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DOJ Seeks To Remove Texas Buoy Barriers At Border; Fulton County Sheriff's Staff Threatened Ahead Of Trump Surrender; GM Reduces Driverless Fleet In San Francisco After Crashes. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired August 22, 2023 - 14:30   ET

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

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[14:33:32]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: As we are waiting for former President Trump to turn himself in to the Fulton County jail on Thursday, today, the first of his 18 alleged co-conspirators surrendered to face racketeering charges related to attempts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia.

They include John Eastman, the lawyer who, among other things, urged Georgia state lawmakers to appoint fake GOP electors. He was booked and released on charges in the sweeping election subversion case.

And a largely unknown character in this drama, Scott Hall, who allegedly helped break into voting systems in Coffee County, Georgia, was the first known Trump co-defendant to turn themselves in.

Thursday is going to mark Trump's fourth booking on criminal charges. But this one may include a mugshot. That is something different we have not seen.

The remaining defendants have until Friday at noon to surrender.

Jim?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: Well, happening now, a courtroom hearing over the floating barricades that the governor of Texas put in the river along the border to help keep migrants from crossing there. Human rights advocates have called them cruel.

Right now, the U.S. Justice Department is seeking to remove the barriers, saying permits are necessary. Relations with Mexico have been strained throughout as well.

CNN teams have observed that at times the buoys have not worked at all, with people easily getting around them.

CNN's Rosa Flores has the latest from court, which just returned from a lunch break -- Rosa?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jim, this federal courtroom is packed. Every seat is taken. And this hearing has been going on for several hours. [14:35:06]

The U.S. Department of Justice has called on two witnesses so far. The first witness is the employee from the Army Corps of Engineers who was assigned to investigate the border buoys.

This witness testified that this individual went to Eagle Pass, he observed the border buoys, determined this was a structure that required a permit by the Army Corps of Engineers.

Then went to check to see if there was an actual permit and there was no permit.

During cross-examination attorneys for the state of Texas tried to poke holes in the credibility of this witness by asking about his research and knowledge about this particular portion of the Rio Grande and its navigability.

And then pointed to a study from 1975 to point out that during certain portions of the year the navigability of the Rio Grande is limited.

But this witness was racked by a question from the judge. The judge asking the witness directly what was the determination of this navigability from 1975? Is the Rio Grande a navigable waterway? And this witness says, yes, that this river is, indeed, a navigable U.S. waterway.

Now, the second witness is a State Department adviser to the Biden administration on U.S.-Mexico relations.

This witness testified that Mexico has sent three diplomatic notes to the United States complaining about the border buoys and that these complaints and concerns have gone to the highest diplomatic levels, including conversations with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

And that the U.S. is concerned that these border buoys could damage relations between U.S. and Mexico.

Now, cross-examination of this witness turned into back-to-back objections by the U.S. Department of Justice.

And even the judge interjecting multiple times, scolding attorneys from the state of Texas, telling attorneys that they needed to focus on the issue at hand, which was the buoys, and not to dive into other issues, including Fentanyl and overall broad illegal immigration in the United States.

Now, this hearing is ongoing. The state of Texas is expected to call one more witness.

And it doesn't appear that this judge will rule from the bench. He has told both parties that he's expecting them to submit written closing arguments by Friday -- Jim?

SCIUTTO: Rosa Flores, thanks so much.

Boris?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: We have news just into CNN. An update on the eight people stranded in a dangling cable car in Pakistan. The six children and two adults were stuck for hours 900 feet in the air. They've, fortunately, all been rescued.

The kids, aged 10 to 15, were actually heading to school when one of the chairlift cables snapped. Rescue teams used everything from helicopters and ropes to aid in their rescue. Fortunate that they are all ok.

Plenty still to come on CNN NEWS CENTRAL. Thursday may mark the 45th president's fourth surrender to authorities on charges. But it will be his first at the Fulton County jail in Georgia. The Secret Service making preparations as we speak. Details ahead.

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[14:42:36]

KEILAR: Right now, in Georgia, law enforcement is on high alert ahead of former President Trump's expected surrender Thursday at the Fulton County jail. And we're learning that employees of the sheriff's office are getting threats, even to their lives and to their homes.

The Secret Service has been on site at the jail for weeks now. They've been working with deputies. They've been working with local officials.

For more on this now, let's turn to CNN chief law enforcement analyst, John Miller.

John, what resources does law enforcement put in place to prepare for something as extraordinary as this?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT & INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, a lot. And it goes beyond Secret Service resources.

You know, they're going to fly in. There will be a motorcade from the airport. They'll need the assistance of the airport police and the Atlanta P.D. and the Fulton County sheriff. And that's just getting to the jail.

KEILAR: And what's the process like when Trump does turn himself in this week? Can you walk us through that?

MILLER: So if the Secret Service is able to perform, you know, to their optimal desires in a case like this, we won't see Donald Trump.

They would like to bring him in a garage entrance so he's not exposed outside, get him into the jail, get him through the process, and get him out of the jail through the same exit and to the airport.

Because from a Secret Service standpoint, the faster they get in and the faster they get out, the simpler the mission is. From the jail standpoint, they have a shared interest, Brianna,

because when you've got Secret Service and outsiders and attorneys coming into the jail environment, odds are you're going to have to freeze prisoner movements, maybe lock down the facility.

So the quicker they get him in and out the better it is for their operations.

So we'll see very little tomorrow. We may hear less, at least from Donald Trump, given the judge's warning. It's highly unlikely he's going to make public statements.

KEILAR: He's been through a booking process before. We've seen that. But this is going to be a little bit different. Can you explain why?

MILLER: The why is because it's at the jail. You know, his prior booking processes, one was in the detective squad of the Manhattan district attorney's office.

The next one was, you know, at the U.S. Marshal's Office in Miami. The next one was in a federal courthouse in Washington.

[14:45:02]

He's never had to be put in handcuffs and taken to a police facility and walked outside and, you know, driven in a car to the courthouse. It's all been kind of custom-arranged surrenders.

Going to the jail, in this case, I think is the effort of authorities there to make sure it appears they're treating him like everyone else, even if they fast-track the process once he gets there.

KEILAR: It will certainly be something to see.

John Miller, thank you so much for taking us through that. We do appreciate it.

Boris?

SANCHEZ: Now to some of the other headlines we're watching this hour.

More than 200 patients receiving specialty care inside a Los Angeles hospital had to be evacuated after the power and the backup power went out during Tropical Storm Hilary.

Fire officials say the overnight rescues turned into a major emergency operation.

Because some of the patients who were NICU babies and people on ventilators had to be physically carried down stairwells because the elevators weren't functioning. One woman even gave birth by flashlight during the blackout.

Patients were relocated to other hospitals or moved to another wing of the facility. Authorities are still trying to determine why both the main power and the backup generator failed.

Also, an ominous warning from big-box retailer Dick's Sporting Goods. The company declared retail theft is damaging its business and would lead to lower annual profits.

Dick's reported a 23 percent drop in profit during the second quarter despite a nearly 4 percent jump in sales. Company shares plunged nearly 24 percent following today's news.

Other national retailers have warned about growing theft. But Dick's is among the first to mostly blame it for its lackluster financial report.

And American sprinter, Sha'Carri Richardson, now the fastest woman in the world. She won the gold medal in the 100-meter race at the 2023 world athletics championships in Budapest, Hungary.

Here she is.

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(GUNFIRE)

(CHEERING)

ANNOUNCER: Women's 100 world final! The Jamaicans get out well. It's Shericka Jackson, Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce.

Here comes Sha'Carri Richardson! Sha'Carri's done it! Sha'Carri Richardson has won the world title!

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Look at that. Richardson with a time of 10.65 seconds. Incredible.

She's also the first American world champ to win the women's 100 meters since 2017. She's primed to lead the U.S. team at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

Jim, you might recall she was booted out of the last Olympics for testing positive for cannabis.

SCIUTTO: Such a great comeback story. And Boris and I will admit she's way faster than we are.

(LAUGHTER)

SCIUTTO: Well, from causing traffic to collisions, some authorities in San Francisco are warning about an increased number of incidents involving driverless cars. Some are demanding action. We'll have details just ahead.

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SCIUTTO: A driverless car debacle in San Francisco two weeks after the utilities commission there greenlit robo taxis running 24/7 in the city. Now General Motors is slashing its fleet of Cruise driverless cars by 50 percent.

California authorities asked G.M. to immediately take action after there were two collisions of Cruise cars, including one involving a fire truck that was on duty.

As CNN's Veronica Mircle reports, the accidents are not the only problem.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's like 10 of them.

VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Traffic chaos on the streets of San Francisco caused by cars with no one in the driver's seat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's like one, two, three, four Cruise cars blocking. No one can get through.

MIRACLE: These driverless cabs stalled for half an hour outside of the Outside Lands Music Festival.

In the last two weeks, incidents involving autonomous vehicles have spiked after a regulatory agency approved G.M.'s Cruise and Google's Waymo to expand their driverless car services in San Francisco.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello? We can't hear you. Can you turn up the volume?

JEANINE NICHOLSON, CHIEF, SAN FRANCISCO FIRE DEPARTMENT: I mean, I couldn't have predicted it any better. I don't think any of us could.

MIRACLE: San Francisco city leaders, including Fire Chief Jeanine Nicholson, were outspoken about safety concerns, requesting more testing and regulations for the innovative but potentially dangerous technology.

Just days after California's Public Utility Commission voted to allow Cruise and Waymo to roll out more cars in the city at expanded times, a Cruise car and a fire truck collided.

Now the state's DMV is investigating and Cruise has been ordered to reduce its fleet by half until further notice.

NICHOLSON: It could cause someone their life. When an autonomous vehicle impacts one of our companies' ability to respond to an emergency incident, it can impact someone's survivability.

MIRACLE: Data from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration shows driverless cars have only resulted in minor injuries. But city officials say that paints an incomplete picture because that data only shows crashes, not delays or chaos caused by stalled cars.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It doesn't know what to do. It's about to go drive into this trench right here.

MIRACLE: This Cruise car drove into downed powerlines.

JEFFREY TUMLIN, DIRECTOR OF TRANSPORTATION, SAN FRANCISCO MUNICIPAL TRANSPORTATION AGENCY: The data that we're getting is from 911 calls, which have tripled as a result of autonomous vehicles doing crazy things.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everyone's getting off the bus. There's no one driving the car.

[14:55:02]

MIRACLE: Cruise's Prashanthi Raman says its mission is to work with cities and make their streets safer.

PRASHANTHI RAMAN, VICE PRESIDENT OF GOVERNMENT RELATIONS, CRUISE: The status quo of transportation is really unacceptable. There's over 40,000 fatalities happening on the roads in the United States.

We've driven over three million driverless miles and we have had no life-threatening injuries or fatalities.

DRIVERLESS CAR AUDIO: This experience may feel futuristic but the need to buckle up is the same as always.

MIRACLE: Waymo declined an interview with CNN but said it's proud of its safety record and its automated driver demonstrates comparable or better performance than a reference model of a human driver.

A.V.s aren't just in San Francisco. Cruise is already operating in Austin, Texas, and Los Angeles, too.

Chief Nicholson has a warning for other cities.

NICHOLSON: Pay attention. Get on board. Get ahead of this. Because it's coming your way. And I don't want them to have -- to happen to them what has happened here.

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MIRACLE: Jim, I do want to mention the Cruise passengers we've spoken to have all had positive experiences. We also rode in a Cruise and Waymo car. And they were seamless.

Speaking of rides, we're actually in a driverless shuttle right now. This is called the Loop Shuttle. It is operating on Treasure Island in San Francisco. It started about a week ago. And as you can see, there is no driver.

There is an operator on board all of these. This is Marvin here. He's making sure that everything will be OK. But there's no steering wheel, just passengers. So is this the future? You tell me -- Jim?

SCIUTTO: How does it feel? Does it feel weird? Does it feel comfortable?

MIRCALE: It's a little jerky but, overall, you know, it's pretty good. It goes relatively slow and it feels like a bus ride.

SCIUTTO: All right. Well, we might be seeing more of those.

Veronica Miracles, thanks so much.

Brianna?

KEILAR: So interesting.

All right, Donald Trump's co-defendants have begun trickling in at the Fulton County jail in Georgia.

Stay with CNN NEWS CENTRAL. We'll be right back.

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