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Rescue Efforts Continue in Surfside; Biden Orders Airstrike on Iran-Backed Militias; Current Deaths and Hospitalizations are Unvaccinated People; Rabbi Marc Philippe is Interviewed about the Condo Collapse; Bucks Rally to Take Lead. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired June 28, 2021 - 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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[06:30:06]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, I'm John Berman, live in Surfside, Florida.

The sun has just broken through after a pretty vicious downpour we had here, which is just one of the challenges facing the search and rescue crews that have been working around the clock for five days since the collapse of the Champlain Towers South building. Crews working frantically, believing that they can pull off a miracle, even as the hope for finding any survivors in the rubble fades with each passing hour.

These are the numbers we know at this time. Nine people are confirmed dead, 152 people still unaccounted for.

Joining me now is the Florida state fire marshal, Jimmy Patronis.

Marshal, thanks so much for being with us this morning. I appreciate all the communication you've given us over the last few days.

One of the developments over the last 24 hours is this trench that's been able to be dug through the work site. What does that provide the crews there?

JIMMY PATRONIS, FLORIDA STATE FIRE MARSHAL: It does like a fire break. It will break -- when -- since the trench has been in place, the fires have been really nullified. But it gives the men and women an ability to work and to get underneath some of the rubble through a different perspective. The trench is essentially in between the collapse between the two buildings that -- that failed.

BERMAN: And you were just telling me, they're pulling out enormous pieces of concrete.

PATRONIS: Yes. So, like, for example, one of the pieces they were able to pull out because of the trench weighed about 12,000 pounds. Once they pulled it out, the back side of this 12,000 piece -- pound piece was all scorched. That's where the fire was underneath. So, as they have been able to remove some of these, they have been

able to get some of the fuel out the system. And with the fuel going away, the fires are minimized and the work is more efficient.

BERMAN: The mayor here said, we don't have a resource problem, we have a luck problem.

And on the issues of resources, I've been down here covering hurricanes and disasters. I have never seen so many people on a scene before. I mean as far as the eye can see, you have people here working in the recovery. The search and rescue efforts.

PATRONIS: So it's the largest -- it's the largest effort we're had in the history of the state of Florida that's not been a hurricane. And I was sitting over here -- there's -- they're -- they're camped out. There's an encampment over here in this park. And I was sitting with task force four yesterday. And, you know, I -- this -- some of this is new to me. And I get to ask them, I say, hey, you know, what do you think about, you know, this is something I was thinking, I said, can you imagine how therapeutic it would be for everybody here when we pull somebody out and you see this look come over everybody's face. I mean so that's what -- that's what motivates these guys because the one is all it takes, you know.

BERMAN: Look, their job is to save lives.

PATRONIS: Yes.

BERMAN: That's what they do. You know, that's their food. That's their nourishment. So that's why they're there working so hard.

PATRONIS: It really is. It is.

BERMAN: And it is still a search and rescue operation, not a recovery operation. What would that change mean? I'm not asking you when they'll make it or what they're basing on it, but what would it mean once it's a recovery effort?

PATRONIS: So, look, they're -- they're continuing to -- to -- to do the rescue effort. Recovery is not part of their dialogue. It's not part of their mission.

And, you know, I was -- yesterday I spent about an hour just studying, watching them work and there's pockets. And as they -- what they'll do is they'll bore holes. From boring holes they'll put cameras. They'll bring dogs. If the dogs find something that makes sense, then it comes to dig out a bigger hole, put the dog in. And then the dog's reaction triggers where they go next.

BERMAN: So let me ask you, one of the things that we've learned over the last day is that there was this 2018 engineering report. And the people in the condo building, you know, to an extent knew that there were cracks there, there were repairs that need to be made. How concerned are you that maybe warning signs weren't heeded and how concerned are you about the safety of the other buildings in this area? PATRONIS: So, it's -- it will be unfortunate once everything's all

said and done if there were those warning signs that could have prevented this. But all I know is -- is debating the engineering report right now is not going to save lives as much as me putting 100 percent of my energy and effort into supporting these men and women.

BERMAN: Right.

PATRONIS: But, oh, it -- it -- it will be a great tragedy if they find that this could have all been avoided and -- and those families, what they're experiencing right now is so raw, you're -- it's not supposed to go through life feeling these type of pain.

BERMAN: And I get your focus very much on the present. But there is a present for the people in the buildings nearby.

PATRONIS: Absolutely.

BERMAN: So what -- what are you doing to reassure the people who live --

PATRONIS: So --

BERMAN: And, you know, and, again, there are condo buildings for hundreds of miles around the Florida coast.

PATRONIS: So -- so I do appreciate where Maria Cava (ph), you know, rolled out and said, you know, you're going to do an immediate inspection of all buildings, no -- no questions asked, that are over that 40-year-old threshold. And, you know, and I just spitball and I said, look, I said, how many times do you get to do an understanding or a survey of a failed building versus its twin when you've got one that -- that had failure and one that doesn't. So, some of that is taking place right now as we speak where building inspectors are studying the structure of the -- of the good building to, you know, be able to have a better understanding of why the other building failed.

[06:35:07]

BERMAN: Jimmy Patronis, fire marshal here, we appreciate all the work you've done. We appreciate all the communication you've given us. Let your crews, let everyone know that, you know, that we're behind them and that people appreciate the work that you're doing.

PATRONIS: Well, when -- what you're doing right now is -- is their wives and their kids are on TV and want to know what's up with their -- their spouses. And you're putting a reality that -- that good is being done. And I just appreciate you, you know, keeping people's hope up.

BERMAN: Well, they're trying.

PATRONIS: Yes.

BERMAN: I mean, they're trying so hard there.

Thank you, sir, I appreciate it.

So the community here, as you can see, the entire community here at Surfside and Miami-Dade and Florida, the country rallying together as desperate families wait for answers. I'm going to speak with a local rabbi, coming up.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, new analysis shows nearly all recent coronavirus death in the U.S. are among unvaccinated Americans. The details are next.

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HILL: Breaking overnight, President Biden ordering air strikes against facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups on the Iran/Syria border.

[06:40:04]

And we're learning the strikes have already turned deadly.

CNN's Arwa Damon is live now with the very latest.

Arwa, good morning.

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

And worth reminding everyone that these militias that are being targeted are Iraqi militias, even though the locations of these targets were both inside Syria and Iraq.

Now, one of these Iranian-backed Iraqi militia groups has put out a statement saying that some of its own members were, in fact, killed in these strikes, vowing revenge, and that America would be seeing death itself.

Of course it's hardly the first time that Iraq has found itself as the proxy battlefields between Iran and the United States. There have been repeated, various different types of attacks against U.S. military, U.S. personnel, U.S. installations inside Iraq. This has been going on for years now.

But what we have been seeing as of late is that a number of these strikes are being carried out by unmanned aerial vehicles. In other words, drones. And to that effect, there was actually in mid-June a propaganda video that was put on one of the telegram channels that is linked to these Iranian-backed militias that showed quite the display of the type of technology that these militias have at their disposal.

Now, the Iranian spokesperson for the foreign ministry has called this U.S. strike destabilizing. Iraq has called it a violation of its sovereignty. And Iraq really is unable to, at this stage, extract itself from the ongoing tensions between the United States and Iran. And many would actually argue that until the U.S. and Iran can sort out their differences in a productive manner, Iraq is always going to end up caught in between these two powers. And Iraq's instability, that is not something that this region can afford. HILL: Well, that's for sure.

Arwa, thank you.

Meantime, here in the U.S., concern is growing for unvaccinated Americans as the delta variant continues to spread. As of this morning, 46 percent of the population is fully vaccinated. Dr. Anthony Fauci stressing that nearly all coronavirus deaths and hospitalizations right now are among the unvaccinated.

CNN's Elizabeth Cohen joining us now with the very latest.

Elizabeth, good morning.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Erica.

When we look at the deaths and we look at the hospitalizations in this country, what we've heard from Dr. Fauci and others is that they are almost all in unvaccinated people. For example, if you look at Los Angeles County has data, like 99 percent of hospitalizations and deaths have been among unvaccinated people. And so the only conclusion you can draw from that is, get yourself vaccinated.

And if you want to get your children vaccinated, ages 12 and up, well, we've -- we've been looking at a calendar and we've been looking at some data and, guess what, I know it sounds crazy, we're on in June, it's not even the Fourth of July holiday weekend yet and you have to start now, really this week, in some parts of the country. And that's because in some parts of the country, they start school quite early, for example. In Atlanta, Georgia, August 5th.

So let's take a look at a calendar and this will sort of lay it all out there.

So, July 1st is this week. August 5th is the first day of school for places like Atlanta and other places across the country. So, that means you need to be getting your first shot on July 1st, your second shot on July 2nd in order for your child to be fully vaccinated by the start of school. We have a little more time if your school system doesn't start on August 5th. But, really, not much more. So if you want your 12 to 15-year-old vaccinated in time, you need to get going.

And, Erica, I want to show you what those vaccination rates look like. And I have to say, it is not a pretty picture. Look at this graph. Twelve to 15, it started like gangbusters in May when the CDC gave the green light to do it. Then there were reports about a link to myocarditis and the vaccinations, which I'll get to in a minute, and those numbered plummeted and they never really recovered.

What we know about myocarditis, which is an inflammation of the heart, is that, yes, it's extraordinarily rare. Sometimes it does happen to young people. But, again, very, very rare. Usually very, very mild. And the kids recover quickly. The COVID itself is way more of a risk to your adolescents than this vaccine. This vaccine could change your child's life. Erica.

HILL: Yes, your risk of not having the vaccine far greater as we learned from a number of (INAUDIBLE).

Elizabeth, thank you.

New details just in on the Florida condo collapse. Engineers now saying where the possible breaking point was located.

[06:45:04]

Plus, we have new details about a so-called QAnon shaman who took part in the Capitol siege. Why he's now preparing to take a competency exam.

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BERMAN: I'm John Berman, live in Surfside, Florida.

Behind me, not far, is the worksite where rescue teams are still digging through the rubble looking for possible survivors, holding out hope even five days after the collapse of the Champlain Towers South.

So this area is a melting pot. You have, you know, Floridians, you have snow birds, you have Latinos, you have people from South America, a large Jewish community here in this neighborhood. Two people still unaccounted for in the Surfside building collapse are congregants of Temple Emanu-El, whose members have been anxiously waiting for any kind of news of friends and loved ones. Two congregants.

[06:50:00]

But that doesn't begin to cover it because everyone there, almost everyone, knows somebody, has a friend, a relative who was affected.

I'm joined now by Rabbi Marc Philippe. He is a rabbi at Emanu-El.

Thank you so much for being with us, Rabbi.

As I said, two congregants who are unaccounted for, but that just scratches the surface here.

Do you have any news?

RABBI MARC PHILIPPE, RABBI OF TEMPLE EMANU-EL MIAMI BEACH: We don't have any news, unfortunately. And there's a great sense of hopelessness. And people are waiting and people are still hoping.

You said that services this weekend were extraordinary. Why?

PHILIPPE: Well, there was a great heavy cloud in the sanctuary this weekend because everybody that came, like you mentioned, either knows someone that has a very close friend or a relative and is still waiting for news. And so when you have this sense of hopelessness, you need to -- to -- you need to feel that you're actually doing something. And so we had this special prayer service, especially for that. So I'm pleased they know that spiritually they're participating also.

BERMAN: So much of the Jewish faith is about hope in the face of extraordinary adversity.

PHILIPPE: Yes, absolutely.

BERMAN: But how do you hope? How do you talk about hope with the people in your congregation five days later when they have seen no signs of life?

PHILIPPE: This is a very good question. You need to always -- always instill the sense of hope in the -- in the people. The -- the anthem -- the national anthem of the state of Israel, the homeland, is actually (INAUDIBLE), the hope. You always have to hope. This is the basic -- the basis of faith in the divine and the creator that there is -- there is a purpose for everything, even when you don't see it. And -- and as long as you don't know for real, for sure, there is always hope.

BERMAN: What are your congregants asking you?

PHILIPPE: They're asking how to help. You need to -- when you're in this situation, you need to feel that you're doing something physically, not only spiritually, physically. What can we do? The moment we found out what happened, we set up a task force and people responded immediately with an outpouring of help of goods, of financial help. We know, for example, the Jewish -- the Greater Miami Jewish Federation is collecting funds. And 100 percent of these funds go where the help is needed.

BERMAN: Any anger? Any frustration? And, if so, at what or at whom?

PHILIPPE: There is -- there is despair, anguish, anger. These are all the feelings that you have when you experience such a situation. When you know -- when you think that your close friend or relative has passed, then you have all these emotions going -- coming to you. And where the blame is, it depends of who the person is, either the management of a -- of a -- of the building or sometimes they blame God. Sometimes they don't know who to blame. And so this is where the feeling of hopelessness is. And this is where the congregation is there to be there. You need to listen with your soul.

BERMAN: Listen with your soul.

I know you're going to go meet with people who have been working there, including maybe even the Israeli team that's now there in this rubble.

PHILIPPE: Yes.

BERMAN: Rabbi Marc Philippe, thank you for joining us this morning. Please let your congregation know that we're thinking about them.

PHILIPPE: Thank you. Appreciate it. BERMAN: Appreciate the work you're doing.

PHILIPPE: Thank you.

BERMAN: Coming up, I'm going to speak with a teenager who not only witnessed the collapse out her window, but is best friends with a teen who was pulled from the rubble alive.

HILL: Plus, a massive pileup at the Tour de France and a fan is to blame. We have those details ahead in the "Bleacher Report."

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[06:58:07]

HILL: The Bucks rallied to beat the Hawks in the NBA playoffs.

Andy Scholes has more in "The Bleacher Report."

Andy, good morning.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Erica.

So things were looking great for the Hawks early in game three last night. They were up by 15 in the first quarter, but bad news struck for them in the third. Trae Young just stepping on an official's foot, injuring his right ankle. Trae was able to stay in the game but just wasn't himself the rest of the way. He finished with 35 points. Khris Middleton, meanwhile, just taking this game over in the fourth. Middleton had 20 in the quarter, outscoring the Hawks by himself. Bucks win game three, 113-102 to take a 2-1 lead in that series.

All right, French authorities, meanwhile, are searching for the woman who caused a massive crash at the Tour de France on Saturday. The woman held out a giant sign for TV and one of the riders collided with it, crashing, then many others crashed into him. The race was held up for several minutes and one rider who was injured in the crash withdrew from the race.

All right, four-time Olympic gold medalist Serena Williams will not be adding to her total this year. She said she's opting out of the Tokyo games. Serena's going to look to win a record tying 24th major and eighth Wimbledon title starting tomorrow.

Simone Biles, though, meanwhile, will be representing Team U.S. She locked up her spot at the U.S. Gymnastics Olympic trials in St. Louis yesterday. Biles looking to add to the five medals she won in Rio.

And, in the meantime, Sydney McLaughlin breaking the world record in the 400 meter hurdles last night to qualify for her second Olympic games. She's the first woman ever to break the 52-second barrier in the race, topping Dalilah Muhammad's previous record of 52.16. Muhammad finished in second. Both of those women will be the favorites to medal in Tokyo.

All right, NEW DAY continues right now. [07:00:00]

BERMAN: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. It is Monday, June 28th. I'm John Berman in Surfside, Florida. Erica Hill with me in New York this morning.