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CNN This Morning

Records Show Hawaii Misjudged Wildfire Dangers; Devastated Maui Residents Share Heartbreaking Stories; GOP Hopefuls Court Iowa Voters, Governor At State Fair; Special Counsel Named To Investigate Hunter Biden; Ukraine Considers Mandatory Evacuation Of Children From Kupiansk As Shelling Ramps Up; Search For Survivord Turns Bleak With At Least 80 Dead; Biden Executive Order To Expand Background Checks; Gym Manager Goes Viral After Kicking Out Turtle. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired August 12, 2023 - 07:00   ET

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

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[07:00:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ghana, they came from all over the places. They're speaking different languages. They don't understand each other. They're grouped up, but they're competing against each other.

So overall, it was a blessing to see us come together like that, to bring this together and understand that there's some kids there who are going to have opportunities. And seeing that from its inception was really incredible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One, two, three.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS REPORTER (on camera): Yes, pretty cool to see what Osi's doing, guys. And guess what? We have football every single weekend now until February.

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: It's back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is back.

SOLOMON: I know my fiance will be watching every Sunday.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Andy, thanks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.

SOLOMON: All right, and the next hour of CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.

Good morning and welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. I'm Rahel Solomon. Great to be with you. I'm in today from Victor Blackwell.

WALKER: So glad you're here, Rahel.

SOLOMON: Thank you. WALKER: Thanks for being here in Atlanta. I'm Amara Walker. And thank you all for waking up with us, it's 7:00 this morning.

We do begin with some very tragic news and the devastation in Hawaii. Officials now say at least 80 people are dead. That number is expected to rise as search teams continue to comb through the destruction. And now, Hawaii's Attorney General is ordering a review of the state's response.

SOLOMON: And today more Republican presidential contenders get ready to make their case to voters at the Iowa State Fair. We'll have the latest as the candidates kick their campaigns into high gear.

WALKER: Plus, a judge in the January 6th case lays down the law to former President Donald Trump during a contentious hearing. She's putting the former president on notice about any future inflammatory language or intimidation of witnesses.

SOLOMON: But we begin this morning with that grim news from Hawaii, where those just devastating wildfires have now claimed at least 80 lives. And officials warn that the death toll will likely rise in the coming days. Crews have not yet searched the inside of most of the buildings, so it's still unclear how many people are missing.

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KEITH HUNTER, LAHAINA RESIDENT: I've fought wildfires in California and I've never -- I was here yesterday when it flared up and I've never seen something ravaged so fast.

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WALKER: The only public road in and out of Lahaina was opened briefly yesterday to let people see what has become of their homes, but authorities closed it again a short time later. And now, there is growing criticism over how authorities handled the early moments of the wildfires as flames spread quickly across the island.

The Hawaii Attorney General is now ordering a review of the state's response leading up to the fires. No warning sirens were activated which critics say cost untold lives and that's not the only concern about Hawaii's wildfire preparedness. CNN's Pam Brown has more.

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PAM BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): CNN is learning Hawaii officials underestimated the risk of wildfires in a recent report. Even as other documents show, officials knew they lacked resources to prevent and fight fires.

AMY FRAZIER, CLIMATOLOGIST, CLARK UNIVERSITY: We had advance notice coming into the summer. This week, the winds, the low humidity and the fuels, any ignition would have sparked a pretty big fire and that's exactly what we saw.

BROWN: In a state report out just last year, ranking natural disasters. Hawaii officials classified the wildfire risk to human life as low in this color-coded chart. The assessment, though, coming years after Hurricane Lane fan, the flames of fires in Hawaii ravaging Maui and Oahu in 2018. That perfect storm of conditions highlighted the threat and how unprepared officials in Hawaii were dealing with such a disaster with the county report in 2021 noting Hurricane Lane made small fires swell and stretch public safety resources with strong winds, ground and air support.

That storm should have been a wake-up call, according to this planning document from Hawaii's Emergency Management Agency. Other state and local documents show Hawaii lacked behind in preparedness for the devastating wildfires playing out now that have killed more than 50 people, left countless people missing, and triggered widespread evacuations -- a cruel deja vu for some residents.

MARK STEFL, LOST HOME TO FIRE TWICE: About four years ago, we had another hurricane and we lost our house in the fire. Rebuilt and what happened yesterday is killing me right now. We just lost our house again, twice in four years.

BROWN: A 2021 report also makes the troubling point that despite the increasing number of wildfires, fire prevention was given "short shrift" in a strategic plan from Maui County's Department of Fire and Safety. The plan also included "nothing about what can and should be done to prevent fires, which it called a significant oversight."

[07:05:06]

FRAZIER: Given how catastrophic this event was, I think there will be a lot of pressure on the state, and other organizations to improve their fire prevention actions that they're taking statewide.

BROWN: The increase in fires in Hawaii comes as Maui has faced increasing drought conditions in recent years, contributing to warnings like this in a May webinar from Nani Barreto with the Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization.

NANI BARRETO, HAWAII WILDFIRE MANAGEMENT: Hawaii has a big wildfire problem. We are on par with the most fire-prone states in the western continental U.S. The impacts of fire are broad and long-lasting.

BROWN: Now, residents like Mark Stefl are left to rebuild again as the threat of future disasters looms with no clear plan in place.

STEFL: I mean, I know what I need to do. We've done it before. This sucks.

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BROWN: It's still unclear whether additional preparation and mitigation could have reduced the devastation, all the damage we have been seeing from the Lahaina wildfires, given its intensity and speed. As to responsibility, the governor of Hawaii tells CNN that responsibility falls on all of us. Back to you, Amara, Rahel.

WALKER: Pam, thank you. A newly released video shows the horror of the fires as people try to escape. This video from the Coast Guard, it shows a view of the Lahaina Fire on Wednesday. Coast Guard crews were able to rescue 17 people who fled into the ocean to escape those spreading flames.

RAHEL: And take a look at this TikTok video. It appears to show some of those desperate people in the water after they were forced to jump in to just try to save themselves from the flames. Now we should say that CNN has not been able to determine the source of the video or independently verify the video, but it just does give you a sense of what some of the people there in Lahaina were dealing with. And then smoke and high winds created just an incredibly chaotic and terrifying situation.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We got to walk somewhere over there by the beach.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to (BLEEP) --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, (BLEEP)! M.G., wrong turn! Wrong turn!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, (BLEEP), (BLEEP) -- no, no, no, no, no, no, no, not like this! Not like this! Not like this! No! God! The car! (BLEEP)! Oh, God, the --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: You know, it's frightening too, because you look at how choppy the waters are. We know that Hurricane Dora was turning there on the Pacific, so you got to keep that in mind, that people were jumping in, were jumping into extremely choppy waters, right? And just the hearing of terror. Yes, absolutely. Gloria Pazmino is there, as you can see. She's in Honolulu. Gloria, what's the latest?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Amara, Rahel, you know it is really so devastating to listen to that video, to watch the video and hear the panic in people's voices. You can just tell how desperate they are trying to flee those flames. In the last several days, just the amount of damage and devastation is really starting to come into focus as we get more and more video, more images coming out of the area of Maui, Lahaina, 80 miles to the west of here. That is where the majority of the damage has taken place.

Now, let's start with the latest. We know that FEMA officials equipped with cadaver dogs are going to be searching the structures that have been left behind. So far, many of the bodies that have been recovered have been found outside of the structures that have burned and officials here have said that they are awaiting the arrival of FEMA teams to search the inside of many of those structures. 80 people have lost their lives so far.

We are expecting that number to increase. Now, the public road in and out of Lahaina was opened up to residents yesterday. We know that people are desperate to try and get back to assess the damage, connect with their friends, their loved ones, to try and see what's left, if anything, of their properties, their businesses, their whole livelihoods, really. But that road, shortly after it was opened up, it had to be closed back up because there was such a buildup of people and traffic that led officials to just have to close it back up.

Now, I also just want to talk about the fire. So far, 85 percent of the fire in Lahaina has been contained, but that does not mean that the danger is over. In fact, overnight, we had another fire that was burning in the western part of the island that triggered some evacuations. The good news there is that the fire has been completely contained and that people are no longer being evacuated.

Now, the last point here is about the people of Hawaii and the people of Honolulu who have been trying to come together to support and give donations and help to those who desperately need it. There's frustration that is starting to build because people are desperate for help. I'm standing in front of the convention center here in Honolulu. They have been housing some of the evacuees that have been flown out of the island.

And as you mentioned at the beginning there, there is now a review that is going to be conducted to try and understand the decisions that were made by officials why some of those sirens were not deployed in order to warn residents of Maui that danger was fast approaching. We have heard so many witness accounts who told us that their flames were basically at their door as they were trying to get out. Amara, Rahel?

[07:10:42]

WALKER: It just shows that they really had no time, no warning. They just had to get out and some jumping into the water. Just so traumatic. Gloria Pazmino, thank you. So, of course, you know, there have been many dramatic accounts from people who escaped and survived these fires.

SOLOMON: Yes, we also want to show you just satellite images to just really give you a sense of before and after the wildfires. It is incredible to wrap your heads around entire neighborhoods, homes, businesses all destroyed. Listen to how some residents recounted just their horrifying experiences.

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VIKAY PHONSKAYLINKHAM, MAUI WILDFIRE SURVIVOR: Myself, my wife, and our five kids, we all got in the ocean. We found a floating board that we hung on to. And we were out there floating, and it was just so surreal. Everything was burning around, explosions, cars blowing up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We stepped out of my front door, and it was just these hundreds of feet of black smoke engulfing the town. And it was everything I could do to just gather my kids and gather whatever I could in two minutes to get out of the house. I mean, we ran out of the house with no shoes. It's just so much. It's a lot.

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WALKER: Yes, massive plumes of smoke we just saw in that video. For more information on how you can help Hawaii wildfire victims, you can go to CNN.com/impact or text Hawaii to 70-70-70 to donate.

SOLOMON: I'm turning to some other news this morning. Let's talk about Iowa. This week in Iowa basking in the political spotlight. GOP presidential hopefuls are flocking to the state fair in Des Moines to try to court voters and for some at least Iowa's Republican governor.

WALKER: Now, the governor has put out the welcome mat, but she's not endorsing a Republican candidate, at least not yet. CNN Chief National Affairs Correspondent Jeff Zeleny has more.

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JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Governor Kim Reynolds reveling in the Iowa State Fair and the Republican presidential race. She's at the center of both, rolling out a welcome mat to a parade of candidates, five months before the Iowa caucuses ring the opening bell of the 2024 campaign.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is kind of a metaphor for all the candidates in the race.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is kind of right. Yep, yep, yep. Get them to participate and do what they need to do and have some fun with it.

ZELENY: She's showering all Republican hopefuls with attention, sizing up the field along the way, but staying neutral, at least for now.

GOV. KIM REYNOLDS (R-IA): It's really important that they feel that they have kind of a fair shot and they're welcome here in Iowa. And I want Iowans to have the chance to interact with them.

ZELENY: So, you're not ruling out potentially an endorsement at the end?

REYNOLDS: We'll see. I mean, I don't think you should ever say, never say, never, never, you know. I just will wait and see what happens, but I've made it clear, you know, I'm probably looking at neutral, especially at the beginning of this. It's naturally going to start to narrow, and then we'll take a look at, you know, where it's at. So, it's early for that.

ZELENY: Reynolds wants Republicans to find the strongest candidate to win back the White House. She believes the race is far from settled.

REYNOLDS: It's so early. People are paying so much attention to the national polls. And I can tell you, it's just not reflective of what I'm hearing from Iowans as I'm traveling around.

ZELENY: Do you think there could be surprises over the next five or six months?

REYNOLDS: There's always surprises. It's just that's part of the process. I can't think of one caucus where there hasn't been you know a surprise.

ZELENY: For months, she's been hosting the Republican hopefuls and basking in their accolades.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The best governor in the entire country, Kim Reynold.

ZELENY: She invited the candidates to join her on stage at the fair all said yes except former President Donald Trump. He's been lashing out taking credit for Reynolds election and attacking her for not supporting him. Reynolds, Iowa's first female governor, smiled and took exception to that.

REYNOLDS: It's actually Iowans who made the decision to elect me in a really tough year. 2018 was not a good year for Republicans. I squeaked by.

ZELENY: The 2018 midterms were in part a referendum on Trump. Last year, she won re-election by nearly 19 points and is remarkably popular among Republicans. Trump's attacks on her are now part of an ad for DeSantis.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And instead of looking to America's future, Trump is busy attacking Republican governors.

ZELENY: Her once close relationship with Trump has grown more complicated.

Do you think Republicans are wrong to see him as the inevitable nominee?

[07:15:09]

REYNOLDS: Well, I just said I think it's early. Our job is not to pick the winner necessarily, but to start to narrow the field, and that's really what the caucus has done.

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SOLOMON (voice-over): We'll have a lot more on the Iowa State Fair throughout the show today. Jeff Zeleny, thank you.

WALKER: The federal prosecutor who had been investigating Hunter Biden since 2019, has now been given more authority. David Weiss has just been appointed as special counsel in the case. Attorney General Merrick Garland granted the new authority after plea talks to resolve tax and gun charges fell apart.

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MERRICK GARLAND, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Upon considering his request, as well as the extraordinary circumstances relating to this matter, I have concluded that it is in the public interest to appoint him as special counsel. He has been granted ultimate authority over this matter, including the responsibility for deciding where, when, and whether to file charges.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WALKER: I'm joined now by Shan Wu, who is a Defense Attorney and a

former Federal Prosecutor. Always great to see you, Shan. Good morning. Why now? Why elevate this U.S. attorney who had been on this case for what, four plus years, investigating Hunter Biden? Why is he being elevated to special counsel right now? I mean, do you see this as Merrick Garland bowing to political pressure?

SHAN WU, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It's hard to know what he may be privy to that we don't know, but at least from the outward appearance, the answer to your question is, don't know. It doesn't seem like anything has changed according to both Merrick Garland and David Weiss.

Weiss had full authority to do whatever you need it in the case, in fact, Weiss had actually said that he had not asked to be appointed special counsels previously but there is a term called special attorney where a current Justice Department prosecutor can be given authority to bring cases outside of his normal jurisdiction in his case outside of Delaware.

So, it's hard to understand why either he or Garland felt he needed to become special counsel versus the status he'd already been in for the last five years. Certainly, the complete fiery collapse of that plea deal did not help matters any and he certainly is now wise looking at the possibility of trying the case and looks like if they tried the case, it wouldn't be in Delaware. But again, he could have done that originally so it's sort of mystifying.

WALKER: So, then, it is a trial more likely for Hunter Biden or is the plea deal out of the question at this point, a fresh plea deal?

WU: Yes, I don't think a plea deal is out of the question. It almost never is in prosecutions because most of them are resolved by plea deals. But certainly, the deal they originally have at the moment seems like it's at an impasse and isn't going forward. So, Weiss is signaling he's prepared to go to trial. From the defense standpoint, obviously, they don't want Hunter Biden to face more charges and have the uncertainty of going to a trial. But on the other hand, I also think the defense is probably saying, look, if you really want after five years to try and try this case on these charges you've come up with, you know, fine, you know, let's go for that. It just seems unlikely that they're going to find something new after five years of going at this.

WALKER: OK. So, from one special counsel's case to another, let's talk about Trump now and this protective order. Shan, what, what is in it? What would constitute sensitive information and how would it limit what Trump can and cannot say in public?

WU: Well, right now, Amara, what constitutes sensitive information sort of seems like most of the evidence Trump would be getting, including transcripts, statements from the witnesses, and there's certainly just cause to be concerned that he might use that in a way that could be dangerous or intimidating to the witnesses. We've seen, you know, lots of examples of that even in the Georgia situation where the election workers were harassed and given his kinds of statements that is of a concern. The difficulty here is that by only protecting the, the so-called

sensitive information it's sort of forces the fight to how to define the term sensitive and no doubt the defense is going to have a disagreement with the prosecution over what actually is sensitive. The critical point here from the judge's point of view, I think from the prosecution's point of view, is to get the ball rolling and to do that they need to have the protective order in place so that the discovery can start flowing to the defense side.

WALKER: Shan, we were out of time unfortunately. Thank you so much for joining us.

SOLOMON: And still ahead for us just unimaginable horror in Ukraine caught on video after Russia strikes a hotel where a children's camp was being held. We'll have the very latest here.

[07:20:03]

Plus, President Biden planning to roll out new executive action to expand background checks for gun purchases which will be a central issue for his re-election campaign. We'll have more on that.

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SOLOMON: Welcome back. We have new developments out of Ukraine where the country's prosecutor general says that about 500 children have been killed and more than 1,000 injured since the start of the conflict.

WALKER: This comes as authorities in Kharkiv region are considering a mandatory evacuation of children in Kupiansk as Russian shelling ramps up in the city. A general evacuation order is already in place, but officials say about 12,000 people remain in the city. CNN's Nick Payton-Walsh joining us now from Dnipro with more. Nick, if you will, bring us up to speed on the situation right now and how such an evacuation would be carried out?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Yes, look, this is only happening because of the intensity of shellfire directed towards Kupiansk and the towns around it. We were there just after it had been liberated from its first Russian occupation last year in sort of September, October. A destroyed city, but obviously life rebuilds pretty fast to the extent now that authorities think there might be 12,000 people living there.

[07:25:23]

Always hard to know how that count is indeed done, but specifically because of the threat to children there, they believe over 500 have indeed returned. There's now a specific order to get those children out, but it's difficult work at the best of times, particularly given the threat of shellfire around there. And a reminder again of how the youngest on the civilian Ukrainian side of this war often end up the targets or caught in the shelling from a Russian side that's often deeply indiscriminate.

But as we saw in the last couple of days in Zaporizhzhia, seemingly quite targeted about how they choose to hit civilian targets.

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WALSH (voice-over): The first strike brought horror. A riverside hotel struck. This man with his family strolling in a Zaporizhzhia park at 7:20, Thursday evening. Terror, then another roar. The son spots it. As though the hotel they targeted, where a kids' camp had ended just an hour earlier, needed to be hit twice. Imagine how the children in the hotel pool felt, dozens of guests injured -- one dead, who did not walk away.

This is how it looked before the two Iskander missiles hit a pool and playground in the car park. A Russian official then declared all hotels in the city to be targets, saying they're full of Ukrainian soldiers. In the hours after, sirens sounded in Kyiv, as Ukraine only managed to take down one of four hypersonic Kinzhal missiles. Officials saying another target was an F-16 training facility in the West.

These nightly strikes, Russia's response to the pressure on the southern front. Where Friday, importantly small gains were claimed. President Zelenskyy has urged patience and Friday moved to steady a slow-moving ship. Firing the heads of regional military recruitment after a series of corruption scandals, replacing them with wounded veterans.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINE PRESIDENT (through translation): Warriors who have lost their health, limbs, but maintain their dignity, and don't have cynicism, can be trusted to run the system.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALSH (on camera): Now, that move clearly a bid to try and clean up the corruption that's plagued part of the recruitment system here and also too for Zelenskyy to be out in front of the narrative for a while where I feel many Ukrainians are seeing this counter-offensive play out at a slower pace than perhaps ideally they would like they are incurring Losses certainly, but I should point out each time we hear of these small gains, particularly, around the village of (INAUDIBLE) and it is just a village that the Russians are deeply defending so hard. We saw it ourselves last week.

You never know which small incremental gain will be the one that actually exploits a genuine weakness in Russian defenses and enables faster progress to be made by the Ukrainians. But until that moment happens, it's still a deeply slow and painful grind for Ukrainian forces trying to push south and inflict a more symbolic or strategic territorial loss on Russia before winter sets in. Amara, Rahel?

WALKER: Always appreciate your reporting from there, Nick Paton-Walsh. Thank you very much.

Still ahead, Hawaii is reeling this morning from the devastation from those wildfires. Loved ones lost, homes and businesses gone. Thousands have been displaced and of course there's just hundreds, even thousands of people possibly still unaccounted for. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:33:00]

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Welcome back.

Days after a devastating wildfires tore through parts of the island, it is still unclear how many people are missing in Hawaii. Cadaver dogs are sifting through what's left of homes and buildings.

And although the number of people confirmed dead stands at 80 right now, officials warn that, that number will likely rise much higher in the coming days.

I want to welcome in Cindy McMillan. She is a spokesperson for the Hawaii Wildfires Joint Information Center.

Cindy, Good morning. I know it is very early there in Hawaii. So, we appreciate you being on the program.

First, let me ask where do efforts stand on the ground? What is the very latest?

CINDY MCMILLAN, SPOKESPERSON, HAWAII WILDFIRES JOINT INFORMATION CENTER: Well, good morning. And thank you for this opportunity. We know that many people around the nation love Hawaii. And where -- they're concerned about the impact of these wildfires.

Currently on the ground, we're still in the search and rescue efforts. And we have continued the hotspots and flare ups of the fires, they are not out yet.

In fact, just this last evening, we had some fairly major ones.

So, the search and rescue efforts continuing, we continue to battle fire, and the vegetation is very, very dry. And so, the conditions are just not helping out here with this effort.

But we do continue, and we are working with our state, local, and federal partners, along with private sector to make sure that we can protect lives and support survivors.

SOLOMON: Cindy, when you say that it's still in the search and rescue stage of the process, I mean, have folks been able to get into the buildings yet. Where are we in terms of that?

MCMILLAN: Well, in terms of residential access, on Friday, there was some limited access, so, folks could get in to start seeing what was in their neighborhood and their property.

But it is limited because, again, the hotspots and the flare ups, we want to protect safety first. As the fires are continuing to be contained, then more people will be able to go in.

But you have to remember too, this is a toxic situation as well at this point. [07:34:59]

SOLOMON: Cindy, you know, we've had person after person after person on our air say that the warning sirens were not sufficient, if at all. Can you help me understand who would be responsible? What agency would be responsible for setting off those sirens?

MCMILLAN: Well, as you pointed out, there are questions, serious questions about this. And Governor Green has vowed to get to the bottom of it. And he has directed our attorney general and Lopez to conduct an investigation into exactly what the policies were, what the practices were, and what happened with the warning system for this event?

It's too soon to say, yet, exactly, who notified whom, and what, and where, and when. But I can assure you that she will get to the bottom of it.

SOLOMON: And yet, I think there is a question, though, for folks at home about who would be responsible for setting off the sirens. Because I think I understand that the investigation is ongoing, and just beginning, in fact.

But I think there was a question of who would have been responsible for that? And the question of, why weren't they -- why weren't they alerted?

MCMILLAN: Typically, the counties are take control over those alerts. And there were some alerts that went out. So, there were some text alerts, and there were some other alerts that went out.

But I'll see, there were issues with communications, power failed, and cell phone towers were out. So, that's one of the things that the investigation is going to be looking at.

SOLOMON: Cindy, talked to me about the need right now. I mean, we're looking at pictures that, you know, I mean, days after seeing these pictures, it's still just doesn't -- it's hard to wrap your head around. What do people need the most right now? Where is the need greatest?

MCMILLAN: So, right now, there are about 1,400 people in shelters. And there, there is need for food, for water. Those needs are being handled by volunteers here in the state. The state is actually requesting that those who want to help, and we know there are many, and we're thankful for that.

But the best way to help right now is to provide monetary donations to trusted private sector partners, who can get money to the hands of those people who need it, and they can purchase what they need immediately.

That takes down -- that there is no logistics that way, there is no distribution that way, it just immediately gets those goods into the hands of the people who need it the most. SOLOMON: Is that one road that had momentarily been open that allowed residents to return back to Lahaina. What's the status of that? Is that open now? Is that -- is that close? What's happening there?

MCMILLAN: I can't give you the exact status of this moment. But I can tell you that on Friday, it was open on and off, kind of to meter the access, so that the area was controlled.

As you might imagine, there is some security concerns with people's belongings, and their homes, and things. So, the access was metered so that the location could be managed in a -- in appropriate ways.

SOLOMON: Yes. Well, Cindy, we so appreciate your time today. We know that you have been a Hawaii resident for a quite some time. It is a place that you yourself call home. So, we're just so sorry for what everyone there is going through.

MCMILLAN: Yes.

SOLOMON: And we appreciate the time today. Thank you.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Still ahead, President Biden is preparing to make gun safety a central issue of his reelection campaign. A closer look, when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:42:37]

WALKER: So, U.S. consumers are feeling slightly less optimistic about the economy this month, after two straight months of growing confidence.

SOLOMON: Yes, a new report from the University of Michigan says that the sentiment comes as inflation cools, but does remain high.

CNN's Matt Egan has more.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Rahel and Amara, inflation isn't gone, but it does seem to be getting under control. And that's feeling hopes that the economy can achieve a soft landing where a recession is avoided.

New numbers released Friday show that producer prices increased in July a bit more than expected. We watch this closely because it measures inflation that's in the pipeline, before hits all of us as consumers.

Still, wholesale inflation has cooled dramatically over the past year. We are miles away from those alarming price spikes of last summer. And that, of course, is great news.

The latest consumer price metrics are also giving investors hope that the Federal Reserve can end its war on inflation. Consumer price inflation, it did pick up in July, breaking a record long streak of 12 straight months of cooling. But don't be fooled. Economists say there is really no reason to panic over this. The July inflation report came in cooler than expected. And the uptick was mostly driven by the comparison to a year earlier, when inflation had just started to cool off in very high levels.

Bank of America economist say that the latest inflation reading is encouraging and gives them confidence that the disinflation process is "not a headache".

Now, taming inflation could not happen soon enough for consumers. The typical U.S. household spent $202 more in July than they did a year ago to buy the same goods and services. That's according to Moody's Analytics.

The impact is even greater when you zoom out. Two years of high inflation has had a snowballing effect on family budgets. Moody's found that the typical household spent $709 more in July than two years ago. Again, that is to buy the same goods and services.

This is just another reminder of how important it is to get inflation back to healthy levels as soon as possible.

Rahel and Amara?

SOLOMON: And a lot of people will be happy to see that. Thank you, Matt.

Meantime, President Biden is preparing to highlight his move to expand background checks for gun buyers. It's all part of a major gun safety push that he's making for his 2024 reelection campaign.

[07:44:59]

WALKER: A multiple aides telling CNN, the executive action Biden's set forward in March to expand the federal licensing and checks required from gun sellers. It is now a central focus for the administration.

CNN's Jasmine Wright is in Washington with more. So, Jasmine, this moves the country as close to universal background checks without legislation. What more can you tell us about it?

JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, Amara. Well, looks like gun safety will be the latest frontier from the Biden campaign that they hope to use to galvanize voters ahead of 2024. Now, it's going to be punctuated by efforts on the official site, namely that executive order that you guys just talked about as White House aides are really trying to nudge it forward as it is still under an internal review process.

But this order signed back in March by President Biden after he visited Monterey Park, California, the site of those deadly mass shootings, it does a couple of things, including clarifying as appropriate the statutory definition of who is engaged in the business of dealing in firearms to expand the definition of which gun sellers are required to comply with federal licensing and background check requirements there, as you see on the screen. Now, this is something that has been long sought after by gun control advocates. And as you said, it gets President Biden closer to his goal of universal background checks.

Now, those who are advising the campaign also say that it does something that benefits President Biden. Also, it allows him and Vice President Kamala Harris to be able to contrast their own policies or what they see as extreme Republicans who are using their power to really block any sort of gun safety legislation that could potentially make the country safer.

Now, we saw this strategy demonstrated by Vice President Kamala Harris yesterday when she was at a gun safety conference in Chicago. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There are the people who are fearless and then there are people who are feckless.

It is interesting to me how some of the very people who refuse to engage in a meaningful debate and discussion on this, who refuse to pass reasonable laws are the same ones who talk about accountability all the time.

The hypocrisy of that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WRIGHT: Now, Amara, Rahel, I was in that room with Vice President Kamala Harris yesterday, and those who are in the audience, were loving everything that she was saying, which goes to show just why now, basically, every major gun safety group has now jointly endorsed the Biden campaign just this week.

Now, that's the campaign side. But on the official side, we know that as that internal review is still going, although aides hope that it will resolve itself quickly and be approved, they are planning mass events at the White House, and also across the country to try to show Americans just what President Biden is doing for them, as we again march towards 2024.

Amara, Rahel?

SOLOMON: The help season is upon us. Jasmine Wright, live for us there in Rehoboth Beach. Thank you, Jasmine.

WALKER: Sure is. All right. Well, what it's -- what's it really like in the post pandemic restaurant world? The Food Network's Bobby Flay, joins the whole story with Anderson Cooper to see how the industry is adapting.

Here is a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS BIANCO, CHEF AND OWNER, PIZZERIA BIANCO: Here come, check out tomorrow (PH).

BOBBY FLAY, CELEBRITY CHEF: Like so many in the restaurant industry --

BIANCO: We lose 1,000s of dollars a day.

FLAY: Chris Bianco was blindsided by the totality of the pandemic.

BIANCO: Many of our restaurants around the country are closed and many of us might not reopen.

FLAY: When you look at big moments like that, how do you face it? What do you do?

BIANCO: It was so not in our playbook.

FLAY: The guy who had started his pizza joint in the back of a grocery store in 1988, had by now expanded to four restaurants in Phoenix, Arizona.

There we go. We get a good shot there, because we have to bring it out. But there it is.

The first time I showed up at your place, the maitre d was telling people like showed up, it's four hours.

Now, I know you're used to this, but that's a remarkable thing to have on a constant basis. People in the waiting in line for four hours, for years and years and years to get your pizza. All of a sudden, pandemic hits. What do you guys do?

BIANCO: It was like a movie that we've never could imagine in this country. There was something that I didn't have a strategy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: Don't miss a new episode of the whole story tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, only on CNN. We'll be right back.

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[07:53:25]

WALKER: So, a turtle, who -- we're talking about a turtle.

SOLOMON: You know this is going to be good.

WALKER: It's not a joke. It's on the beginning of a joke. It's really a story somewhat. I mean, so, it took a free stroll through a South Florida power lifting gym, it gets tossed out. But it was the manager who really got a workout.

SOLOMON: Yes. So, the Port St. Lucie manager says that the video showing surveillance footage of how she coaxed the turtle out has now gone viral. And our Jeanne Moos was there to cover it. Enjoy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, this looks like a really nice gym.

JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This turtle didn't exactly inquire about a membership.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got some dumbbells, some benches.

MOOS: As it toward the Iron Knight Gym in Port St. Lucie, Florida, strolled right in through the open garage door.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And, oh, oh, I've been spotted. I've been spotted by a lady that's dressed in green, like me.

MOOS: The lady is manager Nikki Baker.

NIKKI BAKER, MANAGER, IRON KNIGHT GYM: It's a turtle. I don't know if I should pick you up. I don't want you to snap at me. And I don't want to hurt you.

MOOS: It was Nikki who added the turtle commentary, taking on the turtle with a towel.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you going to do? Are you going to dry me off? You will put it on me like a blanket? Tuck me in go night, night?

BAKER: You always think turtles are slow, but no, this guy was going.

MOOS: Seeking cover under equipment, inspired, perhaps, say commenters, by the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie,

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We must use stealth and cunning to infiltrate human world.

MOOS: The Infiltrator is a turtle known as the gopher tortoise. It's considered threatened. Conservationist, one Florida motorists to display it on license plates.

[07:55:05]

Someone wrote a five-star Google review of the gym from the turtle's point of view. "Even offered me one of their towels. However, I decided not to enroll because I am a turtle."

Nikki, pointed toward the exit as if she expected the tortoise to follow her finger that kind that did.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you shooing me? Are you shooing me you fricking walking muscle?

MOOS: Like a matador, waving it out the back door?

Jeanne Moos, CNN --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you shooing me you fricking walking muscle?

MOOS: New York. (END VIDEOTAPE)

SOLOMON: Do we -- do we think that the turtle got any gains? Like -- Was it an effective workout?

WALKER: I mean, I don't know if this would have been the right reaction, but I think I would have just picked it up and place it outside. But, I mean, hey, she was trying to be cautious.

SOLOMON: Your adventurous. I love it.

WALKER: I may have gotten, you know, some slack people if I did that. So, she probably did the right thing.

SOLOMON: That's good, so --

WALKER: Back after this.

SOLOMON: I saw a bird.

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