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Liz Cheney Concedes And Vows To Keep Up Fight Against Donald Trump; Primaries A Test Of Donald Trump's Power Over Republican Party; Former Donald Trump Lawyers Questioned By FBI Over Documents; Explosions Rock Russian Ammunition Depot In Crimea; Extreme Drought Drying Up Colorado River, Lake Mead. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired August 17, 2022 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm John Vause live in Studio 7 at the CNN Center in Atlanta.
Donald Trump's purge of the Republican Party has claimed its biggest win so far, with an overwhelming primary defeat for Liz Cheney. The congressional representative for Wyoming and the highest ranking Republican lawmaker to vote to impeach the former president over the insurrection on Capitol Hill.
Cheney lost the Republican Party's endorsement Tuesday to Trump backed candidate Harriet Hagerman, who has embraced Trump's false claim that the 2020 election was rigged and has been sharply critical of Cheney and the January 6 Congressional investigation.
A defeat for Cheney would have been unthinkable two years ago. She come from one of those prominent political families in Wyoming. Her father Dick Cheney served as U.S. Vice President.
But after the insurrection at the Capitol, Liz Cheney declared she would do everything to ensure Donald Trump never again served in the Oval Office, message she had once again during her concession speech.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): No House seat. No office in this land is more important than the principles that we are all sworn to protect. And I well understood the potential political consequences of abiding by my duty.
Our republic relies upon the goodwill of all candidates for office to accept honorably the outcome of elections.
And tonight, Harriet Hagerman has received the most votes in this primary. She won. I called her to concede the race. This primary election is over. But now, the real work begins.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Harriet Hagerman fired up a rowdy crowd of supporters declaring Wyoming has proven it can dislodged entrenched politicians who believe they've risen above the people they're meant to represent and serve.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIET HAGERMAN, WYOMING REPUBLICAN NOMINEE FOR U.S. HOUSE: Wyoming has drawn a line in the sand that if we put you in power, you will be accountable to us, you will answer to us and you will do what is in our best interests. And if you don't, we will fire you.
Wyoming has put the politicians on notice not just here but all across this great country that our representatives work for us and not the other way around.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And in Alaska, some polls are closing right now, others in a different time zone will remain open for another hour.
Incumbent Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, who also voted to impeach Trump is facing Kelly Tshibaka who Trump has endorsed.
We're also seeing former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin trying to mount a political comeback. She's running for the Alaska at large house seat and we'll keep you posted on those races as well.
Back in Wyoming, Liz Cheney reminded everyone following the race that she's a proud conservative Republican who loves her party but loves her country more.
CNN's Jeff Zeleny was there and has this report from Jackson.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Congresswoman Liz Cheney in Wyoming concedes defeat in her congressional primary race but is looking ahead now the real work begins.
In a sweeping speech outside of Jackson, Wyoming on Tuesday night, the congresswoman talked about the threats to democracy. She talked directly about former President Donald Trump saying she could have won reelection had she followed the path of election lies. She said she was simply not willing to do that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHENEY: Two years ago, I won this primary, it was 73 percent of the vote. I could easily have done the same again, the path was clear.
But it would have required that I go along with President Trump's lie about the 2020 election, it would have required that I enable his ongoing efforts to unravel our democratic system and attack the foundations of our republic. That was a path I could not and would not take.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: The speech from Cheney was infused with history. She's a student of history, a historian in her own right, talking about the young and fragile democracy that the United States indeed has.
She talked about the need to bring Americans together Republicans, Democrats, Independents, she urged them to join her.
What she did not say is join her for what exactly. She tiptoed to the line clearly making the case she's going to be involved in the fight ahead for democracy, but didn't say in what form that would take.
[00:05:05]
She did not talk about a presidential run of her own as many supporters at her event certainly would like her to do. But she did talk about the urgency facing the country and the imperative nature of Republicans and Democrats and Independents to come together against Donald Trump. She said her greatest goal is still keeping him from the Oval Office.
Jeff Zeleny CNN, Jackson, Wyoming.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Two Republican strategist joining us now. Alice Stewart, a CNN political commentator, host of the podcast Hot Mics From Left To Right, she's also the former communications director for Senator Ted Cruz.
Doug Heye, a three decade long veteran of Republican politics, including serving as communications director for the Republican National Committee.
So, let's start in Wyoming and Liz Cheney. The outcome was not unexpected, especially given how it Harriet Hageman's conversion from Cheney supporter to Cheney critic and Trump backer. Here she is at a campaign rally earlier this year.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HAGEMAN: We are fed up with Liz Cheney. You deserve a representative who knows what it means to ride for the brand, someone who will fight to protect your freedoms and liberties from D.C.'s unconstitutional power grab.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: So, Alice, we'll begin with you. Is this the price that elected Republicans will now pay for criticizing and standing up to Donald Trump?
ALICE STEWART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It clearly appears that way, John. We're seeing it in many primary races across the country is that if you stand up to Donald Trump and you refuse to accept the election fraud claims, then you will face a challenger and in many cases you will lose.
It's really astounding. I talked with a reporter with the newspaper in Wyoming today, the Cowboy State Daily and he said he was really surprised as he covered this race, seeing the people just really buy into the whole election denial claims. And this was really the cornerstone of Harriet Hageman's campaign was refusing the outcome of the 2020 elections and trying to refuse the certification of the elections and the big election lies and in essence of the majority of people there in Wyoming bought into it and supported her.
But clearly, what we're going to see with Liz Cheney, this is clear that the end of her current election and her term in office, but she is going to fight on and she understood the challenge that she's faced by standing up to Trump, not just by voting for his impeachment, but also her work on the January 6 committee and she's going to continue that fight. And her goal ahead is to just make sure that Donald Trump does not get back into the White House.
VAUSE: Yes, with that in mind back in June, Cheney had this warning for her fellow Republicans. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHENEY: To my Republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible, there will come a day when Donald Trump is gone. But your dishonor will remain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: So, Doug, Cheney is the last of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, four retired, four including Cheney who lost primary, (INAUDIBLE) two will stand for reelection. A day of reckoning may be coming.
But in the meantime, Trump backing means you win primaries. So, what's the incentive here not to go against Trump?
DOUG HEYE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Yes, look, the message that we heard from Liz Cheney was a very powerful one nationally, and for the Republican Party. It's not one necessarily designed to win a primary. And if you look at the last two commercials that she ran, they weren't saying come out and vote for Liz Cheney on Tuesday, in her ad that she ran herself, the one that her father also cut for her campaign. This was all about Donald Trump and setting the stage for what's next.
It is Donald Trump's party. We've seen so many Republicans who oppose Donald Trump in whatever form, really kowtow to him. No better example of that than just what we saw tonight.
Harriet Hageman was somebody who in 2016 was one of the people trying to block Donald Trump at the convention from getting the nomination back when she was a Liz Cheney supporter.
So, this is how the party has changed. I don't think it surprises anybody. And it's why Liz Cheney clearly is running through the tape on this and not going to stop running. We'll see her first hearing on the January 6 hearing in September, and then we'll see what she does next, but it's going to be long fight for her.
VAUSE: Yes, and talking about those ads that she ran. One of them was actually an endorsement by her father, Dick Cheney, the former vice president who ran this spot, and he began by saying that Donald Trump is the greatest threat to democracy this country has ever seen. He's part of it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DICK CHENEY, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him. He is a coward. A real man wouldn't lie to his supporters. He lost his election and he lost big.
I know it, he knows it. And deep down, I think most Republicans knows it. Lynne and I are so proud of Liz for standing up for the truth, doing what's right, honoring her oath to the Constitution when so many in our party are too scared to do so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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VAUSE: You know, Alice, the steely eyes, the gravelly voice, you know, it's hard to miss Dick Cheney. The music kind of ruined it a bit, I think.
But, you know, Dick Cheney was once the face of the hard right of the GOP. He comes out with this dire warning, and it's a message which fell flat for Republicans in Wyoming.
STEWART: It certainly did. But clearly, the message as we heard tonight and moving forward is that she understood going into this fight that it was -- could potentially cost her her seat. And she said that no office is worth the principles that we are sworn to protect. And she was not going to give up the principles that she was sworn to protect in terms of abiding by the Constitution and our election process.
She knew that she won last time by 73 percent. And if she just went along with Donald Trump and the lies that she could certainly go on to win again. But the goal here and the fear is that while this might be a winning message for Republicans in primaries, I don't see it as a winning message in general elections across the country.
Under Donald Trump, we lost The White House, we lost the House and the Senate. So, this method of going after elections and going after government agencies and going after the certification of election is not going to be something that I see will be a winning formula in the midterm elections. That's the big fear.
Might be good on primary day, the general election I fear will be a different story. VAUSE: And Doug, I want to pick up on that, because Hageman's win in Wyoming completes a winning streak for Trump and the candidates he's backed. These wins are in low turnout primaries where the motivated actually go to the polls, others don't bother.
And you know, as Alice was sort of alluding to, they may represent the MAGA wing of the party, but they don't necessarily represent the mainstream.
So, could this be Trump's Achilles heel come a general election, there is a big voter turnout, you know, these guys just won't get elected.
HEYE: Well, it's part of it. And one of the things that we see is, you know, every state administers this elections differently, different candidates and different ways of doing things.
So, often, Donald Trump's endorse candidate won with 32 percent of the vote, or they might have lost with 32 percent of the vote. The Trump endorsement is the one that most Republicans want and the one they want the most. But it's not necessarily indicative of what's going to happen in that primary.
State laws and individual candidates matter. And so, moving forward, as we have some of these Trump candidates who've won, they're in very competitive races, or they're behind in races where they should be winning, where some of the Trump backed people lost. We see Republicans who are poised to win in November. So, it's a very mixed bag for what Donald Trump's ultimate result will be.
Look, the Republican Party is fearful of them. What we used to call conservatism in the Republican Party now was about one man, it's not about conservative policy.
Liz Cheney had like a 95 percent voting record of voting with Donald Trump, that was really conservative on policy issues. But the party's morphed, and it's not what it used to be just five years ago.
And as we move into these elections where Republicans should be poised to have a really big night, they've kneecapped themselves with some bad candidates and candidates that have caused not only controversy, but then cause other candidates and other states to have to answer those kinds of questions as well. This was part of the corrosive effect that Donald Trump has had on the Republican Party.
VAUSE: Yes, a lot more to talk about. And I know that Doug, you, and Alice will be with us next hour, a lot more to get to. So, thank you for sticking around and we'll see you then.
HEYE: Thank you.
STEWART: Thanks, John.
VAUSE: More now on the FBI search of Donald Trump's Florida home in what is now a criminal investigation. Two of the former president's most senior aides have been questioned over the handling of classified documents which were found in the sprawling Mar-a-Lago state. CNN's Jessica Schneider has details.
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JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): New revelations that former President Trump's two top White House lawyers interviewed with the FBI about classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, White House Counsel Pat Cipollone and his deputy Pat Philbin were Trump's designated representatives to the National Archives when Trump left office, they could have insight about what was taken to Mar-a- Lago and why 11 sets of classified documents remain there until last Monday, when FBI agents searched Trump's Palm Beach home.
The new details comes the court fight for more information about the search is looming. A federal judge announcing he'll hold the hearing Thursday on whether to publicly release the affidavit that provided the basis for last Monday search.
The Justice Department seeking to keep it secret saying any release would reveal highly sensitive information about witnesses, specific investigative techniques, and it would serve as a roadmap to the government's ongoing investigation.
CNN and other media outlets have asked the judge to unseal the affidavit and Trump himself must weigh in on whether he wants it released by tomorrow.
JOHN BOLTON, FORMER TRUMP NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: I think it says there are very significant problems here for President Trump and met many of his advisers post presidency.
SCHNEIDER: Trump has repeatedly railed against the search, calling it a witch hunt, and accusing FBI agents of stealing three of his passports.
But Trump's attorney said they'd been returned by Monday night with the FBI putting out a statement to make clear they were simply swept up in the search as is routine.
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In executing search warrants, the FBI follows search and seizure procedures ordered by the courts then returns items that do not need to be retained for law enforcement purposes.
RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY: Whether you're Republican or Democrat, this is not a machine you want counting your votes.
SCHNEIDER: Meanwhile, Trump's former lawyer Rudy Giuliani has officially become a target in another criminal investigation. This one being led by an Atlanta area prosecutor into efforts by Trump and his allies to flip election results in Georgia claiming it was rigged.
GIULIANI: The recount being done in Georgia will tell us nothing. Because these fraudulent ballots will just be countered again. They look like they're passing out dope, not just the ballots. It is quite clear this is stealing votes.
SCHNEIDER: Giuliani is scheduled to appear before the grand jury, but it's still unclear if he will answer questions or plead the Fifth.
GIULIANI: The statements that I made are either attorney client privileged, because they were between me and him, or they were being made on his behalf in order to defend them.
BOLTON: President Trump may be right behind him in terms of liability. If Rudy is in trouble as the target of an investigation, then I think Trump almost certainly is as well.
SCHNEIDER (on camera): And as for the Justice Department, they're making clear in a court filing this week that that classified information investigation is still ongoing.
In the meantime, the battle is escalating between two top House Democrats and the DHS inspector general. Members of Congress Bennie Thompson and Carolyn Maloney, they're accusing I.G. Joseph Cuffari of obstructing their investigation into the missing Secret Service text messages. That allegation was in a letter released on Tuesday afternoon. There's no response from the inspector general's office just yet.
Jessica Schneider, CNN, Washington.
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VAUSE: As Jessica reported, the investigation is ramping up into Donald Trump's efforts to overturn Georgia's election results in 2020.
A judge is ordering former Trump Attorney Jenna Ellis to appear before a grand jury. Investigators believe Ellis helped Trump and his associates push the false claims of election fraud in Georgia after Trump lost to Joe Biden, court date yet to be decided.
The White House and Democrats are celebrating a major legislative victory, President Joe Biden signed the $750 billion Inflation Reduction Act into law Tuesday, calling it one of those significant pieces of legislation in U.S. history.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Too often, we confuse noise with substance. Too often, we confuse -- we confuse setbacks with defeat. Too often, we had the biggest microphones of the critics in the cynics who delight in declaring failure.
All those committed to making real progress, do the hard work of governing. Making progress in this country is a big and complicated as ours clearly is not easy. It's never been easy. But with unwavering conviction, commitment and patience, progress does come.
(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: All this includes that historic nearly $730 billion to fight climate change, also gives Medicare the power to negotiate some drug prices. Caps Medicare out of pocket drug costs at $2,000. Extends Affordable Care Act subsidies for another three years. Also imposes a 15 percent minimum corporate tax on the largest of U.S. corporations.
Former President Barack Obama calling the legislation BFD. Reference to Joe Biden's famous hot mic moment back in 2010.
If you don't remember it, here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is a big fat --.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The BFD that Biden was referring to then was the former president signing the Affordable Care Act into law.
Well, we are following the key primary elections in Alaska and Wyoming. We have an update on the political fortunes of Sarah Palin. Liza Murkowski and also Liz Cheney later this hour.
Also ahead, Russia blaming sabotage after explosions through another military base in occupied Crimea.
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VAUSE: For the second time in a week, explosions have rocked a Russian military base in Crimea. Local officials say Tuesday's blasts in an ammunition depot wounded at least two people. The Russian Defense Ministry says it was sabotaged.
Ukraine though not claiming responsibility, but President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed to retake Crimea, which Moscow illegally annexed in 2014.
More now from CNN's David McKenzie.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Explosions peppering the horizon in Russian occupied Crimea.
Just a few miles away, commuters reacting in shock, filming the blasts with their mobile phones.
Even the bus is moving, they say. Six kilometers away, the bus is shaking.
The blast at an ammunition depot in northern Crimea causing damage to power lines, the power plant, railway tracks and residential buildings, branded sabotage by Russia's military.
Kyiv has not claimed responsibility for the incident. But a Ukrainian presidential advisor called it demilitarization in action. It's the second major security incident in Crimea in just one week.
Last Tuesday, massive explosions at a Russian airbase on Crimea's west coast closed to beach going tourists, a major psychological blow.
The Russian defense ministry blaming it on accidental detonation of ammunition.
On the southern battlefield, inspectors from the atomic energy agency still unable to get into the massive Zaporizhzhia power plant to ensure its safety.
Russian officials blaming the U.N. for the delay. The U.N. denies that, saying it's ready to provide security and logistics.
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Russia and Ukraine blame each other for the dangerous strikes near the plant which has continued to operate.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Monday calling on the world to introduce tough sanctions as the response to Russia's "nuclear blackmail."
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The provocative shelling of the territory of the plant continues. Under cover of the plant, the invaders are shelling nearby towns and communities. The Russian military hides munitions and equipment at the facilities of the plant.
MCKENZIE (on camera): Now, Ukrainian officials still haven't commented directly on those blasts in Russian occupied Crimea.
But late Tuesday, President Zelenskyy did warn Ukrainian nationals to keep away from Russian military assets in Crimea.
David McKenzie, CNN, Kyiv.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Still ahead here on CNN. CNN projecting Liz Cheney will lose her seat in the U.S. Congress. So, what's next for one of Donald Trump's most outspoken critics?
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VAUSE: Just on 30 minutes past the hour. Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm John Vause.
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In a surprise to absolutely no one, Liz Cheney's days in the U.S. Congress are coming to an end. CNN projects she will lose the Wyoming Republican House primary to Trump-backed attorney Harriet Hageman. Cheney has been one of the most outspoken critics of the former
president and his false claims about the 2020 election was stolen. She says she will not stop fighting to keep Trump from the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): We must be very clear-eyed about the threat we face and about what is required to defeat it. I have said since January 6th that I will do whatever it takes to ensure Donald Trump is never again anywhere near the Oval Office, and I mean it.
This is a fight for all of us together. I'm a conservative Republican. I believe deeply in the principles and the ideals on which my party was founded. I love its history, and I love what our party has stood for, but I love my country more.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Primary elections also being held in the state of Alaska, where Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski is hoping to hold onto her seat. She voted to remove Donald Trump from office in the second impeachment trial.
And Alaska's former Republican governor -- half-governor (ph), Sarah Palin, hoping for a political comeback. The 2008 U.S. vice- presidential nominee looking to fill the House seat of the late congressman, Don Young.
David Siders is a national political correspondent for "Politico." Je's with us this hour from Sierra Madre in California.
David, welcome to the show. Good to see you.
DAVID SIDERS, NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, "POLITICO": Thanks for having me.
VAUSE: This was an against-all-odds battle for Liz Cheney. Sees she's wasn't really running for reelection but rather, you know, for the future of the Republican Party. If that's the case, the result tonight is more of a beginning than an ending for her, but what does she do?
SIDERS: I think that's right. She -- she clearly has some options here. And the most intriguing one, of course, is if she runs for president. And I think you have to consider Cheney the longest of long shots, but there are a couple of options where she could have a real effect on the Republican Party.
One option is that she runs as an independent, and it's possible, if she did that, that she could pull enough votes from Trump to keep him from going to the White House, even though she obviously would lose in that scenario, as well.
Maybe the other one, though, I think, is -- is the one that, if Trump is either weakened or doesn't run, and there's a large field of Republican candidates who are very much like Donald Trump, so 12 or 14 mini-Trumps. You could very well see somebody like Cheney carving out a lane.
And she wouldn't get a majority support, but remember, Trump didn't get a majority of support in early primaries in 2016 either. He was winning primaries with 35, 40 percent of the vote, because there were so many establishment candidates.
If Cheney can find the inverse of that lane, which is a ton of Trumpers and one establishment candidate, it's a long shot, but there's at least a shot.
VAUSE: Yes. You know, obviously, Donald Trump's voice matters. It matters a lot, it seems. "The Washington Post" looked at primaries held in 41 states so far this year. Every race for federal and statewide office with power over elections, 469 contests in all. And more than half of the Republican winners, about 250, have embraced Trump's false claims about his defeat two years ago to Joe Biden.
And also, in the battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, 54 winners out of 87 had embraced those false claims, as well, about the defeat two years ago.
There's a whole lot in that story, which is incredibly interesting, but the bottom line is, if the vote is close in 2024, and Trump is running, at a minimum, the outcome could be argued over or delayed for weeks, and that would cause a whole lot of chaos, a whole lot of trouble, which is concerning to both Democrats and Republicans.
SIDERS: You're definitely right. I mean, we could be setting up a 2024 for a serious constitutional crisis. And of course, so much of that the groundwork would be late in the midterms this year. And so that the questions of who's controlling state houses? Who's controlling secretary of state offices? The people who are in charge of the -- the mechanisms by which the election is run.
And some of those candidates are people who deny that the last election was legitimate, falsely. So I do think that -- that you know, we had a crisis in 2020, and that that crisis is not -- it's not gone. If anything, there's reason to be alarmed.
VAUSE: And if we listen to Liz Cheney's concession speech, it was more like a call for action against Trump rather than anything else. Here's part of what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHENEY: Donald Trump knows that voicing these conspiracies will provoke violence and threats of violence. This happened on January 6th, and it's now happening again. It is entirely foreseeable that the violence will escalate further. Yet, he and others continue, purposely, to feed the danger.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: She's referring to how Trump world is now spinning the FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. What would normally be a political death blow for any other politician, this is what, now being a boost for Trump. It's a good destruction. It's painting him as the victim. How is this working?
SIDERS: Well, not only a boost for Trump. It's essentially weakened every Trumpian Republican who is considering running against him. The Ron DeSantises of the world. It only elevated Trump.
Because, you know, this is a former president who made his entire political -- his entire political enterprise was based on grievance politics. And here, you have the ultimate martyrdom, right? The -- everything that, for a Republican supporter, everything he said was true, that the FBI is in his house. And definitely, that has made him stronger in this kind of Weir political environment that we're still in.
VAUSE: So come 2024 or even the midterms, what do Democrats do? Do they run against Trump or run against Trumpism? Do they ignore him? How do they handle this?
SIDERS: In the midterms, it's tricky. Right? I think that what you see in some -- the clip you played from Cheney talking about violence, that's an interesting thing that she said, because I think what we've seen over and over is that hits about democracy itself, talking about the institution, that does not resonate with voters on the same scale that some other things do.
And so that's why you hear Democrats focusing so intently on things like Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court's overturning of -- of that case. And if they can use the riot, Capitol, Trumpism, election denialism, to depict Republicans more broadly as extremists, that may be an effective line of attack.
I don't know. I mean, the jury is out on that. But we do know from polling that just talking about the riot and the big lie is -- is not an effective attack for Democrats in most cases.
VAUSE: Yes, I guess we'll see what happens in just a few months from now.
David, thank you for being with us. David Siders there from "Politico."
We'll take a short break. When we come back, the U.S. has been out of Afghanistan now for almost a year. Take a look at what's happened to that country since that chaotic U.S. withdrawal.
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VAUSE: Welcome back. Now to the latest efforts to revive the Iran nuclear deal, with Tehran apparently concerned about being Trumped again.
A diplomatic source tells CNN the Iranians want compensation if the U.S. decides again to withdraw from the agreement, like Donald Trump did when he was president in 2018. Earlier this week, Iran's foreign minister said a new deal is possible if the U.S. is realistic and flexible.
Here's the response to that from the U.S. State Department.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NED PRICE, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: It is our hope that, as we have now approached what should be the final stage of this, that the Iranians will show, and demonstrate that seriousness of purpose that we have not consistently seen until now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: If there is a revived deal like the 2015 original, it would limit Iran's ability to produce a nuclear weapon in exchange for sanctions relief.
Now to Afghanistan. After a year in power, a long list of broken promises from the Taliban comes as a surprise. The European Union, the latest urged the Islamic fundamentalists to change course; respect the rights of women, girls and minorities. Until that happens, cuts to international aid will remain, leaving an estimated 25 million Afghans living in poverty.
And the U.N. says almost a million jobs could be lost this year, as the economy stalls.
CNN's Alex Marquardt takes a look now at how Afghanistan has changed and the criticism the U.S. still faces in connection to that chaotic withdrawal.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): One year ago, this was the deadly and chaotic culmination of efforts by the past U.S. presidents to withdraw from Afghanistan.
The Taliban had overrun the country. The Afghan military and government had collapsed, sapped of American support.
The Trump administration had struck a deal with the Taliban to have U.S. troops leave in mid-2021, an agreement President Joe Biden argued forced his timing.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So we were left with a simple decision. Either follow through on the commitment made by the last administration and leave Afghanistan, or say we weren't leaving and commit another tens of thousands more troops, going back to war.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): Like Trump, Biden wanted out. Staying, he said, would lead to a forever war which had already cost almost two and a half thousand American lives. And, he argued, ending it would also end the extraordinary costs that had risen to $2 trillion.
If there had been no pull-out, or significant drawdown, another year of the same, like the prior five years, would have cost the U.S. around $38 billion in military and reconstruction costs. Republicans like Congressman Mike McCaul of Texas blasted how the
withdrawal was handled, calling it a stain on Biden's presidency.
REP. MIKE MCCAUL (R-TX) The evacuation was so poorly handled that we just left so many behind, whether it be American citizens or Afghan partners.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): Thousands of those Afghans remain, often hunted, McCaul says, by the Taliban.
More than 74,000 Afghan special immigrant visa applicants are in the pipeline. The Biden administration so far has issued over 15,000 visas.
SEN. JEANNE SHAHEEN (D-NH): It's a broken program. It's continued to be broken. The Biden administration made a recent announcement to help with that, to help speed up the process.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): Many are Afghan women, trying to get out as their rights are torn away by the Taliban. An issue that senator James has fought for four years.
SHAHEEN: We've seen the rights of women be dramatically restricted: their ability to work, to go to school.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): Without the American military there, Shaheen says, the U.S. is hamstrung in its ability to do more.
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And the agreement the U.S. struck with the Taliban to not harbor terrorists, she says, is effectively dead after the leader of al- Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was found to be living in downtown Kabul. The U.S. drone strike that killed him, the Biden administration says, is proof that so-called over-the-horizon missions from outside Afghanistan can work.
But the U.S. intelligence community is severely hampered by not having American eyes and ears on the ground, according to the CIA's top former analyst on Afghanistan, Beth Sanner.
BETH SANNER, DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE FOR MISSION INTEGRATION: We have a growing terrorist threat in Afghanistan. I will say, I think we need to keep this in perspective. It's nothing like what it was before 2001. Al-Qaeda is still a shadow of itself. we still have that ability to take them out.
MARQUARDT: One year on from this withdrawal from Afghanistan, the country is spiraling, facing crises on multiple fronts. An economic crisis, A humanitarian crisis, A medical crisis.
All of this fueling the debate over the 20 years of war in Afghanistan and it's dramatic end, a debate that will surely continue long after this first anniversary.
Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington. (END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: When we come back, parts of the Southwestern United States facing a potential catastrophic collapse of their water supply, unless they take drastic measures and reduce water usage. Those details when we return.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's doubled across. Look at that beard (ph).
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VAUSE: You're looking at a video of a massive tornado-like waterspout forming off the coast of Northwestern Florida. It happened in Destin on Tuesday morning during thunderstorms.
One witness telling CNN, quote, "It scared the heck out of me," as it would.
Welcome back, everyone. Ten minutes to the hour.
The drought in the Southwestern U.S. has reached a new tier of crisis for the first time. Specifically, a federally-designated Tier 2 water shortage condition.
The designation means that Arizona, Nevada, as well as Mexico [SIC] will have to further cut back on water use from the Colorado River, starting January.
And California not yet being forced to reduce its water intake. Officials say the cuts are needed to avoid a catastrophic collapse of the Colorado River system.
U.S. officials point to shrinking water levels for their decision on the Colorado River cuts. Water levels at Lake Mead and Lake Powell also dangerously low. And if the states can't come up with a plan, the federal government says it will make one for them.
But as CNN's Bill Weir reports, finding agreement on water usage has been a challenge, going back to the days of the Old West.
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BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Whisky is for drinking. Water is for fighting. That supposed Mark Twain quote has been a western slogan since the first settlers. But now the worst drought in 1,200 years has water managers in seven states, 30 nations, and Mexico, fighting over every precious drop.
CAMILE TOUTON, BUREAU OF RECLAMATION COMMISSIONER: But to date, the states collectively have not identified and adopted specific actions and sufficient magnitude that would stabilize the system. WEIR (voice-over): That was the commissioner in charge of dams and
reservoirs, admitting that upper and lower basin states have failed to agree on ways to cut their water use by up to 25 percent.
PAT MULROY, FORMER COMMISSIONER, SOUTHERN NEVADA WATER AUTHORITY: I think, ultimately, the states are going to realize they're playing Russian roulette. And they're going to have to come to their senses.
WEIR (voice-over): For almost 30 years, Pat Mulroy was in charge of Southern Nevada's water, and led an aggressive conservation campaign to tear up lawns, reuse wastewater and scold water wasters.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can't water in the middle of the day, ma'am. You'll be fined if you don't change your watering clock.
WEIR (voice-over): All measures she'd like to see happen downstream.
MULROY: I think they're kind of kicking the can down the road, past the election, is you want -- want me to be very frank about it. I don't think anybody wants to make great public announcements about measures they may have to take --
WEIR: Yes.
MULROY: -- prior to the election.
WEIR (voice-over): Rather than force new action, the feds will let the states keep talking, while the next round of automatic cuts will lower water delivery by 7 percent to Mexico, 8 percent to Nevada, and 21 percent to Arizona.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can hear this crunching. It's just starting to dry up.
WEIR (voice-over): Here, alfalfa farmers are already being paid to let their fields go fallow. While some are switching to crops like guayule, a rubber plant that grows in the desert.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Crop switching, looking at lower water use crops like guayule, is one of the solutions we need to be looking at in a drier future to allow communities to sustain themselves.
WEIR (voice-over): Thanks to some creative water accounting, California will not face mandatory cuts next year. But their governor is already warning of a future with a lot more people and a lot less water.
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D), CALIFORNIA: Science and the data leads us to now understand that we will lose 10 percent of our water supply by 2040. If all things are equal, we will lose an additional 10 percent of our supply by 2040.
MULROY: We have the very real possibility, this coming year, if we have another lousy winter, all things being equal, that we will dry this lake down to elevation 1,000. That is 100 feet above dead pool. And you're at the bottom of the martini glass. So, it doesn't take much to tip that over and get to the point where
nothing can go downstream. And if you don't take it seriously now, if you think that you are going to avoid this, do a rain dance, go pray, do whatever, that we have a great winter, you're insane.
[00:55:04]
WEIR: On the same day of this new report, President Biden also signed new legislation, the most ambitious climate legislation in American history, which includes, thanks to Western senators, $4 billion for drought relief. It will likely go to farmers, paying them not to grow cotton or alfalfa in the desert for the coming years. Maybe homeowners paying them to tear up their lawns or shrink the footprint of their swimming pools.
The big ideas, desalination plants, or reviving the salt and sea, or even pumping water from Eastern U.S., these have been bandied about for decades. But these take time and money, and in the meantime, all anybody can do is conserve every precious drop.
Bill Weir, CNN, Lake Mead, Nevada.
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VAUSE: California is urging residents to conserve electricity on Wednesday due to high temperatures. Residents are being asked to voluntary cut electric use between the hours of 4 and 9 p.m. local time.
California officials recommend avoid using appliances during that time, turning off all unnecessary lights.
The U.S. National Weather Service issued a heat advisory across the state as temperatures are expected to peak in different areas across the week.
Thank you for watching this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. I'll be back with a lot more news other a very short break. Hope to see you then.
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