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House GOP Slams Biden, Harris in Scathing Afghanistan Report; Kentucky State Police on Manhunt: Hoping to Wear Suspected Gunman Down; California, Nevada Residents Flee Wildfires Amid Scorching Heat. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired September 09, 2024 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Just about an hour from now, the chair of the House Foreign Relations Committee is set to take questions from reporters after releasing a scathing report on the years-long investigation into the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. The Republican report blasts the Biden administration for pursuing the withdrawal no matter the cost. And it specifically tries to tie Vice President Kamala Harris to decisions made about the withdrawal.

The report saying, in part, quote: the Biden-Harris administration misled and, in some instances, directly lied to the American people at every stage of the withdrawal from before the go-to-zero order until today.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: The chaotic evacuation at the Kabul airport in 2021 was marked by a terrorist attack that ended up killing 13 U.S. service members and more than 100 Afghans. But Democrats on the Foreign Affairs Committee released their own memo calling the GOP's findings nakedly partisan. They said with the ascendance of Vice President Kamala Harris to the top of the Democratic presidential ticket, the GOP performance has reached a crescendo.

Republicans now claim she was the architect of the U.S. withdrawal, though she is referenced only three times in 3,200 pages of the committee's interview transcripts.

Joining us now to talk about all of this, we have CNN military analyst, retired Army Major General Spider Marks, and CNN global affairs analyst Kimberly Dozier with us as well. General, to you first, what do you think of this report and what Democrats are countering with? How do you see it?

MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS (RET.). CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, I'm not going to jump to the political aspects of this. You don't bring me on to talk politics. Let me give it to you from the national security and from the military perspective of what happened in Afghanistan.

I don't think we're going to see anything new in this report when we when we dive into it that we don't already know, which was a rushed evacuation failure to do some basic planning. So, again, from a military guy's perspective, as a result of the collapse of the collapse of the military structure of the Afghan military, the advances of the Taliban, the U.S. military was left with very few options. And as a result of that, an evacuation was called.

[15:35:00]

It was a rushed evacuation, and it went from one single point of evacuation, a departure out of Kabul, where, at the time, in advance of that, there were four airfields where the United States could have conducted a more deliberate departure. So, this is wrapped in political challenges, and so I'm not going to get into any of that.

But from my perspective, this could have been done at a more deliberate pace. Indicators were that this was a necessary outcome. We had been involved in Afghanistan way too long. I think it was a strategically correct decision executed very, very poorly.

SANCHEZ: Kim, what's your view of these dueling reports? Which one do you think is closer to the truth?

KIM DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Look, there are elements of truth of what actually happened in both of them. The fact is the debacle of the Afghan withdrawal started with policies under the Trump administration and then fell apart finally with Biden following through with the withdrawal. Nobody understood what Trump messaging to the Afghan security forces would do in terms of weakening their resolve and that what then happened under the Biden administration, Trump started shrinking the footprint.

Then Biden started having a bunch of contractors, etc., pulling out such that the Afghan security forces were literally blinded. They lost their secure radios and had to communicate on cell phones that the Taliban could intercept. That's why so many of the Afghan troops started melting away, and no one anticipated there being no Afghan troops around Kabul to provide security while an orderly evacuation or departure was carried out.

And that's, blame that on both sides.

KEILAR: Yes, I mean, because you have a deal that was brokered without leverage, certainly without the leverage to have a good deal, right, that set conditions for, under the Trump administration, for what then transpired under the Biden administration and then was carried out, even as you heard Democrats warning the Biden administration, you need to do more as you're getting people out. You need to do more. There's so much blame to go around, but it becomes this hot potato politically.

DOZIER: And the fact of the matter is, I was talking to some of the Republicans who are now beating up the Democrats. They were quietly trying to lobby Trump not to withdraw and not to go so fast and saying the same things about Trump that they're now saying about Biden. Meanwhile, the Democrats were saying this, this withdrawal has to go faster.

So, I mean, each side was surprised by what happened. And ultimately, the hard part is that many people in the world no longer trust the U.S. as an ally because of what they saw happen on the ground. And I hear that from European politicians, Asian politicians and diplomats, and just from ordinary people that I've talked to in the streets overseas.

They're like, oh, how can we trust you, Afghanistan? It's the shorthand for the U.S. is a fickle ally.

SANCHEZ: General, I'm curious to get your response to that and also your thoughts on these 23 recommendations made in the Republican report. I know some of them were political and you don't want to go there. But in terms of the recommendations, which focus on making future withdrawals safer, what did you think?

MARKS: Yes, I think what Kimberly described is absolutely correct. The challenge is and historically, let's put this in context. We have administrations that come and go.

We have contingency plans that the major commands have in place all the time, and they have to be refreshed as a result of ongoing circumstances and the intelligence that we derive from those various locations and the objectives that the United States wants to try to achieve. That balance needs to take place all the time. And as you change administrations, you've got the continuity of the military leadership that the national security team is going to change out.

The constant is the military leadership that needed to be the fundamental aspect of this change. I can't imagine anyone in uniform would have agreed to a rushed evacuation that we saw. And I got it.

There's a bunch of intelligence unknowns. There were things that we could not anticipate. But fundamentally, this administration that's in place now campaigned on the departure from Afghanistan, the end of endless wars.

And I got that. They should be applauded for that. So why on day one after the inaugural balls, there wasn't a confab, why there wasn't an immediate effort to try to refresh those plans based on new political realities and what we were seeing.

I can't explain that. And so you end up with the disaster that we saw that Kimberly described very, very well that the real sad outcome as a result of all of that globally, as well as the personal faces that we've lost.

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DOZIER: And just to add, Kamala Harris said to CNN's Dan Abash around this time that she was the last person in the room when Biden was making the withdrawal decision. So she's got to wear the consequences of the decision, and she's got to explain them to the American public, hopefully at the debates last night, tomorrow night.

SANCHEZ: Kim Dozier, Major General Spider Marks appreciate the analysis. Thanks for joining us.

Still ahead, officials in Kentucky giving an update on the search for a man they say is responsible for a shooting spree along Interstate 75 that injured at least five people where the manhood now stands.

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SANCHEZ: There's now a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a suspected highway gunman who's now been on the run since Saturday. Officials believe Joseph Couch opened fire on a stretch of I-75 in Laurel County, Kentucky.

Five people there were wounded, some of them with serious injuries, according to officials. They say one victim was actually shot in the face. The Kentucky State Police have been searching the dense woods by the highway and they updated reporters just minutes ago. Listen.

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MASTER TROOPER SCOTTIE PENNINGTON, PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER, KENTUCKY STATE POLICE: Our goal is to apply steady pressure and wearing Mr. Couch down. The longer he is in the woods, you know, like last night it got pretty chilly and today it's got kind of humid and hot. Hopefully he has no water and nothing to eat and just time that we will wear him down and hopefully he'll eventually just walk out of the woods and give himself up.

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SANCHEZ: Let's get the latest from CNN security correspondent Josh Campbell. He's a former FBI supervisory special agent. Josh, this wear him down strategy. How has this worked in previous manhunts? Is it effective?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've certainly seen this be effective in past manhunts because you think about the number of resources that law enforcement has now dedicated here. They have this area surrounded. We're talking about thousands of acres of terrain that they're focusing on right now.

So no indication they know precisely where he is, but authorities just gave an update talking about some of the resources. They have resources in the air, including helicopters. They're using drones on the ground. They have teams, including canine units. There are officers that are literally slashing their way with machetes through this wooded area in order to try to find where this person is.

But of course, there are two major challenges here. First, only the gunman knows how he wants this to actually end. Is this someone who is actually going to give up peacefully? Is this someone who wants to go out in some type of blaze of glory? We don't yet know. Obviously, law enforcement hopes that he will surrender, as they just indicated.

But second, if you look at the original crime, this isn't someone who appeared to target someone specifically and then flee. This was indiscriminate firing upon a freeway, which is the softest of soft targets, if you think about it. What that means for law enforcement is this is someone who is clearly intent on causing mass loss of life. Could that include law enforcement officers who stumble upon him?

They're waiting to see. But again, all hope is that this will actually end peacefully.

SANCHEZ: Josh Campbell, thanks so much for the perspective. Appreciate it.

Up next, thousands forced to evacuate as dangerous wildfires explode in size in Southern California. We'll take you there live in just moments.

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KEILAR: Thousands of people in California and Nevada are fleeing multiple wildfires that are inching dangerously close to homes and businesses and spreading fast. Firefighters are facing these flames amid excessive heat warnings and triple digit temps. We CNN national correspondent, Camila Bernal, in San Bernardino County for us where the line fire has exploded in size. Camila, what are you seeing?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Brianna. So we've been here for about an hour or so, and right behind me, this entire ridge has been up in flames. It's hard to see because the smoke is so thick at points it covers the flames.

So you see them coming in and out. But the reality is that this fire has exploded. It's about 20,000 acres that have already been burned.

Most of it is in the national forests here in San Bernardino. So they have been able to keep it away from homes. And today, officials were a little bit more optimistic about progress. We did see that containment go up from zero percent to three percent.

But they continue to say that the problem is that they have many factors working against them. Among them is the weather that this fire is creating. Not only is it very hot in Southern California, and it has been very hot over the last couple of days, we're talking triple digits and lows in the 80s, but you also have these thunderstorms that are created by the fire, by the weather that this fire creates. And that brings lightning. That lightning creates new fires and it also brings wind.

And that wind, officials say, spreads the flames into areas that they cannot even predict. So at times they do not even know where to station their crews. They have been stationing them closer to homes.

We saw more evacuation orders today. There are thousands of people who are under these evacuation orders. I talked to someone further up this road who told me, yes, I'm going to have to leave. He was out watching the fire. That's what a lot of people are doing here, packing their bags and getting ready to go just in case that fire gets closer to the homes. But again, right now, they have been able to keep it away from those homes.

We did see today some aircraft that will also help. And just the amount of resources have been very helpful over the last couple of days and hours -- Brianna. KEILAR: All right, that is good. Camila, thank you so much for the latest that we are tracking this.

And just ahead, Fyre Festival. Remember that the infamous 2017 music festival that ended in total disaster? Well, it's coming back. Tickets are pricey and its founder says they're already selling out. Details ahead.

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SANCHEZ: It's the sequel, seemingly no one asked for except maybe Ja Rule. Remember the Fyre Festival ticket buyers were promised these luxury villas and gourmet food that was supposed to be this extravagant music festival in the Bahamas. And instead, attendees were met with disaster relief tents and served wonderful meals like this.

This tweet from one attendee, Trevor DeHaas, a.k.a. Trev for Prez, does not appear that he's qualified for tomorrow's debate, though. He wrote that dinner at the Fyre Festival -- or rather the dinner that fire festival promised is literally bread, cheese and salad with dressing.

Well, the founder of that festival, Billy McFarland, who went to jail because of the epic fail, now wants to run it back.

Here's his Instagram post from earlier today.

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BILLY MCFARLAND, FOUNDER OF FYRE FESTIVAL: Good morning, everybody. We just announced on The Today Show that Fyre 2 is taking place April 25th through April 28th on a private island off of the Caribbean coast in Mexico. Ticket applications are available on fyrefestival2.com.

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KEILAR: You notice he did not announce the name of that private island or the production company that he told The Today Show he hired to help him manage the event. He also admits that he hasn't booked any artists yet. That's important.

We went on his website. It shows tickets ranging from $1,400 to 1.1 million. And according to McFarland, the first batch of tickets is already sold out.

Never mind that the first Fyre Festival promised luxury villas, gourmet food, big name performers and paradise in the Bahamas.

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Said people were met with those half built tents, those awesome cheese sandwiches and no concert.

What did they say? Fool me once. Shame on you. Fool me twice -- SANCHEZ: You can't fool me the third time is the point. But that cheese sandwich, apparently that's what you said you make your kids.

KEILAR: Mine looks better than that. But I do have a cheese sandwich lover and I make that every day and it looks way better than that.

SANCHEZ: Will you make one? We make some for us here at CNN NEWS CENTRAL so we can try and compare it to the Fyre Festival sandwich.

KEILAR: I will. I'm going to make a dead ringer for that.

SANCHEZ: Look forward to it. You know who loves cheese sandwiches? "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.

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