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Trump Speaks At Conservative Political Action Conference; Investigating Trump; Health Concerns In East Palestine, Ohio; Some California Residents Face Lack Of Supplies, Resources; Deputy Commander: Bakhmut Is "Hell" But Under Ukrainian Control; CNN On The Ground Near Russian Positions In Fight For Bakhmut; Fatal Brain-Eating Amoeba Case Might Be Linked To Tap Water. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired March 04, 2023 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:31]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.

Right now, less than 10 miles from the US Capitol, former President Donald Trump is firing up his MAGA base at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the next President of the United States President Donald J. Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: That was the intro for the former President just moments ago, Trump receiving a warm welcome at the annual CPAC gathering where his following has turned dominant and the man who tried to overturn the 2020 election results appears to be the party's frontrunner for 2024 according to recent polls.

Just minutes ago, CPAC released its very nonscientific straw poll, take this with a grain of salt. Trump crushed the politician seen as the biggest rival for the nomination, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, 62 percent to 20.

CNN's Kristen Holmes joins us now from the CPAC. I guess, this was not a big surprise that Trump won the CPAC poll and it's not much of a surprise what he is saying right now, I guess.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it isn't a surprise. It would have actually been a huge surprise if he didn't win the straw poll or win it by a huge margin because CPAC, which used to be the kind of elite conservative meeting, particularly for people who wanted to run for President in the Republican Party has become much more of the Trump show. So had he not won the straw poll, it would have been significantly embarrassing for the campaign.

Now what we're hearing from Trump right now is a very us versus them themed speech. He is making a pitch to be the President once again, and the line that just got a standing ovation was probably the biggest reaction I've seen so far was him saying he wanted to obliterate the Deep State and he's taking on the establishment, including the establishment Republican Party.

I know it's not that surprising. We've heard it before, but it does seem to be a lot of punches at the Republican Party. He said that they were no longer going to be the party of Paul Ryan, Karl Rove, Jeb Bush.

He also pushed harder for isolationism saying they were no longer going to be the party that gave money to endless wars. This is a different stance than so many in the Republican Party.

And so far, he has not called out any other major potential 2024 presidential nominees, however, we did hear him say something that sounded like a very veiled threat at Ron DeSantis. Take a listen here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are not going back to people that want to destroy our great Social Security system, even some of our own party, I wonder who that might be, that want to raise the minimum age of Social Security to seventy, seventy-five or even eighty in some cases, and that are out to cut Medicare to a level that it will no longer be recognizable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Trump has gone after DeSantis over Social Security and Medicare because when DeSantis was in Congress, he suggested that he was open to changing those programs.

So that has been a big point for Trump to patter down on and he has continued to do so. We expect to hear that more and more, so much so that the Florida Governor actually said he didn't think that he should touch those programs, so a complete flip-flop on that point -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, Kristen Holmes, thank you.

Sources tell CNN the former President is asking a Federal Court to block his Vice President Mike Pence from testifying before a Federal grand jury looking into January 6 and the efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

CNN's Jeremy Herb joins us now.

Jeremy, this could potentially serve as another delay tactic for Trump.

JEREMY HERB, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Yes, that's right, Jim, and this is certainly another roadblock for the Special Counsel in his investigation both into January 6 and the classified documents at Mar- a-Lago.

Now, we don't know yet the specifics of what was in this filing from Trump's legal team because it was filed under seal. Sources tell CNN though, that basically Trump is asking for a Federal Judge to block Pence from testifying on executive privilege grounds, on certain matters related to January 6.

It is also important to note that Pence himself is trying to block this subpoena, which was issued earlier last month. Pence is making a different argument than Trump. He says he is protected by the Constitution's Speech and Debate Clause which shields the legislative branch from certain law enforcement actions.

[18:05:11]

HERB: I do think, here, it's important to take a step back about why the Special Counsel wants to talk to Pence. Pence, of course was at the center of one of Trump's key efforts to overturn the election. Trump and his allies, they institute a massive pressure campaign against the former Vice President to try to get him to overturn the election and block Joe Biden's win on the Congress floor on January 6, 2021.

Pence, of course, resisted that, but now he is also resisting testifying in the Special Counsel's probe into those efforts on January 6th, which puts the Special Counsel in a difficult spot of weighing whether or not to have Pence and others who also have made executive privilege claims whether to seek their testimony and try to compel them through the Courts, or should he try to wrap up his investigation as the election, the 2024 election gets closer and closer, Jim.

So I think we're going to have to see just how far the Special Counsel ends up taking this investigation and these efforts to get these witnesses to testify in the Court system -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, Jeremy Herb, thank you very much.

Let's talk about this with a pair of CNN political commentators, Republican strategist, Alice Stewart and Democratic strategist, Maria Cardona.

Alice, Trump is just part way through this speech, but let's address I think what is really the big question coming out of CPAC, and that is, I mean, isn't it kind of engaging in sort of magical thinking at this point to believe that Trump is not the frontrunner at this point, and that he's not on kind of a clear path to the nomination at this point?

I mean, I know it's super early, a lot can happen. But I mean, this conference was all Trump kind of all the time and that seems to be what the polls show on the Republican side.

ALICE STEWART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, Jim, he is certainly the frontrunner in that room at this conference. CPAC has turned into TPAC. It's all about Donald Trump. And that's a real shame because this is where the party should come together and where conservatives come together.

And look, I have been to CPAC many times with candidates back when this was more Ronald Reagan like where there was a leader of the Conservative Party and the policies that was a uniter and of integrity, and now we have Donald Trump, who was more about derision and division.

And we saw that in the speech that he's giving right now. He is taking his message to Democrats and what he calls fake news and RINOs, Republicans In Name Only and as we mentioned, naming Republicans specifically and that's a real shame.

But as you said, Jim, it's very early. We've got virtually a year until Super Tuesday of the big 2024 election, and a lot can happen.

And the good thing is, we have a good bench. We have strong names that are ready to hit the trail in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, and connect with voters.

We saw in the poll today, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, several people, Tim Scott and others that are waiting in the wings to get their message out to Republican voters.

ACOSTA: And Maria, is this CPAC conference and I mean, Trump being up on screen right now and kind of commanding this event, lording over this event, isn't that sort of like the best ad Joe Biden has going for him right now?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: There is no question about that, Jim, and I think what it reflects is where the Republican Party still is, even, as my dear friend, Alice would want to wish otherwise.

And I know there are a lot of other Republicans who have talked about especially since the last elections, the Midterm Elections in 2022, wanting to turn the page from Trump, but Trump is not letting them do that.

And CPAC, even though they like to talk about that it is a diminished CPAC, is still where the energy where the enthusiasm rests within the largest voting bloc of the Republican Party and that is a room that belongs to Trump.

And the problem that I think the Republican Party is facing is they want to separate who is at CPAC and the people that are CPAC, from the rest of the Republican Party.

Well, who is the rest of the Republican Party? Let's look at Republican leadership in Congress -- Kevin McCarthy, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz -- so many of the people that genuflect at the altar of Donald Trump. There is no difference there.

So yes, this is one of the biggest assets that Joe Biden and the Democrats have going into the 2024 election, because they're running against a party that is doubling down on failure, the MAGA agenda failed in 2018, 2020, 2022. So more power to him. Keep going.

ACOSTA: And Alice, I mean, let's talk about some of these other candidates. Nikki Haley, Mike Pompeo, I mean, they both spoke at this conference. Pompeo tried to take kind of a veiled jab at Trump, but I mean it was not like full of self-awareness either. Let's listen. [18:10:09]

ACOSTA: I'm sorry we don't have the sound there, but this is where the former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was talking about not following celebrities who aren't dealing with reality and so on. He was talking about this in his speech.

And, you know, I mean, that was clearly talking about Trump. But, you know, here you have Trump as the headliner of this event. They had had some t-shirts saying Trump won the election and so on at CPAC.

I mean, it doesn't look like there's a lot of room for the bench, as you called it.

STEWART: Well, informing my friend, Maria there, there are other alternatives and there is a bench and they are at a virtually a competing event in the past few days down in Florida, with the Club for Growth. And as we mentioned, there's Ron DeSantis, is down in Florida as opposed to CPAC. We have Tim Scott.

We have other big names, Mike Pence is there as well, that made the conscious decision not to associate themselves with CPAP, because they're hearing from many rational Republicans across the country that are ready to turn the page and ready to look past Donald Trump and they're going down there and connecting with what I see is a strong movement within the Republican Party that is out to look for a candidate that reflects the policies of Donald Trump, but not the personality of Donald Trump.

And there's a big movement out there. There's money behind it, there's momentum behind it. And there certainly is a strong desire, even from social evangelicals who are strong on board with Donald Trump, Republicans are ready to turn the page because they realize that while he may win a primary, it will not be possible to win a General Election with that type of rhetoric in the future.

ACOSTA: I understand we do have that Mike Pompeo sound. Let's listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you're tired of losing, put your trust in a new generation and if you want to win, not just as a party, but as a country, then stand with me.

MIKE POMPEO, FORMER US SECRETARY OF STATE: Over the last few years, I've heard some who claim to be conservative, excuse hypocrisy by saying something like well, we're electing a President, not a Sunday school teacher. That's true. But having taught Sunday school, maybe we could get both.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Maria, what do you think -- why -- I mean, I was talking about this with Joe Walsh in the four o'clock hour and one of the things that he picked up on and I think it's true is that some of these other candidates won't mention Trump by name.

They'll take these veiled jabs, they'll sort of tiptoe around it, you know, tiptoe through the Trump tulips, as Larry Sabato was describing it last weekend, but they won't call him out and maybe this is a question for Alice as well. Isn't there an argument to be made that you really have to take Trump on in a Trumpian way if you're going to knock him out of that pole position at the head of the Republican Party right now? Tiptoeing around him isn't going to work, is it?

CARDONA: Jim, I think that is the big question that Republicans have yet to discover the right answer to. I think they're all going every other candidate who is running against Donald Trump or thinking about running against Donald Trump probably wakes up thinking about everyone else who ran against him in 2016, and just got beaten down to the pulp by Donald Trump, many of which tried to do the same that they were receiving from him to him and it didn't work.

Because no one else is Donald Trump and that, I think, is the biggest difficulty that is going to be facing these candidates. They don't know how to run against Donald Trump without standing up with a real backbone to back up everything that supposedly they're saying in a veiled way, you can't do that with any credibility to the American people without saying the words Donald Trump.

And what the American people absolutely have rejected time and time again now in three past elections is the Donald Trump election -- the Donald Trump agenda of chaos, of election denying, of lies and of extremism and to me I have not really heard anything different from any other of the candidates that are running right now.

ACOSTA: All right --

STEWART: Jim, I would just real quickly point out, there are only three people in the race right now. Donald Trump, Nikki Haley, and Vivek Ramaswamy, and until these other candidates actually put their name on the line and get in the ring, I think it'd be foolhardy to attack Donald Trump, but I do believe once they get in, it's every man for themselves.

ACOSTA: Okay, Alice and Maria, great to see both of you. Thanks so much, ladies. Appreciate it.

CARDONA: Thanks, Jim. Gracias.

STEWART: Thanks, Jim.

ACOSTA: Great to see you.

Still ahead, Ukraine is struggling to hold on to the City of Bakhmut under Russian siege for months now. CNN is near the frontline in Eastern Ukraine, and later why residents are struggling to get to and from their homes after a massive snowstorm in California.

But first, one month after a toxic train derailed near their homes in Ohio, what we're hearing from families in East Palestine now grappling with their decision to stay. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAMUEL WEGNER, RESIDENT, DARLINGTON, PENNSYLVANIA: I feel like I possibly regret the decision every day, but we don't have the financial luxury to pack up and move. We just -- it's scary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:19:15]

ACOSTA: The head of the National Transportation Safety Board says a train derailment like the one that happened in East Palestine, Ohio can absolutely happen again.

Now a group of bipartisan lawmakers up on Capitol Hill are pushing a bill they say would make the rail industry safer. I spoke with one of the bill's sponsors, Pennsylvania Democratic Senator Bob Casey last hour about what protections the legislation would include.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BOB CASEY (D-PA): Going forward, we have to have much tougher safety requirements for any train carrying hazardous materials. That's one of the problems here, not enough safety requirements for that kind of hazardous material being transported.

Also more inspections, better and tougher inspections of these rail companies, and really tough fines. Right now, under Federal law, you could only impose fines on a company like Norfolk Southern in the tens of thousands.

[18:20:10]

CASEY: They should be hit with, if they're culpable, they should be hit with multimillion dollar fines at a minimum, and that is what this bill would provide.

So tougher safety, more inspections, audits of Federal programs that do this kind of monitoring and also much tougher fines.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Earlier today, people in East Palestine got the chance to take a closer look at how the town's water system is functioning by visiting the town's water treatment plant. The open house comes amid growing concerns over how toxic chemicals spilled in the derailment and how the spill could impact the community.

CNN's Miguel Marquez reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVE ANDERSON, OWNER, ECHO VALLEY FARM: Come on, girls. Come on, girls. Come on, girls. MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Dave Anderson raises grass fed beef four miles downwind of East Palestine, Ohio. After the derailment fire and venting of toxic chemicals, this is what drifted over his Echo Valley Farm.

ANDERSON: As far as a smoke, you could probably see a hundred yards, you know, it was dark.

MARQUEZ (on camera): And what did you experience?

ANDERSON: Burning eyes, burning throat, burning mouth.

MARQUEZ (voice over): The cloud from the toxic spill settled on his pastures and ponds. The question he now cannot answer are the cattle he has raised for years okay for human consumption?

ANDERSON: Customers that buy grass fed beef directly from a farmer, they care about their food.

MARQUEZ (on camera): They want to know what they're getting is top notch.

ANDERSON: They want to know what they are getting, and healthy for them.

MARQUEZ (voice over): He has now sued Norfolk Southern. He also wants testing, a process a way to certify his livestock is safe.

ANDERSON: The lawsuit is about peace of mind to start with.

MARQUEZ (on camera): Right.

ANDERSON: And information to make decisions.

MARQUEZ (voice over): Solid information here tough to come by. Officials have established a two-mile zone around the derailment site as a priority. Because Anderson's farm is farther away despite being directly in the path of the plume from the toxic spill, he has yet received little support and no answers from Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection, DEP.

MARQUEZ (on camera): What will assuage your concerns?

ANDERSON: Testing, but there has been no testing.

MARQUEZ: None?

ANDERSON: None.

MARQUEZ: So DEP has not been out here at all?

ANDERSON: DEP came yesterday for the first time, four weeks after the event, a little more than four weeks after the event.

MARQUE: Did they test? Did they take samples?

ANDERSON: They did not. They were investigating whether they should be active in this area outside of the two-mile ring.

MARQUEZ (voice over): The crash occurred just feet from the Pennsylvania border, the winds typically blow east toward Pennsylvania. The State is going house-to-house testing soil and water in areas closest to the derailment.

What did you see that night?

WEGNER: Standing at the end of the driveway, I saw a huge plume of smoke. I saw flames above the treetops, well over a hundred feet in the air and it was terrifying.

MARQUEZ (voice over): Samuel Wegner and his wife, Joyce had their fourth child, Jackson Hayes a week ago. He says the State's response has been too slow and lacking in information to know whether his town of Darlington, Pennsylvania is still a safe place to raise a family.

MARQUEZ: Have you tested your well or has it been tested?

WEGNER: It was tested today and we were told, it will be another three weeks until we get results.

MARQUEZ (voice over): Wegner who works in landscaping says they evacuated for four days, but moving permanently isn't an option.

MARQUEZ (on camera); How tough was it to come back to this house knowing that you'd bring a newborn here?

WEGNER: I feel like I possibly regret the decision every day. But here we live paycheck to paycheck, we live within our means and we don't have the financial luxury to pack up and move. We just -- it's scary.

MARQUEZ (voice over): The CDC is now conducting a health survey in and around East Palestine trying to determine the long-term effects on human health. While air and water testing is occurring daily, answers about long term health won't come quickly.

CAPTAIN. JILL SHUGART, US PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE: We are hoping in the next couple of weeks to be able to have collected all of the information that we need and then those results will be available in the coming months.

MARQUEZ (voice over): For Pennsylvania residents and business owners, downwind of the toxic fire, answers can't come soon enough.

MARQUEZ (on camera): But you're losing business because people aren't sure it's safe to eat your food.

JC SUMMERS, SMALL BUSINESS OWNER IN DARLINGTON, PENNSYLVANIA: Yes, I think so. I lost a wedding over that -- I've got a catering job. They just -- they don't know. I mean, I don't think there's anything wrong with anything, but I don't know either.

MARQUEZ: It must hurt.

SUMMERS: It sucks. I'm sorry. I don't know how else to put it, it is just the uncertainty.

MARQUEZ (on camera): So Pennsylvania officials have pushed back pretty hard on the notion that not enough is being done to help people in the area. They say that they have tested nearly every private well within a two-mile radius of the derailments. They have a soil sampling program that they are about to get underway. They've worked with of State veterinarians and animal welfare experts to ensure that farmers know best practices for this situation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[18:25:09]

MARQUEZ: They've opened up a health clinic in Darlington in that area that anyone can use. Two hundred people or more have already used it at this point and they are welcoming more to come, and they say that everything, all the test results for all the water, all the soil, everything and all information can be found both online or in person.

Back to you.

ACOSTA: Our thanks to Miguel Marquez for that report.

Some sad news to tell you out of Hollywood, Tom Sizemore has passed away. The actor was hospitalized earlier this month after suffering a brain aneurysm. He had been in a coma in intensive care.

Sizemore appeared in a number of hit movies in the 90s and early 2000s. He may be best known for his role in "Saving Private Ryan" as Sergeant Mike Horvath.

(CLIP FROM "SAVING PRIVATE RYAN.")

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gear up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fall in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am done with this mission.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, hey.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't you walk away from your Captain. Private, get back in line.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll spend the rest of my life in the stockade if I have to, but I am done with this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am not going to ask you again, soldier.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Captain.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: [Bleep] fall in.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ACOSTA: Iconic scene. Tom Sizemore was just 61 years old.

Coming up, FOX News reeling over the damning revelations in a lawsuit over election lies they broadcast over and over again. Now, the question is will anyone at the network be forced to take the fall?

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:31:06]

ACOSTA: The Dominion lawsuit may have exposed the election lies pushed by some FOX News anchors, but so far the FOX Corporation has not taken any action to clean up the mess as CNN's Brian Todd reports there's already speculation on who could take the fall.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): As FOX News deals with agonizing fallout from the Dominion lawsuit and the bombshell revelation that the network driven by the lure of profits and ratings was willing to lie to its viewers about who won the 2020 election. New questions are being raised about who will take the fall.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID FOLKENFLIK, MEDIA CORRESPONDENT, NPR: If you're looking for someone to be forced to walk the plank as a measure of public accountability for this, it's sure not going to be Rupert Murdoch himself and it's very unlikely to be his son Lachlan Murdoch.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD (voice-over): So, who? New reporting from CNN's Oliver Darcy says questions are being raised about the future of a FOX executive named Suzanne Scott.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFFREY SONNENFELD, YALE SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT: Suzanne Scott, their CEO, who is a very troubled successor to Roger Ailes, she was the executioner to all this stuff.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD (voice-over): Scott was named by "Forbes Magazine" in 2021 as one of the 100 most powerful women in media and entertainment. But as FOX News takes more heat over the discovery that some of the network's top anchors knew the election wasn't stolen from Donald Trump and still proclaimed it was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FOLKENFLIK: Suzanne Scott is the one at whose desk the buck stops, if you read Murdoch's testimony closely. RUPERT MURDOCH, FOX NEWS: Thanks to you --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD (voice-over): During his deposition in the Dominion lawsuit, Murdoch seemed to distance himself from the decision making at FOX in the wake of the 2020 Election: "I appointed Ms. Scott to the job and I delegate everything to her." But analysts say in reality --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FOLKENFLIK: The stakes were just far too important in the hours, days, weeks after the November 2020 elections for Murdoch to completely sit back and just watch it unfold. And in fact, the evidence that has been brought to light so far shows that he didn't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD (voice-over): Murdoch admitted in his deposition that while election lies were being propagated on FOX's air after the 2020 vote, that he "would have liked us be stronger in denouncing it, in hindsight."

But he also admitted that partially at Scott's urging, he didn't push back for fear of losing viewers. Another person at FOX who could take the fall, former Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan who's a FOX board member. Ryan has admitted that while he advised Murdoch after the 2020 election that FOX shouldn't spread conspiracy theories --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL RYAN, FOX BOARD MEMBER, FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: I do. I have a responsibility to offer my opinion and perspective and I do that. But I don't go out on TV and do it.

SONNENFELD: He said, well I quietly voice my opinion. That's not what a director is supposed do. That's a failure of management oversight. He is complicit through his complacency.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD (on camera): FOX declined to comment when CNN reached out to ask about Suzanne Scott's future at the network. For now, FOX is not offering any public statements in support of Scott. CNN also reached out multiple times to Paul Ryan and his spokespeople for a response to the criticism of him. We haven't heard back.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: For more on the Dominion lawsuit fallout, let's bring in CNN or Mediaite editor chief - in chief, Aidan McLaughlin to CNN. Aidan, great to see. Thanks as always for joining us, we appreciate it.

Brian Todd's piece suggested and there's been a lot of speculation about this, about whether or not Suzanne Scott could take the fall on all of this. What do you think? I mean, that would be a surprise move for Murdoch that would be essentially him admitting that he has to clean house to some extent, what do you think?

AIDAN MCLAUGHLIN, EDITOR IN CHIEF, MEDIAITE: Yes. I mean, I think when you read this brief that Dominion released that includes Rupert Murdoch's testimony here, which was under oath, there's - it certainly raises eyebrows because there is a strong suggestion in there that he delegated all of this to Suzanne Scott, the CEO of FOX News.

[18:35:01]

The sources that I've been speaking to inside FOX do not think that Suzanne is on the chopping block as of this time. That could change as the controversy mounts for FOX News and we're going to get another document dump next week in this case. The case could go to trial in April.

If the bad headlines keep coming for FOX News, I wouldn't be surprised if Rupert Murdoch looks to someone high up at the network to sort of offer up as a sacrificial lamb. He's proven that he's willing to do that before.

If you remember, Jim, in 2021, right when FOX News was getting hit with these lawsuits, Lou Dobbs was ousted from FOX News. He was a popular host at the network. He was one of the more enthusiastic purveyors of the stolen election lie and FOX News ousted him anyway and --

ACOSTA: Right.

MCLAUGHLIN: -- despite the backlash from the viewers that they're suffering at the time.

ACOSTA: And you reported the ones cozy and symbiotic relationship between FOX and Trump is in a state of disrepair, but one thing that we've noticed we're not taking Trump's speech live right now at CPAC, but FOX is. They're airing a lot of it right now. His lies unedited. So how much distancing is going on?

MCLAUGHLIN: Well, I think it's always very complicated relationship between Trump and FOX News. FOX News is terrified of criticizing Trump because it obviously alienates their viewers. With that said, right now, Trump is on a warpath against FOX News.

On his platform, Truth Social, he's been attacking FOX, Murdoch, Paul Ryan serves on the FOX core board, because he sees them as insufficiently loyal to him. FOX News has also not had on Trump's since September, which is a long absence for the former President of the United States, a Republican who's announced his candidacy for 2024 to not be on FOX News.

They also have not had any of his family members who are surrogates to the President on the network, including Lara Trump, who they dropped. She was formerly a contributor at FOX News. They dropped her in December because of her father's campaign and what they see there as a conflict.

So Trump hasn't been on the network, he's attacking the network. I think they don't want him to have - to come on the air and do that. That said, on a Saturday, they're perfectly happy to air his rally live and including all of the lies I'm sure he's telling about the election.

ACOSTA: And let's get back to the Dominion lawsuit, because I mean, a lot of speculation that this could be a very critical moment for FOX, I mean, some have said financially if there are punitive damages added to the $1.5 billion that Dominion is seeking. I mean, this could, I mean, cause some critical harm to the network.

But FOX is not covering this lawsuit that they're entangled in right now. One of their hosts said that they - he just can't. They can't do it. It's interesting that their viewers may not really have any idea that any of this is happening or it just isn't discussed on that network, so they're not really pondering it all that much.

The fact that many of their hosts on FOX have just been intentionally over and over again, lying to them about what happened in 2020.

MCLAUGHLIN: That's right. I mean, putting aside the lawsuit and the financial damage that could do to FOX News. The reputational hit that FOX News is taking right now is astounding. You have the chairman of FOX Corporation, admitting that its hosts promoted a stolen election lie to its viewers, despite behind the scenes, everyone from host to executives to Rupert Murdoch himself, knowing that that was untrue.

And the fact that you have that happening, and at the same time, FOX News is refusing to report on it. They told Howard Kurtz, their media critic that he was not allowed to report about this on the air. Also, conservative media is not really reporting on this either.

So if you are a news consumer who only gets your news from FOX News, and maybe some other conservative outlets, you're simply not hearing about this. I still think it could have some damage to FOX News' bottom line if you look at the moderates, and even the Democrats, some of whom watch FOX News, it's obviously got a massive audience.

They're going to be hearing about this and other outlets and I suspect they're landing on the conclusion that this is certainly not the way that a normal news network operates.

ACOSTA: All right. Aidan McLaughlin, thanks so much, Mediaite Editor in Chief. Appreciate the time, thanks so much.

MCLAUGHLIN: Thanks, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. Still ahead, residents in the mountains of Southern California frustrated after last week's huge snowstorm, some are still trapped in their homes and some are still unable to return home after being stranded for days, wild situation out there. We'll show you next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have everything to say, but we don't need help from NOAA. We just need the access to get home, that's all we want.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:43:39]

ACOSTA: Snowbound residents in California San Bernardino Mountains are hoping for police escorts to get them out of the areas as police or as people lined up to desperately get needed food and supplies. Cars are also lined up to leave and they are asking to send snow plows into the area to clear roads and communities that are buried under tons of snow.

CNN's Camila Bernal joins us now.

Camila, what are authorities saying now about clearing out these roads. It almost seems like it's impossible to clear some of these roads right now.

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It's going to take a long time and what you're seeing behind me is a lot of frustrated and upset residents. This whole line of cars just waiting and begging to get in. But they're only allowing emergency vehicles, crews, heavy equipment, anyone that can go up there to try to clear the roads. That is their main priority, but it is going to take a while and that is what officials are saying.

They're saying, look, we have the National Guard, we have firefighters, we're actually having an officer coming our way right now because there are still emergencies and there are some people that need a lot of help up there. But officials are saying it might take a little bit longer to get to you because of all the road closures and that's why you're getting so many of these residents upset. I talked to someone this morning, Iliana Vargas who told me, look, I was able to get down the mountain because I desperately needed supplies.

[18:45:05]

She says that her roof might collapse, because there's so much snow on top of it. And even though she got out, she cannot get back in and so that is her frustration. She spoke to me in tears at times because she's trying to save her home. Here's what she told me.

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ILIANA VARGAS, UNABLE TO RETURN HOME BECAUSE OF SNOW: We're here at 7 am. They let us go up halfway to Waterman Canyon Road to tell us that we need to turn around and go back and come back in five days, that we're - there's no way they're going to let us go back home.

We have our whole life up there. Our businesses, my job, my laptop, everything's there, we didn't bring any luggage, any clothes to stay down here for five days. We need to get home.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BERNAL: And officials apologized for how long all of this is taking. But again told residents that it could take up to five days to get to all of the affected areas up in the mountain, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. Camila Bernal, thank you very much.

Still ahead as Russians fight to surround the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, one commander says every hour there is like hell. CNN is near the eastern front of the war, next. You're alive in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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[18:50:39]

ACOSTA: In Bakhmut, Ukraine, street fighting is raging as Russian forces close in on the beleaguered city. A deputy commander says right now Bakhmut is hell but still under Ukrainian control.

CNN's Alex Marquardt reports on new video showing a critical supply line for Ukrainian forces now obliterated by Russian bombs.

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ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A lifeline for Ukraine's forces severed. This destroyed bridge near Bakhmut are the last main supply route to the front. Bombed, a Ukrainian soldier told CNN, by a Russian missile. Meaning, reinforcing troops or getting people out immediately becoming harder.

We were on that road near Bakhmut, military vehicles bombing towards the fight and coming back with a V sign for victory.

Russian forces have made progress at encircling the city, leaving only the west open to Ukrainian troops. The ferocious fighting has left thousands dead on both sides. Wagner forces which have led the Russian charge have paid a particularly high price.

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YEVGENY PRIGOZHIN, HEAD OF WAGNER GROUP: (Foreign language).

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MARQUARDT (voice over): Today, Wagner's leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, on the outskirts of Bakhmut, released a video claiming "the pincers are tightening." He called on President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to withdraw his troops saying, "Give them a chance to leave the city."

Prigozhin regularly exaggerates Wagner's gains. Ukraine blasted today's video as part of a disinformation campaign. But Ukrainian commanders admit they are facing withering Russian attacks. The eastern commander posted photos today of a visit to Bakhmut where he was briefed on the problems with Ukrainian defenses.

Despite no announcement of a withdrawal some possible signs have appeared. This Bakhmut rail bridge strategically bombed by Ukrainian soldiers to make it impossible.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Foreign language).

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MARQUARDT (voice over): The head of a Ukrainian reconnaissance unit saying they received an order to immediately leave Bakhmut without giving a reason. In neighboring Chasiv Yar, soldiers from an artillery unit told us they have no plans to stop fighting here, fearing what could then happen.

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"HOTTABICH", UKRAINIAN ARTILLERY COMMANDER: "The problem is not just Russia taking Bakhmut," Hottabich says. They will not stop and will keep destroying the next cities. "We need to wait for reinforcements to come and then kick them out."

So far, there has been no indication or mention of a Ukrainian withdrawal from Bakhmut. They say that they will keep fighting. But if Russia were able to take Bakhmut, no doubt it would be a major victory for them especially after so many months of such intense fighting. But it is up for debate how much of a strategic victory it would be, whether they would be able to use Bakhmut to push deeper into Ukraine, especially since Russian forces would be in such a weakened state after this fight.

Alex Marquardt, CNN in Eastern Ukraine.

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ACOSTA: Still ahead, former President Trump is speaking at CPAC. We'll take you there live next.

And just a programming reminder, catch the all new CNN film Glitch: The Rise and Fall of HQ Trivia tomorrow night at nine right here on CNN.

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[18:58:18]

ACOSTA: This week, a person from Florida died from something that is very terrifying to think about, a brain-eating amoeba. According to the CDC, about three people in the U.S. are infected by this every year and it's usually fatal.

CNN's Jacqueline Howard has more.

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JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: I can tell you this stuff is still being investigated by the Florida Department of Health. Health officials in Charlotte County say the person who died was infected with a brain-eating amoeba "possibly as a result of sinus rinse practices utilizing tap water."

And they recommend using only distilled or sterile water for sinus rinses. Tap water should be boiled for at least one minutes and then cooled before it's considered okay to use for sinus rinsing and that reduces the risk of infections with micro organisms like the brain- eating amoeba.

And this amoeba has the scientific name naegleria fowleri. It's a single celled organism found in soil and warm freshwater environments. It causes rare infections by entering the body through the nose.

For example, if someone is swimming in a lake and gets water up their nose. And symptoms of infection include headache, fever, nausea, vomiting. It can progress to stiff neck, seizures or hallucinations. And infections are deadly between 1962 and 2021 here in the U.S. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says only four out of 154 people known to have been infected survived the disease.

[19:00:00]

These brain-eating amoeba infections can cause and that's why health officials warn follow safe water practices, especially with sinus rinses.