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Canadian Authorities Hunting Two Suspects Involved in Mass Stabbings; President Joe Biden Campaigns for the Midterm Elections; Extreme Weather Conditions the United States; Great Britain's Next Prime Minister to be Announced; Chile Votes Against New Constitution; Ukrainian Forces Retakes Southern City in Kherson. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired September 05, 2022 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world. You are watching "CNN Newsroom" and I'm Rosemary Church. Just ahead, at least 10 people stabbed to death in Canada, many more injured across multiple crime scenes. We will have a live report on the hunt for these two men.

It's beginning to look a lot like midterm season as President Biden and Donald Trump crisscrossed battleground states. We will look at the messages they are bringing and whose strategy is likely to work.

And extreme weather from coast to coast in the United States, from flooding in Georgia to deadly wildfires in California. We will have details from the CNN World Weather Center.

We begin in Canada where a manhunt is underway for two suspects in connection with a deadly mass stabbing. Police in Saskatchewan say the attacks killed at least 10 people in more than a dozen crime scenes in the province. At least 15 people were taken to hospitals for injuries.

And leaders of the James Smith Cree Nation have declared a state of emergency. Police have identified the two suspects as Damien Sanderson and Myles Sanderson. They are considered armed and dangerous and believed to be traveling in a black Nissan Rogue with a Saskatchewan license plate.

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RHONDA BLACKMORE, ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER, SASKATCHEWAN RCMP: We're taking all steps possible to track these individuals and any information that comes in from the public or other sources that we obtain the information, we are following up on that information immediately.

EVAN BRAY, CHIEF OF SASKATCHEWAN POLICE: I think it's safe to say someone knows potentially the whereabouts of the suspects. Someone knows information that might be helpful to police. And so, this is a time where we are asking the public to reach out and help. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the attacks horrific and heartbreaking. Authorities are urging residents to shelter in place. Well, joining me now by phone is Lisa Joy. She is a crime reporter with sasktoday.ca. And Lisa, I do want to ask you what more you are learning about what happened here and the latest on this manhunt that's underway.

LISA JOY, CRIME REPOTER, SASKTODAY.CA (via telephone): Well, the community is in absolute shock and they are traumatized. They're also living in fear as they shelter in place while the RCMP search for the two suspects. And James Smith, they declared a state of emergency and they're bringing in trauma counselors.

The RCMP has been going door to door doing searches and the nearby First Nations communities have increased their security at the reserves. One young woman, she said that the two suspects broke into her home, kick down the door of her younger sister's room and she said she was glad her younger sister wasn't home. She also said they stole her brother's black Nissan Rogue.

Some residents have named family members they have lost in the mass stabbing. The RCMP haven't confirmed names of the victims, but families have said that one victim was an older man who was (inaudible) bus driver for years. Another resident said that an 11- year-old boy was stabbed trying to save his mother, and again, that isn't confirmed by RCMP.

There have been several reports by community members that children were among the victims. One woman said she knew the two suspects and claims that they were heavy meth users. RCMP said the suspects might have been followed in Regina. There have also been sightings via prairie in Saskatoon and then Alberta and Manitoba.

STARS Air ambulance dispatched 12 helicopters Saskatoon and one from Regina. Several emergency rooms in the province accepted the patients and Saskatoon's university hospital activated code orange, which is an alert for a mass casualty incident. Myles Sanderson was actually wanted by Saskatoon (inaudible) since May for being unlawfully at large.

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CHURCH: Lisa Joy, thank you so much for bringing us up to date on the situation and will of course continue to follow this, the manhunt and the aftermath of this horrendous mass stabbing. Thank you so much for bringing us up to date.

We are just nine weeks away from the critical midterm elections in the United States when Americans will head to the polls to decide who controls Congress and top leadership post. President Joe Biden is headed to the battleground state of Wisconsin in the coming hours. From there he will head back to another key state, Pennsylvania, just days after delivering a fiery speech in Philadelphia where he warned that Donald Trump and his closest followers are trying to undermine U.S. democracy.

Meantime, the former president also made a trip to Pennsylvania. He was in the state Saturday to promote Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee for governor and Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz. CNN's Joe Johns has more now on Mr. Biden's key visits ahead of the midterms.

JOE JOHNS, SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: The president heading out to Labor Day celebrations in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as well as Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He's expected to talk about his Infrastructure Act as well as his Inflation Reduction Act that was passed just last month. Later in the week, the president is expected to fly over to central Ohio to attend a groundbreaking.

What all these places have in common, is that they are battleground states and Labor Day is traditionally the time when campaigns start bearing down and voters are paying more attention to the candidates. Joe Biden is not on the ballot, but all of this travel does indicate what the Biden people may be thinking as we head into the midterm elections.

It was originally thought that the president would not be doing that much travel simply because of the challenges back here at the White House including the issue of inflation as well as the president's approval rating. Still, now that people look at it more closely, there have been some changes to the challenges that eased up just a bit.

And there is some hope among Democrats that this election will not be as bad for them as first thought. Still, Democrats are well aware of the fact that first term presidents tend to lose seats in their first midterm election. Joe Johns, CNN, the White House.

CHURCH: Joining me now is Ron Brownstein, CNN senior political analyst and a senior editor with "The Atlantic." Always good to have you with us.

RON BRWONSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, Rosemary.

CHURCH: So, President Joe Biden called Trump's Make America Great Again philosophy semi-fascism last week, but later clarified he just meant those who call for violence and denied the election results. Then Saturday night, Donald Trump called Joe Biden enemy of the state at a campaign rally. It's getting nasty. So, will Mr. Biden's message resonate that these midterm elections are a choice between democracy or Trump?

BROWNSTEIN: I think it will resonate that this midterm election is a choice. Now, whether voters see it primarily as a choice between democracy and authoritarianism is another question. As you know, in polling in the U.S., Democrats have had trouble convincing enough swing voters to conceptualize that idea.

But I do think what clearly has happened to change the electoral landscape in the U.S. since earlier this summer, is that we have gone from what has been for most of our history the traditional framework of a midterm as purely a referendum on the party in power, an up or down vote on how you think the Democrats in the White House and Congress are doing into something that is much more of a choice.

And voters are increasingly focusing not only on what Democrats have or have not done over their 18 months or so in power, but what Republicans would do if return to power and a big part of that is the increased visibility of Trump amid all of this legal and political troubles.

CHURCH: Yeah, let's talk about that because midterm elections as you say usually a measure of the incumbent president, but Joe Biden is trying to make this about the former president. Is that smart politics or could it backfire perhaps?

BROWNSTEIN: No, that's clearly -- that's clearly smart politics. I mean, the party in power always wants to make the midterm a choice not a referendum, but it's usually really hard to do. And in fact, over the last generation in the U.S., one of the most powerful patterns in our politics has been a growing correlation between the way people assess the way they feel about the incumbent president and whether they will vote for Congressional and Senate candidates from his party.

If you go back from the 80s, to the 90s, to the 2000s, to 2018, the share of voters who disapprove of a president and also vote against his party's candidates for Congress has gone up from somewhere around 75 percent to as high as 90 percent in 2018.

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Well, that number is going back down in 2022 in polling, really for the first time in decades. The Republicans are winning in much smaller share of voters who disapprove of Biden than we have been seeing in presidential elections over the last several decades, and that I think clearly reflects the success of Democrats and events like the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe and causing more voters to not only, you know, express their intention solely by how they feel about what Biden is doing, but also how they feel about what Republicans might do if return to power.

CHURCH: Yeah. It will certainly be interesting to see if they can keep that momentum going. But meantime, Donald Trump is using the FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago home to rally support, saying we will not be silenced, an approach that probably won't help him legally, but what about politically?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, look, that has been his argument on every controversy that has faced him. Every accusation that has faced him that has been -- that they are attacking me to silence you. And there is a piece of the Republican coalition that very much responds to that message. I mean, his superpower politically is his ability to juice turnout among the voters who are the most, as I've said many times, the most uneasy about the way the country is changing demographically, culturally, and economically. That is non-urban, non-college, and evangelical white.

On the other hand, Trump, you know, resurfacing in this way and broadcasting these grievances so loudly is a reminder, is kind of a wakeup call to the coalition that turned out in such large numbers to beat him in 2020. There are Democrats who have calculated that there are over 90 million separate individuals who came out to vote against Trump in either 2016, 2018 or 2020.

And if they can activate, what, even two-thirds of that coalition, they can have a much better midterm and the president's party usually does. So, I think by in large, while they would welcome the increased turnout that Trump can generate, I think Republicans would prefer a world in which he was receding again and the focus was more on Biden. But what are the odds we're going to see that before the Trump proceedings before the November election?

CHURCH: Alright, Ron Brownstein, many thanks. Always like to get your analysis on all things political. Appreciate it.

BRWONSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

CHURCH: Well, now to catastrophic flooding here in the U.S. state of Georgia. This was the scene northwest of Atlanta where flash floods overwhelmed roads, homes and businesses. This gas station was completely flooded. And it's not over yet. More rain is expected through Tuesday. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has issued a state of emergency.

And in northern California, a raging wildfire has killed two people. Officials say they died as a result of the Mill Fire in the town of Weed on Sunday. The size of the fire has almost doubled since Friday, burning through more than 4,000 acres or about 1,600 hectares. Officials say 50 structures have been destroyed and about 1,000 people have been forced to evacuate.

And a suffocating heat wave is making fires in California and other parts of the western U.S. even worse. Right now, nearly 50 million people are under heat alerts. Intense dangerous temperatures are gripping areas from southern California to the eastern Arizona and north to Idaho. And it could get even hotter into Tuesday.

So, let's bring in our meteorologist Gene Norman who joins us now. Good to see, Gene. Unbelievable isn't it. Flooding, fires, a heat wave, more extreme weather in the United States. What are you seeing in the forecast?

GENE NORMAN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Rosemary, I don't have -- unfortunately, I don't have good news. You know, Labor Day in the U.S. is supposed to be the traditional end of summer, but this heat wave in the west could be the longest lasting of the entire summer.

Look at these scorching temperatures on Sunday, 124 over in Death Valley. Places in California, Nevada that is, Wyoming, and even into Idaho saw records. In fact, we had a handful of places in Wyoming that set their all-time highest September temperature record.

So, the heat advisory as it exists, excessive heat warnings will continue into today, probably be extended into Tuesday. Look at these numbers, again, triple digits from Reno, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, Bakersfield, and Death Valley at 124. If that happens on Tuesday, that could break a new September record. And the problem is, the heat is going to spread to the east for the

next couple of days. Wednesday and Thursday could yet be hotter for more people. We're looking at least 175 temperature records set. Yet, hot in the west. In the east, we've got the opposite.

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We've got rain with some showers and thunderstorms that aren't moving very quickly. That's the reason why flood watches remain in effect in the green shaded areas that you see there. Watch as this rain builds from the south and then heads up into the northeast, yes, they need the rain. Without a doubt they've been under a drought for a long time.

But unfortunately, they could see anywhere from one to three inches and that could perhaps exacerbate a flood threat. Wouldn't be Labor Day, Rosemary, without tracking a couple of storms. Thankfully they are still in the Atlantic, no threat to land.

CHURCH: Alright. Thank you for that. Quite an update. Gene Norman, appreciate it.

And still to come, we will soon learn who is replacing Boris Johnson as Britain's next prime minister. The details from London just ahead.

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CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. Well, in just a matter of hours, Britain's ruling Conservative Party is set to announce their new leader and the person who will become the next prime minister. The results of the party's leadership race will determine if it will be Foreign Secretary Liz Truss or former Finance Minister Rishi Sunak who will replace Boris Johnson, just two months after he announced he would be leaving his post.

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Well, joining me now is CNN European affairs commentator Dominic Thomas. Great to see you, Dominic.

DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN EUROPEAN AFFAIRS: Well, thank you for having me on, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Absolutely. So, Britain's Conservative Party will soon vote to decide who will be Britain's next prime minister, Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak. Which one is better equipped do you think to lead the U.K.?

THOMAS: Well, that's a great question and ultimately, it's not my decision. MP's have already weighed in on that, reduce the candidates, and for the past month or so, the membership which is important to underline, only represents, you know, less than 1 percent of the total British electorate and will be weighing in on that.

They both have a range of credentials. Of course, Rishi Sunak is a former chancellor of the Exchequer, has particular expertise in the realm of finance. And Liz Truss is what more recently as foreign secretary. I think as they went into the race, the one issue that Rishi Sunak really had difficulty overcoming was the fact that he stepped away from Boris Johnson's government and in many ways precipitated the downfall of Boris Johnson.

Whereas she was seen as much more of a loyalist and much more as somebody that the Conservative Party felt they could rely on to keep pushing the legislative agenda forward as they eventually head towards a general election. And I think that ultimately that's what swayed the voters and that she will likely be the new party leader and therefore the prime minister come tomorrow.

CHURCH: So, what will the new leader inherit and what are the major challenges ahead for the new prime minister?

THOMAS: The new prime minister, Rosemary, has got obviously the Conservative Party, you know, history. We've been talking about this basically since Brexit six years ago, the fourth prime minister in the Conservative Party. The electorate have been, you know, tired, exhausted from all these elections, but I think that the most significant change that has come about is that when Boris Johnson became prime minister, he became prime minister essentially having won a single-issue election, which was getting Brexit done.

The electorate were fatigued with all the voting and discussions, but the new prime minister comes about in a very different era, the aftermath of COVID and facing very serious issues that have to do with inflation, with recession, the post Brexit era and of course the energy crisis. And I think those domestic issues are going to shape the agenda.

And unless that leader is able to demonstrate to the British people, which is very different than trying to be elected by, as I said, less than 1 percent of the party. It's going to be an uphill struggle for the Conservative Party as they head into a general election, Rosemary.

CHURCH: And what happens now to Boris Johnson? What comes next for him?

THOMAS: Well, he's still an MP, but he faces a whole range of essentially a parliamentary investigation, which is going to be quite controversial if they decide to not go along with those. So, that will be important for him short term.

I think long term politically, within the Conservative Party, there is a realization that he was damaging the brand, that it was unsustainable to keep him going. He might still have political ambitions, but I don't feel like he is going to get too much thread with that because of the fact that the British people are just so upset with the way in which the news has come out about how he behaved during the COVID lockdown periods and so on. And so, ultimately, outside of politics is where we are most likely to see Boris Johnson crop up again, Rosemary?

CHURCH: I mean, could his constant presence cause problems for the conservatives do you think? THOMAS: Well, I think that that is really an issue moving forward.

And as we've seen, instability within this party has been enabled by a couple of things. First of all, they have this substantial majority. And so essentially, they are able to do whatever they wish in terms of the leaders.

And we saw how Theresa May fared and then Boris Johnson, and I think it's very hard to see Liz Truss as somebody that survives for a long time within this party. But at the same time, the opposition is also divided, and unless they are able to come together with a more united front, this kind of behavior will be essentially maintained as the situation goes forward.

And so therefore, this sort of lack of unity within the party, which is something the new leader is going to have to address is very much along the dividing lines of the sort of the hard-core Brexiteers, those that were pushing that agenda of which Boris Johnson is of course in many ways a hero for that branch of the party, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Dominic Thomas, many thanks for joining us. Appreciate it.

THOMAS: Thank you, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Well, the people of Chile have spoken. With nearly all ballots counted, a majority of voters rejected a new constitution, 62 percent to 38 percent.

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Voters came out on Sunday to cast their ballots on the charter, which focused heavily on indigenous rights and gender equality. The results stand in stark contrast to October 2020 when nearly 80 percent of Chileans backed the creation of a constitutional assembly to replace the previous charter, much of which dated back to the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

And still to come, new details on Ukraine's counteroffensive to take back a town in the southern region of Kherson.

Plus, a shooting in the West Bank puts an Israeli civilian and six soldiers in the hospital. We're live in Jerusalem for the latest.

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CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. Well, Ukrainian forces say they are gaining ground in their southern counteroffensive. The military appears to have taken control of a town of the Kherson region marking with a simple, yet powerful symbol of what such a victory means. CNN's Melissa Bell explains.

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MELISSA BELL, CORRESPONDENT: There's been some good news from the Ukrainian counteroffensive according to officials here in Kyiv. With the -- an aide to President Zelenskyy tweeting a picture of what he says is Ukrainian flag being placed once again on the rooftops of Vysokopillia. Now, this is a town that had been the center of battles for some time. We're getting some confirmation of the fact that it may well now be in Ukrainian hands.

Also, from the Russian side, since there's been talk on some pro- Russian telegram channels of the retreat of Russian forces around that town.

And it is, of course, a counter offensive now that's been going on for just about a week and about which Ukrainian authorities had been remaining pretty tight lipped insisting that this is about degrading Russian military capabilities, trying to take out infrastructure that allows them to resupply their troops around Kherson and not really aimed at fast territorial gains.

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And yet the tweeting of that picture a reminder that of course, this is also about morale and momentum. There's been bad news, however, from the Zaporizhia Power Plant where continued shelling over the weekend has led not just to the closing down of one of the last remaining functioning reactors at the plant, but also damage to the last remaining functioning external power supply.

Now there is an extra power supply that leads to a thermal power plant that allows both the energy leaving Zaporizhia to get the Ukrainian electricity grid and the plant itself to be supplied with electricity. But Rafael Grossi who was there only last week, the head of the IAEA has been saying that although the presence of his six inspectors still inside the Zaporizhia plant hadn't been able to do much in terms of stopping the shelling, saying that the fact of their presence had been important in gathering the information they needed.

And in changing their ability to try and get things up and running in Zaporizhia once again calling that presents a game changer.

CHURCH: Seven Israelis were sent to the hospital after two gunman opened fire on a bus traveling through the West Bank. This according to the Israel Defense Forces. At least six Israeli soldiers and one citizen were on board that bus. One soldier was severely injured. We've just learned that several of those shot were released and only three remain in the hospital.

CNN's Hadas Gold joins me now from Jerusalem with more. So Hadas, what more can you tell us about the shooting?

HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this attack took place on what's known as route 90 which is near the border with Jordan and it was a civilian bus but that was full of soldiers. Now according to Israeli defense officials, they do believe that the men in a pickup truck were tracking the bus for some time, so likely they were able to tell that there were soldiers inside before it began hurling explosives at the bus and cut the bus off and then began shooting at it.

And as you noted, seven people were injured, the civilian bus driver as well as six soldiers but now only three of those people remain in hospital. Now the suspects then drove off in the pickup truck. But then it actually caught fire. Israeli officials believe that it caught fire because of the explosives that the three men -- there's actually three men were carrying. Two of the men were severely burnt, they were apprehended but they are now being treated in hospital.

And one of the men is still on the loose. Israeli officials believe two of them are Palestinians from Jenin and one is a Palestinian citizen of Israel. Now Israeli officials are saying that this is an unusual incident because in that part of the West Bank, they say Israeli soldiers, these were actually new -- relatively new draftees, don't normally need to be driven in any sort of armored car. That's why -- that's why they were in a soft-sided civilian vehicle.

They said this type of attack of being tracked by pickup truck being cut off like that. They haven't seen an attack like that in at least 10 years or so. So they're saying it's an unusual incident. But it is falling what's been a very deadly and violent year in Israel. And in the West Bank we of course, saw those series of attacks in March and April that killed more than a dozen Israelis. There have been more attacks against Israelis, especially Israeli soldiers in the West Bank.

And it's been one of the deadliest years for Palestinians in the West Bank. The Israeli military has been launching essentially almost nightly raids in West Bank's towns and villages, they say to -- they say they are doing this to apprehend weapons, to apprehend militants before they carry out attacks. But at least 85 Palestinians have been killed so far this year. This is making it one of the deadliest years for Palestinians in the West Bank since 2016. Rosemary?

CHURCH: And we're also learning that Hamas has executed five people in Gaza. The first such executions in more than five years. What are you learning about that?

GOLD: Yes. So we hear this from Hamas yesterday that they carried out dawn executions. Five people were killed. Three of them were charged with crimes such as murder and robbery, but two of them were accused of providing information to Israel. They say that some of this information, according to Hamas, led to -- led to resistance fighters' deaths, militants' deaths. They said it also the some of these people provided information in terms of where rockets were being launched from.

But as you noted, it was the first such executions in Gaza since 2017. So this is not something that happens very often. And human rights groups have long criticized Hamas for the -- for how they carry out these executions and also the fact that they don't happen under what should be Palestinian law with the authority of the Palestinian president. As far as we know we don't know anything exactly about how these trials took place.

Hamas says that all of the people who were executed went through the full judicial system but we have no idea how these trials took place if they were public, if they were military.

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All we know is that these five people were executed yesterday. Rosemary?

CHURCH: All right. Hadas Gold, many thanks for that live report joining us from Jerusalem. Appreciate it.

Well, still to come here on CNN NEWSROOM. New York Police are investigating the death of an executive with the company Bed Bath and Beyond. We will have a report from New York after the break.

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CHURCH: Retailer Bed Bath and Beyond is coping with what it calls a shocking loss this weekend. It comes as the company tries to avoid bankruptcy by shrinking its operation. CNN's Polo Sandoval has more now on the story.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The NYPD identifying him as Gustavo Arnal. Law enforcement sources telling CNN's Brynn Gingras that the 52-year-old was the chief financial officer of the company Bed Bath and Beyond and that he died after jumping from his high rise luxury apartment in Manhattan on Friday. No suicide note was discovered according to investigators.

SEC record showing that he was appointed to executive posts back in 2020, in fact are now was recently named as a defendant at a class action lawsuit that accuses him, Ryan Cohen and other large stakeholders of engaging in a pump and dump scheme to artificially inflate the price of the company's stock. A statement from Bed Bath and Beyond that was released over the weekend reading in part the entire Bed Bath and Beyond Inc. organization profoundly saddened by this shocking loss.

Our focus is on supporting his family and his team. And our thoughts are with them during this sad and difficult time. This comes during a very difficult time for Bed Bath and Beyond as they recently announced that they were in deep financial turmoil and had announced that they would lay off about 20 percent of their corporate workforce and proceeding to close roughly 150 stores in an effort to avoid bankruptcy.

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This in addition to also securing more than $500 million in financing as well to try to avoid that bankruptcy. The medical examiner's office here in New York City saying that they are still not officially calling this a suicide though they are rolling out the potential for foul play. Polo Sandoval, CNN, New York.

CHURCH: And if you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or their mental health, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 to connect with a trained counselor or visit their Web site at 988lifeline.org.

Well, new video is coming in to CNN showing the landing site of a stolen plane in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The twin engine plane was stolen Saturday morning by a worker at a regional airport who threatened to crash it into a local Wal-Mart. Police tried to convince a man who is not a licensed pilot to land eventually crashed in this field. He is now in custody and has been charged with grand larceny and making terroristic threats. Police say federal charges are also expected.

And thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. For our international viewers World Sport is up next but everyone else I'll be back with more news after the break. Do stay with us.

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