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CNN This Morning

22 Killed, Dozens Injured By Tornadoes And Storms Across U.S.; Trump Expected To Be Arraigned In Manhattan On Tuesday; RPT: 3 Percent Of Young People Cast Ballots In Chicago Mayoral Election; NY Tightens Security Ahead Of Trump's Court Appearance On Monday; 5 Dead In Arkansas, State Of Emergency Has Been Declared. Interview with Ambitious Girls Inc. CEO Akissi Brooks; Funerals For Two Nashville Shooting Victims Held Saturday; Disney And Florida Governor Desantis Embroiled In New Legal Battle; Interview With Former Florida Legislator And Taught Law School Courses About Reedy Creek's Legal Structure Juan-Carlos Planas; Russia's War On Ukraine; Massive Russian Attack In Ukraine Left Six People Dead And At Least Eight Others Injured; Volunteer Organizations Delivers Drinking Water In Parts Of Eastern Ukraine. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired April 02, 2023 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:11]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. It is so good to have you along this morning. It is Sunday, April 2. I'm Victor Blackwell.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Amara Walker. It's so good to have you along. How's the move and everything settling in Atlanta well?

BLACKWELL: I've moved from boxes to piles now, some out of boxes.

WALKER: That's progress.

BLACKWELL: They're just piles of things in rooms. We're getting there. We're getting there.

WALKER: We got to get organized.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

WALKER: Well, here's what we're watching this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were getting ready to go to bed, and I heard this big kaboom. Once the wind got in there, you know, with a high velocity wind, it just explodes, and it blew the roof off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: Communities across the South Edmund West are cleaning up after powerful storms ripped through at least seven states. They left catastrophic damage. And our team is standing by live in Arkansas ahead of FEMA's arrival in the state. BLACKWELL: We have new CNN reporting on the mood among former President Trump's advisers ahead of his court appearance Tuesday. The concerns they have about where a potential trial could be held.

WALKER: An outpouring of love and support in Tennessee as two more victims of the Nashville school shooting were laid to rest yesterday. We have a look at the tributes pouring in.

BLACKWELL: And power play. How Disney invoked the Royal Family to quietly take back power from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' handpicked board.

We start with the threat of severe weather. It's not over yet for the people hit hard by Friday's devastating storm. It's part of the central U.S. are bracing for more extreme weather early into this week, and the death toll is rising overnight. It now stands at 22, dozens more injured. And the destruction we're seeing so much of it. Just look at the screen.

So many people are thinking, what now? What do we do next?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TERESA BLANKENSHIP, TORNADO DAMAGED HER PROPERTY: It's just surreal. You know, you just -- everything you've worked -- we've lived in this house 44 years, and, you know, everything we worked for and paid for it, it's gone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My home is just totally gone. Picking up the pieces now. Right now, I don't even know where to even start.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Made you sick when you looked at it. I've never seen a stave silo blow up like that. It looks like somebody put a bomb in it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: The latest death was on Saturday evening in Sussex County, Delaware. County officials say it happened. The person was killed after a structure collapsed. At least seven people are dead in southern Tennessee after two back to back lines of storms hit McNairy County. Authorities were still searching for survivors late into Saturday night.

And the governors of Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa have each issued disaster declarations for their respective states. And the Federal Emergency Management Agency's administrator will visit Arkansas later today.

And we are tracking the threat of more severe storms in the central U.S. Meteorologist Britley Ritz joining us now with more. Britley, where are these storms concentrated?

BRITLEY RITZ, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Unfortunately, we have to concentrate down into northern Texas now. Over the last 48 hours, we had 72 tornado reports. Now, mind you, those are reports we had 35 confirmed based on the National Weather Service surveys and our focus, across northern Texas back into the Ark-La-Tex. Right now, not a whole lot going on.

We've got the stationary front holding to the south, but that'll eventually lift as a warm front, bringing us the threat for severe weather. You'll see areas highlighted in Orange, Dallas, bullseye, bringing in the threat for isolated tornadoes. Also, very large hail and damaging winds. Those are our biggest concerns today.

And we're talking like golf ball size hail, if not larger, almost 2 inches in diameter. So take a look at the time frame on this. Sunday morning, rather, Sunday night, 07:00, here we are bringing in the chance for storms really starting to ramp up here. Dallas, you're seeing that back into southern Oklahoma, pushing into parts of Arkansas and Louisiana.

Once we get into the evening hours, that threat dies down overnight evening, I should say, then pushing into the southeast, moving into Monday morning. So then the next system really starts to setup and we press into Tuesday, bringing in the threat for severe weather in areas that have already seen it over the last two days.

Amara, Victor?

BLACKWELL: All right, Britley Ritz watching all of it for us. Thank you, Brittany.

RITZ: Yes.

WALKER: Well, this morning the National Weather Service is confirming that an EF-3 tornado with winds up to 165 mph touched down in Arkansas.

BLACKWELL: Meteorologist Derek Van Dam is in Wynne, Arkansas, small town trying to come together to figure out where to start to rebuild.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, that's the big question. We are in front of the First United Methodist Church on this Palm Sunday, a major day for people of the Christian faith leading up to Easter next Sunday. This is considered Holy Week.

[07:05:08]

You can see kind of the first light now being cast over this area. And look down, this is what this damage and this tornado did to this area. The mayor describing Wynne, Arkansas literally being torn in two. You can see the First United Methodist Church sign that's been toppled over. I want to take you to more of an elevated position with our mass cam from our satellite truck.

Remember, communications and electricity here, very, very nominal or almost next to nothing in this area. But you get a better perspective on just how the magnitude of the damage that was inflicted on this particular community. Now, if we get a chance to see what has happened behind me, this is almost like a scene out of a movie, right? This is the First United Methodist Church. That is the steeple that used to reside there. This is -- I was looking on Google Maps a few moments ago, an absolutely stunning building, but now left in shambles inside. The roof has collapsed on the backside of the building as well.

And, you know, earlier we were wondering how in the world can a congregation move forward after this, especially considering that they want to meet on Palm Sunday, they want to meet for Easter services. Well, we looked on their Facebook page and they are indeed going to hold a shortened service in front of this church this morning at 10:00 a.m. Local time, for prayer and asking for the community members to help clean up the rubble that's left inside of this building.

Wow. It has been a very difficult, difficult past 24 to 36 hours as these tornadoes ripped through this area. You can see the scope of the devastation here. Over my right hand shoulder, there is the Wynne High School that took a direct hit from this tornado as well. And wow, you know, the 22 fatalities here tells the story about how incredibly powerful these storms can be.

And it's unbelievable that we are talking about the threat of another round of tornadoes in this same area early next week. Victor, Amara?

WALKER: It's helpful because -- you know, I'm glad you brought up the church. I mean, the churches are where people usually go or flock to to find solace and refuge, and they will gather on this Palm Sunday. But it's obviously going to be heartbreaking for them to leave the destruction of their homes to come to more destruction.

BLACKWELL: The churches and the schools. And Derek, yesterday you were at Wynne High School showing us that that's -- well, typically where people find shelter and they can't go there either --

WALKER: All, they gone. Yes.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Derek Van Dam, for us there in Wynne, Arkansas. Thanks so much.

This is an important week for Donald Trump and for our country because Trump is expected on Tuesday to be arraigned in a Manhattan courthouse, the first president to face criminal charges.

WALKER: But as we wait for those charges against Trump to be unsealed, his legal team is already looking ahead to potential trial and questioning whether he can get a fair hearing. CNN's Kristen Holmes has more for us from West Palm Beach.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Victor and Amara. While former President Trump's aides, allies, advisers have all expressed concern that he might not get a fair trial if this actually does go to trial in Manhattan, given the political makeup of that borough.

But we have talked to a number of sources who say that Trump's legal team is not considering asking for a change of venue to perhaps a more Republican friendly borough, but that they are just waiting to actually see that indictment, which they are expected to do on Tuesday at that arraignment before they make any decisions.

But the messaging behind this, that this potential trial might not be fair, is really what we have heard from the former President for the last several days. He has painted this as a witch hunt, this indictment, this case. He has said that Alvin Bragg is linked to Democrats, linked to Joe Biden, that this is in some way a favor to Joe Biden.

He has even gone after the judge who he is expected to appear in front of on Tuesday, saying that that judge hates him. And this is something that we haven't just heard from the former President, but also from many Republicans. And a lot of that is due to what we know the President is doing right now behind closed doors.

He is making phone calls to allies across the country and on Capitol Hill. He is shoring up the support that he has ahead of this indictment. And I will tell you that the sources that I am talking to every day, they feel like it is working. They feel like they are having Republicans rally around them.

Now, of course, the question still remains whether or not this will be politically helpful in a primary. Many of these Republicans believe it will be, but also in a general election. And that is just a big unknown right now.

WALKER: All right, Kristen Holmes, thank you.

Let's discuss more now with Lynn Sweet, she is the Washington Bureau Chief of the Chicago Sun-Times. Lynn, good morning to you. I want to start with Kristen's reporting that we just heard. I mean, do you think Trump has a legitimate concern about not being able to get a fair trial in Manhattan or is this a potential stall tactic once again?

[07:10:05]

LYNN SWEET, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES: Well, the answer is both of them. It is a stall tactic and it is a heavily Democratic city that has shown no love for its former residents. Let's look at how many Trump Tower signs have been removed by condo buildings in New York. So two things in this case are true at the same time as Trump comes home for his indictment and arraignment.

WALKER: And as you know, seeing the reaction from the GOP and some of Trump's leading Republican opponents in 2024, they've also been coming to his defense and slamming the Manhattan D.A. for the indictment. How do you read that?

SWEET: Well, I read it that every leading Republican contender for president, including his chief rival, Governor DeSantis, are still afraid of the wrath of former President Trump, even at this stage. This shows you the power that Trump still has over his base and over the people who will be voting, perhaps in the Republican presidential nomination. Let's look at this for what it is. It is a deflection to try to discredit the prosecutor is merely a ploy to try to take attention away from the charges, which we'll hear more of in a few days against Donald Trump. This is a base political play for people who are still afraid of President Trump. Remarkable, isn't it? But you got to note that the staying power of Trump is proved time and time again.

WALKER: It is. But I do wonder what this may mean long term, because, Lynn, as you know, polls indicate that Republican voters, yes, they're rallying around Trump after this indictment. Once it's unsealed and the criminal charges against Trump are made public, I wonder if we could see some of that support cooling and also, you know, how helpful or politically advantageous all this might be in the primaries versus the general. I mean, those are two very different things.

SWEET: Absolutely. So let's take the primary first. I think that the -- Trump does best when he is portrayed as a martyr, when he is portrayed as a victim, when he is portrayed as the subject of a witch hunt. This makes him more popular, more popular with his base. I would think the thing to watch for here in my analysis is whether or not anyone who's identified with Trump says, at the least, let the process unfold.

Yes, nothing wrong with saying this is America, that you're innocent until presumed guilty. But that is different than saying that the prosecutor is on a witch hunt against Trump. And as we all know, and as you have discussed many times, you know, everyone knows this is just one of multiple investigations against Trump, federal and state level.

So the -- I would just say the most important thing to see if he is weakened within the Republican Party base is if anyone who comes from his wing of the Trump supporting family says, let's at least see what the process is. Let this play out. Let's see what the evidence is. If they don't do that, then I think my analysis is that Trump's tank power may even get a little stronger if he's able to portray himself as a martyr.

WALKER: So obviously, the country really, the world will be watching what happens on Tuesday very closely and curiously. I do -- before I let you go, I do want to talk about your reporting that says only 3 percent of young voters in Chicago cast their ballots in February's mayoral election, just 3 percent. So when we talk about interest, clearly not much there. What's going on?

SWEET: Well, two things are happening on Tuesday. Nationally, everyone's going to be looking at the Trump indictment unveiled and Trump coming to New York. In Chicago, all eyes are on the runoff mayoral election, where we found that of youngest voters between 18 and 24, only 3 percent of them went to the polls.

This is part of the group that the two rivals, Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson need if they are to win on Tuesday. A critical group, but if they turn out to be non-voters, then their collective clout diminishes.

WALKER: Lynn Sweet, I appreciate you there from my old stomping ground, great city in Chicago. Thank you so much.

BLACKWELL: All right, coming up, security has been stepped up across New York in anticipation of Tuesday's arraignment. Last hour, Amara spoke with Jonathan Walker about the Secret Service angle. Well, coming up, we'll talk about the NYPD angle of preparing for this historic moment.

[07:15:09]

Also, two more victims of the Nashville school shooting were laid to rest this weekend. We've got a look at the tributes for the victims coming in.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Officials in New York are tightening security around Manhattan ahead of former president Trump's court appearance on Tuesday. Authorities are preparing for the possibility, or maybe the probability of pro and anti-Trump demonstrations when he appears in court.

The indictment also poses a security challenge for the courthouse. The NYPD has installed cameras in the area around the courthouse. And meanwhile, conversations between the U.S. Marshals, the Secret Service, the NYPD, are ongoing.

Joining me now is Darrin Porcher, a former NYPD Officer. Darrin, good to see you. Let me start with what we heard from the Manhattan Borough president, where he says that if there are organized efforts, he called it a mob, planned for Tuesday, they have lost the element of surprise because the NYPD and others have been planning for some time. How long has that planning likely been going on, preparing for what we're going to see this week.

[07:20:21]

DARRIN PORCHER, FORMER NYPD LIEUTENANT: Well, good morning, Victor. Good morning to the viewers. The planning has started when Donald Trump introduced that he was going to be indicted by the Manhattan District Attorney. That produced a level of prophetic planning by the NYPD because no one knew that Donald Trump was going to be, in fact, arrested. So the planning began then, which was a couple of weeks ago.

But now that we have a schematic in place in terms of how we're going to manage the visit for Donald Trump to be arrested in relation to this indictment, we're going to lend deference to two specific instances. One would be the January 6 riots that occurred in Washington, D.C. We're going to view the After Action Review and see what went right and what went wrong.

In addition to that, not too long ago, we had El Chapo that was contained here in Manhattan Federal Court. And so when we look at the security matrix that worked in connection with how we manage the movement of El Chapo, that's going to introduce a terminal piece and how we maintain that security matrix.

BLACKWELL: Certainly --

PORCHER: The third component would be --

BLACKWELL: I'm sorry, go ahead.

PORCHER: The third component would be here in New York. We managed the New Year's Eve Times Square detail, which is the largest New Year's Eve celebration in the United States. We set up pedestrian pens. We have street closures. And that would also assist in showing us how we would manage large scale numbers of people that would be in attendance to possibly watch the former president go into and exit Manhattan Court.

BLACKWELL: Yes, we certainly expect that if there's a department in the U.S. that can handle this, it's the NYPD. But it is surreal to hear that an experience with El Chapo prepares you for what's coming with the former president.

There is this concerted effort of a show of force. All 36,000 officers in the NYPD now in uniform. Is there a practical value of that beyond just appearing to be everywhere?

PORCHER: Sure, there is a practical value to that, Victor. We manage the United States, the U.N. General Assembly every year. So this is nothing new to the NYPD. And when we have the U.N. General Assembly, we have a lot of the plain, closed officers that are in uniform to provide the necessities in connection with street closures and allowing or affording the necessary route to and from the venue, which in question here would be the Manhattan Criminal Court.

BLACKWELL: How nimble are the plans if the former president decides that he wants to make some statement from the courthouse steps or he wants to hold something at or near Trump Tower? How quickly can this plan accommodate that?

PORCHER: That provides a point of contention if former President Trump decides to make a speech either in front of Trump Tower or in front of the Manhattan Criminal Court, because now it's going to garner more possible supporters that may want to act as onlookers.

But at the same token, the contingency plans within the NYPD are going to fit the build of those possibilities because we always have additional contingencies that we have to plan for in the wake of these large scale details of this magnitude, as we see Donald Trump coming back to New York City.

BLACKWELL: All right, Former NYPD Lieutenant Darrin Porcher, thanks so much.

WALKER: All right, just ahead, two victims of the Nashville school shooting laid to rest on Saturday. And now the community is prepared to say goodbye to another loved one.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:28:03] WALKER: All right, back to our top story this morning, at least five people were killed in Arkansas amid a severe weather outbreak that began Friday. The national weather service confirmed an EF-3 tornado touched down with winds up to 165 miles per hour.

BLACKWELL: Akissi Brooks is the CEO of a nonprofit Ambitious Girls. She was in her office in Sherwood, Arkansas, when that tornado rolled in. She joins us now. Akissi, thank you for being with us. I'm glad you are safe. Where were you when this storm came in? And when did you know that this was -- had the potential to be as bad as it ultimately was?

AKISSI BROOKS, CEO, AMBITIOUS GIRLS: Yes. So I was in the back area, in our storage area. And I didn't realize that this was as bad as it was until after the fact. I had just finished setting up our laptop to our girls' class that was to be taking place on Saturday. And hearing that loud boom and the glass shatter everywhere was the moment that I realized, oh, my goodness, this is really bad. And walking and seeing all of that take place was very horrific and scary for me.

WALKER: Well, I can see in the video that your office has a lot of glass in the front. Thank goodness you were in the back, in the storage area. So is that where you hunkered down during the storm?

BROOKS: Absolutely, yes. I was afraid to walk up front. I was glad that I had my phone. I was able to start texting family and friends to let them know where I was, to check on my son, and to just find out any updates that I could without walking up and being, you know, in danger.

BLACKWELL: Yes. You -- your business there suffered some damage, but when you saw just how bad it was in other parts, five dead across the state, some people lost everything, what went through your mind?

BROOKS: Prayer, number one. Prayer, just thanking God, for those of us that are OK, and then praying for the families who have to recover from major losses, especially losing loved ones. And then, of course, being thankful that our girls were not in the building because that was a time that they would be there on the weekend. But because there is -- those on Friday, they were not there.

WALKER: Yes, what you do for the community, also is commendable. It sounds like it's a mentorship program for these young ladies. You mentioned your son earlier. Where was he? And I hope he's doing OK.

BROOKS: My son. Yes, he's 16 years old, and he is terrified of the weather, any bad weather. And he was actually at home during that time.

BLACKWELL: You have to rebuild, where do you start?

BROOKS: That was -- you know, the thing that was running through my mind when I first was able to come out and see all the damage. I didn't know where to begin, but we did start with number one, removing all of the -- most. And we don't have light, so you know it's still not safe for us to go in there and maneuver through yet. So, that is where we'll be starting again once we get the lights on, it's the cleaning process and going through to see which items, you know, are able to be saved and what we have to start over with. Which the front room, pretty much destroyed all of our electronics and laptops. So, we know that we have to replace those.

WALKER: Yes, yes. We can see the damage in these pictures. But look, these are replaceable items, thankfully. So, glad that you and your girls are all safe. Akissi Brooks, all the best to you. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Thank you.

In Nashville, funeral services were held yesterday for two more of the six victims killed in last week's mass shooting at a private Christian school.

WALKER: 61-year-old Cynthia Peak was a substitute teacher at the school. And the family of nine-year-old Hallie Scruggs says, she had a love for life and an active spirit. CNN National Correspondent Dianne Gallagher is a Nashville with more.

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Amara, Victor, it is a somber Sunday on what has truly been a somber weekend here in Nashville as the community says goodbye to the victims of the shooting at The Covenant School on Monday. Amara, you were here and you saw just a number of people coming out to pay their respects. That number has grown exponentially with those who know the victims and those who have never met them, but are just moved by this tragedy, laying down balloons and flowers.

But more often than not, it's stuffed animals, which is really just a reflection on where this happened, a grade school. And how young some of these victims are, their children. And one of those children, nine- year-old, Will Kinney will be laid to rest today. Here, his family, friends described him as someone with an unflappable spirit. Saying that nine-year-old was unfailingly kind, quick to laugh, always inclusive of others. He loved his sisters and adored his parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles and was always excited to host friends.

His classmate at The Covenant School, nine-year-old, Hallie Scruggs, a funeral was held for her at Covenant Presbyterian Church on Saturday. Her father is the pastor at that church. Her aunt described her as incredibly smart and feisty enough to keep up with her three brothers. Her aunt said, that if she had had a daughter, that Hallie would have embodied all of the things that she would want in her own little girl.

And just before Hallie was laid to rest, 61-year-old Cynthia Peak who, we're told, her friends' called Cindy was also laid to rest. One of the best friends, the governor said, of the first lady of Tennessee. She was a substitute teacher at the school that day. A native of Leesville, Louisiana. A state representative in Louisiana told us that he had known Cindy his whole life and that she was a great friend and a good person, and the entire community in Leesville is in mourning right now.

Victor, Amara, the funerals continue through the midweek next week with Mike Hill, the custodian of the school and the headmaster, Katherine Koonce, being laid to rest through Wednesday.

BLACKWELL: All right. Diane Gallagher, thank you.

Coming up, Disney versus DeSantis. How the company quietly took power from the Florida governor's new board before the state's takeover.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:35:00]

BLACKWELL: The battle between Disney and Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis does not appear to be over just yet.

WALKER: No, no, it's not. The new board handpicked by DeSantis to oversee Disney's special taxing district says, it is now considering legal action over a last-minute deal that could allow Disney to hold onto power. CNN's Leyla Santiago with more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): Thank you.

LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): In a story with more twists and turns than any Disney movie, the former Disney controlled Reedy Creek Improvement District board pulled a fast one just before Governor Ron DeSantis and his handpicked board took over.

DESANTIS: This development agreement essentially strips the government of the government powers and give those powers to Disney.

SANTIAGO (voiceover): The board quietly approved the agreement on February 8th as Florida lawmakers met in a special session to give DeSantis control of the district.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I cannot imagine Orange County, Osceola County, the City of Orlando, or any other central government -- Central Florida government --

[07:40:00]

-- allowing or agreeing to allow any private developer or property owner to have this order control over a government and in the officials that run it.

SANTIAGO (voiceover): The agreement was signed before DeSantis had a chance to pick his board members.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This development agreement, which in my opinion, is void as illegal nullity was passed the same day the Florida house passed the bill creating this board. And it was done to prevent us from doing our job.

SANTIAGO (voiceover): Under the new deal, Disney would maintain control over much of its land in Central Florida for 30 years, and in some cases, the board cannot take significant action without getting approval from the company. Just last month, DeSantis celebrated gaining control of the board.

DESANTIS: The corporate kingdom finally comes to an end. There's a new sheriff in town and accountability will be the order of the day.

SANTIAGO (voiceover): Following a nearly year-long spat between Disney and the governor, it stemmed from Disney speaking out against a Florida bill, which DeSantis signed into law restricting certain classroom instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity. And while it looks like the battle between Disney and DeSantis may not be over, Disney stands by its actions, saying in a statement to CNN, all agreements signed between Disney and the district were appropriate and were discussed and approved in open, noticed public forms in compliance with Florida's government in the Sunshine law.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think anyone is trying to degrade the guest experience or the quality of the Walt Disney World Resort. I think what we're trying to do is provide oversight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Leyla Santiago, thank you so much. Here with me now to discuss is Juan-Carlos Planas. He is a former Florida legislator. He also taught courses about Reedy Creeks legal structure. Thank you so much for being with me. At the top of her report, Leyla Santiago described this as the Disney aligned board pulling a fast one. It doesn't seem like it was that fast. I mean, they went through all of the steps to get this done.

JUAN-CARLOS PLANAS, FORMER FLORIDA STATE REPRESENTATIVE: It was not fast --

BLACKWELL: How'd they pull it off?

PLANAS: It wasn't fast at all. They put an advertisement in the "Orlando Sentinel", they had two hearings on this, a first hearing, a second hearing, like any other development order has to occur. In fact, the first hearing was done several days before. This is negligence on behalf of the individuals in the governor's office for not even paying attention.

I, myself, looked at the agenda of Reedy Creek the day that this was passing in the legislature, and I noticed it on there. I didn't think much of it because I thought they were just, you know, ratifying their master plan. But this wasn't a fast one at all.

BLACKWELL: Yes, I wonder -- and I think you just touched on it, and it just might be negligence how the governor's office and those allied Republican state legislators did not notice this in real time. Guys, the board that we're trying to hollow out is going to take power and give it to the company.

PLANAS: But Victor this this exemplifies what the problem is. The reason they didn't notice this because they care more about politics than about policy. Anybody who focuses on public policy would know what is happening. Now, the other issue is in your story. You have one of the new board members saying that this is taking power. It's not. There's nothing in this development agreement that is not in any other development agreements, let's say for a shopping mall with any other municipality when they're saying, oh, Disney is now the government of their property. Well, you go to any shopping mall and the odors (ph) or the government of that shopping mall. The development agreements function the same way.

Now, that yes, this development agreement is probably for a longer period of time, but that's the way the Reedy Creek Improvement District was designed to set up from the beginning. This was never something that was supposed to be very easy or was intended to be unraveled. Disney was made the promise that this would exist in perpetuity.

BLACKWELL: So, what authority does this new board have?

PLANAS: Well, they can pave roads. They can do what the company wants if there's, you know, fixes needed. They're still running the fire department. They're still -- I mean, it's -- it would be the same thing if you have a large commercial shopping center, whatever services that the government has to provide for that shopping center are there. Now, in this case, there's a full development agreement for 30 years on what Disney gets to build.

And the problem that the board is complaining about is, let's say -- this is the nefarious part of all of this. They wanted to control the board because they wanted to hold a, you know, a sword to Disney's back to force their hand on entertainment content. What the board is complaining about is that they can't threaten Disney anymore on affecting their entertainment contract.

[07:45:00]

Well guess what, the court is going to view that as a violation of first amendment rights if the board tries to sue. If I were the new board, if I were the governor, I would just stay like it is because any lawsuit is going to have multiple depositions. You're going to find that these new board members don't know anything about the way Reedy Creek runs when they say, oh, we wanted to just influence policy. They're not going to be able to tell you what policy they wanted to do because this was all politics, not policy, and it's going to come out that they just wanted to influence, you know, Disney's first amendment protected content.

BLACKWELL: Yes, it's remarkable that you say that maybe the governor should leave it as it is. But also, that if this is focused on politics, leaving it as it is doesn't serve the political end, which was the point of hollowing out the Reedy Creek board in the first place. Let me ask you -- go ahead.

PLANAS: They are in this problem because they did a quick fix last year. They realized it would have been a huge increase in taxes for Orange County and Osceola County residents. And then they did this as a quick fix as well. And this has splattered in their face as well because they're not thinking things through because that's not what they're trained to do. BLACKWELL: Let me ask you about this clause in this document, that is a royal clause, and it says that, it bans the new board from using any of Disney's fanciful characters, "Until 21 years after the death of the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III, King of England". What does he -- what does Princess Charlotte, what do any of the members of the royal family have to do with this?

PLANAS: Right. So, that clause is in the covenant, not in the development order. And the covenant is on the prohibition of characters. I assure you, you may find similar references in other such covenants. When lawyers draft things like this, they are looking to extend things in perpetuity. The covenant says, in perpetuity and in case in perpetuity is found to be illegal, then they provide the additional in case which is the last survivors of Charles I.

When you are looking to extend something a great period of time, you look to how do we legally do this? Well, guess what? The only people whose descendants are recorded in law are the British monarchy. So, this is -- you know, if you put the descendants of anybody else, that has to go get litigated. But with the descendants of a British monarch, that is in law. So, they have done this and extended the contract on the life of someone who is -- who's hereditary is in law.

BLACKWELL: Wow. And here I thought it had something to do with Cinderella. Juan-Carlos Planas --

PLANAS: No, no, no. Actually, you would find a lot of those clauses in a lot of documents in this country.

BLACKWELL: All right. Thank you so much for educating all of us. And we'll be right back.

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[07:50:00]

BLACKWELL: The death toll is rising following a massive Russian strike in Eastern Ukraine.

WALKER: Six people are dead, at least eight others wounded, according to local officials in the Donetsk region. They say, 16 apartment buildings, eight homes and a kindergarten were damaged. It's a simple but essential mission providing water to Ukrainian people who have none because of the war.

BLACKWELL: CNN's Ben Wedeman talked to the volunteers providing this vital lifeline.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Without water, there is no life. And the clean water pouring into the plastic jugs is a vital lifeline for people in the battered Eastern Ukrainian town of Siversk, just six miles from Russian lines. Retired building contractor, Andre Anderson from Oregon is an unlikely carrier of water. ANDRE ANDERSON, AMERICAN VOLUNTEER, AQUEDUCKS.ORG: It was just a calling that I couldn't refuse to do. I can't sit at home and allow this to happen without helping the people who need help.

WEDEMAN (voiceover): He's part of a volunteer group called Aqueducks, their routine is simple but essential.

ANDERSON: We turn up, they turn up with their little jugs, and we just fill up their jugs or their buckets or their cow pails. And they get away happy, and we empty our tank, we drive home. And then we come back in the afternoon and we do the same thing and we repeat on every day.

WEDEMAN (voiceover): The few remaining in Siversk tell the usual story, dogged (ph) attachment to their land and no other options.

How can I leave, asked Tanya? My son is buried here. And where would I go with my small pension? Andre's colleague, Silvia Pavesi, from Austria was a tour guide.

WEDEMAN (on camera): Why are you doing this?

SILVIA PAVESI, AUSTRIAN VOLUNTEER, AQUEDUCKS.ORG: To help, it's just the right thing to do.

WEDEMAN (voiceover): 73-year-old Mikola appreciates the water but thirsts for quiet.

MIKOLA, SIVERSK RESIDENT: I'm fed up with this shelling. Nobody needs it, he says.

WEDEMAN (voiceover): What passes for daily life ended long ago. The center of Siversk is a wasteland. The early spring snow softens, but can't hide the jagged edges. Andre shouts out water, voda in Ukrainian. Soon residents emerge from their basements, their bomb shelters.

WEDEMAN (on camera): Basic humanitarian services like these are critical. There hasn't been any running water or electricity since the beginning of the war.

WEDEMAN (voiceover): With no end to this war in sight, they're resigned to fate, bleak.

[07:55:00]

It's fine, says Valentina. We put up with everything. What can we do?

Yet 70-year-old Nina despairs what has become of her town.

What do we feel, she asks? Pain. Pain. When you see something destroyed you tear up. We cry. We cry.

Battles now fold, they returned through streets, cold, muddy and ravaged to their shelters. Ben Wedeman, CNN Siversk, Eastern Ukraine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Thank you, Ben, for that report.

Still to come, devastation across America, tornadoes and storms, just causing a mess across the south and the Midwest. Now, at least 22 people are dead. We have the latest on the destruction.

Also, tonight, at a new time, Eva Longoria's culinary adventure continues in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. Do not miss the new episode of the CNN original series, "Eva Longoria Searching for Mexico", tonight at 9:00 Eastern.

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