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Biden: Don't Know How We Could Have Avoided Chaos; Milley: No Indication Army and Government Would Fall in 11 Days; U.S. Will Offer Boosters to All Americans from September 20; Powerful Storms Barrel Toward U.S., Mexico; Haitian Survivors Deal with Aftermath as Aid Delivers Lag; Destructive Fire Rages on in California. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired August 19, 2021 - 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: U.S. President Joe Biden dismisses the criticism over America's withdrawal from Afghanistan remaining defiant despite the Taliban's lightning-fast victory.
There's chaos outside the Kabul airport with thousands desperate to leave the Afghan capital. CNN's Clarissa Ward is there.
Plus, the science behind the plan to allow COVID booster shots to already vaccinated Americans.
Live from CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
President Biden is tripling down on his decision to withdraw American forces from Afghanistan by month's end despite the mayhem that has ensued after the Taliban took over the country. During a tense interview with ABC news, Joe Biden said he doesn't believe the pullout has failed so far and when asked if it could have been handled better, he said no. Biden then suggested the chaos in Kabul was inevitable, but that goes against what he said last month. Listen here.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS: Back in July you said a Taliban takeover was highly unlikely. Was the intelligence wrong or did you downplay it?
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think there was no consensus. You go back and look at the intelligence reports, they said that it was more likely to be sometime by the end of the year.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You didn't put a time line out, when you just said it was highly unlikely, you said flat out it is highly unlikely the Taliban would take over.
BIDEN: Yes. Well, the question was whether or not -- the idea that the Taliban would take over was premised on the notion that somehow the 300,000 troops we had trained and equipped was going to just collapse, they were going to give up. I don't think anybody anticipated that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: President Biden also indicated the deadline for the full American exit isn't entirely set in stone. CNN's Jeff Zeleny begins our coverage.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: President Biden striking a defiant and defensive tone about his administration's strategy in Afghanistan as the country deepens in crisis and the White House is watching every movement very carefully. Of course, focusing on the evacuation of American citizens as well as tens of thousands of Afghan nationals who have been at the right hand of the America's war effort there for the last two decades.
But one question hanging over this White House and indeed the Pentagon and State Department is what is the time line for evacuating all of these American citizens and Afghan nationals. In an interview with ABC News, George Stephanopoulos asked president Biden if he was flexible on his august 31 deadline.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So, Americans should understand that troops may have to be there beyond August 31?
BIDEN: No, Americans will understand that we'll try to get it done before and I go August 31.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But if we don't --
BIDEN: If we don't, we'll determine at the time who is left.
STEPHANOPOULOS: And?
BIDEN: And if there are American citizens left, we'll stay until we get them all out.
ZELENY: So clearly saying that he would extend the deadline for American citizens. But leaving open the possibility of not doing so for Afghan nationals. So certainly, the president defiant not giving a ground at all saying it was not a failure, but that is an open question here. There are Congressional committees already beginning to look into what indeed went wrong, how the administration was not prepared for the collapse of the Afghan government, the rise of the Taliban. Those hearings will start next week.
Now there is no question here that this is the biggest test of the president's foreign policy credentials, certainly his competence and credibility is on the line. One sort of surprising thing here is that he really only began calling foreign leaders within the last day talking to German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson late Tuesday evening. But has not reached out to so many other American partners in the war in Afghanistan. Very unusual for President Biden who of course ran and campaigned on and indeed has governed as someone who wants to rebuild those alliances. So, president Biden still operating in a defensive and defiant
position here saying that the chaos was inevitable. That's certainly not what he said a month ago when he said a safe and secure withdraw from Afghanistan was likely.
Jeff Zeleny, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: The top U.S. general is addressing reports that intelligence had warned of a rapid collapse in Afghanistan. In a briefing Wednesday, General Mark Milley said there was no indication that the Afghan military and government would fall as quickly as it did. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[04:05:00]
GEN. MARK MILLEY, U.S. JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: The intelligence clearly indicated multiple scenarios were possible. However, the time frame of a rapid collapse, that was widely estimated and ranged from weeks to months and even years following our departure. There was nothing that I or anyone else saw that indicated a collapse of this army and this government in 11 days.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: And CNN's Sam Kiley joins me from Doha. So, President Biden as we heard, very dismissive over criticism about the way the troop pullout was been handled. As he announces that the U.S. forces could stay as long as need be. So, take us through the reaction to the latest developments.
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think some of the most dramatic reaction, Kim, has come from the British Parliament. That were called yesterday for what was a very acrimonious debate, and lots of angry finger pointing specifically at the U.S. President by Joe Biden.
This is not something that is a convention in British politics, particularly not among conservatives. A lot of conservatives or several conservative MPs themselves, former serving officers, some whom served in Afghanistan, particularly Tom Tugendhat, the chairman of the foreign affairs committee, but also the chairman of defense committee and self-appointed defense minister all criticizing the Biden administration and the U.S. President himself for this precipitous withdraw.
And also demanding from Boris Johnson details as to whether or not he was informed. Whether or not he implored the U.S. president to slow things down. Whether or not he sought guarantees and was able to do any forward planning for the British people and allies that they wanted to get out that resulted in the deployment of some 900 members of their assault brigade -- the unit I know extremely well. All of this stirring up not just chaos around Kabul, Kim, but also within the ranks of NATO.
There is extreme bitterness toward the Biden administration and toward the British government from within its own membership including cabinet ministers over how this was handled and the reaction of Boris Johnson and others, the political leadership in what is seen as a failure to acknowledge the intelligence that was predicting a rapid and imminent collapse of the Afghan national army and indeed the government, Kim.
I've worked for nearly 20 years in Afghanistan and six months ago I and many of my colleagues were making exactly this prediction. It is all about Afghanistan, military commanders, the decision to when to change sides, to turn the turban is the strategic position taken by every commander in the ground. And when it looks like you are going to lose, you turn your turban and you do it fast. Anybody who doesn't understand that clearly hasn't stepped foot in Afghanistan or is ignoring the intelligence and advice is being given.
There is extreme anger on both sides of the Atlantic towards misinformation being handled to political leadership by generals in the intelligence community or accurate information and then ignored by politicians. This isn't going away -- Kim.
BRUNHUBER: So, fallout still to come. Appreciate your analysis, Sam Kiley, thank you so much.
And the U.S. is moving quickly to prevent funds from falling into Taliban hands. The Biden administration pressured the International Monetary Fund to block Afghanistan from receiving $450 million in emergency reserves. The IMF said Afghanistan can't access the money because of a lack of clarity about the country's government. The U.S. is also moved to block the Taliban's access to billions of dollars in cash reserves Afghanistan's government holds in foreign banks.
The U.S. will offer COVID boosters for all Americans starting about a month from now. Those who are eight months out from their second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine will be eligible for the shot. Meanwhile, some new studies show COVID vaccine effectiveness drops over time and it coincide with the spread of the Delta variant. One study done in New York found it declined from 92 percent to 80 percent between early May and late last month. And the CDC found a drop in vaccine effectiveness among nursing home residents from 75 percent in March to 53 percent this month. Here is more from the CDC's director.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, DIRECTOR, U.S. CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: And I want to reiterate, we are not saying that you need a booster dose right now. We are saying that we are starting to see waning in effectiveness against mild and moderate disease and that we're preparing for the month ahead because we've seen in other countries that that could portend waning for severe disease. So not the time to go out and get your booster now, but we are planning for late September to make sure that we always stay ahead of this virus.
(END VIDEO CLIP) [04:10:00]
BRUNHUBER: And as CNN's Athena Jones reports, the U.S. surgeon general is also backing the need for COVID boosters.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. VIVEK MURTHY, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: The time to lay out a plan for COVID-19 boosters is now.
ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): With new COVID cases and hospitalizations surging to where they were in November, before the first vaccinations began, the White House announced plans for a broad rollout of vaccine booster shots next month. Starting September 20th, the administration recommending vaccinated adults receive a booster eight months after their second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, presenting data suggesting waning immunity over time.
BIDEN: This will boost your immune response. It will increase your protection from COVID-19. It's the best way to protect ourselves from new variants that could arise.
JONES (voice-over): Booster doses still must be approved by the FDA, which is still reviewing the data. But experts warn --
DR. RICHARD BESSER, FORMER ACTING DIRECTOR, U.S. CDC: Boosters is not going to end this pandemic. What's going to end this pandemic is finding a way to motivate the 30, 40 percent of people in this country who haven't gotten any vaccines yet.
JONES (voice-over): It's the unvaccinated that have hospitals around the country stressed. In the five hardest hit states, intensive care units are more than 90 percent full. Alabama reporting it is out of ICU beds.
DR. JEANNE MARRAZZO, PROFESSOR OF INFECTIOUS DISEASE, UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM: It's really just a domino effect that then clogs up our ERs, clogs up everything else.
JONES (voice-over): With more than 121,000 new child COVID cases reported in the U.S. last week, Texas and Florida lead the nation in new pediatric cases. While in Mississippi, a 13-year-old died just one day after testing positive for COVID.
ERICA EPTING, PARENT: I thought it was a cough. The child went to the hospital but they sent her home the same evening knowing she was sick. They should have sent her to a hospital to get her some help.
JONES (voice-over): But the debate over masking in schools rages on. Schools in Broward County Florida instituting mask mandates as students return to class today, in defiance of Governor Ron DeSantis. The State Board of Education voting to punish counties like Broward and Alachua for violating the governor's ban on such mandates.
In Hillsborough County, Florida, where parents can opt out of the mask requirement, almost 10,000 students are quarantined due to COVID cases. One school district outside Dallas, Texas, getting around the governor's ban on mask mandates by making masks part of the dress code. President Biden directing his education secretary to take additional steps to protect children.
BIDEN: This includes using all of its oversight authorities and legal action, if appropriate, against governors who are trying to block and intimidate local school officials and educators.
JONES: And the debate over masks in schools isn't just continuing, it's heating up in some places and it is not just shouting matches. In Austin, Texas one parent reportedly ripped the mask off one teacher's face during a meet the teacher event on Tuesday night. Prompting the superintendent to call on everyone to treat each other respectfully.
Athena Jones, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Hurricane Grace is closing in on Mexico with heavy rains and life-threatening storm surge. Next, we track the storm getting closer and closer to landfall.
Plus, a one-two punch, that storm already hit Haiti still reeling from a major earthquake. Volunteers carrying supplies on their shoulders as damaged bridges slow aid recovery. Stay with us.
[04:15:00]
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BRUNHUBER: Mexico is bracing for hurricane Grace which is expected to make landfall south of Cancun just hours from now. And at the same time, tropical storm Henri is picking up steam in the Atlantic and is expected to become a hurricane as well. And forecasters say Henri could become a threat to the U.S. northeast coast in the coming days. Meteorologist Derek Van Dam joins us with the latest. Derek, you're tracking both storms, so let's start with the latest on Grace.
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Grace that's the more immediate threat although it is a bit ominous to hear a potential tropical system making impacts at least to the northeastern United States. We'll get to those details and just one moment.
But first and foremost, Grace, which is only hours from making landfall across the Yucatan peninsula. If you've been to Cozumel, if you've been to Tulum, you know these areas very well. Very flat and also prone to hurricane strikes. In fact, just within the past year alone, less than a year in fact, they've had three named tropical systems, this will be the fourth named tropical system to make lawful within a 70-mile radius of Cozumel. This area has been rocked by tropical storms and hurricanes, the strongest being a category 3 last year in month of October -- a very busy month for them.
They have hurricane warnings including Cozumel at the moment, just south of Cancun. Tropical storm warnings for the northern Yucatan. And then newly hoisted hurricane watches for the Veracruz state across the eastern coastline of the mainland of Mexico. 80 mile-per-hour winds with hurricane Grace. This storm continues to strengthen as it reaches that coastline just off the Yucatan Peninsula as we speak. It'll move through some mountainous terrain. Kind of gets disrupted over the next 24 hours and then reenter It to the Bay of Campeche. Warm waters there means re-intensification before making landfall across central Mexico.
Here is the wind forecast, you can see how it becomes more defined as it reaches the Bay of Campeche, the main threats here being of course landslides, mudslides, localized flooding as this moves across the peninsula. Now here's tropical storm Henri. This is still southwest of Bermuda, not a land threat at the moment.
But as we go forward in time, we have the potential to see an impact from a tropical system across New England, that would be for Sunday into Monday. This is a spaghetti plot, various models showing a westward shift in the trend, that is what metrologists look for, for any sign, any indication that this system could potentially impact some of the most densely populated areas of the Northeastern United States -- Kim.
BRUNHUBER: All right, we'll stay on both of those weather stories throughout the day. Thanks so much, Derek, appreciate it.
As Derek mentioned, Grace pummeled Haiti earlier this week.
[04:20:00]
The storm came on the heels of a powerful earthquake that killed more than 2,100 people. Grace triggered mud slides that are hampering deliveries to quake survivors. And as Matt Rivers shows us, many have had to deal the aftermath of both with no help.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Driving into rural Haiti is not easy. Miles and miles of tough unpaved roads. But it's at the end of the those roads where some of the worst damage from this earthquake lies.
This is Coraila fishing town of 30,000 where hundreds of structures. Guilene Richard lost everything when the ground shook.
I lost my business and my home, she says. I have six kids to send to school and I don't know what I'm going to do.
Hers was just the first home we saw. Up the street we couldn't drive past this home because like so many others here, what remains could collapse at any moment.
RIVERS: So, these guys behind me aren't professionals, they're just locals with hammer, wood and nails trying to figure out a safe way to bring that severely damaged building behind me down to the ground. They told us in the nearly five days since the earthquake happened, they still have not had one representative from the central government show up. RIVERS (voice-over): It is a tough place to get to, but as some
pointed out to us, we managed to do it. So why hasn't the government. Anger, a persistent sentiment for many. This man's family was injured when their home collapsed.
RIVERS: Do you think that the government can come here and help you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think so. I don't think so. I don't think so.
RIVERS: So, you're not waiting for them?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. No.
RIVERS: And are you frustrated with that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, yes, very frustrated. I'm very frustrated.
RIVERS (voice-over): Some blame corruption and a lack of will for government inaction. There is also the recent assassination of Haiti's president, gang violence and a lack of quality infrastructure probably at fault. This bridge in the city of Jeremie in rough shape before the earthquake now so damaged that heavy trucks like these loaded down with aid cannot cross, supplies sometimes hand carried. No matter the reason, the reality persists. People in need are growing increasingly desperate.
I need help, she says, and no one is helping me. So far it is only God who I think will help me.
The place where she height prayer for that, the church in the town's center, also destroyed. Thankfully fewer people died during this earthquake compared to previous similar quakes. Imagine as one person told us, if it had happened on a Sunday morning when church was full.
RIVERS: And we did reach out to Haiti's central government asking have you sent representatives to Coraila to see the hundreds of structures that have been destroyed. What are you planning on doing to try and make the lives of people affected by this earthquake better? They did not respond to our requests for comment.
Matt Rivers, CNN, Jeremie, Haiti.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: In the U.S., a fast-growing wildfire has forced almost 7,000 people to evacuate their homes. Have a look at this, this is what remains of the community of Grizzly Flats, California which was hit by the Caldor fire. Firefighters say the blaze is still spreading with 0 percent containment. There are more than 100 large fires burning across the U.S. right now, but as Lucy Kafanov reports, the Caldor fire, well it's something else.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Officials say the Caldor fire is exhibiting unprecedented fire behavior due to the really dry fuels and the winds. You can see a little bit of the fire whirl behind me. Over there, pine trees that literally caught on fire in front of our eyes. The dry conditions making it so difficult for firefighters to put it out. They are attempting to. They've cut down some of these large trees behind me to try eliminate some of that dry fuel. But you can see there is so much on the ground that this fire is still burning. This is just a fraction of this massive fire that exploded with unprecedented speed in just the past few days.
So, you can see the bulldozers being carried to different parts of the Caldor fire. But I want to give you a sense of life. Fighting the fire has been so difficult, look at the terrain behind me. This area is extremely mountainous, hilly, there are a lot of ravines, and that makes it difficult for firefighters to get that heavy equipment like bulldozers into these areas to dig out containment lines and to prevent there from being a lot of fuel for the fire to burn in hopes of having it burn itself out. This kind of terrain just makes it almost impossible to get that heavy equipment there. And so, firefighters have a very difficult task ahead of them.
I want to show you what the he will impact of the Caldor fire looks like. We are on the 168-acre property of Chris Kinsley.
[04:25:00]
He got here moments ago, was able to see that almost virtually nothing survived. What you are looking at right now are the remains of his house. He had a sawmill here, millions of dollars' worth of equipment. The only thing left standing is if you see over there that yellow fire truck, the vintage fire trick, the only thing in-touched by the flames.
Now this area is incredibly rural. That means he wasn't able to get insurance to get any sort of monetary compensation for the destruction. This is his entire life's work. His family has lived here for 38 years. He was going to actually create a riding facility for children to ride horses. The barn area was over there, he was able to get out his animals, his animals are OK. But obviously his home, his valuables, his antiques, his entire way of making a livelihood completely destroyed.
Lucy Kafanov, CNN, Bryants, California
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is reversing a Trump-era decision and is banning a widely used pesticide. Chlorpyrifos will no longer be used on food because it's been associated with possible neurological effects in children. The pesticide was banned for household uses back in 2000, but agricultural producers were allowed to keep using it. Several countries including Canada, as well as New York, California and Hawaii have already banned it.
Well, desperation grows by the hour as the Taliban tighten their grip on Afghanistan. Coming up, thousands of Afghans try to run a gauntlet of Taliban fighters to reach Kabul airport but even those with documents are encountering impossible obstacles.
Plus, Afghanistan's former president surfaces in the United Arab Emirates and explains why he fled. We'll have a live report from Dubai just ahead. Stay with us.
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