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Super Tuesday Could Push Trump Close To Clinching Nomination; Biden Prepares For High-States State Of The Union Address; Hamas Delegation In Cairo For Ceasefire Talks; Russia Intensifying Attacks On Eastern Ukraine Battlefront; Supreme Court May Announce At Least One Option Tomorrow As U.S. Waits For One Word On Trump Ballot Case; 6.5 Million People Under Winter Alerts; No Relief Expected For Firefighters Battling Texas Panhandle Fires; Teen Shot After Unruly Crowd Booted From Six Flags Over Georgia; New Satellite To Sniff Out Potential Methane Gas Polluters. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired March 03, 2024 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:40]

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN HOST: Hi, everyone. Thanks for joining me today. I'm Omar Jimenez, in for Fredricka Whitfield. We've got a lot to get to.

And we're going to start this hour with another critical week on the campaign trail and on Capitol Hill.

Former president Donald Trump continues his march towards clinching the GOP presidential nomination, sweeping three more states on Saturday. His campaign is now aiming to build up an insurmountable lead in two days from now, Super Tuesday, when voters in 15 states and one U.S. territory head to the polls. Nearly a third of all Republican delegates will be handed out.

And despite just getting a fraction of the Republican delegates so far, Nikki Haley is hanging around. Today, she's dropping hints that she may stick around even if she doesn't win any states on Tuesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I've always said this needs to be competitive. As long as we are competitive, as long as we are showing that there is a place for us, I'm going to continue to fight. That's always been the case.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Would you see yourself as competitive if you didn't win on Super Tuesday, any state.

HALEY: If 70 percent of Americans say they don't want Donald Trump or Joe Biden that's not a small number. If 30 to 40 percent of all these early states have said they want to vote for the direction of where we want to take the country, that's not a small number.

And so that's why we continue to push --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: And this will also be a high-stakes week for President Biden. On Thursday, President Biden will deliver his highly-anticipated State of the Union Address the address the nation just hours before another partial government shutdown deadline.

We've got a team of correspondents covering these developments. Priscilla Alvarez will tell us more about Biden's State of the Union Address in a moment.

But I want to start with Eva McKend on the campaign trail in Vermont. So Eva, Nikki Haley is campaigning ahead of Tuesday's Super Tuesday, I think I hear her behind you. Is she giving any signs that it's make or break for her here?

EVA MCKEND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So Omar, I have to be quiet because she is on stage right behind me. What I can tell you is that she is determined to keep up the fight. There were several pro-Palestinian demonstrators maybe over five that disrupted her remarks. In response, people in the crowd here chanting her name.

But overall, Haley really remains a disciplined campaigner. And her core message is that former president Donald Trump is not going to be competitive enough with President Biden in a general election.

She's really just forcefully pushing back against this pressure campaign for her to step out of the race because she argues most Americans just have no appetite for this Biden and Trump (INAUDIBLE).

And so she's hoping that Vermonters give her a boost. I will tell you that I spoke to several Democrats in the crowd. They support the Republican Governor Phil Scott, and they're also open to supporting Haley on Super Tuesday, Omar.

JIMENEZ: Yes. And Eva, thank you for that. I can tell you I've been in that position before where you're trying to talk and the candidate's right behind you. So you handled that nicely. Thank you.

I want to Priscilla Alvarez. Priscilla, the president is not speaking directly behind you, but he'll deliver his State of the Union this week. It's his chance really to showcase what he's done and try to convince voters to give him another term in office. What are we likely to hear from him?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, exactly that, Omar. Laying out his accomplishments so far and what his vision is moving forward. And this is a critical moment for him. It is probably the biggest TV audience that he is going to have before November.

And so his advisers are working through some of the issues that he's going to touch on in this address. That includes, for example, economic populism, lowering healthcare costs, reproductive freedoms, preserving democracy, border security.

All of these themes that we have heard over time in and many of -- in many of his speeches. But all packaged together in this address before Congress. Also this timing would come only a couple of days after Super Tuesday.

That's a time where campaign officials say it will become even clear that this race is between President Biden and former president Donald Trump. So this is also going to factor into how they approach this address on Thursday.

[14:05:00]

ALVAREZ: Now, the president is at Camp David this weekend just like he was last year during this time where they -- where he is huddling with his advisers to rehearse his address and also put the final touches to it.

So all of this highly-anticipated address coming on Thursday, Omar.

JIMENEZ: Priscilla Alvarez, Eva McKend. Thank you both.

Joining me now to talk more about this busy week in politics, is Daniel Lippman. He's a `White House reporter for "Politico". Also with me, Patrick Healy. He's a deputy opinion editor for "The New York Times".

So Daniel, I want to go to you first because President Biden this week essentially gets a chance to address the nation in primetime for a State of the Union speech when really it could be seen as a campaign kickoff of sorts to show what he is going to deliver for the American people this time around. What does that stake for the president here?

DANIEL LIPPMAN, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, "POLITICO": I think it's a hugely important opportunity for him to try to reassure Americans and Democrats in his base that he is up to the task of being president for the next four years. There is a majority of Democrats who think he's too old to be effective. And he can try to quiet some of these doubts if he delivers a speech without a single gaffe because you are going to have tens of millions of Americans watching this speech. And he hasn't taken up opportunities like the Super Bowl interview to reach a similar sized crowd.

JIMENEZ: Yes, and that was a question. Why he declined to do that Super Bowl interview.

Patrick, look, the speech comes as the Biden campaign isn't seeing the best of poll numbers at this point. I mean, your New York Times/Sienna College poll showed Biden losing to Trump now in that general election. And that Trump has never really looked stronger head-to-head as far as polls show. You see those numbers 48 to 43. And that it stems in part from Biden's sinking popularity.

We're still eight months from a general election, I want to be clear. But is this poll as bad as it seems for the incumbent. Basically, is this the floor for him to move forward or is this signs of further trend?

PATRICK HEALY, DEPUTY OPINION EDITOR, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": It's a tough poll for him, but it's been a series of tough polls, Omar, you know for months now for President Biden. what's so striking is that so many Americans know who President Trump

is, they know what their opinion of President Trump is. They know who President Biden is, they know what their opinions of Biden is. So it's very hard for either candidate or campaign to really define the other in a new way that's going to change minds.

I do think that President Biden has a real opportunity on Thursday night, if he chooses to be pretty confrontational with the Republicans who he'll be looking right out at in that chamber.

You know, wasn't just a few weeks ago when Donald Trump and House and Senate Republicans really sunk the bipartisan border deal that was moving through the Senate. That's an opportunity where a lot of Americans want to see action on the border. They want to see that crisis contained.

And if President Biden decides to use the State of the Union speech to really confront Republicans and call out whether it's a do-nothing Congress, whether it's a Republican House that is blocking actual progress from being made, that might give him the kind of opportunity to start turning, you know, really sort of turning the campaign and the narrative in a better direction.

JIMENEZ: Yes, and look on the Republican side of things, some of these primaries that we've seen Daniel to this point, they've been open primaries where some democrats can vote for Nikki Haley and have including some I've spoken to in South Carolina and Michigan.

But Nikki Haley keeps making the case that 30 to 40 percent -- that she's getting 30 to 40 percent of the vote in some of these places and that it's not a small number.

Assuming Trump is the GOP nominee here, there's a major question. How many of Haley supporters are actually going to back Trump in November? Will they sit out or will they vote for Biden?

Should Trump be concerned about losing these voters?

LIPPMAN: I think he definitely should be because these are important voters in, you know, swing states. And also, he can't really necessarily count on Nikki Haley endorsing him and trying to campaign with him. It seems like there's so much bad blood between the two sides.

And you don't have Trump kind of listening to his advisers who would say, hey, don't call Nikki Haley birdbrain anymore basically because that's not a way to bring those voters to his fold and also not a way to get her to endorse him.

She had signed that RNC pledge to back the nominee, but that's a piece of paper. And so she had said today that she is -- you know, she still has to think about that.

[14:10:00]

JIMENEZ: Yes. And look very simple question, Patrick, as we close up here, Super Tuesday is coming up. Trump is looking for a knockout blow there. Do you think Nikki Haley is still going to be a candidate Wednesday morning after Super Tuesday.

HEALY: I imagine she wants to stay in as long as possible because you never know what's going to happen, Omar. But Donald Trump right now is going to be the nominee of the Republican Party, barring some shocks. So he will, you know, he really will lock that up.

I think the big question is, is there in fact, as Daniel was getting at kind of a ceiling to his support? Can he only grow at so much because a lot of those Haley voters aren't going to come back to him.

JIMENEZ: Well, we will see. The election will be here before we know it, and we will see where Nikki Haley ends up after Super Tuesday.

Daniel Lippman, Patrick Healy -- thank you both.

LIPPMAN: Thank you, Omar.

JIMENEZ: All right. I Want to get to this news just into CNN.

Caitlin Clark is now the all-time leading scorer in college basketball history -- men or women. With a free throw late in the second quarter against number two ranked Ohio State, the university of Iowa phenom, and I can confidently say legend, scored the 3,668th point of her college career, passing Pete Maravich.

Iowa leads Ohio State at halftime. More to come on that, but wanted to make sure you got that now.

All right. More news.

Still to come. Why Israel says it is not sending a team to Cairo for a new round of hostage release negotiations. We're going to go live to the region.

Plus at least 11 people are killed after a Russian drone attack in Odesa, Ukraine. We have that and much more coming up. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:16:01]

JIMENEZ: All right. Happening right now, a delegation from Hamas is in Cairo for urgent ceasefire talks. Israel is not sending a delegation, but the U.S. says, Israel has basically accepted a six-week ceasefire proposal in Gaza.

Now, a highly-placed diplomatic source is telling CNN that a deal is unlikely to be reached in the next 48 hours because of a few key issues that are still outstanding.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is in Tel Aviv. So Jeremy, what are those issues holding up any potential agreement right now?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Omar, it basically depends on who you ask. If you talk to the Israelis and the Americans, it's Hamas has yet to provide a list of the hostages that it would release under an initial phase of agreement.

The Israelis are also saying that they are waiting for confirmation about the ratio of Palestinian prisoners who would be released in exchange for those Israeli hostages during an initial six-week pause in the fighting.

Hamas for its part, according to a source, says that it is -- has other major gaps that still need to be addressed, including whether or not Israel will agree to a path for a permanent ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip and the return of displaced Palestinians from southern Gaza to return to northern Gaza.

What is clear though, is that Hamas' refusal so far to provide that list of hostages seems to be the reason why Israel has not sent a delegation to Cairo for the latest round of negotiations.

A Hamas delegation did arrive in Cairo earlier today. And so the question will be whether or not over the course of this next round of negotiations, if Hamas provides a response to the latest broad framework for this potential six-week pause in the fighting.

Now, amid all of this, the humanitarian situation in Gaza, catastrophic situation is coming into increasingly clearer view, particularly when it comes to the issue of malnutrition and children.

The Palestinian ministry of health saying that 15 children, including infants, have now died of dehydration and malnutrition in northern Gaza with several of those happening just in the last week.

Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza say that they fear for the lives of six more children who are at risk of a similar fate if more action is not taken. UNICEF is also saying that there is a need for urgent action, including the opening of additional border crossing points into northern Gaza.

And we are seeing as the United States is starting to step up those efforts, airdropping 66 bundles of a humanitarian aid over the Gaza strip yesterday.

But Omar, we know that that is just a drop in the bucket compared to the overall need. And frankly, those airdrops, they are risky, they are costly, and they are pretty inefficient way of actually getting aid into Gaza.

What is needed is more border crossing points according to humanitarian officials and more trucks being able to get into Gaza. They say that that relies on Israeli political decision-making calling this situation in Gaza right now a man-made disaster, Omar?

JIMENEZ: Yes, I mean, I had one humanitarian group tell me just yesterday describing this as a band-aid to the problem was a generous word in comparison to the need that there actually is.

But on that front, Israel has said it helped the U.D. coordinate bundles of some of these airdrops. I mean do we -- whether they're efficient or not, do we expect more? Airdrops maybe coming either from the U.S. or other countries who again have also participated in dropping aid from the air.

DIAMOND: No doubt about it. I think we will see more of those. Already in the last week, there's been a huge step up in the number of those airdrops with the United States kind of joining a growing coalition of countries led by Jordan, but also including France and several other Arab countries in the region.

[14:20:00]

DIAMOND: But again, the question will rely on the fact of whether or not they can go further than that, whether or not Israel will open up more border crossings coming in from northern Gaza. Right now, all you have is that Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza. And then the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza at the southern part of the Gaza Strip.

There are no crossings going in from Israel to the northern part of the Gaza Strip at the moment. And so that is something that American officials have been pressuring Israel to do.

We will see whether or not they do that and how much of a difference it can make as, you know, the World Food Programme is warning that more than half a million people in Gaza now are on the brink of famine.

JIMENEZ: Yes. Jeremy Diamond in Tel Aviv, appreciate it as always. Thank you.

Meanwhile, a desperate search for survivors this hour in Ukraine where a Russian drone strike early Saturday hit a high-rise in Odessa, killing at least 11 people. Now rescue teams are still sifting through the rubble, hoping to find any signs of life of people trapped underneath the debris. We know at least three young children were killed, including a four-month-old.

That bombing happened as Russia is intensifying operations in the eastern Donetsk region following significant Ukrainian retreats.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is live not far from the frontlines in eastern Ukraine.

So Nick do these attacks -- are they indicative of any sort of wider strategy from Russia at this stage of the war

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, look, I mean, most troublingly, we've seen Ukraine two weekends ago now pull out Avdiivka, a key town in the east that both sides fought for weeks, if not months, over intense casualties.

Ukraine said it would fall back to a particular defensive line, specified it seemed to lose key villages to the east as they did that. And now we are seeing Ukrainian forces under intense Russian assault in three key village, not in themselves remotely consequential, but the fact that Russia is continuing to put Ukraine on its back foot and challenges new defensive lines suggest two things. That Russia has got momentum potentially and might continue to move forward.

And secondly, that Ukraine really didn't prepare its withdrawal from Avdiivka particularly well at all. That is sparking a lot of internal criticism that were hearing amongst soldiers se meet along the front lines. A lot of deep concerns really about frankly their ability to fight period in the weeks ahead because they're not getting western aid.

We were with one tank unit today who have basically run out of Soviet era shells and are dependent entirely on foreign donations. And in the entire day we were with them, they didn't fire once or the day before and it wasn't because there wasn't a raging battle, it's just a matter of meters away. It's because they simply don't have discretionary chance to use rounds.

So real fears here that that aid shortage is going to have a real impact on the ground. And yes, too, Russia appears to be finding its resources. It has an apparent use of personnel, relentless videos of mass Russian casualties, sending forward infantry troops often poorly protected with very little plan it seems. And we see endless videos of them being shot down by better prepared Ukrainians.

But that doesn't mean necessarily that Russia isn't actually advancing. And again and again, we hear conflicting reports, but still persistent suggestions that the places that Ukraine said it would hold, it is now seeing Russian troops hitting repeatedly.

And so that's a severe issue for the Ukrainian military and their commander, the new commander of the military on the job for about three weeks now or so, Oleksandr Syrskyi, he has on two occasions since Thursday, essentially berated his subordinates for not doing their job properly, saying they had the equipment, they had the manpower, but the commanders haven't been doing the right thing and even suggested he'd made personnel changes too.

So a sense, I think of great unease and discomfort both amongst the higher and the lower ranks of the Ukrainian military. Certainly a sense that Russia is further forward than anyone expected it would be at all.

We're not necessarily talking about some massive change in territory now, but we are talking about a change in momentum potentially.

And you were referring earlier to that attack in Odessa. You know, we talk about this every single night, how Ukraine potentially with less air defenses than it wants because of a lack of western aid, isn't able to shoot down as many drones. But it may be that in the (INAUDIBLE) in fact, what we're hearing from this horrible attack on a residential area is indeed debris from a drone being shot down hitting that.

But we spoke last night, (INAUDIBLE), four months old killed in one of those apartment blocks. Mark and other children who would have been killed, he would have turned three today had he lived to see that. And Sergei a ten-year-old, declared dead as part of the growing number dying there, now 11.

And so when you ask why Ukraine is fighting this war, well, it's because their populations and their children are under attack every single night. And that really feeds into the sense of urgency we see on the front lines here because frankly, Republican Congress is not moving forward urgently needed aid and people are dying here because of it, Omar.

JIMENEZ: Yes. I mean, look, yes, politics continue on. The war does not stop. The killing does not stop to wait for any sort of solution here.

[14:25:00]

And while there is a new push in the U.S. Congress to get critical military aid to Ukraine. We've seen it's a very uphill battle at this point.

And I'm curious for you, it sounds like you've heard a little bit of it from the units that you've been with. But what are officials in Kyiv saying about the debate raging on Capitol Hill?

WALSH: Look, I mean, on the front lines amongst Ukrainian politicians, there's exasperation, Theres some sort of bafflement, frankly. I think there's a sort of feeling well, if you don't let us fight the Russians, then if we lose, then this becomes Europe's problem because there's a belief here, a belief frankly in European capitals to that if Putin is successful in Ukraine, he doesn't necessarily decide to call it a day. He potentially thinks he needs to keep moving forwards, potentially that emboldens China with Taiwan and a whole sense of international security problems could really become America's imminently if we don't see Ukraine at least manage to hold its lines here.

And so I think, yes, there's some sort of shock, frankly that they're at this point where a tiny number of Congress persons who have extraordinary, it seems either antipathy towards assisting Ukraine or sympathy towards Russia are stopping this from moving forwards.

And it's really urgent. It's important to realize that we don't necessarily have the weeks that Speaker Johnson thinks he has to, you know, calculate some new potential bid for this. They need it now and they're losing land and they're losing people now because of a lack of that.

And at some point it will become too late for western aid to step in and try and fix that. And I think people feel that moment coming closer and closer, Omar.

JIMENEZ: Yes.

Nick Paton Walsh, appreciate the insight and reporting. Stay safe near the frontlines in eastern Ukraine. Appreciate it.

All right. When we come back, thousands of cattle in the U.S. in Texas could be lost in the aftermath of the largest wildfire in that state's history. How local ranchers are dealing with the devastation and bracing for a financial hit. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:31:24]

JIMENEZ: Breaking news just into CNN, a Supreme Court decision on whether former President Donald Trump is eligible to appear on Colorado's presidential ballot could come as soon as tomorrow.

Now, the high court may hand down at least one opinion on Monday according to a new post on the court's website. The court doesn't disclose in advance which opinions it will issue. However, the justices may wish to decide the Trump matter before Colorado voters head to the polls this week for the Super Tuesday primary. We're going to have much more to come on that front, but wanted to make sure you knew that.

Now, we're also following blizzard conditions that continue to slam northern California and Nevada, leaving millions under winter weather alerts across nine states. Parts of I-80 remained closed near the California-Nevada state line because of snowy conditions and low visibility like what you're seeing there. No word on when the road will actually reopen.

But meteorologist Allison Chinchar has the latest on what we can expect.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Some pretty impressive snowfall totals already in the event is not yet done. You can see from this list several places picking up at least three feet of snow, but more snow is still on the way. So these numbers are likely going to continue to go up. And that's why were still considering some pretty extreme winter storm impacts, at least to the next 24 hours.

Very difficult travel is certainly going to be at the top of that list, not just from the snow that has already come down, but all of that wind component that's there is going to take that snow and below it around, leading to very reduced visibility, and near whiteout conditions, those damaging winds also could trigger additional power outages as we go through the day today.

Now a bit of good news is once we get to Monday, you will really start to see those precipitation amounts coming back down, getting a little bit easier for folks to get out, maybe assess some damage or conditions around their home. But on Tuesday, we get another round of moisture coming back and see you're going to see those chances for rain and snow tick back up up again before finally coming to an end by Thursday of this week.

Until then, however, some of these areas still expected to pick up half a foot, even as much as an additional one to two feet of snow on top of what they've already had. So, you're certainly still going to have some issues as we go through the rest of the day on Sunday, some of these wind reports here again, numerous this ones over 100 miles per hour. That's why we've had several areas dealing with power outages already.

And while the winds are starting to come back down today and we'll continue to do so into Monday. They are still going to be up in that 40 to 70 mile per hour range at times, especially the higher in elevation you go. So there is the possibility of picking up some additional power outages and possibly simply having some trees come down as well, at least until we get further into the week.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: All right. Allison Chinchar, thank you.

I want to turn from the snow now to the vast destruction caused by wildfires scorching the Texas panhandle.

Now, today, firefighters will be up against gusty winds and higher temperatures in their efforts to control what is now the largest wildfire in state history. The so-called Smokehouse Creek Fire has killed at least two people, burned hundreds of structures and killed countless livestock more than 1 million acres have burned since it started early last week.

So let's bring in CNN's Camila Bernal, who is in Borger, Texas.

Camila, what is the situation like there now?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Omar, so officials did say that fire activity increased, but they were able to keep that fire from growing dramatically. A lot of the aviation resources helped a lot, but there's still people here working around the clock, whether that's fighting those flames or dealing with the aftermath this community coming together to help each other and especially those most impacted and among those are a lot of the ranchers in this area.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[16:35:08]

SHANE PENNINGTON, RANCH MANAGER: I'm guessing we may have found 50 dead so far. Were not find in many calves. So I know they burned up

BERNAL (voice-over): Shane Pennington is the ranch manager at the Fields Miller (ph) Ranch in Canadian, Texas. This is also where he lives and raises his family.

As the largest wildfire in the state's history began to encircle the ranch, Pennington was forced to evacuate.

PENNINGTON: I wasn't scared of it. I was -- I was more angry, I guess, just 20 years of, you know, taking care of this and it could all be gone. I wasn't really fearful for the house. I figured it would probably be okay. I was more worried about the cattle.

BERNAL: For you, the hard decision was actually leaving?

PENNINGTON: Yes, yeah, and feeling like I didn't do enough to get them.

BERNAL: Local officials estimate thousands of cattle among area ranches will be lost to the Smokehouse Creek Fire, which has already scorched more than a million acres.

The state's agricultural commissioner, Sid Miller.

SID MILLER, TEXAS AGRICULTURE COMMISSIONER: As far was so intense, you couldn't get fire trucks anywhere close to the fire.

BERNAL: Pennington says he did not have time or a place to the cattle.

PENNINGTON: A lot of them have been blinded by it. It burned their eyelashes, eyelids, everything and just burned all the hair off them. Their feet are coming off, their hooves. They're bloody, burned the rudders.

And, you know, even if they survive, it more likely they're going to get pneumonia. They're going to get sick. We've already had to put some better and let them suffer and just die, you know?

This is one little calf here. I don't know if he's going to be all right. He's burned really bad.

It's extremely hard to see him suffering. I mean, they're just -- like I say, I've raised some of 'em since they were babies, you know?

BERNAL: State officials called the impact of cattle and crops catastrophic.

MILLER: We blessed over 3,000 head, which is a very small number that will double or triple easily. We've got cattle that were going to have to euthanize because of the damage to their hooves, their udders.

BERNAL: The ranch's owner says his cows bring in anywhere from $1,800 to $2,400 each, much of it for beef sales.

PENNINGTON: It's going to hurt the business extremely bad. So -- and it'll take years to recover because it takes years to put a cow herd together before they're productive and producing like they should be and you all best to keep them alive. It's not to destroy them. And it's tough. It's really tough.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERNAL (on camera): And you see all this hay here behind me. This is a community coming together to get hay, feed, water to a lot of these ranchers that are in so much need. And we were told there for some of these ranchers that live maybe 25 miles away from the closest small town and the volunteers are doing everything they can to get all of this to them.

So that's what you're seeing in the midst of this tragedy, Omar.

JIMENEZ: Yeah, and thank you for traversing the state to cover this. Camila Bernal really, really appreciate it. Up next, chaos outside of Six Flags theme park near Atlanta. A 15-

year-old is shot after a huge crowd was kicked out of the park for unruly behavior, the latest on what happened.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:42:56]

JIMENEZ: A pretty chaotic scene outside Six Flags Over Georgia has left a teenager in critical condition.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

JIMENEZ: I mean, you hear the gunfire there. Atlanta area police are called to help park security last night after reports of an unruly crowd of some 500 to 600 people, things apparently got worse when police led them out the front gates.

CNN national correspondent Rafael Romo is on the story.

So, Rafael, what happened here?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Omar, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is now looking into the shooting that happened here outside Six Flags Over Georgia, the amusement park right behind me. And according to police, officers with the Cobb County Police Department, were call to the scene to assist security here at Six Flags as they were trying to escort out an unruly crowd of 500 to 600 people who had been running through the park getting into fights and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation says that as those people were leaving the park, they got into even more fights and then, Omar, the situation got even more chaotic.

Police say that as police were escorting those people out, somebody in the crowd on unknown number of people shot at police officers. And then an officer responded to the fire hitting a 50-year-old who is now listed in critical condition at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta.

CNN has obtained video that shows how terrifying the situation got here. At one moment, let's take a look.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

ROMO: Omar, we have also heard from Six Flags about what happened. A spokesperson said the following in a statement incredibly disappointing that our community is disrupted at public events throughout the region by groups of underage youth.

[14:45:07]

There was police activity involving gunshots. We want to confirm there was no shooting at our property or parking lot. This took place on south service road. That is not owned or operated by a Six Flags.

And, Omar, this shooting happened on the day that the park was opened in Six Flags is beginning its 57th a season and right here behind me you see the most as popular ride Goliath, people is still riding it. And as far as we've seen, it's business as usual here at Six Flags over Georgia. Now back to you.

JIMENEZ: Wow. Yeah. I mean, I've been there many times and just to hear the amount of shots in that video, really scary situation.

Rafael Romo. Thank you so much.

All right. Next, we tracking heavy polluters from space. We're going to tell you how a new satellite is promising to measure methane emissions with unparalleled precision. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:50:27]

JIMENEZ: After a nearly a decade in development, a new satellite that will monitor the Earth's methane levels is ready to launch. Methane Sat is the joint creation of scientists at Harvard and the environmental defense fund. It'll circle the globe fifth ten times a day to detect and measure changes in methane concentrations, which is significant because it could potentially sniff out large emitters of the greenhouse gas that's responsible for about 30 percent of today's global warming.

And one of the satellite's creators and the president of the Environmental Defense Fund, Fred Krupp, joins me now.

Fred, first of all, congratulations. Great to see you.

What do you hope to achieve with the launch of Methane Sat?

FRED KRUPP, PRESIDENT, ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND: Well, thanks, Omar. Well, as you said, methane is one of the most important greenhouse gases. It's 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide so cutting methane pollution is the single fastest way that we can cut temperatures that we'd otherwise see in the next decade. And that's exactly what we hope to see in the oil and gas industry. A 75 percent cut in their methane pollution. Over the next five years.

JIMENEZ: Yeah. And look, I know its not going to be the only methane detecting satellite in orbit. But tell us more about the way this satellite works. I mean, how will people be able to use to see, I guess, and use the data that methane sat is monitoring?

KRUPP: Well, this is the most advanced methane satellite that will be in space because it can give us a comprehensive view of the total -- of all the green, of all the methane that's being emitted in whole wide areas and no other satellite even know other satellite planned can do that other than methane sat. That data will be available for free to everyone. So everyone around the planet will be able to see it.

And that's important because while it will allow government the opportunity and companies the opportunity to find and fix the leaks, it will allow all of us to hold them accountable for doing exactly that.

JIMENEZ: That was giving my next question is, obviously, look, there is a lot of data out there about methane in the atmosphere. This will, of course, be another layer of specificity as to where some of those large emitters may be coming from. But you think it will actually force both companies and governments to lessen their emissions, at least ones that are emitting large amounts of the gas.

KRUPP: I'm very hopeful, Omar, for a couple of reasons. One, just the prospect at this satellite was going to launch in the recent climate talks helped convince 50 companies representing 40 of the world's oil sales to make pledges that they would reduce their methane pollution by 90 percent. This satellite will be the first time that any greenhouse gas is actually being measured from the sources in a comprehensive way.

And so, that data is the prerequisite for accountability the other thing is that the European Union and Japan and South Korea, big importers of LNG are on the path to imposing standards to make sure that the gas they import is clean and that the companies have reduced their methane pollution by something like the 90 percent that's been pledged.

JIMENEZ: So it sounds like it would be sort of a combination of, you know, governments acting in good faith to act on the data that well be free, freely available to them, combined with people like everyday citizens, who are, who also have access to this data that well be pushing there Congress people, their centers, their governments to actually act on behalf of this data, right? It seems like that combo is what you all are hoping for and pushing for here?

KRUPP: That's exactly right, Omar, because until now, this gas has been invisible. Now, suddenly, we will make it visible. What are the volumes of gas that are being emitted no matter what country in the world is producing.

This one satellite will allow us to look at 80 percent of the world's production. And at each facility, each major facility, multiple times a week, that level of transparency will lead to accountability. The companies that have been promising to clean up now will be held accountable, will be able to applaud when they do or make very apparent if they're not cleaning up. That's the accountability in visibility we need in order to tackle climate change now.

[14:55:05]

JIMENEZ: Yeah, yeah. Well, I'm really interested to see the data that it actually provides when it does, I will definitely be following it and we'll use it to ask some of the governments and companies questions ourselves in the news media.

Fred Krupp, thank you so much for taking the time.

KRUPP: Thank you, Omar.

JIMENEZ: Of course. All right. The new CNN original series "VEGAS: THE STORY OF SIN CITY"

takes us on an incredible journey from the city's origins as a dusty desert town to the entertainment Mecca it is today.

CNN's Sara Sidner sat down with Wayne Newton to talk about the history of Las Vegas. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WAYNE NEWTON, ENTERTAINER: The gentleman who was auditioning us listened to two songs and he got up to leave. And I thought, well, back to school. And he should, if we can get you a work permit, I'll hire for two weeks. The two-week engagement turned into a five-year contract.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: Be sure to tune in, the CNN original series "VEGAS: THE STORY OF SIN CITY" continues tonight at 10:00 Eastern and Pacific, only on CNN.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)