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U.S. To Begin Aid Airdrops; Alexei Navalny Laid To Rest; Hearing Concludes For Fulton County DA Fani Willis; Trump Attends Hearing In Classified Documents Case; Argentina Politics; U.S. Working To Get Immediate Cease-fire In Gaza; California Blizzard Closes 60 Miles Of Interstate; Texas Red Flag Warnings Affect 8 Million; Sports Report. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired March 02, 2024 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Aid flowing to Gaza is nowhere nearly enough now, it's --
BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Biden announces plans for the U.S. to airdrop desperately needed food and supplies into Gaza.
This as the IDF says it's suspending military activities in parts of the enclave on a daily basis. Plus --
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): -- mourners are still paying their last respects to Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny a day after he was laid to rest in Moscow. We're live in Berlin with a look at how people are honoring the fearless dissident.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): And a blockbuster blizzard is slamming California with up to 12 feet of snow and 140 mile per hour winds. We get the latest from the weather center on this extremely dangerous storm.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from Atlanta this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: We again with a surprise announcement from the Israeli military. It says it will suspend military activities in two parts of Gaza from 10:00 am until 02:00 pm daily for, quote, "humanitarian purposes."
The suspension will affect Rafah in southern Gaza and Deir al Balah in central Gaza. A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces says the daily pause will run until March 7th.
Meanwhile, President Biden is calling for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and the return of Israeli hostages. He says he's trying to work out a deal between the warring sides.
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QUESTION: Do you think there will be a ceasefire deal by Ramadan?
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm hoping so. We're still working real hard at it. Not there yet.
QUESTION: What is -- what is the biggest holdup right now?
BIDEN: I'm not going to tell you that because that again involved in negotiations.
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BRUNHUBER: Earlier Friday, President Biden announced the U.S. will begin airdrops of food aid into Gaza. This as the U.N. warns there's a real prospect of famine in the Palestinian territory by May.
Meanwhile, the death toll from Thursday's aid convoy tragedy is now 115, according to the Gaza ministry of health. Now a warning, some of these photos are graphic.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Witnesses say Israeli troops opened fire as people swarmed aid trucks to get food. Many were trampled in the chaos or even run over by the trucks. Palestinians and Israelis don't agree on exactly what led to the deadly scene.
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BRUNHUBER: CNN's MJ Lee has more on the airdrops of humanitarian assistance for Gaza that President Biden said would begin soon.
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MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Biden on Friday offering a blunt assessment of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and saying that the amount of aid that is currently going into the Strip is simply not enough.
He said that it is imperative that Israel do so much more but that, in the meantime, the U.S. is going to begin airdrops of aid and food and other help into the Gaza Strip. He said that this would help alleviate the situation. And that this was the U.S. trying to pull out all the stops to help
the civilians there. Take a listen.
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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No excuses because the truth is aid flowing to Gaza is nowhere nearly enough now. It's nowhere nearly enough. Innocent lives are on the line and children's lives are on the line and we won't stand by and let -- until aid -- until we get more aid in (INAUDIBLE).
And we should be getting hundreds of trucks in, not just several.
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LEE (voice-over): The president also once again calling for a temporary cease-fire and hostages deal, saying that this would help a lot in bringing in more humanitarian aid into Gaza.
LEE: And when he was leaving the White House Friday evening, he told me that he was still hopeful that a deal could be reached before Ramadan. Now our understanding right now is that the U.S. airdrops of aid into Gaza could begin in the coming days.
But White House officials are also making clear that the logistics behind that and doing it in a safe way to not harm the civilians who are in Gaza is going to be incredibly challenging -- MJ Lee, CNN, at the White House.
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BRUNHUBER: Tributes are still pouring in for Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny a day after he was laid to rest. His supporters have been laying flowers at his grave site in Moscow Saturday morning.
It's happening after they turned out in droves to bid him their final goodbyes at Friday's funeral ceremony. Thousands of people showed up, despite a heavy police presence and a clear message, they could end up behind bars.
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According to a monitoring group, more than 100 people were arrested while paying tribute to Navalny across Russia on Friday. One supporter in Moscow said, it's a risk worth taking.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Alexei Navalny is the man who gave us hope that Russia could be a different country, that we deserve better. His faith in us, his optimism gave us energy. He is the man who gave us hope that Russia could be a happier country.
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BRUNHUBER: CNN's Matthew Chance was at the site of Navalny's funeral ceremonies in Moscow. Here's his report.
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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They came in their thousands to pay their last respects.
Supporters of the late Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, lining up outside the Moscow church ahead of his funeral, an act of bravery and defiance in a country where dissent, even grief for a Kremlin critic, is rarely tolerated.
CHANCE: Let me ask you about the risks because the authorities have not particularly welcomed this event. People have been detained for paying their respects to Alexei Navalny.
Are you concerned about the risk you are taking?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
CHANCE: Why?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because it's my slogan, not to think about risks, do what you should do.
CHANCE: Do you hold Putin responsible for the death of Alexei Navalny?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, yes, definitely, no doubt. No doubt.
CHANCE (voice-over): The Kremlin denies it. They say that --
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, they said.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If they ever say and agree with what they have done, then I would be the first to applaud.
CHANCE: All right, well, this is the hearse, the van, which is taking the body of Alexei Navalny into this church on the outskirts of Moscow, where Russia will finally bid farewell to one of its most prominent opposition figures.
You can see thousands of people from all over the region have turned out to pay their respects, clapping as his body enters for that funeral service.
Are you surprised that the authorities have allowed this funeral to go ahead?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know what to say about it, because I think it would be a huge mistake to not allow it to do it, because there's so many people and they came here to pay the last respect to Alexei.
And Alexei for us and, for me personally, was like, I don't know, Russian Nelson Mandela or Russian Martin Luther King. So ..
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CHANCE: People are chanting his name now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. His last name.
CHANCE (voice-over): Death may have silenced Navalny but his name is now on everyone's lips. Inside the church, the funeral service was short; no political speeches, just blessings over his open casket.
Later at the cemetery, Navalny's distraught parents kissed their 47- year-old son goodbye. His wife and children, concerned for their own safety, stayed away. But so many came in their place.
Outside, crowds of mourners waited patiently for a last glimpse, for the cemetery gates to open and for Russian police, on close guard here, to finally wave them through.
CHANCE: All right, well, this is the site inside the cemetery and the memorial to Alexei Navalny. People are coming here to lay their flowers. And as you can see and also to file past the actual grave site which is there.
People are picking up soil and throwing it into the ground onto the casket as a final farewell to that opposition figure.
CHANCE (voice-over): A figure who, in death, as in life, is drawing thousands of Russians, critical of the Kremlin, onto the streets -- Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.
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BRUNHUBER: I want to turn now to CNN's Sebastian Shukla, who's live in Berlin for us.
So Seb, talk to us about the people who are still honoring Navalny at memorials and vigils around the world today and the rest of the weekend.
SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kim, Alexei Navalny's team put a plea out via their social media channels the day before the funeral, asking people to come out at 7:00 pm local time to come and pay their last respects to Alexei Navalny at dedicated sites across various different cities.
Here in Germany, the -- that site was opposite the Russian embassy, with the message being very clear to the Russian government that you may have been able to extinguish the life of Alexei Navalny but you will not be able to take him out of our minds and the future that we would like for our country.
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That message was reverberated across the streets of Moscow and it made its way here to Berlin, too. The chants and protests of "No to war" and "We will not surrender" and "We are not afraid" were very clear and very poignant.
We do not see shows of dissent like that in Russia very often. But it made the point clear to the Kremlin that this issue of opposition against them is very unlikely to go away.
And that may manifest itself now in a new form, in Alexei Navalny's widow, Yulia Navalnaya, who has said that she is going to try her best to be able to step into the very large shoes of her husband.
We don't know just yet what exactly that form may take and whether she will attempt to go back to Russia or she will do lots of the work here in exile. But she has already made a start on doing that.
But Kim, I think that of the whole weekend and of the whole ceremony itself, the poignant and lingering image will be that haunting one of Alexei Navalny, lying in his casket, with his faced -- face ghostly white.
With his mother and father on bended knee because, above everything else, what yesterday was was the burial of a son rather than an opposition leader, Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, poignant, as you say, Sebastian Shukla in Berlin. Thank you so much.
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BRUNHUBER: A Russian attack drone killed two people and injured eight in Odessa overnight. That's according to Ukraine's president. Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the drones hit a residential building and destroyed 18 apartments.
He again called for strengthening Ukraine's air defenses. The issue was a key part of a new security agreement with the Netherlands. Zelenskyy says the deal includes about $2 billion in military aid from the Netherlands this year, with more assistance spread out over the next decade.
The Netherlands also agreed to support Ukraine's bid to join the E.U. and NATO.
All right, still to come this hour, a hearing wrapped up in Georgia Friday that could determine whether Fulton County's district attorney remains on the Georgia election subversion case.
And Donald Trump appeared in a Florida courtroom on Friday in the Mar- a-Lago classified documents case. The latest on both hearings after the break, please stay with us.
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(MUSIC PLAYING) BRUNHUBER: Hearings took place on Friday in two of Donald Trump's
legal matters that could impact when or whether the cases go to trial.
Here in Georgia, the election interference case, a hearing over whether to disqualify the Fulton County DA Fani Willis concluded without a decision. The judge said he'd issue a ruling within two weeks.
And Donald Trump appeared in court in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case in Florida. The judge is considering pushing the starting date back and is considering options submitted by opposing sides.
Now special counsel Jack Smith wants it to start on July 8th, while Trump's attorneys proposed August 12th. Trump's counsel also argued that the trial should wait until after the election in November. CNN justice correspondent Jessica Schneider has more now on the day's proceedings in the Georgia election interference case.
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CRAIG GILLEN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY FOR DAVID SHAFER: These people, Your Honor, is a systematic misconduct and they need to go.
JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sparks continued to fly today as lawyers for Donald Trump and others charged in the case argued that DA Fani Willis hired Nathan Wade as special prosecutor when they were romantically involved and then she benefited financially from the trips they took and the dinners they shared.
JOHN MERCHANT, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: She put her boyfriend in the spot, paid him and then reaped the benefits from it. That she created the system and then didn't tell anybody about it.
SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Willis testified last month insisting the relationship began after Wade was appointed to lead the Trump case and argued she paid him back for any expenses in cash.
FANI WILLIS, FULTON COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: When I started dating Mr. Wade?
ASHLEIGH MERCHANT, MERCHANT, DEFENSE ATTORNEY FOR MIKE ROMAN: April, 2022?
WILLIS: '22, yes.
A. MERCHANT: 2022.
WILLIS: It was around there. I don't know.
Growing up, my daddy had three safes in the house. So my father's bought me a lockbox and I always keep cash in the house. When you go on a date, you should have cash in your pocket.
SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Judge Scott McAfee did have some tough questions for the attorneys pushing to remove Willis and her team. JUDGE SCOTT MCAFEE, FULTON COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT: If someone buys their boss a stick of gum, is that per se disqualifying?
J. MERCHANT: It may not meet a materiality requirement but it's a personal benefit.
SCHNEIDER (voice-over): The judge also asked if disqualification would really be the right remedy or if any wrongdoing would just require reprimand from the legal bar.
MCAFEE: The proposition you're putting forward now is that if a representative of the state, a lead prosecutor, the district attorney themselves, says something that's untruthful on the record, that is something that immediately has to be proactively policed by the trial court?
Basically what I'm getting at is, where in the law do we find the remedy to an untruthful statement?
Generally, we send you down the street to the bar.
SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Lawyers for the District Attorney's Office insist there is absolutely no conflict of interest.
ADAM ABBATE, ATTORNEY FOR FULTON COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE: It's absurd. We have absolutely no evidence that Ms. Willis received any financial gain or benefit. The testimony was that Ms. Willis paid all of the money back in cash.
SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Judge McAfee says he will make a decision about disqualification within two weeks -- Jessica Schneider, CNN, Washington.
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BRUNHUBER: All right. Now we turn to CNN chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid, who has details on the hearing in the classified documents case in Florida.
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PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Former President Donald Trump at federal court in Florida today for a high- stakes hearing to decide when he will be tried for allegedly mishandling classified documents.
JACK SMITH, SPECIAL COUNSEL: An indictment was unsealed, charging Donald J. Trump with felony violations of our national security laws, as well as participating in a conspiracy to obstruct justice.
REID (voice-over): Trump faces 40 felony criminal charges related to the alleged mishandling of classified information, some seen here.
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Improperly stored at Mar-a-Lago. DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They raided my house. They did it for publicity reasons. They did it for election interference reasons. They want to interfere with the election.
REID (voice-over): The case is currently scheduled for May 20th. But Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee who is overseeing the case, has signaled she may push the trial back. In court today, Cannon pressed prosecutors and defense attorneys about their suggested schedules.
Special Counsel Jack Smith proposed a July 8th start date. But during the proceedings, Cannon suggested that aspects of Smith's proposal were unrealistic.
Trump's lawyers insist the trial should be pushed back.
"A trial that takes place before the election is a mistake and should not happen," Trump attorney Todd Blanche stated, saying, "it would be unfair to the former president and the American people for Trump to be in the courtroom and not on the campaign trail."
That's something the former president has claimed as well.
TRUMP: All of this persecution is only happening because I am running for president and leading very substantially in the polls.
REID (voice-over): Trump's attorneys did concede, if the trial has to go forward before the election, they would be OK with starting August 12th.
But prosecutors pushed back, saying if Team Trump believes a trial before the election is unfair, "Those are fake dates. Why did they even propose those dates?"
Cannon noted that Trump's upcoming criminal case in New York must be considered as she schedules this one.
On March 25th, Trump's hush money trial begins in New York and is expected to last four to six weeks, an already busy court schedule for the former president Trump. Prosecutors today did clarify a key issue, how close to the election would they be willing to try Trump.
Attorney general Merrick Garland has said a speedy trial is in the public interest.
MERRICK GARLAND, ATTORNEY GENERAL: The cases were brought last year. The prosecutor has urged speedy trials, with which I agree. And this is now in the hands of the judicial system, not in our hands.
REID (voice-over): Today in court, though, prosecutors said that a Justice Department policy, discouraging public investigative actions 60 days before an election, does not apply to cases where charges had already been filed.
Prosecutor Jay Bratt told the court that, when it comes to that policy, quote, "We are in full compliance." REID: Judge Cannon is expected to schedule at least one more hearing in this case and then she will also likely put a date on the calendar. Now she didn't seem open to placing this case in July. So it'll likely be put on the calendar in August at the earliest.
But that date is not a guarantee that Trump lawyers or even the prosecutors could always come back and try to push it back further. So at this point, it is still unclear if former president Trump will face either one of the special counsel's federal cases before the November presidential election -- Paula Reid, CNN, Fort Pierce, Florida.
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BRUNHUBER: There was a heated exchange between U.S. Senator Joe Manchin and climate activists. Have a look here.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joe Manchin, You sold our futures and got rich doing it, you sick (INAUDIBLE).
How dare you?
BRUNHUBER (voice-over): You can see one protester getting thrown to the ground after confronting Manchin. According to "The Harvard Crimson," the near-brawl happened when six demonstrators from the group Climate Defiance interrupted a talk Manchin was giving at a Harvard's Kennedy School on Friday.
They were criticizing mentioned support of the Mountain Valley pipeline. The 300-mile natural gas pipeline in West Virginia has drawn the ire of environmentalists.
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BRUNHUBER: Polls have closed in Iran's legislative elections and the counting is underway.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): It is the country's first election since 2022, when protests swept Iran after Mahsa Amini died in police custody after being detained for not wearing a hijab.
Voter turnout is expected to be at record lows as Iranians grapple with an ailing economy and growing distrust in the government. About 15,000 candidates are competing for 290 seats in parliament. And the new assembly of experts will be elected, which has the power to appoint Iran's supreme leader.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Mexico's presidential campaigns kicked off on Friday with the two leading candidates vying to become the country's first female president. Claudia Sheinbaum, here on the left, told supporters that she would carry on the leftist policies of the current president.
She said Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has transformed the country for the better. But the opposition's nominee, Xochitl Galvez, blasted the current administration's policies, calling them "ineffective."
She's promising to take a tougher stance on violent drug trafficking, saying, quote, "The hugs for criminals are over."
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Argentina's libertarian president is vowing to advance his economic reforms with or without political support.
In a fiery speech to his country's congress, Javier Milei promised to make deep cuts in public financing of political parties and reduce government spending.
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The renewed push comes after an earlier version of his reform bill was rejected last month. Milei swept into power last year with more than 55 percent of the vote, promising to tackle Argentina's soaring inflation.
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BRUNHUBER: And we'll be right back, please do stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
Returning to our top story, the Israeli military says it will suspend military activities in two parts of Gaza from 10:00 am Until 02:00 pm daily for, quote, "humanitarian purposes."
The suspension will affect Rafah in southern Gaza and Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces says the daily pause will run until March 7th.
Our Paula Hancocks is live in Abu Dhabi with more on the situation in Gaza.
So Paula, a significant development and a bit of a surprise.
First, do we know anything about how this came about? PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We do know that a fair bit of
pressure was put on Israeli officials after that tragedy with the humanitarian aid trucks back on Thursday last week, when well over 100 people looking for aid were killed.
Now we do know, for example, the United States had been pushing the Israelis to open more crossings. At this point, we only have the Rafah crossing on the southern parts of the Gaza border, which is not functioning at full capacity, and also the Kerem Shalom checkpoint.
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Also just in the southeastern corner, that has been blockaded by Israeli protesters, who are calling for the hostages to be released. So very little is getting through that area as well.
So we've heard from the Biden administration that more humanitarian aid needs to get in. They have called for more checkpoints, of which there are more further north along the border with Israel, that should be opened.
And we are also seeing, according to the Israeli military, that they are coordinating with a number of countries to do airdrops in these two -- these two areas.
So they've specified neighborhoods from now until Thursday, as you say, in Rafah in the south and Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, that they will be having this four-hour window where airdrops will take place.
And it just shows the desperation and the incapacity of being able to get to those who need aid by road on the ground, because we are seeing more and more of these airdrops. Now, they are imperfect, they are imprecise, they're not an ideal way to get aid to those on the ground.
But it shows the desperation that this is now being considered. And President Biden saying that they expect to do their own airdrops very soon. Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. And those have been criticized for not delivering enough, as you say, because it is just a drop in the bucket. The need beyond those two areas is still huge. The U.N. warning of basically mass starvation in the coming months, if more isn't done.
So what might this window at least mean for Palestinians in those two areas?
And speak to the need beyond those two areas as well.
How desperate is the situation?
HANCOCKS: Extremely desperate. I mean, we've been saying this for months now. NGOs have been highlighting this for months, saying that the humanitarian crisis that is unfolding in Gaza is extremely desperate. We've heard from the ministry of health in Gaza, which in run by
Hamas. They say 10 children at this point have died from malnutrition and dehydration. We've heard from UNICEF, warning that this number could rise because children are often the first hit and the worst hit by these kind of humanitarian crises.
And we understand from the United Nations that this is now the worst case of child malnutrition in the entire world here in Gaza. What we are seeing right now is the worst that we will see in the world.
They say that, I think, one in six of under 2s are severely malnourished at this point. So for these -- and to your question, Kim, for these two areas, they may be able to get more aid, which is desperately needed. That is obviously always going to be positive, to get aid to the areas.
It does then need to be disbursed to other areas. And we saw just last Thursday, when more than 100 people died in that very chaotic aid distribution and Israeli fire, that it is extremely difficult to try and disburse this aid elsewhere.
There has to be cooperation from the Israeli military. NGOs, including the United Nations, have said that they have been fired upon by the Israeli military in the past and they have not always been able to get through to where they need to.
So this is one positive element in a situation that has no positives in it whatsoever. But of course, it is, as many NGOs say, it is very little. And it needs to continue. There needs to be a ceasefire so that humanitarian aid can get to those who need it.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. So one definite positive, I'm wondering about a possible positive here, if Israel has listened to the international pressure here.
Does it signal anything, do you think, in terms of possibly a wider cease-fire and hostage deal being closer, which President Biden has been trying to help broker?
Where do those negotiations stand?
HANCOCKS: Well, there were concerns that, after what happened last Thursday with that loss of life, that this could derail the process for trying to secure this temporary ceasefire.
We heard from a Hamas senior official, saying that this is not an open process and this will play against trying to secure that ceasefire.
Now of course, the ceasefire is key to be able to try and get some of the hostages out of Gaza, to try and release Palestinian prisoners. But it is key because, of course, the fighting will stop, which is what most are calling for.
But also that humanitarian aid will be able to get through in far greater numbers, in far more safety. But of course, you do still have the issue of the infrastructure having collapsed in Gaza. [05:35:05]
So there will still huge difficulties to get that aid to those who need it. But of course, a ceasefire is key to be able to do that.
Now interestingly, we did hear from Biden administration officials, saying that they believe what happened last Thursday may not have derailed the talks that have been ongoing, to try and have this temporary ceasefire.
Now President Biden had said he believed Monday was a possibility. He has walked that back. In fact, many involved in the discussions distanced themselves from that timeline, thinking it was too soon.
But there is still hope that this could happen we've heard in coming days. But at this point, we don't have anything concrete but we do know that negotiations are still ongoing at this point.
BRUNHUBER: All right. Paula Hancocks, really appreciate getting your analysis on these new developments. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.
All right. Just ahead, Texas is still being ravaged by the state's largest wildfire in history. What top officials say about the devastation.
And up next, a March blizzard brings California's biggest snowfall of the year.
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BRUNHUBER: At least 60 miles of the Interstate 80 highway is closed in California because of high winds and low visibility from a dangerous winter storm. CNN affiliate KCRA spoke with a worker who installs chains on vehicle tires on the importance of staying off the roads in these conditions.
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CHRIS LOTITO, CHAIN INSTALLER: This is how we make our living but, you know, there's no fun up here today for anybody, that you can't sleigh ride, you can't ski. You're wasting your time. It's -- the roads are pretty bad. And Caltrans, their priority is safety first.
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The safest thing is to stay home where it's warm.
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BRUNHUBER: The blizzard is slamming California with its biggest snowfall of the year. Parts of the Sierra Nevada could be buried in up to 12 feet of snow in just a matter of days, with wind gusts at the high peaks clocking in more than 140 miles per hour. And blizzard warnings in the Sierra Nevada area will continue through Sunday morning.
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BRUNHUBER: All right. An update now on wildfires raging in the Texas Panhandle. The state's governor confirms one person has been killed and more than 400 structures have been destroyed. The National Weather Service says more than 8 million people are under red flag warnings for critical fire danger as high winds returned today.
Governor Greg Abbott thanked firefighters for their efforts to save both lives and properties and reflected on the devastation the wildfires left behind.
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GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R-TX): When you look at the damages that occurred here, it's just gone, completely gone. Nothing left but ashes on the ground.
So those who are affected by this have gone through utter devastation. They are going through challenges that others cannot comprehend. They need our ongoing support, our ongoing assistance and our ongoing prayers.
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BRUNHUBER: The largest fire in the state's history, the Smokehouse Creek Fire, is only 15 percent contained.
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BRUNHUBER: Well, joining me now is Amy Houston and she's the director of Rancher Navy, a non-profit organization helping those impacted by the fires across Texas.
Thank you so much for being here with us. Really appreciate it. So we heard there, the largest fire in state history, nothing left but ashes in some areas.
I mean, are you surprised by what you've been seeing?
AMY HOUSTON, DIRECTOR, RANCHER NAVY: No Kim, I'm not surprised. When you have fires and winds, a combination like we've had this past week, the devastation is real. It is very, very large. It comes very, very quickly. People don't have time to prepare.
But the majority of our state, over 76 percent being serviced by a volunteer fire department, you can imagine that response times are not ideal, either, when you're looking at something of this magnitude.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, what have you been hearing from the people who've been devastated by this loss of -- loss of property, not just property but cattle as well? HOUSTON: The two words that come to mind are shock and disbelief.
People don't know what to do next. They don't know where to go. Their homes are gone. Their animals are gone. I would absolutely say shock and disbelief at this point.
BRUNHUBER: Yes.
Now you are giving them a hand, you and other volunteers.
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Tell me about your group, a bunch of volunteers who were united by a fire that happened a couple of years ago. Explain what brought you together.
HOUSTON: So, yes, there was a fire two years ago, a large-scale fire, not quite to this magnitude. And a group of women and one man pulled together to get aid to the farmers and ranchers in the North Central Texas area.
I happened to be a recipient and also a drop zone to help the others that were in my -- in my area. And you would be surprised at how fast people can mobilize in the agricultural community.
We developed the grid, got our non-profit status and immediately started reaching out to vendors and other people that we knew. And before we knew it, we had a very large convoy from across the state and our neighboring states, who are bringing aid.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, I was looking at your Facebook page and seeing the number of people who were driving stuff over and gathering all this material. We were showing some pictures there as well. I mean, it's just incredible. The people who are getting the stuff must be so grateful in this time of need.
HOUSTON: They are very grateful. (INAUDIBLE) said I don't know where to go next. So the majority of the people that we have, have been in their shoes or have done this type of aid in the past.
So we have an uncanny ability to be able to work logistics and mobilize resources in a very quick period of time.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. You in Texas, you've had years of drought. The vegetation, the land is dry. The climate is getting hotter. We're going to see more and more of these types of fires just like, you know, I've covered for years in California, that we're seeing record- breaking fire after record-breaking fire.
Are people there in Texas prepared?
I mean, you can't just rely on a bunch of volunteers like yourself.
HOUSTON: I don't know how prepared anybody could be at this point. You are correct. The water is low, the ground is dry. The winds, as I just heard in your last segment, the winds are going to be very high this week, with a lot of hotspots. There's not a lot of preparation you can do, as you know and the
people in California know. So we are gathering as many resources as we can in case this (INAUDIBLE) another location (INAUDIBLE).
BRUNHUBER: We're -- after this interview, we're going to run something where people can donate and help. But I just, for your organization specifically, if people want to donate to the Ranchers Navy, how can they how can they help?
HOUSTON: I would suggest that they go to our Facebook page. We have everything from Amazon wish lists that are set up that will go to specific drop zones in the Panhandle area.
We also have a way that you can make cash donations. We also have a link to the volunteer fire departments in those areas as well with direct links so that you can give (INAUDIBLE) to them.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, we're just seeing the pictures again, so devastating. And the people wouldn't be able to get by without volunteers like yourself. So thank you so much for what you and everyone else there are doing, Amy Houston with Rancher Navy, thank you so much, really appreciate it.
HOUSTON: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: All right.
And as I mentioned, CNN has gathered a list of vetted organizations responding on the ground in Texas. So for more information about how you can help wildfire victims, you can go to cnn.com/impact.
We'll be right back.
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BRUNHUBER: One of the biggest stars in women's sports is speaking out about her decision to turn professional just ahead of potentially making college basketball history. "CNN SPORT's" Andy Scholes joins me now.
So Andy, ticket prices to see one of Caitlin Clark's final home games in Iowa, I guess they're taking off, right?
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORT CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they certainly are. According to TickPick, Caitlin Clark's last regular season home game tomorrow against Ohio State is the most expensive women's basketball ticket ever. The cheapest ticket right now for a seat is going for about 550 bucks.
All the Hawkeyes fans want to see Clark on senior day and they want to see some history. Clark needs just 18 points to pass Pete Maravich's all-time college scoring record. She's averaging 32 points a game. So she should easily get that tomorrow.
Now on Thursday, Clark announced that this season will be her final season at Iowa and she will enter next month's WNBA draft, where she is expected to be the first pick by the Indiana Fever. And Clark told reporters on Friday that she wanted to get the speculation about her future out of the way before tomorrow.
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CAITLIN CLARK, IOWA GUARD: I think just going into senior night, having that decision clear, not only for myself but our fans, my teammates, I think that was super important. And honestly just I don't know.
Getting the weight of the world off my shoulders and being able to enjoy this last -- these last, this last month with my teammates, I think, is the biggest thing.
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SCHOLES: Yes. Clark has certainly raised the profile of women's college basketball more than any other player. The Hawkeye star has played in the most watched women's college basketball games ever for six different networks. Iowa and Ohio State tip it 1:00 Eastern tomorrow.
To the NBA where the Boston Celtics just keep on rolling. They were taking on the Mavs last night. Luka Doncic was another 30-point triple double. But the Celtics' offense was just too much for Dallas. Jayson Tatum scored 32 as Boston just pulled away late in the third quarter.
Celtics would end up winning 138-110. They are the first team this season to win 10 games in a row.
Elsewhere, Giannis Antetokounmpo was just a dominant performance against the Bulls. Check him out in the third quarter. He is going to spin off Andre Drummond here, then throw down the reverse slam.
Giannis scored 46 in this one, also grabbed 16 rebounds. The Bucks would win easily 113-97 for their fifth straight win.
Finally Thomas Detry, with a hole to forget at the Cognizant Classic in Florida yesterday, putting for par there. He missed that.
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Then he would miss this next putt and the floodgates just opened. The ball just keeps looking out.
He ends up 5-putting from six feet away for a quadruple bogie.
BRUNHUBER: Oh, my God.
SCHOLES: So Kim, that was the sixth hole, which it just torpedoes his whole tournament. Detry went from -- he was fighting to make the cut at that point. But he ended up finishing dead last. And, you know, yes, it's good when this happens to those PGA pros sometimes because it makes us normal golfers feel better about our --
BRUNHUBER: Yes, no kidding. That looked like something from the Midway or something.
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BRUNHUBER: Oh, my gosh, Andy Scholes. Thank you so much. I appreciate that laugh.
All right. Finally, before we go, bad news if you're a fan of Chick- Fil-A's Polynesian dipping sauce. The company is advising customers to discard the dipping cups that were ordered over the past few weeks.
According to their website, the cups may contain a different sauce that includes wheat and soy allergens. That was given out at its restaurants between February 14th and 27th. The sauce has been on Chick-Fil-A's menu for 40 years and is now sold in grocery stores.
All right. I'm Kim Brunhuber. Thanks so much for watching. For viewers in North America, "CNN THIS MORNING" is next. For the rest of the world it's "AFRICAN VOICES: CHANGEMAKERS."
