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CNN This Morning

Dustin Kalelopu is Interviewed about the Wildfire Disaster in Maui; Ecuador Presidential Candidate Assassinated; Georgia Prosecutor Expected to Seek more than a Dozen Indictments. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired August 10, 2023 - 06:30   ET

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

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[06:33:00]

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If anybody is still out here, the fire is on Front Street and it is time to go.

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POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: That is a charter boat crew member running through a pier in Maui warning people of the raging wildfire approaching. Overnight we did learn the death toll in Maui County has risen to 36 people. And 11,000 people were flown off the island of Maui yesterday.

Joining us now is Dustin Kalelopu. He and his family escaped their home with literally just the clothes on their back.

And I understand, Dustin, along with your 82-year-old grandmother, is that right?

DUSTIN KALELOPU, MAUI WILDFIRE SURVIVOR: Grandfather.

HARLOW: Grandfather. What was it like?

KALELOPU: It all happened very quickly. We knew that the wind was bad and we could smell the smoke. It started before noon. The power went out, the telephone, the radio, internet, all of our connection was lost. And that's not uncommon for the infrastructure that we have in Lahaina whenever there's a storm like that.

But I made my way home that morning, yesterday morning, to check in on grandpa. He was fine. Everything was fine. Just a bit windy, no electricity. By 3:30 in the afternoon, the fire that had started a few miles above us up on the mountaintop had made its way down toward our home and then crossed its way over the highway to the condominium across the street from us. And then our neighbor's yard was on fire. The smoke was filling our house. And we had no choice but to evacuate. We had no time to grab anything. We lost our kitten in the process of evacuating. And, honestly, we're grateful to my brother, who returned home, to retrieve my grandmother's urn before he left to evacuate as well.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: And do you know -- have you confirmed that the home is - is lost?

KALELOPU: My dad was able to make his way home before he evacuated and met up with us. The home is lost. I can say everything in Lahaina is completely gone.

[06:35:02]

The aerial footage that I wish I could have shared with you this morning was completely devastating to see when we woke up, seeing what our town had transformed into just overnight. Everyone that I know and love, everyone that I'm related to, that I communicate with, my colleagues, friends, family, we're all homeless. Thousands of people are homeless in Lahaina and hundreds if not at least a thousand are still missing and unaccounted for. And we're hoping that the death toll does not rise too much higher once it's confirmed.

HARLOW: Dustin, I'm so sorry. I mean losing everything and not knowing where everyone that you know even is right now.

What was it like for you to escape? I understand it took hours in a car just to get to safety?

KALELOPU: It took two and a half hours, which is usually a 30 minute drive. In the span of a day, I had gotten up maybe 9:00 or 10:00 in the morning. I slept in because I was off. I had no contact with my mom. I knew she was OK. She had no power. My brother had gone to visit her. So, I just went home to my house and made sure my grandfather was OK.

We had made our way all the way to the other side of the island to safety. Met up at an airport hotel lobby just as a safe place where we knew we could find each other. That's when we learned that our house was gone. My mom's house was gone. My brother's house was gone. Everything was set ablaze.

But still no contact with lots of our family members. And it wasn't until actually now yesterday that I was able to get in touch with my mom. After over 24 hours of no contact with family members, we were able to regain cell service and were able to put the pieces back together.

BLACKWELL: So, you've got cell service now. You've got confirmation about your family members. Are there still people, your friends, your extended relatives whom you have not confirmed that they're safe, that they made it out?

KALELOPU: Absolutely. I have extended family, my grandmother, my uncle, my friends, family members that we're looking for. We're hoping - I am hoping at least if they see this broadcast at a shelter somewhere to know to get to safety and to contact us. But so many people have gone missing. And I will say that that is an unspoken fact that the death toll is way higher than 36. And we just hope that it's not confirmed to be, like I said, too much higher than that number. But there - there was a mass casualty event that happened this week.

HARLOW: Our hearts are with you all, Dustin. Thank you. Please stay safe.

KALELOPU: Thank you.

HARLOW: Well, to politics.

Soon, two of Trump's co-defendants in the classified documents case, they'll appear in a Florida courtroom. Ahead, what we're expecting.

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[06:41:36]

HARLOW: Break overnight, a presidential candidate in Ecuador has been assassinated. We now have footage. It appears to show the moment that he was fatally shot. Before we play it, though, a warning, it is disturbing to see.

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HARLOW: Fernando Villavicencio was killed as he was leaving a campaign rally north of the capital city of Quito. He has been an outspoken critic against corruption and violence in the South American nation.

Let's get right to our colleague, CNN correspondent Rafael Romo.

He was so outspoken, Rafael, about putting an end to organized crime, and the president is vowing that his killing won't go unpunished. What else do we know?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Poppy, Victor, good morning.

The attack happened right after the presidential candidate had finished a rally at a school in Quito, Ecuador's capital. According to campaign aides contacted by CNN, in a video that appears to show the moment of the attack, all of a sudden a burst of gunfire was heard as he was getting into a waiting vehicle. Several people were hit by the bullets, including Fernando Villavicencio, a 59-year-old activist, journalist, and politician who was running in Ecuador's presidential elections to be held in less than two weeks, on August 20th.

As Villavicencio gets in the back seat of the vehicle, at least 12 gunshots can be heard. A policeman quickly closes the door behind Villavicencio and many people are seen taking cover from the gunfire, including his security detail. The Ecuadorian attorney general's office later said that at least nine people were injured in the attack, including a candidate for the national assembly and two police officers.

Current Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso, later said on social media that he's outraged and shocked. He called the attack an assassination. Lasso also expressed solidarity and sent his condolences to Villavicencio wife and daughters. He also vowed that this crime will not go unpunished.

Lasso acknowledged that organized crime has come a long way in his country, but, at the same time, he promised that the full weight of the law will fall on them, meaning the criminals.

In an interview with CNN En Espanol, Poppy and Victor, back in May, Villavicencio said that drug traffickers had already made themselves at home in Ecuador, polluting the entire nation since at least 2007, and calling his own country a narco state run by the political mafia.

And, finally, the Ecuadorian government says the August 20th election will still go on as planned.

Back to you.

HARLOW: Rafael Romo, thank you very much for the reporting.

BLACKWELL: This morning sources tell CNN that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is expected to seek charges against more than 12 people. The latest on that and Trump's other legal cases.

HARLOW: We also have more on this bombshell new "ProPublica" reporting detailing Clarence - Justice Clarence Thomas' lavish life off the Supreme Court bench and who funded it.

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[06:48:18]

BLACKWELL: This morning, two of Donald Trump's co-defendants in the classified documents case are scheduled to appear in court in Ft. Pierce, Florida. Walt Nauta, Trump's bodyman, and Carlos De Oliveira, the property manager at Mar-a-Lago. Now, both are charged with helping Trump obstruct the Justice Department's investigation into classified documents that were stored at the resort.

Now, we're also learning that Trump and some of his allies could soon face charges in Georgia over the alleged effort to overturn the 2020 election results there. Sources tell CNN that Fulton County D.C. Fani Willis is expected to seek charges against more than 12 people.

Joining us now, White House correspondent for "Reuters," Jeff Mason, and CNN's senior legal analyst, and former assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, Elie Honig.

Welcome to you both.

Elie, let me start with you.

Twelve people in Georgia. Racketeering?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: It's got to be. I mean all the reporting is that Fani Willis, the DA, is looking at charging racketeering here. And that tells me she's taking a very broad view of this case. Twelve people, by the way, is really alarming. I mean what I -- not alarming, but it's - it's a big number for a case like this. BLACKWELL: But that's what the special grand jury foreman told us a

couple of months ago, is that there were going to be a large number of people potentially, yes.

HONIG: Yes. No, that's true, the grand jury - the special grand jury foreperson did say.

I mean what this tells me is, think about, just for perspective, Jack Smith has thus far charged one person, named six co-conspirators. That's for the nationwide scheme. Fani Willis is now going to indict over a dozen people for Georgia alone. Now, that could be because she's focused on some of the more local officials who wouldn't necessarily be on Jack Smith's radar. But it is clear to me, every piece of signaling that we've seen publicly has indicated that she is going to approach this very broadly, very aggressively.

[06:50:04]

The one thing I just want to flag for everyone, the indictment is the easy part, right? When you're a prosecutor, it's not hard to get an indictment of essentially whoever you want as long as you have some basis of proof. She's writing a big check. We'll see if she can cash it.

HARLOW: Right, the bar is so much higher when you go to court.

HONIG: OH, no comparison.

HARLOW: Jeff, what's really interesting to me about this Georgia probe is how much we know about it already.

JEFF MASON, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, "REUTERS": Yes.

HARLOW: Victor mentioned what the foreperson said a few months ago. We know what Fani Willis said on camera a week ago, we're ready to go. Right, we've done or work, we're ready to go. Then we learn that we're now looking at something very large with 12. It's just -- we didn't know anything about -- with Jack Smith.

MASON: And it's been interesting with Georgia this whole time. I mean, politically, based on the reporting that we got early on after President Trump's initial phone calls, that this has been a weakness, a vulnerability for him the entire time. And now it's kind of all coming to fruition. And it's interesting to see the different parts. You've got Jack Smith not focusing on a bunch of people. You have this local prosecutor focusing on several.

But you're absolutely right, like, we've kind of seen it coming and the former president even said I think just within the last few days I expect a fourth indictment soon.

HARLOW: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Carlos De Oliveira and Walt Nauta today, what are we expecting? We know there had been some challenges getting Florida attorneys for these men. What's going to happen today? HONIG: So, the routine part is, there will be an arraignment on the

new charges that have been added, right? Carlos De Oliveira was added to the superseding, the second, indictment. And there are three new charges against Donald Trump. That's the easy part. The critical part that's going to be more hotly contested is what happens with the trial date because, as of now, the trial's set for May of 2024. You can bet that the lawyers for all three defendants, including Donald Trump, are going to argue, well, the government has now brought new charges, they've added this new defendant, we need more time. We need to essentially restart the clock.

I don't know how that's going to come out. This is strictly within the discretion of the trial court judge, Judge Cannon here. And I will way, whenever you're a prosecutor and you supersede, you bring a new indictment, you have to understand - you do understand the risk that that poses to any trial date. That's just this sort of flip side of the coin of any superseding indictment.

HARLOW: I'm totally fascinated by what we learned about the fact that Jack Smith, the special counsel, got this search warrant for Twitter.

MASON: Yes.

HARLOW: And there was this whole back and forth about what Twitter, Elon Musk, could tell the former President Trump, what he couldn't. There was a fine because he was late -- Twitter was late in getting X, was late in getting this stuff to Jack Smith's team. But it's obviously, Jeff, they don't need the tweets. The tweets are out there. So, what were they looking for?

MASON: We were just talking about that before coming on set. I mean for most of the public, we all know what went through President Trump's mind during the time that he was in office. As a White House reporter, you always knew what was going on because he would tell you. So, you have to first ask, why did they need to get this from Twitter at all, or from X.

But, as we were discussing, there are a lot more things that could be in those records that we wouldn't see publicly. Drafts. And I know from my reporting covering him the entire time he was in the White House, they would draft tweets. He would -- he would say tweets, he would give tweet ideas to his staff and they would put them together. So there's got to be a wealth of knowledge there alone. There are direct messages. A bunch of stuff like that, that could be useful.

HONIG: Yes, the fact that they went by search warrant tells me it absolutely was more than just his public tweets. You wouldn't need to do a search warrant.

HARLOW: But what?

HONIG: Well, I think, Jeff exactly said it, draft.

HARLOW: Drafts.

HONIG: Was he using the DM function, right? Even maybe search functions. You can get a lot. By the way, draft emails, draft memos are super valuable. Look at the January 6th report, the committee report from Congress. They make all sorts of mention of draft memos because they give you an insight into what a person was thinking before it sort of went through the whole vetting process.

BLACKWELL: And not just the draft that weren't published, but if the tweets were actually published, were they drafted days before.

HONIG: Right.

HARLOW: Oh, yes, when.

BLACKWELL: Were they written anticipating that there would be some need for some of these things. So --

MASON: On January 6th alone we know that they were going back and forth about what to say.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

MASON: Different people were advising him on what to say and what to do. So, I don't know what those drafts might be, but I would think that that day alone would have a wealth.

BLACKWELL: Elie, Jeff, thank you.

HARLOW: Thank you both.

Next, we're going to take you back live to Hawaii where wildfires are scorching land in Maui and on the big island. The death toll has risen to 36 overnight. Our breaking news coverage continues.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was the last one off the dock when the firestorm came through the (INAUDIBLE) and took everything with it. And I just ran out to the beach (INAUDIBLE) and I just helped everybody I could along the way.

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[06:59:22]

BLACKWELL: Philly's pitcher Michael Lorenzen has thrown a no hitter in just his second start with the team. It's his first in front of home fans. Now, Lorenzen's (INAUDIBLE) is the fourth no hitter of the baseball season. That's the most by a pitcher in the no-hitter since 2019.

Now, he had thrown 100 pitches through seven innings. Lorenzen's mom and wife and daughter, you see them there, huddled up, praying. This is the ninth with two outs. Lorenzen getting Dominic Smith the pop up, to center, to end the game. You see his teammates running to the field. Got it. You see the fans celebrating, celebrating with the team.

[07:00:00]

And, of course, after that, his family runs to celebrate.

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MICHAEL LORENZEN, PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES PITCHER: Don't let other people tell you what you can and can't do. And that's - man.