Return to Transcripts main page

CNN NEWSROOM

Goodell Under Fire over Handling of Discipline; Romney Says No Run for White House; More Snow Predicted for New England; Crews Look for Mexico City Gas Explosion Victims.

Aired January 30, 2015 - 14:30   ET

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


WALLY WILLIAMS, FORMER NFL FOOTBALL PLAYER: All of our jobs are hard across the board. But if you're not fined or disciplined by your actions, there has to be some kind of irony involved, some kind of thing looked at where Goodell has to answer to somebody. And the conglomerate of owners is not holding Goodell to any kind of standard. It seems to me they let him run amuck, he can do whatever he wants to, and make whatever kind of disciplinary action on every player across the league.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Run amuck.

L.Z., I know you want to get in as well. Final word from you, sir

L.Z. GRANDERSON, CNN COMMENTATOR: I don't stop the buck at Roger Goodell. I stop the buck at the American people. The truth of the matter is, as long as we keep tuning in and putting our money to the NFL, there's to true impotence for the NFL or Goodell to change anything. The buck doesn't start with him. It starts with us, the people. If we're sick with players doing X, Y, Z, and ownership doing X, Y, Z, and concerned about cheating, let it be shown through viewership numbers and through our dollars. At the end of the day, the buck applies in our lap. Yes, Roger Goodell and owners should follow guidelines and principles. When they don't, and we are the ones that ultimately are the ones that provide the backlash necessary for change. If you expect them to do it internally, as long as the money is coming in, it's not going to happen.

BALDWIN: I have a little more time.

Damon, let me hear from you.

DAMON HUARD, FORMER NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS BACK-UP QUARTERBACK: You heard him say all day long. He's trying to do the right thing. Are you going to please everybody? No. Are they going outside the box, hiring FBI to do investigations and maybe they botched or didn't do quite right from the beginning? They're doing that. They're spending that money. They're spending their resources to try to get this right.

This is the greatest sporting event in the world. It's a tough job. There's no doubt about it. Again, you're never going to please everybody. But these are issues, domestic violence, cheating. It goes on everywhere. Corporate America, all sorts of things. Because of the NFL is the NFL, it's here in the forefront. But this guy, in my opinion, not an easy job. Much like being the president of United States of America. Very challenging job.

(CROSSTALK)

GRANDERSON: Dude, United States of America?

(LAUGHTER)

Dude -- slow your role man. That is not on the same level.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: -- slow your role.

HUARD: This brings America better for the Super Bowl. Everybody --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Alright --

HUARD: -- is going to be watching this thing.

GRANDERSON: I get it. You're an ambassador for your game, dude. But slow your role. That's nowhere near as difficult as being president of the United States. He's in charge, at the end of the day, of entertainment.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: All right, L.Z. --

HUARD: But entertainment we all love.

BALDWIN: I agree. Apples and oranges.

Christine (INAUDIBLE), L.Z. Granderson, Chris Simms, Gabriel Sherman, Damon Huard, Wall Williams, thank you, thank you, thank you.

The game, Sunday. We'll check in with Rachel Nichols later in the show. She is in Phoenix.

Appreciate it.

Just ahead, a chilling moment in the murder trial of former NFL star, Aaron Hernandez. The girlfriend of the victim taking the stand today. Hear what she revealed.

Plus, Mitt Romney, surprise. Big surprise in morning, saying he will not run for president. But for weeks, it sure sounded like he would. What changed?

Stay with me. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Mitt Romney, big news today. Mitt Romney says no, he is not running

for president in 2016. Romney bowed out with a phone call today to supporters after weeks of toying and teasing with this idea maybe the third time would be a charm when it came to a run for the White House. Romney told supporters he could have won the Republican nomination if he had tried. Here he was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY, (R), FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR & FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: One poll out yesterday showed me gaining support and leading the next closest contender nearly 2-1, also leading in all the four early states. I'm convinced that we could win the nomination. But I fully realize it was a difficult task and a hard fight. I also believe with message of making the world safer, providing opportunity for every person, regardless of the neighborhood they live in, and working to break the grip of poverty, I would have the best chance of beating the eventual Democrat nominee. That's before the other contenders have had the opportunity to take their message to voters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: A couple of weeks back, Romney surprised the crowded field of possible Republican contenders when he revealed strong interest in a 2016 bid. Bowing out does not erase Romney completely from the 2016 power play. He's free to lend support and his list of wealthy donors to Republican of his choice.

Let me bring in our chief political analyst, Gloria Borger.

Gloria, the last time we talked on TV, it was all about this meeting between these two gentlemen, Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney in Utah. They went ahead. We assumed they would talk about the battle for donors. That's the only thing that happened, to me. What changed, what happened in that meeting?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: It was interesting because in talking to people after that meeting in the world of Jeb Bush, I can tell you they were surprised today when Mitt Romney announced he wasn't going to run. I don't think he gave any indication to Jeb Bush he was thinking of getting out of it. They talked around it a lot but didn't get into the meat of the matter.

I think what happened here though regarding Jeb and Mitt Romney is that when Jeb Bush decided to go all in on this race, Mitt Romney sort of said, wait a minute, if I'm even thinking about it, I have to let people know. I don't want all donors and campaign staff, you know, all machinery, to go over to Jeb. So what he did was kind of jumped in half way and knew that he had to make a decision about jumping in all the way pretty soon. He gathered a bare-bones staff, old friends, supporters, advisors at a big meeting last week, laid it all out for him. I think he then decided in the end -- I think it was a combination of heart and the head. This is a man that believes he should be president, Brooke. He looked at the difficulty he would have in gaining the nomination and the question of whether he wanted to put his family through it, even though he believes he should be president. And I think in the end --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: For a third time, right?

BORGER: Tough call for him, but said no.

BALDWIN: Well, we know tonight he's having dinner with Chris Christie and their plus ones. According to Dana Bash's reporting, don't look for him to endorse anyone any time soon if at all.

BORGER: No. That's right.

BALDWIN: What about the field? Who else could be floating out there?

BORGER: You know, and Dana is 100 percent right that he's not going to endorse anybody soon. I think it was very clear to me today by the way that his little speech that he gave was not an endorsement of Jeb Bush at all. He was a talking about the future, fresh faces, et cetera, et cetera. Bush is not exactly a fresh face. I think that when you talk to people in the world of Mitt Romney, things they were saying about Jeb was that he's untested, rusty as a candidate, they think he wouldn't succeed in the Republican primary.

So the question is, who's Mitt Romney going to endorse? He might sit back and surprise us. By the way, I might add, some Republican candidates don't want Romney's endorsement. They're the anti- establishment crowd.

BALDWIN: Right.

BORGER: So we don't know yet.

BALDWIN: So we wait. We wait, we wait.

Gloria Borger --

BORGER: Yes, we do.

BALDWIN: -- thank you. Appreciate it.

Coming up next, as New England digs its way out of this week's blizzard -- I'm thawing out over days in Boston -- another storm is already dumping more snow. We're live in Maine where it is already falling.

Plus, in the murder trial of former NFL star, Aaron Hernandez, the victim's girlfriend has taken the stand today. We'll share with you what she revealed, ahead, here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Yes, yes, it is the middle of winter. Actually, I don't think we're to the middle yet, unfortunately. By New England standards, it's been a record season so far. Another storm is already boosting totals, and more snow is on the way. Miguel Marquez is in Portland, Maine, where more than two feet of snow

fell earlier this week.

Isn't that so fun to you, Miguel? We're coming to you in a minute.

Chad Myers is with us as well.

Miguel, I'm so sorry I'm not out there with you, but it looks beautiful.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is absolutely stunning. In Maine, this is considered a dusting. This is what they're worried about.

(LAUGHTER)

The two feet they got a couple of days ago, all over Portland. Down the pile we go. Keeping the roads open. It's snowing as hard as it has all day. Expecting four to 10 inches in the Portland area. Streets amazingly are the in good shape based on how much snow they've had last several days. They're hoping to keep up with it. Freezing temperatures they're most concerned with, especially, north of Maine, very cold temperatures and high winds expected later tonight. The worst of the snow will be overnight tonight. That's what they're looking at here. Certainly in Massachusetts, the same thing. Some schools have closed. Some government office buildings are closed. But for the most part, these Mainers are tough, they're shrugging it off, getting to work and getting about their business. But they're keeping a close eye on roads and keeping everything up and running -- Brooke?

BALDWIN: I saw that bus head on past you. In Maine, they know how to do this. So does Massachusetts.

Chad, the story isn't just the snowfall. As Miguel mentioned, it is cold, cold, cold.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, and getting colder. The next cold front drops things 5-10 below zero without the wind chill factor. That's a cold night, especially if you don't have power, and the winds pick up as well, with the wind chills, I don't know, 30 to 40 below zero.

I loved the picture of you Brooke and Jennifer Gray in the snow. You looked like twins.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: She's adorable though. Love her.

(LAUGHTER)

MYERS: I still think it was Photoshopped. I think you're the same person.

Snow into parts of Maine up to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, St. Johns. Halifax gets more of an ice storm in Canada, otherwise. Here's the snow now. Boston, two inches maybe. This is not a Massachusetts storm. It's a Maine and parts of an Atlantic Canada storm. There's the low there. It moves into Halifax, New Brunswick, and up to the north. Even parts of Newfoundland can pick up significant snow here from this storm.

It's the first one of the next two and the second one comes in on Monday.

Here's the biggest threat with the storm to the U.S., the winds. Look at that. Providence, 41 miles per hour over night tonight. Boston, 37 miles per hour. That could knock down power lines if you get a gust around 50. That's all it takes Brooke. There you go. Temperatures cooling down. Look at the low in Boston for Sunday morning, 10. Monday morning, 2 below zero. That's no wind chill. That's the real air temperature, what the thermometer on the bank is going to say. There's the weather in the West. We'll watch for it coming in Monday. I don't know where it hits yet. I don't know whether it hits Boston, New York or Philadelphia. Yesterday, the model said it would hit D.C., but now D.C. will be 37 and rain. Still, too many days out there. But here it comes. You can see which way it's going, toward the eastern U.S. A big swath of the U.S. on Monday will have snow for sure -- Brooke?

BALDWIN: Bundle up, stay inside. That's my plan for the weekend.

(LAUGHTER)

Chad Myers, thank you very much.

Miguel, enjoy the snow, my friend.

Appreciate it, both of you.

Just ahead, first on CNN, one of the Gitmo detainees released in the Bowe Bergdahl swap has tried reaching out to militants. We'll tell you what the White House has to say about that.

Also ahead, just an awful story. An explosion near a maternity hospital. Newborn babies, their mothers, the building leveled. Rosa Flores is there with dramatic tales of rescues amid the chaos.

Stay here. You're watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: It was dawn in Mexico City, this gas leak, and then this horrific explosion, tearing through a maternity hospital. Three killed, a nurse and two babies. Dozens more were injured, many of them newborns. In the midst of this horror, you had heroism. Police officers rushing into the chaos to save precious lives.

CNN's Rosa Flores has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's been more than 24 hours since the gas exPLOsion sent shock waves through this Mexico City neighborhood. You can see behind me, crews still working, sifting through the rubble. This hospital is a shell of what it was. It's been a pile of debris that first responders have been going through.

I talked to one of those first responders, a police officer, who's picture became very popular on social media because he has an infant in his arms. He's running away from the scene. He says he's no hero. He's humble about what he says he did. He did anything and everything that any other human would have done.

Now here's what we know from authorities. Mexico City mayor telling CNN what happened here. He says that there was a delivery truck that was refilling a tank at this hospital. A hose ruptured, triggering this exPLOsion.

Now we know that at least three people are dead, including two infants and a woman. At least 70 others are also hurt, including at least 20 infants.

As for the three operators of this delivery truck, all three were injured. All three have been arrested. As for the company that they work for, that company did release a statement saying that they are cooperating with authorities.

Rosa Flores, CNN, Mexico City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Rosa, thank you.

Just ahead, as this measles outbreak grows, one question you maybe haven't thought about, are fans going to the Super Bowl at risk? Hear what health officials are advising. There's a reason for that?

Plus, the rap mogul, Suge Knight, no stranger to trouble, is behind bars, arrested in a deadly hit and run. Hear what happened in the moments leading up to that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)