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CNN NEWSROOM

Bad Weather to Hit Millions; ISIS Offers New Deal for Japanese Hostage; Boston Expected to Get Hit Hard by Storm; Tom Brady "Hurt" by Deflategate

Aired January 26, 2015 - 11:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, the nor'easter about to hit millions of people on the east coast. It's bearing down. Here is a look at this storm from space. Look at that.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, my god.

BERMAN: Look at the giant storm that's hitting the entire east coast. You can see how millions and millions of people across this country including some of the biggest cities in this country are going to feel this.

BOLDUAN: The National Weather Service and public officials are warning people. You look at those darn pictures. You can tell it yourself warning folks this storm is dangerous and life threatening and that they need to take it seriously.

Within the next 90 minutes, you'll hear from pretty much everybody. We expect to hear from the governors of New York and New Jersey on how they're preparing for this storm.

The governor of Massachusetts is warning about widespread power outages. On Boston.com says "Our world is about to be transformed into mantel of white with enormous snow banks, drifts and deep snow across the landscape."

BERMAN: It will be more dangerous than pretty.

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: Let's go to Meteorologist Jennifer Gray in Boston.

Jennifer, what's the situation right now and when does it all change?

JENIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Right now things are very quiet. You're seeing some very, very right snowflakes. This is nothing compared to what we're going to see this time tomorrow. Look behind me. Roads are quiet. We did see a lot of people coming off the ferry this morning going to work. We're approaching the lunch hour. We're right here in downtown Boston. We're hardly seeing any cars. It does look like activity is not quite as much as we would see on a normal weekday. Schools are in session. They'll make the decision later today whether to have school tomorrow. Of course, as you said, the mayor will be talking around 1:00.

Look at the snow already on the ground. This is from the snowstorm that happened a couple days ago. You can see that it just piled up on the grassy areas. Some areas it's about a foot or two deep. We're going to see two to three additional feet fall on top of that. Plus you are talking about the snow drifts. We'll see blowing snow, winds 60 and 70 miles per hour throughout tonight and tomorrow. That's going to create the snow drifts taller than I am, guys. That's going to mean possible power outages. That snow is going to weigh down on those power lines and definitely put pressure on those grids. We'll be looking at power outages so people need to be prepared. That's what they've been urged to do the past couple days. Stay indoors. This will be a mess for the next two three days, not to mention travel nightmare you have mentioned all morning long -- John and Kate?

BOLDUAN: And, Jennifer, I think one of the things -- I keep saying this. I think the wind seems to be the worst part about this whole thing. Folks can deal with snow and can make it through two to three feet is a lot. When you add the wind factor into this, that's when it becomes so dangerous. Do you think there's any chance that these models can shift and we won't be dealing with this type of wind that everyone is fearing?

GRAY: There could be a little bit of a shift. That's one thing you do watch up until the storm actually hits. I can pretty much guarantee you anywhere along the coast you're going to get winds anywhere from 40, 50, 60 miles per hour. They are going to approach hurricane force winds especially right along the coast. That's probably where it's going to be the worst. So that's when you talk about structural damage. Those are tropical storm and just beginning to be hurricane force winds. So that's what people have to prepare for. We've actually seen a couple people boarding up just like you would a hurricane. Not many. A couple have just to get ready and so I think folks around here are really taking this one seriously, guys.

BOLDUAN: Why not prepare? When we talk about winds like that, why not?

Jennifer Gray, thank you so much, Jennifer.

GRAY: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: Stay up to the minute on this storm. We'll follow it for you. You can follow us at CNN.com, homepage there, will talk about all of the conditions where you are, what they're looking at and what models are looking at, CNN.com/weather. You can look at that.

Coming up next, ISIS militants appear to have killed one of the two Japanese hostages that they have been holding and are now demanding the release of a convicted female terrorist in exchange for the life of the other hostage. Why the change in demands? And is the prisoner swap even an option right now? That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: A new ultimatum coming from ISIS. The terror group is now demanding the release of a would-be suicide bomber, a woman convicted of terrorism and facing the death penalty currently in Jordan. In exchange, ISIS reportedly will spare the life of Kenji Goto, the Japanese hostage you see kneeling there on the left.

BOLDUAN: The bad news is that ISIS may have already beheaded the other Japanese hostage according to a chilling video posted over the weekend.

We'll bring in our terrorism analyst, Paul Cruickshank; and global affairs analyst, Kimberly Dozier.

Kimberly, what's the significance that ISIS now seems to be negotiating for the release of this woman in Jordan?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, I think they're doing two things. They are signaling at least to their followers that, look, we're willing to negotiate. The international community said they didn't want to fund our operation so we're giving them another option. But the other thing it does is, by asking for prisoner, Sagida al Rishawi, is to call attention to women jihadist. It becomes part of their recruiting cam aimed at women like Hayat Boumeddiene. You have two things going on. Will they get this prisoner back in exchange for the Japanese hostage? Probably not. The Jordanian government has, in the past, officials told me, never conducted such an exchange.

BOLDUAN: I want to get your take on this as well, Paul, and what you think the significance of this change in demand is. But also, news coming out just right this morning about ISIS renewing its call for lone-wolf attacks on the West. Do these two things work together?

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: That's a very worrying call. It comes from the spokesman of the group, and a very senior figure within ISIS. He's renewing this call for lone-wolf attacks. He first made that call back in September. It made a deep impact on ISIS followers in the West. We saw a string of attacks in Canada, here in New York, in Australia, in France.

BOLDUAN: He mentioned France, Australia and Belgium in his statement.

CRUICKSHANK: Absolutely. He's saying I call for these attacks and look at what happened. There's a lot of concern in days ahead that people are looking at this, ISIS followers in the West, and being inspired by this. He's telling people, it is your religious duty to launch attacks here in the United States, in the other countries involved in the anti-ISIS coalition.

BERMAN: Inspirational attack has been the power of ISIS over the last several months.

Kimberly, I want to ask you about other news we just learned. The U.S. Embassy in Yemen is closed for services. They will not provide services to anyone. Security situation there has just become so dire they can't. They are not saying they are closing the embassy per se but a distinction without a difference. What does that tell you about control and chaos in that nation right now? DOZIER: This is probably a prudent step being taken because the U.S.

carried out what seems to be its first drone strike in Yemen this morning. Since the last one in early December. So it follows President Barack Obama saying over the weekend that U.S. counterterrorism operations in Yemen are proceeding at pace and that even though they don't have a partner who has their eye on the ball right now because Yemeni government is in such disarray, that they are still watching the targets and U.S. officials tell me that if anybody high ranking comes into view, the president will take a decision as to whether to hit them, like we saw this morning.

BOLDUAN: Paul, to end where we began on this Japanese hostage and this new demand coming from ISIS, do you think this changes the game in terms of the fate of this hostage?

CRUICKSHANK: We'll have to see. I think it's very unlikely the Jordanians will give her up.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: But this change doesn't surprise you so much?

CRUICKSHANK: They've made demands in the past, hostages, for some of the Americans. They made demands for prisoners. This is not unprecedented. She's an ISIS living legend and they would love to get a hold of her. It's unlikely that the Jordanians will do that because this attack in 2005 really traumatized the country. And if they're going to do any swap, it will be for that Jordanian pilot.

BOLDUAN: Paul, great to see you.

Kimberly Dozier, thank you as well.

We'll follow this as we continue to watch and wait to see what happens with the fate of that Japanese hostage.

BERMAN: Up next, the blizzard of 2015, hurricane force winds up to three feet of snow, life threatening conditions. We have new information just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Perhaps one of the biggest storms ever to hit the northeast. Parts of it closing in right now. The National Weather Service, which is not prone to exaggeration, is using terms like life threatening and historic. Now, the worst of the storm is expected to hit tonight. It will last into Tuesday. It could bring up to three feet of snow in some places. Those places include New York and Boston, big cities. The wind gusts could possibly reach 65 miles an hour, which is the strength of a strong tropical storm. Could blow harder on the cape. Blizzard and winter storm warnings issued from Maryland and up to Maine and into Canada. That's some 58 million people in 12 states.

BOLDUAN: Long Island is expected to be hit especially hard jetting out into the Atlantic like it does.

Joining us to discuss preparations and how they'll handle this is Suffolk County executive, Steve Bellone.

Steven, thank for jumping on the line with us.

Forecasters are not mincing words. They are calling it epic and life threatening, historic. What are you telling folks?

STEVE BELLONE, SUFFOLK COUNTY EXECUTIVE (voice-over): There's no question about it. And we've seen over the last couple of years some historic storms, like Superstorm Sandy. A storm of this magnitude is just something that you fundamentally can't prepare for. You throw every resource can you and every level of government. And we're coordinating with the state and Governor Cuomo and all of our local municipalities here. What we're really telling people is to get home as early as they can and be prepared to shelter in place. When you have a storm with this much snow accumulation, the high winds and these extreme temperatures, it is extremely dangerous. And we need to allow those plow operators who are facing the very difficult conditions to do their work.

BERMAN: Shelter in place starting when? When do you want to see people in their homes, not going out their doors?

BELLONE: Well, we want to see people in their homes as early as they can today. If they can leave work early, we're urging them to do so. And as early as they can get back home but certainly by this evening we want to see people back in their homes and be prepared to remain in during the duration of the storm. We expect the worst conditions to be in overnight hours. But they will be extraordinary difficult for the plow operators and we need to make sure that the cars are off the roads so they can operate as safely and as quickly as possible.

BOLDUAN: Of course, obviously, you need to wait and see exactly how hard hit Long Island is. It's expected that Long Island could be the hardest hit areas jetting out into the Atlantic Ocean. When do you think -- Long Island is the hardest hit in the nearby area, when do you think this is all going to -- you're going to be dug out? What is your expectation? What are you telling folks to prepare for, how long?

BELLONE: We learned important lessons from the storm we've seen over the last couple years. But when you're dealing with something that's potentially going to deliver two to three feet of snow, there is no easy way to remove the snow from the streets. You're looking at an event that is lasting several days at least. People should be prepared, as I said, to shelter in place and know that we're coordinating at every level of government to put every resource we have available out in the street to get those roads cleared as quickly as possible.

BERMAN: Steve Bellone, Suffolk County executive, thank you very much. We know you've been through this before with Sandy. We know that people out there, they're going to want power on as soon as they can get it.

Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Good luck.

BELLONE: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Coming up next for us, New England has more problems than the blizzard headed their way. Patriots Quarterback Tom Brady and Coach Bill Belichick under fire for, yes, the deflated footballs, while former player, Aaron Hernandez, is set to head to court to face murder charges. Those stories coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: This just in. A jury has been selected in the murder trial of former New England Patriot, Aaron Hernandez. This is a case we've been following for a very long time. 13 women and five men, they're going to be hearing the case. Opening statements which were to begin today, they're now being postponed until Thursday because of the incoming blizzard. It's already affecting many things. Hernandez was arrested in June of 2013 and charged along with two accomplices in the murder of Oden Lloyd. The trial is being held in a coastal town of Fall River where the storm could hit and hit very, very hard.

BERMAN: It will.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely.

Also new this morning, Tom Brady says his feelings -- yes, he said this -- that his feelings were hurt by all the criticism and questions surrounding Deflategate.

John, would you like to weigh in?

BERMAN: I would. Whatever, I want to give him a hug. But that aside.

BOLDUAN: I want to give him a hug, too.

BERMAN: He said that on his radio show a short time ago. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM BRADY, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS QUARTERBACK (voice-over): I personalized this and I thought it was about me and my feelings got hurt and I got past it. It's not serving me. What is serving me is preparing for the game ahead. I'll deal with whatever happens later. You know, I'll have my opportunity to try to figure out what happened and, you know, figure out a theory like everyone else is trying to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right. That was Tom Brady with hurt feelings.

While that was going on, the Seattle Seahawks are in Arizona to play in the Super Bowl and their mega star defensive back, the outspoken Richard Sherman, was asked if he thought the Patriots would be punished.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD SHERMAN, SEATTLE SEAHAWKS DEFENSIVE BACK: Will they be punished? Probably not. Not as long as Robert Kraft and Roger Goodell are still taking pictures at their respective homes. I think he was at Kraft's house last week before the AFC championship. You talk about conflict of interest.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: I love that man. He speaks the truth. You know, really. It's true.

BOLDUAN: It's true.

BERMAN: I want to bring in Corey Wire here. He played in the NFL for nine years. He watches football very closely.

Coy, does Tom Brady have a point here? There were jerks like me that said if the Patriots did this, they're cheaters. We can't root for them anymore. Did we all jump the gun here, given that at this point there is no proof that anyone did anything?

COY WIRE, FORMER PRO FOOTBALL PLAYER (voice-over): That's a great question, John. Given that the Spygate situation happened in 2007, that's why this is a big deal and giving us the benefit of the doubt to the believe them right off the bat f this were any other team, I don't think it would be such a big deal. Just the same organization, same head coach and same quarterback being accused again here of potentially cheating.

BOLDUAN: What do you think the strangest thing at this point? Not only the fact that we're talking about deflated footballs, but is the strangest thing that Richard Sherman decided to jump in this conversation or Bill Belichick giving a scientific dissertation on the science behind deflated footballs or the fact that Tom Brady thinks his feelings were hurt and that puts everything to rest?

WIRE: Do I have to pick one? That's right, all of the above. The most surprising is Richard Sherman. Set most outspoken players in the NFL. The last time they played when the Seahawks got the best of the Patriots, it was the whole Richard Sherman question, "You mad, bro"? So this is him poking the bear again. I think the scientific assessment was wildly entertaining. But Tom Brady saying his feelings were hurt, while surprising, think about it. Hall of Fame player, Troy Aikman, said he doesn't believe him and all the other stars and came out and said that he's lying. I can understand Tom Brady feeling hurt by some of the things that stars like that have been saying.

BERMAN: And, of course, the issue here is we haven't seen any evidence yet. I think does it put a lot of pressure on the NFL over the coming weeks and months. If they do not have a smoking gun here, what do you do? What do you do? You have the footballs.

BOLDUAN: And the fact they haven't even interviewed Tom Brady yet.

BERMAN: That will happen after the Super Bowl. He reiterated that again today.

Coy Wire, thank you for being with. We always appreciate it. Your expertise here is vital.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

WIRE: My pleasure, John.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: We'll leave it there.

Great to see you, John.

BERMAN: Thank you for joining us on this first show, this unnamed current show.

BOLDUAN: And we can all collectively breathe. We made it through, everyone.

BERMAN: "LEGAL VIEW" with Ashleigh Banfield starts right now.