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CNN International: Ukraine Slams Russia Over Boarding of Cargo Vessel; China Condemns Transit of Taiwan's VP Through U.S.; Massive Donation Effort Bringing Help to Fire Victims; Webb Telescope Spots Cosmic Question Mark in Deep Space. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired August 14, 2023 - 08:00   ET

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

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BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to CNN "Newsroom". I'm Bianca Nobilo in for Max Foster today. Just ahead, wildfires in Maui have killed nearly 100 people and the death toll is expected to rise. Meantime state officials have launched an investigation amid growing questions about the emergency response.

Then the latest on Russia's invasion of Ukraine as a new wave of Russian missile attacks on Ukraine's port City of Odessa leaves three people wounded. And China calls Taiwan's vice President a "Troublemaker" shortly after he made a stopover in New York.

We began on the Hawaii Island of Maui where the death toll continues to rise after those catastrophic wildfires. 96 people have been killed with only 3 percent of the disaster area searched so far. Hawaii's Governor said more search and rescue crews and cadaver dogs are on the way.

Authorities are asking family members of the missing to provide DNA to help identify those who have died. Meanwhile, the fire that devastated the historic town of Lahaina is now the deadliest in the U.S. in more than a century, with loss estimates nearing $6 billion dollars.

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SUSAN SLOBODNJAK, MAUI RESIDENT FOR 31 YEARS: When I drove through on Friday, I had no clue what I was going through. I got so everything's gone. I lost friends in there, you know, they were going back to get their animals, you know when she died.

So I mean, you know, it's really sad because people come over here, you know, I heard there was a snorkeling boat looking at behind a town. Give them respect, you know, it's so bad. This isn't you know, people died here. You know, people, I mean, it's not just a vacation. It's not just a place for vacation. We live here.

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NOBILO: And today there are new questions about how the fire happened and the response to it, including why warning sirens were not activated. We'll have more on this in a live report from Maui coming up in just a few moments. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry is strongly condemning what it calls Russia's provocative actions in the Black Sea.

The Russian Defense Ministry says one of its warships fired warning shots at a dry cargo ship on Sunday that it claims was headed to Ukraine. Russian soldiers then boarded the vessel. Hours later, Kyiv says Moscow launched waves of missiles and drone attacks on the Southern Port City of Odessa.

CNN's Nic Robertson joins me now. Nic, fascinating, the earlier you were telling me that these two events might be linked.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: We know that Russia is aggravated that there isn't a new Black Sea Grain Deal or more favorable terms to it and giving some of its businesses better access to international markets or different international financial mechanisms.

Russia, it seems has been trying to draw attention to that or was if we remember when the Black Sea Grain Deal was collapsing when Russia wasn't going ahead with it. At that moment, Russia really focused some drone strikes on the port of Odessa, and also on ports on the Danube as well where the grain can go.

So when you see a ship that sailing towards the Danube to pick up grain or other goods from Ukraine that's boarded by Russian troops that who've fired warning shots from a ship and a helicopter and the captain is questioned on border ship. That does tend to point towards Russia's ongoing concerns about what's happening in the Black Sea.

And again when Odessa is hit three waves of attacks last night, 15 drones eight different missiles. Again, that shows Russia is focusing on concentrating on a desert, we can only guess that it's hopping back to the Black Sea Grain Deal and more favorable terms for Russia.

NOBILO: Nic Robertson, thank you so much. Back to Hawaii now, the Governor has ordered a comprehensive review of the emergency response during the early hours of the devastating Maui wildfires. Meanwhile, the power company is facing a lawsuit for not cutting electricity amid dangerous fire conditions.

CNN's Mike Valeria is on the ground for us in Maui. Mike It is rather remarkable. My producer and I were discussing how in Hawaii, there's very good early alert systems for water base threat tsunamis and problems from the sea. But there are so many complaints here that people didn't have enough warning of these wildfires.

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MIKE VALERIO, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, Bianca, I think that's an incredible point and something that we hear so often at this checkpoint, just a note of where we're standing. This is the only spot. I know its pitch black very early in the morning here, but the only spot where people can access the Lahaina disaster zone. So we've been sending here for a couple of days doing our reporting, and people come to us and they say, we just felt so helpless. What more could have been done? Shouldn't the tsunami alert system have sounded but you know, Bianca, I would say that there's a spectrum of ideas on that front.

That as you mentioned, it is the most advanced alert system in the world built in the middle of the 20th century to warn people about tsunamis. And there's the expectation that, you know, why didn't they sound that alarm? But we do have people stopping by every now and then who say, look, this was constructed for a tsunami alert to signal to people head to higher ground, not for a wildfire.

So could that perhaps have caused more confusion also police officers who we speak with, we asked them about, you know, the possibility of sounding that alarm and they say, it's not as simple as just flipping one switch. Coordination has to go between several offices throughout the island.

People share responsibility for sounding that alarm. So there will be soul searching as to what can be done now, if such an episode where God forbid, to repeat itself, because this is now within the realm of possibility when it was once unimaginable.

NOBILO: Mike Valeria, thank you so much for watching from Maui. China is condemning the transit of Taiwan's Vice President through the United States calling William Lai quote a troublemaker through and through. Lai is the front runner in Taiwan's presidential elections next year.

And he's making a stopover in the U.S. on route to Paraguay to attend the inauguration of its new President at a banquet in New York Sunday. Lai said Taiwan would never back down to China's threats.

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WILLIAM LAI, TAIWANESE VICE PRESIDENT: No matter how great the threat of totalitarianism is to Taiwan. We will never be afraid or back down. We will always uphold the values of democracy and freedom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: CNN's Paula Hancocks joins me now with more from Seoul, South Korea. Paula, you've been speaking to me over the last few months really about the delicacy of relations between the U.S. and China. Now is China's response to this visit of William Lai.

The stopover posturing and retort that they have to say or do you think it will mark a meaningful deterioration still in their relations with the U.S.?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bianca, this is certainly the reaction that everybody was expecting when you have Taiwan's Vice President, as you say, as well, the leading presidential candidate transiting through the United States, Beijing will respond. So I think there would have been great surprise if they hadn't. Now whether this changes anything in the grand scheme of the relationship, the relationship is very strained at this point. So it's uncertain if this is going to make anything significantly worse. As we have seen William Lai do this in the past in January of last year, he transited through the United States.

We had President Tsai Ing-wen also, earlier a transiting through the United States and meeting high ranking U.S. Officials while she was there, for example, Kevin McCarthy, the House Speaker, so this is an expected response. But it's certainly something that as you heard there from William Lai that Taiwan is not going to back away from that they will continue to do this.

Now we do have a statement from the Foreign Ministry in Beijing, saying that there should not be any kind of official interaction with the U.S. and Taiwan also saying, "Lai Ching-te clings stubbornly to the separatist position for Taiwan independence. He is a troublemaker through and through".

So that is certainly an expected response. We have heard from U.S. Senior Administration Officials saying that these kinds of visits by senior officials are unofficial and they are also in keeping with the One China policy but that's simply something that Beijing does not accept.

Beijing does believe that Taiwan is part of its territory, even though it has never had any kind of control over Taiwan. It is a self- governing democratic Island. But as far as Beijing is concerned, these kinds of transit visits should not be happening, and anytime they do happen in the future, which they will likely continue to. There will be a strong response from Beijing, Bianca.

NOBILO: Paula Hancocks, thank you. North Korea's Leader is calling for a drastic boost in the nation's missile production capacity. Kim Jong- un visited major weapons factories on Friday and Saturday, according to state media.

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They produce a variety of munitions including strategic missiles. Kim says North Korea's military should be ready to respond to war at any time. The ousted leader of Nigeria could soon face high treason charges. The military junta that toppled him and the coup last month says they have gathered evidence to prosecute Mohamed Bazoum.

He remains in detention where he says he's running out of medicine and has dwindling food supplies. The junta denies that saying Bazoum receives regular visits from a doctor. Stephanie Busari is following these developments in Niger and she's joining us from Lagos.

Stephanie, now the Nigerian delegation, which is composed of religious leaders, says that Niger's junta actually wants an audience with ECOWAS now. Tell us about the significance of that development and what it could lead to.

STEPHANIE BUSARI, CNN SENIOR EDITOR OF AFRICA: So Bianca, it is quite significant because this delegation of Islamic scholars highly respected. Islamic scholars say that they were warmly received. It's the first time anyone who has met with a junta has come up to say that some they were warmly received and that they were open to discussions.

Sheikh Abdullahi Bala Lau, who is from Nigeria respected scholars I say, said that the junta was ready to sit down with ECOWAS to explain their motivations for ousting President Bazoum. Take a listen to what he had to say.

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SHEIKH ABDULLAHI BALA LAU, ISLAMIC SCHOLAR: War is an ill wind that blows no one, no good. It is a matter of the last results. And from what we have seen, I think the situation is redeemable because the Nigerian government is ready and open to dialogue and peaceful resolution of these.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BUSARI: So Bianca, the first the Prime Minister of Niger is also speaking out after this meeting saying that they were comforted by the fact that this clerics, and just for some context, they were really happy that these clerics came to see them because these are some of them highly respected scholars known as Ulemas.

And they are really given a lot of respect in this country in Niger and Nigeria, because of the time they spent devoting to the text and study of the Quran. So this, the Prime Minister of Niger said he was comforted that they actually came and they were there with the backing of Nigeria's President, Bola Tinubu.

So there really is a prospect of peaceful resolution in this. But at the same time, hours after this meeting, President Bazoum was charged with high treason, and it sends some sort of mixed signal in what has previously been a standoff. ECOWAS has threatened military action.

And we're waiting to see what the next steps will be from them, but some kind of hopeful picture but at the same time, tough action from the military junta, in charging the President Bazoum for high treason, Bianca.

NOBILO: Absolutely, possibly positive rhetoric, but not very conciliatory actions as you say. Stephanie Busari, thank you so much for monitoring the story for us. And still to come, a potential fourth indictment looms over Donald Trump. We'll look at how likely that is and what charges he and his allies could fix?

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NOBILO: This could be another bad week for Donald Trump. In the U.S. state of Georgia prosecutors looking into his efforts to overturn his 2020 election last there reportedly have evidence connecting members of his legal team to a voting system breach in the state in January 2021. It was allegedly part of an effort by Trump's allies to prove the 2020 vote had been rigged. This comes as sources tell CNN that the Fulton County District Attorney will pursue more than a dozen indictments when she presents her case to a grand jury this week.

She has been investigating efforts by Donald Trump and his allies to pressure election officials and put forward fake electors in Georgia after his 2020 loss. Keep in mind that these are state charges separate from the federal indictments brought by the Special Counsel and state charges brought in New York.

So could Mr. Trump see his fourth indictment this week? CNN's Sara Murray joins us now from outside the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta with the details. Sounds pretty loud there, I think unless that's an audio issue. Sarah, what are we expecting today?

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, there are some sirens going on nearby, although it's not clear that that's related to what's happening today although, there is an increased security perimeter here around the Fulton County Courthouse.

And that's in anticipation that Atlanta districts or Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is expected to begin presenting her case against Donald Trump and his allies. As early as today, you know, this is really the next step in what has been a 2.5 year criminal investigation where she's expected to see charges against more than a dozen individuals.

Just one of the ways that this case is going to look and feel different from the federal cases we've seen. You know, we've seen the Former President charged federally related to election interference and what happened on January 6, but we saw a lot of unnamed co- conspirators who also did not face charges.

That is not likely to be the case here in Georgia. The District Attorney has been investigating not only that call that Donald Trump made to the Secretary of State here pressuring him to find the votes needed to overturn the election but also the fake electoral scheme.

Also this voting systems breach in rural Coffee County, Georgia that we reported over the weekend, investigators believe was more of a top down effort that Trump's team was coordinating, rather than something that sort of sprung up organically from Trump's backers here in the state of Georgia.

So there's a lot of evidence she potentially has to present before this grand jury. Her presentation could take up to two days. And we've heard from some witnesses who were told essentially to be on standby and prepared to testify before the grand jury tomorrow, but we will be on high alert for any indictment announcements today, as well as Tuesday.

NOBILO: And Sara, what more, can you tell us about these reports that Georgia prosecutors have messages showing that Trump's team was behind this voting system breach? MURRAY: Yes, I mean, this breach was one of the interesting facets of this case because it didn't come to light until months and months later and we actually first started learning about it because there was a civil lawsuit related to election security here in Georgia.

And it became clear that pro Trump operatives in this county it's very rural, it's very Republican, had gained access to these voting systems here. And what we are learning in our new reporting is that this was not something that was just coordinated by operatives here on the ground in Georgia.

That they were in touch with various members, attorneys, who were working with Donald Trump as he put forward his post-election challenges just to try to stay in power and that a number of them were also working for a Former Trump Attorney Rudy Giuliani and Giuliani's search to find election fraud.

Now, Giuliani's attorney insists to me that he has nothing to do with the breach in Coffee County. But we know that Giuliani is one of the targets of this investigation and it's possible he could end up facing charges.

NOBILO: Sara Murray, thank you so much. It was great to hear from you. Now, Ohana means family in Hawaii and we're seeing that play out as volunteers step up, and donations pour in for victims of the horrific fires. CNN visits ground zero of the massive humanitarian effect, next.

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NOBILO: Hawaii's Governor says 500 hotel rooms have been secured for those displaced by the wildfires. More than a dozen federal agencies including FEMA have been sent to Hawaii to assist in the recovery efforts. But as CNN's Bill Weir shows us help is also pouring in from around the community.

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BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): This is the home of Archie Kalepa, he is a legendary surfer, lifeguard, a water man Hall of Famer on Maui ninth generation, Hawaiian family from the Lahaina area. And you can see what the spirit of Ohana or family in the islands means as everybody on Maui and from around the islands began flooding donations here.

So they've set up a command post improvised first responders here all volunteers, all people from the community. And they've created several of these pods around the burned area of the fire zone. You can see all the diapers and critical supplies the water and food as people just coming in here and it's sort of a self-organizing system.

Archie has great leadership experience as a lifeguard extraordinaire, and it's all coming into play right now people trust him. He does say that the state and federal response is getting a bad rap. Let me ask you about the immediate response right now.

ARCHIE KALEPA, MAUI RESIDENT: Yes.

WEIR (on camera): There's a perception as we've been outside of the perimeter, that there's no Federal real official state response. And most of the work in the frontlines is being done by people like you, grassroots just improvised first responders.

KALEPA: Yes.

WEIR (on camera): Is that fair? What's really happening? What do you need? And --

KALEPA: I don't think that's fair, because this is a crime scene. This right here is a crime scene. And so what people don't understand is the government has to do due diligence before they start moving in. So they're at 30,000 feet. They're looking evaluating about how they need to come in, to begin to facilitate this operation. At the same time, they have to figure out how to take care of this operation. And so, you know, that is not easy.

WEIR (on camera): So it's a humanitarian response in the middle of a working crime scene.

KALEPA: Exactly. The truth of the matter is, when you look at the overall devastation, we are not going to be ready to allow people to see what we're living through in six months.

WEIR (on camera): We're hearing from a lot of people outside of the sort of quarantine zone right now in the fire zone. They're frustrated because they can't get back in to see what happened to their homes or belongings. They're afraid that people up here aren't getting the help they need.

That there's too much red tape in the shelters it down in the center of Maui there. But those folks here say it right now it's a matter of managing the outpouring of aid.

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They don't want a lot of this to turn into trash so they're trying to manage it as it's coming in. FEMA is now starting to bring in shipments we understand. So right now the message from here is they have enough, plenty of tangible supplies, they would love to get a dust shield to protect this community from all that toxic dust.

That's blowing up the hillside, from down below, containers to store a lot of this stuff and keep it to when they need it maybe months from now. And they're really begging for sustainable compassion and grief, they're afraid that there are tension here will run out and shift elsewhere.

Maybe another tragedy on our overheated planet as a result of fossil fuels they dream. They're already starting to talk about rebuilding this place in a sustainable way that adheres to sort of traditional Hawaiian values and a balance with nature, as well. So they're trying to get through this in real time.

It's so striking but like I always say you guys have heard me say it a million times Mr. Rogers taught us to look for the helpers. When things get scary, there's no shortage of that in Maui right now. But it is, key that people do this right and pay attention for the long term. Because there's so much here, were salvaging its paradise and it can be again.

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NOBILO: And before we go, NASA's Webb Telescope has spotted a literal cosmic question mark deep in the galaxy. That glowing object in the shape of a question mark was captured last month. Scientists aren't sure about its origin but think it's what happens when two galaxies collide.

In fact, they say the merging of galaxies into a question mark like shape has happened before, but a Physics Professor compared it to someone who finds a chicken tender. That looks like George Washington. We've all been there. Thank you for joining me on CNN "Newsroom". I'm Bianca Nobilo in London. And "World Sport" with Coy Wire is up for you next.

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