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150 Still Unaccounted For As Death Toll Rises To 11; Obama: Trump Broke "Tenet" Of Democracy With Election "Hooey". Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired June 29, 2021 - 06:00   ET

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

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[06:00:40]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. It is Tuesday, June 29th. I'm John Berman in Surfside Florida this morning, Eric Hill with me in New York.

And this morning the search and rescue operation at this collapsed condo building is entering day six. With teams continuing the agonizing task of combing through concrete and mangled steel, showers, thunderstorms expected to complicate the effort today. We just had a rain shower a few moments ago. The death toll now stands at 11 after the discovery of two more bodies, 150 people remain unaccounted for.

Now just two days before the building came down, a pool contractor snapped these photos of the basement garage. He shared them with the "Miami Herald" and says he was struck by the apparent lack of maintenance and the amount of standing water. Residents and a former worker tell "The Washington Post" that reports of leaks and flooding in the garage. They go back decades although it is not clear whether they contributed to the disaster.

Condo owners here recently approved $15 million dollars' worth of repairs to their building, with payments set to begin this week. Last night, the city of Miami Beach decided to deploy structural engineers to 507 buildings that are currently undergoing their 40 year certification process. It is just part of the effort being made up and down this coast at this moment.

Rosa Flores joins me now with more. And Rosa, these pictures that we saw in the "Miami Herald" at a contractor, the pool contractor, provided of what was going on underground at this tower. You know, what should we see in these photos?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There's several things because I think one caveat of that reporting according to reporting, damage report, that that was on the south side of the building. They knew that is north side of the building that actually collapsed, so that's important.

We were also learning more from a letter that was sent to residents about that assessment you were talking about just moment ago for $15 million. Now you and I were talking about the 2018 report yesterday, the assessment estimate in 2018 was $9 million. And this letter explains why it grew to 15 million. And it involves exactly the concerns that we've all been talking about, the major structural and integrity issues, including the waterproofing, which we discussed was beyond its useful life.

And so it explains that they were going to have to go under that building, John, and really replace the entire base in order for them to make these repairs. And it was going to be extremely expensive. Now we also talked about how because of waterproofing was beyond its useful life, the engineers warned that that could cause an exponential acceleration of the deterioration of the concrete.

Well, it's exactly what explains -- it explains in this letter, that that is exactly what happened and that's the reason, one of the big reasons why millions of dollars were going to have to be spent to repair this waterproofing in the garage area, which we've talked about.

And so this just gives us a clearer picture of the condition of the building before the collapse. And we know according to this letter that owners were going to start paying some of this money days after this collapse happened.

BERMAN: Yes, $15 million is a lot of money. And everyone in the building, every condo owner would be assessed a different fee. And I understand the fees that would be assessed with anywhere from $80,000 for a single bedroom unit to as much as $300,000. So this was going to hit them financially, each and every person who lived in that building.

FLORES: Absolutely. And when you think about what was transpiring in the years before this and the warnings from those engineers, it is really raising concerns around the county of Miami-Dade and in South Florida. We're learning that now inspectors are going out to these buildings all around. I mean you you've been here for other reasons, hurricanes and that sort of thing.

These buildings dot the landscape. There's a building literally all around the coast. And I can tell you from living here, a lot of these buildings on high tide, the parking garages gets filled of water --

BERMAN: Yes.

FLORES: -- on a regular basis. One other thing that's important to note about these pictures that the "Miami Herald" is reporting, CNN contacted the condo association to try to get comments regarding these pictures and they did not respond. However, an attorney for the condos did speak to CNN last night saying that she didn't think that the building was in disrepair that it survived --

[06:05:22]

BERMAN: Yes.

FLORES: -- 10 hurricanes and three tropical storms. But here we are, John.

BERMAN: Here we are. And again, one of the big questions is, were the things that everyone thought was OK, were they actually OK? Do we need to change the standards by which we judge this type of thing? Rosa Flores, thank you so much for your reporting on this.

The names of the 11 victims identified so far have now been released. They range in age from 26 to 82. They include a father of two and a mother whose 15-year-old son was found alive in the rubble. Also a couple that was about to celebrate their 59th anniversary. We're going to hear from their son and grandson later this hour on New Day. It's a deeply moving story.

And last night, there was a beachside vigil to remember the victims of the building collapse and to pray for those still unaccounted for, a man whose mother and grandmother is missing, holding out hope and demanding accountability.

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PABLO RODRIGUEZ, MISSING MOTHER AND GRANDMOTHER: It's shocking that they allowed it to get into this. It's just -- it's negligence. And their negligence caused a lot of death here. It's very difficult not knowing. And really the only hope I have is that they find them. We can have some kind of proper burial, some kind of closure and hope that they investigate this and the people responsible are held to be responsible, they're held to be accountable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Joining me now is Sinisa Kolar, he is a structural and forensic engineer who reviewed the 2018 engineering report that showed major structural damage at the Champlain Towers South Building. Sinisa thanks so much for being with us. I want to start. I know you've looked at the 2018 report. But since you reviewed that, we've seen these pictures in the "Miami Herald" of a pool contractor who went under the building, you know, saw many of the things described in that report, but maybe even a little bit worse. What do you make of those photos?

SINISA KOLAR, LOCAL ENGINEER WHO REVIEWED 2018 INSPECTION REPORT: Well, to be frank, I did not see the photos that were shared in "Miami Herald," so I wouldn't be able to tell you much about them. But the comments in that report, and I see a lot of people commenting a major structural damages in the report, I have to say that we have to be cautious with statements like that, because the statements in that report, the photographs in that report, depict what I would call something that I would expect to see on a building of this age, of this location.

I'm not saying that's normal, and we should neglect it. But it's a great leap of that report and the collapse of the building. We have to have bunch of dots in between to connect before we can, you know, make the connection between the two.

BERMAN: One of the things that came out of the "Miami Herald" report was there was a great deal of standing water, a lot of water more than they expected. And there was also a new report of "The Washington Post." I want to read you some of that, to give you a sense of how much water they were seeing. And this is from John Turis, a resident who was in Brooklyn at a time of the collapse, says quote, there was always water there, there was always water in the garage, there was always water leaking. It used to leak on my car all of the time.

And this is from William Espinosa who oversaw Champlain Towers maintenance, the water would just basically sit there, and then it would just seep downward. I'm talking about a foot, sometimes two feet of water from the bottom of the parking lot, the whole parking lot. So this is from a man who oversaw maintenance for five years. You know, we all know that water gets in a parking garage. He said there was much more than should have been there.

KOLAR: Well, definitely a foot or two feet of water is definitely something that is unexpected to see in the garage. The important part is where is that water coming from? Is it coming from the deck above? Is it coming as an underground water during the high tides and things like that? So those are some of the things that the investigative teams have to take into consideration while they are trying to determine the cause of the failure of building.

BERMAN: What can 40 years' worth of water like that in a basement or garage, what kind of damage could that cause?

KOLAR: Well, it could definitely cause problems for the columns in the garage, you know, corrosion and problems with spalling of concrete and all of that.

BERMAN: Cause of cracking in the concrete.

KOLAR: Yes. Well, the cracks, not to say the concrete always cracks but it's not unexpected for concrete to crack. The water, the salt water finds the way to the rebar, rebar corrodes, exposed the concrete to the column has reduced capacity and all that leads one to the other. However, again, I'm happy to refer back to the 2018 report, at least some of the photos or the photos in that report do not depict the damages in the columns that one would, you know, want to associate with that.

BERMAN: And just last question, this is a question that everyone's facing now, I think along the coast is, when does it go from a problem that needs to be addressed like you're suggesting the 2018 report indicated to a problem that needs to be addressed now?

KOLAR: Well, definitely engineer at the time. If they saw that the type of damages in the column this would be indicative of structural stresses, they would have to react immediately. I assume because they didn't, the damages at that time were not to such extent. But that's all speculation right now. We will not be read them to see what they're seeing.

[06:10:14]

BERMAN: All right, Sinisa Kolar thanks for being with us. I appreciate your time this morning.

KOLAR: Thank you very much.

BERMAN: Coming up, I'm going to speak with the attorney heading up the first class action lawsuit related to the collapse. What he says residents did and did not know about the damage in the building?

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Plus former President Obama criticizing Donald Trump warning about the urgent need to protect voting rights. Those brand new remarks next.

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BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In this election, what we saw was my successor, the former president, violate that core tenant that would count the votes and then declare a winner. And fabricate and make up a whole bunch of hooey.

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[06:15:07]

HILL: Former President Obama warning that efforts to protect voting rights are more important than ever in the wake of Donald Trump's continued lies or hooey as he said. Joining us now anchor of CNN's Early Start, Laura Jarrett and CNN law enforcement correspondent, Whitney Wild. Former President Obama definitely becoming more and more outspoken, I would say in the last several months. Did this, though, show us that he's going to be more involved moving forward in these conversations and perhaps even in the elections?

LAURA JARRETT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think to the extent that it is about voting rights, then obviously it's something that he cares about. You see him on the campaign trail, even last time, talking about voter suppression, talking about gerrymandering. It's obviously something that's a priority.

But I think, fundamentally, this is actually about more than just Trump. And every time he talks about Trump, obviously, that becomes the focus.

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

JARRETT: But I think it's about more than that. Because the connection, the connective tissue that he seems to want to make here is that the big lie then becomes the foundation for voting restricting laws across the country that we're seeing, right? And so it's about more than just 2020. It's about a power grab by GOP legislators in the states using that to say, OK, we actually need to make it so that you can't even pass out water or food at voting sites, which is something a little bit different that I feel like the focus has been on sort of the weakness of the GOP and how they sort of just been afraid of the President, as opposed to how they're actually using this for 2022 and 2024. HILL: Yes. And as you point out in a number of states, and it's not --

JARRETT: Yes.

HILL: -- just about the water that gets a lot of attention in Georgia, but it's about how power is being taken away from local state elect --

WILD: Yes.

HILL: -- local election officials.

JARRETT: Yes, right.

HILL: And the impact that that can have. It's also, I mean, look, we can't ignore it should not be about the former president, but he still has this hold over his party. And I think it's illustrative of what we saw at his rally in Ohio over the weekend, our good friend, Donie O'Sullivan, was there talking to some folks, and this is still out there. I just want to play a moment.

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DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That he could come back as soon as --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Before, before the middle August.

O'SULLIVAN: Well, what if that doesn't happen?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ha?

O'SULLIVAN: What if that doesn't happen?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to be in a civil war because the militia will be taken over.

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HILL: The militia will be taking over. I mean, these comments are so serious, because A, that person, was that man was saying it very seriously, B, we are still trying to figure out exactly what happened on January 6th.

WILD: Right. And where the threat lies? I mean, that's the question, when you see somebody say something like that, on social media that would -- it might fall flat. You know, an analyst might say, well, you know, that's just somebody sounding off on social media.

But now you see somebody like that saying it, you know, on now on national television. And the question is, well, where, you know, is this real? And who's going to perpetuate it? What does he know about, you know, potential violence? It just, it opens up a list of questions. I think that, you know, law enforcement hadn't seriously considered before, but now they have to, because so much was missed, leading up to January 6th. I mean, and now it's like, the threat is everywhere. And they're just trying to get a handle on what is, you know, what is real. Because it seems like, you know, things can just pop up in an instant.

HILL: Yes.

JARRETT: But it also makes you wonder, how do you counteract something like that, right?

WILD: Right.

HILL: Right.

JARRETT: If someone truly believes that, and let's take him at his word that he truly believes that. What number of fat checks is going to help something like that?

WILD: None. I mean none. It's not.

JARRETT: That's just it.

HILL: And also the fact checks are coming from places --

JARRETT: Right.

WILD: Right.

HILL: -- that likely A --

JARRETT: That they're not listening to.

HILL: -- they not listening to.

JARRETT: Right.

HILL: They're certainly not going to seek them out. It's interesting to in the wake of, right, learning that we now Speaker Pelosi announcing this January 6th, select committee, it's going to come with a lot of baggage, unfortunately, because of where we're at. But the fact that we're now moving toward this --

WILD: Right.

HILL: -- as all of the investigations are still continuing in terms of, you know, who was involved? Where does that put us, Whitney?

WILD: Well, it's a good question. I mean, I think, you know, at the end of the day, there are going to be people who are just adamant that this is partisan, and that's and they won't, no matter what the composition of the body is, it's going to be hard to extract the politics from it. Because I mean, I think, you know, January 6th is inherently political, and the fact that now we are in this place where Nancy Pelosi is basically choosing, you know, most of the committee with some, you know, input from the Republicans.

But people who, who don't believe this should be happening at all are not going to be convinced this is a political or that it's truly bipartisan. So, you know, it's, I think Democrats keep presenting Republicans this offer that they can't refuse, and they continue to refuse it in there box. And Democrats are boxing Republicans in to presenting themselves as people who just don't want to seek the truth. And so they, you know, I guess at this point, it seems to be an effective strategy.

JARRETT: And, well, there's still historical record to be made, right?

WILD: Right.

JARRETT: So even if certain members of the Republican Party don't want to get on board with the facts, she's I think, still trying to do this as the Speaker of the House, understanding her role. And remember, the interesting thing here is, if she pulls us off, they have subpoena power.

WILD: Right.

JARRETT: Right? That makes the -- I think that makes this whole thing way more interesting. You might actually get to hear what actually happened on that phone call between Kevin McCarthy and Donald Trump.

[06:20:05]

WILD: Right. And then --

HILL: And that's it. So many people do want to hear.

WILD: Yes. Oh, I'm sorry.

HILL: We're out of time. I have to leave it there. But thank you, Whitney, Laura.

JARRETT: We can talk to you all day.

HILL: Happily.

We are going to go back to Surfside live next, the search and rescue operations there now on day six. A former fire chief who searched the pile after 9/11 tells us what rescuers in Florida are going through right now.

Plus, Gladys and Antonio Lozano were just about to celebrate their 59th anniversary. The couple died in the condo collapse. Their son left them just hours before.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have -- I woke early in the mornings and hugged my mom good night, kiss my dad. That was it.

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HILL: We'll have more, just ahead.

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[06:25:09]

MAYOR CHARLES BURKETT, SURFSIDE, FLORIDA: The number one priority here is pulling these people out of the rubble. And we're going to focus only on that. The second priority is supporting the family. There's plenty of time for the investigation. But there's not plenty of time to save lives. And that's where I'm mostly focused on.

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BERMAN: That was the Mayor of Surfside, speaking to me last night, explaining that his main focus right now is on rescuing victims that may still be trapped in the pile of debris.

Yesterday, and other two bodies were pulled from the rubble bringing the total number of confirmed victims to 11, 150 remain unaccounted for at this moment. Let's get more now on the ongoing search and rescue operation. I'm joined by Dave Downey. He's the former Miami- Dade Fire Rescue Chief. And Dave, you've been on location every day, part of this search and rescue effort just. Give us a sense of what's going on there. And what it's like.

DAVE DOWNEY, FORMER MIAMI-DADE FIRE RESCUE CHIEF, HELPED AFTER 9/11: I mean, they are moving at the same tempo they did the day it happened. And crews are working around the clock. We've added additional crews. We have over 400 search and rescue personnel. At any one time, we've got six to seven squads operating. Their work cycles are 12 hours a day, while they're working on the pile. They work for 45 minutes, come off and put another team on. So it's constantly moving. So the tempo is continuing. We're still actively engaged in rescue operations, and doing everything that we can to find and bring closure.

BERMAN: This was a pancake collapse, you know, fell in on itself. How does that affect the search operation?

DOWNEY: Well, it's a devastating type of collapse. It doesn't lend itself to large void spaces that you'd see in a lean to or other V type collapse. But, and the concrete oftentimes is broken up a lot smaller. And so it's very difficult. You know, you see these bucket brigades up there. But keep in mind, we don't want to bring in heavy equipment with big grapplers to pull out large pieces, because we're looking for survivors. And we want to bring closure to these families.

BERMAN: You know, one of the things you're telling me the west side of the building is still standing.

DOWNEY: Yes.

BERMAN: And there has been some concern about the integrity of that building. What do they have lasers on it now to make sure it doesn't move?

DOWNEY: Absolutely. As part of the search and rescue teams, we have engineers that are trained to look at buildings, and they make the decisions of where we can work, where we can't work, or what we have to do to make it workable. They're monitoring the buildings all the time at from various angles, to look at just minimal movement of the building because, well, we don't have aftershocks like an earthquake, we're getting a lot of winds off the ocean. And there's constantly forces on that building.

BERMAN: One of the things that's asked every day in every one of these briefings is, is it still a search and rescue operation? When does it change to a recovery operation? And we're not there --

DOWNEY: We're not there.

BERMAN: -- yet. I mean, you still want to find survivors if they are there, there is still hope --

DOWNEY: Yes.

BERMAN: -- diminishing every day, but hope, what changes when it does become a recovery operation?

DOWNEY: Honestly, on this type of collapse, not much is going to change. We're going to maintain the same tempo. We're not -- we're going to ensure the safety of the rescuers. We may isolate some areas, so that we have to do a little more general debris removal in order to get into that. So really, there's not much changing, we're still going to work around the clock because our goal is to bring closure. If we can bring out survivors, that's the best thing. But if we can bring out victims that still will assist these families in this devastating disaster.

BERMAN: You worked after 9/11, the World Trade Center.

DOWNEY: Yes.

BERMAN: And that was a big part of it, you know, any kind of closure for the family it makes a huge difference.

DOWNEY: That's what these men and women are trying to do. Everybody out here and it's not just the search and rescue, the law enforcement that's helping us, the public works that's helping us dewater these areas and keep it as safe as possible. I mean, this is truly a team effort from the local to the state to the federal. We're seeing a total team effort here.

BERMAN: Listen, Dave, Chief, thank you for being with us and wish you the best of luck. Please give our best to the crews around that pile --

DOWNEY: Absolutely.

BERMAN: -- twelve hour shifts.

DOWNEY: I'll pass it along. Thank you.

BERMAN: Thank you. The Champlain Towers resident should have been home the night the building collapse, but he wasn't. And he has his girlfriend to think. He shares his story ahead on New Day.

[06:29:32]

HILL: Plus, former President Trump and other Republican's disparaging the military brass. So would Democrats get away with similar treatment of America's generals?

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