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Snow Practically Shuts Down Federal Government; Severe Winter Weather Across the U.S; Family of Six Missing in Nevada Mountains; John Podesta Joins White House Inner Circle; John Kerry Makes Case for Iran Deal; New Federal Push on Mental Health; Netflix to Debut Documentary on Mitt Romney

Aired December 10, 2013 - 13:30   ET

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


WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: It may not officially be winter yet, that's December 21st, but you wouldn't know it from the look in the northeast today. Gray clouds hanging over Capitol Hill. Here in Washington, federal offices in Washington are closed. D.C. and Baltimore under weather -- winter weather advisories, which could mean one to three inches of snow before the end of the day. Areas in Pennsylvania will get a little bit more. Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware, are under a winter storm warning. That means about a half a foot of snow. Philadelphia's international airport is seeing flight delays. Some of those delays topping four hours.

For more on the weather, we have our meteorologist, Chad Myers, standing by at the CNN Severe Weather Center. Chris Lawrence is over on the National Mall here in Washington.

The evening commute, what is it shape up like? A lot of folks didn't even go to work today because the federal government was, for all practical purposes, shut down, Chris. What's going on?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Why there would be any major problems with the evening commute? The sun's coming out here. The ground's already starting to dry up. It stopped snowing a few hours ago and when you think about all the federal worker who's were told to stay home today, that causes a ripple effect in this area.

Here in the Washington area, a lot of private companies use the federal government sort of as a template. If the government's closed, a lot of companies say we're going to close down for the day, too. The schools are going to close.

So you don't have very many, many people out on the road today. I know we didn't get any accumulation here in downtown D.C. There was a little bit more out in the suburbs but there was a lot of fear on the part of this storm mostly based on what happened a day or two ago when you had all that will freezing rain here and than much heavier snowfall up in Philadelphia and New York. People are wondering if they got another round of that kind of snow and ice, what it would do after we saw those pile-ups a little bit further north there, but overall, I mean it's turned out to be just you know pretty much completely out of the woods at this point at least in the D.C. area.

BLITZER: Shaping up as a lovely day here in Washington, D.C. All right, thanks very much, Chris.

Chad, you and I grew up in Buffalo, New York. You know, I've been living here in Washington for a long time. If there's an inch, inch and a half, two inches, the place shuts down, which is a sign they're not ready for this kind of treatment. The government shuts down and so many other private areas shut down. Give us the big picture right now. Nationally, what's going on?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, for you and we'll start in D.C. And kind of get wider and wider. At 4:00 this morning, it was ugly. It was showing. The roads were slick. But now the snow is over. The sun will be out. Everything's going to melt, even for D.C., Baltimore, all the way up to Philadelphia and New York City. The city you're probably going to get another hour of snow and then the sun comes out. Look at the delays from New York, LaGuardia, Philadelphia, hour, hour and a half. Even Boston with ground delays at about 50 minutes. It's going to be a day where it's slow to get around. I'm a little bit concerned tonight now that the roads will be wet at 4:00 to 5:00, if you're driving around the overpasses will get slick. The bridges will get slick right at sunset. Boston, another couple hours for you and you are done, as well, two to four inches. The big story I've seen pictures out of Lancaster, four inches there. Delaware, a couple inches there and the mountains west of D.C., Fort Royal, two to three inches on the ground. Other than that, the airports are slow. Most people didn't get to work. Roads should be fine.

BLITZER: Yeah. If it gets icy later, drive carefully. That's the advice we give everyone. If you have a four-wheel drive vehicle, that's obviously very, very good.

Thanks very much for that, Chad.

Let's go to the northwest part of Nevada right now where searchers are scouring the mountains from the sky and on land for six family members. A man, his girlfriend, their two children and a niece and a nephew went out to play in the snow on Sunday. But they didn't come back. The area is remote and rocky with temperatures dipping well below zero.

Our Casey Wian is tracking the story for us and joining us.

Tell us about the search, Casey, the challenges facing rescuers.

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Wolf, it's really difficult for these rescuers because the search has expanded to such a large geographic area. All of Pershing County, Nevada, which is 6,000 square miles. It's remotely populated. Only one person per square mile in that county. So that complicates things. The area they traveled to to go play in the snow is known as the Seven Troughs area of northwestern Nevada. It's an area populated by very, very steep canyons, steep ravines. Their vehicle a jeep they were in could be in any one of those. So that is an issue that rescuers are having to deal with. Then as you mentioned, the very, very bitter cold temperatures as low as 20 degrees below zero overnight is causing a problem for the safety of this family.

Here's what rescuers had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD MACHADO, SHERIFF, PERSHING COUNTY, NEVADA: The temperatures out here are very cold. And we'd like to bring a successful end to this. We'd like to find them just as soon as we can.

JOAN WEAGANT, FAMILY FRIEND: We just got to find them. We've known them forever, you know? And those little tiny kids can't be out there. None of them can be out there in the cold like --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIAN: The search now expanded two 200 people searching for this family. They are using helicopters, airplanes and they are on the ground hoping that they can find this family. But obviously, Wolf, as more time goes by, the more difficult it is -- Wolf?

BLITZER: They did have cell phones, this family, the folks there. But I take it service is spotty out there and making it obviously even more difficult?

WIAN: Service is spotty in the area. It's so remote. But they did get a couple of pings from James Glanton's cell phone yesterday. I just spoke with the Pershing County Sheriff's Office a few minutes ago. They say they have not received any more pinks since yesterday. There have been no sightings of their vehicle -- Wolf?

BLITZER: Let's hope they find these people soon.

Casey, thank you.

Widening the inner circle. President Obama adds a political heavyweight to his White House team. What can the former Clinton chief of staff do to help the current administration and the president? I'll speak with our own Ron Brownstein about John Podesta. He's back in the White House. Stand by.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: President Obama is adding an important new member to his inner circle over at the White House. John Podesta, the veteran Democratic operative, has been aiding the president behind the scenes since 2008, but now the man who took over the Clinton White House as President Clinton's chief of staff during the Monica Lewinsky impeachment episodes, he will have a much bigger role in the last years of the Obama administration, at least for another year or so if he comes on board as counselor, as we expect.

Let's discuss with our senior political analyst, Ron Brownstein. The senior political analyst of the editorial director of the "National Journal," as well.

So some folks are saying the president, whose job approval numbers now are at a record low, he's in deep trouble because of the launching of Obama care, is calling in the cavalry to help.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah. It's not usual kind of pattern in the second term of an administration. You reach out for some of those more veteran Washington figures. I think of Reagan and Howard Baker after Iran-Contra. This precedent for this -- John Podesta is a fascinating figure. He was close to the Clintons, chief of staff during the impeachment, so he knows how to deal with a hostile Congress. He has worked with Obama. He ran the transition for him and also built what has been the most successful left-of- center think tank launched, the Center for American Progress. Someone with very good ties inside the broad Democratic coalition and has experience dealing with Congress.

BLITZER: What does it say the president is calling on him not just to give him outside advice, to bring him in as a counselor to the president?

BROWNSTEIN: The "counselor" is historically a pretty fuzzy term. It usually translates into "you give a lot of advice, you don't necessarily have a lot of line responsibility." I think the experience of bringing in folks like John Podesta in the past has varied enormously. We'll have to wait and see how much actual operational influence they give him. Giving advice (ph) is one thing. Controlling decisions is another.

BLITZER: I remember in the first term of the Bill Clinton administration when they had some serious problems in 1993.

BROWNSTEIN: A guy you sort of know.

BLITZER: Yeah. They brought in David Gergen --

(CROSSTALK)

BROWNSTEIN: Right.

BLITZER: -- who had advised Republican presidents, and then at some point, Leon Panetta was brought in to become the chief of staff.

BROWNSTEIN: Right, the chief of staff.

BLITZER: They moved what they called some of the kids out and got adult supervision in there. That was the line at the time. Is this a sort of a point right now where there's a vote of no confidence in the current team at the White House, why they're bringing in Podesta?

BROWNSTEIN: Implicitly, there is some -- obviously, I think there is some evidence of discontent here. I think the president has always recognized that given where the Republicans are from in the House that he has very little leverage over them. He carried only 17 districts represented by House Republicans. In his second term, he was going to have to get more done through executive action than legislative breakthrough. Because of that, the break down on Obama care is more remarkable. They understood their best chance was through the levers of the executive branch.

I think Podesta, in part, is there to help them tighten up on that front because the environment, other areas, it's through their own actions they're more likely to make a mark in these last remarks rather than big breaks through Congress.

BLITZER: Let me switch gears. John Kerry, the secretary of state, is now testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the Iran interim deal on its nuclear program and he's making the case -- and there are skeptics, not only Republicans but plenty of Democrats -- that this is a good deal. He's making the case that this is actually beneficial to Israel. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: The national security of the United States is stronger under this first-step agreement than it was before. Israel's national security is stronger than it was the day before we entered into this agreement. And the gulf and Middle East interests are more secure than they were the day before we entered this agreement.

Now, here's how. Put simply, once implemented -- and it will be in the next weeks -- this agreement halts the progress of Iran's nuclear program -- halts the progress -- and rolls it back in certain places for the first time in nearly 10 years. It provides unprecedented monitoring and inspections while we negotiate to see if we can conclude a comprehensive agreement, if we can conclude. And I came away from our preliminary negotiations with serious questions about whether or not they're ready and willing to make some of the choices that have to be made. But that's what we put to test over the next months.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So, but he's got a problem, not just Kerry but the president of the United States, not just from Republicans but, in the Senate, you've got the chairman of the foreign relations committee, Bob Menendez a very loyal Democrat, you've got Chuck Schumer, the number three Democrat in the Senate from New York, they're skeptical of this deal.

BROWNSTEIN: They are. The big question is whether they give him the six months are running room to test, as Secretary Kerry said, whether in fact, Iran is serious about reaching a long-term agreement. There's no question I think that the Congress wants to at least set in motion sanctions that will be toughened if the deal isn't reached. The bigger question is whether they actually threaten to undermine his position by imposing further sanctions during this window. My guess is he can fight this off and get this running room to see whether this is serious over the next six months. Beyond that, I think, if this doesn't work, there's a very clear signal to Iran there will be tougher sanctions coming down the road.

BLITZER: Maybe it will work.

BROWNSTEIN: Maybe it will work.

BLITZER: We'll see.

Thanks very much, Ron Brownstein, for that.

A new federal push to help the mentally ill as we approach the anniversary of Sandy Hook. Our own Dr. Sanjay Gupta will be along to explain the needs when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: As the one-year anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre approaches, the Obama administration is announcing a commitment for more money to deal with mental health issues. Vice President Joe Biden is scheduled to meet the Newtown families at this hour to make clear that $100 million in fresh funds will be available.

Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is joining us with more on this.

Sanjay, first of all, tell us about the announcement.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: This has been part of a larger push to deal with mental health, mental health parity, and also the violence, obviously, surrounding Newtown and many other shootings over the past year.

You talked about the $100 million number. It's interesting, $50 million of those dollars are coming from the Department of Health and Human Services specifically toward building more facilities, communities centers specifically, and hiring more professionals. $50 million is also coming from the USDA, U.S. Department of Agriculture. It's interesting, Wolf, you don't usually hear USDA being involved in something like this but they want to focus more on rural areas, areas traditionally even more underserved with regard to mental health, and also telemedicine, this idea that mental health professionals in areas where there's a higher concentration of them can better serve rural areas. So that's sort of the gist of the announcement.

Again, Wolf, as you mentioned, coming around the anniversary of Newtown. Part of a larger push surrounding violence overall in our society.

BLITZER: Yeah, as you know, mental health issues covers a lot of ground in the United States. This would be a shift in the way mental health issues are viewed. But tell us a little bit more about that.

GUPTA: Yeah, you know, I think with regard to mental health, you know, we have been talking about this idea of parity, meaning putting it on par, if you will, with physical health problems for some time. As you may remember, Wolf, you and I talked a few weeks ago. Department of Health and Human Services sort of decided to enforce existing parity laws from 2008 saying that mental health is an essential health benefit that should be treated the same as physical health from your co-pays, deductibles and all of that. But unless you have enough doctors who are available, mental health professionals available, unless you have enough beds to take care of patients, unless you can do something to reduce stigma, parity only goes a certain distance in terms of addressing this.

I do think, if you look at the fact that more funding will be available, not just for this $100 million announcement, but more founding toward research, that ultimately helps address these issues of stigma as well as we get better treatments, better diagnoses, and people become more aware. You're absolutely right. This helps, but it does not change things, certainly, not overnight.

BLITZER: Yeah, because when you think about it, Sanjay -- and we've covered these stories, these heartbreaking stories, these massacres, these mass shootings -- so many times the shooter involved has serious mental health problems that either weren't treated, weren't fully diagnosed.

GUPTA: I think when you look at a shooting like this, it further, in many ways, stigmatizes mental health and illness. Certainly, you know, people acknowledge that.

But it's worth pointing out again the people who had mental illness are more likely to be victims of violent crime rather than perpetrators of crime, but we don't hear about those people. We also don't hear about the people who have mental illness, who have tried to do everything they can, their families have tried to do everything to get them help, to get them in-patient therapy, to get them treated overall. It can be so hard to do. So, yeah, you know, we pay attention to these things around a big tragedy, but there are many, many tragedies of smaller nature happening every day in this country.

BLITZER: They certainly are. Our mental health issue is a serious problem out there. I think the health care program, the insurance program should deal with these issues as physical ailments because they are so, so critical.

Sanjay, thanks very much.

GUPTA: You got it, Wolf. Thank you.

BLITZER: This important programming note for our viewers. Don't miss Anderson Cooper's special report Wednesday night, "Honoring the Children: Newtown, One Year Later." It airs 10:00 p.m. eastern here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: From the primary to the election, the nation watched all the public events of the 2012 presidential race unfold on television, but now you'll be able to get a look at the private, behind-the-scenes moments of Mitt Romney's campaign. Netflix is planning to debut the original documentary called "Mitt" on January 24th.

CNN entertainment correspondent, Nischelle Turner, is joining us now from Los Angeles. This will, what, be the second documentary for Netflix? What kind of access did the filmmaker actually get?

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, you know, this is the second documentary for Netflix. The first one was called "The Square." That took a look at political unrest in Egypt. This one is focusing on Mitt Romney. It's not just focusing on the presidential race of 2012. They started documenting Mitt Romney's life back in December of 2006 when he first was deciding whether or not he would run for president.

Then it also chronicled his life through the 2008 failed bid for the Republican nomination, and then went on to chronicle the next four years until he ran for president against Barack Obama in 2012 and ultimately lost. So they've got six years strong with him. They say this goes well beyond the realm of politics. The filmmaker also said he could not believe that he was sitting in the room with the access that he had in some of the situations and meetings that he probably shouldn't have been in. So this might be very, very interesting. I can't wait. I can't wait to see it.

BLITZER: I'd like to see it, too. The film is also going to the Sundance Festival. Is that right?

TURNER: Yeah, it is. It's going to debut on Netflix January 24th, but it's going to debut first at Sundance on January 17th. That's kind of where we see those really great, meaty documentaries that debut every year. I'm excited to see how this one is going to be, you know, received by the public.

BLITZER: All right. Stand by.

I want you to watch our next report because anticipation is building for the release of another major motion picture, "Anchorman 2," about the legendary newscaster, Ron Burgundy. Ron and I have been long-time rivals. As I've been mentioning, I'm not keeping our simmering feud a secret any longer. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: When we were coming up in the late of 70s, Ron Burgundy got the lead position at KVWN because his mustache was slightly bigger than mine. You have to understand, this was the '70s. People found comfort in a mustached man delivering the news. That's actually why I grew the beard. I love my beard, but I would trade it for Burgundy's mustache in a heartbeat. Burgundy and I hit the national spotlight about the same time. Today, he has the most awards of any anchor. Some of them, honestly, I think belong to me because they're literally mine. He just took them off my shelf right in front of me and acted like I didn't see it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Ron Burgundy, what an anchorman.

By the way, you can catch my interview with the man behind Ron Burgundy, Will Ferrell. That will air in "The Situation Room" later this week.

That's it for me. Thanks very much for watching. I'll be back in "The Situation Room," 5:00 p.m. eastern.

NEWSROOM continues now with Brooke Baldwin.