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New Day

East Coast Digging Out from Historic Blizzard; Brief Warmup to Help Those Digging Out; Broncos & Panthers Advance to Super Bowl 50; Clinton, Sanders Prepare Final Pitches to Iowa. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired January 25, 2016 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The big clean up begins.

[05:58:42] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The storm definitely lived up to the hype.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Four feet of snow. That's a lot to handle.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This will probably be our most expensive snow event ever.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm going to do the best I can to make sure that I get the nomination.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The American people don't want to see our nation move toward an oligarchy, where billionaires control the political process.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This guy, Bernie Sanders, give me a break.

GLENN BECK, CONSERVATIVE COMMENTATOR: If Donald Trump wins, it's going to be a snowball to hell.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Way to go, baby! Way to go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Denver wins a wild one, 20-18, earning the Broncos their eighth Super Bowl berth, trying them for the most by any team in NFL history.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota and Michaela Pereira.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY.

It is Monday, January 25, 6 a.m. here in the east. Chris is live in Iowa, ahead of tonight's CNN Democratic forum, and John Berman -- hi, Chris -- joins me here in studio.

So we begin with the dig out from that historic blizzard that dumped mountains of snow over millions of people from the Carolinas to New England. The storm crippling cities and smashing records. Getting around after the blizzard proving more challenging than many predicted, and cleaning up several feet of snow could take days. And it is proving deadly for some.

So we have this dig out from the blizzard covered the way only CNN can. Let's begin with Jason Carroll. He's live outside of New York's Penn State as commuters try to get back to work this morning.

That should be a challenge, Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely a challenge, especially out on the Long Island Railroad. Service was supposed to resume at 5 a.m. That's been pushed back, Alisyn, to 7 a.m.

That's because some of the rails refroze overnight. So a lot of folks out here looking at suspended service, trying to figure out when they're going to be even able to get on their trains. You know, the Long Island Railroad serves hundreds of thousands of people every day. So problems here as cities across the East Coast start digging out from that massive winter storm.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAYOR STEPHANIE RAWLINGS-BLAKE, BALTIMORE: This is a complicated snow removal effort.

CARROLL (voice-over): This morning the historic and deadly winter storm is still paralyzing parts of the northeast. Millions continue trying to dig and plow out of the winter's record-breaking aftermath. You can see snow enveloping more than 13 states in white.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There you go. There you go.

CARROLL: Officials now warning the melting slush may refreeze overnight, causing dangerous icy conditions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You might be cruising along at 50 miles an hour, and then you're going to hit snow. And we're going to have some accidents.

CARROLL: Crews in several states are still working around the clock to get metro, train, and bus services back up and running. In New York, the Long Island Railroad sustained significant damage during the storm, forcing officials to only open 80 percent of the busiest commuter railroad in North America.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It will be a slow start.

CARROLL: The snowstorm dropping over 26 inches in Central Park, the second largest snowfall in New York City history. Glengary, West Virginia, two hours west of Washington, D.C., was the hardest hit, with over 42 inches covering their small town. The feet of heavy snow collapsing roofs in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

BILL DE BLASIO, MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY: I believe at the end of the day this will probably be our most expensive snow event ever. CARROLL: This as reports rise to at least 30 deaths by the crippling

winter storm.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I tried to help.

CARROLL: In New Jersey, a mother and her 1-year-old son died, waiting inside this car to stay warm. But snow was covering the tail pipe, and carbon monoxide quickly suffocated the family.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, when the muffler is covered, you can't be sitting in the car that long. It's really sad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL: So now the shoveling and the dig-out begins not just here but in many cities on the East Coast. One of the trouble spots here, John, in New York City is Queens, where some of the secondary streets still have not been plowed. Folks out there still waiting for that. The mayor saying expect at least half-hour delays, no matter where you're trying to get to in the city. Folks on the Long Island Railroad looking at delays much longer than that -- John.

BERMAN: All right, Jason. Thanks so much. That's a look from New York. The historic blizzard crippling the nation's capital, forcing government offices and schools that shut down this morning. The cleanup there, it could take days.

CNN's Nick Valencia live near the U.S. Capitol in D.C. with more.

Nick, how's it going?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

We're cold out here today. We're right smack in the middle of day two of the cleanup efforts here in the nation's capital. Just take a look at all of this snow. This, of course, not necessarily a snowdrift but created by the hundreds of pieces of heavy equipment being brought in for that cleanup effort. Let me show you what I'm talking about.

Take a look behind me here. This is not something that you see every day here in the district. Heavy machinery being brought in. These plows, these spreaders. And literally, they're coming in to haul out the tons and tons of snow that was created from that massive winter storm that affected up and down the East Coast, specifically here. More than 22 inches fell in the nation's capital. That's the result of 34 straight hours of consistent snow.

And just when you think you're getting a break, there's more rain forecast later this week. On Tuesday, they're expected to get some rain here, and with all of this snow here, you know what that means: nowhere to go. That could really create some problems for flooding. Already, it's closed the majority of businesses here. Federal government, local government also not expected to show up to work today -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: All right, Nick, thanks so much for that update. Airlines trying to get back to normal after the epic blizzard

paralyzed major airports throughout the Northeast. But this morning, more than 1,200 flights still canceled. New York's airport are open, so how about air travel to and from Washington?

CNN's Rene Marsh is live at Washington's Reagan National Airport with a ripple effect there. Rene, what's it looking like?

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I can tell you, Alisyn, we were here 24 hours ago, and we were the only ones here. But what a difference 24 hours makes. You can take a look. There are actually people -- they're smiling now, because they have their luggage. And they probably have a boarding pass. This is what they've been waiting for, for days.

[06:05:11] People are checking in. Not a lot of planes here at this point. But here at Reagan National, as well as Dulles, they are resuming limited service at Reagan National and Dulles. These are the last two airports to get up and running after this monstrous storm.

Of course, yesterday we saw New York City, Philadelphia, as well as Baltimore. They resumed limited services. But again, as we said, a lot of these airports still struggling with cancellations and delays. Newark, LaGuardia, as well as Washington/Dulles. You're seeing lots of delays today. And specific airlines, United and American, they're still dealing with delays. These airports are their hubs. Reagan National, a hub for American, Dulles a hub for United. So you know, likely, that is the reason why we're seeing such high cancellations for those airlines.

Back to you -- John.

BERMAN: It's going to take time to untangle this. Rene Marsh, thanks so much. What about the snow? How long will it take to melt the mountains of that? Joining us now is Chad Myers. Chad, any warmup any time soon?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. We get to 40, 43. The problem is snow blind. This white snow is so bright right now. When the sun comes out today, you are going to need some sunglasses as you drive. And make sure that shade is ready to go down as you start to drive to the east anywhere.

Yes, we warm up a little bit, but we're not going to melt 25 inches of snow with 40 degrees. It's going to need to be much warmer than that. The snow came down right as some of the models said they would.

Now, a lot of the, as we talked about, models Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday didn't do so well for New York City. But by the time we got into Friday and Saturday, things began to ramp up. We knew it was coming.

The RPM model here, the Random Precip model -- there we go -- for New York City about 18 inches. And in fact, we got 26.

So remember what we got there. But Dulles was good. Baltimore is good. Richmond, I think you probably had a decent forecast there. Philadelphia. We had 16 to 20, and there was 20 inches there exactly.

There goes the next storm for Thursday and all these threats of the next storm. I don't see it. It is offshore. The threats of the rain coming in. I don't see them. They are now just to the southeast of where the snow is. What you're going to have to watch out for, though, are roof collapses. Now the snow gets heavier and heavier as it collects moisture from the air. That's a problem.

Also, every night it does get below freezing. And everything that slushes during the day is another ice chunk in the morning. I noticed that this morning as I was walking to work today.

CAMEROTA: Yes, it is still treacherous. All right, Chad, thanks so much for that.

Joining us now on the phone with an update on clean-up efforts in our nation's capital is Chris Geldart. He's the director of the District of Columbia's homeland security and emergency management. Mr. Geldart, thanks for being with us.

CHRIS GELDART, DIRECTOR OF D.C. HOMELAND SECURITY AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT (via phone): Morning, all.

CAMEROTA: So tell us -- give us a status report. We know that you had a record breaker down there in D.C. Why can't schools and federal offices open today?

GELDART: You know, Alisyn, we have, like you said, record-breaking snow. We are continuing to move that snow. And actually, our cleanup efforts are well under way, and I think our crews are doing great.

However, the way we rely on our metro system and the way that we rely on trains and the buses both to help us move our students around the city, without a full Metro service and with the very slick conditions this morning and the icing that we're going to see through most of the morning, it's just too dangerous to bring students in.

CAMEROTA: What is your biggest concern this morning?

GELDART: Our biggest concern is to continue with the cleanup. We want to get our city back in business as quickly as possible. Of course, the ice this morning, the refreezing, that takes a little bit more time for us. Creates a little bit more dangerous situation out there for crews out there and also for folks that want to be out on the road.

So we just really want to make sure that folks are staying indoors. We have this extra day of cleanup and close government, close schools. We want to get that done while our residents help with the sidewalks. And we want to make sure our crews are safe and our residents are safe on the streets.

CAMEROTA: Yes, I mean, listen, obviously, safety first. But Chris, why is it harder to dig out in D.C. than it has proved in New York, where we also got 26 inches of snow? GELDART: I'm not so certain that it's harder to dig out in D.C. I

mean, we do have, you know, some hilly areas. We have a little bit of different terrain and topography that actually our city does. I don't know if we have much of a difference in your timelines. Both cities digging out, both cities show a pavement on main roads and arterials. Both cities, you know, still having to remove the snow, unlike periods that are suburban where you can just push the snow off on the grass, the cities actually have to remove it. So you go through. You plow. You find you have to send the Bobcats and front-end loaders, the dump trucks to pull it, haul it, and deposit it someplace.

[06:10:03] CAMEROTA: No, I just mean that New York is back to functioning this morning. You know, all the offices are open. Schools are open. And so what is it about D.C. that's keeping everything closed?

GELDART: You know, literally, it's getting through the streets, getting through the snow and moving it all, and getting picked up. You know, that's what we're working on today and that's what we're working on through the day and through the rest of the week.

CAMEROTA: I read that you said, quote, "We're still in that time frame when really bad things can happen." What -- what exactly are you referring to?

GELDART: You know, that was as we were coming up the back way into the storm, and we had a lot of people that are trying to get out and dig out. We still have, as was mentioned earlier on your show, the danger of roof collapses. We had two of those in surrounding jurisdictions yesterday. We have had one here.

And we want to make sure that folks understand that this is still a dangerous situation. We have frozen roads, frozen sidewalks. We have the snow on the roofs. We have that danger. We just want to make sure people are being safe clean up and we can get this cleaned up and everybody get back to normal.

CAMEROTA: Absolutely. Thanks for all the warnings this morning. Chris Geldart, we wish you best of luck as you make your way digging out there. Thanks for being with us.

GELDART: Thank you, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK. John.

BERMAN: All right. ISIS releasing a new propaganda message with final messages from the terrorist attackers which shows the names and faces of the nine terrorists that carried out the November attacks, including the suspected ring leader, Abdelhamid Abaaoud. ISIS claimed responsibility for these attacks that killed 130 people. But the tape is the first real admission that the order came from the very top of the terror group.

CAMEROTA: Thai investigators expected to join a Malaysian team examining a large piece of curved metal found off the southern coat of Thailand over the weekend. The Malaysian transport minister said it's too soon to say whether this could be debris from MH-370. The Malaysian Airlines flight from Kuala Lumpur vanished on its way to Beijing with 239 people on board more than two years ago.

BERMAN: Super Bowl 50 is now set, and it is Peyton Manning and the Bronco -- Denver Broncos going up against Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers.

Coy Wire at the scene of the crime, in Denver, the site of the AFC title game. What happened?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Oh, goodness, John. Awesomeness happened. I played nine years in the NFL, and I've seen a lot of games. This was one of the most exciting and intense games I've ever witnessed. Two NFL legends, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, fighting for a chance to go to the Super Bowl was simply surreal.

Manning had two touchdown passes in this game, which doubled his total, a touchdown in Denver all season. Two of them went to Owen Daniels. Brady, he wouldn't go quietly, though. You knew they were going to come back, fourth down, 12 seconds to go. And here is Rob Gronkowski for the touchdown. Cutting the lead to two. And that meant they had to go for two.

So the Broncos defense, as they did all game long, they ended up sealing the deal. Pats can't get it done.

Peyton Manning is now his last three consecutive playoff meetings against Tom Brady and the Patriots in Denver. With that win, 20-18, they earned their eighth Super Bowl berth, tying them for the most by any team in NFL history.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: As John mentioned, those Broncos are now going to face the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50. And oh, my goodness, did Cam Newton show why he was going to be named the league's MVP. Threw for three touchdowns, ran for two more.

But it was that big play defense just dominating the Cardinals all game, forcing seven turnovers. They blew this one out of the water. The Panthers win, 49-15. And they score the most points ever in an NFC championship game.

Super Bowl 50 happening February 7 in Santa Clara, California. Panthers making their second Super Bowl appearance, while Peyton Manning making his fourth and a nearly 40 nears -- 40 years old, he would be the oldest starting quarterback in Super Bowl history, guys.

CAMEROTA: How you feeling, John.

BERMAN: The Broncos were better. They were just flat-out better yesterday. The Patriots wouldn't give up. I have to say, the Patriots were down the whole game. The fourth quarter, they had so many fourth and tens. They couldn't convert them. They just kept trying and trying and trying. They had a shot. Tom Brady, by the way, is still pretty.

CAMEROTA: He is. Thank goodness.

BERMAN: Thank goodness.

CAMEROTA: The game didn't change that. I want Coy's saying on a bumper sticker, "Awesomeness happens."

BERMAN: That's not how I feel.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: I've got to tell you, you know, Alisyn -- Alisyn, the reason that we love these big games is that very often they give you moments you're not going to forget.

And I have to say, I could hear J.B.'s screams of delight and pain all the way here in Iowa, going through the end of that game. When Brady marched those guys back down on that field, he was so cool, he was so calm.

Gronkowski obviously not 100 percent, Coy. Yet, making that catch over two defenders, over the shoulder, the touchdown catch after he had obviously been pulled down on the series before, with which he was all upset about the end zone. Really shows why Brady has a great case to be one of the greatest of all times.

And Coy, that contrast in mood between him and Cam Newton, would be interesting to see how Cam keeps it together during the game. Right?

WIRE: No doubt about it. They're like fire and ice, thunder and lightning. We'll see. We get one of the greatest old-school legends of all time. Peyton Manning against the hottest up and comer dual threat quarterback in the game in Cam Newton. What an epic matchup it's going to be in Super Bowl 50, guys.

CAMEROTA: That's good. All right, Coy, thanks so much. We'll talk about it, perhaps, more on the show.

Chris, tell us what's going on out there in Iowa.

CUOMO: Well, we have the last call town hall, Alisyn. It doesn't get more real in politics than facing a voter and convincing them that you can help them with what their problem is. And that is the situation for the candidates tonight. You can argue it is the last best chance to move the needle here in Iowa. We have where things stand and what we expect tonight coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:20:27] CUOMO: Clinton and Sanders are pitching contrasting messages to Iowans. From Clinton, realism. From Sanders, revolution. What is the state of the play, the state's potential swing factor? We could be the answer to that last question with tonight's big Democratic town hall, here on CNN at 9 p.m. Eastern, because it is perhaps the last best chance for candidates to move the needle in a big way.

Here this morning, CNN politics executive editor, Mr. Mark Preston; and CNN senior Washington correspondent, Jeff Zeleny. Gentlemen, good to see you both.

Jeff, you've been doing the hustle on the hustings. When you are out there, how would you describe the state of play of the two campaigns?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: The state of play is the energy and the excitement is with Bernie Sanders, no question about it. I was with him all last night and through the weekend. It's a great side-by-side example in the town of Clinton, Iowa, aptly named.

Along the Mississippi River, the east part of the state, she had about 400 people or so in the afternoon. An hour later, Bernie Sanders had at least twice as many people, younger people, people who were shouting "feel the Bern." Now, that's just one example of the energy is with Senator Sanders.

The question is, A, are all those people from Iowa; and, B, are they going to turn out on the caucuses. The caucuses, it's not a primary election. We can't say that enough. There are 1,681 precincts across the state. You have to get your people to that exact place next Monday night, 7 p.m. Can the Sanders campaign organize them to do that? That's the unknown question.

CUOMO: What are you hearing from the teams? What are they saying? Because you know, sometimes, they're trying to pump you like, "Hey, you better be ready for 'X'." And sometimes they're saying, "Look, we quality with what we see as success." What are you hearing?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: I think that the folks continue to talk about long game, long game, long game. Even if they were to lose Iowa, it's a long game. And they feel like they have the infrastructure in states that will go beyond Iowa, New Hampshire, hit South Carolina.

And then you start growing into Super Tuesdays. For the Sanders campaign, though, they really need momentum. Great. The idea is they need a really strong showing here to try to get more boost behind their campaign so that they can roll into New Hampshire right now where they have, you know, a very sizable lead over Hillary Clinton.

What's interesting is that there's been only two major candidates who have gone on to win the nomination who have not won Iowa and New Hampshire. The first person is George McGovern. The second person is Bill Clinton.

So there is precedent, but you have to win one of them usually. CUOMO: So when we're looking at the analysis of the race, we're starting to hear this 2008 all over again for Hillary. For good and bad reason. This idea that someone has captured the heart of the party, and it's not her. That's what it was with Barack Obama, then- senator, now president. Give me a similarity and a difference in Sanders' campaign versus Obama's, because you covered them both in the same period.

ZELENY: No question. I mean, the similarity is the energy and the faces of the voters. A lot of these voters were not able to vote for President Obama. They are the 17- through 25-year-olds who are out there for Bernie Sanders. They don't necessarily like everything that the president has done. This is the energy is on the left side of the party. The people who believe that the president should have done more.

So the similarities are the energy from young voters. The differences are the organization. The Obama campaign spent a year here, all of 2007, really building something that has never been done before. And they expanded the universe of the Iowa caucuses.

In '08, 230,000 people came out and caucused, 100,000 more than the four years before that. So the Sanders campaign, the difference is the organization. They do not have as many offices in towns across the city. For Obama it was critical to win here to show a black candidate can win in a white state. Sanders, all this is coming just coming sort of at the end here. They have not been sort of building. But social media is different. That's the key point here. In '16, totally different than '08. Bernie Sanders is going to hopefully, in his view, drive these people to the caucuses through the power of social media.

It's never been done before. We'll see if it works.

And to that point, too, if you go back to 2008, you also had college students, you know, which were a big segment of the Obama coalition. They weren't here in Iowa, because they weren't back at school. The caucuses were a month earlier. Sanders has those kids now that are here. The question is can he get those kids out?

Even more so, There is the logistical challenge that a lot of these kids who are back at school are not where they're supposed to be caucusing. So the Sanders campaign is trying to get these kids from their colleges back to their home towns to caucus on Monday night.

CUOMO: How big a deal is tonight? What needs to happen? What would be the worst thing that could happen?

[06:25:04] PRESTON: The worst thing that could happen is that you could have Hillary Clinton for the Clinton campaign, if Hillary Clinton were to come off as being too aggressive, too defensive; doesn't look like she's a leader. She's playing the pragmatic politician and feels that she's completely on the defensive.

For Bernie Sanders, it's that he has that moment where she's not able to convince that audience of 5, 600 people that are going to be there that he actually has the gravitas, the knowledge to handle big issues beyond domestic policy but, really, foreign policy.

CUOMO: Jeff, in terms of what this outcome means going to the next one, that was a really good piece of history that Preston just gave us. You don't have a lot of examples of people who don't get it done here who go on to get it done. Right now, if they were to hold it, the Sanders campaign says if they did it today, we win. Where's the confidence coming from?

ZELENY: The confidence is coming from the crowds, the enthusiasm. He is closing strong here. So the overall question, we've covered so many of these. Is Bernie Sanders Howard Dean, who sort of had a great preseason year and then collapsed? Or is he Barack Obama?

And Bernie Sanders is closing strong at the end here. So the confidence is coming from the size of his crowds. On Tuesday, Bernie Sanders is not spending the day in Iowa. He's going north to Minnesota. Why is he doing that? The Minnesota caucuses, Super Tuesday, March 1, is a good place for him.

So he's looking ahead, too, to those caucus states that Obama won. But the challenge for Sanders is, if he doesn't win here, that will pop that balloon a little bit. So he knows that Iowa is important and those young voters so important.

Such a good point about colleges, because so many small towns across Iowa have colleges. Grinnell and the University of Northern Iowa, Luther College in De Coeur. Sanders has been to each one of those campuses. He's going to all of them again this week.

CUOMO: Disproportionate ratio of enthusiasm, when you go to the college towns here in Iowa, Bernie Sanders giving a big push there. The press made another good point last night about Governor O'Malley, that this is his last best chance to be on equal footing with these two candidates and take a bite out of the action of one or both. I know that because I have spent a lot of quality time with Mr. Mark Preston. One of the mahafs (ph) here on the political side.

Jeff Zeleny, thank you very much.

Preston has been helping us get ready for the town hall tonight. We have all three Democratic candidates participating. Tonight 9 Eastern, 30 minutes each, taking questions in large part from you, the voters. Real issues that people are confronting in their lives and a desire for real solutions. Who's going to go first? Bernie Sanders is going to go first. Who's going to go second? Martin O'Malley is going to go second. I bet you can figure out, then, who goes third. Hillary Clinton. Tune in tonight, CNN Democratic presidential town hall, 9 Eastern live here from Drake University, Alisyn. I got you a mug. Just in case you were worried...

CAMEROTA: Thank you.

CUOMO: ... that I'm drinking out of it. Don't worry. My cold's going away.

CAMEROTA: Chris, thank you for that generous gesture. And I can't wait for tonight. It's going to be really fascinating. So I love that you're giving us the preview through the show throughout the morning. So we'll be back with you momentarily.

But first, the big dig -- the big dig-out, I should say, is under way. This blizzard was one for the record books. How does it compare to winter storms of the past? We'll crunch those numbers next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)