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New Day
Snow for Northeast; Sports Update; A Look Into Asia Airlines Safety; Brian Williams' False Story; Jordan Vows War Against ISIS
Aired February 05, 2015 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to NEW DAY.
New England still digging out from last week's blizzard and now the region bracing for even more snow. Let's go to meteorologist Jennifer Gray.
When will it end, Jennifer?
JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: There is no end in sight. You know, we have over two feet of snow pack on the ground across much of New England. When you have this much snow on the ground, all of the sun that beats down on the snow just reflects back into the atmosphere. It's very hard to get any warm-up. And so it is going to stay cold and it's going to be very hard to get rain. All of it is going to be snow. Anything that crosses New England for the time being. And that's going to be the case today. It's going to be the case again at the end of the weekend.
So we do have that front moving through right now. It's actually bringing snow to portions of Maine and then on into Massachusetts, getting into Boston, right around the rush hour. Also looking at snow just outside of New York City.
So what to expect for the snowfall today? Could pick up two to four inches in Boston. Just south of Portland, picking up two to four. But not much. And as long as you're talking about snow, of course we've seen so much, so an inch or two, not that bad.
We are going to see a slower moving system move through Sunday through Tuesday timeframe. That is going to bringing much higher amounts. We're looking at anywhere from nine to 11 inches in New York depending on which model you're looking at. Still disagreeing a little bit, but not as bad as some of the previous storms.
Thirteen inches in Boston according to the GFS. If you look at the euro, they're saying as high as 19 inches of snowfall. So that's a lot more snow added to what's already on the ground. Temperatures are going to stay very, very cold. We're looking at temperatures of 35 today in New York, down to 26 on Friday, back up into the upper 30s on Saturday. Boston's going to stay cold, bottoming out at 21 degrees on Friday, Michaela. So we are going to stay cold in the northeast. And these storms are just coming down the pipeline. They're going to come one after another for the time being, unfortunately. MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: It is winter. We have to remember that.
CAMEROTA: But why does winter last so much longer than summer?
GRAY: That's the part I've never understood.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: It's the -- it's the whistle pig.
CAMEROTA: I beg your pardon?
CUOMO: It's the whistle pig.
PEREIRA: The groundhog. Remember, he's decided he's going to call them whistle pigs from now on.
CAMEROTA: Oh, yes.
PEREIRA: That's a whole other --
CUOMO: That's what they are called.
PEREIRA: We'll work out in the break.
CAMEROTA: I forgot.
CUOMO: And they've doomed us and then bit a public official.
CAMEROTA: I forgot about that.
PEREIRA: It is 6:34 in the east. A relentless war against ISIS, that is the promise from Jordan's King Abdullah following the gruesome killing of a captured Jordanian pilot by ISIS. Jordan is said to be considering airstrikes against ISIS targets in Iraq, expanding its role in the U.S.-led coalition. In the meantime, the U.S. military is moving more of its assets into Iraq. Search-and-rescue teams in the event of an aircraft going down in territory that's not controlled by ISIS.
CUOMO: Secretary of State John Kerry announced today the U.S. will give Ukraine $16.4 million in new humanitarian assistance to help those affected by the violence in Ukraine. Now that's just a drop in the bucket compared to the need. His staff reporting a grave acceleration in the fighting there. The secretary just finished a closed door meeting with Ukraine's president. More to come.
CAMEROTA: Now a measles update. Two California state senators proposing to eliminate the personal beliefs exemption for parents who do not want to vaccinate their children. This, as the measles outbreak spreads with 99 cases now in California. Many of those traced to Disneyland. U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy told CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta that he believes some states allow too many exemptions, but he stopped short of calling for mandated vaccines. Sanjay will join us in our next hour with more on Measles.
PEREIRA: All right, "Sports Illustrated's" new swimsuit issue is out.
CAMEROTA: Here's what's up (ph).
PEREIRA: Hannah Davis is gracing the cover of the 2015 swimsuit issue. I think she needs some suspenders because her -- her undies there are drooping.
CUOMO: No, she's OK.
PEREIRA: The 24-year-old model hails from St. Thomas (ph). Oh, by the way, she's dating Derek Jeter. Who's he again? Oh, yes. The cover revealed last night on "The Tonight Show." We also want to point out, or maybe specifically I do, that the magazine is going to feature a plus-sized model for the first time in an ad. This is Ashley Graham (ph). She's part of the ad campaign for company Swimsuits For All. I salute them. The "SI" swimsuit issue is available February 9th.
CAMEROTA: She looks rocking, too.
PEREIRA: They both do. Hers stay up. The other ones were drooping.
CAMEROTA: That's right.
PEREIRA: It was weird.
CUOMO: If we could just go back to Miss 34, 26, 35 for a second there, Hannah Davis --
CAMEROTA: You didn't see enough of that?
CUOMO: I think that this --
PEREIRA: What?
CUOMO: This is one of the last vestiges of open sexism allowed in the -- in the modern media that a sports magazine is allowed to do this (INAUDIBLE).
CAMEROTA: Well, this one is --
PEREIRA: A bit early for that, isn't it?
CAMEROTA: But this one is really --
CUOMO: No.
CAMEROTA: I think this one is really bold. She's really not wearing pants.
PEREIRA: Yes.
CUOMO: No, she is. They're right there.
CAMEROTA: Not really.
CUOMO: Everything that needs to be covered. You know, look --
PEREIRA: Good morning, mom. CUOMO: You guys seem to like these low pants, right, because jeans keep moving down and down.
CAMEROTA: Not that low.
CUOMO: I say, blame yourselves, don't blame us, we just look, OK, we don't wear it.
All right, the cold may be crippling, but it could not compete with New Englanders' love of the Patriots. The team and the fans braving the cold for a victory parade yesterday. Andy Scholes has more in this morning's "Bleacher Report."
How you doing, my friend?
ANDY SCHOLES, BLEACHER REPORT: Hey, Chris, how are you?
You know, they didn't have a victory celebration this year because of the subfreezing temperatures in Boston, but that didn't stop everyone from having a good old time at the parade. And no one knows quite how to party like Gronk. And in what's becoming a Super Bowl parade tradition, the Patriots tight end, he caught a mini bottle of fireball whiskey from a fan and he downed it in seconds. Marshawn Lynch did pretty much the same thing last year in Seattle. Now, Tom Brady, he wasn't taking shots, but he was having a good time celebrating his fourth Super Bowl championship with his son.
And while the Patriots continue to party, the Seahawks still wondering what could have been. Speaking with "The Today Show," Pete Carroll reflected on what's being called the worst play call in NFL history.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE CARROLL, SEAHAWKS HEAD COACH: Immediately, I mean within the instant of the turnover, the gravity of what just happened, I understood. And there's only a second or two before you stand up and start looking ahead and getting ready for what's coming.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: We won't be seeing Syracuse in the NCAA tournament this year. The orange have self-imposed a post-season ban this year in response to an ongoing investigation into potential infractions by the team. The alleged violations occurred during the 2007 season. School officials said no one on the current team is involved.
In the NBA last night, Steph Curry was at it again. He scored 26 points in the third quarter alone. He finished with 51 in the game. Curry hit ten 3's. He's the only player in NBA history with multiple game of both 50 plus points and 10 plus 3-pointers made. The Warriors beat the Mavs 128-114. And Curry, along with his backcourt teammate Klay Thompson, they will both be participating in the three-point competition this year, guys. And that, of course, is going to be taking place a little over a week from now in Brooklyn. It should go down as probably one of the best three-point competitions of all time.
PEREIRA: Sounds very cool.
CUOMO: Strong. Got to live it. He's 6'3". This is in the day and age when the NBA is dominated by these giants, you know?
CAMEROTA: Yes.
CUOMO: That the ball's like the size of an orange in their hands and they're looking down at the hoop. He has to do it the hard way and he's showing, you know, he learned from daddy. Del Curry was his dad. A phenomenal shooter.
PEREIRA: Phenomenal.
CAMEROTA: Thanks, Andy.
PEREIRA: All right, ahead here, a string of deadly plane crashes across southeast Asia, raising new concerns about air safety. What kind of training do these pilots receive and what about inspections of the planes? Our Richard Quest is here taking a closer look at one of the fastest-growing air travel regions in the world.
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PEREIRA: Good to have you back with us here.
The terrifying crash of the TransAsia flight in Taiwan follows a tragic string of crashes over the past year across southeast Asia. It is raising new questions about, obviously, air safety in that region. Do Asian airlines have a real or perceived safety problem? Let's put it to our CNN aviation correspondent Richard Quest, who is here with me this morning.
It is going to be a PR problem and an image problem and an optics problem for these Asian airlines. Let's talk about regulation first off because I think that's one thing we understand how it works here in the United States, but how are these -- and I know that we're talking a lot of different countries -- how is regulation managed?
RICHARD QUEST, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: That is one of the issues that is going to be and clearly has to be addressed. This fragmented regulatory system where each country, many of which do not have the expertise, some clearly do, they are there, of course, their own regulators. Now, if you take a European example --
PEREIRA: Yes.
QUEST: Which is a little more close to Asia versus say a single market like the United States. In Europe, you have the European Safety Agency.
PEREIRA: Right.
QUEST: You then have that regulates between all the national agencies. So if you like, there is an agency above.
PEREIRA: Overseeing, right. QUEST: Overseeing. And what many are saying and suggests is that Asia
now needs some form of supra-regional agency. The problem is, of course, getting them all to agree. Whether it's Asean (ph) or northern Asian countries --
PEREIRA: Yes. Yes.
QUEST: Getting them all to agree to give up some form of regulatory authority to a larger organization.
PEREIRA: Sure. Next level, if you will, is the training of the pilots, the ground crew, the air traffic control people. The training, again, speaks to the differences in these nations.
QUEST: Yes. And what you're looking at here is the large carriers, if you like, the Emirates, the Etihads (ph), many of the carriers, the Singapore airlines, you're talking about well-established carriers with enviable reputations for safety and service.
PEREIRA: Sure. Sure.
QUEST: In many cases, they are employing deeply experienced captains and first officers from other countries. So there is a large, deep groundswell of experience. However, the sheer growth of aviation in that part of the world has led some to question the experience of some carriers.
PEREIRA: Let me ask you about that. Why are we seeing that? When I look at the numbers, apparently aircraft manufacturers delivered over 1,500 planes last year, most of them going to Asia. Give us context to why there's this growth in air travel in that region.
QUEST: Because if you go back to the United States, to the post-Carter deregulation in the 1980s, and you saw the explosion of air traffic that took place in the U.S. --
PEREIRA: Yes.
QUEST: It took place in Europe in the 1990s with EasyJet and Ryanair. And now in Asia you have AirAsia, you've got Tiger, you've got Scoot.
PEREIRA: TransAsia, right.
QUEST: You've got all these airlines. So Asia is catching up, maybe 20, 30, 40 years behind.
PEREIRA: Interesting.
QUEST: And the issue is whether infrastructure, training, capabilities, experience, whether these have kept up. And airlines will not admit it publicly, and many officials will not say it openly, but there is a view that the quality of airmanship in emergency situations is not --
PEREIRA: Is not up to snuff. QUEST: It's not as good as it perhaps might be. The planes are built to be flown by the medium to average to lower average. They are not built --
PEREIRA: That's shocking.
QUEST: Well, that's the reality of the world. Airbus and Boeing build planes to be flown by pilots that may not be first-class.
PEREIRA: That doesn't make me feel good as a flyer, Richard.
QUEST: It's a reality. In the same way that cars are built to be driven by the best drivers and the worst drivers.
PEREIRA: OK. All right.
QUEST: The issue becomes, when a crisis happens --
PEREIRA: Right, how do they react.
QUEST: How do they react? And that is the single biggest issue in aviation at the moment.
PEREIRA: Let's talk about some ratings, because you pointed us to airlineratings.com. They rate the airlines.
QUEST: Yes.
PEREIRA: And to point out, because it's important not to just sort of besmirch the entire Asian airline industry.
QUEST: Which are the top ones --
PEREIRA: The top ones -- the top three -- in the top 10 there are three Asian airlines with the highest rankings. But also please look, the lowest rankings are all Asian airlines. Why is there such discrepancy, such a wide-ranging --
QUEST: Well, because of the way they do this. I mean if you look at the top airlines, it was Qantas --
PEREIRA: Yes.
QUEST: It was Catha. It's Singapore Airlines. They're all way up there with the total number of stars that are available. So your major -- let's take Malaysia. It's been flying for 70 years.
PEREIRA: Yes.
QUEST: TransAsia had been flying for 40-odd years. So they're not like they're small, in the case of Malaysia, Scooby-doo airlines.
PEREIRA: Sure, sure, sure.
QUEST: The truth is, it all comes down to investment, training and experience. PEREIRA: Richard Quest, always an asset in these situations, thanks
for the context and the analysis. I appreciate it.
Chris.
CUOMO: I hope Richard's wrong about at least some of that.
And so on to our next controversy. The court of public opinion, for better or worse, is in session. The defendant, the man on your screen, NBC news anchor Brian Williams. He is issuing an apology for something that happened or didn't happen in Iraq. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIAN WILLIAMS, NBC NEWS ANCHOR: I made a mistake in recalling the events of 12 years ago.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: Apology accepted. Not an apology? How much should it matter anyway? You tell us, ahead.
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CAMEROTA: It's a dramatic account from the early stages of the Iraq War. NBC News anchor Brian Williams claimed that in 2003 he was aboard a U.S. military helicopter that was shot down by an RPG. Williams (INAUDIBLE) as part of an on (INAUDIBLE) to a soldier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIAN WILLIAMS, NBC NEWS ANCHOR: The story actually started with a terrible moment, a dozen years back, during the invasion of Iraq, when the helicopter we were traveling in was forced down after being hit by an RPG. Our traveling NBC News team was rescued, surround and kept alive by an armored mechanized platoon from the U.S. Army Third Infantry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: The trouble is, that story is not true.
Let's bring in host of "Reliable Sources" and CNN's senior media correspondent Brian Stelter.
Brian, great to see you.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: You too.
CAMEROTA: We've looked back at the chronology of Brian Williams talking about this dramatic event. Back in 2003, when it happened, he did not claim to be on the helicopter. Back in 2003, he said he was on a chopper that was like 45 minutes behind that helicopter that was shot down. But then, in 2007, the story started to morph where he started to say, we were shot down. All of our helicopters took RPGs. Something happened -- STELTER: Right, he became closer to the story. The story became murkier (INAUDIBLE) involved in the story over (INAUDIBLE). 2013 on the David Letterman program on CBS, he talked as if it may have been his helicopter that had been hit by the RPG. And then last week, as we all just heard, very explicitly says that his helicopter was hit. This just does not smell -- pass the smell test. You know, you may want to believe this is an innocent mistake, but how could anyone, how could anyone conflate being on a helicopter that did not take fire and being on a helicopter that did take fire? It just -- I understand why there are so many people scratching their heads this morning, wondering how in the heck did he get this wrong.
PEREIRA: He's saying, in his apology, he blames sort of a foggy memory. And granted 2003 is a long time ago. I can barely --
STELTER: And there is a fog of war. We all know that phrase.
PEREIRA: Well, we do know that. We do know that. What -- how does that sit with you?
STELTER: Well, I think -- I think the issue now is, all of those times in the past where, as you're saying, the story got murkier over time, that seems like it was many intentional and not just an innocent mistake. And the big question I think now on the table, what Williams did not address on air last night, is really how far he was away because if it is true, as "Stars and Stripes" newspaper has reported, as some of the soldiers have reported that his chopper was about an hour away, well, then why was he describing as if he was in the formation of four helicopters where this RPG attack happened.
PEREIRA: And if it was foggy, why keep bringing it up? If I don't remember something clearly, I have a tendency to just not keep bring it up.
CUOMO: Yes, I don't know why you guys bring up the fog of war. I don't think it applies. I --
PEREIRA: Well, I'm just curious, because that's what he -- he --
CAMEROTA: The fog of memory.
CUOMO: He's never mentioned fog of war and --
PEREIRA: But the fog of memory is what I'm talking about. Things can get murky.
STELTER: Yes, the fog of memory.
CUOMO: I don't know about fog. I think memory is either right or it is wrong and we're in the business of being right. But, I mean, I also think of being -- you have to look at, well, how big a deal is this? And that goes to the apology. Did he bring it out in a sufficient way? Did he apologize in the right way? How much does this matter? Because my concern is, you got a guy who's been doing this job for a long time at a high level.
STELTER: Yes.
CUOMO: I don't know him. He's not a friend of mine, all right, so this isn't about protecting the collective. If anything, I feel opposite about the media in general. But you know what's going to happen. They are starting to eat him alive. And I can understand being protective of one's self in that situation.
STELTER: Well, you say "they." I would say people like me are now looking at that chronology and trying to figure out --
CUOMO: No, I'm lying (ph). I'm saying, you know --
STELTER: Right.
CUOMO: Those -- the lesser outlets and, you know, the growing mass of the angry, you know?
STELTER: Well, immediately, folks are saying this is a lie. And I understand why they are saying that. In fact, some of the soldiers on FaceBook were calling him a liar.
CUOMO: Right.
STELTER: And they were saying that they've been trying to raise red flags about this for years.
CUOMO: Right. Not good.
STELTER: That's what's so notable, I think, about this story. We sat here a couple of weeks ago talking about a big media story at the time. I said what's great about the Internet is the power of accountability. Consumers can now hold powerful news anchors accountable. Well, that's exactly what's happening here. These soldiers spoke up on FaceBook and that's what triggered all this reporting this week and now this apology. But I don't think that apology went far enough because he's not explaining the rest of what happened.
CAMEROTA: We have a clip of the -- let's play a clip of the apology last night that Brian Williams issued.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIAN WILLIAMS, NBC NEWS ANCHOR: I want to apologize. I said I was traveling in an aircraft that was hit by RPG fire. I was instead in a following aircraft. We all landed after the ground fire incident and spent two harrowing nights in a sandstorm in the Iraq desert. This was a bungled attempt by me to thank one special veteran and by extension, our brave military men and women, veterans everywhere, those who have served while I did not. I hope they know they have my greatest respect and also now my apology.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: What's wrong with that apology? STELTER: He addressed what he said on air last week, but didn't
address these other cases, like on "The David Letterman Show" in 2013. So I think it was a halfway measure and it wasn't going all the way. And he is not addressing why people are saying he is lying about this as opposed to making a mistake. You know, 60 seconds on the "Nightly News" is probably not going to be enough here to fully address this. And we should say, as you said, Chris, one of the most important news anchors in our country. The single most-watched news anchor in our country. Trust and credibility is key here.
PEREIRA: Sure.
STELTER: Brian Williams has a lot of it. He has earned it over so many years. But this is a serious blow to that credibility.
CAMEROTA: Brian Stelter, thanks so much.
STELTER: Thanks.
CUOMO: All right, this is one of the stories out there, but there are a lot more important stories, there's a lot of news to get to this morning. So, let's get to it.
