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Winter Weather Outlook; Pence Picks Fight with Manchin; Gowdy Not Seeking Re-election; Brady Shares Minnesota Memories; Congressmen Jump Into Action; Nunes Memo Altered. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired February 01, 2018 - 06:30   ET

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

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[06:32:44] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: The Trump administration is extending temporary protected status for thousands of Syrians living in the United States for another 18 months. They've been exempted from deportation since 2012 because of the ongoing civil war in Syria. Homeland Security officials say Syrians who arrived here after August 2016 will not be eligible under this new policy.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: A Polish-born doctor detained by immigration officials after living in the U.S. for nearly 40 years is expected to be released today on $10,000 bond. Dr. Lukasz Niec was taken into custody by ICE agents in mid-January. The Michigan doctor was five years old when his parents fled Poland in 1979. He received a temporary green card and later became a lawful permanent resident. Dr. Niec came under scrutiny because of 18 encounters with police in his past. Now, most of them were traffic violations. There was a child abuse claim against him. It was investigated and found to be unsubstantiated. His family has launched a legal fight to keep him in the United States.

CAMEROTA: OK, a blast of cold air and snow set to invade the northeast. When will it hit?

I didn't know we haven't been having a blast of cold air. Did we have a respite from that?

CUOMO: I know. What is now balmy?

CAMEROTA: What's happening, Chad Myers, in your forecast?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, I know where you are and I know what your feels-like temperature is and I know where Andy Scholes is in Minneapolis and what he's going through. So we're just going to take a deep breath. Wait until you see Andy's live shot there in a couple minutes. It feels like 24 degrees below zero in Minneapolis. It is caffeine and a nap kind of morning.

This weather's brought to you by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, packed with goodness.

Now, this forecast is not packed with goodness at all. Temperatures are well below zero. We do get up above zero today in Minneapolis but the arctic blast is on the way. It's going to change what will be a rain event today in New York to a snow event late tonight, but it will be only late, late tonight. Today is in really, really good shape. You're warm enough to have rain today. It's going to rain in the Ohio Valley. It's going to rain through Charleston, West Virginia. And in the Delaware Water Gap. But we will see that rain change over to snow as the cold air comes in.

It is one thing after another here. New York City, 31 tomorrow. It's going to be colder than that in the morning and that's when roads will get icy. Guys, you need to get an early start tomorrow in the northeast. It's going to be a little bit frozen out there.

[06:35:06] CUOMO: All right, Chad, appreciate it.

MYERS: You bet.

CUOMO: Got to come with the facts. That's how it is.

MYERS: Right.

CUOMO: All right, so Senator Joe Manchin, the Democrat from West Virginia, made some of his own angry said he should, you know, you should stand for the president, you should be respectful, we should work together. You know how the White House paid him back? By sending the vice president down to his home district to attack him and say Joe voted no when it mattered to you most. Manchin responded by saying this is why Washington sucks. We'll take you inside what happened and why, next.

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CAMEROTA: Vice President Mike Pence seeming to take a page from the president's playback during a visit to West Virginia. The VP slammed the state's Democratic Senator Joe Manchin for voting against the tax plan. The vice president attacked the senator five times on Twitter with the #joevotedno.

[06:40:017] Manchin faces a tough re-election bid. He fired right back.

Let's discuss all of this with CNN political analysts John Avlon and David Drucker.

John Avlon, here's how Joe Manchin fired back. Let me read to you his statement.

I am shocked that after the vice president worked for almost a year in a divisive and partisan way to take health care away from almost 200,000 West Virginians, bankrupt our hospital and push tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and huge corporations that he would come to West Virginia and continue his partisan attacks. The vice president's comments are exactly why Washington sucks.

JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Full quote.

CAMEROTA: Yes, I mean, there you go. And they went after Joe Manchin. Mr. like, bipartisan, I'll cross the aisle. It was Joe Manchin who just this week --

AVLON: Yes.

CAMEROTA: Said that Democrats weren't being respectful during the president's State of the Union.

AVLON: Yes, and the fact the vice president did it on Twitter, uncharacteristically. This is not his -- you know, chosen medium of attack. Multiple times when the Republicans were meeting in West Virginia.

Look, this was coordinated. This is designed to try to soften up Manchin. Remember, Trump won West Virginia by 42 points. But it's indecent because it goes at a guy whose tried to work with the administration.

CUOMO: Right.

AVLON: And watch the pushback. The pushback's fascinating by Manchin because, a, he goes after them for trying to take health care away from people. Obamacare's more popular than Republicans want to acknowledge. He says the tax cut was about millionaires. Playing the class card in a state where that matters. And, finally, a lesson from Trump, give a statement the way people talk. This is why Washington sucks. That's indelible. So a strong pushback by Manchin.

CUOMO: And, David Drucker, it's also just proof of maybe an unwillingness to work with the other side. If you're not going to reward Manchin for standing up for you and getting all of his own people mad at him, it just shows what you're really about. You play to advantage. You're not planning to work with the other side.

DAVID DRUCKER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, well, look, everybody in Washington plays to advantage. Nobody's trying to --

CUOMO: Not Joe Manchin. And look what it got him.

DRUCKER: Yes, well, look, Joe Manchin is also doing, Chris, what he needs to do to try to get re-elected in a state where President Trump has a 70 percent approval rating and so it plays to his advantage to try and call out his Democratic colleagues and talk about how much he wants to work with the administration. So I think everybody is playing a good deal of politics here.

And there's nothing wrong with that. It's an election year. Both sides are trying to pick up a seat, hold a seat. And this is the kind of behavior we're going to see. Joe Manchin has a really tough fight ahead of him because politics has become so tribal that even in a state that he is very well liked, everybody calls -- refers to him as Joe, not governor, not senator, they just call him Joe out there and it's always worked out well for him. This is going to be a really tough test for him.

I would say this, though. Coming a day after the State of the Union --

AVLON: Yes. DRUCKER: Where the president, once again, as he did a year ago, called for an end to some of the bickering --

CUOMO: Yes, right.

DRUCKER: And talking about working together, I suppose the vice president could have waited a week before he did this. But we're going to see more and more of this as we get deeper into the year.

CUOMO: Why wait to show who you really are and what you're about. You might as well just do it the first chance you get.

AVLON: A decent interval after the hypocritical headline about bringing the country together, I guess. But -- but your -- welcome to 2018, to Dave's point.

DRUCKER: It's some broad shoulder politicking as Vice President Mike Pence would say.

AVLON: That's a fancy way of saying it.

CAMEROTA: That is it.

All right, let's talk about Congressman Trey Gowdy, who surprised people, some people, by saying that he is not only leaving Congress, he's leaving politics altogether. This makes him the ninth Republican committee chair who's leaving. We have a graphic of the others who have announced that they're leaving.

John, what's this about?

AVLON: Look, this is fascinating. Most of the Republicans who are leaving -- and there are a lot -- many of them are centrists in swing districts who don't feel like either for -- suffering a primary challenge from the Trump base or being caught up in an anti-Trump wave.

Trey Gowdy had a safe seat. Trey Gowdy's been a hero to conservatives as a straight talker, liked and respected by colleagues and has the political capital from the far right and for leading the Benghazi investigation.

CUOMO: Straight talk until Benghazi.

AVLON: (INAUDIBLE) about Benghazi.

CUOMO: Right.

AVLON: But among Republicans he is very well respected and he hasn't gone with everything on the Intel Committee.

That said, the fact his statement was said, I prefer to be in a system in a part of my career that rewards and seeks fairness. Saying, he prefers to go -- be on the justice side of the aisle, not political, is fairly stunning. It's clear, not only disgust with Washington, possibly motivated by an open -- opening seat on the superior court. And it may not be the last we see of Trey Gowdy, but the last we're going to see of him in Congress. And it's really a rebuke of the tone and tenor in Washington, as well as maybe a distancing himself from the way he thinks things are going for his colleagues.

CUOMO: All right. That's good.

David Drucker, John Avlon, appreciate it. Important developments here.

Later on, we're going to talk with Joe Manchin tonight at about 9:00 p.m. Eastern. What does he make now of his bipartisan efforts?

CAMEROTA: OK, so Republican lawmakers are springing into action after the train that was taking them to this GOP retreat, it crashed into a truck. You heard about this deadly accident. So ahead we're going to speak to two congressmen who used their own medical training to help save lives.

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[06:48:01] CUOMO: Tom against time. Tom Brady now in his 40s making his eighth appearance in the Super Bowl this Sunday. This one extra special due to his close ties to the state of Minnesota. What ties? Don't worry, we've got the answer.

Andy Scholes has more in the "Bleacher Report" from Minneapolis.

You better start looking colder. If we're going to hype how cold it is in Minneapolis, you don't' even have a coat on. We're dressed the same way.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Chris, inside right now. This is glass right here. It's physically impossible to be outside given how cold it is. I'm not even going to try that.

CUOMO: You still have to dress the part or they won't believe you. Shiver a little bit for us, Andy.

Oh, there it is. Whoa, it's cold out there, I'll tell you what.

SCHOLES: It's cold here in Minneapolis. Chris, I'll tell you what, man, I'm from Houston. Not used to this.

But let's talk a little bit about the Super Bowl.

You know, Tom Brady, like you said, this is his eighth trip to the Super Bowl. This one a little extra special. You know, he grew up in California, but his mom's side of the family is actually from Browerville, Minnesota, population of less than 800 people. It's about two hours away from where we are here in downtown Minneapolis.

This "Bleacher Report" brought to you by the new 2018 Ford F-150.

Now Brady, he says going to Browerville is something he's very fond of in his life. His aunt, uncle, cousins, they still live there. At their home you'll find the biggest Tom Brady shrine outside of New England. And yesterday during the media session Brady said, the state of Minnesota, it's got a special place in his heart because some of his fondest memories as a kid were going to his grandparents' farm.

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TOM BRADY, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS QUARTERBACK: It's -- it is very special. I've come here my entire life. I mean since I was baby, I've been coming to Minnesota in summers and winters and, you know, love the experience. I love the life here. I -- you know, being some of the great memories I had as a kid were growing up and, you know, coming here and milking cows with my grandpa and, you know, hanging out in his silos and up in the haystack above his barn. And it was great. I mean it's just -- I love being here. It's a great state. So, I mean, obviously I love the people. And being that my mom's here, you know, it's such a special connection.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: And Brady said he's got to get a lot of tickets for this Sunday's game, Alisyn.

[06:50:01] And I'll you what, you know, Chris was just giving me a hard time about the weather. I have it for you right here, negative two degrees outside. I actually walked three blocks to get over to our location right here and that was the longest three blocks of my life.

CAMEROTA: That sounds horrible.

All right, Andy, you don't have to go outside as far as I'm concerned. You can cover the whole game right from there.

CUOMO: Get outside!

SCHOLES: I appreciate that, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: All right. All right, Andy, thank you very much.

OK, so, coming up, we do have the latest on the deadly accident on board the train taking Republicans to their annual retreat. Two lawmakers who sprang into action join us next.

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CAMEROTA: Republican lawmakers were heading to a GOP retreat when the Amtrak train they were riding on crashed into a truck in Virginia. The truck passenger was killed, six others were injured. Congressmen -- Congress members with medical training jumped into action rendering first-aid to the injured.

And joining us now are two of those congressman. They are trained physicians. We have Brad Wenstrup and Roger Marshall.

Gentlemen, so nice to have you with us this morning.

REP. ROGER MARSHALL (R), KANSAS: Thank you.

REP. BRAD WENSTRUP (R), OHIO: Good morning.

CAMEROTA: Listen, thank goodness you were on that train and thank God -- I mean, you know, you never expect something like this to happen, but you two were as well prepared as anybody ever could be.

So, Congressman Wenstrup, can you just tell us when you understood that your train had hit a truck and when you realized the scope of that accident.

[06:55:07] WENSTRUP: Well, when we first hit -- knew something was up, it felt like we had gone over a boulder. But we quickly saw that there was a truck that had been hit, a garbage truck. It was off to the side of the train. Garbage thrown all over the place.

And then I heard someone say that there's a couple of people on the ground. I checked on my family and started to find my way off the train. And along the way out the window I could see a neighbor or someone coming along checking pulses.

We then made our best effort to get off the train and go and tend to them as quickly as possible.

CAMEROTA: And, sadly, I know that you tried but were not able to save one of the men in the truck.

Congressman Marshall, what that moment like?

MARSHALL: Well, when I got there, Dr. Wenstrup and several other doctors had one patient and Dr. (ph) Rowe was with the other patient. And Dr. Rowe was trying to secure an airway. I got on the scene. I also checked for pulses. Couldn't find any. So we initiated CPR and tried for several, several minutes.

And, you know, eventually EMS showed up. We tried shocking the patient a couple times. Still unsuccessful. Kept with CPR and just never really got the gentleman back.

CAMEROTA: And, Congressman Wenstrup, can you just tell us about the scene. I mean I know that you just said eventually the EMS showed up. How long was it until the ambulances showed up and then how hard was it to get people help?

WENSTRUP: You know, they got there actually pretty quickly in my mind. And when I got off the train, I yelled to the gentleman that I saw checking pulses and I asked him, did he get a pulse, and he said not on that one. And that's the one that Dr. Marshall was working on with Dr. Rowe.

I went to the other patient. Dr. Mike Burgess (ph) was with me, as well as several other doctors. And he was bleeding from the nose. And we were very diligent in trying to make sure that he maintained an airway and that he kept breathing and checking his vital signs.

Ultimately, one of the spouses on the train is an anesthesiologist. She made every attempt using some of the equipment brought by the EMTs to do an intubation. It was very difficult because he wasn't sedated. But at the same time, it had a positive effect because he reacted to that. And he gradually was a little bit more responsive, although unconscious the while time, and he left still breathing on his own, but facilitated as his airway was maintained.

CAMEROTA: I mean it's just incredible. The stories of what happened on the train are incredible. The fact that all of you were doctors and you were on the train. The fact that there was an anesthesiologist. The fact that there was a priest on the train. I mean it just sounds like, you know, for something -- if something horrible had to happen, thank goodness you all were there.

Congressman Wenstrup, I just need to change path, course, a bit here because I do want to ask you about one of the top stories today, and that is this memo, the Republican memo, crafted by Devin Nunes, that has been sent to the White House and may be released to the public. There are now questions about the changes that Republicans made before sending it to the White House. Do you know what those changes were?

WENSTRUP: Well, the only thing I was aware of were making some grammatical changes and making sure that we did not describe someone's job, if it was a matter of national security. But the content wasn't changed.

I did have a chance to see Devin Nunes' statement. And I think it speaks for itself. A lot of accusations flying around, unfortunately. I want to continue in my role on the Intelligence Committee in all aspects of this investigation to just seek the truth and make sure that the American people have the ability to understand what their government is doing.

CAMEROTA: So, listen, the FBI says that the memo does not seek the truth. They say that we have grave concerns about material omissions of fact.

WENSTRUP: Well, that's -- well, that's very interesting because Christopher Wray saw the memo and said everything in it was factual. There was also a senior analyst and someone that's an expert in the FISA court that said that it was factual and that's what -- that's what we were going with.

CAMEROTA: But when -- when did he say -- I'm just curious, when did Christopher Wray say it was factual, because now this statement said that they really do not want it released because of problems with the accuracy.

WENSTRUP: Well, let me just put it this way. I find it very interesting -- and, of course, I haven't been back into the secure facility to engage in some of the deeper conversations. But I want you to keep in mind one thing. We have subpoenaed the FBI and the DOJ for months. And they have stonewalled us. And we almost got close to --

CAMEROTA: On what? On what -- what were you looking for that they've stonewalled you on?

WENSTRUP: We requested specific information, and they were not turning it over. As a matter of fact, there's some information they said didn't exist and then we found out that it did.

[06:59:50] So let's just continue to go through the process, get the -- get the truth to us and to the American people, because if there's any problems with the processes we have, we have to correct them, and that's our responsibility. I feel like we're conducting ourselves very professionally. We have a professional obligation for oversight. Keep that in mind too. Congress has oversight over DOJ, over FBI.