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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Eastern U.S. Digs Out from Blizzard; Democrats' Final Sprint to Iowa; Donald Trump Talks Church at Iowa Rally; Broncos versus Panthers in Super Bowl 50. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired January 25, 2016 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:02] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This commute is going to be awful for so many people. We'll tell you what you need to know ahead.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: In fact, don't even make the commute. Stay home. One week --

BERMAN: And watch us.

ROMANS: One week to Iowa the candidates out in force trying to sway voters with just seven days until the first real test and tonight the Democrats sound off in a CNN town hall event. How will it shake up this race?

Good morning. Good Monday morning. Good snowy Monday morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

BERMAN: I'm John Berman. It is Monday, January 25th. It is 5:00 in the East. And millions of Americans digging out this morning from one of the biggest, baddest snowstorms the eastern U.S. has ever seen. A lot of us facing a daunting commute with officials warning of icy roads, not to mention reduced bus, train and plane service. This morning about 1200 flights at least -- I think the numbers have actually gone up -- have been canceled. At least 16 people have died due to the storm. That figure is likely to rise. The snowfall totals came in at record levels and closed up and down the East Coast.

ROMANS: Glengarry, West Virginia, got the worst of it with 42 inches. New York, 26.8, the second biggest snowstorm in New York history. Washington 22.4 inches. Commuter s in the New York region looking at a tough morning. The MTA says it will have service restored only on the seven busiest branches of the Long Island railroad.

BERMAN: That's New York. What about the nation's capital? Ugly there. Roads still being plowed in and around Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland. Federal government offices and schools in the region all closed today. The D.C. Metro system running but really at a reduced schedule.

Let's get the latest from D.C. and bring in CNN's Jennifer Gray.

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, day two of the big dig is beginning today and we have a lot of snow still to clean up. The crews have been out all night long on the roads trying to get them clear and I can tell you, Pennsylvania Avenue even has a stack of snow on top of it. However, some of the major roads, a lot of the major arteries are getting plowed, are getting cleared, but even in the downtown area, some of these roads are still not.

So that's part of the reason school was canceled again today. City of D.C., government office as well as the federal government closed down today as well. It's just going to take time to get the city back up and running. On top of that, we had a beautiful day on Sunday. Blue skies, temperatures got above freezing. We had a little bit of melting going on so it is going to be very dangerous, the morning commute.

We're going to have a lot of black ice and so again that's another reason why they cancelled school as well as those government offices. So it is going to take a while to get the city back up and running. We've been talking about these incredible snowfall totals. Dulles ranked number two as the snowiest storm ever. Reagan ranked number four. And so the storm definitely lived up to the hype.

This was epic here across the nation's capital. Still a quiet scene, though, in D.C. for the next couple of days -- John and Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Jennifer Gray, thank you.

New information this morning about that huge traffic jam on the Pennsylvania turnpike. Officials say the collision of two tractor- trailers riding in the wrong lane, the narrow construction lane during the Friday night blizzard that forced the shutdown of most of the highway. It trapped drivers and roughly 500 vehicles for nearly 24 hours. State officials have apologized and are promising to learn from that debacle.

Talk about the cleanup, Lieutenant General Russel Honore, he is an expert on big cleanups and storm preparedness.

Nice to see you. Nice to see you this morning. How do you think on balance we did in the northeast preparing for this storm? And I kind of see different responses from different states, frankly.

RUSSEL HONORE, LT. GENERAL, U.S. ARMY (RET.): I tell you, you've got to take your hat's off to the folks in New York and New Jersey. The governors were decisively engaged, the big mayors were decisively engaged. But what was also impressive, too, is the resiliency in the city. They have learned a lot. That wasn't always the case. I mean, you can look back four, five years ago, and see a big difference. What happened even during Sandy into (INAUDIBLE). So a lot of lessons have been learned. And the communicating with the people was done early. And closing the roads I think was key up in New York.

We will continue to suffer down in D.C. because we've invested a lot of federal money in D.C., but mostly to protect it from manmade disasters. And we have not yet from the Congress invested in the amount of money to keep that city running. It's kind of embarrassing to see our nation's capitol is closed when you go to a place like Oslo, Norway and they never stop with much harsher winters.

So I think that's going to be a national investment to go back and look at our resilience in Washington, D.C. so we can survive and bounce back and within 24 hours have that national capitol open again.

BERMAN: Yes, I mean, the fact of the matter, though, is that D.C. and Baltimore as you head south, they're not used to it as they are in New York and New Jersey, and places you head north and certainly when you get two feet in D.C., it's awfully hard to battle it.

[05:05:07] General, what about the fact this happened on a weekend? I simply can't imagine if this storm, with the force that it brought if it had happened on a Monday or a Tuesday, when everyone is trying to get back to work?

HONORE: I certainly agree with you. I mean, there is an alignment of the moon and stars there at the same time one of the worst storms in recorded history. So -- but that being said, I think leadership in both New York and New Jersey did a great job. We still got some work to do on the interstates. This idea of alarm trucks to run the interstate when we -- with blizzard warnings must stop. We can't continue to do that as an advanced nation.

ROMANS: Yes. We're looking right now at pictures of that outside Pittsburgh. What a disaster. I mean, you had sports teams on their school buses and you had high schoolers on a school trip stuck for 24 hours. Whose responsibility is that? Is that -- you know who takes the fall for that?

HONORE: Well, the safety of our highways come to state and local governments. You know, the interstate highways are built and have funded by the federal government, but the operation of those highways and the safety of them are left to state and local government.

I think we are going to have a big lesson learned from that after this storm when you look at what happened in Kentucky and in Pennsylvania. Those governors are going to have to be more active with the state troopers and the National Guard and pre-positioning at known points. That point on Highway 75 in Kentucky is a known dangerous point even if you have just a little sleep. So I think hopefully they'll take that lesson and they will become more resilient there, Christine.

BERMAN: Yes. But how do you keep people -- I mean, does it take police and federal law enforcement presence because I see these pictures from Kentucky or Pennsylvania with all these trucks and buses and cars on the highway. And the first question I always ask is, you know, what were they thinking? How could they possibly even try in weather like this?

HONORE: Well, you have people with omissions. Some of them -- one family we talked to said on Saturday were headed to a funeral. I mean, people with absolute obligations to try to get some place, it's up to public service, police and our first responders who by and large did a great job of recovering, they're going to have to start closing those roads earlier. Particularly those choke points. Those known choke points, And hopefully over in Baltimore and D.C., we can get some more assets in there to keep our nation's capital open as well as those airports.

ROMANS: Look at -- HONORE: We can do a better job of that with more resources.

ROMANS: Look at all these pictures, these buried cars, also a reminder that some of these fatalities every time there's a storm like this, somebody get in their car.

BERMAN: Yes.

ROMANS: With the car going as they're trying to dig it out and someone gets -- overcome by carbon monoxide. It happens every time we cover these stories. Just a reminder, everybody. Don't turn that car on when you are out there shoveling it. Don't have your kid waiting in the car while you are shoveling it or you are going to really, really regret it.

Lieutenant General Russel Honore, so nice to see you this morning. Thank you.

HONORE: Hat's off to our first responders and National Guard.

ROMANS: Yes. Absolutely.

BERMAN: Absolutely.

ROMANS: Absolutely. Thank you, sir.

All right. Time for an EARLY START on your money this morning. The weekend's blizzard is going to be a costly one. Early estimates put the cost between $350 million to $700 million. That includes lost spending as people hunkered down at home, people lost wages, restaurants missed out on revenue, and then of course snow cleanup. For example, cleaning up snow in New York City costs an estimated $1.8 million per inch of snow depth. So that adds up.

Some good news, though, this is the first big snowstorm of the year. A whole season of wild winter weather is what could really hurt the economy. Experts say this isn't even close to the economic damage we saw during that cold wave in 2014. Remember that? It was storm after storm. That cost up to $15 billion and actually first quarter economic growth shrank by 2.1 percent. That's because the cold weather lasted much longer and affected a larger area.

Just a reminder, this is a big storm. It's going to cost some money but boy we have seen worse.

BERMAN: Lucky it was on a weekend. Seriously.

ROMANS: Yes.

BERMAN: All right. A pivotal day in Iowa. The CNN town hall tonight. Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, locked in a tight race. They will be on one stage tonight. This is the last time they will be on the same stage facing questions from voters just one week away until real live votes are cast. We are in Des Moines in just moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [05:12:50] ROMANS: One week from today, Iowa voters go to their caucuses and vote. The Democratic candidates for president kick off that final countdown with the town hall tonight right here on CNN following a day of campaigning around the state. Hillary Clinton has one advantage starting the week. Two major endorsements from "The Boston Globe" and "Des Moines Register."

CNN's Jeff Zeleny has the latest on the final sprint to Iowa.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, one week until the Iowa caucuses and the Democratic race is deadlocked. You could hear it in the voices of the candidates over the weekend as they traveled across the state urging voters to listen to their campaigns.

Now Hillary Clinton is making a pitch for urgency. She's saying that voters need to be with her, embrace her experience. This is what she said on Sunday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Why? The stakes in this election are so high and we have to start to move toward nominating and electing a president and commander-in-chief who will continue the progress we've made, make sure it is not ripped away forcing us to once again be disappointed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: Now Bernie Sanders is asking his supporters to believe, believe in their ideals, believe in the possibility. He made a slightly different argument as he campaigned on Sunday. He reminded his supporters that it's close, he can win if they come out and support him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Today, we are locked in a very, very close race right here in Iowa and if we have the kind of turnout that I hope we can, we're going to win here in Iowa.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

SANDERS: And if we win here in Iowa, I think we're going to do very, very well in New Hampshire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: Now Clinton, Sanders, and former Maryland governor, Martin O'Malley will be on campus here at Drake University in Des Moines, making their pitch to voters at the CNN town hall meeting tonight. After that, the campaigns are getting into overdrive, mobilizing their supporters that they've spent months and months cultivating.

The question here is this, is it the inspiration from the Bernie Sanders campaign against the organization from the Clinton campaign that's actually going to win out here?

[05:15:07] The turnout is always important, but in this case in particular, will there be a big turnout like there was in 2008 for Barack Obama or a slightly smaller turnout as in previous years? That is going to determine who wins the Iowa caucuses and how long this Democratic presidential race goes on -- John and Christine.

BERMAN: All right, Jeff. Let's break this all down. Joining us now political analyst Goldie Taylor. She's editor at large at the "Daily Beast."

Goldie, we can all agree this CNN town hall event tonight the biggest, most pivotal event ever. No, seriously one week to go until voting. The candidates will be on stage facing voters really for the last time so this is a big deal especially with the polls showing it so close in Iowa. Especially with "The Des Moines Register" coming out and supporting Hillary Clinton the last few days.

GOLDIE TAYLOR, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, THE DAILY BEAST: You're not wrong about any of that. I mean, the fact of the matter is, you're right up on the Iowa caucuses. This is truth time for Hillary Clinton's campaign. Bernie Sanders has all of the momentum going into Iowa despite having I think "The Boston Globe," the "Des Moines Register," and those kinds of folks endorsing Hillary Clinton, you know, Bernie Sanders is still on fire in Iowa and New Hampshire.

ROMANS: He is on fire in Iowa and New Hampshire. What does she need to do? her message has really been we can't -- we're ready. You know, we're moving forward. Right? And his is. let's have a political revolution. And that has been resonating. The political revolution. Now you've got the former -- the billionaire Bloomberg maybe thinking about stepping in if you have a revolution in Democrats and the Republicans.

What do you make of this yearning for outsiders?

TAYLOR: Well, you know, this is the strangest political year that I have seen. I have watched the State of the Union address since I was 8 years old. And so in 40 years, I have never seen anything quite like this.

I will say this, you know, the notion that Michael Bloomberg could enter this race is a compelling and intriguing idea. He said he would enter under only a certain set of circumstances.

ROMANS: Right.

TAYLOR: If Hillary Clinton does not -- doesn't look to win the nomination, he would get in. And if either Donald Trump or Ted Cruz were to win the Republican nomination. You know, that's an interesting sort of scenario, which means he doesn't believe that Bernie Sanders can win the election. Either that or he thinks that, you know, Bernie Sanders might be just quite too liberal for him. You know, I think he doesn't believe in Bernie Sanders' viability. And that's still a question for the Sanders' campaign going forward. In terms of, you know, Mrs. Clinton, the dilemma for her is, you know,

she is great on a lot of issues, but really, really rough on the campaign stump, and hasn't really gotten any better cycle over cycle.

BERMAN: Interesting. So the question, when you're Michael Bloomberg, if you have $16 billion, there is no cost to thinking about running for president. You can, you know, test the waters. You can poll. You can have your people look into it and then decide not to. It's chump change.

Let's me ask you about some news overnight. Rick Perry. Politico is reporting Rick Perry is going to endorse Ted Cruz. We're in this really an interesting endorsement period. Of course Sarah Palin backed Donald Trump. If Perry officially endorses Cruz, then that happens. Then there is also these non-endorsement endorsements, where Joanie Ernst, the very popular senator from Iowa, appeared with Marco Rubio today. Chuck Grassley, the long time senator from Iowa was on stage with Donald Trump this weekend.

ROMANS: But he didn't endorse him.

BERMAN: Yes, but he was there.

ROMANS: But he's on stage --

BERMAN: Like what's going on?

TAYLOR: Endorsement, not endorsement. If you appear with a candidate, you are in effect, endorsing them. You can say it out of your mouth or not. But if I am Chuck Grassley and I show up at a big campaign rally and I'm speaking from the podium that is an endorsement. Whether official or not, voters are going to take it just that way.

The interesting thing about this is that no sitting governor or senator or congressperson has come out and formally endorsed anybody. And so, you know, this really is a year for the outsider. You know, this is probably Michael Bloomberg's most viable year yet to come. We're seeing that with someone like Donald Trump get in the race and really have a commanding lead in so many of the early states. And so this one is going to be a real Donny Brook.

ROMANS: The "Des Moines Register" endorsed Marco Rubio this weekend. The "Register" saying that he has a potential to chart a new direction for the party, perhaps the nation. And his message of restoring the American dream. We endorse him because he represents the party's best hope. The oxygen in Iowa is not about Marco Rubio right now. It's about Trump and it's about --

TAYLOR: You know, I love Iowa.

ROMANS: And Ted Cruz.

TAYLOR: And I love "The Des Moines Register" like no other newspaper from this country. It's a great newspaper. They have been wrong about every primary dating back in modern history. (LAUGHTER)

TAYLOR: And so --

ROMANS: It might be what they hope, not what they think is going to happen.

TAYLOR: Generally speaking that's what you get out of their editorials. Yes.

BERMAN: You know, look, newspaper endorsements matter when it's a right combination. But Rubio gives them some legitimacy in a race where he hasn't really had much in Iowa. You look at New Hampshire, the union leader, the Manchester Union Leader endorsing Chris Christie a month and a half ago, that gave him a little juice than he had in a year. But hard to imagine newspaper endorsements as being decisive.

TAYLOR: They haven't been in recent times. If you look over the last 20 years, newspaper endorsements while they sort of give, you know, a little bit of fodder for fundraising, and may be firing up volunteers, it literally does nothing for the electorate.

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: "The Boston Globe" endorsing Clinton. This last time they endorsed Obama and they explained how she's a different candidate now. Is she a different candidate?

[05:20:04] TAYLOR: Somewhat.

(LAUGHTER)

BERMAN: All right.

ROMANS: Goldie Taylor, so nice to see you. Thank you so much for getting up early for us and the snow. Thanks, Goldie.

TAYLOR: Thank you.

BERMAN: All right. Tonight exactly one week before the Iowa caucuses, Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton and Martin O'Malley, they will face voters and Chris Cuomo in a CNN town hall tonight in Des Moines. That's at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. The candidates get 30 minutes each. They take questions from the audience. First up, Bernie Sanders, then Martin O'Malley, then Hillary Clinton. Again, it all begins at 9:00 p.m. tonight.

ROMANS: All right. To a sport of a different kind.

BERMAN: A sport of a different kind. The Denver Broncos, the Carolina Panthers, they are going to the Super Bowl. Great games yesterday. We'll tell you all -- how it happened in the "Bleacher Report" next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right. Super Bowl 50 now set. Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos against Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers.

ROMANS: Coy Wire is in Denver, the site of yesterday's AFC title game. And Coy, this guy has been crying all morning but now I think the final stages of grief have set in and he's accept it.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS: I see he doesn't have his handkerchief anymore. He's dried up his tears, Christine. Good morning, guys.

The 17th meeting between two NFL legends, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, was billed to be a matchup of epic proportions. And boy, did it live up to the hype. With the Denver's victory, it means now that Brady and Manning will have represented the AFC in 10 of the past 15 Super Bowls. That's simply astounding.

Now Manning had two touchdown passes which doubled the total in Denver all season. Owen Daniels on the receiving end of both of them but Brady wouldn't go out quietly. Just 12 seconds to go on 4th down, hits Rob Gronkowski for the touchdown, cutting the lead within two.

[05:25:05] That meant the Patriots had to go for two, but that Broncos' smothering defense denies it. Sealing the deal. Peyton now has won his last three consecutive playoff meetings against Tom Brady and the Patriots. Denver wins the (INAUDIBLE) 20-18, earning the Broncos their eighth Super Bowl berth, tying them for the most by any team in NFL history.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PEYTON MANNING, BRONCOS QUARTERBACK: This is a sweet day. This is a sweet victory. To me, this victory is sort of -- is a great example of what this entire season has been like. It hasn't been easy. There's been a lot of different people stepping up, doing their parts at different times.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: So the Broncos, the Broncos are now set to face the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50. And Cam Newton showed why he's going to be named the league's MVP. Threw for two touchdowns. Ran for two more. But it was that Carolina big play defense who stifled Arizona's top ranked offense all game. Forcing seven turnovers. They blew them out of the water. The Panthers win, 49-15. And they scored the most points ever in an AFC championship game.

Super Bowl 50 is about to go down February 7th in Santa Clara, California. Panthers making their second Super Bowl appearance while Peyton Manning making his fourth, becomes the oldest starting quarterback in Super Bowl history at nearly 40 years old. Those Panthers are the early favorite heading into the Super Bowl where the favorite guy has won nearly two-thirds of the time.

ROMANS: Awesome. Coy confirming what my little boy told me last night about Peyton Manning being the oldest quarterback in the Super Bowl. I think he was trying to tell me, I'm still relevant or something.

BERMAN: You better get young.

ROMANS: Like old people can do stuff.

BERMAN: You're going to have a tough time against the Panthers. That Panthers team look good.

ROMANS: Yes. All right. Coy, have a great time. Thank you.

WIRE: Goodness. Thanks.

ROMANS: It's looking like a rough commute this morning after this weekend's intense snowfall. Expect messy roads, limited trains and flights, schools getting cancelled all over the place. Details in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)