people who actually attended the caucus in 2012, it's Ted Cruz who actually takes a narrow lead. But that lead is very much within the poll's margin of error.

CNN's Sara Murray with the latest on the campaign trail.

SARA MURRAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Donald Trump took a break from the campaign trail in Iowa last night to rally crowds here in Las Vegas and launch a spate of new attacks against Ted Cruz. With just about a week to go until the Iowa caucuses, he said Cruz has missed his moment and his campaign is going down the toilet. All this happening as more republican leaders are distancing themselves from Ted Cruz and Ted Cruz is trying to paint Donald Trump as the establishment candidate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There's a bunch big money in this race. The Washington establishment right now, they're abandoning Marco Rubio and they're rushing to Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURRAY: And Donald Trump seemed to be relishing in Ted Cruz's latest attack, even saying, it's OK to be a little establishment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: There's a point at which, let's get to be a little establishment. We've got to get things done, folks, OK? There is total gridlock. Guys like Ted Cruz will never make a deal. Because he's a strident guy. No, you cannot have that!

(END VIDEO CLIP) MURRAY: Now Donald Trump isn't taking a long break from Iowa. He will be back there on the trail this weekend with three events and not much longer until the Iowa caucuses.

ROMANS: All right, Sara, thank you for that. I want to bring in Tal Kopan again. She's CNN politics reporter. She joins us this morning to talk about "The National Review" special issue and Donald Trump's reaction, I think a predictable reaction to it it. When he is criticized, he usually goes back and says the person is not smart or the organization is floundering or it has its own agenda.

Let's talk about specifically what some of these conservative voices said in the special issue of "The National Review." Mark Halperin. He said, "He has like a tapeworm invaded the schismatically weakened body of the Republican party." And then he mentions, what is basically, I guess more of an insult rather than an intellectual observation, "Hair like tinsel on a discarded Christmas tree." Bill Crystal calls him the "very epitome of vulgarity" and Mona Charen, an author and a columnist says, "The man has demonstrated an emotional immaturity bordering on personality disorder." How is it that so many people, Tal, so many conservative names, all together in this publication have said, OK, we need to stand together and say, Donald Trump is bad for the party and bad for America?

TAL KOPAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well you can tell we are definitely getting down to the wire. And what you're seeing is a real play for those undecided, middle of the road voters. There is a subset of Trump support that this is only going to make them like him more. Remember from the beginning, there's been a lot of criticism of Trump. And so far, not a single attack has been able to stick to him.

Even the claims of him supporting democrats in the past. His supporters love that about him. They love that he's different. They love that he is reviled by the establishment, that they also revile at this point. But, they're looking at, right now, he's at 30 to 40 percent in most of the polls. There's a question of, are there some undecided voters that could be swayed away from him, go to someone else, and potentially challenge him for that nomination, and you see the conservative establishment sort of at a last-ditch effort doing anything they can to stop his momentum. And part of that is trying to appeal to those people who haven't quite made up their minds.

[05:40:13] ROMANS: But it's not just conservatives coming out against Trump. You've also got a sudden loss of support for Ted Cruz as well. He's not very liked on Capitol Hill, especially among fellow republicans. But Cruz is trying to use this sort of backlash from folks in his own party against him as a positive that, hey, I'm not of the establishment. You really don't see republicans sticking together in this, do you?

KOPAN: No, there's definitely a lot of internal dispute in the party about the direction the party should go. And frankly, we've seen this for a few elections now and in the past couple elections, despite all the sturm und drang, early, McCain and Romney, in the end, pulled it off. And I think everyone in the republican establishment expected something like that to happen here, that Donald Trump would flame out, that he'd make an uncorrectable mistake, and it simply hasn't happened. His momentum's only grown. Ted Cruz, as well. He's not as well known as Trump so he's sort of having his moment, as Trump said. I'm not saying he blew it, as Trump said, but he's in his moment and that's one of the biggest criticisms of him. People in Washington know that he's not very popular among his colleagues and he doesn't have a great reputation of working with people or being likeable. I don't know if that's going to resonate with voters. Again, a lot of the voters who support these candidates support them because of the things their enemies are trying to tie to them which is why it's so difficult to bring them down.

ROMANS: Let's talk about the Jeb Bush in this new ad that features his mother, Barbara Bush. Let's listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARBARA BUSH: Jeb has real solutions rather than talking about how popular they are or how great they are. He's doing it because he sees a huge need and it's not being filled by anybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The triple strand pearl necklace, the gum drop earrings, it's a little bit of familiarity for maybe the establishment republicans who feel unfamiliar this season. Will it help him?

KOPAN: It's unclear. I mean, remember at the beginning of his campaign, he kind of tried to run away from his family a little bit because he was concerned that having the Bush name attached to him could be a hindrance, that people wanted something different. You're seeing a complete turn around throughout his campaign. He's now whole-heartedly embraced his family as sort of maybe the last best thing that can give him a boost and he really, really needs a strong finish in New Hampshire, probably top three, if not top two, to keep his struggling campaign alive. So it's not surprising to see him sort of throw the kitchen sink at it, which is not to disparage Barbara Bush, but you're definitely seeing him try whatever he thinks is an advantage for him to pull ahead in these last few days.

KOSIK: All right, so let's turn our sights on Hillary Clinton. She's got a problem. In a name, Bernie Sanders. I want you to hear what she had to say based on the fact that now it's turning into this sort of buzz phrase of the campaign, well he's establishment and I'm anti- establishment. Listen to what she said and we'll get your reaction on the back end.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He's been elected to office a lot longer than I have. I was in the senate for eight wonderful years representing New York. He's been in the congress for 25.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: How much of a mistake did Clinton make even from the beginning in underestimating Bernie Sanders who is now leading her in the polls?

KOPAN: Well, quite a bit of digital ink, so to speak, has been spilled about this very fact and there's a lot of concern within her campaign, if you read the reporting, that she may have underestimated him and squandered some opportunities to really build a firewall against him. What you're seeing, she's not saying she's not establishment, and of course, she conveniently leaves out any non- elected time she served in Washington, which is, of course, 12 years of first lady and Secretary of State time. But her point is more to try to blunt the criticism from Sanders and point out that if you're talking about establishment and insiders, he's been in Washington between two and three decades. And so, it's sort of an attempt for her to just do whatever she can to slow his momentum against her. You're also seeing her really attack him in some of her stump speeches lately. She said she's just drawn policy differences but you can tell from the way she's behaving that she very much now takes his threat seriously and feels the need to do whatever she can to stop it.

ROMANS: All right, Tal Kopan, nice to see you this morning. Happy Friday. Have a nice weekend.

KOSIK: Stay warm in Washington.

ROMANS: Yes. Be careful. Go buy a shovel, thank you. Emotional homecomings for two Americans freed from Iranian prison cells as we wait to learn when the rest of the released Americans will come home, next.

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[05:48:31] KOSIK: Two of the Americans freed in a prisoner swap with Iran now back on U.S. soil. Saeed Abedini reunited with family in Asheville, North Carolina. The pastor from Boise had spent more than three years in an Iranian prison. Also back home, Amir Hekmati, who landed in Michigan. The U.S. marine was accused of spying five years ago. He says, he's just happy to be back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMIR HEKMATI, FREED FROM IRAN: Thank god, thanks for everyone's support. Everybody from the president, Congressman Kildee, every day Americans. I'm standing here healthy, tall, and with my head held high.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: And breaking this morning, Jason Rezaian, "The Washington Post" reporter, released by Iran, he is now headed back to the United States.

Let's bring in CNN's Phil Black. He's live in Landstuhl, Germany, where Rezaian had been staying since regaining his freedom. Phil --

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Alison. So this is where the specialist medical center is that Rezaian and those other two men that you were just talking about, this is where they've been receiving treatment, assessment, both physical and psychological. It is where they have begun the process of reintegrating, rejoining society, overcoming the hardship that they have experienced up until very recently. And the good news is that now all three of them have now left this center. Those two arrived yesterday. Jason Rezaian is on his way back as we speak. That's the message that was released by the family just a little earlier this morning local time. On his way back to the United States, where he says he plans to, understandably, relax, enjoy some home-cooked meals, watch movies, watch some sport as well.

He said something else in this statement, which I want to read a direct quote for you now. He said this. He said, "At some point I will be ready to discuss my ordeal, but for now, I just want to express my profound appreciation for the tremendous support I received. I am humbled by all I have learned about the efforts undertaken on my behalf."

So, Jason Rezaian, like the other two men, Amir Hekmati, Saeed Abedini, so far, the three of them together, or individually, have decided not to talk in too much detail about the specifics of the hardship.

[05:50:07] They have presented very well, from what we have seen and heard of them over the last week, they all talk about being incredibly happy, as you can understand. But, no doubt, they have experienced hardship, and as the doctors at the medical center explained to us, although it is an incredibly encouraging sign to be ready to return home and begin this process of reintegrating into their home societies, it is just a first step. They've a long way to go.

But from here, very good news this morning with the word that all three have now left the medical center and will all shortly be in the United States. Alison.

KOSIK: So memorable, those emotional scenes of those former hostages being reunited with their loved ones after getting off those planes. We do wish them the best.

Phil Black, thanks so much.

ROMANS: All right, to Wall Street now and whether a rally can materialize to cap off a wild, crazy, holiday-shortened week. We're going to get an EARLY START on your money next.

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KOSIK: Breaking this morning. An American student is being detained in North Korea. State media identifies the student as Otto Frederick Warmbier. He's said to be a student from a university in Virginia. A travel group the student was using says he was actually arrested almost three weeks ago. Pyongyang states he was planning to carry out a hostile act against the regime, but this isn't the first time North Korea has held a Westerner on these types of charges.

ROMANS: The terror group al Shabaab claiming responsibility a Paris- style attack on a beach side restaurant and hotel complex in the capital of Somalia. A suicide car bomber and gunmen going on a rampage in Mogadishu. Government forces engaging them in an intense, hours- long gun battle. 20 people were killed; 17 are hurt. Government officials say all of the attackers are dead.

KOSIK: The Kremlin offering sharp push back following results of an inquiry suggesting Vladimir Putin probably approved the poisoning of former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko.

[05:55:09] Russia's foreign ministry calling the findings politically motivated. One Russian parliament members says it's absurd. The report says an isotope from a Russian reactor was used in Litvinenko's death in London in 2006 and the two hired hands who poisoned him were acting on orders from the Russian government.

Could decades of anger and frustration begin to subside with the passage of the Iran nuclear deal? Every day, Iranians sure hope so. They are looking for economic relief and a place on the world stage.

CNN's Frederik Pleitgen is in Tehran with more now on how people there view the prospects of progress. Fred?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning from Tehran, Christine and Alison., where there is a great deal of optimism after the nuclear agreement. People here tell us they're actually thrilled that the deal has come through, and quite frankly, many of them say, they are also happy that this prisoner swap took place between the U.S. and Iran. They believe that that's one more obstacle that is now out of the way for Iran to get back on the world's stage.

Now, many of them believe that there is going to be a great deal of economic activity here very quickly. Iran, of course, wants to sell some 500,000 additional barrels of oil on the world markets every day. And then when you look at the flights coming in here to Tehran, they're absolutely packed with foreign investors looking to get in to what they believe will be an important emerging market.

And the people here believe that all of this will happen very quickly, but so far, even though many of the sanctions nominally have been lifted, very little has actually happened. It's still impossible to pay electronically here in this country so you still have to do everything by cash. And also, of course, a lot of these business deals that are going to happen, they simply take time to negotiate.

Now, at the same time, there are also the hard liners here in Iran. Many of them still remain very skeptical about the nuclear agreement. They're not sure that it will hold. And then, of course, you have some factions here who simply want to remain in a confrontive state with the United States. Christine and Alison.

ROMANS: All right, thanks for that, Fred.

Let's get an EARLY START on your money, Friday edition, folks. Dow futures are higher. Look at that, all those arrows are pointing up. Big gains in Europe. Look at Tokyo up almost 6 percent. That is a big move for one day. Watching Starbucks shares this morning. The stock is down about 4

percent in pre-market trade. Its foruth quarter was strong, good sales of holiday gift cards, new offering, new food offerings and alcohol sales at some stores. But Starbucks gave a weak outlook for this year, blamed China. Growth in Asia slow due in part to China's slowing economy. Europe also a challenge, reportedly due to a decrease in tourism after the terrorist attacks in Paris. Shares of Starbucks are up almost 50 percent over the past year. It's fallen just a few dollars this year despite the broader market plunge, but it is on deck for a pull back today. So hoping that we can see a little bit of relief, Alison, at the end of what has been a rough week. It's still been a terrible year to start for stocks.

KOSIK: It really has. Incredible. Three weeks?

ROMANS: Yes.

KOSIK: All right, the northeast bracing for a monster blizzard. "NEW DAY" starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: The East Coast bracing for a monster snowstorm.

UM: Take action now and prepare.

UM: It doesn't take a large patch of ice to have a car or truck go off the road.

MARSH: We've already seen airlines cancel thousands of flights.

UM: I think that it could be, you know, disastrous for a lot of people trying to get out of town.

CLINTON: I am the best choice to be the next president and commander in chief.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think we got a real shot to win this.

CRUZ: The establishment is supporting Donald Trump. They said he's someone we can make a deal with.

TRUMP: Cruz is going down. He looks like a nervous wreck. He's going down.

UF: When pediatricians hear anything about lead, we absolutely freak out.

UF: He's 35.8 pounds and his twin is 59 pounds.

UM: If there is ever a U.S. the city in need of a reset button, it is Flint, Michigan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is new day with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota and Michaela Pereira.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to NEW DAY. It is Friday, January 22nd, 6:00 in the East. This storm is coming and it's looking like the real deal. Pick your pejorative. Monster, menace, they all fit for what is all heading toward the eastern half of the U.S.

At this hour, 75 million people are in the storm's path. States of emergency already in effect from Georgia to Pennsylvania.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Washington, D.C., and Virginia in the bull's eye of the blizzard. Snow could fall at a rate of 1 to 3 inches per hour for more than 24 hours. The looming storm already causing a mess for air travelers. More than 4600 flights canceled today and tomorrow. We've got the storm covered the way only CNN can.

Let's begin with Polo Sandoval. He's live in Charlotte, North Carolina, where the greatest concern this morning is ice. Polo, what are you seeing?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Allison, those snowy scenes are quite picturesque, but as you mentioned there, the ice is really the major issue for people here in Charlotte in driving the streets.

[06:00:00] Incredible, really a truly night and day difference here. Two hours ago, really no snow was falling, and then just a little while ago, the skies truly opened up. Snow accumulating here throughout the city.