Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Fire Evacuations in California; Trump-Backed Candidate Wins GOP Primary; Roland Gutierrez is Interviewed about the DPS Suspensions; New U.K. Prime Minister Faces Parliament; Apple Debuts New iPhone. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired September 07, 2022 - 09:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:30:03]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: In California, evacuations underway once again as another fast spreading wildfire is burning through southern California. Fire officials say the Fairview blaze, as it's known, seen here, has so far killed two people. It is only 5 percent contained by firefighters.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: And the wildfire risk is being fueled by just skyrocketing temperatures across the west. The heat is also pushing California's power grid to the limit. Residents managed to avoid rolling blackouts on Tuesday but are still being asked to reduce energy use there.

Our Natasha Chen is live for us in Burbank, California, with the latest.

I mean you've got that. You've got this fire that is seemingly out of control. How are residents dealing with all of it and this conservation they have to do?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Poppy and Jim, as the governor said, we are not out of the woods yet. Last night we narrowly avoided intentional rolling blackouts. And that's partially because Californians got this push alert when energy officials issued an alert level three just after 5:00 p.m. local time. And that's the last level before those intended rolling blackouts would have occurred.

Now, if you take a look at this graph of usage last night, this really shows how people responded to this because they got those push alerts. You see the alert went out and then 30 minutes later, about 5:50 p.m. Pacific Time, you see the usage really drop there. So, people understood the danger of the potential rolling blackouts.

That being said, Tuesday did see the highest peak demand in California history. So that just goes to show the intensity of this record- breaking event, not just the temperature records being broken pretty much every day throughout the west since this past weekend, but also just how prolonged this has been. How many consecutive days in a row where overnight we're not getting that cooling relief. So, this has been cumulative. Again, some places in the west do not even have buildings with central

air because some of these older buildings were perhaps made when AC was not as necessary. And that goes for a lot of Denver schools. Thirty of them closing early this week and four of them closing altogether due to AC issues.

And like you said, these intense hot weather conditions make firefighting so difficult. The Fairview fire that you mentioned in Riverside County, southeast of us, that grew to more 4,500 acres overnight. Still just 5 percent contained. And there were more evacuations and warnings issued overnight where two people already died from this fire trying to escape the flames.

Poppy and Jim.

SCIUTTO: Remarkable to see it again. Those poor people and their homes.

Natasha Chen, thanks so much.

HARLOW: Well, the candidates are now set in the race for governor of Massachusetts. CNN projects Geoff Diehl, a former state lawmaker endorsed by former President Trump, will win the Republican nomination. That sets up a showdown with Democratic State Attorney General Maura Healey.

SCIUTTO: CNN national correspondent Kristen Holmes following the latest.

And, Kristen, as we've discussed on this program, Massachusetts, an interesting state. Tends to elect Democrats to the House and the Senate, but sometimes Republican governors. But they tend to be quite moderate governors, like a Romney and so on. So, what happens now, in effect?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right. So, Diehl had actually started this race as somewhat of an underdog, which, as you noted, is a little bit surprising because despite the fact that Massachusetts is a very liberal state, they have only had one Democratic governor since 1991. The state has a habit of picking these moderate, work across the aisle type of Republicans, like the current governor, Charlie Baker.

Diehl is not a moderate Republican. As Poppy mentioned, endorsed by Donald Trump. But not just endorsed. Embraced the former president. He has raised questions about the 2020 election. And while that helps him in a primary actually beat out some of those moderate Republicans, he rallied the base, this is still a liberal state. And we live in hyper- partisan times. It's a state that rejected Donald Trump twice. It is largely considered one of the most anti-Trump states in the entire country.

And the other thing to pay attention to here is that Baker has continuously been polled as one of the most popular state leaders in the country, which you think might actually help Diehl, right, another Republican. But Trump has railed against Baker because Baker criticized him.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HOLMES: So it's going to be a lot harder for Diehl to actually try to latch on to any of that popularity.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HOLMES: Now, this will be a historic race because Healey is vying to become the first woman elected to the Massachusetts -- to be Massachusetts' governor and also one of the first openly lesbian women governors.

SCIUTTO: Does Diehl have a position on abortion public (ph)?

HOLMES: It's -- he has gone back and forth. He has -- but, again, this has been a full embrace of other aspects of this.

SCIUTTO: Right.

HOLMES: So, for example, one of the things that I heard him talking about when he accepted this was not talking about abortion, he, instead, was talking about immigration and illegal immigrants. He wants to run on this Trump platform.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

[09:35:01]

HOLMES: And that's going to be difficult.

SCIUTTO: Good to have you on it. We know you'll be following it. Kristen Holmes.

Poppy.

HARLOW: Kristen, thank you so much.

Still ahead for us, nearly four months after officers just stopped, stalled in the hallway of Robb Elementary School for 77 minutes while a gunman killed 21 people there, two officers from DPS have been suspended with pay. We are joined by one of the lead advocates for more transparency in all of this, that is Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:40:07]

HARLOW: Welcome back.

As students in Uvalde return to school today, this morning, for the second day of the new school year, we've learned that two Texas Department of Public Safety officers have been suspended with pay during this ongoing investigation into their response to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary. They're among five DPS officers referred to the state inspector general for a formal review of their actions on that day. As we all know, officers waited 77 minutes before confronting the gunman who murdered 19 children and two teachers.

Well, in July, DPS formed an internal committee to review the department's response. We're going to talk about new details from that.

Joining me now is Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez. He represents the Uvalde area and has been calling for more transparency from DPS and really all officials through this process.

Senator, thank you for your time this morning.

ROLAND GUTIERREZ (D), TEXAS STATE SENATE: Thank you, Poppy. Thank you.

HARLOW: So, we know that these two DPS officers now are suspended with pay. I wonder what your reaction is to that, but also if you know anything about why the three other officers referred to the IG have not been suspended yet.

GUTIERREZ: Well, Poppy, I -- my real concern here is that this just seems to be more of the same from the Department of Public Safety. You know, it's not - when I say the word scapegoating, that doesn't mean that these other people weren't responsible, people like Arredondo, but it has been this constant drip of information. They have everything that they need by way of video and body cam footage and everything that we need to be able to fully make a full conclusion here, but they keep setting certain people up to try to set up a narrative. And that's a very big concern to me. They haven't told us who the officers are. We don't know what level they are along the food chain at the Department of Public Safety. We've been saying that they have - that they are responsible as an organization themselves. But what I would like to know is what Steve McCraw knew, when he knew it, what time, as well as his leadership team. For 77 minutes, these kids sat in a room braver than any police officer in that hallway doing nothing.

HARLOW: Do you have confidence that those answers will come? I mean, obviously, there is an ongoing investigation. There's the IG, I just referred to. There is the district attorney's work. You know, and I know you've -- go ahead.

GUTIERREZ: Well, no, I think that the real problem also becomes, in -- when you submit things to the inspector general, it is highly irregular for an inspector general investigation to begin before a so- called criminal prosecution. And I say so-called because we've been told all along, for months on end, that there is this criminal investigation happening by the attorneys general, by the district attorney's office. And so - and that's why DPS can't tell us anything. It is historically, IG investigations can't begin until that criminal investigation gets completed.

And so it is clear to me, and it has been clear for the last three months, that we are in this very strange and bizarre Department of Public Safety state police narrative that is about someone's very large failure. And we don't really know the answers, Poppy, because we're not getting them. We're getting them in this drip fashion.

HARLOW: We, of course, did reach out to DPS and they referred us to these actions that I mentioned at the beginning of these two officers being suspended. The others still under investigation.

But I do want to read to people from these newly released emails. There is one email from July 20th of this year that is from Steve McCraw, who you mentioned, the director of DPS, who acknowledges the mishandling of this situation to say the least. Let me read people part of it. Quote, DPS officers responded to an active shooter - responding to an active shooter at a school will be authorized to overcome any delay neutralizing an attacker. When a subject fires a weapon at school, he remains an active shooter until he's neutralized and is not to be treated as a barricaded subject.

That is obvious -that's been obvious that was a lesson from Columbine decades ago. But -- but the key phrase here, I think, in this is overcome any delay. Is it encouraging to you at least to see this on paper as a directive?

GUTIERREZ: Well, as you know, Poppy, we've sued the Department of Public Safety. We tried to get information from them. That document that you're talking about is actually a document that was released to us in a small cache of information yesterday. Well, actually, about ten days ago. We released it yesterday. Within hours, the department then put out that document. And then also suggested that they were going to eliminate these five -- or send these five people for review.

[09:45:02]

It's not that those things don't make me feel good and warm and fuzzy. It's just that we get them in this fashion, Poppy. We're getting them - it's, why can't this agency pull off this band-aid, tell us everything about what they knew, and when they knew it? We are living as if we were in Venezuela or Russia here. This is the United States. And the key principle of democracy, or at least one tenet, is transparency. And we don't have that in Texas right now. And anything that they've done as -- yesterday is not transparency.

HARLOW: Well, we have invited and, again, welcomed Director McCraw to come on the program, on this program, or on any program on CNN, to answer and respond to that concerning criticism.

I do want to end, though, on the children. So, yesterday was the first day back to school. They're going to different schools across the district. You were there to greet some of them. Our colleague, Shimon Prokupecz, who you know has been reporting there since this massacre, spoke to some of the children and I was so struck with what this one fifth grader Zeke Wyndham told him.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZEKE WYNDHAM, FORMER ROBB ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENT: I'm really nervous. I'm - I'm so scared and shocked after what happened at my old school. And I'm still scared and nervous.

I can still hear the gunshots. It was very terrifying and traumatizing for me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: He can still hear the gunshots because he was just down the hall when it happened. I wonder what you heard from the children.

GUTIERREZ: Absolutely, Poppy. I mean you have children all across in Uvalde that were in the classrooms adjacent to. I ran into a third grader there, unfortunately still has trouble speaking. I mean this is the kind of trauma that these kids are experiencing. I hope that everybody in the United States understands the full effect of what happened in Uvalde and the full effect of how government has failed them in the state of Texas.

HARLOW: Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez, we appreciate your time. Thanks so much.

GUTIERREZ: Thank you, Poppy.

SCIUTTO: Those poor little kids.

Still ahead this hour, Apple is unveiling its new iPhone today. Real surprise could be its price tag. Why analysts are bracing for some sticker shock. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:51:50]

HARLOW: New British Prime Minister Liz Truss faced parliament's questions for the first time today. She poured cold water on the idea of calling a general election soon but vowed to roll out her plans to address the U.K.'s energy crisis.

SCIUTTO: CNN's Nada Bashir joins us now from London.

Nada, of course she came in after her own party forced out the prime minister of the same party previously. How was she being received?

NADA BASHIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL REPORTER: Look, there was a lot of attention and focus on Liz Truss today, her first time at the dispatch box in the House of Commons as prime minister. And she actually performed a lot better than many people had potentially anticipated. It was a lot less combative. And perhaps we've become used to, with the outgoing Boris Johnson. There was a lot more of a focus on policy and a lot less of a focus on those convoluted metaphors and witty rebuttals that we have become used to.

We did see more of an ideological divide beginning to emerge between Liz Truss and her Labour Party opponent, Keir Starmer, on the topic of taxation. That was a key focus today. Liz Truss in favor lower taxation, in favor of economic growth. Keir Starmer, on the other hand, repeatedly calling for higher taxes on those large corporations, particularly, of course, when it comes to those energy firms. And that was a key focus. Repeated questions put to Liz Truss on the potential for a one-off windfall tax on those larger energy firms to ease the pressure of the energy crisis. The soaring energy bills that we are seeing. She was very clear in her opposition to that. Keir Starmer, of course, really rejected that, going against that. He's saying that this is really putting some of the poorest families in the country under immense pressure. So, there will certainly be more questions coming from the Labour Party on that.

HARLOW: OK. Nada Bashir, thank you very much for that reporting.

SCIUTTO: Well, ready for a new phone. This afternoon Apple will reveal its newest batch of iPhones, the iPhone 14, if you can keep up with it. A new hefty price tag. The tech giant is hoping the buzz will boost its stock. Shares of Apple are down more than 10 percent from the start of this year.

HARLOW: Analysts predict the lineup's price tag will reflect supply chain hiccups, to say the least, hiccups, and inflation.

Our chief business correspondent Christine Romans is with us now.

I have a very old iPhone. And as long as it's working, I'm good. But I know a lot of people want the new one.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: And there's about 240 million people with an old iPhone that Apple is hoping are going to look and see these new details and want to upgrade.

Look, they always notoriously tease just a few details, keep it very vague, and let all the speculation and the frenzy surround their events. This Apple event that they announced last week, it's got a dark sky, it's got these stars in the Apple logo with the theme "far out." That's how they teased this. So, does "far out" indicate maybe a better nighttime camera, maybe some kind of satellite connectivity? Maybe some kind of long lens? These are all the things people are talking about this morning.

What we do know is, is there will probably be a bigger phone, 6.7 inches, and that's not the pro model, that's just the regular model. And we're expecting that they'll probably drop that mini model for the 14 so as not to compete with its SE sales.

OK, so the whole iPhone 14 lineup may ditch the cheaper mini-sized phone. Analysts are saying maybe $100 price hike. And then a new, upgraded Apple watch and the new operating system will be rolled out.

[09:55:01]

We saw that at the developer conference earlier this year.

There's also a lot of speculation they could offer some more attractive trade-in bonuses and trade-in terms to try to cover what could be the higher cost that the company will be trying to pass along because of all the things we've seen with supply chain and inflation. My big question, Poppy, is, do you think the inflation that everybody

is so concerned about, well that hold a die-hard trade-in fan for iPhone, for Apple, back? I don't think so. I think that people -- households still have pretty good household finances right now and they'll dig deep for this.

HARLOW: What are the -- do you know the margins on these things?

ROMANS: I mean, they're big.

HARLOW: I mean -

ROMANS: They're very big.

HARLOW: I'm just saying.

ROMANS: So this is why how many iPhone they sell, that is really the big story there, right? And -

HARLOW: It's a good business to be in if you're Apple.

ROMANS: It's a good business to be in. And only Apple does that branding that way, you know what I mean?

HARLOW: There you go.

ROMANS: They can give you just a few details and then all of this ink is spilled a week ahead of the event.

HARLOW: We'll see what it is. Thank you, Romans.

Jim.

SCIUTTO: Well, still ahead, the Memphis suspect facing multiple murder charges now in the death of Eliza Fletcher is heading back to court this morning. You can see some pictures from earlier this morning there. We're going to bring you the latest moment from his arraignment, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)