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At Least One Dead after Condo Building Partially Collapses in Florida; Soon, Biden, Senators Meet after reaching Fragile Infrastructure Deal; New Videos Show Officers' View of Rioters Attacking Police. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired June 24, 2021 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:00]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN NEWSROOM: It is the top of the hour. We begin with breaking news again this hour. I'm Poppy Harlow.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN NEWSROOM: And I'm Jim Sciutto.

That breaking news, that massive search and rescue underway in South Florida -- goodness, look at those pictures there -- after a 12-storey condo building near Miami Beach collapsed this morning. We know one person is dead, many more injured. The question, of course, is how many more people were in that building when it went down.

We're told that more than half or close to half of the 130-plus units in the complex were destroyed. There were, of course, fears that more are still trapped there amid the ongoing risk that the rest of the building could collapse at any moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL RUIZ, LIVES NEAR PARTIALLY COLLAPSED BUILDING: I have never seen so many ambulances and police in my life all at once. It looked like something from 9/11, literally.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is by far the most horrific thing that I've seen in my life.

MAYOR CHARLES BURKETT, SURFSIDE FLORIDA: The whole thing came down. I mean, it looks like a bomb went off but we're pretty sure a bomb didn't go off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: A brief moment of hope that you're looking at from earlier this morning before the sun came up, that is rescuers pulling a young boy from the rubble alive. He's one of two people that authorities say they have been able to rescue from the debris so far.

Take a look at this. This is what the high-rise ocean front looked like before the collapse this morning and here it is after the collapse in the aftermath, what is left of the building. Our Leyla Santiago is on the scene in Surfside, Florida, with the latest. So you've been there since right after this happened. What are people telling you?

LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Poppy, we've just learned new numbers. We now know that 35 people were rescued, two were pulled from the rubble. But when I asked the key question of how many are still missing, officials couldn't give me that answer. They are asking families and friends who have not been able to reach someone who may have been in that building to call in to their hotline.

Now, another big question that still hasn't been answered and I suspect will be a long time before we get this answer is how did this happen? What led to the partial collapse of this building that has 130 units, 55 of which collapsed? And that is something that now will be central in an investigation.

I have been here all morning. When I got here, the massive response and more than 80 units here responding to this catastrophe, as the mayor called it, many of whom are still on scene, a scene that now has a new challenge, Poppy. Remember, we talked about the challenge of being concerned about the structural integrity of the building. Now it is raining. So now they're also having to search under a different type of weather condition.

So, you know, what we have learned from those who were inside and those that were outside is how loud of a noise this made. One man described it to me like a thunder, or then he thought maybe it was a bomb. One woman said she thought it sounded like the engine of a plane.

Listen to one man, Barry Cohen, who I spoke to, who was inside when part of that building collapsed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARRY COHEN, RESIDENT OF PARTIALLY COLLAPSED BUILDING: I looked down the hallway, and it is a very long hallway, probably 100 yards, 75 yards, and there was nothing there. It was just a pile of dust and rubble and paint falling from the ceilings.

I felt the whole building was going to just collapse. So once we were in the cherry-picker, a feeling of relief just came over me that was incredible, that I survived this -- this tragedy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANTIAGO: You can only imagine the relief. Barry told me that the last thing he could think to do was just to pray and then that is when he saw the firefighters.

I should mention that the building, what is left of it, has been cleared. But the search is still very much active. I have seen K-9s out here so that continues.

The other concern here is there is a small hotel right next to where this collapse took so they have evacuated that and are putting those families up in another hotel, concerned about the integrity of what is left here in Surfside.

SCIUTTO: Leyla, in the last hour, the last we'd heard from the rescue teams still working there, and we should note this is a painstaking process, it takes time, but that they had not yet heard or senses any hits, any signs life to this point. Have you heard any update in the last hour?

[10:05:00]

SANTIAGO: The last update that was received, just in the last 30 minutes, is the number two for the people who have been pulled from the rubble. As we have shown you on CNN, there was obviously the boy and there was video of that in a very compelling story of the hero behind it. He rose (INAUDIBLE). We also know that somebody else has been pulled. But how many may still be under and how many hits they may think they have, we still don't know that.

I can tell you they stood in front of the media very confident that they have the resources they need to be able to move forward with this investigation and this search and rescue that will continue throughout the day, something they made very clear will not be a matter of minutes or hours but could be a matter of days.

SCIUTTO: And sometimes you could be surprised by good news. Leyla Santiago, we know they're working hard there, thanks so much.

HARLOW: So let's bring in now Fiorella Terenzi, an eyewitness who lives in the building just next door. She also said she was awakened by the loud noise, obviously, of the collapse and has a friend who lives inside of the partially collapsed building. Can you hear us this morning Fiorella?

FIORELLA TERENZI, LIVES NEXT DOOR TO PARTIALLY COLLAPSED BUILDING (voice over): Yes, I can hear you.

HARLOW: Is your friend okay and what was it like?

TERENZI (voice over): My friend is okay. He's shaken. He was trapped in his condo. He opened the front door of his condo and the hallway was blocked by concrete, steel. And when he looked across the hallway, you can see that the wall, half is missing and the other one is also leaning. It looks really -- the photo paints a picture that is dramatic because you don't have any way out. You do not have any stairway. So from the balcony, the rescue finally came.

SCIUTTO: Fiorella, Jim Sciutto here with Poppy. Did you, prior, hear anything prior to the building coming down or did it just come down from your vantage point?

TERENZI (voice over): I was asleep and suddenly a loud bang, almost like a tremble, went on. It woke me up. I thought there was thundering so I was awaiting for the lightning to strike or the thunder to follow. But this rumbling was very different, very strange and something was not right in this sound. It was too strong, too violent. It almost felt like a shockwave coming from the next building.

So when I went from the balcony, I saw dust in the air and that is when I realized that something is not right and right away I went downstairs. And, of course, we were without electricity, so I used the stairs with my flashlight. But when I crossed the Collins, I saw this building, the trembling (ph) tower south standing with this slice, just the part of the building that is facing Collins was standing up. It was a dramatic view as lights of the building and the other one was flapping down.

HARLOW: Fiorella, I want to show our viewer this is picture that we just got in of -- okay, we just saw it a moment ago, but it is a picture of bunk beds in one of the collapsed apartments. The reason I ask you this is, as a parent, you just think about your kids. And one would assume those were children's bunk beds. How many families lived in -- I mean, was this a building that had a lot of kids and a lot of families?

TERENZI (voice over): Yes. This is a residential building. We are residents and most of us live and work in Miami. I walk the beach every single morning for exercise. I know those families. I see them on the balcony outside sipping a coffee, doing yoga, doing some exercise. I see elderly people with a walker even on the balcony walking around, doing some stretching. So I know these people.

And I saw exactly what you were saying, the children bed on the 11th floor, they are still there. So, yes, this is dramatic. This shouldn't happen. It doesn't make sense that a building where people live peacefully, family and children in the middle of the night crumble on its side (ph).

[10:10:04]

So, it doesn't make sense.

And, actually, I counted the unit using the map of the building and I may be wrong, but there are 72 units that went down that collapsed. So if you do the math, of a building of 136 units, if 72 units went down, collapsed, it means more than half of this building failed.

Was it the structure or perhaps two weeks ago, the building removed a crane that was a part of the side of the building. It was a part that -- it's 88th and Collins, it was a huge crane and it was a part of the northeast corner of the building, okay? This crane was there for two weeks. Why? Because the crane was lifting heavy material up to the roof and placing these heavy material, including machine, right exactly on the north east corner.

SCIUTTO: Interesting.

TERENZI (voice over): So I'm just -- I'm just -- I'm just -- my common sense went there right away. Perhaps the weight on the roof wasn't distributed not properly.

SCIUTTO: Fiorella Terenzi, that is a question for authorities. We will ask them, Fiorella, in terms of witness there that lives nearby and we're happy you're safe, because, goodness, this is so close to many of the other buildings around them. Thank you, Fiorella.

Just moments ago, the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, spoke about this collapse. Here is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): I just want to thank everybody who responded to the condo collapse down in Surfside.

We have emergency response personnel dispatched there. The first responders were able to save a lot of people. They are going to be going through more. And it is a really, really tragic situation. So we'll hope for the best in terms of additional recoveries, but we are bracing for some bad news just given the destruction that we're seeing.

So I'm going to be making it do you know there very shortly and the state is going to be able to -- will be helping out in any way that we can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: With us on phone is Sally Heyman. She is a Miami-Dade County Commissioner. Commissioner Heyman, can you hear us?

SALLY HEYMAN, MIAMI-DADE COUNTY COMMISSIONER (voice over): Yes, good morning. It is Sally Heyman, Miami-Dade County Commissioner.

HARLOW: Commissioner, thank you very, very much for being here, especially given all that you have to do right now. What is the latest update that you can give us? Have there been any more rescues?

HEYMAN (voice over): Well, I got to tell you, it has been a incredible response from first responders, not just Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, which has its own international search and rescue team that goes out to other places, this is our first hometown situation. And they have been joined by all of the cities of the county and their rescue departments and Broward County also. So, thanks to all of our first responders.

Currently, we are in a pause mode because we have a thunderstorm that has managed to come ashore in the town of Surfside. But fire rescue and first responders are on scene. What I can tell you is the search capacity phase of their operation has concluded. They have gone entirely through the structure, I believe, by 8:00 in the morning, checking for occupancy and anybody trapped in the structure that hadn't been compromised and the one partially compromised.

To the rest of the search and rescue efforts that has been done by manpower on the outside, search on the barrier quarters, also with drones and with dogs. It has shifted now or it started to shift to recovery, approximately 40 persons had been extracted by our records, some of them were helped by other people. The total structure unit is not considered safe so there is great pause in what is being done by the first responders. The building itself, I can tell you, it is solely a residential but it is mixed residential. So it is hard to get a count on it, from full- time residents and families, senior citizens to snowbirds, short-term people and renters. We can tell you from what we have heard from the assist and regroup and reach out component of it, approximately 50 people were unaccounted for from people who have been calling in, people who are known to have been there or should be there and have not called out.

[10:15:20]

SCIUTTO: Okay.

HEYMAN (voice over): I could give the number for reaching out to a loved one and determining the status of a person if you want that. But we have --

SCIUTTO: We've been sharing that -- we've been sharing that on the air, which is important.

Just to be clear, you're saying that 50 people unaccounted for so far. Are you aware, Commissioner Heyman, of any work that was being done on this building prior, anything that was taking place at this complex prior to this collapse that gives you concern?

HEYMAN (voice over): Yes, not concern, but just the status. And, you know, I appreciate so many people opining the cause. That is what you have professionals for. Once they can do a forensic assessment, the professionals will do that. But, yes, there was work on the building being done to meet the 40-year standard. That is something that has been put in place not just for the county but for all municipalities. And we have a strict building code since Hurricane Andrew for updates and improvements.

The cause, though, is questionable and so anybody can have an opinion. But the professionals aren't stating one.

HARLOW: Commissioner --

HEYMAN (voice over): There is some work and they started on the roof but it's not to say what the cause is.

HARLOW: Commissioner, just to be very clear here, 50 people -- you have received calls this morning that 50 people that were supposed to show up somewhere that lived in this building did not show up. Is that correct?

HEYMAN (voice over): Not quite. Actually, it is 51 people who are supposedly residing there at the time have not either called out or had people call in to reach them. We have the number that you have been broadcasting and others, plus the Miami-Dade Police Department, the 311 number for countywide and the fire department and the city have numbers. And so we have 51 people that were assumed to have been there but you don't know between vacations or anything else. So we're still waiting and, unfortunately, the hope is still there, but it is waning. HARLOW: Hope is waning.

HEYMAN (voice over): I can tell you, if I can tell you, the recovery efforts, the men and women who are there, that we send them other places, they are on the ground there. It is a comprehensive effort to do what we can to get live people.

HARLOW: Commissioner, and we are so deeply grateful for that. We will let you get back to that important work. Thank you for the really important update that you just gave everyone. That was Miami-Dade County Commissioner Sally Heyman on the phone with us.

Stay with us as we continue to follow this breaking news right near Miami Beach, part -- half of the residential condo building there in Surfside Florida, has collapsed. There are fears that many more people may be trapped. Crews are racing to save them.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:20:00]

HARLOW: We are continuing to follow the breaking news out of Surfside, Florida, this morning, it is just north of Miami Beach, a huge search and rescue effort currently underway after about half of this 12-storey residential condo building collapsed this morning. Authorities have found at least one person dead, dozens more injured and there are still a number of people they believe unaccounted for.

SCIUTTO: We just heard from Miami-Dade County Commissioner who said 51 people who lived in the building have not reached out or loved ones have not been able to contact them. We should understand though that is not a hard number because they're still trying to get in touch with people. But an early estimate at least at this point of people they have not been able to contact to confirm their safety, we will continue to monitor that.

About half of the units in the overall complex, rather, were destroyed. Officials are worried that the other part of the building still standing there that you can see in the live picture is in danger of falling. We're going to continue to bring you details as we find out more.

Other story that we are following this morning, just over an hour from now, senators from both sides of the aisle, they're going to go to the White House to meet with President Biden and run by him the bipartisan agreement they say they reached last night on infrastructure, at least a framework agreement.

Poppy, we've been covering this for some time, a step forward, we'll see how far it goes.

HARLOW: And I believe I said yesterday, I think that they were going to make a deal. So maybe they will.

Manu Raju is on Capitol Hill. You just spoke with West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, who is just kind of important in all of this. What did he say about where this stands?

[10:25:00]

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, he is involved in these bipartisan talks. He cut this deal with the number -- nine other senators from both parties. He's pitching his bipartisan plan. But that is one piece of the larger strategy among Democrats to move forward with $4 trillion of Joe Biden's larger agenda.

In order to move the plan, Democrats want to move on this bipartisan deal. We still have the details. It has not been written. But the overall agreement has been reached among the senators themselves. But then the Democratic leaders want to move a much larger plan along straight party lines through a budget process that allows them to actually avoid a filibuster in the Senate. So that means that they could get it through with all 50 Democrats side with them with the vice president breaking the tie. So that would mean they would need West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, who has been resistance from going down the party line approach, to back that party line approach.

So I asked him whether or not he is in favor of going along party lines, but he also made very clear that he's not ready to say yes to that yet and urged some caution to the large price tag that liberals in his party are pushing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D-WV): They say that one is being held hostage to the other doesn't seem to be fair to me but they will make those decisions. But we have to see what is in the plan before I can say, oh, yes, you vote for this and I'll vote for that. That's not what I have signed up for. I want to sign up for what's in the plan that makes sense.

RAJU: You said the $6 trillion price tag is too high.

MANCHIN: Extremely, extremely high, okay, for us to take on that much debt. I don't know if there is that much pay-fors. So I've got to look at the pay-fors.

If they're working outside that envelope, they have to prove to me the need is there, don't worry about throw caution to the wind and just say I had debt on. I have a hard time swallowing that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: So that's an important line, he said, I have a hard time to swallowing it. Because Bernie Sanders, who chairs the Senate Budget Committee, is drafting a plan that could make it as high as $6 trillion to move a whole swath of Democratic priorities and that is important for liberals who are not getting what they want out of the smaller plan, which is about $1.2 trillion over eight years. So Democratic leaders are saying, if you didn't get what you want in the small plan, throw it into the larger plan instead. But in order to get larger package, they need to get moderates like Joe Manchin on board. But what you heard just there, he is not ready to sign on to what the Democratic-only approach. It just shows you the hurdles ahead as Democrats try to race this through, try to get something through as soon as next month, at least to start the process. But they have got to convince their party to get behind it first.

HARLOW: Okay, big meeting on it at the White House today really very soon. Manu, thank you for all of that reporting and the updates.

Well now, this morning, we're seeing never before shown clips from the January 6 insurrection. These new videos, they're released again by the Justice Department, they show the officer's point of view as Capitol rioters attacked and harassed them.

SCIUTTO: CNN Senior Legal Affairs Correspondent Paula Reid has been covering it. Paula. I don't know how much more video proof, I don't know how much more people have to see with their own eyes to get at the nature and the violence of this attack on the Capitol. What more have these videos shown us?

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Jim, what is so extraordinary about this particular set of clips is that they are mostly from the perspective of the police officers as they were overrun. Now, these clips come from surveillance and body cameras and body cameras, and they show exactly how this group of pro-Trump supporters overran the Capitol while police were just trying to defend themselves and the building.

Now, these particular clips, they have been used in a case against a man named Grady Owens. He is charged with allegedly attacking officers with his skateboard after he and his family allegedly traveled to D.C. to support the former president's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Then you can actually see in one of these clips, he is holding his skateboard engaging with officers. Now, he has been charged with six crimes, including assaulting officers but he has pleaded not guilty.

But we're only seeing these clips because over a dozen news outlets led by CNN have fought to make them public. Clips like these are being used as evidence in court but they're not being released publicly. So even a judge said yesterday, just how significant it is that these are being released to the public to help combat claims by some Republican lawmakers, at least one who suggested that this was just like an average tourist visit.

SCIUTTO: Yes. We'll see if folks look at them, right? I mean, all you've got to do is look at them to see what happened. Paula Reid, thanks very much.

The breaking news we continue to follow this morning, a 12-storey condominium building collapsed near Miami Beach. At this point, we know of at least one person killed, two people, thankfully, have been rescued from the rubble so far, others still missing. We're going to be live with the massive search and rescue effort underway.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [10:30:00]