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U.S. Shoots Down Object Over Alaska Airspace; Turkish Survivors Rescued After Over 100 Hours; U.S. Bradleys Headed To Ukraine; Grocery Store Donates Lottery Reward To Local Food Bank. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired February 11, 2023 - 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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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and all around the world, I'm Kim Brunhuber.
Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, days after the suspected Chinese spy balloon was shot, down another unknown object is found floating above the U.S. Why President Biden didn't wait for this one to travel any further.
Plus, more classified documents found in the homes of both Donald Trump and Mike Pence. How the Feds are dealing with the new information.
And the desperate rush to get aid to survivors as temperatures are below freezing in the earthquake zone.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: For the second time in less than a week, U.S. fighter jets have taken down an object flying over American airspace. The latest one was shot down Friday over Alaska's coast on Joe Biden's orders.
It was smaller and not as well equipped as that Chinese surveillance balloon. Another difference: this object was an altitude of 40,000 feet and posed a risk to civilian aircraft.
The reaction to this object comes after Republicans, like Alaska senator Lisa Murkowski, blasted the Biden administration for waiting until the Chinese surveillance balloon was safely off the East Coast to shoot it down. Here she is.
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SEN. LISA MURKOWSKI (R-AK): At what point do we say a surveillance balloon, a spy balloon coming from China, is a threat to our sovereignty?
It should be the minute, the minute it crosses the line. And that line is Alaska.
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BRUNHUBER: And Republican congressman Mike Waltz says he has questions after the second incident. Listen to this.
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REP. MICHAEL WALTZ (R-FL): I'm trying to understand why this much smaller, by their own admission, much less capable balloon with a much smaller payload was deemed such a threat that the other one wasn't.
And it can't just be the altitude. I guarantee you if we put an object over Beijing or over some of their sensitive sites at 40,000 to 60,000 feet for days collecting sensitive intelligence they would take action. We need to take reciprocal action and again make that clear up front.
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BRUNHUBER: All this took place on the same day the White House announced that President Biden will travel to Poland to mark one full year of the war in Ukraine. CNN's Phil Mattingly has more.
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PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: For President Biden, one press conference, two very significant news developments, one of which was expected, the announcement that President Biden will be traveling to Poland in commemoration of the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The other very much was not and actually wasn't even rolled out without a question to elicit the response and that was related to yet another object being shot down by U.S. fighter jets that was near or around U.S. airspace.
Now that came just six days after a Chinese spy balloon was shot down over the Atlantic Ocean. Apples and oranges in terms of what these two objects actually were, when you talk to U.S. officials. The differences are critical.
Another difference, how quickly the decision was made by President Biden to give the order to shoot down the object. Officials say they first became aware of the object on Thursday evening. President Biden was briefed about the object on Thursday evening as well.
On Thursday -- or on Friday morning, he was told by the Pentagon that they recommended he shoot down the object. He gave the order to do so. And a few hours later, the object was shot down.
Now when officials describe the object they make clear, they believe it's an apples to oranges comparison when it comes to the Chinese spy balloon. The Chinese spy balloon obviously significantly larger. When he talked to U.S. officials, had very significant intelligence capabilities, which this object appeared not to. But beyond that, there are not a lot of answers. U.S. officials are
very candid about this. This was how national security spokesperson John Kirby framed things.
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ADM. JOHN KIRBY (RET.), COORDINATOR FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: We don't have any information that would confirm a stated purpose for this object.
We do expect to be able to recover the debris since it fell not only within our territorial space but on what we -- what we believe is frozen water.
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KIRBY: So it -- a recovery effort will be made and we're hopeful that it will be successful and then we can learn a little bit more about it.
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MATTINGLY: The decision-making process from the Pentagon and the president very clearly tied to fact this object was flying about 40,000 feet. That is at the upper end of where commercial air traffic basically resides to some degree.
And U.S. officials decided it posed a real threat at that point; the Chinese spy balloon, that was up about 65,000-70,000 feet. That's a clear difference here. But there was also the political implications of what has happened over the course of the last 1.5 weeks, officials saying that had no impact.
It will be interesting to see whether or not that's the case in the days and weeks ahead. But the critical element of the days and weeks ahead, the recovery of this object, to glean more information about what it is; perhaps most importantly, its origin.
U.S. officials at this point in time saying they don't know what it's from, whether it's from a nation state, whether it's from a private entity, a commercial entity. There are not a lot of answers, no attribution at this point.
Again, all this coming at the same time it was announced the president will be traveling to Poland, a critical visit, to continue to send a message to try and rally the Western coalition to support Ukraine.
He will meet with Polish president Duda and leaders from eastern flanked NATO allies. Other meetings are possible as well. A big news day on the foreign policy front and big news day on the domestic policy front as well, as we try and figure out what's actually going on in the days and weeks ahead -- Phil Mattingly, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BRUNHUBER: Turning now to the investigation into the classified documents the FBI found at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate last August.
A source tells CNN that Trump attorney Evan Corcoran testified for four hours last month before a federal grand jury in Washington. The panel is looking into Trump's handling of national security records at Mar-a-Lago.
Meanwhile, Trump's legal team has turned over more classified materials and laptops to federal prosecutors. And the FBI is expected to search the Washington office of Trump's former vice president, Mike Pence, in the coming days.
CNN's Jessica Schneider has more on a classified document found at Pence's house and the latest on the Trump case.
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JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Two new developments on the classified documents front. First, we've learned the former president's legal team has actually turned over more classified documents to federal prosecutors in recent months.
And it really suggests that these efforts to get classified material back from the former president still continues, all as the special counsel investigation, which is a criminal investigation, is ongoing.
So we learned that this turnover of material happened in December and January. It included not only classified documents but also a laptop belonging to an aide plus an empty folder marked classified evening briefing.
We're told that Trump's attorneys discovered these documents in December while they were searching through boxes at Mar-a-Lago. They then turned them over to DOJ. But of course, that discovery was two months after the FBI search at Mar-a-Lago in August that yielded hundreds of classified documents.
We also learned that a Trump aide had even copied some of these documents onto a thumb drive, not realizing they were classified. We know that the thumb drive and the laptop have also been handed over to investigators.
Then on top of that, on Friday, the FBI conducted a five-hour search of former vice president Pence's home. They uncovered one classified document, plus six additional pages that weren't marked classified but were still taken by the FBI for review.
Now this search was done in cooperation with Pence. He was actually in California visiting his family when the search happened.
But now the question really is, what comes next for the former vice president?
We know the FBI is expected to search his Washington, D.C., office in the coming days.
But the question is, will there be other searches?
Also what will the Justice Department do now?
Will they ultimately have to name a special counsel to look into this issue with the former vice president?
Especially because we know that Mike Pence is considering announcing a run for 2024, the presidential run -- Jessica Schneider, CNN, Washington.
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BRUNHUBER: More than 24,000 people are now confirmed dead from the powerful earthquake that devastated Turkiye and Syria on Monday.
In Turkiye, emergency crews from around the world have been digging through the rubble for five days now, hoping every minute to find another survivor.
And on Friday they rescued three brothers from the wreckage of a five- story apartment building. State media reports they appeared to be stable after being trapped almost 120 hours.
Rescues like these are becoming increasingly rare. But first responders aren't losing hope of finding more people alive. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is in southeast Turkiye with more on the rescue operations there.
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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: At times the city of Antakya can be eerily quiet, silence falling that's almost ghostly. That's when rescue crews join with each other and try and silence the excavators --
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WALSH: -- silence any conversation from the crowds so they can hear more closely the noises that may be emanating from the rubble for the possibility that somebody is still conscious or trying to cry out for help after over 100 hours.
And sometimes they see success. What you're about to see, 109 hours after the tremors.
WALSH (voice-over): Over 100 hours after the worst quake in nearly 100 years and still there were lights that won't go out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (from captions): Coming! Pull!
WALSH (voice-over): Naked feet, a reminder this happened in everyone sleep. And this new dawn so welcome. No better way to show you're alive than this smile. The crowds at each site larger, louder in success. Now the number of living buried is smaller.
Timadu's (ph) husband was pulled out moments before her. They don't have to go far to be reminded how so many searches end. The preciousness of each moment of hope is most acute here where military helicopters and ambulances former stream rushing the injured to hospitals in other Turkish cities because so many here are crippled.
We see a three-year-old girl conscious. Her two months old sister the same. It is unclear if they know where their mother is. Nobody here does.
WALSH: This just how urgent their work is. Each time they try to take off another ambulance arrives with another injured person who urgently required treatment.
Elsewhere, the olds are rushed on too but also two so tiny, they share a stretcher. And on board must be carried in their arms. They too fly without their parents.
About 15 patients in total this morning. Remember, though, this is how most stories are ending here. Hurried graves in a cemetery dug by hand and cardboard. Even this a relative luxury in a time of nothing.
Two families of four who died in the same building. Across this city though, the task of burying so many also urgently.
Back at the same rubble site, another search has begun. This resident explains its interior.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Where is the elevator shaft?
WALSH (voice-over): Hope now is for Yeshim's (ph) brother, mother and father, a nurse. She's been here since Tuesday.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I've been struggling for five days. Everyone has lost hope now and is sending me condolences. Officials told me they'd only find a course.
And now two people have come out alive. We need professional rescuers. The fire brigade quit on us. We found those two just now with construction workers. I brought three body bags, maybe I need them and a graveyard.
WALSH (voice-over): And to dusk, the dig inches carefully forward with no time limit or guarantee it will find anything. The city center swamped in dust and the heavy knowledge, that the longer their patience and struggle, the less likely it is to be rewarded.
WALSH: Now slowly the focus here will shift from trying to get those who are alive from out of the rubble to keeping those alive who are above the rubble and survived the quakes.
That's an exceptionally large challenge for any government. And the city of millions here is in absolute ruins. And a slow deterioration, you begin to feel, of the fabric of normal life.
We got a glimpse of how that might look in the last hours, when a false rumor was started amongst the crowds here that a dam nearby had broken and we're about to be flooded. That caused people to pile into any car they could and just try and drive out as quickly as possible.
Of course the roads were jammed and that was impossible. It turned out to be false information. But shortly afterwards, some local men chased down other local men, who they say were trying to rob an abandoned building.
A sense of tension there that will surely build as the frustration is at desperation, at the absence of the normal things you'd expect in daily life here, built in the freezing, bitter weeks ahead -- Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Antakya, Turkiye.
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BRUNHUBER: And we're joined by Nada Bashir from Istanbul.
Nada, time is a factor, not just for the search for survivors but for those above the rubble as well.
NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely, Kim. As you saw there in Nick's reporting, of course, this is becoming less of a rescue operation and more of a recovery operation.
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BASHIR: That death toll, though, only growing higher as the days go by. But of course, the concern now is for those that have been impacted now. Many, of course, have lost their homes, are struggling in what is freezing temperatures in parts of southeast Turkiye and northwest Syria.
There's a real focus now on getting aid to those who are so desperately vulnerable right now. There has been a real push by the Turkish government. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been focusing on visiting the quake zone.
He says the government is dedicating and focusing all of its departments on those efforts to support those impacted as well as, of course, on the rescue effort. More than 140,000 people working on that effort, according to the Turkish government.
We've seen here in Istanbul aid distribution centers being set up in large warehouses and hangars, even a ship now being sent from Istanbul this morning toward the earthquake zone in order to offer support there.
Housing, people have lost their homes as well as providing a medical facility on board. So a real effort, of course, not only by the international community but by the Turkish government itself.
There is, of course, still concern, though, for those in northwest Syria, where it has proven hugely difficult to get aid across the border. There is that one border crossing used by the United Nations and other aid organizes to get that aid across.
The U.N. says it has now successfully sent a second batch of aid across the border. But so much more needs to be done, so much more needs to get across.
And, of course, this is coming days later. And there are so many in need, in northwestern Syria. More than 4 million heavily dependent on humanitarian assistance. You can imagine the struggle that they are facing now.
The Syrian state government for its part says it is permitting aid coming through Damascus to travel through the government-controlled areas to rebel-held territory. Of course, that was a real sticking point before. And the government has been accused of playing politics as opposed to prioritizing the humanitarian effort.
We've heard from aid groups, including the White Helmets, the World Food Programme, both saying that more needs to be done to broaden the access to aid. There needs to be a clear and transparent path for aid to come through Damascus to those rebel-held territories in the northwest.
They're not seeing it just yet, despite comments from the Syrian government. And, of course, this is a race against time, because those who weren't killed or injured by the earthquake directly are now facing the very real threat of a secondary humanitarian crisis.
Many now made homeless not for the first time but multiple times after years of war and conflict, now struggling in freezing temperatures. Of course, many young children as well left without family members, without parents.
So there is a real sense of urgency and concern there. The consensus from aid groups is that more needs to be done to put pressure on the Syrian government to allow for that aid to come through.
There is a focus, of course, on getting the aid across the border from Turkiye into Syria but it has proven logistically very challenging. While the actual crossing is structurally intact, the roads leading up to the crossing have, of course, been damaged and proven difficult for those aid groups to get across.
That is the focus and that will continue to be the focus now for many weeks ahead. Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, the need is so great and just growing. Nada Bashir, thank you so much.
Russian armored vehicles become easy prey during battles in Eastern Ukraine. Still ahead, a video of Ukrainian attacks that left some Russian generals taking political heat.
Also ahead, credit where credit's due, the Super Bowl quarterbacks talk about why they owe their success to their dads.
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BRUNHUBER: Air raid sirens went off across Ukraine again Friday night and officials reported explosions in Dnipro after a barrage of Russian strikes across the energy grid earlier in the day.
Russia launching hundreds of missiles, rockets and drones, knocking off a significant part of Ukraine's generating capacity. But the vast majority of Ukrainians still have power, water and heat, according to the prime minister.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's air defenses are about to get more weapons to help them fight back. Lithuania is sending dozens of anti-aircraft guns, which officials say can shoot down both drones and warplanes.
And further west, some U.S. military hardware arrived in Germany, on its way to Ukraine. The shipment includes Bradley armored vehicles and air defenses promised last month.
A pro Kremlin blogger is slamming the Russian military for taking heavy losses in Eastern Ukraine. He says a recent offensive in Vuhledar ended in a fiasco and that Russian generals didn't learn much from previous mistakes. As David McKenzie reports, some of those failures were caught on video.
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DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Russian forces left exposed on the frozen flatlands around Vuhledar, one of the most deadly zones of the eastern front. Ukrainian artillery and drones picking off the static targets.
Even pro-Russian sources say they've taken heavy losses here. Ukrainian foot patrols tour the southern outskirts of the heavily damaged town and they appear to be taking some prisoners, too.
These men identify themselves as belonging to Russia's 155th Marine Brigade. To the north, on the edges of Bakhmut, Russian troops advancing block by block toward the city.
They've been inching forward for months, taking heavy losses. Ukrainian forces desperate to deny Vladimir Putin a symbolic victory as the first anniversary of this war approaches.
Across a wide area in the east, the Ukrainians detect a buildup in Russian troops and heavy weapons that could be a prelude to a widely anticipated offensive.
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MCKENZIE (voice-over): But Ukrainian officials have told CNN that in some areas, their own troops are critically short of munitions. And throughout the country Russia launched its largest missile barrage in months, targeting Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, including this thermal plant in Dnipro.
The city of Zaporizhzhya hit 17 times in one hour. A Russian cruise missile struck the power grid. The immense power of the strike throwing a car onto the roof of a house.
They are not humans, says Yevhen of the Russians. I don't know what they are thinking about when they are doing this, when they press the buttons and shell civilians.
The Ukrainians say they brought down 61 of the 70 missiles fired.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes,
MCKENZIE (voice-over): Enough to limit damage to the power supply. As sirens blared, thousands of people in the capital, Kyiv, took to the subway shelters to run businesses and take classes. It's a well- practiced routine.
The children may not be comfortable, says teacher Olena but since September, the alarms have been so frequent that they've got used to classes in the metro.
In the skies above, the war against Russia's missiles and drones goes on -- David McKenzie, CNN, Kyiv.
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BRUNHUBER: Now as we mentioned earlier, President Biden heads to Poland later this month with the war in Ukraine about to enter a second year. He'll arrive there on February 20th, four days before the one-year mark since Russia's invasion.
Biden will meet his Polish counterpart and other leaders from the region. The White House says he'll make it clear that the allied support for Ukraine won't dry up.
KIRBY: He wants to make sure that he's sending that strong message, not only of the United States' resolve but the international community resolve.
And to make clear to the Ukrainian people, most particularly, that the United States is going to continue to stand by them going forward. We know the next weeks and months are going to be difficult and critical.
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BRUNHUBER: Still ahead this hour, trying to pick up the pieces after a major earthquake upended their lives. Hear from displaced people in Turkiye about the struggles they're facing. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: The death toll from the powerful earthquake in Turkiye and Syria has risen to more than 24,000 people. Humanitarian aid continues to arrive but the World Food Programme says more than half a million people need help.
CNN's Jomana Karadsheh reports from a camp sheltering displaced people in Turkiye.
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JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the distance, a city that was once, now its people left to pick up the pieces of their broken lives. Today, aid made it to this makeshift camp in Iskenderun. Young and old, they dig through the piles of clothes and shoes, essentials for survival now. No one can yet comprehend.
Elif (ph) comes up to us crying. She's not only lost her home, her only sister is gone. I have no mother, no father, she tells us. She was my everything.
In seconds, every life here upended. For days, Fatima hasn't let go of 10-year-old Fendik (ph). Whenever hears sirens, his entire body shakes. When the earthquake happened, I thought it was doomsday, she tells us. We're living in apocalypse.
Her daughter Melis (ph) was preparing for her wedding. Now they're living in the back of a truck. They say they're thankful to be alive but it's all just too much.
These girls want to show us their tent. They're from Syria but Turkey is the only home these children have known.
Inside the tent, Ibrahim (ph), who fled the war in Syria 10 years ago, tells us he lost 18 members of his extended family in the earthquake. Says he thought the days of carrying his children to safety, protecting them from collapsing buildings, was behind him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking Foreign Language)
KARADSHEH: They're saying they were terrified when the earthquake happened but they're just glad that they are safe.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking foreign language).
KARADSHEH: "God bless the souls of all those who die," she says.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): No parent can shield their child from this reality surrounded by death and destruction. There's no escaping this nightmare -- Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, Turkiye.
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BRUNHUBER: The World Health Organization says survivors face a secondary disaster of snow and cold, leading to what they call worsening and horrific conditions.
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BRUNHUBER: Belit Tasdemir is the U.N. liaison officer with AKUT Search and Rescue Association, joining us from Adana, Turkiye.
Thanks so much for being with us. Describe what you're seeing there and the scale of the challenge for your search and rescue team.
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BELIT TASDEMIR, U.N. LIAISON OFFICER, AKUT SEARCH AND RESCUE ASSOCIATION: Thanks, Kim. I mean, the -- I haven't been in the field for a few days now. The sheer level of how widespread the devastation is, is completely unprecedented in terms of what we've seen before in Turkiye.
The fact that its covers is almost 10 provinces and you know, there are -- there's a mammoth amount of rescue efforts out here in the field.
But because the field is so wide geographically and with the weather conditions that you're mentioning in your report, below freezing, getting to the, you know, we're approaching the end of the (INAUDIBLE) search and rescue window and plus the probability of finding survivors under the rubble in below-freezing temperatures is becoming a lower probability.
And the other thing is that, of course, rescue teams have been on the ground for some days now. And the cold weather and extreme fatigue is also beginning to affect the rescue teams. So we're faced with challenges from multiple angles.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, given all those challenges, it's incredible that we're still seeing miracles. I mean, people still being pulled from the rubble after more than 100 hours. It must be incredible and inspiring to see.
TASDEMIR: Yes, of course. This is why we're here and this is why we do what we do, to be able to be there for them until the very last minute because, if there's even the slightest possibility of a live victim being found, whether that's by voice or detection by technical equipment, then the rescue teams will go for it.
And it is for those moments that we keep on going, despite the challenges.
BRUNHUBER: Sadly, though, as the hours and days go by, hope is starting to fade in terms of finding survivors.
How are those who have lost so much coping mentally and emotionally with all of this?
TASDEMIR: Yes. I mean, currently we're working our rubble sites and work sites throughout the region. We still see families of those who have already lost their loved ones watching us in -- working at those work sites because, for the sake of others, they want, you know, other people from their communities to survive.
And so -- but in terms of how they're coping with the atmosphere and the environment, is, as you said in your report, some cities are reduced to ghost towns and plunged into complete darkness overnight, with people living in trucks or cars or makeshift tents, with little bonfires, as much as they can find in the cold weather.
And it is the emotional and physical distress that they're going through, is -- is, at least for this region, hasn't been gone through. It hasn't happened in decades.
BRUNHUBER: It's so tough to see. And the people you're working with and your team, I mean, the vast majority of them are volunteers, who themselves might be affected in terms of their homes or even their own relatives.
TASDEMIR: That's right. And, of course, remember that a lot of these -- a lot of our volunteers that we have currently, just under a thousand on the field across the 10 provinces, a lot of our volunteers' families have lived through earthquakes and have been affected by them in -- at some point earlier in their lives.
And so they have been through something similar that many of the volunteers here we have or the victims here that we face on the ground. And because we're just an NGO and we don't -- we only go by donations. And our volunteers are not paid to be here.
They're here because they want to be here and because they want to help as many people that we can and as quickly and as safely as possible within the very, very tight window that's remaining.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. We only have a minute left. You did mention donations. The need is so great.
What more can the international community do?
TASDEMIR: There is a great effort for, like relief items such as food and shelter for those -- for those, the victims that have survived so far.
But a lot of the teams on the ground, because of the extreme cold, we're starting to see more malfunctions in technical equipment, especially when it comes to technical visual seismic equipment.
And that kind of donations, if we can get those on the ground as soon as we can, then that will -- that will probably give us a little more chance of finding survivors, because the adverse weather and the low temperatures is affecting the technical equipment that we're using currently.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, I can imagine. Well, listen, we wish you all the best luck to you and your team across the country, as they try and help so many people still in need, thank you so much, appreciate it. TASDEMIR: Thank you, Kim.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: In mosques around the world, an outpouring of prayers for the victims of the earthquake in Turkiye and Syria.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Have a look. in Indonesia, many gathered to express their sorrow. They said they hoped aid moving into the quake zone will do some good. Indonesia is sending food and medicine, as well as a search and rescue team.
Special services were also held in India, with worshippers holding signs to show their support for the victims, some praying for mercy for anyone still stuck in the rubble.
And similar scenes in Pakistan, where mosques were packed with people remembering the thousands who have died.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: And if you're looking for information on how to help earthquake survivors, you can go to cnn.com/impact and there you can find a list of organizations working on rescue and relief efforts. Again, that's cnn.com/impact.
A Washington state grocery store and a big act of kindness, donating its share of lottery winnings to a food bank. That story is coming up after the break. Please stay with us.
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New data on the U.S. economy shows consumer prices actually increased in December and didn't fall as previously thought. The Bureau of Labor Statistics released revised data on Friday. The Consumer Price Index ticked up 0.1 percent in December from November.
The core CPI, which excludes the more volatile categories of food and energy, also rose slightly. Meanwhile, first time applications for unemployment benefits rose from the week before but remain historically low.
Mortgage rates rose slightly after four consecutive weeks of declines. The 30-year fixed rate mortgage now averages 6.12 percent.
With inflation, housing costs and gas prices still rising, it's difficult for many families to buy necessities like groceries. But a Washington state supermarket wants to help its community. The Fred Meyer store in Auburn received $50,000 for selling the winning Powerball jackpot ticket.
[04:45:00]
BRUNHUBER: But instead of keeping the money it decided to support a local food bank. Listen to this.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Auburn.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So today I want to present you with a check for $50,000 to the Auburn food bank to help feed people in our community.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you very much.
BRUNHUBER (voice-over): That was in honor of the company's zero hunger, zero waste campaign.
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BRUNHUBER: I'm joined now by Todd Kammeyer, president of Fred Meyer Stores, and Debbie Christian, executive director of the Auburn Food Bank.
Thanks so much for being here with us.
I'm going to start with you, Todd, more than $750 million up for grabs, the fifth largest jackpot in history.
How crazy was the rush to buy tickets and what was the build-up like to the announcement?
TODD KAMMEYER, PRESIDENT, FRED MEYER STORES: Well, obviously, when the jackpot gets that big, it's definitely a big rush from the public to go out and buy lottery tickets. We definitely saw that is the -- the dollar amount continued to build.
And then earlier this week we were just delighted and super excited to hear that the winning ticket for the Powerball happened to be sold in our Auburn, Seattle, Fred Meyer store. And again, very excited. Not only for us but also our store associates were just thrilled with the winning ticket being sold in their community.
BRUNHUBER: And Debbie, I mean, were you following this lottery at all?
DEBBIE CHRISTIAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AUBURN FOOD BANK. Not at all.
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BRUNHUBER: Well, it's a big thing as well, because the state lottery gave your store a $50,000 selling bonus. So walk us through the decision to give it all away.
KAMMEYER: When we heard about the $50,000 win that -- or the amount that would come to our store, we thought about, how can we give back?
That's when we really decided to give that back to the community, in the form of a donation to the food bank. And our -- we really wanted to do that on behalf of our store associates.
That's when we got in touch with Debbie and her team, to really make that happen. And we just couldn't be more excited and proud, on behalf of our associates, to make this presentation to them, to benefit so many.
BRUNHUBER: All right, so then, Debbie, you know, we just played some video of your reaction at the time when you got the money. So explain to us what was going through your mind, through your mind when they told you that you were going to get this -- get this money.
CHRISTIAN: You know, you're always speechless. Your heart races. You're trying to figure out maybe if it's really real and they got the right information. The gal that called was sort of stuttering and trying to get it out because she was so excited.
And you know, then she's trying to explain it and let me know that this money's coming to us from the store.
And you're still processing and you're trying to figure out, who are they really?
Are they really calling me?
And, of course, for us, one of her questions was, will you accept it?
And it's like, I'm crazy not to.
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CHRISTIAN: So we are very blessed. Fred Meyer has always been good to us. We get donations of food from them every morning. We're a partner already. But to have this come to us in this cash form is a huge blessing. This has been a hard year.
BRUNHUBER: That's exactly it.
What kind of blessing is it, then, $50,000, to help your community in the environment that we're in right now?
CHRISTIAN: So it's hard to make purchases. It has been since, you know, mid-COVID-19, all the way through. And then coming out of COVID- 19, you kind of thought everything was going to go back to normal and we'd all be fine.
But the stores were still struggling to get their shelves filled. And when they don't have it on their shelf, I can't buy it, either. This money will help us continue to buy food. And right now the biggest thing we've been down on has been fresh produce.
So that will be definitely one of the first purchases that we turn around and try to make and try to keep some fresh stuff in the store. BRUNHUBER: Listen, it's a small example of giving back but it makes a
big difference. Really glad to share this happy story with our viewers. Todd Kammeyer, president of the Fred Meyer Stores, and Debbie Christian, executive director of the Auburn Food Bank. Thanks so much for being with us.
KAMMEYER: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Up next, the men of the hour, how the Super Bowl quarterbacks say their fathers turned them into the winners on and off the gridiron. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: That wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'll be back, stay with us.
