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THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER

Fight For Wounded Warriors Pays Off; Mitt Romney Says No To 2016 Run; More Snow Hits New England; Rap Mogul Accused In Fatal Hit And Run

Aired January 30, 2015 - 16:30   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST (voice-over): -- just the beginning.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where would we be? Where would I be? Where would be a lot of these parents that I have seen weeping in hallways at Walter Reed?

TAPPER: It's not as if these wounded warriors don't face enough challenges already, wounds both visible and less so.

SGT. ADAM HARTSWICK, SERVED IN AFGHANISTAN: You need to talk to someone. You need to communicate. That's what we're taught.

TAPPER (on camera): One wounded warrior concerned that this budget cut would cost him his caregiver and thus risked his recovery, reached out to CNN. We in turn contacted the Pentagon and demanded to know why these crucial funds were being cut.

REAR ADMIRAL JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON SPOKESMAN: When we issued this policy change, it was to help discourage long lengthy temporary travel, obviously, and to save money.

TAPPER (voice-over): To its tremendous credit, the Pentagon acknowledged the problem and fixed it immediately.

KIRBY: Actually, we want to thank you, Jake and CNN for bringing it to our attention because we had not seen this unintended consequence of what was in every other respect a very sound and judicious financial policy. But you brought it to our attention and we were able to get it changed within the week.

TAPPER: After 21 surgeries, Adam has made great strides in regaining his independence. He's out of the hospital. He is even dating. Now with these funds restored, families like his will be able to continue the journey back from battle together.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: To give you a sense of just how vital these funds are, Adam's mom who you just saw in that piece, she took a pizza delivery job part-time so she could afford the gas just to fill up her car to visit her son in the hospital. In the Politics Lead, a surprise announcement today from the

Republican leading the polls for 2016 for the Republican nomination, Mitt Romney says he will not be running after all. Who was the most surprised, perhaps?

Jeb Bush, who just met with him days ago, but could Romney change his mind? Did he leave the door open at all? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. In politics, he is the man who once helped rescue the Olympics and today, he passed the torch, kind of. With the speculation machine set to 11, Mitt Romney put the rumors to rest that he will make another run for the White House in 2016. He said it's time for some new red blood.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (via telephone): I believe that one of our next generation of Republican leaders, one who may not be as well-known as I am today, one who has not yet taken their message across the country, one who is just getting started, may well emerge as being better able to defeat the Democrat nominee. In fact, I expect and hope that to be the case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: But that's not all he said. Joining me now from Washington are Kevin Madden, CNN political commentator and a former Romney campaign advisor and spokesman, and CNN's Gloria Borger.

Kevin, let me start with you. You have worked closely with Romney. A lot of people were surprised today that he was not running including I think even Jeb Bush. Were you surprised?

KEVIN MADDEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I was very surprised. I think if you look at the last few weeks as he's gone through this new course of consideration over the last three weeks, every single indication that we got was that he was actually moving towards another run.

Whether it was the speech at the Republican National Committee winter meeting in San Diego or just a few days ago, where he was down in Mississippi State talking about some of the challenges that he thinks the country's facing and how Republicans have the right answers for some of those challenges.

So in that sense, I was very surprised. I think that this was something, this turn of events, where the governor finally decided not to run. I think it happened probably within the last 24 hours, last 48 hours.

I think there was this tugging between his heart, which said I would be a very good president, and his head which says that look, this could be potentially divisive and some of the odds might be stacked against me. In the end I was -- I still was surprised. TAPPER: The statement I have to say was rather ambivalent. You could sense that he thought he can do it. Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROMNEY: I have been asked and will certainly be asked again if there are any circumstances whatsoever that might develop that could change my mind. I'm not organizing a PAC or taking donations. I'm not hiring a campaign team.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Well, they edited out the weirdest part of that statement, which was I can't imagine that happening, it seems unlikely. He also said that he has the best chance of beating the Democratic nominee. Gloria, not very Sherman-esque.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: No, not very Sherman- esque at all. I spoke to his son, Tad, who was one of those that really would have liked him to run. He said to me look, I believe -- he believes he could have been the nominee, but the problem that he had is that the contest would be so hard-fought that he could not emerge from a position of strength, which is exactly what happened to Romney, of course, the last time around.

Hard-fought primary, Barack Obama unchallenged and then of course, he lost that. But if you listen to that statement, there seems to be a sense that he could still be the white knight coming in to rescue the party. I think Mitt Romney may believe that but I don't think that's at all a scenario that's likely to happen.

In fact, it's less likely now than it would have been back in the fall when his campaign was first talking about it, or his people were first talking about that scenario.

TAPPER: Let me ask you, Kevin. I don't have my Romney to English/English to Romney dictionary on hand. He said, I have been asked if circumstances might change my mind, he says that seems unlikely.

MADDEN: Yes. I always have my Romney translation book handy. Look, I think that we have passed the point of no return here to a certain extent. I don't think we are going to go through another level of drama of reconsidering a third consideration again.

And I think if anything, it's a nod to some of the elements that had the governor thinking about it this time which is if there's somebody who would emerge from this primary process that he didn't think could win a general election, then that would be something that maybe would strike some sort of -- another level of consideration.

But there are so many good folks in this field right now, with national profiles who can bring together all the different elements of the party and win and beat Hillary Clinton in November, which I think is the main thing that Mitt Romney cares about most, is that we have a Republican president come 2017.

I really don't think we will ever get to that point again where we are starting to parse all those words again.

BORGER: You know, Jake, this really wasn't an endorsement in any way, shape or form of Jeb Bush because one --

TAPPER: That's for sure. He didn't even mention his name.

BORGER: New faces in the party and I was talking to somebody close to Romney who said that in the Romney campaign, that wasn't even a factor because they regard Jeb Bush as Mitt light. They thought, that's a quote, and they thought he doesn't have the -- he's rusty, he's never run for president before, and that he could be gobbled up in this field.

So they didn't consider him the problem. I think they considered Hillary Clinton the problem. By the way, he decided this last weekend before he went to Mississippi, but he kept it to himself and his family to sort of sit on it a bit, to see if it felt right. I guess it did.

TAPPER: Kevin, Romney's having dinner with Chris Christie, the governor of New Jersey, one of the other quote/unquote, "establishment Republican" candidates. Should we be reading anything into that?

MADDEN: I wouldn't read anything into that. I expect that Governor Romney will meet with any candidates that want to meet with him, that want to seek his counsel, seek his advice. I think they will also be seeking his fund-raising network. That might be what that meeting's about tonight.

I wouldn't expect to see an endorsement very early on. I think he's going to let the different elements of this campaign play out and ultimately he will try and help whoever the eventual nominee is but I don't expect early endorsement.

TAPPER: Gloria, very quickly, if you could, you just spoke to Tad Romney, the son of Mitt Romney, one of the five sons of Mitt Romney.

BORGER: You know, Tad Romney said it was a family conversation last weekend, last Sunday night, there was a campaign call where they were setting up his Mississippi appearance, but sort of in the end, he said this was a very difficult decision, but that he thought that the primary would be so messy, Jake, that at the end of it, he would wind up in the same situation that he had been in.

And that in the end, they've decided, the entire family, including Ann and Tad, who had been really for this, they decided that it would be just too much of the same that he had gone through in 2012 and too much of a challenge for him.

TAPPER: I think it would probably even be tougher with many more Republicans with national exposure and big fund-raising. Tougher than --

BORGER: Right. That lane is crowded but they were convinced he would be the nominee. They had a donor who did private polling for them and they were very excited about those polls. But in the end, that was a crowded group of establishment Republicans over there.

MADDEN: To that point, real quick --

TAPPER: Kevin, I've got to go. I'm so sorry. Kevin, Gloria, thank you both so much.

When we come back, New England just can't seem to catch a break. It's snowing again right now in some of the areas hardest hit by this week's blizzard. Yet another storm is coming. We will go live there next.

He was a pioneer in the rap business. Now Suge Knight being held on suspicion of murder. What is his lawyer saying about this case and the accusations coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. The National Lead today, it seems as though poor New England just can't catch a break. I'm not talking about the Pats now. Right now, a snow system is getting stronger as it moves through.

The region barely has had time to recover from the two to three feet of snow that fell in this week's blizzard and once this current system moves out, guess what? Another one is right behind it.

Meteorologist Chad Myers is tracking it all in the CNN Severe Weather Center. But hold on one second, Chad, let me first go to CNN's Miguel Marquez because he's doing the Lord's work in Portland, Maine. Miguel, how bad is it there?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's not terrible at the moment. The snow has stopped for a little while, but they're expecting to get about 10 inches in some parts of Maine here. The problem as you mentioned is that they have had storm after storm.

I will test the television news gods by walking down this eight foot pile of snow, two feet they got. They have been piling the snow all over town in these giant piles. This is part of the problem that they keep having these storms after storms after storms and it's hard to keep these streets clear.

They are doing a very good job of it so far, just slush on the streets right now. They've had to push the snow off to the side. They have stopped cars from parking on the roads at night so that they can plow the streets here. The big problem here is not just ten inches of snow.

For Maine this time of year that's pretty much a dusting, but farther north in Maine they will have very high winds and bitterly cold temperatures, down into the single digits with the wind chill probably below zero. That's what they are concerned about up there.

It could get that cold down this way. The roads could be a problem as well. That's what they're watching, trying to get ahead of it as much as they can and hopefully, the storm on Monday coming through here won't put them behind the eight ball any more than they already are -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Miguel, go inside. Get a hot toddy for yourself. Chad, let me go to you, it's not just the snow, it's the freezing cold that's also the concern, yes?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it's coming. Temperatures for morning lows on Monday, even New York City, down to about two, two to somewhere around four. The pets won't like that at all. Winter storm warnings are for Maine and for New Brunswick, parts of Nova Scotia.

That's really the area that's going to pick up the snow this time. Not going to see a lot of snow in Boston, maybe an inch or two. That's great news. Keep it away from there. Even down to Gloucester we will pick up an inch or two.

That's where the heavy snow is going to be. It will continue off to the north and east. Here's the first storm. The one we're talking about tonight, there's the snow itself. Even for Halifax you get enough rain mixing in, could be freezing rain as well, that you keep the snow totals down and get over toward St. John that's where the snow will be.

The models have almost 24 inches of snow with this storm. Here's the wind we talked about, you talked about. Wind gusts of 38 to 40 miles per hour and the temperatures are going to be around five. That will make wind chills that you can't even believe.

Please take care of the pets with those types of temperatures. They need shelter from the wind. Boston, Monday morning, two degrees below zero and the wind's going to be blowing 25. There you go. That's what you get with this storm. It's moving away quickly.

Here's the next one, made a little rain for Super Bowl parties today across parts of the southwest. It will move up to the four corners tonight and slide across to the east. That's our next storm system for Sunday into Monday -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Chad and Miguel, thanks. Wolf Blitzer is here with a preview of "THE SITUATION ROOM." you will be talking about the surprise attack by ISIS in Kirkuk. Tell me more.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Right. It looks like ISIS is trying to get some pressure going against the Kurds in Kirkuk. Kirkuk is an oil-rich area. There is new developments u unfolding right now. Also reports of a massacre that occurred by some sort of Shiite splinter group against Sunnis in Iraq.

But at the same time, supposedly the Iraqi military was standing by watching the massacre take place. We will get reaction to that. And Barbara Starr is sitting down right now with the secretary of defense, Chuck Hagel. That interview will be coming up in "THE SITUATION ROOM." So Jake, a lot going on right now.

TAPPER: Sounds good, Wolf. We'll be watching in 9 minutes, "THE SITUATION ROOM."

Coming up next, rap mogul, Suge Knight's, long list of legal troubles got longer. This morning, Mr. Knight was arrested on suspicion of murder. His lawyer says there's a reason Knight allegedly ran over two men with his truck. Let's hear that reason coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. One name is dominating pop culture news today. It's our Pop Lead. Suge Knight, the man who built the hip-hop empire Death Row Records in the '90s, he's behind bars arrested on suspicion of murder.

Knight is possibly linked to a hit and run yesterday that killed a man in Compton, California. Police say a man matching Knight's description drove over two men with his pickup truck and then backed over them before speeding away. Will the charges put this hip- hop giant behind bars for life?

Let's bring in Rob Markman, senior hip-hop editor at MTV News. We should point out, Rob, this man has a long list of legal problems. He spent five years in prison. What was your reaction when you first heard about this?

ROB MARKMAN, SENIOR HIP-HOP EDITOR, MTV NEWS: We were surprised. We have been following the story since last night when it broke. Just surprised and shocked. Suge does have a history of trouble but when murder is involved and just the manner this went down, it was kind of shocking and unbelievable.

TAPPER: His attorney said last night a number of men were attacking him and beating him through the car window. Have you heard anything more or any evidence that might support this apparent claim of self- defense?

MARKMAN: Well, there are two sides to every story and then there's the truth. Obviously police are saying, it's reported that police are saying it looked like the hit and run was kind of intentional. Suge's lawyer is saying something different. Those are the two sides, somewhere in there is the truth and we are still trying to find that out.

TAPPER: Suge was on a movie set for the upcoming film "Straight Out Of Compton" which will chronicle the controversial rap group, NWA. The big question a lot of people in your business are asking is what was Suge Knight doing on that movie set?

MARKMAN: You know, nobody knows what he was doing. I think it was a promotional video they were shooting for the movie because the movie had rap, it looks like. Suge is a peripheral character in that story, though, because after Dr. Dre left NWA, he hooked up with Suge Knight and together they formed Death Row Records.

I don't know if he has any involvement in the movie yet. It would make sense that maybe he's mentioned or alluded to in the film. We have to wait and see.

TAPPER: We should point out Suge turned himself in at a Los Angeles police station overnight. He calmly walked in. He ignored reporter questions. He smoked a cigar on his way inside. He put off the cigar on the tree. He has this bad boy reputation. You know, I think he's kind of a scary guy. He seems legitimately tough, not like one of these guys just pretending to be tough.

MARKMAN: He definitely is a tough guy. He started out playing football before anything else. Just his frame and he's a big imposing figure, sure. The cigar in his mouth and that's just who he is. That's who he's been through all these years.

Another important thing to note, he is also a music mogul. What he did for hip-hop was unprecedented. You got to take that with it, the image, but this guy has a brilliant business mind.

TAPPER: Absolutely. Rob Markman, senior hip-hop editor for MTV News, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

We want to go quickly back to our Sports Lead because CNN justice correspondent, Pamela Brown, spoke with the FBI's counterterrorism chief about what's being done to secure the Super Bowl and whether his office is investigating any credible threats. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Super Bowl, like any large public event, the FBI starts planning along with local law enforcement authorities on the ground, and DHS, months and months beforehand, looking at venues, looking at the situation, identifying threats, mitigating those threats.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: There is going to be a lot more on that ahead on "THE SITUATION ROOM." Make sure to follow me on Twitter. That is it for THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. Have a great weekend. I turn you over to Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATIONN ROOM." Have a good weekend.