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CNN This Morning
Violent Storms Kill At Least 18 People in the U.S.; Trump Heckled By Raucous Crowd at a Libertarian Convention; Devastating Landslide Causes Thousands to Be Buried in Papua New Guinea. Aired 5- 5:30a ET
Aired May 27, 2024 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:00]
JESSICA DEAN, ANCHOR, CNN THIS MORNING: It is Monday, May 27th, Memorial Day. And right now on CNN THIS MORNING, over 100 million Americans facing severe weather this Memorial Day after a weekend of violent storms killed at least 18 people.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The libertarian party should nominate Trump for president of the United States, wow.
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DEAN: Donald Trump heckled and booed at the libertarian convention as he prepares for the resumption of his hush money trial. And more than 2,000 people believed to be buried alive by devastating landslide in Papua New Guinea. It is -- it is 5:00 a.m. here in Washington, that is a live look at Capitol Hill on this Memorial Day. Good morning, everyone, I'm Jessica Dean in for Kasie Hunt, it is great to be with you.
And right now, the severe weather threat continues for a lot of America on Memorial Day. More than 120 million people are at risk of intense storms, much of it now concentrated over the east coast. This after dangerous and deadly storms ripped across four states this weekend, killing 18 people in Texas, seven people killed including two young children after a tornado flipped 18 wheelers, brought down trees and power lines, and trapped more than 60 people inside what's left of that gas station?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Coming back to this location right now for the first time, knowing that I was just here and it's all destroyed is mind-blowing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm still trying to process it. It's shock. Just everything you have, worked so hard for all these years is gone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: In Oklahoma, officials say two people are dead, 23 others injured. Storms leveled homes and left widespread damage there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, he's worked so hard on that room.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They both worked their butt off for this house, I feel really bad for him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: Eight people were killed in Arkansas where a state of emergency remains in place this morning. And it's all that remains -- look at this, of a strip mall that ripped through the town of Rogers. Meteorologist Derek Van Dam is tracking all of it. Derek, now we wake up on this Monday and the storms are headed east.
DEREK VAN DAM, METEOROLOGIST: Yes, that's right, Jessica. Happy Memorial Day. My heart breaks for the people who were impacted this weekend, just seeing that devastating footage, those are people's homes, people's livelihoods, and of course, we think of those directly impacted.
This is just one of the over 1,000 reports of severe weather, several dozen tornadoes that respond through the course of the weekend. And now, that threat shifts eastward as Jessica just mentioned. And this is a large population density under a slight risk, that's a level two of five from the Storm Prediction Center including much of i-95 corridor, New York, Philly, Washington, Richmond, all the way to Atlanta and Montgomery.
There is an immediate severe weather threat that's happening right now as we speak. You can see this line of severe thunderstorms moving through parts of the south and we do have tornado watches that are ongoing through about 6:00 a.m. this morning, most of these are severe thunderstorm warnings.
There was a tornado warning that has just been allowed to expire north of Birmingham, but remember, this is an area that was hit hard by tornado emergencies a couple of weeks ago. So, this severe weather threat just seems to just last and last and last, and unfortunately, it's going to continue into the day-to-day, ending off this long Memorial weekend.
Here's our greatest risk of tornadoes that is across the Mid-Atlantic, so, heads up, have a plan, be sure that you can get into shelter and seek shelter if indeed a tornado warning is issued. So, here it is. This is since Friday, I mean, this just covers the map, I've never seen anything like this. That's over a 1,000 reports, 58 tornadoes since Friday, now that's not to mention what's happened earlier this month.
The system is finally going to exit off the east coast tomorrow after the long holiday weekend, not before producing a lot of rain and the potential for some flash flooding across the northeast. And then we have the potential for more severe weather tomorrow as another storm system starts to develop, there it is into Texas, that is our next severe weather, chances for the day tomorrow.
But again, our focus today to end off the long holiday weekend along the eastern seaboard. Jessica?
[05:05:00]
DEAN: All right, such an act of season. Derek Van Dam --
VAN DAM: Really --
DEAN: Thanks so much.
VAN DAM: OK --
DEAN: Donald Trump's signature rallies usually feature a friendly crowd full of his supporters. But this weekend, he pitched himself to a different audience, and it was a very different scene.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The libertarian party should nominate Trump for president of the United States, wow, that's nice.
(BOOING)
Only do that if you want to win, if you want to lose, don't do that. Keep getting your 3 percent every four years.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: Those boos coming from attendees at the Libertarian National Convention. Trump was heckled multiple times during one of his shortest campaign speeches to date. It is unusual for a presumptive Republican nominee to even be at a libertarian convention. Trump's attendance highlights the campaign's growing concern over third-party candidates.
And joining us now, D.C. correspondent for "The Nevada Independent", Gabby Birenbaum. Gabby, great to have you here this morning, good morning.
GABBY BIRENBAUM, D.C. CORRESPONDENT, THE NEVADA INDEPENDENT: Good morning --
DEAN: On this Memorial Day --
BIRENBAUM: It's a happy day.
DEAN: First up, here we see him walk into this. They knew it wasn't going to be the friendliest of crowd --
BIRENBAUM: Right.
DEAN: Why do you think he was there? What does it say to you that he went there on Saturday?
BIRENBAUM: I think it shows that the Trump campaign is taking third- party candidates seriously, right? I mean, in 2020, we saw the libertarian nominee get about 1 percent of the vote, and there were states that he lost by less than a percent -- Georgia comes to mind, right? So, I think it both shows that they seriously want to pursue these libertarian votes.
And maybe misunderstood exactly who that audience was, right? It's been quite a while since he's been in a room where he had to mix it up and go back and forth. Yes, get this --
DEAN: Absolutely, we haven't seen that in a very long time --
BIRENBAUM: Quite a while.
DEAN: Yes. We also know that there's really one third-party candidate that they're particularly concerned about, that would be Robert F. Kennedy Jr. They kind of went after each other this weekend, and I think we have clips we can listen to.
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ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., INDEPENDENT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: With the lockdowns, the mask mandates, the travel restrictions, President Trump presided over the greatest restriction on individual liberties this country has ever known.
TRUMP: RFK Jr., I call him Junior -- by the way, he's radical-left. Don't think about it, don't waste your vote. We need a conservative person with common sense --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: And that was obviously from when he was with the NRA last week, and now neither of them won the libertarian's nomination, which is worth noting. But do you think this is working in terms of the Trump campaign is obviously trying to get the message across to its supporters to stick with him, not go to RFK Jr. Do you think that message is landing?
BIRENBAUM: Yes, I mean, that's hard to say. I think what's so confusing about RFK Jr. as a candidate is that you see polls where he polls from Biden, you see polls where he polls from Trump, when you do that full ballot test, it's really unclear. I think exactly how big of a spoiler he can be, and who he will spoil.
But given that he's getting up to like 15 percent, 16 percent in some polls, and the margin of error, like I mentioned in some of these states is less than a percent. I mean, that's pretty significant. And so, I think both campaigns you see are concerned about the threat he poses, particularly when you look at that libertarian convention.
Libertarians, you know, have real issue with Trump and the way he handled COVID. You saw Kennedy tried to hit on those themes, of course, he got something like 19 votes in the first ballot, right, for the Libertarian Convention. So, it doesn't seem like either of them really won over -- at least in terms of the ballot test on the floor who they were hoping to win over. But yes, I think that third party vote, both parties -- both candidates are looking at that pretty seriously.
DEAN: And I think let's illustrate that because we have a Marquette poll that shows kind of what you're getting out, which is what we see Donald Trump with 40 percent, Joe Biden, 37 percent, and then Robert -- I mean, 17 percent is a pretty big pool when you're talking about, you know, a very small margin, the race will likely be won on the margins in some of these swing states.
BIRENBAUM: Yes, I mean, the fact that one in five voters would go for a third-party candidate when I think most voters know that, you know, he's not going to win the White House, right? That really says something. I think what's important to note, right, is we're still about six months from the election.
And I imagine as we get further into the Summer and particularly the Fall, it'll probably crystallize to some voters that look, it's either going to be Biden or Trump in the White House. And so, what am I doing with my vote here? And I think that was the point Trump tried to make at this convention when he said, if you guys want, you know, your 3 percent, referencing Gary Johnson in 2016, get your 3 percent. But if you want to get rid of Biden, I'm the choice.
DEAN: Yes.
BIRENBAUM: So, the question is, do they want to get rid of Biden or do they hate Trump just as much?
DEAN: Yes, and I have to ask you while you're here because Nevada is going to play such a key role -- how are things shaping up? You're talking to people on the ground there, that's going to be one of the key states that we're watching. What's your sense of, again, it's only being made?
BIRENBAUM: Yes --
DEAN: What's your sense of where the winds are blowing there right now?
BIRENBAUM: It's so hard to tell, right? Because that "New York Times" poll that came out that everyone was talking about, I think had Trump like plus 12.
DEAN: Yes.
BIRENBAUM: And then "Bloomberg" poll came out the next week, had them dead-even. So, it's really a hard state to poll. I mean, it's a really transient population, people come and go. People don't answer the phones that are working night shifts, things like that.
[05:10:00]
Even in the "New York Times" where I believe they had Senator Jacky Rosen who is running for Senate, I believe still winning, that should be, I think a level of ticket-splitting that's unheard of.
DEAN: Right --
BIRENBAUM: So, it's hard to say exactly, I think the sense on the ground there is the Trump campaign is winning right now, but it's certainly not being written off. The Biden campaign has way more resources invested on the ground, and it might come down to, can they out-organize what right now appears to be more momentum for Trump?
DEAN: Right, and there's always talk of, is the Harry Reid machine still in effect?
BIRENBAUM: It's kicking, it's alive and kicking, you know --
DEAN: Yes, it's alive and kicking. That's going to be such an interesting one to watch, all right, Gabby, thanks so much for being here this morning --
BIRENBAUM: Thanks for having me --
DEAN: Good to see you. Coming up next --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MAYHEM)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: An Israeli strike killing dozens in a camp in Rafah that may have been designated as safe zone for displaced people. Plus, the final stretch of Donald Trump's hush money trial, closing arguments set to begin very soon. And a former soap star killed on the streets of Los Angeles.
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[05:15:00]
DEAN: More bloodshed in Rafah after Israeli strikes on a camp for displaced Gazans, saying it killed two senior Hamas officials in that strike.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SIREN BLARING)
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DEAN: The Hamas-run Health Ministry saying at least 35 people were killed in the strike, mostly women and children were wounded. It came shortly after Hamas fired a barrage of rockets at Tel Aviv for the first time in months. Gaza authorities say the camp had been designated by Israel as a safe zone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YOAV GALLANT, MINISTER OF DEFENSE, ISRAEL: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: Nada Bashir is in London this morning with the very latest. Nada, what are you learning?
NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Well, we are seeing more distressing video emerging from Rafah after Sunday evening's attack. Those strikes taking place in an area which was known to be densely populated by civilians. This was the Tel es-Sultan neighborhood of Rafah.
This was not one of the areas that was issued with evacuation orders by the Israeli military. This was supposed to be a safe zone, but clearly, that was not the case. Now, the Israeli military says it was targeting what it describes as a Hamas compound.
As you mentioned, Jessica, they say they killed two Hamas officials, but as we have seen, dozens of civilians have also been killed, dozens more, according to authorities on the ground have been severely injured. The Health Ministry saying there are no hospitals in Rafah with the capacity needed to treat the number of casualties from the incident last night.
And we have seen horrifying, distressing video emerging, tents engulfed in flames. Of course, this was an area which was housing thousands of Palestinians displaced to the southern city of Rafah. We've seen videos emerging of charred bodies, including the bodies of children being pulled from burning tents.
Many of the videos that we have received from our colleagues on the ground are simply too distressing to show on air. So, you can imagine the horror on the ground. We've heard from the Palestinian Authority as well as Hamas, both not only criticizing and condemning the Israeli military's actions, but also criticizing the Biden administration for -- in their words, facilitating Israel's actions in Rafah.
And of course, we have heard from Biden in the past speaking to CNN, saying that he could not support Israeli actions in Rafah without the protection of civilians. Whether or not this particular incident is a red line for the Biden administration, that remains to be seen.
DEAN: All right, Nada Bashir with the latest for us from London, thank you so much for that reporting. Up next, another flight with severe turbulence leaves passengers injured, plus, the search for survivors after a deadly landslide in Papua New Guinea.
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[05:20:00]
DEAN: More than 2,000 people may be buried after a massive landslide Friday in Papua New Guinea. Rescue teams still searching with hopes of finding more survivors, but the highway to the area has been cut off, making access extremely difficult. Officials say heavy rains and a recent earthquake may have triggered the landslide.
CNN's Ivan Watson is joining us now live from Hong Kong with more on this. What's happening on the ground there, Ivan?
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, Jessica, this landslide happened at the worst possible time. It was about 3 O'clock in the morning local time when this mountain basically collapsed on a network of six rural, remote highland villages.
CNN has been monitoring it since the initial disaster took place, but it wasn't until three days later that the government of Papua New Guinea now has put out estimates that more than 2,000 people could be buried underneath the rubble, which I think highlights the fact that the scale of the disaster was not entirely clear to people, and also how difficult it is to reach this place with the main road being cut off by the initial landslide. Take a listen to what one grieving survivor of this disaster had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I have 18 of my family members buried under the debris and soil that I am standing on. And a lot more family members in the village I cannot count. I am the land owner here. Thank you to all those who have come to help us. But I cannot retrieve the bodies, so, I'm standing here helplessly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: So, the Papua New Guinea government has put out a written appeal asking for additional help, even though it's had its disaster management people on the scene really since Friday. It still says it needs more help, complicating matters to the fact that the terrain is still unstable after this much earth has moved, after it's been made unstable by rainfall, it's in an earthquake prone area.
[05:25:00]
They say that it's not safe to bring in rescuers nor to bring in heavy machinery to do the digging that might be necessary here. And an additional factor is that you've had two warring tribes that have been engaged according to aid workers in deadly violence since the landslide in a village on the road to the disaster area. And that puts an additional risk to the aid convoys trying to reach the area. Jessica.
DEAN: A difficult devastating situation there, Ivan Watson, thanks so much for that reporting. Twenty four minutes past the hour now, and here is your morning round-up. Another scary moment in the air as 12 people were injured after severe turbulence hit a Qatar Airlines flight to Dublin. That incident coming just days after a man died on a flight due to turbulence,
A former "General Hospital" actor fatally shot in downtown Los Angeles. Johnny Wactor was killed Saturday night when he walked up on an attempted robbery. Police say three men were trying to steal a catalytic converter Saturday off his car. One of them then pulled out a gun and shot him before driving off, he was 37.
A very busy travel weekend for this Memorial Day holiday, and it's not over yet. AAA predicting that this will be the busiest nearly 20 years with over 40 million people flying or driving to their destination. Still ahead, how politics is preventing a solution to the crisis at the southern border. Plus, the reigning National League MVP loss for the season with a torn ACL.
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