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Ukrainians Defiant, Determined As War Enters Second Year; Biden Rules Out Sending F-16 Fighter Jets To Ukraine for Now; Toxic Train Derailment; Court Docs Reveal Judge Rejected GOP Rep Scott Perry's Bid To Shield Phone Records; Votes Being Counted In Closely Watched Presidential Race; Family Turns To Billboards To Find Kidney For Daughter. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired February 25, 2023 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:01:33]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: Welcome back to the CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.

Much of the world expected Ukraine to fall quickly to Russia's invasion given the onslaught of man and machines and heavy weaponry. Now, Ukraine enters a second year of battling its way to freedom in that war. And this time -- this time lapse I should say, just shows how successful Ukraine's military has been this past year, the Russian troops marked in red mostly contained to Ukraine's east and southeast since last summer. Today, that fighting in the east is intensifying and Ukraine's military is calling for more Western aid including fighter jets.

President Biden for now appears to be turning down the request from Ukraine's President for F-16s. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're sending him what our seasoned military thinks he needs now. He needs tanks. He needs artillery. He needs air defense, including another HIMARS. Those are things he needs now that we're sending him to put them in a position to be able to make gains this spring and this summer going into the fall.

He doesn't need F-16s now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: The U.S. has announced a $2 billion aid package, but according to the United Nations, Ukraine has already paid a heavy price. Eight million Ukrainians have fled their country, of those who remain, 18 million are in dire need of assistance. That's nearly 40 percent of the population.

This afternoon, take a look at this, a remembrance of the suffering this war has caused, a crowd of supporters, many of them waving Ukraine's flag gathered at the Lincoln Memorial here in Washington, DC. Let's begin this hour in Ukraine's capital, CNN' Melissa Bell is in Kyiv for us.

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jim, a day after those ceremonies held here in the center of Kyiv to mark the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion, and to celebrate the fact that Kyiv had been able to stand, no sign of the nationwide strikes that so many Ukrainian officials had been warning about and Ukrainian civilians had been preparing for, but rather for that first year anniversary and ever since an intensification of the fighting along the front line on the Eastern front, and specifically news from Bakhmut, which according to Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner mercenary group, that group that has been so key in providing more manpower as Russian forces try to encircle the town, Yevgeny Prigozhin claiming that two important villages to the north and northwest had now fallen.

We've also been hearing from the Ukrainian side in the shape of Ukrainian Commander saying that for the infantry time to hold this town, which would be symbolically hugely important as a gain to Russia, but also strategically so as it pursues its aim of trying to take the whole of the Donbas. The Ukrainian Commander explaining that the infantry there were running out of what they needed to try and hold their lines, specifically lacking airplanes, tanks, and long range artillery.

This, as the Western Allies continue to pledge more support to Ukraine. The Ukrainians continue to say that they need more help if they're going to hold firm -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, Melissa Bell reporting from Kyiv for us, thank you.

Let's continue this conversation with former Defense Secretary during the Clinton administration, William Cohen.

Mr. Secretary, great to see you. As always, we appreciate it. What do you make of the President's comments about these F-16 fighter jets? He is not closing the door on it completely it sounds, but he is saying, "not now." Your thoughts?

Mr. Secretary, can you hear me?

WILLIAM COHEN, FORMER US DEFENSE SECRETARY: I can hear you.

[18:05:07]

ACOSTA: Okay. Yes, no, I was just asking, President Biden saying "not now" on the F-16 fighter jets going to Ukraine. Your thoughts on that? It doesn't sound like he is closing the door completely on that, but doesn't Ukraine need those fighter jets sooner rather than later, do you think?

COHEN: They are going to need them and I would, again, defer to President Biden and his security team. But from my perspective, if we are planning for the long haul, because Putin is planning for a long war, then we ought to start training the pilots now. It takes months, and if we get to the fall and saying, well, now you're finally ready to be able to go, but we don't have any planes ready. I think that President Biden ordered, at least allow them to start training on the F-16. In the meantime, I think that Poland has offered to have transported some MIG-29s.

I think they need to have more air power, because right now they're playing defense. The Russians are crushing them, just assaulting them long range with cruise missiles, with other types of artilleries, long range, even from Russian territory, even from the Black Sea, and I think they are on their heels trying to hold.

I think we have to give them the capability of going on the offense, not just the counter offense, on the offense to punch holes in the Russian defense line.

Now, the President' is in a better position than me or other people sitting on the sidelines watching this, but yes, that'll be my call.

ACOSTA: And let's turn to China, because as you've probably seen in the last day or so, China has said that it has a peace plan for Ukraine. Can China be trusted on this issue at all?

COHEN: I think China can play a role in helping to resolve this conflict, because they are in fact a senior partner to Russia. I think other countries who are sitting on the sidelines as well. I think India can play a role. I think, all of our friends in the Middle East can play a role, anyone who is doing business with the Russians, buying their oil and gas or guns, getting support from them, I think all of them have a role here, because this is not just Ukraine.

And the notion is what happens in Ukraine doesn't stay in Ukraine, and what happens there on a positive level that will spread to other countries as well. If they are defeated, that sends a signal to the dictators and tyrants and autocrats they can take territory and the United States and the West will not be there.

ACOSTA: But President Zelenskyy has said he might like to meet with the Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Your thoughts on that? Good idea?

COHEN: I think from perspective, absolutely. If Xi wants to be a peacemaker, then he has got to sit down with the parties of the conflict, that means the Russians and Ukrainians. But I think that -- I'm not sure he is prepared to do that right now. I don't think he sees President Zelenskyy as being at his level. I think he's at that level.

I think he is a Churchillian figure, to say the least, that he is standing up to an onslaught from the Russians who have tried to decimate his country. If you think about it, Jim, what Putin is saying is, "Marry me, my little beauty or I will kill you." That's the message coming from Putin. "I'm going to kill you if you don't come under my embrace, as you were once upon a time."

ACOSTA: And the question --

COHEN: I think he understands --

ACOSTA: Yes, and the question is, whether China is trying to force Ukraine to the altar. I mean, you know, what we're hearing from our sources is that US Intelligence has some indication that China is thinking about sending drones and ammunition to Russia. How do you trust China being a neutral arbiter in all of this if they're supplying that kind of assistance?

COHEN: Well, if they were to do that, I think they'd be making a big mistake, but I also don't like negotiating in public with the Chinese or any other country.

I think we need to sit down with President Xi -- President Biden and President Xi sit down and start talking about ways in which we can defuse this conflict, get Ukraine back to where it was prior to 2014, back with a massive amount of rebuilding in that country, because they have been decimated by a country that has violated every law on the books, international law, human rights law, war crimes.

So I think that President Xi and President Biden should be getting together talking about ways we can reduce tensions and the Chinese have a major role to play. They're not involved directly now, but they could be in the future and if they are, that will set us off on a lower level than we are today with the Chinese, which is pretty low in my opinion. I think that's dangerous for us, I think it's dangerous for the world.

[18:10:09]

ACOSTA: Well, let's do a deep dive on that. Stay with me, Mr. Secretary because on this topic of US-China tensions, the South China Sea is one of the most contested regions in the world where Chinese fighter jets will sometimes confront US military aircraft.

A CNN crew was onboard a Navy plane as one of these encounters unfolded. CNN's Ivan Watson walks us through that experience. We'll talk about it with the Secretary on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This is a close encounter with a Chinese warplane filmed just off the wing of a US Navy reconnaissance plane flying over the South China Sea.

WATSON (on camera): We're getting a closer look at a Chinese fighter jet. The aircrew here identifies it as a J-11, a two-seater that they say is armed with air-to-air missiles, and it has been shadowing this US Navy playing now for about 15 minutes.

It is pretty remarkable to see this Chinese war plane operating at such close proximity, just several hundred feet away from our aircraft.

WATSON (voice over): The Chinese fighter escort part of a regular routine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd say it's another Friday afternoon in the South China Sea.

WATSON (voice over): The US Navy invited CNN to fly on a P8 reconnaissance plane taking off from the US airbase on the Japanese island of Okinawa. Along the way, picking up fuel from a flying gas station.

WATSON (on camera): We're refueling in midair right now, flying just about 40 feet away from a KC-135 tanker plane.

WATSON (voice over): The plane is headed past the self-governing island of Taiwan, which China claims as its own to, the South China Sea which China also claims almost all for itself, ignoring competing claims from countries like Vietnam and The Philippines.

Some 30 miles from the Chinese occupied Paracel Islands, a Chinese voice crackles over the radio.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: American aircraft, this is the PLA Air Force. you are approaching Chinese airspace. Keep a safe distance or you will be intercepted.

WATSON (voice over): That's when the Chinese People's Liberation Army fighter jet appears flying so close you can see the pilots in their cockpit.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: PLA fighter aircraft , this is US Navy P8 on VHF 121 decimal 5. O hold you on my left wing and I intend to continue to proceed to the west.

WATSON (voice over): The Chinese pilot never responds, but eventually leaves when the US plane turns south.

WILL TORRES, COMMODORE, US NAVY: It's like oil spots as they build on one reef and then build on another.

WATSON (voice over): Commodore Will Torres then shows the network of manmade islands China built on what had been coral reefs claimed by other countries.

TORRES: Our number one focus here is to ensure that we have continued access alongside all of our allies and partners to international airspace and international waters.

WATSON (voice over): The US presence here aimed at preventing further encroachment by China.

WATSON (on camera): We are flying at a low altitude, a thousand feet, a little more than 300 meters above sea level east of Taiwan, looking for a Chinese warship currently believed to be operating in these stormy waters.

WATSON (voice over): The plane spots a Chinese guided missile destroyer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: US aircraft. US aircraft. This is Chinese Navy warship. You are approaching me. Keep safe distance away from me, over.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am a United States military aircraft and I will remain a safe distance from your unit.

WATSON (voice over): A cat and mouse game between two rival militaries in one of the most hotly contested regions in the world.

Ivan Watson, CNN, over the South China Sea.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: Pretty remarkable footage there, Mr. Secretary from our Ivan Watson.

China, as you know, is relentlessly building up its military presence in the South China Sea. These tensions are simmering now. You can see it play out in that piece we just showed our viewers.

Your sense as to whether this could become a flashpoint?

COHEN: Oh, I think it could be and almost did with that particular shot you're showing. Go back to 2001, a similar incident took place with one of our surveillance aircraft in international airspace. A Chinese fighter jet came up and started to try to push the plane off its course. It ended up colliding at least partially with the aircraft and the Chinese pilot went down and died. Our aircraft had to land in Hainan and it took some negotiation to get all 24 of the people on board that plane back.

That is a danger we're faced with China and that's even more reason why we need to be sitting down with the Chinese to talk. It is even more reason why the Chinese Defense Minister ought to answer the phone when Secretary Lloyd Austin is calling him.

[18:15:17]

COHEN: That's particularly the reason why the phone situation was set up and it took 10 years to do that. I started it on 1997, they finally agreed in 2007, but that's the reason.

If there is something potentially could really blossom into a major confrontation with the Chinese, we need to be talking to them. I think it is going to be dangerous going forward, and that's all the more reason why we need to start talking to each other, so we don't have a Chinese pilot coming up and taking out a surveillance plane.

And the irony here, as you recall how the Chinese reacted when we shot down finally, a balloon hanging over the United States and yet, they're complaining about the United States being too aggressive on that and other protocols and not returning it immediately. We have to be careful that our surveillance planes staying in international airspace, staying our ships in international waters, because the Chinese are claiming they own all of the South China Sea and no one, but the Chinese accepts that.

ACOSTA: Well, and then that makes me wonder whether the Chinese are being too cute by half, Mr. Secretary, because, as you know, China is helping to prop up Russia's economy, offset sanctions from the US and its allies, and this week, Russia and China pledged to strengthen their ties even more.

I mean, does that have the makings of another Cold War?

COHEN: It has the potential for that. But as I indicated, number one, the Chinese are not really interested in engaging the United States on that type of a Cold War. Economically speaking, they need the West, they need American investment in China, they need the European companies and countries investing in China.

So I think that they have a lot to lose in this should they have this relationship where they are funneling money or material, but not just the Chinese. The Indians also are doing business with the Russians.

All of the countries and our friends in the Middle East are doing business with the Russian. Everybody has a say, because if this really does spin out of control, if we continue this war for one more year, two more years, three more years, that has the potential to spread this conflict well beyond Ukraine, and they all have a stake in this.

So no sitting on the sidelines for them, and they shouldn't be there. They should be helping to bring this to a conclusion by cutting off their supply -- their purchase of Russian oil, gas, guns, and bombs. They need to stop that.

ACOSTA: All right, very good. Thank you very much, Secretary William Cohen. Always appreciate your time. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it.

Coming up, growing anger in Ohio after an initial report finds the toxic train derailment was completely preventable as officials work to remove contaminated soil and liquid. Why the EPA is halting all hazardous waste shipments from that site.

And House Speaker Kevin McCarthy gave FOX host, Tucker Carlson, 44,000 hours of security footage from the Capitol riot, the same Tucker Carlson that has promoted a baseless conspiracy theory surrounding the attack.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:22:37]

ACOSTA: Today, all hazardous waste shipments from the toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio have been stopped. The EPA says it will now review Norfolk Southern's plans for disposal of the contaminated material after officials in Texas and Michigan said they were unaware of the waste was being sent to their States.

This comes on the heels of an initial report into the cause of the derailment. The head of the NTSB said the incident was 100 percent preventable. CNN's Polo Sandoval is following this.

Polo, I just want to remind everyone the hazardous material the train was carrying is a known carcinogen. What's going on with this cleanup.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a PR nightmare for Norfolk Southern, Jim, and it doesn't show any signs of stopping now with this latest developments.

You have local officials in both Texas and in the State of Michigan that are basically saying that -- and they are recognizing that even though that rail company was perhaps not legally obligated to notify them that some of the hazardous waste that was being removed from the site was going to certified plants in their communities, a phone call would have been nice, at least a heads up given the story were certainly in the early stages of the derailment, information was a bit hard to come by, or at least very hard to come by for many of the residents there in East Palestine, Ohio.

Let's start with Harris County, for example. The Chief Executive there, Lina Hidalgo saying that she first learned that two million gallons of the water that was used for firefighting efforts during the incident earlier this month, she found out about it on the news that some of this water, nearly two million gallons of it would be disposed at a facility in her community. So she is certainly taking issue with that.

Meanwhile, Texas Molecular, the company that was hired for the disposal of this water responding saying that they have decades and with four decades of experience handling water safely. So that hopefully should be something reassuring for people in Texas.

But then you also have the situation in Michigan where some of the contaminated soil, some 4,800 cubic yards of it was expected to go to the State of Michigan, in Wayne County, Michigan to be precise, to be disposed of there. You have officials in Michigan that are also saying that they did not get a heads up about that.

So now fast forward to today, the US EPA responding to these concerns while in East Palestine, Ohio today saying that this material does have to go somewhere in terms of its disposal, but they also recognize that they have to at least temporarily halt these shipments to further review the process in place.

Here is what one of the regional directors said just a few moments ago from Ohio.

[18:25:10]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEBRA SHORE, REGIONAL EPA ADMINISTRATOR: The one thing that's been made clear to me is that everyone wants this contamination gone from the community. They don't want the worry, and they don't want the smell. And we owe it to the people of East Palestine to move it out of the community as quickly as possible.

At the same time, I know there are folks in other States with concerns, legitimate concerns about how this waste is being transported, and how it will be disposed of. EPA will continue to work with our local, State, and Federal partners to use our long-standing experience and expertise in these matters to ensure the health and safety and support the East Palestine community and to hold Norfolk Southern accountable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: We are still reaching out to that railroad companies to see what the response is. But in the meantime, it's just important to point out that both leaders in both communities, both in Wayne County and also in Texas, they don't have any reason to believe that it's being mishandled, at least the material. It's more, they want more information.

ACOSTA: No question about it.

All right, Polo Sandoval, thank you very much.

And earlier today, I spoke with former Transportation Secretary, Ray LaHood, and he told me that Congress needs to do more to prevent calamities like this from happening.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAY LAHOOD, FORMER TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: There really needs to be not only to hear the recommendations of the NTSB, unfortunately, that'll be a while. I think the DoT could step up and make some recommendations to Congress right now, and for all those members of Congress that are out there, you know, talking away about this, they could pass the legislation to really stiffen the rules and regulations for the transport of this highly chemical material.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And former Secretary LaHood also went on to say that he does think President Biden should make a trip to East Palestine to show his support and get a look at things on the ground there.

Coming up, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is defending his decision to give 44,000 hours of security footage from the Capitol riot to Tucker Carlson, who has peddled conspiracy theories about the attack in the past.

What he is saying about that decision next, you're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:31:42]

ACOSTA: New updates tonight in the Special Counsel's January 6 investigation, Pennsylvania Congressman Scott Perry's cell phone revealing the Republican lawmaker was "proactive and persistent" in his efforts to pressure Trump officials to overturn the 2020 election, that's according to newly released court documents showing a judge rejecting the Congressman's bid to shield over 2,000 personal phone records from investigators. Perry was among those working behind the scenes to help Trump overturn the 2020 election.

Joining me now to talk about this is former Republican Congressman Denver Riggleman who is a senior adviser to the January 6 Committee.

Congressman, thanks for being with us. We appreciate it. Your sense of this? I mean, how is it that we're still seeing this legal wrangling over Congressman Perry's phone records? It's - it sounds very critical to the investigation.

DENVER RIGGLEMAN (FORMER REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMAN): Well, it does and it's not just the CDRs, the call detail records we're talking about, Jim, but also the phone exploitation itself. So not only do you have the two from calls are where he was when he was making those calls, if you actually look at the direct phone, you can see the files that are stored in those phones.

So there's two things here, there's the phone records, which we really tried hard to get into January 6 or I wanted to have them in the January 6 Committee. There's also the cell phone itself. And there's just so much data out there. And if you think just with our call records alone, we have - almost had 30 million lines of data.

So this is a huge sprawling type of thing and it's a real technical challenge for individuals to get all this data. And it's not a surprise to me either. Jim, you know this. I saw the Meadows' text messages and Scott was pretty active on those text messages and kept asking Meadows to go to Signal an encrypted app.

So again, this doesn't surprise me in any way that there - this data could be on the phone, but also, that's a little bit different from the call detail records themselves.

ACOSTA: And so just to help our viewers, Signal is one of these apps that you can use to send text messages to one another and they're not they're as traceable, I guess, as text messages. And you're saying that --

RIGGLEMAN: That's correct.

ACOSTA: -- your read of this data that was going on in the January 6 investigative process showed that Perry was trying to sort of get around the sort of like - it sounded like he was conscious of the fact that his text with Meadows might be read someday.

RIGGLEMAN: Yes. I mean, their Signal chats set up everywhere, right? You have a lot of encrypted apps that are - that you're able to send those type of messages without people saying it. And Scott kept saying on the text messages themselves, hey, let's go to Signal.

So that's why it's really important to see the phone too if he's doing something illegal, right? If the judges are pretty sure that they need to see that data, they need to see that evidence, right? The files on the phone are different from the actual call detail records where you can see who they're calling, when they're calling and what type of medium they're using, like text messages, MMS or SMS or things like that. ACOSTA: And this week, we learned federal prosecutors have asked a judge to compel former Vice President Mike Pence to testify before grand jury about the January 6 attack. Pence is digging in on this. Let's listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The idea of subpoenaing a former vice president to testify in court against the president with whom they serve I believe is unprecedented in American history. But as I said last week, I believe it's also unconstitutional.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[18:35:02]

ACOSTA: Can you see any way that Pence wins this fight, Denver? I mean - and what is your take on the former vice president resisting this?

RIGGLEMAN: Well, I get a - I have a personal dark space in my heart for the people who stormed the Capitol on January 6th and seeing what Vice President Pence did at that time, there was courage there. However, you know what else is unprecedented, Jim? Attack on the Capitol on January 6.

So it's sort of it's sort of a ridiculous equivalency to say, hey, they've never asked a Vice President to talk about what happened about a president's actions that day, but it's also a bit unprecedented that the Capitol was sacked on January 6th.

I really don't know, I guess, around it, but I'm not a lawyer, right, but as far as the data is concerned, as far as what's been said before, people that are self-identified, the Pence card that was put out by some ridiculous fantasist. All this stuff, I think, needs to be asked and I think those questions need to be answered.

So again, yes, it's unprecedented, but January 6 was unprecedented. So let's not be too ridiculous here.

ACOSTA: And let me ask you about Kevin McCarthy, the House Speaker in his decision to give Tucker Carlson over at Fox access to 44,000 hours of Capitol surveillance footage from the January 6th insurrection. McCarthy told the New York Times that he is fulfilling a promise added, "I think sunshine lets everybody make their own judgment." Of course, it would be great if he gave it to all the news outlets, not just Tucker Carlson over at Fox, but what do you make of this?

RIGGLEMAN: It's ridiculous for God's sakes. I mean, that's like me giving Christmas presents to my daughter and then flush them down the toilet in front of them. I mean, you're actually giving data and video to somebody who did some stupid documentary like the Patriot Purge.

And looking at everything this week, McCarthy giving the video files to Tucker Carlson for - unbelievable, but also the bizarre comments from Marjorie Taylor Greene when she's talking about this national divorce or civil war or Tulsi Gabbard talking about diversity hires, being part of Hitler (inaudible) or Nazi Germany.

It seemed like there's some moron intelligencia (ph) out there that's spreading this crap all over the digital airwaves and all over traditional media or cable media. So it's just incredible to me that these decisions are being made, but it's a scary time.

You would think back in, what, the 2000s when they made the movie Idiocracy, that that wouldn't be true. But unseriousness is now turning almost to this violent idiocracy where you have these incredible fantasists and conspiracy theorists actually able to mold public opinion based on the stupidity that's coming out of their mouths or the data that they're sending to actual people who have no real rational way of looking at things, so it's very troubling to me.

The sane and the normal, I think, are looking at this and scratching their heads like what's going to happen next.

ACOSTA: Denver, one of the reasons why I wanted to ask you this question is because you were a former member of Congress and apparently a coalition of news organizations, including CNN, is now requesting, formally requesting that the speaker released this video to all news outlets, which I don't understand why they would just release them to one news outlet and not all news outlets, that just doesn't make any sense, but --

RIGGLEMAN: Yes.

ACOSTA: -- what --

RIGGLEMAN: (Inaudible) --

ACOSTA: -- are there any security risks to this footage being made public and only being made public to Fox?

RIGGLEMAN: Absolutely, there's security risks. When you're looking at angles of attack, when you're looking at the actual video and where it's taken, things of that nature, it's really easy to mission plan around that. I mean, I've done this. My God, I was in military intelligence for 20 years, so that's the danger.

And here's the thing, the reason he's given it to Tucker first is they have a head start to set the narrative. I mean, let's just be honest. I mean, it's as simple as that. It's a political decision, it's not really a decision for the American people. And when you take an oath like I did as a congressman and a military member, I just think it's appalling that you identify one individual to send that type of video tape or footage to when you have other news organizations that should have that same opportunity if you're going to do something that's stupid anyway, right, to send that kind of video footage.

It's just appalling. For somebody who sat on the committee, it's very bothersome and I think - and it's just - it's completely unserious and irresponsible. And I think you're going to see - what do you think Tucker's people are going to do with it? I mean, they can send any conspiracy theory they want. They can create any story or fantasy they want out of that. And they can get ahead of the other news organizations and try to set a narrative and I think that's for the 2024 election.

ACOSTA: All right. Denver Riggleman, thanks as always for your time, we appreciate it.

RIGGLEMAN: Thanks, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. Coming up, Turkey has now arrested more than 170 people for alleged poor building construction following the devastating earthquake earlier this month as the death toll continues to rise. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:43:45]

ACOSTA: Right now in Nigeria, votes are being counted in what is considered Nigeria's tightest presidential election since military rule ended there more than 20 years ago. Turnout was high with some 87 million people eligible to vote. Final results aren't expected until early next week.

And CNN's Larry Madowo is in Lagos, Nigeria with the latest.

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jim, polls are now closed nationwide in Nigeria's tightest election ever. What happens now is the slow pacing process of counting the votes. What do you have back there is they hold up a ballot, one by one, everybody watching has to agree that that's the person that they voted for and so that will take awhile, which is why we can predict exactly when the result will be known.

The Independent National Electoral Commission says they will do it speedily. It might be a couple of days until we know. There were a few reported instances of violence in parts of Lagos and other parts of the country, but these are isolated. It's not a pattern that we can see at least apparently.

There were also at least 200 polling stations where voting didn't take place because of insecurity and security has been a major issue for voters in this election. But the election is taking part of the backdrop of a major fuel and cash shortage, it's led to some chaotic scenes at gas stations and at banks. And now whoever becomes the next president of Nigeria has to deal with an economy on the verge of crumbling.

[18:45:02]

There are 18 people running, but only three men have a realistic chance of becoming the next president of Africa's most populous nation, two are from established parties, Atiku Abubakar and Bola Tinubu. And the third force, Peter Obi, who's excited young people gotten a record number of them to vote in this election.

And Nigerian election is a massive logistical nightmare, 93 million registered voters is more than the next 14 West African nations combined. So it's sort of like organizing an election for an entire subcontinent in just one day and that's why at this location (inaudible) two of the polling stations there were no votes happening and they don't understand why. But the people we spoke to told us they will wait for as long as it takes because they want to make a statement in this election, Jim?

ACOSTA: All right. Thanks, Larry.

And the Biden administration has made good on a promise to provide another $50 million to Turkey and Syria to assist in what the administration is calling unexpected urgent refugee and migration needs. This as the death toll from that earthquake continues to rise. More than 50,000 people have been killed in Syria and Turkey. Turkey has arrested more than 170 people for alleged poor building construction.

The justice minister there said inspections and materials will be inspected in damaged or collapsed buildings. The Turkish government, meantime, has started rebuilding houses in the quake zone this despite criticism from engineers and architects who warn of risk from continued aftershocks in the region.

Coming up, recent high school graduate, Isabella, needs a hero to save her life. You could be that hero. She's here next to explain live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:51:04]

ACOSTA: Right now more than 104,000 people here in the U.S. need an organ transplant. That's according to the Department of Health and Human Services. And 85 percent of everyone on the transplant list needs a kidney, so how do you beat the odds to get that life saving transplant?

Joining me now is Isabella Dufauchard and her mother Laura and Mark Alberhasky. Thanks so much.

You guys have been very inventive, very creative to get the word out about Isabella. She is in severe renal failure and on dialysis six hours a night. She and her family have - put up billboards across the Atlanta area in the hopes that a donor can be found. And we're spreading these billboards all over the world right now by showing them right here on CNN.

Isabella, tell us about how you're doing and how did this come up? How did this idea come up of putting up a billboard?

ISABELLA DUFAUCHARD, NEEDS KIDNEY TRANSPLANT: Well, the billboards were all Mark's idea, really. He had reached out to some people that he knew and told them about my story and they thought what a great idea to spread the word through billboards all throughout the Atlanta area.

ACOSTA: And tell me about how you're doing. I mean, what's it been like for you? DUFAUCHARD: It's been very hard. I - it took a big impact on my day to day life. I had to - about everything that I did, I had to think twice about it. I'm on a really strict diet, so I'm not supposed to eat a lot of things that I like and I have to do dialysis every night. So I have to be aware that it takes six hours, so I need to go to bed by this time if I have to be up by this time in the morning. And I know that I only have like four to five good hours a day of energy, so I try to squeeze a lot into those four to five hours.

ACOSTA: Wow. Well, then it means a lot that you're doing this with us right now.

Laura, let me ask you, how hard has this been for you as a mom in all of this? And I guess what can you tell us about the awareness that your family has received about this issue of organ transplants? They can be very difficult to find somebody who can be a good match for you.

LAURA DUFAUCHARD, ISABELLA'S MOM: Yes, it's been devastating to find out because we had no idea that that was what the doctors were going to diagnose. And then to find out that she could be on a waiting list for eight years. It was unbearable to think that she would have to go through this for eight years waiting for a donor.

So thank goodness, I have this wonderful partner, who has been a tremendous help in helping us spread the word. He had a friend - Mark, you could probably --

MARK ALBERHASKY, LAURA DUFAUCHARD'S PARTNER: Well --

L. DUFAUCHARD: -- tell them.

ACOSTA: Yes, tell us, Mark.

ALBERHASKY: I have an interesting background in medicine and then the creative arts. And when these ladies came into my life and I began to understand and see firsthand what a challenge it was for them, I wanted to do something. And I've registered the domain kidney4izzy and then created a website for her.

But really, things started to happen when another friend, Wendy Hickey, with ArtPop Street Gallery. I got in touch with her and explained to her what I was trying to do because she inspired me in the past and she said Izzy needs her own billboards. And within a couple of days literally, she got billboards donated, 17 digital billboards all over Atlanta --

ACOSTA: Wow.

ALBERHASKY: -- with like a 3 million person a week views.

L. DUFAUCHARD: And we've had quite a response.

ACOSTA: Yes. What's it been like?

L. DUFAUCHARD: Every - yes, every day I receive emails from the website and asking saying that they want to see if they could be a match.

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And so I've been giving them the information of her transplant coordinator to reach out and get tested.

So far we haven't had a match yet, but we're praying.

ALBERHASKY: That's the challenge --

ACOSTA: Yes.

ALBERHASKY: -- a lot of people in the public don't understand how tricky it is to find the correct match. And you can go through many, many, many prospective donors and not get the match that you need.

ACOSTA: Wow.

ALBERHASKY: So that's why we keep pushing and why we're so appreciative to have CNN help us get the message out.

L. DUFAUCHARD: Yes, we --

ACOSTA: Well, if we can --

L. DUFAUCHARD: -- thank you, guys.

ACOSTA: -- yes - no, I was going to say if we can't, we should share the billboard one more time if we can put it up on screen. You can take my face out of there, just put them in the billboard up, that's fine with me. There it is, be --

ALBERHASKY: If there's any --

ACOSTA: -- go ahead.

ALBERHASKY: If there's any message I want your viewers to have, it's if you're in this situation, you have to be proactive. If you sit back and wait, it'll be years and years, but you just have to use social media and all the different things, car stickers to get your word out.

ACOSTA: Absolutely. Well and you've done an amazing job doing that. Isabella, Laura and Mark I'll tweet out a link as well and try to get the word out as best as I can. But best of luck to you. We're praying for you, hoping for a miracle and please keep us updated. We want to know how things are progressing. I have a good feeling. I have a good feeling something's going to pull through.

I. DUFAUCHARD: Thank you so much.

L. DUFAUCHARD: Thank you so much.

ALBERHASKY: (Inaudible), thank you so much, Jim.

L. DUFAUCHARD: Thank you.

ACOSTA: Thanks so much. We appreciate it.

If you want to learn more to help out, visit their website that is kidney4lizzie - excuse me 4izzy - kidney4izzy.me, kidney4izzy.me and we'll be right back.

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