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4 Dead in Memphis Shooting Rampage, Suspect in Custody; ; California Faces Multiple Climate Threats; Justice Department Weighs Appeal of Special Master Ruling; Ukrainians Mistreated During Filtration Checks; Obama's Portraits Unveiled in Long-Awaited Ceremony; EU Weighs Power Rationing, Price Cap on Russian Gas; New U.K. Prime Minister to Unveil $172 Billion Energy Bailout. Aired 4- 4:30a ET
Aired September 08, 2022 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us from the United States and all around the world. I'm Max Foster in London. Just ahead --
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 19 year old Ezekiel Kelly is in fact, in custody.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am angry. This is no way for us to live.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This could be one of the worst heat waves on record, period, in California. We are really concerned because that is getting closer and closer to our house.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is the right time to leave, don't wait.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Talk about the energy crisis, get our economy going, that is what I'm focused on.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We aim at lowering the cost of gas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Live from London this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster.
FOSTER: It is Thursday, September the 8th, 9 a.m. here in London, 4 a.m. on the U.S. East Coast. We begin with breaking news this hour.
Four people are dead after a 19-year-old man went on a shooting rampage in Memphis Tennessee. Police say 19 year old Ezekiel Kelly was arrested following a high-speed chase and is being transported to the Shelby County Jail. Here is more from Memphis police chief.
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CHIEF C.J. DAVID, MEMPHIS POLICE DEPARTMENT: So first, I wanted to reassure the community that 19-year-old Ezekiel Kelly is in fact in custody. This has been a horrific week for the city of Memphis and the Memphis Police Department. We extend our sincere condolences to all of the victims who have been affected in this sequence of violent acts today.
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FOSTER: Well, the shooting rampage is believed to have stretched across eight crime scenes and lasted nearly 24 hours. Kelly had earlier been in prison. The mayor of Memphis called out the justice system.
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JIM STRICKLAND, MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE MAYOR: Ezekiel Kelly was charged with criminal attempted first degree murder. But pled guilty in April of 2021 to the lesser charge of aggravated assault. He was sentenced to three years but only served 11 months in prison. The problem is not the Memphis Police Department because they're arresting people. The problem is this judicial system that will not punish. That is our problem.
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FOSTER: Well, Kelly will be transported to the Shelby County Jail where he is expected to face numerous charges.
In Nevada, a man killed -- charged with killing a Las Vegas journalists is set to appear in court in the next coming hours. Clark County public administrator Robert Telles was arrested on Wednesday for the murder of Jeff German. He was founded outside of his home on Saturday with multiple sharp force injuries. German worked for the Las Vegas Review Journal. He was working on a story about the local official during the week of his death. Police are set to release more information on the investigation later.
Now a dragnet in Canada ended as police tracked down mass stabbing suspect Myles Sanderson and took him into custody. Police say he died a short time labor after going into medical distress. This comes after a rampage on Sunday left ten people dead and 18 others wounded. Myles brother, the other suspect was founded dead on Monday. Police arrested Myles Sanderson on Wednesday after forcing his stolen vehicle off a highway in the province of Saskatchewan. A separate police force, and an independent civilian led organization will investigate the suspect's death.
Now triple threats of extreme weather events could soon be slamming California. All it wants a hurricane will make its closest path to Southern California in 25 years in the days ahead. Warnings have already been issued for parts of the Baja California peninsula and other parts of Mexico.
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Hurricane Kay is expected to produce dangerous storm surge and coastal flooding expected to start battling the Mexican coast in earnest in the coming hours. Now meanwhile, the rain from the storm could be a relief for parts of
Southern California. Millions are currently enduring extreme heat conditions and climate experts warn it may be one of the worst heat waves on record.
And several wildfires are burning across the state, this is just a small sample of them. Officials say Southern California's Fairview fire is burning in all directions and they're telling people that staying put is not an option.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we beg for your cooperation on these evacuation orders and even the warnings. The fire is very unpredictable, as we discussed yesterday and earlier today and moves very, very fast.
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FOSTER: Let's bring in CNN meteorologist Pedram Javaheri. He's looking at the twin threats over there in California.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Max, good morning. You know, we're watching the storm very carefully because it has everything it takes here to bring not only very damaging conditions across portions Baja, Mexico but also some significant rainfall into areas of southern California. Some of which will be beneficial, some of it could be problematic.
But right now, a category one system, certainly seeing the severe weather, the tropical weather alerts that have been prompted across portions of the Baja region as well. But notice as Max noted here, the storm system gets uncomfortably close to areas of Southern California as you go in from Thursday into Friday, possibly even into early Saturday morning as a tropical storm is approaching, the Mexican U.S. border there. And the last time we had a system reach category one status and get within this close proximity was back when hurricane Nora did it in 1997. And hurricane Kay forecast to get within 250 or so miles of San Diego come Thursday night into Friday morning. They are the closest paths in about two decades times.
And as it approaches, we do expect quite a bit of heavy rainfalls and gusty winds as well. You know what's been happening across portions of California as it relates to excessive heat. Fire weather conditions as well. So again, some benefits here as that massive dome of high pressure begins to break down. We do expect significantly cooler temperatures as early as Friday and Saturday for some of these areas. And also, significant threat for heavy rainfall. Parts of Mexico can see as much as ten inches of rainfall, parts of California and the Mojave Desert such as 2 to 4 inches of rainfall. And yes, the flood alerts have been prompted across this region as a result of all of.
So, if you look at these temperatures, not often do you see this sort of a trend. Bakersfield from 108 down to 87, Death Valley from 117 down to 90, Palm Springs from 104 down to 84. An incredible shift here in temperatures with this approaching system that will bring with it much cooler weather.
Now over the past 48, hours we've seen some 100 record set across this region, Max. Temps as warm as 122 degrees tying a record that has been just standing for one year speaks to just how hot the last couple of years have been across parts of California -- Max.
FOSTER: Pedram, thank you so much.
Now, to the FBI search of Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate. The U.S. Justice Department wants more details to be made public from the affidavit used to get the search warrant. This is a procedural step. That information has already been disclosed in previous court filings. We're also waiting to see if the Justice Department will appeal a judge's ruling allowing a special master to review the materials taken from Mar-a-Lago. Even Donald Trump's former Attorney General says that he thinks that they should.
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WILLIAM BARR, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I think, you know, as I've said all along, there are two questions. Will the government be able to make out a technical case? Will they have evidence by which -- that they could indict somebody on -- including him? And I -- that's the first question. And I think that they're getting very close to that point.
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FOSTER: Meanwhile, Republicans are taking aim at leaks to the media, including a report by "The Washington Post," that agents recovered a document describing a foreign country's nuclear capability. Here's the former president's son, Eric.
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ERIC TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S SON: I mean you literally have the FBI who's spending more time leaking stuff to the press. I mean these pictures, do you think my father just happen to leave documents all over his office floor? I can tell, you my father is a very, very neat guy. He doesn't leave documents staged all over an office floor.
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FOSTER: Well to be clear, no one has suggested that this is the way the FBI found these documents. The Justice Department clearly says in court filings they were mostly in boxes and somewhat in desks in Trump's office.
Sources tell CNN the former Trump advisor Steve Bannon is expected to surrender to New York state authorities in the coming hours. Bannon was indicted by the state for allegedly diverting about $1 million from the scheme that raised millions to build a border wall. Trump pardoned Bannon after he was charged by federal prosecutors for the same offense. But the presidential pardons don't apply to state level prosecutions. Bannon is expected to enter a not guilty plea when he appears in court later this morning. Now the United Nations says it has documented cases of mistreatment of
the Ukrainian civilians during so-called infiltration checks by Russia.
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The U.N. also says there's credible evidence that unaccompanied Ukraine children are being sent to Russia where they can be adopted by Russian families. The Russian ambassador to the U.N. is dismissing the U.N. report as unfounded. But the U.S. says that it knows where the orders for the operations are coming from and why.
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VEDANT PATEL, DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT: We are further aware that the Russian presidential administration officials are providing lists of Ukrainians to be targeted for filtration and receiving reports on the scope and progress of operations. We assess that the Kremlin's views filtration operations as a crucial to their efforts to annex areas of Ukraine under their control, and we demand that Russia halted its filtration operations immediately.
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FOSTER: Let's go to CNN's Melissa Bell in Kyiv to explain more about this. How would the strategy work for Russia, just explain for people might not understand.
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is something that we have been seeing and hearing about ever since the invasion at the end of March, when those filtration camps were setup. And what we've been hearing about and what they were talking about yesterday the United Nations, is 2.5 million Ukrainians that have allegedly been taken to Russian lands or Russian controlled lands beyond the borders as they were. 38,000 of those children really horrifying stories, harrowing tales that we've managed to get back through to us. And of, course very difficult to get access to about exactly what's going.
On the idea -- and this is something that we've seen around the Russian control parts of Ukraine, where there's filtration camps that have been set up. So, they are the ones there the people forcibly taken to the Russian Federation. But essentially, the filtration camps that have been set up between the two Ukraine. So, the parts of Ukraine that were in Russian hands and the rest.
And what we have been seeing and hearing from those who've fled, who come across to this side of the line, Max, for details about what goes on in those filtration camps are really difficult stories to listen to. Of people being kept there for days, sometimes for weeks. Some people never heard from again. And those people who do manage to come here of course are extremely worried about the family friends, those they've left behind. Because of what's going on in the Russian control territories.
The idea and the strategy as we understand it, Max, is that you're talking about parts of Ukraine in which referendums will be held as they have been in Donetsk and Luhansk in the pass, to try and test the opinion of people locally. Whether or not they want to join the Russian Federation. So, anybody who is causing any trouble or likely not to be of the view that this should happen, can be forcibly removed. We're hearing tales of abduction, torture, prison camps inside those territories. And plans still that those referendums should be held in order to try and annex those part of the countries are already under Russian control -- Max.
FOSTER: OK, Melissa live in. Thank you.
Key supporters are meeting this hour to consider what to do next in the war on Ukraine. We'll go to Germany next for more on that.
Plus, Britain's new Prime Minister is set to unveil her plan to deal with skyrocketing energy cost. But many want to know who will be paying for this bailout.
Plus, the Obamas return to the White House for the unveiling of their official portraits and use the occasion to show their support for President Biden.
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BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Joe, it is now America's good fortune to have you as president. You have guided us through some perilous times ...
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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Barack and Michelle, welcome home. Welcome home.
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FOSTER: U.S. President Joe Biden celebrating the return of Barack and Michelle Obama to the White House for their unveiling of their official portraits. A sources tells CNN the former president is expected to begin campaigning for Democrats ahead of November's midterms. But on Wednesday, it was all about reviving a White House tradition that has been dormant for ten years. CNN's Kaitlan Collins has our report.
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KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A return to tradition at the White House.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Barack and Michelle, welcome home. COLLINS (voice-over): Greeted by over a minute of sustained applause, former President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama in the East Room for the unveiling of their official White House portraits.
BIDEN: Nothing could have prepared me better more to become president of the United States than to be at your side for eight years.
COLLINS (voice-over): President Biden inviting Mr. And Mrs. Obama to the stage where they lifted blue curtains to reveal their portraits, hers by the artist Sharon Sprung.
OBAMA: I want to thank Sharon Sprung for capturing everything I love about Michelle. Her grace, her intelligence, and the fact that she is fine.
COLLINS (voice-over): And his by Robert McCurdy.
OBAMA: Refused my request to make my ears smaller.
He also talked me out of wearing a tan suit, by the way.
COLLINS (voice-over): The 44th president then growing serious.
OBAMA: Presidents so often get airbrushed, even take on a mythical status, especially after you have gone, and people forget all the stuff they didn't like about you. Presidents and first ladies are human beings like everyone else. We have our gifts, we have our flaws.
COLLINS (voice-over): The last time a sitting president invited his predecessor for a portrait unveiling was a decade ago.
GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When you are wandering these halls as you wrestle with tough decisions, you will now be able to gaze at this portrait and ask, what would George do?
COLLINS (voice-over): The longstanding tradition was put on hold when Donald Trump occupied the Oval Office and declined to host Obama, who had little interest in attending the ceremony organized by his successor.
MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: It means so much to come back to friends.
COLLINS (voice-over): With no direct mention of Trump today, Mrs. Obama emphasized an unmistakable message saying these traditions matters.
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M. OBAMA: You see the people, they make their voices heard with their vote. We hold an inauguration to ensure a peaceful transition of power. And once our time is up, we move on.
COLLINS (voice-over): The former first lady also noting her own historic role. M. OBAMA: A girl like me, she was never supposed to be up there next to Jacqueline Kennedy and Dolley Madison. That is what this country is about. It's not about blood or pedigree or wealth.
COLLINS: And on question that has been raised to this White House is whether or not President Biden would host former President Trump once his portrait is ready. That's a question that so far, the White House has declined to answer and instead referred them to The White House Historical Association which commission sees portraits.
Kaitlan Collins, CNN, the White House.
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FOSTER: Wall Street clawed back more gains after snapping a week's long slump on Wednesday. The Dow futures are currently down there, as you can see but only slightly. Major European industries are looking more positive, however, so that might help the Dow a bit later on. You can see French, British and German shares are up but less than .2 percent.
And a major factor in that recent global rally, Wall Street closing a high note on Wednesday with all gains in all the major indices.
But this is how the Asian shares closed today. Japanese shares up more than 2 percent, but the Chinese indices are down.
It may be early September but winters is coming. And for Europe that means freezing temperatures and sky high energy prices. But the European Union it's working on a plan to help consumers whether that storm.
Meanwhile, the new British Prime Minister will unveil her strategy to fight to soaring energy cost today. The "Financial Times" reports that Liz Truss is preparing a $172 billion dollar for consumers and businesses. There's been no real explanation of how she'll pay for the pricey package.
Clare Sebastian is with me here in London. She's written off this idea of a one-off tax on the energy company. So, we can only come surely from other taxation.
CLARE SEBASTIAN CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, she has said that she doesn't want to pay for it, Max. As you say, she doesn't want to extend the windfall tax. Borrowing is what she is going to do. She doesn't want extended windfall tax. But by the way, is already in a place -- although she has not talked about canceling it. There is already an extra 25 percent in the profits of oil and gas companies. But she is, as you know, a staunch conservative. She's very much within that sort of traditional wing of the party. She does not want to increase taxes. So instead, it's going to have to come from boring. And particularly if you look at the size of the reported package, 172 billion, that would dwarf any of the COVID relief --
FOSTER: It was in the furlough scheme. SEBASTIAN: Right, it's more than that it's almost double what Germany has done so far. It's going to spend on mitigating its own energy crisis. And this is only in a estimate. You know, we obviously don't know what she's going to say yet. But even what she does say it we're not going to know for sure. Because one of the plans that reportedly is in that is to cap the price that consumers are going to pay for their energy bills, which of course is a huge problem in the U.K. So that's sort of doubled by January.
If she does that then the government is essentially taking on the risk of the market. If they're going to meet the difference between what consumers pay and what the companies can buy it at wholesale price, then they take on the risk. So, that's essentially a blank check. If that is the risk it could raise borrowing costs even further. It could cause the pound to slump even further and that could raise inflation. But the Bank of England and another economists have already said that they think capping consumer energy bills will actually bring down inflation. So, that is a positive.
FOSTER: An alternative cap being discussed as well in other parts of Europe.
SEBASTIAN: Yes, the European Union energy ministers are set to meet on Friday to discuss a plan to cap Russian pipeline gas prices. This very delicate moment because Russia has said that if that happens it will stop not only gas but all fuel supplies to Europe. This is what President Putin said yesterday. So clearly, Europe's flirting with that. That is part of a plan that's been sort of outlined by Ursula von der Leyen. But they have said, look, we're ready for this. Europe has reduced its reliance on Russian gas from 40 percent before the war down to 9 percent. It's importing more from Norway now than it is for Russia. Still though a full cut off would be extremely significant for Europe.
FOSTER: OK, Clare, thank you.
Meanwhile, we're getting word that the U.S. President Joe Biden will discuss the war in Ukraine with allies later today. A U.S. official says that the call will include multiple countries that have been supporting Ukraine's war efforts. But another key meeting in Ukraine is underway in Germany as we speak. Ukrainian Defense Contact Group is meeting at Ramstein Airport Base with the U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin hosting the event there. For more let's go to Fred Pleitgen standing by at the airbase. So, what are we hearing -- Fred?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Max. Well, I'm actually just a couple of seconds, Lloyd Austin the Secretary of Defense announced the most substantial aid package for the Ukrainians from that presidential drawdown. I have a couple of the details right here. This was literally just announced a couple of seconds ago. It's worth 675 million this time. Includes multiple rocket launching systems -- it's not clear which types of rocket launching systems, whether it's once again the HIMARS or different systems this time.
[04:25:00] Also, HARM missiles -- those of a course are anti-radiation missiles that the Ukrainians have been using to great effect apparently, especially in the south. Those are the kinds that would hit Russian air defense radars. Two obviously then make it easier for the Ukrainian military, the Ukrainian Air Force to operate in some of those areas. Also talking about armored Humvees as well. That of course is also really important as Ukraine is going on the offensive in multiple areas in that country especially in the south. Moving troops with armored vehicles is something that is very, very important. Apparently armored Humvees is what we're talking about here. So, another substantial package from the United States, Max.
But of, course the big question here at this meaning -- which involves some 50 countries -- is what are the other allies doing? Is there fatigue setting in? Or are they still all going strong? And that would certainly be the type of message that the U.S. would want to send. Not just to the Ukrainians, but of course to the Russians as well. To say that the U.S. and its allies are still going strong that no one is wavering on all that.
It's quite interesting, because the German defense secretary said a couple of days ago -- I think it was about a week ago -- that they're basically coming to the end of the stockpile that they would be able to give to the Ukrainians. So, we're going to have to wait and see what the commitments from other nations are going to be.
One of the ones that I am looking at with a lot of interest actually, Max, is the United Kingdom. To see what happens with that new administration in office now. Whether the U.K. will stay as strong and as committed. Because of course, Boris Johnson is one of the big championships of Ukraine and has been for such a very long time -- Max.
FOSTER: OK, Fred at the Ramstein Air Base Ukraine. Thank you for that review and for updates of course.
Now still to come, Pakistan's largest lake overflows destroying villages in and homes. We'll go inside a crowded camp where residents are waiting for government aid and trying to decide their next move.
Plus, a humanitarian crisis in Somalia. Hit by historic droughts and a brutal famine. What can be done to help save lives? We'll discuss.
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