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January 6 Committee Subpoenas Trump; Biden Touts Deficit Reduction; Race For Next U.K. Leader; Surging Cases Of RSV Overwhelm U.S. Pediatric Facilities; Russian Troops Mined Major River Dam In Ukraine; Somalia Teetering On Brink of Famine; Hurricane Roslyn Bearing Down On Mexico. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired October 22, 2022 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and all around the world, I'm Kim Brunhuber.
Here ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, Trump responds to the subpoena sent by the January 6 committee. He said he will appear before the lawmakers but there is a catch.
A setback on a key issue that President Biden has been touting as a win for his agenda could impact the midterm elections.
And right now hospitals across the U.S. are filled with sick children. Cases of a respiratory virus are surging. And efforts to stem the COVID pandemic could be a reason why.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: Former U.S. President Donald Trump has now been officially served with a subpoena to testify before the January 6 committee. In a series of high-profile hearings this year, the committee documented Trump's failed quest to overturn his 2020 election defeat, culminating in the violent and deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The committee set a November 4th deadline to receive the documents, which were requested, with November 14th for Trump's deposition to begin. Trump is expected to challenge the subpoena in court or even ignore it. We will get the latest from CNN's Sara Murray.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): We are obligated to seek answers directly from the man who set this all in motion.
SARA MURRAY, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That man, Donald Trump, now issued a formal subpoena from the House select committee investigating the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol. Looking ...
CHENEY: Both for his testimony under oath as well as for documents.
MURRAY: The committee writing, in short, "You are at the center of the first and only effort by any U.S. president to overturn an election and obstruct the peaceful transition of power. The evidence demonstrates that you knew this activity was illegal and unconstitutional and also knew that your assertions of fraud were false."
And laying out Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election, including pressuring Justice Department officials, touting false allegations of voter fraud and firing off this tweet, attacking Mike Pence during the riot, which the committee says incited further violence by publicly condemning your vice president.
The committee calling for Trump to hand over documents by November 4th and appear for testimony November 14th.
They're calling for a broad range of records, including calls made by Trump or at his direction on January 6th, calls to members of Congress; documents related to the Proud Boys or Oath Keepers; communications about blocking the certification of the election and anything on destroying materials or contacting witnesses.
But it's unclear if Trump will comply.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: They really want to damage me so I can no longer go back to work for you. And I Don't think that's going to happen.
MURRAY: The former president tapping two lawyers to take the lead on responding to the subpoena and risking possible contempt of Congress if he ignores it.
REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R-IL): U.S. law is, if you are subpoenaed by Congress, you are expected to come in and speak to us.
MURRAY: Meanwhile, Trump and the Justice Department still battling over documents seized from Mar-a-Lago.
TRUMP: They should give me immediately back everything they've taken from me because it's mine.
MURRAY: But "The Washington Post" now reporting, among those documents seized include some of the most sensitive information the U.S. has on two of the biggest threats on the global stage, Iran and China.
According to "The Post," at least one of the documents describes Iran's missile program. And others detail highly sensitive intelligence work aimed at Beijing. Trump arguing, whatever the FBI seized from his Florida estate belongs to him.
According to court filings, among the documents Trump kept from his presidency are six clemency requests and a couple papers related to immigration and border controls.
Prosecutors say those are federal records that belong to the government, offering a glimpse at how Trump lawyers and DOJ are locking horns as they sift through thousands of documents.
TRUMP: They took it from me in the raid. They broke into my house.
MURRAY: Attorneys for Trump have now responded to the subpoena from the January 6 committee. They accused the committee of flouting norms by releasing that subpoena publicly but said that they will respond as appropriate to this unprecedented action -- Sara Murray, CNN, Washington.
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BRUNHUBER: Earlier I spoke with CNN legal analyst and civil rights attorney Areva Martin about the significance of serving a former U.S. president with a congressional subpoena and how Trump is likely to respond. Here is how she explains it.
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AREVA MARTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Former presidents have been subpoenaed by Congress, have come forward and testify. Donald Trump said he is willing to testify if he can do it before a live audience, if he can do it before the committee and if it is televised.
We've heard him made those types of claims before. It is not likely that any lawyer representing Donald Trump is going to allow him to testify, because they know he has a propensity to lie.
And if you lie before Congress, if you make a false statement that would be considered perjury, he could give himself an even bigger legal jeopardy. I don't think we are going to see him testify. I think he is going to run out the clock.
And if the Republicans are successful during those midterm elections and they become the majority in the Congress, we already know they said that they will disband the January 6 committee.
And it is likely that they will withdraw the subpoena that was issued for Donald Trump's testimony and his record. So he has nothing to lose by continuing to posture and to act as if he is going to testify, when, in reality, it is not likely that we will ever get his testimony before this committee.
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BRUNHUBER: Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon is vowing to appeal after a federal judge sentenced him to four months in prison. He was convicted of criminal contempt of Congress after defying a subpoena from the January 6 committee.
The judge said Bannon failed to show any remorse for his actions which led to his heavier punishment. Outside the courtroom, Bannon still had no apologies. Listen to what he had to say.
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STEVE BANNON, FORMER TRUMP CHIEF STRATEGIST: Today was my judgment day by the judge. On November 8th, there's going to have judgment on the illegitimate Biden regime and quite frankly, quite frankly, that Nancy Pelosi and the entire committee. And we know which way that's going.
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BRUNHUBER: The conviction also carries a fine of $6,500. The judge will allow Bannon to stay out of prison while he appeals his conviction, a move his lawyer thinks will vindicate him. Here he is.
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DAVID SCHOEN, BANNON'S ATTORNEY: One of the key mistakes in the case, we believe, is the judge prohibited Mr. Bannon from putting on any evidence before the jury or even making reference to any reason for his response to the subpoena; that is that he believed executive privilege applied, that he relied on the directives of his lawyer.
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BRUNHUBER: The sentence was handed down just hours before the committee unveiled their subpoena for former president Trump.
U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham has asked the Supreme Court to block a subpoena from a Georgia special grand jury, which is investigating efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
The Republican lawmaker filed the request after an appeals court ruled that the grand jury could seek his testimony and that his phone calls to Georgia election officials are not constitutionally protected speech as he claimed.
His request was filed with Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas, who is considered likely to referred the matter to the full court.
Election Day in the U.S. is just around the corner. At stake, control of Congress. Right now the Senate is split 50-50 between the two parties, with the vice president giving Democrats the tie-breaking vote for a majority.
This year 35 of the 100 Senate seats are up for grabs. CNN estimates 12 of those are Democrat or leaning that way and 20 solidly Republican or leading toward the GOP. Three states, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Nevada, are still seen as up for grabs. In the House each of the 435 seats are in play. Every two years Democrats currently hold 220 seats. They need 218 to keep the majority. Right now looks like Republicans are slightly ahead with 212 seats.
But with 18 others up for grabs it is far from a done deal. President Biden said his Democratic Party can pull out wins in the midterms, especially as the economy shows signs of improvement. On Friday he took credit for a drop in the federal deficit and claimed that Republicans would reverse those gains. CNN's Phil Mattingly reports.
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PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: There were remarks that were supposed to be about the deficit, the deficit reduction over the course of the last fiscal year. But President Biden was willing to make a prediction, to lay out some dynamics in the political landscape that perhaps he hasn't been as candid about before.
Take a listen.
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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The polls have been all over the place. I think that we're going to see one more shift back to our side in the closing days.
And let me tell you why I think that. We're starting to see some of the good news on the economy.
It's mega MAGA trickle-down, mega MAGA trickle-down -- the kind of policies that have failed the country before.
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BIDEN: And it will fail it again.
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MATTINGLY: The president's references there were critical for a couple of reasons. First, an acknowledgment that, as seemed clear by public polling over the course of the last couple of weeks, momentum is swinging back toward Republicans with just 18 days until the midterm elections.
The president predicting it will come back toward Democrats, something we saw in the summer in large part because of the economy, something that has been a primary vulnerability for many Democrats running in their districts or states over the last several weeks.
Implicit in that comment was a reality that gas prices have started to tick down. They see a clear correlation between the president's approval, Democratic prospects in the midterms, really the mood of the country when it comes to the prices at the pump.
The president also making clear something else that, in his view, this is not necessarily a referendum on his administration or on Democrats in power; it is a choice, a choice between Republicans and Democrats.
The president, as he has held smaller, not major campaign rallies but smaller, policy driven events over the course of the last several wreaks, has been trying to make the point that they have delivered on a lot of the things the president campaigned on.
On Friday that was talking about student loan cancellation: over 22 million borrowers have already applied for cancellation of up to $10,000 in student debt. That is young voters, young Black voters. We talked about abortion earlier in the week; that's women, independents.
You're seeing the White House very carefully calibrate events. They will be expanding those events, larger campaign events, in the closing days leading up to the midterm elections.
It is still very much anyone's guess how things are going to end. And Republicans have made it very clear they feel good about the current direction of things. The president, however, saying publicly he thinks it is going to swing back their way -- Phil Mattingly, CNN, the White House.
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BRUNHUBER: As Phil just mentioned, millions of people have already applied for the student debt relief program. And at the rally Friday, Biden touted the plan as a game-changer. He also took a victory lap after two courts dismissed challenges to the program. Here he is.
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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They've been fighting this in the courts. But just yesterday, state court and the Supreme Court said, no, we are on Biden's side.
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BRUNHUBER: The president may have spoken too soon. Late Friday, a federal appeals court temporarily blocked his initiative as they consider a challenge.
While looking ahead to 2024, President Biden says, while he hasn't made a formal decision, it is quite likely he will make a bid to return to the White House for a second time. Biden had this to say in an interview with MSNBC, here he is.
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BIDEN: The only reason to be involved in public life is, can you make life better for other people?
I have not made that formal decision but it is my intention, my intention to run again. And we'll have time to make that decision.
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BRUNHUBER: Biden will be 82 years old next inauguration. Still the president said he and his wife, Jill, believe he is doing something very important, in his words.
Britain's Conservative Party is moving quickly to choose a new leader and prime minister by next week. Liz Truss abruptly resigned on Thursday amid the fallout of a disastrous economic policy.
Well, now three candidates are leading the pack to replace her: former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak has already reached the 100 nomination threshold, while House of Commons leader Penny Mordaunt is the first MP to confirm she is running.
And British media reports say former prime minister Boris Johnson has indicated he plans to join the race. CNN Salma Abdelaziz is live for us in London and she joins us now.
Salma, Boris Johnson just arriving back to the U.K. after his holiday. It would have seemed just improbable a couple of weeks ago but he must truly be one of the front-runners here.
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What an extraordinary turn of events, Kim, it was six weeks ago that Johnson had to leave office, declared unfit for the job by his own party.
And it is now that we are talking about a Boris comeback, as you say, leaving his holiday, unclear if he had to cut the holiday short, arriving in the U.K. any moment now. And if you are looking for a figure, which is what the Conservative Party is looking for right now, a figure to unify this party, to heal divisions, critics of Boris Johnson will say that he is absolutely not that figure.
He is divisive, he is controversial and, most importantly, Kim, he is under investigation, under parliamentary investigation due to the Partygate scandal. He is accused of lying and intentionally misleading Parliament.
If somehow he did become the next prime minister of this country, we could see him having to testify to a parliamentary committee within a matter of days or weeks. And that parliamentary committee could potentially lead to him being expelled or kicked out of Parliament completely -- or suspended from Parliament, rather.
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ABDELAZIZ: So you're talking about a rather extraordinary moment here in British politics, a truly unprecedented one. Johnson, for his part, has not made clear if he does intend to make a bid for the premiership. He has flown back as we've mentioned.
We expect to hear more from him today. And if he does make a bid he will be facing two others most likely, Rishi Sunak, his very close ally, the previous chancellor, someone with a strong finance history and someone who can kind of tell the party, I told you so because he called out prime minister Liz Truss' economic plan before it came to fruition.
And then, of course, the third candidate, the lesser known one, Penny Mordaunt, the only one who has made it official that she wants to run. Each of these candidates, each of these individuals has to get 100 MPs to back them by Monday 2 pm in order for them to qualify.
What happens after that is really a lightning speed process. To give you an idea, Kim, the last leadership contest, the one that brought in Truss, that took about three months. This is going to take about a week when it is all said and done. So Monday afternoon, depending on how many nominees there are, if
three nominees, Conservative Party members are going to hold a vote, whittle that down to two nominees. And then there will be a second vote that will be the indicative vote to find out who MPs really want, who Conservative MPs really want.
But again the indicative vote, because if it comes down to two nominees, it will go to Conservative Party members that will have an online vote. This is only about 200,000 people, Kim, who will get to determine the future of this country, who will get to determine the next prime minister of this country.
That's why you hear so much controversy around this. People say this party simply doesn't have the mandate to rule anymore, they should call for a general election. That is the right thing to do, that is what the Labour Party says.
But it is absolutely not required by the rules. What we are seeing here, again, a lightning speed process, a controversial leadership race. We will see who ends Monday 2 pm among those nominees.
BRUNHUBER: Despite all those calls for a general election, as you said. Salma Abdelaziz, thank you so much, we appreciate it.
It was a historic day in Italy as Giorgia Meloni was officially sworn in as Italy's first female prime minister last hour. Her party claimed victory in September's general election as part of a broader right wing coalition.
She is the most far-right leader of the country since Benito Mussolini, campaigning on a promise to block migrant ships and support family traditions and opposing LGBTQ issues.
Xi Jinping's authoritarian control over China now appears to be ironclad, well into the future. On Sunday he is expected to be reaffirmed to another five-year term as general secretary of the Communist Party.
At the pinnacle of his power in China and at 69 years of age, he is now well situated to ruled China for the rest of his life. The weeklong national congress reshuffled China's power structure. And Sunday should reveal who emerges at his circle of advisers.
CNN's signal in China went dark during this unscripted moment in the otherwise carefully choreographed closing ceremony. The man seated next to Xi Jinping, Hu Jintao, its former Chinese leader. After several confusing moments, he appeared to be reluctantly led out of the chamber.
He did seem to speak briefly with Xi Jinping before walking away. We don't know what was said or if there was a reply. There has been no explanation for why he left the assembly but he has been in poor health recently.
A common respiratory virus is filling up U.S. hospital beds and worrying patients. Coming up, we'll have the latest on the RSV outbreak and what you can do to help keep your child safe.
And Russian rockets and missiles go after Ukraine energy infrastructure again. The end results, power outages in much of the country. We will have a live report, stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Health officials in the U.S. are concerned over an unprecedented surge of a respiratory virus known as RSV. The rapid spread of the disease is reaching new levels and overwhelming pediatric hospitals. Health experts are warning parents what the symptoms could look like.
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DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Watch out for severe symptoms, which would include difficulty breathing, if the child has wheezing or grunting, if they are breathing really fast, if their chest is actually turning in as they are breathing and also if they can't get enough fluids.
Very important if they are newborns and premature babies in particular because those are the categories that are the most vulnerable to severe illness due to RSV.
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BRUNHUBER: CNN's Brynn Gingras has more on this latest viral threat.
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BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is a very common virus among children. What is not common is this surge that many hospitals all across this country but particularly this one in Connecticut is seeing.
This hospital reports on average each night 15 to 25 boarders, as they call them, for the past two weeks that means children for coming into the hospital or having to stay in beds that are typically used for triage just because they can't get into the hospital because they are at full capacity.
They have turned playrooms into hospital beds, they are taking drastic measures to deal with this surge that they are seeing. We also got reports from this hospital that October is the first time since June that the number of RSV cases has outnumbered COVID cases among children.
So extremely alarming, extremely overwhelming for these doctors, nurses and hospital staff. Now to prepare for another surge possibly of the flu on top of RSV what this hospital as done is coordinated with the governor of the state, the Department of Public Health, even the National Guard to possibly set up a field hospital in this area where I'm standing right now.
If it comes to that, that they just need help and room for an influx of patients, they haven't pulled the trigger on that just yet. But that is certainly possible in the near future.
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GINGRAS: And again the CDC saying that this is a surge that they are seeing all across the country. Any doctor will say, make sure you get your kids vaccinated with the flu vaccine to help prevent sort of the raise in the flu, because RSV numbers are so bad as well -- I am Brynn Gingras, CNN, Hartford, Connecticut.
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BRUNHUBER: Haiti is focused on the spread of a different disease as the country grapples with gang violence. CNN's Stefano Pozzebon has more.
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STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The humanitarian crisis in Haiti shows no sign of receding. The spread of cholera is particularly worrisome.
The Pan American Health Organization is saying that the number of suspected cases of cholera in the country could be as high as 8,000 and that the Haitian health facilities are under severe stress.
But a spokesperson from the Haitian health ministry told CNN that the number of cases could be much higher than those officially reported. And that is because much of the Haitian population cannot reach health centers to receive treatment, even security concerns in the country.
To address these concerns on Friday, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution targeting Haitian gang leaders. But we've also seen a number of migrants trying to escape the situation in Haiti.
In nearby Puerto Rico, a group of NGOs is preparing a shelter to welcome Haitian migrants after a growing number of them have reached these U.S. territories. Authorities in Puerto Rico believe that these numbers could be much higher in the coming days and weeks unless some sort of relief is found for the crisis stricken country -- for CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon, Bogota.
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BRUNHUBER: Three weeks after Iran's bloody Friday massacre, more angry demonstrations and a hardline cleric calls for even tougher action. Details next, please stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber.
A group of U.S. lawmakers says Ukraine can count on U.S. support, no matter who wins the upcoming midterms. Three members of the House Intelligence Committee met President Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Friday.
The head of the delegation, Democrat Jim Himes of Connecticut, said it was important to show support in a bipartisan way. Representative Mike Turner, a Republican from Ohio, said the U.S. help will keep coming, even if Congress changes hands next month.
U.S. secretary of state Antony Blinken says Washington is open to advancing diplomacy with Moscow but Blinken added that, so far, Russia has shown little interest in dialogue. Here he is.
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ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We consider it and will consider every means to advance diplomacy if we see an opening to advance it by whatever means. Of course, we'll always look at it. But in this moment, Russia is showing no signs of being willing to engage by any means.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: And earlier the U.S. Defense Secretary spoke with his Russian counterpart for the first time in months and emphasized the importance of maintaining lines of communication.
Large parts of Ukraine are without electricity at this hour, following a barrage of Russian strikes across the country. Energy infrastructure was the target again, which knocked out power from southern to Western Ukraine. And that is as Ukraine is raising alarm over an alleged Russian plot to blow up a major river dam.
If destroyed, that would cause not only major flooding downstream but also possibly safety risks at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant. For more, Nic Robertson is joining us from Kyiv.
What more do we know about the attack and the bigger attack that they fear might happen?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Today, some Ukrainian officials are saying that the number and range of Russian strikes could be as great and impactful on the energy systems as about almost two weeks ago, when Russia first began that very heavy targeting of electricity infrastructure.
The air defense systems here have been working; in Odessa in the south, there was an intercept of an incoming Russian missile, although officials in Odessa say that strikes did get through to a power station, that some parts of the region there are without electricity.
We know 11 different regions are suffering blackouts, including Kyiv. It is onto its sort of third round of air raid sirens today and, during the previous round, missiles were intercepted near a power station in Kyiv. Nothing impacted here.
But that is not the picture in some of the smaller cities across the country, where Russia seems to be trying to punch holes in the air defense network. And some of the smaller towns, five in the west of the country, their electricity infrastructure has been hit.
Residents are warned that water supplies may not get through, for them to conserve electricity, so there are shortages in the center of Ukraine. The energy supplier says they are doing everything they can to get everything back up online.
But the continuing offensive is attrition and wearing down the country's capacity to rebuild and repair very quickly.
And, of course, that potential blowing up of a dam in the south of the country near Kherson, where Ukrainian officials say Russian forces have military trucks full of explosives on the dam that, if they blow, will take vitally needed water for cooling at the nuclear power plant.
And, of course, that would affect the electrical network in the country. The dam is an electrical power generating station as well, hydroelectric power plant there. So the infrastructure to keep the country running is very much under target and today more so than the previous couple of days.
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BRUNHUBER: And one of the other big worries from a Ukrainian perspective, Belarus moving its equipment to its border.
So what does that suggest and how serious a threat could that pose?
ROBERTSON: Of course Belarus is being used right now to launch cruise missiles fired in to Ukraine. And so Belarus is in the fight. But its border is not being used as a point of invasion.
And the complication, if you will, for the Ukrainians, is that they have offensives in the east of the country and in the south. And if attacked, they will need to draw forces away from the ground that they are taking in the areas, south and east, and redirect it to the north. So it is a distraction there if you will.
And two weeks ago, Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, signed a joint agreement with Vladimir Putin, that they would form a joint force. What the Ukrainian authorities say they are seeing is Russian military equipment and personnel supplies being brought into Belarus and closer to that border. So that is a concern as well.
BRUNHUBER: Appreciate the reporting. Nic Robertson, thanks so much. Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets in southwestern Iran
Friday, three weeks after dozens were killed in bloody Friday protests. Police reportedly they arrested nearly 60 people as protesters chanted "death to the dictator." Nada Bashir is following the developments.
So many deaths and even more people detained.
What is the latest?
NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The crackdown by Iranian security forces on the protests taking place up and down the country is continuing. But these demonstrations are persisting, despite the violence that we are seeing at the hands of the Iranian regime.
We've already seen calls circulating on social media for a mass uprising, for protests up and down the country, including today we are hearing reports of a heavy presence by the Iranian security forces in anticipation of another day of mass protests.
And, of course, the crackdown is continuing to intensify. We've seen at least dozens kills, varying figures being reported by human rights organizations, by local journalists and, of course, by the official Iranian authorities.
But according to one human rights organization, they have seen the death tallying at least 200 killed, including 27 children. And real concerns for those being detained by the Iranian authorities. The figure is estimated in the thousands.
And it is not just the number of people being detained that is quite staggering but it is, of course, the treatment that they are facing. We're hearing reports of protesters being detained without a warrant, often by police officers in disguise; some even being detained while seeking treatment at hospitals and clinics.
And there is a real concern, of course, that many describe as not having access to a lawyer, not being able to call family or friends and some saying that they have not been able to track down their loved ones. So this is a real cause for concern.
And, of course, we are seeing that crackdown intensifying. But despite this, these protests are continuing. And we've seen strike action in parts of the Kurdish region in northwestern Iran as well. So it is gaining momentum.
BRUNHUBER: Nada Bashir, thanks so much.
In Canada, a nationwide freeze on the sale, purchase or transfer of handguns is now in effect, part of the country's efforts to crack down on gun violence. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau outlined the new measures on Friday.
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JUSTIN TRUDEAU, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: From today forward, it is no longer legal to buy, sell or transfer a handgun in Canada. We have frozen the market for handguns in this country. And a ban on imports that took effect in August remains in place. This is one of the strongest actions we've taken on gun violence in a generation.
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BRUNHUBER: Under the new rules, existing gun owners will still be allowed to use their registered handguns. The government is also granting some exceptions for certain businesses, like museums and the movie industry.
Just ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM, a humanitarian crisis in the making.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm in a camp in Somalia, where thousands of families have come to, having seen drought destroy their lives. Now when we walk in Somalia, we see the face of that catastrophe unfold, a deadly drought, lethal to livestock, hunger rising, families famished. The risk of disease all around.
BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Famine in Somalia and millions of --
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BRUNHUBER: Food insecurity has reached critical levels in Somalia. According to UNICEF, one child is being admitted for medical treatment due to malnutrition every minute in the country. Extreme hunger is surging among children displaced by drought and conflict in the sub- Saharan country.
Earlier this year, humanitarian groups found that, out of 98,000 children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years who were screened, 59 percent were suffering from acute malnutrition.
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BRUNHUBER: James Elder is a spokesperson for UNICEF and he joins me now.
Thank you for being with us. You are in Nairobi but you were just in Somalia. Tell us about what you saw there.
JAMES ELDER, SPOKESPERSON, UNICEF: Pretty harrowing scenes, Kim, to be honest. Women who walked with young children, sometimes for like 200 miles, days and days. Some of them buried their children on the way. Some of them make the cruel decision, which of my little boys or girls do I take with me and who do I leave at home to look after their grandfather? So, look, Kim, as you say, the drought, the climate crisis drought,
they have seen livestock decimated. Their livestock is their livelihood, that is their stocks. We're not talking of a dip in an Apple share; we are talking about devastation. Crops wilting, they are out of options.
They walk, looking for any help they can get. And, there is help when they get to UNICEF. But some of them don't make it. Mothers bury their little ones on the way.
BRUNHUBER: You spoke of drought.
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BRUNHUBER: The country is used to seeing drought.
But why is it so severe right now?
ELDER: Yes, it is a good question and, very simply we can link this straight to the climate crisis. This is now four failed seasons with the worst drought in almost half a century. Whether it is the Pakistan floods or across the war in Africa, what we're seeing in Nigeria, Somalia certainly now. We are seeing the impact of a changing climate.
We are seeing the excesses of lifestyle from many parts of the world being paid for by the world's poorest children, children who do not really have a carbon footprint. And, if action is not taken, governments and big business do not fulfill their promises, stop as the U.N. secretary-general said, stop saying one thing and doing another.
Stop lying, it is a climate crisis that is going to hit all corners of the world. Income will only protect people for a time, not forever.
BRUNHUBER: All of this made worse by the security situation. Some of those who are forced to relocate have to run the gantlet of al-Shabaab militants as well. They are known to extort or kill aid workers.
And then, agencies who get money through in the U.S. are required to make sure that their aid does not fall into the hands of terrorists, terrorists who happen to control large parts of the country.
How is all of that complicating the situation?
ELDER: Super difficult place to work, Kim. I was there for a week. Sometimes you have no choice but to have armed security and you are in a flak jacket going around. And you have a limited amount of time.
Sometimes it is 60 or 90 minutes on the ground until wheels up, as they say, get out because that's how long it takes for a phone call and suddenly al-Shabaab is there. Unfortunately, over the last years, the United Nations humanitarian workers, colleagues on the front line every day, trying to reach or reaching hundreds of thousands of children for malnutrition treatment, half a million with clean water.
They are at risk now. The U.N. has become a soft target. It is disgusting but you have to care for those people on the front lines. So that is the challenge, the most critical one is making sure aid doesn't go to them. And the umbrella of that is, as a colleague said to me, ensuring that humanitarian staff don't get beheaded.
BRUNHUBER: Absolutely. The projections for the situation are staggering.
What could happen if more is not done?
ELDER: Mass death of children, you know, unfortunately in these places, no one will ever get used to it. I do not get used to seeing a mother who has walked 100-plus miles and done everything, heroic efforts to get her child safe and then she watches her little girl die in front of her.
We might see that in the hundreds of thousands. That is the risk. That is why action that requires money is essential right now, so that we can support these people in the longer term and so we do not see this climate crisis induce crises everywhere else.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, I want to ask you about that action but with so much focus on Ukraine and helping that country with billions of dollars in military aid and other help, how hard is it to turn the world's gaze toward Somalia and get the help that, as you say, is so desperately needed?
ELDER: It is super difficult, there's no doubt. An organization like UNICEF, last couple of months, the U.S. government and the European Commission are being very generous. But overall, we have partners doing a lot of work. The funding is not there.
Everyone understands the global reality of the relevance of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and what is happening to Ukrainians. But of course, global food prices are spiking. The world attention does get distracted. Many things are happening. People just want to catch their breath after COVID.
But there are arguments, it is right in principle, you have to save these children's lives and they have had no responsibility for what is happening to their climate.
But in practice as well, Kim, the World Bank tells us, get to a child with severe malnutrition a month earlier and you will increase that child's income going through their entire life. So practically and in terms of morally, there are so many reasons to act. The money is there. The world does have the money to act on this other crisis.
BRUNHUBER: Absolutely, well said, we will have to leave it there. Thank you so much for your work. Appreciate you coming on, James Elder.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
And we'll be right back.
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[05:50:00]
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BRUNHUBER: Hurricane Roslyn is now a major hurricane and it has its sights set on Western Mexico. It is expected to make landfall late Saturday or early Sunday.
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[05:55:00]
BRUNHUBER: This next story is either beautiful or terrifying, depending on your perspective and maybe your stomach. Have a look.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): What is said to be the world's longest wooden tower pedestrian suspension bridge is now open. The Blaine Mountain Michigan bridge is 1,200 feet long and just five feet wide. At its highest point the bridge is about 120 feet off the ground.
The bridge plans to shut down operations if the wind gets above 35 miles per hour. You can tell why.
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BRUNHUBER: The oldest commissioned ship in the U.S. Navy has celebrated 225 years in operation. On Friday the USS Constitution marked its birthday with several gun salutes and a glide across Boston Harbor.
The ship was first launched from that port in 1797. Since then, it has been used in multiple conflicts, including the War of 1812. That's where it earned its nickname "Old Ironsides," because its strong hull appeared to deflect cannonballs.
With that, we wrap this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I am Kim Brunhuber, you can follow me on Twitter, for viewers in North America CNN "NEW DAY" is next, for the rest of the world it is "QUEST'S WORLD OF WONDER."
