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New York, Florida, Oklahoma Hold Primary Elections; Student Relief Coming; National Archives Found 700+ Pages of Classified Documents at Mar-a-Lago; Biden Ordered Air Strikes on Iran-Backed Groups in Syria; White House May Cancel up to $10,000 per Borrower of Student Loan Debt; Ukraine Braces for Russian Attacks on Independence Day. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired August 24, 2022 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world. I'm Max Foster in London. Just ahead --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The voters made themselves clear tonight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But the night is not over.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Biden on Wednesday is set to announce his decision on student loan forgiveness.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president is under a lot of pressure to do something here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Independence day in Ukraine, but this year the holiday comes with a sense of dread but also defiance.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Russia's shock and awe was suddenly surprisingly muted by Ukrainian resistance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster.

FOSTER: It's Wednesday, August 24, 9:00 a.m. here in London, 4:00 a.m. in New York and Florida. Where voters have spoken and results are in for the last primary races this month. Both states are seeing the aftermath of messy redistricting which will now set the stage for November is crucial midterm elections.

One of the most powerful Democrats in the U.S. Congress won't be heading back to Capitol Hill next year. The newly drawn New York Congressional map created a contentious match-up between incumbent Jerry Nadler and Carolyn Maloney. CNN projects Nadler will win the district ending Maloney's three decades in Congress. He beat not just Maloney but also progressive newcomer Suraj Patel. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JERRY NADLER (D-NY): We New Yorkers just don't know how to surrender. New Yorkers stand up and fight. When it comes to unpacking our Supreme Court, I'm going to stand up and fight. We're going to end the scorch of gun violence in America because we're going to stand up and fight. We're going to restore abortion access across our entire nation. And I'm going to stand up and fight to protect and expand our other fundamental rights too.

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FOSTER: In Florida Democratic voters have chosen Val Demings to take on incumbent Senator Marco Rubio. Demings is hoping anger over abortion rights will sway voters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. VAL DEMINGS (D-FL): I dream of an America where we protect constitutional rights like a woman's right to choose. Now I've said it along this campaign trail, let me say it again, we're not going back. We're not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, the race for Florida governor is also set. CNN projects Charlie Crist will win the Democratic primary and take on incumbent Republican Ron DeSantis. CNN's Leyla Santiago has those details.

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LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, quite a bit of celebration tonight from Charlie Crist can't here in St. Petersburg. Declaring the victory in the Democratic primary for the governor's race come the general election in November.

And I got to tell you, I had an interesting exchange with one of the staffers who said I don't plan to get any rest tonight because now the real work begins. As they go head to head with Governor Ron DeSantis, a rising star for the Republican Party that is widely seen as a potential GOP presidential nominee. So, it did not take long for Crist to go after DeSantis when he hit the stage. Listen.

REP. CHARLIE CRIST (D-FL): Make no mistake about it, because this guy wants to be president of the United States of America and everybody knows it. However, when we defeat him on November 8, that show is over. Enough.

SANTIAGO: But for Crist, it was obvious that this was not just about attacking Governor DeSantis but rather still trying to energize that base. Trying to get Democrats excited about some of the issues that he sees as important. Highlighting many that are central to what have become culture wars here in Florida.

[04:05:00] Talking about abortion, the LBGTQ community, education, voting rights, all of those mentioned in his victory speech and will likely remain central in his campaign as he moves forward.

Leyla Santiago, CNN, St. Petersburg, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: All right, Republican voters in Oklahoma have chosen Congressman Markwayne Mullin to fill the seat of retiring Senator Jim Imhoff. No candidate got a majority in the first round of voting prompting Tuesday's special election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MARKWAYNE MULLIN (R-OK): So, it feels good to get this primary over with, but keep in mind, we're regional champs right now. We're not state champs. We still got to go take on those donkeys. We're going to win it. Washington, D.C. has no business influencing us. We need to be influencing Washington, D.C. and we're going to take that fight to them.

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FOSTER: Former President Trump endorsed Mullin after the first round of voting. Mullin's website highlights his support for Trump saying, in Congress he fought the liberals trying to stop President Trump.

Former U.S. President Trump's lawsuit stemming from the search of his Florida home is getting pushback from a federal judge meanwhile. That judge has set a Friday deadline for Trump's lawyers to clarify their request for a "Special Master" to review evidence seized by the FBI. It comes as we're learning about hundreds of highly classified documents recovered from Mar-a-Lago by a National Archives team in January. CNN's Evan Perez has more from Washington.

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EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: More than 100 documents marked classified, more than 700 pages in total, that's how much sensitive information the National Archives says was found when it examined 15 boxes of documents retrieved from Donald Trump's Palm Beach estate.

That information all comes from a letter that the archives sent to the former president's legal team back in May and made public on Tuesday. The letter was sent to inform the former president's team that after more than a month of delay that was requested by Trump, the Archives was allowing the FBI to do a damage assessment.

Some of the documents were labeled as special access programs, some of the most closely guarded U.S. government secrets and they had been stored in an unsecure room at Trump's beach house. The letter makes clear that despite Trump's claim that he has been mistreated by the Justice Department and he's the victim of political persecution, the Biden administration has given Trump a great deal deferential treatment.

For weeks Trump asserted that he may want to assert privilege over some of these documents. But finally concerns from the intelligence committee and the FBI prompted the Archives to let the FBI exam the documents. And that led to the criminal investigation and the unprecedented search of Mar-a-Lago just over two weeks ago.

Evan Perez, CNN, Washington.

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FOSTER: And we're getting a better sense of the timeline leading up to the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago. It started in January when a National Archives team removed documents from Trump's Florida home. By late April, Trump's team used legal moves to stall efforts to hand over more classified materials. This ultimately led to the FBI search on August 8 which Trump's lawyers now want a neutral third party to review. But as we've reported that legal tactic is getting pushback from a federal judge. Here is CNN's legal analyst Norm Eisen.

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NORM EISEN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: The judge gave him a do-overs. But how many do-overs do you get, when you look at your timeline, when you look at the pattern here. When you look at all is CNN's reporting. Everything that has become public, you really get to what the government has written about in some of these papers and that's the willful withholding of national defense information and the pattern of concealment. And that gets prosecutors and judges and jurors pretty exercised. So, I think it's that pattern that creates such criminal peril for Donald Trump.

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FOSTER: The highly classified documents in Mar-a-Lago raising all kinds of alarms about potential security threats to the U.S. and its allies. Here's James Clapper, former director of national intelligence, explaining what's at stake if the materials land in the wrong hands.

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JAMES CLAPPER, FORMER U.S. DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: The problem of course is that these documents essentially have been out of control since they left the White House. And they're not under any -- had not been under any kind of secure physical arrangement and there are very exacting standards for that in the government. So potentially this is quite damaging. And what I think the intelligence community will be looking at is an assessment of what a sophisticated adversary, meaning Russia or China, could do if in fact they gained access to those documents.

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And clearly Mar-a-Lago has to have been a target for, I suspect, many foreign intelligence services. So, this is potentially quite concerning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: James Clapper there. Of course, we'll bring you the latest on that story as it develops.

And just in, a shocking ruling from a U.S. federal judge in Texas aimed at further restricting abortion rights in the U.S. At the request of the state of Texas, a Trump appointed judge has blocked guidance from the Biden administration's Health and Human Services Department that says medical providers are required to provide emergency abortion related services even if those actions violate state law. Meaning Texas wants to make it even more difficult for women to end unwanted pregnancies even when their own lives are at risk. The ruling comes just two months after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade -- that's the landmark case that guaranteed federal abortion rights.

U.S. military says it has carried out precision airstrikes on Iran backed groups in Syria. President Joe Biden ordered the strikes in Deir Ezzor on bunkers used by groups tied to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. A U.S. central command says no one was killed.

Let's bring in Salma Abdelaziz who is following all of this. In this was in response to some attacks near the U.S. base?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: Absolutely. So, the U.S. is describing this as retaliatory. They say that this is in response to something that happened on August 15. Let's go to what we know happened in the early hours of this morning -- around 4:00 a.m. this morning according to some sources on the ground.

Multiple precision strikes on these bunkers that were being used by a militant group on the ground. This is a group backed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. The United States saying the bunkers were being used for logistical support to house weapons and essentially what they wanted to do is to degrade Iran's capabilities inside Syria.

Now they say the intention was not to kill anyone on the ground, that that they were successful in that, that there are no casualties, is no death toll. But there's someone we haven't heard from here yet and this of course Iran itself. Tehran has yet to respond to this attack on the ground.

But again, I describe this as retaliatory. On August 15, there was an attack at the Tanf base right along the border with Iraq. A really important outpost for the United States where there is U.S. personnel based alongside their allies. Basically, on August 15 they were hit with multiple rockets. They were hit with drone strikes. And while these strikes, the ones that happened yesterday in Deir al-Zour in the early hours of this morning in Deir al-Zour, while that base was not necessarily involved in the August 15 attack. The message from the United States is clear, you've crossed a red line, Iran and its allies cannot attack the United States. There's about 900 U.S. soldiers still on the ground in Syria, they cannot attack those without expecting a response.

Now there's something else to keep in mind here, Max. I know this is very complicated. But away from the battleground, there's something seriously important happening and that is the attempt to revive the Iran nuclear deal, of course, the deal that President Trump pulled out of. So, the question now is, with this tit-for-tat between the United States and Iran on the ground in Syria, does the attempt to revive these talks, does it stall for months. There has been push by the EU, by the United States, by other countries to try to revive these. There were positive signs this week. Will this impact this. And we still need to hear from Tehran of course.

FOSTER: Yes, and as soon as we do will come back to you. Salma, thank you.

In the coming hours we're expecting a major announcement from the U.S. president that could impact millions of Americans with student loan debt. CNN has learned that the White House may cancel up to $10,000 in student loan debt per borrower under certain conditions. CNN's Jeremy Diamond as the details on that.

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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, after months of deliberations, President Biden on Wednesday is set to announce his decision on student loan forgiveness. This is something that's been hotly debated inside the administration for months now. And according to multiple sources familiar with the plan, this is what the contours of President Biden's announcement appear to be.

Again, the final decision hasn't yet officially been made at this hour, but it does appear that the president is expected to forgive $10,000 of student debt per borrower for individuals making less than $125,000 per year. There are also discussions of additional loan forgiveness for specific groups like Pell Grant recipients, those are some of the most financially in need individuals.

And then the White House is also leaning towards a final short term extension of that student loan repayments moratorium which has been in place since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, a final short term extension is also expected along with this decision.

Now, President Biden's decision here it's certainly draw him some praise for those who have been calling for this kind of student loan forgiveness for a long time now. But it's also going to draw him some criticism from different sides within his party as well.

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Some Democratic leaning economists are saying that forgiving $10,000 of student loan per borrower is going to add to the deficit and that is also going to increase inflation. But on the left, there are some saying that $10,000 just simply isn't going far enough.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Still ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, Ukraine is marking Independence Day whilst locked in a fight for its very existence. We look at where the war stands right now six months after Russia's invasion.

Plus, American drivers have a reason to smile next time they fill up at the pump. Gas prices are one of the longest streaks of continuous declines in decades.

And heavy rains moving on from Texas, but the recovery from extreme flooding is just beginning.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Max, parts of the southern United States dealing with flood alerts and a flood warning this morning. Meaning flooding is imminent or occurring. We'll break this down, show you what's happening at this hour coming up in a few minutes.

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FOSTER: At least 147 cities and counties across China are under red heat alert warnings as the country continues to struggle under a sweltering heatwave. Cities along the Yangtze River are especially hard it.

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You're looking at one of its tributaries here which is nearly dried up from the drought conditions. Temperatures in the red alert areas are expected to exceed 40 degrees Celsius, that's more than 104 Fahrenheit.

Now the Governor of Texas has signed a disaster declaration for almost two dozen counties affected by severe storms and flooding. The heavy rainfall in Dallas and Fort Worth is some of the worst the area has ever seen. This is the wettest August on record for Dallas according to the U.S. National Weather Service. One fire official says it's been a summer of extremes for the state.

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CRAIG TROJACEK, SPOKESPERSON, FORT WORTH FIRE DEPARTMENT: I've been on the job for around almost 20 years now. In Texas, you know, it seems like we're either in some type of drought and grass and brushfires. We were literally experiencing the day before the floods came in and then the torrential rains and things like that.

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FOSTER: Well, now the rain is moving to the east putting more states at risk of flooding. Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri joins us from the Weather Center. You've been tracking it Pedram.

JAVAHERI: Yes, good seeing you, Max. You know, of course the concern has been so much on Texas and that heavy rainfall we saw. The energy as you noted is shifting eastward and south of this region, but the pattern that set the stage for this heavy rainfall, it's still in place here. So, we do expect another round of heavy rains. Maybe not as much as we saw Monday, but if you notice, 2 to about 4 inches has come down in a few spots across portions of Louisiana, Arkansas and the state of Mississippi.

And then you kind of look at this hyper focused area and a couple pockets do pop out that are indicated in the reds and oranges. And that's about 5 maybe 6 inches in isolated areas in the past 24 hours. So, plenty of rains have already fallen east of the area that was hardest hit -- that would be in the Dallas metro, that was for Monday of course.

And now you look at the radar imagery, this morning notice the density of thunderstorms popping near Jackson and points just to the north and east of Jackson, Mississippi. That is precisely where we have flood warnings in place this morning that have been in place the last hour or so as a result of this heavy rain.

Now notice well to the west and back towards areas of far eastern Texas, still seeing some flood alerts in place there and some thunderstorms could pop up later this morning. But the area to watch very carefully is San Antonio to Austin, eastward into Houston, that's where we think a few thunderstorms could pop up later on into the morning hours as the sun breaks through and of course we see activity flourish here as daytime heating gives way.

But notice the energy, the heaviest of the rains we do expect them to be around portions of Louisiana and Mississippi and possibly even into Alabama throughout the afternoon hours and into the evening hours as well.

So, the perspective looks as such here with the heaviest rains now displaced east of Texas. Again, flooding potential the highest around parts of Mississippi and Louisiana.

And the Western United States, the story here has been the excessive heat, another day of heat alerts that stretch all the way up to the Canadian border, temps climbing up to about 90 degrees there. Look Portland, middle 90s, where about 81 or so is average this time of year. In Seattle, a pair of lucky sevens is what you expect this time of year. We're going to be touching 90 degrees here by Thursday afternoon. So big time heat still across parts of the Western U.S. -- Max.

FOSTER: OK, Pedram, thank you very much indeed.

It is Independence Day in Ukraine. But this year the holiday comes with a sense of dread. But also, defiance. Security has been increased across the country amid warnings that Russia could launch major strikes on civilian and government targets. Ukrainian officials are also urging people to take extra precautions and pay attention to air raid sirens. And the national holiday also comes exactly six months since Russia's invasion when Moscow's hopes for a swift victory collapsed in the face of stiff Ukrainian resistance.

In an emotional video address released a short time ago, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the country was reborn the day that Russia invaded becoming a nation that doesn't give up and doesn't forget. He also repeated his promise to retake all Russian-held territory including Crimea which Moscow illegally annexed back in 2014.

CNN Senior International correspondent David McKenzie joins us now from Kyiv. How nervous is the atmosphere there than -- David?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Max, I have to say, it's quite relaxed considering if you look behind me there's groups of people here. We're right in the center of Kyiv, the heart, the symbolic heart of the capital.

And it's quite extraordinary that Ukrainian officials have laid out this long line of Russian tanks and armored vehicles and artillery pieces. They said that this war, the Russians expected to have a military parade here when they took over. They said this is the parade that they're getting.

If you look behind me here, there's a burnt out tank that speaks to the intense fighting around the capital months ago. Now, Ukraine pushed back that advance but still there is intense fighting, a stagnant frontline for many weeks now, Max, on the east, the south and even the northeast of this country.

Just this week Ukrainian official saying at least 9,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in this conflict.

[04:25:00]

The toll on civilians, on the military, has been very heavy for this war, this war of choice that Russia made. As you said, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy released a speech a short time ago commemorating this Independence Day and six months since the war started.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We're holding on for six months. It's difficult for us. But we clenched our fists, fighting for our fate. Every new day is a new reason not to give up. Because having gone for so much, we have no right not to reach the end. What is the end of the war for us? We used to say peace. Now we say victory.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKENZIE: Well, you can feel the resilience of Ukraine's people just milling around here, writing messages on these tanks, some of them insulting to the Russians of course. And this war, you know, I asked President Zelenskyy in a press conference yesterday whether he felt people were fatigued, the international community was fatigued by this conflict. He said it's important that they get support ongoing, not just to hold back Russia from entering Ukraine further, but to push them back from the areas that they'd occupied.

And he said there on Flag Day, yesterday, that they want to have Ukrainian flags in all those occupied territories. And just with the symbolism they have here, you can feel that this war is something that people want to be over but they are girding themselves for a much longer fight -- Max.

FOSTER: David, thank you for joining us from Kyiv with those tanks there in the background. And support is coming in. In the hours ahead, the U.S. expected to announce its largest ever security package for Ukraine worth around $3 billion. The U.S. official tells CNN it'll include a Western air defense systems as well as stockpiles of ammunition. It also earmarks money for training and for maintenance.

And as the war in Ukraine reaches the sixth month mark, aid organizations are still on the ground to assist. To find out how you can help those affected by the war, do visit CNN.com/impact.

Long time colleagues face off in a rare intra-party battle, but only one of these New York Democrats will appear on the November ballot.

And later students in Columbus, Ohio are about to start a new school year. But they'll be learning online for now, as thousands of teachers remain on strike.

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