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Biden Vows To Bring Home Americans Stranded In Afghanistan; Chaotic Journey To Escape Through Kabul Airport; Source: 14,000 Afghans Now At Kabul Airport; Hurricane Warnings For Northeast U.S.; Many U.S. States At Or Nearing ICU Capacity; Pakistan Keeps Keen Eye On Chaos Unfolding Next Door; Some Haiti Areas Receiving No Aid After Earthquake. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired August 21, 2021 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Everybody here is doing their best. But it's not clear if it's fast enough, if enough people can get out and how much longer they have to finish this massive operation.
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): As thousands of desperate people struggle to get out of Afghanistan, CNN's Clarissa Ward shows what it's like inside the Kabul airport.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Plus, Afghan refugees arrive in safe countries, as Joe Biden makes a promise.
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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Any American who wants to come home, we will get you home.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Live from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, welcome to all of the viewers here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
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BRUNHUBER: U.S. President Joe Biden is vowing to bring every American home from Afghanistan if they want to leave. But nobody knows how many U.S. citizens are in the country. The State Department says it's trying to track down as many as possible.
Meanwhile, the Taliban published photos, showing their fighters armed with U.S. weapons seized from the Afghan national army. It's menacing images like these and the Taliban's history of brutality that makes many Afghans scared to stay in the country.
On Friday, the Pentagon confirmed it had flown 169 Americans by helicopter from the hotel to the airport, after the Taliban blocked the gates. It's the first known rescue of Americans outside the airport perimeter.
The first flights of evacuees have begun arriving in the United States. Now we don't know how many Americans were among the passengers but a source tells CNN about 1,500 people evacuated from Kabul in recent days are expected to arrive in the Washington area this weekend.
Others are being flown to Ramstein, Germany, until permanent accommodations can be arranged.
And disturbing new video has emerged. We have to warn you, it is graphic.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): A local employee at a U.S.-based NGO captured pictures of two people outside the airport. Gunshots could be heard. And hundreds of people could be seen crowding together and screaming in panic.
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BRUNHUBER: President Biden says the evacuations out of Kabul rank as one of the largest and most difficult airlifts in history. Even as thousands are flown out daily, many more people are clamoring outside of the gates and the situation becomes more desperate. CNN's Sam Kiley has the latest.
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SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Desperate for a child's salvation, a baby handed to the U.S. Marines over razor wire at Kabul's airport. President Biden offering a dispassionate view.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've secured the airport, enabling flights to resume, not just military flights but civilian charters and other -- from other countries and the NGOs taking out civilians and vulnerable Afghans. And now we have almost 6,000 troops on the ground.
KILEY (voice-over): But through the eyes of daylight today, no evacuation aircraft left the runway, leaving hundreds pressing on its perimeter as night fell. Some 13,000 people have been flown out by the U.S. since last Saturday, August the 14th.
Many times that number are waiting in heat, chaos and gunfire. Threatened by Taliban whips, they fear worse awaits them if they stay.
The German broadcaster, Deutsche Welle, says the Taliban fighters, searching for one of their journalists, killed a member of his family. And artists are fleeing in fear, too.
SAHRAA KARIMI, AFGHAN FILM DIRECTOR: As a human being you should have a value. But under Taliban rules, OK, you live but with miserable life. OK, life is not about just eating or they're in (INAUDIBLE), it is about creativity.
KILEY (voice-over): The Taliban is dismissing allegations of reprisal attacks against those who fought them or work for NATO as fake news. Twenty years of fighting by the U.S. and its allies has resulted in a Taliban triumph and an evacuation of local allies and foreigners that looks more like a rout.
Many European allies of the U.S. are rattled by the sudden withdrawal of American forces and the Taliban victory.
JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: There are hard questions that we need to ask ourselves over our engagement in Afghanistan.
KILEY (voice-over): The president defiant.
BIDEN: There's a greater danger from ISIS.
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BIDEN: And Al Qaeda and all these affiliates and other countries by far than there is from Afghanistan.
And we're going to retain an over-the-horizon capability, if they were to come back, to be able to take them out, surgically move. So this is where we should be. This is about America leading the world. And all our allies have agreed with that.
KILEY (voice-over): The Taliban, meanwhile, celebrating with broadcast parades of its special forces, carrying what appear to be captured American weapons. They were all born in a time of war, like this baby who was treated in an airport clinic and returned to their family.
If she makes it out of Kabul, she at least will have no memory of these dark days -- Sam Kiley, CNN, Doha, Qatar.
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BRUNHUBER: After reporting from Afghanistan for three weeks, our Clarissa Ward and her team made it inside the airport Friday. Before flying out of Kabul, she spoke with Anderson Cooper about the conditions thousands ever facing as they try to flee Taliban rule.
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WARD: it is just chaos. Right now, we're actually on the airfield, which is the privilege place to be, that means you've reached the final furlong, and you are in principle about to get on a bird and out to safety.
Although, we've now been here for well over 10 or 12 hours; others have been here two days, and still haven't managed to get on a flight yet. I'm looking around now. People sleeping on the ground, on the gravel. It's a very chilly night. A woman just came up to me and asked me for a blanket I gave her my scarf.
There are babies everywhere. And the situation with the washroom is not good at all. I had a couple of families come up and complain to me that it wasn't sanitary. They couldn't wash their children or keep them clean.
I'm looking around now, I've walked a little bit inside. There is an inside sort of processing area. There's just children lying all over the floor. Mothers desperately trying to stroke their backs and calm them. And this is what we've been seeing all day, only earlier, it was under the blistering hot sun.
And the only thing that the Marines had to give out were little strips of cardboard to be used as improvised fans to try to help keep them cool. These babies, one baby we saw had to be evacuated because it was a newborn baby and the sun was so hot, it was just dehydrated. So it's a desperate situation.
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BRUNHUBER: Several hours later, Clarissa tweeted that she landed in Doha, Qatar, with her team and along with evacuees, saying, "We are the lucky ones."
A staggering number of people have made it to the Kabul airport with hope of getting out of the country but they're not necessarily all eligible. Nick Paton Walsh joins us.
Nick, the situation may be more dire than we previously thought. You've done reporting on that.
What can you tell us?
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: A source familiar with the situation says the number of people trying to get on the planes is now at 14,000. Now I should point out, they have pretty good information. But obviously, these numbers are changing a lot at the time.
So Clarissa heard from somebody there, a Marine, saying they were looking at 10,000 but that seems to have swollen, which is entirely with the sheer volume outside. So 14,000 with extremely bad math, 400 per plane, about 30 plane loads of individuals that have to get off, just to start letting more people on.
An Afghan I spoke to at the base is spoke to the Marine, saying to get into the airport right now, it's a trash-filled dumpster. It's just so overloaded. The question is, of course, how to get to that situation. The source I spoke to it came from a number of days in which you might call it the filtration process the Americans have there, working out, who are you?
What documents do you have?
Are you eligible for a visa program?
Et cetera, et cetera.
That collapsed and there was a bit of a humanitarian crisis and essentially the vulnerable were allowed in. They may at this point beginning to tighten that up.
But the question, of course, now is how long can this actually go on for?
It's quite clear from both President Biden and the Pentagon, America does not know how many American citizens are currently in Afghanistan still. That's pretty important. They have guaranteed they will get that out.
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WALSH: That's one indefinite measure how long this might go on for. The second, if indeed there have been humanitarian cases allowed in and still there are many cases out there in the crowds, some dying to get in and the SIV program has been expanded include others. Then the number of Afghans could be in the tens of thousands already.
And imagine that, there are hundreds of thousands of Afghans that would jump at the chance to get out of Afghanistan to get to the West. You could have millions of Afghans who would love to take this opportunity up.
When does the U.S. say, this is enough?
We can't do this forever. You've seen the scenes. It's unsustainable. It's exactly the kind of indefinite commitment they were trying to get out of by sparking this crisis. So the source I spoke to says the conversation about how long has sort of begun.
And there are some Defense officials, this source had heard, beginning to think about a week is how much longer this would make sense for. So that is problematic to some degree as well because, if this ends, there will be a rush.
If this goes on, there will still be a rush. And people are getting off when they want to get on the airport. So essentially, we are dealing with volatility that's just going to escalate. Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely. But among those who did make it out, now former president Ashraf Ghani. You've done some great reporting on what exactly went on behind the scenes as he fled the country. So take us through that story.
WALSH: Yes, I mean, essentially the big mystery is, why did president Ashraf Ghani, now in Dubai in a health care center, why did he leave, not telling anybody?
And that's, of course, how the Taliban stepped in comfortably. Speaking to a former senior official, with pretty good knowledge of how this went down. But a source says it was unprecedented, the speed of the Taliban advance. They underestimated it. They were pushed into defending capitals by the Americans.
And essentially with gunfire near the palace it was time to go to save Kabul for a lengthy fight against the Taliban. But one thing that shocked me, the Taliban gave a demand to the government to especially surrender.
The man who did that was Khalil Haqqani. If you know that name, the Haqqanis are the Al Qaeda affiliates here. In short, the Taliban sent someone close to Al Qaeda to go to the Afghan government to tell them to leave.
The reason America came into Afghanistan were the people who actually told the government they were trying to support to get out. Here's what we found out.
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WALSH (voice-over): They were the final days of the Afghan government: Kandahar falling, Kabul on the edge and, then, suddenly, the Taliban in the presidential palace. Now a former senior Ghani administration official has given CNN, for the first time, their detailed account of what happened.
Before the president, the official said, fled to Uzbekistan for one night and then, on to Dubai, where he is now, there was no money with him, the official said. He literally just had the clothes he was wearing.
But why did the collapse happen so fast?
First, the official says, they had underestimated the local and tribal political deals the Taliban made to ease their advance and hoped, under American advice, to fall back, consolidating cities. But cities like the vital Kandahar fell before they could.
He said they underestimated, too, the effect the U.S. withdrawal would have on morale.
As Kabul began to look precarious, the U.S. helped focus on negotiated settlement that would lead to Ghani stepping aside in a transition. The president agreed to leave to ensure peace.
The official said the concern was war inside a city of 6 million people.
"We knew that if Ghani left, the guns would be silent."
Talks were meant for Monday in Qatar. But on Sunday the Taliban hit Kabul's outskirts. Then, Ghani's national security adviser got the final demand to surrender from a man the U.S. wanted as a terrorist Khalil Haqqani (ph), from a network affiliated with Al Qaeda.
Haqqani, a long-term Taliban negotiator, wanted a peaceful transfer of power and that the government should issue a statement of surrender.
But Ghani fled. And the official insists there was no single scapegoat here because the process was never fully controlled by Afghans in the first place.
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WALSH: Now with plenty of recriminations here.
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WALSH: Certainly, there's no doubt that the Afghan forces did crumble. There's no doubt that the sources were not particularly effective. And it remains what they could do and that America was leaving obviously would undermine their morale.
What is still extraordinary for me, the symbolism of somebody linked to Al Qaeda telling the Afghan government it's time to surrender. Remarkable after all these years.
BRUNHUBER: Shocking and doesn't bode well for the future. Nick Paton Walsh, thank you very much.
Much of the former Afghan government is no more. The ministry of health is still up and running with apparently few changes, at least so far. The acting public health minister convinced his team to stay on without any interruptions to medical care.
The doctor spoke to me the last hour about his efforts. I asked him if women would still be allowed to work in health care, under the Taliban. Here he is.
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DR. WAHID MAJROOH, AFGHANISTAN'S ACTING PUBLIC HEALTH MINISTER: The message we have received during last two days from the leadership of the health commission of the Islamic Emirate of Taliban is that they have allowed the female staff members to attend their jobs at the health facilities, as well as their offices in the ministry.
There -- we haven't observed any limitation until now. Hopefully, we have our female directors and staff members here in the office, as well as the health facilities, which are in Kabul and around the country.
Yes, it takes time. It takes time to ensure them that they're safe and to convince them to get back to offices and to health facilities. And I am working on that.
BRUNHUBER: I have to say you sound very optimistic when many are very pessimistic about -- about the future and about the future of women, whether they will be able to work and so on.
What has given you any cause to perhaps be as optimistic as you sound right now?
MAJROOH: Well, I think, at this point, I have no other options. But to convince the health personnel to join the health facilities, I -- during my tenure -- even though during the hard days of conflict, what I could do and what I tried for was to ensure neutrality and impartiality of the health sector.
I have tried my best to keep the health sector away from all political aspects of the game (ph) in the transition. Today, this is my responsibility and commitment, to -- to try my best to ensure that our patients are attended by health care personnel.
With pessimism, only thing I can do is to further enhance the environment of limitation for my staff members and deprive (ph) patients in bed from health care personnel. Let's see how the decisions evolve in the future.
But currently, I am committed to try to convince all parties, including the commission, to have the right atmosphere for female workers to attend their health facilities and provide services needed by mothers and children in these centers.
BRUNHUBER: And there is such a need. So we wish you the best of luck in these extraordinary and -- and trying times. Dr. Wahid Majrooh, Afghanistan's acting public health minister, really appreciate having you on. And again, best of luck.
MAJROOH: Thank you very much. Pleasure is mine.
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BRUNHUBER: Much more ahead on CNN, we'll take a look at the impact the crisis in Afghanistan is having on its neighbors. A live report from Pakistan.
Plus, hurricane warnings are issued for Long Island and New England as hurricane Henri approaches. We'll have a live report from the weather center. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Hurricane warnings are posted for Long Island and southern New England at this hour, as tropical storm Henri gathers strength and approaches the coast. New York City is under a tropical storm warning. Henri is expected to make landfall Sunday as a category 1 hurricane.
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BRUNHUBER: Well, there's some good news on the U.S. vaccine front. A senior federal official tells CNN that full FDA approval of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine is imminent. A Biden administration official added that it could come as soon as Monday.
Now this could be a game-changer in how some skeptical Americans view the shot safety. The vaccine currently is authorized for emergency use. Health experts hope full authorization will lead to more people getting vaccinated.
Now despite a recent uptick in vaccinations, roughly 30 percent of eligible Americans have yet to get even their first shot. Cases and hospitalizations continue to soar across the U.S. And that's causing intensive care units to run out of space. CNN's Miguel Marquez has that story.
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MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): More than 1 million vaccines reported by CDC went into arms Thursday, the most in weeks but the Delta variant hasn't slowed down yet.
DR. JENNA CARPENTER, PULMONARY CRITICAL CARE PHYSICIAN, MARSHALL MEDICAL CENTER SOUTH: At the bottom of my heart, we as the medical community are completely exhausted.
MARQUEZ: Nationwide, deaths up 62 percent. Most unvaccinated on a seven day average, 862 Americans now dying every day on average from COVID-19.
More than 93,000 Americans now in hospitals, numbers climbing towards January's record high. Cases 14 percent higher than last week's seven day average, more than 141,000 Americans testing positive on average every day. Just 30 days ago, the average was around 37,000.
MARY C. MAYHEW, PRESIDENT & CEO, FLORIDA HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION: Not only are we seeing a significant number of COVID hospitalizations but we have a much higher volume of critically ill non-COVID patients.
MARQUEZ: Florida intensive care units statewide nearing capacity, along with Georgia, Mississippi and Texas. ICUs filling to concerning levels all at more than 90 percent capacity. Alabama is out of ICU beds statewide.
MAYHEW: We are seeing a much younger group of individuals who are hospitalized for COVID in our intensive care units on ventilators. These are healthy, young 20-year olds, 30-year olds who, because of the aggressive nature of the Delta variant, are now being hospitalized. The Supreme Court ruling the governor cannot stop schools from imposing mask orders.
MARQUEZ: In Florida, in Texas, the battle over masks and schools continues. The Texas Supreme Court ruling the government cannot stop schools from imposing mask orders.
In Florida, the state ordered two counties to give an opt-out option for their school mask mandates or lose funding and face new scrutiny from the state.
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): My view is that the parents understand what's best for their kids.
MARQUEZ: The governor instead pushing monoclonal antibody treatment clinics that are being set up across the state. One of those sites, this Jacksonville library, where Louie Lopez snapped this disturbing picture.
LOUIE LOPEZ, COVID-19 PATIENT: They were so sick, the picture really doesn't do it justice because they were moaning, they were in a lot of pain. It really drove the point home as to how serious these people are.
MARQUEZ: This pandemic creating really disturbing scenes across other areas of the United States as well.
In Roseburg, Oregon, Mercy Hospital saying there was a patient in their emergency department and they were waiting for an ICU bed. One did not open in time, that person died. The hospital issued a statement about it, asking for kindness from the community.
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MARQUEZ: And in places like San Francisco, they are now mandating vaccinations to enter places like restaurants, bars, gyms and theaters. The backlash to this pandemic and this pandemic is a long way from over -- back to you.
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BRUNHUBER: Floods of people are seeking to flee Afghanistan as the U.S. President makes new promises to get people to safety. We'll have the latest on chaotic evacuation efforts next.
And these people are headed toward safety. They are just a handful of over 1,000 Afghans evacuated, thanks to neighboring Pakistan. We'll have the live report from Islamabad after the break. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and all around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
We're learning more about what's happening right now at Kabul, Afghanistan's, international airport. A source telling CNN that 14,000 people are inside the perimeter, hoping to flee Afghanistan. It's not clear how many are foreign nationals, Afghans or what permissions any may have to leave.
For a few days, anyone was apparently allowed to enter without being screened. And that same source says some Defense officials think that the evacuation process might not be able to last longer than another week.
President Biden makes fresh promises to get Americans and Afghan allies out. He insists he's mobilizing every resource to make it happen.
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BIDEN: There will be plenty of time to criticize or second-guess when this operation is over.
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BIDEN: But now, now, I'm focused on getting this job done. When this is finished, we will complete our military withdrawal and finally bring to an end 20 years of American military action in Afghanistan.
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BRUNHUBER: All right. Let's get an international perspective on this. CNN's Sophia Saifi is covering this in Islamabad. But first, I want to go to Jomana Karadsheh in Istanbul.
Jomana, while some countries are welcoming refugees, some are taking a stance against what could be a huge migrant surge.
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Kim, these are two countries in this region that are watching events with a lot of concern of how to deal with a new refugee crisis. Don't forget, Turkey and Greece were on the front line of the 2015 Syrian refugee crisis.
And they had to deal with that influx of refugees and migrants headed to Europe. They had to deal with that on behalf of Europe. So right now, they are looking at this with a lot of concern.
Very seriously yesterday a phone call between the Turkish president and the Greek prime minister -- they've had their differences. They've dealt with crises, diplomatic crises, between these two countries over the past couple of years.
But right now they're talking about what President Erdogan is saying could potentially be an inevitable migrant and refugee crisis they're going to have to deal with. Both countries are at a point where they just can't take in any more.
If you look at the situation in Greece, the refugee camps there has been full of asylum seekers yet to be processed. That have been there for years. A lot of pressure there on the government not to take in any refugees.
Greece has been criticized for pushing back, at times violently, migrants and refugees headed there, something they continue to deny. So we have heard from Greek officials, saying they're not going to sit there possibly and wait for this crisis to happen.
They have completed that border wall with Turkey that they have been working on, a 40-kilometer, 25-mile wall, that has been set up, completed, ready to deal with whatever might happen.
Same thing when it comes to Turkey. You know, this is a country that is helping more refugees than any other country in the world, about 4 million, most of them Syrian refugees.
And also, Kim, we've heard from the Turkish government, over the past three years more than half of migrants coming to this country prior to the crisis have been Afghan migrants. So they are very concerned about what is happening.
There is a lot of pressure building on President Erdogan, on his government to ensure that they are not going to have to deal with a new refugee crisis. There has been a growing immigrant sentiment in this country, as a result, primarily, because of the economic situation here.
But also Turkey showing that it is enhancing border security with Iran, trying to ensure there's not going to be more illegal crossings into the country.
And what we've heard from President Erdogan in the past few days, yesterday with his call to the prime minister and prior to then, saying, rather than European countries -- countries dealing with a strategic input, what they need to be doing is focusing on preventing that from happening in the first place rather than focus on stabilizing Afghanistan.
He's willing to talk to the Taliban and calling for more countries like Iran to try to prevent a refugee crisis. A lot of concern looking ahead from Turkey and from Greece about a humanitarian disaster beyond what we are seeing unfold right now, Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, lots of moving pieces there, Jomana Karadsheh in Istanbul. Thanks so much.
Well, Pakistan is already home to hundreds of thousands of refugees. And the country's keeping a keen eye on the chaos unfolding next door. On Thursday, it helped evacuate over 1,000 people from the wartorn neighbor. CNN's producer Sophia Saifi joining us from Islamabad.
Is the Taliban victory being celebrated there?
Or could this victory come at a cost, particularly in terms with Pakistan's relationship with the U.S.?
SOPHIA SAIFI, CNN PRODUCER: Well, you know, Kim, you know what's happening here, Pakistan has been sending out signals even before the fall of Kabul. It's been saying for many, many months, it does not have the leverage that the U.S. expects it to have.
This was, when it came to pushing them, during the peace talks, Pakistan said it would assist them in bringing the Afghan Taliban to the table for the peace talks.
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SAIFI: Even now when the government, deciding whether to acknowledge the Taliban as the official government of Afghanistan, Pakistan has backed up. Pakistan has put out a more measured response from the official channels. They said they're going to take a multilateral approach when it comes
to acknowledging the government of the Taliban. And of course, China at stake as well. The One Road, One Belt investment plan into Afghanistan, when it comes to central Asia.
The plans of linking trains from Pakistan all the way south to the port of Pakistan, somehow linking it to Afghanistan.
So there are a lot of things at stake. Of course, security at play as well. There are the refugees that Pakistan has hosted for about 40 years. We're not just talking 2001. Since the 1980s, Pakistan has had the highest number of Afghan refugees in the world.
And even before Kabul fell, early June, they said they will not be taking any more refugees into the country. It just cannot economically -- it doesn't have the economical capacity to do so.
And security; there was a Chinese convoy attacked by a separatist group in a town which borders Pakistan. Pakistan, they say, it linked to India. There are many, many powers at play. There are many moving pieces, like you just said.
And it remains to be seen how they fall into place because things are moving quite fast. There was -- there were members of the northern alliance, who were hosted in Pakistan come Sunday. So this whole week they were in Pakistan.
There were leaders talking about an inclusive government being formed in Kabul. So we just have to wait and see. Time feels a bit elastic at the moment but it's not even been a week since Kabul fell. So we'll have to wait to see how this will go. Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Thank you so much, Sophia Saifi, I appreciate it.
Some areas in Haiti have yet to see any aid even though it's been a week since the devastating earthquake. Next, CNN deals with remote towns dealing with the aftermath largely on their own. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: More international aid is trickling into southern Haiti even as the needs of earthquake victims get more dire by the hour. UNICEF delivered its first batch of supplies to the capital Friday, with more aid on the way.
But there are some areas which haven't received any help since the earthquake struck a week ago. Our Matt Rivers takes us there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Our chopper takes off with no clear destination in mind. Flying with charity group World Central Kitchen or WCK, we want to find remote villages in Haiti that still need help.
A week after this earthquake just finding out where the needs are, remains a challenge. A tip led us to Grande Cayemite, an island off Haiti's coast.
On the ground, we're told damage is actually a bit further west, which it is seen from above. Dozens of structures were damaged and the contact in town told us no one has come to help them yet, but we can't either.
RIVERS: So there was damage in that town and the people there clearly wanted us to land and the problem was there was no safe area for us to touch down and that gives you an idea of how difficult it is to access these places. Just because you want to go somewhere doesn't mean that you can at least right away.
RIVERS (voice-over): Another tip leads us back into Haiti's mountains and the remote town of Minish. Destruction greets us as we land and the charity starts to assess the damage.
RIVERS: In terms of figuring out exactly what needs what you really need to go to the ground?
JEAN MARC DEMATTEIS, BOARD MEMBER, WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN: Correct. And these areas are remote, for the cell service has been knocked out and due to damage from the earthquake. So there's no substitute for just getting out there and on the ground.
RIVERS (voice-over): There team fans out and so do we, the damage is as bad as anything we've seen. Entire blocks destroyed, near some damage lead distinct smell of bodies lingers. Amidst all the rubble there is grief.
Rose Mika Fontus' mom died when her home collapsed. My mom was everything to us, she says and now she's gone. We're just waiting for help.
Rose is now homeless, saying the government has yet to visit her town, they've had to make do with what they have not easy in such a remote place. That's where charities like WKC are trying to help fill the gap. People crowd around as the team drops off a few hundred sandwiches. Now that they know where to go, aid workers say thousands more meals will likely follow soon.
RIVERS: Of course, it is a good thing that organizations like the World Central Kitchen have identified this town in dire need of assistance. They're starting to figure out exactly what those needs are. But those are just first steps, unfortunately.
Getting those government resources actually moved into that area is a different challenge altogether. And this is not the only town affected by the earthquake there. Scattered throughout the region affected by all of this, many of which haven't gotten any help so far -- Matt Rivers, CNN, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
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BRUNHUBER: And you can find out how you can help the people of Haiti suffering from the earthquake. Go to cnn.com/impact.
CNN NEWSROOM continues in a moment.
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BRUNHUBER: The popular TV game show "Jeopardy!" is once again looking for a new host. Mike Richards has announce he will step down from the coveted role, just days after accepting the job. It comes after offensive comments he made in the past resurfaced. CNN's Brian Stelter reports.
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MIKE RICHARDS, FORMER "JEOPARDY!" HOST: Welcome to "Jeopardy!"
BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That's Mike Richards, out from the host's podium just one day after he started taping the new season.
And now "Jeopardy!," a show synonymous with smarts, is mired in scandal over Richards' offensive comments about women and minorities and Sony's failure to vet him.
STEPHEN COLBERT, CBS HOST: Everyone is talking about this.
STELTER (voice-over): Richards is a long-time TV producer and host, who became the "Jeopardy!" executive producer last year. He briefly overlapped with Alex Trebek, who kept hosting during pancreatic cancer treatments.
When Trebek died, this lucrative TV franchise needed a new star. "Jeopardy!" genius Ken Jennings filled in first and then Richards.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): And now here is the executive producer of "Jeopardy!," Mike Richards.
STELTER (voice-over): He implied that he was filling in because A- listers like Savannah Guthrie and Aaron Rodgers could not get to L.A. as COVID cases were on the rise there.
RICHARDS: It was very literally at the last minute that the decision was to step in and just keep the show going.
STELTER (voice-over): Some viewers liked him a lot. But questions persisted about his "Daily Double" role.
Was he in the running while auditioning others?
For some, it was a bucket list experience.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: A life dream for me.
STELTER (voice-over): While others were notably snubbed, like CNN's Laura Coates, who Trebek suggested as a possible successor. Some fan favorites felt slighted or shelved until the end of the season.
LEVAR BURTON, GUEST HOST, "JEOPARDY!": Who is me?
LeVar Burton.
STELTER (voice-over): The bosses at Sony who run the show went with Richards, despite the appearance that he picked himself or manipulated the race.
COLBERT: Wow, what are the odds?
Exactly the same as me getting named "Stephen Colbert Magazine's" "Sexiest Man Alive."
STELTER (voice-over): Richards defended himself when news outlets resurfaced old lawsuits.
[05:55:00]
STELTER (voice-over): Alleging he mistreated colleagues at "The Price Is Right."
Then he apologized when "The Ringer" website found his old podcasts, with a litany of offensive remarks about women, Jews, Asians and others.
Richards said, "My attempts to be funny and provocative were not acceptable."
And he pledged to be a role model. But the damage was done. "The Ringer" story hit on Wednesday. And Richards taped five episodes on Thursday. But Friday's shows were canceled. Guest hosts take over again, starting next week.
But Sony says Richards will remain executive producer and execs claim they didn't know about his old podcasts, which means the smartest game show on TV made a rookie mistake -- Brian Stelter, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Well, depending on how you feel about artificial intelligence, the next idea from Tesla's Elon Musk might be the thing you always wanted or a horrible nightmare.
It's a robot that looks like a person except it will have a video screen for a face. The idea is that Tesla's robot is supposed to do what you tell it, the boring jobs you don't want to do.
Musk says Tesla might have a prototype next year but not clear if it'll ever be for sale. But it does say the robot will be friendly at least.
I should hope so. All right. I'm Kim Brunhuber, thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM. "NEW DAY" is next.
