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CNN International: Former Coast Guard Commandant Schultz Kept Sexual Assault Inquiry from Congress for Years; Democratic Congressman Urges Justice Department to Take Harder Stance on Texas Governor's Border Policies; Israeli Finance Minister Freezes Funds for Arab Programs; Niger's Junta Refuses Visit from U.N., Regional Leaders; Scout Jamboree in South Korea Plages by Storms, Heat, Supply Issues. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired August 09, 2023 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobilo. If you are just joining us, let me bring you up to date with our top stories this hour.
The Fulton County district attorney investigating Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia is expected to present her case to a grand jury next week. Fani Willis could seek indictments against Trump and his allies.
And more than 55 million people are under severe storm threats across the U.S. Midwest and South. Damaging winds, tornadoes and large hail are expected.
Now to a CNN exclusive. In late June, our Pamela Brown was first to report on a secret investigation at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy that went unreleased for years. Detailing decades of alleged rapes and sexual assaults. Until CNN began looking into it, Congress never saw the report. Now a former Coast Guard commander is speaking exclusively to CNN about the failure to reveal those findings. More now from Pamela Brown.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAMELA BROWN, CNN CHIEF INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: When the head of the Coast Guard was nearing retirement in 2018, he prepared the admiral who was taking his place.
ADMIRAL PAUL ZUKUNFT (RET.), FORMER U.S. COAST GUARD COMMANDANT: So I sit down with my successor and say, here are all the things that, you know, budgetarily, but this was a big one.
BROWN (voice-over): The big one was a massive scandal that was only starting to be understood, an explosive investigation into sexual assault at the Coast Guard Academy.
ZUKUNFT: They said, hey, we've got this investigation going on. There was no confusion whatsoever of the priority placed upon this. BROWN (voice-over): Admiral Paul Zukunft told CNN in this exclusive interview that there was no question the results of the investigation he launched would eventually need to be made public.
ZUKUNFT: It was my intent to be the public face of this event as the senior leader of the Coast Guard, and I regret we were not able to complete it during my watch.
BROWN (voice-over): But once the investigation was completed a couple years later, Zukunft's successor, Admiral Karl Schultz, did not release the results as expected. Instead, a CNN investigation found Schultz, the leader of the Coast Guard at the time, helped cover up the whole thing for years. Schultz would not speak to CNN.
The report dubbed Operation Fouled Anchor, found dozens of cases of sexual abuse and rape at the academy from the late 80s to 2006 that leaders ignored or mishandled. It was kept hidden until CNN reported it in June. By keeping the report secret, the Coast Guard avoided the type of intense scrutiny that could have forced more change in the handling of sexual assaults.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was completely toxic and devastating to my sense of self.
BROWN (voice-over): CNN has talked to more than two dozen women and men who say they were sexually assaulted while at the Coast Guard Academy, including this former cadet who recently graduated.
BROWN: So you have to wonder, if they had released this report, if they had done more to crack down on sexual assault, how your experience would have been different.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, I often find myself wondering what my future would have been like. Time and time again, the academy and the institution don't protect their people.
ZUKUNFT: At a bare minimum, we owed it to these victims to provide some sense of emotional closure.
[04:35:00]
BROWN (voice-over): Exactly why Schultz didn't release the report is still a question. There were plans for a Capitol Hill briefing on Operation Fouled Anchor in late 2018, according to a memo viewed by CNN, but that apparently never happened.
ZUKUNFT: For an investigation of this magnitude and the number of events, this rises to the very top of the organization. You know, this isn't a mid-level staff decision.
BROWN (voice-over): Members of Congress even asked Schultz about sexual assault in the Coast Guard in a remote hearing in 2021, but he still failed to mention the investigation.
ADMIRAL KARL SCHULTZ (RET.), FORMER U.S. COAST GUARD COMMANDANT: We want to bring accountability to all matters. We want to prevent sexual assaults.
BROWN (voice-over): And according to sources, he and his team also kept the report hidden from leaders at the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Coast Guard.
ADMIRAL LINDA FAGAN, U.S. COAST GUARD COMMANDANT: I again apologize to each victim, survivor, their loved ones.
BROWN (voice-over): The Coast Guard didn't come clean until just over a month ago, when Schultz's successor, Admiral Linda Fagan, testified at a heated hearing and announced she was launching a 90-day investigation.
FAGAN: We failed the committee when we did not disclose in 2020. When the CNN investigation started asking questions, that was when I first became aware of the totality of Fouled Anchor.
BROWN (voice-over): Senator said in a letter to the Coast Guard that that failure to disclose conflicted with legal requirements for reports on sexual assault at the academy to be shared with Congress.
SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): This episode is probably the most shameful and disgraceful incident of cover up of sexual assault that I have seen in the United States military ever.
BROWN (voice-over): Ironically, the final report on Operation Fouled Anchor showed the Coast Guard Academy's reputation took precedence over concern for the victim. And former officials tell CNN that's exactly what happened again when the report was hidden.
ZUKUNFT: If you read through the investigation, there were conscious decisions made by leadership at the Coast Guard Academy. Maybe trying to protect the image of the Coast Guard, you know, loyalty to an institution and not doing what's honorable to a victim of sexual assault.
BROWN: Coast Guard officials did not comment on Schultz's involvement but they wanted to make clear the current commandant, Admiral Linda Fagan, was not briefed on the investigation when she took office like her predecessor was. However, CNN's reporting does show that there are other people who currently work at the Coast Guard who were involved in the operation.
Pamela Brown, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: A Texas Congressman is calling on the U.S. Justice Department to be more aggressive in its response to the state's controversial border initiative. Democrat Joaquin Castro toured the banks of the Rio Grande along the U.S. border on Tuesday. And it's a common stop for migrants trying to cross into the United States. But it has become more dangerous since Texas started putting floating barriers in the water to keep migrants away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. JOAQUIN CASTRO (D-TX): The state says that they are not a danger to anybody. But I want you to look right here at this chainsaw type device they hid right in the middle of these buoys.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: Castro says he wants President Biden to address the issue but also wants the Justice Department to take action against Texas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CASTRO: It's barbaric. You see that they're basically treating these asylum seekers, these human beings, like animals. You see the razor wire here. You right over there those barrel traps that have concertina wire on them. You see clothing of people, including kids that it stuck to the wire, literally stuck to the razor wire. They're forcing border patrol to stay away from some of these areas when it's border patrol that actually has responsibility for all of this process.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: Governor Greg Abbott's border plan has separated at least 26 families at the border since early July. And that's according to an immigration attorney.
A 103-year-old woman is trying to join her family in the United States by seeking asylum. Andrea Andrade tells CNN Espanol that she came from El Salvador to follow her son and two grandchildren who were already granted asylum.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREA AVELINA ANDRADE, SALVADORAN MIGRANT (through translator): The truth is at my age, I can't really work that much. My goal is to be with my grandchildren.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: Right now she's waiting in Mexico for her son to formally request her entrance to the U.S. per immigration laws. She has no idea how long the process will take but says she trusts God to see her through it.
Israel's far right finance minister has been criticized for freezing funds earmarked for the Arab community. Bezalel Smotrich announced online that he suspended about $53 million previously allocated for Arab municipalities and educational programs in East Jerusalem. He said the money could end up in the hands of criminal organizations.
Journalist Elliott Gotkine is with us in Jerusalem right now to discuss this.
[04:40:00]
Elliott, obviously this decision has created a huge backlash, people accusing the finance minister of racism. What is your analysis of what he said? Is there a chance that it will end up in the wrong hands or is this a discriminatory move?
ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Bianca, I suppose first and foremost it's important to note that this isn't yet a done deal. Even though Smotrich writes on his Facebook page yesterday, and subsequently said that it is a done deal. And it's possible the government could overturn this and those could even be, you know, appeals to the Supreme Court to try to stop this from happening as well.
But in essence, what he's doing is two things. First of all, with regards to East Jerusalemites, there is money as part of a five-year program for East Jerusalemites, and it's an aspect of that program that Smotrich is saying that he's going to freeze funds for. And this aspect was designed to enable, to help citizens, people living in East Jerusalem, to boost or improve their Hebrew so that they could then be able to study at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
The other aspect, as you say, is worth some 200 million shekels, just over $50 million a year. And this is designed -- I suppose the best way to explain it is to level up poor municipalities with the wealthier ones. And after they did all of the sums, it worked out that Arab municipalities still had a shortfall and therefore additional funding was set aside for them by the previous government.
Now as Smotrich is saying that that is also going to be frozen as well. He says for three reasons. First of all, it's not fair that the money goes to exclusively Arab municipalities and not poorer Jewish ones. He says that the money was set aside simply as a stop to Mansour Abbas of the Islamist Ram Party who was in the last government. A first time a party representing Israel's Arab citizens was in that government.
And then finally he says that this money could whined its way or find its way into the hands of criminal organizations and terrorists. I suppose it doesn't hurt from Smotrich, from his perspective, that this is also a policy that would appeal to his base as well.
As far as the response, Mansour Abbas of the Islamist Ram Party says the real reason that Smotrich is this is that he is a racist minister who is trying to take us back to point zero. These accusations have been strongly denied and rejected by Smotrich -- Bianca.
NOBILO: Elliott Gotkine for us live in Jerusalem, thank you very much.
Still ahead, coup leaders in Niger are facing new pressure to restore democracy there. How the country's West African neighbors are turning up the heat.
Plus, South Korea evacuates thousands of scouts from a global gathering as a potential typhoon head towards the region.
[04:45:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) NOBILO: There's new pressure on the military leaders in Niger to restore the democratically elected government after last month's coup. The ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West African States, has approved fresh sanctions against entities and individuals linked to the coup.
And CNN's Stephanie Busari is following the developments from Lagos, Nigeria. Stephanie, it's obviously a very tense situation with huge amounts at state. It seemed fairly static though on the surface for the last few days but we know these machinations is going on behind the scenes with ECOWAS, the intransigence of the junta. And also even hearing that Wagner and groups like that might be trying to exploit the situation.
STEPHANIE BUSARI, CNN SENIOR EDITOR, AFRICA: Yes, there's obviously a lot of back channeling going on behind the scenes since these military threats did not go ahead. Diplomatic talks are being prioritized. U.S. in particular has been making attempts to speak to the junta and try to get them to come to the negotiating table. Acting undersecretary Victoria Nuland was in Niger herself, where she described having tense and frank talks with the military junta. But there is frustration that they are hardening their stance. Here's a State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATTHEW MILLER, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: I think it's very unfortunate and it is in keeping with the message that we heard from them yesterday when the acting Deputy Secretary Nuland presented options for a diplomatic path forward and a negotiated process going forward. And they were not willing to take that path at this time. We're going to keep trying. Again, fully recognizing how difficult that path is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BUSARI: They are going keep trying and more talks are expected in the Niger's capital Niamey, tomorrow, Thursday, with ECOWAS heads of state carrying on the dialogue. They want to make sure that they can reach a peaceful resolution. There's just no appetite in this region and the yearn for military action -- Bianca.
NOBILO: Stephanie Busari live in Lagos, thank you.
South Korea is preparing for the arrival of a powerful storm on Thursday. The tropical storm Khanun, which could strengthen back into a typhoon on its approach, forced a world scouting event to evacuate 37,000 participants from the campsite. But the storm is not the first problem they encountered. CNN's Ivan Watson reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A mass evacuation of tens of thousands of scouts. The South Korean government packing teenagers from more than 150 countries around the world by more than a thousand buses to flee an approaching typhoon. An escape from the sprawling site of the 25th World Scout Jamboree.
HERMAN LIND, SWEDISH SCOUT: It's been pretty bad. Like, really bad. I don't really know what else to say.
WATSON (voice-over): Speaking to CNN from one of the evacuation buses, these 18- year-old scouts from Sweden say that they were disappointed by conditions at the camp.
LIND: Why couldn't they just plan this better? And we've been a bit angry because they knew that they didn't have the resources and they still decided to keep going with the camp.
WATSON (voice-over): What was supposed to be a 12-day event has been troubled from the beginning.
MATT HYDE, CEO, U.K. SCOUTS: We were particularly concerned about sanitation and the cleanliness of toilets that were causing severe concern from us from the health and safety point of view.
WATSON (voice-over): The leader of the British contingent pulled some 4,500 U.K. scouts and volunteers out this weekend, relocating them to hotels in the Korean capital.
HYDE: It's a punishingly hot here in Korea. It's an unprecedented heat wave. But we were concerned about the heat relief measures that were being put in place.
WATSON (voice-over): Meanwhile, scouts from the U.S. also pulled out, relocating to Camp Humphreys, a large U.S. military base.
The August heat wave a particularly punishing, given the location of the jamboree, a reclaimed tidal flat, apparently devoid of natural shade.
[04:50:00]
LIND: It's so hot, a lot of people are passing out and we've been forced to drink about one liter of water per hour.
WATSON (voice-over): In the first week, hundreds of teenagers got sick from the heat, prompting the Korean government to rush air-conditioned buses to help, along with fire and medical services and extra water.
With a potentially dangerous typhoon approaching, Korean organizers finally pulled the plug on Monday, telling scouts to strike camp.
AXEL SCHOLL, SCOUT VOLUNTEER FROM GERMANY: I feel very, very sorry for the Korean nation and the Korean people because I think that they would have loved to present their country, their culture, their community in a more positive way.
WATSON (voice-over): Despite the setbacks, some teenagers apparently applying the Cub Scout motto "Do Your Best".
LIND: We're just happy to be in the shade, in the AC getting to cool down. And I mean, the scout motto is to meet every problem with a smile and that's what I feel like everyone is doing.
WATSON (voice-over): Ivan Watson, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: Still to come, a Florida mayor winds up with quite the catch on a family fishing trip, but she didn't hook a fish. She snagged a big bundle of drugs.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:55:00]
NOBILO: The quarterfinal matchups are now in place at the Women's World Cup after the round of 16 ended in dramatic fashion. France secured a spot with a decisive 4-nil win over Morocco ending Morocco's historic run. This was the first time that they'd reached the knockout stage.
Meanwhile, Colombia made it into the final eight for the first time after eking out a 1-nil win against Jamaica. Later on this week Spain will take on the Netherlands and Japan will face Sweden. The other two quarterfinals are scheduled for Saturday.
And some stories in the spotlight for you this hour.
Officials in south Florida are trying to figure out how about 13 cars ended up submerged in a lake. They were discovered over the weekend by a team of volunteer divers hoping to solve missing persons cold cases. Police have launched an investigation saying they don't know yet if the cars are linked to criminal activity or how long they may have been in that lake.
The mayor of Tampa, Florida says that she reeled in a whopper of a catch while fishing last month. A 70 pound or 32 kilograms bundle of cocaine. Estimated street value of the 25 bricks, just over $1 million. Mayor Jane Castor was fishing in the Florida Keys with family at the time and turned the drugs over to U.S. border patrol. Having worked in the Tampa police department for 31 years, Castor said that she knew right away what she'd found.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JANE CASTOR, MAYOR OF TAMPA, FLORIDA: You know, the closer we got and once I saw the rip in it and you could see the tightly wrapped packages, I was like, oh, that is definitely a bail of cocaine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: Someone in the U.S. is waking up as a brand-new billionaire. A single ticket sold in Florida matched all six winning numbers in Tuesday's Mega Millions drawing worth an estimated $1.58 billion. The game's largest Jackpot ever. Other tickets also scored big. One in California worth more than 3 million. And to ticket sold in Florida and North Carolina one 2 million too.
And that does it here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobilo. "EARLY START" is next.
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