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U.S. Military Evacuates Non-Essential Personnel From Embassy In Haiti; Trump And Biden Spar In Dueling Events In Battleground Georgia; U.S., Jordan Conduct More Humanitarian Aid Drops Into Gaza; First U.S. Equipment To Build Temporary Gaza Aid Port Now En Route; NOAA: Winter Was Warmest On Record In The U.S.; Starts Set To Walk The Red Carpet Ahead Of The Academy Awards. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired March 10, 2024 - 14:00   ET

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

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[14:00:41]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: Hi everyone. And thanks so much for joining me this afternoon.

I'm Jessica Dean, in for Fredricka Whitfield here in Washington, D.C.

And we are following two major international stories this afternoon.

The first of them out of Israel where the U.S. and Jordan have conducted more humanitarian aid drops into Gaza. And the first equipment to build a temporary port in Gaza for aid is now en route to that region. We're going to get to more on that in just a moment.

We will begin in Haiti, where the U.S. military has evacuated nonessential personnel from the U.S. embassy in Port-au-Prince. The airlift operation was ordered as the gang violence in that island nation worsens.

Gang leaders are now threatening civil war if the prime minister does not leave office. And now Haiti is under a state of emergency until April 3.

CNN chief national security correspondent Alex Marquardt is joining us by phone and CNN's Patrick Oppmann is live from Cuba with the latest details.

Alex, let's start first with you. Tell us more about this evacuation.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Well, Jessica significant concern growing about what's happening in Haiti as this evacuation is due to what the embassy in Port-au-Prince in the capital is calling heightened gang violence in the neighborhood near the U.S. embassy compounds and near the airport.

And that according to their social media post, led to this decision to send home the nonessential personnel from the embassy, which we should note is still open, still functioning.

This evacuation was an air lift on a military aircraft carried out by the U.S. military, specifically by U.S. Southern Command.

They're also stepping up security at the embassy. So (INAUDIBLE) operations can continue. And just as you noted, Haiti and its capital has seen this wave of significant violence highly coordinated gang attacks on law enforcement and state institutions like police stations, thousands of inmates have been released from at least two prisons.

And this gang leader, prominent gang leader, saying that the goal is to overthrow the government led by the Prime Minister Ariel Henry and warned that if he doesn't step down, there will be a civil war that will end in genocide.

Now, Henry, the prime minister, is believed to be in Puerto Rico right now. He had been in Kenya to sign an agreement for a multinational mission to restore security that was due to be led by Kenya. And the U.S. is now calling for an urgent movement towards a political transition, essentially for the prime minister to step aside.

But the Biden administration is not saying that. the U.S. wants to see that Kenyan-led multinational security mission in place to, among other things, support the local security forces, the local national police. And then Jessica, for new elections eventually take place, Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Alex Marquardt with the latest reporting there.

Let's go now to Patrick Oppmann. What are you learning this afternoon, Patrick?

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well there, YOU KNOW, Haiti is really no stranger to gang violence, but they're seeing incidents and attacks in places were usually -- they were the rare spots of safety in Haiti, like at the presidential palace, like at the airport which had to be closed down last week after planes were actually shot at by these gangs.

That's why the U.S. military had to bring in a helicopter in the middle of night to get out some of their nonessential personnel, that Alex was talking about, and bringing additional marines to guard the embassy because you know, at the U.S. embassy, typically a very safe lockdown place, Canadian embassy where we saw a violent protest the other day on Thursday, although no one was injured and the building also was undamaged. But you had a protest outside with people throwing flaming objects into the embassy.

And so you are starting to see a wave above of embassies and diplomats taking people out however they can. I was talking to a diplomat last week in Port-au-Prince who said that they always have stockpiles of food and water. But now they are running low because this crisis has been going on for so long.

Clearly the Haitian police force are overwhelmed by the gangs as gangs control more and more of the city and the country.

[14:05:00] OPPMANN: And there is a growing fear both within -- within Haiti and with outside that it's just a matter of time until the gangs seize control of this country and actually manage to take over a place like -- like an embassy, like the airport, like the national palace, and simply this police force, the little security that remains. It's just a question of time if they do not receive reinforcement soon.

DEAN: Well, it's very serious there.

Patrick Oppmann in Havana with that reporting. Thank you so much.

And the threat of violent clashes is gripping thousands of people across Haiti, leaving behind security and health care systems that, as you can imagine, are rapidly deteriorating.

Let's bring in Jean-Marc Biquet for more perspective here. He's the head of mission for Doctors Without Borders in Haiti.

Just first now, having had Alex Marquardt and Patrick Oppmann kind of set the scene of what's going on there today, how are your teams managing and what are they seeing unfold before them?

JEAN-MARC BIQUET, HEAD OF MISSION, DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS IN HAITI: Thank you for the invitation. Our team are still able to work presently.

We have hospitals in Port-au-Prince that's part of the embassy, by the way. They were awakened this morning by the helicopters of the U.S. marines. So it's still possible to work. There are on quarters where it's definitely a no-go area and more than probably there are wounded who cannot reach anymore our hospital. But at least presently the situation allows us to work.

Our main fear is about the supply. And there are (INAUDIBLE) at the airport are closed. It's impossible to bring in some medicines. And that's our worry for the (INAUDIBLE)

DEAN: Right. And I know you're there on the ground. Are you concerned about the safety for the people, your colleagues who you're working with and yourself?

BIQUET: This is part of my daily concern. Presently the (INAUDIBLE) that we I said we are not targeted and our structures are not targeted by anybody. But I (INAUDIBLE) with why I'm seeing that. We are respected because we are offering care, free care, which is very (INAUDIBLE), and we are (INAUDIBLE) has structures which are still functional.

Definitely the risk exists. All of our stuff are aware and some may decide to leave when there will be an occasion to leave the country, take risks or the end of mission.

But our willingness is to stay here because definitely there are less than medical services available in the (INAUDIBLE) greater than ever.

DEAN: And were hearing a lot about gun violence there. What kind of injuries are you all treating, are you seeing the most?

BIQUT: Well we receive children, women, men of all ages, problem hit by stray bullets so not that specific to the fighting. The problem with bullets is that they have to fall down at some points and wherever you are, you at risk to receive.

So on top of that, also the kind of injuries are seeing the car accident (INAUDIBLE) so our services are not yet overwhelmed. And then we saw an increase in recent (ph) days of the number of patients who are reaching us. And the part of the concern is we push (ph) the war, we add more beds, but we have limited capacities.

So what would be next? That's a concern.

DEAN: And do you get any sense -- does it feel like chaos to you? Is anyone in charge? Does it truly feel like these gangs have taken over mostly? What does it -- what does it seem like to you guys?

BIQUET: It's been really difficult to know who always in control of what. Definitely the part of the city where I'm in presently is quite (INAUDIBLE) life is continuing more or less normal. But you go towards the city center which is in (INAUDIBLE), close to the sea. Well, that's definitely a no-go area because from (INAUDIBLE) is in the afternoon, you have shooting starting and real offensive organized by armed groups against the police station more than probably even targeting the presidential palace, which is symbol here. Like they did prison when they freed all the prisoners.

(INAUDIBLE) which is, that can be normal.

[14:10:00]

BIQUET: Presenting also a problem for (INAUDIBLE) that's understandable. Daring to cross the quarters where they are resided.

DEAN: All right. Jean-Marc Biquet for us in Haiti, stay safe to you and all your colleagues providing that medical care for people there. We really appreciate your time. Thanks so much.

BIQUET: Bye.

DEAN: And still to come, this afternoon President Biden and former president Donald Trump trading attacks during dueling rallies in the battleground state of Georgia.

And a little bit later, the U.S. military says equipment needed to establish an aid pier and Gaza is on its way to that area as efforts continue to alleviate a humanitarian crisis there. We'll go live to the region with the latest.

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[14:15:23]

DEAN: The 2024 presidential race kicked into high gear in the battleground state of Georgia this weekend as President Biden and former president Trump traded jabs Saturday at dueling rallies in the Peach state.

Biden won Georgia back in 2020 by about 12,000 votes and Georgia will once again be critical to winning the White House in November. And Saturdays rallies really gave us a look at what the general election is going to look like.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We all know Donald Trump sees a different America, an American story of resentment, revenge and retribution. We see a future where we defend the basic freedoms, not take them away. We see a future where rewards work, not just wealth.

A future for all American. A president for all Americans. So Georgians, get out the vote. Vote. Vote. Vote.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED States: Two nights ago, we all heard, Crooked Joe's angry, dark, hate-filled rant of a State of the Union address. Wasn't it -- didn't it bring us together? Bring the country to-to-to-together. I'm going to bring it together.

It's not an age thing. It's a competence thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: The Georgia stump is just the beginning of several days of events the Biden-Harris campaign has scheduled this week coming off the president's State of the Union address earlier this week.

Joining me now to discuss all of it is Julian Zelizer. He is a CNN political analyst and a historian and professor at Princeton University. Julian, always great to see you. Thanks for being on with us today.

We just saw --

JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Thank you.

DEAN: -- what we're going to see a lot of. Those dueling rallies, those two candidates who voters know so very well. Talking about each other, trying to sell themselves to voters.

Will Biden and Trump do you think have an opportunity be able to define themselves and each other to voters this time or is the die cast because they are so well-known?

ZELIZER: Well, I think there's still room. I mean, both are well- known. I don't think the polls are going to change very much for either of them.

But you still have pockets of voters in states like Georgia, who aren't paying attention, who don't have a particularly strong opinion. And those are voters who could make the difference with narrow margins.

And then it's also about reminding voters. Voters who are already on your side. And it's not enough just to say, I support you, it's going to be crucial to come out and vote.

So that's, I think how they're both thinking of this.

DEAN: And we've talked about this a lot. Either man will be the oldest president we've ever had when they're -- when they're in office. What -- what do you see historically as your -- put your historian hat on for a second. Just in terms of the contours of this race and the backdrop with which it's happening across the country. How does this shape up in our collective American political history?

ZELIZER: Well look, the age issue has come up before it came up with Ronald Reagan in 1984. He was able to overcome questions about his age when he faced off against Mondale and in part through a joke.

And we've had young presidents who have not done particularly well either. So I don't think in the end it will just be age, it will be how do people appear on the campaign trail.

If Biden can do what he did in the State of the Union, I think that more than anything would dispel some of the concerns over time about his age.

DEAN: And I want to talk to you about the State of the Union because you wrote in a piece for CNN.com that President Biden use that speech to really flip the script on Trump.

Walk us through, for people who haven't read it, what is the case you make there?

ZELIZER: Well, the case is that in some ways, I think the Biden campaign realizes that Biden's approval ratings might go up a little, but they're not going to go up a lot.

So really the focus needs to be his opponent just as Trump likes to focus on his opponents and creating concern and offering reminders of what a second Trump presidency will be.

I think that will have to be the heart of his campaign as it was in the State of the Union, really work to undermine and weaken the support that exists for Trump, rather than hoping there'll be a dramatic change in how people think of Biden in terms of an upward trajectory.

[14:20:00]

DEAN: And we have seen the GOP really coalesce around Trump. Some of his staunchest critics have fallen in line behind him. Senate Majority (SIC) Leader Mitch McConnell, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu both saying they're going to support him for president, endorsing him.

Obviously, Nikki Haley though, has not done that just yet. She said earlier this week when she dropped out that he still needs to earn the votes of her supporters, he being Donald Trump. Do you think that those voters are up for grabs as we know that the Biden campaign is also trying to get their support as well. ZELIZER: I think it'll be very hard. We live in a very polarized era,

we have for a couple of decades and voters don't move from red to blue very often. There are again, small pockets and they matter a lot.

But by and large, I would expect a lot of those Republicans who voted for Haley to move over to Trump in the general election. They will come home. That's what happened in 2016, despite a lot of speculation of would there be Republicans voting for Democrats? And I think that's going to happen again today.

Some might not vote, but I would expect many will support the party, so I don't expect huge defections.

DEAN: And there have been a lot of headlines around Alabama Senator Katie Britt's response, GOP response to President Biden's State of the Union address. She got the SNL parody treatment last night.

She acknowledged today that her anecdote criticizing Biden's policies took place before he was president. It was about -- she was talking about the border and immigration station. Here's what she's saying today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHANNON BREAM, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: But to be clear, the story that you relate is not something that's happened under the Biden administration. That particular person.

SEN. KATIE BRITT (R-AL): Well, I very -- very clearly said I spoke to a woman who told me about when she was trafficked when she was 12. So I didn't say a teenager. I didn't say a young woman, a grown woman, a woman when she was trafficked, when she was 12.

And so listening to her story, she is a victims rights advocate, who was telling this is what drug cartels are doing. This is how they're profiting off of women.

And it is disgusting and so I'm hopeful that it brings some light to it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Julian, what do you make of her response to that?

ZELIZER: Well, she was caught saying something that was inaccurate and I think most people heard it as being about the Biden administration so she's trying to backtrack, but she's also keeping the point there.

She's not backing away from the argument which relates to immigration, which is going to be at the heart of former president Trump's campaign.

So she's having it two ways and I think she's though, trying to preserve the basic theme, which is also why Republicans were very reluctant to move forward with the border bill because this is going to be one of the defining issues for the GOP. DEAN: All right. One of the key issues. All right. Julian Zelizer,

always great to see you. Thanks so much. We appreciate it

ZELIZER: Thank you.

DEAN: A ship carrying aid for Gaza is expected to leave nearby Cyprus soon as humanitarian groups are warning Gaza could be on the brink of widespread famine. We're going to go live to the region next.

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[14:27:32]

DEAN: New today, a ship carrying aid for Gaza is expected to leave nearby Cyprus soon. A coalition of nations, including the U.S., are behind that aid shipment. And right now they aren't saying exactly where that ship will land.

Some of the equipment to build a temporary port for aid is also on its way after the U.S. vowed to build that structure and get more aid it into Gaza. The U.S. and other countries also continuing to airdrop bundles of food. The latest drops happening earlier today.

CNN's Scott McLean is following the developments from Istanbul.

Scott, first tell us what we know about this ship.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Jess. Yes, so the Cypriot president had said that that ship was set to leave at some point today. There's no indication that it's left or at least no official confirmation. There's also no word on when it might leave from the southern port of Larnaca.

The ship itself is not actually that big. We're talking about something that's less than 120 feet long, though it'll tow behind it a small barge also loaded up with aid.

We're talking about things like rice, beans, lentils, canned goods -- the absolute essentials that people need to survive. And it's being organized by the World Central Kitchen. People will know that obviously because of celebrity chef Jose Andres that started it. It is well-known in disaster zones and in war zones across the world, including in Gaza, where it has a sizable footprint and almost 400 local employees.

What's really needed here though is some maritime expertise to get it there. So they're working with an NGO called Open Arms and the ship that they're using would normally be used to rescue migrants in the Mediterranean, not for delivering aid.

And the precise details of where exactly it's going to land, when it's going to land -- they're being kept under wraps for obvious security concerns. Not only is there a war happening there, but you can imagine the number of desperate people who may want to try to board that ship or tried to get the aid more quickly. And so you can imagine the chaos that may ensue. World Central Kitchen says that it is building a jetty in order to get the aid from the ship to the actual shoreline. But what it's going to be built up, how long it will need to be -- these are all still very much question marks.

And this is separate as well from the American effort to build this temporary pier to transport aid on a larger scale. This is something that the Americans say will take some 1,000 troops and maybe a month or two to actually build.

MCLEAN: And then we're talking about a place where people are already starting to die of dehydration and malnutrition, obviously a month or two is a long time. That aid is desperately needed right now.

[14:30:03]

And, of course, airdrops, they're going in, but aid groups are criticizing those as a relative drop in the bucket or a drop in the ocean.

Israel, it's also worth noting, has said that it welcomes this new maritime corridor that's being opened up from Cyprus. But the Israelis, of course, could prevent all of this if they simply allow more aid to get into the existing land routes right now -- Jessica.

DEAN: And I also want to ask you, the holy month of Ramadan begins for millions of Muslims in the next 24 hours. And Israel, we know, has warned if there's no ceasefire and hostage deal in place by the start of Ramadan, that it would advance its military operation into Rafah. That's in southern Gaza.

Where do things stand on that?

MCLEAN: So, of course, the bombing campaign still continues to target places inside Rafah, on a relatively regular basis, Jessica. But the Israelis have also said that they would try to move the well-over 1 million people. It's estimated who are sheltering right now in Rafah out of the way before they started in any kind of a land incursion on the ground into that area. And we haven't seen that yet.

There's also no indication that there's talks are going anywhere. We had discussions happening in Cairo last week. There's nothing scheduled that we know of thus far. Hamas walked away on Thursday. The Israelis were never even there in the first place and there were some pretty fundamental differences that they need to be worked out.

One of perhaps chief among them is the fact that Hamas wants any deal, any ceasefire deal to be permanent. So many Israeli say that they cannot agree to until Hamas is completely destroyed. And that involves eventually going into Rafah. When that is though, we don't know, Jessica

DEAN: All right. Scott McLean for us in Istanbul. Thanks so much for that reporting.

And let's talk more about this and get more on today's developments. With us now is retired U.S. Army Major General James "Spider" Marks. He's a CNN military analyst and also head of geopolitical strategy at Academy Securities.

Great to have you here. Thanks for making time.

There's -- there's a lot to kind of get to. Let's start first with, we're hearing that some of this equipment, the U.S. is going to use to set up this temporary pier off the Gaza coast is already on its way from Virginia. How does this work? What can we expect to see?

MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, this is a great effort and frankly it's one that probably should have been in place a little earlier, but that's hindsight the challenge primarily is that when this pier begins -- begins to be constructed by U.S. military personnel, the key issue now becomes security. I mean, the United States will now be caught directly between efforts by Israel, efforts on the part of Hamas.

And it wouldn't be surprising to see, you know, the downside could be green-on-blue type of challenges, the Israelis clearly will want to conduct their military operations. There's no reason to believe that they're going to stop. Certainly, there are efforts on hostage transfers and release the additional civilian, the NGO delivery of goods and services that we've -- that we've just seen scene is wonderful.

But the challenge really becomes, how is Hamas going to look at that? And how are they going to use, inevitably, I would say, the false flag type of operations where they could attack the very hand that's trying to feed them, and then cast blame on the Israelis. And now this thing gets inflamed more.

But from a very national perspective, the U.S. will be caught right in the middle of it now. These are challenges. These are conditional challenges. That doesn't mean they shouldn't be embraced. And the United States should not continue to drive on and try to make this happen.

DEAN: Yeah. But there are, yeah, those are real underlying challenges there. And we're hearing from CentCom at this point that they're estimating a couple of months to get this done. Does that seem like a realistic timeline to you?

MARKS: Well, let's -- let's look at it. If it's being done in a passive environment, maybe they can accelerate it. But this is not decidedly a passive environment. We have to assume that there will be continuing military operations in the midst of the construction of this. Now I would imagine legal U.S. port. The U.S. is going to build it. The U.S. is going to maintain it. The us is going to have to provide security.

I mean, just think about that a little bit in the middle of a war zone the U.S. is now inserting itself. And again, its going to put some significant risk to the United States and those sailors, military, engineers, all manner of military personnel that are there to exist and to facilitate the movement of this of this humanitarian assistance which is required. I mean, it really is a legitimate logistic and military risk that's it -- that's in front of us.

DEAN: And President Biden has -- we've started to see a bit of a shift in tone from President Biden, from the administration.

[14:35:03]

He was talking recently about how what his red lines are with the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel. Let's listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: His red line, but I'm never going to leave Israel. The defense of Israel is still critical, so there's no red line I want to cut off all weapons so they had don't have the Iron Dome to protect them.

They don't have -- but there's red lines that if he crosses in the -- they cannot have 30,000 more Palestinians dead as a consequence of going after -- there's other ways to deal to get to, to deal with, the -- with the trauma caused by Hamas. And it's like I -- well, look, the first time I went over, I sat with them, and I sat with a war cabinet. I said, look, don't make the mistake America made.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: And so, Biden clearly saying that there the U.S. isn't going to abandon Israel, but he certainly is -- you know, they have -- he and other administration officials have been saying to Israel privately, publicly that they need to be concerned about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. What's going on there? And we heard him in that hot mic at the state of the union say to Senator Bennett, he's having a come to Jesus with Bibi Netanyahu.

What do you make of all of this now and how it's evolved?

MARKS: I think this is not surprising. The United States has always, always. And one of the first nations to recognize Israel back in the late 40s United States is again as the president indicated, is not going to abandon Netanyahu's government, maybe in the future, it may encourage the removal of Netanyahu peacefully.

But the challenge is, is that the United States sees the horrific brutality of 7 October where Hamas intentionally targeted civilians. And now, there is I think an inappropriate comparison between the targeting by Israel of Hamas fighters and then the unfortunate collateral damage and the killing of Palestinians. Those are two entirely different issues here.

But the United States needs to be very firm with Israel and say, look, it is long overdue, humanitarian assistance needs to pour in there. It's going to be very messy. It's not -- there's going to be a lot of spillage. This isn't going to necessarily get to the right people. And Hamas will do everything in its power to disrupt it.

It will cut off its arm, its own arm. It already has. Hamas is already encouraged to the slaughter of Palestinians, so the world vilifies Israel. But the United States is wise to say, look, were going to stick by you. But let's have some very private conversations about what's acceptable behavior.

And the further slaughter as a result of the targeting of Hamas, the slaughtering of Hamas, which we all should agree without being flippant, is okay. But the killing of Palestinians is now the challenge that needs to be arrested and arrival of humanitarian assistance long overdue.

DEAN: Right. General Spider Marks, always great to have you. Thank so much. We appreciate it.

MARKS: Thank you, Jessica.

DEAN: Coming up, another signal that global temperatures are on the rise. The U.S. just had its warmest winter on record. Stay with us.

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[14:42:58]

DEAN: Winter is almost over, but for some, it didn't feel like it really ever arrived. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says this was the warmest ever on record for the U.S.

CNN meteorologist Elisa Raffa is here with more.

So historically speaking, what are we -- what are we looking at this winter?

ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Completely unprecedented, Jessica. It's something that we have really never seen. I mean, look at the amount of cities that ranked at least top 10, top five, even top warmest winter on record. Look at all the red dots and the upper Midwest and the Northeast where most cities ranked warmest winter on record.

And we had eight states that hit their warmest winter on record of statewide, including all cities in the states are really just something remarkable. When you look at the headlines from this winter was five degrees above average, we had 26 states ranked top ten warmest. So when you add in the eight that were at that number one spot, we're talking 40 states about in that top ten mark.

February had a seven degree fever, ranking third warmest on record and that led to record low levels of ice on the Great Lakes dropping to 2 percent in February. Now, we expected this winter to be warm. We have an El Nino going on right now. That's warm ocean circulation in the Pacific. And that can trigger a warm winter because it kind of plays with our storm track and our jet stream there a little bit.

But we do know that that record heat was also may more likely by climate change. This is a graph that shows us the number of days that we have that climate score, that climate fingerprint over two, and you can see we had about 40 to 50 days of the very warm winter air in the Upper Midwest. When you look at that score, day by day, overwinter for a place like Minneapolis, look at all the red and look at how many days we're scoring significantly high, three, four, five, that means that that warm winter day was made three to four to five times more likely by climate change.

I want to point out the cold snap that we did have in January. You see that gray that showing that that very cold air was made four to five times less likely by climate change because our cold snaps in our cold streaks are getting shorter.

[14:45:04]

And we see them when we look at the map, look at how many cities find fewer cold snaps. They are or less frequent and less extreme since 1970. And that's because we get more warm winter days, more days that are above average across the U.S. You see all those red dots there.

Now why should we care? What are the impacts here? Well, when you have a winter that's warm and we're adding two weeks, more warm days, you have insects that are going to start sooner. They can carry more disease, allergy season starts sooner.

You've got the growing season that will start sooner and that can be a problem for some agriculture that needs chilling time. Also can mean less snow for ski resorts, and that's a problem for businesses and for water reservoirs -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right. A lot to consider there.

Elisa Raffa, thanks for walking us through it.

Coming up, it is Hollywood's biggest night and we are live on the red carpet. What to expect from this year's Academy Awards, after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:50:38]

DEAN: The red carpet is ready and crews are making the final touches as Hollywood prepares for the 96th Academy Awards.

But who will win on Hollywood's biggest night? Leading the pack for best picture with 13 nominations is "Oppenheimer".

Let's bring in CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister from the red carpet, looking amazing in red on the red carpet.

Elizabeth, you have the chance to talk with Jimmy Kimmel, who returns to host for the fourth time.

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: I did. And good to see you and hello from Hollywood, as you said, we are here on the red carpet.

Jimmy Kimmel was kind enough to take a little break from his hectic rehearsal schedule earlier this week to chat with us at CNN. In fact, Jimmy is right behind me inside rehearsing for his monologue right now. But let's take a look at what he told us, what we can expect tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WAGMEISTER: Jimmy, this is your fourth time --

JIMMY KIMMEL, TV HOST: It is?

WAGMEISTER: -- hosting the Oscars.

KIMMEL: Why would I do this four times? It makes no sense. It's not even a good round number.

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): Jimmy Kimmel is back ready to roast the stars.

KIMMEL: I saw your movies. Now it's my turn to make you sit in the theater for three-and-a-half.

God help you if I know you. Like if you're -- if you've been to my house, you're in trouble on Oscar night.

WAGMEISTER: We caught up with Kimmel days before the show to hear his plans and see if anything is off-limits.

George Santos?

KIMMEL: Yeah. Safe, but I think he would -- I think it will make him so happy if he was mentioned at the Oscars and I'm not interested in making him happy.

WAGMEISTER: The Hollywood strikes?

KIMMEL: The strikes, yes, it's something I will talk about. Sure.

WAGMEISTER: Ken being nominated, but not Barbie?

KIMMEL: There'll be some like version of that. Yes.

WAGMEISTER: Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce?

KIMMEL: Not off limits, but probably played out.

WAGMEISTER: Now, your wife is an executive producer. Does she put up some guardrails like, honey, maybe don't go there, don't say that?

KIMMEL: Yes. My wife on occasion, will say like, is it worth it? And that's the best question you can ask me because sometimes the answer is -- yes, it is worth it.

The first time Donald Trump ever tries to stop someone from talking about them on television, and it's me.

WAGMEISTER: Frequent Kimmel target Donald Trump not only is fair game for the Oscars, Kimmel told us he welcomed Trump on his talk show. KIMMEL: There are a lot of questions I would like to ask him and I

would like to get actual answers. I think most of the interviews that he does don't require those.

WAGMEISTER: If Trump does get on Kimmel, he do what for years Matt Damon could not.

KIMMEL: I want to apologize to Matt Damon. We ran out of the time for him.

WAGMEISTER: That comedic feud between Damon and Kimmel also could be fodder for Sunday night.

KIMMEL: He was in "Oppenheimer". Everyone else was nominated except for him.

WAGMEISTER: Is he scared, of the wrath of Jimmy Kimmel?

KIMMEL: It's one of the saddest things I've ever heard. He was -- he asked if he could come and they told him, sorry, nominees only.

WAGMEISTER: If Damon's like the rest of us, watching from home, he'll have to tune in an hour earlier at 7:00 p.m. Eastern, a new start time for a notoriously long show.

Does that mean we're still going to try to keep it within three hours?

KIMMEL: The show will be starting an hour early and ending just as late as ever.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WAGMEISTER (on camera): So, as Jimmy Kimmel said, the show starts an hour earlier, which means the red carpet also starts earlier this year.

As you can see it is already getting busy here over to my left. That is where the stars all arrive for their red carpet photos. Then they will make their way past all of this media. You see international media. There's the most reporters of any award show that come here.

They'll make their way down the red carpet, will come talk to us at CNN. Then they'll keep going behind us, and then they'll make their way down here and go just right there, through those arches, through the curtains into the Dolby Theater where the show begins at 4:00 p.m.

So it is going to be a big night. The stars should be arriving just in about 30 minutes, Jessica.

DEAN: Wow. It's all getting started so soon.

Who is expected to be the big winner tonight? "Oppenheimer" leads with nominations, right?

WAGMEISTER: "Oppenheimer" does lead with 13 nominations and they are expected to be the big winner. They are predicted to win for the biggest award of the night, which is of course best picture in there also expected to potentially break a record with the amount of wins that they can receive.

Now, "Poor Things" which stars Emma Stone also has 11 nominations.

"Barbie" has eight nominations.

[14:55:01]

Probably not going to be the biggest night for "Barbie's" wins. However, Ryan Gosling is performing. So that is sure to be the standout moment of the night, Jessica.

DEAN: Yes. He's singing his Ken song.

All right. We will all watch. Elizabeth Wagmeister there on the red carpet for us, thanks so much.

And well be right back

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: Hi, everyone. And thanks so much for joining me. I'm Jessica Dean, in today for Fredricka Whitfield.