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Right Now: Tornado Watch In Effect For Parts Of Indiana; Energy Dept. Assess COVID-19 Likely Came From Lab Leak In China; Judge In Texas May Rule Today On Lawsuit To Ban Abortion Bill. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired February 27, 2023 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

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VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there. I'm Victor Blackwell. Welcome to CNN NEWSROOM.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Bianna Golodryga.

We begin this hour with powerful winter storms on the move. Heavy snow is expected across the Great Lakes and northeast in the coming days. But right now, a tornado watch is still in effect for parts of Indiana and Ohio after severe storms moved across the Midwest earlier today. This was in Champaign, Illinois.

You can see what appears to be a funnel cloud in the distance there. Now, hours earlier, the same storm system unleashed at least nine tornadoes across Oklahoma and Kansas shredding homes and toppling cars. At least seven tornadoes hit Oklahoma alone.

BLACKWELL: You can see the extent of the damage in Norman. This is just outside of Oklahoma City. Officials say at least 12 people have been injured and the National Weather Service says preliminary data indicates the tornado that hit this area was at least EF2. More than 200,000 homes and businesses still without power across several states. Listen here as one woman describes the moment the tornado hit.

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FRANCES TABER, RESCUES FROM HOME AFTER BEING TRAPPED: Before I can even bleak, I could hear the wind coming all of a sudden, all the back windows with the kids' bedrooms are. I can hear them just crashing -- busting out. And I got up and then the wind just threw me back. And I'm screaming. It was like a blizzard inside the house with all the debris flying. I was screaming for my kids because they were in their bedrooms. I didn't know if they were hurt anything.

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BLACKWELL: CNN's senior national correspondent Ed Lavandera is with us now from Norman, Oklahoma. Ed, it's even scarier and more jarring when it happens at night and all you have is the sound and the powers out. What are you seeing around here? ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I've always said that that is by far what makes these nighttime tornadoes the most fearful thing because you just don't know what direction it's coming from, how much time you have to react. And a storm of this magnitude really kind of -- even though people knew was coming you know, it's really kind of hard to prepare for. And you can see the magnitude. This is a large -- what appears to be a large storage shed -- corrugated metal storage shed ripped to shreds here. This is on the edge of this neighborhood in Norman, Oklahoma that took this direct hit from this tornado, as you mentioned, the weather service describing it as EF2.

And what really the story of this particular storm system has been was the intense winds that started in the Texas panhandle where at one point a 114-mile-per-hour wind gust was recorded in the small town of Memphis, Texas. And the sustained winds through much of this storm as it came through here, 70 to 80 miles per hour. That is just a terrifying storm system that blew through here. So, the fact that there's only 12 people injured and no fatalities is really stunning.

Earlier this morning, we met Tabitha Heaton, who is a tenth-grade geometry teacher at a high school in Oklahoma City. She told us she was home alone. And even hours after the storm had passed, she was still shaking.

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TABITHA HEATON, HOME DAMAGED: I went to Walmart not maybe an hour earlier for groceries for the week and whatnot. I got home. I got it unpacked, turned on the news because I knew there was the weather. And I was like, oh, is this kind of one headed towards sweat?

I heard the sirens go off. I'm like, I'm might going to -- I'm might going to get my safe place. So, I grabbed my cat, I guess for like a second. I was like, I might not have a house.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: You know as many people were inside their homes, you can see the windows blown out here, but what really stands out this particular home. You just see that hole on the side of the house there. You know those are -- that is flying debris, a piece of two by fours some other piece of wood that literally just shot through the siding there.

The impact of that is indescribable. So that's why we talked about only 12 people injured really is stunning considering the amount of debris that was flying around this neighborhood when the storm hit. Victor and Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, the recovery and the rebuilding will be significant there. Just looking at those images. Ed Lavandera, thank you.

Well, that tornado watch is in effect for parts of Indiana, Ohio, and now Kentucky. CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam -- Van Dam is here for us. So, Derek, the severe weather just isn't letting up for these parts.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. And, Bianna, keep in mind that some of the storms that rolled through where Ed is currently located had wind gusts over 75 miles per hour, so there are in fact 15 reports of that. That is a category one hurricane. That's what we experienced when we're covering hurricanes. Just incredible to see that whipping through the Midwest.

[14:05:07]

And now that same storm system has its eyes set on the Ohio River Valley. This is where we have our severe weather risk today. This is a level two of five where you see the shading of yellow. And look at the large cities, Louisville, Cincinnati, Columbus, as well as Indianapolis.

Now the threat is coming to a gradual end from west to east. This is the backside of the storm system kind of the low pressure. But ahead of it, that is where we're getting that spin and the upper levels of the atmosphere, and that's allowing for those showers and thunderstorms to become severe. In fact, we have our latest watch box, which as you said, includes parts of Northern Kentucky, as well as Western and Central sections of Ohio.

Here's a look at the latest warnings -- severe thunderstorm warnings. Just north of the Cincinnati region, you can see a tornado warning just to the north and west as well. So, these are the line of storms that we're concerned about currently moving through the threat percentage. This is kind of like your likelihood in the -- in a sense of seeing a tornado, 5 percent chance where you see the shading of yellow from a particular point surrounding that by about a 25-mile circumference. So, that is how that is described.

Now, this storm system is also producing snow on the colder side of it. Now, you know we've had a bit of a snow drought in New York City only half an inch so far this season. Well, that's going to change tonight, three to five inches coming your way, more snow for Providence, Rhode Island up to 10 inches for you. And then the weather keeps lining up over the West Coast with more blizzard conditions across the state of California. Victor, Bianna.

BLACKWELL: We'll all get ready. Derek Van Dam watching it all for us, thanks so much.

The Energy Department says it now believes a lab leak in China is most likely the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, before now, the Department said it was undecided on how the virus emerged.

GOLODRYGA: It cites updated intelligence for this new assessment. Now, a caveat. Sources tell CNN the Energy Department has just low confidence in these findings. China predictably is furious and pushing back.

CNN's David Culver joins us now. So, David, you were in Wuhan in China in January of 2020 where the first COVID cases were detected. There was a theory back then, that the virus had emerged at a massive food market there and then traveled to animals.

DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right.

GOLODRYGA: Tell us about how China is now responding though to this new report.

CULVER: You hit it, Bianna, when you said that they're not happy with it. This infuriates them. This is one of the most sensitive issues for the Chinese government. And it's been so sensitive going back to say April 2020, a few months after the initial outbreak that they launched this relentless propaganda campaign to try to counter the narrative, to try to sow doubt and deflect blame.

And it seems to have been mostly successful within China and that it's muddied the waters there. But their reaction a few hours ago from the foreign ministry is one of the -- we've really quite frankly seen many times before, and that is they're telling the U.S. to stop smearing China and to stop politicizing the issue.

Also, worth noting, in that response from the foreign ministry today, they point out that the WHO conclusion after their field visit in 2021. And they say that the WHO field team determined that it was highly unlikely that a lab leak was the origin of COVID-19.

That is true, the WHO field team did say that in their conclusion to that field visit. The issue is, Bianna and Victor, the WHO also went on to ask for a second follow-up field visit and the Chinese said no, that's not going to happen. They did not let that team back into Wuhan, China. And we're hearing from some of those scientists who are part of that and they told me early on, that they had asked for data from some of the Chinese officials who are on the ground, and that data was never handed over to them.

BLACKWELL: David Culver, thank you for the reporting, and stay with us here.

CULVER: OK.

BLACKWELL: CNN national security analyst Juliette Kayyem, is joining the conversation. She's the former assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Juliette, how much credence should people give a most likely report from the Energy Department in which they only have low confidence?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Right. And not much. And I'll just be clear here. You have to look at the totality of the intelligence community's assessment. So, it may be confusing to people who haven't been in this world. I've been a consumer of intelligence my entire career.

So, you have for -- so what happens when there's a question like this is different intelligence communities assess what they know and what they've determined? You are going to rely on the expertise of certain intelligence agencies over another. So, a perfect example is a maritime threat. You're going to lean more heavily on the Coast Guard than you would say on TSA, on an aviation threat. So, right now, here's the scorecard so to speak. You have the Department of Energy at low confidence, the FBI at medium confidence, foreign intelligence agencies more likely than not on the natural release side, and an overall National Intelligence Review also in the same most likely that it was natural.

[14:10:01]

These are all caveated and so we don't know. I mean, the truth is, we don't know. But the idea that a -- that an Energy Department switch to low confidence is -- changes the calculation or should be used politically. It's just -- it's a misunderstanding of how the intelligence works.

GOLODRYGA: So, Juliette, how should we read these qualifiers then? Because the FBI had deemed this moderate confidence that this began in a lab.

KAYYEM: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: And now we have this information from the Department of Energy low confidence.

KAYYEM: Right. So, these are all just levels of caveating because intelligence is something that has to be consumed and then assessed by analysis. So, here's where I start. Not a single intelligence community, a member nor the WHO believes that it is purposeful bioterrorism. I want to make that clear because it is -- this report is being manipulated to suggest that China was purposeful.

All the lab leak theory is also an accidental theory, no matter who you ask, it is that someone got infected in the lab, and then it starts to spread. So, between the lab leak and natural causes, the second point is, we won't know because China, of course, views this as a threat to whatever narrative they -- were the narrative that they want to put out. So, we don't have full transparency.

And so, the question now is, what do we do with this? Why does this matter? Well, it matters, obviously, because you're going to want labs to be safer and to know what had happened. Does it change -- does it change a narrative about how each individual country responded? Probably not.

And the reason why we want to be careful about how we interpret this is because we're reporting China's reaction does matter. I mean, you know, if this was a lab leak, it's very different to them than if this was in say, a market or natural causes. So -- but I'm -- maybe I've been in this role too long. I'm comfortable in the space of we don't know yet, but a totality of the intelligence community believes more likely that it was natural causes. And all of the intelligence community believes that it was not bioterrorism.

BLACKWELL: David, talk to us more about Wuhan. You've been there three times since the initial outbreak.

CULVER: Right. BLACKWELL: Talk to us about the research labs there. There's more than one.

CULVER: There are -- there are several. And two in particular, Victor, that have gotten the focus of those who are skeptical of how the Chinese have handled this. And to Juliette's point, the idea that this was manufactured unintentional that this lab leak then is the source of COVID-19 and that this is what the origin theories rooted in, you can put that aside, and you can say perhaps it is accidental. And then the amplification point where it was really that initial outbreak was that market.

But when you look at the labs, I think this is really important, you have to look at the circumstantial evidence of where they're located. One of them is about a 30-minute drive to the Wuhan Institute of virology from that first amplification point, the market, the other just two blocks away. And the other thing that is undeniable that all of this is the early handling or mishandling from the Chinese government.

I mean, we covered these extensively, there was the silencing of whistleblowers, one of them being a doctor who we spoke with a few days before he ultimately died from COVID-19. And he was simply trying to warn friends and family that this was a strange mystery illness going around. That got screenshotted and went very public and got him in a lot of trouble with local police.

So, there was certainly from the local government in Wuhan, an effort to stop the rumors as they put it from being spread and to keep this quiet. And that is ultimately what folks are looking at here as the real culpability factor. Even beyond how this started is how it was mishandled and the cover-up that followed.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, I remember you covering that. Dr. David, I believe he was an ophthalmologist or something at the time, and it was just heartbreaking to see what happened to him. Juliette, I think the overall concern here is not necessarily just pointing the finger at who's to blame here.

KAYYEM: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: We know that this virus originated in China. We know that unfortunately, we will see future viruses and pandemics to come. And the fact that China has not been transparent in terms of allowing investigators in, I think is a bigger concern.

KAYYEM: That's exactly right. And it's -- and it's -- look, you don't get time back in a pandemic, so exactly as we're all saying, whatever the Genesis is, there's a moment when this can be contained. And China knows that, right? And so, their failure to act, we call it the squandered time, right, that January, possibly December, the dates are still up in the air of 2019 or January 2020 when they start to notice a respiratory disease that is spread very quickly and it's killing, they are not transparent about that.

[14:15:12] There's no -- There's no politics about this. They call in the WHO. They allege, in early January of 2020 that they're concerned about this new outbreak, but it's not causing any deaths. That's just -- that can't possibly be true, right?

China was sufficiently concerned that they begin to notify by early January. People like me who read this stuff are starting to get concerned. And so, if you look at a containment period, China's lack of transparency is responsible for what happened in the two years. I've no doubt about that. Its exact Genesis is still -- is still unknown.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. Well, they're still denying that it even began in China. Juliette Kayyem and David Culver, thank you so much.

KAYYEM: Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: Well, a federal judge is about to rule on a lawsuit that's trying to outlaw abortion medications nationwide. We'll have the details next.

BLACKWELL: Also, ahead. The Supreme Court will soon hear arguments on the president's Student Loan Forgiveness Plan that could impact millions of people. Stay with us.

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GOLODRYGA: A federal judge in Texas could rule as soon as today on a lawsuit seeking to block the use of abortion pills nationwide. The drug in question has been approved for use by the FDA for more than 20 years.

BLACKWELL: So, the judge is a Trump appointee known for his anti- abortion views rooted in his own personal experience. His decision could help more than half the illegal abortions being carried out across the country. CNN justice correspondent Jessica Schneider is with us now. Tell us more about this lawsuit.

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor and Bianna, as you said, you know, this is a decision that will have a nationwide impact. This is one federal judge in Texas. He's being asked to block access to medication abortion nationwide. And given that he is a Trump-appointed judge with a long history of anti-abortion activism before he became a judge, all sides are really anticipating here that he will block the use of this drug.

Now, the abortion pill in question is mifepristone. It's been approved by the FDA for more than 20 years right now. It is being challenged. But right now, medication abortion makes up the majority of abortions nationwide.

So, if the challengers to this drug win as is expected here, it would mean that women in states where abortion has virtually been halted because of the Supreme Court decision, they wouldn't have this drug as another option to them. And even in states where abortion is still legal, it would mean that women would not have this medication abortion option. And that could really create some major backlogs at abortion clinics.

So, this really is the biggest court case and decision since the Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade in June. It is being closely watched because it really would, again, upend abortion access in this country if the use of this pill, guys, is blocked, which is something that is expected and a ruling really could come at any time. We're not sure when. It could be days, or maybe even weeks here.

GOLODRYGA: And Jessica, you'll be following this ruling for us.

SCHNEIDER: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: But also, we know that President Biden's Student Loan Forgiveness Plan will be going before the Supreme Court tomorrow. What can we expect to hear?

SCHNEIDER: Yes. This is a case, Bianna, that really has student borrowers on edge and in limbo because they thought they'd be able to get relief for up to $20,000 by now. But this whole forgiveness program, it's been on hold while this court case has played out. It is now at the Supreme Court with the arguments tomorrow.

So, they're -- the challengers to this program, it includes several Republican-led states, it also includes student borrowers who say that they don't qualify that further relief, they're saying that the Department of Education really overstepped its authority in agreeing to cancel some of the student loan debt and that Congress is the only body who can do this. The government is responding here saying that first, the party is suing including the states, they don't even have the authority to sue so this lawsuit shouldn't be moving forward. But if it does move forward, the government says it has every right to grant this loan debt relief in the wake of the COVID pandemic since the government did this all in response to a national emergency.

So, guys, this is a big issue with a lot at stake. You know millions of borrowers waiting to see what the results are. For now, loan repayment, it is on hold. It will go back into effect 60 days after this ruling depending on what the outcome is. But arguments tomorrow morning beginning around 10: a.m.

GOLODRYGA: All right. Jessica Schneider, thank you.

BLACKWELL: House Republicans plan to launch investigations into the toxic train disaster in eastern Ohio. Meantime, crews are back at the site removing the toxic liquid and the soil. We have the latest on the cleanup and where the waste is headed.

GOLODRYGA: And later, a new book, a media blitz, and a flashy campaign ad all signs point to a 2024 announcement soon from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

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GOLODRYGA: President Biden has been hinting that the launch of his 2024 reelection bid could be just around the corner.

BLACKWELL: And now, it appears he has to be backing and support of the first lady if he decides to run for another term. CNN's Arlette Saenz has the details in an exclusive interview with Jill Biden.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Victor and Bianna, there is no doubt that First Lady Jill Biden plays a huge role in President Biden's life and also his decision-making. And over the weekend while we were traveling with her in Africa, we had the opportunity to ask her about the president's possible reelection bid. The first lady said it's ultimately a decision left up to her husband but in her mind, it's happening.

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SAENZ: Your husband was asked in an interview if he was running, and he joked that he had to call you to find out.

JILL BIDEN, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: Was this recently?

SAENZ: It was recently.

BIDEN: I must have missed it.

SAENZ: So, we're going to the source. Where do things stand? When's in announcement coming?

BIDEN: Well, he said he intends to run, so nothing's been planned yet. I think, you know, he's been so busy with being in Ukraine, handling some of the crises at home. So, I think, you know, he's not -- he's putting that first. He's putting America's business before he's putting his own.

SAENZ: But has the decision been made amongst the family that he's going to run?

BIDEN: Well, it's Joe's really -- it's Joe's decision. And we support whatever he wants to do. If he's in or there. If he wants to do something else, we're there too.

SAENZ: Is there any chance at this point that he's not going to run?

BIDEN: Not in my book.

SAENZ: You're all for it.

BIDEN: I'm all for it, of course.

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SAENZ: President Biden is well known for engaging in these extended deliberations when it comes to his political decisions. It was that way heading into 2020 and it is the same way heading into 2024.