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Hurricane Hilary Could Bring Catastrophic Flooding; Painstaking And Brutal Search Through Fire Zone; Towns Empty As Thousands Flee 200-Plus Wildfires; GOP To Hold First Presidential Debate Wednesday; North Korea Publicly Confirms it's Detaining U.S. Army Pvt. Travis King; Shooting Near Another Pres. Candidate In Ecuador. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired August 19, 2023 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:01:30]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Jim Acosta in Washington. Good evening.

A historic and potentially catastrophic storm is headed for the US. Hurricane Hilary is now a Category 2 hurricane. Evacuation warnings are already in place for parts of San Bernardino County, that area east of Los Angeles made up of mountain and foothill communities where mudslides and floods could be a huge threat.

The storm is already bringing strong winds to Southern California. This video shows lightning from the outer bands early this morning in San Diego. The Navy is moving ships from its three bases in the area out to the sea until the storm passes.

Hilary could bring a year's worth of rain in a single day to parts of the Southwestern US. Let's go straight to the CNN Weather Center and Derek Van Dam. They're going to be very busy tracking the storm.

When is the storm expected to hit the US? What kind of timeline are we looking at right now?

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, well, the storm has sped up considerably.

So we're looking more like a Sunday storm even though the outer rain bands, some of the moisture are already impacting Southern California and I'll show you that on the radar, but what do you need to know at home? Maybe you're tuning in from the West Coast, the storm is weakening. That's important.

And heavy rains, this flood threat cannot be understated enough. And this slight shift to the East has implications on who will see the strongest winds.

So let's get right to the details.

Here's a look at the latest information Category 2, as Jim mentioned, 110 kilometers per hour. We are still about 350 miles south of San Diego, and this is the official forecast track from the National Hurricane Center. Notice the weakening storm, perhaps a low end Category 1 or tropical

storm by the time it makes landfall likely across the central or Northern Baja Peninsula. This is a significant difference if you were tuning in yesterday at this time, we were thinking, this was a little further west just due to the topography here. This would be more of a Southern California type landfall.

Not the case, but this is also going to bring the heaviest rainfall inland as well.

Let me explain. Look at the wind gusts associated with this and you can see how they are kind of associated on the eastern flank of this storm.

So we will get gusty winds over the western coastal region, so San Diego all the way to Los Angeles, gusting 30 to 40 miles per hour. But certainly the mountain ranges on the interior of Southern California will see wind gusts, tropical storm force as well.

And these winds are going to come out of a southeasterly direction and why this is important or rather northeast because this is going to help influence the rain that is going to pick up in intensity here. There are several mountain ranges across this area intermittent between the desert southwest, but these mountains will act as a barrier for this kind of let's say, a sponge in the atmosphere to just wring itself out.

So all the available moisture will literally fall in the form of rain. It will fall on the mountain peaks and then start to work its way into the valleys and the communities below.

Eastern sections of San Bernardino County under some -- sections of that county currently under evacuation orders and look at the flood watches that extend as far north as Idaho -- Jim.

ACOSTA: Wow. And Derek, California is not the only place dealing with these storms. The Atlantic storm season is becoming more active. Is that right?

DAM: Yes. It is incredible to see what has just taken place. The latest 5:00 PM update Eastern Standard Time has shown, now we have a new tropical depression that's formed east of the Windward Islands. We are now watching and monitoring multiple areas of potential tropical development, one across the Western Caribbean, I should say Western Gulf of Mexico, one across the Eastern Caribbean and then several waves moving off the coast of Africa as well.

[18:05:10]

So we're starting to see the peak of the hurricane season, living up to its name.

ACOSTA: All right, folks in all of those parts of this part of the world, we're going to have to keep an eye on that map right there.

Derek Van Dam, thanks very much. Now to the fire catastrophe in Maui. Officials there confirm at least

114 people have died, only 10 have been identified.

Hawaii's governor says 60 percent of the disaster zone has been searched, at least 1,000 people -- a thousand people are still unaccounted for according to state officials.

CNN's Bill Weir spoke with a search K9 handler who said the situation is 10 times worse than what we're seeing on television.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): With noses 40 times more powerful than ours, a trained cadaver dog can smell a body buried 15 feet deep. But in Lahaina, the challenge for these good boys and girls is not depth, but breadth, as they work 3.5 square miles of ash and loss.

For their handlers, this is painstaking, heartbreaking work. For the dogs, it's hot and hazardous.

CAPT. CELINA SERRANO, LOS ANGELES COUNTRY FIRE DEPARTMENT: Oh, easy, easy. This way, buddy.

WEIR (on camera): Who is this?

SERRANO: Over here. So this is Prentice (ph).

WEIR: Hi, Prentice. Prentice is a --

SERRANO: He's a boy.

WEIR: A boy.

SERRANO: Yes.

WEIR: Hi, bud. Hi, good boy. You hurt your foot.

WEIR (voice over): Burnt paws and clumsy booties are just two more things to overcome for search and recovery teams from 15 different states around the nation.

SERRANO: Come on, buddy.

WEIR: Los Angeles County Fire captain, Selena Serrano has been working and living with her Labrador partner for nine years, including her state's deadliest ever Camp Fire which laid similar waste to Paradise, California.

WEIR (on camera): Are you also looking for bone fragments or signs or is it purely the dog triggering the search?

SERRANO: We will. We do. We have some rescue team members that are coming with us and they are also searching, see what anything is visible that they can make out.

WEIR: Yes.

SERRANO: It is a little difficult, though, because there's some stuff that you -- it's just -- you're staring at this debris and it's starting to look like it's bone, but it really isn't. And so that's where we really rely on the dog.

STEPHEN BJUNE, FEMA URBAN SEARCH AND RESCUE, PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER: So we've actually brought in about 40 different search K9s, which is a fair amount of K9s for this kind of project because we want to make sure that we're doing it as fast as we can while still remaining as accurate as we can, so at the end of this we've got the highest confidence.

But as far as the timescale, it's really going to be about that ability to work through this kind of technical search to make sure that we bring everybody home.

WEIR (on camera): Because you're really searching at the granular level, aren't you?

BJUNE: In lot of cases, this is a lot smaller than what we're typically dealing with. But again, we're making sure that the sensitivities and the somberness of this because this is a very special site to the people of Hawaii and certainly the fact that we're talking about homes, communities, and lives that are all missing and all lost.

So this is something we take very serious. We're taking with a lot of respect and we have to make sure that everything down to the smallest thing is treated with that level of respect.

TIARE LAWRENCE, LAHAINA COMMUNITY LEADER: Not knowing where your friends and family are still missing today. A lot of people are just so hurt and in pain.

WEIR (voice over): According to the last update from the governor, over a thousand people remain missing. And while they understand that forensic science takes time, Lahaina survivors are agonizing over how that number remains unchanged.

WEIR (on camera): What do you make of this number of the missing? You know, how accurate that is and whether --

LAWRENCE: I believe it. I know this because I know plenty of people who got out, who know people were stuck. A lot of people didn't make it out.

But that number is real. I hope it comes lower, but at this point, we're over eight days. We're on our 10th day, and if we haven't found them yet, they're gone.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WEIR (on camera): There is such a cloud of sadness hanging over this gorgeous place filled with such hospitality. The idea that families may never know, never get official confirmation, given that that entire three-and-a-half mile town of Lahaina was essentially cremated.

The leaders of that community held a press conference, basically calling out Governor Josh Green demanding that they be included in discussions on how much time the community needs to grieve and heal before they reopen, how to rebuild this place that has so much cultural importance to them, and that everything is transparent.

They are used to being steamrolled out of land rights and water rights over generations now, but this is a chance they see to rebuild this place as a symbol for the rest of the world as what can be done with sustainability, indigenous energy, cultural sensitivity and connection with this amazing landscape -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, Bill Weir reporting from Maui. Many thanks for that report.

Find out how you can help Hawaii wildfire victims at cnn.com/impact or text Hawaii to 707070 to donate. They desperately need your help.

In the meantime, across Canada's Northwest Territories, residents are on the run from more than 200 wildfires. Thousands are rushing to evacuate the capital, Yellowknife, home to about 20,000 people in Canada's worst fire season on record.

CNN's Paula Newton is following this forest.

Paula, what's the latest?

[18:10:31]

PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST AND CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, Bill. Look, this is -- pardon me, Jim, this has been a very, very challenging weekend for Canada as you can imagine and this is record breaking.

This is Canada's worst wildfire season in history and we are certainly still feeling it in both British Columbia and the Northwest Territories.

I want to show you a map now to show you the two communities most at risk right now. It is again Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories and then Kelowna.

I want to start with the situation in Kelowna, though, because that really took people by surprise. This was a fire that had started on Tuesday and then all of a sudden started to spread in that community. Thankfully, no loss of life, but the firefighters are still battling that blaze, several blazes in fact, and they have had to evacuate thousands of people.

I want you to listen now to the fire chief from West Kelowna talking about how they've had a reprieve, but that is still a difficult situation ahead. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JASON BROLUND, WEST KELOWNA FIRE CHIEF: The winds died down. We didn't

see the dramatic, you know, glow in the sky necessarily in as many places as we had the night before.

So I guess, if you could call that a reprieve, it was. But don't think for a second that it wasn't totally unprecedented last night after a totally unprecedented day of firefighting yesterday.

I'm sad to report that we lost multiple structures yesterday, again within the city of West Kelowna.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: They still don't know how many properties have been lost. That fire chief himself, Jim, dealing with an evacuation of his family as well.

There is a lot at stake as they continue to battle that fire. They're going back to Yellowknife, as you mentioned, the capital of Northwest Territories, almost completely empty now and that is a good thing.

They've caught some breaks there, too, Jim, and that is because of the wind and the weather conditions have allowed them to continue to fight that fire so that they can protect the community.

But certainly some tense days ahead. And I wanted to say Jim, and speaking about the situation in Hawaii with Bill's great reporting from there. It is the presence of mind that officials have here in Canada that they want to make sure that people are not stranded in these communities, especially in a place like Yellowknife, very difficult to get in and out, which is why they basically created a ghost town there so they continue to battle these blazes.

The weather helping out right now, but they are still especially with the wind not being too careful and say that they'll have more to tell residents in the coming days about when they can actually come back.

ACOSTA: Yes. Emergency officials, whether they're in Maui, whether they're in Canada, they just need to be at the top of their game right now because of these devastating wildfires we are seeing breaking out all over this part of the world.

Paula Newton, thank you very much for that report.

In the meantime, Donald Trump and his 18 co-defendants have until Friday to turn themselves in there at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta.

What we're learning about the surrender plans for Trump and his co- defendants, that's coming up.

Plus, a look at the GOP candidates who have made it to the debate now just a few days away. What do they say? What do they need to do to stand out?

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:17:52]

ACOSTA: A big week a difficult week approaches for Donald Trump and maybe a surreal one for the nation.

The 45th president and his 18 co-defendants face a Friday deadline to surrender. They are accused of conspiring to subvert the 2020 election results in Georgia.

Sources tell CNN, Trump is expected to surrender on Thursday or Friday. The Fulton County sheriff says, the 19 will undergo -- all 19 will undergo the normal processing of mugshots and fingerprinting.

Joining me now is Shan Wu, a former federal prosecutor himself and defense attorney.

Shan, thanks so much for coming in.

You know, this is going to be -- I mean, I don't think we fully know or understand how this is all going to go down. It sounds as though they're saying that Trump and these co-defendants are going to be mug- shotted, fingerprinted, and so on.

You think that's what's going to happen?

SHAN WU, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: I think so.

ACOSTA: What's it going to be like? I mean, we just don't know.

WU: I don't think they're going to do them all at the same time perhaps. I think with Trump in particular, the main issue is going to be his personal security. So I don't think it'll be in some big assembly line going through where they are exposed to other defendants, other inmates.

I think it's really an important moment, actually, for the country, because we have come to think of the mug shot, the perp walk, as almost part of the punishment involved for people who are presumed innocent.

It's not supposed to be a punishment. It's just part of the process.

ACOSTA: The process.

WU: Right. Exactly.

ACOSTA: You're getting booked.

WU: Yes. You're getting booked. Exactly.

And in that sense, there's no reason not to book him just like anybody else. It is not some singling out of him to be punished and I think it's a mistake that that didn't happen in the federal processes. I think it makes perfect sense to put them through the normal process here.

ACOSTA: And when wouldn't be a little squirrely if you don't do the mugshot and the fingerprinting for the former president, while the other co-defendants are put through that process.

WU: Exactly. Yes.

ACOSTA: Might their defense attorneys say, well, hold on a second.

WU: Right. Right. And I just think it looks squirrely.

ACOSTA: Yes.

WU: It doesn't seem fair.

Same thing on the release conditions. Certainly, he does not have any prior convictions, so he should be out of jail, but circumstances have changed since that first Manhattan indictment. He faces four different charges now, so they need to at least discuss that.

[18:20:11]

ACOSTA: And do you think that this could lead to any of these co- defendants flipping?

I was talking to John Dean about this last night, he described the Fulton County jail as a hellhole, which we -- and we have done stories in the past here on CNN about that jail is notorious for its poor conditions, and that is putting it mildly. Might that put a little pressure on some of these co-defendants?

WU: It might. I mean, I don't think any of them are going to be held in the jail. So, I don't think there will be that kind of leverage.

I think it is a slight mistake that we're fixating too much on the flipping idea. No prosecutor invites the case thinking, now we're going to make the case by flipping people. She has prepared this historically, a meticulously well done indictment.

ACOSTA: They've had their chance to do that.

WU: Exactly, yes. They're ready to go whether or not someone flips and I think at this point, things are pretty much set in stone.

ACOSTA: And what about Rudy Giuliani? That has been a story that's been kind of under covered in all of this. I mean, because there -- it's just been a firehose on the Trump front. But we've learned that he's facing hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal bills and the sanctions that are taking place.

And it doesn't sound -- I mean, it doesn't sound like he's getting a great deal of assistance from the Trump team at this point. Maybe we'll find out that that isn't the case. But what's happening with Giuliani right now is extraordinary.

WU: It is extraordinary. I think it's particularly painful for him, probably because he understands how the system works having been a prosecutor. One problem for him is, let's say hypothetically, there's a lot of discussion about would the legal bills cause him to flip, that makes him a really lousy witness, Jim.

ACOSTA: Yes.

WU: Because the first question is, well, the only reason you're here is because no one paid your legal bills.

ACOSTA: Right.

WU: So he's really in a very bad situation financially, as well as from a legal defense point of view.

ACOSTA: And I want to -- Trump's team is proposing a trial date of April 2026 in his federal indictment for election subversion. I mean, am I -- is it wrong for me to say that that is laughable?

WU: I don't think you're wrong to say that.

ACOSTA: Okay. I mean, am I going out on a limb there?

WU: No. They would have been better off just saying to the judge, we want to stay in the case. Put it off until after the election.

ACOSTA: Why not 2030?

WU: Right.

ACOSTA: Or 2040. I mean, I just don't --

WU: If he still goes into 100.

ACOSTA: How do you do that with straight face? I just don't -- you got to say something, I guess.

WU: And they should just ask for a stay, you know, and then let the judge maybe move the date a little bit later than they want it to move, and all of this talk about how much paper they have, they are not reviewing paper first of all, it's electronic discovery. So I don't think that's going to fly for them.

They are not going to be able to pick that date, and have judge check and say, Okay, we'll make it 2025 instead of 2026. That's not going to happen.

ACOSTA: Yes. It almost sounds like a debate, like they're having a negotiation.

WU: Right.

ACOSTA: I said, 2026, but really, I'll take 2025, like they're trying to buy a car or something.

WU: Exactly.

ACOSTA: All right, Shan Wu, all right, thanks. Thanks very much. Appreciate it.

Days to go until the first Republican primary debate of the season. Who will make the debate stage? It's a big question right now.

Joe Walsh, Molly Jong-Fast, they are here, discussing all of this campaign politics 2024, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:27:22]

ACOSTA: The clock is ticking for the Republican presidential candidates to qualify for Wednesday's primary debate in Milwaukee. They have until Monday night to meet the RNC's polling and donor thresholds.

So far, eight have done that: Donald Trump, Governor Ron DeSantis, Mike Pence, Senator Tim Scott, Vivek Ramaswamy, Nikki Haley, Chris Christie, and Governor Doug Burgum.

Trump, however, plans to skip the debate, as we know, and joining me to talk about this is "Vanity Fair" special correspondent, Molly Jong- Fast and former Republican Congressman, Joe Walsh. He's also the host of the podcast "White Flag."

Joe, let me start with you.

Trump skipping the debate. I mean, why have the debate if Trump's not going to be there? What do you think?

JOE WALSH, (R) FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE, ILLINOIS: Jim, I agree -- what debate? I mean that, what debate?

Look, this is Trump's world. I'm a broken record, Jim Acosta. This is Trump's world. This is Trump's party.

This nomination was always going to be his, whether he didn't have an indictment or had a hundred indictments. He will dominate this week next week. No Monday press conference, but he'll show up and have an interview with Tucker Carlson the night of the debate.

He'll probably turn himself in down in Georgia, the day of the debate. His legal fight, Jim, he is going to demand that every Republican bow to him and support him in this legal fight. That's going to be his entire campaign and the party is so weak, they'll do it.

ACOSTA: And Molly, I mean, what are you looking for at this debate on Wednesday without Donald Trump there? Are we going to be swept up in Burgumania? Could this be Ramaswamy's night? What do you think?

MOLLY JONG FAST, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT, "VANITY FAIR": Well, I mean, clearly Trump is the head of the party, and he likely will be the nominee, but I would say that I think it's -- these Republicans need to try. They need to try to rebuild their party, right?

This guy has numerous indictments, he has -- you know, he is getting booked, and so, it might interfere with -- you know, he is been booked the same week as the debate.

I mean, this is not a viable candidate, and he's going to keep -- I mean, he's going to be the nominee, and he'll likely keep running and so the more the party can try to have some kind of post Trump vision, even if it doesn't get the kind of attention.

Look, Trump is going to suck up all the oxygen this week and a lot of these people are probably, you know, fighting for a Cabinet post in the very unlikely chance of a Trump presidency.

But I would say they need to try. This Republican Party has been pretty bad about trying.

[18:30:00]

ACOSTA: And Joe, I've spoke with Asa Hutchinson about all of this a couple of hours ago and whether we're going to see him on the debate stage, let's listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASA HUTCHINSON, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Absolutely, you're going to see me on that debate stage. You have to have 40,000 unique donors. We're up to 38,000 and so we're almost there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: I mean, Joe, what does it say about things right now where Asa Hutchinson may get on this debate stage by the skin of his teeth, and Donald Trump has four indictments and can skip the debate?

WALSH: It tells us what - Jim, what it's been telling us for the past six to seven years. This party - my former party is gone. Asa Hutchinson, a good man, bless his heart. I love Molly Jong-fast, I'm a big fan of what she says.

But this Republican Party try? Seriously, try? It's gone. If you speak up against Donald Trump right now you are done as a Republican. There is no post-Trump vision in this party. I just think the whole country needs to wrap their arms around the fact that this party is beholden to him, he's going to be the nominee, and we all have to get together and defeat him. That's got to be the focus.

ACOSTA: Well - and Molly, we are potentially going to see - it sounds like we are going to see a mugshot of the former president in a few days from now later on next week. And I have to ask, should the country even be going through all of this?

Constitutional Legal Scholar Laurence Tribe, retired Conservative Judge, Michael Luttig, they were on this program earlier on today making the case that Trump doesn't really need to be convicted in court to disqualify him the presidency.

He doesn't have to be convicted in the Senate after an impeachment that he's already disqualified from holding office under the 14th Amendment. They have a new article about this in The Atlantic. I spoke with them, both about this earlier this afternoon. I was honored to have both of them on. I just want to play a little bit how they both respond.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURENCE TRIBE, PROFESSOR AT HARVARD LAW SCHOOL: Secretaries of state or other officials who are responsible for deciding who is qualified and who is not will have to determine whether, despite his obvious attempt to overturn the 2020 Election and engage in insurrection, whether despite that, somehow Trump gets to run, but whichever way they go, they'll be challenged in court and that'll end up in the Supreme Court. And what we'll have to decide is what this language means.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Molly, what do you think about what the judge and the professor have to say here? Do you think this could work?

JONG-FAST: I mean, I think, it's great. I mean, I think, they may be right, but again, this is going to get kicked up to the Supreme Court and you will remember that Trump installed three justices on the Supreme Court. And they've been - two of the previous justices before he installed his three conservative ones were very right wing and big Trump fan.

So, I think, it's going to be hard for - to see this Supreme Court going along with not allowing Trump to run again.

ACOSTA: And, Joe, I wanted to get your take on it as well. I mean, is Molly right that these justices, I mean, despite the fact that these conservative justices one would think would tend to steer towards the originalist view of the Constitution and the 14th amendment, are they such Trump super fans that that's not likely to carry the day?

WALSH: I don't know, Jim, but it's a ruling that this country desperately needs. I think the judge and the professor make a credible case that he may not be qualified to run. Look, he committed an insurrection, he led an insurrection, he tried to overturn an election. That needs to be dealt with by the courts as to whether he's qualified.

But, Jim, I'll also go back to that mugshot. That mugshot that we're going to see of Donald Trump this week, good, but understand that is only going to fire up the Republican Party base big time.

ACOSTA: Yes. And, Molly, I want to ask you about this. I want to ask both of you about this report in Axios today that Republican governors, Glenn Youngkin of Virginia, Brian Kemp of Georgia are being encouraged by establishment Republicans to enter the presidential race. What does that say about how the donors, how the political class of the Republican Party, what they're seeing, watching all this unfold right now? It doesn't sound like a lot of confidence there.

JONG-FAST: Yes. I've been hearing this from the donor class for months that they are not - the Republican donor class is a little freaked out.

[18:35:06]

And I don't think they like the indictments. I think sort of they're a little more grounded in the kind of nuts and bolts of getting elected. And I think they think that you can't win swing voters.

I mean, look, Trump is not growing the electorate. So there has been long been a fantasy about Youngkin. I mean, maybe they get him to run.

Here's the problem, Donald Trump is not going anywhere. So, the fantasy here that they can somehow convince Trump that it's better for the country that he doesn't run again, Trump doesn't operate like that. So these Republican donors have a real problem and you're seeing them panic.

They're talking about Tim Scott, they're talking about this one, they had - I think, a lot of them thought DeSantis would be their guy. And clearly, that's not happening. So I do think that they are running out of choices and this is like a sort of pie in the sky. But you have to deal with Trump.

ACOSTA: Yeah, and Joe, it sounds like DeSantis ...

WALSH: Jim, Jim ...

ACOSTA: ... go ahead.

WALSH: ... screw ...

ACOSTA: Go ahead.

WALSH: No, I was just going say screw these Republican donors. I'd like to put them in a car with me. And I'd like to drive these Republican donors around the country and introduce them to Republican primary voters. They are so utterly clueless and out of touch.

They have - Jim, they have nothing to do with the party. The animating force in this party right now is the base and Trump owns that base. Forget about the donors. It's too late.

ACOSTA: Yes. And the debates have already started, even without Trump, as we're going to see in a few days from now.

Molly Jong-Fast, Joe Walsh, great to see you as always. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.

WALSH: Thank you, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, thanks.

Still ahead, the historic summit between the U.S., South Korea and Japan at Camp David, how China and North Korea are now reacting. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [18:40:56]

ACOSTA: North Korean officials are publicly confirming that they are detaining an American soldier who crossed into their territory in July. They say he was fleeing his unit over disillusionment with racial inequality in the U.S. The family of Army Private Travis King has asked the North Korean regime to treat him humanely as plenty of questions still remain about what truly happened in July when King bolted into North Korea and what will happen next.

Former senior CIA Analyst and former Director for Japan and Korea affairs at the National Security Council, Sue Mi Terry joins us.

Sue Mi, what is it going to take to bring Travis King home? I know that this could be a very long odyssey for his family.

SUE MI TERRY, FORMER SENIOR CIA ANALYST: It's going to be very tough, because as you know, North Korea and the U.S. we are at an impasse and we have been for a number of years since the whole Hanoi summit have fell apart.

North Korea has been focused on advancing their nuclear missile program. We have not been in any kind of discussion, negotiation with North Korea. In fact, North Korea has rebuffed any attempt by the Biden administration to return to the negotiations. And I don't think, North Koreans are going to use this case to necessarily return to talks.

And - so it's up to North Korea and it doesn't look good right now. I don't think there's anything we can do, realistically speaking. It's not like we're going to unilaterally lift sanctions, we're not going to be able to do that, we're not going to. So practically speaking - it's really up to Kim Jong-un and how he's going to treat this case.

ACOSTA: And let's talk about the historic summit yesterday between the U.S., South Korea and Japan at Camp David. Do you - I mean, what do you think, is this kind of cooperation going to have an impact on how the U.S. deals with North Korea and provide any leverage in dealing with North Korea or is it just good to get Japan and South Korea more on the same page than perhaps they've been in the past?

TERRY: I think it's - I mean, first of all, it's a very historic summit. We've been - the U.S. has been trying to get South Koreans and Japanese together in this trilateral summit. This is the first stand alone trilateral summit that we've ever had. So it's - and it's very important that our closest allies in Asia, in Indo Pacific, that all of us are on the same page in dealing with North Korean threat.

But in terms of Travis King's story, I don't think this is necessarily, again, going to do anything. Again, I think it's up to Kim Jong-un to see how he sees the - this case. He has defected to North Korea, so it's a little bit different from past American detainees, like Otto Warmbier and other folks, right, because this Travis King ...

ACOSTA: Right. TERRY: ... voluntarily went to North Korea. So I don't - I'm not sure

how this will be linked, but on the trilateral front in terms of dealing with North Korea's nuclear missile threat, this is very good news that we are able to - the two allies are able to continue to work closely together and expand cooperation.

ACOSTA: Right. And that brings me to this, North Korea's new ICBM using solid fuel has led to worries about closer military ties between North Korea and Russia, which obviously has - could have massive implications. What do you think is happening?

TERRY: Well, I saw that report. It's plausible to me, I - it's - I don't have evidence. But it's plausible. Recently, there has been a close communication coordination that North - that Russian officials and North Koreans were meeting each other and we know that North Koreans were aiding Russia's effort in war in Ukraine in terms of helping with artilleries and munitions and so on.

So we know there was a close coordination. And since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, there's - has been this kind of closer - loosely, closer coordination between China, Russia and North Korea. And when you're looking at 2018 isn't - technically speaking, there's a lot of similarities between - with Russian technology and the ones that used in 2018.

So, it's plausible to me. I have not seen evidence.

[18:45:01]

But again, I have to say, it's very much possible that they are working together on this.

ACOSTA: And how serious is the threat from North Korea right now? I mean, I remember covering those summits with Trump and Kim Jong-un. They didn't go anywhere. They created a big spectacle, but they didn't really materialize in terms of any kind of results coming out of those summits.

But we haven't seen Kim Jong-un, perhaps, make as much mischief as we have seen in years past. What is your sense of where North Korea is right now? Are things hotter or cooler than they were four years ago? Are they as much of a danger and a threat as they have been?

TERRY: I do think so, just because we have not been really focused on it, because we do have Russia's war with Ukraine. We have other U.S. issues in the region that we're concerned about. But while we're focused on other issues, North Korea has been expanding their nuclear missile arsenal, they test for some 80 missiles last year.

They have been diversifying their capability. They've tested intercontinental ballistic missiles. We're just talking 2018. It's just that we, the media and the rest of the world is not really focused on it, because, again, we have other concerns. But North Korea is perfecting their nuclear missile capability.

And because there is nothing that we can do about it, the whole external environment is actually favorable for North Korea, because the United Nations Security Council is completely - there's nothing to even done, right? They can't even condemn ICBM launch.

So again, there's no repercussion coming from - externally in terms of international environment. So Kim Jong-un is going to continue to go ahead and perfect their North Korea's nuclear missile program. So I do think it's very, very concerning. We're just not focused on it.

ACOSTA: All right. Sue Mi Terry, thank you very much. I really appreciate it.

TERRY: Thank you.

ACOSTA: All right. Still ahead, new concerns about political violence in Ecuador ahead of presidential elections there tomorrow. You're live in CNN NEWSROOM.

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ACOSTA: Now to a story we think deserves more attention, the political violence taking hold in Ecuador. A candidate for president there reported a shooting near his family on Saturday. You can see on the cell phone footage from, we showed it to you right here. It's a calm scene with the candidate taking a photo until everyone hears the gunshots outside, listen.

While the specifics remain unclear, the level of concern is understandably high after the assassination of another presidential candidate earlier this month now on the eve of the election.

Our Rafael Romo reports from the capital of Quito.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR (voice over): She may lose her right eye but it could have been worse. Gissella Cecibel Molina says she was only a few steps behind presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio on August 9 when he was shot as he was leaving a rally in Quito, the capital.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GISSELLA CECIBEL MOLINA, ECUADORIAN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY CANDIDATE: (Foreign language).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO (voice over): She says she was so close to the candidate when he was assassinated that her doctor told her a fragment of a stray bullet hit her in the right eye. The brutal murder of Villavicencio, an outspoken anti-corruption candidate, then former investigative journalist has shaken the country ahead of this Sunday's presidential and legislative elections.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREA GONZALEZ NADER, ECUADORIAN VICE-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Fernando was shot three times in the head.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO (voice over): Andrea Gonzalez Nader, Villavicencio's running mate meetings and still a vice presidential candidates for the party's replacement says his tragic assassination is a gruesome reminder of violence in Ecuador has reached such high levels that everybody is at risk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NADER: And that's the way we have to choose on these elections on the 20th of August. Like he used to say we have to choose between the mafia or making our country, again, a safe place for all.

JAN TOPIC, ECUADORIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have to take control of our borders.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO (voice over): Jan Topic is running for president as a law and order candidate. The 40-year-old businessman who once fought for the French Foreign Legion says violence in Ecuador won't stop until the security forces put an end to the drug trade from neighboring countries.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOPIC: All of that cocaine and all that the heroin that comes into the country helps to finance the corruption of politicians, cops, soldiers, judges, DA's. By the very fact that we're not controlling our borders means that you have all this influx of money that's literally corrupting the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO (on camera): The married father of three told us that his own family hasn't been immune to the kind of insecurity that affects many Ecuadorians. The candidate told us that just last week he received a death threat at home in the city of Guayaquil, but he says he won't be intimidated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOPIC: Our campaign slogan is to go from fear to hope.

ROMO (on camera): Is Ecuador a failed state.

TOPIC: We're on our way to becoming a failed state, definitely.

ROMO: On the brink, maybe.

TOPIC: I want to say on the brink but definitely we have to take action sooner than later.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO (voice over): Multiple acts of violence have shaken Ecuador in the last few months. In July, Agustin Intriago, the mayor of the port city of Manta, the sixth largest in Ecuador was gunned down. One of several murders or attempted murders of elected officials as well as local and regional candidates this year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Foreign language).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO (voice over): In the last days of the campaign, this is what Ecuadorian voters have seen.

[18:55:03]

At a rally, the men who replaced Villavicencio, the murdered candidate, was surrounded by a SWAT team, himself wearing a tactical helmet and bulletproof vest.

As for Molina, the National Assembly candidate who was shot in the eye ...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOLINA: (Foreign language) ...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO (voice over): "We all have to go out and vote," she says. "The world has to know," she added, "that Ecuador is kidnapped by the mafia."

Rafael Romo, CNN, Quito, Ecuador.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: Still ahead, the West Coast in the path of a serious and rare tropical threat. The latest on the track of Hurricane Hilary. That's coming up next. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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