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CNN International: Profile of Scott McAffee, Judge in Trump Trial in Georgia; Wildfires Rage in Western and Northern Canada; Support Wanes for Texas Governor's Harsh Border Tactics; ECOWAS Threatens Military Intervention in Niger. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired August 18, 2023 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobilo. If you're just joining us, let you bring you up to date with our top stories this hour.
In the coming hours, the leaders of South Korea and Japan will arrive at Camp David for their first ever trilateral summit with the U.S. president. Both allies are among America's most strategic relationships in the Indo Pacific.
And Donald Trump is reacting to his fourth criminal indictment for the first time on camera. He's dismissing the charges brought against him in Georgia as a witch-hunt in the 41-count indictment. Trump is accused of being the head of a criminal enterprise to overturn the 2020 election in the states.
And we're learning more about the Georgia judge who will preside over Donald Trump's racketeering trial in Fulton County. Our Gary Tuchman has that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This is Scott McAfee, superior court judge in Fulton County, Georgia.
SCOTT MCAFEE, SUPERIOR COURT JUDGE, FULTON COUNTY, GEORGIA: All right, welcome back, everybody.
TUCHMAN (voice over): Presiding over a recent murder case seen on courthouse video.
MCAFEE: And so to that end, I believe the state did prove beyond a reasonable doubt that there was -- that there was sufficient evidence to convict on each of the charges in this case.
TUCHMAN (voice over): Judge McAfee now randomly assigned to a dramatically different legal scenario.
He's 34 years old and was appointed to a seat just six months ago by Georgia's Republican Governor Brian Kemp to fill a vacancy. Before that he served as the State Inspector General, and both a state and federal prosecutor after graduating from the University of Georgia law school in 2013. Classmates and professional acquaintances say he is politically conservative.
Notably, McAfee was a state prosecutor in the complex trial division in Fulton County, which was led at the time by the woman who is now the Fulton County D.A., Fani Willis.
Esther Panitch is a democratic Georgia State Representative and a defense lawyers handled two cases where McAfee was the prosecutor.
ESTHER PANITCH, (D) GEORGIA STATE REPRESENTATIVE, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: In the cases I had with him, he made reasonable decisions related to pleas or discovery requests and he was fair. Politics never came into it.
TUCHMAN (voice over): University of Georgia record show he was the treasurer of the Law Republicans, a group that serves libertarian members of the law school community and provide support for Republican political candidates.
He was also treasurer of the law school's Federalist Society, an influential conservative and libertarian organization in the US.
Just a few months ago, he presided over a case involving L. Lin Wood, an outspoken Trump supporting conspiracy touting lawyer.
L. LIN WOOD, LAWYER: I have political views. I believe our country has been taken over by communists.
TUCHMAN (voice over): This case though did not directly involve politics or Trump. It was a contempt case for allegedly making derogatory comments about his former legal associates.
MCAFEE: So that's where I am. Tell me why I'm wrong.
TUCHMAN (voice over): Judge McAfee held Wood in contempt and leveled fines against him.
Scott McAfee has only been on the Fulton County Superior Court bench for a few short months, but he is now dealing with a case that could be one for the ages.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: The presidential campaign of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is distancing itself from its own super PAC. That's after the group, called "Never Back Down," posted suggested talking points for him in the upcoming GOP presidential debate. The post suggested that DeSantis should go all out against businessman Vivek Ramaswamy but defend former President Donald Trump. If he's attacked by former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
[04:35:00]
But DeSantis campaign says it wasn't even aware of the memo until it appeared in the media.
Federal regulations prohibits super PACs from coordinating directly with a campaign so you can see the issue.
In the investigation of President Biden's son Hunter two misdemeanor tax charges against him in Delaware have been dismissed. Prosecutors have asked for those charges to be dropped. Because they've been part of a plea deal that collapsed earlier this month. Now that a special counsel is heading the investigation, prosecutors may pursue new charges against Biden in either California or Washington D.C.
At this hour, emergency officials ordered more evacuations in Canada's most western products, British Colombia. They want to make sure that residents get away from McDougal Creek wildfire. Officials say anyone still in the Rose Valley neighborhood in southwestern British Columbia should leave immediately. Adding it's for their own safety and for the safety of the first responders. Officials warn with extreme heat in British Columbia the weather could play a major role with the fire in the coming days.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLIFF CHAPMAN, BRITISH COLUMBIA DIRECTOR OF WILDFIRE OPERATIONS: This weather event has the potential to be the most challenging 24 to 48 hours of the summer, from a fire perspective. We are expecting significant growth and we are expecting our resources to be challenged, from north to south in the province over the next 48 hours.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: Meantime, this is the scene in Canada's northwest territories, where flames are within more than ten miles of the capital city of Yellowknife. Evacuations are underway here too, as the entire population of 20,000 people been ordered out of the city within the next few hours.
Texas has long taken a tough stance on immigration, but the state's Republican governor is now getting pushback over some of his most aggressive policies.
And patience is waning in west Africa. Why a regional bloc is now threatening military intervention over the coup in Niger.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:40:00]
NOBILO: A bus filled with 40 migrants has been sent from Texas to Los Angeles. On board a dozen children, the youngest just nine-months-old. This is that eight bus of asylum-seekers sent to California by the hardline Republican governor of Texas. However, he's coming back under fire back home a crackdown on the southern border, that even some of his supporters say is too extreme. CNN's Rosa Flores explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAGALI URBINA, EAGLE PASS RESIDENT: No one's backyard should look like this.
ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Magali Urbina is a Republican small business owner who has riverfront property in Eagle Pass, Texas.
URBINA (through translator text): Who got cut?
FLORES (voice-over): Where scenes like these of migrants screaming that they've been cut by razor wire in the water, this time a 6-year- old girl --
URBINA: Oh, my god.
FLORES (voice-over): -- have poked holes in her support for Governor Greg Abbott's border security initiative known as Operation Lone Star.
FLORES: Is that part of your frustration with Operation Lone Star?
URBINA: It is. I just hate to see someone screaming, saying that they're cut.
FLORES (voice-over): Urbina says that while she has always supported Texas securing the border --
URBINA: We need Operation Lone Star in our community. There are cartel members taking advantage. There's human smuggling. There is trafficking. There is death.
FLORES (voice-over): She is against the state deploying razor wire, barricading her gates, blocking access to her own property, and refusing multiple times to remove the barriers. Texas officials have said the purpose of the wire is to deter smuggling between the ports of entry and not to injure migrants.
FLORES: Do you think all of this is political?
URBINA: Yes.
FLORES: Does it bother you?
URBINA: It does. It does bother me. Like I said, where is the truth? You just put the C-wire here and make people believe you've stopped what's happening at the border. It hasn't stopped.
FLORES (voice-over): Urbina's property is in Border Patrol's Del Rio sector, the busiest area on the U.S. southern border in June with more than 24,600 migrant apprehensions.
Even one of Operation Lone Star's staunchest supporters, Democratic Eagle Pass Mayor Rolando Salinas has dialed back his support.
MAYOR ROLANDO SALINAS (D), EAGLE PASS, TEXAS: Things have changed. Things that obviously I don't like.
FLORES (voice-over): Salinas went from signing an affidavit giving Texas full access and authority to arrest migrants at this public park, to rescinding the measure with unanimous support from city council.
SALINAS: All those in favor? Unanimous.
SALINAS: The concern that I had is allegations of -- that there might have been excessive force or anything that done to intentionally hurt people, I am against.
FLORES (voice-over): The Texas Office of Inspector General is investigating allegations made by a Texas state trooper working under Operation Lone Star that he was ordered to push migrants into the river and deny them water. Texas officials have denied that any troopers were given such orders.
Other members of this border community with Mexican American roots have this message for the governor about Operation Lone Star's continued presence in their public park.
JUANITA V. MARTINEZ, MAVERICK COUNTY RESIDENT: Get the hell out of our park. Plain and simple. Get the hell out of our park.
KARYME FLORES, EAGLE PASS RESIDENT: We can have border security without cruelty.
JESSIE FUENTES, EAGLE PASS RESIDENT: I would like to see Operation Lone Star out of the park and everything out of the river.
FLORES (voice-over): Urbina drove us along her river front property --
URBINA: Here they are.
FLORES (voice-over): -- to catch up with the little girl hurt by the razor wire while trying to cross illegally. But as she approached --
URBINA: I'm the land owner, Mrs. Urbina from Heavenly Farms.
FLORES (voice-over): A Texas state trooper questioned her before letting her through.
URBINA: You want to tell him I am out here on my property?
FLORES (voice-over): There she was, the 6-year-old walking along the banks of the Rio Grande. Her mother saying her daughter's feet got caught in the razor wire but appeared OK.
FLORES: What gets you every time?
URBINA: Just hearing a human being crying that they're hurt. It's not easy.
FLORES: We reached out to Governor Greg Abbott's office about this story and we have not heard back about the confidential border buoys. There is a set of buoys that are staged on land here in this public park. This is the same park that we showed you in our story. And what's shocking about these buoys, when you see them up close, is the piece of metal that's between the buoys. If we take a close look, you'll see that it looks like a saw blade, it even has teeth.
The latest regarding the legal battle over these buoys is that according to a federal filing about 80 percent of the nearly 1,000 feet of buoys that was installed by the state of Texas, were actually installed in Mexican territory.
Rosa Flores, CNN, Eagle Pass, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[04:45:00]
NOBILO: Dozens of migrants are believed to have been killed in a vote disaster off the coast of West Africa. The International Organization on Migrants says the boat left Senegal last week with 101 people on board. It was found stranded at sea. Authorities were able to rescue 38 people, including four children. A Cape Verdean official voiced concerns about the deaths.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FILOMENA GONCALVES, CAPE VERDEAN HEALTH MINISTER (through translator): Given what the world is going through right now with migratory issues, it means that we all, all the nations, have to sit down at the table and see what we can do so that we don't lose any more lives at sea above all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: It's unclear whether the boat was heading to Cape Verdean or if the Spanish Canary Islands were in fact the final destination.
Now we turn to the coup in Niger. Regional leaders are threatening military intervention as they have been for a week or so. During a meeting in the Ghanian capital, one commissioner from the Economic Community of West African States, vowed to restore constitutional order in Niger by all means necessary. He said if push comes to shove, ECOWAS will go into with Niger with its own forces. But the West African bloc hopes that that won't be necessary.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ABDEL-FATAU MUSAH, ECOWAS COMMISSIONER FOR POLITICAL AFFAIRS, PEACE, AND SECURITY: Military is not our option of choice. It is the last resort. We want diplomacy to work, and we want this message clearly transmitted to the leaders of the junta in Niger, that we are giving them every opportunity to reverse what they have done and to return the country to constitutional order. That feeling, all other measures will be on the table, including the military option.
(END VIDEO CLIP) NOBILO: CNN's Stephanie Busari is covering this from Lagos. Stephanie, I've had the pleasure of speaking to you about this news story really throughout the last few weeks. And to be honest, it doesn't feel like there has been a whole lot of movement. We've had these discussions. There's been stopping and starting, threats of intervention that were not followed up on. Has anything significantly shifted this week?
STEPHANIE BUSARI, CNN SENIOR EDITOR, AFRICA: You are absolutely right, Bianca. Apart from the first initial tough talking that we had in the aftermath of the coup happening, ECOWAS have seemed to waver. And many are saying that they have their backs to the wall. They threatened tough action. They've threatened boots on the ground. But they ultimately failed to deliver on that threat.
That has emboldened the junta. Who are saying, on one hand, we want to dialogue. But they are continuing -- they're forming governments. They held the President Bazoum captive. They've charged him for high treason. So they are effectively continuing their chart -- their plan of government. Whilst ECOWAS is having meetings and releasing contradicted statements.
What is key is that no one wants a war. No one wants military intervention. And that tough talking has effectively put them in a weaken position, if you like. But they have to walk it back. They have to dialogue. They have to go to the very end, as Fattah said there. They have to consider dialogue until the very end.
But the defense chiefs are planning to deploy -- how they can deploy this standby force, and that is ongoing in Accra currently. We'll know a bit more perhaps later today on that. But the Nigerian Senate has already declined approval for this war. African Union has declined it. What is clear is that no one wants this military intervention -- Bianca.
NOBILO: Stephanie Busari for us in Lagos. Thank you very much for all of your reporting on the story.
It's a race to the moon. Two countries are just days away from touching down on the moon and landmark missions. Indian space agency says it's lunar lander successfully separated from its proportion module on Thursday. Chandrayaan-3 is slated to land on the moon this coming Wednesday. If it's successful, then India would become just the fourth country to land a craft on the moon's surface.
Meanwhile, Russia's space agency says all systems are functioning normally after its Lunar-25 spacecraft entered the moons orbit on Wednesday. It's Russia's first lunar landing in 47 years, and they're aiming to touch down at the moon's south pole as early as Monday.
After the Americans earliest ever exit from the World Cup, heads were bowed to roll. The woman's team is now bidding farewell to their head coach. When we return.
[04:50:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) NOBILO: The Women's World Cup final will be held this Sunday and for the first time in more than a decade, the U.S. won't be in. The Americans earliest ever elimination in the round of 16 meant that the coach's days were numbered. On Thursday, U.S. soccer announce that Vlatko Andonovski has stepped down and they thanked him for his dedication. Andonovski called coaching the American women, the honor of his life. He set the record for the best start in U.S. women's team history after winning his first 11 matches -- quite the achievement. He also managed the Americans during their run to a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
And over in the MLS, Lionel Messi's facing the media for the first time since he left Paris Saint-Germain for Inter Miami. The Argentine superstar has already racked up nine goals and lead Miami to the final match of leagues cup. A win would secure his young club's first ever trophy. Messi, who's 36, says, he was very happy to move to Miami.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LIONEL MESSI, ARGENTINE LEGEND (through translator): Paris was not a place where I wanted to go. So it's hard to accommodate myself to a place that I never lived in. It was very different from what I was used to. It would be incredible for me, for fans, for the club, that have invested in growth in making a big change in becoming a powerhouse team. Winning titles helps a lot. The stadium has always been full. It's a young team and getting our first title would be wonderful.
[04:55:02]
I've already one and achieved everything in football and I'm just enjoying the moment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: And the stories in the spotlight this hour for you.
Popstar Taylor Swift appears on track to blow past a revenue record with her sought after "Eras" concert tour. The singers North American ticket sales alone could surpass $2 billion, more than twice the record set by Elton John. That's according to a research firm QuestionPro, which exclusively shares its data with CNN. The estimated total is the latest example of Swift's power and her influence on local U.S. economies.
And it appears that Britney Spears is single once again. The popstar and her husband, Sam Asghari, are getting divorced. Asghari filed to end their 14-month marriage citing irreconcilable differences. The couple had first met in 2016 on the set of her Slumber Party music video. They wed just seven months after the singer's court ordered conservatorship ended. And that was the popstar's third marriage.
Finally this could be, I am told, a dream come true for fans of boozy brunches. It's called "Eggo Brunch in a Jar Sippin' Cream." A cream liqueur that combines the flavors of toasted Eggo waffles, bacon, butter and maple syrup. The product is a brain child of Kellogg, the company that makes Eggo, and a distillery in Tennessee. But keep in mind that it might not always go down smoothly because its alcohol content is 20 percent.
And that does it here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobile. "EARLY START" is up for you next. Have a wonderful weekend.
