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Manchin Expected to Speak with Biden Today; Tornadoes Created a 200+ Mile Path of Destruction; Medical Examiner: Daunte Wright Died from Gunshot Wound to Chest; 100+ Feared Dead, 65 Confirmed Killed in Storms in Kentucky. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired December 13, 2021 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Senator Joe Manchin says he still has serious concerns about President Biden's trillion-dollar social spending bill.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: And Manchin expects to speak with the president today to discuss what it will take to get the bill passed by the Dems preferred Christmas deadline. CNN's chief Congressional correspondent Manu Raju spoke with Senator Manchin about his concerns. Manu, have his concerns changed because it seems like he's been consistent over a period of time? Are there new concerns?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, he's want some serious changes to the bill, Victor, and Alisyn. The structure of the Bill he's objecting to. Because a number of the measures in this proposal would be temporary. Would be designed so they would expire over a certain number of years. Manchin believes that hides the true cost of the bill. And what he said to me and others this morning, that he wants to see those programs extended just to be transparent to voters, about how much this bill would actually cost. The

But if they were extended, it would take a significant amount of time to rewrite legislation. It would also drive up the cost, which is much higher than what Joe Manchin wants, indicating that Christmas deadline will be difficult to reach.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D-WV): And if it's in the 17 range, then we should be spending whatever in that range as far as I'm concerned, if it's -- whatever plan it would be, pre-K, child care, and home care, then it should be ten years. Ask me about inflation, it's not transitory. It's alarming, it's going up. Not down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: So that is one of his big concerns too, about inflation. He has been saying that for quite some time, and with the release of that report last week, so showing a key inflation measure, rising to the highest level in about 29 years. That has renewed the Senator's concerns about this bill exacerbating inflation. Of course, the White House argues that it would do the opposite, but that is a discussion that the president and Joe Manchin plan to have later today. And will that be enough to get the West Virginia Senator ready to go forward. That's a big question.

Also, a big question, guys, they still have to finish drafting the bill, getting it vetted by the Senate Parliamentarian. That's not done either, which is raising the expectation here then a punt yet again.

CAMEROTA: OK, Manu, tell us what's happening with Speaker Pelosi. Is she hinting she might stay on as Speaker after the midterm elections and possibly beyond and what does that mean?

RAJU: Yes, she's making it clear that she's expected to stay at least through the end of this Congress. There has been some speculation, perhaps you could hang it up early, but she plans to push through to try to help Democrats keep the majority, which is imperiled at this point. And our colleague Isaac Dovere reports that she also plans to file for reelection again.

Now, the question will be if the Democrats lose the House majority next year, will she try to stay on as the minority leader or will she step aside? She did make that promise before that this could be her last Congress, atop the Democratic Congress, will that change, will she change her vow, and how will that be impacted amid a Republican wave, potentially next year, all big questions for the Speaker going forward -- Guys.

BLACKWELL: All right, Manu Raju for us on Capitol Hill. Thank you.

Up more on the storms now, you know the tornadoes struck when most people typically would be asleep. We're going to hear from two storm chasers who were right in the middle of this. They can tell us what made this storm so different.

[15:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR, Well, the confirmed death toll from Friday night's tornadoes now stands at 65 people here in Kentucky, 65 lives lost. Sadly, that number is expected to go higher, according to the governor. In Warren County alone, the coroner says 15 people were killed, the youngest just four years old, the oldest 77.

One twister that tore through Kentucky was on the ground 128 miles in this state. And they're still studying to see, it might have been on the ground longer. It leveled nearly everything in its path including hundreds of homes and businesses. Mayfield's mayor -- Mayfield is the town we're in right now -- says the buildings are now just match sticks. Kentuckians are showing a lot of resilience, of course. One couple that owns a restaurant in Mayfield that was destroyed spoke on CNN earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WAYNE FLINT, OWNED RESTAURANT DESTROYED BY TORNADO: And I'm going to try to hurry and get this restaurant back up because I feel like this will give people hope.

[15:40:00]

You know, if I can say it's 2 by 4s up and start building some walls, then people say, well, we're not done. You know, we're going to go back.

SUZANNE FLINT, OWNED RESTAURANT DESTROYED BY TORNADO: And they're our friends. You know, they're our family.

W. FLINT: Everybody here, I mean, you know, it's a pretty tight community here. And you can walk out of here every day, and like you said, you can look at all of this, and you can keep looking at it until you decide you're going to move because there's nothing here. Somebody's got to get something going here to give people hope.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Here with me now, storm chaser Michael Gordon and meteorologist and storm chaser Simon Brewer. Michael, you captured a lot of images that have seen you -- you got very early to the candle factory which really got a direct hit.

MICHAEL GORDON, STORM CHASER: Yes, as I made my way to the candle factory, I noticed a lot of flashes lights, a lot of volunteers, a lot of EMT personnel rushing to do what they had to do. They were pulling multiple pieces of rubble piece by piece to free some of the employees there at the candle factory from the rubble.

COOPER: Simon, I mean, you have been doing this a long time. Just in terms of what, you know, the things you have seen, the storms you've tracked, how does this compare.

SIMON BREWER, METEOROLOGIST: This is very similar to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, back in 2011 during that big super outbreak. Really intense path, really long path, this one's about three times the length of the Tuscaloosa tornado.

COOPER: They said this was on the ground 128 miles, and maybe even longer. The National Weather Service is still studying it.

BREWER: Yes, yes, so the weather service is going to find out whether this was a single path or not. If it is a single path, and we're pretty sure it probably is, yesterday we spent all day looking for the beginning of the path, and we think we found it near Greenfield, Arkansas, yesterday. But it's pretty, pretty incredible event.

COOPER: Yes, I mean, I was just some coming here this morning in Mayfield, you know, driving over the sort of hill from the highway and suddenly, you know, it seems normal on the highway, you know, you see trees down, but suddenly you turn, you get over the hill, and it's just stunning to see the town all flat.

GORDON: Yes, when I pulled into town after I came from the candle factory, I came back around on 69 and actually came from right behind where I'm standing now. And parked my truck, and the roads were completely impassable. I actually got out and helped some people as we went to some of the homes behind me about a few blocks back and started help searching for any survivors or anyone that was caught in the damage.

COOPER: How does it look -- I mean, you've been around these areas now for days, I mean, a lot of progress has already been made. I mean, people immediately started clearing roads, clearing areas.

GORDON: Yes, like I said, when I got out of my truck, I had a -- there was actually a backhoe already starting to clear the road out in front of me. And then behind a few blocks back, they had a bulldozer that was already pushing any of the debris power lines down. I know there was still a lot of concern in regards to the power lines being down, and if they were still live.

But there was a lot of people that -- I mean, the volunteers were in every direction. I mean, you look around and they were out there with their flashlights, head lamps, whatever they could do to help this community. I also back at the candle factory near where the search and rescue team efforts van was, I believe there was probably roughly 100 to 150 volunteers there ready to go. You know, literally an hour after the event.

COOPER: You know, I mean, you've seen a lot of storms. I think unless you have been to a place where there's a tornado or you have lived through a tornado yourself, it's hard to really understand just the power of the storm up close.

BREWER: Yeah, yeah, tornadoes are incredibly powerful. They're the fastest ones on earth, really, and research has been done that sometimes the velocities, like the vertical velocities at the surface are like 600 to 700 miles an hour. We rate tornados within like an EF- 5, over 200 miles per hour. But really some of those vertical velocities, like lofting some of the debris 600 miles an hour. That's how you see like pavement getting peeled and ground scouring. We found ground scouring near today over near Princeton.

And really the strongest damage to like homes that we found was in Princeton, and that was high end EF-4 damage. And we've been along so much of the path in the past couple of days, like surveying damage, it's incredible. You can be right here, complete devastation, a block over, fine. Which helps with the rescue effort. All the volunteers, they can come right in. They're your neighborhoods, you know.

COOPER: I heard there's a CVS that still has supplies and stuff that people can go to, but all around it has been hit.

[15:45:00]

BREWER: Yes, yes, yes, so like a CVS down the street might still have power but up the street complete devastation. It's not like a hurricane where everybody evacuates, and the destruction comes in, and it takes for everyone to come in, no, your helpers are all around you, you know.

COOPER: I appreciate you guys talking to us. Thanks so much. Appreciate it. And remarkable things that you have been seeing. Alisyn, Victor, back to you.

CAMEROTA: Anderson, it's fascinating to hear from those guys who have studied tornadoes to the length that they have. And also, as you were talking, we were watching the aerial view. So as far as the eye can see, I mean everything you see around you is obviously devastation.

And then just as you have been pointing out, Anderson, for hundreds -- you know, for 200 miles, it stretches and you see the same thing. It's incredible to see these shots.

Anderson, thank you very much for being on the ground for us and all of that reporting, we'll check back with you.

Meanwhile, there's other news we have to get to. The trial for the former police officer that shot and killed Daunte Wright enters its second week with the medical examiner on the stand. So, we're live outside the Minneapolis courthouse, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:50:00]

CAMEROTA: The Michigan school shooting suspect faced a judge today. 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley appeared remotely for what was supposed to be a probable cause hearing but that's now been postponed until early January because prosecutors say they need more time to go through all of the evidence.

Crumbley's attorney asked that he be moved to a facility for children. That request was denied. Crumbley is being charged as an adult with terrorism and four counts of first-degree murder among other crimes.

BLACKWELL: Testimony in the trial of former Minnesota police officer Kim Potter continued today. Prosecutors called the county medical examiner to the stand. And he told jurors Daunte Wright died from a single gunshot wound to the chest with the bullet striking Wright's heart. He ruled Wright's death a homicide.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Approximately how much blood did you recover?

DR. LORREN JACKSON, HENNEPIN COUNTY, MEDICAL EXAMINER: So, the combined volume from both sides of the chest, so around the right and left lungs and the heart were over three liters of blood.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And three liters, why is that significant?

JACKSON: That's significant because an individual of Mr. Wright's size would have approximately 4.5 to 5.5 liters of blood in his entire body and when you lose half of that rapidly, your condition becomes critical.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you say critical, what does that mean?

JACKSON: It's a life-threatening situation. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And with respect to loss of consciousness, how

long does it take for someone to lose consciousness after an injury like this?

JACKSON: Well, one can lose consciousness within 10 to 15 seconds after blood supply is cut off to the brain.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Well, Saturday's tornadoes ripped through small towns in Kentucky and Illinois. Homes, businesses livelihoods here were destroyed. But in the middle of the disaster, there have been so many moments of hope and humanity. We have those stories, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:55:00]

COOPER: It's something we have seen time and time again over the years in places where terrible things have happened. We're witnessing so many people stepping up and doing good for others. Two deputies in Graves County, Kentucky, were inside their cars during the tornado. They risked their safety to save a young girl who was injured.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SGT. RICHARD EDWARDS, DEPUTY, GRAVES COUNTY, KY: We could hear somebody screaming for help.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When we heard the screaming, I ran back and grabbed my medic bag and then we took off to the house.

EDWARDS: You got so much adrenaline going. You go back to your training. And you know, that's just what we do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just muscle memory. Just, you know, what I knew had to be done.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: It's what had to be done he said. You can see the damage to their patrol car that shows the danger they were facing.

BLACKWELL: In Dawson Springs, Kentucky, an elderly couple lost their home. They shared this home for 60 years but they're alive thanks to some people who found them and saved them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was rain and it's cold. And I was worried about that. But I had a light with me so I flashed the light. And somebody saw the light and came over. Two nice young men and one of them took their coat off and gave it to my wife. They said they'd come back and about two hours they came back with help.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CAMEROTA: And then there's Jim Finch who drove half an hour from Paducah, Kentucky, with a grill and a truckload of food and parked right in the middle of Mayfield. He said, quote, it just needed to be done. Professional food truckers from Louisville are also showing up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATHERINE APHAIVONGS, FOOD TRUCK OWNER: I don't have the money sitting there to spend, but I can send me and food. I had other food truckers who just said, yeah, let's do this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Yes, and what's great is -- and you said it, Anderson, is that we often see and hear these stories and we're just getting the beginning of them. Because, of course, there will be people from around the country who are flooding in money, who are flooding in resources, coming to feed people. We're going to continue to see these stories.

COOPER: Yes, I mean, it is really the best of us, and it is in times like these when people really come together and certainly in our country today, that's something, you know, we certainly -- it's really a joy to see people coming together.

[16:01:00]

CAMEROTA: Yes, it is. And just people who can identify a need and they swing into action to fix it.

BLACKWELL: All right. Anderson, thank you for the reporting there. If you would like to help the tornado victims, we have a list of vetted organizations that on the ground there. You can find it at CNN.com/impact.

CAMEROTA: OK. And "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.