Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Gaza Aid Worker Deaths Cause Outrage; Mar-a-Lago Special Counsel Blasts Jury Instruction Request; Deadly Earthquake in Taiwan. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired April 03, 2024 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:57]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Rescue efforts are under way right now after a deadly earthquake in Taiwan toppling buildings and triggering landslides. The latest on the race to help those still trapped under rubble.

Plus, we have got new reaction from President Biden after an Israeli airstrike killed seven aid workers, Biden standing behind Israel despite what sources say are private concerns and frustrations amid growing global outrage.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And a troubling outbreak of bird flu found at one of the biggest chicken egg manufacturers in the U.S. at a time when egg prices are already pretty high.

We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SANCHEZ: Right now, an urgent effort is under way to free dozens of people still trapped after the most powerful earth -- powerful earthquake to hit Taiwan in a quarter-of-a-century.

Officials say the 7.4-magnitude quake killed at least nine people, injuring more than 900 others. Powerful aftershocks are still ongoing. They're expected to keep happening for days to come.

We're getting new dramatic video into CNN we want to share with you, this one showing rescuers digging through the rubble of a collapsed building, scenes like this one playing out all over the island. The quake also triggered massive landslides.

Watch this. This is dashcam video capturing clouds of rocks and dust cascading down a mountain. Dashcam video also caught this moment on a highway. You can see cars just starting to bounce on the road.

CNN's Hanako Montgomery is live for us in Tokyo.

Hanako, what more are you learning about what's happening in Taiwan right now?

HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Boris, I mean, really, really shocking videos that you just saw there. So, in terms of the scale of devastation, like you mentioned, we know

that at least nine people have been confirmed dead and more than 900 were left injured as a result of this very powerful earthquake and the subsequent aftershocks that have been shaking the island.

We also know that, of the nine people who died, all of them were killed in Hualien County on the eastern coast of Taiwan, where, actually, most of the island's earthquakes take place. Now, Hualien County was very close to the epicenter. So that's why we're seeing a significant amount of damage in this part of Taiwan.

Now, a bit of context about Hualien County. It's known to be a very popular tourist hot spot. It's known for these gorgeous hikes and a very famous gorge, where actually three out of the nine people who were killed died by fallen rocks.

Now, Taiwanese authorities are also telling us that of, in Hualien County, 137 people are still trapped, a majority of them in mining areas. Now, military troops have been deployed. They're also working alongside local governments to try to get those people out and to safety. They have been working since the morning, when this earthquake first happened, throughout the night, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Hanako, Taiwanese authorities are also warning about aftershocks, right? What are they saying?

MONTGOMERY: Yes, Boris, aftershocks are a real, real problem whenever you see a very large earthquake.

And as someone who lives in a very seismically active country, Japan, I can tell you that these aftershocks can be just as terrifying, just as traumatizing as that first initial earthquake, because you never know when the shaking is going to stop. So, Taiwanese authorities have warned people in the island that we could be seeing several aftershocks in the coming days, some measuring magnitudes of 6.5 to 7.0, so very, very significant.

Also, we have to remember that this earthquake happened just a day before Tomb Sweeping Day, which is a day in much of the Chinese- speaking part of the world when people visit their relatives' tombs and pay their respects, say hello to their loved ones.

But because we see these aftershocks take place across the island, Boris, many in Taiwan have had to cancel their plans and instead shelter at home as they deal with the aftermath of a very powerful earthquake, the most powerful that the island has seen in a quarter- of-a-century, Boris.

[13:05:15]

SANCHEZ: Hanako Montgomery, thank you so much for that update -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Dangerous weather threatening communities across the country again today, with blizzard warnings in parts of the Midwest this first week of April. A large part of the country is recovering from yesterday's destructive

storm system that shredded neighborhoods from Georgia to Illinois. It spawned at least three tornadoes and injured at least 10 people in Indiana. It disrupted power for several hundred thousand customers as well. And the winds were so strong you can see right there in this video out of Kentucky it knocked a college student to the ground.

And then, in Indiana, one driver recounting how nearly all of the windows of her car blew out moments after she received a tornado warning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QIANA DUFF, TORNADO VICTIM: Gravel in my head. There's glass in my head, whatever, and mud. There's still mud behind my ears. There's cotton in my car from somewhere.

Like, you just -- there's -- it's almost overstimulation of senses. It's -- everything's so loud and powerful, like nothing I have ever experienced before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: CNN's Athena Jones is in Ohio with a look at the damage there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there.

The Ohio Valley has been struck by two strong storms back to back starting Tuesday morning and continuing through the night. I want to show you some of the wind damage from these storms. This is the historic Kirker Bridge. It dates back to the 19th century.

You can see extensive damage, a lot of repairs going to be needed. Before these storms, this bridge had a roof. You can see now there is no roof to be seen. In fact, some part of it is flung over the side here in this creek bed.

Walking over here, we see some of the broken trees. This is what has led to some of the power outages in the region, thousands of people without power in Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia. We have seen creeks like this one that -- with the water rising. The water has begun to go down, but we know that there was also some flooding.

And, now, there were two reports -- or two tornado warnings in Adams County, where we are right now, last night. National Weather Service teams are going to be on the ground assessing the damage. And so we will have to wait for any official confirmation from them that tornadoes struck down here.

Athena Jones, CNN, West Union, Ohio.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Our thanks to Athena for that -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: For the latest on where this dangerous weather is headed,let's go and see CNN meteorologist Chad Myers.

So, Chad, what's in the forecast? It appears the system is moving east. Is that right?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: East and south, because that's where the cold front is right now, so,yes, 23 tornadoes yesterday in that warm sector.

Now this is the cool sector, where, in fact, there are snowflakes coming down,but the two areas we're concerned about today, really the Delmarva and also parts of the Florida, including, like, Kissimmee and Tampa and some of the big cities here around Orlando.

No warnings, at least not at this point, but we could see them, because we do have tornado watches still in effect there. A brand-new tornado watch was just issued just east of D.C. This would be Easton, Maryland, the Eastern Shore, all the way down toward Richmond. You're going to have to watch as that line of weather tries to make an impact there later on today.

Now I widen the view for you. And, yes, the white is snow all the way into Illinois, blizzard warnings for parts of the U.P., Michigan, flood watches on the warm side, where there's an awful lot of rainfall, and then obviously the wind event, seeing some slowdowns across the New York City airports because winds gusting over 45 miles per hour.

That won't go away any time soon. I put you ahead here to 7:00 tonight, rain and snow kind of mixing in Chicago. There goes the weather off the East Coast, still probably a little stormy in New York City. But, other than that, we start to wind this thing down and we work our way into the next storm, which could be next Monday, which, I don't know if you heard or not, but there's an eclipse that will be going on next Monday.

So we will keep an eye on it -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Yes, hopefully, it doesn't obscure the zone of totality...

MYERS: Exactly.

SANCHEZ: ... where folks can most enjoy the eclipse.

Chad Myers, thank you so much.

MYERS: Yes.

SANCHEZ: A quick reminder, you can also enjoy the eclipse coverage right here on CNN. It starts at about 1:00 -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes, you see it there, "Eclipse Across America," on your screen. So the prosecution is laying into the judge in the Trump classified

documents case. In a pointed new filing, special counsel Jack Smith harshly rebukes Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon, arguing that her understanding of the case is -- quote -- "fundamentally flawed."

He said her recent request for jury instructions embraced Trump's defense claims and would -- quote -- "distort the trial."

CNN's Paula Reid is on this for us.

Paula, pretty interesting to read what Jack Smith put in here. Walk us through Cannon's request for jury instructions and how the special counsel is responding.

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, clearly the special counsel not happy with Judge Cannon right now.

Now, she is, of course, a Trump appointee. She's only been on the bench for a few years now. She is an inexperienced judge. And her approach has come under scrutiny, not only for decisions that she has made, but also for the decisions that she hasn't yet made. She has a backlog of over a dozen motions that she hasn't yet weighed in on.

[13:10:17]

But, here, she asked both sides in this case to draw up jury instructions for a potential jury in an eventual trial related to the Presidential Records Act. Now, the Presidential Records Act was passed after Nixon resigned. And it lays out how government records should be handled at the end of an administration.

And Trump has tried to argue, among his many explanations for why he had these documents down in Mar-a-Lago, that these things were his to keep. Now, in one of these versions, they were supposed to just lay out which documents could be personal here, which ones are the property of the government.

But in another version of these instructions, Cannon asked the government what would happen if the jury is just instructed that he had the right to keep these, and, look, the special counsel not having it. They said -- quote -- "There is no basis in law or fact for that legal presumption, and the court should reject Trump's effort to invent one as a vehicle to inject the Presidential Records Act into this case. The court should be aware at the outset that Trump's entire effort to rely on the PRA is not based on any facts."

Now, we're still waiting for, of course, Judge Aileen Cannon to set a trial date here. We were in court well over a month ago, and she heard arguments from both sides on that issue, and, again, just one of many decisions outstanding from Judge Aileen Cannon.

But, here, the special counsel did signal that, if she were to give any of these instructions to the jury, that they would likely appeal, which, of course, would have the effect of further delaying this case.

KEILAR: Yes, talk about this. What would this mean for an appeal? REID: So, if -- they're saying, look, if you're really going to try

to inject the Presidential Records Act into this case, we will likely move to appeal this, take it to an appellate court for review, because they don't believe that this has any place in this case.

And it was interesting. They actually revealed some additional evidence that they have gathered in the course of this investigation. And they said, we have evidence of Trump's record-keeping practices in the White House, and there's no indication that he believed that any of this was personal.

So the thing is, if they were to appeal any of her decisions here, right, that would likely take months, and that would delay this case. But look, Brianna, as of right now, we're still waiting for her to set a firm trial date. This case was sort of penciled on the calendar for late May. We're in court over a month ago, where both sides weighed in on just how long they would like to see this delayed.

Of course, the special counsel wants to move quickly. Trump's team wants to wait as long as possible, in the hopes that he will be reelected, and then he can make both of his federal cases go away.

What we're really seeing here right now is, a lot of this is the product of inexperience, this backlog of decisions, even though, in court, when we're with Aileen Cannon, you can see she is making an effort to try to at least appear to be tough on both sides.

When you see the things that she is doing, the decisions that she is making, those that she has made, and the requests that she's making of the lawyers,there are a lot of questions about her handling of this case.

KEILAR: All right, we know you're keeping an eye on them.

Paula Reid, thank you for that report.

Coming up: The White House is reiterating its support for Israel after the deadly strike that killed seven aid workers with World Central Kitchen.

Plus: A city in Oklahoma is cutting ties with one of its councilmembers over his ties to white supremacist groups.

And bird flu has halted production at the nation's largest producer of fresh eggs. What is this going to mean for your food prices in the U.S.?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:18:12]

KEILAR: Anger is rising in Israel, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces mounting pressure for failing to reach a deal to get the hostages held in Gaza released.

You see these pictures from earlier today. These are family members of hostages storming the gallery of the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament. They were chanting as authorities tried to contain them. And, yesterday, in Jerusalem, anti-government protesters breached a security barrier near Netanyahu's home. They have been demanding new elections and are calling on Netanyahu to resign.

CNN senior correspondent Melissa Bell is live from Jerusalem with more on this.

Melissa, how is the Israeli government responding to all of this?

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we have seen is all that anger expressed.

And what we have heard over the course of the day, in the wake of these four-day-long protests, Brianna, that have now come to an end, culminating in those dramatic images that you just showed of families of hostage members breaching the public gallery there inside the Knesset building, what we have heard is from Benny Gantz, one of the wartime Cabinet members, who is also, by the way, largely seen here in Israel as a potential successor to Benjamin Netanyahu, calling not only for national unity, Brianna, in the wake of those demonstrations that did at times get violent.

And we saw last night some of those demonstrators, and specifically members of the families of some of the hostages still inside the Gaza Strip, trying to get towards the house, the home, the residence of Benjamin Netanyahu, one of those family members being wrestled to the ground by the police.

What we have heard from Benny Gantz is not just a call for unity at this crucial moment. And bear in mind that we're coming up over this weekend to the six-month mark, Brianna, not just of the war, but, of course, of the hostage-taking that led to it.

[13:20:12]

What Benny Gantz is suggesting is that the government give a clear indication that it is willing to consider elections being held in September in order to get everyone together. For now, no indication whether or not those calls will be heard, but certainly a call for unity at this stage, even as we have seen that extraordinary unity that was won, gained in the days after October 7 really severely tested these last few days.

KEILAR: And, Melissa, on this Israeli strike in Gaza that killed these seven aid workers with World Central Kitchen, outrage is growing globally. We see that, including here in the U.S.

What are you learning about how Israel plans to respond to this catastrophic blunder?

BELL: Well, we know that they took it extremely seriously, that, in the course of yesterday, as details emerged of who these aid workers were, how they'd been trying to travel through that part of de -- a deconflicted part of Gaza, in coordination with the IDF, more about who they were, what they'd managed to achieve in Gaza so far, right, because remember that this is the charity that was responsible for getting the aid in through the sea.

We'd also heard in parallel from a number of different Israeli officials, not just the prime minister, but, first of all, the defense minister and the spokesman of the IDF, and, by the end of the day, the general chief of staff of the IDF, announcing that that partial investigation had taken place, where they'd found that it had been a misidentification, but vowing that the full investigation would be forthcoming.

We should hear in the next few days much more about it. They have promised transparency, because I think there's a clear understanding here in Israel of the outrage of the world and the fact that it is linked not just to who these people were and what they were trying to do, but to the Israeli government's repeated assurances that it was doing all it could to protect civilians and aid workers, Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Melissa Bell, live from Jerusalem, thank you -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Chef Jose Andres, the founder of World Central Kitchen, is responding to that Israeli strike that killed seven people working for his organization.

In an op-ed for "The New York Times" titled "Let People Eat," he writes -- quote -- "Israelis in their heart of hearts know that food is not a weapon of war. Israel is better than the way this war is being waged. It's better than blocking food and medicine to civilians. It's better than killing aid workers who had coordinated their movements with the Israeli Defense Forces."

"The Israeli government," he writes, "needs to open more land routes for food and medicine today. It needs to stop killing civilians and its workers today. It needs to start the long journey to peace today."

Joining us now to discuss all of this is CNN global affairs analyst Kim Dozier.

Kim, between this strike, the global outrage over it, and the protests he's facing internally, even members of his war cabinet calling for new elections, is any of this going to change the way that Benjamin Netanyahu has approached the war?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: I don't think it will change the way Netanyahu is approaching the war.

For his political survival, he thinks he needs to stay the course, and that means being able to turn and tell his supporters, those who voted for him and the more extreme members of his Cabinet, that he has done everything to wipe Hamas out.

However, the Israeli Defense Forces have their own protocols, their own sense of honor. And when you listen to what the spokespeople were saying just before this strike, they were sure that everyone on their team was following the rules.

And this incident has revealed to them in a way that sort of rips away the illusions, the same way when the IDF had one unit fire on hostages who were trying to give themselves up. It's a wake-up call that their procedures aren't working.

For some of the aid workers, however, they're like, why did it take this? You have lost 177 U.N. aid workers, and there were three attacks on U.N. aid convoys that have also given their information in. I was just on the phone with a U.N. spokesperson about it.

But in those cases, they didn't lose anyone. The Israeli army didn't seem to believe it until the World Central Kitchen was hit.

SANCHEZ: Yes, it was interesting to me that, yesterday, Yoav Gallant was calling for the IDF to essentially set up a situation room, where they would have immediate and direct contact over what was happening on the ground.

And I posed the question to a very well-sourced analyst, Barak Ravid, as to why it took so long for that to happen, why it wasn't happening. He argued that there was a disconnect between the leadership and the IDF that wants to sort of restrict what can happen on the battlefield, especially in these deconflicted zones, and the actual troops on the ground, the commanders, that are far more aggressive with the rules of engagement.

[13:25:02]

Do you see it the same way, that there's perhaps miscommunication over the rules of engagement?

DOZIER: That is certainly what -- is what this incident is pointing to, because one arm of the Israeli military was communicating and had that information...

SANCHEZ: Yes.

DOZIER: ... from the aid workers on this convoy, and another arm was conducting an attack apparently against one armed man that they thought was on the same route.

So, the deconfliction seems to need to happen inside the Israeli military. The U.N. was saying, we give them everything down to what type of vehicle we will be traveling in, the exact time, the exact road. We give them the GPS coordinates of where they're leaving from and exactly what they're carrying and who's going to be in the vehicles.

They have had all this information, but, somewhere, it's not getting through from commander to people on the ground, the troops on the ground.

SANCHEZ: Right.

The other thing that officials promised, including the defense minister, Gallant, was a thorough investigation, a transparent look at what decisions were made, who made them, why this happened.

Do you think we're going to get a full reading of what happened and, if we do, what accountability looks like in a realistic sense?

DOZIER: I think we in the public will get a partial reading. I think perhaps the White House, the Pentagon, the British government, everyone who lost someone in that convoy is going to get more details about where the breakdown was.

But I think it's going to raise real questions about how the U.S. can keep supplying weapons without having someone in the room, perhaps in the headquarters watching when these lethal calls are made. That's what they do with their own lethal strikes. And the Israelis say they have got lawyers, et cetera, watching every strike.

It certainly didn't seem to happen in this situation.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

So, circling back to the first point about the approach to the war more broadly, the United States and other players around the world can amp up the rhetoric and express their outrage over this, but if, fundamentally, the U.S. doesn't change its posture when it's authorizing this $18 billion deal for F-15s, there's really no incentive or disincentive for things to change.

DOZIER: Well, the thing is, Netanyahu needs to keep his hard-right coalition together, so that he can stay in office for the next three years.

Members of his opposition, members who are part of his war cabinet, they can call for new elections all they want. The only thing that's going to really trigger them is if his allies in actual government pull out of the coalition. So far, he's managed to keep that together. So he's going to keep doing whatever keeps them in office with him, rather than -- and doing the minimum to make the White House or other allies satisfied.

SANCHEZ: Kim Dozier, appreciate your perspective, as always. Thanks for joining us.

DOZIER: Thanks.

SANCHEZ: Still to come on CNN NEWS CENTRAL: A city council getting a shakeup after an Oklahoma official with ties to white nationalism is voted out of office -- the latest from Oklahoma in just moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)