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33 Killed in Oakland Warehouse Fire; Army Corps of Engineers Halts Dakota Pipeline; Italy's Prime Minister To Resign After Referendum Loss. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired December 04, 2016 - 18:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:00:24] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour, 6:00 p.m. Eastern. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Poppy Harlow in New York.

We begin tonight with an update from that tragic fire in Oakland, California. The confirmed death toll today rising significantly. Crews have been working tirelessly around the clock, locating more bodies of that burned wreckage of that warehouse turned artists collective where a crowd was gathered for a dance party on Friday night when the entire building burst into flames.

The recovery now slow and painstaking work, and because of that officials expect the death toll will rise even more.

Our Stephanie Elam is live tonight in Oakland near that converted warehouse.

And, Stephanie, officials I know they're about to hold this press conference. Today, they came out and said they know at least 30 people have died. But they're having an incredibly hard time identifying them. What has been so challenging?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We know, some, they're able to identify because they may have had their identification on them, in their pocket. Others, they can go to dental records or finger prints. And for others, it's a little bit difficult because of the fact that there's nothing to identify them based on.

So, they're going to have to use DNA. They are asking family members if you think your loved one may have been here to set aside a hair brush or toothbrush. Something that would have their DNA, just put it in a clean paper bag and hold onto it, because that maybe the only way they're able to identify people who lost their lives here.

And if that is the case, it will be weeks before we fully know the people here. And keep in mind, it wasn't just a dance party location. It was also a place for artists to gather, musicians, painters of all kinds and some of them from what we understand were also living there.

So, a mixed use space that had just bee been cited as recently as November for blight and for some trash and debris outside and around the building. So, we know that it had had some issues in the past as far as being up to code.

But when you look at it this way, that's what makes it harder, to get through all the debris and to figure out just to make sure they are getting debris out of the way and identifying the remains of all those people as this very hot fire tore through the building -- so hot at one point that firefighters actually had to leave the building when they were fighting the fire and then attack it from outside. So, it just shows how hot it was.

HARLOW: I know you've been speaking with some of the friends of some of the victims of the people who are missing, people who used to go to this artist collective. What have they told you, Stephanie?

ELAM: The one thing that they said this was place where artists who may not have, you know, really made it huge but still wanted to express their creativity. This is place they would be. You know, a lot of clean sanctioned placed that had met code, they may not allowed for the kind of expressions that the artists wanted here. But they said that this was a family community, a place they could do this, express their art and also have somewhat of family environment even if you didn't know everybody was there. You just kind of knew that everyone was like-minded, Poppy.

HARLOW: And, Stephanie, in terms of the families -- I mean, you know, one of the things they said yesterday was, you know, not a lot of these people went to the hospital. Either they were unaccounted for and missing or among the dead. Have there been family members coming to where you are searching for their loved ones?

ELAM: We haven't seen that and I talk to one man who knew, who was concerned that his friends were lost. All of his friends have been accounted for. But he says his Facebook traffic, for example, was all about this incident and this fire and people in the community trying to figure out where people are. He says a lot of that conversation have fallen off because people have found their loved ones they were looking, or they pretty figured, if they didn't know for sure that their friends, their loved ones did lose their lives here in this fire.

Just from what we understand, there were not enough exits for the number of people in there and also just not the right exits to get out of there in time. He said, his Facebook traffic completely dominated about this fire here, just really hitting this community hard.

HARLOW: Stephanie, what are we expecting from this press conference? I know it's about to begin any moment. What are they going to update us with? Do you have any sense?

ELAM: Right. Well, we've been waiting to hear. They said that they might be able to identify some of the victims and release those names to the media. Of course, their priority is getting in touch with next of kin first, and letting them know and then sharing that information here.

The other interesting piece of information that we've learned is that there were some international students who were inside of this building.

[18:05:04] And also, they said that there were some transgender individuals, and they are working with the transgender community to identify these people and making sure that they identify them in the way that that person would want to be identified to the world. So, they're trying to take care here and respect the people that lost their lives and remember them in the way that they would have wanted to be remembered.

So, we're hoping to hear more about the people who were inside. Also, Poppy, just keeping in mind, too, they have made it through only 20 percent of the building. They are moving so slowly because of the fact that this fire was so hot and there was so much debris. The roof collapsed in on the building.

So, there's all of this they have to sift through. And because the fire was so hot, they're saying some people are easily identifiable and others that are not. When you put that into perspective, that makes it very clear why you can't go trudging through very quickly. So, they're taking their time to do that, and also at this time, they're building out ways to make access to other parts of the building. That's what they're doing behind us so that they can gain entrance and also dissect it in parts of the building that they're having trouble getting to, and that's what they started now.

So, they were working through the night last night and they continue to work on that through this hour right now behind me. Just to show you right now, Poppy, if you take a look, you can see they have these tarps up. And the reason why I because as they do in the middle of this recovery effort, as they go and they do recover the remains to someone who last their live, they are respecting them and so that it won't be somebody that everyone can see.

They are doing that very privately behind there and in front of that, you can see those wood planks are working on getting access to this building so they can continue their search.

HARLOW: Stephanie Elam, live for us in Oakland, thank you so much, Stephanie.

And we'll get back to Oakland as soon as that press conference does begin.

But I want to get to some other big breaking news tonight in that battle to stop a controversial oil pipeline beginning in North Dakota, going through four states. This was how protesters reacted that the Army Corps of Engineers is halting construction on this particular route for the pipeline, saying it will not approve a necessary easement.

Immediately tonight, Attorney General Loretta Lynch releasing a statement, reading in part, "The Department of Justice remains committed to supporting local law enforcement, defending protesters constitutional right to free speech and fostering thoughtful dialogue on the matter. We recognize the strong feelings that exist in connection with this issue. But it is imperative that all parties express their views" -- stand by. We'll take you to the press conference in Oakland, California.

Let's listen in.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm going to test our microphone. We have some print media here. It's difficult to hear over the generators and equipment. We'll be easing our microphone. Hopefully that will assist you. We're going to get started in just a moment.

(INAUDIBLE)

JOHNNA WATSON, OAKLAND POLICE DEPARTMENT: I want to do a regular sound check for media. Can everyone hear us, all right? Sound check. No? For regular media with microphones, we're good? OK. Everybody in the back, we're good?

All right. We're going go ahead and get started. I want to thank you for your patience. This is an ongoing incident. There were a lot of change, a lot of moving parts. So, we sincerely thank you for your patience with the time adjustments.

My name is Officer Johnna Watson. I'm one of the police officers for the Oakland Police Department.

We do have media updates that we like to provide you with, but first I'd like to start with Sergeant Ray Kelly. He's with the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, Coroner's Bureau.

Sergeant?

SGT. RAY KELLY, ALAMEDA COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: At this point, the last number we gave out of deceased folks was 30. That has since moved up to 33 -- 33 victims of this fire thus far. We continue to work inside the building.

If you would like a percentage, I would say we're 35 to 40 percent through the building. That work continues. I'm sure fire can probably comment on that more.

WATSON: I like to introduce, we have a lot of out of the country media with us and also outside the state of California. I'd like to introduce Mayor Libby Schaaf.

[18:10:00] MAYOR LIBBY SCHAAF, OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA: At this time, we have delivered the unacceptable and horrific news of losing a loved one to seven of our families. We'll be releasing the names of those decedents with the exception of any juveniles to you promptly.

But it's -- but it is with so much grief and so much compassion that we as your city family share with you this horrific news and as this tragedy continues to unfold, I want to, again, reassure you of what our priorities are as the city of Oakland. Our first priority is the humane and compassionate removal of the victims of this tragedy. And I want to assure you that we are continuing to operate a 24/7 recovery operation to effectuate that removal.

Secondly, we're supporting the family and the loved ones. Some who are coming from very far away and we're working as fast as we can. I really want to commend the coroner's office that has put extraordinary resource to speed up our ability to positively identify the victims of this fire.

And then, our final focus is doing everything that we can to preserve evidence and to conduct the recovery operation in a manner that allows us to fully and professionally investigate this incident so that we can get to the bottom of how this happened. Today our district attorney, Nancy O'Malley did activate a criminal investigation. That team is on the site and working in concert with our other law enforcement partners.

And then, finally, I just want to offer my extreme gratitude to a group of individuals who give the term public servant just a whole new meaning. The team work that we have seen as these professionals have under the hardest of circumstances have hand by hand, bucket by bucket, removed debris, preserved it, as well as humanly and compassionately addressed the victims that have been found. Thirty- three victims found in this building.

The professionalism that they have exhibited under these unbelievable circumstances has been something that has been an honor to work alongside.

So, with that, I'm sure you will have plenty of questions, and that you'll continue to have questions. And we will continue to be available and answer them as this horrific tragedy continues to unfold.

I'm going to turn it over to Johnna to manage your questions.

WATSON: Thank you, Mayor.

Before we open it up for questions, I would like to call up the captain who was up here earlier. It's imperative that we provide information that may affect the investigation in the future.

So, Captain, if you could just reiterate for everyone what you shared with the media a couple of hours ago. Thank you.

CAPT. MELANIE DITZENBERGRE, ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA CORONER'S OFFICE: Again, the coroner's office does ask any family members or friends of the victims if you can preserve any DNA type of equipment, combs, brushes and secure them in a brown paper bag. Please hold onto them until you are asked of them from the coroner's bureau. Thank you.

If we come across a victim and we cannot identify them, we have to resort to DNA.

WATSON: I'm going to ask for patience on the side of media. We have a lot of media here. Not only our local stations, but international. We understand you have lot of questions. We have time to answer those questions. There are a lot of questions we won't be able to answer, so please be patient with us. Those answers will come. It will be a matter of time. They may not

be right now. They may not be tomorrow, but those answers will come. That's what everyone in the city of Oakland is working to find.

So, please let's be patient with each other. Allow us to call on you.

[18:15:02] Identify who you are and which agency. We know that we have a lot of national and international media. We are not familiar with you as we would like to be. So, please, allow us that moment.

I'm going to start on the left here.

Yes, ma'am?

REPORTER: Is it accurate that some of the first responders have family member who are victims?

WATSON: I will certainly turn that over to Sergeant Kelly.

KELLY: Yes. This tragedy has hit very close to home for our agency. One of our deputies that we work with lost their son in this fire. And so, we're still dealing with that as we continue to deal with the other victims.

So, this has affected us as first responders and, you know, we're -- we weren't really prepared to talk about that right now, but we're dealing with that and our family, our department is hurting from that. Yes, that is true.

REPORTER: Do you know how many people were at the party? Do you have a rough guess?

REPORTER: The mayor mentioned a criminal investigation is under way. Who is the target of that investigation?

SCHAAF: Again, all we can say at this time is we have activated the criminal investigation team. That is a precaution. That means that certain individuals are present on site from the district attorney's office and they are working in concert with other law enforcement agencies.

REPORTER: No particular, specific investigation yet. They're just here?

SCHAAF: This is a process that gets activated that preserves all these options.

WATSON: Hold on one second. We're going to start from the left and work our way over. We'll make sure everybody gets some questions answered, OK?

OK. Go ahead, sir.

REPORTER: I want to ask the mayor, he said he felt this party should never have been allowed to happen. I want to ask you, should this party never been allowed to happen? SCHAAF: You know, everyone is understandably very emotional because

of this incident. And I'm sure that many things are going to be said. Many assumptions, many things are going to be said out of emotions. What our job is, is to focus on our priorities and to also assemble a comprehensive record of what we as a government knew about this property.

We're in the process of doing that. We want to assure that it is complete, that it is professional, that it is comprehensive, before we draw any conclusions from that public record.

WATSON: Go ahead.

REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)

WATSON: Go ahead.

REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)

WATSON: Can you ask your question again?

WATSON: I think how are they able to be identified? This for you, Sergeant.

KELLY: The identifications took place through finger prints. We also had identifications that got us close and then the, a lot of folks have I.D.s on them whether they have wallets or purses or knapsacks. And so, we're finding identifications in there that helps. We have to verify those identifications with finger prints. And so, that's how we're able to get the seven identities at this time.

WATSON: Go ahead, ma'am.

REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)

KELLY: They're not all in one area. We thought that maybe going into this that they would all be in one area. But we are finding people throughout the entire square footage of that structure.

REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)

KELLY: We have broken the warehouse into four quadrants. We have found victims in every quadrant of the warehouse. So, if you take the warehouse from above and you look at it from a box, we have broken that box into four each team is working each section. And so, we have found victims in every section.

REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)

KELLY: Well, they are and they're not. There's no answer to that question. It's so random. We're finding victims where we least expect them.

WATSON: Go ahead, Hassie.

[18:20:01] Hassie, speak up a little louder. REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)

KELLY: Chief.

WATSON: Please introduce yourself.

DARIN WHITE, OAKLAND FIRE DEPARTMENT: Good afternoon. I'm Deputy Chief Darin White with the Oakland Fire Department Field Operations Bureau.

I believe everyone heard the question. It was how fast did the Oakland fire department get to the incident? We arrived within three minute, sir.

WATSON: Evan? Evan, go ahead.

REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)

SCHAAF: At this time, all that I know is that we were not able to gain access to the interior of the building. I, at this time, do not know the reason for that, and I am not going to speculate. What I am doing is getting a team of city employees to gather every piece of evidence. This is the weekend. We are in the process of ascertaining that information.

WATSON: Go ahead, Sergio.

REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)

KELLY: So, we're doing the identifications as fast as we can. The sooner we can get those identifications done, the sooner we can meet with the families, offer counseling and begin to move forward from that. So, we want to get everybody identified as quickly as possible. However, it's a very cumbersome process.

REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)

KELLY: We have spent considerable amount of time at the assistance center. I know the mayor has been there very much all throughout the last two days with families, spending a lot of time with them as has the sheriff's office, fire department and numerous volunteers. Most of the families are aware and they know that their loved one is likely a victim within the structure.

WATSON: Go ahead, sir.

REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)

KELLY: We have now started to recover and identify victims who are minors. We do have some children in the ages of 17 years old, possibly younger. Not sure. But we were asked this question yesterday. We had no idea.

We believe that a lot of our victims were in their 20s to 30s. It's very unfortunate that we have to tell you that we have 17-year-old victims. No small children but teenage children who are still children in our eyes.

There are -- so, there are teenagers and young adults and people up into the age of 30 plus.

WATSON: Go ahead.

REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)

SCHAAF: Again, I want to confirm that we have activated the criminal investigation team. That means that we are engaging in protocol that allows a criminal investigation to be conducted. I believe it's a bit premature and I'm not authorized to make that announcement. Only the district attorney is allowed to make the announcement with regard to criminal charges and the direction of the criminal and any potential criminal investigation.

What I can confirm is that the district attorney has activated the criminal investigation team, a representative from the D.A.'s office is here on site, is engaged in the recovery effort to ensure that we are treating this and have the ability to conduct the level of investigation that would be required.

REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)

KELLY: We do have victims from other countries yet. We're not releasing those countries yet. We are in the process of conducting those embassies, those consulates.

[08:25:03] We're working with our State Department to do that. There's a protocol that needs to be followed in regards to notifications to foreign governments. And so, we're following that and we're using the assistance of the U.S. State Department.

REPORTER: How many --

KELLY: There's countries in Europe and in Asia.

WATSON: Sir, right back there in the back.

REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) Do you believe or suspect this fire may have been deliberately set?

SCHAAF: I think I just responded to that question.

Again, I just wanted to clarify that I'm not authorized to say that a criminal investigation has been launched. Only the district attorney can state that.

What I have confirmed is that the criminal investigation team of the district attorney has been activated. A district attorney representative is on site and is working in partnership with other law enforcement agencies. We're ensuring that this investigation and recovery operation is conducted in a manner that preserves evidence, is conducted in manner that allows us to get to the bottom of what caused this and leaves those types of options open. It is far too early for us to have any suspicions about what caused

this fire. That is something that we will sharing with you in the coming days. If it is a criminal investigation, that actually will limit our ability to share full information with you.

WATSON: Hold on one second, sir. Excuse me. One second, sir. May we have an opportunity for someone else to ask a question? I'll swing back. Thank you, sir.

Go ahead.

REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) Do you have any idea how many (INAUDIBLE) at this point?

KELLY: When we started this investigation, if you would have told use would have 33 victims, we wouldn't have believed you. I don't know how many people are left in there. We have no idea. We have no idea how many people were in that building that night. We don't know how many people got out of that building.

So, I would be speculating. You know, we're expecting the worse and hoping for the best in regards to how many more victims we find.

REPORTER: You did say the relatives know at this point? They pretty much know if their family member hasn't responded or not. So, how many people are left on that list?

KELLY: There's a lot of people on that list.

WATSON: We want to make something perfectly clear because we're getting into a bit of a repetitive cycle. And I want to make sure we accommodate all your questions as long as their not in the repetitive mode.

We want to really have a broad brush on answering as many questions. There are a lot of things we can't discuss. And as we've said from day one, we want to stay away from specific numbers. That can be very dangerous as far as numbers go.

So, we want to bring you facts. The facts are 33 victims have been located and have been recovered. Thirty-three families are grieving. Thirty-three families have lost loved ones. We want to be sensitive to that.

Go ahead, sir.

REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)

WATSON: We're going to have to refer that to the district attorney's office. It's going to be a different conversation than now.

Go ahead, Sergio.

REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)

Do you know where he is and been in contact with them? SCHAAF: Criminal investigations are hired handled by the district

attorney. We actually do have our criminal investigation team here on site. That team has also been activated and is present.

There are many interviews being conducted right now. But you have to understand that the scope of this tragedy is tremendous. We have many, many witnesses to interview. We are in the process of doing that. We have been able to bring in extra detectives so that we can, again, put as many resources on this, get to the bottom of it as quickly as possible.

But we also are trying to stay focused on what our first task is and that is to attend to the victims and their families. That is our moral obligation to put the bulk of our resources right now on that most important task.

[18:30:00] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) have been able to find? I've wondered if you have (ph).

WATSON: Let me answer that, ma'am.

MAYOR LIBBY SCHAAF, OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA: Thank you.

SERGEANT RAY KELLY, ALAMEDA COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: Yes.

WATSON: Sergie (ph), I can assure you from the Oakland Police Department, this investigation, as far as what is happening, who is involved from victims to witnesses, we started that from the moment everyone got the call. So I can assure you we have all the proper documentation, and we'll be following up as this investigation moves on. Again, I want to bring it back to the 33 victims, to their families. And if we have any other questions, we can move on.

Ma'am, I know you have a question right down here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To you, Mayor Schaaf. Obviously, (inaudible) tragedy not just for the family or the community in Oakland, and I know that there has been some, you know, concern about this (inaudible) where people have these kinds of thoughts (inaudible) one that people are more (inaudible) and two, that it appears there might be a formal correction that foreign artists might be displayed. I just wanted know what you are going to do to kind of balance (inaudible) but also to make sure there are spaces for argument.

SCHAAF: OK. You know, again, I want to stay focused on what our priorities are right now, but you may know that since I became the Mayor of Oakland, I have been passionate about preserving and lifting up the incredible creative community that makes this the incredible city that it is. And the issue of creating safe, vibrant spaces for Oakland's artist community is a priority, not just of me as Mayor but of this community, and this is work that has been going on for a long time. And we are going to stay focused on accomplishing that in way that makes sense both for Oakland and also for all the different stakeholders involved.

We do have plans and we, ironically, scheduled this last week before this tragedy happened. We are going to be going forward with an announcement on Tuesday around efforts to preserve and protect artist spaces for both living and working here in Oakland. It is an incredible asset and beauty of our city, one that we cherish and one that has been so badly damaged by this tragedy this week.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think this is going behind (inaudible).

WATSON: We certainly are. I'm going to keep Sergeant Kelly and ask everyone else to go back to the command post. There's a lot of very busy work that needs to be done. We will certainly answer your question with Sergeant Kelly if you just give us a moment.

Thank you, ma'am. Thank you, Sergeant Willis. Go ahead.

KELLY: So before we met with you, I went up on to the roof. I was watching the work as it was taking place. It's very different when you see it from above than when you're inside the structure. And so the firemen continued to work their way back into the tightest little corners in each quadrant, and so to watch them work is pretty amazing. They get tired very, very fast.

If you see the firemen and the people from the Coroner's Bureau, their faces are just covered in soot and debris. And so that's what they're doing. They're literally -- I see all these orange and white buckets in there, and they're moving out in an assembly line fashion out to the side where we poked that hole in the building. And so that's what's going on there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How much more area do you have to cover?

KELLY: We have another 60 plus percent to search, and we're finding mobile homes or rather, motor homes or trailers, where people may have been living inside those. Those trailers will need to be searched. We don't even know if there's people inside of those. So we can't even get to those yet or get inside of those yet. So there were trailers inside there that looked like they're being lived in, inside the warehouse. I'm sure many of you have seen those from the aerial footage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many exits do you have on the warehouse?

KELLY: There are two known exits or entrances to this facility.

WATSON: Sergeant, before we answer any more questions, because I want this to be the last thing --

KELLY: Yes.

WATSON: -- will you just update them again that we'll be sending the names out or providing the names later.

KELLY: Yes. Yes.

WATSON: Can you restate that?

KELLY: We need wrap this up here, but as we move forward here today, we will be providing the names of seven victims to you. Many of these names have been circulating on social media. We will confirm seven names for you. We will be releasing that through the city on our city Web site and on social media.

WATSON: Yes, that's going to be it.

[18:35:11] KELLY: We're working on that now. So when Officer Watson and I get back to our office here in the field, we will work on getting that list out to you.

WATSON: OK. Thank you very much.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is there next --

KELLY: Next press, right? Next press, right?

WATSON: Yes, I'll let you --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is there an explanation today --

WATSON: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- or in the next one (inaudible)?

KELLY: Yes, there's probably one more, right? OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there going to be another (inaudible)?

WATSON: What we're going to do is we will send an e-mail out advising of the next media availability. I don't want to set the time right now. Last time, we had to push it back an hour and we don't want to keep you waiting. We respect your time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: All right. You just heard from officials tonight in Oakland, California. Some of the headlines here, pretty grim. We just learned 33 people now confirmed dead in that warehouse fire. Stephanie Elam is live for us in Oakland, and we just listened to that press conference along with me.

I mean, Stephanie, you can hear and feel the pain in their voice. The Sheriff's Deputy saying, you know, one of his own lost their son in this fire. They said they'd been finding victims' bodies where they least expected them and that they just don't know how many more victims there may be because they don't know how many people were at this party on Friday night.

ELAM: They don't know how many people got out safely. They don't know who was in attendance. They said that they had broken up the search of this warehouse into four sections and that in each one of those sections, they have found victims. There's not one place that these people were clustered. Also of note, saying that they've now made it through about 35 percent, 45 percent of the area now, and they're saying that they're still finding and recovering victims. If you think about that, how tragic this is. And then a revelation at

the end there that there are trailers inside of this warehouse building and that they haven't even gotten into those. And they do believe that people were living inside of those trailers that were inside of this warehouse. So it just shows you how difficult it is for them to access this area.

We knew about the international students. They're saying they're going to the embassy and making sure that they can get that information out but, overall, just tragic with the loss of life of young people, including some teenagers as well. Just very sad news when you learn more about the people who were inside of this. You know, many in their 20s and some over 30 years old but still just a very tragic situation. It sounds like they expect this number could continue to rise.

HARLOW: Absolutely. They do. Stephanie Elam, thank you for the reporting tonight live in Oakland. We'll get back to you in just a moment. I'm going to take a quick break. Much more news straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:40:45] HARLOW: Breaking news tonight. In the battle to try to stop a controversial oil pipeline in North Dakota, this is how protesters of that pipeline reacted to news tonight that the Army Corps of Engineers is halting construction, saying they will not approve a necessary easement for this particular route. This just hours before the deadline for those protesters to clear the area so that the construction can proceed.

This is a major victory for those opposed to the planned route of that pipeline. Their battle, though, is not over. Sara Sidner has been on the ground in North Dakota for weeks covering this. She joins me now tonight from Cannon Ball, North Dakota.

This is a major victory. The war is not won, if you will, but it is a major step for those opposed to it. Where does the fight go from here? What happens?

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At this point, everyone here is really just celebrating. We saw people crying. We saw people yelling out in jubilation because they had been here, many people, for so long, since August, at this camp even through these frigid December temperatures, even through a blast of snow that came through that froze everybody out here.

And today, Poppy, we have seen hundreds upon hundreds of people coming, streaming, into the camp long before they knew anything about this latest development. It is considered a victory, but there is a "but" and there a lot of concern that when the Obama administration leaves that this may change, that the new Trump administration may decide something else, that they may put pressure, for example, on the Army Corps of Engineers potentially.

So there is jubilation now and that will go throughout the night. We can hear the drumming. We can hear the chanting even now. It's still going on. The sacred fires are burning. People are smiling, whereas before they just weren't sure what was going to happen. So they definitely feel this is a victory.

But, certainly, that easement that they've been fighting over is just one victory because, ultimately, what the tribe was trying to relay to the rest of the world, not just the authorities, is they are concerned in an overarching way about the way in which we consume as Americans and which the world consumes, including the consumption of oil, including the dangers that that puts waters in. For example, this pipeline was supposed to go underneath the Missouri River.

And that is where the fight really was a flash point. But right now, the Oceti Sakowin as they're known in their own language, the Standing Rock Sioux, and all of the seven council fires, so the different strains of this tribe, are in celebration today, Poppy.

HARLOW: Sara, when you look at the sort of the counter argument to all this, it has been the economic boom to North Dakota, all of the good paying jobs it creates, frankly jobs that people come from all over the United States to get. What has reaction been, you know, from the other side, people that say what now for all of those jobs and that expected economic boost?

SIDNER: That's the exact thing that we're starting to get in is, you know, the other side of this argument, which the Standing Rock Sioux understands that the other side of the argument is that this was supposed to bring an economic boom to North Dakota. They understand that this is money that may be lost to some, but what they have been saying, and for quite some time now, is we've seen this happen before, and it always seems to involve our land and we're often not listened to.

And that was the message that they kept putting out. They said we wanted this to stop in the first place. We told you we didn't want it to go here. Well, authorities say, no, they didn't say anything. But the Standing Rock Sioux are very clear that they did say we don't want this.

Also, Bismarck said we don't want this, and it was rerouted. So there is a lot of celebration here because they do understand that there's an economic boom that could have happened because of the pipeline, but it's not necessarily something that they would have benefited from either, Poppy.

HARLOW: Sara Sidner live for us tonight in Cannon Ball, North Dakota. Obviously, you will continue to track this story as it evolves. But the breaking news, a major, major win for those protesting this pipeline for a long time now. Thank you very much, Sara Sidner. We appreciate it.

[18:45:11] We're going to get to a quick break. After that, breaking news. The Prime Minister of Italy Matteo Renzi saying he will indeed step down after losing the referendum vote there. Much more live from Italy ahead.

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HARLOW: Breaking news tonight out of Italy as we witness a wave of populism sweeping across the globe. Tonight, Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi say he'll resign, this after voters rejected a constitutional amendment that would have slashed the size of the Italian Senate to transfer regional powers to the central government. The voice of the majority in Italy speaking tonight a resounding no.

Renzi who had threatened to resign if voters rejected the reforms now says he will follow through with that when he meets tomorrow with Italy's President. He will hand in his resignation. The Prime Minister is saying he alone takes full responsibility for the defeat saying, "I lost, not you."

[18:50:00] But this is part of a much bigger picture. Italy's vote is just part of a huge wave of discontent, populism sweeping not just throughout Europe but also, of course, here in the United States. Our senior international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson, joins me now tonight from London.

Wow. I mean, the latest polling from two weeks ago, the most recent polling, said it may go this way, but indeed it has. Renzi has lost this battle. It is a blow for yet another established politician.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: And not just lost it. I mean, he's absolutely been hammered here, Poppy --

HARLOW: Yes.

ROBERTSON: -- with about 50 percent of the vote accounted, 20 percent against him. Sixty to 40 percent -- 60, yes -- 60, no, rather and 40 percent, yes. So this is absolutely a vindication for the populist parties and the nationalist parties in Italy. I mean, this does a number of things. There could potentially be a run on the Italian banks. This is potentially going to weaken the Euro. It's going to perhaps therefore have a knock-on effect to, you know, more broadly, to global trade.

Let's not get carried away with ourselves here, but certainly, in the European Union, it's going to put more uncertainty about the future of the European Union because many of those that voted no against Renzi want changes in the European Union or even to get out of the European Union. So this is a rocky road ahead starting here.

HARLOW: Let's get to, you know, the dire warnings that you mentioned before in terms of potentially run on the banks. This could be catastrophic for the Italian economy, which is, frankly, already been really stagnant for the better part of a decade. But do you see this, Nic, as the beginning of potentially Italians, at some point, voting the way those in the U.K. did to remove themselves from, you know, the European Union as a whole?

ROBERTSON: Potentially, we're not there yet. It depends what the President says about how Italy moves ahead. Do they form a technocrat government? Do they try to cobble together some sort of government from the existing parliamentarians or do they go back to the polls? The Five Star Party, which is a populist party, it has certainly a lot of anti-E.U. messaging. They're the second largest party in Italy. If there was another election, they were to do well, this could open the door to them to call a referendum just as Britain did.

HARLOW: So what about for the economy? You mentioned a potential run on Italian banks. There's also been some that have speculated about potentially a referendum on their currency as a whole, on the Euro as a whole going back to the prior currency, the Lira. What's likely to happen to the financial sector as a result of this?

ROBERTSON: In the short term, how do the markets wake up and react to this? In the run-up to this referendum, we've seen a slowdown in investment in Italy. There are about eight banks there which are undercapitalized, several of them are in a very shaky situation. There's a real concern in Europe that the European Central Bank may have to step in to bail out these banks.

Certainly, it's going to mean, right now, we've already seen a draw down in investment in Italy when it needs this least. The reforms that Renzi wanted to put in place were broadly seen as would have helped the economy get out of this period of stagnation. So clearly, that's unlikely to happen. Compounded by concerns in the markets about Italy's economic standing concerns over some of its banks.

HARLOW: And so, Nic, you're right to say that it was broadly seen as a move that would have helped make regulations a lot less cumbersome. It would have made, arguably, the economy tick along a lot faster and be more swift at getting things through. Then what was the drive for the no vote by so many?

ROBERTSON: What we're seeing across Europe and we're seeing in other countries, as well, is that there is a push back on globalization. There's a frustration at the increased number of migrants coming into Europe and Italy is absolutely on the front line of that. Hundreds of thousands have arrived there from North Africa this year.

There's concerns about what's broadly seen as traditional values, concerns about the economy. All of these are things that the populists have been able to play up on, the fact that there's a view that politicians, mainstream politicians, don't connect with the electorate and are, you know, therefore being marginalized. And that's really what seems to have happened here.

I mean, if we look at the election for President in Austria today, the nationalist didn't win. He lost.

HARLOW: Right.

ROBERTSON: But you have a Green Party President, the first time ever in Western Europe, and the first time in Austria that you don't have one of the two mainstream parties as President. That, again, tells you the mainstream parties are losing out to the fringes.

[18:55:10] HARLOW: Nic Robertson live for us in London. Nic, a lot more to talk about. You will be back with me next hour to go through all of it. But, again, the headline here, a resounding no from voters in Italy. The Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, on his way out as of tomorrow. Nic Robertson, thank you so much.

Ahead here for us here in the NEWSROOM. To Oakland California, the scene of that horrific and deadly warehouse fire, the confirmed death toll, now up once again. It is at 33. We will take you to Oakland live. Officers there just wrapping up a news conference. Stay with us.

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HARLOW: Top of the hour. I'm Poppy Harlow in New York. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. We begin tonight with the tragedy in Oakland, California where an enormous fire claimed engulfed a warehouse claiming now, we know, at least 33 lives. Officials in Oakland just wrapped up a press conference, once again, increasing the death toll from that blaze. It broke out Friday night during a party at the warehouse turned artist collective.

Here is what we know at this hour. Officials fear there may be more victims. Oakland sheriffs saying tonight they simply do not know how many people were inside the party and, therefore, they don't know how many more may be dead. They have completed searching just 35 percent of that warehouse. They have a lot more to go through.

Stephanie Elam is live for us tonight in Oakland. And this is also incredibly personal for them because one of the sheriff's deputies, we learned tonight, has lost their son. It is shaking the entire community. What else did we learn from this officials?

[19:00:11] ELAM: So many people affected.