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Heat Wave Smashes Records as Fires Rage Across California; U.S. Celebrates Labor Day Monday Amid Virus Outbreak; New Tell-All Book Slams Trump Ahead of U.S. Election; Trump Pushes Back on Disparaging Atlantic Report; Ted Cruz Slams "Princess Bride" Democratic Fundraiser. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired September 07, 2020 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Raging wildfires, record high temperatures, a power grid on the brink. California's energy crisis is boiling over.

And Labor Day weekend in full swing as officials plead for social distancing to avoid another post-holiday spike in coronavirus cases.

Plus -- a tell-all book says President Trump is a blatant racist. And multiple reports reveal he thinks service members are losers. Will any allegation dent the President's re-election bid?

Live from CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, welcome to you, our viewers here in the United States around the world, I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

We begin in California where record-breaking temperatures are fueling devastating wildfires. Los Angeles County just west of where the El Dorado fire is burning recorded its highest ever temperature on Sunday, 121 degrees Fahrenheit. That's close to 50 degrees Celsius. And now the climate crisis is straining the state's power grid forcing officials to ask Californians to conserve energy.

While the plan seems to be working, just hours ago the system operator lifted a stage two emergency declaration. Meaning, no rolling power outages are necessary for now. Today officials are expanding mandatory evacuation orders around both the El Dorado and Creek fires. What we're seeing is video from a lake in central California as authorities there warned people on boats about the dangerous smoke and ash.

And then this here we're going to show you this satellite imagery shows the smoke emergency facing much of the American West, with multiple major fires still burning on Sunday. Wildfires have burned more than 2 million acres in California this year. Now that's triple threat of heat, smoke, and flames is a major challenge for firefighters. CNN's Paul Vercammen reports from Venice, California.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The horrifying, brutal weekend of fire and heat throughout California. Let's begin northeast of Fresno, California, the Mammoth Reservoir was evacuated because the Creek fire encircled campers at this reservoir. Many of them were in fear for their lives, a lot of them were air lifted, more than 200 of them, to safety in nearby Fresno. And we know that at least 20 were treated for injuries such as burns as well as broken bones. One woman recounting to us the moment where she was trying to drive away from walls of flame.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My God.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just keep going.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Holy (BLEEP).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just keep going.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My God.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just keep going.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Go, go, go.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just keep going.

JULIANA PARK, HIKER WHO ESCAPED A WILDFIRE: At the time I was on, a hike with just some hazy air that became, you know, soon ash rain. We were wearing masks, but it was getting, you know, harder to breathe, harder to see. I would say between the time of 1.30 p.m. and 4 p.m., we could see that, you know, we needed to leave immediately. I think if we had stayed just 10 minutes more, we might not have been so lucky.

VERCAMMEN: And these fires burning throughout Southern California sending up huge pyro cumulus clouds that can have their own weather. In many instances the clouds from, let's say, the Creek fire going way up, 8, 9 miles in the air, and the heat just oppressive in Los Angeles County, Woodland Hills to be specific. We set an all-time record high for an official station 121 degrees Fahrenheit.

And the concern among the firefighters in their community is that there is just no rest for them. We already broke the record for most acres burned in California and we have the hot months of October and November ahead where the Santa Ana winds can come whipping through and cause a lot of fire danger. They are looking for some way to get some sort of break and rest from all these flames.

Reporting from Venice, California, I'm Paul Vercammen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Joining me now over the phone from Fresno, California is Stacey Nolan. She is a public information officer with the Fresno County Fire Protection District. Thanks so much for speaking with us on the phone. The scenes we're seeing people trapped, daring escapes through flames.

[04:05:00] The largest wildfire-related air evacuation in recent memory. Tell us what it's like on the ground there for those trying to fight the fires and save lives.

STACEY NOLAN, FRESNO COUNTY FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT (via phone): Sure, Kim. Thank you very much for having me this evening. Yes, we have very, very steep terrain. You know, we have a lot of heavy, heavy timber. A lot of bark, you know, beetle area is what's been affected, you know, which we've had, you know, not a lot of rain over the past, you know, year and there's a lot of brush and trees that are down. So that adds to, you know, the fuel and that's why we're getting the increased, you know, fire activity that we do have.

BRUNHUBER: We heard from the report just minutes ago, about the heat. How is that making things worse, both from a fire propagation perspective but also for the firefighters who are trying to combat this?

NOLAN: Yes, the area that the fire is in, you know, it's called a higher elevation, so the heat is, you know, is a factor because, you know, it is hotter and dryer. You know, this weekend we've had the higher temperatures, you know, it's been throughout all of, you know, California and so it does help when we do have those lower temperatures.

BRUNHUBER: Just where you are, you know, we've seen evacuations. What do you think will come next? Are there going to be more evacuations? How bad is a situation now in terms of containment and where do you go from here?

NOLAN: Absolutely, I can actually give you a new update. We had this update an hour and a half ago. We updated it to 73,278 acres with 0 percent containment. And as far as evacuations, we have evacuation orders and warnings in place right now. So, we have two different sides of the fire we are, you know, in charge of. We have what we call the Fresno County fire side and we also have the Madera County fire side. So, it's two different sides because the fire did jump the San Joaquin River. So, as of right now the community of Central Camp, which is on the Madera side, they're in an evacuation order and then we also have evacuation warnings.

BRUNHUBER: Just looking at the big picture, zero percent containment. We're seeing the heat is so extreme. We saw some and pictures of people trying to escape, some people had to, in fact, we're told they might have to hide in the water basically. How dangerous is it for the folks out there right now?

NOLAN: Actually, we had our Army National Guard with one of their Chinooks do 207 civilian rescues with two injuries. And they were, you know, all taken out of an area, which is on the Madera side. And it's called Mammoth Pool. That's an area, like I said, on the other side of the river that this has affected as well. So yes, there's very steep terrain for everyone. That's why we asked the public, you know, we asked them to leave. You know, don't hang out. You know, if we give a warning or an evacuation, please, you know, listen to that and follow the orders that are given. Yes, with so many people on the long weekend hoping for fun.

Certainly, this isn't what they wanted to see. But hopefully, people will listen to those instructions. Best of luck to you and the firefighters who are trying to contain this.

Now let's bring in CNN meteorologist Pedram Javaheri to discuss this. California burning up in more ways than one, dealing with both fires and kiln-like heat.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, you know, It's an impressive setup here for any heat wave for any time of the year. But any time you're looking at temperatures that are close to 50 degrees Celsius even on the coast, that is as remarkable as it gets. And a lot is heating by compression. A lot of strong winds coming down hill and essentially warming up as a descendent elevation and kind of compressing air. You think about pumping a bicycle tire and that pump itself begins to warm up. The tire begins to warm up. That's because your compressing air.

That is what's happening on a broad scale across the state of California as all of the mountains allow these wins to come downstream and warm by compression. But here's the perspective across the Western U.S. where parts of 13 states dealing with not only fire weather alerts but excessive heat alerts as well. We're talking about nearly 85 million Americans underneath the advisories for heat and fire. And as many as 80 large uncontained flyers across the western U.S.

But really the most impressive of which has to be the Creek fire just because of the explosive nature of how rapidly it has grown. In fact, in a 24 hour span it grew some 600 percent in size. And again, when you factor in how hot it has been across this region, it really puts in perspective of what's been happening.

Temperatures on Monday in Los Angeles dropping off to 33 after highs into the 40s in the past 24 hours. Annual notice into the deserts climbing up close to 50 degrees or even mention it there.

[04:10:00]

Which again, is unusual for this time of year. But also, what is unusual, is the rapid change in temperatures. In fact, look at the intermountain west. We do have a dramatic change in the forecast where as much as half a foot of snow is forecast on Tuesday afternoon. This comes on the heels of the heat wave that even they experienced, not only on Sunday but also, they will experience this afternoon on Monday. And now snow in the forecast. In fact, here's a seven day forecast you probably haven't seen very often, Kim. Look at this. Highs of 34 Celsius which are into the middle 90s Fahrenheit dropping down close to the freezing mark by Tuesday with snow showers in the forecast. And then going right back up again at a latter portion of the week. So, this is the sort of pattern we're dealing with across parts of the U.S. -- Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Wow, what a yo-yo. All right, thanks so much, Pedram. Appreciate it. Well, when it comes to confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide, India is

now number two. It reported a staggering number, more than 90,000 in the last 24 hours. This brings its total case count to more than 4.2 million surpassing Brazil and behind only the U.S.

Meanwhile, the U.K. recorded nearly 3,000 new COVID-19 cases in a 24- hour period. According to official government figures, it's their highest daily number since May. In France now has seven more COVID red zones bringing the total to 28 out 101. Now these are areas where authorities have the power to apply specific restrictions, like making masks compulsory outdoors and closing bars and restaurants. And this comes after coronavirus cases spiked over the weekend.

While in the U.S., health experts fear another surge in COVID-19 infections as people gather for Labor Day celebrations. Those holiday weekend celebrations that help officials worry about, well, they're now in full swing and in New Jersey coronavirus numbers have fallen in recent months. And state officials want to make sure it stays that way. Here's Evan McMorris-Santoro.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: On Friday, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy noted that this state had had six months since its first coronavirus case. Six months where this state went from one of the worst stories of the pandemic to one of the best stories of the pandemic.

Then came this weekend, the big test of all the gains New Jersey has made. Murphy loosened rules on restaurants and movie theaters, allowing 25 percent capacity inside those places for the first time since the shutdowns back in March.

I traveled across the state to see how things were going. At the movie theater, I met people who talked about sitting far apart from each other wearing a mask while watching a movie. They felt safe, but they wondered if it was going to be able continue. And here at Asbury Park, the beach had a strict limit on how many people could be on the beach and how long they could be on the beach. And here on the boardwalk we still saw a lot of people not wearing masks.

Restaurants like the one next to me here in Asbury Park, allowed 25 percent capacity of indoor dining. I spoke to a manager who said he hopes this works so he can add more and more people and get his business going back again. But Murphy says if these experiments fail, if he sees the numbers go back up, New Jersey will shut down once again.

Evan McMorris-Santoro, CNN, Asbury Park, New Jersey.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Ahead, a new tell-all book from Michael Cohen. The former right hand man and personal attorney to President Trump. The scathing new details that are putting him on the defensive. And, India registers a record spike in coronavirus infections and now

has the second highest number of cases worldwide. We'll have more on that coming up. Stay with us.

[04:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: Well, the U.S. presidential election is fast approaching. Less than two months away and right now, President Trump is playing defense against an onslaught of new tell-all books. CNN has obtained a copy of the latest one, Michael Cohen's "Disloyal, A Memoir." And the allegations from the former personal attorney to Mr. Trump are damning making the President out to be a blatant racist.

For example, after then private citizen Trump's presidential kickoff announcement in 2015 Cohen says, Trump told him, quote, I will never get the Hispanic vote. Like the blacks, they're too stupid to vote for Trump. They're not my people. Cohen also says that after Barack Obama's historic presidential victory in 2008 Trump ranted, quote, tell me about one country run by a black person that isn't a sh*thole. They are all complete f*ing toilets.

Well, adding to Mr. Trump's political headaches, a bombshell article published in "The Atlantic," it is not going away. CNN's Jeremy Diamond explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, with less than two months until election day, President Trump just can't seem to shake this "Atlantic" article that describes the president's disparaging fallen service members from World War I during a visit to France in 2018.

The President reportedly apparently referring to those fallen service members as suckers and losers. And now multiple news outlets, including CNN, have confirmed different parts of that "Atlantic" story. A former senior administration official telling CNN that the President did, indeed, refer to those fallen service members in crude and disparaging terms.

Now, the pushback from the White House has been tremendous, perhaps greater than we have seen for any other previous news story. And part of that, of course, is because veterans and the military are an important part of the President's voting bloc.

Here is the pushback that we were seeing on Sunday from two cabinet members.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Have you ever heard the president disparage U.S. service members or veterans?

ROBERT WILKIE, U.S. SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS: Well, absolutely not. And I would be offended, too, if I thought it was true. STEVEN MNUCHIN, U.S. SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY: I think this president has enormous respect for the military and for the generals. And I've been at the tank at the Pentagon with him. I've been at 9/11 at the Pentagon with him. This president respects and supports the U.S. military.

DIAMOND: Now, the President has, of course, for his part, already denied this story vehemently.

[04:20:00]

But his denials are complicated by some false statements that he has made as he has tried to make those denials. One of them is that he talked to First Lady Melania Trump who he claimed was back in Washington, D.C. when, in fact, she was on that trip to France with him in 2018.

And then the second part of the President's denial was claiming that he had never referred to the late Senator John McCain as a loser. That claim is defied by the video evidence of the President referring to former Senator John McCain in exactly those terms.

And, of course, more broadly, the President back in 2015 had referred to Senator John McCain as a loser and then went on to say that he liked people who weren't captured. Saying that John McCain was not a hero, but, of course, that was also a broader denunciation, it seems, of prisoners of war. Not all too dissimilar what we're now hearing that the President said during that trip to France.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: The editor in chief of "The Atlantic" says his magazine's story about Mr. Trump calling Americans who die in battle losers and suckers was just the tip of the iceberg. Jeffrey Goldberg defended his reporting on Sunday to CNN's Brian Stelter and says to expect more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFFREY GOLDBERG, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, THE ATLANTIC: I felt it was important to publish because in my experience, our collective experience, I don't think we've had a President who has contempt for American soldiers, wounded veterans, people who have been killed in action. And so, it is -- it's incredibly novel. It is -- it's one of the -- it's one of these things that's in a category of shocking yet not surprising. And I say not surprising because to borrow your term, open secrets or David Ignatius's term, open secret.

In 2015, Donald Trump did something that nobody in public life had ever done before. He mocked John McCain for getting captured. That in ordinary times and according to the rules of ordinary politics, that should have ended a candidacy. It didn't and we've been living in that reality. And so, I've just been fascinated by his attitude towards the American military and toward people who serve generally. Not just in the military but people who provide selfless service to the country. It's not something he seems to understand very well.

STELTER: Have you gone back to these sources since Thursday? Are some of them considering speaking publicly?

GOLDBERG: I don't want to go into that too much. I would say that I'm in a conversation with a large number of people, as are other reporters as you noted at the top of the show. And I think there is a "horror," is the right word, across the national security complex of people who have devoted their careers to protecting the United States. There is a sense of horror about the way he acts and behaves and talks. And so, I would fully expect -- let me say it this way -- I would fully expect more reporting to come out about this and more confirmation and new pieces of information in the coming days and weeks.

STELTER: Yes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Mr. Trump has threatened to cut funding for public schools that use materials from the 1619 Project developed by "The New York Times." He made the threat in a Sunday morning tweet. The Pulitzer prize winning 1619 Project examines the history of African-Americans in the U.S. And on Friday Mr. Trump banned federal agencies from conducting racial sensitivity training, calling it an American propaganda. A memo from the office of management and budget followed Saturday. It read in part --

These types of trainings not only run counter to the fundamental believes for which our nation has stood since its inception, but they also engender division and resentment within the federal work force.

Well, Donald Trump isn't alone in fighting the culture war. Texas Senator Ted Cruz is weighing in on an issue near to his heart. It's the film "The Princess Bride." Well, the original cast of the 1980s cult classic is getting back together. They're planning to read the script in a live stream next week to raise money for the Democratic Party.

Well, Cruz took to Twitter to slam the event quoting liberally from the film. He said he'd hoped to see that perfect film preserved from Hollywood politics. But Cruz himself has quoted the film on the campaign trail. See what you think of this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): One of my favorite scenes is when Wesley the private Roberts is brought into Billy Crystal and he's dead. And Billy Crystal explains, ah, he's only mostly dead. And then he pumps him up with a bellows and says, what is it you have that is so worth living for? And Inigo Montoya, you see, you said true love.

[04:25:00]

There is nothing better than true love.

BILL CRYSTAL, THE PRINCESS BRIDE: True love is the greatest thing in the world. Except for nice MLT.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mutton, lettuce and tomato salad. When the Mutton is so lean.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Well, that fund raiser from the cast of "The Princess Bride" is intended to help Joe Biden win the battleground of Wisconsin.

New polling from CBS News and YouGov shows the former Vice President is holding on to his lead over U.S. President Donald Trump in Wisconsin. But half of likely voters in the state say they would vote for Joe Biden if the election were held today. 44 percent back President Trump. And nationwide the poll shows Biden is up 10 points over the President among likely voters, 52 percent to 42 percent, respectively. Biden's lead is remarkably narrow yet steady. His average as always stayed roughly 4 or 5 points ahead of the President but never more than about 10 points.

Still ahead, the U.K. records its highest daily number of COVID-19 cases in months as students return to school in England and Wales. We'll have a live report from London next. And also coming up, South Korea battered by heavy rain as a powerful storm comes ashore. We'll get the very latest on Typhoon Haishen. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to you our viewers in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber and you're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

Coronavirus cases are spiking in India and in Europe. India surpassed Brazil on Monday to become the country with the second highest case count worldwide behind only the U.S. and the U.K. reported nearly 3,000 new COVID-19 cases in a 24-hour period. It's highest daily number since May.

All right, so let's start in India.