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Cheney Concedes And Vows To Keep Up Fight Against Trump; Final Polls Closed In Alaska's Primary Races; Sarah Palin Seeks Political Comeback In Alaska House Race; Senator Murkowski Advances to November Election; North Korea Fires Two Cruise Missiles; Explosion in Russian Military Ammunition Depot; People Advised Not to Approach Russian Military Installations by Zelenskyy; Colorado River and Lake Mead Drying up; Southwest U.S. Water Use Drastically Reduced Due to Drought; California Residents are Urged to Conserve Electricity. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired August 17, 2022 - 02:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:00:33]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church, And this is CNN NEWSROOM. A crushing but not unexpected defeat for the toughest Republican congressional critic of former U.S. President Donald Trump. Tuesday was primary night in Wyoming where House Republican Liz Cheney conceded to her Trump-backed opponent.

Harriet Hageman netted some two-thirds of the vote. And this was a seat Cheney won by more than 70 percent two years ago. During her concession speech, Cheney, who is vice chair of the January 6 Committee said she could have easily won again but that would have meant embracing Trump's lie about the 2020 election. And that was a path she could not take. Wyoming voters punished her for that stance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): 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.

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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Cheney warned freedom must not and cannot die. And we must be very clear eyed about the threat we face. Her direct words there. CNN's Jeff Zeleny was there and has this report from Jackson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Congresswoman Liz Cheney in Wyoming concedes defeat in her congressional primary race. But as 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.

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.

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.

CHURCH: Democratic strategist and professor Caroline Heldman is with us from Sacramento and CNN political commentator and former House Republican Charlie Dent joins us from Avalon, New Jersey. Welcome to you both.

CAROLINE HELDMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Good to see you, Rosemary.

CHARLIE DENT, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Hello, Rosemary.

CHURCH: So let's start with the Liz Cheney's loss in the Wyoming GOP primary. Not a surprise outcome, of course, by any stretch of the imagination. Given Cheney's bold stand against Donald Trump and a state that's very pro-Trump. The big question now of course, did Cheney receive enough support to give her the credibility she needs to confront Trump and keep him out of office as she has vowed to do? And how might she do that? Charlie, to you first.

DENT: Yes, Rosemary. First, we have to be very clear about something. Donald Trump has invaded a number of primaries throughout the country. Not only in Wyoming but in state -- swing states like Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia.

[02:05:05]

And the president, he has helped nominate some candidates many feel are unelectable or unfit. So OK, winning a primary is one thing, but winning a general election in a swing state is quite another. So Republicans underperform in the general election in the fall. I think Donald Trump will receive a lot of backlash for this. And so, I think that will help Liz Cheney's case, because right now, there is great concern that there are a number of candidates out there who simply are just too extreme for the states in which they are running.

And again, we're not going to know that answer tonight. But we're going to find out in the fall, and I suspect there is going to be a growing movement led by people like Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger and maybe Peter Meijer and others. You know, who are standing up for the rule of law, the constitutional order and want this Republican Party to move in a different and better direction. I would estimate there somewhere between 20 to 30 percent of Republicans right now who want this party to move in a different direction, once you reject Trump and Trumpism but those numbers need to grow.

CHURCH: Yes. And if they do, then they're remaining very quiet for now. Caroline, in her concession speech, Liz Cheney said, our work is far from over. So what is her likely next move? And if she were to run for president in 2024, we don't know she hasn't said that she will or won't. What level of the support might you receive across the country? And could she still independent and Democratic votes? Is there a worry about that possibility?

HELDMAN: Well, I think she is dead in the water for a presidential run because who in the Republican Part, she just doesn't have enough support there. She can't run as a Democrat. Remember, Liz Cheney is a hawkish neoconservative, you know, neocon, she is incredibly conservative, she's not Trump conservative because Trump isn't a conservative fighting for Republican opportunist.

She is a staunch conservative, where would she go? Presidential contests are all about the primaries. And it's interesting to note that she lost her seat, even though she voted with Donald Trump 93 percent of the time when he was in office, his first term, his only term, and the moment at which she shifted is when he started promoting the big lies. So, she has incredible character. She put her oath to the constitution and commitment to democracy above her party, she lost her seat for it.

She quotes Lincoln and -- or not quotes him. But she referenced him in her speech tonight saying, you know, he lost two elections as well. And then it's suggesting he went on, you know, to win the presidency. It's clear that that is what she is aiming at. I just don't see her path forward there.

CHURCH: And Charlie, Cheney says the U.S. is the greatest hope for democracy. But she also says that the nation survival is not guaranteed. And on January 6th, 2020, we learned just have fragile democracies in this country. And since then, Donald Trump keeps repeating his big election lie and casting doubt on the voting system. So how much do you worry that this country is in a very dangerous place right now?

DENT: I do share Liz's concern that our -- that our Democratic institutions are under assault by some illiberal authoritarian elements, you know, who simply just do not accept the rule of law, do not accept the constitutional order, who did not accept free and fair election outcomes. This is a --this is a -- an enormous existential threat to our system of governance. And frankly, most of us thought our institutions were so solid that they could never -- they could never break.

I think many of us are something that they're bending a bit right now. But I think what's really happening, what I learned, what I've continued to say is that there needs to be a movement in the United States of the center left to the center right of this country, which is, in many respects, significantly underrepresented in the U.S. Congress, particularly in the House of Representatives, that there needs to be some type of movement.

I'm not saying a new party, but some type of a movement to try to move pull both parties, frankly, back closer to the center while the Republican Party has this Trumpian illiberal elements, not conservative element, an illiberal element, and the Democratic party seems in many respects, we've been pulled further to the left by the -- I'll call it the Sanders wing of the party, the Justice Democrat wing.

There is a lot of concern that this country needs to find a better, more centrist path. And I think the big problem is, there's not enough ideological diversity within both of our political parties today. There used to be that diversity which had a moderating influence on our -- in our parties. That is not the case anymore and it's making governing that much more difficult.

CHURCH: And Caroline, Cheney knows why she lost. As she points out herself, she won Wyoming by 73 percent just two years ago. But Donald Trump's election lie was a path she said she could not and would not take. But that's not the case for most Republicans, is it?

[02:10:07]

They are totally on board with truth Trump's election lie. Why the majority of Republicans lack the courage that Liz Cheney shows?

HELDMAN: Well, I think they want to hold their office, Rosemary. I don't think a lot of Republican leaders who have looked at the evidence, who've looked at all of the court cases that Donald Trump lost believe the big lie, but they're promoting it because he has promoted it so much that millions of Republicans in the United States do believe it. In fact, it's about two-thirds of the Republican Party.

So, denying, you know, pointing out reality if you have an affinity for the truth. It's not likely to get you reelected. And just look at what happened, you know, with the impeachment, his second impeachment, the 10 Republicans who voted. There's only eight left four have decided not to run, four have lost primaries. I mean, it's a very potent, powerful lie, and I share Mr. Dent's concern about democracy.

And I wish that the Republican Party that has been, you know, cleaved in to the much larger piece being this kind of authoritarianism Populist Party of Trump. I really wish that that one-third of Republicans who care more about democracy and the constitution and their party would speak up, but frankly, they would lose their seats.

CHURCH: I want you both to stand by because we aren't getting some new information coming in on Alaska. If I can just go through this because all of the polls are now closed there in Alaska where we've been closely watching two key nonpartisan races. The latest results in the Senate primary show incumbent Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski and Republican rival Kelly Tshibaka who is endorsed by the former president will both advance to the general election along with a Democrat Patricia Chesbro.

And former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin is running for Alaska's at large House seat. That's a special election. She will advance to the general election along with fellow Republican Nick Begich and Democrat Mary Peltola. A fourth spot is too early to call for both races. So, let's bring our panel back. Charlie, want to get a reaction from you to those very early results. What do you say?

DENT: Well, it's not at all surprising that Senator Lisa Murkowski has advanced. That was expected. But no one should underestimate Senator Murkowski's political skills. You may remember several years ago, she was defeated in a primary by a Tea Party candidate and his name was Joe Owens. He defeated her then she turned around and beat him in the general election with a write in campaign.

Now Alaska is not Wyoming. Yes, Alaska leans Republican, but not to the extent that Wyoming does. And so, in a general election, I think that Lisa Murkowski is more centrist for Senator right politics. It is a better fit for Alaska than somebody who's running as a -- as a very Trumpian candidate. So, I think that Lisa Murkowski is well-positioned to win in the fall election. So, I have great confidence in that.

And so, again, they have a rank choice voting system there. So she didn't have the same type of primary pressure that Liz Cheney had in some of the other candidates who voted for impeachment in the House and lost. So I think that in many respects that Alaska would keep a close eye on Lisa Murkowski. I think she should be able to prevail. But there's a long time between now in the fall, but don't estimate her skillfulness.

CHURCH: Absolutely. And Caroline, you get the final word and reaction on what we're learning about Alaska.

HELDMAN: We've got to talk about Sarah Palin, that was a crowded field. Obviously, Trumpism is helping Sarah Palin with the reemergence of her political career. If you recall, you know, she ran as a vice presidential candidate and really lost a lot of credibility, mostly because she was simply unprepared. I would also argue there was a lot of sexism in that campaign. She was the most pornified candidate. But it's interesting to the most pornified candidate, woman candidate we've ever had in U.S. politics. But it's interesting to see her coming back and her years on Fox News, and her reality show perhaps paying off in terms of name recognition.

CHURCH: All right. Caroline Heldman, Charlie Dent, many thanks to you both. We're going to talk again next hour, so we'll speak then.

And still to come. More members of Donald Trump's inner circle are questioned by the FBI over the possible mishandling of classified information as the Mar-a-Lago investigation heats up,

Plus, Democrats sweeping climate and health care package signed into law. We will take a look at what's inside the Inflation Reduction Act. We're back with that and more in just a moment.

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[02:19:25]

CHURCH: Wyoming Republican Liz Cheney has lost her House primary but she's not backing down from the greater battle to keep former U.S. President Donald Trump out of the White House. She said going along with his lies about the 2020 election being stolen was a path she could not take. Cheney lost her house seat to Trump-backed challenger Harriet Hagerman who earned some 66 percent f the vote.

Cheney is the vice chair of the January 6 House committee investigating the president's role in the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

[02:20:00]

And we've learned two of the most senior former aides to Donald Trump were questioned in what's now a criminal investigation into his handling of classified documents at his Florida home. CNN's Jessica Schneider has details.

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: There are 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. So they could have shared details with the FBI, maybe about what was taken to Mar-a-Lago, whether Trump insisted that documents remain with him.

And why exactly 11 sets of classified documents remained at Mar-a-Lago until last Monday when FBI agents searched Trump's Palm Beach home. Now those details are coming out just as the court fight for more information about the search is looming. A federal judge announcing that he will hold a hearing on Thursday afternoon on whether to publicly release the affidavit. That's what provided the basis for last Monday search.

Now the Justice Department is seeking to keep it completely secret. They say that any release would reveal what they're calling highly sensitive information about witnesses, plus specific investigative techniques. So, the DOJ is asking a judge to keep it under wraps because they say if it's released, it would provide too much of a roadmap to the government's ongoing investigation.

So, the arguments are coming from all sides, the Justice Department, Trump's team that needs to file a response on Wednesday morning, and also media outlets who want this affidavit released including CNN. All of these arguments will play out in court -- in federal court in Florida on Thursday afternoon.

Jessica Schneider, CNN, Washington.

CHURCH: Team Trump's legal troubles don't end with the search of Mar- a-Lago. The investigation into Donald Trump's efforts to flip Georgia's election results in 2020 is ramping up. His former attorney Rudy Giuliani is expected to appear before a special grand jury later today here in Atlanta. Prosecutors informed Giuliani on Monday he's now a target of their wide-ranging investigation.

They're examining whether Team Trump violated the law in their efforts to flip the 2020 election results in Georgia after Trump lost to Joe Biden. Well, the White House and Democrats are celebrating a major legislative victory. President Joe Biden signed his sweeping health care tax and climate bill into law on Tuesday. He calls the $750 billion Inflation Reduction Act, one of the most significant laws in U.S. history.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Today, too often we confuse noise with substance. Too often we confuse setbacks with defeat. Too often we hand the biggest microphone to the critics and the cynics who delight in declaring failure while those committed to making real progress do the hard work of governing.

Making progress in this country is a -- as 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)

CHURCH: The legislation includes nearly 700 -- 370 billion, I should say, dollars, to fight climate change. It also gives Medicare the power to negotiate some drug prices, caps Medicare out of pocket drug costs to $2,000 extends the Affordable Care Act subsidies for another three years and imposes a 15 percent minimum corporate tax on the largest U.S. companies.

Well, still to come. Election results out of Alaska and CNN projects Liz Cheney will lose her seat in the U.S. Congress. What's next for one of Donald Trump's fiercest critics?

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[02:28:28] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHENEY: 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: (INAUDIBLE) who absolutely no one Liz Cheney's days in the U.S. Congress are coming to an end. CNN project she will lose the Wyoming Republican House primary to Trump-backed attorney Harriet Hagerman. Cheney has been one of the most outspoken critics of the former president and his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. She currently serves as the vice chair of the House Select Committee investigating January 6th.

Despite her primary loss, Cheney says she won't stop fighting to keep Trump out of the White House. And in Alaska, incumbent Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski who also voted to impeach Trump will advance to the November election. Her main challenger is Kelly Tshibaka who has been endorsed by the former president. Alaska's former Republican governor Sarah Palin is hoping to fill a vacant house seat.

CNN projects no candidate will get a majority of the vote, meaning the race will head to a ranked choice tabulation later this month.

Ron Brownstein is CNN senior political analyst and senior editor for The Atlantic. He joins me now from Los Angeles. Always great to have you with us.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi Rosemary.

[02:30:00]

CHURCH: So, as expected, Republican Liz Cheney lost her Wyoming primary race, but is vowing to keep Donald Trump out of office. She did not say how exactly she plans to do that. What do you think that she wants to do here?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, first, I think that the magnitude of her defeat over two to one, the fact that Lisa Murkowski is basically running even with a Trump-backed challenger. It just puts an exclamation point on what we've been seeing all summer in States like Arizona, in Wisconsin, Michigan, Kansas, earlier Pennsylvania.

This is Donald Trump's party today. It remains very much enthralled to him. The Georgia example of nay where the candidates he opposed survived was very much the exception. And Republicans are rolling into the midterm election, setting a very clear signal to voters that this -- that they are a party that remains committed to restoring Trump to power.

Cheney, obviously, signaled tonight that she is determined to do everything that she can to prevent that from happening. And you know, the biggest kind of hint or bread crumbs she dropped what when she compared herself to Abraham Lincoln, who, of course, lost elections for the House and the Senate before winning the presidency in 1860 as the second Republican nominee ever.

There are a lot of the dwindling band of Trump critics in the Republican Party who hope that she'll and hoping that she runs for president in 2024. I think it would be a logical step for her to do it. But she did not firmly commit to that course or any other course in her speech tonight.

CHURCH: And you mentioned Alaska, we are learning that Trump critic, Senator Lisa Murkowski, will advance to the November election. And former Republican Governor Sarah Palin, endorsed by Trump, is hoping to fill a vacant house seat. What is your overall reaction to what you're seeing there in Alaska?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, first of all, it can hardly be more complicated in Alaska. Because they have two unusual features to their elections. One is this joint, where they use to call it jungle primary where candidates from both parties run in the same election and the top four go on to the next route -- the next round. And then you have the ranked-choice voting.

So, if you look at where it stands right now, Lisa Murkowski will be the favorite in the general election. Largely because the few votes for a Democrat are more likely to go her way than to the Trump-backed challenger. But again, the strength of the Trump challenger is a reminder of how much sway he has in the party.

The House race is really interesting because Sarah Palin, you know, is a very polarizing figure. And it is possible that some of the voters or most of the voters for the other Republicans in the top three might pick the Democrat as their second choice. So, even though it's roughly -- you know, even though she ran reasonably well in this round. It's not at all guaranteed that she's going to survive the rank choice voting. You might get a Democrat out of this.

And then, to make it even more complicated, this is just a special election for the rest of this term. There's also an election going on for next year, you know, the two-year term. So, we're going to wait -- we're going to have a while until we know exactly what happened in Alaska. But again, the overall story of the night is Trump's continuing hold on the Republican Party.

CHURCH: Yes, absolutely. In the meantime, Donald Trump has repeatedly railed against the FBI search and seizure of classified documents stored at his Mar-a-Lago home. With a dizzying array of explanations for having these sensitive documents in his possession.

BROWNSTEIN: Right.

CHURCH: And now, a hearing is set for Thursday on whether to unseal the affidavit, the trick of that search, what do you expect the outcome will likely be?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, the Justice Department could not be more clear that unsealing the affidavit would threaten what they call an ongoing investigation. I think it would be kind of remarkable for the court to go against that. It's usually pretty deferential to prosecutors on questions like that.

You know, the entire reaction to the raid really fits into this larger story that we're talking about in terms of the outcomes of these primaries on the Republican side this year. Because what we have seen is Republicans rushing to, you know, defend Trump and to condemn the investigation really before they had any information about it. I mean, Marco Rubio was tweeting within minutes, it seemed, of the announcement that this is the kind of thing you see in third-world countries, in Marxist countries.

And I think that that is sending the same kind of signal as the primaries which is that if Trump is returned to power, that the Republican Congress might impose even fewer constraints on the way he exercises his power than they did when he was in the White House in the first case. And that is becoming part of the election dialogue in the U.S. for the midterm. Usually, midterm elections and who we talked about many times are a referendum on the incumbent, which is not good news for Democrats given that Biden's approval rating is stuck somewhere around 40 percent.

[02:35:00]

But the visibility of Trump and his clear leadership of the party -- of the Republican Party and their deference to him and that their signals they are sending about how they would, you know, behave around him is kind of making almost a dual incumbent situation, in which there is at least a prospect that the Democratic coalition may feel equally energized and urgent to vote as the Republican coalition creating a very different dynamic that's even impossible two or three months ago.

CHURCH: All right. Ron Brownstein joining us live from Los Angeles. Many thanks. We will talk again next hour. Appreciate it.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you for having me.

CHURCH: A nuclear deal with Iran could be closed just ahead. What's Iran is asking for, just in case a future president pulls out of the agreement? We're back with that in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:40:00]

CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. North Korea has apparently fired two cruise missiles towards the sea of its western coast, that is according to an official with South Korea's defense ministry. CNN has not independently verified the launch. It's just the latest provocation by Pyongyang in recent days. A U.N. report revealed North Korea had taken steps to prepare for a nuclear test in the last six months.

Well, for the second time in a week, explosions have rocked a Russian military site in Crimea. Local officials say Tuesday's blast at an ammunition depot wounded at least two people and the Russian defense ministry is blaming sabotage. Ukraine isn't claiming responsibility for the incident, but president Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the Ukrainians to steer clear of Russian military sites.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I am asking now, all our people in Crimea, in other areas, in the south of the country, in the occupied areas of Donbas and Kharkiv region to be very careful. Please do not go near the military facilities of the Russian army and all of those places where they store ammunition and equipment. Where they keep their headquarters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: To the east, Ukrainian officials are acknowledging some Russian gains in the Donbas region. The commander of Ukraine's armed forces says Russian troops shelled their positions up to 800 times a day, describing the situation on the ground as intense but fully controlled.

Iran is apparently worried about getting Trumped again if it resumes its nuclear deal with the U.S. and other world powers. A diplomatic source tells CNN, Tehran wants compensation if the U.S. pulls out of the agreement, like Donald Trump did back in 2018. The revived, deal like the 2015 original, would limit Iran's ability to produce a nuclear weapon in exchange for sanctions relief.

And CNN's Clare Sebastian is following developments for us. She joins us now live from London. Good to see you. So, Clare, what more do we know about Iran's conditions to the deal? And what is the likely response from the United States?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Rosemary, so we have not seen the final text as the European Union is calling it, nor have we seen Iran's written response that came on Monday night. But it is clear, certainly, according to a regional diplomat that President Trump and his withdrawal from the deal in 2018 doesn't loom large over this.

This regional diplomat telling us that Iran is seeking, essentially, compensation should a future administration pull out of the deal again. They want sanctions relief to be real. They want it to be not subject to any kind of U.S. interference in the future. Clearly bruised by what happened in 2018. We don't know exactly how this would work, the regional diplomat saying that no real solution is yet on the table.

As for the U.S., they are not giving much away either, frankly. And not really going very far to try to strike a conciliatory tone. What we heard from the State Department Spokesperson, Ned Price, was that they are calling on Iran to stop bringing in what he called extraneous demands. A reference to another Iranian request that the revolutionary guard may be removed from a list of foreign terrorist organizations. So, there are clearly some sticking points remaining.

As for the next steps, while the E.U. and the U.S. are studying Iran's response to this, we know from Iran's foreign minister that he said that if the U.S. comes back with what he called a realistic and flexible approach to Iran's response, it could be at the point of a deal. And Russia's leading negotiator to these talks in Vienna told CNN on Tuesday that that could lead to a ministerial meeting either this week or the next.

So, it looks like they are edging closer but they are -- there are still fairly significant sticking points. And clearly, not a lot of trust between the two sides as we have seen because of the withdrawal of the U.S. and the various issues that have emerged over the last 18 months as they've tried to revive this deal.

CHURCH: All right. Clare Sebastian joining us live from London. Many things.

Well, parts of the Southwestern U.S. are facing a potentially catastrophic collapse of their water supply unless they take drastic measures and cut back their water use. Those details when we return.

[02:45:00]

GIVEN KACHEPA, HUMAN TRAFFICKING SURVIVOR: Nothing is ever given to you in life. You know, if you want to be a great businessman, you got to put in the work. And the same applies to survivors of trafficking. My name is Given Kachepa. And I'm now a dentist in Dallas, Texas.

I grew up in Zambia. I grew up very poor. I was trafficked into the United States by an organization known as TTT Partners in Education. The mission of the organization was to go to African countries and bring kids to America to sing in churches. We were singing in malls. We were singing in schools. So, the ministry had different ways of making revenue. And yet those of us who were singing were not receiving a penny from that.

My demo practice is based here in North Dallas. We've been here now for five years. It's been an exciting, wonderful journey. And my goal as a dentist in the future is opening up clinics in Zambia. We have two of them that we've built from the ground up. And being a business person today, I just cannot foresee a situation in which I would work somebody without compensating them for the work that they're doing. It's important for me that we all try to get along and make life a little bit easier for each other.

ARTHUR HUANG, CO-FOUNDER AND CEO, MINIWIZ: In nature, we produce zero-waster. Isn't that how we should build our products. Everything can be retransformed, re-upcycled into all kinds of beautiful architecture. Miniwiz is a company that basically turns trash into high performance material for buildings and products.

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We do not need to create new things. We just need to use our ingenuity to transform these existing materials into the next generation of products to power our economy. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Republican voters in Wyoming have sent a clear signal of support to former U.S. President Donald Trump. Rejecting one of his most outspoken GOP critics in Congress. CNN projects Liz Cheney will lose the House primary race to Trump-backed attorney, Harriet Hageman.

And in Alaska, incumbent Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski who also voted to impeach Trump will advance to the November election. Her main challenger is Kelly Tshibaka who has been endorsed by the former president.

[02:50:00]

Alaska's former Republican Governor, Sarah Palin, is hoping to fill a vacant House seat. CNN projects no candidate will get a majority of the vote, meaning the race will head to a ranked choice tabulation later this month.

Well, the drought in the Southwestern U.S. has reached a new tier of crisis for the first time. Specifically, a federally designated tier two water shortage condition. The designation means Arizona, Nevada, as well as Mexico will have to further cut back on water use from the Colorado River starting in January. California is 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, are also at dangerously low levels. 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 an agreement on water use has been a challenge going back to the days of the old west.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Whiskey 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, as water managers in seven States, 30 tribal 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 of sufficient magnitude that would stabilize the system.

WEIR (voiceover): 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 are playing Russian roulette. And they're going to have to come to their senses.

WEIR (voiceover): 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: You can't water in the middle of the day, ma'am. You'll be fined if you don't change your watering clock.

WEIR (voiceover): 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, if you want to -- if you 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 prior to the election.

WEIR (voiceover): 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 seven percent to Mexico, eight percent to Nevada, and 21 percent to Arizona.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can hear the scrunching. It's just starting to dry up.

WEIR (voiceover): 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: Crops 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 (voiceover): 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-CA): 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 are 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.

WEIR (on camera): 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 senator, $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 piping water from the eastern U.S., these have been bending 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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CHURCH: And California is urging residents to conserve electricity on Wednesday due to high temperatures. Residents are being asked to voluntarily cut electricity use between the hours of 4:00 and 9:00 p.m. local time. California officials recommend avoiding using appliances during that time. And turning off all unnecessary lights. The U.S. National Weather Service issued several heat advisories across the State as temperatures are expected to peak in different areas throughout the week.

And thank you so much for joining us. I am Rosemary Church. I'll be back with much more coverage of the primary elections in Wyoming and Alaska after this short break. You are watching CNN. Don't go anywhere.

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