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NEW DAY

Buffalo Experiences Record Snowfall; Another Woman Accuses Bill Cosby of Sexual Assault; Gov. Nixon Forms Ferguson Commission

Aired November 19, 2014 - 08:00   ET

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


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CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome back to NEW DAY. It is Wednesday, November 19th, 8:00 in the east coast. Cuomo and Brooke Baldwin here. And we take you to the city of Buffalo because they may have just suffered through the worst kind of history, the most snowfall in 24 hours ever recorded in the United States. The city's suburbs are just buried. It's hard to judge from these pictures because at least cars are moving. In many places they can't. Literally we have seen doors cave from the weight of this snow. It came so much so fast people are dying. Here's one of the pictures. Look at that house. Look at the front door.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Trapped inside.

CUOMO: Some people say 90 inches of snow. Can't get official totals because you can't get out.

BALDWIN: How do you wrap your head around these numbers here this morning? We know the National Guard has officially been called in, that's new this morning. And this 100 mile stretch of the New York State freeway has been shut down. Also we are learning about the travel ban. That's in place for much of Buffalo because they want to keep people in their homes, so if there are emergencies you can get those emergency vehicles out and about if they can even get out and about.

We are talking 76 inches, potentially 90, as you mentioned, could be a record in a 24-hour period of snowfall anywhere in the country. So that's huge in and of itself. Jennifer Gray, our meteorologist here at CNN is out in the thick of it this morning in Buffalo. The sun has appeared at least and we can see a better picture of what surrounds you. Show us around, Jennifer.

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, you're right. What a difference 45 minutes makes. We were in complete white out conditions on the last shot. And I just want to show you. You can see that the sun is up and actually shining. It's not going to get above freezing so that won't help us a bit. But folks are out shoveling, and all you can see are just the tops of their heads. And that gives you a perspective of how deep this snow is. They are not even using plows in this area. They are using bulldozers to push the snow off the streets. And then what they do is they dump it in these huge dump trucks, and then they are just taking off because there is literally nowhere for it to go. And this is not over yet. This is only the first wave, Brooke. We have another wave of this that's going to happen tonight into tomorrow night. Let me show you what we're dealing with because just 45 minutes ago we had that very intense van. Now look at it. It's shooting to the north very, very quickly. Yesterday that van was not going anywhere. And so what do you get? You get this. Let's turn around and show you if we can, the snow piling up all the way to the tops of these storefronts you can see, and then just piling up as high as the street sign. There were cars, you can't even tell they are cars there. They're completely buried.

We are knee-deep in the snow. In some areas over just across the street they are waist-deep and chest-deep in it. And yes, this could a historic event, has already set records. And we could see another two feet with this next wave. It has proven deadly, as we know, Brooke, as well. Five deaths from this, and we've also seen folks trying to get rescued with snowmobiles because the trucks can't even get through. This is a dangerous situation. And folks need to stay in for a couple of days until it's over.

BALDWIN: Louisiana girl out covering snow in Buffalo, New York. I don't know if you have seen anything like that. I don't know if really anyone has. Jennifer Gray, thank you so much.

(LAUGHTER)

GRAY: No.

BALDWIN: In a word, no. Let's talk about some of the challenges here in the city Buffalo, New York, with the mayor of Buffalo Byron Brown on the phone with me. Mr. Mayor, my goodness, I don't even know where to begin. Why don't you begin just telling me priority-wise, obviously the safety of your citizens in Buffalo, how are you getting people help?

BYRON BROWN, MAYOR, BUFFALO, NEW YORK: Good morning, Brooke. Well, certainly it's a lot of snow. But it's lake effect snow so this has been isolated in one part of the city of Buffalo, south of Buffalo. Up until today, pretty much three quarters of the city had been pretty clear of snow. In south Buffalo, over five feet of snow has fallen. We had a limited state of emergency for that part of the city, and we had a driving ban for that part of the city. Now the lake effect is moving into downtown Buffalo, north Buffalo. So now we are getting hit throughout the city.

But fortunately in those other areas of the city outside south Buffalo, we haven't had that incredible snowfall you have been reporting.

BALDWIN: You know, Mayor Brown, I was talking to your fire coach a little while ago, and he was saying to me, we are showing these pictures of some of his men and his women trying to grab people literally by their hands out of the snow because some of their vehicles couldn't traverse these mounds of snow. You're looking at once such example of that. What do you want people to know, those who are likely stuck inside of their homes, what is your message to them? BROWN: Our message to them is to stay at home. If there is an

emergency situation, call 911, a nonemergency, call 311. Our firefighters and police officers have been acting heroically. Our firefighters have been literally hiking over mounds of snow to get to people to get them out of cars and get them out of homes with emergency situations. They have the life gurneys, carrying gurneys with people. Our firefighters and a nurse delivered a baby in one of our firehouses. Absolutely incredible. Somebody joked that the name of the baby should have been stormy. The family didn't go with that name, but --

BALDWIN: I can't imagine why.

(LAUGHTER)

BROWN: The firefighters have been tremendous.

BALDWIN: I'm sure they want this to be in the past. But I guess finally to you, I believe, Mr. Mayor, you are a native New Yorker and as we talk about the National Weather Service saying this could amount to being the most snow ever anywhere in a 24-hour period, have you experienced anything like this?

BROWN: You know, we had an incredible blizzard in 1977, a historic blizzard. People that actually lived in south Buffalo who lived through the blizzard, who experienced that, say it's even worse than what they experienced in 1977. But we haven't seen anything like this in Buffalo in over 37 years or more.

BALDWIN: We are thinking about you and wishing you the best. Safety of course paramount this morning, and then there's the snow melt, the other worry, flooding, but we won't even worry about that yet. Byron Brown, mayor of Buffalo, New York, thank you so much for spending a couple with us this morning.

BROWN: Thank you, Brooke.

CUOMO: They have to deal with what is and what is still coming. And then as we learned then the temperatures will change and then they will have all that accumulation which will turn to water, and then they're going to have to deal with something else.

BALDWIN: Horrible.

CUOMO: So we're going to have to on this story. We wish them well up there. Please be safe.

We also have to tell you about another accusation of sexual assault against comedian Bill Cosby. This time it's from a former supermodel, Janice Dickinson. She's caming forward with horrific details of what she claims the comedian did to her. There is more fallout as well. CNN has learned Netflix has postponed Cosby's comedy special in the wake of these latest allegations, and a former prosecutor told us on NEW DAY that he recalls Cosby being evasive and untruthful when interviewed about allegations that arose in 2005. Jean Casarez is here with more. JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Chris. You know, it was 1982,

Janice Dickinson says that she was working in Bali and she got a phone call from Bill Cosby saying "I'm working in Lake Tahoe. Come see me." She did. And listen to what she told "Entertainment Tonight" about what happened after that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANICE DICKINSON, FORMER SUPERMODEL: In my room, he had given me wine and a pill. The next morning I woke up and I wasn't wearing my pajamas. I remember before I passed out that I had been sexually assaulted by this man. The last thing I remember was Bill Cosby in a patch work robe, dropping his robe and getting on top of me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: Overnight Marty Singer, who is the attorney for Bill Cosby, wrote a letter saying in part, "Her new story claiming that she has been sexually assaulted is a defamatory fabrication." Chris, I was able to find an article from the "New York Observer" in 2002 and it's about the autobiography of Janice Dickinson. It's an interview with her but also about this. And it's really a tell-all autobiography. It was wow as I'm reading this. But it says in the article that she says that Bill Cosby told her she could sing and she believed it until she didn't want to have relations with him and he blew her off. Chris?

CUOMO: It's a little different version of events there, but the stories keep coming out and the job of investigating is still going on as well. Jean Casarez, thanks for bringing this to us.

A lot of other news as well. Right to Michaela for that.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thanks, guys. Good morning once again to you at home. Israel is promising harsh retaliation for the deadly attack on a Jerusalem synagogue. They are now demolishing the homes of the two Palestinian attackers. A fifth victim is the synagogue attack, an Israeli police officer, has died from his wounds. Four rabbis were killed when the two assailants broke in wielding meat cleavers, knives, and a gun.

Government safety regulators now calling for a nationwide recall of vehicles with Takata airbags that could potentially explode. The expanded recall could affect some 20 million vehicles from 10 different carmakers. Airbag explosions have been linked now to at least five deaths. The recall has been limited to regions where high humidity could cause the air bag to rupture.

Felony abuse of power changes against Texas Governor Rick Perry still stand. A state judge denied a motion by Perry's lawyers who said the indictment should be voided because a prosecutor was sworn in improperly. But the judge refused to dismiss the case over paperwork technicalities.

Star running back Adrian Peterson is expected to appeal his suspension without pay for the rest of the 2014 NFL season. Commissioner Roger Goodell ordered up the punishment under the league's personal conduct policy. Peterson entered a plea of no contest to reckless assault charges earlier this month for disciplining his four-year-old son with a stick. NFL players union is asking for a third party arbitrator to hear Peterson's appeal.

BALDWIN: As a lawyer, how is that appeal going to go?

CUOMO: I think he has got a shot. I think that the way the league handled, they made it the subject of interpretation of what Adrian Peterson said in some of his tweets or texts to the boy's mother. And I think they will say this is your interpretation. You got it wrong. The time delay may effectively end his season. I think the larger issue for this league is consistency. Is everybody who has an allegation or a charge against them of hitting women or children out of the league right now? And if they are not, then why is Adrian Peterson when 70 percent of American people said his brand of discipline is OK?

BALDWIN: Ferguson, Missouri, preparing for the worst ahead of this grand jury decision. We will talk with the co-chairs of the Ferguson commission to see how they plan on keeping the peace.

CUOMO: The keystone pipeline failed to pass by one vote. But it ain't over says the Republican Congressman Bob Goodlatte. He will tell you why coming up.

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BALDWIN: You're watching CNN. This is a NEW DAY.

You know what? Cell phone video has just surfaced during whatever tensions already bubbling there in Ferguson. It appears to show Officer Darren Wilson threatening to arrest a man during a fight. Remember, Officer Darren Wilson, the one who shot and killed that unarmed teenager a couple of months ago, Michael Brown.

Now, the city braces for the fate of the grand jury whether or not they will choose to indict the said officer.

Let's go live to Ferguson, to Stephanie Elam, who's watching all of this for us.

Elam, good morning.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESONDENT: Good morning, Brooke.

When you take a look at this video, you can judge whether or not you think it looks like Officer Darren Wilson. But this was shot after an incident with a resident of Ferguson posted on line and in this video, you can hear the officer threaten to, quote, "lock your bleep up" to this resident who is filming interaction with the person.

What we can tell you, the police say they cannot confirm it is actually officer Darren Wilson because of the quality of the video and not strong enough, they are saying, CNN obtained the fact that there was on October 20th, 2013, an incident where Officer Wilson responded to the home of a Michael Arman and this was for a derelict vehicle. He was later arrested for something else that day. So, while we can't confirm it is him, we do have this correlation.

All of this showing more of a picture of what we might know about Officer Wilson if this is in fact video of him. Still, though, one would wonder what the Ferguson Police Department would say about the officers conduct themselves in this way out in the field and the towns they are policing.

Just one more clue ahead of what we're looking for, actually really finding out the fate of Officer Darren Wilson as we get closer to finding out what the grand jury has decided and whether or not he will face charges for the death of Michael Brown, Brooke.

BALDWIN: All right. Stephanie Elam for us in Ferguson -- Stephanie, thank you very much. Waiting on the fate of Darren Wilson and also waiting to see what this Ferguson commission can possibly accomplish with that.

Chris Cuomo, to you, sir.

CUOMO: Brooke, that goes straight to the idea of how they find something positive out of this and make it better going forward. Let's have that conversation with the co-chairs of this Ferguson Commission.

We have Reverend Starsky Wilson, also CEO of Deaconess Foundation. And former president and CEO of UniGroup, Mr. Rich McClure.

Gentlemen, thank you very much.

This is one of the first good signs we have seen in terms of progress with the community, is the formation of this commission. What do you believe the mandate is and what is your hope for it?

Let's start with you, Reverend.

REV. STARSKY WILSON, FERGUSON COMISSION: Thank you very much for having us on this morning to talk about what we think is a very positive move in our community. The establishment of the commission by the governor is an opportunity for citizens to gather, to think long and hard about what are the ways that we can develop a stronger, fairer future for our community together.

This diverse group of folks will focus on specific recommendations and policies and solutions that we can implement to build a better region that is more fair for all of the citizens.

CUOMO: Now, that's a great aspiration, but you are stuck in the moment, right, Rich? And how bad is it in terms of what we're hearing about businesses pulling out, conventions pulling out in greater St. Louis because of fears of what my happen when the grand jury decision is announced. How real is that and how do you deal with it as a community?

RICH MCCLURE, FERGUSON COMMISSION: You know, Chris, our community is focused on positive change. And while we certainly have the tensions and emotions of the moment and those are serious, and folks are approaching that and they're thinking creatively and the level of engagement where folks really do want to have the opportunity to peacefully express their views and to express them vigorously, as well as do it in a safe way.

But I think the important thing about the Ferguson Commission is that this is an opportunity for the community to come together, with an independent commission, with widely diverse voices, to listen carefully to stakeholders of all views, with the diverse thought process that will lead us to a chance to have a stronger and fairer community.

CUOMO: Absolutely.

But there's arguably been a vacuum of leadership in this situation and you now, by designation, will represent leadership in that community hopefully that winds up being a good thing.

Reverend, you know in this last set of protests that went on, it was clergy, men and women were involved with different churches that were helping keep the peace out there, as much as anybody if not more. How concerned are you about what may happen when words get out?

WILSON: Quite frankly I have to say, I think, number one appropriately they were engaged in the escalation and protest lines, quite frankly, appropriately, clergy were engaged, even in patriotic protest. So, I think we'll likely see that again as folks have been organizing and providing support, sanctuary space in the days ahead.

I'm actually encouraged by the amount of preparation that police, protesters and organizers had for this next potential flash point. I am encouraged by the fact that our leaders, elected officials and others have been thoughtful about how they would communicate with one another and how they communicate across the protest lines to make sure that folks who desire to express the First Amendment right have the opportunity to do so safely.

And quite frankly, those are the signs that lead to and provide hope for the work together as police officers, protesters, policymakers sitting around the table at this commission will have the opportunity to exercise and build upon the work of the last and most significantly by talking to one another.

CUOMO: Makes the response to the immediate reaction, whatever happens more important. That would be the base in which you can build.

Let me ask you something, Rich, Mr. McClure, any thought about the commission going to the prosecutor's office and saying you need to have a plan in place for how you are going to have work get out or no indictment. The anticipation is toxifying the environment and atmosphere there.

Any thought of a leadership role on that?

MCCLURE: Well, Chris, the role of the commission is to focus on long- term issues, and the deep-seeded serious issues that have been vividly exposed by the tragedy in Ferguson. So, that means that we'd focus on educational achievement, we focus on racial and ethnic disparities, we focus on law enforcement practices over the long-term and community policing, economic development, job opportunities, housing -- issues that are serious and very long-term policy issues. That's really the role of the commission. So, I think as the commission comes together, we'll hear from citizens in all of those and realize addressing these causes will make the opportunity to improve St. Louis as a stronger, fairer place real in the future.

CUOMO: It's a great goal. It's obviously needed, I'm just saying, take opportunity where you find it. You know, you've been invested with mandate there, and there has been an absence of it and we are hoping you make the most of it.

Reverend, these recent developments of preparedness for events, the state of emergency, which is necessary to release access to the National Guard. Do you think it has been handled the right way, Reverend?

WILSON: Quite frankly some of these things are not within my scope of influence, not within the work of the commission. But I would say that I think there has been a lot of inappropriate action by election officials who are called to have a frontline responsibility. I've seen responsible and I've participated in very responsible discussion between police and protesters who will be on the frontlines. I think those are the spaces where we need the lines of communication open.

I'm encouraged by the dialogue that's going on there. I'm encouraged by the willingness of the parties with those conversations that serve in this commission, because quite frankly, they have been building the relationship we are going to need both to make the appropriate recommendations and to implement them for the long-term so that we have a better day for us going forward.

CUOMO: Reverend Starsky Wilson and Mr. Rich McClure, thank you very much.

The commission signals us and a hope for good positive change and that's what's needed in the community. Thank for coming on NEW DAY, and good luck with your work.

Brooke?

BALDWIN: All right. Gentlemen, thank you.

Coming up, we have to go to Washington. There's critical set back for supporters with the Keystone XL pipeline, but the controversial project is by no means dead. We'll talk to a Republican congressman about the latest developments on that, also talk immigration and the Secret Service hearing upcoming. Who'll be sharing that hearing.

Stay with me.

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BALDWIN: It's the bottom of the hour. I'm Brooke Baldwin. You are watching NEW DAY.

I want to take you to Washington here, because there is a lot to talk about with this upcoming Republican congressman from Virginia. But specifically, I want to begin with what's happening with immigration, the possibility of the president of the United States signing this into executive order here at the end of the year and how this will fall with Republicans now, and, of course, with the new Congress they will hold the vote in the upper and lower chambers.

So, joining me now is Congressman Bob Goodlatte. He's the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

So, first, Congressman, good morning to you. Thanks for joining me.

REP. BOB GOODLATTE (R-VA), JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Good morning, Brooke. Good to be with you and your viewers.

BALDWIN: You have a powerful opinion piece in "The Wall Street Journal". It was just yesterday. Your lead line was the president is poised specifically on immigration here, the president is poised to announce one of the biggest executive power grabs in American history. And specifically you write this, "My colleagues in both the House and Senate will take inventory of the tools afforded to Congress by the Constitution, such as the power of the purse and the authority to write legislation to stop the president's unconstitutional actions from being implemented."

Congressman, when you say considering measures, can you be specific what measures are you considering here?

GOODLATTE: Well, there many that are under consideration and since they are under consideration, and the president has not yet acted, and we still hope he will see the wisdom of not making this unbelievable constitutional power grab, I want to be careful about that. But there are, as the piece mentioned, spending measures, the president can be censured, he can be sued by the Congress. There a whole host of other things.

But I think the biggest price he will pay is with the American people. They spoke loud and clear in November.