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Northeast Bracing for Epic Blizzard; Boko Haram Continues Bloody Insurgency; Yale Police Hold Journalist's Son at Gunpoint; 2,282 Flights Canceled Today

Aired January 26, 2015 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Up to three feet of snow and fierce winds in store for much of the northeast over the next 48 hours. At this hour, 20 million people are under a blizzard warning. Another 36 million under a winter weather advisory. Thousands of flights in and out of the northeast already canceled today and tomorrow. And winds expected to make visibility especially bad. Gusts of 60 miles per hour are anticipated and maybe even up to hurricane strength of 75 miles per hour.

So for more on all of this, we have scrambled CNN meteorologist Chad Myers in our studio.

Chad, what is the latest?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: This is a storm that's going to increase in intensity as it gets into the Atlantic Ocean. Think about how a hurricane can get much bigger, much stronger when it gets into warm water. This storm will turn into essentially a hurricane. It won't be a warm core, it won't have an eye, but it will gain a lot of strength and it will gain a lot of pushback from the ocean here, even effect snow, as it spins right there. And that is the area where it pauses for a while, where we could get the two feet of snow.

But the bigger problem here with the snow will be the wind. You may never see two feet because it may be seven feet and you could see the ground right next to it because of the wind. And that wind is going to create a blizzard. And blizzard means something. It's a real term. It's not just, oh, it's snowing and the wind's blowing. There are specific criteria that we have to get to, to make this happen.

Thirty-five mile per hour winds, sustained or greater, and they have to keep blowing. Snow has to be falling from the sky onto the ground or blowing across in such gusts that you can't see anything with quarter mile visibility. And this all has to happen for at least three hours. And it will. This may happen for 24 hours. So this is a really big deal for the next couple of days for the northeast. I don't plan on getting out of here back to Atlanta until at least probably Thursday or Friday, that's how it's going to be.

Here are the records for New York, for Boston, Providence. We're going to be close. I don't think New York City will break it. You know, we're 26, we're 27 inches, that's just not going to happen. Plus, you're never going to see that much. And even in Boston and Providence, going to be close. But the point will be whether we're going to break a record or not. This storm will be dangerous to pets and people. And make sure the pets are taken care of because the windchill factor with the winds like this may be 10 to 15 degrees below zero and the pets can't take care of themselves. You have to do it.

Guys, back to you.

CAMEROTA: Such a great reminder, Chad, thanks for all of that.

So as the storm moves, so will the information. We will stay on top of it for you all morning so that you can prepare.

Let's go to Michaela.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, five things time.

At number one, as we've been telling you, a potentially historic snowstorm is set to slam the northeast. At least two feet expected. Some areas in New England could see close to three feet.

ISIS demanding the release of a female terrorist being held in a Jordanian jail in exchange for the life of one remaining Japanese hostage. A second Japanese hostage apparently has been beheaded.

The Secret Service today investigating a drone found on the White House lawn this morning. The president was not there at the time. In fact, he is in India right now speaking to business leaders.

Ukraine's president says there is proof Russian backed rebels were behind a deadly attack in eastern Ukraine. He says intercepted radio and phone conversations prove that they fired rockets that killed at least 30 people.

The movie "Birdman" soars to the head of the Oscar class, winning the top prize at Sunday's SAG Awards. The film was honored for best enable cast, beating out its chief best Oscar best -- picture rival "Boyhood."

We do update those five things to know, so be sure to visit newdaycnn.com for the latest.

Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right, Mic.

So, Secretary of State John Kerry is on a visit to Nigeria. He's pledging U.S. support in the country's fight against Boko Haram. As the terror group continues its bloody insurgency with an assault now on strategic cities, plural, in northeastern Nigeria. CNN's Diana Magnay is monitoring developments live from Johannesburg for us.

Now, it's not just that they are taking on the military, Diana, it's that they're beating the military too often. What do we know? DIANA MAGNAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's true. In one town of Monguno,

up near Baga, where you'll remember that terrible massacre happened just the beginning of January, Boko Haram managed to push the military out of their barracks and have taken over the barracks there. And that's really been a buffer for the very important strategic town of Maiduguri, which they also tried to overrun on Sunday. But Maiduguri, which is the capital of Borno state, the regional capital, and it's been in Boko Haram's sort of line of sight for a long time, the military managed to keep them off. But you can be sure that they will better armed now given this latest conquest at this military barracks that they will be trying to capture Maiduguri again, Chris.

John Kerry was in Legos (ph) on Sunday. He met with both candidates in this election that's coming up on February the 14th. He said the U.S. wants to do more to help Nigeria in the fight against Boko Haram but he said that that help will be contingent on whether these elections are held in a free, fair and democratic style and whether they are peaceful.

Alisyn, back to you.

CAMEROTA: Thank you so much, Diana.

Well, "The New York Times" columnist Charles Blow wrote extensively on the Michael Brown case and the Eric Garner case. Now, he says his own son was detained by police at gunpoint. We'll look at both sides of the racial divide.

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PEREIRA: Tell you about a situation that happened over the weekend. A "New York Times" columnist and CNN political commentator revealed a terrifying moment involving his own son this weekend. Charles Blow says his son was held at gunpoint by a Yale police officer Saturday evening. He took to Twitter. This is what he wrote. "So, my son, a third year chem major at Yale, was just accosted at gunpoint by a Yale policeman because he fit the description of a suspect. He was let go when they realized he was a college student and not a criminal. He was leaving the library. He's shaken but I'm fuming." Yale says they're conducting an internal review of the incident. Well, we've got to discuss it.

Let's bring in CNN legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Sunny Hostin, former Secret Service Agent Dan Bongino.

Good to have you both.

I just want to have a conversation here about all of this because this - this is one of those situations that gets some anger stirred among certain people. Sunny, you're friends with Charles. You've had a chance to talk to him. What do you make of it all?

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes. Yes. We were sort of e-mailing back and forth because this is a parents' worst nightmare.

PEREIRA: Sure. HOSTIN: And it was Charles' worst nightmare. And it's something that we have discussed, both privately, we've discussed it on air, sort of, you know, that notion that you have this discussion with your child about how to interact with law enforcement. But my thought was, my gosh, Charles' son is at Yale. He's actually a biology major, wants to be a doctor, and that's the holy grail, quite frankly, for many parents, especially for the parents of a black child -

PEREIRA: Yes.

HOSTIN: Because less than, you know, 7 percent of people are accepted at Yale. And you think he's there, he's safe, he's made it out, he's not going to have these types of altercations. And, oh my goodness, it happened.

PEREIRA: And yet he did. And we're really - and we're really glad to say that it all -- he's fine, which is important.

HOSTIN: Sure.

PEREIRA: I want to read -

HOSTIN: But Charles says it's because he explained to his son how to deal with a situation like that.

PEREIRA: How to deal with it. And we want to get to that in a second. But I've got to read this statement from Yale. "Tonight, when students spotted the suspect, they called police and described him as a tall African-American college aged student wearing a black jacket and a red had. This was the description that Yale police used as they converged on Trumbull and attempted to track down the suspect. During the efforts to locate and detain the suspect, a Yale college student, who closely matched the description of the suspect, was briefly detained and release by Yale police."

Dan, I've got to ask you, you served with the NYPD. Shouldn't police be able to tell the difference between a college student and a suspect?

DANIEL BONGINO, FMR. SECRET SERVICE AGENT: Well, Michaela, how would they be able to do that? That's the question. Listen, I don't blame Charles for being angry. I would as well.

PEREIRA: You'd be upset too?

BONGINO: Yes, I have two daughters. Of course. I have a friend, as a matter of fact, who is white, who -- her car was stolen and they didn't get the car out of the system in time. She was pulled over at gunpoint in her own car by police officers and is still very upset about it. But I'm not -- we can't look at this as a right or wrong. We have to look at it as what's less wrong here and what were the motives of the officer. If the motives of the officer were genuine and he thought he may have had someone who fit a description of a robbery suspect or whatever, I'm not saying any of this was going to end well, but I've been hesitant to impugn the motives of the police on this without knowing all the details. PEREIRA: And we should point out one of the details is, they've had some incidents on campus recently, some robberies and some theft, five students have been victims of theft. In fact, one incident involved a handgun. But, Dan, I - I can't get past the point that I think that we - that we're trying to get at here, and I want to bring up an ABC/"Washington Post" poll released in December. It shows that African-Americans and whites have completely different perceptions about treatment by law enforcement. Look at that, 21 percent of African-Americans are confident the police treat black and whites equally compared to 63 percent of whites. You can't argue with the fact, Dan, that a majority of African-Americans are feeling that they're not being treated the same way.

BONGINO: Yes, and, Michaela, listen, perception is reality. And if that's how the African-American community feels, then that has to be handled appropriate by the police department at the managerial level. You can't dismiss that and just say, well, you know, it's not happening because our statistics say that -- perception is reality and I think it's not irrational for people in some minority communities, some that have elevated crime rates. The probability of an interaction with police, good or bad, is very high. That's probably led to some ill will and something's going to have to be done about that, whether training, community policing, perceptions, reality, that's - is very real.

PEREIRA: Let's run with that a little bit.

HOSTIN: Yes.

PEREIRA: And, Sunny, I want your take on this because -- and Chief - Commission -- I will always call him chief because he was my chief in L.A., Commissioner Bratton was here this morning and he spoke on that very issue. Let's play the sound and then I want you to react to it.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

WILLIAM BRATTON, NYPD POLICE COMMISSIONER: This is a shared responsibility. The police cannot be held accountable for all of what goes on in communities, whether minority or non minority. That there is a - - in our democracy, the need for both the police and the public to obey the law, if you will, operate within the law.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

PEREIRA: So, the idea that it takes two, that both sides have to work together. We've been talking about the need for this for some time. Does it sit well with you, what he said?

HOSTIN: You know, it does in a sense. I mean, I think we have to realize that, at least in New York, and all over the country, but especially in New York, there's been that problem with the stopping and frisking of African-American and Latino men. And it was a big problem, and actually, you know, Bratton was someone that embraced that policy. And so, the fact that I think that he is backtracking from that policy, realizing that it has led to this problem in African-American communities and Latino communities is a positive. But it is about community policing, it is about teaching officers how

to de-escalate rather than escalate in these kinds of situations. And I think it has a lot to do with training, because, to your earlier question, was how come police officers can't distinguish between a suspect and a student? I mean, I think I can, as a person living in the community, can distinguish between a student and someone that shouldn't be there. And so you can't just stop every tall African- American wearing a black jacket. You just can't do that, and I think that has a lot to do with training.

PEREIRA: More and more families having that important conversation with their son and daughters about how to interact with police, and it sounds like this really paid off here because this young man knew exactly how to respond.

HOSTIN: That's right.

PEREIRA: And how to behave so that this did not escalate, and we're happy to report that he's gone home, shaken, but completely fine.

HOSTIN: Well, listen, you know as an African-American parent - - -

PEREIRA: Yes.

HOSTIN: - - that your kid is going to have this experience, you just have to prepare them for it. That's unfortunate that they're going to have that experience.

PEREIRA: Absolutely. Sunny and Dan, thank you so much. Great conversation, we'll have to do it again.

Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: All right, Michaela. The blizzard, barreling towards the Northeast, will leave more than snow and slush in it's wake. Thousands of airline passengers could be stranded, too. We'll talk to a travel expert about what you need to know before you head to the airport.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

CAMEROTA (voice-over): Major cities along the East coast bracing for a crippling blizzard. Look at this live picture right here on your screen. This is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania right now. Hard to see it, it looks almost like a whiteout. More than 2,000 flights scheduled for today already canceled and more are expected to follow.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

CAMEROTA (on camera): Joining us is the author of "Travel Forward," and the founder of TravelPulse, Mark Murphy. Hi, Mark, nice to see you.

MARK MURPHY, FOUNDER, TRAVELPULSE: Hey, you too, Alisyn. CAMEROTA: Okay, let's put up the latest numbers, because these are hot

off the presses. The airlines have just given us their latest numbers, this is within the past 10 minutes, 2,282 flights canceled today. Tomorrow, 2,144 flights. We've talked about the ripple effect that a blizzard in New York, or Boston, or D.C. has across the country. Put this in perspective for us. How bad is this storm going to be for air travel?

MURPHY: It could be the worst and that's what we're looking at. You're looking at -- you could get to 10,000 flights canceled, because what people don't realize is, even if you're not in the Northeast, if your flight was originating out of the Northeast or connecting through the Northeast and can't get to you in Arizona, you're out of luck and you're staying put. So, there's always a ripple effect, and when you have air traffic come to a complete standstill like we're going to see tomorrow, I mean, a complete standstill in many of these major airports, it takes as long as 72 hours to get all of those flights back on track with those people. So you're going to see it going into literally this coming weekend.

CAMEROTA: Wow.

MURPHY: Unless we get hit with another storm, which they're predicting.

CAMEROTA: Okay, so, if you have a flight today, if you hold a ticket for today or tomorrow, what are you supposed to do?

MURPHY: Get on the plane right now if you're going, and I'm going to Florida as soon as I'm off this segment. So, that's number one. If you don't get out, you're not going anywhere. So, you know, get some hot chocolate, go stock up on some food.

CAMEROTA: No, but hold on a second, Mark.

MURPHY: Download some Netflix, because you're - -

CAMEROTA: If you have a ticket heading into Boston or D.C. today, are you supposed to even go to the airport, or can you just skip that step?

MURPHY: Well, you know what? Right now it's fine to go to the airport. You want to check beforehand to make sure your flight is available and hasn't been canceled proactively. So, if it isn't, you're probably going to get out. As you get longer into this day, all of those proactive cancellations, and you see the airlines are in front of that because they don't want to get stuck with fines for leaving people on the tarmac should this blizzard turn bad very quickly. And that's what the airlines are concerned about, and that's what you should be concerned about. But if you need to get out of this area, get out now. If not, you're not getting out for several days.

CAMEROTA: But are the airlines going to do the right thing, are they going to spare you the ordeal of going to the airport and just reschedule you now? I mean, that's what they should do rather than making everybody just cool their heels at the airport.

MURPHY: That's my number one thing. If the airlines are proactive and communicating, that's great. If they don't tell you and you show up and you're stuck, then you're angry as a traveler, right? Because they can't control the weather, but they can control the communication. So, what they are doing, and you're seeing it and you just talked about it, they're proactively canceling flights for this exact reason, so you don't show up, you don't sit there, and you're already getting re-booked, and that's the key.

CAMEROTA: Okay, Mark Murphy. The book, again, is "Travel Forward." So, everybody, check the websites of your airlines, call if you can, and stay home if you can. Mark, thanks so much, great to see you.

MURPHY: Thank you, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: You, too. Let's go over to Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Alisyn, we've all heard this. As bad as your troubles may be, there's always someone who has it worse. Well, there is a kid who is teaching us the virtue of that notion in such a beautiful way, it makes her the Good Stuff.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: This is a good Good Stuff for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO (voice-over): 12-year-old Cassidy Huff, she's from Washington state, she has been fighting a form of dwarfism that is rare her entire life. She's had dozens of spinal surgeries to help correct it. So, what was she doing while recovering from her 33rd surgery?

PEREIRA (voice-over): Oh, my.

CUOMO: She was saying why me? Why me? Why did this happen? Nope. She was buying iPads for her school's entire special ed department.

PEREIRA: What?

CASSIDY HUFF, PURCHASED IPADS FOR SPECIAL NEEDS KIDS: It was my idea, but it was your generosity that got us here. So, (INAUDIBLE), you get to carry two.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

CUOMO: The school said it didn't have the money, so she started a crowd funding site while in recovery to raise the cash.

PEREIRA: Come on.

CUOMO: The iPads are very important, she says, because they help special needs kids in her class communicate when they can't otherwise.

PEREIRA: Right. CUOMO: Here's the beauty, though. Why this kid decided to look past her own troubles and to help others.

HUFF: I know someone always has it worse than I do. I believe that my job is to make them happy.

PEREIRA: I love this girl.

CAMEROTA (voice-over): I do, too.

PEREIRA: Oh, my.

CUOMO: I believe my job is to make them happy.

PEREIRA: Oh, you make us happy, darling.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO (on camera): She's the Good Stuff. Time for the "NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello.

PEREIRA (on camera): Happy Monday.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Happy Monday. Are you ready for snowmagedon?

PEREIRA: Burr, we're going to cuddle up with Chris. Right, Alisyn?

CUOMO: Come on in, bring it in.

(LAUGHTER)

CUOMO: Human blanket.

COSTELLO: Fantastic. Have a great day, thanks so much. NEWSROOM starts now.