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New Day
Extreme Cold Grips Midwest And East; Search For Missing Marines Expands; Key Moments Of Hillary Clinton's Campaign; Clinton And Sanders Clash In Democratic Debate; A New Phase Of U.S. Diplomacy With Iran. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired January 18, 2016 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:30:01] MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: -- scared me a little bit. Welcome back. Snowfall and extra cold temperatures are gripping the eastern half of the country this morning. Chad Myers, we need to prepare ourselves.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, I guess, 15 would be the lowest anywhere in the New York area would get, D.C., the big story is the snow coming on Thursday and Friday. It is the first biggie of the year. I don't use that term lightly.
Temperatures will be cold. This is the setup. We get the cold temperatures, wind chill New York City right now 15, D.C. 9, Philadelphia about the same. The cold air that's in place will allow a low pressure back over here to run up the east coast as a nor'easter on Thursday and Friday afternoon.
Will it be cold enough to snow? In most cases, the answer is yes. We are still 37 in New York City on Thursday afternoon. Probably colder by Friday. I believe the heaviest snow will be in the Poconos, the Allegheny's, all the way down to the Blue Ridge Parkway.
There are spots. The model is now five days out. There are spots on the models, both European and American, we talk about those all the time that could put down 18 to 24 inches somewhere along I-95 across maybe the beltway, maybe through Philadelphia, maybe the Poconos.
Still too early to tell whether this goes this way or this way. But if it does, one way or the other, there's a lot of snow coming down for big cities -- John.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, is the purple stuff where it's going to be the heaviest? I just need to know, asking for a friend.
MYERS: If the models are slightly left, the snow is here. If the models are slightly right, it's here.
BERMAN: It's like a hot dog of snow. All right, Chad Myers, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
The search for 12 Marines missing is expanding this morning after two military helicopters seemed to collide on Friday during a training flight off the Hawaiian island of Oahu. The search is widening along the north shore and extending at least 8 miles out to sea. Coast Guard officials say an oil slick was spotted and that some debris has been collected consistent with the types of aircraft they're now looking for.
The Marines have now been identified and their families are still holding out hope for a safe return.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: And a valiant attempt but ultimately a failure for SpaceX. The private space company tried to land this rocket on an unmanned platform in the Pacific Ocean. It toppled over, exploded like it got solid footing there.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said ice buildup may have been the problem. The rocket successfully put a weather satellite into low orbit. The company has been trying and trying to bring those rockets back safely so they can use them once again.
PEREIRA: So close but no cigar.
HARLOW: No.
PEREIRA: As the Democratic nomination continues to tighten, Clinton and Sanders intensifying their attacks. Is Hillary Clinton no longer the inevitable Democratic candidate? We'll take a look at that, ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:36:16]
PEREIRA: Two weeks to go until the Iowa caucuses, polls showing a virtual tie. Stakes couldn't be higher for Hillary Clinton. When she launched her campaign some nine months ago it was a bit of a different story.
She held a massive lead over Bernie Sanders and was lauded as the inevitable Democratic nominee. What has change? Well, CNN political analyst and editor-in-chief at "The Daily Beast," John Avlon may have some theories. Good morning, my dear.
JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning.
PEREIRA: So we look at Iowa two weeks away, he's in striking distance, off by two points. But that is what's more surprising because you look at what New Hampshire was showing. Hillary Clinton was way ahead, way, way ahead.
AVLON: Bernie Sanders --
PEREIRA: Sanders was.
AVLON: Sanders has a strong lead, Iowa, tight as a tick with two weeks out. Fight, fight, fight for the Democratic race.
PEREIRA: Let's take a look at history. We'll walk back to when she started the campaign. We remember the video that launched it all. Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm getting ready to do something, too. I'm running for president. Every day Americans need a champion and I want to be that champion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PEREIRA: What did this video signal about the message she was trying to get across?
AVLON: Two things right out of the gate. First of all, she was trying to position herself as the defender of main street America, folks who felt they hadn't gotten ahead in this economy and in terms of taking off every demographic group of the Democratic Party, that video did it consciously.
PEREIRA: Back then do you think they anticipated that it would be where it is now?
AVLON: I don't think people saw the Bernie ax coming. The incredible support for Bernie Sanders coming from the left, I don't think most watchers really thought this through.
PEREIRA: Given the Obama surprise, don't you think that she might have been more -- I don't know.
AVLON: Look, for all the hype about Bernie as the new Obama, I mean, there a hundred different reasons that didn't make sense.
PEREIRA: Moving through to the summer, she embarked on a listening tour.
AVLON: She does.
PEREIRA: We know this was something that frustrated us in the media. We didn't get a lot of opportunity to get to her. Do you think it served her well?
AVLON: Look, I think it lowered her vulnerabilities. This is a tactic she used when she first ran for Senate in New York. Sort of the idea that she's getting with folks and listening.
But that insulation from the media I think did cause a little bit of bad blood and the upset, but that really wasn't where things went wrong. It's what happened next.
PEREIRA: What happened next as we know is summer carries on. So too did the e-mail controversy. Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: I'm -- I have no idea. That's why we turned it over.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible). CLINTON: What like with a cloth or something? Well, no.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PEREIRA: Do you think this is what started it?
AVLON: You can see it in the polls she's losing a little bit of ground as one does once they actually get in the race and then all of a sudden, you go off a cliff right when the e-mail server scandal starts getting serious and she tries to make light of it.
Folks really start saying, look, there may be real security questions, ethical questions, legal questions, investigations and her handling of it did not help.
PEREIRA: But then we get into October 22nd when she testifies before the Benghazi committee. Her detractors might have thought this would dip yet it didn't.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: You know, I would imagine I thought more about what happened than all of you put together. I've lost more sleep than all of you put together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PEREIRA: She actually -- the way she responded, is that what held her strong do you think and caused her numbers to rise?
AVLON: It wasn't just that. Look, this was a moment of genuine high drama at the heart of a political campaign that's usually just kabuki, 11 hours of hearings, and the Clintons always benefit from opponents who overreach.
During that constant barrage, I think a lot of folks watched it and said, you know what, this is more about getting Hillary Clinton than finding a search for the truth. The numbers start to bend. Incredibly important moment in this campaign.
PEREIRA: Last night at the debate, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, got into it on everything from health care to guns.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[06:40:07]CLINTON: I have made it clear based on Senator Sanders' own record that he has voted with the NRA with the gun lobby numerous times. He voted against the Brady Bill five times. He voted for what we call the Charleston loophole.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PEREIRA: The question is, is she still the inevitable candidate?
AVLON: Look, I think the phrase inevitable does nobody any good, right, especially Hillary Clinton. That was the whole hit on her the first time in 2008. Inevitability and that faded away.
What she realizes is that she has a real challenge from Bernie Sanders and from the left-wing base of the Democratic Party. That's a particular problem in the first few contests.
So on guns, this is the one area she can get to Bernie Sanders left credibly because he represents Vermont, a very pro-gun state. She's trying to draw that wedge. This is a challenge she has to take seriously particularly out of the gate in Iowa, in New Hampshire, that neighboring state.
The big question, even if Bernie Sanders wins the first two states, does that change the outcome? Is she a more electable nominee than Bernie Sanders? The Bernie Sanders camp still has not made that sale.
PEREIRA: Two weeks to go until Iowa.
AVLON: Let's go.
PEREIRA: John, thanks so much. Make sure you get on to social media, give us your thoughts. We'll share some of thoughts with you a little later -- John.
BERMAN: Both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders blasting the governor of Michigan for how he's handled the water crisis in Flint. The governor is pointing the finger at the White House. New details, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders clashing like never before in the final Democratic debate before the Iowa caucuses. Clinton aligned herself with President Obama, promising to build on his successes.
[06:45:03]She insisted it would be a mistake to tear down Obamacare while accusing Sanders of backing the NRA. Sanders bashed Clinton for taking money from big banks and he for pressing for a Medicare for all single payer health care system.
PEREIRA: In Western Michigan, state police are blaming whiteout conditions for a series of car crashes involving more than 60 vehicles. Look at that, one person was killed. That number could rise.
Police were clearing up the first crash along Interstate 94 near Hartford Sunday. Another collection of cars and trucks then collided. A third wreck with six trucks and a dozen cars happened later along the very same stretch.
HARLOW: Also in Michigan, Governor Rick Snyder will appeal the Obama administration's decision to declare Flint, Michigan, a federal emergency instead of a disaster zone.
The White House has authorized $5 million to try to get a handle on that horrific water contamination crisis. Snyder, though, wants them to deem it something else so he can get $96 million in federal aid.
At the same time, this fight is going on, donations continue to pour in. Actress and singer, Cher sending more than 100,000 bottles of water to Flint this week.
BERMAN: Breaking panda news. Bei Bei, the 5-month-old giant panda cub made his public debut at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington. What a debut it was. He was asleep most of the time. One of his keepers says he is bigger and better behaved than his sister, Bao Bao. Going negative. It's Washington.
HARLOE: It's just want to scratch the belly right there. Bei Bei.
PEREIRA: Peyton Manning and Tom Brady both going to the AFC championship game once again. The winner headed to Super Bowl XL. Coy Wire has more in our "Bleacher Report" this morning.
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS: Good morning, guys. Thanks for making John Berman take off his Patriots jersey this morning before he came to work.
What an awesome weekend of football. The Patriots, Cardinals punched their tickets to the conference championship game Saturday.
And then yesterday, the Panthers and Broncos did the same. With that Broncos game, Peyton Manning, he gets the start for the Broncos. Just like all season long, Broncos dominant defense, look at Bradley Roby, knocking the ball loose in the fourth quarter.
It didn't take long. Peyton Manning strikes back, wastes no time. Third and long, finds a teammate for the huge gain which would set up the go-ahead touchdown. The broncos win 23-16.
Setting up John Berman's Tom Brady and the Patriots versus Manning and the Broncos, round 17 next Sunday in the AFC championship game. Brady's dominated their matchups. He's won 11 of 16. They're 2-2 in the playoffs. Manning's won the last two.
We shall see what happens. The Panthers they came out fired up again the Seahawks to earn their spot into the NFC championship game. The offense scored in less than three minutes. On the Seahawks first possession, Luke Kuechly, so beastly, picks off Russell Wilson, runs it back to the house.
The Panthers scored 31 unanswered points in the first half, overpowering the Seahawks across the board. The Seahawks kept fighting. Came out in the second half, scored 24 straight, put them within a score of the onside kick to give them a shot comes up short. Panthers win, 31-24.
They'll host the Arizona Cardinals in the late game Sunday in the NFC championship. It has just been an incredible bout so far of these NFL playoff action, guys.
BERMAN: Great game. Great games this weekend. Thanks so much, Coy.
PEREIRA: He may not have his jersey on, but he has the socks on.
BERMAN: Not just the socks. All right, it has been hailed by some as a new beginning for U.S. relations with Iran. But is it a whole new day?
Long-time economic sanctions now lifted. U.S. prisoners who were in Iran are now on their way home. So what are the next steps in this new relationship with an old enemy? That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:53:05]
HARLOW: Welcome back to NEW DAY. This morning, a sign of changing relations between the United States and Iran. Three Americans on their way home after a successful prisoner swap, negotiated, but could there still be trouble?
A lot of questions, a lot of finger-pointing. Several international economic sanctions have been lifted against Iran, but a new round of sanctions was imposed over the weekend by the United States for this ballistic missiles test.
Joining us now, Hillary Mann Leverett. She is a former Security Council adviser to both the Clinton and Bush administration. She is also the author of "Going To Tehran: Why America Must Accept The Islamic Republic Of Iran."
Thank you so much for joining me. Big picture here, when you look at who won out ahead of the key parliamentary elections next month in Tehran, when you look at Zarif and President Rouhani, it seems as though they have turned the corner, the moderates are winning here versus the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, the Ayatollah.
HILLARY MANN LEVERETT, AUTHOR, "GOING TO TEHRAN": It's a tremendous victory, I would say, across the board in Iran. The various power centers in Iran all had a hand in this. Foreign Minister Zarif actually didn't do it on his own.
He's an incredibly important figure, almost like Henry Kissinger in our American context. He is an incredible statesman, but he also understands the domestic system in Iran.
He's a royal revolutionary to the Islamic public with connections across the board and he has delivered in an incredibly important political way, not just the moderates and the pragmatists, but also delivered what we called the hardliners.
They all had a vested interest in this outcome and to do a cursory read of the Iranian press this morning, it's really full support. Still some lingering criticism, but the whole system really got behind this, and that's what matters for the United States.
We can't just rely on one person or one faction. The importance of this is that the entire system in Iran has gotten behind it and has a vested interest in a successful diplomatic outcome. HARLOW: You've talked about how you think the United States needs to take a page out of the Nixon/China handbook and accept Iran.
[06:55:10] However, there a number of critics, including all of the Republicans that are running for president. You can't help but to think back to 1994, Bill Clinton, president then, you were working with him, talking about the U.S., North Korea nuclear agreement. Let's play that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FORMER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON: This is a good deal for the United States. North Korea will freeze and then dismantle its nuclear program. South Korea and our other allies will be better protected. The entire world will be safer, as we slow the spread of nuclear weapons.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: A lot of hope and optimism around that moment. Look what happened. How does this not become that?
LEVERETT: Well, you know, I think the deeper, more profound analogy is President Nixon and China. And what Nixon understood about China is that China's system was not going to change overnight, if at all.
And if we kept hanging our hat on how evil China was or how these smaller, stand-alone agreements could transform China, we would be the strategic loser.
So what he understood was China was a rising power on the international stage, and either we could go to war with it, or we could accept it, get out of Vietnam, and resurrect American power. We have the same choice here today.
We can either look at Iran as the rising power that it is, work with it, where we can, have it in our interest to promote American interests, or we could take the whole approach that there's still this evil, unrepentant regime.
And that's going to get us right back on to the road of confrontation, or put on rose-colored are grasses and pretend everything's going to be fine. They're going to become a pro-American secular political order.
That's just fantasy. To me, the realist approach is really the way to go. Certainly as Nixon looked at China.
HARLOW: Certainly a victory lap for the president yesterday morning. We'll hear from Secretary Kerry in our interview with him this morning in about an hour's time. But at the same time, the president certainly issued caution and said we are looking very, very closely and talked about the new sanctions. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We still have sanctions on Iran for its violations of human rights, for its support of terrorism, and for its ballistic missile program. And we will continue to enforce these sanctions vigorously.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: You call those sanctions meaningless. Why?
LEVERETT: It's basically just a sap to domestic policies here in Washington and some of our allies in the Middle East. We have re- designated Iranian entities that are already designated for things we don't like that Iran is doing.
It really adds nothing new to the sanctions that we have imposed on Iran. The only thing it really does is send a signal to Iran that we may continue to take a hold-your-nose approach and not really, genuinely work with rising Iran, you know, to partner with them where we can, and deal with them as the rising power they are.
HARLOW: And before I let you go, obviously the United States in this prisoner swap released seven people, seven Iranians from U.S. prisons. They noted, not for violent crimes, but for sanctions-related violations. But Americans this morning are waking up in the dark as to who those people are. What do we know about them?
LEVERETT: Well, we know that -- and there are many more Iranians here in American prisons. So one of the Republican criticisms, you know, from the presidential hopefuls, is that this is a bad deal, somehow lopsided we gave up more Iranians than they gave up Americans. But there are many more Iranians who languish in prisons here --
HARLOW: But what do we know about these seven?
LEVERETT: These people here -- the U.S. government was very particular. It focused on those that had been convicted or were being investigated for sanctions violations. Now that we're lifting the sanctions, it doesn't make that much sense to continue to hold people for violations that we're no longer are saying are illegal going forward.
That was the rationale, not looking for people convicted of terrorism or anything violent, but looking at people who were convicted for sanctions violations, as we're lifting those sanctions, and they may not be illegal going forward. That was the rationale, I think, here within the U.S. government.
HARLOW: All right, Hillary Mann Leverett, appreciate your time this morning. Thank you so much. We have a lot of news to get to this morning. Let's get right to it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are running ahead of Secretary Clinton in terms of taking on my good friend, Donald Trump.
CLINTON: We're at least having a vigorous debate about reining in Wall Street.
SANDERS: I have a d-minus voting from the NRA.
CLINTON: He has voted with the gun lobby numerous times. He voted against doing research to figure out how we can save lives.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE ((via telephone): I always felt that he would be released eventually, but I was concerned that it could be many years.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just can't wait to see him again.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Engaging directly with the Iranian government on a sustained basis for the first time in decades has created a unique opportunity.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The only criminal charge that Cosby has ever faced might soon fall apart.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Cosby gave up one of the most valuable rights we possess, the right against self --
