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Contamination Fears in Ohio; Two Women Saved from Rubble; Santos Wrote Back Checks for Puppies. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired February 15, 2023 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:30:00]
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Popping up in these creeks. So much distrust here on the ground. This after residents were told it was OK to go home. And then only to be told their water may not be safe.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. BRUCE VANDERHOOF, DIRECTOR, OHIO DEPT. OF HEALTH: We are strongly recommending those who have not yet had their water source checked to use bottled water, and bottled water is being made available.
CARROLL (voice over): More than a week after a toxic train derailment that led to the evacuation of much of this small Ohio town, state health officials are urging some East Palestine residence to drink bottled water until water tests are complete.
VANDERHOOF: This is going to be particularly important if you are pregnant, if you are breast-feeding or if you are preparing formula for an infant.
CARROLL: Officials say the toxic spill was largely contained the day after the derailment and that tests have shown the air quality is safe. But they have found low levels of contaminants in four nearby waterways spanning seven and a half miles, including Leslie Run, a creek which runs through East Palestine, and neighboring Negley, right through the back of Cathy Reese's property.
CARROLL (on camera): In the back of your property back here they found dead fish?
CATHY REESE, NEGLEY RESIDENT: Yes, they saw dead fish.
CARROLL (voice over): Reese says she has been drinking bottled water instead of well water ever since she started spotting dead fish in the creek following the derailment. She says she's still waiting for the state to come and test her well water.
REESE: Air wise, I feel OK. Water wise, no, I'm - no. There's just too many chemicals and stuff that were spilled that they still don't want to identify completely.
CARROLL: An Ohio Department of Natural Resources official estimates sometimes 3,500 fish in the state have died following the train derailment.
These people saw the flames from their homes and worried their neighborhood still may not be safe.
CARROLL (on camera): What about testing water or ground?
JIM STEWART, EAST PALESTINE RESIDENT: Nothing yet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
STEWART: And like I said, I don't recommend you put anything in the ground. I mean, vegetables or tomatoes or anything this year because we don't know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think they're going to do enough.
CARROLL (voice over): And some residents say they have been frustrated by what they describe as a lack of communication with officials on the ground.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We pass all of the creeks and there's crew after crew with white hoses and black hoses all through the creeks. They're not telling us why. And this is - this is daily. I'm driving my children to school past all of this and they're asking me questions that I don't have answers to.
CARROLL: Some of their questions, unanswered. We found getting information just as challenging.
CARROLL (on camera): Can you tell me, are they pumping water out or are you pumping water back in?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to talk to the guys at the top of the hill, sir. We're - we're just grunts.
CARROLL: We're just trying to get a sense of what - what those pumps are. Can you just - someone just --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Norfolk Southern can tell you everything. That's the hotline. They can tell you everything.
CARROLL: You realize people are calling this number and no one is getting back to them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That -- we're just told to direct people to that number.
CARROLL (voice over): The governor asked by reporters Tuesday if he would feel comfortable living in East Palestine.
GOV. MIKE DEWINE (R-OH): Look, I think that I would be drinking the bottled water and I would be continuing to find out what the tests were showing as far as the air. I would be alert and concerned. But I think I would probably be back in my house.
CARROLL: But residents like Cathy Reese say they are left with few choices.
REESE: Just, I guess, pray and keep drinking bottled water until we know for sure what's going on.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: The governor also indicated that the train that was traveling through here from Norfolk Southern was not actually classified as a hazardous materials train and, therefore, the railroad company, Norfolk Southern, again, did not have to notify anyone in the state that it was coming through the state. The governor saying that that is something that's got to change and he's going to be talking to Congress about it.
Don.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, after seeing those fish that you just reported on, I mean how could anyone trust that, you know, everything is OK there, Jason? Thank you. Lots of answers to come. Lots of questions and lots of answers to come, we hope.
And in our 8:00 hour, we're going to speak with Ohio Governor Mike DeWine about - you saw him there in Jason's story - about these growing environmental and health concerns.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead, we have CNN crews live on the ground in Turkey as we are getting a close-up look and an overhead look at the devastation and the rescue efforts that are still very much underway more than a week after that devastating earthquake.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even though there's over 100,000 rescuers, they would need a million. And this is just one city.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In a very large picture of Turkey.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:38:37]
COLLINS: There are miraculous new stories of resilience and survival coming out of Turkey this morning. Rescuers here saving a 77-year-old woman after 212 hours after being trapped beneath the rubble from last week's devastating earthquake. A 45-year-old woman was rescued after 222 hours, almost nine days she was buried beneath that rubble. You can see the tight space there.
CNN's Jomana Karadsheh is on the ground. She's been reporting on this and has a look at the devastation but also the stories of survival.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The city of Antakya is one of the
hardest hit by the massive earthquake. Here, it's almost impossible to find a building that hasn't been impacted by the quake. Entire neighborhoods flattened. Buildings, businesses, homes reduced to piles and piles of rubble. The Turkish president says the earthquake was as big as atomic bombs. People here say it is like a war zone, but no bombs went off here. And in seconds, an historic city was wiped.
Wherever you turn, there is something happening. It's the constant sound of diggers, heavy machinery on every street removing the rubble. Police and emergency services are everywhere. You have ambulances screaming past. A heavy military presence. And families searching for and retrieving the bodies of their loved ones.
[06:40:04]
You see people sleeping on the streets. Tent cities for the displaced that are popping up everywhere. And with fires burning for people to keep warm, the smoke, brick dust and all kinds of fumes here make it so hard to breathe. One man telling us, this is what the apocalypse would look like.
Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, Antakya, Turkey.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Just an incredible look there from Jomana.
You're also going to want to stick around for this. Our own Dr. Sanjay Gupta is on the ground in Turkey. In the next hour, he is going to take us inside one of the top trauma hospitals, how they're dealing with the fallout near the earthquake zone.
LEMON: And back here in the U.S., another day, another allegation against Congressman George Santos. This time an Amish farmer says he was duped.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You thought they pulled a fast one on you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. And it was obvious to me by that time they probably pulled a fast one on me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:45:16]
LEMON: There are new revelations about embattled Republican Congressman George Santos this morning. An Amish farmer in Pennsylvania claims Santos wrote a bad check for purebred puppies. It was five years ago. CNN has confirmed Santos was charged with theft in York County after nine bad checks with his name on them went to Amish dog breeders in the area.
CNN's Gary Tuchman has the story now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): We've told this Amish dairy farmer in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, we'll protect his identity. As this father of ten, who we will call Fred, tells us the story of a man who came to his house a little over five years ago to buy puppies that Fred breeds as a side job.
"FRED," AMISH FARMER: He seemed uncomfortable and nervous and fidgety. So, that's when I started getting suspicious.
TUCHMAN: His instincts were correct. These are nine checks from November 2017. The name on each of them, George Santos. The checks to buy puppies, obtained by CNN, were written to Fred and other Amish dog breeders. They totaled more than $15,000.
Fred says the man, he then simply knew as George, came with a female assistant, and they cut their deal in this very room we're standing in, the milk house. He says the man wanted two German shepherds.
FRED: He says, OK, we're going to take that puppy and that puppy. And his assistant grabs the two puppies, takes them out the door and he pulls out a check. I was like, oh, no, is this guy going to pay me with a check? But then I was very suspicious.
TUCHMAN (on camera): Because she -- you told me before, she put the dogs in the car, correct?
FRED: Right.
TUCHMAN: Before they paid for them?
FRED: Right.
TUCHMAN: So, you're suspicious because he's going to pay with a check, and you don't take checks.
FRED: Right. And I told him, I don't take checks. All I can take is cash. Well, he said, would you expect me to carry enough cash to buy a bunch of puppies on a trip like this? I do not have cash. The only thing I can give you is a check. Well, I thought to myself, it looks like I'm done.
TUCHMAN: You're stuck?
FRED: I'm stuck.
TUCHMAN: Because the dogs are already in the car.
FRED: The dogs are in the car.
TUCHMAN: You thought they pulled a fast one on you.
FRED: Right. And it was obvious to me by that time they probably pulled a fast one on me.
TUCHMAN: So you said, through the goodness of your heart, I take it, that you'll take the check?
FRED: I said, I've decided a check is better than nothing, I'll give it a try.
TUCHMAN (voice over): And the results of that try.
TUCHMAN: (on camera): The check bounced?
FRED: The check bounced, right.
TUCHMAN: And then you were charged a fee, too, for -
FRED: A minimum -
TUCHMAN: Depositing a bounced check.
FRED: Right.
TUCHMAN: Have you gotten the money back?
FRED: No.
TUCHMAN: Have you heard from anybody about it?
FRED: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Santos.
TUCHMAN (voice over): Just three days after all these puppies were purchased, Santos participated in an adoption event at a pet supply store in Staten Island, New York, according to a former owner of the business. That man, Daniel Avissato, tells CNN he wrote a check for a few hundred dollars to Santos' pet rescue charity following the event, but says he later saw his check online and that someone crossed out the charity name and wrote Anthony Devolder, another name that Santos has used.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The New York Republicans are calling you a disgrace.
TUCHMAN: We've received no comment from Santos or his attorney regarding all this.
Santos was ultimately charged with theft by Pennsylvania authorities. But the charge was later dropped after Santos made a claim that somebody had stolen his checkbook, according to a lawyer who is a former friend of his. That lawyer, Tiffany Bogosian, says she no longer believes him.
TIFFANY BOGOSIAN, FORMER FRIEND OF SANTOS: He's definitely, you know, not qualified to be where he is in Congress. And he should really be in jail.
TUCHMAN (on camera): This is George Santos.
FRED: Right.
TUCHMAN: Do you believe this is the man who bought your dogs and put them in the car and took them away from you?
FRED: I feel it is, based on my memory, I would say, yes, it is.
TUCHMAN (voice over): Fred loves dogs. He has his own and still breeds others. He's tried his best to forget about being fleeced. But Santos' ascension to Congress has made forgetting impossible.
FRED: I'm disappointed that a person like that would have a chance to get into the House of Representatives.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TUCHMAN: Now, Fred tells me he used to think things like this only happened in the outside world. But today he is aware they happen in his world too.
Don.
LEMON: You know, Gary, you've been doing this for a long time. And I -- there is story after story after story for George Santos. And I just wonder -- good to see you, by the way.
TUCHMAN: It's nice seeing you too.
LEMON: I just wonder if -- do you - do you - do you think that all of these stories and allegations kind of cancel each other out where people are just like, well, you know, that may be a concern for people who may have some legitimate issues with George Santos?
TUCHMAN: I think that tends to happen. You hear a lot about a particular person. A lot of weird and strange stuff and you start not paying attention. But this story is very different and very unusual. Just all the things that have come up with this man.
[06:50:00]
COLLINS: Yes, my reaction was, you cannot make this up. Now, it's like Amish dog breeders? Like, it's just like the line is -- where is it?
TUCHMAN: I hope people think I did not make it up.
COLLINS: You didn't.
TUCHMAN: This all happened.
COLLINS: You did not make it up. It was a great report.
TUCHMAN: Thank you.
COLLINS: Gary Tuchman, so nice to have you on set.
TUCHMAN: Nice seeing you, Kaitlan. Nice seeing you, Don.
COLLINS: Yes. Thanks.
All right, also this morning, a meltdown and that historic grounding and planes almost colliding twice. What is happening in the aviation industry? What the FAA is doing about it. What their response is. We'll tell you next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The long awaited mystery is now over. The name of the person who is the only player to match all six numbers of the historic Powerball drawing last November is Edwin Castro.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Not Kaitlan Collins.
LEMON: Wow. Not Don Lemon.
COLLINS: Lucky Edwin Castro, though. Yes, not Kaitlan Collins. Not Don Lemon. Edwin Castro, lucky California lottery winner who hit the $2 billion jackpot.
[06:55:05]
He opted for the lump sum payment of $997.6 million. Just to give you an idea of how much money Edwin has now won, it is enough money to spend $190 a minute every minute of every day for ten years. It's enough to buy a $1.3 million house every day for the next two years. It's almost more than the GDP of the island nation of Vanuatu in 2021. If you stacked up that many dollar bills, it would reach a height of 812 miles. That's about 3,000 Empire State Buildings stacked on top of one another. And, of course, with a payout that big, the tax bill is going to be pretty big too.
But, you know what, more money, more problems, as they say.
LEMON: Oh, my - no, I'll - I - I'd love to have that problem.
COLLINS: Yes. A lot of problems.
LEMON: I'd love to have that problem.
OK, so, all hands on deck. Lawmakers were briefed on the mysterious objects in the sky. What did they learn? We're going to ask Senator Angus King and Congressman Mike Gallagher when they both join us live, next.
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[07:00:00]
