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CNN NEWSROOM
President Obama to Announce Immigration Action Tomorrow Evening; Nearly a Year's Worth of Snow Falls in Just 24 Hours; NBC Announces Cancelling New Cosby Show; White House Dinner for Congressional Leaders Tomorrow; White House Briefing
Aired November 19, 2014 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Don Lemon here in for Brooke Baldwin.
We're following breaking news for you. As President Obama is set to speak in a prime time address that could change immigration in this country, CNN has learned that President Obama will announce tomorrow evening that he's taking executive action on the issue.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Everybody agrees that our immigration system is broken. Unfortunately Washington has allowed the problem to fester for too long and so what I'm going to be laying out is things that I can do with my lawful authority as president to make the system work better.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: So you heard him say it with my lawful authority. But Republicans say he will be overstepping his authority.
Joining me to discuss this is Dana Bash, our chief congressional correspondent.
Dana, we're getting new details about what the president will announce. What are your sources telling you?
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That he's going to talk about executive action that he believes he can take to allow most children of immigrants who came here not by their own volition but with their parents, so-called dreamers, to stay in the U.S. legally, and the flip side to allow some parents of children who are here to stay legally.
It's probably about three million to four million people all told that we're talking about in a universe of what is suspected to be about 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. So it certainly is a very big sector of the population that we're talking about.
But here on Capitol Hill as you can imagine, Don, the reaction is pretty fierce from Republicans saying that they really wanted to do this legislatively despite that they haven't done so in four years since Republicans have been in charge of the House. And that by the president taking this executive action, it makes it impossible for them to convince rank and file to come along with them in the next two years while the president is still in office to do something legislatively on immigration reform.
LEMON: Dana, what do we hearing about this? What are you hearing about this dinner tonight?
BASH: My understanding and I actually have just been working the phones to figure out exactly who has been invited. John Boehner is not on the invite list. Mitch McConnell, I understand, is not on the invite list. So it looks like it is Democratic leaders who have been invited in the House and Senate to go to the White House, to sit with the president, to break bread and discuss his plans, what he's going to announce tomorrow night.
It is not going to be -- it's not a secret what the president has been planning. They certainly have been talking to Democratic leaders. They have been talking at the White House to immigration groups pretty intensively as well about what they want to do. So this is sort of the first step it looks like in the more formal process of the White House and the president himself letting Congress know what road he's going to go down with this executive action, Don.
LEMON: Dana, let's listen to what the House speaker John Boehner said last week and then we'll talk.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: This is the wrong way to govern. This is exactly what the American people said on Election Day they didn't want. And so, all the options are on the table. We're going to fight the president tooth and nail if he continues down this path.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: So Dana, will Congress still have a chance to pass legislation even after President Obama issues an executive order?
BASH: Well, certainly, that's the White House hope. That's the hope of some Democrats here on Capitol Hill. But even Republicans who have been very much for immigration reform, for a path to citizenship like Senator Lindsey Graham, Senator John McCain, just moments ago in the hallway downstairs, they were telling us that they are very worried about this because they know the sentiment of Republicans in Congress and more importantly maybe outside groups who have a lot of influence on rank and file Republicans. And once the president takes this action, what many call abuse of power, then it will be a lot harder to get Republicans who are reluctant to do this to come along for compromise.
The question though, Don, at this point in short-term is going to be, how are Republicans going to retaliate? I asked that question of the incoming Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell yesterday. And he said he doesn't like words like retaliate. But the fact of the matter is they are talking in meetings from one side of the capitol to the other about how they're going to respond to the president, whether they have any legislative remedies, whether it is from censor to trying to use the power of the purse, to litigation to try to stop the president and all of those together could be something that they could do to really affect it but Republican sources admit they don't have great options.
LEMON: Dana Bash. Dana on Capitol Hill, thank you very much for that.
BASH: Thanks, Don.
LEMON: Let's talk about the weather now. Nearly a year's worth of snow falling in just 24 hours. You have to see it to believe it, really. Here it is. And officials say that's what happened in Buffalo, New York, right now. It's happening right now as a matter of fact, an early winter-like storm. It unleashed more than 70 inches of snow in near record time.
This hammering is the first snowfall of the season. The city's mayor says it's heavier than anything he's seen in over 40 years and tragically the storm and frigid temps have turned deadly. There have been at least six deaths from car crashes or from being trapped in cars or from trying to shovel snow.
And take a look at this. This is an actual interstate in Buffalo, the I-90 thruway. Look at it. The city's airport is open but a partial travel ban is preventing drivers from getting there. New York's governor declared a state of emergency in parts of upstate New York.
And CNN's weather team tracking this monster storm. Meteorologist Jennifer Gray and Chad Myers on top of it now. They both join me. And we begin with Jennifer who is standing in the ground, I should say on the ground, and in a lot of snow in Buffalo -- Jennifer.
JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Don. That's right. This snowstorm came fast and it was coming down very, very hard. That lake-effect snow where you get the snow showers just going over the same spots over and over and over. So when you get snow dumped on one area that equals 40, 50 inches of snow, this is what you get.
There's nowhere to put it. Bulldozers and plows have been shoving it on the sides of streets and we're standing on top of about a 13-foot snow pile and you see these all over the city on the corners. We just heard that 5,000 tons of snow has been removed from the city because they are loading all this snow into dump trucks and hauling it off.
The reason is another wave is coming tonight. You have to manage this snow and put it somewhere before the next round comes. We could see an additional two to three feet of snow.
So Don, I want to show you the scene here. We are going to pan around and you can just check it out. You can see the roads are still covered in white. The plows have been out here in full force one after another completely removing the snow. But there's still a snow pack on the ground. The snow is very, very heavy. And so we're seeing that pack stay on the ground. So roads are very, very slick right now. We've even seen those
bulldozers tire spin. And so, it's been horrible as far as driving is concerned. And we know that people have been rescued off of interstate 90. Cars stranded there for more than 24 hours. Still trying to clear the roads because they want things to be clear before this next wave comes.
So this has been a really serious situation. We talked to people, locals here from Buffalo, like I asked -- is this special? And they said, yes, we've never seen anything like this comparing it to the blizzard of 1977. So even the locals are saying, this is something like we've never seen before, Don.
LEMON: One year's worth of snow in 24 hours.
Jennifer Gray, thank you.
And you know, Chad, the Buffalo area may be buried under six feet of snow now, but this is only the beginning, right?
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Another one coming. Another one, another lake-effect coming, but I don't think it is going to stay. We are not going to see six or seven inches back in the last month.
What you see behind me is the most amazing time lapse I have seen in a long time. This is downtown Buffalo. They didn't get much snow. A couple inches. But that's the lake. And the lake giving up its moisture and all of that snow falling on the south side of Buffalo. We call it south towns.
So, you go from four miles north right to Cheektowaga, right to where I lived here in Cheektowaga, from two inches here to 65 inches in seven miles. Or the other way from Buffalo to Lancaster, from six- and-a-half inches at the airport to 63 inches of snow. The lake gives up its moisture. The cold air picks it up and shoves it on the land and then the snow falls out.
What the big story is for the next storm is will the wind come in from the west-southwest and blow that snow to Dunkirk or will it blow the same way from the southwest and blow the next storm, that next batch of lake-effect right back into Buffalo proper.
Here's what the future radar looks like. Those snow going away today coming back tonight and then the bands of lake-effect snow, this is tomorrow afternoon 1:30 right through Buffalo, run through Hamburg, all the way down to (INAUDIBLE) county and it doesn't get over yet.
Let me tell you what these people are dealing with. I know this looks like a white out condition. If you have one square foot of snow to shovel, if you have 60 inches of snow on it, that weighs 20 pounds. If your driveway is 20 feet wide and 50 feet long, 20, 50, you now have 20,000 pounds of snow to move. And that's why people get heart attacks and that's why we say please take your time. It's going to be a long event. Shoveling that driveway is a marathon, Don.
LEMON: You aren't never lied as they say. OK, thank you very much, Chad. Thank you, Jennifer. Appreciate both
of you.
Next, Netflix pulls a plug on Bill Cosby's special. And breaking now, NBC announcing it cut ties with Cosby on a new show, this after more women surfaced accusing the comedian of rape. The latest one, Janice Dickinson, a self-proclaim world's first super model. Hear what she says and how Cosby is responding next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Welcome back, everyone.
I need to say something before we get to our next story, a word about my interview last night with Cosby accuser, Joan Tarshis. As I am a victim myself I would never want to suggest that any victim could have prevented a rape. If my question to her struck anyone as insensitive, I'm sorry as that is certainly was not my intention.
Meantime, two brand new developments to tell you about this hour in this Bill Cosby saga drama. Cosby's lawyer has just issued the first statement outright denying rape allegations by the highest profile woman yet to come forward to accuse the comedian of rape.
Janice Dickinson, she is self-proclaimed world's supermodel, first supermodel and the star of reality TV shows. Says Cosby raped her back in 1992. This is what she told "Entertainment Tonight."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JANICE DICKINSON, FORMER MODEL: In my room, he had given me wine and a pill. The next morning I woke up and I wasn't wearing my pajamas. And 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 patchwork robe, dropping his robe and getting on top of me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: And again, that was back in 1982. And here's part of the statement that Cosby's attorneys just gave CNN. It says Janice Dickinson's story accusing Bill Cosby of rape is a lie. The only story she gave 12 years ago to the media and in her autobiography was that she refused to sleep with Mr. Cosby and blew her off.
OK. So documentary proof and Ms. Dickinson's own words shows that her news story about something she now claims happened back in 1982 is a fabricated lie.
Also breaking right now, NBC, announcing that it plans to drop the development deal, that sitcom with Cosby. Brian Stelter is our senior media correspondent. He is the host of "RELIABLE SOURCES" and he is joining us now.
This is really starting to snow ball. What do you think?
BRIAN STELTER, CNN HOST, RELIABLE SOURCES: It sure is. Last night about 12:30 in the morning, just about to go to bed, when Netflix said they are going not air this one-time standup comedy special that Cosby already taped. They postponed it which means they may put it on Netflix in the future.
Then the question became, what was NBC going to do? And about half hour ago NBC came out and said we are not going to develop that sitcom anymore either. So both big projects that we've been wondering about for days now are no longer going forward for Bill Cosby.
Now, it's a pretty significant toll to his business. You know, putting aside the very concerning allegations out there, you think about him and his career, this is a big step backward unfortunately for him.
LEMON: Doe he -- he needs to address this, correct?
STELTER: Well, I think every day this goes on, even though there have been a lot of no comments, the silence gets louder, Don. And you just read that statement from his lawyer, not just any lawyer. The guy is Marty Singer. He is a famous celebrity lawyer, very famous for his aggressive posture toward media outlets. If he has a client that's being targeted, he'll send famous letters to those news outlets warning them about, you know, for example, the lie that he's saying that Janice Dickinson is putting out there. So he is bringing in a top, you know, top attorney to help him out.
LEMON: All right, I have to get to some breaking news.
Let's get to the White House now where they are making -- talking about immigration. There is -- there they are speaking now about -- Josh Earnest speaking about immigration. Let's take and listen in.
JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY: An ample opportunity to discuss that. What I will point out and maybe we will have the opportunity how much this a little bit more in the briefing, is I think that you'll find that it's consistent with actions taken by presidents of both parties to deal with the immigration system that presidents from Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Reagan, both Bushes, took executive action to deal with what they characterized as problems with the broken immigration system and they took steps unilaterally using the authority that's vested in the executive branch to try to solve some of those problems. And what you'll see in terms of the president's announcement will be generally consistent with that exercise of executive authority.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: So there's a speech tomorrow night and then he goes to the high school on Friday. Will there be more stops by the president to sort of sell this, if you will, I mean, next week? Is Thursday and Friday the extent of it or will there be more stops with the president talking about this?
EARNEST: Well, it's -- I do anticipate that we'll be having a number of rather lengthy discussions about this decision. And the president I say, in all sincerity, is looking forward to this debate. The president feels very confident both in the steps that he's taken. He also feels very confident in knowing that these steps are going to be good for the country. That despite some of the concerns that have been raised by Republicans, we know that these steps are going to strengthen national security, they're going to strengthen the security at the border. They are going to strengthen our economy. And they will do something to address a lingering problem, which is millions of people who currently live in this country who can come out of the shadows, can get right with the law. They can pay their taxes. They can go back to the line. Go to the back of the line. But also sort of become fully contributing members of communities large and small all across the country. And you know, this is an important step that will have a pretty profound impact on the lives of millions of people who live here. And you know, we'll have an opportunity over the course of the next couple of days obviously to talk about this in more detail.
But I would certainly not rule out that in the coming weeks that the president will take additional trips or host other events to continue talking about these very important issues -- Roberta.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: If what the president wants is comprehensive reform which requires bipartisan action on the hill, why wouldn't he invite Republicans for dinner and talk to them about it too?
EARNEST: Roberta, sadly, if it were only dinner that was required to get Republicans to act in bipartisan fashion, we would have passed bipartisan compromise immigration reform legislation quite some time ago. You recall, the president convened a lunch just two weeks ago where he invited Democratic and Republican leaders from the House and Senate to come and talk about a range of priorities including immigration reform.
So tonight's dinner will be another opportunity to talk about immigration reform. Certainly, not the first opportunity and it won't be the last.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: Is he worried about Democrats being nervous about this move and siding with Republicans on whatever Republicans decide to do to try to stop it?
EARNEST: I think the short answer to your question is no. The longer answer to your question is I do think that there is -- again, once we have an opportunity to talk about some of the details related to the executive action that the president has chosen to take, it will become clear that there's a solid legal foundation for the president taking those actions.
And, again, we do anticipate that there will be Republican opposition to what the president announces. But the president, it was clear when he talked about this, as he mentioned at the news conference that he hosted in Burma, he noted that we shouldn't allow disagreement over a single issue to become a deal breaker over every issue and this is a pretty good example. We shouldn't allow disagreements over immigration to prevent us from finding common ground where it may exist on other issues.
And I think, you know, the fact that the president signed a bipartisan child care bill in the oval office, a ceremony that is attended by Democratic and Republican legislators is an indication where there's common ground we should act on it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: How worried is he that this will result in a shutdown or some kind of defunding actions.
EARNEST: Well, I think we've seen pretty definitive statements from Republican leaders in both the House and Senate indicating that they would not shut down the government. And I take them at their word -- Michelle.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: Yesterday we heard Cecilia Munoz (ph) a couple of times say this. The president will go as far as he can under the law on -- obviously, we don't know exactly what is going to be. But would you stand by that? And has the president decided to go as far as we can under law?
EARNEST: Well, we will have an opportunity to talk about that a little bit more. I think it's fair to say that what the president asked the attorney general and secretary of homeland security to do is to examine what was in the law and to compile or at least formulate a strategy for maximizing the authority that's vested in the executive branch to try to address as many of these problems as possible.
There may be some people who, based on their own reading of the law, believe the president could have done more. That's why I hesitate to use the formulation that you repeated there. But I do think that by any measure, upon reviewing the actions the president has chosen to take, an impartial observer would conclude that the president has sought to maximize the use of his authority to try to solve these problems. And frankly, I think that's what the American people expect the president of the United States to do, to use every element of their authority that is available to solve problems.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE), you mentioned sort of the way o originally from the question (INAUDIBLE). Do you something more specific, if the president had wanted or does want to expand this to the parents of dreamers, from the review that was done and you know the results of that large scale review, does that fit under the law? So we're not talking about what the president is going to do with you does that one element fit within his bounds of the law?
EARNEST: Well, I do want to reserve comment on any sort of proposals that have been floated so far until the president has had the opportunity to make his announcement. And then, we can spend some mote time delving into what the president has chosen to do and was the legal justification for doing so and whether or not there legal justification may have existed for him to take other steps. We can talk about that more easily once the full complement of the president's proposal has been laid out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: And what the president will announce tomorrow night, will that be able to survive attempts from members of Congress to defund certain elements? I mean, do you think it's defund-proof in any way or is it still going to be susceptible to those kinds of actions of Congress? EARNEST: Well, I think we'll have to see what Republicans choose to
do. I do, however, feel confident that there is strong support on Capitol Hill for addressing many of the problems that the president hopes to solve by using executive authority. And you know, we certainly anticipate that we'll have a robust debate about these issues and I don't anticipate, again, based on the public comments of Senator McConnell and others that there's going to be a government shutdown that results from this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: And lastly, already, you know, again we know that it hasn't been announced and you can't get into details, but already some groups are coming out saying it doesn't go far enough. So how do you respond to that? I mean, ahead of it even being announced.
EARNEST: Well, I'm sure that you can comb through your inbox and find right wing groups that say the president has done so far. And so, I guess there are equal offenders on both side of the aisle there who are commenting on a proposal that none of them has seen. So we will have -- like I said, we will have plenty of opportunity to debate these issues once the president has made an announcement. OK.
Well, that is it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: What will be the implementation date attached to the president's action?
EARNEST: We'll have more details on implementation once the proposal has been rolled out tomorrow.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: Can you talk about the president's efforts to implement this through DHS and how long it would take? (INAUDIBLE). How long is implementation phase need?
EARNEST: Once we can look at the proposals that the president has laid out, we can talk about implementation.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: What kind of briefings is the White House having for lawmakers and maybe the business community that would be very interested in their ability to hire or to employ?
EARNEST: Well, as many of you know who have been covering this closely, the White House has been engaged in a wide range of conversations as the president has been considering what steps to take. Those conversations have been rooted in primarily helping to understand or helping the White House to have a clear understanding of how specific decisions might have an impact on specific communities or in some cases even specific businesses.
So there is a desire to have that kind of understanding and as a result there have been a number of conversations that have been convened by members of the president's staff to discuss some of these issues. There are a number of conversations that are ongoing today and will continue tomorrow related to communicating to lawmakers and other interested parties in Washington, D.C. about what the president has decided. But the one place where people can expect to get a detailed rundown on the president's proposal will be in the context of the speech the president will deliver tomorrow.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: When we get briefed or we get information, will there be budgetary numbers attached to it? Will we be able to understand tomorrow what the projected costs or budgetary effect will be?
EARNEST: Well, I don't know if those numbers will be produced. But you are certainly welcome to ask about them. So we will see if we can get you some answers -- John.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: Will the president veto a government funding bill that included a provision to prevent him from taking this action?
EARNEST: Well, it certainly would not be a proposal that the president would support obviously. But I think we would evaluate, you know, these individual proposals on the merits before we make a final decision. So we'll see. I think we'll also depend a little bit on what Republicans choose to do which is to do in that situation as well.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: So I want to be sure I got this straight. So there's been a lot of talk by Republicans saying that they would fund the government but not allow this to go forward. Use that as leverage. So you don't rule out the president signing into law something that would undo the very thing he's going to announce tomorrow night?
EARNEST: Well, I think that seems -- I think we'll have to sort of evaluate for ourselves what proposals Republicans put forward. I wouldn't want to hazard a guess at this point. But, you know, it won't surprise you to hear that proposals that are floated like that certainly would not be among the proposals we would support.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: Senator Ted Cruz has already reacted to this.
EARNEST: Let me guess.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: He says that the Republican Senate that will be sworn in January if the president goes forward with this action, I should not confirm a single nominee executive or judicial outside of vital national security positions so long as the illegal amnesty persists. What would be reaction to Senator Cruz?
EARNEST: Well, I think what I would merely say is that the president, you know, talked a lot over the last couple weeks about the lesson he drew from the last midterm election. And it's the president's view that the American people were interested in their representatives in Washington, D.C. making progress on behalf of the American people. And that it doesn't mean folding on principle. But it does mean trying to find common ground and putting interests of the nation ahead of partisan political ambition or political interests. And that certainly is a message that the president has taken to heart and we hope that Democrats and Republicans will do the same. UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: So again, and I know that this has been
addressed here but given exactly what you said there about message voters were sending in the election, does this send a wrong message to have the president bring home the Democrats here tonight to talk about what he was going to do?
