[Holmes:] How to get rid of a governor and, for that matter, select a Senator. Illinois lawmakers meet today in a power crisis of national proportions. Now, here's a power crisis. Four straight days in the dark, in the cold in much of New York and New England. The Midwest, Northwest and Plains have their problems, too.
[Question:] [speaking foreign language]
[Holmes:] Hurling shoes needs no translation, but in Iraq, it's the ultimate insult. More fallout from President Bush's farewell visit to Baghdad, his hour. Hey there, everybody. T.J. Holmes here in the CNN NEWSROOM. Going to get right to the news of the hour, the scandal involving the Illinois governor, Rod Blagojevich. Looking at the Illinois speaker of the house, Mike Madigan. The legislature could take up some action today. Let's listen in.
[Mike Madigan, Illinois Speaker Of The House:] ... select committee inquiry concerning the possible impeachment of Governor Blagojevich. Most of you in this room know that over the last two to six years, quite frequently, I have stood in opposition to Governor Blagojevich. Many times alone. However, my record of opposition to the governor and to the governor's policies and programs will not stand in the way of this committee affording to the governor all of his constitutional rights under the federal and state constitution. Rights such as due process, equal protection under the law, and the right to confront witnesses and to cross examine those witnesses. There shall be 12 Democrats on the committee, nine Republicans. Given the gravity of the subject matter before the committee, all of the Democratic appointments will enjoy senior status in the house, which means that all of them will have served for at least six terms. Said differently, we will not have anyone appointed as Democrats unless they have six terms. Representative Barbara Curry will serve as the chair of the committee. My counsel, David Ellis, will serve as counsel to the committee. Justice Alan Greiman will serve as special counsel to the speaker on this subject. We're going to ask the committee to begin work tomorrow and to work every day except Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day until they have rendered a judgment and put themselves in a position to file a report of their activities. Questions?
[Question:] Has it been a process of
[Madigan:] As I said, as you're very aware of my record here in the legislature over two to six years, of standing in opposition to Governor Blagojevich. I know the gentleman very well. I know his record in office. At the same time, I treat today's action as a very significant governmental action of the gravest of the gravest consideration. And so I'm not going to be one who's going to rush to judgment about the possible impeachment of a sitting governor of the state of Illinois. Consequently, we have given the governor six days to resign. President-elect Obama, Senator Durbin, all the state constitutional officers have called for the resignation. He's declined to take the opportunity to resign. I think it's time we move forward with the appointment of a committee of inquiry that could lead to impeachment.
[Question:] What do you see as the timetable for this? For example, when do you expect to bring back a decision of impeachment at a trial, should it go that far? What is the rough timetable and how second question, how does it relate to the motion filed in the Illinois Supreme Court by the attorney general?
[Madigan:] No. 1, it does not relate to the motion before the supreme court at all. This matter will proceed on its own track. As I said, we're going to ask the committee to meet every day except four. To fully answer your question, we need to know what will be the reaction of the governor. Will the governor actively appear before the committee himself or through an agent? Will they actively contest matters put before the committee? We have no idea what the answer to that question will be. And the answer to that question would pretty well answer your question, how long will this take.
[Question:] Mr. Speaker, speaking about the constitutional standard for terms of impeaching the governor, by what standards are you
[Madigan:] The committee itself will establish that standard, and you're correct. There is no standard in the Illinois constitution.
[Question:  Madigan:] That would be that would be my expectation. The committee would conduct its hearings, do it deliberations, and then file a report with the clerk of the House. That report could call for impeachment. It could call for not impeaching the governor.
[Question:] Have you spoken to the governor
[Madigan:] No, I have not. And I have not called upon the governor to resign, because in effect, I will be presiding over this impeachment inquiry.
[Question:  Madigan:] I'm saying that, in effect, I will be presiding over impeachment, and therefore, I'll have nothing to say as to whether I think he should resign or not.
[Madigan:] I think that this action is reflective. I think this action is reflective of the desires of probably a majority of people in the House, probably a majority of people in the state, providing as I said, that the governor will be accorded full rights under the federal and the state constitution. Our expectation is that we would attach the affidavit of the FBI agent to documents presented to the committee. We planned we asked for the cooperation of the office of the United States attorney. In terms of the Senate, it's my understanding that the chief justice of the supreme court will determine when the proceedings will begin, how they will how they will proceed, what the rules will be in the senate. Let's do one, two, three. So, No. 1, beginning tomorrow, we shall proceed. As I said, the governor has a right to appear before the committee himself. He has a right to send an agent to represent him before the committee. Concerning the transition from one general assembly to another, our plan is to provide for that on the opening day of the next session of the general assembly, which I believe is January 15, where we will adopt a resolution on that day that will provide that the work of this general assembly will be carried over into the next general assembly.
[Question:  Madigan:] Well, let me just say that we plan to proceed without delay. The governor's in a position to take actions that he deems appropriate for himself, and then the committee will react. Yes, sir? Let's do it this way. We plan to proceed. We will have evidence available to be put into the record before the committee. We'll ask for the cooperation of the office of the United States attorney. And our desire would be that that office would give us whatever information they would deem appropriate to give us for the purpose of the committee hearing. Abuse of power. Abuse of power. The many instances where the governor took governmental action without authority of the legislature, took action without an appropriate appropriation bill having been adopted. Instances where he ignored directives from the legislature. We've been reviewing grounds for impeachment for about a year.
[Madigan:] Well, as I said, I think all that will come out before the committee. I'll simply decline to go in that direction today.
[Question:  Madigan:] No. As I said, we reviewed impeachment for about a year, and we never came to a judgment that impeachment was appropriate until the events of six days ago.
[Madigan:] That would depend upon our ability to gather evidence and to get evidence into the record. So remember what I said: we're going to follow the constitutions, federal and state. Due process, equal protection under the law, the right to confront witnesses and cross examine witnesses. And please understand that we are doing is preparing for a trial in the senate. And so we're going to proceed with all due speed, but we're going to make sure that what we do is done correctly.
[Question:  Madigan:] That will be a judgment for the committee.
[Question:] Does anything you've done does anything you've done here relate to the the successor to President-elect Obama? Anything you've done here that would put that issue before and deal with that definitely?
[Madigan:] We're going to take that up in our house Democratic caucus this afternoon.
[Question:] Would you say then that the grounds for impeachment are going to be
[Madigan:] I think that depends upon what matters are brought before the committee. I don't think so.
[Question:] What's the allegations against the governor relate to campaign contributions and pay to play? And you were co-chair of his campaign two years ago. Is that
[Madigan:] I don't think so.
[Question:] Why?
[Madigan:] I just don't think so. I don't think I understand your question.
[Question:] In general, was a discussion
[Madigan:] I really don't know, and I won't know until I go into the caucus meeting.
[Question:  Holmes:] All right, reporters there asking that question now. What you've been listening to is the speaker of the house there of Illinois, Mike Madigan. And the news coming out of this is that the they will form an inquiry committee, a committee that will essentially look at the possibility of impeaching the governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, after he was, of course, accused of trying to sell the senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama. Now, this committee will recommend whether or not he'll be impeached. They could come back after their findings and say he shouldn't be impeached, or they could recommend some kind of punishment, or whatever. But it doesn't mean necessarily that he will, in fact, be impeached. Like Madigan said, his committee will get to work immediately. They will work through the holidays. They essentially just won't work on New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, but other than that, they will continue their work. Something else interesting here is that there's no standard, necessarily, about how or what constitutes a crime or something being done by a governor that would warrant impeachment. It's not like with the federal government. High crimes and misdemeanors, as is described in the federal Constitution. Well, in the state constitution there in Illinois, he says there's really no standard. So this committee, essentially, will be coming up with that standard, to find out on their own, and will determine on their own whether or not he's done something they believe is an impeachable offense. Also, he said they've been reviewing grounds for impeachment for about a year. As we know, Rod Blagojevich has been under the gun from many folks there in Chicago and around Illinois for some wrongdoings and bad dealings behind the scenes, but we've only heard about it on this national scale, this latest scandal, for the past six days or so, when he was accused and arrested by the federal government. But, according to Madigan there, they've been looking at this and the possibility of impeaching him for about a year now. So committee, no timing on this. No timeline for when we could all possibly see a resolution to this. He also mentioned that, hey, the governor's had six days since this thing happened to do something and not bring us to this point. But here we are, so they're acting. The last name, Madigan, you might recognize there, because it wasn't too long ago here on CNN you saw live another Madigan, Lisa Madigan, the attorney general of the state of Illinois, coming out, doing essentially what her dad there is doing right now, saying she wants the governor out of there. She moved, she went to the state's supreme court, asking them to move ahead and try to possibly remove remove Governor Blagojevich from office. So a lot of things happening there. Ed Lavandera in the room. We'll probably hear from him a little bit later. But the news there, a committee formed to look at the possibility of impeachment the governor. Now, this scandal causing and drawing some comparisons to the Watergate scandal. You'll remember that one, of course, President Nixon. Well, the first man to go to prison for a charge related to that Watergate scandal, Chuck Colson, says he knows exactly how Governor Blagojevich feels right now. He'll be telling us about that. He'll join us in the NEWSROOM in just a bit. Well, GM and Chrysler begin another week on borrowed time, while the Bush administration tries to do what Congress would not do: float two of the Big Three a $15 billion loan to see them through the winter. President Bush said today that working out the deals details, rather, quote, "will not be a long process," given the fragility of the U.S. auto industry. Michigan Senator Carl Levin says he expects the treasury plan to look a lot like the one that cleared the House but hit a brick wall in the Senate. And Levin says the treasury secretary will likely fill the role of car czar, if you will, overseeing the companies' overhaul. CNN's Kathleen Koch watching the last-ditch loans take shape from her post at the White House. Kathleen, we talked about this over the weekend. We've been talking about this for a while. Is it just a matter of time we're going to see this going done and need to, you know, cross those "T's" and dot those "I's"?
[Kathleen Koch, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, as you mentioned, the president has certainly indicated that, because of the fragility of the automakers, the White House does understand the need to act soon. And you certainly did mention there the pressure that the White House is coming under from the in particular, the Michigan congressional delegation. Senator Carl Levin, the senior senator, holding an impromptu press conference earlier today, basically saying that the president in his opinion has, quote, "indicated" that loans will be provided. And Levin says that, in his opinion, that's really tantamount to a deal the president has made with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to help the automakers.
[Sen. Carl Levin , Michigan:] When we agree to something, we like to keep our word. The president made a had an understanding, called it a deal, with the speaker. And I think it's very, very likely that he would not back away from something that he had agreed to.
[Koch:] Now, the word from several administration officials here in Washington is not to expect a deal on this today. Treasury Department spokesperson Brookly McLaughlin says, quote, "We are assessing and reviewing the information the companies have provided us. We are briefing the White House on our thinking." A senior administration official who I spoke with this morning really rebuffed any attempts to try to come up with any of the types of details that Levin discussed in his press conference today, saying these are publicly-traded companies. It would simply be inappropriate to indicate what the White House might do and when, the official was saying, quote, "When we have something to announce, we'll announce it"
[T.j. Holmes:] That's usually how it goes. All right. Kathleen Koch for us at the White House. Thank you so much.
[Koch:] You bet.
[Announcer:] You're watching CNN, your severe weather headquarters.
[Holmes:] Well, a skier is dead after being buried by an avalanche. She was trapped under several feet of snow and died late yesterday at a Salt Lake City hospital. This happened in an out-of- bounds area at the Snowbird Resort.
[Dave Fields, Snowbird Spokesman:] This is open terrain on the east side of our mountain. It's expert terrain that you have to hike to. It's about a ten-minute hike. And it is the some of the more advanced terrain we have on the mountain.
[Holmes:] Again, Snowbird is the name of that resort. It's about 15 miles east of Salt Lake City. They just received a foot of fresh snow from a weekend storm. Officials say the avalanche was unusual because ski patrollers routinely fire and drop explosives to loosen snow before it poses any kind of threat. Meanwhile, still no power for 400,000 homes and businesses three days after an ice storm in New England and upstate New York. Utility crews from as far away as Michigan and Virginia and Canada working around the clock to get the power back on. And emergency declarations are in place in dozens of cities and towns across that region. Chad Myers keeping track on what's happening across the country. Is that stuff melting for them? It's a bad ice storm over the weekend.
[Chad Myers, Cnn Meteorologist:] Yes, temperatures are in the 50s and 60s, T.J., so melting quickly now. The problem is, there's a lot of ice up on those trees, making power lines, telephone poles, you know, antennas, all kind of things have ice now. And all that ice is melting and falling off. So it's more of a danger to be out walking around today than it was to be out watching those trees and power lines fall down over the weekend. Memphis, you are under the gun for a significant ice event tonight. I need you to probably get home, to get early out, if you can. The kids are coming home early, if they can, because this is going to be an ice storm tomorrow morning that you're going to be slip sliding. Look at the temperature: St. Louis, 16; Memphis, 36. So not icing yet, but tonight, you get down to 27 and it will be raining. Rain and 27 never go together very well. Look at these wind chills. From Fargo, a 37 below. These are current temperatures. Current wind chill is you add in the wind and the temperature, and that's what it feels like. Pouring, just that air completely out of the north. And that's the cold air that's going to cause that wind chill and going to cause that ice event, too, all the way from Arkansas, all the way up, almost on up into about the Ohio Valley. Another thing going on right now, into L.A. This is a mess. We even have a report now of a part of a roof coming down of a school in Anaheim because of all the water on top of this. This has been 3.5 to four inches of water in these areas over the past couple of hours, the last 12 hours. And now we're also seeing some of those burn areas, some of those burn areas that got obviously were on fire a couple weeks ago. Well, you don't have the plants and the structure to hold those mud slides up, and that water will continue to come down and so will the mud. KTLA, our affiliate there in L.A., showed us these pictures about an hour, hour and a half ago. The rush hour in L.A. this morning has been an absolute mess and will continue to be as such. As long as you have water coming down like that, and the drainage not doing so well. That old song, it never rains in Southern California, and you know the rest of it there,
[T.j. Holmes:] Yes, we see the rest of it.
[Myers:] It pours.
[Holmes:] Chad Myers for us. We've got a lot more to talk to you about. We'll talk to you again soon, buddy. Well, it's the video that you've probably seen by now. This wasn't what President Bush was expecting on his final visit to Iraq. Not tossing questions at the president at a press conference. It was shoes, as a month before he leaves office, the president in this visit. Now, this might seem a bit strange and insulting, but would you know, this is one of the ultimate insults in the Arab world. We'll show you how this happened and how the president responded to it.