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NEW DAY SUNDAY

NYC Roads Re-Open After Travel Ban Lifted; Air Travel Paralyzed; Turkish Airline Flight from Houston Diverted to Ireland; Des Moines Register Endorses Rubio, Clinton; Bloomberg Seriously Considering White House Bid. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired January 24, 2016 - 08:00   ET

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


MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Right. A lot of problems when it comes to transportation. That's still -- even though the travel ban has been lifted, getting around on the streets is difficult.

[08:00:04] Flying -- I would definitely check with the airlines before you even venture near an airport.

And on top of that, the rail service, the subways are running. Those are underground, of course. Anything aboveground rail service, too, is questionable.

So, a lot of things that the governor can update us on transportation.

Chad Myers out there driving the streets of New York. As we mentioned, it's been about an hour since I traveled.

So, are you seeing a lot of traffic out there, Chad?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: People are moving, yes. People are definitely trying to get places. Obviously, it's Sunday morning. Maybe people heading to church. Many of the Sunday morning things they need to do.

Now, people aren't walking out for the paper. I've noticed that. There aren't that many people out.

If you're out, you are shoveling. You're trying to dig your sidewalk out. Those are the only people trying to get anywhere on the roadways.

There are sheets of ice under what was a very nice layer of 20 inches of snow, clearly ready to trudge through the snow. As the scrapers scrape off the snow, they created a shin below it. That's a very dangerous place to walk. And, obviously, the cars are only going 15 to 20 miles per hour. You have enough time to slow down.

But if you're walking or not paying attention, as I was walking home from the live shot last night, it was slick. Under where it's been scraped there's just enough shine to create the ice down there.

It's going to be a decent day today. We're going to have a lot of sunshine and snow blinding conditions in so many spots. The albedo, or the brightness of the snow is very high. When the sun shines off the snow, it will be right in your eye as your driving.

Something else your eye is going to be the slop that comes off the roadways. Make sure your washer fluid bottle is filled today. You'll need it as the sunshine happens and starts to melt the stuff -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: Chad, as I look at the streets there, they're not a one lane. This is not a normal street, clearly.

MYERS: Oh, yes.

This is a one-way street but we're still down in the village and to the right here there's another Vespa buried in there somewhere. You have to be careful trying to dig these things out today, because I'll tell you what, one big nick from a snow shovel and the insurance company is not going to like it very much.

Also, it's going to be like an archaeological dig trying to get the cars out, because all the snow has been piled to one side of the street and if you happened to park on the unfortunate side. You are not buried, you're double buried -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: All right, Chad. You know, I see traffic there, especially on the other end of the street there starting to move along. It's quite clear.

Now, New York officials said that, yes, the travel ban is lifted, but if you don't have to go out don't go out, because as Chad is showing us quite well, it is not a typical kind of scene when driving through the streets of New York. So, please, please be very careful.

I want to show you another scene from the air. Dulles Airport, of course, in the D.C. area, and just lost that picture. You can just begin to see it looks like an incredible scene. Pretty much covered with tons and tons of snow there.

You're looking at it again. You can see that the crews that are working very hard. They're setting up the geysers of snow. They have the snow blowers going. Just look at that.

And it's like looking at a highway in Colorado almost on a mountain pass. So, clearly, they have their work cut out for them today, which is why, even though the sun is out, and the snow is out, people have to be well aware that is getting around is not just snapping your fingers and goes back to normal. They've got on those roadways, a lot they have to clear.

Many of the airports, especially here in New York, they remained open. But that isn't to say that flights were coming and going. They were not. The operations were curtailed or cut off completely by the airlines themselves.

So, this is the issues. They've got a long way to go when it com, to clearing not just the runways but consider the parking lots for everybody parks, and there's going to be a huge backlog of people who are originally scheduled to go somewhere and now, they're not.

So, Christi, I'll hand it back to you. People have to be patient for some time.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: They are and, you know, this is coming at an interesting time. A lot of people need to get back to work. I mean, things are looking at their to list it has to be done.

And I'm wondering as we're waiting to hear from Governor Cuomo, and we were saying that the elevated subway lines have been halted as well.

Help people understand who do not live in New York how imperative those traffic patterns and those resources are to folks in the city.

SAVIDGE: Public transportation is essential to life in New York city. I mean, many people -- you have to have it, simply because there's not room for vehicles and it's a way of life.

[08:05:03] So, the fact that the subway is going and had continued even during the storm was a great blessing to people. They can still move about under ground.

But you're right, they come tomorrow morning, the above rail, these are the people with the longer commutes that come in from the outlying areas, they rely on that. And, you know, I'm waiting to hear what the governor has to say regarding that. So many people rely on it.

Yet we know that, you know, with ice on the lines, the third rail getting covered, all those things have tremendous impacts. The streets are there but the last thing you want is everybody saying for I can't take the train I'm taking a car, because that would be a nightmare of traffic. So, that's why public transportation getting it back is key -- Christi.

PAUL: Very good point. All right. Hey, thank you so much, Martin.

I want to get to CNN's Miguel Marquez now. He's live for us from Baltimore.

We saw him waist deep, I think, almost, yesterday. He's clearly gotten out of that situation.

But, Miguel, what is it like where you are now?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is snowy. You heard about the calm before the storm. This is like the simple gorgeousness after it.

Look at downtown Baltimore. We couldn't see across the harbor here yesterday at this time. Now it is a perfect, perfect view.

I'm going to show you Fell's Point here, look at the businesses along the way, just how they are piled with snow, the amount of snow around these businesses that has drifted on to them. It's just incredible. But Fell's Point looks just like a perfection this morning. They're meant to have a giant snowball fight here. It sounds like Baltimore may have broken a record in all of this. The

most snow they ever got was in 2003, 26.8 inches.

The unofficial readings around town were very close to that. BWI certainly broke a record, just south of the city, they got 29.5 inches. Broke the record by about 14 inches at BWI. So, just a massive amount of storm.

Now, the clean up. It's going to be close to freezing today. Maybe just above. Maybe a little bit of melt. Close to freezing tomorrow as well.

The plows are out there working. They lifted the stage three emergency procedure, where all cars were banned from the roads. Now you can get back on the roads, if you have the proper vehicle. So far, very quiet in Baltimore. I think people enjoying their Sunday.

It's fortunate, it was on a weekend. We're looking forward to a giant me ball fight right here -- Christi.

PAUL: Please, don't invite people. You are going to get slammed. Somebody is going to see you where you are.

MARQUEZ: I think I'll be a giant target. I'm predicting.

PAUL: I have the feeling you can defend yourself. It's all right. Thank you so much, Miguel. We appreciate it.

Now, listen, let's go back to New York and Jason Carroll who's in Central Park.

And, Jason, I saw you yesterday, it is snowing and it's crazy. There were people all around you, and they were laughing and having fun, and, you know, we have to remember, this is a serious situation. Fourteen people have died in this storm overall.

However, where you are it looks like there are some people out there, yes?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there's some people out here, but at least so far this morning they're working. We're going to be seeing a lot of this throughout the day. People breaking o the shovels as the big dig gets underway as New Yorkers wake up and get out of their homes. A lot of them are going to be heading out shoveling to get their cars out of situations like this one that you see here, Christi.

This is what we're seeing all over the city -- buried cars, buried sidewalks. Fortunately, the streets are looking much better. The city getting a thumbs-up from the people we spoke to last night and early this morning about getting the salt spreaders out on the streets, getting the plows on the streets. The travel ban lifted just about an hour or so ago.

But still slow moving out here. In terms of Central Park which, right up the street there breaking a record 26.8 inches making it the second largest recorded snowstorm in New York City's history.

Much talk about travel, and that's going a situation here in New York City today, whether you're aboveground or below ground. I was hearing you talking a little bit earlier about that, trying to take the subway to work this morning.

Even though they are running below ground, you're looking at really serious delays, at least 30 or 40 minutes on some of the lines. So, allow extra time. And in terms of the airports, again, still looking at massive delays there.

So, when the governor speaks later this morning, we'll be hearing, I'm sure, about that. Travel in the city trying to get around. It is slow going. The city, though, waking up to sunshine, clear streets, and a lot of work to dig out -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: Jason Carroll, thanks very much.

And you're right. Still work to be done. But my goodness, it's great to see that sunshine.

We want to also check on the rising waters.

[08:10:02] Eight a.m. was the time of high tide, or at least in the area.

Boris Sanchez has been guard in the coast for us.

Boris, where are we now?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Martin. You may recall a half hour we spoke to you. It is not nearly as bad as it is now. The water just continuing to come into the neighborhood rising and rising, similar to yesterday.

But it really pales in comparison. What we saw yesterday was about a foot if not more of water in some spots, coming over the edge and getting into business and residences I should say, in this neighborhood. I want to show you something really peculiar about Margate City.

There are different elevations here. So, as you see, the street is somewhat dry in patches. But as you go further down, the water inundating several parts of the street as we go down further east.

Many of the side streets here in neighborhoods were totally flooded yesterday. It was very difficult to get through them, but today we're dealing with only a couple of inches compared to that foot of water that we saw so quickly rush in.

Very important to point out, flood watches are set to expire about noon today as the wind continues to shift from the storm. But all of this very important to point out, neighbors keep telling us is water coming from the bay. It's not ocean water that is being sprayed into these neighborhoods. It's a bay. So, this is going to continue happening as they continue

getting storms in this area. One man we spoke to about every nor'easter they see something like this. What made it especially worse yesterday was the fact we were dealing with the coincidence that the storm was coming in as there was full moon. So, the tide was extra high.

So, we're within about a half hour or hour of real high tide, of real high tide here on the bay, because it comes in a little bit later than it does on the ocean side. So, we're watching and waiting, Martin.

SAVIDGE: All right. Boris Sanchez, thanks very much for putting the context on that. We'll continue to monitor the scene through you.

Meanwhile, Christi, it's looking a lot better than 24 hours ago. If you remember, it was just a nightmare. Now the sun has returned and people are starting the job of reclaiming New York City for themselves.

It's going to be a long, difficult process a lot of information still yet to come from government officials -- Christi.

PAUL: That's right. We'll hear from governor Cuomo at 9:45, so about an hour a half from now. Hopefully, you'll get some answers there in New York about how they're going to move forward, Martin. Thank you.

When we come back, I want to let you in on breaking news that we're hearing overseas. A Turkish airlines flight diverted from Houston to Ireland.

Also, Donald Trump getting a lot of attention this morning. We're going to tell you what he said that has so many people in a tizzy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:16:01] PAUL: Fifteen past the hour.

New this morning, with just about a week to go until the first caucuses in Iowa. "The Des Moines Register" has given the coveted public endorsement to Marco Rubio and Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Joining me live from Des Moines, CNN politics senior editor, Mark Preston.

So, Mark, you know, it's interesting because the paper we know interviewed all of the 2016 candidates, with the exception of two GOP frontrunners, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, and they both declined.

Is that their way of trying to stay in the anti-establishment wing?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR EDITOR: Sure. No question in very unlikely you would have seen Ted Cruz or Donald Trump receive their endorsement, Christi.

Ted Cruz, in fact, last week the governor of Iowa a Republican said they shouldn't try to give Iowa to Ted Cruz, that he would rather see somebody else when the win Republican nomination by not going to those editorial boards. So, to your point, they're trying to show they are, in fact, the anti-establishment candidates. It has done them well here in Iowa.

PAUL: All right. So, let's talk about Republican frontrunner Donald Trump. He's feeling pretty confident about support for his campaign. Listen to what he said last night that has a lot of people talking this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My people are so smart. You know what else they say about my people? The polls? They say I have the most loyal people. Did you ever see that? Where I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and wouldn't lose any voters. OK? It's like incredible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: So, I spoke to Senator Rand Paul about this. He said Trump -- and I want to quote it here, is almost delusional about his own power.

But one of the things he does say is that he's number one in the polls and his people are fiercely loyal to him. That can't necessarily be disputed, right?

PRESTON: No, no doubt. I think you see Donald Trump, in many ways, tell you the truth. He's said a lot of things probably even worse than that in some cases. And he continues to, you know, gain support and grow support.

We tried to ask him afterwards what he meant by the comments and he wouldn't say anything. But he was criticized as well. You said Rand Paul had just criticized him. Glenn Beck, who endorsed Ted Cruz, Glenn Beck the well known conservative network host now, network owner, he was with Ted Cruz yesterday. He said Donald Trump is showing his hubris and that Donald Trump shouldn't be president.

And that's why you're seeing this pitched battle between Ted Cruz and Donald Trump here in Iowa.

PAUL: All righty.

And lastly, let's talk about Michael Bloomberg considering an independent presidential bid with this. It made me think it would be the battle of the billionaires. According to "Forbes", Mr. Bloomberg has nine times more wealth than Donald Trump does.

Who benefits most, though? When you look at this, if Bloomberg becomes an independent candidate, as they say would happen if this goes forward, who benefits most? Democrats, Republicans, even split?

PRESTON: Right. I think that really remains to be seen. It depends who the Democratic Party puts up as their nominee and the Republican Party puts up their nominee. Now, the story was broken by "The New York Times". And to your point about billions, they're quoting advisers as saying that Bloomberg would spend a billion dollars to try to win as an independent.

An independent has never won in the United States. It's always been a party nominee. Trump yesterday when he was asked about Bloomberg said he likes Mike and he's a friend but they have different viewpoints on some of the major issues, particularly on gun control. He said he would welcome a Bloomberg candidacy.

Now, according to reports, and CNN has confirmed them, is that Bloomberg would get into the race if Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders were the nominees. If it was Hillary Clinton, maybe somebody else in the Republican side, he wouldn't.

Bloomberg is definitely an interesting individual. Once a Democrat, became a Republican when he ran for governor of New York. Then in his third term in New York, he did something a lot of people had never done, actually, and Bloomberg ran the city of New York City.

[08:20:04] So, if he were to run that would throw the race that is already in chaos right now even into further turmoil and it would be very interesting heading into November.

PAUL: As though it's not interesting enough at this point. It's an unconventional run that we've seen so far.

Mark Preston, always good to see you. Thank you.

PRESTON: Thanks, Christi.

PAUL: All righty. I do want to get to you the breaking news that is happening overseas of the Turkish airlines flight diverted from Houston is where it took off. It was supposed to go to Istanbul. It was diverted to Ireland because of some sort of threat. We have a live report for you. Stay close.

PRESTON: First, though, CNN's Stephanie Elam has a preview for this year's Sundance Film Festival for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's that time of the year when Hollywood types leave the palm trees behind, grab their parkas, and come here to Park City, Utah, for the Sundance Film Festival. And sure, that means the parties, the glitz, the glam, but the real draw is the movies.

MATTHEW BELLONI, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: It really sets the tone for the year in culture in film and television.

Let's take "Brooklyn" for example.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So what were you doing (INAUDIBLE)? Don't the Italians have chances?

BELLONI: This film was seen at Sundance last year. It was bought by Fox Searchlight and now, a year later, it's in the Oscar race as a Best Picture candidate. ELAM (voice-over): Stars can also get some shine from Sundance. Take

"Boyhood" and "Whiplash", both debuted at the festival and went on to be nominated by the Academy in 2015 for Best Film, and ultimately led to Oscar wins for Patricia Arquette in "Boyhood" and J.K. Simmons in "Whiplash".

(on camera): So chances are a few of the films debuting here may soon be coming to a theater near you.

Stephanie Elam, CNN, Park City, Utah.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[0:25:04] PAUL: We're about a half hour away from "STATE OF THE UNION WITH JAKE TAPPER".

Jake, what have you got for us this morning?

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST, STATE OF THE UNION: We've got a great show.

The Iowa caucus is just eight days away, and we're going to be talking to Jeb Bush and Chris Christie -- both of whom who are trying hard, competing hard to take that establishment seat in the Trump versus Cruz versus player to be named later competition.

Also, obviously, Governor Christie supervising the state of New Jersey dealing with this horrendous, horrendous blizzard. We'll talk to him about that.

PAUL: All righty. Hey, Jake Tapper, thank you so much.

We should point out GOP presidential candidate Jeb Bush on "STATE OF THE UNION" with Jake. It's this morning, at 9:00 a.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

All right. Let's get you this breaking news.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

PAUL: Out of Ireland. A Turkish Airlines flight from Houston to Istanbul landed safely after it was diverted to Shannon, Ireland. The airlines says the plane was rerouted because of a bomb alert.

Flight TK34 was carrying 207 passengers and two infants. It did land safely all passengers and crew disembarked. They were moved, though, to a secure area of the airport. Officials say this bomb threat is being investigated, obviously.

Erin McLaughlin is with us.

Erin, I'm just wondering how long do you think it will be before we hear something from investigators. Do we know more specifics about the threat that was made?

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Christi.

Well, Irish as well as Turkish media is reporting it was a handwritten note found on board this plane that contained a bomb threat. It was something that crew at the time took seriously enough to call for the diverting of the flying. It was successfully diverted to Shannon Airport in Ireland. It landed around 11: 09 in the morning, about 2 1/2 hours ago. All 209 passengers plus crew were successfully disembarked.

We understand from police that were on scene questioning the passengers. Irish media is reporting they are analyzing the handwriting of the passengers and comparing the handwriting to the note. So, the investigation is still continuing.

We understand that they will be conducting an explosives sweep of the plane, but that is not scheduled to commence for another hour and a half. So, we will not know for sure, at this point, whether it was a real threat or a scare for about an hour and a half to two hours.

PAUL: It certainly makes you wonder who -- I mean, somebody had to be on the plane to place that note. It makes you wonder if it is somebody currently on the plane, somebody on the plane beforehand and left.

But do we know what is going to happen to the passengers? Are they going to be put on one different plane? Are they going to be broken up?

MCLAUGHLIN: Well, at this point, Turkish Airlines is saying once the plane has been thoroughly searched, and if it is, in fact, cleared after this investigation, the plane will continue on to Istanbul later today.

But, yes, as you say they have to be wondering how -- if the media reports turn out to be accurate how this note happened to be get on the plane. Was it from a passenger in was it handed to a passenger prior to boarding? All things that authorities, no doubt, are trying to get to the bottom of now.

PAUL: All right. Erin McLaughlin, we appreciate so much you bringing us the very latest from there. We'll be watching that throughout the day. Thank you.

And, listen, I also want to let you know that officials may have discovered another piece of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370. A fisherman found a large piece of curved metal on the Thai coast Friday. The Thai civil aviation department is dispatching air accident investigators to the site tomorrow. Malaysia's transport minister said it's too early to speculate whether the debris is from the missing plane.

MH370, remember, disappeared off radar in 2014, with 239 people on board. Another piece of debris was found last year on Reunion Island.

And the U.S. Geological Survey said a 7.1 magnitude earthquake hit Alaska this morning. The epicenter hit the Cook Inlet about 160 miles from Anchorage. Now, there was no tsunami threat issued because it was about 50 miles deep. So, they said it was unnecessary to do so. Anchorage police tweeted that there were no reports of major damage or injury following that earthquake. So, just glad everybody seems to be OK.

Of course, we're continuing to follow the aftermath of the massive snowstorm. What does it mean for all of you today as you try to get back up and going into your daily routine from New York to New Jersey. We've got press conferences coming out. We'll bring those to you as well.

Thank you so much, though, for starting your morning with us.

"INSIDE POLITICS" with John King starts right now.