Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

CNN International: NTSB to Visit Second Train Derailment Site in Ohio; Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Has Not Said Whether He Will Run; Adoring Crowd Greets Trump at Key Conservative Conference; Ukrainian Forces Still Control Key Highway in Bakhmut. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired March 06, 2023 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world. I'm Bianca Nobilo.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Max Foster joining you live from London. Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was no release of any chemical or any hazardous material.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Clean air, clean soil, and clean water for our residents.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We had a Republican party that was ruled by freaks, neocons, globalists, open border zealots and fools.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More voices right now in opposition or providing an alternative to Donald Trump is the best thing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: An increases identically brutal winter has claimed countless Afghanistan lives this year, but so, too, has extreme poverty.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's 28 million Afghans in desperate need at the moment --28 million.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

FOSTER: It's Monday, March 6th, 9:00 a.m. here in London, 4:00 a.m. in Springfield, Ohio, where the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is sending investigators back to the state, this time to visit a second rain derailment site, more than a month after a toxic crash in East Palestine. And once again, it's a Norfolk Southern train.

NOBILO: The moment of derailment on Saturday was caught on camera. An Ohio environmental official said there were no chemicals released because of the accident but Norfolk Southern says the train was caring potentially hazardous chemicals.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNE VOGEL, DIRECTOR, OHIO ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY: There was no release of any chemical or any hazardous material to the soil, to the air, to the water. We were, of course, checking that closely. So, you will still continue to see the Southwest office of Ohio EPA remain onsite until the cleanup is complete.

KRAIG BARNER, GENERAL MANAGER OF NORTHERN REGION NORFOLK SOUTHERN: Yes, sir, there was. There was a couple liquid propane cars on there and a couple ethanol cars. The rest of the train was made up of mixed freight. A lot of steel, unfinished automobiles. And a lot of the cars that were actually derailed were empty box cars.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, embattled U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said officials from the Federal Railroad Administration would also be heading to the site of the accident. Meanwhile, a U.S. Senate for Ohio who hopes to pass a new rail safety bill, said he doesn't trust the rail companies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. SHERROD BROWN (D-OH): I'm not entirely satisfied because I want to know, there are some sort of remnants of something that might have been in those cars. Those cars were mostly empty. But I want to know if there were any contaminants sort of left in those mostly empty cars that might have affected Clark County.

The railroad's got a lot of questions they've got to answer and they really didn't do it very well yet as you know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: More details now from CNN's Polo Sandoval.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the general manager of Norfolk Southern, the owner and operator of the train involved in Saturday's derailment, saying that there were hazardous materials that were being transported on this train, including ethanol and propane, but they were not on the train cars that actually left the tracks on Saturday. A total of 20 out of the 212 train cars actually left the tracks as this train was headed from northern Ohio down to Birmingham, Alabama.

Authorities really shifted a lot of their focus on four tanker train cars, two of them were hauling what's being described as diesel exhaust fluid, while the other two were hauling a water solution that's often used to treat waste water, common industrial solutions, as they described them. However, authorities saying that those train cars did not experience any sort of spillage. So the ahead of the EPA in the state of Ohio saying that there was no

chemical release into the air, into the water, into the soil. So now, a lot of the focus will certainly be on a massive cleanup process that is under way there in Springfield, Ohio.

And also on the investigation as they try to find out exactly what led to this derailment, just a little over a month after the toxic tragedy that took place in East Palestine, Ohio. The same rail company, in the same state, however at this point in the investigation certainly nothing would lead investigators to believe that they could potentially be linked.

[04:05:00]

But certainly a remainder that these kinds of derailments are happening according to the Federal Railroad Administration -- roughly 1,000 derailments happening in the U.S. per year.

Polo Sandoval, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: In Georgia more than 30 people were detained after chaos erupted at the site of Atlanta's proposed public safety training center -- also known as Cop City. Police say a group of violent agitators used the cover of a peaceful protests to conduct a coordinated attack on construction equipment and police officers.

FOSTER: They say agitators threw large rocks, Molotov cocktails and fireworks at authorities, but none of them were injured in the incident.

NOBILO: The police chief says that those detained will face appropriate charges. CNN's Isabel Rosales has the details for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All of this comes off of the week of action which started just yesterday, by organizers here, really activists, that call themselves Defenders of the Forest. So, seven days of events, designed to draw attention to the Stop Cop City movement. So, protests, a rally, they've done guided tours. A portion of the nearby forest area where activists have been really camping out for over a year in protest, of this project they have dubbed "Cop City."

Back in 2021, Atlanta City Council, they authorize the plan to build a giant state of the art training center -- $90 million, it's for the city's police and fire departments, 80-acre complex that would be one of the largest in the U.S. The classrooms are a mock city, a driving course, a shooting range but activists they call this an urban warfare training center.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Nearly seven people are recovering from their injuries after a massive fire in Bronx, New York. The five-alarm blaze began in a commercial building and is being blamed on a lithium ion battery from an electric scooter.

NOBILO: The fire commissioner says the blazes caused by lithium ion batteries move quickly and create a lot of damage. She said that more investigation is need into why the bike burst into flames. They said it may have been using an illegal battery. Of course, Lithium batteries are inherently flammable. Especially when it's exposed to high temperatures.

A U.S.-bound passenger flight had to return to Cuba on Saturday after reportedly being hilt by birds. This video captured the scene as smoke filled the cabin. Southwest airlines said its flight was headed to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, from Havana when birds hit the nose of the plane and one of the engines.

FOSTER: Passengers used slides to evacuate the planes once it touched down in an emergency landing. There are no reports of injuries and people are being rebooked onto other flights. I'm sure they're not rushing to go back onto one.

NOBILO: No, and we were just looking up that these events apparently happen around 12,000 times in airports in the U.S. every year. But the wildlife biologist have ways to scare the birds away from the airplanes.

FOSTER: Snow still falling in California where some cities could see more than three feet of fresh powder over the next 24 hours. It's causing bigger problems for residents trapped in their homes with few supplies for the freezing winter.

NOBILO: In Southern California, one resident says that she's been trapped in her home for 11 days but thankfully hasn't lost power. Here's a video that she took while going to check on neighbors.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANITA HODSON, CRESTINE, CALIFORNIA RESIDENT: They don't want to leave their house but they need food and look at the size of this berm. This is 15, 16, 17 feet high, maybe even higher. And there's houses across here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: Anita Hudson said authorities haven't given her or her neighbors much information about when they'll be able to leave their homes. She says that she's been shoveling snow off her roof so it doesn't collapse under the weight of all of it. And she worries that not everyone in the area is as well off as she is.

FOSTER: More than 10 million people are under winter weather alerts from the West Coast to the Midwestern U.S. right now. The winter storm system is expected to reach the Great Lakes area in the coming hours with up to eight inches of snow possible in parts of Michigan by Tuesdays. High winds are also in the forecast for some cities.

We already know that former U.S. President Donald Trump will make another bid for the White House in 2024.

NOBILO: And in the coming weeks and month, we'll get a clearer picture of who will challenge him for the Republican nomination.

FOSTER: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has not said whether you will run but is seen as Trump's most serious potential rival. He channeled his version of conservativism anger at the Ronald Reagan Library on Sunday implying he could deliver the policy goals that eluded Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RON DESANTIS, (R) FLORIDA GOVERNOR We've witnessed a great American exodus from states governed by leftist politicians, imposing leftist ideology and delivering poor results. And you've seen massive gains in states like Florida, who are governing according to the tried-and-true principles that President Reagan held dear.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: Meanwhile, former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan says Sunday that he will not compete in the Republican primaries.

[04:10:00]

And he said that he's worried that the candidacy and the crowded field could help Trump win that nomination.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY HOGAN, FORMER MARYLAND GOVERNOR: I don't want to have a pileup of a bunch of people fighting. Right now you have, you know, Trump and DeSantis at the top of the field, where they're soaking up all of the oxygen, getting all the attention and then a whole lot of the rest of us in single digits. And the more of them you have, the less chance you have for somebody rising up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: The former governor of Arkansas takes a different view, Asa Hutchinson who is considering a run, says the more the merrier, as long as they're devoted to Republican principles.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASA HUTCHINSON, (R) FORMER ARKANSAS GOVERNOR: March is a message month. I want to continue to talk about having a consistent, conservative message out there. We need to have alternatives again to Donald Trump. We don't need to be led by arrogance and revenge in the future. We need to be led by those that are problem-solving, that want to stick with the principles of our party an unite us together. And so that's the message in March. April is the decision time. So, we will stick with that plan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: Donald Trump got a rapturous reception Saturday at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Trump took a victory lap before an adoring crowd.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: In 2016, I declared I am your voice. Today, I add, I am your warrior, I am your justice. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution. I am your retribution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: But his legacy -- or is very lengthy address was filled with wildly inaccurate claims on a range of topics, really, including foreign affairs, crimes, elections, Joe Biden's presidency and indeed his own as CNN's Daniel Dale fact checks.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: So, the greatest job history of any president ever.

DANIEL DALE, CNN REPORTER: This claim is not even close to true. The economy lost about 2.7 million jobs over Trump's four years. That is the worst, not the greatest jobs record for any modern daily president.

Now, I think you could fairly say, well there was a COVID-19 pandemic, that hurt jobs. But if you look at the first three years of Trump's tenure, he still wasn't the greatest. There were 6.5 million new jobs created. That is middle of the pack in percentage terms, not even close to the actual record which was 11.5 million new jobs under Democratic President Bill Clinton in the early 1990s.

Now let's look at a claim that Trump made about the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany.

TRUMP: I got along very well with Putin even though I'm the one that ended his pipeline. Remember they said, Trump is giving a lot to Russia. Really. Putin actually said to me if you're my friend, I'd hate like hell to see you as my enemy. Because I ended the pipeline. Right? Do you remember? Nord Stream 2, but I ended it, it was dead.

DALE: President Trump did not kill this pipeline. He did impose sanctions on companies constructing the pipeline but that didn't come until late 2019, nearly three years into his presidency with the pipeline 90 percent completed. Now, the sanctions did appear to slow down the project. But also, during Trump's presidency, about a year later, the Russian state owned company behind the pipeline said, will just build it ourselves and that they would resume construction.

Germany, with a few years left in Trump's presidency also renewed the permits for construction in its waters. Now the pipeline was eventually completed before Germany abandoned it in '22 just before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Trump also made a big claim about his wall on the Mexican border.

TRUMP: As you know, I built hundreds of miles of wall and completed that task as promised. And then I began to add even more in areas that seemed to be allowing a lot of people to come in.

DALE: I think it's obvious from the president's words that the claim that he completed a wall is not true. He's saying he completed it and then was doing more building does not make sense. But we have the numbers to confirm it does not make sense and that is it's not done. An official document from U.S. Customs and Border Protection called a border wall status report published two days after Trump left office said that 458 miles of walls had been completed under Trump but about 280 additional miles that had been identified for wall construction had not been completed.

Finally, I want to look at something that Trump said about Minnesota during the 2020 protests that followed the murder of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police.

TRUMP: And we saved Minneapolis, the thing is we're not supposed to did that because it's up to the governor -- Democratic governor. They never want any help. They don't want -- it's almost like they don't mind to have their cities and states destroyed. There's something wrong with these people.

DALE: Now Trump has been saying this since mid-2020 and it is a reversal of reality. He said the Democratic governor of Minnesota wouldn't do anything about the civil unrest. So, he, Trump had to. In fact, it was that Democratic Governor Tim Walls who activated the Minnesota National Guard to deal with the unrest.

[04:15:00]

And his office told CNN in 2020 he did so in response to requests from Democratic mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Now, Trump did demand that Walls activate the Guard but in reality, he had already done so seven hours before the then president made the demand in public.

Daniel Dale, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: But does Trump still have the same pull with Republican voters that he had in 2016? We asked former Trump White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham what she thought.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANIE GRISHAM, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This is going to be a revenge tour for the former president. But, you know, I wonder specifically with regard to what he said, who decides who needs the retribution? Who's going to decide who's been mistreated? I mean, what about all of the people who suffered or who had family members pass away from COVID. Are you going to be retribution in that? You had a hand in that.

So, I think it was, as you just said, a lot of bluster for him. But it's what his base wants to hear. And I think it's something that should be taken seriously. A lot of people right now I think are rolling their eyes and saying that's just Trump being Trump. But this is important. We need to really pay attention to what he is saying and realize that we're not getting the same Donald Trump. We're going to get a more angry and vengeful Donald Trump if he takes office.

I think other people who are wanting to may be jump into the race, I hope that they have that kind of, you know, look within moment. Because again, as we all talked about many times back in 2016, the reason Trump won the primary was because the field was so big. I do believe that somebody like Ron DeSantis gets in, it's early yet.

So these polls -- I know they do have Trump ahead but I do believe if somebody really gets in and is willing to take him on I think there's a fighting chance there. But I'm definitely worried. I'm definitely concerned about, you know, how strong he is still after everything that people have seen over and over.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: Russia says Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has visited the city of Mariupol, in the Donbas region captured by Russian forces last year. The defense ministry says that Shoigu was inspecting the progress of work by its military to restore infrastructure in the Donbas. It's not known when the visits took place.

FOSTER: Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces say they're still holding onto a key highway in Bakhmut amid a fierce battle for control of the city on the eastern front lines. But officials are dismissing speculation of a possible Ukrainian withdrawal.

NOBILO: CNN's Scott McLean is following the developments and he's with us now in London. Scott, as we were just alluding to, it's quite difficult to get a really active picture of what's happening in Bakhmut. What do we know and what challenges are the Russians and Ukrainians experiencing respectively?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so it seems to be shifting over the last couple of days. If you think back to last week, you know, all of the signs were pointing to the potential that the Ukrainians may actually be forced to withdraw. They lost a key bridge cutting off one of the last supply routes in and out of the city. A drone reconnaissance unit was forced to withdraw from the city. And even Ukrainian officials themselves weren't sort of ruling out the possibility of having to withdraw.

Now the picture is a bit more gray. You have the Ukrainians saying that in the last 24 hours, yes, the assault continues. There are about half a dozen settles just in the Bakhmut area became under fire. You have the analysts saying that the Russians continue to make gradual progress in parts of the town, in trying to encircle it which is obviously their goal. And you also have a Russian war correspondent now saying, that look, he thinks that there's about 10-12,000 Ukrainian troops still inside Bakhmut. And that some of them have begun to withdraw.

But the Ukrainians say that actually, look, things have stabilized. There's a commander on the ground saying that not only are they not withdrawing, they're actually bringing in new troops to the front lines to try to shore up their positions. A bridge -- the bridge that I mentioned that was destroyed last week -- has been replaced by a temporary one, restoring that route. And also a key highway connecting Bakhmut to the next town over to the west is still within Ukrainian control.

So, it's really a mixed picture here. I think what's remarkable, is that there are still civilians trapped inside this town. The deputy mayor says there are 4,000 of them. Now, whether or not that number is accurate is one thing. But even if there, you know, is a smaller number, it's still pretty amazing, considering the very intense fighting taking place there. And the deputy mayor says that only 5 or 10 are being evacuated every day, that's down from 500 or 600 who were being taken out at the height of the evacuation -- which, of course, began last year.

And a lot of these people aren't leaving not because they can't get out, but because they don't want to get out. And this is something that we see over and over again in towns under fire across the front line. People would rather sit in their homes under fire and take the risk of going into the unknown with really nothing but the clothes on their backs.

NOBILO: Scott McLean, thank you.

FOSTER: Yes, unbelievable, thank you.

[04:20:00]

NOBILO: A busy week lies ahead on Wall Street as investors await a stream of jobs data and testimony by Fed Chair Jerome Powell what to expect and when, just ahead.

FOSTER: And later, comedian Chris Rock finally opens up about the slap heard around the world at last year's Academy Awards. And he did it like only he can in a groundbreaking stand-up special.

Plus, the in day ahead we could learn who will challenge Turkey's president in this year's election. But will they stand a chance in the race. We'll discuss, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: The FBI is asking the public for information after four U.S. citizens were kidnapped in Mexico. It happened on Friday in the town of Matamoros in Tamaulipas state.

NOBILO: An FBI press release said the four Americans had just entered the town while driving a white minivan with North Carolina plates when an unidentified passenger fired at the passengers. Armed men then took them away in another vehicle. The U.S. Consulate General had previously listed the state as a level four do not travel area.

FOSTER: And we're now just hours away from the start of a new trading day on Wall Street. As U.S. investors brace for a new jobs data expected a bit later on in the week.

[04:25:00]

Let's get a check on the U.S. futures right now, a mixed picture. Only the Dow looking slightly down so far.

This Tuesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will testify in front of the Senate Banking Committee. Then he's expected before the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday. He's set to discuss inflation and the Fed's plans to bring it down even further. And on Thursday, we're expecting to see the U.S. initial jobless claims as well.

President Joe Biden is set to present his annual budget to Congress. Concerns are mounting in the U.S. around an ongoing shortage of a medicine often used to treat people with breathing problems.

The American Society of Health -- I'm sorry, I'm taking down the script.

NOBILO: I'll pick up.

The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists says that the drug albuterol has been in short supply since last summer and is expected to get even worse after a major supply to U.S. hospitals shut down last week. CNN's Jacqueline Howard has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: A shortage of albuterol liquid is likely to get worse. Now, this is the medicine commonly used for people with breathing problems like asthma and COPD and it has been some short supply since last summer.

Now, one of the major manufacturers of the drug, Acorn Operating Company, has suddenly shut down. And health systems are bracing themselves for a possible surge in patients with breathing problems who have limited access to the medicine that they need. And the manufacturer that shut down was the only company to make a certain bottled form of albuterol -- a staple in children's hospitals. We'll be watching this closely. And the impacts that it might have on patients and hospitals. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Now, the trending Keto Diet maybe --

NOBILO: Keto Diet.

FOSTER: Keto diet, of course, it may be good for your waistline, but not so good for your heart.

NOBILO: The high-fat diet bans eating most carbohydrates to make your body burn fat. Researchers compared over 300 people on Keto with about 1200 eating a standard diet and they found that those on Keto Diet had higher levels of bad cholesterol and had more than two times higher risk of severe of several cardiovascular events like blocked arteries, heart attacks and strokes. Which makes sense because essentially this is just protein and fats.

FOSTER: Cheese, avocado, nuts, they're all very good things, aren't they?

NOBILO: All very good things but all very high in fat.

FOSTER: OK. There's much more to come on CNN.

The U.S. president travels to Alabama to commemorate a landmark event during the civil rights movement and makes a fresh call as well to protect voting rights.

NOBILO: Plus, one month after the deadly earthquake in Turkey and Syria, a look back at the damage and how survivors are trying to move forward. We're live in Turkey, after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:30:00]