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Frantic Race for Survivors Underway in Condo Rubble; Biden Gets Infrastructure Deal. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired June 25, 2021 - 06:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

[05:58:48]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. It is Friday, June 25. I'm John Berman alongside Brianna Keilar.

You can see CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, on the scene in Surfside, Florida, watching the desperate search-and- rescue operation. We're going to get to Sanjay in just a minute.

Crews there have been working through the night to locate survivors in this devastating building collapse. Ninety-nine people -- 99 -- still unaccounted for this morning. We know at least one person is dead.

Rescuers are using dogs and listening devices to see any signs of life. We're expecting to hear from officials there shortly. We have this video that came in from inside a parking garage where rescuers have been focusing their search. Look at this. It is delicate work. It is dangerous work.

Structural engineers are working alongside -- along -- beside them to make sure that it stays safe, and there's not any further collapse.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: It all looks incredibly perilous, right, where they are right there? Surveillance video, as you can see here, shows the moment that this building collapsed.

This morning, we'll be talking to a number of experts who are attempting to figure out, to explain, how this might have happened. In the meantime, family members are holding onto hope, and they are desperately waiting for answers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My nephew was here with a wife and three -- four children. You know, I'm losing hope. I'm just asking God.

JOSH SPIEGEL, SON OF WOMAN MISSING AFTER COLLAPSE: My mom is an absolutely amazing person. She's a fighter, and she fights for every single one of us. And we won't stop, until -- we won't stop fighting until we find her.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: I want to get, now, to Sanjay and CNN correspondent Rosa Flores, also there at the scene of the building collapse.

Rosa and Sanjay, this is -- you know, this is heartbreaking to hear from these families. And there are still so many questions about what happened here.

GUPTA: No doubt, Brianna. And Rosa's been here since yesterday morning. It is tough, I just have to say, listening to those family members. I can't even imagine if your -- if you don't know, at this point. And that is the case for 99 people. They're still unaccounted for.

I -- I wonder, do we have any more insight, as to what, exactly, happened here, for starters?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, it's too early right now. The officials tell us that they're really focused on the search-and- rescue efforts, as you can see.

But if we can go back to 1:30, yesterday morning, and look at that video of the collapse, because that's really where it all started. And we're learning more from witnesses, from loved ones, about those panicking moments when people were trying to flee for their lives.

From talking to officials, fire officials here, they say that, when they arrived on scene, the first thing that they did was to start rescuing people from the building and, also, from the rubble. They pulled 35 people from the building. Two people, from the rubble. And, of course, we now know that one individual has died.

I talked to individuals from the -- from Jackson Memorial, Sanjay, and they say that they have surgeons here, waiting. And so, I was, actually, kind of curious. What type of -- of -- of injuries would they be expecting to see?

GUPTA: Yes.

FLORES: But there -- there's surgeons here, waiting, just in case they can find somebody alive.

GUPTA: These are some of the most complicated sort of search-and- rescue sort of missions. I've seen this in Haiti. And I keep sort of an eye on the clock. We're about 28 1/2 hours, now, since the building collapsed, and that's something that medical professionals are constantly thinking about, as well.

If there are people who are trapped, what sort of -- what's their medical condition? Are they -- are they crushed? Do they have crush injuries? Have they been in these pockets or voids that we've been talking about? They don't know. I mean, these are all sorts of considerations.

So it's one of these ideas that you want to have as many resources onsite, as possible. Even, possibly, placing IVs in people, while they're still -- you know, still being extricated, if needed. So, they just -- they have all this here.

When the rescue mission sort of started. I -- I guess they arrived right away. We're talking, again, 28 hours ago, now.

So, what was the first thing, after they started to search the rubble. Did they bring in other -- FEMA and other organizations here, as well, do you know?

FLORES: Yes, and -- and I've got to say that the members of the Miami- Dade Fire Rescue have responded to disasters around the world. So, these are very well-trained individuals that have done this, before. They've been to Haiti. They've been to Mexico City. They've been to other -- other places, so they're very well-trained.

And the way that an official explained it to me, Sanjay, is this type of work is so dangerous and so painstaking, they literally move, inch by inch. They move a piece of rubble. They're working with structural engineers to shore up the building, to build tunnels to go into the building to listen for signs of life.

So at some point, and I know you've probably seen this in other parts of the world, because I have, they will do an all-stop on operations, just to listen for signs of life. And they do believe that there are these voids that you were talking about. There's these voids where they think that there could be life.

But there are a lot of challenges, though. This is a residential building. So, as you might imagine, the pipes have burst. There are fumes. There's gas. There's also vehicles. So there's a lot that they're doing -- dealing with, as they're trying to find signs of life.

GUPTA: We are just about a block away, Rosa. And I -- as soon as I arrived here, I'm sure it was the same for you. You can smell the aftermath of this. It's the toxins, the heavy metals, whatever it is in the air. Smoke. You can have that smell. Again, it's a very similar smell to what I've seen after building collapses in Haiti and things like that.

I wonder if, you know, people who don't know this community, or don't know this area. You've lived in this area for these types of areas for a while. What is it like here? Who lives here? Is it likely the building was -- was full of occupants? Or not?

FLORES: You know, it's very typical, in South Florida, for buildings like this to have mixed, I guess, residence. People who live here permanently. So, families with children, senior citizens.

[06:05:06]

And then, also, people have vacation homes and/or snowbirds. It's very typical of this area. And so, at any point in time, it's difficult to say who's in the building, because there could be visitors that, you know, if you have a condo, you might let your friends borrow it, your family borrow it. And so, there is no easy way to have a list of individuals who are in

the building. That's why fire rescue was asking loved ones to fill out wellness forms. So, they can figure out how many people, exactly, were inside the building.

As of now, they're looking for 99. That's the mission that's going on behind us. Firefighters, on a race against time, trying to find life.

GUPTA: It's -- it's -- it's -- it's unbelievable work, and we're going to put a phone number up on the screen for people to call if they know -- if they know people who should have been in the building that are unaccounted for, still.

It's interesting. The part of the building that collapsed, as well, was facing the ocean. You can sort of see it, again, over our shoulders here. It's a little bit hard to tell, but it was the part of the building facing the ocean. I don't know if that's relevant or not. We're going to find out. Did that, somehow, contribute to this collapse? We'll see.

But, John, I mean, details obviously still coming in very slowly.

BERMAN: One of the questions will be, did the salt in the air, the water, the moisture, over the 40 years that this building was standing, did that play a role? We just don't know, at this point, yet.

We do know that the building was due for some refurbishing. Due for some maintenance at the 40-year mark, as required, frankly, by Florida law.

Stand by for a minute, guys. As you were describing these crews, they're going piece by piece through the rubble, looking for any signs, any signs, of life.

Now, as of now, we're told they have not heard voices, but they did hear some sounds.

Late last night, CNN spoke with Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR CHARLES BURKETT, SURFSIDE, FLORIDA: We did have a couple hits. We've had hits during the day. We pulled a little boy out. We pulled his mother out, I think.

It's -- it's very touch and go. It's raining now, which complicates the issue. And it -- that -- that is upsetting me, because it's going to inevitably slow down the process. But we are not going to stop.

In the United States, buildings just don't fall down like this. And there's a reason for that. And we've got to get to the reason, and we've got to understand what happened here, because this is not normal.

But today's not the day for that. Today is the day to try to save as many people as we can. There will be a time for that. And as soon as that time comes, we will be on that, like you can't believe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: We're back here in Surfside. And I'm joined now by Jeffrey Rose. Thank you for joining us. You're -- you're a general contractor. You've actually done work in this building.

JEFFREY ROSE, GENERAL CONTRACTOR: I've done some interior renovations. My parents own a unit in the building. They left last week. I've been here many times. They lived here for the last three months, actually. I've been doing some minor work on their apartment. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) haven't been able to get ahold of.

GUPTA: I'm so sorry.

ROSE: It's just been a terrible tragedy for a lot of people in the neighborhood.

GUPTA: You talked to your parents?

ROSE: Yes, informed them last night. They're holding up as well as they can. They've lost a bunch of friends.

GUPTA: I'm so sorry, Jeffrey. This is one of those things. No one, I think, it's safe to say, anticipated, expected, could have predicted this. You've done work in the building. I mean, do you have any --

ROSE: I've done floors, kitchens, bathrooms, in several of the units here. Never had seen any signs of anything out of the ordinary. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) lines.

Went down was the middle buildings that face the ocean. That's the area for the reroofing. At this point, there's only been reroofing work, that I'm aware, that was done. And then, the part that was still standing, I heard, is where they were going to be doing the rest of the work.

GUPTA: I've been all over the world covering disasters. I was in Haiti. And I remember one of the things that struck me was that building codes are just very different in different parts of the world. In Haiti, there really weren't much, in the way of regulations.

Here, in the United States, there's a lot. So when you just piece this together, I realize it's only been 28 1/2 hours, and everyone is still trying to figure this out.

But Jeff, having been in the building. It was the side of the building that was facing the ocean. Does any of this sort of -- are you -- are you piecing it together?

ROSE: No, I have no conclusion of what happened. I mean, Florida has one of the strictest-building codes because of the insurances and the hurricanes. Ever since Hurricane Andrew, they have really stepped up the building code down here. Everything, at this point, is speculation.

GUPTA: And -- and these buildings withstand hurricanes. So the -- the -- put a little microphone on you there. Help you out a little bit.

[06:10:07]

So -- so, when you -- your parents used to live in this building or -- or have a place in this building. What is the -- the nature of the residents? Do a lot of people come back and forth? Are there permanent residents here? Sorry, got a little bit of wind, guys.

ROSE: Yes, so it's a mix. The building was originally built 40 years ago. It was three friends out of Canada. So a lot of the people -- residents that live in the building are still Canadians, as well as new residents that purchased units.

Some of -- some of the original, actually, owners still have units in the building from -- passed down from generation to generation, but it is a whole different mix of unit owners here. I mean, everyone in this community, we're a small town of 6,000 residents. Everyone has some connection with somebody in this building. We're not a big city like Miami or Miami Beach. We -- you know, we're a small town here.

GUPTA: And -- and what is -- what is the neighborhood like here? I mean, I see little -- little shops and things like that. But what is -- what is it like?

ROSE: It's a family-oriented neighborhood. I mean, my son learned to swim in the pool at the building behind us. I had his 1st birthday there. I had my 35th birthday there. My son plays right behind us, tennis at the community center. This is a family-oriented town. This is a small, tight-knit community.

GUPTA: I'm sure you're talking to a lot of friends and neighbors who live here. Are you hearing anything else? And we're hearing, obviously, some of the details about the rescue mission here. But just in terms of how the community is responding?

ROSE: The community's been really good. There's been a lot of different chat groups and a lot of people really just want to know what they can donate, what they can do. They're opening up their homes. Like I said, everybody knows someone affected by this and knows somebody. So we are a very tight-knit community. And the school, the residents, the commissioners, everybody here is doing everything they can.

I mean, the town's staff has been working non-stop, trying to help everybody out. And, you know, we -- we all know somebody that's been affected by this.

GUPTA: So, so sorry. I mean, it just -- it's hard to hear these family members who really, at this point, they just have no idea. That uncertainty, I think, has got to be one of the hardest things.

So -- so, what -- what do you think is sort of unfolding now here, from just a -- this is your line of work, contracting work -- what do you think is unfolding here?

ROSE: I mean, right now, we're just hoping for the best. They are obviously searching through the rubble to see if they can, hopefully, find some survivors on those lines, which were the ones facing the ocean. The ones facing west on Collins are still standing, as of right now. And they're just hoping, you know, for a miracle right now, to find somebody. I know that.

GUPTA: All right. Jeffrey, please, stick around. You know, I would like to keep talking to you about this.

Brianna, you know, I don't know. We can hear the sounds of the work that's going on over here, behind us. There's water that is still being sprayed into the air over there. And some of that is -- there's, I think, small fires and things like that. They're trying to cool down aspects of the rescue mission.

These rescuers can only work in short bursts, because it is so -- such laborious work that they're having to do here. So, we're going to keep an eye on things. Brianna, Jeffrey will stick around with us.

Back to you for now.

KEILAR: All right, Sanjay. They are hoping for a miracle there in what is a very disastrous situation.

Each hour that passes, the race to find survivors is growing more desperate in South Florida. We'll have more on the challenges facing search-and-rescue teams, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:17:23]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DISTRICT CHIEF JASON RICHARD, MIAMI-DADE FIRE RESCUE: So, in this type of collapse, even though it is a pancake collapse. As the slabs of concrete slide and -- and move towards the ground, they do create voids. You know, as the rubble crushes and slabs of concrete land on top of it, there are definitely voids. So we are hopeful that we will find patients in those -- in those spaces.

GUPTA: Incredible, lifesaving sort of rescue missions going on right now, 28 1/2 hours, roughly, after this building collapsed. You can sort of see over my left shoulder. Light is starting to come out here so people are getting a better look right now at what has happened.

These missions that were just being described have been going on, obviously, since the collapse has happened, and it is painstaking work. People are coming up from all over the country to try and help.

Scott Goldstein is joining us now. He has done this kind of work for some time. He is the head of the Montgomery County Fire Department, and he is a specialist in urban search and rescue.

Scott, thanks so much for joining us.

SCOTT GOLDSTEIN, HEAD, MONTGOMERY COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT: Thank you, Sanjay, and good morning.

GUPTA: Good morning. Look. I mean, this is -- this is tough to talk about, Scott, but this is your world. You've seen a lot of this here. And I'm just wondering if you can give us some idea now, again, just over 28 1/2 hours into this, what is -- what is happening over here behind my left shoulder? How -- how is the rescue-and-search mission going?

GOLDSTEIN: Right. As your intro segment outlined, there are void spaces in that collapse. While part of that collapse may be a pancake, there may be a lean-to or "V" collapse. Different types of resulting- void spaces are created, all of which make survivable spaces.

And our hope, our continuous hope, is to locate victims alive. Remove those victims from the building. You talked about the -- the crush injuries and the crush syndrome. There are specialists there ready to treat those personnel. It's methodical, fast-paced, while, at the same time, deliberate and with planned pauses to ensure that we can continue our focus and not miss any signs and indications of a victim being trapped in the building.

GUPTA: When people have been using this term, this -- this pancake collapse. And my understanding, Scott, basically, that means the structural walls. The walls that provide structure to the building. Those are probably what failed, and that causes this sort of collapsing, as opposed to a cantilever or a lean-to where it may be one structural wall and you get these -- these other pockets. So, with a pancake, less likely to find these voids, is what you're saying, but still possible?

GOLDSTEIN: Correct. I mean, that video that Miami-Dade put out last night shows some void spaces in that garage area, shows that there's some large-metal structures that present structure support and stability to a void.

So there is a combination of all four type of collapses in that rubble pile. And each of those spaces provide opportunities for a survivable area. Seven-to-ten days, it's not uncommon for someone to be found alive, and removed from a horrific event like this.

And as Miami-Dade has been across the country and -- and across the world, in their role as search-and-rescue teams. They have been involved in this and they are highly-trained, and ready to do this work today and days to come.

GUPTA: I want to talk a little bit about that timeline. But as -- as this rescue mission is -- is under way, I hear about these terms. They have to break certain areas, breach into certain areas, shore up areas. How -- how potentially dangerous is this for the rescue workers, themselves?

GOLDSTEIN: Absolutely dangerous. The -- the -- the building is constantly shifting. The assault of that collapse changed that dynamic. The remaining building that's still standing is a concern and is being constantly monitored for any secondary collapses. As the rubble pile itself is being assessed and being moved, any push

here creates a reaction over there. And the guys and gals are making that assessment. They're placing wood and heavy timber in place. That's the shoring component.

To stabilize from a solid base, which is -- appears to be the lowest level, that parking garage up, as they go. And as they cut a hole or drill a hole in the concrete or remove a piece of furniture or a filing cabinet, that, then, creates a void, and they have to shore that.

But that's the work that they're doing to stabilize the building, as they go from areas where they can stand, to areas where they have to crawl, to areas where they have to skim around on their stomachs to make access. So, that's the shoring.

The weather last -- the afternoon is another example. That rainstorm that you had come through, that creates a different load of moisture, causing that rubble pile to be, again, more impacted, additional weight, and additional opportunities for concern.

GUPTA: Well, Scott, we'll let you get back to work. I mean, there are so many questions that still remain, John. You know, the impact of the weather, Scott was just mentioning. The fact that this part of the building was facing the ocean. Did that have a role?

And obviously, how these search-and-rescue missions are going to continue. The -- the various challenges they are going to have, John.

BERMAN: There was a fire on the scene, yesterday. Which you can believe, with all the gas lines open, the water mains.

Sanjay, we are expecting to hear from officials sometime, soon, this morning to get an update. An official update on what they say is going on there. So we'll get back to you in just a moment.

In the meantime, bipartisanship lives. Kind of. President Biden gets a deal on infrastructure. But can he get it through a polarized Congress and over the finish line?

KEILAR: Plus, Mike Pence didn't exactly knee cap his former boss, but without mentioning Trump by name, Pence called the plan to decertify the 2020 election un-American. We'll have the details and the possible fallout next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:27:51]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Neither side got everything they wanted in this deal. That's what it means to compromise. And it reflects something important. It reflects consensus. The heart of democracy requires consensus. As we've reaffirmed, once again, we are the United States of America. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: President Biden celebrating the bipartisan infrastructure deal. He had Democratic and Republican senators with him.

The president says he is optimistic it will pass, along with a parallel bill he hopes to push through with just Democratic votes.

Now, this follows the sweeping relief bill passed into law in March. So how does this compare to the legislative achievements of past presidents during their first year in office?

Joining us now, CNN Politics reporter and editor at large, Chris Cillizza. What do you got, Chris?

CHRIS CILLIZZA, CNN POLITICS REPORTER AND EDITOR AT LARGE: OK. So, John, the biggest thing that you noted there that's important is you're seeing a massive increase in federal spending.

From the coronavirus stimulus to if this infrastructure goes through, to what might be passed through reconciliation. Trillions of dollars in spending.

So let's look at what other presidents have done in their first year, because that's usually when we see a lot of action. All right. So we're going to start back with FDR. OK.

The New Deal. Obviously, he's coming -- he's trying to deal with the Great Depression. So he's coming out of that. So he has things like -- that you've heard of: the Civilian Conservation Corps, a sort of jobs program for 18- to 25-year-old men. Unemployment was rampant at the time.

Tennessee Valley Authority, economic redevelopment in an area really hard-hit. These are all things are historically important, right?

And Lyndon Johnson in 1965. He -- he is elected. The Voting Rights Act. Probably the single-most landmark piece of legislation, as it relates to voting rights. Some of which, by the way, is being rolled back in these last few years. But Voting Rights Act.

Now, I want to -- let me see if they gave me the power of the circle here. Yes, they did. OK. This is interesting. Ronald Reagan comes in. He -- he wins in a landslide. In 1981, he passes the massive tax cut. This is the start of Reaganomics. This is you're cutting the top rate way down from 70 percent to 50 percent. Put a pin in that, because I've got one more screen to show you.

You're going to see this pop up. Tax cuts pop up, again, with Republican presidents. Here it is. OK.

Quickly, Bill Clinton does the Family and Medical Leave Act. Obviously, a big deal.