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New Mark Meadows E-Mails Revealed; Tornado Recovery Efforts. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired December 13, 2021 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:45]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Brand-new hour. Thanks for being with us. I'm Victor Blackwell.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: And I'm Alisyn Camerota.

Anderson Cooper is with us on the ground in Mayfield, Kentucky. That's one of the towns devastated by those historic tornadoes.

So, Anderson, just tell us what you're seeing around you.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Yes, it is -- it's really stunning here in Mayfield.

I mean, no matter how many places you have seen that have been hit by a tornado, it's -- just this really stretches out, this entire town. You come over a hill from the highway, as I did early this morning, and it's shocking when you first see it, just the level of devastation.

The Department of Homeland Security and FEMA chiefs are in Western Kentucky also assessing the damage, as the storm moved from several states, while more than 300 National Guard troops searching for survivors there.

In Kentucky, the death toll is 65. The governor told me last hour he unfortunately expects that number to climb. Officials believe that the tornado that touched down here in Mayfield was on the ground in the state continuously for at least 128 miles.

Here's the governor last hour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D-KY): We're used to tornado that rip off the roofs of our houses, and this one exploded every house that was in its path for a 200-mile swathe of destruction.

It -- there is no lens. There is no lens big enough to show people just how awful it is. And you go through -- you go through shock and disbelief and numbness and then back to being resolute, and then you do it all over again.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COOPER: President Biden will tour some of the destruction on Wednesday.

Want to go now first to Dawson Springs, which is about an hour from here. The mayor there estimates that about 75 percent of that community's structures were wiped out entirely.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is there now.

Ed, what's it like there?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, when you walk around the city of Dawson Springs and you think that if the track of this tornado had gone a mile to the north or a mile to the south, the story here could very easily have been far different.

But, instead, this city took a direct hit. As you mentioned, the mayor -- the vast majority of the structures in this city decimated by the storm. And as you heard the governor allude to, it's not that some rooftops were taken apart or anything. Things exploded.

They just completely shattered. And this neighborhood that we're in right now, Anderson, 13 people died here in Hopkins County, where Dawson Springs is located. We have heard from residents here that many of the victims from those storms were from this neighborhood that were standing in here. We know that search-and-rescue teams pulled a victim out of this apartment complex area behind me just over here to my right.

There were two elderly sisters who lived together that neighbors tell us that they died in the home in that storm.

Many people here have basements, not all. And the ones that we spoke to, like Vonda Castle, say it was that basement that save them. And when they emerged from it, they couldn't believe what they were seeing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VONDA CASTLE, TORNADO SURVIVOR: I'm just thankful that we have my mom and my sister a place to stay. Or we -- there's so many that's looking for hotels. I mean, we'd be in that same spot.

LAVANDERA: If you hadn't run to the basement, have you thought about...

CASTLE: Oh, I'd be gone.

It's terrible. And it makes you wonder if -- will they ever come back? Well, can we come back? It's -- we're just a little small town.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: And so right now, Anderson, city officials tell us they are coping with the magnitude of this cleanup process, trying to put all of the resources that are arriving here. They say they're actually overwhelmed by the amount of help that

they're getting. And the mayor told me a short while ago, saying that people are really interested in helping, he actually said, if you could call next week, that that would help us time -- give us time to help kind of organize everything they need to do.

Right now, what we have seen, people coming and going through all of this debris, trying to find whatever they can. If you look over here in this pile, we saw albums, photo album, pictures from -- ripped out of photo albums. And those are the kinds of things people are trying to salvage, a desperate situation here, as people are still trying to figure out and come to terms with what has happened.

[15:05:11]

COOPER: Yes, it's incredible.

Ed Lavandera in Dawson Springs.

Ed, thanks very much. We will check in with you a little bit later on.

We are hearing so many stories from people who lived through this storm.

Trevor Grant and Margaret Helms join me now.

Appreciate you both being with us.

First of all, how are you feeling? How are you doing?

MARGARET HELMS, TORNADO SURVIVOR: I would say that I'm just really grateful on first off that the lord has protected our family and our friends and us, but very grateful.

COOPER: When did the tornado was here?

TREVOR GRANT, TORNADO SURVIVOR: Yes, so I was at home. She was taking care of me. I just got my wisdom teeth out the morning of the storm.

So I was kind of loopy, not really paying attention. And...

COOPER: You were loopy with your wisdom teeth out when the tornado came?

GRANT: That's correct, yes.

I was on some painkillers, wasn't really aware. But my dad was calling.

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: You were baby-sitting?

HELMS: I was baby-sitting.

GRANT: Yes. He called and made sure we knew the storm was coming. And I think the adrenaline kicked in. And we started moving into action after that point. So...

COOPER: So, What do you do? I mean, you hear a storm is coming, what do you do?

HELMS: I was really supposed to take care of him. But he was taking care of me most of the time.

But we started out in the closet, but then his dad called and we moved down to the crawlspace. And we brought some...

COOPER: The crawlspace on your house?

HELMS: Yes. We brought some quilts and pillows with us. But we had the radio set up. We were listening to the game, but...

COOPER: Listening to the game?

HELMS: Yes, the high school game. His brother was playing, so...

COOPER: OK.

GRANT: So my family was in Marshall County at the time because my brother was playing basketball, but I was at home keeping up with the surgery.

So, yes.

COOPER: So what -- how long were you in the crawlspace? And what was it like when it hit?

GRANT: I'd say we were -- we moved from the closet to the crawlspace and about 20 minutes after that is when the storm hit.

And then after that, we were down there for probably four or five hours throughout the night because our house was barricaded in by trees around our woods. So we couldn't get out. Our cars were messed up and busted up, so we were stuck.

COOPER: And what happened when you got out? What did you see?

GRANT: Well, when I got out, it was kind of crazy. We don't really take tornadoes seriously here. Or at least I didn't before this one. And I wasn't expecting anything when I came out. And when I came out I saw just destruction. Our woods were destroyed.

When I saw the lightning flash, I could see the trees gone. It was pretty eerie.

COOPER: What about the house?

GRANT: The house was basically flattened. It's not livable in anymore. So we have gotten everything out we can. But most of it was ruined and destroyed.

But we have had lots of people from Graves County school systems and Murray school systems and our church here at First Baptist Mayfield take really good care of us. So shout-out to all them.

COOPER: Where are staying now? Are you staying with friends?

HELMS: I live in Murray. So I'm -- we just got our power back. But he -- some people offered him their house, but...

GRANT: Yes, we have a family friend, the Goodmans. They're letting us stay with them. So they have been really gracious to us in that. It's been a blessing.

COOPER: Have you been able to get pictures or personal things from the house?

GRANT: Yes, we found stuff blowing all throughout the yard, just lots of different old pictures from our childhood, but lots of it was lost, but we salvage as much as we could.

COOPER: It's amazing how people really come together and help one another in a situation like this. It's beautiful.

GRANT: Definitely.

This community is going to need a lot of healing, Mayfield specifically, but everywhere around here. We're just thankful to know that true healing only comes through Jesus Christ, knowing that our true problem is our sin, not just this tornado.

But through Jesus, we can be healed through his wounds. And through that, people can go into action, meeting people's physical needs, with the buildings and food and water and shelter. So it will be good to see the churches in our community gathered around the Gospel in this for sure.

COOPER: I really wish you two the best. And I'm so glad you guys are together and being embraced by your church and your friends. Take care. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Joining me now is Dr. Oscar Guillamondegui. He is the medical director of trauma at Vanderbilt University Hospital, where they have received at least 28 patients from these Kentucky storms.

Doctor, I appreciate you taking the time to speak to us.

What kinds of injuries are you seeing?

DR. OSCAR GUILLAMONDEGUI, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL: So, first of all, our thoughts and prayers go out to all those folks and the first responders that were there.

But the injury pattern that we see is typically one of crush injuries that occurs after one of these major events. The walls fall in on people. They're put in a place where they are unaware of the situation and so, pelvis fractures, long bone fractures, head injuries, the standard kind of blunt-force trauma that you expect from some major piece of the house falling on you or a factory or whatever the case may be. COOPER: You know, I mean, the sheer force of this storm, we have

heard about people being thrown. One person we talked to who was in a van ended up on the roof of a structure, had to climb down after it was all over.

What do some of your patients describe to you about how they received these injuries?

GUILLAMONDEGUI: The majority of them were involved in inside of buildings and then the buildings themselves fell upon them.

[15:10:02]

I didn't hear of anybody flying through the air. But that possibly could be the case. There's still some very sick patients that haven't had a chance to speak with us yet.

COOPER: What is the -- for hospitals, how do you prepare for something like this? I mean, do you have to bring in extra -- as soon as you hear that there's a tornado that's hit, do extra personnel come in?

GUILLAMONDEGUI: Well, as a level one trauma center, as you know, we are prepared for most everything that could possibly occur, including multiple traumas and these mass events.

And so our team is prepared, the administration is prepared, the institution is prepared. And we can surge up as we need to for operating rooms, for more ICU beds, for more nurses. And all those things occurred and allowed for a smooth transition for this entire group of patients to make it into the institution as rapidly as possible.

COOPER: Well, Doctor -- yes.

Well, Dr. Guillamondegui, I appreciate your time today. I know you -- I know how busy you are. Thank you very much.

GUILLAMONDEGUI: Yes, sir. Appreciate you. Thanks very much.

COOPER: Alisyn and Victor, it's really just extraordinary.

And, I mean, the cleanup has already begun. It's well under way. But it's certainly going to be a very long effort here.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

CAMEROTA: Every single person has an individual story, like those two that Anderson just talked to, every single person.

And those are the survivors that will live with what they just experienced through those hours.

BLACKWELL: Yes, I think about the couple that Nick spoke with. She was in the backup. He was bleeding trying to get to her. I hear that there are things happening around you, Anderson. And

usually, after the first day, there's that frozen shock, and then the work starts. What are they doing around you?

COOPER: Yes, I mean, there's a lot of work being done. I mean, there are still search-and-rescue crews going through -- through all -- they set up a grid pattern.

They're going house by house, although a lot of the houses just aren't standing. Back in Katrina in New Orleans, you saw a lot of people putting -- search-and-rescue teams putting X's on the doors, letting people know that there -- it had been searched, there was no one inside or whatever they had found inside or whomever they'd found inside.

Here, I mean, a lot of the structures just do not have doors, as the governor has pointed out a couple of times. There's just a lot of rubble. Some of it is just kind of pushing rubble into corners. Some of it is trying to clear out any personal items from the rubble around here.

There's a pile over here. People have kind of put together some generators and things that -- equipment that they found in the rubble, and that they can use to kind of work on this whole area. But, I mean, this is going to require obviously some heavy equipment.

They have had some smaller equipment here to just kind of try to clear out some areas. But there's a lot of work still to be done. We have seen search-and-rescue dogs as well going over rubble, trying to sniff out people living or deceased.

So this is going to take a long, long time.

CAMEROTA: A hundred and five people, according to the governor, still unaccounted for in Kentucky, and so he warns us that he predicts that the death toll will go up.

BLACKWELL: Yes, unfortunately.

Anderson, thank you so much. We will get back to you in just a moment.

Listen, we're learning about some of the people who died in these tornadoes.

Let's stay in Mayfield. Corrections officer Robert Daniel, he's on the right in this picture here. He was supervising inmates working at that candle factory we have heard so much about. Those inmates were on a work release program. And this was his first time on the night shift there, when the tornado just flatten that building.

His son Zachary says his father met him at a barbershop just hours before he died to give him an early Christmas gift.

Janine Johnson Williams, she also died at that candle factory. She was working Friday night there. On Saturday, her husband spoke to CNN. And he was just sobbing as he said he had frantically been searching for his wife at that site.

CAMEROTA: District Judge Brian Crick was also killed when the tornado struck. The 43-year-old judge leaves behind a wife and three children.

In Illinois, Clayton Cope, a 29-year-old Navy veteran, was working at the that Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville, when a tornado slammed into that building. His mother says her son was big-hearted and would do anything for anybody.

And 26-year-old Austin McEwen was also killed at that Amazon warehouse. He's one of six employees who died there. He's described as hardworking and kind who smiled brightly, as you can see on your screen right now, and gave a big warm hug to others.

Let's get more now on what happened at that Amazon warehouse in Illinois.

CNN's Polo Sandoval is in Edwardsville. He joins us now.

So, Polo, just tell us what you have learned about how quickly the tornado came in there and the victims.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, most of these folks that were in the facilities to behind me, Victor and Alisyn, they had perhaps 11 minutes after that warning was issued to try to get to a safe space.

[15:15:05]

And just for -- so everybody knows, we learned today that there were 46 employees, either Amazon employees or some of Amazon's partners, that clock in on Friday night. And as you mentioned, six of them never made it home alive. And one of them you, just mentioned his name, Clayton Cope. He's a 29-year-old Navy veteran. Eventually, he served his country honorably and then returned here to his community in Southwest Illinois, where he took up a job as a maintenance mechanic, servicing some of the vehicles here at this particular location.

And it was on Friday night that his mom, Carla, who lives about 20 minutes away from here, made a desperate phone call to her son making sure that he was seeking shelter. And that's when Carla told me that she overheard her son basically just urging his fellow employees to get to a safe place right now.

So amid her tears, Carla takes tremendous comfort and tremendous pride in knowing that some of her son's final actions were making sure that people were safe that night. I want you to hear a portion of the conversation that we had, as Mrs. Cope invited us into her home to learn a little bit more about her son and also as she reaches out and sends her heart out to five other families here in Illinois that lost their loved ones too.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARLA COPE, MOTHER OF TORNADO VICTIM: There's no pain worse than losing a child. And I hoped to be one of those people that had never experienced that. There's plenty of people that have had to go through it.

And I don't know that you can honestly -- you think you can understand, but I don't. And now I know that you can't. I know. I'm not the first. I'm not the last. But it's unbelievable. It's heart- wrenching. It's devastating.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: So there's certainly the story of the victims here that a lot of people are focusing on.

But the other thing too is the huge question of whether or not more could have been done to ensure the safety of the people that were inside the building.

Just to try to paint a very disturbing picture of what actually took place on Friday, according to witnesses, what happened is this tornado basically just set its sights on that building that you see behind me and just tore through a portion of the building there. And that caused the collapse of some of those concrete walls that came crashing down on some of those employees, leading to those six deaths.

And what we heard from Governor J.B. Pritzker just a little while ago is recognizing that natural disasters cannot be prevented, but these kinds of tragedies can. So what he confirmed is that you are seeing an investigation both at the local level and then we also heard from OSHA.

They will be launching an investigation into what happened here. At this point, they don't have any indication that more could have been done. But Amazon, for their part, they do ensure that all safety policies and procedures were followed, but it still should be reviewed.

BLACKWELL: All right, Polo Sandoval for us there in Edwardsville, Illinois, thank you.

Now, if you would like to help the victims of these tornadoes, we have a list of vetted organizations that are there working. You can find it at CNN.com/Impact.

CAMEROTA: A few hours from now, the House select committee will vote on whether or not to refer Mark Meadows for criminal contempt. So we will tell you what Meadows' attorney is now saying ahead of this vote.

BLACKWELL: And President Biden is expected to speak with Senator Joe Manchin again today, one of the holdouts for passing his social safety net package.

We will talk about the changes Manchin is looking for before he will vote to support that bill.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:23:07] BLACKWELL: The January 6 Committee is expected to vote later today to recommend the former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows be held in contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with its subpoena.

Now, the committee believes Meadows is a key insurrection witness and it's releasing evidence to lay out its case.

CAMEROTA: It includes an e-mail Meadows sent the day before the riot saying the National Guard would be present to -- quote -- "protect pro-Trump people" and that many more Guardsmen would be on standby.

CNN legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid joins us now.

So, Paul, what more do we learn in these new documents?

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, of course, before he stopped cooperating, Meadows handed over thousands of pages of documents.

And the committee has said, look, if you had any privilege protections, you waived them, at least for these materials. So come in and answer questions about what you have already given us.

But he has refused to do that. And what's interesting is, in this report, they really lay out new details about what he's already revealed and what they would have asked him if he had showed up. You see why they view him as such a critical witness.

For example, according to the report, as you just noted, Meadows sent an e-mail saying the National Guard would be present to -- quote -- "protect pro-Trump people" in the lead-up to the insurrection. And the panel says it wants to know more about whether Trump was engaging in discussions regarding the response of the National Guard, which was delayed for hours as the violence escalated at the Capitol.

Now, Meadows also exchanged text messages with and provided guidance to an organizer of the January 6 rally on the Ellipse after the organizer told him -- quote -- "Things have gotten crazy and I desperately need some direction, please."

Now, it's important to note the committee is not just interested in January 6. They're also interested in the weeks leading up to January 6, and specifically Meadows' involvement in efforts to undermine the election, including apparent efforts to encourage legislators in certain states to send alternate slate of electors to Congress.

Now, according to this report, Meadows responded -- quote -- "I love it" to a message about this and to a similar message saying -- quote -- "Yes, have a team on it."

[15:25:07]

Now, this morning, just hours before the content vote, Meadows' attorney sent a letter to the committee asking them to reconsider. Attorney George Terwilliger argued -- quote -- "The contemplated referral would be contrary to law," because his client, he argues, is a senior official, who made a -- quote -- "good-faith invocation of executive privilege and testimonial immunity."

But the committee members have repeatedly pointed out that Meadows cannot claim privilege over materials he's already turned over. They have plenty of questions. But what's not clear is, if this is referred to the Justice Department, if Meadows will be prosecuted. It's a much more complicated case than that of Steve Bannon, because Meadows has engaged, he has handed over documents, and was, of course, a senior administration official at the time.

CAMEROTA: OK, Paula Reid, thank you for the update.

BLACKWELL: We're just getting this in.

The Supreme Court has turned away emergency request from health care workers, doctors and nurses in New York to block the state's vaccine mandate.

CAMEROTA: So this dispute stems from three nurses and a group called We the Patriots USA, which challenged the vaccine mandates. They argued that it allowed exemptions for those with medical objections, but not for people with religious objections.

So New York Attorney General Letitia James said that the emergency rule requiring vaccinations is necessary to combat the spread of the virus. Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas dissented from this.

BLACKWELL: The Michigan school shooting suspect was in court today. You will remember that he pleaded not guilty to several charges, including terrorism.

We will tell you what happened.

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