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36 People Dead as Hawaii Wildfires Rage; Justice Thomas Took Dozens of Trips Paid for by Billionaire Friends; Man Who Allegedly Threatened Biden Killed by FBI Agents. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired August 10, 2023 - 06:00   ET

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

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. We are glad you're with us. Victor Blackwell by my side as we get to this really significant breaking news.

[06:00:59]

So much happening overnight. Here are the "Five Things to Know" this morning, Thursday, August 10.

We know 36 people are confirmed dead in this devastating wildfire across Hawaii. The flames charring hundreds of buildings. Black Hawk helicopters have been deployed as paradise burns.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Brand-new reporting, just out this morning about Supreme Court Clarence Thomas, his luxurious lifestyle, and who was funding it. "ProPublica" reports that rich benefactors footed the bill for at least 38 luxury vacations, 26 private jet flights, and a dozen VIP passes to sporting events.

More breaking news now. A presidential candidate in Ecuador assassinated at a rally.

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BLACKWELL: The anti-corruption candidate was killed just ten days before the election.

HARLOW: New video coming in overnight of a deadly FBI raid. A man was killed after making threats against President Biden and other elected officials.

BLACKWELL: And new information in the Atlanta area investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Sources tell CNN prosecutor Fani Willis is seeking more than a dozen indictments as former President Trump releases a new ad attacking her.

CNN THIS MORNING starts right now. ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

HARLOW: We do begin on the breaking news out of Hawaii this morning, where 36 people are confirmed dead as these wildfires rage out of control, turning communities into ash.

The death toll in Maui soaring overnight. New helicopter video shows the scale of utter devastation. This is Lahaina, a beautiful, historic and tropical getaway, now smoldering. This is where people were jumping into the ocean to escape the fast-moving inferno, which was fueled by powerful winds from a hurricane.

BLACKWELL: This is what the devastation looks like there on the ground. This was a neighborhood. It's wiped out now. Homes and businesses gone. All of them, the palm trees dead; they're charred black. We have some before and after satellite images to show you.

Look at this. This is Lahaina earlier this summer, before the catastrophe. And this is Lahaina now. Nearly he every home and building destroyed.

A different part of town here, the shopping center outlets, the beachfront restaurants, all of them are now torched, ruins. Gone. This was an area with parks and historical buildings and Maui's oldest banyan tree. And here's a satellite image of the same area now. I mean, it's pretty much gone.

HARLOW: It's stunning to see. Our colleague Veronica Miracle is on the ground in Maui. Veronica, good morning.

I know the sun has yet to come up there. It's really the middle of the night. Talk to us about the death toll. What do we know?

VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Poppy and Victor, that news just coming in. It is midnight here in Maui, so many residents will be waking up to the devastating news that 36 of their loved ones -- community members, friends -- perished in that fire.

Now, we are on the opposite side of Lahaina in a completely different area of the island. It is still cut off. Those roads are still closed. Eleven thousand people remain without power. Communication lines are still down. So the information here to this side of the community is slowly trickling in.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my gosh! Look at the harbor.

MIRACLE (voice-over): The view from above is of shock and heartbreak.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were not prepared for what we saw. It looked like an area that had been bombed in the war.

MIRACLE (voice-over): Wildfires rampaging across the island of Maui -- UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our entire street was burned to the ground.

MIRACLE (voice-over): -- decimating homes and businesses.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Local people have lost everything. They've lost their house. They've lost their animals, and it's -- it's devastating.

[06:05:02]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lahaina is on fire!

MIRACLE (voice-over): The historic town of Lahaina, a popular tourist and economic hub on the island's West side, particularly affected, with hundreds of structures impacted.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It happened so fast. People stuck in traffic trying to get out, and there is flame on both sides of the road. Like something out of a horror movie.

MIRACLE (voice-over): Most of the fires on Maui fueled, in part, by violent winds caused by Hurricane Dora, churning more than 800 miles away; those winds now subsiding as the storm pushes away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The primary focus is to save lives and to prevent human suffering and mitigate great property loss.

MIRACLE (voice-over): State Department crews assisting in efforts to restore communication across the islands and distribute water, with military helicopters aiding in extinguishing the fires.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two CH-47 supporting Maui County, they flew 13 hours, did 58 drops, and about 150,000 gallons of water to assist with suppression of the fire.

MIRACLE (voice-over): Recovery will be a long road ahead, according to Hawaii's lieutenant governor, Sylvia Luke.

SYLVIA LUKE (D), LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR OF HAWAII: The damage to the infrastructure, it's not just buildings. I mean, these were small businesses that invested in Maui. These were local residents. And, you know, we need to figure out a way to help a lot of people in the next several years.

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MIRACLE (on camera): And more than 11,000 people were flown out of Maui yesterday. Hundreds of people spending the night at the airport, waiting to catch early-morning flights today.

Officials here asking people, cancel your vacations. Do not come to Maui. Save the resources for those who need it -- Poppy, Victor.

BLACKWELL: Veronica Miracle, reporting there from Maui. Thank you so much.

Let's bring in now James Tokioka. He is the director of the Department of Business Economic Development and Tourism for the state of Hawaii.

Thank you for your time. We're sorry to speak with you, considering all that's happening.

When we last heard from you, it was tough to even assesses the hotel zones, the challenges there because of the infrastructure problems. Roads closed. Do you have a better idea of the destruction and damage in those areas now?

JAMES TOKIOKA, DIRECTOR, DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND TOURISM, STATE OF HAWAII: We do. We're leaving that information for Mayor Bissen on Maui to disperse.

But we know that right now, it's midnight in Hawaii. So we're going to do a big assessment in the morning tomorrow.

But from the tourism standpoint, we just want to make sure that the message that goes out to your viewers throughout the United States and across the world is that Hawaii is still open. It's West Maui that is devastated.

But what travelers are doing now, that we're understanding is they're changing their vacation plans. They're coming to Oahu. They're going to Hawaii island, and they're going to Kaua'i (ph).

So some people who were on Maui, they came to the evacuation center here at the convention center. And they've communicated with us that they're either staying there and some are going to the other islands.

But we don't want your guests to think that the entire state of Hawaii is closed. Because it's not. Oahu, like I said, where Waikiki is, one of the most famous beaches in the world, is still available. Hawaii island is available. And there is occupancy.

We have shared with our hotel partners to make sure that we can give them the best rates available. We're trying to accommodate people. Some people have saved their whole life to come to Hawaii, and it would be a shame if they just went straight back to their homes on the mainland.

So that's the situation now. But West Maui consists of Lahaina, Kapalua, and Kaanapali. So the people who are planning vacations to those areas, they might want to reconnect. And airlines are not -- they're not charging change fees. They're letting their customers change their reservations for most of the airlines that we've spoken to. So we want to make sure that people know that.

HARLOW: James, do you have a sense of the containment of this fire? I mean, our reporting is that they're still raging. Do firefighters have a handle on this?

TOKIOKA: OK. Again, we're not on Maui. We're on Oahu.

HARLOW: Yes.

TOKIOKA: At one of the meetings earlier, it's our understanding that the fires are not totally contained. But they're not blazing like they were last night --

HARLOW: OK.

TOKIOKA: -- because the winds have died down. Maui Fire Department, Chief Brad Ventura and his team, have been doing an incredible job, given the circumstances.

[06:10:09]

We couldn't get the helicopters up because of the wind, but now that the wind has subsided, they're working on the dumps with water out to the affected areas.

HARLOW: That's a very helpful update. James Tokioka, thank you and good luck to everyone there. We're thinking of you.

TOKIOKA: Thank you. Thank you very much for getting the message out to your viewers; Hawaii is still open.

HARLOW: Of course.

Also ahead, we're going to be joined by a family who had to evacuate from Maui. This is video of flames surrounding their home. It is the second time their life has been uprooted by wildfires.

BLACKWELL: And there's more breaking news this morning: new details about Clarence Thomas' life off the Supreme Court bench.

Just moments ago, "ProPublica" broke a new report, detailing lavish vacations, private jet trips, VIP treatment at sporting events, more than we knew about before, and funded by a wider circle of billionaire friends.

Let's bring in now Tom Foreman to break down this new reporting. Tom, dozens of these -- these advances, these gifts to the Supreme Court justice.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is really quite a list. And at a time when public support and faith in the Supreme Court has been plummeting, this is only going to intensify the scrutiny.

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FOREMAN (voice-over): The most complete accounting yet of the high life of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas shows much, much more than previously known. More private jets, more fancy vacations, more sporting events, all gifts from mega-rich businessmen and documented through public and private records, plus interviews by "ProPublica."

BRETT MURPHY, REPORTER, "PROPUBLICA": Justice Thomas has been living a life of extreme luxury for 30 years, underwritten by at least four different ultra-wealthy benefactors.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Earlier reports have revealed lavish gifts to Thomas, including a house for his mother and this nine-day vacation in Indonesia from conservative billionaire Harlan Crow -- CLARENCE THOMAS, SUPREME COURT JUSTICE: I come from regular stock.

FOREMAN (voice-over): -- who also underwrote a film about Thomas' humble tastes.

THOMAS: I prefer the R.V. parks.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Now the list of benefactors includes three more names, according to "ProPublica": David Sokol, Wayne Huizenga, and Tony Novelly.

The report says the four moguls collectively treated Thomas to 38 destination vacations, including a previously unreported voyage on a yacht around the Bahamas; 26 private jet flights, plus an additional eight by helicopter; a dozen VIP passes to professional and college sporting events; two stays at luxury resorts in Florida and Jamaica; and one standing invitation to an uber-exclusive golf club.

The dollar value? Likely in the millions, little of which appeared in required financial disclosures, according to "ProPublica."

Thomas has previously said he didn't feel the need to disclose some gifts. And that worries Jeremy Fogel, an expert on judicial ethics and a former judge.

JEREMY FOGEL, BERKELEY JUDICIAL INSTITUTE: I simply couldn't have done this. And even if the people involved didn't have interests before the court, it's -- it's just the -- the idea that you are receiving gifts of this magnitude.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Associate justices make about $285,000 a year. In 2001, when they made about $100,000 less, Thomas spoke up.

THOMAS: The job is not worth doing for what they pay. It's not worth doing for the grief. But it is worth doing for the principle.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Now, he bristles at questions about his principles. He calls Crow "merely a friend." Crow says they never talk about Thomas' work. And the new report found none of these wealthy pals seem to have had cases before the court. Still --

MURPHY: Each one of these new benefactors, just like Harlan Crow, came into his life after he was appointed to the Supreme Court. That's why it's so problematic from an ethics standpoint.

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FOREMAN (on camera): There is no evidence that any of these wealthy pals broke any laws or rules with these extraordinary gifts. Nor is it entirely clear that Clarence Thomas did anything technically wrong by accepting them.

However, the earlier revelations about these big gifts spurred an outcry for the court to come up with much more transparent and easily understood rules about what is and what is not right in financial matters. And this report will likely make that drumbeat much louder.

BLACKWELL: Tom Foreman reporting for us. Tom, thank you.

HARLOW: Joining us now, one of the "ProPublica" reporters behind this bombshell investigation, Brett Murphy, joins us now.

We're going to get into how you reported this out in a moment, because it is just fascinating.

[06:15:01]

But to Tom's last point there about what was illegal, if anything, one of the lines in here, you write, "Thomas appears to have violated the law by failing to disclose flights, yacht cruises and expensive sports tickets." So did Clarence Thomas break the law?

MURPHY: According to the ethics experts, yes, there's violations of financial disclosure laws. He was supposed to report things like private plane trips, expensive sports tickets, because these were not exempt from disclosure.

BLACKWELL: So Tom made the point and you reported that these billionaires came into his life since 1991, when he ascended to the Supreme Court.

We all make friends over 30 years. Few of us make billionaire friends. Even fewer make several billionaire friends. What do they want from one another if they had no business before the court?

MURPHY: Yes, it's an interesting question and one we were trying to get at throughout the reporting.

And what we learned kind of time and again was that they all had really similar ideologies. They're conservative funders, donated a lot to GOP candidates and causes over the years.

But he said, Thomas said -- he told a biographer once, These are just my good friends. Wayne Huizinga is just a good friend of mine. He doesn't want anything from me. I can't give him anything in return. We just like talking.

That's been kind of the through line with all these -- with all these benefactors.

HARLOW: You know the bar -- And by the way, you guys and your team have done just phenomenal reporting. This isn't the first. This is a series of reports you guys have done on the Supreme Court and Clarence Thomas.

This comes at a time when the Supreme Court has record low approval ratings from the American public, according to Gallup. People just don't trust it anymore the way that they did.

And it also comes at a time when there is no formal code of ethics. That's been rejected so far. And Chief Justice John Roberts refused to go and testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on ethics issues. Will anything within the court change? Does anyone have power to

change something?

MURPHY: So they've been talking about it. They've been saying that, inside, there are discussions among the justices about adopting their own code of conduct, their own code of ethics.

There are rules in place, but a lot of them are being followed by the justices voluntarily. They say that they choose to follow certain regulations around accepting gifts that all the lower courts have to follow.

And these are -- this is what a lot of the experts we talked to think is the biggest problem, is -- is the appearance of impropriety, the optics of all this, how it erodes trust. And this is why they want to address it.

HARLOW: And just to be clear, did Clarence Thomas give you a direct response to all of these? I didn't see it.

MURPHY: Not this latest reporting, no. He had told my colleagues earlier, when we first broke this story in April, that he did not believe he had to disclose this travel and --

BLACKWELL: I have that. I can read it. We've got it up on the screen.

MURPHY: Yes.

BLACKWELL: He said that "Early in my tenure at the court, I sought guidance from my colleagues and others in the judiciary and was advised that this sort of hospitality from close personal friends who did not have business before the court was not reportable."

I'll lead that into the question I have, is that he did report and specifically on these sporting events, where he was flown to University of Nebraska games several times over several years. He did report accommodation for the Daytona 500 but hasn't reported any since.

So he at some point knew that that type of gift was something he should report, but then didn't report the others. It seems to be some kind of conflict or explain that.

MURPHY: I can't really explain it, but earlier, he had reported things like this. He'd reported the Daytona 500 events. He had reported private plane travel. But then he stopped. These things were not appearing in his disclosures anymore.

He was going to the University of Nebraska games in the luxury suite. He was being flown around by other patrons on their private planes. But he wasn't reporting them. He stopped at some point. And he's never really addressed to us why that -- why he stopped.

HARLOW: And the court itself didn't give you a statement?

MURPHY: No. HARLOW: OK. Brett Murphy, stick with us, because you're going to be

with us next hour. We'll get into your reporting a lot more here. So thank you --

MURPHY: Thanks.

HARLOW: -- very much.

BLACKWELL: New details this morning about the Utah man who was shot and killed by FBI agents after allegedly making threats against President Biden before his visit to the state. What troubling social media posts are revealing.

HARLOW: Also presidential candidate in Ecuador assassinated. What we're learning about the suspects.

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[06:23:06]

BLACKWELL: This morning, we're learning more about the FBI's deadly raid against a man who allegedly threatened to assassinate President Biden.

FBI special agents shot and killed the man at his home in Utah yesterday. A law enforcement source says Craig Robertson pointed a gun at agents as they were giving him commands while trying to serve him a warrant. That's when the agent shot him.

It all happened just hours before President Biden landed in Utah. CNN affiliate KSTU obtained video of the moments agents descended there on Robertson's home.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

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HARLOW: We also have these court documents detailing the graphic and specific threats that Robertson made against President Biden, and I should note, other prominent public figures and politicians in just the past few months.

They include social media posts with photos like this one, a gun Robertson called his "Democrat eradicator."

Another one with several guns, quote, "Just getting ready for the 2024 election cycle."

And on Sunday he posted, quote, "I hear Biden is coming to Utah. Digging out my old ghillie suit and cleaning the dust off the M-24 sniper rifle. Welcome, buffoon-in-chief!"

Joining us now, CNN senior law enforcement analyst and former deputy director of the FBI, Andy McCabe.

Gosh, we talk so much about these threats. But I don't know. For some reason, this one was just hours away from Biden getting to Utah. These threats were so recent. What was written on social media was so clear. And as I understand from our reporting, authorities had gone -- they'd been watching him, and they'd even gone before to assess the situation. How does it get this close?

ANDY MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes, Poppy, this one is really unbelievably concerning. We -- we often talk about the tough job the FBI has in trying to distinguish who online is a real threat from, you know, the many other people who say objectionable things but don't have the sort of intent.

[06:25:05]

So this individual was being -- was under investigation since at least last March, when he'd made other threatening postings which brought to the FBI's attention by a social media company.

They went out to his house to talk to him. They had a really confrontational interaction with him, in which he refused to talk to them. And then the taunting and the threats to the FBI agents themselves came, really, pretty nonstop after that.

So you have someone who's not only saying these things but indicating a clear intent and capability to carry these threats out. Heavily armed, all sorts of different guns, you know, talking about targets ranging from Gavin Newsom to Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Alvin Bragg, Merrick Garland. Really, really concerning.

BLACKWELL: So Andy, after that interaction in March, over the several months, and since then, five months since then, why didn't the FBI go back? Was it the -- the posting about the president coming to Utah that, at that point, gave them the, I guess, probable cause they needed for the search warrant?

MCCABE: Yes, you know, we don't know all of the investigative steps that they were -- that they were ticking off during that period.

There are a lot of things you have to do in terms of confirming identity, understanding through forensic analysis of the postings, exactly, you know, who was on what computer, and being sure that the person you're looking at is the person who's actually generating these threats. I'm sure all that stuff was going on.

But there's no doubt, Victor, that the threats to the president on the eve of his arrival in that area in Utah is likely what pushed the bureau and the U.S. Attorney's Office over the edge to say, OK, this has to stop now. We need to get this person in custody to ensure that there's no violence to the president.

HARLOW: You mentioned some of the other names he went after, or threatened online, including the attorney general, Merrick Garland; the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg. These are people who have cases against the president [SIC] that are yet to go to -- former President Trump that are yet to go to trial.

I just wonder if you're concerned, Andy, that this is just the beginning of more threats like this.

MCCABE: Poppy, I feel fairly confident that this is the beginning of more threats.

We know that those people you just mentioned are already having to live under bolstered security details because of the death threats they've received.

We also know that President Trump's most extreme and, I'll add, deranged supporters -- talking about the very, very most extreme in that group -- they listen to his comments very directly.

We know that from the January 6 folks, some of whom said they only went to the Capitol because the president told them to.

You all remember Cesar Sayoc, who engaged in a bombing -- attempted bombing campaign on the president's behalf.

Ricky Shiffer, the gentleman who shot up the -- the FBI Cincinnati office after the search warrant was executed.

So I don't think there's any doubt that we're going to see, and the FBI will continue to investigate, additional cases in which people who are very, very tied to supporting the former president follow his violent, his threatening rhetoric, his dog-whistle rhetoric, which he's constantly putting out there. And some of those, the most -- the most extreme of which, will actually try to carry these things out.

This has, unfortunately, become a part of our political nature in this country right now.

BLACKWELL: Yes, the Fulton County D.A., Fani Willis, she's increased her security --

HARLOW: Yes.

BLACKWELL: -- as well, and has talked about the threats that she's received after being targeted by the former president.

Andy McCabe, good to have you.

MCCABE: Thanks.

HARLOW: We do have more on this breaking news out of Hawaii this morning. Overnight, we learned 36 people have been killed in Maui County in these unprecedented wildfires.

Next, we'll speak with a man who narrowly escaped his home with his family, with nothing but the clothes on their back.

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