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Tropical Depression Could Bring More Devastation to Earthquake- Hit Haiti; New Bob Woodward Book About Final Months of Trump Presidency Due Out September 21; Taliban Spokesman Lays Out Plans for a New Afghan Government; NIH Warning U.S. Could See 200K Daily New Cases. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired August 16, 2021 - 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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[14:31:17]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Now to an update on Haiti. A tropical storm system is expected to hit Haiti in just a matter of hours, bringing even more devastation to the island just days after that massive earthquake hit.

Tropical Depression Grace expected to bring 15 inches of rain and trigger flash flooding and mudslides.

On Saturday, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake hit, killing 1,300 people and destroying roughly 14,000 homes there.

Our Matt Rivers is live in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

So, Matt, can the island even brace for this coming storm after everything they've been through this weekend?

MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The reality, Alisyn, is no. In all likelihood, there are not going to be any evacuations.

People don't really have anywhere to go, especially because of what you just said. Nearly 14,000 structures collapsed. People already have nowhere to go.

And now they're facing this threat of flash flooding, of mudslides. And that only exacerbates what's happened here.

These areas that are affected, primarily by this earthquake, are difficult places to get to even in normal times. But now you add in this damage, add in some of the mudslides that took place on Saturday, debris jarred loose by that earthquake, very difficult to get to some of these places.

These are "one road in, one road out" kind of places in many situations. And that's why so many aid convoys are having trouble getting there. It's why this search-and-rescue process is going so slowly.

We were actually able to get into one of the hardest-hit areas yesterday by taking a helicopter. It was about a 100-mile flight west of where we are right now in Port-au-Prince.

When we got there, we saw that devastation firsthand. We saw specifically this hotel. It was a multiple-story hotel, Alisyn, that had collapsed. Authorities told us there were bodies inside that rubble.

At the time, there were some limited search-and-rescue operations ongoing but nothing to the scale that you would expect to see or even hope to see.

And that's only going to be compounded by this storm. The tropical depression moving in. It's going to get here in the next few hours.

The CNN weather team telling us the most rain it's going to drop on this island is going to happen right around the center of this storm. That's going to make this very complicated, difficult rescue operation that much harder.

We can only kind of hope that we don't see the kind of flash flooding that will make this much more difficult for rescuers to carry out their very, very important work.

CAMEROTA: Oh my gosh, our hearts just break for what's happening in Haiti.

Matt Rivers, thank you for the update.

[14:33:53]

So, our breaking news coverage on Afghanistan continues. And grave concerns for women and girls in the country, what their future looks like now. That's next.

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CAMEROTA: Well, his first two books about Donald Trump were bombshells and now legendary journalist, Bob Woodward, is at it again.

He and "Washington Post" political reporter, Robert Costa have a new book coming out. It's called "Peril." And it looks at the tumultuous period between the November presidential election and the inauguration of Joe Biden.

Our Jamie Gangel has a sneak peek at the book.

So, Jamie, great to see you.

What's in there?

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Fasten your seat belts. According to sources familiar with the book, we are told the reporting covers the final days of Donald Trump.

It also has a first look at the Biden White House, including extensive reporting on Biden's decision making leading up to withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Here are a few other exclusive details. I'm told that they interviewed more than 200 insiders for the book.

That they obtained never before seen materials, secret orders, transcripts of confidential calls, diaries, emails, meeting notes, and other personal and government records.

And that, as you said, the book is -- has really in-depth reporting on that critical period between Election Day and January 6th.

And that it's going to reveal that the transition was, and I'm quoting here, "Far more than just a domestic political crisis, that it was one of the most dangerous periods in American history."

[14:40:06]

Alisyn, the title, "Peril," actually comes from Biden's inauguration address, the line where he said, "We have much to do in this winter of peril and possibility" -- Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: Jamie, I don't suppose Bob Woodward got any more interviews with Donald Trump?

GANGEL: Funny thing about that. No.

I am told that Donald Trump is still very angry about "Rage," where Woodward revealed that the then president knew much more about COVID.

I just want to say about this book, we have not read the book yet, but there's one quote from this book that we obtained that I would say is both intriguing and ominous.

And that is a quote from Trump's former campaign manager, Brad Parscale, and it's about Trump's ambition and motivation for 2024.

And Parscale writes, "He had an army, an army for Trump. He wants that back. I don't think he sees it as a comeback. He sees it as vengeance."

So, I think that gives you a sense of what Woodward and costa have learned about where Trump's head is right now.

CAMEROTA: Well, I mean, it is -- that is chilling in some way.

GANGEL: Right.

CAMEROTA: Particularly when you look at it in the light of January 6th.

And so there were -- there were revelations, as we know, in Woodward's previous books. Does he have any revelations about what went on behind the scenes before or during January 6?

GANGEL: I expect that he will. You know, Woodward has an expression that he doesn't like to publish a book until he, quote, "has the goods." I am told he has the goods.

So, I think we're going to see not one but several bombshells from this book.

CAMEROTA: And we know you will bring those to us, Jamie, because you have an uncanny way of getting those before everyone else.

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: So thank you.

GANGEL: I will do my best.

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: OK. Jamie Gangel, always great to talk to you. Thank you.

GANGEL: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: So, 20 years after being driven from Kabul, the Taliban has now taken control of Afghanistan's capital once again.

As they've seized one province after another, they have deployed a P.R. campaign to try to trumpet their victories and coax foot soldiers to hand over their arms and equipment and then send them home.

CNN's Nic Robertson spoke with a Taliban spokesman.

Nic, tell us what they are claiming they want to do. What is this sort of -- is there a new and improved Taliban that they want us to believe exists?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: They want us to believe a new one exists, for sure. They want to have us believe that it is improved.

And I think the real test of that is going to be in what they do and not what they say.

And at the moment, they haven't announced their new government. They haven't announced the new style of leadership, whether it will be a president with a supreme leader, you know, something like Iran maybe, in the sort of absolute charge of the country.

They have said that this will be a government that does include non- Taliban members.

I asked the Taliban spokesman just yesterday if that would include senior figures, like the former president, Haid Karzai, going back a decade or so ago, or senior figures, like Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, who was recently in the government in Afghanistan. He wouldn't be drawn on that. But what he did say very clearly was that the United States should not

evacuate its embassy, should keep a diplomatic presence inside Kabul.

The reason for that, he says, the Taliban can be trusted. This is how he explained it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUHAIL SHAHEEN, TALIBAN SPOKESMAN: They should trust us when we sign the agreement with them during -- from the beginning up to now. We have not attacked the American forces. Not a single American soldier has been killed because of our promise and commitment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: You know, so, I said to him, OK, so, you say that, but the United States is pulling out. Does that mean that they don't trust you? And he said, they should trust us.

And this is -- this, of course, is the crux of the issue. What should we believe about what the Taliban is saying, saying today?

They are certainly putting on a different play, if you will, in Kabul at the moment, letting international reporters roam relatively freely around the city.

Domestic reporters, on the other hand, are getting knocks on their doors, particularly female reporters, Tolo Television, a very important, independent station, respected by many Afghans across the country, they have had a knock at the door today. Their security was replaced by Taliban security. They've had their reporters in the past killed by the Taliban.

[14:45:00]

I think that we cannot judge what we're being told from the Taliban at the moment until we actually see how it plays out on the ground.

There's a trust deficit. There's no getting around that. That's where we stand.

CAMEROTA: Well, yes. And as you point out, Nic, actions speak louder than words.

In fact, female journalists are already being harassed. And we've already seen with our own eyes, you know, Clarissa Ward on the street showing how now, once again, they're in garb, women from head to toe covered, in a way that they weren't last week.

And so, what do we think? What is the Taliban saying about the future of women and girls?

ROBERTSON: Yes, I asked that -- I asked the spokesman that question, you know, about the issue of education, because we know, in the past, the Taliban denied education to girls, even to very young girls under the age of 10. I remember in the '90s, under the Taliban rule, reporting on the sort

of clandestine classrooms that were set up out of the eyes, out of the knowledge of the Taliban, just so that people could give their girls an education. Because that's what so many Afghans want. They still want it.

The spokesman said, we will educate them beyond 12. We will give them higher education.

They asked about university education as well. He indicated that would be possible.

But the reality, Clarissa is seeing played out on the streets today. She was asked to sort of stand to one side because she was a woman.

Afghan women actually now have to wear the sort of full burqa with a face covering as well in many cases.

What we're seeing play out on the streets of Kabul today will not be what's happening in the rural communities, the rural heartlands that are very conservative, conservative like the Talibans are, in their interpretation of Islam.

In those rural communities, there will be plenty of men in those villages who will be very happy to go back to the days of not letting their girls go to school, of keeping them sort of in their houses, of marrying them off young. That's been the Taliban's way in the past.

And I think, you know, in those rural communities, for the more enlightened families, this is going to be a very, very tough time.

And in those rural communities, that's where the international community does not have a lot of eyes. They're not going to be able to see so easily what goes on and precisely what the Taliban do.

However, they are saying, straight-up, promising that they will give women education, higher education.

What happens beyond that, you know, I think Clarissa's experiences today on the streets of Kabul tells us. The expectation is they will be marginalized and pushed to one side, despite what the Taliban say today.

CAMEROTA: And how quickly we've seen that already happening.

Nic Robertson, thank you for all that context. Really helpful.

Well, now to coronavirus. A new dire warning from the National Institutes of Health. So we'll tell you how many more cases we could see across the country and how much COVID is spreading among children. We have those new details next.

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[14:52:22] CAMEROTA: The new warning today from the National Institutes of Health says the U.S. could soon see more than 200,000 new cases a day of coronavirus.

We're learning that Pfizer has submitted initial data to the FDA showing a booster shot works well against the original coronavirus and the Delta variant.

And in New York, Governor Cuomo issued an order all health care workers must be vaccinated.

As for children, a new study shows young children are more likely to spread COVID in their household than older children.

For even more COVID developments, here is CNN's Amara Walker.

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AMARA WALKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT(voice-over): New fears that the COVID- 19 pandemic may only get worse from here.

DR. FRANCIS COLLINS, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: I will be surprised if we don't cross 200,000 cases a day in the next couple of weeks. And that's heartbreaking considering we never thought we would be back in that space again.

WALKER: The country last averaged over 200,000 cases per day in January before COVID-19 vaccinations for widely available. Right now, the U.S. is averaging about 131,000 cases a per day.

One expert says he's concerned about rising infection rates across the country, highlighting Georgia, the Carolinas, Kentucky, southern Tennessee and Illinois.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If these other states take off, then I think the surge could sustain itself for another four to six weeks.

WALKER: Hospitals overwhelmed. More than 75 percent of inpatient hospital and ICU beds are full. According to Health and Human Services data, nearly a quarter of ICU beds are being used for COVID-19 patients.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The system is breaking. It's not just the beds. Finding the qualified staff to take care of critical ill patients becomes hard.

WALKER: The increase in cases coming as students are heading back to the classroom. Schools in at least four states have had to temporarily shift back to virtual teaching, forcing districts to rethink policies around masking.

In Texas, schools in two countries are defying a State Supreme Court ruling that sided with the governor, temporarily blocking mask mandates in San Antonio and Dallas. MICHAEL HINOJOSA, SUPERINTENDENT, DALLAS INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT:

Contrary to what our attorney general tweeted out, a tweet is not an order.

He said it applied to us but it does not. We've had teams of attorneys looking at this. And we need to protect the safety of our students. And so we're going to continue with our mask mandate.

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WALKER: In Florida, more than 4,000 students in Hillsboro County, which includes Tampa, are in isolation or quarantine after exposure or testing positive for COVID-19, according to the school district.

[14:55:00]

In Broward County, the school board defied the governor and voted to impose a mask mandate with kids set to return this week.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We believe in science.

WALKER: And beginning tomorrow, New York City will mandate vaccines for indoor events. Proof of vaccination will be required to enter gym, theaters and restaurants.

New Orleans, Louisiana, similarly will require proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test to enter bars, restaurants and other indoor venues in the city.

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WALKER: The emphasis right now from public health officials is on masking. Masking up, particularly using high-quality masks.

Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert, said, yes, we're in the middle of a surge right now and N-95 and KN-95 masks for children are what is most effective.

We're here at a drive-up vaccination and testing site near north Decatur in DeKalb County. We just spoke with the owners who tell us that three of their busiest locations, Alisyn, on average, they are seeing 200 COVID vaccination shots a day. Compare that to nearly 3,000 COVID tests daily -- Alison?

CAMEROTA: Amara Walker, thank you for all the developments.

Our breaking news coverage continues. President Biden is expected to address the nation within the hour on the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. We'll bring you that.

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