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Donald Trump Shows Inaction During the Insurrection; President Biden Tested Positive for COVID; Fully Vaccinated People is Not 100 Percent Safe from; Donald Trump Dereliction of Duty on January 6; Heat Wave Toasts the Entire Planet; Hundreds of Homes Charred by Fires; Airports Looked Like Sardines Packed with Travelers. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired July 22, 2022 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
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CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. I'm Christina Macfarlane, live in London.
Ahead on CNN newsroom. The January 6 committee's primetime hearing, the panel giving a minute-by-minute account using testimony from its top White House aides showing Donald Trump refused to act during the capitol attack.
U.S. President Joe Biden being treated after testing positive for COVID. We'll talk to an expert on what the long-term effects could be for the 79-year-old leader.
And extreme weather around the globe. Wildfires raging in parts of Europe and more than 50 million in the U.S. dealing with excessive heat.
Where was Donald Trump and what was he doing for 187 minutes as rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, forced the 2020 election certification to stop and hunted for Vice President Mike Pence? That was the question the January 6 committee to great pains to answer on Thursday night's primetime hearing.
According to sworn testimony by numerous insiders, Trump had become irate when the Secret Service refused to let him go to the capitol. He then spent most of the next three hours in his private dining room watching the chaotic scenes on TV and refusing pleas from everyone around him to end the violence. His closest advisers testified they never saw or heard Trump summon help from any federal agency.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): Are you aware of any phone call by the President of the United States to the secretary of defense that day?
PAT CIPOLLONE, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL: Not that I'm aware of. No.
CHENEY: Are you aware of any phone call by the President of the United States to the attorney general of the United States that day?
CIPOLLONE: No.
CHENEY: Are you aware of any phone call by the President of the United States to the secretary of homeland security that day?
CIPOLLONE: I -- I'm not aware of that. No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACFARLANE: Well, after the insurrection failed and Trump finally sent everyone home, the committee showed outtakes of Trump's struggling to make videotape remarks about the riot the next day. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF America: And to those who broke the law, you will pay. You do not represent our movement. You do not represent our country. And if you broke the law -- you can't say that. I'm not -- I already said, you will pay.
But this election is now over. Congress has certified the results. I don't want to say the election is over.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACFARLANE: Besides not wanting to declare the election over, Trump also refused to say the rioters broke the law. It's difficult to square that behavior with this chilling testimony about the danger facing Vice President Mike Pence and his security detail.
A former Trump White House aide who resigned soon afterwards, testified that she felt after Trump complained about Pence, in a tweet of the height of the insurrection. Here she is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH MATTHEWS, FORMER DEPUTY WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It was essentially him giving the greenlight to these people. Telling them that what heat they were doing at the steps of the capitol, and entering the capitol was OK, that they were justified in their anger. And he shouldn't have been doing that. He shouldn't have been telling these people to go home and to leave and to condemn the violence that we are seeing.
And I'm someone who has worked with him. You know, I worked on the campaign, traveled all around the country, going to countless rallies with him. And I have seen the impact that his words have on his supporters. He -- they truly latch on to every word and every tweet that he says. And so, I think that in that moment for him to tweet out the message about Mike Pence, it was him pouring gasoline on the fire and making it much worse.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MACFARLANE: CNN congressional correspondent Ryan Nobles is following
all the latest revelations from Thursday night's hearings and filed this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RYAN NOBLES, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There was a lot that we learned and saw for the first time in this Thursday night hearing of the January 6 select committee that they pushed the primetime, because they believe that it was some of the most important information that they had to share with the American people.
There was the outtakes from Donald Trump's speech on January 6 and January 7th where he seem to have a very difficult time saying that the election was unsettled. And it was time to move on.
There was also an amazing radio traffic from members of the Secret Service that were protecting the vice president, Mike Pence on that day.
[03:05:01]
REP. ELAINE LURIA (D-VA): As rioters were entering the building the Secret Service held Vice President Pence in his office right off the Senate chamber for 13 minutes as they worked to clear a safe path to a secure location.
Now, listen to some of that radio traffic and see what they were seeing as the protesters got just feet away from where the vice president was holding.
(OFF-MIC)
UNKNOWN: Hold. Hold. They're entering the building, hold!
UNKNOWN: If we're leaving, we need to move now.
UNKNOWN: Copy.
UNKNOWN: If we lose any more time we may have -- we may lose the ability to leave, so if we're going to leave, we need to do it now.
NOBLES: The committee showing testimony in call logs from members of the Secret Service that actually had to reach out to members of their family on that day because they feared they may not make it out alive.
Just one example of the committee showing just how dangerous things were here and then juxtaposing that against the inaction of Donald Trump, who, his aides showed were sitting in a dining room for a good portion of the time, watching the whole thing on television.
And being more angry with the fact that his Vice President Mike Pence did not stand in the way of decertifying the election results and instead of being upset with the violent mob that was attacking the capitol and trying to stand in the way of the peaceful transfer of power. Now, while this at one time was thought to be the end of the
committee's public hearings, they made it clear tonight that they are not done. And instead, they told the American people to be prepared for a series of hearings to take place in September. One of the key areas of focus could be the Secret Service, the committee just now starting to look into the role that they played in and around January 6.
They are obviously concerned about a set of deleted text messages. But there could be much more connected to the Secret Service's role. There could be a big part of what we see as their investigation continues on.
Ryan Nobles, CNN, on Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MACFARLANE: CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein joins us now live from Los Angeles. So, good to see, Ron.
This was as explosive as we expected, and the big takeaway that Donald Trump chose not to act, ignoring pleas to condemn the attack and this evidence, Ron, from his own people, his appointees, his friends and even his family. What did you make of it?
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, I think you pinpointed, Christina, exactly the right conclusion. And I thought when Elaine Luria, the congresswoman from Virginia in the final minutes really crystallized it when she said what we saw from Donald Trump over those 187 minutes was not inaction. It was an action.
He was constantly choosing not to intervene. It was an action, as she said, that was the culmination of all of his earlier actions, all of his earlier attempts through pressuring the states, pressuring the Justice Department and other measures to overturn the election.
And I think that is the biggest contribution of this committee has been to really re-frame the events of that day from kind of a willful expression of anger and heat by President Trump and sort of directing this mob at the capitol to viewing it really as the capstone to a multi-month, multi-faceted effort to overturn an American election and American democracy itself.
MACFARLANE: Yes, if nothing else, it was extremely thorough. I thought Liz Cheney made an important point in summing up, Ron, that it was Donald Trump's plan all along to declare victory in 2020 --
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
MACFARLANE: -- no matter what the facts were. And, it was in fact premeditated. So, what consequences could this have now for Trump if prosecutors bring a criminal case against him which many believe they will, and how likely is that to happen?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, we still don't know. Certainly, the committee has laid out an exhaustive bill of particulars that could be the basis of a various criminal charges against by the president, particularly conspiracy to obstruct a government proceeding, a congressional proceeding.
And the commentary that you cited the tape of Steve Bannon, his former top advisor saying before the election that they intended, that the president intended -- former president intended to declare victory no matter what is just another piece of corroborating evidence of his intent.
And we saw in the earlier hearings him being told over and over again that he did not win and he chose, you know, by people around him by people who work for him and we chose to continue spreading these lies and exerting this pressure all throughout the government and into the states.
The Justice Department is really on the spot here, I think, you know. I mean, clearly, not, you know, the goal of Joe Biden when he came in was to preside over something to return by normalcy.
[03:09:54]
By picking Merrick Garland, he signaled, the attorney general attorney of the U.S., he is signaled that he was not looking for a partisan warrior, but now Garland has in his lap a decision that will define him for history whether to indict Donald Trump where the committee, I think has made a pretty compelling case for.
MACFARLANE: Yes. I think that one of the most shocking moments from the hearings for many of us watching was the new video we saw showing what happened to Mike Pence and his security detail.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
MACFARLANE: Who were calling their loved ones at the time to say goodbye because they thought they were going to die at the hands of the rioters. Did that serve to remind people just how dangerous it was that day?
BROWNSTEIN: Yes. I mean, look, when you see that and, you know, I am -- as I'm sure many people watching around the world have been, have been struck throughout this hearing by the utter silence of almost the entire Republican Party.
I mean, you know during Watergate, 50 years ago, there were Republicans at every stage of the process and each step in the investigation who validated the findings and underscored the importance of it for their audience or for other Republicans, for Republican voters. We have not seen anything like that here.
I, mean the only Republicans who have spoken up on this committee outside of the ones who were serving on it have intended to be those who have criticize did those who have supported about it, and the most that they have done is remain silent.
And when you see the enormity of what had happened and the gravity of what happened, and as you point out the threat to the vice president, Josh Hawley who chaired on the protesters kind of skittering away, running, in effect, running for his life once the fruits of his labor had kind of, you know, played out in the capitol.
When you see all of that, their silence, I think rings even more loudly. I mean, it's just extraordinary that those like Mitch McConnell who found the voice in the immediate aftermath have been silent here as this evidence has accumulated in this remarkable hearing, which, by the way, I think has redefined the congressional investigation for the 21st century in the way they have presented it to the country.
MACFARLANE: Yes, so, Ron, let's just skip ahead quickly to see how this is going to play out, because we know the next hearing will be in September, the run-in to the midterm elections.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
MACFARLANE: Polls suggesting at the moment that most Americans don't want Trump to run in 2024 including half of Republicans. But given what you are saying, you know, with regard to Republicans in this, how are these hearings playing into that, how is it changing the dial at all?
BROWNSTEIN: That's another good question. Look, midterm elections are almost always tough in America for the party in power. They are especially tough when the president's approval rating is low as Joe Biden is now. And now with inflation at, you know, running at a 40- year-high, all of the ingredients are there for this to be a difficult election for Democrats.
But there are signs lately that the confluence of events, the January 6th hearings, the decision by the Supreme Court ending the 50-year constitutional right to abortion, and the mass shooting in Uvalde have awakened the Democratic coalition. And reminded them that the voters who turned out in '16, in '18, and '20 to oppose Trump that what, you know, the fight that they enlisted in is not over.
And so, Democrats have seen a glimmer of hope in improvement in recent polls. Look, there are a lot of headwinds still, especially that inflation number but there is no doubt that all of this, I think is mobilizing more Democratic voters than would've been mobilized simply by an attempt to run on the successes of the Biden administration.
What it means to Trump in 2024, I don't think we fully don't know yet, but I do believe it hasn't created a support as an undermine his backing the Republican Party. And that's a pretty ominous trend for the future of American democracy in many ways. But I do think it may have lowered his ceiling just a little bit.
I think there are voters who answer yes to the question that Liz Cheney asked to the very end of the hearing when you watch everything that we have seen over the past few weeks, do you feel that you can trust this person with the awesome power of the presidency again?
And I do think there are voters who may have voted for him before who are going to answer that question in a negative way. And again, not enough to eliminate him as a force in the Republican Party, and maybe not enough even to end his position as the front runner for the Republican nomination. But I do think enough to materially change his prospects of being president again.
MACFARLANE: Yes, well, not long now until the midterms -- will have an indication of that. Ron Brownstein, I appreciate your thoughts today on what was an exclusive couple of hours. Thank you.
BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.
MACFARLANE: All right Joe Biden now the second American president to contract the coronavirus. Just ahead, we'll find out what's being done to safeguard the health of the U.S. commander-in-chief.
[03:15:00]
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MACFARLANE: Welcome back. The White House revealed on Thursday that U.S. President Joe Biden has tested positive for COVID. The 79-year- old president is now isolating inside the White House for the next few days and taking the COVID antiviral drug Paxlovid.
CNN's M.J. Lee has more.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Hi, folks. Yes you heard this morning, I tested positive for COVID.
M.J. LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): More than two full years into the pandemic, President Biden testing positive for COVID.
BIDEN: Symptoms are mild and I really appreciate your concerns. I'm doing well.
LEE: The president's physician saying in a letter that Biden is only experiencing mild symptoms including a runny nose, fatigue and the occasional dry cough. And that he is taking the antiviral COVID medication Paxlovid.
[03:20:03]
ASHISH JHA, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS COORDINATOR: The goal of Paxlovid is to keep people from getting seriously ill. Because the president is fully vaccinated, double boosted, is risk of serious illness is dramatically lower.
LEE: The president promising that even from his isolation in the White House residence he is keeping busy.
BIDEN: I'm getting a lot of work done, I'm going to continue to get it done.
LEE: The White House immediately scrambling to conduct contact tracing and also confirming that Vice President Kamala Harris who last saw the president on Tuesday has tested negative.
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: He is in good spirits, he is feeling well. He is doing well.
LEE: The positive COVID test coming one day after a trip to Massachusetts. Throughout the day Biden had been in close proximity to supporters. Numerous White House aides and members of Congress and other elected officials and members of the White House press corps traveling with the president on Air Force One.
UNKNOWN: Cases are going up, what should the country be doing right now?
BIDEN: Getting vaccinated.
LEE: As the COVID pandemic entered its third year, White House officials had increasingly started raising the possibility of the president eventually getting COVID.
UNKNOWN: It is certainly possible that he will test positive for COVID.
JEN PSAKI, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Like anyone else, the president may at some point test positive for COVID.
LEE: In recent weeks, the president had traveled abroad to Germany, Spain, Israel, and Saudi Arabia and participated in many crowded indoor events at the White House. Biden now the second U.S. president to test positive for COVID while in office.
Former President Donald Trump got COVID in October of 2020 while before the vaccines were available and spent three months at Walter Reed. The Biden White House promising transparency and regular updates on the president's condition.
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We were transparent. I got the letter from -- we put out a statement as soon as we -- we did the test and we're able to put out the information. We will have daily updates from his doctor on his status.
LEE: Now there are some real flashbacks to former President Donald Trump getting COVID when he had to spend several days at Walter Reed. But when Dr. Ashish Jha was asked about that possibility, he basically dismissed that as a hypothetical question emphasizing the fact that President Biden is feeling just fine.
Now of course the president has been traveling abroad recently, he has many of these events that are crowded in the east room where he isn't masked. He is shaking hands with people. Well, the White House is saying that they have no regrets about any of that. And that they have been preparing for the possibility of the president testing positive for COVID for a number of months now.
M.J. Lee, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE) MACFARLANE: Well, Dr. Scott Miscovich is the president and CEO of Premiere Medical Group USA, he is also a national consultant in the U.S. for COVID-19 testing. He joins me now live from Kahlua, Hawaii. Thank you so much for joining us.
SCOTT MISCOVICH, U.S. NATIONAL CONSULTANT FOR COVID-19 TESTING: Sure. Good to be here.
MACFARLANE: This Sr. Scott has been something the White House have been preparing for, for months. However, President Biden is 79 years old. And this comes at a time when sub-variants are we becoming more resistant to vaccines. So, what is your assessment of how risky this is for the president?
MISCOVICH: Well, you know, the risk is with his age. If you look at the history of COVID regardless of the variant the older you are the more significant your risk is. Now, here is the president's positive. Per what they tell us, and what we have known and has been disclosed he has a very, very good health history. He doesn't have any chronic conditions. And that is very important.
So, if you would throw in diabetes or throw in some other types of lung disease, his risk would go up significantly at 79. And then the other thing that's positive for him is his weight. Being overweight is a very significant risk factor.
So, then let's not underestimate the fact he's two extra boosters and then he started on Paxlovid, all positive.
MACFARLANE: Yes. What are the chances though that he develops long COVID? Because we know that can be debilitating and last for months. You mentioned the anti-viral medicine he's taking there; will that help to prevent any of those symptoms?
MISCOVICH: The -- we'll start with the antiviral medicine. Yes. Paxlovid has been holding on quite strong. It's not as effective against BA.4 and BA.5. which is what we are expecting his genomic sequencing will show. It's likely BA.5., which is much more prominent now across the world.
It is not quite as effective. But as they did say around the use of it, it will still reduce your chances of death. It will still reduce the chances of hospitalization.
[03:24:58]
So, you know, is that as effective as it was before, no. But, you know, we are trying to keep him out of the hospital and keep him alive and it really will do that.
Let me throw something else in. I see so many patients have treated so many with it. In the speech that he gave, most people that have severe COVID that are on the way to the hospital are basically coughing probably every fifth or 6th word, so that was positive to see him so healthy. As prolonged COVID, generally it could be 4 to 10 percent. And it
could be higher. That will be long term, that would be going over 6 months. Now if we are talking about having symptoms like fatigue, you know, that would be going up to three months. He could be upwards of 20, 25 percent that he could have those symptoms.
MACFARLANE: And you mentioned that Biden is already fully vaccinated, he has had to booster jabs. So, why wasn't that enough to prevent him from getting COVID right now?
MISCOVICH: Wow. That is the -- that is the problem of the world that's facing right now. We have this what's called immune invasion. And this virus has just found a way to avoid the vaccinations and it's doing it by changing the tops of those spikes, so it just makes it easier to attach to ourselves.
And then it is replicating now. Christina, this is something that does not get enough press. The r-naught or the amount of replication that you get the contagious nature of this disease is now equivalent to measles. It's over 18.
The original Wuhan viruses around three. So, this virus just gets and more and more contagious and it does it by changing the spike which we've all seen those pictures.
MACFARLANE: Yes. Much more highly transmissible which is a concern for us --
MISCOVICH: Yes.
MACFARLANE: -- all indeed. Dr. Scott Miscovich, thank you so much for giving us your insight. We appreciate it.
MISCOVICH: Thank you, Christina.
MACFARLANE: All right. One of the most jaw-dropping days yet in the investigation into the January 6th insurrection. We're now learning chilling new details of what Trump was doing during the 187 minutes his supporters besieged the capitol. That's next after a quick break.
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[03:30:00]
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CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome back.
The U.S. House investigation into the January 6th insurrection has painted a dark and disturbing portrait of Donald Trump's final weeks in office. But Thursday's primetime hearing reveals startling new details about what Trump is doing as the riot unfolded.
Former White House aides testified that Trump watch the riot on TV for about three hours but ignored all pleas to intervene. CNN's senior legal analyst Elie Honig explains that dereliction of
duty doesn't really capture the enormity of what Trump tried to do. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: I think the tagline that we've heard leading into this hearing with dereliction of duty I actually think that ended up being an undersell for what Donald Trump did. Because dereliction of duty to me suggests somebody who maybe froze under pressure didn't know what to do, panicked under the tension of it all.
We saw compelling evidence tonight that Donald Trump knew darn well what he was doing and in fact, at some points took affirmative steps that appeared designed to spur on the mob. I mean the infamous 2.24 tweet where Donald Trump tweets out negatively about Mike Pence.
We got testimony tonight that at that point Donald Trump knew that the capitol was under siege, knew there was violence in the capitol and had received exactly the opposite advice, Sarah Matthews and others testified. We were all telling him, you have to tamp this down and he does the exact opposite.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACFARLANE: Well, closing arguments are expected in the coming hours. And the trial of Trump allies Steve Bannon, Bannon is charged with contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena to testify before the January 6 committee. The panel believes that he has information on the links between the White House and the capitol rioters.
The defense calls the charges politically motivated and did not call any witnesses. Bannon did not testify. But he told reporters he has given more hours of testimony and other proceedings than other Trump allies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE BANNON, FORMER WHITE HOUSE ADVISOR: Every time the exact same way, executive privilege, lawyers engaged, they worked it out and every time, every single time more than anybody else in the Trump administration, and quite frankly, even McGahn in and Reince, those guys aggregate, Stephen K. Bannon testified.
So, you heard it laid out today. See you guys tomorrow. By the way, by the way, by the way, by the way, by the way, by the way, one last thing, I stand with Trump and the Constitution, thank you very much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACFARLANE: Well, if convicted, Bannon can serve a mandatory minimum of 30 days in jail.
Now Britain's top spy is predicting Russia's offensive in Ukraine will run out of steam. He says Russia will face supply problems in the coming weeks, which will create an opening for Ukraine to strike back.
This, as Ukraine says the defense lines are holding steady, despite Russian ground attacks across the country the Donbas region is taking artillery fire around the clock. But as Russia keeps on attacking it's reportedly running through its stockpiles of high precision weapons.
Ukrainian intelligence officials say that Moscow has already used up to 60 percent of them. And in Turkey, negotiators will try to finalize the deal on reopening Ukrainian ports to grain exports. Ukraine's wheat has been stranded because of a Russian naval blockade which is raising fears of global food shortages.
[03:34:58]
Now, Sri Lanka has a new prime minister. Dinesh Gunawardena was sworn in earlier today. He is the member of Sri Lanka's ruling party and a former classmate of new president Ranil Wickremesinghe.
It comes shortly after Sri Lankan police conducted pre-dawn raids, including forcefully removing anti- government protesters from in front of the presidential offices in Colombo. Nine people were arrested. The new president called on the armed forces to maintain public order after weeks of unrest triggered by the country's desperate economic situation. Western diplomats urged restraint.
Now, searing temperatures across Europe are fueling droughts and wildfires. We'll look at the growing threat and efforts to fight the flames.
[03:40:00]
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MACFARLANE: Scientists say the heat waves roasting most of the Northern Hemisphere are only going to become more common and intense due to climate change. More than 50 million Americans are under various heat alerts from the west coast to New England. The National Weather Service warns that most of the U.S. will endure Fahrenheit temperatures from the mid to upper 90s and 100s today and through the weekend. That's around 32 to the mid-40s in Celsius.
But a short while ago the World Health Organization announced that the current heat wave is responsible for more than seven -- 1,700 deaths in Spain and Portugal. Those are just two of the countries in southern Europe dealing with drought fueled fires.
Authorities say Slovenia is facing one of the biggest fires in its history. Some 800 acres are burned as well in northern Tuscany, where at least 1,000 people have been evacuated. And the Greek Fire Service stamp out several fires on the outskirts of Athens that caused at least one death and sent dozens to hospital. But flare-ups remain a serious threat.
OK, let's bring in CNN meteorologist Derek van Dam. And Derek, tell us will we see more record high temperatures this weekend in the U.S. DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You better believe it, Christina,
unfortunately, that it started, it's like a broken record here in the U.S. and across the globe. From Europe into China as well. Get this, 275 million Americans will reach 90 degrees or above within the next week. That's roughly 85 percent of the U.S. population.
And with temperatures like that, you bet we are going to be breaking records. In fact, just to this weekend alone from today through Sunday, the potential to break over 50 record high temperatures exist. And look at this, a lot of the dots plotted across New England. That means New York City to Boston, as well as the nation's capital, all have potential of breaking record high temperatures.
So, right now, over 50 million American -- Americans are under heat alerts and excessive heat warnings from the southwest through the nation's midsection. But also, over the most populous part of the United States, the eastern seaboard.
So, look at this. Just updated now from Boston to New York all the way to Philadelphia, so likely these numbers will fluctuate through the course of the early morning hours here along the eastern seaboard. Heat advisory means that heat indices. That's what it feels like in your skin when you step outside, will feel like 105 degrees. Extremely warm.
Very hot across the country, you can see this is heat indices for the southwest. Phoenix at 108. The nation's capital is flirting with that triple digit heat as well. These are actual temperatures, so the ambient temperatures as you step outside. This is the air temperature, 101 degrees in St. Louis.
So excessive heat. That's the name of the game, that's the story we've been covering for several days. There is some cooler weather that will settle in across the Great Lakes and New England but we have to wait for a couple of days for that. But the extended outlook doesn't look too promising because the Pacific northwest then starts to see the heat develop.
Now we hop across the Atlantic Ocean, you can see the temperatures here to soaring across the Iberian Peninsula. That's where we have the numerous hotspots ongoing with wildfires across Spain and Portugal. Christina?
MACFARLANE: Yes. The Northern Hemisphere getting it hot --
VAN DAM: Yes.
MACFARLANE: -- at the moment. Derek, thanks very much for now. Let's turn to journalist Elinda Labropoulou who is covering the European wildfires from Parga, Greece. This has been one of the most difficult summers on record for Greece with wildfires apparently even encroaching on the capital though of Athens. What's the situation today?
ELINDA LABROPOULOU, JOURNALIST: Well, luckily these fires have now been put out, we have three large fires break out very close to Athens this week. They cause the life of one person and 34 people were injured in these fires and dozens of homes were destroyed.
However, things are looking better today. There is one large fire still raging in northern Greece at the moment. Very close to a forest reserve area. So, this is where the focus is today. But to give you a sense of scale, every day in these last days we've had dozens of fires break out throughout the country, and obviously, throughout the Mediterranean there have been hundreds.
We have been following developments and as we see, the hot weather is going to persist. In Greece alone, they have been all kinds of alerts, warnings. People have been advice not to walk in forested areas for the weekend ahead when we expected see temperatures in excess of 40 degrees Celsius. So, we are looking at a proper heat wave and we are looking at high winds as well.
[03:44:52]
So, this also brings memories of other large fires that we had in the area. Just last year a massive fire on the island of Evia that destroyed hundreds of properties and led to mass evacuations. So, now, apart from the fires themselves, there seems to be a lot of discord. You know, things are moving to what do we do next. We see that this has becoming a phenomenon. An annual phenomenon that we have every year, you know, we're moving to forest management ideas. Forest management solutions. And how the E.U. and Mediterranean, in particular can be better protective, Christina.
MACFARLANE: Yes, because if nothing else, this is also affecting the economy. Right? Tourism as well very high in the summer there.
Elinda Labropoulou, thank you very much for that report.
OK, long line and lost luggage is becoming a chaotic summer for travelers across Europe. We are live with an update ahead.
[03:50:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MACFARLANE: Welcome back. Now despite the extreme heat, European travel is booming. Bad news, it may take you a little while to get to your destination. Airports are struggling to keep up amid staffing shortages.
CNN's Anna Stewart is live at one of the most popular vacation destinations in Europe. Ibiza, Spain. Anna, I'm surprised you managed to make it there. Me, personally, I have had two flights canceled to Europe this summer already. This is causing misery for holidaymakers, isn't it?
ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: It is. And it's great when you see people out here, I've been watching sun worshippers, bags, the lounger all morning since the crack of dawn. But getting on holiday is really quite chaotic experience for many people right now. And this is due to a huge surge in demand, of course everyone wants to be on holiday. Not at least after the last two years. But airports and airlines are struggling to keep up with that demand.
Many just overstretched and understaff. So, here is what potentially awaits you if you are going on holiday in Europe this summer.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEWART: Long lines, delays and cancellations. Travel in Europe has never felt so chaotic. One of the best ways to really show you the issues is to take you for trip. We are going to go through one of the worst destructive airports in the world and to one of the busiest holiday destinations. We're going to Ibiza, Spain.
And we were quickly confronted with challenge number one. We're too early. And we are not the only ones.
What's the problem?
UNKNOWN: We can't check in.
STEWART: Once bag check in opens, this is the queue. Now my advice would normally be to don't check in a bag this summer unless you really have to. But out of curiosity, we are going to check one in any way. And I'm actually going to put a GPS tracker in it so you could see where it gets to.
Tracking the back is a good idea, particularly through Heathrow. A shortage and baggage handlers have resulted in scenes like this, mountains of lost luggage. Mountains of lost luggage.
Bye, bye suitcase, I hope to see you in Ibiza. If the queue for the check-in looked bad, look at this.
I have never seen a cue like this for security. I'm honestly worried that I'm going to miss my flight despite the fact that I arrived three hours early. I wasn't allowed to check in a bag until two hours before the flight. But this queue is going all the way from security. It's sneaking all the way around. And then it's going all the way back down to the airports and entrance ways to the far corner.
UNKNOWN: (Inaudible) flights departs within one hour.
STEWART: That's us. I'm fast-track through is getting too close to departure. So, no time for a shop, a rush to the gate only to find its delayed. But a couple of gates down, there's a slight delayed by a lot more, 14 hours. These girls and many others slept here at the airport.
UNKNOWN: My children are sleeping on the floor. He feels cold, my children, yes, it's really bad.
STEWART: I'm very sorry.
UNKNOWN: Me, I'm tired as well.
STEWART: This couples flight was started even earlier.
UNKNOWN: My flight started in Dublin two days ago, and my first flight got canceled. Then I started my flight yesterday to London, the second one, and now this one got canceled also. And now I'm here, and I hope today I will leave the country.
STEWART: Are you ever traveling again?
UNKNOWN: Not to the U.K.
STEWART: I made it onto the plane, it was now delayed. But that seems small fry compared to others. And amazingly, even my bag made it. Of course, it could all go wrong when I go back home. Maybe I should just stay here.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STEWART: I am heading back home in a couple of hours. I wonder what awaits me. I was actually shocked, though, Christie, just how many people were sleep on the airport floor worried about the cost of an airport hotel, whether they'll get their money back. And it was interesting, yesterday, U.K. regulators warned airlines that they have a legal obligation to travelers to their customers.
So, if a flight is delayed, particularly overnight, they have a duty to provide food, water, transportation, accommodation and if they can't do right to them because they're overstretched, then vouchers or making sure people know how to get compensation for any sort of cost that they have refunds.
But, top tips for me for travel this summer if you are going to try and get out of there, Christie, try and get morning flights. They seem to be less delayed than the afternoon flights. There seems to be a bit backlog that carries on. And also, taking carry-on bag. If you can't help it, don't check in a bag. Christie?
MACFARLANE: Yes, that's good advice, Anna. Especially when you're traveling with a 1-year-old like me. Anna, what assurances are airlines and what advice are airlines giving people, you know, heading out on holiday, helping them to prepare, perhaps, for what awaits them at this -- you know, before they fly?
[03:55:08]
STEWART: Airport airlines are telling everyone to arrive three hours early for a flight. It was interesting because actually if you're checking in a bag sometimes the back check-in doesn't open until two hours before the flight. All you can do is be prepared for long lines, particularly if you've got kids, making sure you have snacks and making sure that you've got drinks and water on board.
But, yes, unfortunately, just bracing yourself really. Baggage is a big problem for Heathrow. So, try to only have carry-on baggage in the plane does help a little bit. Meantime, airlines is just checking in with the airline before you leave your house making sure that flight is on time, not delayed and not canceled. Christie?
MACFARLANE: Yes. Good practical advice there. Anna Stewart there from Ibiza, thanks very much. And that wraps this hour of CNN Newsroom. I'm Christina Macfarlane. I'll have more after this quick break.
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