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U.S. Jet Shoots Down "Unidentified Object" over Canada; Over 28,000 Dead in Turkiye and Syria; Direct Relief Sending Medical Supplies from California; E.U. Ban on Russian Oil Products; Near Space Race; New Developments in Trump, Pence Investigations. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired February 12, 2023 - 03:00   ET

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

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PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A warm welcome to our viewers joining us from the United States and all around the world. I'm Paula Newton.

Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, the U.S. and Canada authorize the takedown of a third high-altitude object in recent days.

But just what was it?

Even as the death toll in Syria and Turkiye climbs, officials are looking for answers.

Why did so many buildings crumble?

And Ukraine says it shot down 20 drones from Iran during a Russian attack. Ahead, a live report from Kyiv.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Paula Newton.

NEWTON: So it happened again. For the third time in a week, a U.S. fighter jet has shot down an object over North American airspace. The Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, says the latest object violated Canadian airspace and was taken down by a U.S. F-22 fighter jet over the Yukon in the northwest of Canada.

Mr. Trudeau and U.S. President Joe Biden authorized the strike by the country's shared air defense organization, NORAD. We'll hear more now from Canada's defense minister.

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ANITA ANAND, CANADIAN MINISTER OF NATIONAL DEFENSE: It appears to be a small, cylindrical object and smaller than the one that was downed off the coast of North Carolina. There is no reason to believe that the impact of the object in Canadian territory is of any public concern. (END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: CNN's Natasha Bertrand has been following this story from Washington.

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NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Biden and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau jointly authorized the shoot- down of an unidentified object that was flying over northern Canada Saturday.

The shoot-down was the third time in a week that U.S. fighter jets were scrambled to shoot down an object that had entered U.S. airspace. The object shot down on Saturday over Canada had first been spotted over Alaska Friday night, according to the Pentagon.

And it was ultimately shot down by U.S. fighter jets over Canada after being observed for 24 hours.

U.S. and Canadian officials say it is still not clear what the object is but the incident does come one day after the White House and Pentagon revealed President Biden ordered another unidentified flying object shot down on Friday off the coast of Alaska.

Sources told CNN, for that object, some pilots sent up to investigate it reported that their aircraft centers had been impacted and others said it was not clear how the object was propelling itself.

The Canadian incident comes exactly one week after the U.S. military, also on Biden's orders, shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina. It is not clear whether the object shot down Saturday over Canada is related to the Chinese balloon or the object downed on Friday.

But U.S. officials said on Saturday that the FBI will be helping to recover and analyze the debris in all three incidents to try to get a better sense for what these objects were and what they are actually capable of -- Natasha Bertrand, CNN, Washington.

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NEWTON: CNN transportation analyst Mary Schiavo joins us now.

We heard from the Canadian defense minister saying it was the first instance of NORAD downing an object in Canadian airspace. Her point was that we shouldn't underestimate the importance of this.

How do you parse that?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN TRANSPORTATION ANALYST: Well, I agree completely. It's very important that we actually have to down objects in our airspace. But probably more important than that is we're downing objects and we really don't know and haven't identified what they were yet.

And depending upon which briefing you review, some of them say they did enter our airspace before we were actually aware of them entering the United States' airspace, which is of great concern.

I'm up here working in Alaska. Obviously it's hugely important to American defense. There's tremendous military presence. In Anchorage yesterday and today, for example, there were air AWACS reconnaissance planes up. The skies were full. There were a lot of military aircraft coming and going.

You know, you can't really overestimate the value of the Alaskan defense system and American defense system in Alaska. So it's very important on all of those fronts. And you know, the description of the object and the fact that the pilots couldn't really describe it is not surprising.

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SCHIAVO: The weather has been rather poor here in Alaska. And the area around Anchorage, we've had heavy, heavy snowfall, more unusually cold and heavy weather. The skies have been very cloudy. So the fact that the pilots really couldn't see the objects too well is not surprising.

NEWTON: We did have a description from the defense minister. She said it was cylindrical, flying at about 40,000 feet. She said that's one of the reasons they shot it down because it could be a threat to civilian aircraft.

What do you make of the descriptions?

SCHIAVO: You know, the descriptions -- cylindrical -- and I think one of the Pentagon briefings they were careful to say, it's not a balloon. But what they did not say is that did not mean it was not an airship, meaning it could be one of several categories.

It could be a dirigible; it could be a form of an old zeppelin, that the United States and many other countries have recently had interest in rigid-wall dirigibles; in other words, a balloon-like structure, which would be cylindrical and could move, of course, in the jet stream.

I notice the pilot said they couldn't see how it was being propelled. Well, you can still move through the jet stream. It's possible to have some measure of control by altering your altitude if you find -- if it's possible for whoever's operating to sense the winds.

You can raise or lower your altitude to try to capture different directional winds. So it's really early to say what it is. But it does sound like some form of a rigid dirigible; an airship other than a balloon, in other words.

NEWTON: OK, that guess us some clues. They're out there right now, the Canadian armed forces, and they will also involve the United States government on this in terms of trying to track down the debris and obviously bringing it in for forensic investigation.

I mean, from what you've heard so far, is there a logical explanation for this that would diverge from the first balloon that was shot down, meaning it's something innocuous or something totally different?

SCHIAVO: It could be something totally different entirely or it could be trying -- this is a bad pun -- but different trial balloons. We obviously, you know, identified and got and shot down the first one at 60,000 feet. And these are at different altitudes.

So perhaps these are also different efforts to see what we detect, when the United States and Canada detects it, how easy it is to evade detection.

And how -- and this is a very important lesson for NORAD, the United States and Canada -- if it's true that they came into our airspace before we were able to detect them, that's important, a very important learning lesson for the United States but also for whoever is, whatever country is sending up these trial airships, these aircraft.

So, yes, I mean, could be trying different types of airships to see what's detectable and what's not.

NEWTON: As you point out, they could be probing things just to see what the defenses are like.

SCHIAVO: Right.

NEWTON: And you know, both Secretary Austin and Anita Anand, the Canadian defense minister, made a point of saying there needs to be a new surveillance architecture up there in the north. Mary Schiavo, thanks so much.

SCHIAVO: Thank you.

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NEWTON: Six days after the powerful earthquake that destroyed parts of Turkiye and Syria, the death toll from the disaster has risen now to a staggering 28,000 people. Most of the deaths have been reported in Turkiye, where crews are racing to find survivors as hopes unfortunately begin to fade.

On Saturday, they managed to rescue a few more people who had been trapped for more than 130 hours.

Those who survive are now relying on aid from around the world and soon they could receive additional support from an anonymous Pakistani man in the United States, who, according to reports, has donated $30 million to victims in Turkiye and Syria.

CNN's Nada Bashir joins from us Istanbul to bring us up to date on this.

We were talking about that very generous donation. Yet the true scope of the earthquake is coming into focus.

Have relief efforts been more robust in the last few days?

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Look, we've certainly seen an outpouring of support from the international community. And that aid that has been funneling through Turkiye to the areas most in need in Istanbul.

We've seen a huge outpouring of support by Turkish people. Two ships organized and coordinated by the mayor of Istanbul, departing this city, carrying aid, carrying beds for those who have lost their homes, as well as crucial medical care on board for those who have been affected.

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BASHIR: So there has really been a huge outpouring of humanitarian assistance.

That has been less robust in northwestern Syria, where there has been a huge struggle to get aid across the border, both in terms of the logistics of actually getting things across the Turkish border and from within Syria, the diplomatic struggles of getting any aid delivered to Damascus onwards to rebel-held territories in the northwest.

But the U.N. says they have managed to get at least 22 aid trucks across the border. That is set to continue.

But as the death toll continues to climb and as the days continue to pass by, hope there will be any survivors is beginning to dwindle. We are still hearing remarkable stories of survivors being rescued, take a look.

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BASHIR (voice-over): A call for silence, a moment of desperate hope, then cheers of relief, a woman rescued from beneath the rubble after 132 hours.

But in Turkiye, the search and rescue effort is quickly turning into a recovery effort. Here in Gaziantep, the grief is overwhelming. A gut- wrenching scene reflected across the expansive quake zone, not least in northwestern Syria.

The U.N. says at least 22 aid trucks were finally able to make it across the Turkish border on Saturday. But despite the arrival of vital humanitarian assistance, even the White Helmets, who have been central to Syria's rescue effort, say they've lost all hope of finding any more survivors.

Six days on and the death toll continues to climb. As Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announces the latest death toll, authorities are looking for answers. Turkiye's state news agency says officials have already arrested a number of individuals believed to be responsible for the construction of now-destroyed buildings. As a multi-region investigation continues into allegations of

negligence, meanwhile, reports of looting and criminal activity have forced some international search and rescue teams to suspend their operations in Turkiye.

President Erdogan vowing to hand out tough penalties. But for some, grief is turning to anger, with questions now mounting over whether enough was done by the government to prepare for the very worst.

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BASHIR: And Paula, while hope is certainly fading across Turkiye and northwestern Syria, we are still hearing remarkable, miraculous stories of people being rescued. Today, a 35 year-old man rescued after 149 hours beneath the rubble in the city of Hatay and there's still some hope other survivors could be found.

NEWTON: The stories of people with their bare hands just continuing to dig. Nada, before I let you go, what more are you learning?

It's understandable people are angry.

But what more are you learning about possible negligence here?

BASHIR: Well, the Turkish government has been very clear and firm in its responses.

They say they are carrying out an investigation, a multi-region investigation, across those 10 provinces, into allegations of possible negligence within the construction industry with regards to those buildings that are now being destroyed as a result of that earthquake.

The government has appointed more than 200 public prosecutors to oversee this investigation. Authorities, according to state media, say they've already arrested a number of individuals they believe to have been involved in the construction of these buildings.

They are continuing that investigation in the city of Adana, desperately hit by this earthquake. At least 62 detention orders no have been issued.

NEWTON: OK, we'll continue to follow that angle of the story. Nada Bashir in Istanbul, thank you.

Now as Syrians and Turks wait on foreign aid, the humanitarian group Direct Relief is sending medical supplies and other vital items to the quake zone from California. Mike Valerio reports from Santa Barbara.

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MIKE VALERIO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're standing in the middle of 15 metric tons of emergency supplies that are bound from here in Santa Barbara, California, all the way to Turkiye and to Syria. So we'll show you what we have on my left.

These are disaster supplies for doctors, first responders; each pallet weighing about 151 kilograms.

To my right, these are for families, for people who are living in football stadiums -- or what's left of them -- in tent cities. We actually unpacked a few of these pallets to show you what's inside.

These are inside the white pallets; again, doctors, first responders.

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VALERIO: And if you look in here, this compartment for dressing wounds, bandages, all you could possibly need in such a horrific disaster zone.

Then we have over-the-counter medication, cleaning supplies, even in this pocket here, for taking blood pressure, anything first responders could need.

This is the family packs that we have in these orange packets. We have solar lights, hairbrushes, toothpaste, in addition to a, I would say, a dozen other items.

But we spoke with the CEO of this organization, Direct Relief, a couple of hours ago. He told us, when these items are loaded, he's not just shipping freight; he's thinking about each and every human face, individual, who will benefit from these items.

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THOMAS TIGHE ,CEO, DIRECT RELIEF: I try to give myself a moment to just think of what it means for people I don't know, but having a sense of, you know, this is a life-altering event, a life-ending event for many people. So after that, then you just -- it kicks into gear.

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VALERIO: So this is the packing in process here. We're in southern California. So what's going to happen, all of these supplies by Monday will be loaded onto a nonstop flight from Los Angeles International Airport, LAX, to Istanbul. It will take about four days for all these supplies to reach the disaster zone.

Now just to show you what else we have here, acres and acres of square footage just covering this part of Santa Barbara. Before this disaster, there were supplies that were being sent to Syria for the cholera outbreak.

Also in January, when we had atmospheric river after atmospheric river, there were supplies that were being sent up and down the coast of California.

So, of course, even though we're 11,000 kilometers away from the disaster zone, people said that, if this happened here in this seismically active region of the world, the rest of the international community would have our backs, too -- Mike Valerio, CNN, Santa Barbara, California.

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NEWTON: If you are looking for information how to help earthquake survivors, go to cnn.com/impact. You'll find a list of organizations working on rescue and relief efforts.

Ukrainian air defenses take on Iranian-made drones targeting the power grid. According to Ukraine, many drones ended up on the losing side of that battle.

Plus the relentless effort to cut off the Kremlin's ability to fund the war in Ukraine. How the E.U. is targeting Russia's oil sector.

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NEWTON: The Ukrainian capital could be getting a break from power cuts. They've been a new normal for months, as Russian strikes pummel the city and sometimes forced residents to shelter in the subway.

Ukraine's energy company now says the capital and at least two other regions could avoid power cuts altogether on Sunday. Meantime, Ukraine is claiming success in taking on Iranian drones in the latest assault, saying many drones fell victim to Ukraine's air defenses.

We're joined by David McKenzie from Kyiv.

This is tough work for Ukraine's air defenses, especially with the barrages that keep coming. Yet they do seem to be up to the task.

What more are you learning about what transpired?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: When you look at those first drones that came in several months ago, it is a very different scenario now.

The air defenses of Ukraine appear to be very effective, according to the Ukrainian officials, at downing these Iranian-made drones, more than 20 they say, were downed on Friday and into Saturday.

You mentioned the power outages and the fact that Kyiv and the region won't have, according to the energy company, power outages today.

These two things are connected because the air defenses appear to be stopping the major destruction of the civilian energy infrastructure of the country, despite the efforts of Russian forces and missile strikes trying to take them out.

So it speaks to the success of the air defense systems, both in terms of mobile teams and fixed positions bringing down these aerial attacks on this country. But it does come in the context of a very big -- or at least significant -- uptick in heavy fighting in the eastern part of this front.

NEWTON: When we talk about that heavy fighting in the eastern front, I mean, certainly we've known it for weeks; Ukraine is bracing for more grueling fighting and yet also wondering when and how a renewed Russian onslaught might play out.

MCKENZIE: Well, you've seen probing attacks, very -- attacks that have taken a lot of casualties, according to both Ukrainians and United Kingdom defense intelligence in Vuhledar and around Bakhmut and the Donetsk axis, as Ukrainian officials call it.

You've seen these very intense fighting, thermobaric weapons, potentially, by the Russians, used on that small town, in the east, as well as Russian forces taking heavy losses as they try to probe the defenses and even try to remove some of the mines that are heavily placed in that area to stop a Russian advance.

You haven't seen yet this major push by the Russian forces. Possibly they are unable to do that.

But the expectation is, as a huge buildup of Russian forces have come into that zone in recent weeks, according to intelligence officials and Ukrainian officials, that there could be a significant uptick in the fighting and a possible Russian offensive as we move out of the winter.

It's too early to tell at this point but it's clear that this is heavily attritional fighting with major losses on both the Russian and, at least according to U.K. defense intelligence, on the Ukrainian side as well.

NEWTON: Yes, some of the numbers, tens of thousands on both sides that have been uttered, are staggering. David McKenzie in Kyiv, appreciate it.

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NEWTON: The E.U. is now banning imports of Russian diesel and setting a $100 barrel price cap on sales of fuel elsewhere. It's the latest attempt to choke off the Kremlin's ability to pay for the war in Ukraine. CNN's Clare Sebastian has our story.

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CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is likely one of the last shipments of Russian diesel to Europe. 40,000 tones arriving in northern Germany last month. Russian diesel imports to the E.U. hit a record in December as the continent race to build up supplies.

URSULA VON DER LEYEN, PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION: And we have put in place the strongest sanctions ever.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Three months after an E.U. embargo on seaborne crude oil from Russia, along with a price cap mechanism designed to allow non-E.U. countries to keep buying it under a certain price.

The same thing is now happening with refined oil products. In Russia's case the biggest diesel fuel oil and -- a product widely used in making plastics.

JANET YELLEN, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: The aim is to stabilize global energy prices and reduce Russian revenues.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): In terms of that first goal so far, so good. Crude oil prices have not shut up since those December sanctions.

SEBASTIAN: This may be harder though with oil products take diesel for example. Now Russia is one of the world's biggest exporters of diesel and last year 63 percent of those exports went to E.U. countries according to Kaplan.

Now when it comes to crude oil Russia has been selling a lot of barrels that used to go to Europe to India and China. The problem though, with diesel and other oil products, is that China and India are big exporters in themselves.

RICHARD BRONZE, ENERGY ASPECTS: So Russia has to look elsewhere. Places like Africa, parts of the Middle East will be able to absorb some Russian diesel some Russian oil products but not the kind of volumes that Europe has traditionally taken.

Russia will have to and is already having to offer big discounts to try and find those buyers and to cover the additional costs of cargoes moving much longer distances.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Diesel prices, including Russian diesel have fallen slightly since their summer peaks, partly because of those Russian discounts. Experts say the price of non-Russian diesel will likely rise though, over the next few months as current stocks run out. And Chinese demand rises making the market much more competitive.

SEBASTIAN: And what about that second goal?

YELLEN: Reduce Russian revenues.

BRONZE: I think overall this will hurt Russia. I think it'll be selling less. And I think it'll have to offer really heavy discounts. But the more those global prices go up, the more revenue it will still be securing.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): It will take several months experts to tell if this delicate operation has worked trying to punish a top energy producer and refiner without causing a painful ripple effect through global markets -- Clare Sebastian, CNN, London.

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NEWTON: It's happened again. A U.S. fighter jet shot down an unidentified object on Saturday, this time over Canada. We are following all the developments and the reaction. China's suspected spy balloon and now those other unidentified objects

flying in airspace that's becoming the new battlefield for the world's superpowers. We'll have a very interesting look right after the break.

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NEWTON: We have more now on our top story. U.S. President Joe Biden and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau authorized a fighter jet to shoot down an unidentified flying object over northern Canada Saturday.

This is the third time in a week a U.S. jet shot down an object over North American airspace. Mr. Trudeau says the latest object violated Canada's airspace.

The object was cylindrical and smaller than the suspected Chinese balloon shot down last week, according to Canada's minister of national defense. It's not clear if the incidents are related. CNN's Arlette Saenz is at the White House with more on this developing story.

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ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Biden and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau took a very rare step on Saturday and jointly authorized the shooting down of an unidentified object over northern Canada.

This marks the third time in just the last week where the U.S. has had to shoot down an aerial object over North America. According to the Pentagon, NORAD first detected this latest object on Friday evening over Alaska. As they monitored it, they saw it crossed into Canadian airspace.

The president and Canadian prime minister spoke and decided to follow the advice of their military officials and decided to authorize shooting it down. It was at that time that Canadian and American fighter jets, through NORAD, worked together to try to take down this object, with ultimately an American F-22 shooting it down.

This follows, just one day prior on Friday, when President Biden had ordered the shooting-down of another unidentified, unmanned object near the coast of Alaska.

And just one week prior to that, ordered the shooting-down of that suspected Chinese spy balloon off the coast of the Carolinas.

Now the White House still and Pentagon still have many questions to answer relating to these last two unidentified objects, including the scope, the size, the origin and what exactly the purpose was -- Arlette Saenz, CNN, the White House.

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NEWTON: These latest unidentified objects and China's suspected spy balloon were discovered flying in a space above the Earth that's not only used by airplanes or satellites, for that matter. As CNN's Will Ripley explains, this is near space and it's becoming the new frontier for spying and settling conflicts.

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WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): China's new superpower battlefield, 12 to 60 miles above the earth, too low for satellites, too high for most jets. The stratosphere or, as China calls it, near space.

In 2018, the Chinese military's official newspaper said near space has become a new battlefield in modern warfare.

More than a decade ago, Felix Baumgartner's freefall jump from near space captivated the world and may have caught the attention of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

As early as 2014, he ordered China's air force to speed up air and space integration and sharpen their offensive and defensive capabilities. He prioritized development of hypersonic weapons, solar- powered drones and high-altitude balloons, all designed for near-space flight in the stratosphere's thin air.

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RIPLEY (voice-over): China's not alone. The U.S. and others are jumping into the near space race. Back in 2012, a CNN camera captured the view from 100,000 feet on a high-altitude weather balloon.

China's suspected spy balloon, which the Pentagon claims was carrying high-resolution cameras and electronic monitoring equipment, could've captured crystal-clear images of highly sensitive areas and monitored military communications, in some ways, outperforming China's advanced spy satellites.

RUSS VAN DER WERFF, V.P., STRATOSPHERIC SOLUTIONS, AEROSTAR: When you have something that's up at 70,000 to 100,000 feet, you can see the horizon for 300 miles. A satellite is pretty expensive to get up there and takes a little bit of planning to launch it. And then you can't exactly change what it does or fix it once it's there.

RIPLEY: Navy divers are combing the waters off the Carolina coast so they can piece together the debris of what China calls a civilian weather balloon.

Unlike these weather balloons launched by hand from Cape Canaveral, Florida, the Chinese balloon was massive. Some 200 feet tall with a 90-foot possibly solar-powered payload, the size of three city buses.

A source familiar with congressional briefings on the balloon said some components had English writing. It's not clear if they were made in America or another Western country -- Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.

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NEWTON: More on another big story we're following, the death toll in Turkiye and Syria has risen to more than 28,000 people. Most of the fatalities are in Turkiye, where rescue efforts continue around the clock.

Workers are holding out hope they'll find more survivors under the rubble of collapsed buildings. And Turkish authorities say they're detaining people now they say are responsible for constructing some of those buildings.

In one city, prosecutors have reportedly ordered the detention of at least 62 people. Earlier I spoke about all of this with Cassidy Johnson. She's professor of urbanism and disaster risk reduction at University College London. I asked her about the collapsed buildings and why the destruction was so profound. Listen.

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CASSIDY JOHNSON, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON: This was not seen for over 100 years in the region. But it was a huge earthquake. It was also a very low-depth earthquake. So the ground movement was huge.

But yet still, we see all these buildings, thousands of buildings, that have completely collapsed in the earthquake, in the first or second earthquake. So this is a real cause for concern.

You can imagine you might see buildings that are cracked, buildings that have caught on fire, that are damaged. But this complete collapse of buildings is really, really shocking.

NEWTON: When you say shocking, do you think it has something to do with the structural integrity?

Especially given that you've worked in Turkiye before.

JOHNSON: Yes, I mean -- I started working in Turkiye after the earthquakes in 1999. And I can see that it's so sad to see a replay of a lot of the footage that we saw in 1999 or even worse.

I think Turkiye's done a lot to try to improve some building construction quality. It has very good earthquake codes now, earthquake building codes. So buildings that are built legally and have followed codes should be able to withstand an earthquake (INAUDIBLE) damaged but they should be able to withstand an earthquake and not kill people.

So the issue is, why have so many buildings fallen down?

Some of them could have been buildings that were built prior to earthquake building codes that came out in the late '90s. And then they've probably gone through strengthening programs. So they could be older buildings.

They could also be -- and I think that's why we're seeing these arrests -- are buildings that are -- that have been built under the building codes, and so legal buildings, but yet they've still fallen down.

And this is a real cause for concern, because these buildings probably haven't followed the building code and, therefore, the builders have been negligent.

Then you could ask, what is the government's role in this?

Certainly I think the government has done a lot in terms to oversee -- especially around Istanbul and where the earthquakes were in 1999 -- to oversee better construction, to improve the existing structures, to take down buildings that are unsafe and to replace them and to build safer buildings.

But I think in the southeast, perhaps, this kind of building culture, where we just put up buildings quickly, we try to make money from putting up an apartment building and less concern about earthquake safety, perhaps, is what's pervaded the system there.

NEWTON: Yes, at a great human toll at this point in time.

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NEWTON: In terms of your experience around the world, is it possible for buildings to withstand this kind of a quake?

We were talking about the magnitude but you also pointed out it was also shallow.

How robust do building codes have to be?

And are you optimistic that Turkiye this time will learn and implement that expertise?

JOHNSON: I think -- I was trying to answer this question because I've been attending seminars with earthquake engineers in Japan, for example, this week and talking to Turkish engineers.

And I mean, I don't think we exactly have this answer, is was the code robust enough to withstand all the damage from this earthquake?

I think that remains to be seen and there will be investigations to see that.

But I think that, yes, buildings can be built to withstand earthquakes like this. Of course, in Japan and in (INAUDIBLE), you have also very large earthquakes in regions like that and they do withstand.

There's a difference that the earthquakes are much more deeper. They can be up to 700 kilometers deep. And this is a very shallow earthquake, so we have a lot more movement here. But I think that the point is that buildings can be made to withstand

that. They may be damaged but this kind of pancake collapse that you see, that's killed so many people in this tragic way, in my view, is avoidable.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: Thanks there to Professor Johnson.

Now a second child has died from the car ramming attack in East Jerusalem, bringing the death toll to three. Trauma teams tried in vain to save the life of an 8-year-old boy critically injured in the attack at a bus stop.

His 6-year-old brother also died. Israeli police describe it as a terror attack. The boy's father remains hospitalized. A 20 -year old man also died after the police officers shot and killed the suspect.

Just ahead, new developments in the ongoing federal investigation into the handling of classified documents. We'll have a report from Washington.

Also ahead, Chile is getting international help to fight its deadly wildfires. We'll have the latest from there.

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NEWTON: More classified documents, a laptop and testimony under oath. Some of the new twists and turns in the saga enveloping former president Donald Trump and vice president Mike Pence. CNN's Zachary Cohen brings us up to date from Washington.

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ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Major developments on the classified documents front, both for former president Donald Trump and former vice president Mike Pence.

For Trump, CNN has learned his legal team has handed over more classified documents to federal prosecutors in recent months, suggesting this drawn-out effort to get classified material back from the former president is continuing, all as the special counsel criminal investigation is ongoing.

Trump's team turned over this additional material in December and January, several months after Mar-a-Lago was searched by the FBI, and including not just classified documents but also a laptop belonging to one of Trump's aides.

At the same time, CNN is learning one of Trump's attorneys appeared before a federal grand jury as part of the special counsel investigation into the former president's handling of sensitive records.

And prosecutors asked him what happened in the lead-up to the FBI's August search of Mar-a-Lago and about his conversations with Trump directly.

Meanwhile, the FBI searched Pence's home Friday. An additional document with classified markings was found there as well.

While it's unclear what this document is related to or its level of sensitivity, the fact that investigators located an additional classified document at Pence's house after it was searched by his own lawyers will likely prolong the Justice Department's review of the issue.

These investigations into Trump and Pence could complicate their political futures, as both look toward 2024. They'll want to wrap up these reviews as soon as possible -- Zachary Cohen, CNN, Washington.

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NEWTON: New Zealand is bracing as Cyclone Gabrielle starts to bear down, expected to bring pounding rain, damaging winds and large waves to Auckland and the north island. Dozens of schools will close Monday as the storm is expected to intensify.

Some areas could get up to 11 inches of rainfall, that's 300 millimeters, which could trigger landslides. New Zealand has already canceled a number of domestic and international flights.

And this storm comes just two weeks after record flooding devastated the region. You'll remember those kinds of scenes. Auckland had more rain in one day than it usually gets in an entire summer season.

At least two people have been killed and hundreds of homes destroyed in Chile. Now it's getting international help to fight the massive and destructive wildfires. Michael Holmes has our report.

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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Help from a heavy hitter. A DC-10 tanker plane sent by the U.S. dumps tens of thousands of liters of water over wildfires in Chile.

It's part of an international effort to extinguish the raging flames which have spread in the south and central parts of the country, burning more than 300,000 hectares of land.

The air operations backing up a force of nearly 6,000 firefighters on the ground, many of whom are volunteers, as well as hundreds of emergency workers from countries around the world.

Despite all the human power, hot temperatures combined with dry forested land are creating tinder box conditions. One man says he was spraying down his property with a hose when the fires quickly encircled him. He says he took shelter in a clay oven for over an hour before his family could save him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I got in with a chainsaw. The dog and the chick were inside. And I threw myself face down on the floor.

HOLMES (voice-over): At least 2 dozen people have been killed, over 1,200 homes destroyed, leaving many residents living in tents or shelters. More than 2,000 people have been injured and there are health warnings because of the smoke. Then there is the emotional toll.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): My daughters tell me not to worry, that we'll all get by. But it's painful because it was years of sacrifice.

HOLMES (voice-over): Soldiers have begun patrolling the streets at night, enforcing a midnight to 5:00 am curfew in many of the affected areas. The government says it is to prevent theft and looting. Chile has so far arrested more than 2 dozen people with possible links to the fires -- Michael Holmes, CNN.

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NEWTON: Just ahead, the biggest game of the year in American football right around the corner. We'll have a preview of Sunday's Super Bowl, which will be historic in more ways than one.

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NEWTON: I'm Paula Newton. I want to thank you for your company. Kim Brunhuber picks things up from here. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM.