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Transformer Explosion Lights Up New York City Skyline; Severe Weather Moves To East Coast; Partial Government Shutdown Enters Day Seven; Black Man Kicked Out Of Portland DoubleTree Hotel. Aired 5:30- 6a ET
Aired December 28, 2018 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:31:14] JOE JOHNS, CNN ANCHOR: An unplanned holiday light show. A transformer blows, lighting up the skies above New York.
The skies won't be quiet today, either. A very messy end to the holiday week.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Eight hundred thousand federal workers won't get relief anytime soon. The government shutdown will last into 2019.
JOHNS: The stock market not finishing the year quietly, either. The Dow roaring back 900 points, bouncing from big losses to close up in the final hour.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JERMAINE MASSEY, HOTEL GUEST, DOUBLETREE HOTEL, PORTLAND, OREGON: Why? Why are they coming?
EARL, SECURITY GUARD, DOUBLETREE HOTEL, PORTLAND, OREGON: To escort you off the property.
MASSEY: Because why -- and I'm staying here?
EARL: Not anymore.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Allegations of racial bias at an Oregon DoubleTree Hotel by Hilton. A black guest asked to leave the lobby. His lawyer says the only thing he's guilty of is calling his mother while black.
This story -- you're not going to believe it.
Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
JOHNS: And, I'm Joe Johns. Right now, it is 31 minutes past the hour.
Much as it looked like an alien invasion, it wasn't, or so we're told. See for yourself. The skies over New York City lit up with an eerie blue glow by a transformer explosion at a power plant in Queens.
A spokesman for Con Edison telling CNN a substation experienced a brief electrical fire after a couple of transformers tripped offline. It didn't seem so routine to these folks, though.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM MURPHY, WITNESSED TRANSFORMER EXPLOSION: Holy (bleep). Oh my God. Look at the sky.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: This was the view miles away in Manhattan -- the light visible as far away as New Jersey. The unearthly effect enhanced by a relatively low 2,000-foot cloud ceiling. The explosions powerful enough to shake buildings and rattle windows.
Residents reported temporary power outages which briefly shut down LaGuardia Airport in Queens. No flights took off for an hour. But the airport switched to a backup generator and resumed normal operations around 10:20 p.m.
JOHNS: Also in the skies above New York, the storm system we've been tracking all week. A very messy day in store for the Great Lakes and the eastern states, just like in the Midwest and the south yesterday.
Two deaths have been reported. In Louisiana, a 58-year-old woman died after a tree fell on her camper trailer. Another person died in Kansas in a crash on I-70 in blizzard conditions. That shut down the interstate.
ROMANS: This system stretches the entire U.S. from north to south. In South Dakota, snow and sleet fell across the state, icing roads and limiting visibility. The Nebraska State Patrol closed about 130 miles of I-80 due to snow, ice, and high winds.
And in Kenner, Louisiana, rain and high winds were the apparent cause of electrical explosions and power line pyrotechnics like you've never seen.
Meteorologist Ivan Cabrera has your Friday forecast.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN CABRERA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Christine and Joe, good morning.
A wild night for some of us across the south with torrential downpours, frequent lightning, and this big storm system extends from the Gulf all the way up into Canada. And on the northern end of it we're talking about blowing snow continuing, so blizzard warnings still in effect at this hour.
This will be the big deal, of course. Fifty million of us under a flood threat from Louisiana all the way up into New Jersey as a result of two to four inches of rainfall that is going to fall in the next couple of days with this very slow moving system, and that's going to be the problem here.
Also, we've had very heavy rainfall the last several days and so this will also saturate, so it's not going to take much. And this will continue Saturday into Sunday. Not looking like a great weekend as a result of the rain.
Also, if you're flying -- if you're still trying to get home, right, this will be the issue for today. In New York, I think we'll have some significant delays not just because of the rain but also the winds will be gusty at times throughout today, diminishing though by the time we get into tomorrow -- guys.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[05:35:03] ROMANS: All right, Ivan. Thank you.
A dysfunctional U.S. government will end 2018 not functioning. It is now day seven of the partial government shutdown. At this point, it is guaranteed to spill into the new year. Both the House and the Senate adjourned Thursday with no deal even on the table.
And with the president back from his surprise trip to Iraq, he has now returned to Twitter with a whopper claim. And on Twitter, at least, he seems to be ignoring the pain that's about to get worse for 800,000 unpaid federal employees.
JOHNS: CNN's Abby Phillip at the White House with the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Joe, President Trump is back in Washington after saying earlier this week that federal workers supported his plan to keep the government shut down until he gets border wall funding.
The president is now saying that those who are not getting paid in this government shutdown are all Democrats.
Now, that statement drew a rebuke from one of the largest unions representing federal workers, who said this in a statement today. "A government shutdown doesn't hurt any one political party of any one federal employee more than another, it hurts them all. It hurts their families and it hurts all of our communities."
But even as there continues to be this blame game and back-and-forth between the two parties, we still are no closer to finding out what it will take to end the shutdown. The president, yesterday, repeatedly refused to say how much he would accept in border wall funding and whether he would come down from his original proposal of $5 billion to $2 billion.
Now, the White House is issuing a statement saying that the president is not backing down from his desire for more border security. Even one of the president's top allies suggested yesterday that the president has not heard much from Democrats and that this shutdown could last for many days to come -- Christine and Joe. (END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS: Abby Phillip at the White House.
The impact of the shutdown is about to get very real for federal employees working or sitting at home unpaid. Credit cards from holiday shopping, electricity -- a lot of people have bills to pay in the new year.
And get this. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management tweeted advice to federal employees on how to deal with their precarious financial situations.
ROMANS: One suggestion, federal employees offered to perform chores in exchange for rent.
One sample letter to a landlord reads in part, "I would like to discuss with you the possibility of trading my services to perform maintenance (e.g., painting, carpentry work) in exchange for partial rent payments."
JOHNS: The effects also stretching to space. NASA's New Horizons probe is on target for a new year's rendezvous with the most distant object ever to be explored by humankind. But due to the shutdown, no live NASA webcast.
ROMANS: All right. Joining us from Washington this morning, CNN political analyst Brian Karem, the host of the podcast "Just Ask the Question." Good morning.
BRIAN KAREN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, PODCAST HOST, "JUST ASK THE QUESTION": Good morning.
ROMANS: It's Friday, heading into, gosh, the last homestretch of 2018 and --
KAREM: Happy New Year.
ROMANS: -- Happy New Year -- and certainly, we will see a government shutdown at the beginning of the year.
The possible scenarios here -- the what's next? All right, it drags on in 2019, that's guaranteed.
KAREM: Yes.
ROMANS: The Dems and the GOP could agree, maybe, on $2 billion for a border wall. The House could pass the Senate's spending bill. Congress could override.
Look, there are -- these are the possible scenarios but when you talk to folks in Washington, where you are, they don't even see like an active off-ramp negotiation underway here.
KAREM: Well, they aren't talking. I was up on the Hill yesterday and in the White House. In the White House, the press offices were locked up.
ROMANS: Right.
KAREM: The only thing we're being treated to from the president are his tweets and occasional statements from his press office. Up on the Hill, there's not even anyone talking about this.
And the problem is how this came to be. The President of the United States said Mexico would pay for the wall. That was the first fraud perpetrated on the American public.
Then he said he would own this if they shut it down. Now he's trying to blame Democrats. That's the second fraud perpetrated on the American public.
Then they were going to -- if you remember, he was going to compromise. At one point in time, he was going to let a C.R. go and he was going to compromise on his desires for money for the wall.
That changed last week on Wednesday when Ann Coulter tweeted out something accusing the president of abandoning his base. So, Pharaoh's heart hardened and he went back to his initial stance --
JOHNS: (Laughter).
KAREM: -- and that's where we are now. And so, it's not changed since then.
This fraud -- and the whole thing is, guys, this is bunk. This whole issue is a fraud on the American people.
He picked up this issue while he was on the campaign trail. He loved it, it played to his base. They love it.
It has no -- it's just the most tenuous relationship with reality -- this whole idea of a border wall -- and yet, he's going to shut down the government over it.
JOHNS: OK, I --
KAREM: So that's why it's not going anywhere.
JOHNS: Right. I've really got two questions here.
KAREM: Sure.
JOHNS: Probably, the first one is one of the things we haven't been talking about as much because yes, it's the end of the year, but also because there's a shutdown -- we're not talking as much about the Russia investigation.
[05:40:05] And we do know this president is sort of a master distractor and would also be faced with a lot of oversight once Democrats take over the House.
My question is, is that sort of part of the equation here to take America's mind off of that conversation? And the second fact, though, is if you just go through how a bill -- there you go. Those are all the investigations.
TEXT: House Democratic agenda. Efforts to obtain his tax returns. House investigations into administration. Mueller's Russia investigation report.
JOHNS: If you could just go a little bit through how a bill becomes law because even though we've got 40 new Democrats in the House of Representatives, that doesn't mean they can override a veto --
KAREM: No.
JOHNS: -- from the president.
KAREM: Right, that's -- you've nailed two things on the head there.
First of all, it is a distraction. And while we've been talking about the shutdown -- and it's curious that the shutdown occurs when the GOP controls the Executive Branch and both parts of the Legislative Branch of government. That's something that you can't forget.
And so, as you go forward, that is a bit of a fraud and it's all meant to distract from the Mueller investigation and all those other investigations. And I guarantee you, while we're talking shutdown, the people conducting those investigations have not forgotten their job.
And as much as the president would like for us to concentrate on something other than the shutdown, I'd remind you that what he's doing is using real people's lives as a political football. Those people are suffering because of this president and there's no way around that fact. He cannot get around it.
As far as how it becomes law, yes, they do not have the votes to override a veto. And where it's going to sit is this is going to come -- at some point in time, he's going to have to approve a piece of legislation that can be passed in both the House and the Senate and that he won't veto.
And I think we're going to end up back where we were last Wednesday before Ann Coulter shot her mouth off.
At some point in time, they're going to have to compromise and the compromise they had in place, to begin with. I think they're going to end up in the same place or nearly the same place where they were originally.
ROMANS: I think that time is going to -- time is going to show what the impact is of the shutdown on real people.
I'll tell you right now, when I talk to Trump supporters in the Midwest, they say shut the government down. We don't need the government. The reason why they elected Donald Trump was to disrupt -- they don't really care about government shutdowns. But if you see that people now, in the weeks ahead, can't file for the
first time for their Social Security benefits or unemployment benefits or you see a real constriction in food -- new food stamps -- I mean, you're going to start to see real-world impact.
But I've got bring up something that the president said, himself, in 2013 during a government shutdown. And I wonder why he is -- he is so adamant now about a shutdown when he said this to Fox News just a few years ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELISABETH HASSELBECK, FORMER HOST, FOX NEWS "FOX & FRIENDS": Who is going to bear the brunt of the responsibility if, indeed, there is a shutdown of our government?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, let me say who gets fired? It always has to be the top. I mean, problems start from the top and they have to get solved from the top. And the president's the leader and he's got to get everybody in a room and he's got to lead.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Well, how is the President of the United States now leading on this?
KAREM: He's not. He's locked up in the -- in the residence at the White House and the West Wing is shut down, and they're not dealing with this. And that's a very good -- I mean, there's a tweet for every occasion with President Trump and there's a statement for every occasion with President Trump.
ROMANS: Yes.
KAREM: And the thing is about the guy is what he says on Monday doesn't necessarily hold sway Monday afternoon. Fifteen minutes later he could change his mind and the new facts -- or the alternative facts are the ones that he'll listen to when they're convenient for him.
So, it's hard -- and that's the other reason -- you know, it's really hard to negotiate in Congress when the president waffles so much. I mean, he changes his mind so often. And that's why -- that's exactly --
JOHNS: Lurches.
KAREM: Yes, lurches -- yes, careens.
That's one of the reasons why Sen. Mitch McConnell didn't use the nuclear option earlier is because you don't trust the president. Even his own -- even his own party doesn't trust him. And so it's going to make it really difficult moving into the new year when the Democrats have control of the House.
ROMANS: All right, Brian Karem. Nice to see you. Happy New Year. Thanks for --
KAREM: Happy New Year to you guys, too.
ROMANS: It's a Friday. I hope you get some --
JOHNS: You, too.
ROMANS: I hope you get some respite and relief, but that hasn't happened in a couple of years.
KAREM: Well, we got -- we get that at the White House when they're all locked down.
(LAUGHTER)
ROMANS: All right, all right. Go get some peace and quiet at the White House, then.
JOHNS: It's job security.
ROMANS: See you later.
KAREM: Yes, there you go.
JOHNS: All right.
ROMANS: Bye, Brian. Happy holidays.
KAREM: Bye.
JOHNS: It turns out the referee who ordered a black varsity wrestler to cut off his dreadlocks has been in trouble before.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:48:18] JOHNS: A guest at an Oregon hotel is alleging racial bias. He says he was harassed by staff for taking a phone call in the hotel lobby.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EARL: Portland police will be here in a minute
MASSEY: Thank you. Call them. I'm waiting.
EARL: OK.
MASSEY: They're coming why? Why are they coming?
EARL: To escort you off the property.
MASSEY: Because why -- and I'm staying here?
EARL: Not anymore.
(END VIDEO CLIP) JOHNS: The voice of Jermaine Massey there. He was in the lobby of the Portland DoubleTree Hotel -- that's a Hilton property -- the Lloyd Center where he checked in.
After he told a hotel desk staffer he was taking a personal call in the lobby, a guard started to question his presence.
ROMANS: Police arrived and Massey was asked to leave. The officer escorted him back to his room to gather his belongings and offered to help him find a different hotel, but Massey declined.
The hotel's general manager says the incident is unfortunate and they have reached out to Massey. Massey's attorneys characterize the incident as, quote, "calling his mother while black."
No comment yet from the employees in the video or the parent company. Again, that's a DoubleTree owned by Hilton.
JOHNS: Right.
Now, the referee who told a New Jersey varsity wrestler to cut his dreadlocks was investigated in 2016 for using a racial slur. A source from the New Jersey Wrestling Officials Association tells us Alan Maloney was given a one-year suspension for racist language aimed at a fellow referee. But because the incident did not happen at an athletic event, the suspension was overturned.
ROMANS: Maloney told the "Courier Post" he doesn't remember using the slur but says he believed his colleague and apologized.
Video of a trainer cutting Andrew Johnson's hair in the middle of that match went viral, prompting widespread criticism. He won that match, by the way.
[05:50:01] Whiplash, rollercoaster -- whatever terrible market cliche you want to use actually fits. Stocks staged a major comeback late in the day.
The Dow opened with brutal losses then closed up 260 points, erasing a 611-point loss earlier in the day. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both closed nearly higher.
Investors are looking for certainty and there is still a cloud of chaos surrounding the possible slowing global economy, trade policy -- a trade war with China -- and recent moves by the Federal Reserve.
President Trump has been buoyed by the recent market boosts. A source telling CNN the president called his advisers from Air Force One on his way back from Iraq after markets closed higher Wednesday.
The president often uses the markets are his own personal barometer of his political standing. In his phone calls, the president repeated that he believes the economy is doing great.
The economy is strong -- great end of the year for consumer spending. But consumer confidence has fallen this month as benefits from last year's tax cuts fade. The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index fell to 128.1 in December, the lowest since July.
Now, Thursday's gains will not erase what has been the worst December for stocks since the Great Depression.
Here is the damage report. The three major averages are all down at least nine percent. Dow futures, right now, are higher, so we'll if the market can string together three up-days in a row to close the week.
Sears is as near death as it has ever been. Today is the deadline for potential buyers to bid for its assets. If not, liquidation of Sears and Kmart.
Sears wants someone to buy about 500 of its stores and the Kenmore appliance brand to keep it open. Sears told bankruptcy -- the bankruptcy court it has interest from multiple parties but the only public bidder for its assets is the hedge fund controlled by the Sears chairman, Eddie Lampert.
Now, Lampert offering $4.6 billion for Sears' operating assets. Lampert says his plan would let 50,000 Sears employees keep their jobs. If he doesn't make his bid official, Sears could extend the deadline or close everything. Close all the stores and liquidate its assets.
Spokespeople for Sears and Lampert declined to comment Thursday.
All right, Disney and Verizon arguing over programming fees and ESPN and ABC are caught in the middle. Disney and Verizon have until 5:00 p.m. New Year's Eve to agree. If they don't, Verizon will stop carrying Disney channels. ABC affiliates would also be blocked for Fios customers in New York and Philadelphia.
In a statement, ESPN said, "Our negotiations continue in earnest and we remain optimistic that we can reach a deal."
Disputes over fees are common. As television viewership declines, media companies are demanding more for their content to make up for lost revenue. So watch that space.
JOHNS: And it happens a lot.
ROMANS: Yes, it does.
JOHNS: All right, we're going to take a break. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:55:47] JOHNS: We want to show you some video of somebody who came inches away from having a very bad day. Heart-pounding moments caught on video.
An Illinois police officer barely avoiding being struck by a train, a frightening ordeal caught on the officer's dashcam. The officer was approaching the tracks just as the train came speeding through the crossing. Warning lights could be seen flashing, but not until the moment when the train barrels by.
That incident is being blamed on an electrical problem with the crossing gate.
ROMANS: Lawyers for Tesla's Elon Musk are moving to dismiss a defamation case. It was filed by one of the divers who helped rescue a Thai soccer team from a cave in July.
The feud started in an interview Vernon Unsworth gave to CNN claiming Musk's attempt to help rescue the 12 boys and their coach was a P.R. stunt and had no chance of working.
JOHNS: So in a series of tweets, Musk attacked the British diver, like in this since-deleted tweet reading, "Sorry pedo guy, you really did ask for it." Pedo meaning pedophile.
Musk did apologize for the tweets. His lawyers argue Twitter is a platform, quote, "infamous for hyperbole" and the statements were "imaginative attacks."
Unsworth is asking for more than $75,000, plus punitive damages decided by the court.
ROMANS: All right. You never know what kind of life-changing event can happen when you are looking for laundry detergent.
A CNN producer was doing just that when she saw a man with a note on his backpack saying his wife needs a kidney, and including his phone number. The producer, Lilit Marcus, snapped a picture and posted it on Twitter hoping it might help, and did it ever.
JOHNS: That's right. Within a week, more than 23,000 retweets, 35,000 likes.
The man has since been identified as Raymond Thompson. He and his wife Mylen and their 4-year-old daughter Rachel live in Brooklyn.
Thompson says after the photo went viral he started getting calls from as far away as Australia.
ROMANS: The Thompsons hope testing for a match can start next month. Instead of giving money they're urging people to become organ donors.
Only about one in five people waiting for a kidney last year found a match. And I would say that's a great New Year's resolution for anyone to really think about that, young or old. Put yourself on the organ donation list.
You know, my mother received an organ --
JOHNS: Yes.
ROMANS: -- two years ago and it just changed our family's life.
JOHNS: Yes.
ROMANS: Thank you --
JOHNS: Sign the card. Do what you can.
ROMANS: Thank you for being here this week.
JOHNS: Thank you. It's been a real pleasure. Always good to see you.
ROMANS: And thank you, everybody, who works on the show. You see us here.
I just want to thank our amazing crew.
Jimmy Marsek, Dean Baxter, Mike Stein, Jack Fanning, Rob Brennan, Joe Chojnacki, Shimon Baum, Robert Melendez, Emily Wilson, Paul Cutting, Paul Bernius, Judy Hunter, Roseanne Jennings, Laura Gattini, (INAUDIBLE), Leslie Zeigler, Phyllis Parris-Borum, Charlie Chester, Marshall Leaman, Ben Gelb, Taylor Harrison, Lisa Calderon, Jamie Vogt, Phil Loccisano, Kwegyirba Croffie, Kate Trafecante, Veronica Marin, Veronica Bautista -- the two Veronica's -- and, Tim Curran.
Of course, L.J., who is the guy calling the shots behind this camera every day.
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, happy holidays, everybody. Thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans.
JOHNS: And have a great weekend. I'm Joe Johns. "NEW DAY" starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MARK MEADOWS (R), NORTH CAROLINA: The Democrats are dug in. It looks like we could be in for a very long-term shutdown.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump's in the middle of another temper tantrum. He's fed misinformation to his base and now he's trying to save face.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think they want to give Trump a victory. This is going to go past the State of the Union.
MURPHY: Oh my God. Look at the sky.
JOHNS: A transformer explosion in New York lighting up the sky and forcing a ground stop at LaGuardia Airport.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You looked in the sky and it was bright blue. It was insane. I was like, aliens are here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It's Friday, December 28th, 6:00 here in New York.
Alisyn is off. Erica Hill joins me.
And the good news is there's no evidence of extraterrestrial activity.
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: That is -- that is something because I woke up and I had no idea what had happened overnight.
BERMAN: The NYPD actually put out a statement -- a message on Twitter -- saying that there are no aliens coming --
HILL: A few.
BERMAN: -- even though someone painted the sky blue last night. Look at this. So, that's a transformer explosion. That's really remarkable.
The good news is, again, no one was hurt, no lasting significant power outages. That was last night. I just want to show people what ghostbusters looked like.
