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CNN International: Nikki Haley Announces 2024 Presidential Bid; Biden Touts Economic Agenda Ahead of Expected Reelection Bid; New Video Shows Frightened Students Hiding From Gunman; New Inflation Data Fuels Worries About Interest Rate Hikes; Ohio Officials Urge Bottle Water Use After Chemical Disaster. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired February 15, 2023 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR:

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world. I'm Bianca Nobilo.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Max Foster joining you live from London. Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The former South Carolina governor, former U.N. ambassador formally announcing her campaign.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's certainly has been willing to be the first one to go up against the president and both presidents really.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now some people are going to have to be drinking bottled water as a result of everything that has happened.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This train apparently was not considered a high hazardous material train.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was a bad smell in the air. Children throwing up, the parents were just panicking.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He seemed uncomfortable, nervous and fidgety. So that's when I started getting suspicious.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His instinct was correct. These are nine checks from November 2017, the name on each of them, George Santos.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo.

FOSTER: It's Wednesday, February 15, 9:00 a.m. here in London, 4:00 a.m. in Washington and South Carolina where in just a few hours the former state's -- the states former Governor Nikki Haley is expected to speak at a campaign launch event in Charleston. Haley has formally entered the 2024 race for the White House as the first major rival to her former boss, Donald Trump.

NOBILO: But in the months ahead that field of GOP candidates will surely get even more crowded. Big names including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence are among those widely expected to declare their own bids at some point.

FOSTER: Haley made her announcement Tuesday in a campaign video. More on that from CNN's Kylie Atwood.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIKKI HALEY (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm Nikki Haley and I'm running for president.

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nikki Haley telling her story to the American people as a presidential candidate for the first time.

HALEY: I was the proud daughter of Indian immigrants. Not black, not white. I was different. But my mom would always say your job is not to focus on the differences but the similarities. And my parents reminded me and my siblings every day how blessed we were to live in America.

ATWOOD (voice-over): The 51-year-old casting herself as the future of the Republican party.

HALEY: It is time for a new generation of leadership.

ATWOOD (voice-over): Urging the GOP to chart a new course.

HALEY: Republicans have lost the popular vote in seven out of the last eight presidential elections.

ATWOOD (voice-over): And highlighting her accomplishments as a two- term governor of South Carolina. The state where she was born and raised.

HALEY: Every day is a great day in South Carolina.

ATWOOD (voice-over): Cutting taxes and leading her state through the aftermath of the 2015 deadly shooting by a white supremacist at the Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston.

HALEY: We turned away from fear toward God.

ATWOOD (voice-over): At the time Haley confronted a controversial issue, spearheading efforts to remove the Confederate flag from the state capital.

HALEY: The biggest reason that I asked for that flag to come down is I could not look my children in the face and justify it standing there.

ATWOOD (voice-over): In her announcement Haley also nodding to her experience on the world stage as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

HALEY: China and Russia are on the march. They all think that we can be bullied, kicked around. You should know this about me, I don't put up with bullies. And when you kick back, it hurts them more if you are wearing heels.

ATWOOD (voice-over): But no mention of former President Trump who tapped her for that role.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I just want to thank Nikki.

ATWOOD (voice-over): Haley's entrance prompting praise from Republicans.

REP. NANCY MACE (R-SC): She's got all the qualifications to run for president.

ATWOOD (voice-over): Even as some are concerned that a crowded primary could benefit former President Trump.

MACE: To see someone -- you know, see some of the leadership coming out of South Carolina is exciting. But I do have concerns if there are too many people on the ballot by the time it gets to South Carolina that, you know, that lessens the chances of anyone else sort of coming out in this thing.

ATWOOD: And Wednesday Nikki Haley will make her pitch in person for the first time here in South Carolina, which is their home state. And then she's off to the races headed to New Hampshire and Iowa to continue campaigning.

Kylie Atwood, CNN, Charleston, South Carolina.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: U.S. President Biden is reshuffling his economic team ahead of an expected run for re-election next year.

[04:05:00]

The White House named Lael Brainard as Mr. Biden's top can economic adviser and she's currently the vice chair of the Federal Reserve.

FOSTER: President Biden will head to Maryland today to push his economic message, a key part of his agenda ahead of next year's election. CNN's Phil Mattingly is in Washington with more on the president's plans for 2024.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Biden officially has not made the decision yet. He said so publicly. That's also been the case privately. But everything that the president's political team and is senior team have been pushing towards is that 2024 re-election campaign. You've seen it in the public messaging, the events that he's attended and critical swing states to talk about his key agenda wins in the first two years in places like Arizona and Georgia, Pennsylvania. Those are all not subtle, they are all very intentional. And that's what we've seen publicly.

Obviously, you also saw the "State of the Union" address which really kind of put it together many of those political themes. But it's behind the scenes they've been building privately over the course -- not just months but to some degree two years that has really set the table for what lies ahead. In infrastructure, bill to the Democratic National Committee, hundreds of millions of dollars raised, tens of millions of dollars to build out state-based organizations in all of those critical battle ground states, all driving toward the moment where the president announces his re-election.

Now again, it is important to caveat, the president has not said that and aides make clear they don't believe that there's an urgency at this moment, despite the fact that they had planning for potentially making an announcement this month. What they've seen over the course of the last couple of months, both on the Republican side, the slow buildout of the Republican field, the former president's kind of lackadaisical effort in those first two months of his own campaign.

But also the Democratic side, the larger national Democratic establishment is largely coalesced behind the president. It's not trying to run against him. There is no primary challenge this year. There's no urgency, but what they want to do is continue the path that they have been on and that path as the president laid out in that "State of the Union" address is very driven by those first two years' agenda item wins. And also driven by the idea of what comes next. As the president said more than a dozen times, in that "State of the Union" address, three words, finish the job.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Two sources tell CNN federal prosecutors investigating the Donald Trump's handling of classified documents are now asking a court to force one of his attorneys to provide more testimony.

NOBILO: One source says the prosecutors alleged in writing that Trump used attorney Evan Corcoran in furtherance of crime or thought. Corcoran appeared before the grand jury last month, but a source said that he declined to answer some questions, citing attorney-client privilege.

FOSTER: It's unclear if the Justice Department has new evidence or whether prosecutors are using the same arguments made when they sought a search warrant for Mar-a-Lago last year. A CNN legal analyst weighed in on this latest move.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELLIOTT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: A court can find that a client was either in cahoots with an attorney in jointly committing acts of crime with that attorney or using their attorney in furtherance of committing a crime. Then the attorney/client privilege is in effect waived and they can compel him to come and testify. So this is quite significant partly on account of how seriously our law treats the attorney/client privilege.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: Trump legal troubles don't end there. A New York appeals court has upheld sanctions totaling $110,000 against the former president for failing to respond to a subpoena for documents from the New York State Attorney General.

Police have identified three Michigan State student shot and killed on the campus. Brian Fraser was a sophomore from the from the Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe. Arielle Anderson was a junior, also from the Detroit area and Alexandria Verner was a junior from a small town of Clawson, Michigan.

FOSTER: U.S. President Joe Biden says America's hearts are with the Michigan State students and family.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's a family's worst nightmare, this happening far too often in this country. Far too often. While we gather more information, there's one thing we do know to be true, we have to do something to stop gun violence ripping apart our communities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Police say the suspect who took his own life had a history of mental health issues. His father tells CNN that he became bitter, reclusive and angry after his mother's death two years ago. More now from CNN's Adrienne Broaddus.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to need multiple, multiple ambulances.

ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The gunmen first open fire on the campus Monday just before 8:30 p.m.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There're still people down there trying to get out.

BROADDUS (voice-over): Shooting at two locations, the first inside a classroom at Berkey Hall.

CHRIS ROZMAN, INTERIM DEPUTY CHIEF, MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY POLICE: While the officers were managing that scene at Berkey Hall, we began receiving additional reports of another shooting at the MSU Union building.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm coming down stairwell 13 with seven people.

BROADDUS (voice-over): New video shows students hiding in the classroom. Reacting to a not while on the phone with police.

[04:10:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They said don't open the door.

BROADDUS (voice-over): One witness to the shooting says his fight or flight response kicked in.

DOMINIK MOLOTKY, STUDENT, MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY: So, I booked it to the far side of the classroom, ducked down and he came in and shot three to four times in our classroom.

BROADDUS (voice-over): Police released the photo of a suspect taken from campus security cameras, and a caller's tip sent them to Lansing, Michigan.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's going to be a suspect wearing red shoes and a backpack.

BROADDUS (voice-over): The search ended just before midnight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shots fired.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shots fire, 23:49 subject down.

BROADDUS (voice-over): Police said the gunman shot himself during a confrontation with police and died.

ROZMAN: We have absolutely no idea what the motive was at this point. We can confirm that the 43-year-old suspect had no affiliation to the university. He was not a student, faculty, staff current or previous.

BROADDUS: According to police they are now investigating a two-page note found in gunman's backpack saying he's going to, quote, finish off Lansing and that there are, quote, 20 of him who will carry out shootings, according to a source familiar with the investigation.

Law enforcement now investigating a local residence where the gunman's father says he lived with him and two weapons. The shooter purchased two handguns in Michigan in 2021, a law enforcement source tell CNN.

ROZMAN: We do have at least one weapon.

BROADDUS (voice-over): The gunmen had been arrested before. He was released from probation in May of 2021 after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor for possession of a loaded firearm. MSU students now dealing with what's next after spending hours hiding from a gunman.

GRAHAM DIEDRICH, MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY STUDENT: We took heavy furniture from around the library and just essentially barricaded ourselves into a study room to make sure we were safe.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was like shaking in the bathroom, and it was just terrible. I was just like preparing myself for like the worst thing ever.

BROADDUS (voice-over): Despite the tough circumstances, there's one greeting among MSU Spartans that still unites them. BROADDUS: Go green.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Go white.

BROADDUS: You guys smiled instantly.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As horrible and disgusting and tragic as that was, like we are all in it together, like everyone was here for each other.

BROADDUS: And that's a greeting that made them smile today and it's one they learned during freshman orientation. And it was needed especially as these students learn more about that 43-year-old shooter who police say had a note in his pocket threatening not one but two schools in New Jersey. And out of an abundance of caution, at least one of those schools did cancel classes on Tuesday, but police say there was no threat. They did say however that 43-year-old shooter has ties to New Jersey.

Adrienne Broaddus, CNN, East Lansing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration is about to do a sweeping safety review after experiencing technological issues and other close calls over the past few months. The agency's administrator says now is the perfect time, calling it the safest period in aviation history.

NOBILO: And this is after a system breakdown because the first nationwide airplane grounding since the September 11 attacks and at least two incidents where planes nearly collided on the run way.

Senators from both sides of the aisle are joining forces to crack town on big tech for not doing enough to protect children online. Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin accused companies including Facebook and Snapchat of doing everything that they can to keep kids' eyeballs glued to screens.

FOSTER: And the Senators are proposing a number of bills to stop the spread of child sexual abuse material and to restrict the industry's liability shield.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): The evidence of harm is heartbreakingly abundant beyond any reason or doubt, action is imperative now.

How many more children have to die before we make them a priority?

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): This is an epidemic, it is a mental health crisis, particularly for young teenage girls. And we have no system in place to empower parents and empower consumers to seek justice, to fight back and protect themselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Tuesday's hearing feature testimony from parents and mental health advocates. The committee chairman says tech companies will get their chance to weigh in.

NOBILO: Disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is heading back to federal court on Thursday. This after a judge found out that he was using VPN to access the internet in a way that the government can't track. His lawyers say he was using the VPN to watch NFL football games with a subscription that he used in the Bahamas. Bankman-Fried is currently under house arrest at his parent's home in California as he a awaits trial on fraud and conspiracy charges and he's pleaded not guilty.

FOSTER: Now to growing concerns the U.S. Federal Reserve may raise interest rates for longer than hoped, that's after Tuesday's Consumer Price Index report shows inflation surged in January.

[04:15:00]

Wall Street may be feeling uneasy about the possible rate hikes, right now futures are all looking down.

And trading got off to a rough start on Tuesday but then rebounded and ended the day pretty mixed. CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich has a closer look at the inflation situation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Hi Max and Bianca. It's been a bumpy road to cool inflation and a longer road than many Americans would like to see. But some good news year over year inflation fell to 6.4 percent falling for seven straight months.

But inflation in January rose 0.5 percent. And inflation and the economy have been key issues for President Biden and coming off this report, he said that it is good news, but there is still work to do as inflation remains too high.

So, the biggest inflation drivers were energy costs which includes gas up 1.5 percent from a year ago, shelter which contributed to nearly half the increase last month, that rose 7.9 percent year over year. And food costs remaining extremely high up 10.1 percent year over year. Some key items at the grocery store costing more. Eggs up 70 percent, butter up 26.3 percent and lettuce up 17.2 percent year over year.

But you'll see some savings on a couple items at the grocery store. Beef, veal and bacon, all town down year over year. So how does it translate to Americans' budgets? Well, according to Moody's Analytics, families are spending nearly $400 more a month this year than they did last year on the same goods and services because of inflation.

So, this signals that there is still work for the Federal Reserve to to.do. We can expect continued interest rate hikes to try to bring down inflation in the months to come -- Bianca, Max. (END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, demanding answers. Residents of a small town in Ohio say that they need clear information about their safety after a train derailment spilled toxic chemicals into their community.

FOSTER: Plus, Russia reacts after a new report says the government has held thousands of Ukrainian children in a network of camps. The details in a live report just ahead.

NOBILO: And later, a pair of winter storms is making their way across the United States. We'll have the latest from the CNN Weather Center.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Here we go again, severe weather outbreak possible today and tomorrow. We also have a full fledge winter storm shaping up on the cold side of this storm system. I'll highlight all the details coming up after the break.

[04:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NOBILO: Residents in a small town in Ohio want to know if their families and pets are safe after a train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed earlier this month.

FOSTER: State health officials say the air quality following the crash does not appear to be the source of reported illnesses in residents and animal deaths near the site. Ohio's governor says it is absurd the train was not considered as a high hazardous material train. CNN's Jason Carroll has the latest on the environmental disaster.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, state health officials here in Ohio are now saying that anyone who was evacuated and returned home, they are now strongly recommending that some of those who have returned home to drink bottled water. This is especially true of those who may be pregnant or breastfeeding. Also including people who have private wells and have not had their water tested. So again, now some people here are going to have to be drinking bottled water as a result of everything that has happened.

State officials say that the air quality is still safe. Most of the contaminants they say has been contained in the water, but some of the can contaminants are clearly still out there. They are waiting municipal test results to come back from the city in order to lift that that recommendation that bottled water drank by some here in the area.

Also, as a result of the train derailment and the so-called controlled release that happened after it, they are also saying that their effort now is focused on four waterways. And so far, their best estimation indicates that some 3,500 fish have died from 12 different species. We've spoken to a number of people here on the ground who do not quite frankly trust what the government is telling them. They are very frustrated and when the governor was asked about this, he was asked if you lived in the area and had to return home, would you feel safe living here.

GOV. MIKE DEWINE (R), OHIO: Look, I think that I would be drinking the bottled water and I would be continuing to find out what the tests were showing as far as the air. I would be alert and concerned but I think I would probably be back in my house.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that was a very good answer.

CARROLL: Again, state officials say they continue to test the air quality. They say it remains within safe limits. But again, there is a lot of distrust here on the ground, people are just not sure how safe they should feel.

Jason Carroll, CNN, East Palestine, Ohio.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Evacuation orders in place in parts of Tucson, Arizona after a truck carrying nitric acid crashed and started spilling on Tuesday. Officials say the driver was killed.

NOBILO: Portions of Interstate 10 will remain closed for the next few hours as authorities clean up the scene. According to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, exposure to nitric acid can cause irritation to the eyes, skin and mucous membrane.

The U.S. National Transportation and Safety Board says it well further investigate the United Airlines flight from Hawaii that plunged toward the ocean after takeoff. The NTSB had previously said that it wasn't investigating this incident from last December, even though a probe has been completed.

FOSTER: A passenger on the flight says the plane seemed fine after taking off but then climbed at a concerning rate before it nose dived. The incident gained attention after the weekend after an article was published about it in an aviation trade website.

[04:25:04]

Now another humpback whale has been found dead on a New Jersey beach, the ninth one to wash ashore in the area since early December. Still unclear why they died but some Republican lawmakers think it could be linked to the development of a proposed offshore wind farm. Scientists though have ruled that out as a possibility.

NOBILO: Meanwhile the government says that three large whales including an endangered one have been found dead along the Virginia coast just in the past week.

And we are monitoring two storm systems as they make their way across the United States bringing with them the threats of heavy snow and severe weather. CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam has the details for you. VAN DAM: Hey, Bianca and Max. It's almost like we have a one-two punch

swinging through the western and central U.S. two distinctly different storm systems, both creating havoc where they travel. And you can almost track this first initial storm system as it moves across the upper Midwest bringing blizzard conditions over western Minnesota and parts of the Dakotas. The second more powerful storm system swinging in across the southwestern portions of the U.S. That's creating snowfall throughout the four corners region. But it's also going to bring us a multiday severe weather setup. I'll explain that in a moment.

Here's our latest weather alerts in terms of winter weather alerts, you can almost separate the two storms. One two the north that's where the blizzard warnings are occurring. But the winter storm warnings throughout the four corners and then winter storm watches -- where you're see that shading of blue -- extending into the Chicago suburbs. That's where we have the anticipation of heavy snowfall within the next 36 hours so we'll be on the lookout for that.

Lots of pent-up energy with both of the storm systems moving through and of course that has translated into high wind at the surface. In fact we have over 80 million Americans with high wind alerts stretching from the Great Lakes, the lower Mississippi River Valley, all the way through the southwest. You can see some of those locations that wind alert warning actually could see wind gusts over 60 miles per hour.

Now as this cold front traverses eastward, it is going to encounter an abnormally warm air mass for this time of year. And you know what happens when we get that collision of air masses, the cold from the north and the warm and humid from the south. That's right, you guessed it, we have the potential for thunderstorms and severe weather. We want to keep an eye to the sky if you are located in Paducah, Memphis, Little Rock, southward to Shreveport and Lake Charles. This is for Wednesday. Isolated tornadoes, damaging winds and large hail.

And then on Thursday we have more of a widespread severe weather event possible stretching from the Gulf Coast right through the Tennessee River Valley into Ohio, this is where we could anticipate some isolated tornadoes and damaging winds as well. So, keep an eye to the sky and be weather aware if you're located within those locations.

Going to highlight this as well -- central Tennessee could see several inches of rainfall. So look out for potential of flash flooding in and around Nashville. Cold arctic blast settles in behind it, but the good news is that this will be a short lived cold blast of air and you can see that in the 7 day forecast with temperatures moderating by the weekend in Chicago. Max, Bianca, back to you.

FOSTER: Thank you to Derek.

Ahead, there is a new allegation against disgraced Republican Congressman George Santos and it's coming from a member of America's Amish community.

NOBILO: And the U.S. is warning of the devastating impact of the war after a new report finds that thousands of Ukrainian children have been held at Russian camps. The details coming up ahead.

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