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CNN International: Trump has Less Than 10 Days to Voluntarily Surrender; Meadows Could Play Key Role in Potential Trump Conviction; Giuliani Struggling Under Massive Legal Bills; 106 Confirmed Deaths So Far from Maui Wildfire; North Korea Speaks Out About Travis King for First Time; Mass Graves Discovered in Sudan; 35 million People in Western U.S. Under Heat Alerts. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired August 16, 2023 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world. I'm Bianca Nobilo live from London. Max Foster is off this week. Just ahead for you on CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Every time they file an indictment, we go way up in the polls. We need one more indictment to close out this election.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His name has been at the center of this whole issue as it's been investigated for the last 2.5 years.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All these defendants have until next Friday at noon to surrender.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That the state will have everything needs for the federal government.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hawaii means family and everyone is pitching in, it doesn't matter where you're from, what color you are.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: From the ashes, we will survive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

NOBILO: It is August 16th, 9:00 a.m. here in London, 4:00 a.m. in Atlanta. Where in just nine days, Donald Trump is expected to turn himself in at the Fulton County jail over charges to subvert Georgia's 2020 election results. The former president faces 13 criminal accounts in the Georgia election investigation, but it's already denouncing the indictment against him and 18 other codefendants.

In the meantime, he has announced a, quote, major news conference next Monday to present a report from his team on his own allegations of fraud in the case. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp isn't backing down for the fight though. He maintains Georgia's presidential election was not stolen, and in fact, anyone who alleges it has been unable to prove it.

Trump's former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows is wasting no time attempting to have the Georgia case moved to the federal court. It's likely that others will try the same move, including former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, who says he's looking forward to fighting the case in court.

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RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER TRUMP ATTORNEY: I woke up this morning more excited than I am in weeks. He said, why? Because I got a fight on my hands, and a justifiable one. We're going to beat these fascists into the ground.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: According to new court filings, Mark Meadows argues he is entitled to federal immunity, since the Georgia charges stem from his time serving the sitting president. CNN political analyst Maggie Haberman says he could also be the defendant that Trump is most worried about.

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MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It was striking to see his name and this indictment. Because his name is at the center of this whole issue as it's been investigated for the last 2.5 years. But you are correct. He was not one of the coconspirators mentioned, as best as we can tell who they were, in the Jack Smith indictment. He has not been charged federally. He has been much less of a presence than we are used to around Donald Trump. And he is one of the people about whom I think the former president is the most concerned about what they may or may not have said.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: I after previously playing a key role in the alleged election interference, could flipping Mark Meadows help prosecutors win their case? CNN's Jake Tapper reports.

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JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR, THE LEAD: (voice over): In Donald Trump's previous federal indictment connected to the 2020 election, Mark Meadows had managed to escape any charges, leading many to wonder if the former White House Chief of Staff may have turned on his former boss.

MARC SHORT, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF OF VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE: I think one name that's obviously not in that indictment is Mark Meadows, who was kind of the ringleader of all of this.

TAPPER (voice over): But Meadows fate changed Monday night when the grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia charged him and 18 other defendants including the former president with racketeering for their efforts to try to overturn the 2020 election.

In the indictment, prosecutors say the defendants, quote, joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump.

Beyond Trump himself, Meadows is the highest ranking official to be charged and the indictment outlines the key role prosecutors say Meadows played to try to keep Trump in power.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President --

TAPPER (voice over): In the weeks following Trump's election loss, Meadows got involved -- according to the indictment on November 20th -- Meadows and Trump met with Michigan legislators in the White House where the former president made false claims of election fraud in that state.

The next day, prosecutors say Meadows sent a text to Pennsylvania Congressman Scott Perry asking, quote:

Can you send me the number for the speaker and the leader of Pennsylvania legislature? POTUS wants to chat with them.

[04:05:00]

The following week, Meadows and Trump met with Pennsylvania legislators at the White House. The same day co-defendants, Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis also traveled to the Commonwealth and, quote: "Solicited, requested and importuned the Pennsylvania legislators present at the meeting, to unlawfully appoint presidential electors from Pennsylvania."

Meadows was also allegedly deeply involved in the efforts to overturn election results in Georgia. According to the indictment on December 22nd, Meadows traveled to Cobb County, Georgia, and attempted to watch an election audit that was in progress, but not open to the public. He was turned away.

Meadows then arranged a phone call between Trump and then chief investigator for the Georgia secretary of State, Frances Watson.

TRUMP: The people of Georgia are so angry at what happened to me. They know I won. I won by hundreds of thousands of votes, it wasn't close. When the right answer comes out, you'll be praised.

TAPPER (voice over): But perhaps the most notable, if not the most damning phone call, Meadows arranged for President Trump was with Georgia Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger.

MARK MEADOWS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Mr. President, everybody is on the line, and just so, this is Mark Meadows, the chief of staff, just so we all are aware.

TAPPER (voice over): Where Trump told Raffensperger this -- TRUMP: So look, all I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more that we have because we won the state.

TAPPER (voice over): Meadows' role in that phone call earned him a second charge for solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer.

Jake Tapper, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: His role as Donald Trump's attorney has brought Rudy Giuliani plenty of legal troubles in defending itself against a slew of allegations that has not come cheap. As our Katelyn Polantz reports, that's creating a mountain of money problems for Giuliani.

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KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Rudy Giuliani said on Tuesday he is anxious to fight the new charges against him in Fulton County, Georgia. That he wants to find a way to get his case moved out of state court to federal court so he can be shielded. But that is going to take lawyering and at this point in time, Rudy Giuliani has a series of bills around fighting investigations and lawsuits that are really making him essentially out of cash.

He says this in a court filing in Monday, one that was in a lawsuit where he's being sued by the company Smartmatic, the voting company. They want access to some of the records that he has. They are held up in a company that hosts electronic records. And yet, Giuliani doesn't have the money to be able to pay for those records to be searched at that time. That bill would be about $15, 000, or $23, 000, somewhere in that range. And he just doesn't have it. So, he's had to go to the court and say he doesn't have it.

But on top of that, there are so many other legal bills that Giuliani has at this time that we're learning about in court filing after court filing. There's a 20,000-dollar fee for him to keep his electronic records stored so that we can respond to other lawsuits. There's a 50,000-$57,000 court judgment that he recently received because his company, Giuliani Partners, didn't pay all of its phone bills in 2020, and now have to pay that $57,000 for the unpaid phone bills.

There's also a sanction he's received from another judge in another lawsuit related to the 2020 election of $89,000 for not turning over all the evidence he needed to -- just like in the Smartmatic lawsuit. And so, that $89,000 that appears to be just the tip of the spear as others are trying to get Rudy Giuliani either to pay for their legal bills, if they are suing him, and he is not responding the way that he needs to in court, and they're also trying to get judges to rule in their favor, since there are several lawsuits around him related to what he was doing for Donald Trump after the 2020 election.

Katelyn Polantz, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE) NOBILO: The death toll from the devastating Maui wildfires have shot

up to 106 in the last few hours. But officials keep warning that that heartbreaking figure were only keep rising. Search and recovery teams are sifting through the ash and debris of what used to be vibrant neighborhoods in the tourist town of Lahaina. So far, they have made it through less than one third of the disaster zone. We're hearing the main highway into Lahaina will fully reopen for the foreseeable future for the first time since the tragedy. But it will still be closed nightly from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. local time. One resident described the devastation that she finds on her doorstep.

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NANCY GARNETT, KULA RESIDENT: This was a forest, you guys. You couldn't see through here ever for hundreds of years. This was a huge forest. And this is what's left. And so, what it did, is it started down there. By sunset, I looked out the window, and all I saw was just a huge glow, like to close.

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So I came down here and I just -- by myself, everyone had evacuated but me, because I had no phone service. So I didn't get the alerts. And then I freaked, because I've been alone by myself forever. And I just didn't know what to do. And it was like right here. I am so -- still vulnerable. I'm still kind of in shock.

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NOBILO: Meanwhile, FEMA disaster teams have arrived and genetic testing experts will help identify the victims. But the Hawaii governor says that will be a difficult process that could take weeks. U.S. president says he will soon visit the disaster zone and make sure that Maui gets all of the federal help that it needs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: I spoken to Governor Josh Green multiple times and reassured him the state will have everything it needs from the federal government. I immediately approve the governor's request for expediting a major disaster declaration, that's a fancy way of saying whatever you need, you're going to get. And that will get aid into the hands of people who desperately need it. Who have lost their loved ones. Who have lost their homes, their livelihood. Who've been damaged and destroyed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: One of Maui's wildfires, the Kula fire, is now 75 percent contained. CNN's Bill Weir is on the ground in Kula and filed this report earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: This is the Kula neighborhood in Maui. We are several miles from the destruction in Lahaina, and this is still an active fire zone. Only about 60 percent of this upcountry fire has been contained, and we can actually see at least two hotspots around here, which explains the yellow helicopter. That is the Maui fire department. He's taking bucketloads of water from a nearby swimming pool of a home that is completely burned down. They're refilling it with a fire hydrant. But the fire department is stretched so thin here that it's really sort of do it yourself, DIY, fire protection, which explains this set up.

This homeowner was gone, his wife was here, but she fired up their improvised sort of fire prevention system. And they're spraying it as far as they can down into the ravine here. With the fear that some of these hot spots might whip up. There's a couple of storms brewing in the Pacific, nothing near to the hurricane or the storm Dora that created all the fire storm winds. But still, anything that would kick this up is one more horrible thing to worry about here.

Meanwhile in Lahaina, officials say only about a third of that area has been searched with cadaver dogs. About a dozen souls have been identified through DNA, four identified and notified families. And then they've got dozens of other families who are now giving DNA samples because they have loved ones who are missing. So it's agony knowing maybe the worst has happened, but hoping you'll get a better result.

Here again comes another drop. And in addition to fire departments sprinklers, we actually met a couple of guys, volunteers who are putting out hotspots with bottled water, sort of bushwhacking through this dry brush. One of them actually burned a foot when he slid into still-smoldering ash.

So that's the scene here in upcountry. People understand here that there's a lot of action and sympathy happening in Lahaina. But this is an ongoing story. We're going to stay on it for you all day here.

I'm Bill Weir, CNN, in Maui.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: The Pentagon says it's focused on getting U.S. Army Private Travis King back on American soil after he crossed into North Korea last month. Although it's not at all clear whether King wants to leave. After weeks of silence now, North Korea has finally publicly confirmed that he is in fact in the country and says that he admitted to entering illegally.

CNN's Paula Hancocks is tracking this live from Seoul. Paula, this is a very mysterious story. U.S. and North Korean officials seem to agree on one thing, and that is that Travis King went into North Korea intentionally. Beyond that we have slightly different information. What can you tell us?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bianca, it's interesting that this is the first time that North Korea has even broach this subject publicly. Finally admitting that Travis King has crossed into their territory. Now, what they have said, and this is of course, all through North Korea state run media KCNA, quoting Travis King or at least saying the words are for him.

But in this article, it says, quote, that he harbored ill feeling against inhumane maltreatment and racial discrimination within the U.S. Army.

So, what Pyongyang is saying is the reason that he crossed into North Korea is because of racism. Now we have no way of knowing if that is accurate. In fact, we've heard from a U.S. defense official say that they cannot verify the alleged comments by Travis King.

Pyongyang also in this article saying that he wanted to seek refuge in North Korea or in a third country, because of this maltreatment. Again, we don't know if that is in fact accurate. We don't have direct comments from Travis King.

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We still haven't seen him since a month ago, when he crossed the military demarcation line into North Korea, while on a civilian tour of the DMZ, the joint security area. So certainly, what U.S. officials are trying to do now is find out more information about his whereabouts, about his condition, for example. That was not touched upon in state run media.

We also heard from his mother through a family spokesperson after this announcement from Pyongyang, and she said that she asked Pyongyang to treat her son, quote, humanely. She also asks for a phone call with him. But we know from previous cases, from precedents of U.S. detainees in the country that is very unlikely.

But certainly, the concerns about Travis King are increasing. But there is finally some acknowledgment from North Korea that he is even in the country. Now he had served about 50 days in a South Korean detention facility. He had been faced charges of assault in South Korea. So, certainly, that is being looked at, as well as a potential reason why he felt the need to run across the DMZ. But as you say, most sides assume that he did in fact do it voluntarily -- Bianca.

NOBILO: Paula Hancocks live in Seoul. Thanks for staying across that story for us.

Still ahead for you, Hunter Biden's legal troubles are going more complicated as his top defense attorney asked to withdraw from the case. We'll untangle all those latest developments.

Plus, amid the ongoing fighting in Sudan, officials say they've discovered more than 1,000 bodies in dozens of mass graves. We'll have the latest from the conflict.

And then a rebound of record high temperatures expect in parts of the United States today. The forecast for you, ahead.

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JENNIFER GRAY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The heat continues to build across the Pacific Northwest today, as well as a chance for storms. We'll let you know all about it, coming up, after the break.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NOBILO: As typhoon Lan hits western Japan, evacuation warnings have been issues to hundreds of thousands of people across 11 prefectures. State media reports at least 26 people have been injured so far, and thousands of customers are without power. The powerful storm made landfall early Tuesday, with winds equivalent to a category two hurricane. Japan's meteorological agency says rainfall in two towns over a few hours exceeded the average amount for the entire month of August.

About 35 million people, mostly across the Western U.S., under heat alerts for Wednesday. Heat alerts cover much of the Pacific Northwest and parts of Texas. And Portland's energy companies is asking residents to cut back on energy consumption. CNN's Jennifer Gray has today's forecast.

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GRAY: We are going to see intense heat across the Pacific Northwest today. And it is going to be short-lived. So, it's not going to last too long, but it is going to be brutally hot. We have heat alerts up for the Pacific Northwest. A lot of areas, especially -- look at this, Medford 108 your high temperature today. We do drop by the time we get to Friday, 100 in Portland, Seattle close to 90 degrees -- normal high is 78 degrees. So, a huge departure from normal across this region.

In fact, we are finally seeing cooler temperatures across portions of the mid-South, where high temperatures in Memphis, 81 degrees. That's really come down. However, right along the Gulf Coast, that's where temperatures are going to stay very hot. Dallas at 97 degrees, that's cooler than we have been, Kansas city at 85, D.C. at 87.

Below average temperatures are going to take hold across portions of the East. But below average temperatures will quickly start to build in behind that, especially for the Northern Plains as we get into the beginning part of next week. Cooler temperatures will be found across the Rockies and the West.

Feels like temperatures this afternoon, 101 in Houston, 91 in Shreveport, 97 in Dallas. So really, temperatures are in the 90s but feeling so much better than we have been over the last several days and even weeks on end for the summer. So, I think it will be a noticeable change across this region. High temperatures will climb though once again. Enjoy it while we can, at temperatures at 97 degrees, because we'll be back to 109 in Dallas Thursday and Friday. Monroe hitting 104 on Friday, New Orleans hitting nearly 100 by the time we get to Friday.

We do have a couple of lingering storms that we have to deal with today that will be pushing off portions of the Southeast. We do have a severe risk today as well across the upper Midwest, with damaging wind and large hail being your primary threat. This is a level two out of five when it comes to severe weather.

So, here's that forecast radar. And you can see those showers and storms just racing across. By the time we get into Wednesday night into the wee hours of Thursday morning, your forecast rainfall, looking at about an inch or two of rain. We could see some heavier downpours with higher amounts across some of these areas for the upper Midwest. But the big story today, of course, that heat continuing to build across the Pacific Northwest.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: U.S. officials plan to ease water restrictions on the Colorado River next year due to an above average winter snow pack. They say it's helped reverse plummeting water levels of the nation's two largest reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell. Right now, Lake Mead is about 20 feet higher than it was one year ago.

Severe weather is blamed for causing a 32-vehicle crash on a highway in North Carolina. I-40 West is reopened now after the pileup forced authorities to close down a two-mile stretch of the interstate on Tuesday. It's not clear whether anyone was seriously hurt yet. The severe weather also caused many other roads in the area to close due to downed trees and power lines.

Now to a grim discovery in Sudan. A government forum in West Darfur with representatives from all ethnic groups in the region, says there's evidence of 30 mass graves across the state, with more than 1000 people buried in them.

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The group claims that some of the bodies were dumped by the Paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and allied militia. Sudan has plunged into chaos since fighting broke out in April between those forces and the Sudanese army.

For more now on this, let's go to CNN's Stephanie Busari live for us in Lagos, Nigeria. Stephanie, this is just a harrowing and tragic discovery. What has the response been to this finding?

STEPHANIE BUSARI, CNN SENIOR EDITOR, AFRICA: As you can imagine, Bianca, it's total devastation. And West Darfur, it must be said, has borne the brunt of some of the worst excesses of violence in this four-month war that seems to have no end in sight. Community leaders are telling -- have been reporting of bodies being found in these mass graves.

But also evidence, they're saying, of militias, the RSF, the other faction involved in this fighting, burying evidence of war crimes. They have said that these mass graves were prepared by aid workers, the Sudanese Red Crescent Society, and they were forced to prepare these bodies for burial and then threatened to leave the bodies so that the RSF fighters could bury them in hidden locations. Now we don't -- we're not able to independently verify this account or

indeed how many mass graves there are in Sudan. In July, CNN reported that 87 bodies were found in a mass grave, also in West Darfur. Now this conflict has an ethnic tinge to it. A lot of bodies that were found from the Masalit non-Arabic community tribes. And you remember that Darfur was also the site of genocide 20 years ago.

Now the devastation in Sudan has been total. Schools are destroyed, hospitals, all the amenities. And Sudan's Sovereign Council Deputy Chairman Malik Agar is calling for a caretaker government to enable services to be provided. And the U.N. has also said this is a war that many were crimes are being carried out here in Sudan -- Bianca.

NOBILO: Stephanie Busari for us live in Lagos, thank you.

Still ahead, Donald Trump remains defiant in the face of his fourth indictment. But what some of his 2024 Republican rivals have to say about. We'll have their reactions coming up.

Plus, Ukraine is reporting fresh Russian attacks as the U.K. warns that Moscow is deploying its own drones based on Iranian designs. A live report from next.

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