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Liz Truss to Succeed Boris Johnson as Prime Minister; U.S. Federal Judge Grants Trump Request for Special Master; Biden Blasts Extreme Republicans Ahead of Midterms; More Searing Temperature Expected Across Western U.S.; Pakistani Cities at Risk for Further Flooding. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired September 06, 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 outside the British Houses of Parliament in London, where we are following the handover to Britain's next prime minister.
CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Christina Macfarlane here in the London studio. We've got that story and much just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BORIS JOHNSON, OUTGOING BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: The baton will be handed over in what has unexpectedly turned out to be a relay race.
LIZ TRUSS, INCOMING BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: I campaigned as a conservative, and I will govern as a conservative.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Prosecutors and the investigators have to stop reviewing these documents. They can't use them as part of their investigation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a win for Donald Trump. It's really more of a speed bump more than a brick wall for DOJ, however.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have entered the most intense phase of this of this heat wave.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You may think you're in a safe area, but you're not. So please evacuate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: It's Tuesday, September 6th, 4:00 a.m. on the U.S. East Coast and 9:00 a.m. here in London where a new leader is set to takeover today at 10 Downing Street. Liz Truss now ready to take the reins as Prime Minister after being chosen to lead the ruling Conservative Party. Just a short while ago, outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged the entire party in the country to get behind Truss before flying out to Scotland to offer his resignation to Queen Elizabeth. He delivered some final remarks as Prime Minister outside 10 Downing Street.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BORIS JOHNSON, OUTGOING BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: On the subject of bouncing around in future careers, let me say that I am now like one of those booster rockets that is fulfilled its function and I will now be gently reentering the atmosphere and I will be splashing down invisibly in some remote and obscure corner of the Pacific. And like Cincinnatus I am returning to my plough. And I will be offering this government nothing but the most fervent support.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Truss will be facing a number of major challenges. She'll needs the support she can get, and is promising a plan to cut taxes, build growth and tackle the energy crisis. We'll get more details on that when she is appointed Prime Minister, heads back to London and takes the position that Boris was in just then and gives her outline really of for what she hopes to achieve from her premiership. Nada was watching Boris Johnson though a little earlier on. You know, what did you make of his legacy, as he saw it, but also what we can expect from Liz Truss when she appears behind you later on?
NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Well, look Max, the message from Boris Johnson was much like what we've heard before from the outgoing prime minister. Going through what he viewed to be his achievements during his time in office. Namely getting Brexit done, a key catchphrase that he coined. Presiding over the vaccine rollout over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and, of course, that the early supply of weapons from the British government to the Ukrainian forces. These were all key points that the Prime Minister was very keen to drive home.
He thanked his supporters, his colleagues at 10 Downing Street and in government. But he also laid out those challenges as you mentioned that Liz Truss is set to face as she does enter 10 Downing Street as the new Prime Minister.
Now course, there was no mention of the numerous scandals which essentially brought down the Prime Minister, namely the "Partygate" scandal, those weeks and weeks of repeated allegations that the Prime Minister took part in the social gatherings that he repeatedly denied and of course, allegations of sleaze within the Conservative Party itself. There was no mention of that.
But of course, there are other serious challenges that the government will continue to face and has faced over the course of Boris Johnson premiership. And as you mentioned there, the key issue now that the government has been charged to deal with, is the rising cost of living prices and of course, the soaring energy prices that are placing a burden on people up and down the country. And that was something that he mentioned in his farewell speech. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNSON: This is a tough time for the economy. This is a tough time for families up and down the country. We can and we will get through it and we will come out stronger the other side. But I say to my fellow Conservatives, it's time for politics to be over, folks. It's time for all of us to get behind Liz Truss and her team and her program and deliver for the people of this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASHIR: Now there you heard from the Prime Minister, urging the Conservative Party, urging people to get behind Liz Truss. And Max, it is important to note, that of course, Liz Truss has been appointed as the leader of the Conservative Party and of course, as the new Prime Minister by a very small portion of the British electorate. She was appointed and elected, voted in by Conservative members. That is less than 1 percent of the British electorate.
[04:05:00]
And I have to say a very select one percent of the British electorate.
And that will be something that the opposition parties -- particularly the Labour Party leader Keir Starmer, will be picking up on. The question is to whether or not she has the mandate to lead. We heard from her yesterday in her victory speech suggesting that she wouldn't be calling an early election. She said that she would drive forward with the Conservative Party's key agenda heading towards the 2024 general election.
But there is of course a lot on her plate. She comes into 10 Downing Street at a time of immense crisis for the government. There is a lot to deal with and of course, a piling up entry as she enters the doors of number 10 for the first time this afternoon.
The question is whether she will be successful. She has said that she will deliver a brand new broad plan to deal with the economic crisis. And as we heard yesterday in her victory speech she did pledge to deliver, deliver, deliver. The question is whether she will be successful. There is immense challenges ahead for her. She will be charged today with appointing her cabinet ministers first and foremost. There is a key issue there, of course, bringing together the Conservative Party, overcoming the disunity we've seen over the last few weeks, lots of infighting over the course of this leadership campaign.
And there are still bitter divisions within the Conservative Party itself. An on top of that the wider challenges that the country faces and of course there's the ongoing war in Ukraine. She is familiar with that as foreign secretary. But the question is whether she will be able to take on this new leadership position of the party and drive home that success that the Prime Minister was key to outline if his farewell speech today -- Max.
FOSTER: OK, Nada, thank you very much indeed, from Downing Street. We're going to take you up to Stansted Airport on the outskirts of London. This is Liz Truss' private jet that's going to take her up to Scotland. So, this is quite unusual. Normally at this time we'd be describing how Liz Truss is traveling down to Buckingham Palace where she would normally be appointed Prime Minister by the Queen. The Queen is unable to move around in the same way, she's currently on
holiday in her Scottish castle. So, this jet is going to take Liz Truss up to Scotland to the Aberdeen airport, and then they'll take a car over to the castle and she'll be appointed Prime Minister by the Queen. The Queen will officially be her boss.
Which is interesting because at the age of 19, Liz Truss was very much a campaigner to get rid of the monarchy and effectively get the Queen fired. But were not going to get any images of that moment. And the Queen is very good at moving on from these things. And I think Liz Truss has as well because she now an avowed monarchist. But this speaks to a lot of the issues that people have about Liz Truss. She often changes her mind on issues and U-turns. But maybe that's a strength as well because it reflects what people want of the Prime Minister. Who knows, we'll wait to get a better sense of her as Prime Minister when she speaks in Downing Street later.
MACFARLANE: Yes, and I know you'll keep an eye on that for us, Max, as that flight makes its way north. But here back in London we're also following the Mar-a-Lago investigation.
Donald Trump is getting the so-called special master that he wanted. A federal judge appointed by Trump ruled in his favor on Monday. That means the U.S. Justice Department and team Trump now have until Friday to present a list of candidates to carry out an independent review of the documents and evidence seized from Mar-a-Lago. CNN's Sara Murray has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A judge today granting Donald Trump's request for a special master to review materials the FBI seized from the extraordinary search at Mar-a-Lago.
Judge Aileen Cannon writing: Because of Trump's role as a former president, the stigma associated with the subject seizure is in a league of its own. A future indictment based to any degree on property that ought to be returned would result in reputational harm of a decidedly different order of magnitude.
In a major victory for Trump, a third party attorney outside of government will soon be tasked with sifting through thousands of documents to identify personal items and materials that could be protected by attorney/client or executive privilege.
JENNIFER RODGERS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: While it does delay things and slow it down, which, of course, is bad for DOJ in their case, I think at the end of the day, we're not going to see a lot of documents pulled by the special master.
MURRAY (voice-over): The judge pointing out that some of the seized materials include taxes and accounting information, the ruling allowing U.S. intelligence agencies to continue their national security damage assessment but halting the Justice Department's criminal review of its Mar-a-Lago haul. RENATO MARIOTTI, FORMER U.S. FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: I don't think it has a massive impact in their investigation in the long run. If I was the prosecutor working on this case, I'd say, let's just trudge for with the special master, get through this as quickly as we can so we can move on.
MURRAY (voice-over): Even as the judge acknowledged there was not any evidence of a callous disregard for Trump's constitutional right, adding that Trump ultimately may not be entitled to return of much of the seized property or the prevail on his anticipated claims of privilege. That inquiry remains for another day.
Meantime, Trump speaking at his first rally since the FBI searched his resort last month.
[04:10:00]
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They rifled through the first lady's closet drawers and everything else and even did a deep and ugly search of the room of my 16-year-old son. The FBI and the Justice Department have become vicious monsters controlled by radical left scoundrels.
MURRAY (voice-over): The former president slamming law enforcement as high ranking Republicans offered explanations for why Trump may have been hoarding top secret information.
REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL (R-TX): You know, I have lived in the classified world most of my professional career. I personally wouldn't do that but I'm not the president of the United States.
MURRAY (voice-over): And allies like South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham --
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): But what I've tried to do is state the obvious.
MURRAY (voice-over): -- still cleaning up his comments, warning of riots in the streets if prosecutors charged the former president.
GRAHAM: We've had a standard set when it came to Hillary Clinton. If he does what she did with classified information and he gets prosecuted and she didn't, it would create a problem.
MURRAY: And when it comes to the special master the Justice Department had previously asked the judge to rule in such a way where they could appeal her decision down the road. The Justice Department now is saying that they are examining her ruling and considering what their next steps are.
Sara Murray, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MACFARLANE: Well, legal analyst have been weighing in on the seem to be appointed third party attorney and they don't seem to think the special master will help Trump in a long run. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Ultimately, while it's a win for Trump, it's a procedural win. It does not prevent DOJ ultimately from charging or not charging or from gaining a conviction or not gaining a conviction. I think is likely that when this process is done the number of documents that actually will be filtered out will be fairly small.
The judge has said, DOJ you cannot look at these documents for now. You have to stop your review of these documents. It doesn't mean the DOJ has to stop all of its investigation, they can still talk to witnesses and do other things. But also, the judge was careful to say, ODNI, national intelligence you can continue to do your damage assessment as necessary. So, I think the judge try to sort of do her best to appease as many parties as possible here.
JOHN YOO, FORMER U.S. DEPUTY ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL: I'm not sure that DOJ should ask for an appeal. You could almost say that the district judge here is doing DOJ something of a favor. This special master I think is pretty unlikely to affirm a lot of what DOJ decided to do in terms of attorney/client privilege. It may actually bolster public faith and acceptance of the original search which has been questioned by many people. And also, the other important thing is, if DOJ's main task here, their main object, was just to get the documents back, then having this special master here, not going for an appeal, maybe it's enough of a pause.
The Attorney General needs to consider in his prosecutorial discretion, whether if you're going to go after President Trump for a federal crime, is it going to be for mishandling classified documents? I think what they want to do is investigate President Trump for January 6th. And they're still conducting an investigation. That's something I think is worthy of indictment of a former president. I'm not sure that indicting him for mishandling classified information is important enough to justify going after a former president. A special master might give you more and space for both sides to realize that and come to some kind of agreement to make this go away.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MACFARLANE: And our coverage of this unprecedented situation will resume next hour on "EARLY START."
U.S. President Joe Biden is back at the White House, after a day of campaigning for Democrats ahead of the November midterm elections. Mr. Biden is making it clear he wants the voters to make a choice between his leadership and the extremism of Donald Trump and his supporters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to be very clear up front. Not every Republican is a MAGA Republican. Not every Republican embraces that extreme ideology. I know because I've been able to work with main stream Republicans my whole career. But the extreme MAGA Republicans in Congress have chosen to go backwards full of anger, violence, hate and division. But together we can and we must choose a different path forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACFARLANE: Well, President Biden visited the battleground states of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania on Monday touting his recent legislative wins and economic accomplishments. More now from CNN's Jeff Zeleny.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: President Biden kicking off the fall election season with two Labor Day rallies in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Those are the two states that Democrats have their eyes on trying to win back Republican seats in the U.S. Senate. Now President Biden clearly was making a direct appeal to some independent voters and Democrats and others trying to draw a sharp contrast with Republicans. He also was touting his accomplishments on the economy and other legislative achievements. But he talked specifically about why he believes President Trump and the MAGA Republicans, as he called them, are bad for the country.
BIDEN: One of the things that was clear to me, is that this new group, headed by the former president, the former defeated president, we found ourselves in a situation where we're really going to look forward or look backwards. And it's clear which way he wants to look.
[04:15:00]
It's clear which way the new MAGA Republicans are. They're extreme. And democracy is really at stake.
ZELENY: So, President Biden monitoring his tone there from what he's been doing in recent days really calling out Trump supporters. Of course, he's not trying to reach out to them. They are true believers in the Trump brand. But he is looking to reach out to some voters who may be open to at least supporting some Democrats or some independence as well. So that clearly is the challenge for Democrats. Certainly, any president's political party faces headwinds in a historic midterm election, there's no doubt.
But Democrats believe that they have some advantages largely because President Trump is back center stage. And that of course turns off so many voters in the middle and on the left. So, now nine weeks left before the midterm elections, the president trying to rally Democrats, his agenda for the rest of his term depends upon it.
Jeff Zeleny, CNN West Mifflin, Pennsylvania.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MACFARLANE: OK, still to come this hour, the search for a missing teacher in Memphis, Tennessee turns up a body. But police aren't saying anything about who it might be.
And later, the Israeli military admits an Al Jazeera journalist was likely killed by their soldiers. We'll go to Tel Aviv for a live report.
Plus, record heat is fueling several active wildfires in California. CNN meteorologist Gene Norman is tracking it all for us.
GENE NORMAN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And I'm tracking that heat. Also, how long it's going to last and if there's any relief in sight. Plus, we'll look at the flooding on the East Coast.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MACFARLANE: Hi, welcome back. There's new urgency to find a surviving suspect in a deadly mass stabbing in Canada's Saskatchewan province, after the only other suspect turned up dead. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are hunting for Myles Sanderson, seen here, who they say remains dangerous. On Monday, investigators found the body of the other suspect, his brother, Damien Sanderson, not far away from where the attack happened on the James Smith Cree Nation. Authorities are urging residents in the province to remain vigilant as the manhunt for Sanderson continues. He's been charged with the murder and attempted murder for his alleged role in the stabbing attack that killed 10 and wounded 18.
Police in Memphis, Tennessee have not yet identified a body found near the site where the teacher was abducted. They've been searching for 34-year-old Liza Fletcher since Friday and have arrested a suspect . But they're saying so far, the cause of death is unconfirmed and the investigation is ongoing. CNN's Gary Tuchman is on the scene.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Memphis police told us on Monday night that they have discovered a, quote, deceased party about three blocks away from us in the south Memphis neighborhood of the city.
You can see behind us there are scores of police officers, police cars, a police helicopter flying above us. But we must emphasize there is no confirmation whatsoever that Eliza Fletcher is the body. That hasn't been confirmed yet. There's a likely possibility it is because of the turnout that we're seeing the police. But it's important to emphasize that has not been confirmed at this point.
Eliza was kidnapped about 20 minutes away from here when she was jogging on a path near the University of Memphis Friday morning in the dark. The man who allegedly kidnapped her has been arrested and is being held right now. Police have told us he wasn't talking so they had to keep searching for this 34-year-old woman who had been missing.
Police officers tell us they received a tip. They came in this neighborhood, they were looking for hours, now have found a dead person. We're being told that several police officers who came upon that person. So, I don't know when we will find out any confirmation, but either way, it's very sad news.
This has been a very sad and traumatic story. I feel so sorry for this family and for so many people in Memphis who love this very distinguished family and philanthropic family.
This is Gary Tuchman, CNN, in Memphis, Tennessee.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MACFARLANE: Now California is bracing for more power outages amid record setting heat. The state's grid operator is calling for energy conservation for the seventh straight day. The severe heat and drought are blamed for fueling the fast-moving Fairview fire in Riverside County. At least two people have died and a third person is injured. Thousands of homes are under evacuation orders. Firefighters say it's important to heed the warnings.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD CORDOVA, CAL FIRE INFORMATION OFFICER: The area that they were in, that's an area that's a one way in, one way out area, and that -- it's a very dangerous canyon, a lot of overgrowth in that area. I haven't seen fire burn in that area for probably over 30 years now. If you're in the evacuation order area that we've put out, please adhere to that evacuation order. What we've seen in the last ten years the way fire has been moving people will say, hey, I'm kind of in a safe area. But we've seen whole communities burn down just like this one along the foothills and they think they're in a safe area but they're not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACFARLANE: Well, the local school district has cancelled classes for today as a precaution. So far, the fire has destroyed 2,000 acres or about 800 actors. It is 5 percent contained.
Meanwhile, more than 50 million people are under flood watches across 11 states including in Rhode Island where heavy rains shutdown major roadways improvidence.
Well, let's bring in CNN meteorologist Gene Norman. He's with us with the latest. Gene, California getting hit so hard right now, any relief in sight?
NORMAN: Well, there will be some relief later on tonight, probably on into Wednesday. But the flood watch remains in effect from Boston down to Washington. Over 55 million people impacted. In the live rater now shows a steady stream of showers and a couple of rumbles of thunder but mostly just steady rain here on top of grounds that have already been saturated from the rains that were picked up on Monday.
[04:25:00]
And before it's all said and done, we may have another 2 to 4 inches of rain around D.C., New York and up towards that Providence area. So again, that could exacerbate the flooding situation.
Meanwhile, out West, well it's a different day but the same weather. More temperatures, over 100 degrees, heat advisories from Montana back towards sections of northern Nevada and then excessive heat warnings mainly for Central California and Southern California and southern Nevada as well.
These triple digit readings, they're not going away. In fact, Death Valley could break the all-time record for September if they get over 124 today. But you see, Palm Springs, Bakersfield, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, all baking in this heat exacerbated by climate change. In fact, over the next couple of days we could be heading towards the hottest stretch, believe it or not, of this heat wave with over 150 locations expected to tie or break records.
Now, what about relief? Well, there is a hurricane, believe it or not, south of Baja California, hurricane Kay. And I just dialed up our long-range computer model and it's indicating we could see some of that rain arriving perhaps by next Sunday or maybe on into Monday. So, Christina, there is a little glimmer of hope. I tell you, folks out West are dealing with the heat and folks in the East they're dealing with the rain.
Yes, a glimmer of hope, but a hurricane perhaps not the relief that California was hoping for. Gene, thank you very much.
All right, well elsewhere lake levels continue to rise in Pakistan putting densely populated cities at risk of even more flooding. More than 1,300 people have died, 400 of them children. Susannah George with "The Washington Post" Pakistan bureau chief, she reports now from one of the hardest hit areas.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSANNAH GEORGE, AFGHANISTAN AND PAKISTAN BUREAU CHIEF, THE WASHINGTON POST: You can see behind me some of the fields that have been most recently flooded here in Sindh Province. These fields were flooded when the Pakistani government made the controversial decision to intentionally breach a lake upstream from here. That move displaced tens of thousands of people and flooded hundreds of more villages downstream.
But we're hearing that water levels in the lake are continuing to rise. And that may force the Pakistani government to make another breach of the lake's retaining wall. That would only add to the growing humanitarian crisis here. Where we are now is in Sehwan. That's just south of some of the worst hit villages further north from here. These are villages still under water.
We visited families at some of these villages, and they told us they don't want to leave their homes because they know even if they reach dry land there will not be shelter for them and there won't be aid.
These floods have been going on for weeks, for months since June. But the Pakistani government only declared a state of national emergency a few weeks ago and then began appealing for outside aid. So, there's growing anger here among Pakistanis that the government has acted too slow. And even those who have been able to be rescued from the flooded waters are not receiving the humanitarian assistance that they need once on dry land.
(END VIDEOTAPE) MACFARLANE: And if you would like to help those impacted by the devastating flooding in Pakistan, head over to CNN.com/impact.
All right, still to come, the last working reactor is shutdown at Europe's largest nuclear plant due to fire and shelling. Why Ukraine is placing the blame on Moscow when we return.
But first, outgoing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson shares his thoughts before leaving 10 Downing Street for the final time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNSON: Through that lacquered black door, a new Prime Minister will shortly go to meet a fantastic group of public servants.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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