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Concerns Grow Over Toxic Train Derailment; Special Counsel Subpoenas Mark Meadows; Nikki Haley Calls for Competency Tests; Russia's War on Ukraine Continues; American Volunteer Killed in Ukraine; Gunman Apologizes for Racist Attack, Sentenced to Life; Musk Aims to Find Successor by End of the Year. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired February 16, 2023 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here I'm the United States and all around the world. You are watching "CNN Newsroom" and I'm Rosemary Church.
Just ahead, Republican Nikki Haley begins her run for the White House, calling for competency test for politicians over 75 years old. Could she be targeting President Biden or Donald Trump? Our political analyst weighs in.
Plus, in Eastern Ohio, residents wonder if this small town is safe after a freight train carrying hazardous materials derailed.
And later, survivors still being found under the rubble more than a week after a powerful earthquake left parts of Turkey and Syria devastated.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.
CHURCH: Good to have you with us. Well, the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is expected to visit East Palestine, Ohio in the coming hours where a train carrying hazardous materials derailed earlier this month. Well, now, nearly two weeks since the disaster, residents are growing impatient as they wait for answers from officials and the rail company on whether their community is safe.
CNN's Jason Carroll reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNKNOWN: Everybody who came here (INAUDIBLE) right now.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Frustration, anger, and unanswered questions in East Palestine, Ohio.
UNKNOWN: We are here for answers (INAUDIBLE) did us wrong.
UNKNOWN: Are my kids safe? Are the people safe? Is the future of this community safe?
CARROLL (voice-over): Not present at this community meeting, a representative that many wanted to hear from. In the 11th hour, Norfolk Southern Railroad, the company responsible for the toxic train derailment, sent a statement saying in part, we know that many are rightfully angry and frustrated right now. Unfortunately, after consulting with community leaders, we have become increasingly concerned about the growing physical threat to our employees. With that in mind, Norfolk Southern will not be in attendance this evening.
Cleanup efforts are underway. The governor telling residents Wednesday the municipal water is safe to drink. His statement comes after new test results from the state Environmental Protection Agency found no detection of contaminants.
Officials say the toxic spill was largely contained the day after the derailment and that tests have shown the air quality is safe. And while state officials say the municipal water is safe to drink, they are still suggesting those with private wells get their water tested.
(On camera): In the back of your property back here, they found --
CATHY REESE, NEGLEY, OHIO RESIDENT: Yes, they saw dead fish.
CARROLL: Cathy Reese says she has been drinking bottled water instead of well water ever since she started spotting dead fish in the creek following the derailment. She said she's still waiting for the state to come and test her well water.
REESE: Air wise, I feel okay. Water wise, no. I'm -- no. There are just too many chemicals and stuff that were spilled that they still don't want to identify completely.
CARROLL (voice-over): An Ohio Department of National Resources official estimates some 3,500 fish in the state have died following the train derailment. These people saw the flames from their home and worry their neighborhood still may not be safe.
JIM STEWART, EAST PALESTINE, OHIO RESIDENT: I don't recommend you put anything in the ground. I mean, vegetables, tomatoes or anything this year because we don't know.
UNKNOWN: I don't think they're going to do enough.
CARROLL (voice-over): And some residents say they are frustrated by what they described as a lack of communication with officials on the ground.
TANGIE MOHRBACHER, EAST PALESTINE, OHIO RESIDENT: We passed all of the creeks and there's crew after crew with white hoses and black hoses all through the creeks. They're not telling us why. And this -- and this is daily. I'm driving my children to school past all of this and they're asking me questions that I don't have answers to.
CARROLL (voice-over): We found getting information just as challenging. (On camera): We are just trying to get a sense of what -- what those
pumps are. Can someone just --
UNKNOWN: Norfolk Southern can tell you everything. That's the hotline. They can tell you everything.
CARROLL (on camera): You realized people are calling this number and no one is getting back to them?
UNKNOWN: We are just told to direct people that number.
CARROLL (voice-over): The governor asked by reporters Tuesday if he would feel comfortable living in East Palestine.
GOV. MIKE DEWINE (R-OH): I think that I would be drinking the bottled water.
[03:05:00]
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.
CARROLL (voice-over): But residents like Cathy Reese say they are left with few choices.
REESE: Just pray and drink bottled water until we know for sure what's going on.
CARROLL (on camera): And she is still drinking that bottled water. In terms of what happened here at East Palestine High School after that townhall, still a lot of unanswered questions. Some of those that we spoke to still questions about testing of well water and questions about how long the EPA will be here on the ground doing its testing.
Well, the head of the EPA, the EPA administrator, Michael Regan, head again for Washington, D.C. He will be on the ground on Thursday to assess the situation.
Jason Carroll, CNN, East Palestine, Ohio.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Nathan Velez evacuated his family following that chemical spill. When he returned Monday for a short visit to check on his home and business, he says he smoked chlorine in the air burning his throat and eyes and developed a nagging headache. He tells CNN that residents do not trust what they are hearing from officials.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NATHAN VELEZ, EVACUATED FAMILY: They tell us it's safe to go back and they determined that based on findings and data from companies that they hired, the same people that crashed the train into the town hired the people to tell them, yeah, it's okay to go into your house. It's just you don't need to be a scientist to know. You don't have to prove anything to know that when you walk into your home or your business, you shouldn't feel lie sick. It's just like -- I don't know how I'm going to make it any simpler, you know?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Velez says that he is worried about what would happen next for his family, like others, who are now staying in rental properties and quickly running out of money following the disaster.
Well, now to new developments in the investigation into former President Donald Trump's role in seeking to overturn the 2020 election. CNN has now learned the special counsel has subpoenaed Trump's former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, who was witness to Trump's actions during the January 6th insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
CNN's Evan Perez has more details now from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump's former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, has been subpoenaed by Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is overseeing two investigations of the former president. The subpoena is seeking documents and testimony related to January 6th and Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
And the move to subpoena one of Trump's most senior aides, in addition to the recent subpoena of former Vice President Mike Pence, marks the latest significant step in the sprawling investigation. Smith is investigating Trump's handling of classified documents after he left office.
And while the subpoena is related to January 6th, Meadows also may be of evidence in the document investigation. He played a role in the months and months of discussions, going on between the National Archives and Trump's representatives over returning government records that were in his possession.
Special counsel subpoena could also set up a clash with the Justice Department and Meadows and Trump over executive privilege. He was a witness to Trump's efforts to pressure officials in the states and in Congress to help him remain in power despite losing the election.
Evan Perez, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: A former special counsel at the U.S. Defense Department weighed in on whether citing executive privilege could keep Mark Meadows from testifying in this investigation. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RYAN GOODMAN, FORMER SPECIAL COUNSEL AT DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE: If Jack Smith wants Mark Meadows's testimony, Jack Smith will get Mark Meadows's testimony. I think if he does executive privilege, it is loser, it is unanimous and ambiguous Supreme Court case with a sitting president, let alone a former chief of staff (INAUDIBLE) Nixon.
The judge in this case, CNN has reported, has already decided against executive privilege with the White House counsel, deputy White House counsel. That is done.
The Supreme Court had an opportunity to grant executive privilege on the documents that the January 6 Committee wanted, and they did not. Those are the same kinds of arguments, executive privilege for documents that included Mark Meadows, his correspondents. It is just -- that's a dead -- there is no way they will not -- that Jack Smith will not succeed on that one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: The republican field of presidential hopefuls could be expanding soon. So far, only Donald Trump and Nikki Haley have declared their candidacy. Up more than a dozen others are reportedly weighing runs for the White House.
[03:09:58]
Some are already visiting the early voting state of Iowa, including former Vice President Mike Pence, who has this to say about Haley.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I wish her well. Ambassador Nikki Haley did a great job in our administration. She may have more companies soon. In the race for president, I promise the folks here in Iowa and all of you, I will keep you posted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Haley announced her candidacy via video message on Tuesday. And one day later, she hit the campaign trail in her home state of South Carolina.
CNN's Kylie Atwood is there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIKKI HALEY, FORMER SOUTH CAROLINA GOVERNOR, FORMER UNITED NATION AMBASSADORA: For a strong America, for a proud America, I am running for president of the United States of America.
(APPLAUSE)
KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Nikki Haley throwing her hat into the ring for the 2024 presidential race.
HALEY: We're ready, ready to move past the stale ideas and faded names of the past.
ATWOOD (voice-over): The proud daughter of Indian immigrants calling for a generational change in American politics.
HALEY: America is not past our prime, it's just that our politicians are past theirs.
(APPLAUSE)
ATWOOD (voice-over): The twice elected governor of South Carolina turned 51 last month, even calling for a competency test for older politicians, which would include President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, now her rival for the GOP nomination.
HALEY: And mandatory mental competency test for politicians over 75 years old.
(APPLAUSE)
ATWOOD (voice-over): She detailed her vision for America's future and for the direction of the Republican Party.
HALEY: We've lost the popular vote in seven of the last eight presidential elections. Our cause is right, but we have failed to win the confidence of a majority of Americans. Well, that ends today.
(APPLAUSE)
ATWOOD (voice-over): As the former ambassador to the United Nations, she focused in on the threat from China, too.
HALEY: It is unthinkable that Americans would look at the sky and see a Chinese spy balloon looking back at us.
ATWOOD (voice-over): Highlighting her identity as a woman of color, she waded into the culture wars emanating her party, proclaiming that America is not a racist country.
HALEY: This self-loathing is a virus more dangerous than any pandemic. It's a system of a lack of pride in our country and a lack of trust in our leaders.
ATWOOD (voice-over): If her bid is successful, Haley would be the first woman and the first Asian American nominated by the Republican Party for president.
HALEY: This is not the America that called to my parents. And make no mistake, this is not the America I will leave to my children.
(APPLAUSE)
ATWOOD (voice-over): With her announcement, Haley is the first major Republican challenger to Trump, who has criticized her decision to enter the 2024 fray despite saying he encouraged her to run.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I said, look, you know, go by your heart if you want to run.
ATWOOD (voice-over): For her part, Haley only mentioned Trump once in her speech today, with the two likely to be joined soon by other Republican hopefuls in the coming months.
HALEY: As I set out on this new journey, I will simply say this, may the best woman win.
(APPLAUSE)
ATWOOD (on camera): Nikki Haley really had a little piece of something in the speech for everyone, clearly trying to appeal to a wide swath of Republican voters. But even though it's only officially her and the former president, Trump, who had entered the race, there are other expected contenders who are already out on the campaign trail: Tim Scott, Asa Hutchinson, and the former vice president, Mike Pence, all in South Carolina or Iowa this week.
Kylie Atwood, CNN, Charleston, South Carolina.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein joins me now from Los Angeles. He's also a senior editor at "The Atlantic." Always a pleasure to have you with us.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Thanks for having me, Rosemary.
CHURCH: So, Nikki Haley is the first GOP candidate to challenge Donald Trump for the republican nomination, calling for a new generation of leadership and trying to distance herself from her old boss. But the reality is her support falls far behind that of Trump or even Ron DeSantis whose yet to officially declare he is running. So, is Haley in this race to be president or vice president?
BROWNSTEIN: That's a really good question. I mean look, her chances -- she has a difficult road in the republican primary. She is a candidate who, I think, is probably going to appeal mostly to college educated Republicans, the half of the party who is college educated as opposed to the half of the party that is non-college.
And that could be a very crowded lane. I mean, many of the candidates who are looking at the race, Glenn Youngkin, Larry Hogan, governor of New Hampshire, Chris Sununu, Mike Pompeo, many of them would have more appeal on that side of the ledger.
And, of course, if you look back at 2016, Donald Trump won the nomination by dominating among the non-college half of the party.
[03:15:04]
He faced pretty significant resistance all the way through among those college educated Republicans.
CHURCH: Haley held her presidential campaign kickoff rally in her home state of South Carolina Wednesday. We saw the pictures there as she was speaking to us.
BROWNSTEIN: Right. CHURCH: So, what did she say that would resonate with voters and what sets her apart and differentiates her from the GOP competitors like Trump, DeSantis, Mike Pence who just signaled he expects to join the presidential race soon?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, the core of her argument, as she noted, was that she represents a generational change in the Republican Party. And I do think there is an audience in each party for the idea of generational change.
She's got two big challenges, though, I think, in pressing that argument. One is that the Republican primary electorate is not only very white, rosemary, it's also very gray. In almost every state, at least two-thirds of the voters and often three-quarters of the voters are voters aged 45 or older, which means that she's going to have to convince older voters that they need, ultimately, a younger candidate.
The other problem I think she has is that we have seen a generational change argument work in the past. And I think if candidates like Democrats Gary Hart in 1984 or Bill Clinton in 1992 or George W. Bush in 2000, it hasn't been just we need to turn to page in terms of age. It has been tied to a critique of the party agenda and a call for an ideological change in direction.
It was really none of that today in her announcement. There was no sense that she was offering a different direction for Republicans. She was just saying, I represent a different generation. She's going to need to flush that out, I think, with more of a sense that she's pointing the party on a new path.
CHURCH: Right. And, of course, if this ends up being a race involving Trump, DeSantis, Pence, Haley and others, who will likely get the republican presidential nomination and who ends up being the running mate?
BROWNSTEIN: Trump tends to divide voters along lines of education. As I said, about half of Republican voters in 2016 had a college degree, about half did not. Trump dominated among those who did not. He won almost half of the total votes among non-college Republicans, even in a very crowded field with many alternatives. But he only won about one-third of the college educated Republicans.
Now, he was able to make that work because, as I said, the two-thirds of college Republicans who were not keen on trump never coalesce behind a single candidate. I think, once again, those college educated Republicans will have to be the basis for any candidate who wants to seriously challenge Trump. And the question is whether anybody can consolidate him better than the group like Jeb Bush and John Kasich and Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz did in 2016.
On paper, you would say that Ron DeSantis is better positioned to do that and also better positioned than any of them to cut into Trump's blue-collar strength by stressing some of the same cultural issues, but you've got to get on the field and actually run against Donald Trump. CHURCH: And so, how likely is it that Haley or Pence can successfully dump their political association with Trump and offer a fresh start up against the likes of DeSantis who is the guy that Trump really feels threatened by?
BROWNSTEIN: Haley or Pence. Inevitably, if they want to emerge as candidates, they are going to have to give a reason why the big gorilla in the room should not be the nominee. I mean, it's hard to displace someone with as much name ID as Donald Trump, particularly when you have a challenger with the scale of Ron DeSantis unless you make an explicit reason why voters should not do the kind of the easy thing and to follow up to him.
I think so long as people like Pence and Haley tried to have it both ways, implying that the party should go beyond Trump but not really making an argument against him, I think they are headed for a relatively peripheral role in the race.
CHURCH: All right, Ron Brownstein, thank you so much. Always a pleasure to get your analysis.
BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.
CHURCH: Still to come, one American's humanitarian mission in Ukraine ends in a fiery and deadly explosion from a Russian missile. CNN's exclusive footage of the tragedy and the firsthand account from a survivor.
And crews in Turkey and Syria are coming through what seems like never-ending wreckage. Why hopes of finding earthquake survivors have yet to fade.
[03:20:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Ukraine's military is reporting a barrage of Russian cruise missiles struck critical infrastructure overnight, including some strikes in Western Ukraine.
Meantime, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the most difficult fighting right now is for the small but strategic city of Bakhmut. Not far from that embattled city, at least three people were reported killed on Wednesday by a Russian strike on apartment buildings. Nearly a dozen others were wounded.
President Zelenskyy says Bakhmut has come to symbolize Ukraine's die- die-hard resistance to Moscow's aggression. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translator): It's not easy for our soldiers in the east. But you understand they say fortress Bakhmut for a reason. There's such a phrase in our society. Our fortress is alive by which I mean living people such a living wall. (END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And CNN's Clare Sebastian joins us live now from London with the latest. Good morning to you, Clare. So, what are you learning on this Russian missile strike or missile strikes, I should say, that have targeted critical infrastructure overnight across Ukraine?
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Rosemary, this seemed to have happened over a pretty wide area, including up in the northwest, which is quite often seen as a relatively safe part of the country.
[03:25:05]
Clearly, no area is off the table for Russia as it continues this strategy of hitting critical infrastructure in Ukraine. What we know, according to the Ukrainian Air Force, is that at least 32 land and sea launch crew missiles, they say, were launched at Ukraine. Around half of that, at least 16, it says, were shot down.
But the barrage did include, according to the Air Force, the Kh-22, which is an anti-ship missile which currently the Ukrainian army does not have the ability to shoot down at the moment. It's evident this is simply not up to that task. So, some targets were ahead.
According to the chief of staff of President Zelenskyy, the barrage also included drones. He says that targets were hit from up in the northwest. We know from the governor of Lviv that there was a critical infrastructure targeted there. There are no casualties reported all the way down to Dnipro, which is in the south of the country not far from that southern frontline. So, a wide range of attack.
As of now, we're not hearing reports of any outages in electricity. The Ukrainian energy ministry says that currently, all the needs of the population are being met.
And one thing, Rosemary, separately, the Russian-backed governor of Crimea is saying that they shot down two Ukrainian drones over the sea and several more over the water around that peninsula. So, clearly, this is a war playing out in the air as well as on the ground.
CHURCH: And Clare, NATO defense ministers are stepping up support for Ukraine and further strengthening deterrence and defense. What more are you learning about that?
SEBASTIAN: Yes. So, NATO defense ministers are meeting this week, talking about the need to really sort of coalesce around Ukraine, already had pledges of new heavy weaponry, tanks and things like that. The discussion really shifted, Rosemary, interestingly to ammunition.
The NATO secretary general is talking about how this is, you know, a war of attrition and now battle of logistics. Ukraine, he said, burning their ammunition many times faster than the NATO alliance can produce. So, they're really going to have to go back and look at their defense industrial complex and find ways to step up production, but a real show of support, particularly, as we head towards the anniversary of this war.
CHURCH: Absolutely. Our thanks to Clare Sebastian for that live report from London.
Well, CNN has obtained shocking, exclusive footage of the Russian strike in Bakhmut that killed American aid worker Pete Reed earlier this month. Reed, a former U.S. Marine, was in Eastern Ukraine as part of a volunteer medical team aiding civilians there. CNN's Matthew Chance shows us what happened. Again, though, this video is graphic and difficult to watch.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These are the final seconds before volunteer medics in Ukraine, including American Pete Reed, seen here exiting the white van come under vicious attack.
(EXPLOSION)
The images obtained exclusively by CNN show the explosion ripping through the scene, leaving Reed among the dead.
(SCREAMING)
CHANCE: But incredibly, you can also hear the screams of survivors. Survivors like Erko Laidinen, a volunteer from Estonia, witnessing all of this from just feet away.
ERKO LAIDINEN, VOLUNTEER MEDIC: Yes, the last one second that I remember before the blast or when the blast happened, I saw the big ball of flame and it was like, instantly, my thoughts were the darkest that it can be.
CHANCE (voice-over): Volunteer medics working in Bakhmut are no strangers to the extreme violence ravaging the city. Fierce fighting for control, making it one of Ukraine's deadliest frontlines.
(GUNFIRES)
CHANCE (voice-over): Soldiers dubbing it a meat grinder.
(GUNFIRE)
CHANCE (voice-over): But the part of town where the medics were answering their emergency call on February the 2nd seemed relatively calm.
(On camera): So, when you arrived at the scene where you had these reports of casualties and you saw the casualties there, was there any fighting going on? Were there artillery shells coming in close by that would've made you aware that this was a particularly dangerous spot?
LAIDINEN: No, no. It was actually awfully quiet there. Didn't get any warning because usually, you could hear when the rounds come in, you can hear the whistle and noise, that deterrence that there is some mortar or artillery shell coming in.
[03:30:00]
There wasn't nothing like this.
CHANCE (voice-over): And he captures the exact moment --
(EXPLOSION)
CHANCE (voice-over): -- on his own cellphone. A frame by frame analysis shows what military experts tell CNN is an anti-tank missile striking the vehicle, a weapon that requires a line of sight targeting to be this accurate. Minutes later, the medics' dash cam records a second strike.
(EXPLOSION)
CHANCE (voice-over): Slow motion revealing it is yet another anti- tank missile.
LAIDINEN: It was observed and aimed directly to be sure that it's going to be a perfect hit. They waited until the complete stop, and then after that, they instantly fired.
CHANCE (on camera): So, do you think that you were deliberately targeted by the other side?
LAIDINEN: Yes. I think that there is not much of a debate about it. They shot two different vehicles that tried to hit down another one also. So, they were ready. They were prepared.
CHANCE (voice-over): Russia has repeatedly denied deliberately targeting civilians. But over this gruesome video of the aftermath, the Russian private military company, Wagner, says the voluntary medics were foreign mercenaries hit by what it calls an accurate strike.
Even for humanitarian volunteers in this Bakhmut meat grinder, protection, it seems, is scarce.
Matthew Chance, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And still to come, the U.S. considers the possibility a suspected Chinese spy balloon really did fly into its airspace by accident. We'll have the latest.
[03:35:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. White House officials are discussing whether the U.S. president should speak publicly on the airborne object shot down in recent days. Joe Biden has yet to comment on the three objects that were downed last weekend and has said very little about the suspected Chinese spy balloon shot down earlier this month.
U.S. Intelligence officials now believe it is possible that the Chinese balloon really did drift off course and was not deliberately sent into U.S. airspace. They're still assessing what happened as well as which parts of the balloon's mission were ordered by Beijing.
If the whole thing was truly an accident, it could help smooth things over between Beijing and Washington, which hopes to reschedule Secretary of State Anthony Blinken's visit to China. He postponed his original trip over the balloon controversy.
Ten days after the catastrophic earthquake, more than 42,000 people are now confirmed dead in Turkey and Syria. But the window for survival that was expected to close days ago may still be open. Several surprising rescues were carried out on Wednesday. One of the survivors is a 13-year-old boy. He was freed from the debris in the Turkish city of Antakya after 228 hours. And a woman and two children were also saved in that same city during that same hour. They were rushed to a hospital by a helicopter.
Many of these recent survival stories raise questions about how these people managed to last for so long under the rubble. One man trapped for more than 180 hours wrapped himself in a rug to keep warm while waiting in the dark, and he explained the drastic action he was forced to take to stay alive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HUSEYIN BERBER, SURVIVOR (through translator): Now, I've got diabetes, you see. So, more important than food, there was some medication on the cabinet and a bottle of water. They all fell down next to me. I swallowed some medication with the water. The bottle was empty. So, what to do? Now, this is a bit embarrassing, I urinated in it, kept it for a while. It became nice and cool. And then, I would drink it. That's the way I managed to survive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Extraordinary, CNN's Nada Bashir is covering this live for us from Istanbul. Nada, some incredible stories of rescue and survival, and they keep coming, continuing, of course, to give hope to anxious loved ones. What is the latest on these rescue efforts?
NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Yes, Rosemary, those rescue efforts are continuing. We've seen in these videos coming from Southeast Turkey as well as our teams there on the ground, there are countless families, thousands, still waiting, desperately hoping that their loved ones buried beneath the rubble may still have a chance of survival. We are still seeing those rescue teams which have traveled in from across the globe, working around the clock.
There is still hope that there could be survivors, though, that window for finding people alive beneath the rubble is actually closing very, very quickly. And that is the concern here. We are seeing more people being pulled out, unfortunately, not alive. And, of course, the situation on the ground there is dire, to say the least. [03:40:00]
It is freezing cold. The humanitarian conditions are poor. Thousands have been left homeless. And there are real concerns for the health and safety of those now left homeless in Southeast Turkey.
We heard these remarkable stories of rescues. You mentioned there the woman and her two children who were pulled out of the rubble after their apartment collapsed, 228 hours beneath the rubble. They are said to be in a good condition health wise, but, of course, the question is, what is next for them? What is next for all of these families who have lost their homes, who lost absolutely everything?
We have been able to meet some of those families who have now been evacuated over here in Istanbul. They say that they are starting completely afresh. They don't know what is next for them, for their children, where they will be housed, what sort of compensation they will receive. And, of course, as you can imagine, the trauma that they have experienced, the emotional trauma there is hard to get a grip on.
Now, we have seen a huge outpouring of support when it comes to that humanitarian assistance. We see donations pouring in from across the country. Humanitarian distribution centers established here in Istanbul, a city which was, of course, hard hit by the earthquake. We are now seeing a ferry which was converted into a clinic there treating people injured and wounded following the earthquake.
There has been a huge outpouring of support but there is a huge infrastructure challenge ahead as well. Around 50,000 buildings deemed unsafe and now requiring demolition, according to the Turkish authorities. Rosemary?
CHURCH: All right. Our thanks for that live report. Nada Bashir, live in Istanbul. Appreciate it.
And for information on how to help the earthquake victims, you can go to cnn.com/impact. There, you will find a list of organizations working on rescue and relief efforts.
Well, still to come, a dramatic scene in a Buffalo, New York courtroom as a 19-year-old man is sentenced for killing 10 people at a grocery store.
[03:45:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: A security camera caught the horrifying final seconds of a deadly helicopter crash in Alabama. The video shows the chopper spinning out of control and falling to the ground. Then a flume of black smoke. The crash killed two members of the Tennessee National Guard, Wednesday. Officials say the aircraft was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived. No one else was injured. An investigation into the crash is underway.
The 19-year-old man who killed 10 people at a Buffalo, New York supermarket will spend the rest of his life in prison. Payton Gendron apologized for the racially-motivated attack, saying he believed what he read online and acted out of hate.
CNN's Brian Todd has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNKNOWN: We're never going in no neighborhood and take people out --
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A victim's relative rushes the Buffalo shooter in court, prevented from getting to him by officers, who then lead the gunman away. A striking moment during a hearing full of them. Relatives of the Tops supermarket shooting victims gave impact statements at his sentencing.
UNKNOWN: Thinking about what a beautiful person he took.
TODD (voice-over): The niece of 62-year-old victim Geraldine Talley said despite the shooter's professed hatred of Black people --
UNKNOWN: So, do I hate you? No. Do I want you to die? No. I want you to stay alive. I want you to think about this every day of your life.
SUSAN EAGAN, JUDGE (voice-over): Mr. Gendron, please stand.
TODD (voice-over): The judge sentenced the shooter to life in prison without parole.
EAGAN (voice-over): You will never see the light of day as a free man ever again.
TODD (voice-over): He had earlier pleaded guilty on state charges to killing 10 people and wounding three others in the attack last May. Moments before the man tried to get at him in court, the sister of 72- year-old victim Katherine Massey let out her fury on the gunman.
UNKNOWN: I will personally choke you (INAUDIBLE) on your neck. (INAUDIBLE) anybody. You can't come to our city and decide you don't like Black people. You don't know a damn thing about Black people. We are human.
TODD (voice-over): Simone Crowley, granddaughter of 86-year-old victim Ruth Whitfield, said her family feel sorry for the shooter.
SIMONE CROWLEY, GRANDDAUGHTER OF VICTIM RUTH WHITFIELD: We all know the pure hatred and motivation behind your heinous crime, and we are here to tell you that you failed.
PAYTON GENDRON, MURDERER: I am very sorry.
TODD (voice-over): The gunman himself apologized to the victims' relatives.
GENDRON: And I don't want anyone to be inspired by me and what I did.
TODD (voice-over): But his words couldn't resonate like those of the daughter of 53-year-old Andre Mackniel, who said her father had gone to the Tops store that day to buy a birthday cake for her little brother, who was turning three.
DEJA BROWN, DAUGHTER OF VICTIM ANDRE MACKNIEL: I am pissed. I'm sad. I hate you. And I didn't think that I would be strong enough to look in the face and tell you this, how much you hurt me, my little brother who is three years old has to grow up without his dad.
TODD (voice-over): A former superior court judge says victims' relatives often find catharsis in these statements.
GREGORY MIZE, RETIRED U.S. SUPERIOR COURT JUDGE: Some people have kept it inside for so long that saying what the impact of this crime was on me is a release. It's a pressure cooker valve. Other times, this is the last thing I want to visit again.
[03:50:02]
TODD (on camera): This sentencing was for state charges the gunman had faced. He also faces federal hate crimes charges, some of which could carry the death penalty if the Justice Department decides to seek that. Those charges are still pending.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Coming up next, Elon Musk talks about his future role at Twitter. More on that after the break. Please, stay with us.
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CHURCH: Twitter could have a new CEO by the end of the year. Current owner and chief executive Elon Musk has been on the job for less than four months, but says the time for change is coming.
[03:55:01]
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ELON MUSK, CEO, TWITTER: I think I need to stabilize the organization and just make sure it's in a financially healthy place and that the product roadmap is clearly laid out. So, I don't know. I'm guessing probably towards the end of this year will be good timing to find someone else to run the company. I think it should be in a stable position around, you know, at the end of this year.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Millions of Twitter users voted for Musk to step down in an online poll in December. He says he plans to run Twitter's software and server teams after his resignation as CEO.
Thank you so much for spending part of your day with me. I'm Rosemary Church. "CNN Newsroom" continues with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo, next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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