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Taliban Violently Disperse Women Protesters; DOJ Removes 11 Sets Of Classified Documents From Mar-a-Lago; Gov. Abbot Agrees To One Debate With Democrat O'Rourke; Gov. Abbott Draws Criticism for Busing Migrants Out of Texas; Ukraine: Fierce Fighting Rages In Donetsk; Russia & Ukraine Trade Accusations Over Nuclear Plant Shelling; Heat, Drought Creating Dangerous Conditions Across Europe; Rain Pours Into Las Vegas Casinos And Floods Streets In Wettest Monsoon Season In Decades. Aired 1-2p ET
Aired August 13, 2022 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[13:00:03]
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: That display of violence coming after more than 50 women took to the streets of Kabul demanding rights like food, work and freedom. Their protests happening almost a year after the city fell to Taliban rule following the withdrawal of U.S. troops. And since then the situation has rapidly deteriorated. Startling new findings from Save the Children, 97 percent of families struggling for enough food to feed their children.
Almost 80 percent of the children they spoke with said they've gone to bed hungry in the last 30 days. And Afghan girls are almost twice as likely as boys to frequently go to bed hungry. And nearly half of the girls say they are not attending school compared to 20 percent of the boys. And tomorrow, Fareed Zakaria sits down with former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to ask him why he left the country during that turbulent time as U.S. forces withdrew. The fall of Kabul one year later airs tomorrow at 10:00 a.m.
All right. Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. And we're getting a clearer picture now of the Justice Department's investigation of former President Trump following the FBI search of his Florida home. Court documents unsealed on Friday are giving new details about what the DOJ removed from Mar- a-Lago and what potential crimes they're investigating.
Agents say they recovered 11 sets of classified documents. At least one was marked as top secret SCI, which is one of the highest levels of classification. So far the DOJ has not filed any charges. And new today, the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI say they are investigating violent threats made against federal law enforcement, courts, government personnel and facilities in the wake of the FBI search warrant.
The FBI says the number of threats against the Bureau are unprecedented. CNN's Katelyn Polantz is here with details on all of this. Katelyn, what more are you learning about exactly what the FBI may have seized? KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, Fred, when we were going into this week, right as we learned about the search and seizure at Mar-a-Lago, the question was, is this just run of the mill presidential records that Donald Trump didn't give back at the end of the presidency? And we can say from what we learned yesterday that the answer appears to be no.
That it is a more serious collection of material that was at Mar-a- Lago and potentially not protected in the way that the U.S. government would want it to be when you look at the receipt for property. So it's a three pages out -- it's three pages outside out of this seven pages that were released yesterday in court. The receipt shows an itemized list what was taken out of Mar-a-Lago what was this receipt was given and signed by the president's lawyer, Christina Bobb.
And it says that there were 33 different items removed as part of this ongoing criminal investigation, and that 11 items on that list are miscellaneous secret, confidential or top secret documents. So that is classified documents. And one group of this in a leather bound box of documents is top secret SCI documents. That's some of the most protected secrets of the national defense of the U.S. government.
So that what was -- that was what was at Mar-a-Lago, and what is now back in the hands of the federal government.
WHITFIELD: And so Katelyn, what do we know now about the potential crimes that they're investigating?
POLANTZ: Right. Well, Fred, whenever they take these things out, they are looking for evidence of a crime, not a charged crime yet, and one of the big questions when we were looking for this search warrant, when we were waiting for it to be released was what exactly was being investigated here. The documents delivered on that and the federal government, the Justice Department outlined three different crimes that were under investigation in the warrant.
The two that I'm going to highlight that are the most serious are obstruction of justice. So the potential destruction or altering or falsification of a record in a federal investigation, that is a serious charge, Donald Trump has been investigated for that before and was not charged when he was sitting as president. And then the other thing that is under investigation is the Espionage Act, whether or not there was the gathering, transmitting or losing information that was so critical to the national defense that it could harm the United States if it fell into the wrong hands.
And one thing that's important to remember about these items -- these different statutes that are being investigated, in this particular probe is that none of these laws specify that there must be classified information here. It just has to be harmful or somehow mutilated.
WHITFIELD: All right. Katelyn Polantz, thank you so much for that. All right. Let's go even deeper on this with CNN national security analyst Juliette Kayyem and former general counsel for the National Security Agency Glenn Gerstell. Good to see both of you. So Glenn, let me begin with you. [13:05:07]
WHITFIELD: The New York Times just reported that one of Trump's lawyers signed a statement back in June telling the Justice Department that all classified documents had been returned. Yet the search on Monday turned up even more. So CNN has not confirmed this information yet. But what could that potentially mean for the former president and his legal team?
GLENN GERSTELL, FORMER GENERAL COUNSEL, NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY: Well, it certainly complicates the picture. It could also indicate that perhaps others in addition to President Trump might be in legal peril, because if they assisted him in improperly removing documents from the White House, that should have been kept under lock and seal. Maybe they too, are liable.
But certainly the president -- former president bears responsibility for knowing what documents he took back to Mar-a-Lago. And the statutes that the government has listed in the search warrant, there were three specific statutes as we just heard. None of them refer to classified information, none of them refer to declassification. Two of them refer generally to safeguarding government documents.
The third, the Espionage Act refers to national defense information. And in theory, even if something was declassified, it still might be national defense information.
WHITFIELD: So what does that say to you that there was that exclusion?
GERSTELL: Well, I think it's interesting to see what the government didn't cover in the search warrant. They did not put in a statute that specifically refers to classified information. And why is that? I suspect because the Department of Justice and let's remember, this went up to the attorney general himself, who actually signed off on the search warrant, a very unusual circumstance, they obviously knew that this was potentially explosive.
So they wanted to be on rock solid ground. The fact that this search warrant didn't reference classified -- a crime relating to classified documents, to me suggests they wanted to rely on statutes that apparently on their face look like they have been violated. They wanted to be on a little more secure ground and not reach inappropriately. And I have to say on its face, the facts we've heard already presents very troubling news in that regard.
WHITFIELD: So Juliet, I mean, this set of top secret SCI documents seized by the FBI under normal circumstances, who would have access to those items? And where would they be kept?
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, they would be kept in -- essentially what would be a skiff, a secure, compartmentalized room. They would be viewed in that room just to give a flavor for it, you're not allowed to bring in your phones or any devices that could capture anything. You go into a room, there's a lock pad, the room some time is secured. There's background noise. So just in case a foreign enemy is trying to listen in, there is sort of white noise behind it, just to give a sense of how serious we take this information and I really just can't stress enough how accurate Glenn's assessment of what is going on here really is. And I think one helpful way to think about it is the classification debate that we're having, as I was just describing the T.S. and different levels.
Top secret is I think about carelessness. It is -- it is about a former president who carelessly took our -- the United States, important national security secrets, and it's just like hanging out at his hotel in Florida. We don't know who's there. We know the Chinese have tried to spy there. We know just random public people are there. So that's about carelessness. On the search warrant, that's where you're getting the legal complexity that Glenn is describing which is we don't care about that carelessness.
All we know is there is information that has either been destroyed, kept from us, transferred publicized in ways that undermine America's national security interest. So there really are two different issues that are related. Of course, a careless former president is more likely to destroy hide or publicize confidential information.
WHITFIELD: And Juliet, more on the whole declassification just for many of us who don't know how it works. I mean, one set of the documents listed as various classified T.S. or SCI documents, top secret, secret, the compartmented information which is highly classified category of, you know, government secrets. So could the former president have declassified something like that unilaterally, himself, and also claimed responsibility for being able to move them on his own?
KAYEMM: Well, I mean, this is just one of those procedural things that we all have to sort of run around. The, you know, the poll just answering a basic question.
[13:10:06]
In some theoretical moment if the president needs to declassify something because he needs something to get out in some emergency? Sure. No one actually thinks that almost two years out of -- that he's out of government that all of a sudden, he's asserting a right about information and boxes of information and photos that he hadn't asserted before. And the -- and the tell here of why we know that they think the claim is bogus is because he did at one stage give up information.
So in other words, he was asked for some boxes, he gives some, he keeps others, right? So it cannot be that all of a sudden, he's making a claim. And I want to - I want to be clear here because I think these classifications can sound like oh, everything is, you know, everything's classified, it doesn't matter. T.S. SCI is really serious. I mean, it tends to be I don't -- I rarely saw it because in my role in Homeland Security, I wouldn't need to know certain things.
I might need to know that a threat level is higher or a certain place might be under threat. I don't need to know the name of the -- of the person they're going after or that we have human assets in Afghanistan going after terrorists. I don't need to know that. And so, that's why we have those distinctions. There's information someone like me might need to know, as compared to someone who's running the CIA or of course, a president of the United States.
WHITFIELD: So Glenn, you know, how solid would it be that the president says I declassified him? And so there, he feels like he has the right to move it -- remove it. At the same time he's also admitting to one of those, you know, charges, right? One of those areas of investigation which is the possession of the government documents.
GERSTELL: Exactly.
WHITFIELD: But again, no formal charges. These are just the areas of the investigation.
GERSTELL: No formal charges. But on the face, on the face of it just from what we know now, it certainly looks very difficult. As I said, some of the statutes don't have anything to do with declassification. So even if we were to believe the president's tweet that he just declassified all this information because as the boxes were leaving the White House, he waved his hand over them and said they're all declassified without putting it in writing or specifying which ones they are.
Or his statement that when he took documents upstairs to the White House residence on the second floor, they were automatically deemed declassified. That doesn't make any -- number one it doesn't make any sense. There's a lot of formality associated with this. But it can't possibly be the case that the president could claim he has the power unilaterally to declassify things. There are some things in statutes, for example, are matters relating to our nuclear weapons program that the president has no power to declassify.
They're just automatically secret forever and the president can't count declassified them. And if he were to say, oh, well, I declassified it. That isn't necessarily going to be a defense to these crimes, which have nothing to do with whether it's classified or declassified, they just involve improperly handling government documents. And let's be clear, this is not taking a stapler from your old employer or a stack of post it notes from the Department of Agriculture.
We're dealing -- as Julie just said, with the nation's most sensitive secrets, and apparently volumes of them. So his only defense is that I was negligent, or it was an accident. And, frankly, negligent and accident could still get you in trouble under these statutes.
WHITFIELD: Right. And the question still has to be asked and the answer still needs to be given. And what was the intent anyway? I mean, why do you need these things? I mean, what -- what's next? OK. And then just, you know, Glen, to reiterate. The messaging coming from the former president now is not on Twitter but it's on his own social media platform. So he has --
(CROSSTALK)
GERSTELL: Sorry. You're correct. You're correct.
WHITFIELD: Just for those who are following him still. All right, Glenn Gerstell and Juliette Kayemm, thank you so much.
KAYEMM: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: Good to see you. All right. There are very specific rules for how presidential documents are preserved and handled. Here's CNN's Brian Todd.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The historic FBI raid at Mar-a-Lago was related to Trumps possible mishandling of presidential documents, potentially even some that were classified that he might have taken to his Florida home -- a move that experts say would be way out-of-bounds.
NORM EISEN, FORMER WHITE HOUSE ETHICS SZAR: A former president should not have classified and top secret documents unless the current president and the current administration have authorized it.
TODD: Even unclassified White House documents experts say are supposed to be handled through a certain process and are not supposed to leave the government's possession, even when the president who generated those documents leaves the White House. CNN previously reported that the National Archives earlier this year recovered boxes that Trump took with him that not only contains documents but also personal mementos like a so called Love Letter he'd gotten from North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.
[13:15:10]
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I just got a great letter from Kim Jong-un.
TODD: But taking even personal correspondence when a president leaves the White House without clearing it first is not usually allowed experts say.
EISEN: It was addressed to an American president. Those originals have to be preserved by law. Now, that is the kind of thing where a president could say, gosh, I would love to make sure you have a copy and borrow the original. I'd like to frame it for my post presidential office or for an exhibit in my presidential library and you can have that conversation as long as the law is complied with.
TODD: CNN has also reported that some Trump White House documents were ripped up, thrown away, others flushed down toilets. Does even a short informal note to an aide have to be preserved?
DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Little posties, you know, you have a little handwritten note to somebody. You're writing on a note card at a national security meeting. These belong to the American public. When Donald Trump took the oath of office, he agreed to this.
TODD: And there's a special process for handling classified presidential documents while the president is in office.
EISEN: They have to be specially marked. They often go in special folders. They have to be stored in special containers, safes or other secure containers. You can't take them out of certain rooms normally. Some you have rooms that are designated as what we call skiffs. And then there's rules on entering a skiff. You're not supposed to bring your cell phone in.
TODD: Experts say a president can sometimes take copies of some documents with them when they leave the presidency. But that also has to be cleared by the White House in the National Archives. Something Donald Trump may not have done.
BRINKLEY: He was bullheaded, and wanted to say Screw you. They're mine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: In response to the FBI search, former President Trump issued a statement saying that his home at Mar-a-Lago was, "under siege, raided, occupied." Trump claimed that he was the victim of what he called the weaponization of the justice system by Democrats who he claims want to stop him from becoming president again. Previously, a person close to the former president denied that anything nefarious took place regarding the handling of documents and other materials.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
WHITFIELD: All right. Coming up. The new school year is bound to look very different from the last as the CDC just updated their COVID guidelines. What they're recommending next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:21:44]
WHITFIELD: All right. And a sign of just how much has changed since the height of the pandemic. The CDC is making a major shift and easing its COVID-19 guidelines. The agency says the nation can move away from restrictive measures such as quarantines after exposure, COVID screening and even social distancing. The focus will now move to reducing severe illness from COVID. CNNs Nadia Romero is following the changes for us. So, what's behind the move?
NADIA ROMERO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it feels different, right? Like we feel a lot different than March 2020 when some of us was very fearful. And we saw some of those initial guidelines from the CDC, especially social distancing. That was one of the first ones that rolled out because it was the easiest thing to do. That was before we had the vaccine. But now the vaccine is in place.
And the CDC says we have other mitigation efforts that we don't need the strict policies any longer. And it's not just for the general society. This will impact our kids as they head back to school or they're already in the classroom. Take a look at some of the CDC's new guidelines that have changed for kids. So cohorting in schools, it's now OK for different classrooms to mix. So before the guideline was for those individual classrooms to stay isolated.
So they can control or limit the spread. That no longer needs to do according to the CDC. And the test to stay policy where school children who are exposed to coronavirus, they no longer need to take regular tests and test negative to stay in the classroom. And that caused a lot of anxiety for kids. It was very uncomfortable. And we saw just how many students missed out on a crucial learning aspects.
Not just math and reading but that social part of going to school as well. So we're going to hear from the White House Coronavirus Response coordinator who sat down with a question answer session with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders talking about how the vaccine has played a big role in changing our lives and how we can mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ASHISH JHA, WHITE HOUSE COVID-19 RESPONSE COORDINATOR: We should look forward to a very different school year. We should look forward to a school year where every child is in school, in person full time for the whole year. I think we have all the ability to do that. And that should be the only acceptable standard. How do we do it? First, it makes sure that kids are vaccinated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMERO: So that is the big push there. And we know those guidelines have expanded to allow for younger kids to be eligible to get the vaccine. So we reached out to different school districts, I tried to ask them, you know, what are your plans as we look at the new guidelines? And the guidelines are so new, we heard from the National Education Association, the president releasing a statement reading in part that it is important that all students including students with disabilities that may put them at greater risk from COVID-19 are protected by mitigation measures that allow them to continue to fully attend school in person.
And that higher risk educators have the boosters and treatment they need to reduce the risk of severe illness. And here's the key. Just because guidance has changed does not mean COVID is gone. And that is so important because we know that educators and parents they were asking for there not to be a blanket statement or blanket guidelines that a rural school, a suburban school at urban school would maybe need to have some changes depending on the population.
WHITFIELD: Yes. All right. Well, again, we all have to continue to be adaptive, right?
ROMERO: Yes. We do.
WHITFIELD: And use whatever tools we still have in our reach. All right. Thanks so much, Nadia Romero. All right, coming up. Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke cursed at a heckler during a campaign rally this week over guns.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[13:25:07]
BETO O'ROURKE (R), TEXAS GUBENATORIAL CANDIDATE: But it's not funny to me, OK?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: So how might that affect him politically? We'll discuss the tight race for Texas governor next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: The Pennsylvania Democrat running for the U.S. Senate made a full return to the campaign trail just three months after suffering a stroke. John Fetterman is running against Republican nominee and former T.V. host Mehmet Oz in a U.S. Senate race to succeed retiring GOP senator Pat Toomey. CNN's Eva McKend was at last night's event that marked Fettermen's first full return to the trail.
[13:30:07]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER: Pennsylvania's Democratic candidate for Senate John Fetterman returned to the campaign trail Friday in Erie to a packed crowd just three months after suffering a stroke.
And though he hasn't been visible in the state for weeks, it hasn't dulled his momentum at all.
He thanked his supporters and his wife, Gisele.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN FETTERMAN, (D), U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE FOR PENNSYLVANIA: These months ago, my life could have ended. It is the truth. But I'm so grateful to be here tonight as well.
(APPLAUSE)
FETTERMAN: I was on my way to another event. And Gisele recognized that I'm having a stroke. And let me just tell you right now in front of everyone, Gisele saved my life.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCKEND: Fetterman's return to the campaign trail marks a significant development in this race between Fetterman and Trump-endorsed Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz. Oz already inviting Fetterman to participate in five debates.
Now something Fetterman often said is that he'll visit every county for every vote. That is something he reiterated on Friday.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Eva McKend, thank you so much.
And moving on to Texas where the governor's race there's heating up between Republican incumbent, Greg Abbott, and Democrat Beto O'Rourke.
Let's discuss with "Dallas Morning News" political reporter, Gromer Jeffers Jr.
Full disclosure, Gromer and I went to Howard University School of Communications together.
So good to see you.
We were in the trenches together in the school of a sea of classrooms and here we are in the trenches together covering politics and everything else.
So good to see you.
GROMER JEFFERS JR, POLITICAL REPORTER, "DALLAS MORNING NEWS": Good to see you, classmate. That is right. I mean, it's really something. And it shows you that we must have been doing something right at the school.
WHITFIELD: Oh, we were enveloped by some amazing administrators there and experience. So we'll have to catch up later.
(CROSSTALK)
WHITFIELD: For now, let's talk about Texas politics. Your publication, "Dallas Morning News," is reporting that Governor Abbott has agreed to one debate with Beto O'Rourke.
And what are you learning about the circumstances of this debate?
JEFFERS: Yes, it is one debate, September 30th. It will be in the Rio Grande Valley in south Texas.
What is interesting about that is that is a longtime Democratic Party strong hold. But as you know, Fred, former President Donald Trump made inroads there, winning several counties that is 80 percent Hispanic.
So that is -- there's a fight going on there between Democrats trying to hold that and Republicans trying to build on what happened in 2020.
So, we'll see if Beto O'Rourke accepts that debate. It is sponsored by Next Star (ph). If he does, it will be September 30th.
Fred, I'll be one of the co-moderators at the conference if that happens so I'll be -- (CROSSTALK)
WHITFIELD: Well, congratulations. We'll talk again as you prepare for that and the details get flushed out even further.
All right, so speaking of fight, let's talk about the verbal fight, if you will, that swirled around this video of Beto O'Rourke going viral after he used some rather -- let's say course language against a heckler.
Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BETO O'ROURKE, (D), TEXAS GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: A.R.-15s, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and take that weapon that was originally designed for use on the battlefields in Vietnam to penetrate an enemy soldier's helmet at 500 feet and knock him down dead up against kids at five feet.
It may be funny to you, (EXPLETIVE DELETED), but it is not funny to me, OK.
(CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: He's talking about Uvalde, Texas.
And, I mean, this has always been -- or he has put on display how passionate he has felt about semi-automatic weapons, A.R.-15s. There have been other moments where he got a lot of attention.
Help us understand whether this makes him that much more popular, or does that stir things up and isolate him further on the trail?
JEFFERS: I think it does a little bit of both with his base. And he's trying to fire up that base. And he's trying to fire up Democrats and Independents and people who feel like Texas is headed in the wrong direction.
They love that. They love his passion.
One of the criticisms about his 2018 campaign against Senator Ted Cruz -- he came within 2.6 percent of winning -- but that he wasn't tough enough with Cruz. He didn't show that passion. Well, he's trying to change that this time around.
And with the gun issue, gun control and what happened with the mass shootings in Texas, including his hometown in El Paso, he struck a tougher note.
[13:35:05]
You remember, Fred, right after Uvalde, the day after. he confronted Greg Abbott, the governor, at a news conference. A lot of folks thought that was in bad taste.
But his supporters felt like it was the thing to do because he's frustrated with inaction on gun control legislation.
WHITFIELD: Speaking of Governor Greg Abbott, he has made headlines for sending buses of migrants from the Texas/Mexico border to cities like Washington, D.C., and New York.
What are people saying in Texas about that? And how that ultimately might impact the outcome of this race?
JEFFERS: Well, clearly, you know, in a migrant issue is something that is surfaced in Texas with every administration. Abbott has sort of made this sort of like a political theater, a side show picking on New York and Mayor Eric Adams.
You've -- you've seen a back forth between them. For Abbott's conservative base, there's no better side show than trying to poke New York City.
And Eric Adams is sort of leaning into that in a way. He's threatened to send busloads of folks to help Abbott lose or to -- to fight against Abbott in this election.
Sending volunteers down to knock on doors, as he said. And he's -- Adams said he called on friends, his friends in Texas to get to vote against the governor here.
But it is political theater. It's something that Abbott is using to fire up his base because immigration is still the number-one issue with conservatives here in Texas. So anything that he could bring attention to that, he'll do it.
WHITFIELD: All right, Gromer Jeffers Jr, of the "Dallas Morning News," so great to see you.
(CROSSTALK)
WHITFIELD: I'll call you and we'll catch up later. And we'll take notes as you get ready for moderating the debate of these two who are going to be sparring and going at it trying to win the most support.
Thank you so much, Gromer.
JEFFERS: I look forward to it, Fred.
WHITFIELD: All right, take care. Talk soon.
All right, coming up, the potential nuclear disaster. Fears are mounting as shelling is increasing around a nuclear power plant in Ukraine. The latest from Kyiv next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:41:37] WHITFIELD: Ukraine said fierce fighting continues in parts of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, an area that Russia has claimed it has full control over.
The Ukrainian military also said that Russian forces shelled several civilian areas on Saturday. CNN is unable to verify the Ukrainian military's account.
The fierce fighting comes as Ukraine and Russia trade accusations over attacks around Ukrainian nuclear facilities.
Here now is CNN's David McKenzie.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There are growing concerns about the nuclear safety at this massive Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant to the south of where I'm standing in the southern front of this conflict.
Now, for days, there have been accusations and counter accusations about who has been shelling into the overall space of the industrial zone near those reactors. But the fact remains is that it is putting that huge power plant at risk.
Now expert I've been speaking to say it is less about a direct strike with ordinance on the reactors because they are heavily protected. But it is more about the power supply coming from Ukraine that keeps those reactors running and the fuel rods cool.
Now, according to Ukrainians, several of those lines have been damaged in shelling. Only one remains. And if that goes out, they will only be depending on the back-up diesel systems.
So there's a fear of what they call a full station blackout, which could lead to a few hours only before there's a very dangerous situation.
The International Atomic Energy Agency is calling on a demilitarized zone in that area. That seems far off at this point. But the danger remains of some kind of leak.
In the eastern front of this conflict, there have been significant developments. A serious shelling by Russian forces on -- according to Ukrainians -- civilians positions in other parts of Donetsk, for weeks now.
The Ukrainians have managed to push back advances of Russians. But this part of the front is a very key one to watch as Russia tries to get to its original objectives of taking that part of Ukraine.
David McKenzie, CNN, Kyiv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And rescue efforts are still underway in Mexico as dive team attempt to reach 10 minors trapped in a flooded coal mine. On Friday, divers worked to clear debris from inside of the mine shaft after multiple attempts to reach them failed the day before.
The minors have been trapped for 10 days now after accidentally breaching an abandoned tunnel that flooded the mine. Five minors were able to escape but rescuers have been unable to contact the other 10 still inside.
And at least 11 people, including two children, are dead after a mass shooting in Montenegro. That is according to state media. Local police say the suspect used a hunting rifle to attack a family living in his home as tenants.
He then went outside and began shooting and killing residents in the neighborhood. A witness said the shooter indiscriminately shot people as he walked through the streets.
Authorities say the attacker is a 34-year-old man. The rampage ended when he was shot dead by a civilian.
[13:45:00]
Coming up, extreme heat is sprawling to all corners of the globe. Europe is suffering under a blanket of record highs. And across the U.S., there's severe drought and wildfires. The latest forecast and the hope for some reprieve straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:49:58]
WHITFIELD: Welcome back. Ireland just recorded its hottest day on record in August. County Carlo hit 89 degrees on Friday, breaking the previous record of 88 degrees back in 1975.
Temperatures have been soaring across Europe with droughts declared in several parts of England and wildfires in France and Portugal.
CNN's Salma Abdelaziz has more on the problems caused by the scorching weather.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN LONDON REPORTER (voice-over): Five-thousand hectares, more than 12 football fields, burnt in a single night. Temperatures inside the fire zone in the Gironde community in France reached 1,000 degrees Celsius, according to the local fire department, enough to bend steel.
MATTHIEU JOMAIN, GIRONDE FIREFIGHTERS SPOKESMAN (through translation): We are still in the phase of trying to contain the fire. Our mission is to direct it where we want, where is there's fewer vegetation, where the layout helps us in the most efficient manner.
ABDELAZIZ: Scorching temperatures and months of dry weather are causing dangerous conditions across Europe. The continent is in the midst of its fourth heatwave this summer.
The E.U. chief, Ursula von der Leyen, tweeted Friday that help was incoming for Portugal, Slovenia, Albania and France as part of the bloc's civil protection mechanism.
Following an emergency plea from Paris on Thursday, the E.U. sent four firefighting planes to France's southwest where emergency services have battled wildfires for six consecutive nights. Reinforcements from Romania started to arrive Friday morning.
CRISTIAN BUHAIANU, ROMANIAN FIRE CHIEF: We are a fire company. We are firefighters and we have to help people around the world.
ABDELAZIZ: In the U.K., the London fire brigade remains on high alert and describes the city as tinder box dry.
Water companies have introduced bans given the drought conditions, stopping people from watering their gardens, washing cars or cleaning their windows.
Even the River Thames has dried up further downstream than ever before.
ALISDAIR NAULLS, RIVERS TRUST ENGAGEMENT OFFICER: This is the climate crisis in action. I am stood about that deep of the Thames, 15 kilometers into it. I should be a lot wetter than I am right now.
ABDELAZIZ: Germany's River Rhine was also exceptionally low, threatening further disruption on Germany's most important inland water way.
Used for transporting chemicals and grain, the Rhine is particularly crucial for the movement of coal, which is in higher demand as Germany races to fill storage facilities ahead of next winter.
Meteorologists say the current wave of extreme temperature sweeping Europe is associated with a robust dome of high atmospheric pressure. Not only does that dome bring hot air into the region, it also suppresses storms and clouds, trapping the heat and preventing it from rising.
Scientists say that every heatwave the world experiences today has been made hotter because of human-induced climate change.
Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.
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WHITFIELD: Extremely situations everywhere. A wildfire on Hawaii's big island is taking place. It's now burned 16,000 acres, which is just 30 percent of the blaze contained.
The Leilani Fire is burning across game management area. And fire crews are using water dropped from helicopters and heavy equipment to build fire lines in hopes of containing the flames. Currently, no homes or structures are endangered as the fire continues to burn. Meanwhile, on the U.S. mainland, heavy rain poured into Las Vegas
casinos and flooded streets for the second time in recent weeks. The downpour is part of the wettest monsoon season in a decade.
But the monsoon is also helping ease a severe drought in the west and southwest.
For more on all of this, let's bring in Allison Chinchar in the CNN Weather Center.
It's extremes on all ends. It's so bizarre.
ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Right. And it's one of those things where you need the rain because you're in a drought. But you don't want it all at once. You'd like it to be a little bit more spread out.
And that's the concern, especially in a lot of desert southwest locations is they want the rain but they just don't want too much in a short period of time.
We do have more showers developing in and around Las Vegas. You can see a lot them firing up in just the last one to three hours. More rain is expected not just in Las Vegas but really around much of the southwest.
That's why you've got all of these areas in green under a flood watch for today because the potential for those heavy downpours does exist.
Here is a look at the forecast. Most of these areas, you're likely to pick up a half inch, maybe one inch at best. But remember, they get that in a very short period of time, 10 to 20 minutes, it will trigger flash flooding in the area.
When you look at the long-term forecast, we also anticipate a lot more moisture. Above-average conditions in terms of precipitation is forecast over the next couple of weeks across areas of the southwest.
Again, when we talk about it, the perk of this is it's helping to mitigate some of the drought.
Fred, we're talking about 70 percent of the western U.S. is in some level of drought. And 25 percent is classified as extreme or exceptional, the two highest categories.
[13:55:05]
But that was 40 percent, nearly 40 percent just two months ago. So we are making at least some strides in improving the drought.
WHITFIELD: Incremental.
All right, Allison Chinchar, thanks so much.
So much more straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.
But first, this week's "START SMALL, THINK BIG."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETRA HIGBY, PRESIDENT & CO-FOUNDER, THE CAVIAR CO.: Here we have the art of making caviar approachable is also showing people how to present it.
Some of our favorite dishes on the menu are truffle grilled cheese with caviar and potato chips, sourdough toast with cucumber, watermelon, radishes and a dill spread topped with Siberian sturgeon.
The Caviar Co. is a caviar distributor. We source caviar from all over the world. We distribute it to chefs, restaurants, retail, and parties, which is our favorite.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello.
SASKIA ALLEN, CO-FOUNDER, THE CAVIAR CO.: We opened our first brick and mortar in 2017 in San Francisco.
HIGBY: We opened up our tasting room in California in March of 2021. You can get a caviar flight and really learn about caviar or just sit with your friends and have some shared bites.
ALLEN: The average consumer these days really wants to be educated on what they're consuming.
HIGBY: All fish eggs are roe. In order to be considered caviar, it has to come from the sturgeon species.
ALLEN: We started with going door to door with a cooler full of caviar to now having over 100 accounts nationwide.
HIGBY: Something else that I am really proud of is we are women in a male-dominated business.
ALLEN: We're also moms, too. Juggling motherhood and entrepreneurship is not easy. We are super fortunate to be in business together.
And we are sisters and we can lift each other up when we need it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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