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CNN International: Residents Skeptical of Town's Safety After Chemical Spill in Ohio Train Derailment; Special Counsel Subpoenas Former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows; FAA Acting Chief Grilled About Technology Failures; Victims Families Lash Out at Buffalo, New York Gunman; Ukraine: At Least 36 Russian Cruise Missiles Fired Overnight. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired February 16, 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]

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. And just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They screwed up our town, they're going to fix it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It has been two weeks now and we have no plans of going back to our house.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A key witness to a lot of the things that Donald Trump was doing to try to remain in power after losing the 2020 election.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If Jack Smith wants Mark Meadows' testimony, Jack Smith will get Mark Meadows' testimony.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, they have just unloaded the tents here, it has five. This is one of the hardest hit areas in the quake zone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

FOSTER: It's Thursday, February 16, 9:00 a.m. here in London, 4:00 a.m. in East Palestine, Ohio where in a few hours the head of the Environmental Protection Agency will assess the damage of the hazardous chemical spill when a train derailed earlier this month.

NOBILO: This was the scene three days after the train derailed. Federal investigators are reviewing numerous videos and data from the so-called black box and despite Ohio's governor saying it's safe to return home. Many residents have evacuated their homes and businesses out of concern for their safety from the toxic chemicals in their community.

FOSTER: Nathan Velez evacuated his family and says he developed a nagging headache when he returned home briefly on Monday. He tell CNN that residents don't 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 determine 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, yes, It's OK to go into your houses. You don't need to be a scientist to know -- you don't have to prove anything to know that when you walk in your home or your business you shouldn't feel like sick.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: On Wednesday frustrated residents attended a town hall meeting with the city's mayor. Not in attendance, representatives from the rail line Norfolk Southern. The mayor says he will hold them accountable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRENT CONAWAY, EAST PALESTINE, OHIO MAYOR: I have the village on my back and I'll do whatever it takes, whatever it takes, to make this right. They screwed up our town, they're going to fix it. If they don't, I'll be the first one calling all you back do this all over again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: According to newly posted documents, Norfolk Southern has yet to remove the potentially contaminated soil from the site. Our Jason Carroll is East Palestine speaking with residents about the disaster.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody that came here we expected (INAUDIBLE) lot more than what we're getting right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right!

JASON CARROLL, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Frustration, anger and unanswered questions, in East Palestine, Ohio.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're here for answers. The railroad did us wrong.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 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's 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 municipal water is safe to drink, they are still suggesting those with private wells, get their water tested.

CARROLL: In the back of your property, back here, they found --?

CATHY REESE, NEGLEY, OHIO RESIDENT: Yes, they saw dead fish.

CARROLL (voice-over): 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 says she's still waiting for the State to come and test her well water.

[04:05:00]

REESE: Air-wise, I feel OK. Water-wise, no. I'm -- no. There's 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 Natural Resources official estimates some 3,500 fish in the state, have died, following the train derailment.

These people saw the flames from their homes and worried 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 or tomatoes or anything this year, because we don't know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think they're going to do enough.

CARROLL (voice-over): And some residents say they have been frustrated by what they describe as a lack of communication with officials, on the ground.

TANGIE MOHRBACHER, EAST PALESTINE, OHIO RESIDENT: We pass 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 is got -- 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.

CARROLL: We're just trying to get a sense of what those pumps are. Can just someone just?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Norfolk Southern can tell you everything. That's the hotline. They can tell you everything.

CARROLL: You realize people are calling this number and no one is getting back to them?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're just told to direct people to 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. 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, I guess, pray and drink bottled water until we know for sure what's going on.

CARROLL: And she is still drinking that bottled water. In terms of what happened here at East Palestine High School after that town hall, still a lot of unanswered questions, some of those that we spoke to still have 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 heading in from Washington, D.C., he will be on the ground on Thursday to assess the situation.

Jason Carroll, CNN, East Palestine, Ohio.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: And it's often the case, isn't it, with these crises that they are compounded by communication problems and, you know, just explaining, can't even get through the phone number. Is going to make everything worse.

NOBILO: Exactly, it must be so frightening. And like you were saying, they don't have many other options. So, they are being told to stay in their homes not knowing whether what they are drinking or breathing is safe.

FOSTER: Not knowing, yes.

Texas police meanwhile have two suspects in custody in connection with a deadly shooting at El Paso mall on Wednesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(GUN SHOTS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: You can hear the gunshots obviously in the security camera footage from a bar inside the mall. And though many people were able to run for safety, at least one person was killed in the shooting and three others hospitalized.

NOBILO: Police say an off-duty officer who was working security at one of the stores arrived at the scene in minutes and took the suspect into custody. The identities of these victims and suspect haven't been revealed yet.

A security camera caught the final sends of a deadly helicopter crash in Alabama

FOSTER: The video shows the chopper spinning out of control and tumbling to the ground. And then there was a plume of black smoke. The crash killed two U.S. National Guard members on Wednesday.

NOBILO: Officials say the aircraft was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived. First responders later retrieved the remains of the two members of the Tennessee National Guard. No one else was injured and an investigation into the crash is under way.

FOSTER: Now to new developments in the investigation into the former President Donald Trump's role of seeking to overturn the 2020 election.

NOBILO: CNN has now learned that the special counsel has subpoenaed Trump's former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows who was a witness to Trump's actions during the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. CNN's Evan Perez looks at more details 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 6 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 steps in this sprawling investigation.

Smith is investigating Trump's handling of classified documents after he left office and while the subpoena is related to January 6, Meadows also may be of interest in the document's 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.

[04:10:00]

The special counsel subpoena could also set up a clash with the Justice Department and Meadows and Trump over executive privilege. Now 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)

NOBILO: CNN is also learning that special counsel Jack Smith is locked in at least eight secret court battles right now.

FOSTER: According to sources and court records, Smith is trying to uncover some of those closely held details about Donald Trump's actions after the 2020 election and his handling of classified material. Almost all the proceedings are sealed and filings are not public.

Former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence says he is prepared to take his fight against a subpoena from the special counsel all the way to the Supreme Court.

NOBILO: Investigators want Pence to testify about his interactions with Donald Trump leading up to the 2020 election and about the day of the insurrection at the Capitol when he was acting as president of the Senate and spoke about the issue after a speech in Iowa.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: I'm going to fight the Biden DOJ's subpoena for me to appear before the grand jury because I believe it is unconstitutional and un unprecedented. My fight is on the principle of separation of powers in the Constitution of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: Meanwhile the FBI has reportedly searched President Biden's alma mater, the University of Delaware, in connection with his handling of classified documents. A source familiar with the investigation says that the search has happened in recent weeks.

FOSTER: The university's library contains a collection of papers from the president's time in the Senate. We are told investigators did retrieve some two batches of material but none of it appeared to have classified markings. They had previously found classified documents in President Biden's home in Wilmington and former private office in Washington.

The acting chief of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration faced harsh questions on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. He admitted that while the FAA is working to improve its system security, they can't guarantee another outage like the one that happened last month, which grounded planes around the country. CNN's Gabe Cohen has more from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A series of system meltdowns and near disasters.

BILLY NOLEN, FAA ACTING ADMINISTRATOR: We cannot and must not become complacent.

COHEN (voice-over): Landing the FAA's acting administrator Billy Nolen in front of a Senate committee just hours after announcing a sweeping safety review for the agency.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have a backup, redundant system. Why couldn't we go to that system?

NOLEN: Thank you, ma'am chair, for the question.

COHEN (voice-over): One focus, the NOTAM system that failed last month, triggering the first national ground stop since 9/11. The cause, a contractor accidentally deleting files during system maintenance.

NOLEN: They no longer have access to either the facilities or the NOTAM system.

COHEN (voice-over): The FAA says it's moving to a more modernized system by 2025, and for now, it's put in safeguards to prevent a repeat.

NOLEN: We're about halfway through it in terms of our modernization of the NOTAM system.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): Is there redundancy being built into it, or can a single screw-up ground air traffic nationwide?

NOLEN: We do have redundancy there. Can I say there will never be another issue on the NOTAM system? No, sir, I cannot. What I can say is we are making every effort to modernize and look at our procedures.

COHEN (voice-over): But now, aviation safety is under the microscope after two near collisions at JFK and Austin and a United 777 diving toward the ocean after takeoff from Hawaii for reasons the FAA and United are keeping confidential. Administrator Nolan offering little on the incidents themselves.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm asking if you have an answer today about why this occurred.

NOLEN: No, ma'am. That investigation is still ongoing.

COHEN (voice-over): And now, the FAA is planning an extensive safety review of the agency, including a summit with industry partners next month to game plan solutions and then dig through flight data to find out if more of these incidents are happening.

NOLEN: Can I say to the American public that we are safe? The answer is that we are. If the question is, can we be better, the answer is absolutely, and that's the piece we're working on.

COHEN: And now we're learning about yet another incursion, the third in recent weeks. This one on January 23 in Honolulu. The FAA says a United 777 crossed a runway despite being asked to wait by air traffic control, as a cargo plane was landing on that same runway. The FAA says the two aircraft were a little more than 1,000 feet apart and now the NTSB is investigating.

Gabe Cohen, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: Nearly 50 million people in the U.S. are under severe storm threats. A strong storm system could produce tornadoes, hail and damaging winds.

[04:15:00]

Tornado watchers are already posted in the Tennessee and Mississippi Valleys and we've seen a number of severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings in the past hour, especially in Arkansas. Winter storm watches and warnings stretch from Colorado to Michigan, some areas could see up to 10 inches of snow with strong winds making driving conditions dangerous.

FOSTER: A massive dust storm caused 10 car pileups in Oklahoma on Tuesday, at least one driver was killed -- According to the Oklahoma State Patrol. The cars and semi-trucks slammed into each other because of the low visibility and nearly 80-mile-per-hour winds as well. The Texas County Sheriff's Office called it a hurricane of dust. The highway had to be shut down for miles to remove the wreckage.

NOBILO: Still ahead this hour, chaos in Buffalo, New York inside a courtroom. As shooting victims' relatives lungs at the gunman just before he learns his sentence.

FOSTER: Plus, Ukrainian troops claim to have destroyed one of the most fearsome weapons in Russia's arsenal. We'll explain, just ahead.

Andy massive glacier in Antarctica at risk of collapsing into the sea. A new study warns that it could happen much sooner than originally thought.

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[04:20:04]

FOSTER: We're expecting an update from authorities today on the mass shooting at Michigan State University. Governor Gretchen Whitmer was on hand in East Lansing last night as students, faculty and members of the community gathered for a vigil. They are remembering the three students who were killed and five others who were wounded.

NOBILO: Students also held a sit-in at the Michigan Capitol. The Detroit News reporter who took this picture says that they were sitting in the same formation that they would for lockdown drills at school.

The 19-year-old man who opened fire at a Buffalo, New York supermarket will spend the rest of his life in prison getting 10 concurrent life sentences, one for each of the people that he killed.

FOSTER: Payton Gendron apologized for the racially motivated attack, but the victims' families have plenty to say to him. CNN's Omar Jimenez reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARBARA MASSEY MAPPS, KATHERINE MASSEY'S SISTER: I'm not going to be nice. My name is Barbara Massey. I'm Katherine Massey's sister. You killed my sister.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sentencing day for a shooter became families processing pain they've carried with them for almost a year. Katherine Massey was 72 years old.

MASSEY MAPPS: Your little pumpkin ass decided to come and kill my sister. I talk to Kath every single day.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): Her sister, Barbara, making sure the shooter knew who he killed.

MASSEY MAPPS: Kath was a saint among sinners. You come to our city and decide you don't like Black people. Man, you don't know a damn thing about Black people. We're human! We like our kids to go to good schools. We love our kids. We never go in no neighborhoods and take people out.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): Barbara's son lunged in. Family after family pulling no punches.

MICHELLE SPIGHT, LOST HER AUNT AND COUSIN: You journeyed down my grandmother's street and then walked up at Tops and killed two of my family members. I want you to think about this every day of your life. Every day of your life, think about my family and the other nine families that you have destroyed forever. Forever. May 14th will never be the same for me.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): It wasn't just emotions. It was reliving May 14, 2022, all over again. The shooter walked into a Tops Supermarket in Buffalo and killed 10, wounding three others with the express intent of killing black people. In court, the shooter apologized, but it didn't seem to have any impact.

BRIAN TALLEY, GERALDINE TALLEY'S BROTHER-IN-LAW: How can you possibly get any kind of -- how can you possibly stand up here and say that you're sorry? The hatred that you must have in your heart for black people, I would never understand. I don't want to understand it. But I must say this, I pray to God, they do not kill you.

SPIGHT: If you don't know God, I invite you to find him, because you are going to need him.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): He was sentenced to life in prison, the judge leaving no room for interpretation.

JUDGE SUSAN EAGAN, ERIE COUNTY, NEW YORK: There can be no mercy for you. No understanding. No second chances. The damage you have caused is too great, and the people you have hurt are too valuable to this community. You will never see the light of day as a free man ever again.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): After court, the families hope their message was more clear than the sentence could ever be.

ZENETA EVERHART, SON WAS INJURED SHOOTING: Yes, somebody rushed him at him today in the courtroom. But that's the emotion that all of these families feel on the inside. I feel like that every single day. We all feel like that every single day. I was happy to see him scared today. He should be able to feel what those families felt that day when he pointed that gun in their faces.

JIMENEZ: Now the shooter sentenced to life without parole on his state charges. At the federal level he still faces charges including ten counts of federal hate crimes resulting in death. Now he has pleaded not guilty to those, but they potentially carry the death penalty as a consequence. Now Attorney General Merrick Garland has yet to make a decision on that pursuit. But back in December lawyers for the shooter said that they would be willing to plead guilty to those federal charges as long as the death penalty is taken off the table as a possibility.

Omar Jimenez, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[04:25:00]

NOBILO: Ukraine's military is reporting a barrage of Russian cruise missiles were filed into Ukraine overnight, including Western parts of the country. Some critical infrastructure was reportedly hit.

FOSTER: In east Ukraine at least three people were reportedly killed Wednesday by Russian strikes on apartment buildings and a school, nearly a dozen others were wounded. The town is near the city of Bakhmut where Ukraine's president says the fighting has been the most difficult.

NOBILO: Further to the south, Ukrainian troops released video that they say shows as strike against a Russian multiple rocket launcher armed with thermobaric weapons.

FOSTER: Clare is here with us this morning. And this was a major achievement this particular weapon that they hit.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they say this comes from the land forces in Ukraine, they released this video. They say that they hit the TOS-1 multiple rocket launcher, a Russian rocket launcher that's capable of firing weapons with thermobaric warheads. And they say the one they hit did have those warheads.

You can see from the scale of the explosion there that that is potentially plausible. Thermobaric warheads, of course are commonly known as vacuum bombs. They are very destructive, much more so than conventional munitions. They suck the sort of oxygen out of the surrounding area. And for that reason -- although they're not explicitly banned under the Geneva Convention, they are extremely controversial because of the sort of mass casualty impacts that they can have. And we know that Russia has been deploying these kinds of weapons sporadically throughout the war. Most recently there has been evidence of it being used on the front lines in Donetsk. So, a big prize, as you say, to Ukraine. The head of the president's office calling this a nice picture.

FOSTER: In terms of looking at what at the moments, and the sort of efforts to get more weapons on the Ukrainian side, how is that going? So, we're hearing from NATO -- we're hearing from NATO again today.

SEBASTIAN: Yes, the interesting thing about the last couple days of the defense minister's meetings was that, yes, we're seeing more pledges the high tech, the more heavy weaponry, things like tanks and all of that. But attention really turned to ammunition. Because Jens Stoltenberg was warning -- the Secretary-General of NATO -- that essentially Ukraine is going through ammunition faster than it can be produced by NATO allies.

So now the attention has to turn among NATO countries, really to the military industrial complex, how they can ramp up production. And we have seen promises of the fact that they are going to try and do that. So, this is a stage we're at in the war that has shifted the calculus for NATO countries is to how they can keep their own stock replenished at the same time they're supporting Ukraine.

FOSTER: Clare, thank you.

NOBILO: Ahead the moment a former attorney finds out that he is the focus of the investigation into the murders of his wife and son.

FOSTER: Plus, a rousing reception for Nikki Haley as she kicks off her presidential campaign in her home state of South Carolina.

[04:30:00]