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State Dept: "We Take Very Seriously" Reports of People Being Blocked by Taliban from Getting to Airport; Suspect Who Claimed to Have a Bomb Near Capitol Surrenders; As Battle Over Mask Mandates Intensifies, CDC Says Every Age Group Under 50 Exceeds Hospitalization Record; FL. Governor: Parents Should Choose if Exposed Child Should Quarantine; Battle Over School Mask Mandates Heats Up Across U.S.; Biden: First Lady Will Get COVID Booster When Eligible; Marine on Mission to Get Afghan Translator to Safety. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired August 19, 2021 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:30:00]
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And that I think, unless they can grasp the reality and that they have a results problem here, not a messaging problem, as allegedly David Petraeus once said in Iraq, we will be having these press conferences again and again daily as the situation around the place gets more serene and ghastly.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Atia, you lived and worked as a journalist in Afghanistan for five years, 2008 through 2013.
What are your thoughts as you watch what's unfolding?
ATIA ABAWI, FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT & AUTHOR: It is absolutely devastating, devastating on many fronts. I do think many people are passionate.
As a journalist and not a journalist there anymore, I can express my frustration, frustration with what was promised to the Afghan people. The fact that they were promised that they would help nation build.
With President Biden's speech, he said we're not there for nation building. Then why is it that every time I went to a meeting at the embassy or a press conference, the Afghans were told, we are going to help you build your nation.
Here we are watching them being handed over to the Taliban.
And those scenes outside of the airport, they are just as devastating. Those are the lucky ones who actually got to make it to the airport, but not able to get in.
I tried to help a female commando and we were lucky enough, after 17 hours, she was told to rush to the airport, to get her into the base. She got there, and she had to wait outside for 17 hours. And the only reason she got in was because of a connection she had from someone outside of Afghanistan.
Her other female commandos all stuck with their families. As the Taliban were shooting, one of the sisters was shot in the hand.
This is absolute chaos. Someone needs to take the blame. And we all know where the blame lies. But they're not taking the actual blame for it.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: As you said, this is the Taliban when the Western world is watching. What then will happen once those cameras leave?
Atia Abawi, Phil Mudd and Nick Paton Walsh as well, thank you all.
Breaking news out of D.C. The person who claimed to have a bomb near the U.S. capitol has now surrendered to authorities. We have more details on this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:36:19]
BLACKWELL: The breaking news out of Washington, that suspect who claimed to have a bomb near the U.S. capitol has surrendered to authorities.
Here is a picture of the suspect. We have it for you. CNN is not naming him at this time. We'll get that for you later.
CAMEROTA: Whitney Wild, meanwhile, is on the scene -- there's the suspect right there, seen in a truck.
Whitney Wild is on the scene.
Whitney, what happened?
WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, just minutes ago, the suspect came out of his truck peacefully.
I asked the police here, what did they say to get him to end this -- what was basically a five-hour standoff outside of the Library of Congress? They said they had been communicating via white board, and it is not clear what in the end compelled him to bring this all to a close.
Instead, he got out of the vehicle, it seems like on his own, Alisyn and Victor, and surrendered, again, ending the five-hour standoff.
The questions now is whether or not this man who said he had bombs actually did have operable bombs.
So this crime scene, while the suspect is in custody, will continue to go on for several hours. This -- basically here is what happened. Around 9:15 this man in a
pickup truck drove up on to the sidewalk outside the Library of Congress, said that he had explosive devices.
In addition to that, Victor and Alisyn, at some point, he was broadcasting on Facebook, about a 30-minute Facebook video, in which he said a list of things.
We are still trying to comb through what his motivations were. It is not immediately clear if there was a single motivation. We are still working through that within here at CNN.
For now, let me go directly to the sound bite we just heard from the now-capitol police chief, Tom Manger, just a couple of weeks on the job.
Here is what he had to say about this incident -- Alisyn and Victor?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM MANAGER, CHIEF, U.S. CAPITOL POLICE DEPARTMENT: Again, thank you for your patience.
Just moments ago, Floyd Roy Rosenberry, from Grover, North Carolina, was taken into custody without incident.
As we talked about earlier, Mr. Rosenberry had parked a tuck and was sitting in front of the Library of Congress for several hours, he advised he had explosives.
Over the course of time, we tried to negotiate with Mr.. Rosenberry. We first started doing that with a white board, writing messages back and forth. We used a robot to get a telephone down to him, but he would not use the telephone.
But shortly after the -- we had delivered the telephone, he got out of the vehicle and surrendered. And the tactical units that were close by took him into custody without incident.
I'm happy to answer any questions you might have.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Chief, were there any explosiveness the vehicle? And do you know a motive?
MANGER: We don't know if there are any explosives in the vehicle. It is still an active scene.
While Mr. Rosenberry has been taken into custody and has been removed from the scene, we still have to search the vehicle and render the vehicle safe. So we don't know as of yet.
We do know that Mr. --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILD: Victor and Alisyn, the chief, shortly after he made that statement, also said that his understanding was that the suspect had been dealing with a lot of personal trauma and perhaps deaths in his family, deaths from people who were close to him.
There were personal -- I guess I would say, personal burdens weighing on him in this moment, as you might expect from someone who is desperate enough to drive up on to the sidewalk outside the Library of Congress and say they have an explosive device.
Right now, the next stop for him is to -- it sounds like to get booked. The chief indicated the next stop is to assess charges for him.
[14:40:04]
We are not sure if he will then go to the hospital for a mental health evaluation.
All of these questions about what happens to him next still outstanding.
But for now, fortunately, this is over and no one was hurt -- Alisyn and Victor?
CAMEROTA: Thank goodness this ended peacefully.
Whitney Wild, we really appreciate the reporting.
BLACKWELL: More protests, more raucous school board meetings, and now Florida's governor is taking another controversial step that health experts say is threatening COVID safety in classrooms.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:45:18]
CAMEROTA: OK. This just in. Senator Angus King from Maine has COVID. He says he got a test after feeling a mild fever, and he credits his vaccination for protecting him from more severe symptoMs.
King is the second Senator to reveal that he's tested positive today alone. Senator Roger Wicker from Mississippi, who is also vaccinated, revealed that he, too, has tested positive.
BLACKWELL: Let's broaden the story. The seven-day average of new daily infections in the U.S. is more than 137,000. And on average 820 people die each day from COVID.
CNN's Athena Jones has more on the growing pressure for mask mandates and this debate that is intensifying in some communities.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As COVID cases and hospitalizations rise across the country, pressure to introduce more vaccine and mask mandates is mounting. More than 90,000 people now hospitalized nationwide. DR. ANDY JAFFAL, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, PIEDMONT ATLANTA HOSPITAL: I
watched a 22-year-old previously healthy, unvaccinated patient die from COVID complications. And while we value every life, that one was tough because it could have been prevented.
JONES: Hospitalization rates for children and adults under 50 setting new records.
The biggest jump coming among adults ages 30 to 39 and children under 18, climbing more than 30 percent higher than their previous peak in early January, according to the CDC.
In the two least vaccinated states in the country, Alabama and Mississippi, where just 36 percent are fully vaccinated, hospitals are strained.
Hospitalizations in Mississippi setting a pandemic record as the state reports the highest seven-day average of new COVID cases per capita in the country.
The surge in cases leading Washington State to require that all teachers and staff in public and private schools get vaccinated.
GOV. JAN INSLEE (D-WA): We are well past the point where testing is enough to keep people safe.
JONES: But battles over masks and quarantine requirements in schools continue, with kids stuck in the middle.
UNIDENTIFIED BOY: I mean the masks are like uncomfortable but it is for safety. If I wear my mask, that means I get to see my friends, I will just wear a mask.
JONES: In Florida, some 4,600 students and 1,500 employees across the 15 largest school districts have tested positive for COVID. And another 19,000 students and staff have been quarantined or isolated.
Defying Governor Ron DeSantis, school boards voted to mandate mask in three additional counties, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach and in Hillsborough, where some parents are also arguing it should be up to them whether they keep their child home after COVID exposure.
The governor agrees.
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): I think quarantining healthy kids deprives these kids of an ability to get an education.
Now, maybe a parent would want a healthy kid to be quarantined if there's exposure. But I think that should be the choice of the parent.
JONES: It is an approach that flies in the face of public health guidance.
DR. VIVEK MURTHY, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: We have a moral obligation to follow the science and keep our children safe.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JONES: And there's some good news on the vaccination front today. More than a million doses reported administered nationwide, the first day with more than a million doses reported in nearly seven weeks -- Alisyn, Victor?
BLACKWELL: Athena Jones there for us. Athena, thank you so much.
Dr. Ali Khan is dean of the University of Nebraska's College of Public Health. He spent 23 years as the CDC's director of Public Health Preparedness and Response.
Dr. Khan, thank you for being with us.
First, on the point from the Florida Governor DeSantis there, where he says that there shouldn't be this mass quarantine after exposure to a positive case.
What do you make of that?
DR. ALI KHAN, DEAN, COLLEGE OF PUBLIC HEALTH, UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA: Thank you, Victor.
So he's saying -- quarantine is a key function of public health, especially in this disease where people are actually infectious before they know they're sick.
So, yes, this -- may well -- who was exposed, be exposing other people in the school, putting others at risk and increasing the chance of shutting down the school.
CAMEROTA: But, Dr. Khan, here is what is so frustrating for parents. Because a couple of times last year, they were in a class with some -- they had to go home and quarantine 10 days.
It's disruptive. They don't learn as well, remote learning.
They didn't have direct contact like this, with the other child, who might have been somewhere far away from them in the corner of the room.
Isn't there a way to keep kids -- if they haven't had direct contact with another kid who tests positive, can't they stay in the classroom?
[14:50:00]
KHAN: So, Alisyn, you are spot on. There is clear guidelines for what counts as a contact and not a contact.
So you wouldn't be quarantining somebody, you know, halfway across the building, because they wouldn't have the definition of contact.
That's not what's going on here. This is about people who are defined as close contacts and they don't need to be quarantined.
Going back to children again, this debate about masks in school, the debate is done, not because of scientists or a research paper. It's the data right from the field.
We have learned over the last two weeks that school districts that went back without fully masking everybody, they're closing. We have numerous school districts have closed. Schools have closed and classrooms have closed. The debate is over.
If you're sending the schools, and we must send our kids to school, make sure everybody in that school is masked. That's how you stay out of these problems.
CAMEROTA: Such a good point. Everybody agrees that kids should be in the classroom. And the remote learning is harder for kids. The answer to that? Masks.
BLACKWELL: What we also know about the Delta variant that even passing in the hallway can be enough exposure to transmit from one person to another.
Let's talk about vaccines, though. The president says that he and the first lady will get the booster shot.
He made a quip -- maybe that's what it was when he said it's pastime. He's not due for that second shot until the second week of September.
How urgent is that second shot at the eight-month mark? Does it have to happen within a week? Can you wait until nine months? How much of the efficacy wanes if you wait until that ninth month or so?
KHAN: Let's be honest that we've already started a booster shot last week for those who had immunocompromised conditions. So booster shots have already begun in America and they've begun actually in a number of other countries.
CDC's initial data says eight months. We'll see as they provide - they've provided three studies to support the booster shot at eight months.
As more data rolls out, we'll know if we can wait eight, nine, 10. But at least eight seems to be their suggestion to get your third dose.
BLACKWELL: All right, Dr. Ali Khan, thank you.
CAMEROTA: Great to see you. Thanks, Doc.
KHAN: Don't forget -
BLACKWELL: There's the mask. There it is.
KHAN: Make good trouble and, mask on, everybody.
(LAUGHTER)
CAMEROTA: That's a handsome new one that you're showing.
(CROSSTALK)
BLACKWELL: -- on cable news.
Dr. Khan --
CAMEROTA: Thank you.
BLACKWELL: -- thank you.
All right, as desperate Afghans struggle to escape, Americans try to help. One Marine's mission to get a translator and his family to safety. That's next.
And join CNN for "WE LOVE NEW YORK CITY, THE HOMECOMING CONCERT." It all starts Saturday at 5:00 p.m. Eastern exclusively on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:56:28]
BLACKWELL: Thousands of people have been jamming the entrance to the Kabul airport desperately hoping to get out now that the Taliban has taken over.
One of the people there is a former translator for the U.S. Marines, named Haji.
CAMEROTA: Haji is now a marked man. And one of his Marine buddies has launched a frantic mission to get him and his family out of Afghanistan.
CNN's Cyril Vanier has his story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CYRIL VANIER, CNN ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the other side of this crowd, the only way out of Afghanistan, Kabul International Airport.
Families, women and children, thousands rushed here to be evacuated after the Taliban's sudden takeover of the country. Some are being turned away, it seems. Others are settling in for a long wait.
The man who shot this video, Haji. His identity protected for fear of retribution.
UNIDENTIFIED U.S. SERVICEMEMBER: Take cover. Take cover.
VANIER: Haji's journey to the airport really started here 10 years ago, Helmand Province, the heart of the Taliban insurgency. Haji sided with the Americans, a translator for the U.S. Marine Corps.
UNIDENTIFIED U.S. SERVICEMEMBER: Well, at least one of those kids is a fighter. Would you agree?
HAJI, TRANSLATOR FOR THE U.S. IN AFGHANISTAN: Yes, definitely, they are. (INAUDIBLE).
VANIER: The Taliban never forgave him. He's been on the run with his wife and young children for five years.
This is what Haji said to CNN only a few weeks ago.
HAJI: If they found me, they'd kill me and they're kill my family. Because I was an interpreter with the U.S. Marines.
VANIER: Denied a special immigrant visa for the U.S. twice, Haji was running out of options when a former platoon mate stepped in.
JIMMY HURLEY, FORMER LANCE CORPORAL, U.S. MARINE CORPS: I kind of had a moment when I realized that he would not be able to do this by himself at all. And I felt like, if I didn't see it through, there was zero chance of him getting out.
VANIER: From half a world away, former Lance Corporal Jimmy Hurley applied for a new visa and, a few days ago, started crowd funding, anticipating hard times ahead.
HURLEY: I really tried not to get emotional here. I was pretty blown away at $2,000 from friends and family. Then the CNN story aired and it hit 10, 13, 18. How quickly it grew has been really cool, really overwhelming.
(EXPLOSION)
VANIER: But the Taliban's lightning advance forced some difficult decisions.
"Haji, you 100 percent need to get to Kabul," Jimmy writes. "Have you gotten the money?"
Hours go by and, finally, this from Haji. "Getting to Kabul, walking, running, hiding, walking mountain and in forest."
Haji and his family taking every risk, skirting Taliban checkpoints, including this one, and rushing to the airport, gambling that their visa application would be enough to get them to safety.
VANIER (on camera): What happened when you tried to get to the gate?
HAJI: We tried to go in. I told them, I've got this document. They said, "No. You have to someone inside this airport. They come out for you, they will take you inside."
VANIER (voice-over): So Haji waits for an elusive e-mail.
Crowds now looking like this outside the airport. The Taliban biding their time as the U.S. improvises a massive evacuation.
Haji's life in the hand of the Americans whom, a decade ago, he risked his own.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[15:00:00]
CAMEROTA: Cyril, what happens if Haji doesn't get on an evacuation flight?
VANIER: That's a great question. Frankly, it's one that Corporal Hurley, Jimmy himself, doesn't want to contemplate.
