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CNN International: Tropical Storm Hilary Lashes Southern California; Trump to Surrender to Fulton County Jail This Week; More Than 1,00 People Remain Missing in Maui; Leftist Gonzalez, Businessman Noboa Make October Runoff in Ecuador Election. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired August 21, 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. It's a momentous day because I'm here. I'm Bianca Nobilo. I'm here by Max Foster for the first time in many --

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Really?

NOBILO: I'm Bianca Nobilo.

FOSTER: We used to work together.

NOBILO: We did, five, six weeks ago. Have you forgotten me? How was your holiday?

FOSTER: Amazing. I'm Max Foster. Joining you live from London. Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've had storms before but never anything quite this windy and rainy at the same time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stay safe, stay informed and stay home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Former president Donald Trump will surrendered himself to the Fulton County jail.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we're going to see very substantial legal challenges to Donald Trump's right to appear on an election ballot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Netherlands and Denmark will mix to transfer F-16s aircraft to Ukraine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But the arrival will be way later than the Ukrainian troops on the front line dying daily would like to see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

FOSTER: And we're matching.

NOBILO: We are.

FOSTER: It's Monday, August 2st, 9:00 a.m. here in London, 1:00 a.m. in the U.S. West Coast where tropical storm Hilary is pushing through Southern California with fierce winds and record-breaking rainfall. Authorities are warning of potentially catastrophic flooding across the region. California and Nevada have both declared a state of emergency. Rescue crews are working to provide support in these crucial hours.

NOBILO: More than 7 million people in Los Angeles and surrounding areas are under flash flood warnings. Authorities are also urging residents to stay off the roads as mud and debris are flowing along with the floodwaters. California's governor warns the current conditions are treacherous.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GAVIN NEWSOM, (D) CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR: The most significant rainfall over a 69-minute period any time in the history of Palm Springs. That's how quickly the system is moving. Take nothing for granted. If you think, well, the skies are clear and I can go out on a long jog or walk, just be cautious. Wait until this time tomorrow night to consider that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Firefighters in San Diego rescued at least nine people from a riverbed. The mayor says this amount of rainfall can be too much for the city to handle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD GLORIA, SAN DIEGO MAYOR: We're not used to this level of precipitation generally, certainly not in the middle of summer and August. We're not built for this kind of rainfall, that's my main concern. Both the high winds that could pose challenges for our power companies and the ability to get energy to the homes of our residents, as well as the potential for flooding. We have positioned assets and personnel there to make sure we can address it. But with what we're expecting, it may overwhelm us. And we're asking the public to stay out of those areas for your safety and the safety of our first responders.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: Meantime, this is what Hilary unleashed on Mexico's Baja California Peninsula where it made landfall early Sunday. At least one person was killed when their vehicle was swept away in the flood waters.

FOSTER: For the latest let's go to CNN meteorologist Karen Maginnis -- Karen.

KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, good to be with you both. And yes, torrential rainfall in areas that barely see just a fraction to an inch of precipitation. And then roads became running rivers of water. Also we saw some high winds and the mountains saw the heaviest precipitation. But all of that precipitation has to go downhill somewhere and it fills up some of those dry river beds.

As I mentioned, we are looking at still some pretty heavy precipitation. And a lot of this is moving towards the north, even up into Oregon and into Idaho as well. There's a very large fire now burning right around Spokane. It looks like they will receive very little of this moisture. It may be to the south and to east of them. And look at the size of this boulder compared to this utility truck. There are debris fields, rock flows, roads that have collapsed, high winds and flash flooding for a number of neighborhoods, especially in that region right around Palm Springs, as you heard mentioned a minute or so ago.

Lots of precipitation for the mountains. And computer models did an amazing job at projecting -- or predicting how much precipitation would occur here. In some cases they were saying, maybe as much as a foot and the rainfall hasn't ended yet.

[04:05:00]

We already are seeing in excess of 10 inches up on one of the mountains, the Transverse Mountains just to the north of Los Angeles.

All right, these are the flash flood warnings out. Still there's a state of emergency for Southern California. This precipitation will move into the Great Basin and as I mentioned, all the way up into the northern Rockies and into Montana as well.

In the meantime, sweltering heat thanks to a ridge of high pressure across the West and that's why this moisture is just kind of getting funneled into that Great Basin region, which is really quite extraordinary that we would see this volume of rainfall during the month of August. It's almost unheard of and no doubt you've heard about the earthquake that occurred near Ojai during the afternoon at 5.1 magnitude.

And then the Atlantic is filled up with a number of systems. The one we'll watch is Franklin and Disturbance in the Gulf of Mexico that could be headed towards the Gulf Coast later on this week. Back to you guys.

FOSTER: Karen, thank you so much for that update, back with you throughout the day.

NOBILO: Three main roadways into Palm Springs, California, have now been shut down. The unprecedented rainfall and flooding have been led to rivers of mud and debris -- like you can see here.

FOSTER: Officials have advised all residents to stay indoors. They want to avoid drivers potentially getting stuck on washed out roads. CNN's Stephanie Elam is in Palm Springs with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're really starting to feel the effects of Hilary here in Palm Springs. We're seeing the amount of rain falling pickup and we're also feeling the winds starting to increasing as well. And what we've noticed from the winds is that water is starting to hit and it's starting go down this street. And this is a major thoroughfare in and out of Palm Springs that will take you out to Interstate 10.

And what I've been doing as I've been standing here, is watching that the water is rolling downhill and that is exactly why they have closed off this road. Because of the fact that this is a road that they know is prone to flooding and they don't want anyone on this road right now and into the evening as we see more effects of Hilary.

But we are already starting to see mudslides. We are already starting to see some of this cascading earth, not a full on mudslide but happening off the side of some of the highways. And this is why they're asking people to stay home. Many of us getting alerts on our phones now since we are all based in Los Angeles. Telling us to beware of localized flooding within LA County as well.

Overall though here in Palm Springs, they're asking people to just stay put unless they're trying to flee some water or some danger. Otherwise just stay put.

In Los Angeles County, they say that they're prepared for this. They've already saved some vehicles that are high water vehicles in different parts of Southern California to help get people out if they need to. So, lots of preparations have been taken, and now it's a time that people just have to stay put and ride this storm out if they can. Because as you can see, Hilary is really starting to make her impact felt here. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: We're going to speak to Jason Gibbs, Mayor of Santa Clarita, in California Thank you for staying up for us. What's the situation like there now?

JASON GIBBS, SANTA CLARITA, CALIFORNIA MAYOR: Max, my pleasure, thank you for having me on. So actually, it looks like Hilary has moved to the east of Santa Clarita a little bit. We expected the eye earlier in the evening yesterday but it moved to the east. So we were hit with pretty good rainfall from first thing this morning. By 9, 10 in the morning, up until a couple of hours ago it's just been very consistent rain. We've had official reports saying over four inches within that time frame, with the unofficial reports we had over six inches. So this definitely has been hitting us hard. I was coming over from the East Coast and I landed at LAX at noon. And you could tell we arrived just when the airplane mode turned off on all of our cellphone, everybody lighted up with all those flash flood warnings.

But overall, we've been doing OK as a city. You know, we started preparing early on Friday. The departments got together. We started putting a few people out in the field to keep an eye on things. We've got couple of road closures here in Santa Clarita. But overall I think we've been pretty lucky.

NOBILO: And Mayor Gibbs, what is your message to Californians today to keep them safe?

GIBBS: Just stay informed. Stay engaged in what's happening. Keep watching the news. Keep paying attention. Local school districts in the city itself, they've shut down for tomorrow. So that everybody just kind of stay back, see how the roads are doing. Be careful with the tributaries. Be careful for our kids that has created real San Clarita river. Those rivers and those tributaries are all filling fast and have lots of fast-flowing waters. So we advise all of our residents to please be careful and please stay safe. The flooding and some of the banks have gone over onto some of our trails that border our river as well. So we're asking you to stay away from there as well and just be cautious. Just be smart.

FOSTER: These sort of weather systems aren't unusual but it's very unusual for them to come so close in land. Isn't it? They normally out to sea before they hit you.

GIBBS: That's correct. This is definitely a first for us. It's not something we've experienced.

[04:10:02]

But we've been fortunate that people have been paying attention. They been watching this come this week. They're keeping their eye on it. You know, I think a lot of families as well, I'm told are they're getting sand bags. They've been making sure they have water. Making sure they have connections with their neighbors to make sure everyone safe. And people are just looking out for one another. And I think that's been very fortunate for us here in part of California.

NOBILO: Santa Clarita Mayor Jason Gibbs, thank you so much for joining us.

GIBBS: My pleasure. Thank you.

FOSTER: U.S. President Joe Biden will travel to Hawaii today to get a firsthand look of the damage from the deadly fires on Maui. FEMA says Mr. Biden is there to show support and to tell survivors they'll be in charge of how they want to rebuild. His visit comes as Maui officials for possible impacts from post tropical cyclone Fernanda.

NOBILO: This storm could bring heavy rainfall and possibly flash flooding too. All that will complicate the already painstaking search to find and identify wildfire victims. Hawaii's governor says families may need to prepare for the fact that their missing loved ones may never be found.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH GREEN, (D) HAWAII GOVERNOR: More than 1,000 are unaccounted for -- 1,050. It will take several weeks still. Some of the challenges are going to be extraordinary because of the temperature of the fire and the remains of those who have died in some cases may be impossible to recover meaningfully. So there are going to be people that are lost forever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Bill Weir now brings us the latest on the search efforts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Here in Maui we've had almost now two weeks of anxious anticipation for the latest announcement on the dead and the missing. But that is now sort of shifting into grim resignation that a lot of loved ones may never be found given the temperature of the fire. Governor Josh Green saying yesterday, 1,050 people remain unaccounted for. He said that many of them will never be recovered.

So as we stand overlooking the town, we are seeing clouds of dust coming up from some of the heavy machinery. And it's so heartbreaking to realize that dust holds people's children, and parents, and neighbors, and loved ones. And how do you get a sense of closure in this particular space? This will be a sacred space for so many for so long. 3 1/2 square miles of area burned.

The president is expected to fly over Lahaina. It's uncertain whether he'll actually touch down on the ground. He's expected to meet with first responders and victims of this disaster. He of course is known as the empathizer in chief, given the tragedy in his personal life. But he uncharacteristically gave a no comment when asked about Hawaiians a few days ago. The White House insists he's been on the phone hourly almost, making sure that everybody gets the resources they need.

But this is really an emotionally charged time of so many tender emotions right now. And so, the president is sort of walking into that.

As for the future, so much of that depends on sort of ancient fights over water rights in particular. So that's at the top of mind of people who say that the water that could have kept this place lush and fireproof was diverted to resorts and rich homeowners at the expense of local ones. That may come up during today's visit. But it certainly will be an issue going forward.

Bill Weir, CNN, Maui.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: Up next, Donald Trump says he'll be absent from the first Republican primary debate. His reason why just ahead.

FOSTER: North Korea's Kim Jong-un reportedly overseas a cruise missile test and South Korea and the U.S. kick off joint military drills. We'll have the latest on the ratcheting up of tensions.

NOBILO: Plus, huge celebrations in Spain as the country's triumph at the World Cup. How the woman's football team beat the odds to win its first title. [04:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NOBILO: The spotlight is back on Georgia where Donald Trump is expected to surrender to the Fulton County Jail by the end of this week. He and 18 others are facing charges stemming from Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in the state. CNN's Isabel Rosales has more now from Atlanta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thursday or Friday is the expectation of when former President Donald Trump will surrender himself to the Fulton County Jail. That is according to a senior law enforcement source with knowledge of that surrender. And Friday, of course, marking the deadline of DA Fani Willis for when all 19 defendants must turn themselves in.

Now sources tell CNN that Trump's team has already been in contact with the DA's office. Those conversations will continue into next week, specifically on the conditions of his appearance and also on the logistics of his surrender.

Now we know officials, including the Fulton County Sheriff, Pat Labat, have insisted that Trump and the other co-defendants will be treated the same as everybody else, specifically with fingerprinting and mug shots. But likely that is impossible just due to the security precautions that must take place when it comes to transporting a former president of the United States and also the high profile nature of some of these other co defendants. So it's very likely that this booking process that would normally just take hours of waiting around, that will probably go much more swiftly for Trump and some of his co- defendants.

It's also possible looking ahead to the arraignment, that first appearance in court, it's possible they might not even have to show up in court because the judge here can choose to do that arraignment virtually or allow them to wave that right to the arraignment.

Reporting from outside the Fulton County Jail, Isabel Rosales, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Among Trump's 18 co-defendants, his former Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, over the weekend he asked a federal court to order all charges against him in Fulton County to be dismissed. In the filing Meadows argued he should have immunity from the Georgia state case because he was carrying out his duties as a federal official working for then President Trump.

[04:20:05]

This comes just days after Meadows requested a hearing to move his case from state to federal court. CNN legal analyst Norm Eisen weighs in on the developments. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NORM EISEN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Ultimately Mark Meadows is going to have a very steep uphill climb on his effort to remove a case that is about violations of Georgia state law to federal court and then to get the federal court he's asked to throw it out based on the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution. And the problem for Meadows is the nature of the allegations here.

Because in order for a case to be removed under federal law, it has to fall within the outer perimeter of Meadows' official duties, and the things he's accused of doing are not official duties. The president of the United States, certainly his chief of staff under the Constitution, have no role in counting the votes in Georgia or pressuring -- as they're accused of doing in the DA's indictment -- pressuring Georgia's Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, after the vote had been counted, recounted and certified, to find just 11,780 votes. So that makes it tough on the removal standard.

Then under the supremacy clause, the test is, did Meadows have a duty to do it? Did he do no more than was necessary and proper under that duty? And was it authorized? And the problem there again is, no real role for the feds and of course allegations of overturning the peaceful transfer of power. That's the opposite of what the law authorizes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: Former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence has told ABC News that he wasn't aware of any broad efforts by Donald Trump to declassify documents before leaving the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In my case I was never made aware of any broad-based efforts to declassify documents. You know, there is a process that the White House goes through to declassify materials on the word of that occurring on. On several occasions over the course of our four years, but I don't have any knowledge of any broad-based directive from the president. But it doesn't mean it didn't occur. It's just -- it's not something that I ever heard about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Pence's comments come two months after the former president was indicted in relation to the mishandling of classified documents. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.

Donald Trump is now confirming he won't be taking part in the first Republican primary debate set for Wednesday. Trump made the announcement on his social media platform, saying the public already knows who he is.

NOBILO: Here's who will be taking the stage. Eight presidential hopefuls who qualified by meeting three requirements set by the Republican National Committee. Among them is signing a commitment to back the eventual nominee.

FOSTER: And right now a new CNN Poll of Polls finds Trump topping his closest rival by 40 points. Overall 57 percent of Republican voters back the former president. His closest competitor, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis came in at 17 percent.

NOBILO: There was celebrations in the streets of Guatemala City on Sunday. Progressive candidate Bernardo Arevalo appearing to have won Guatemala's presidential election. With more than 99 percent of ballots counted, he has 58 percent to 37 percent from his closest challenger.

FOSTER: Arevalo campaigned on curbing corruption and tackling malnutrition. Guatemala's current president has congratulated him and is calling for a smooth transition of power.

Ecuador's presidential election heading for a runoff. Preliminary results indicate left this Luisa Gonzalez and businessman Daniel Noboa will face each other in a second and deciding round in October.

NOBILO: It comes after one of the candidates, a legislator and former investigative journalist was gunned down at a campaign rally earlier this month. And as Rafael Romo explains, it's starkly illustrates Ecuador's escalating drug and political violence issue.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN WORLDWIDE SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: Pollsters didn't see it coming. Daniel Noboa was not among the leading candidates in the weeks before Sunday's first round. But after a solid performance during the presidential debate held exactly a week before the election, voters gave the 35-year-old businessman and former member of the Ecuadorian National Assembly the right to go to the second round.

Daniel Noboa is the son of Alvaro Noboa, who was also a member of the assembly and ran unsuccessfully for president three times. He will face Luisa Gonzalez, the protege of former Ecuadorian firebrand President Rafael Correa, a leftist who governed the South American country for 10 years starting in 2007.

[04:25:00]

After her win, Gonzalez said Ecuador urgently needs peace, jobs, and security, and repeated what she has said during her campaign that a return to the policies of Correa would allow the country to get out of a wave of insecurity that has made it one of the most violent in the region.

In his first remarks after winning the chance to go to the second round, Noboa emphasized his platform focuses on security for Ecuador and employment. He's hoping to rule a country that has been shaken by multiple acts of political violence.

On August 9, Fernando Villavicencio, a 59-year-old investigative journalist and former lawmaker, was gunned down when he was leaving a rally in Quito, the capital. And then on Thursday, Noboa himself said his own campaign was attacked as the candidate traveled with his entourage in the city of Duran in Guayas Province.

Hundreds of inmates have died in the last year during clashes inside prisons between local drug gangs, with the government seemingly unable to put an end to the violence.

Ecuadorians will again go to the polls on October 15 to choose a president between the two winners of this Sunday's presidential election.

Rafael Romo, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Still to come, more on the first tropical storm to get California in over 20 years. We'll have the latest forecast.

NOBILO: Plus, for months, Ukraine has begged Western allies to send fighter jets, saying they'll make a huge difference in the fight against Russia. Their request will soon be granted. Stay with us.

[04:30:00]