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Police Chief Apologizes After Boy Arrested While Taking Out Trash; HHS Declares Public Health Emergency For Maui Fires; First On CNN: Fulton County District Attorney To Present Trump Case To Grand Jury Early Next Week; First On CNN: Former Georgia Lt. Governor Set To Testify In Fulton County Early Next Week; Former President Trump Campaigns At Iowa State Fair; Russia Says It Shot Down Three Missiles Aimed At Crimea Bridge; Shelling In Kharkiv Region Intensifies As Russia Tries To Reclaim Territory; Zelenskyy Fires Officials In Charge Of Military Recruitment; CNN Visits A New York City Migrant Shelter. Aired 1-2p ET

Aired August 12, 2023 - 13:00   ET

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

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The father, Michael Bernard, spoke with WILX, that's a CNN affiliate, saying that he was washing the dishes, and then told his 12-year-old son, Tashawn to take out the trash.

[13:00:07]

And here is what he said happened in an off-camera interview.

MICHAEL BERNARD, FATHER OF TASHAWN BERNARD: I get concerned when I didn't see him come back, within that period of time. And I walk out, to here, look out, and to my surprise, the cops had him in handcuff.

I was mad about it, because I was like -- my son would never do it breaking the law. So, I rushed down and asked the cop what's the problem? Why you have my son in handcuffs just like that?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: And the family has since attended a virtual news conference publicly speaking out about what happened. Meanwhile, Lansing police say that they were during that time searching for a suspect in a string of car thefts. And they had a witness that described the suspect is wearing neon shorts and then a white shirt. And then, that's when they saw the boy Tashawn and detained him, since he was wearing similar clothing and was actually in the same apartment complexes where that witness saw their suspect running off to.

The police chief here, Chief Ellery Sosebee has issued an apology.

Here is part of the statement that he put out. Saying, "As the chief of Police, I want to apologize that this incident had such an effect on this young man and his family. I'm asking for the community to consider all of the facts of the situation before making a judgement." The relationship with our community has been and will continue to be a top priority for the Lansing Police Department." Meanwhile, the Bernard family, they have retained an attorney here. And the attorney claims that the boy was actually wearing a white -- a gray shirt, not a white shirt. And that the police should have also seen that there was a noticeable age difference between the boy, 12 years old again, and their suspect. They are considering legal action now against the city. Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thank you so much, Isabel Rosales. Appreciate it.

ROSALES: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: Hello again, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Washington, D.C. Thank you so much for joining me. And we begin this hour with this breaking news.

Just moments ago, I spoke with the former Georgia Republican Lieutenant Governor Jeff Duncan, who told me that he will testify on Tuesday before a grand jury.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has subpoenaed Duncan to testify about efforts by former President Donald J. Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.

He said he received his notification which gives him 48 hours, in which to appear.

CNN's Sara Murray joining us right now on the phone. Sara, what more can you tell us about the significance of Mr. Duncan receiving that notification and confirming that he will indeed be there on Tuesday?

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Well, Fred, we've sort of been waiting for the moment when Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis would actually go before a grand jury, present her case, and seek what we expect to be charges against more than a dozen individuals.

The fact that Jeff Duncan was summoned to testify on Tuesday is an indication that Willis is going to be using the grand jury that meets on Monday and Tuesday to present her case.

Now, sources have previously told us this is the grand jury presentation that could take up to two days. And it's possible that she could begin presenting this case on Monday and then move into additional witnesses like Jeff Duncan, for instance, on Tuesday.

But this is, you know, the clearest indication of the timing of when this is all going to happen, when, of course, that she actually is going to go forward is going to go before this grand jury, and is going to speak charges.

We, of course, expect her to seek charges against former President Donald Trump, although, we'll have to see how that plays out before the grand jury, but she's also been looking in this investigation at a number of his allies. You know, she's been looking at the fake electors that convened in Georgia and cast their ballot for Donald Trump, even though Joe Biden won the state. She is been looking at the harassment campaign against, you know, local election officials there. And she's also been looking into this voting systems breach in Coffee County, Georgia.

So, we would expect those to all the potential components of this presentation she makes before the grand jury. Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Sara Murray, thank you so much. So, again, at least we know for the former Georgia lieutenant governor, he received his notification. He will testify Tuesday and we'll see how the rest of the week unfolds. We'll have more coming up.

Meantime, now, for many residents and business owners it will be a first look after the deadliest natural disaster in Hawaii's history. At least, 80 people have died and many more are missing after wildfires raged across the island this week.

Police have now reopened the main road into hard hit Lahaina after abruptly shutting it down yesterday. The line of car is waiting, stretch for nearly a mile overnight.

[13:05:03]

People were sleeping in their cars, waiting to see what if anything is left of their homes and businesses. And more than a dozen federal agencies have now been sent to assist with the recovery efforts, including FEMA and the National Guard. The devastation, they're expected to cost at least $5.5 billion to rebuild.

All of this developing as we're seeing more videos of harrowing escapes. Watch and listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got to walk somewhere over there by the beach.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) M.G., wrong turn! Wrong turn!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: M.G., M.G. Let's keep going. Keep --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, no, no, no, no, no, no, not like this. Not like this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keep going!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not like this! No, God! The car!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: See?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: God -- (END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Wow. It's hard to listen to. That family, however, they did eventually make it to an evacuation shelter after taking refuge near of the water.

Let's go now to CNN's Mike Valerio, who is on Maui. Mike, you've made your way as well as a number of people have made their way past that. That road that was closed overnight. What are you seeing? What are you hearing from people?

MIKE VALERIO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, we're actually in Wailuku, the closest that you can get to the perimeter of the disaster zone, and we actually have some breaking news.

The roadway was reopened into the perimeter, it seems as though people are being turned around, and that it is being shut down, Fredricka, once again, adding heartbreak to all of these people in the cars and trucks, minivans, you see, who had been sleeping overnight, waiting to get back into the Lahaina for over 15 hours right now, on the Honoapiilani Highway.

It seems as though after about 100 cars were led in since last time, we spoke with you, Fred.

Now, an about face, there is a road sign that says, road closed, adding to the anxiety of people who slept here for hours, waiting to get in. Waiting to see what is left of their homes, their businesses, their restaurants. And now, just look at this.

One after another, after being, you know, checked and briefed on the situation, look at this, people are being turned around. And, you know, we're going to see -- we've been speaking to people since before the sun came up. Let's see if one of these people will speak with us.

You know, a couple of people stopped before we came on the air and they just weren't sure what was going on. So, this is certainly -- oh, what an unfortunate development. This is terrible.

So, you know, Fredricka, what -- we're going to actually play you a sound bite. This is a man, Patrick Thurston, who we spoke to about two hours ago, he was waiting in line. He's one of the lucky ones when we were with you the last hour, just after sunrise.

He was able to get into the perimeter, just listen to what he told us about the last 13 to 14 hours of his day. This is what people have been going through. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATRICK THURSTON, LAHAINA RESIDENT OF EIGHT YEARS: I got out here by 11, made it all the way to the other side. I was done by 3:00, picking up all the supplies I got.

And then, got to here, and I've been here since 3:00 in the afternoon.

VALERIO: You've been here since 3:00.

THURSTON: Yes. We -- nobody, none of us has moved. My coworker, she's up there two trucks. My other -- I got three other co-workers down there. They're back there. They've been here the whole time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALERIO: So, that's what's happening at the granular level. As we zoom out, though, we want to bring you to some new numbers. CNN reporting as of this morning, new estimates from FEMA and the Pacific disaster center, say $5.52 billion is what it will take to rebuild Lahaina. 2,207 structures damaged or destroyed. 4,500 people will potentially need shelter because they have no more homes, nowhere else to go. Six shelters here on the island of Maui are absolutely filled.

So, as I turn around once more to see if anybody is going to come our way. Fred, we're going to try to grab an interview, we will let you get back to the rest of the news. But we're going to try to see how these people are feeling and what they're going to do if they cannot get into the perimeter to see what has happened to their homes, and potentially, to their loved ones they haven't heard from since Tuesday evening.

WHITFIELD: Yes. That's got to be so incredibly disappointing, because now we're seeing the people who are taking doing the U-turns behind you, they are being told one thing. And then, of course, while you're talking, we saw a stream of other cars that look like they were coming from much further down the road.

VALERIO: Yes.

WHITFIELD: So, they, of course, have another point of view.

[13:10:00]

We're going to let you do that reporting as best you can -- all the best.

Mike Valerio, thank you so much. We know people are incredibly disappointed after waiting for so many hours to get in.

All right, right now, I want to bring in Laren Gartner, who is the owner of Cheeseburger in Paradise, which includes a restaurant in Lahaina.

Laren, first, how are you doing?

LAREN GARTNER, OWNER, CHEESEBURGER IN PARADISE: That was a horrifying report that I was just looking at. These are very tough times for everybody. Good morning, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Yes, very much. So, I mean, you're coming to us from California, but you know, your business is there in Lahaina. Correct? And you are empathizing with the people who have been in line for hours, sleeping in their cars overnight, because they want to see what's left of their homes, their businesses, only to find out now, while the road was open for a moment, it's not any longer. They got to turn around.

Can you imagine what they're feeling?

GARTNER: I can. And we've been looking at this situation since we have several employees up on the highway starting on Tuesday night.

What's so important here is to balance why the county doesn't -- and the state doesn't want them to go in there, and why there's so much chaos.

There is toxic substances, there are still fires. There is still difficulties. There are dangers there, lurking for anybody walking around in the -- in the -- in the horror.

And sympathy, of course, because they don't have anywhere to go. It's really important for America to understand that Lahaina is completely isolated by one road.

You can't go from Santa Monica, to L.A., to Tustin, to Orange, to Orange County. You can't go anywhere. You're stuck, you're on one road. Even if you turn around, you're not going anywhere.

And everyone is in such chaos about what to do. They have this huge amount of people who have no place to live. And everything they own, their money, their credit cards, their (INAUDIBLE), everything is gone. They are relying on people to get in line. I mean, it's a horrifying situation.

WHITFIELD: Oh, it's horrible. And, you know, it's all of that compounded. I mean, you're -- if you were there, you escaped, narrowly the fire. You've lost everything, as you said. You want to see what's left.

There are people that you don't know what has happened to them. You know, all lines of communication are gone for people. Have you heard anything about, I guess, the sequence of events, you know, for so many people? What they are enduring? What they are being told about --

I mean, if there 4,500 people who now don't have a place to live, how do you -- how do they get a message about where they can take shelter?

GARTNER: This is very difficult because of the cell phone situation. Most of our employees, and I'm pleased to report that 90 percent of our employees have checked in.

We only can get them on the cell phone for seconds. It's very difficult, you can't get through. There are only a couple of places on the island that people can go.

And when we say that maybe you're on the other side of Wailuku, that's 45 minutes away in a normal day at 60 miles an hour.

So, depending on whether they have cars, depending on whether they have family, and the family can't get to them. Remember, if family is trying to help you, or you're trying to get to your family on the other side of the island, you can't get there. They have what you need, they can give you shelter but you can't get there, and they can't get to you because there is one road in and out of Lahaina.

And on either side in Kaanapali, you have tourism, and then you have Kapalua up above that. Then, you have in Kihei and Wailea, businesses going on as usual.

It's a very (INAUDIBLE) juxtaposition for everybody to understand what's going on. If you don't understand Maui, you can't imagine how we can have tourism on one side, which we're very grateful for, because those people can work.

And then you have this devastation on the other. They're 45 minutes away from each other. I only just saw pictures of people jumping into the water in front of our brewery. And I was so horrified, I couldn't talk for 10 minutes. The sound of those people asking for help.

Remember, this thing came down as a firestorm in seconds. Nothing like this has ever happened before. It was in seconds. These people had no way to get out.

WHITFIELD: No way to get out and without warning because that too speaks to the nature of what happened and it's just horrifying to even imagine what people are going through now, as you mentioned, you know, while there may be some planes that land on Maui empty even if they leave, the island of Maui head to Oahu.

[13:15:02]

Again, they have no I.D. You know, none of their personal affects, they've been separated from their family, no way to communicate, it is just the worst of the worst situation. Laren Gartner, thank you so much for, you know, conveying,

you know, just a scintilla of what people are going through. It's unimaginable. And it's so sad.

Thank you so much. And we're glad that you said 95 percent of your employees, of your staff have been accounted for?

GARTNER: Yes, we're very grateful.

WHITFIELD: Yes. That was good news.

GARTNER: But we're mindful of what everyone --

Thank you, Fredricka. I appreciate your time.

WHITFIELD: Thank you. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

For more information on perhaps how you can help Hawaii wildfire victims, go to cnn.com/impact or text Hawaii to 707070 to donate.

All right. Still to come, a more in our breaking news that former Georgia Republican Lieutenant Governor Jeff Duncan will testify on Tuesday before grand jury about the efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.

How former President Trump is responding now?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:20:20]

WHITFIELD: All right. Now, back to our "BREAKING NEWS", just moments ago, I spoke with former Georgia Republican Lieutenant Governor Jeff Duncan, who told me that he will testify on Tuesday before a grand jury.

Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis has subpoenaed Duncan to testify about efforts by former President Donald J. Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEOFF DUNCAN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I did just receive notification to appear on Tuesday morning at the Fulton County grand jury, and I certainly will be there to do my part in recounting the facts.

Well, I have no expectations as to the questions. And I'll certainly answer it, whatever questions put in front of me. And certainly, don't want to go any deeper than that to, you know, jeopardize or compromise the investigation.

But look, for me, this is a story that is important for Republicans to hear -- Americans to hear. Let's hear the whole truth and nothing but the truth about Donald Trump's actions in the surrounding cast of characters around him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Sara Murray Joining us now on the phone. Marshall Cohen is also with us. He's here in D.C. So, Sara, you first. What more can you tell us about the significance of this development and that, you know, he indeed, received the notification and testify and that he will do so willingly?

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): That's right. Well, Jeff Duncan, you know, breaking this news on your show is giving us the most significant and clearest indication that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is going to be seeking indictments when she goes before a grand jury. And that grand jury is likely to be the one that meets on Mondays and Tuesdays. Neither he is been called to testify on Tuesday, but we've been told by sources that this is a presentation before the grand jury that could take up to two days.

So, it's possible that this is something the district attorney could begin on Monday. And again, she's not just scrutinizing the conduct of Donald Trump and his efforts to try to overturn the 2020 election, she is looking at a number of Donald Trump's allies and supporters who tried to help him and that aim throughout the state. And we've been told she could seek charges against more than a dozen individuals.

And, you know, people like Jeff Duncan are potentially key to this grand jury presentation, because they help sort of craft the narrative around what Donald Trump and his many allies were doing around the 2020 election. And sort of the various parts of their efforts to try to overturn the election results, Fred.

And Sara, that he would be called to testify. Does that open up any kind of indication of others who may also be receiving the same kind of notification since he was one of about 70, at least last year, who testified before a grand jury?

That's right. I mean, she's not going to be calling, you know, all the 75 witnesses who testified before the special purpose grand jury, when she gives us the sort of summary of her case, before the regular grand jury that can issue indictments.

But she's going to potentially call a couple of people who can drive home. Some key points for her. We know that there is a -- there are a handful of people who previously received subpoenas and were essentially put on notice. You know, the district attorney's office saying we'll give you a 48-hour heads up if we need you to appear.

So, we're certainly checking in with others to see if there are other secret notified that the district attorney wants to see them before the grand jury on Monday or Tuesday.

Because it is possible that she use multiple witnesses beyond Jeff Duncan to make this case before grand jury. And, of course, she has her own internal investigators in her office, who are able to go before grand jury summarize evidence, read evidence into the record or potentially play evidence into the record.

You know, we know they have copies of a couple of audio recordings of Donald Trump on calls, including that infamous call between Donald Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

WHITFIELD: Right. I mean, over the course of the past couple years, we've learned a lot publicly about the kinds of evidence that has been gathered. And when I asked, you know, Mr. Duncan, if he anticipates a particular new questions as a result, he said, you know, he's just willing to answer any and all questions posed to him.

CNN's Marshall Cohen is also with us now.

So, Marshall, remind us, you know, all that is encompassed in this investigation, because it has gotten very complicated when it first it seemed very simple.

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER: Yes, if you're the district attorney, and you need two days to present your case of the grand jury, there's a lot there to talk about.

And Sara mentioned that infamous phone call with Brad Raffensperger and Donald Trump. That's what got this investigation started. But there was so much more. [13:25:00]

Donald Trump also, during that critical period between the 2020 election and January 6th, he got on the phone with the governor of Georgia, Brad Kemp -- Brian Kemp, and trying to pressure him into meddling with the vote count, changing the totals. He got on the phone with the attorney general of Georgia, and wanted to keep him away from a lawsuit that was trying to overturn the results.

He sent to allies like Rudy Giuliani and Mark Meadows to go to Georgia. Rudy Giuliani presented bogus claims of fraud to the state Senate and the state House. That has been a part of this investigation as well.

Mark Meadows was on the ground in Cobb County near Atlanta, where they were doing signature matching and sending updates back to the White House.

And then, there are other parts of this, Fred that were not directly tied to the White House and Donald Trump, but were allies of the former president who were trying to help his cause.

People that were involved in the breaching of a voting system in a rural county, Coffee County, trying to basically break in and find fraud on those machines.

Of course, the fraud didn't exist, because, as we know so well, it was all based on a lie with the election had been rigged and stolen away from Donald Trump.

So, getting close to the time to face the music here in Georgia. Fred?

WHITFIELD: Right, right.

So, Marshall, you have underscore how complicated has become. At first, it seems simple, because there was the recorded conversation between Trump and the secretary of state, as you outlined, and it only seemed to blossom even further.

And even Mr. Duncan says that while at first, there were a lot of Trump loyalists along the way, they have changed their mind and are no longer as loyal. But now, more so to the truth.

So, it will be interesting to see who also among the ones loyalists to Trump are now being called again to testify this week.

All right. Thank you so much, Marshall Cohen, Sara Murphy -- Sara Murray -- sorry about that -- for these latest developments. We'll, of course dig some more and bring you more.

Straight ahead, I will take you to the Iowa State Fair, where former President Trump has just arrived. Does he have any comments?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:31:41] WHITFIELD: All right, just moments ago, there in Iowa at the state fair, you see the crush of people? That's because the Republican frontrunner, former President Donald J. Trump, had just arrived at this moment.

People were trying to jockey for the closest position to take pictures, to talk to him, listen to him. You can hear there are some people asking some questions, his impressions of the Iowa State Fair.

Moments ago, we overheard him saying, you know, I've never seen anything like it before, it's amazing.

Let's see if there's any sound that we can hear right now as we get closer. There you go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CHEERING)

(CHANTING)

(CROSSTALK)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Right now, these are live moments right there of former President Trump there interacting with the audience there in a crush of cameras, reporters, photographers and voters there at the Iowa State Fair.

Let's see if we can listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: (INAUDIBLE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: We're zeroing in on this moment not just because he is the frontrunner for the GOP.

But also because this moment comes just after we learned from the former Georgia lieutenant governor, Geoff Duncan, that he has received a request to testify and to appear before the Georgia Fulton County grand jury in the ongoing investigation alleging Trump's involvement in trying to overturn the 2020 presidential results.

Geoff Duncan, a former lieutenant governor, and also now a CNN contributor, letting us know he received the notification giving him 48 hours in which to appear. He says he will be appearing before the Fulton County grand jury this Tuesday.

Let's listen now to see if anyone's able to get a reaction from the former president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Trump, will you tell us about the fair? (INAUDIBLE)

TRUMP: So this is the biggest crowd they've ever had. (INAUDIBLE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, we want to bring in CNN chief national affairs correspondent, Jeff Zeleny.

You never know when you may have a moment, when you have live microphones there, whether we'll hear a response or someone asking a cogent question about the news of the day there.

Jeff, you're at the fair. Also alongside you in the screen is national political reporter for the Associated Press, Michelle Price.

Jeff, let me go to you first.

We have this news about Geoff Duncan saying he will be appearing before the grand jury. Then you also have that coinciding with this moment.

I would like to see if we can listen to the --

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, this --

WHITFIELD: -- former president if there's a moment. Can we do that?

TRUMP: To watch this and to see this.

You know, we do have a beautiful day. It's a beautiful day in Iowa. But there's a record crowd. They've never had anything very close. I'm very happy about it.

[13:35:07]

Thank you, everybody.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Now, Jeff.

TRUMP: -- really.

ZELENY: Well, Fredricka, we know what --

WHITFIELD: Go, Jeff.

ZELENY: -- the former president thinks of this.

Sure. Hi, Fredricka. The former president is just actually about 100 yards or so from us.

He's stopping at the pork producer's tent, where they have the famous pork chops on a stick. He'll be making his way around the Iowa State Fair.

But this could not be more of a metaphor of how the legal cases against him really are colliding and unfolding simultaneously with this presidential campaign happening just as he is flying here to Iowa.

Regardless of what he says now, he'll have a chance to speak about this. I'm told later he'll be addressing folks here.

But we know what he thinks about this. In fact, he sent out a message on his social media channel as he was flying here, calling that Georgia phone call again, when he was asking for more votes, a perfect call.

We know what his response has been to this. So it's really not that surprising what else he'll say today.

But what is interesting here at the fair, Fredricka, is that Iowa voters and others are beginning to weigh their decisions here. This is part of the calculation.

Yes, he does come into the -- this summer five months before the first voting begins as the frontrunner. There is no doubt. But it's a frontrunner with many questions.

When you talk to voters here and officials, they will say that more voters have open minds than you may think.

Other candidates clearly are here as well. Today, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley trying to make their case as well.

Yes, he is here greeting supporters. But this is, indeed, a split- screen moment, both literally and politically.

WHITFIELD: It really is.

And, Michelle, the former president is very good at making it seem like this is normal. This is the way I called it, the way I scripted it.

By carrying on with the thing that he wants to do, which is press the flesh with people there, talk and make it seem like he is in control of the moment.

But clearly, in the back of his mind has to be what potentially can be said by a Geoff Duncan or anyone else when they appear before the grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia, and how the rest of those proceedings will unfold this coming week.

MICHELLE PRICE, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, ASSOCIATED PRESS: That's right. Jeff perfectly hit the nail on the head. This moment is encapsulating what this campaign is about for Donald Trump at this moment.

He's trying to arrive at the fair. Then there's news breaking about his legal cases.

His campaign has so far embraced this. His campaign spokesman has said the campaign strategy is the legal strategy and the legal strategy is the political strategy. These two are intertwined.

When we speaks to supporters in a little bit, we're fully expecting him to talk about his legal cases. He never misses an opportunity. The question is whether voters still want to hear that.

WHITFIELD: Right. He is likely not to dodge that moment and speak to reporters.

However, this does come right after a district court judge in D.C. said be careful about what it is that you share and what it is that you say.

Now preemptively, you would think that the former president is going to be reticent or careful about what he says leading into a week of a new grand jury, you know, assembling here in Fulton County.

Self-restraint has been difficult, Jeff, for this former president, but perhaps now is a time in which he is going to be tested unlike any other time.

ZELENY: Self-restraint is really not part of the vocabulary of the former president.

Up until now, if past is prologue, he will not follow the guidance or the requests of his attorneys, perhaps even the judge, given to him on this. So we will see what he says.

But again, there is no new moment for a new defense. He has been very consistent saying it was a perfect phone call.

But we all heard that phone call, because that was recorded to the Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, asking for more votes so he could win Georgia, of course, and turn that state red.

Regardless of what happens, when you're talking to voters and talking to other candidates, they are bringing all this up and just watching it unfold.

And, yes, his supporters believe that he's being ganged up on. I just talked to one voter who said, yes, he is with Trump, he plans to stay with him, he said, unless something happens at the end.

So look, there are many alternative candidates. We're hearing from a lot of them here today.

But I think we have a bit of sound from a short time ago, a little earlier this morning, when former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, she didn't directly address the indictment potentially in Georgia, but she did talk about all the drama hanging over this race. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[13:40:06]

NIKKI HALEY, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER SOUTH CAROLINA GOVERNOR: Republicans have lost the last seven out of eight popular votes for president. That is nothing to be proud of. We should want to win the majority of Americans.

We have the solutions. We know how to lift up everybody. We just have to communicate it the right way. This is not rocket science. This is common sense.

It is time that government starts working for the people and not the other way around. I'll tell you, in order to do this, we have to face certain truths. It is time for a new generation to lead. It is time that we leave the negativity behind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So just talking about it's time for a new generation of leaders and to move on from all of this drama. Again, we just have to watch all of this unfold.

As Michelle was saying as well, the political strategy and the legal strategy are, quite frankly, one and the same, at least for now.

WHITFIELD: Jeff Zeleny, Michelle Price, thanks to both of you.

We'll be right back.

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[13:45:10]

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. Traffic is once again flowing across the Crimean Bridge. Multiple Ukrainian missiles were shot down. That's according to a Russian-backed official.

Meantime, Ukrainian authorities are discussing a possible mandatory evacuation of children in the Kharkiv region as Russia intensifies its shelling.

The backdrop for these developments is a major military corruption scandal in Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he is firing all officials in charge of Ukraine's military recruitment offices for what was described as "illicit enrichment."

Let's bring in Victoria Coates. She is a former deputy national security adviser and vice president of foreign policy at The Heritage Foundation.

Victoria, good to see you.

So Ukraine continuing to attack bridges in the area with only limited success. What do you think they are trying to accomplish? VICTORIA COATES, VICE PRESIDENT OF FOREIGN POLICY, THE HERITAGE

FOUNDATION: Good to be with you, too, Fred.

It's been a really interesting week for the Ukraine conflict. We also had the administration send up the $40 billion supplemental, $24 billion of which is for Ukraine.

Which brings the United States very close to $150 billion, to my reckoning, contributed over the course of the last 18 months. So there's certainly a lot going on in the theater.

I think the corruption scandal is an extremely important point. Obviously, this has been a historic problem for Ukraine. You know, good for President Zelenskyy for getting after it.

But it's all the more reason the Congress should ask the inspector general to make sure all that U.S. aid is going to the right place.

WHITFIELD: So important but is it also potentially crippling for the Ukrainian military strategy and its focus and its demise?

COATES: Well, it certainly is a problem. You know, if the United States is going to be involved in this conflict to the degree that we are -- I mean, we are the largest single donor by a factor of 10 at this point.

So this is very much a commitment on the part of the president, for the American people to be standing with Ukraine.

And if that's going to continue and if Congress is going to vote to authorize this supplemental, we are going to have to get much more reassurance from Ukraine, as I said, that it's going to the right place and they can actually win this war.

WHITFIELD: Then you've got the timeline. If the Biden administration is asking for another $24 billion for Ukraine, Zelenskyy is doing this by trying to penalize some of the leadership of recruitment.

Can it be done fast enough so that, if and when that money gets to Ukraine, it falls into the right hands and the right purpose?

COATES: This has been really our question all along at The Heritage Foundation. Because this administration said yesterday this $24 billion is just for the first quarter of 2024. So they may be coming back to the Congress in just a few months' time to start appropriating more.

What is the plan here? Are we going to be doing this in perpetuity?

We're also very concerned that the administration chose to tie this to disaster relief for American citizens, particularly for border security and opioid relief, which is a horrible scourge, which I know you've covered, which is touching so many American lives.

I mean, it's really, I think, pretty low politics to tack a Ukraine supplemental to desperately needed relief for American citizens. So I think that needs to get separated out.

Then, as you say, make sure this is going -- and if we're going to send it, it should be going to win the war. We haven't seen that yet.

WHITFIELD: So the assessment so far of Ukraine's counteroffensive not incredibly complementary. What happens if Ukraine fails to regain a lot of territory after expending so many resources?

COATES: That's really going to be the $24 billion question here. Are we just doing enough to sort of continue this grinding stalemate, which is just resulting in so many dead Ukrainians and so much terrible destruction in that country?

So I think the president really owes it to the American people, if he is going to spend their money this way, to explain. Is this just through next year? Are we in this for five years? And what's the end game?

WHITFIELD: All right, Victoria Coates, we'll leave it there for now. Thanks for being with us.

[13:50:03]

COATES: Thanks, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Still to come, the mayor of New York City keeping up his appeal for the federal government to help with housing migrants. What a CNN team saw when they toured one shelter, next.

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WHITFIELD: A 3-year-old asylum seeker died Thursday after Texas authorities say the child experienced health concerns on a migrant bus traveling to Chicago.

The bus was sponsored by the state of Texas and part of Governor Greg Abbott's border initiative, Operation Lone Star.

[13:54:59]

This come as a team from the Department of Homeland Security is in New York helping local officials deal with the migrant crisis. Right now, New York is caring for about 60,000 asylum seekers and the number keeps growing.

CNN's Polo Sandoval joining me right now with more.

Polo, how does the city of New York plan to move forward on this?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How do they keep up with those numbers that continue to rise, Fred? That really is one of the key questions, with still tens of thousands of asylum seekers in the care of the city.

That includes at the Roosevelt Hotel here in midtown Manhattan. It's still the intake center where most asylum seeks check in before they're sent to their long-term housing.

There is a federal team that's been on the ground this week, sent here by the Department of Homeland Security.

A DHS official telling me this week, Fred, that it will be their responsibility to review the situation here on the ground, report back to Washington, and then see what additional resources can be sent to New York City as it struggles to keep up.

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DR. TED LONG, SVP, NYC HEALTH AND HOSPITALS: As we've seen the numbers of asylum seekers at the border go down, we've seen our numbers in New York City take the opposite direction and go up.

SANDOVAL (voice-over): Senior city officials faced a grilling this week from city councilmembers, who were told that hundreds of adult asylum seekers have been issued 60 days' notice to leave city shelters.

Part of a policy Mayor Eric Adams recently announced that requires migrants without children who have been in city shelters for a significant amount of time to find other means of housing.

MAYOR ERIC ADAMS (D-NEW YORK CITY): It is a road to help those who are needed to move out of shelters and take their next steps forward.

DIANA AYALA, NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL MEMBER: It almost feel like we're sacrificing one group of people because we have a higher responsibility to children and families.

SANDOVAL: New York City officials insist they are completely out of option, and say all you have to do is look inside any of the city's nearly 200 shelters.

Like this one in a building next to New York's JFK air cargo terminals that normally serves as a postal facility. Now it is serving as a temporary home for some 750 male asylum seekers.

The space typically dedicated to sorting mail during the holidays now a massive dormitory. The parking lot, bathrooms and showers, loading dock, a makeshift prayer room.

ZACH ISCOL, COMMISSIONER, NEW YORK CITY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Initially, a lot of folks coming here from Venezuela, we now in a lot of these places have 12, 14, 15 different languages spoken here.

SANDOVAL: Zach Iscol is New York City's emergency management commissioner.

ISCOL: Every day, we have about 500 people, 300 to 500 people that we're looking for room for, looking for places for. We can't open up sites fast enough.

So you can see this as sort of the layout here. SANDOVAL: He offered CNN this rare look inside one of the city's

nearly 200 sites currently being used to house about 60,000 migrants and counting.

This particular site serves as a so-called respite center originally designed to be short term and basic housing needs. But not anymore, warns the commissioner.

ISCOL: We modelled this after the emergency storm shelters we set up for coastal storms. Those are designed just to house people for generally 48 to 72 hours. We now have folks that are staying in these facilities for much longer, upwards of a month, a month-and-a-half.

SANDOVAL: Iscol admits the facility is not ideal for long-term housing, but with options running out, residents are making do.

Some skip the laundromat and air dry their clothes. Then there's this makeshift barbershop on the main floor. Only room for one client at a time.

But none of this is sustainable, according to Iscol and his fellow city officials.

Finding migrant families private shelter place is a whole other challenge. At the city's primary intake center in Manhattan, we met Soheyelli Mistahi (ph) where she waits to be assigned long-term housing for her family.

SOHEYELLI MISTAHI (ph), ASYLUM SEEKER: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

SANDOVAL: "We don't know where they will place us," says the Venezuelan mother.

Like many of the nearly 100,000 asylum seekers who have arrived in New York since last spring, the only guarantee is uncertainty.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: And there are two shelters that are slated to open in the next couple of weeks that will add to that nearly 200 number. One of them, at Randall's Island. It's a community on the East River. It's expected to increase capacity by about 2,000 people.

This sounds familiar, Fred. There was one open less than a year ago at that very site. It was a tent-like facility. They had to close it down because the numbers were relatively low. A year later, it's completely different.

A quick, interesting bit we also learned during our visit to that shelter, Fred. Each one of them is sort of a very intricate setup.

And also just a global reach here. In fact, lately, they've had to sort of rotate the order in which they issue their announcements.

Including showers being open. Instead of Spanish going first, they might move it toward the tail end because, as you just heard, they have six, seven, eight, nine, 10 languages in some of these facilities.

WHITFIELD: Very complex.

[13:59:57]

Polo Sandoval, thank you so much.

All right, hello, again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.