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Tornadoes Hit Eight States; Kentucky Candle Factor Hit; Jason Howell is Interviewed about the Disaster in Kentucky; Meadows' Emails on January 6th. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired December 13, 2021 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: With this?

SHIRLEY RAINES, CNN HERO OF THE YEAR WINNER: Well, you know, I go out on Tuesdays and I feed them out of my -- out of the van and I always wanted like an ice cream truck kind of thing to make it easier. But right now, unfortunately, we're at a time where we're struggling to feed them. So that money is going to go toward food.

So one thing I can say for certain is that Skid Row will be fed from Beauty to the Streets for the rest of 2022.

I'm a mom. We have to be practical. As much as I'd love to be frivolous, we want the make sure that these people get warm meals every day, as much as we can get out there. So that money is going to go toward food, nurturing them and just making sure that they survive another year.

COLLINS: Yes.

Well, Shirley Raines, congratulations.

RAINES: Thank you.

COLLINS: This is amazing. And thank you for your work.

RAINES: Thank you, queen. I appreciate you.

COLLINS: Thank you for joining us.

RAINES: Thank you.

COLLINS: And thank you for joining us this morning. CNN's special coverage continues right now.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: A very good Monday morning to you. I'm Jim Sciutto.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Erica Hill.

This morning, more than 100 people are feared dead, many more remain missing after a string of devastating tornadoes ripped across eight states Friday night into Saturday. Officials say at least 50 tornadoes are responsible for destroying homes, buildings, towns, leaving scenes like the ones you see before you in their wake. One single tornado tracked for over 200 miles and it could end up being the longest tracked tornado in history.

SCIUTTO: In Kentucky, emergency management officials describe the devastation, and you understand it as you look at those pictures, as something akin to a war zone. A war zone.

Governor Andy Beshear says rescuers cannot even go door to door because, quote, there are no doors. And the stories from the survivors this morning, harrowing and heartbreaking.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just told her to close her eyes and she started counting. So, she's like, oh, like hide and seek, mom? So we just counted until we didn't feel any more pressure, any more wind.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's when we really saw the -- that edge of it. And it was a -- it was -- it looked very violent from the split second we saw. There was suction. You could feel it in your ears, in your joints.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're thankful for FEMA and the Red Cross and the state and all of the first responders that came out. Unfortunately, you know, they have not found anybody else, but it is still a rescue mission.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, we've grown up here. So, to see our community broken like this has been overwhelming.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to grieve together. We're going to dig out and clean up together. And we will rebuild and move forward together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Well, federal aid right now is headed to Kentucky over the weekend. President Biden signing a federal emergency disaster declaration for the state. The president will soon be briefed by Homeland Security and FEMA officials on that federal response.

SCIUTTO: We are covering this story from every angle as only CNN can. Our reporters, correspondents, guests standing by from Kentucky to Indiana to bring you the latest.

Our Pamela Brown, she's on the ground in Mayfield, Kentucky, one of the worst-hit areas.

Pam, this, of course, your home state. Tell us what you've witnessed on the ground there over these last few days?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR, "NEWSROOM": I've witnessed so much. There is so much heartache here on the ground, also so much resiliency. But the need is tremendous. Words can't even express the need. As you pointed out, this looks like a war zone. People lost their

homes. I've been walking up to people and they desperately ask me if I'm FEMA. That is how much need is here, just a sense of desperation.

But as you noted, resources, federal resources, state resources, they are pouring in here. And this morning at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time, DHS Secretary Mayorkas and FEMA Administrator Criswell, they will be briefing President Biden on the latest.

They were here on the ground yesterday surveying the damage, trying to assess what the needs are. They held a press conference. I was there. And I spoke to the FEMA administrator and talked to her about just the power of this tornado and what it means moving forward. And she said that this is the new normal, which, of course, is just terrifying given what this tornado has done to this community, where I am, alone. It's decimated it. So many people have lost their homes.

But, at the same time, there have been incredible stories of survival. I spoke to one man yesterday, Charles Sherrill. He was just going through the mountain of rubble which was his home. And I walked up to him and he pointed to a bathtub. He said, that is where I rode out the storm. I was praying in the bathtub during this tornado.

Here's a little bit more about what he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLES SHERRILL, TORNADO SURVIVOR: Because I was on my knees praying.

BROWN: In the bathtub?

SHERRILL: In the bathtub, full of water.

BROWN: And now you're seeing all your belongings just strewn about.

SHERRILL: Yes, everything.

[09:05:02]

BROWN: All your personal --

SHERRILL: The car. This is the driveway right here, and the car was here. So when it took the house off the foundation right back there where the blocks is, it (INAUDIBLE) the car up on there, right there. You can see it on the other side.

BROWN: There's a car over there. Wow.

SHERRILL: Once you go over there and you can see the car, where it just took the house off the foundation, landed on top of the car but the tub never did move. I mean it slid with the house, but this wall stayed attached to it. (INAUDIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Then he said that wall actually, he believes, saved his life because it shielded him from the debris flying in.

But so many people we've spoken to here on the ground in Mayfield, they rode out this storm just in their bathroom, in their bathtub. That is how they rode it out.

I want to go to CNN national correspondent Brynn Gingras. She has also been speaking to survivors here in Mayfield.

So, Brynn, share some of the stories that you've been hearing.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Pam, I think it's something important to underscore is that the people who live in these towns say that tornadoes don't happen in December. And on top of that, tornadoes, during the spring, happen all the time. So when they heard the warnings, it wasn't really resonating with them because there's always warnings.

One couple I talked to said they heard the sirens, they listened to them but it didn't really hit them until on the news they said "take cover." And that's when this couple made that decision to not go to the bathroom, to get outside their house and into a crawl space with their six-year-old daughter. And listen to what happened next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DE'AMONTE WILLIAMS, KENTUCKY RESIDENT: It felt like there were ten grown men on the outside of this door trying to pull it off the hinges. Clearly, if I would have let go in the slightest, we would not be here right now.

Held it so tight my fingers went numb. Yes.

GINGRAS: And you must have been terrified.

WILLIAMS: Yes, I was shaking the whole time and I was just, I heard them crying and she was telling me to hold the door, and I was just trying to keep them calm, but my whole body was shaking the whole time.

SAMANTHA BURNS, KENTUCKY RESIDENT: I just kept begging him, I said, don't let go, don't let go, don't let go.

WILLIAMS: I wasn't going to let go.

BURNS: Yes.

WILLIAMS: I would have broke every -- I would have broke every finger in my hand holding that door, seriously.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRAS: And when that man talks about a door, I saw that door, it was a piece of plywood about this thick. It is incredible these survivor stories that we have been hearing about over the last few days because, I mean, look around us. You can see where I am now. Look at this school bus. It just shows you a mangled mess, how forceful this storm really was.

One thing I really wanted to point out before I let you go is that in the distance, it may be hard to see because of the sun, but that is a water tower. Think about these midwestern towns, those icon markers in the landscape for these towns. That water tower is now just steel on the ground. It was just incredible some of these survival stories that we have been hearing over these last few days. Of course, not everyone was so lucky. There is so much loss and so much devastation to lives, to businesses, people still trying to make sense of it all.

Pam.

BROWN: Yes, they absolutely are.

I talked to Governor Beshear yesterday at the press conference and asked him about rebuilding, will they look to rebuild with more safety shelters. And he said, look, this tornado was so powerful that there's not much that could withstand the force, the sheer force, the power of it.

Brynn Gingras, thank you so much.

At least eight people were killed when a tornado hit a candle factory here in Mayfield. And right now search and rescue operations are underway as officials say at least eight others are missing.

And, last night, CNN spoke with a man who said his father is among them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZACHARY DANIEL, FATHER DIED AT CANDLE FACTORY: I know when he told me the day I seen him, that same day that it happened, (INAUDIBLE) making better money and whatever. I said I was happy for him.

SHANIYAH MCREYNOLDS, BOYFRIEND'S FATHER DIED AT CANDLE FACTORY: I would be digging right now until daybreak, I would be digging right now if I could, fingers and all, I would be digging, no gloves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: CNN correspondent Brian Todd is at a checkpoint near that factory.

And, Brian, yesterday there was hope that the feared death toll would be lower. What is the reality there today?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pamela, the reality right now, as far as the numbers we can give you, is that eight people are confirmed dead from inside the factory, eight people still unaccounted for. So the rescue operation is continuing.

We are at a military checkpoint near the factory. Our photojournalist, Rafael Rodriguez (ph), can pan into that area there. This is not the factory itself. This is one of the buildings near the factory. You can see the shovel there digging through the rubble. This is one of the real logistical issues. They've got to clear away

huge piles of rubble, like that, just to try to get to some of the people who may be trapped in some of these buildings.

I can show you the checkpoint here. This is as far as we're allowed to go at the moment. We're trying to get closer. As far as we're allowed to go at the moment to try to get into the area where the factory is. And this is a military police checkpoint.

We've been seeing trucks like this all morning going in, rescue crews, communications teams.

[09:10:04]

You've got other assets just being streaming into the complex here where the factory is.

Governor Andy Beshear talked about just how daunting this rescue operation has been.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D-KY): It will be a miracle if we pull anybody else out of that. It's now 15 feet deep of steel and cars on top of where the roof was. Just -- just tough. But our rescuers out there are incredible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: Right, all that to go through, plus corrosive material and corrosive chemicals inside the factory that the governor talked about. That's another impediment to the rescue effort. So we can confirm, eight people confirmed dead in the candle factory, eight remain missing. But the good news is that officials said 90 people -- at least 90 people got out alive, Pamela.

BROWN: That is good news.

Brian Todd, thank you.

Jim and Erica, back to you.

HILL: All right, Pamela, we'll take it here. Thank you.

Joining us now, Kentucky State Senator Jason Howell. He serves the state's First Senate District, which does include some of the hardest- hit areas that we have just been talking about, including Mayfield.

Senator, good to have you with us this morning.

If we could, let's just do a reset here, 48 hours later.

The pictures are devastating to put it mildly.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HILL: What are the biggest needs this morning there on the ground?

JASON HOWELL (R), KENTUCKY STATE SENATE: The needs are widespread. One of the greatest things we have to do now is the local officials, all the emergency management people have kind of -- working through their assessment. Now they've got to start the cleanup. There's so many things that have to happen for that to happen first. And going through the houses. They've gone through to make sure that they've accounted for everybody now as best they can.

So now the hard part starts. They're starting to mobilize cleanup now as I understand it.

SCIUTTO: Of course, Kentucky sees tornadoes, but not in December. And the scale of this one, particularly the one this quad state tornado that cut such a long, huge swathe of destruction there, have you ever seen anything like this, anything close to the scale of this?

HOWELL: Not at all. You know, we've discussed -- we were talking yesterday, this is something that you see on CNN that happens somewhere else and then one day you wake up and it happens in your community. It is incomprehensible the size and the magnitude and how long this thing stayed on the ground.

HILL: It is. I have to agree with you, every time I see those pictures, it really just stops you to think of the destruction.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HILL: As you mentioned, the needs are great this morning.

Housing is a major concern, especially with the weather turning colder. What has, a, you know, this federal disaster declaration, what is that opening up for you, and -- and how are you working with folks this morning, the folks who have lost their homes?

HOWELL: Yes, one of the -- one of the most frustrating parts of this is there's so many people that want to help and the help is immediate, and it takes a little while for this process to work through and start going. I know the governor's opened up all of our local state parks to house people on a temporary basis. We've been working with people that are just buying hotel rooms for people and putting them in hotel rooms, kind of any shelter in a storm to take care of immediate need. And then the long, hard process goes of rebuilding, finding temporary housing so that permanent housing can be built.

SCIUTTO: Senator Howell, you bring that up, and that was going to be my question here, because people can see the devastation there. Then often, after a few days, they stop paying attention. This is -- this is a months, perhaps year's long tragedy for these communities here. How long are we talking to rebuild and is rebuilding the goal here?

HOWELL: Well, unfortunately, for a lot of those affected, this is going to be a lifetime impact. It's going to affect them for the rest of their lives. Some of the -- all of their lives that their houses, their businesses, some of their loved ones will be gone forever. You can build back, but it will never be the same. It will never be exactly the way it was for them in that moment.

To your point, this is a long slog. This is -- we're talking about immediate needs now. But it's going to take -- it may take a few years to get back to some sort of normalcy, especially through the downtown area of Mayfield.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HILL: It is such a long process, a lifetime in some cases, as you just pointed out.

While I know that some of us can take time, as you said, is it your sense on the ground and from people that you've spoken with that immediate needs are being met this morning?

HOWELL: As best they can. You can't meet everything all at once. But the outpouring of support, both for material and supplies and manpower is just overwhelming almost in a positive sense. This whole process is overwhelming or the people involved and to have all of the outpouring of support from all over the state and other states all across the country, it's heartening.

[09:15:03]

It gives a sense of support and hope for people that really need it in this moment.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HILL: Yes. A bright moment in the midst of so much devastation to see people, strangers, coming together to help.

Senator Jason Howell, appreciate you taking the time to join us and continue to keep us updated, if you would, on the needs and what's happening there on the ground. Thanks again.

HOWELL: Thanks for your time.

SCIUTTO: Our hearts go out to the people of Kentucky.

Well, still ahead, CNN speaks to two sheriff's deputies who were in their patrol cars when the storm hit. Their cars, destroyed, as you can see there, but they then managed to save a young girl who was badly injured and bleeding. Heroism in the midst of the crisis.

We're also hearing from the mother of one of the Amazon employees who died when a warehouse in Illinois collapsed. She says she spoke to him just minutes before that happened.

HILL: And we're following developments on Capitol Hill. The January 6th committee expected to hold former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in contempt. The committee also releasing new details from some of his email exchanges, including one that reportedly said the National Guard would, quote, protect pro-Trump people. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [09:20:35]

HILL: The January 6th committee is expected to vote later today to recommend that former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows be held in contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with its subpoena. The committee laying out its case, including offering new details about Meadows' actions before and during January 6th, as well as his role in attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

SCIUTTO: Regardless of whether he shows up or not, the investigation continues and the panel notes that in one email, Meadows himself sent to an individual about January 6th, he said that the National Guard would be present to, quote, protect pro-Trump people, and that many more would be available on standby.

CNN law enforcement correspondent Whitney Wild has been investigating this.

I mean this goes to one of the core questions of this investigation, what, when, how, by whom the National Guard was or was not ordered to deploy to help protect the Capitol. But here an indication that Meadows was saying they would protect the rioters?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: That it -- yes, that it was at least on his radar. And so what has become clear from this 51-page resolution is that Meadows was so much at the nucleus of what was going on. I mean he knew what was going on at, you know, apparently with the National Guard, with the White House, with, you know, this list of both state and congressional lawmakers in this -- these efforts to try to overturn the election.

So this -- this resolution, what it really does, is give us much more detail about what the committee knows about Mark Meadows' actions. Some of these other exchanges include text messages he had with a member of Congress in which this member of Congress is talking about a controversial way to basically overturn the election and Mark Meadows says, I love it.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

WILD: I mean, that's just one. I mean there -- there are a list of examples. There's another exchange he had with a media personality. And this media personality was really pushing for a presidential statement to condemn the rioting and have -- well, I should stop short. What it said was that it was a recommendation that people remain peaceful and leave the Capitol.

So they're -- these communications, provided by Meadows himself, by the way --

SCIUTTO: Yes.

WILD: Are adding so much visibility into what happened within the White House, most of which has been opaque at this point --

SCIUTTO: Yes. WILD: Because, you know, so many people are bucking the committee. And it also, I think the footnotes are illuminating. Again, information Meadows provided. Now he says he can't even talk about it.

SCIUTTO: OK. By the way, the president's chief of staff at the time, which then, you know, could see if it reveals what the president knew and when did he know it.

WILD: That's right.

SCIUTTO: Whitney Wild, thanks so much.

Erica.

HILL: Joining me now to discuss, former federal prosecutor, Elliot Williams, and Zolan Kanno-Youngs, White House correspondent for "The New York Times."

Elliot, as we look at what we're learning, right, from this 51-page resolution that Whitney was just going through, these are communications that Mark Meadows, right, that are being referenced, that Mark Meadows already gave, already handed over to the committee.

What do you read into this information that the committee, right, is now sharing at this point, in terms of how they're looking to set up this narrative? You know, as a former prosecutor, what are you looking in that to connect dots?

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: I'm looking at a few things.

One, I'm looking at the fact of how empty Mark Meadows' claim for privilege is here. Now, look, even assuming he had conversations with the president that might have been protected, there's a world of information that he ought to have come in and testified about, starting with, number one, the 6,000 pages of documents. Number two, the statement that Whitney had just referred to about, I love it, where in another statement he says, I've got a team on it. So he's talking about building some sort of apparatus around support for January 6th.

You ask these questions -- you would direct questions to him about the National Guard. One, were you joking about pro-Trump people or were you serious about pro-Trump people? Either way -- the National Guard protecting them. Either way, they're intensely problematic statements and you can probe those things. And so there is a world of information that he should have come in to testify and now I think -- you know, look, I went into reading the report thinking, I don't know, this could be a close call, but they've laid out a very compelling case for holding him in contempt of Congress.

HILL: In terms of what's been laid out, what is the sense, Zolan, in D.C., right, with this drip, drip of information being put out for a reason, right, is it -- is it causing more concern amongst some people who may have been connected or is it emboldening the deniers? ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, "THE NEW YORK TIMES":

Well, look, we still have -- there's a list of witnesses at this point and we've already seen a number of witnesses that have really, as said previously, bucked the committee and really swayed towards the pressure from former President Donald Trump in claiming executive privilege at this time. Mark Meadows among them.

[09:25:02]

Beforehand, however, these -- about 9,000 documents, including emails, that he did turn over to the committee, what it does is, it really does, yes, raise concerns amongst some members of Congress, but also, you know, really raises the interest by the committee to continue to learn more here.

And Meadows, the former chief of staff, they see a window into the decisions made at the highest level of government, and by potentially the former president, amid scrutiny of why it took roughly three hours for the National Guard to get there that day.

And also it starts to raise questions as well about some of these other communications, an effort to remove some of the electors that were going to certify the election and replace them with pro-Trump electors as well. These different areas, both when it comes to requesting additional security on the day when that pro-Trump mob overran the Capitol, but also the efforts to overturn the results of the elections, those are going to be two avenues going forward that the committee is going to continue to look at and why they want to continue to question witnesses like the former chief of staff.

HILL: You know, Elliot, you touched on, when you -- when you looked at this resolution, you were maybe a little bit skeptical going in, but then seeing everything that was laid out, what is your sense here? I mean this is so -- this is so different, right, what we're seeing from Mark Meadows, so different from Steve Bannon. But what are the chances that the DOJ would act?

WILLIAMS: So the way the report's structured, Erica, they're very careful in the way they wrote it, focusing on the areas in which Mark Meadows does not have a claim for executive privilege, because if -- if the Congress were to go just, you know, say this is everything that Mark Meadows had and every statement that Mark Meadows made and sent that to the Justice Department, the department probably couldn't bring criminal charges there because of the fact that, well, this witness actually might have a claim for executive privilege over some of those things. The Justice Department can't ethically charge someone with a crime if they think they won't win before a jury. And there's a good chance that the Justice Department wouldn't think they could win if the guy's got, you know, arguments that prevent his having to make the statement -- you know what I mean, if he's got protected statements to make there.

HILL: Yes.

WILLIAMS: Look, it's still not as strong a case as some of the other witnesses. And it's not entirely unreasonable for the Justice Department to take a look here and say, I don't know if we could win this before a jury and not charge him with a crime. So, it's not bad, but it's not an open and shut case I think.

HILL: Really quick, Elliot, one of the things that stood out I know to a number of people is that in a lot of these documents that we've learned about, the committee has said these were involving his personal cell phone, Meadows' personal cell phone or personal email.

WILLIAMS: Right.

HILL: How does that figure in when it comes to executive privilege?

WILLIAMS: Yes. Well, number one, clearly he's not talking -- once he's raised a claim or made a statement to somebody else who's not the president of the United States, he's waived the privilege. If he's not using government property, he has a much harder argument for saying that these are protected communications because it's clear that he was trying to get out of having the statements be protected if he's trying to conceal them from scrutiny. So it does not look good for him if he's using his Gmail or Yahoo! account. This comes up all the time in government. Yes.

HILL: Elliot Williams, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, it's good to have you both here this morning. Thank you.

WILLIAMS: No problem.

HILL: Still to come, workers at an Amazon warehouse in Illinois had just minutes to race to shelter before a tornado ripped through that building. We are going to take you there next. You'll hear from a mother who was on the phone with her son, who was working in that warehouse just before the storm hit.

SCIUTTO: Yes, just heartbreaking.

The opening bell on Wall Street moments away. Stock futures mixed this morning. But despite anxiety, particularly about inflation and the omicron variant, the stock market is on track for another banner year. That's in large part thanks to stellar gains from just a small handful of tech stocks, including, you might know them, Apple, Tesla, Google. On Wall Street, investors are watching for one more measure of inflation to hit on Tuesday, the U.S. producer price index. And the big moment this week, Wednesday's Federal Reserve meeting, what do they do about rising inflation?

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