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13 Florida School Districts Implement Mask Mandates Without Opt-Outs; New Video Shows Military Equipment Left Behind at Kabul Airport; Life-Threatening Flash Flooding Possible in Next Few Hours. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired September 01, 2021 - 10:30   ET

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

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[10:30:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN NEWSROOM: So now, at least 13 school districts in Florida are moving forward with mask mandates without a parental opt- out, standing their ground despite threats from the state and the governor to withhold funding as a penalty for doing that. Lee County is eliminating the opt-out option beginning today. Police were forced to break up a physical altercation after that new mask rule was announced on Monday.

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REPORTER: Okay, right here. Look, right here. So as you can see, fists are now flying, all of this on live television. Fists are flying. Unbelievable what we are seeing here today.

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SCIUTTO: Joining me now to discuss is Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried. She's also the only Democrat currently holding statewide office in Florida. We should note, she is running for governor in 2022. Ms. Fried, thanks for taking the time this morning.

NIKKI FRIED (D), FLORIDA AGRICULTURE COMMISSIONER: Thanks for having me.

SCIUTTO: The data around the country, particularly among children, is concerning. The American Academy of Pediatrics says that child COVID cases are increasing exponentially. More than 200,000 kids around the country tested positive last week and you are seeing more kids hospitalized. When you see fellow Florida politicians, and particularly the governor, trying to ban mask mandates and even penalize school districts who carry forward with them, are they choosing politics over public health?

FRIED: Absolutely. I mean, this governor, time and time again, has shown a complete depraved indifference for human life, especially for our children. We are seeing cases, the largest section of cases in our state last week were those under 12 years old. These are kids. And the fact that every single parent in the state of Florida is having to make the really tough decision whether or not to send their children back to school knowing the potential classmates don't have masks or keeping them home, and then the economic impacts of keeping their children home. And even when we have school districts that are back online in the classroom, we're seeing tens of thousands of our kids, even if they haven't tested positive, that are being quarantined. So, that's a complete disruption of their education throughout the course of the school year.

So, of course, I am absolutely in support of all of our local school districts having the power to do what they believe is right for their own communities and to stand up against the bullying of DeSantis.

SCIUTTO: Last month, I just want to be clear on your position, you told CNN you don't support a statewide mask mandate but prefer to leave it up to local school districts. Have you changed your position on that?

FRIED: No, I haven't. I am very confident our local school districts will do what is right for their own communities, and you're seeing that. When the judge on Friday said the governor actually overstepped and didn't have the lawful authority to have an executive order, you saw how many school districts between then and now have, in fact, enacted a requirement for masks.

So I believe in our school districts. I believe that people should be governed closest to themselves, and that's their local government. And so I do think that local a school district is where this decision needs to be made.

SCIUTTO: Okay. Listen, I get that, I get that distinction but the public health guidance does not change based on local school districts. The public health guidance nationally, right, is that children should be masking up because, I mean, if you're under 12, they're not vaccinated, right, so they don't have the protection that's available to adults. So, why, I mean, allow some school districts, in effect, to defy the science?

FRIED: You know, because here in the state of Florida, we also know that every county is different. Every county is experiencing different outbreaks and different situations per county. The fact of the matter is that when a school district is given the opportunities to do right by their children, by their communities, that's what they're doing. They're stepping up and showing leadership. We saw that all through last year, our local school districts, our local counties and city commissioners, they did what was right because they know their communities best. And I continue to stand by our local school districts who, in fact, will stand up and protect our children.

And what this governor has done -- I mean, you saw those footage. He's creating chaos in our state instead of coming together and saying, look, we've got to do this together, this is what's in the best interest for our communities, for our children, he's creating this chaos across our state and this culture war and it definitely did not have to be like this.

SCIUTTO: Yes, people feel in power to be kind of physically angry. I mean, it's sad to watch.

The polling in Florida seems to be changing here in terms of mask mandates. A Quinnipiac poll found that 60 percent of Floridians support masks in schools, actually oppose the governor's effort to block them.

[10:35:00]

Is it your sense that as the outbreak has worsened in Florida, that people's minds are changing, that actually the governor has the politics wrong here?

FRIED: Yes. I do believe so, and especially because he's taken this war on our children. He's playing basically COVID roulette with our children's lives. When they've seen that he's playing politics, and more so his 2024 bid for president, and putting that into priorities over our kids, people are taking a step back and saying, wait a second, if this is the guy who is trying to show me how to lead my life every single day and what to do for our kids and he's not taking care of my family, I need to rethink this policy.

And so you're seeing people across the state of Florida, when we're seeing reports that our hospitals are at all-time highs, we're running out of ICU beds. We don't have oxygen. We don't have oxygen in the state of Florida, that people are starting to realize that they need to take this seriously. And that's why today I'm doing a moment of silence at 11:45 and welcome all Floridians to come together to remember the almost 45,000 lives that we've lost so far.

SCIUTTO: Well, our thoughts with them and their families as well. Commissioner Nikki Fried, thanks so much for joining us this morning.

FRIED: Thanks for having me.

SCIUTTO: Coming ahead this hour, now that the Taliban are in charge once again of Afghanistan, is there any hope for women and young girls there who finally got to go to school when the Taliban was taken out of power? I'm going to speak with a former Navy officer who lived there as a child before she came to the U.S. for her views.

And there's lots happening today. Here is a look at what to watch.

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[10:40:00]

SCIUTTO: This morning, exclusive video just in to CNN. It shows inside the Kabul airport, U.S.-provided military vehicles, planes, helicopters, lots of other equipment left behind by the Afghans, as well as members of NATO, now apparently in Taliban hands. Video from social media appears to show Taliban fighters parading new military vehicles taken from retreating Afghan forces, those known as MRAPs there, very expensive vehicles. CNN cannot independently verify the authenticity of this video.

Joining me to discuss the fall of Kabul, the fall of Afghanistan, is Lyla Kohistany. She was born in Afghanistan, fled there with her family, later joined the U.S. Navy as an intelligence officer, who then went back to Afghanistan and served. It's good to have you on, Lyla, thanks so much for taking the time this morning.

LYLA KOHISTANY, NONRESIDENT SENIOR FELLOW, ATLANTIC COUNCIL: Good morning, Jim. Thank you very much for the opportunity.

SCIUTTO: You have said you're concerned that Afghanistan will now, and I'm quoting you, go back to being a forgotten place. What do you mean by that?

KOHISTANY: Yes. I think we as a nation have been very keen to keep an eye on Afghanistan while our troops have been deployed there. And some would say even over the last five or six years, we haven't really spent much time focused on Afghanistan, but my fear is that because those final troops got on a plane on Monday and they're now done, that mission is done. I'm very concerned that the American people and the world, largely, forget about Afghanistan and that, very frankly, it will go back to being a terrorism for safe haven again and who knows how many years down the line we'll end up right back in Afghanistan because there's been an attack on either our homeland or the homeland of our allies.

SCIUTTO: Well, you're right. Even before those last U.S. troops left, a lot of Americans had not been paying attention to it.

I wonder do you believe that Afghanistan will go back to being the effectively medieval country it was when the Taliban ruled there 20 years ago before the U.S. invasion with no education for women, I mean, weren't even allowed to play music, no religious freedom, the imposition of Sharia Law. Do you believe that's what Afghanistan will look like under the Taliban?

KOHISTANY: Unfortunately, Jim, that is my fear. And that's my fear because I think the Taliban is on an incredible charm offensive. Their senior leaders are saying a lot of the right things that they need to say, but I frankly think they've been coached by our adversaries to say those things. And when I hear them say that women and girls will be allowed to keep going to school and that women will be allowed to work under Sharia Law, but when they're pressed, they can't actually say what that would look like, what I want to know is, well, what have you been doing for the last 20 years? If you've been this shadow government and you've been waiting in the wings to take power and we have signed an agreement as the United States with you, why didn't we have that in writing? Why do we not know what the future of Afghanistan has to hold for the Afghanistan people?

And we're seeing them do exactly what they say they're not going to do. We see them targeting our Afghan security partners.

[10:45:01]

We see them targeting women judges. We see them targeting the minorities of Afghanistan. We see them destroying communication towers, just like they've done for the last 15 years. They've done that during elections. They've done that to suppress communications. Frankly, I would love it if SpaceX would just flood Afghanistan with Starlink so that there is a way for us to maintain communication with our Afghan partners, because I do believe we're in that generation (ph).

SCIUTTO: Not a bad idea, frankly.

KOHISTANY: I'm sorry, Jim?

SCIUTTO: I said, not a bad idea in terms of other ways to guarantee communication there. You have a remarkable personal tie to this, and this was your home that your family fled there in the 80s, but this is where you were born. But you went back. You went back not as just an American citizen but as an American service member. Do you feel let down by the U.S. withdrawal?

KOHISTANY: I do. I along with many veterans of the Afghanistan war, as well as those who served in Iraq, we understand the rationale behind ending this combat mission, but the way that it was done, this hasty withdrawal, I'm heartbroken over. I'm vehemently opposed to. And I think most veterans feel the same way.

And we are struggling, frankly, as a veterans community. I get phone calls constantly from service members who need help processing, what's going on. And what I keep coming back to is we answered the nation's call, we did what was asked of us. We kept our homeland safe. We served alongside our brothers and sisters in uniform, our teammates in uniform and kept them as safe as we could. And, frankly, my one hope from all of this is that we also help a generation of Afghans see what life of freedom could look like, what a life of without the Taliban ruling could look like.

So you now have young boys and girls that have seen their mothers working, being educated. They're not going to want to roll that back. You're seeing men who are adults, who are seeing their wives working, their daughters being educated. They're not going to want those rights rolled back. And that's what I'm hoping is that knowledge will propel them to resist.

SCIUTTO: Yes, I hope.

KOHISTANY: So I am saddened by the way that this has ended, but I'm hopeful for the actual Afghans having a voice in their future because they have the knowledge of what freedom looks like.

SCIUTTO: Just tough to do that right at the end -- the other side of a weapon. Those involved with veterans from Afghanistan, they're expressing genuine concerns about veterans' mental health in the wake of this, including concerns about suicide. There's a reason why you see suicide numbers shared so broadly right now. You've been in touch with veterans, many veterans like yourself. Are you concerned?

KOHISTANY: I am. I'm getting these phone calls. I have retired special forces colonels that I'm working with through some of these various task forces. Task Force Pineapple, I know, has made the news quite a bit. People that call in, like I said, they just need help processing. And they themselves have PTS from their service. And now to also have the secondary PTS of trying to get their Afghan partners out, absolutely, I'm concerned.

I would ask all of us to check in on each other, but I would also ask for Americans, for those of you that are employing veterans, give them some time and space. I think about my friend -- go ahead, Jim.

SCIUTTO: No, I was going to say, what we will do, at your urging too, is I'm going to share broadly so folks who are listening now can share resources for that people, and how we all can help. Lyla Kohistany, I do appreciate your service and I appreciate you sharing your thoughts, and I know they're tough ones about what's going on there right now.

KOHISTANY: Thank you so much, Jim.

SCIUTTO: And we'll be right back.

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[10:50:00]

SCIUTTO: This just in. The National Weather Service is warning of possible life-threatening flash flooding in portions of the northern mid-Atlantic in the coming hours. That includes Northern Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and the eastern part of West Virginia

CNN's Jennifer Gray is in the CNN Weather Center with more. Jennifer, last night, I mean, I'm in Washington, the rain was biblical, and I imagine we're seeing the danger from that right now.

JENNIFER GRAY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, we are. It's not only the rainfall rates, the rain falling at one to two, sometimes three inches an hour. It's also the duration as this is falling over a long period of time. You can see the rain coming down here across those areas you just mentioned. This is a very vulnerable area for flooding because of the mountainous terrain, actually enhances the rainfall, it all flows down slope and then we can see flash flooding very quickly. You'll see the rivers rise quickly. You can also see a lot of urban flooding where we see the clogging of the drainage ditches, things like that.

Here we go, you can see those little boxes. Those are the areas that we're most concerned with as we go through the day today. So, the last 12 hours, rainfall amounts up to two inches, some areas three. We are going to see an additional two to three inches on top of that before the day is done, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Jennifer Gray, always good to have you keeping a close watch.

Coming up next week, most of the students in New York State will head back to class. And the governor has just rolled out a new plan to try to keep them safe.

[10:55:02]

School staff across the state who are not vaccinated will be required to take weekly COVID tests. Nationwide, only about a third of children 12 to 17 years old are fully vaccinated at this point, of course, no approval yet for those under 12.

And thanks so much to all of you for joining us today. I'm Jim Sciutto. At This Hour with Kate Bolduan starts right after a quick break.

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