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Donald Trump to Call a Major News Conference after a Major Indictment involving Him and 18 Others; Ukraine Liberated Eastern Donetsk Region; North Korea Finally Released a Statement on Travis King; Lan Prompts Massive Evacuation to 11 Prefectures in Japan; Yemen's Decaying Tanker Is About to Clear Off Waters; England and Co- Host Australia Contests Women's World Cup Finals Ticket. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired August 16, 2023 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.
Just ahead on "CNN Newsroom," former U.S. President Donald Trump is promising what he calls a major news conference next week about the 2020 election results in Georgia, just days before he's due to surrender on charges stemming from his attempts to overturn that vote.
Ukraine claims its forces have liberated a Russian-controlled village in Donetsk. We will have the latest in a live report.
Plus, a decaying tanker off Yemen, which was at risk of exploding, is now drained of its oil, but the job is not over yet. We'll discuss what still needs to be done to eliminate an environmental threat.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN Newsroom with Rosemary Church.
CHURCH: Good to have you with us. Well, the countdown is on for Donald Trump, who has less than 10 days to turn himself in to Georgia authorities. The former president received an historic fourth indictment on Monday.
He's been charged with 13 counts in a case alleging he and 18 others schemed to subvert Georgia's 2020 presidential election results. According to the Fulton County Sheriff, Trump is expected to turn himself in at the county jail. In the meantime, he's announced a, quote, "major news conference" coming next Monday about his false claims that there was widespread fraud in Georgia during the presidential elections.
Trump's former White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, has wasted no time attempting to have the Georgia case move to federal court. According to New Court filings, Meadows argues he is entitled to federal immunity stem from his time serving the sitting president.
CNN's Brian Todd breaks down the district attorney's case against Trump and his associates.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the words she spoke --
FANI WILLIS, FULTON COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Participation in a criminal enterprise.
TODD (voice-over): -- and the words she wrote in her indictment of Donald Trump, like calling him and his associates a criminal organization.
Fulton County D.A. Fani Willis made this Georgia indictment seem like other famous prosecutions.
SCOTT FREDERICKSEN, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: The D.A. made very clear in her remarks that this was no different than a mafia, RICO conspiracy.
TODD (voice-over): The Georgia RICO law is what Trump and his 18 co- defendants in Georgia are charged with violating as part of their efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in that state.
RICO, standing for Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations. Experts say the advantage of RICO is that it allows several individuals to be tried together.
FREDERICKSEN: As a loose group of correlated individuals and schemes in which not every individual has to know what the other individual was doing.
TODD (voice-over): But using the statute has disadvantages too.
SHAN WU, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: The danger of using RICO is it's more complicated. You've got multiple defendants now and that makes them harder case to prove. And for the jury, becomes much harder to follow.
TODD (voice-over): Analysts say Georgia's version of RICO is not very different from the federal RICO Act signed into law in 1970.
NICK AKERMAN, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: It has been extremely successful. It has been a real hammer on a lot of different defendants.
TODD (voice-over): And one of the pioneers of using that RICO statute in prosecutions now finds himself targeted by it.
RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER TRUMP ATTORNEY: This election was a sham.
TODD (voice-over): Former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani facing several RICO related charges in the Georgia case.
In the 1980s, serving as the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, Giuliani was aggressive in using RICO to take down the city's most powerful dons. AKERMAN: He used it against the Mafia Commission, basically breaking
up the five families, going after the bosses themselves.
TODD (voice-over): Notorious violent bosses like Fat Tony Salerno of the Genovese crime family, and Carmine Junior Persico of the Colombo family, among several organized crime figures indicted by Giuliani under RICO.
WU: It's actually a very sad day to see somebody who was such a pioneer using this very statute to show how it can be used being on the receiving end of it right now.
TODD (on-camera): Throughout this investigation, Donald Trump and his allies have vehemently denied any wrongdoing. Rudy Giuliani is calling this indictment in Georgia, quote, "an affront to American democracy." And he says the real criminals are the people who have brought this case forward.
[03:05:10]
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
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CHURCH: Joining me now is Miles Taylor, former chief of staff at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and author of the new book, "Blowback." Appreciate you being with us.
MILES TAYLOR, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY: Thanks, Rosemary.
CHURCH: So we're all (inaudible) in this country. A former U.S. president facing a fourth indictment confronting a total of 91 criminal charges and this latest indictment is different of course to the others in that Trump faces state charges so he won't be able to pardon himself or his allies if he wins the 2024 presidential election but he may actually try to move this to a federal court as Mark Meadows is trying to do. So, what does all this mean for Trump, both politically and legally?
TAYLOR: Well, I mean, let's hone in on that operative number, Rosemary. Ninety-one felony charges is 91 more charges than any former president has ever faced. And so we're already in uncharted territory times 91. And that's what's confounding not just about this case, but the three that came before it, is we don't really have a playbook for how this plays out with an American president and Donald Trump is going to try to use that to his legal advantage, but also to his political advantage. So he's going to try to convince the courts to give him special treatment because it's exceptional, and it's historical precedent.
And he's also going to try to convince voters in the GOP base and across the country that these are political charges and not based on fact. I think he's going to have a hard time doing that with the broader public, but so far it looks like that's resonating with Republican voters. CHURCH: Yeah, it does. And federal prosecutors have focused
specifically on Trump in previous indictments in an effort to move this along quickly. While Georgia prosecutors went big, didn't they? District Attorney Fani Willis invoking the state's RICO Act on racketeering, naming Trump and 18 other defendants. Now, that will likely slow the legal process down. But is this approach problematic, or is it genius for laying out the breadth and the depth of these alleged crimes?
TAYLOR: Well, I mean, if you go and you look through the indictment, it's extremely thorough, it's extremely well-documented, and their evidence isn't speculative. I mean, their evidence is damning, and it's based off of testimony that they've received over many, many months from officials at all levels of government.
But what's really crucial here, Rosemary, is that the vast majority of the prosecutors' witnesses are Republicans. They are people who served within the Republican Party, people who were elected Republican leaders, people within the president's own administration and in the U.S. Senate that are Republicans.
And that's what I think is going to be really difficult for Donald Trump, especially if this case moves into a trial that, as we know in Georgia, is likely to be televised, as you're going to see, like you did with the January 6th hearings, a parade of Republican officials saying that the President of the United States was trying to get them to do something that at best was corrupt and at worst was criminal.
So I think this shotgun approach with the vast array of charges that could be applicable gives the prosecutor likely more opportunity to make some of those charges stick. But more importantly than that, it seems very consistent with the reality, which is that a great number of violations of the law occurred in the course of this effort to overturn the election.
CHURCH: And Miles, what got lost in the frenzy of this historic moment was the dozen or so former GOP legal officials urging and endorsing a speedy trial date in Trump's federal January 6th case on election interference charges siding with the special counsel in a formal brief that was filed on Monday.
These conservative legal experts say it's critical that Trump gets a speedy trial in January 2024 because delaying the start date could imperil American democracy is what they're saying. So presumably they feel the same way about this latest indictment. What is your reaction to that?
[03:09:44]
TAYLOR: Well, look, I think that's absolutely right. And I would say that right now, if Donald Trump wins the GOP nomination with these charges still hanging over his head, it puts the Republican Party in an extraordinary bind. And I think you may end up in a situation where people are calling for a brokered convention or trying to find other ways to potentially replace a nominee who may not be able to assume the presidency, but much worse than that and the greater concern of these conservative legal scholars is what if Donald Trump wins the presidency and he wins the race and that's very viable.
I mean at this point the betting markets still have him at a 30 percent chance of winning the presidency in 2024. Then we are in a likely moment of constitutional crisis if somewhere in that window he's convicted in what you know rightfully Rosemary, is a potentially pardon proof case.
You could end up hypothetically with an American from jail. This is the type of thing that the Republican Party wants to avoid or needs to avoid. This is the type of thing the country desperately needs to avoid.
CHURCH: Miles Taylor, thank you so much for joining us. I Appreciate it.
TAYLOR: Thanks, Rosemary.
CHURCH: And back in Washington, transcripts from a February court hearing over the federal investigation into election tampering have been unsealed. They reveal special counsel Jack Smith went after copies of Donald Trump's direct messages on Twitter, which has now, of course, been rebranded as X. Documents also show the Justice Department was able to keep the search of Trump's data a secret for months, fearing he might obstruct the investigation if made aware of it.
At least 27 people have been killed in Libya and more than 100 injured in heavy clashes between two powerful groups in the capital Tripoli. The fighting broke out Monday after a top commander was detained by the rival faction. The reason for his detention remains unclear, but he was released Tuesday after an agreement with the government. The U.S. Embassy in Libya expressed concern over the clashes and called on both sides to deescalate the situation.
Well, now to a grim discovery in Sudan. A government forum in West Darfur with representatives from all ethnic groups in the region says there is evidence of 30 mass graves across the state, with more than 1,000 people buried in them.
The group claims some of the bodies were dumped by the paramilitary rapid support forces and allied militia. A top Sudanese official says the country needs a caretaker government to help stabilize the situation there. He also proposed a ceasefire between the Sudanese army and paramilitary forces after four months of fighting.
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MALIK AGAR, SUDAN'S SOVEREIGN COUNCIL DEPUTY-CHAIRMAN (through translator): The situation necessitates us to form a government to run the wheel of the state to carry out a couple basic tasks, to provide services and rebuild what was destroyed by the war, to work with the political forces to structure and establish the state, and to prepare the environment for a constituent and constitutional conference that will lead us to elections and a peaceful exchange of power.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CHURCH: The International Organization for Migration says more than a million people have fled the fighting and crossed into neighboring countries since April. And more than three million are internally displaced within Sudan.
And for more, we want to go to CNN's Stephanie Busari. She joins us live from Lagos in Nigeria. So Stephanie, what more are you learning about this discovery of mass graves in Sudan?
STEPHANIE BUSARI, CNN SR. EDITOR, AFRICA: Rosemary, it's another grim discovery in this seemingly unending war that has claimed thousands of lives and left millions displayed. Community leaders are accusing the Rapid Support Forces of hiding bodies and forcing aid workers to hand over bodies so that they can be hidden and buried in hidden locations.
And it's just another grim development in this war, particularly in West Darfur, which has seen the most violence -- which has been the center of the most violence in this conflict so far. And of course, you'll remember that 20 years ago, West Darfur was the site of a genocide that displayed, that killed millions.
And history appears to be repeating itself here, Rosemary, but not much is seeming to be done. But the community leaders are asking for help from the U.N. and other aid agencies. And the U.N. itself has described this as a senseless war driven by a wanton need for power. Rosemary.
CHURCH: Stephanie Busari, joining us live from Lagos. Many thanks for that report.
Well, Ukraine is reporting fresh Russian attacks as the U.K. warns Moscow is deploying its own drones based on Iranian designs. A live report from London, next.
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Plus, Typhoon Lan prompts Mass Evacuation Warnings as it lashes Western Japan. We will have the latest on that powerful storm.
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CHURCH: Poland flexed its military muscle on Tuesday with its largest military parade in decades. Hundreds of troops marched through Warsaw to celebrate the country's Army Day. The show of force also comes amid rising tensions with neighboring Belarus, a key ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Russian-backed Wagner mercenary group has been training the Belarusian military for weeks now, at times conducting joint drills near the Polish border. And you'll recall Russia used Belarus as a staging ground when it launched its invasion of Ukraine.
Well, Ukraine says its forces have liberated a village in the eastern Donetsk region after Russian forces tried but failed to regain control. The liberation was announced on national television just a short time ago. Ukraine says it's continuing its counteroffensive south of Bakhmut front lines. Meanwhile in the south, Russian drone attacks overnight damaged grain facilities in Odessa, a key port city.
CNN's Nada Bashir joins us now live from London. Good morning to you again, Nada. So what more are you learning about the drone attacks on the Odessa region?
NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Look, this marks yet another round of attacks against the port city. We have seen the port of Odessa over recent weeks repeatedly coming under these attacks using, of course, the Russian Armed Forces using those Iranian-made Shahid drones. Now, according to the Ukrainian authorities, as you mentioned, we've seen warehouses and granaries sustaining damage there.
At this stage no fatalities or injuries have been reported and of course while there is concern around the security around the port and in particular vessels docked around the port of Odessa, we are now learning that a Hong Kong-flagged container ship has actually been able to depart the port of Odessa, which is quite a feat, given the fact that this is the first vessel that has been able to do so for over a month now since the breakdown of the Black Sea grain deal following Russia's withdrawal about a month ago but of course there continues to be concern around the port particularly these drone attacks.
Ukrainian authorities say that their Air Force and air defenses were able to destroy 13 drones around the Odessa and Mikhailov regions overnight but of course there is concern given the new intelligence we are seeing from the U.K. Ministry of Defense, as you mentioned, just in the last hour or so, new intelligence being reported there saying that Russia has almost certainly begun deploying domestically produced drones based on the Iranian shahid designs. They, of course, began importing those models about a year ago.
[03:20:23]
But this local manufacturing will likely ensure that Russia has a reliable source of these drones, essentially making them self- sufficient. Though that caveat there, they are still very much reliant on components or whole weapons being sent to Russia by Iran via the Caspian Sea.
But of course, there continues to be real concern from the Ukrainian authorities around foreign-made technology, foreign-made weapons getting into Russian hands. And that was reiterated yesterday. We saw that devastating attack against the western city of Lviv, a barrage of missiles being launched overnight.
But the Ukrainian authorities say that 30 foreign-made ships were discovered within missiles launched overnight. And they are calling for more stringent controls, more stringent sanctions against foreign partners of Russia to ensure that these foreign made technologies aren't getting into Russian hands.
And of course, this comes as the Ukrainian counteroffensive continues to grind on. As you mentioned, Ukraine has announced just in the last couple of hours that they have regained territory in the Donetsk region. But we heard yesterday from the Deputy Prime Minister warning that victory is going to be a long and difficult road ahead.
CHURCH: All right. Our thanks to Nada Bashir, joining us live from London.
We are learning more about an attack on Russia's bridge to Crimea last month. The Ukraine Security Service is claiming responsibility the first time it's openly done so. And now new footage shows the moment an experimental sea drone detonated under the bridge.
CNN's Nick Paton Walsh has this exclusive report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's become the most beleaguered symbol of Russian occupation. This weekend, Moscow saying this incident was just a smokescreen foiling a Ukrainian attack on the $4 billion Kirch Bridge, the link between Russia and occupied Crimea that Putin seems to dote on.
Now CNN has obtained exclusive footage heralding a new way of warfare of another earlier devastating Ukrainian seaborne drone strike there in July. From the Ukrainian security services, the SBU, who say they did it and more will follow.
This is exactly what the drone pilots saw. Thermal imagery, the water rippling as up to a ton of explosive approaches the bridge. The feed then obviously went dead as it hit the concrete.
Russian officials said two civilians died in the attack. Cameras on the bridge captured the first blast on the road section. The cursor shows the drone moving in.
And another on the railway tracks at about the same time.
Ukraine has been coy, some officials saying these huge blasts are from quote, "unidentified floating objects." But no longer.
The head of the Ukrainian security services told CNN this is just the start.
VASYL MALIUK, HEAD OF UKRAINIAN SECURITY SERVICE (through translator): C-surface drones are a unique invention of the security service of Ukraine. None of the private companies are involved. Using these drones, we have recently conducted successful hits of the Crimean Bridge, a big assault ship, Olongorsky Gorniak, in Sigtanker.
PATON WALSH (voice-over): This another Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian amphibious assault boat, the Olongorsky Gorniak, on which Ukrainian officials said 100 personnel were on board.
It was a remarkable feat, carried out by a growing fleet of what they call the sea babies. Hundreds of miles away from Ukrainian bases and right in Russia's coastal heartland. It put the Black Sea's east suddenly at risk.
MALIUK (through translator): These drones are produced at an underground production facility in Ukraine. We are working on a number of new interesting operations, including in the Black Sea waters. I promise you, it will be exciting, especially for our enemies.
PATON WALSH (voice-over): Ukraine's ingenuity again and again toppling the lumbering Russian Goliath.
Nick Paton-Walsh, CNN, Dnipro, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: The London Metropolitan Police Service has issued a statement offering some details on its arrest of three suspected spies. The statement follows a Tuesday BBC report claiming three people were arrested early this year in the U.K. on charges of spying for Russia. The BBC says all three are still being held in custody.
[03:25:00]
The Met confirmed the names and ages of the people listed in the BBC report but said only with possessing false identity documents with improper intention. The Met did not say if the charges were related to Russia.
Well, some good economic news for the United Kingdom. New figures show the inflation rate dropped significantly last month, down to 6.8 percent in July compared to 7.9 percent a month earlier. Falling energy prices are the main reason for the decline. The U.K. saw fuel prices drop by a record 25 percent between June and July.
Well, for weeks, North Korea uttered not a single word about the American soldier who dashed into its territory. But the North is finally talking about U.S. Private Travis King.
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CHURCH: North Korea has finally publicly confirmed that an American soldier crossed into its territory and says he admitted his intrusion was illegal.
It's unclear how the U.S. Army private, Travis King, is being treated while in North Korea. What is clear, the Pentagon wants him back on American soil and so does his mother.
CNN's Paula Hancocks is tracking this for us live from Seoul. She joins us now. So, Paula, why did it take North Korea so long to publicly confirm that Travis King was in the country?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, that's an answer that only North Korea really has at this point, but it did take about a month from the time when Travis King ran across the military demarcation line into the North Korean side of the DMZ until today to actually acknowledge he was even there. Now, what we have heard, and it is all I should stress through state-
run media, KCNA, and not directly from Travis King, but what KCNA says is that King claimed fled because of racism in the U.S. military. This is the quote from the article. He harbored ill feeling against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the U.S. Army.
Now, in this same article, North Korea also claims that he was seeking refuge either in North Korea or in a third country because of that mistreatment. Now, a U.S. defense official has said that they cannot verify the alleged comments from Travis King at this point, but their priority remains getting him home and making sure they can get him home safely.
[03:30:00]
Now, within this article, and it was short, there was no indication of his condition, of his whereabouts or anything like that. This was all quoted through KCNA.
So of course, the focus now from the U.S. side and from the family side is to find out more information. We have heard from the mother of Travis King, this through a spokesperson of the family, saying that she is appealing to Pyongyang to treat her son humanely, also saying that she would like to have a phone call with him.
Now judging from history and precedent, this is unlikely as that is not often, in fact ever, the way that the Pyongyang deals with American detainees in its country. But certainly there are concerns as to his whereabouts and also as to his well-being. Now, Travis King did run across the MDL back in July, July 18th. There are many questions as to why he did it. He had faced assault charges in South Korea. He'd served around 50 days in a detention facility as well and had been supposed to be flying back to the United States to a base in Texas.
Just the day before he went to the DMZ on this tour he had been escorted by the U.S. military to Incheon airport but they were unable to go to the gate and he had then managed to leave the airport the next day. This is what happened. Rosemary?
CHURCH: All right, our thanks to Paula Hancocks, joining us live from Seoul.
In India, rescue and relief work is underway following one of the deadliest landslides in the northern part of the country. Thousands of rescue workers continue to scrape through the debris to look for survivors. A top state official says bodies continue to be recovered from one of the sites following Heavy Rain Monday. He also said schools would remain closed until weather conditions improve. Meantime, friends and family of those missing are anxiously waiting for updates.
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UNKNOWN (through translator): Two of my colleagues and their families are missing. Two bodies have been recovered. We still have hope that God will perform a miracle and my colleague Professor P.L. Sharma, his wife and son, will be safely rescued. We are optimistic and hopeful and have faith in God.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Dozens of people have been killed after heavy rains triggered devastating floods and landslides.
As typhoon Lan hits western Japan, evacuation warnings have been issued to hundreds of thousands of people across 11 prefectures. Officials say more than 950 flights have also been canceled nationwide after strong winds and heavy rain lashed the region. The powerful storm made landfall early Tuesday with winds equivalent to a category 2 hurricane.
CNN's Jennifer Gray has more.
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JENNIFER GRAY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Lan is finally pushing away from Japan, but it really caused some disruption across Japan. We had evacuation warnings for more than 200,000 people. We had structural damage, major flooding across the region, very gusty winds.
So it is finally starting to lift to the north. Japan can breathe a sigh of relief for a couple of days. You can see cloud cover still hanging on, but the bulk of the storm is staying offshore. That's the satellite imagery. So look at these rainfall totals over the last 48 hours. Some areas received more than 600 millimeters of rain. We saw other areas widespread amounts 500, 575 so well above what we would typically see for the month of August.
The wind reports were also impressive. We had 115 to 130 kilometer per hour winds, so that's where we saw a lot of the structural damage from that. So this storm is going to continue to weaken as it heads to the north, that's going to enter some cooler water. It's also going to brush just these northern zones that's going to bring some rain wind very high surf, but we're not going to see the impacts that we saw across Japan as this just lists to the North.
We also want to see some more spotty showers for Japan so the rain is not over completely, but at least the rain and the wind from Lan is far from over.
So it looks like the forecast accumulation going forward going to see anywhere from 50 to 75, maybe even up to 100 millimeters of rain for this region. But all in all, most of the impacts from Lan are moving away.
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CHURCH: Hawaiian authorities have been warning that the death toll from the devastating wildfires will keep rising. And not long ago, it jumped yet again. 106 people are now confirmed dead in Maui.
The governor says emergency crews and their dogs have covered about a quarter of the disaster zone and hope to get through most of it by the weekend as the search expands into many wiped out neighborhoods. [03:35:02]
The governor also says genetic experts have identified several of the dead and will confirm who passed away over the next few weeks.
Many of the Lahaina victims had been out in the open in cars and even in the water. The U.S. President is planning to visit Maui soon to survey the damage. Meanwhile, Hawaii Electric announced on Tuesday that power has been restored to about 80 percent of its customers on Maui a week after the fires hit.
Gloria Pazmino has this report from Maui.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The surge continues.
As the death toll mounts, there is desperation in this devastated Maui resort town. Crews now combing through the ruins of Lahaina, using cadaver dogs trained to find human remains. Only 25 percent of the fire zone had been fully searched as of Monday. It's still unknown how many people remain unaccounted for here.
The death toll says Hawaii's governor could double in the coming days. Thousands have lost their homes, and many are now scrambling to find shelter, food and clean water.
ANNASTACEYA ARCANGEL-PANG, LOST HOME IN FIRE: My son and loved ones are trapped. For example, my dad -- my dad's still there and he refuses to come out but there's certain things that he still needs.
PAZMINO (voice-over): Even the island's firefighters find themselves in need.
AINA KOHLER, FIREFIGHTER: They watched their homes burn as they fought for the other side of other homes in the neighborhood and it was quick. Like everything was happens so fast.
PAZMINO (voice-over): Frustration now mounting as some behind the residents remain blocked from returning to what's left of their neighborhoods.
UNKNOWN: I want to go back to my home, but these guys are killing us. Like what? Like I don't understand why they can't get (EXPLETIVE) together.
PAZMINO (voice-over): Others just beginning to come to terms with so much loss.
PENNY SCHILLING, LAHAINA RESIDENT: I'm praying for them.
PAZMINO (voice-over): Penny Schilling says her brother Joe died while helping his elderly neighbors.
SCHILLING: He helped one to escape. The last message from him was, I have these seniors in my apartment and I'm trying to keep this smoke out.
PAZMINO (voice-over): Those who were able to escape the flames say they are now reeling from the scale of the destruction.
KANAMU BALINBIN, LAHAINA RESIDENT: It broke me. It still breaks me. This is what keeps me going, helping people. A lot of us are at that stage.
PAZMINO (voice-over): And beyond the wreckage, the survivors say it's time to come together.
UNKNOWN: Ohana means family and everyone's pitching in. Doesn't matter where you're from, what color you are.
UNKNOWN: From the ashes we will survive.
PAZMINO (on-camera): And that spirit remains alive and well, right here in the Kula community about 40 miles away from Lahaina where so much of the devastation has taken place. It's happened here too many homes have been burned down as a result of the wildfire but all day we have watched as neighbors arrived to help neighbors people pulling over to volunteer their help trying to help people gather the pieces and clean up.
It remains a very active area. There are still several fires that are burning in the vicinity and the fire department has been dropping water in the area all day long. Recovering here remains a long ways away.
Reporting on Maui, Gloria Pazmino, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: New Zealand finally ended the last of its COVID restrictions on Tuesday. The country's Health Minister scrapped New Zealand's seven-day isolation rule for those who test positive for the virus.
New Zealand led the world for how nations could successfully fend off the coronavirus when it first hit in 2020. It ordered early lockdowns and strict border restrictions. Health officials said as a result, the nation had a far lower mortality rate than many other countries.
Still to come, a decaying tanker off the coast of Yemen is drained of its oil, but there's still work to be done to avoid any environmental threats. We will have the latest on those efforts, back in just a moment.
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[03:40:00]
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CHURCH: The United Nations has completed a high-stakes removal of more than a million barrels of oil from a decaying tanker off the coast of Yemen. It says the tanker had been at risk of breaking up or even exploding for years, which could have led to a catastrophic oil spill. The oil was transferred to a replacement vessel, and now the mission is to remove the empty tanker to avoid any remaining environmental threats.
Joining me now from London is Achim Steiner, Administrator for the United Nations Development Programme. Thank you so much for joining us.
ACHIM STEINER, ADMINISTRATOR, U.N. DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM: Pleasure to be with you Rosemary, thank you.
CHURCH: So now that this U.N. operation to transfer most of the oil from a decaying tanker into another ship off the coast of war-torn Yemen has been completed, what happens to that oil and who actually owns it?
STEINER: Well, as we speak, in fact, there is still a final phase of tank washing taking place right now, because having pumped over 1.1 million barrels of oil in this extremely complex and also risky operation, we are now in the final phase of cleaning the tanks. Once the tanks have been washed and the residual waters have also been pumped onto the replacement tanker, the objective is to tow the FSO Saffra away for a final tank scrubbing, which readies it then for a scrapping and recycling operation.
So that is underway on the one hand, and at the same time, the United Nations, who is President and Coordinator of Yemen, is also engaged with both parties to the conflict to look at options for the eventual sale of the oil. This is obviously the next phase of the discussions and the negotiations. So right now we focus on averting the imminent disaster that you referred to at the beginning, and that part of the operation is virtually completed, and therefore after eight years truly the world can breathe easier.
CHURCH: So the U.N. has said it needs additional funding to remove and empty this tank, to eliminate any remaining environmental threats. How will that be done?
STEINER: Well, we had hoped that by now the pledges would have contributed 143 million. That's the total estimated cost of this operation that has been in the making for 1.5 years. And just in the last three months, we have had multiple vessels and crews on site in order to conduct this operation.
Right now, perhaps a little bit surprisingly, we are still missing about $21 million that we've had to provide in upfront bridging finance, obviously putting the United Nations in an extremely difficult position because other operations are therefore not able to draw on these funds.
Our appeal goes out to the world that we have averted a disaster that could have cost the world 20 billion plus if we hadn't had an oil spill or indeed a breaking up of this vessel. So hopefully over the next few days we will still receive the remaining pledges or new pledges to close this funding gap. CHURCH: And of course this operation was designed to avert a
catastrophic spill that you just referred to there that could have potentially destroyed marine life and communities across the Red Sea. So was there any harm done, was there any spillage at all in the course of that transfer operation?
STEINER: It's a very good question. I'm very relieved to say I'm very proud in a way of the salvage team and the months of preparatory work and mitigation of risks. I mean, we went literally through months of preparing this operation, examining the Halvord divers, examining the amount of explosive gasses in the tanks, inserting inert gasses into the tanks, an extraordinary professional crew of people managed to complete this operation and no, not a gallon of oil hit the Red Sea.
And I think right now, if you just imagine, this is an operation that perhaps in a few months few will remember because it didn't produce the kind of disaster. And yet, you know, 30 years plus later, the world still knows about the Exxon Valdez.
[03:45:08]
So this is a good story and a good story that hopefully the world will appreciate has really prevented a catastrophic incident for the people of Yemen, for the biodiversity of the Red Sea. And imagine 12 percent of the world's trade passing through the Red Sea up the Suez Canal. It's unimaginable what could have happened had this vessel broken apart.
CHURCH: Yes and as you mentioned there is still about 2 percent of oil mixed in with sediment there in that tanker so how long will the process be before this is completed? I mean we know that most of it about 98 percent of this has been transferred but when will this really be over?
STEINER: Without any further delays or, you know, unexpected events, we are talking about a number of days. So our hope is that within the next week or so, we will be able to essentially complete the entire operation in terms of pumping oil and residual liquids from the FSO Saffron to the Yemen. And that essentially means everything has been removed. What then remains in there has to be scrubbed out and that would take place at a port to which we would then proceed towing the FSO Saffron in the next few weeks.
CHURCH: Achim Steiner, thank you so much for joining us and sharing this story. I Appreciate it.
STEINER: Thank you so much.
CHURCH: Well, the Taliban are celebrating the anniversary of their return to power in Afghanistan. Tuesday marked two years since Taliban fighters seized Kabul, as U.S. troops withdrew after two decades of war.
In those two years, the Taliban have ruled the country with an increasingly iron grip, systematically restricting the rights of Afghan women and girls. And that's drawn harsh condemnation from the international community, with the U.N. Global Education Envoy saying it was a criminal investigation.
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GORDON BROWN, U.N. GLOBAL EDUCATION ENVOY: The legal opinion we have received shows that the denial of education to Afghan girls and employment to Afghan women is gender discrimination, which should count as a crime against humanity, and it should be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court.
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CHURCH: Since the Taliban returned to power, they have barred girls older than 12 from attending school and have kept most women from working or leaving the house without a male guardian.
And then there were three, just three teams left in the Women's World Cup and we will soon know if it's England or Australia securing a spot in the final. We're live in Sydney next.
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CHURCH: In just a few hours we will find out who will face Spain in the Women's World Cup Final. Australia's Matildas, the hometown favorite, will face off against the Lionesses of England.
And World Sport's Amanda Davies, is live in Sydney. She joins us now with a preview. So Amanda, this is the big one. Your nation against mine. It has to be said, the Matildas have been extraordinary, haven't they?
AMANDA DAVIES, CNN WORLD SPORT: I can hear that joy in your voice Rosemary. I'm not sure whether we actually are allowed to be talking at this point. There's close to kickoff. But yeah, I mean I think it's fair to say as somebody who is very much on the England side of this divide this evening.
[03:50:06]
Since landing in Sydney this morning, it has been a real attack on the senses and I don't mean that just because of the early start from the flight from last night's Semi Final in Auckland literally from the second we landed at the airport here in Sydney. You could see just what a huge occasion this is for Australia this evening.
The Go Matildas signs at the airport. I turned on the television. Every presenter and reporter is wearing green and gold. Schools have said their children don't have to wear uniforms today. They can go in wearing green and gold. And the newspapers are certainly getting on board as well. "The Daily Telegraph" here in Sydney has renamed itself for today, "The Daily Tili-graph," of course for Matildas as you rightly said.
The nickname, some are giving away Sam Kerr masks and the headlines have certainly got the fighting talk well underway because as you well know Rosemary, the rivalry, the sporting rivalry between Australia and England is so great. It's one of the most storied rivalries in sport, isn't it?
The ashes, which of course Australia just reclaimed on English soil, both the men's and the women's in the last few weeks. The netball World Cup has just played out here at this very stadium back in 2003, the Rugby World Cup where Johnny Wilkinson broke Australian hearts.
But up to this point, it hasn't really been a rivalry that's played out in football. Australia though, did win the last match the two sides played. That was back in April in London, breaking Serena Vigman's unbeaten runner in charge of this England team.
Both of the sides though, for all the history, for all everybody else's efforts to hype this match up, both the teams are trying to play it down, saying they're just treating it like any other game, they just wanna win.
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MACKENZIE ARNOLD, AUSTRALIA GOALKEEPER: I mean, being knocked out by anyone is kind of unthinkable. I think, yeah, we would, there's probably a lot of English people that would love to see us knocked out by England, but I think there's more Australians that would love to see England knocked out by us. So in terms of the rivalry, again, we have such big rivalries with so many different countries. So It's just another game for us.
SARINA WIEGMAN, ENGLAND MANAGER: We just know it's a very competitive, going to be a very competitive game. Lots of players from Australia also play in the Women's Super League, so they know each other really well. And of course, they want to beat us. We want to beat them. So that's the main competitiveness we will get in front of us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DAVIES: The weight of support, of course, no doubt very much behind the Matildas here. An estimated 80,000 people expected. There is a fair few England fans, though, who have made their way out here. A big English contingent, of course, also based here in Sydney.
England on paper are the favorites. But as you rightly said, Australia have defied the odds so far. And they don't want to stop here, knowing that a place in the final against Spain is at stake.
CHURCH: It's all very exciting. We'll see. We'll know soon. Amanda, Davies, joining us live from Sydney. Many thanks, I appreciate it.
Well, football superstar Neymar Jr. is making a debut of sorts with his new Saudi club Al Hilal.
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NEYMAR JR., FORWARD: I'm here in Saudi Arabia. I am Hilal.
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CHURCH: Neymar is the latest big name to join the Saudi Pro League, which has been spending vast sums on luring top talent away from Europe over the last few months. They're reportedly paying him more than $98 million plus add-ons for a two-year contract. Neymar is leaving Paris, Saint-Germain, and he helped them win 13 major trophies, but not the elusive Champions League.
A lawyer for the family at the heart of the "Blind Side" book and movie says his clients are heartbroken over allegations made by Michael Oher. Oher, a former NFL player, filed a petition to end Sean and Lee Ann Tuohy's years-long conservatorship over him.
He accused the family of tricking him into signing the paperwork, saying they were looking to profit from his athletic ability and his story. The attorney for the family said in a statement, anyone with a modicum of common sense can see that the outlandish claims made by Michael O'Hare about the family are hurtful and absurd. The idea that the family have ever sought to profit off Mr. Oher is not only offensive, it is transparently ridiculous. Our Brynn Gingras has more.
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(VIDEO PLAYING)
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Michael Oher, blindsided, He says, by his family at the center of the Hollywood blockbuster.
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GINGRAS (voice-over): In a lawsuit the former NFL player alleging he was tricked by Sean and Leanne Tuohy, believing they were adopting the 18 year old budding football star.
UNKNOWN: He became part of our lives.
GINGRAS (voice-over): When in fact, they became his conservators and quote, "have total control over Michael Oher's ability to negotiate for or enter any contract, despite the fact he was over 18 years of age and had no diagnosed physical or psychological disabilities." It's a lie, Oher says, he discovered in February.
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Oher's life story from poverty to NFL stardom with the support of the Tuohy family became a best-selling book.
Then an Oscar winning film reportedly netting more than $330 million, Oher says he's seen none of that money and now nearly 20 years later is asking the Tuohy's for a full accounting of his share.
The suit reads where other parents of Michael's classmates saw Michael simply as a nice kid in need, conservators Sean Tuohy and Leigh Ann Tuohy saw something else. A gullible young man whose athletic talent could be exploited for their own benefit. Sean Tuohy, telling a local Tennessee newspaper, We didn't make any
money off the movie. His son SJ, not named in the suit, told Barstool Sports, he did make some money but it didn't make him rich.
SEAN TUOHY JR., RESPONDING TO LAWSUIT AGAINST THE FAMILY: I've made like 60, 70 grand over the course of the last four or five years.
GINGRAS (voice-over): The suit also claims Oher, who just published a book about overcoming obstacles this month, unknowingly signed over the rights to his name, image, and likeness in 2007 without payment.
Oher has publicly stated he doesn't like how he was portrayed in the movie.
MICHAEL OHER, FORMER NFL STAR: I think the biggest for me is being portrayed, not being able to read or write. When you go into a locker room and your teammates don't think, you can learn a playbook, you know, that weighs heavy.
GINGRAS (voice-over): The Tuohy's say they are devastated by the claims in the filing quote, "it's upsetting to think we would make any money off any of our children, but we're going to love Michael at 37, just like we loved him at 16."
Brynn Gingras, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Oscar winner Halle Berry celebrated her 57th birthday with a Barbie-themed celebration. She posted photos of her visiting the World of Barbie in Santa Monica, California with her boyfriend and 15-year- old daughter. Mom and daughter both wore pink for the outing, Berry wrote on Instagram. I got to let my inner Barbie soar.
And thanks so much for joining us this hour. I'm Rosemary Church. "CNN Newsroom" continues with Bianca Nobilo after a short break.
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