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What To Watch In Todays Primaries In Florida And New York; Texas Rescue Crews Respond To Hundreds Of Calls For Help During Flooding; Former Kentucky Detective Pleads Guilty In Breonna Taylor Case; NYPD Investigating Rape Claims Against South Sudanese Diplomat And Was Released After Invoking Diplomatic Community. Aired 3:30-4p ET
Aired August 23, 2022 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:30:00]
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: It's primary day and two consequential states. In Florida Democrats will choose who will take on Republican governor Ron DeSantis in November.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: And in New York because of a redrawn district map, two 15-term Democrats are running against one another in a primary, and one will be unseated. CNN's Jason Carroll has the back story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Primary day in New York is finally here after the state Supreme Court threw out the state's new Congressional map back in April claiming it was heavily gerrymandered. As a result, New York's primary scheduled for June had to be postponed. Now New Yorkers are heading back to the polls and one thing is for certain, one long standing Democrat in the House will be unseated.
The newly redrawn 12th district in New York pitting representatives Jerry Nadler against Carolyn Maloney for the Democratic nomination. Each has been in Congress for nearly 30 years and share crucial committees in the House, both touting their progressive records during the campaign.
REP. CAROLYN MALONEY (D-NY): There is one thing that remains that I have not been able to do, and that is to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment and put women in the Constitution. Please send me back to finish the job.
REP. JERRY NADLER (D-NY): I think it's probably about my voting record more than anything else. I mean, people understand that I took principled progressive votes.
CARROLL (voice over): Nadler gaining the key endorsement from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer last week. Nadler and Maloney who are both in their 70s are facing off against 38-year-old Suraj Patel, who has called for generational change, citing his competitors combined six decades in Congress. SURAJ PATEL (D) NEW YORK CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: They think that
everything is just fine in Washington, and they think they're being effective at fighting Republicanism.
CARROLL (voice over): And in New York's 10th district, a chaotic primary contest centering around the ideological differences of the candidates. It appears the man with momentum is Dan Goldman, a former federal prosecutor during the first Trump impeachment. He earned an endorsement from the "New York Times."
[15:35:00]
He's running against progressive representative Mondaire Jones and state assembly woman Yuh-Line Niou. Jones and Niou joining forces criticizing Goldman, who was a heir to the Levi Strauss dynasty for sinking millions of his own money into the campaign.
REP. MONDAIRE JONES (D-NY): Conservative Democrat Dan Goldman cannot be allowed to purchase this Congressional seat.
YUH-LINE NIOU, (D) NEW YORK CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: We can't let a candidate so out of step with this district's values, buy themselves a Congressional seat.
CARROLL (voice over): Goldman disputes accusations that he's not progressive enough for the district.
DAN GOLDMAN (D) NEW YORK CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: I think what the voters recognize is that my progressive ideals are aligned very much with theirs.
CARROLL (voice over): And in a special election in New York's 19th, Democrat Pat Ryan is running against Republican Marc Molinaro. Abortion rights have been a crucial campaign point. Many are looking at this race as a possible barometer of how the court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade will sway voters in the midterms this November.
Meanwhile, today Floridians are also heading to the polls. Both Republican Governor Ron DeSantis and Republican Senator Marco Rubio are up for reelection this November. In the governor's race, either Charlie Crist or Nikki Fried hope to unseat the Republican favorite in the fall.
And four hopefuls, including Congresswoman Val Demings are running to take on Rubio this November.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL (on camera): And in Florida, the polls close at 7:00. In New York, they close at 9:00 p.m. Here in New York's 12th district on the upper west side, lots of questions about, as you can imagine, who is leading the pack. But the problem with that is the polls are so unpredictable, it's really hard to say with any sort of amount of certainty who is leading the pack, but it appears as if Nadler is the man to beat. Guys, back to you.
CAMEROTA: OK, Jason Carroll, keep us posted, thank you.
BLACKWELL: The flash flooding threat is now moving east after leaving Texans stranded and calling for help. Next, we'll speak to the Fort Worth Fire Department about the hundreds of rescues, and how people there are coping now.
CAMEROTA: And a terrifying moment for passengers on this Alaska Airlines flight. The details next.
[15:40:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: Right now, from New Mexico to Mississippi, more than 9 million Americans are under flood watches. Record rainfall in the Dallas/Fort Worth area triggered dangerous flash floods. More than 9 inches fell over a 24-hour period. Now, the rain in that region, it's the most that they've had in one day since 1932. The Dallas mayor gave an update on the historic storm this afternoon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIC JOHNSON (D) DALLAS MAYOR: Most people in our city, I'm happy to report that today is a return to normalcy. For them, Monday will be nothing more than an unusually wet and dreary memory. And for that I'm very glad. But for some people, this is important. For some of us, the effects of the storm are going to linger for a while.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: At least one person has died from the flooding. A 60-year- old woman was swept off the road in rising waters, according a Mesquite, Texas fire chief.
So, let's bring in the spokesperson for the Fort Worth Fire Department, Craig Trojacek. Craig, thanks so much for being here. We know how busy you are. So, tell us about the water rescues, the status of how many have you done today or last night?
CRAIG TROJACEK, SPOKESMAN, FORT WORTH FIRE DEPARTMENT: Yes, so we knew as a state that the floods were coming. We started pushing out messaging as of last Friday. Sunday night is kind of when the event began. Since then, within that 24-hour period, we had about 174 calls of service for high water investigations and rescues. In that amount of time, we're still waiting to get kind of some of the formal reports and things back but there were quite a few animals and people that were rescued in that time frame.
BLACKWELL: We've seen the video of cars stuck, submerged in the roads. We're looking here at people being taken out, animals being taken out across the water. How many of these were auto rescues, because a lot of this is preventable when there's standing water in the road.
TROJACEK: Yes, so a lot of it is preventable. And we try to put that out for folks, not putting their lives in danger and in turn putting ours out there that had to come rescue them. So, some of the calls were for just stalled calls out in the high water. Some of the calls were actually vehicles that were swept off the roadways that we tended to. And we also had, you know, the houses and things like that that were getting flooded as well that were wanting help.
CAMEROTA: Craig, and what we're looking at here it's like a river. I mean, it's a river running through neighborhoods. Suddenly all of these homes in just a suburban neighborhood look like they're water front property on a river. So, have you seen anything like this level of flooding?
TROJACEK: In my time, no. I've been on the job for almost 20 years now. In Texas, you know, it seems like we're either in some type of drought and grass and brush fires, which we were literally experiencing the day before the floods came in, and then the torrential rains and things like that. So, the good thing is within the line of work we do, we're always trained and prepared and ready to go.
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BLACKWELL: Are there any outstanding reports of people who were reported missing that you or other agencies there are still looking for?
TROJACEK: No, we're happy to report here in Fort Worth that we didn't have any reports of any injuries, no fatalities at this time. I think we had some neighbors to our east that may have had one fatality due to the storms. But here in Fort Worth, we turned out very fortunate during this event.
BLACKWELL: All right, well, Craig Trojacek I want to thank you for your time and thank you for the work and your entire team that you have done over these last several days, this historic flooding across Fort Worth.
TROJACEK: You bet.
BLACKWELL: Thank you.
TROJACEK: Thank you.
BLACKWELL: Well, this is something you do not want to see on your flight, Alaska Airlines flight 558 had to turn back to Seattle moments after takeoff yesterday because of some strange vibration.
BLACKWELL: I don't want to feel that on my flight either. It turns out the engines metal covering was coming off. Passenger Greg Anderson took these pictures of the Boeing 747's left engine. I mean, that one looks sort of normal, right. But he said the plane -- OK, that one doesn't. The plane took off normally, but then there was a pop and the aircraft starts vibrating. He said he could see pieces of the engine covering coming off in midair and during landing. We are happy to report everyone is OK.
BLACKWELL: Good news there. CAMEROTA: OK, just in to CNN, New York police are investigating rape
allegations against a diplomat who is already back on the streets after invoking diplomatic immunity. So, we have all of the details for you next.
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
Former Louisville Metro Police detective Kelly Goodlett has pleaded guilty to federal charges in the Breonna Taylor case. Goodlett pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to violate the civil rights of Taylor. This is according to CNN affiliate WABE.
BLACKWELL: Last month, Goodlett was charged with falsifying an affidavit for the search of Taylor's apartment that resulted in her being fatally shot. Goodlett could face up to five years in prison. No recently, Attorney General Merrick Garland charged three other current and former Louisville officers for civil rights violations in the deadly raid.
And just in to CNN, the New York Police Department is investigating a sexual assault allegation against a South Sudanese diplomat. The diplomat Charles Oliha was working at the U.N. Mission, a law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation tells CNN. And a woman who lives in his same building in New York claims that he entered her apartment without permission and raped her twice. CNN's Brynn Gingras is following this story. So, the diplomat has now been released.
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Has been released because of full diplomatic immunity and I'll get to that in a minute. But essentially what a source is telling me is that he lives in the same apartment building as this victim. And on Sunday, this victim went out. She walked a neighbor's dog. When she returned to the building, he was there, essentially saying to her I'm going to come up to your apartment. She said no way. He did anyway. He forced his way, allegedly into this apartment, and raped this victim.
When it was reported to police, police were able to bring Oliha into custody. However, he said he had full diplomatic immunity because of his status at the U.N. and of course, that was verified by the NYPD and he was immediately released.
Of course, this is not over just yet. Even though he is not behind bars at this point, this is certainly, something that is being investigated by the NYPD. He's not been criminally charged yet. We know the Manhattan District Attorney's Office is looking into this and of course the Mayor's Office of International Affairs is looking into this and the State Department as well. So, there's a lot of agencies here that are working together trying to figure out what happened. Can these charges be brought and what then happens next if they are brought against him.
CAMEROTA: OK, Brynn Gingras --
GINGRAS: Terrifying none the less.
CAMEROTA: Keep us posted. Thank you very much.
A newly released letter revealed the National Archives retrieved hundreds of classified payments of documents from Mar-a-Lago back in January. What they did with those once they were in the possession of the federal authorities and what that means for Donald Trump ahead.
[15:55:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAMEROTA: OK, guys, the moment you have been waiting for. The winner of this year's USA Mullet Championships is --
BLACKWELL: 8-year-old Emmitt Bailey of Wisconsin. Look at this hair. He beat out 600 of his rivals to claim first place and $2,500 in prize money. Emmett says he's going to spend that money on a go-kart.
CAMEROTA: He does have a pretty killer mullet. I mean, I'll grant you, it's great hair. It's a great color, I think. And it's, you know, wavy and straight, and the glasses --
BLACKWELL: He wasn't my pick.
CAMEROTA: He wasn't my pick, either, and I feel like Rustin got robbed. So, here was my pick, 4-year-old Rustin. Who -- I mean just look at -- please, please embrace Rustin's hair because Rustin is 4, but he already is wearing a toupee.
BLACKWELL: Yes, a little thick at the top there.
CAMEROTA: It's not just a mullet, that's a toupee plus a mullet.
BLACKWELL: So, I think Nolan Bryant should have won, because these are two distinctly different haircuts. The front on, he's smiling, it's lined up, combed over well, and then the profile shot, he is like get into this. Then look, the facial expression changes. He knows, the cowlick, I think Nolan should have won.
CAMEROTA: I mean, by definition, isn't a mullet two distinctly different haircuts.
BLACKWELL: Business up front, party in the back -- Nolan wins.
All right, New York Yankees fan has now gone viral after he was recorded turning his hotdog into a straw. So, he could drink his beer through it.
CAMEROTA: Let's look at a picture. This is disturbing on so many levels.
BLACKWELL: This part is disturbing on its own. All right.
CAMEROTA: I'm scared.
BLACKWELL: He pokes his hole there.
CAMEROTA: I'm scared to even broach it. OK. I feel like no amount of explanation --
BLACKWELL: Oh, my goodness.
CAMEROTA: -- can make this OK.
[16:00:00]
BLACKWELL: And you know what, I thought initially, this is the first time seeing the video. He was doing it -- it's like a performance. Hey guys, look at me. No, this is something he is not aware anyone is recording. He likes drinking his beer through a hotdog.
CAMEROTA: Yes, I mean, I don't know why you need to drink a beer through a hotdog. I don't know why you need to drink a beer through a straw. There are so many questions.
BLACKWELL: The smell of like hotdog water, even the thought of it makes me a little queasy.
CAMEROTA: All right, let's get out of this.
And "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.
