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CNN: Condo Board Warned of Need for Repairs in April Letter; CNN Obtains Letter Detailing Decay at Condo in April 2021; CNN Joins Inspectors Surveying Other Florida High-Rises; Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Condo Association; Los Angeles County Urges Masks as Cases Surge; As Variant Spreads, Los Angeles County Urges Indoor Masks; Study: Vaccines May Offer Long-Term Protection; United Airlines Announces Biggest Plane Order in History; United Plans to Add 25,000 New Jobs Over Next Five Years. Aired 7:30-8a ET.

Aired June 29, 2021 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

RICK DE LA GUARDIA, ENGINEER: From 2018 until now conditions could have occurred that exasperate it to put it into dire straits.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well that's the thing, I mean in 2018 it was bad -

DE LA GUARDIA: Yes.

BERMAN: -- they said it needed repairs and the idea that it got worse from 2018 to 2021, that's three years were things get that much worse and that warning went out in just April. All the reporting this morning indicates a lot of water, right, we have this "Miami Herald" report where they spoke to a pool contractor who looked underground there and saw a lot of standing water. "The Washington Post" reports this morning it has talked to people in the building and there's water in all these buildings in the garages.

(CROSSTALK)

DE LA GUARDIA: Right.

BERMAN: This was apparently, according to them, an unusual amount even when it wasn't raining. What does that tell you?

DE LA GUARDIA: Well actually I read that report and I saw the pictures. What I saw in those pictures actually was more worrisome to me than the original 2018 report. The level of spiraling (ph) and deterioration on the beams that I saw, if the pictures are proven true and correct, was more significant, in my opinion, than what I saw in the 2018 report. Water certainly is not a friend -- especially salt water is not a friend of concrete and steel with respect to corrosion. So, yes, it will exasperate the issue.

BERMAN: What are the different ways that water can get into a building like this? That much water at unexpected tides (ph)?

DE LA GUARDIA: Well there's the king tides and they'll come from underneath the foundation. But what water, especially salt water, does is concrete is porous and the water's going to get in there and it's going to corrode the steel, the steel's going to expand, it's going to crack the concrete and it's going to continue. Unkept, unmaintained it could cause a failure of a column or a beam.

BERMAN: I mean you've been talking to us for the last few days, based on this condo letter -- this condo board letter we're now seeing this morning, does this change or reshape your view of what's going on here?

DE LA GUARDIA: It actually emphasizes my view. I've said all along I being I said it on yesterday's show that the building had been poorly maintained and I think this letter indicates that.

BERMAN: Rick De La Guardia, thanks so much for being with us this morning and helping us understand what we're now seeing revealed this morning.

DE LA GUARDIA: You're welcome.

BERMAN: The Surfside disaster is raising concerns about the safety of high-rise buildings up and down the coast here. CNN has an exclusive report about what's being done just a few miles from here. Here's Brian Todd.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Municipalities on the Florida Coast are scrambling to make sure the kind of collapse that happened in Surfside doesn't happen to them. CNN got exclusive access to the reinspection and repairs going on at the Winston Towers Complex in Sunny Isles Beach, just a few miles north of Surfside.

We saw worried residents complaining about the red tap.

UNKNOWN: We didn't get marching orders before the (ph) examination.

TODD (voice over): There are seven buildings in this complex each either the same age or older than the condo that collapsed in Surfside. Each more than 20 stories tall with at least 250 units in every building. Inspectors show us the damage inside the parking garage right under the pool deck. A layout similar to the Champlain Towers Complex.

UNKNOWN: Similar design.

TODD (voice over): The pool water drained for this repair. There are columns and concrete floors cracking, rusted rebar and cables that support the concrete. Inspector Robert Conde looks at a support column that needs repair.

TODD: When you look at this now, given what happened in - at Champlain, how big a concern is this? ROBERT CONDE, SENIOR PLUMBLING INSPECTOR: (Inaudible) very big concern.

TODD: Why?

CONDE: It has to be addressed because it could fail and people could die.

TODD (voice over): These inspectors emphasize this is normal wear and tear for buildings like this. And it doesn't mean the building is in imminent danger of collapse. Still the work will have to be done to prevent a repeat of the Surfside collapse. A contractor points to something he's concerned about.

UNKNOWN: The chlorine from the pool has deteriorated the reinforcing and the post tension cable in these areas so that's why we have massive repair underneath this pool.

TODD (voice over): And Sunny Isles Beach Vice Mayor, Larisa Svechin, points out it's the owners of each unit who have to pay for the repairs.

LARISA SVECHIN, VICE MAYOR SUNNY ISLES BEACH: These buildings are up against a huge assessment potentially up to $25,000 a piece. This is where our families live, our middle-class, our working class, the people that are working in the restaurants, all the kids that go to the school, all the kids that would normally use this pool. These people are not in a situation where they are able to afford that kind of money.

TODD (voice over): Brian Todd, CNN Sunny Isles Beach, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: And these inspections that Brian went on just like this happening now up and down this coast here in Florida. So less than a week after the collapse in Surfside the first class action law suit has been filed. Why one resident says her claims of serious damage fell on deaf ears.

ERIKA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: And just into CNN a sign that travel is back. Feeling very post-pandemic, details on the mega purchase just made by one of the world's largest airlines.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:35:00]

BERMAN: More on our breaking news, CNN has just obtained a letter showing that residents of the Champlain Towers South Condo Complex were warned as recently as April of this year that their building was in dire need of repairs. The board president wrote quote, "The observable damage such as in the garage has gotten significantly worse since the initial inspection from 2018. The concrete deterioration is accelerating. The roof situation got much worse so extensive roof repairs had to be incorporated." One resident, who has been forced out of her home, is joining a class

action lawsuit against the Champlain Towers South Condominium Association claiming her complaints about red flags and prior damage were ignored.

Joining me now is Adam Moskowitz the attorney heading up the lawsuit. Counselor, thanks so much for being with us. First, can I get a reaction to your letter which we're now just seeing for the first time from the condo board president saying the damage was accelerating?

ADAM MOSKOWITZ, ATTORNEY: It's just terrible, John, I mean our client, Risa Rodriguez (ph), has been raising these red flags for months. She's been taking pictures of her garage, she's been taking pictures of the cement falling, of water dripping on her car. And it seems like all of this just -

[07:40:00]

MOSKOWITZ: -- landed on deaf ears. Nobody seemed to take any of this seriously, unfortunately.

BERMAN: Well we have a letter from the condo board president taking it seriously albeit perhaps too late. And you have that report from 2018 which took it seriously. Do you have evidence that they ignored the pleas from your client?

MOSKOWITZ: Well she made continuous pleas and she showed certain photographs as we've included in our class action complaint. And different members of the community that were supposed to be inspecting the building came by the building. And this is evidence that'll come out in the class action and ensured the residents that the building was safe; recently, not just back in 2018. (Inaudible) recently they came by (ph), the inspectors, and said your building is safe and strong, do not worry.

BERMAN: Yes, I guess the question is and this may be ultimately where the legal case hinges is, they knew there was damage. They knew things needed to be fixed. The question is, did they know or did they think it needed to be fixed now, immediately? Do you have any evidence or are you making any claims one way or another?

MOSKOWITZ: Not really, John, at this stage because we haven't named any other defendants in the lawsuit. But the reason that we filed the class action lawsuit is so that we could now start the investigation in the judicial branch as well as all the other state and federal investigations. Because we need to preserve the evidence and that's what the court can do. Order that all the parties maintain and preserve all the evidence.

And secondly, we could preserve all the insurance proceeds that are available so that it's not all out chaos with all these lawsuits that are being filed. Fortunately, we have a judge here in Miami in the Complex Division, Michael Hanzman, who's an excellent judge and has great experience dealing with these types of cases. So we can hopefully manage this in an organized fashion down here in Miami. BERMAN: I will say the Mayor of Miami Dade County pointed out that while there is a search and rescue operation underway she considers it an evidence collection operation as well. So the officials here involved are very much focused on finding out what happened as well. What are your concerns about filing this suit now while they're still looking for possible survivors in this building? While the families of the victims are still or still possible victims are all still here feeling so much emotion?

MOSKOWITZ: It's a terrible, terrible tragedy and unfortunately we're personally involved. I have a law partner whose grandparents lived in the building for 30 years. I have students in my class at University of Miami Law School that have family and friends in the building. A lot of my good friends have family and friends in the building. And that's how I met Risa Rodriguez (ph). And she is a real hero and we wanted her story to get out there immediately because she tried to help all of her neighbors.

And what we want to do is make sure that these legal proceedings are done in an organized fashion because this hits home, this is in our backyard and this should not happen. This should not have happened and anyone liable, any one responsible whether it's political, whether it's legislative we will find them and hold them liable. And we want to do this in coordination with the mayor and the governor's investigation.

BERMAN: Adam Moskowitz, we appreciate your time. Please keep us posted.

MOSKOWITZ: Thank you so much.

BERMAN: We continue to hear heartbreaking stories from those who survived the disaster and are now left with nothing. We're going to speak with a 10th floor resident who just happened to be away from his home that night and woke up to the news.

HILL: Are rising fast in some states due to the Delta variant. So could that soon mean a return to mask requirement.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:45:00]

HILL: As the Delta variant continues to spread around the United States, Los Angeles County is now urging Californians to wear masks inside regardless of vaccination status. Joining us now for more on this development is CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay, good morning.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

HILL: And we also have the WHO saying if you're masked that should - if you're vaxxed rather, you should continue to mask up. I mean are masks coming back?

GUPTA: Well I mean these are precautionary measures, Erica, and the bottom-line advice, the guidance that, you know, we have been talking about for some time is that it really depends that, you know, some ways if you're vaccinated or unvaccinated in terms of your overall risks. So if you are vaccinated the idea is that you're far less likely to become sick, far less likely to be hospitalized or die.

The reason you're hearing about the masking coming back is basically still to try and slow down the spread of what is clearly a more transmissible variant, the Delta variant. This is 60 percent more transmissible than the U.K. variant was which was 50 percent more transmissible than the strain before that. So you get the idea here, I mean it's sort of this notion that the virus is still spreading let's see if we can do everything we can to really contain it now at this phase of things.

So should you be worried? If you're vaccinated, is it possible that you could still potentially develop a breakthrough infection? Yes, low likelihood but possible. What they're really trying to say though is if you're vaccinated you are less likely to get sick.

HILL: When it comes to the vaccinations, so there's another recent study that has great news in it. That shows that the vaccines really could offer some long term protection which is what I think folks want to hear. What more do we know about these studies?

GUPTA: Yes, this is a really interesting study. So what people are use to hearing about our antibodies, these are the proteins that help fight -

[07:50:00]

GUPTA: -- the virus if the body's ever to encounter the virus again. And we know that the body develops antibodies. The question has been how long do those antibodies last and could the body quickly produce more antibodies if it were to come in contact with the virus again.

That's what this new study shows. Basically it looked at the lymph nodes in the arm where people got vaccinated and found that there was evidence of what are known as B-cells, B as in boy cells. And these types of cells are cells that can quickly start to make antibodies again.

We didn't know - we knew the body was making antibodies but maybe the antibodies sort of wane over time. Now, at least early evidence but some evidence that the body's making these B-cells so - sort of poised and ready to quickly generate antibodies in the future.

That is good news, Erica. You know we sort of had evidence of this after SARS, this is going back to 2002, 2003. People who had become infected seemed to have immunity that lasted, you know, 10, 15 years at least. Might that be the same with, you know, COVID. We'll see but this is some encouraging early news.

HILL: Yes, it is encouraging. Also just in case not everybody was able to tune in last night, the good news is there's more to come. You just kicked off a little Jeopardy hosting duty and I want to play a clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: Thank you very much. Thank you Johnny Gilbert. Such an honor to be here.

JOHNNY GILBERT, JEOPARDY ANNOUNCER: And now here is the guest host of Jeopardy, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

GUTPA: Facts and data have always filled my life and that's what Jeopardy is all about. Whether watching with my parents or now my own three teenage daughters who like to beat me by the way. They are certainly watching right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: So great. So I love what you wrote about watching Jeopardy with your parents specifically (ph) your dad, I did the same thing growing up. I watch it with my boys now. And I want you to know my mother texted me at 7:20 last night to say, please tell Sanjay he's doing an excellent job hosting Jeopardy.

So, you know, I've heard it harder than it looks. But what was it like? I mean it feels like a pinch me moment, Sanjay.

GUPTA (on camera): It's totally a pinch me moment. I mean, you know, it's funny I wrote in this article that you never, you know, you expect these types of moments to come with confetti and fanfare and all that sort of stuff and it's just - it's understated, it's beautiful, it's a fast pace game, Erica. I can tell you, you and I do television, you know, we've been doing for a long time. That game, you know, you got to get through 61 clues in about 20, 22 minutes or so. And it's about every 15 seconds.

I did all the math on this and there's so many beats to the process. You've got to hit a certain mark, you got to turn a certain way. It's unlike journalism, you know, where it's much more like we're just having this conversation now. There's not a lot of chit chat, you know, in Jeopardy. It's a - but it's wonderful and the producers who produce that show - I mean they are the best producers in that business and it was a lot of fun to work with them.

HILL: And did you have any involvement with any of the clues?

GUPTA: No. You know it's interesting, I mean there's such a process of integrity around the show they come up with these clues weeks if not months in advance and then they shuffle the clues around. We have a writers meeting before we go through the shows and if there's clues I don't fully understand or I have questions about we'll go through that. But the overall process is a well oiled machine. They'll even switch up the shows so that no one has advance notice of the clues.

There's a - there's a real sort of sense of integrity and honesty about the show.

HILL: Well you are a perfect fit if this is about honesty and integrity, my friend.

GUPTA: Thank you.

(CROSSTALK)

HILL: It's so great --

GUPTA: Appreciate that.

(CROSSTALK)

HILL: -- and so fun and I'm really glad to continue watching you do that as well. So congratulations.

GUPTA: Thanks, Erica.

HILL: This just in to CNN, United Airlines is announcing its largest aircraft order ever. The carrier is revamping its fleet with more than 200 new planes. This as the airline industry recovers from the pandemic and creates new jobs in the process. CNN's Pete Muntean is live at Newark Airport with more. This is a massive order, Pete.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's so interesting, Erica, because it wasn't all that long ago that airlines were talking about how small they could possibly get because of the pandemic. Now they're talking about getting bigger because so many people are coming back to air travel. United Airlines just announced it's ordering 270 new aircraft, the largest order in United's history, the largest order by a single airline in the last decade.

That brings United's total order book to about 500 airplanes and the hope is to take back some of the routes it has outsourced to smaller regional airlines. United says all of this will add about 25,000 jobs. Just to put that into context for you, it wasn't all that long ago that the airline was talking about furloughing near that many people because of the pandemic.

What is also so interesting here is the airplane behind me. That's the back bone of this order. That is a Boeing 737 Max, this is the largest single order for the Max, 200 airplanes in all and this is so notable -

[07:55:00]

MUNTEAN: -- because the airplane was ground worldwide by two fatal crashed abroad, nearly 350 people killed. The other airplane in this order is the Airbus A321neo. And what's also so interesting here is that all of United's fleet will soon look like these airplanes retrofitted with in-flight seatback entertainment. It will still take a few years to see that though. Now much help for the millions coming back to air travel this holiday weekend.

The TSA screened nearly 2.2 million people at airports across the country on Sunday, a new record of the pandemic and Erica it's likely we could see that number go even higher as we get closer to July 4th.

HILL: Yes, Fourth of July weekend coming up. I'm flying Friday, I think it's going to be busy. Pete, thank you. MUNTEAN: Yes.

HILL: Turning to politics now, what if Republican's unprecedented attempts at voter suppression were just the beginning. What if you could undo the results of elections you didn't like after the fact entirely? It's happening. As John Avlon explains in our Reality Check.

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Former President Obama is warning about a new trend toward contesting elections which could lead to the delegitimization of our democracy. He's talking about election subversion, efforts underway in states like Georgia and Arizona where Republican state legislators are relitigating the last election, potentially rig the next one.

In Georgia, Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger who rejected Trump's pressure to find 11,780 votes has been punished by his fellow party members. Not just censored by side lined, removing his authority on the state elections board. They want that power for themselves which could cause partisan chaos in the next election.

We're seeing a similar move right now in Arizona where Republican state legislators are set to hobble the Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs ability to oversee elections. That same crew who brought you the shambolic Arizona fraud it (ph) run by a company called Cyber Ninjas whose CEO starred in (ph) an election conspiracy theory movie is now trying to codify that power grab of defunding Hobbs ability to defend election related lawsuits, designating third-parties to sift through voter databases.

And get this, putting $.5 million aside to investigate social media platform bias which is a bizarre provision that makes a lot of more sense when you find out it was put in by a state rep who got deplatformed recently for running a troll farm. But just to make it really clear that this is nothing more than petty partisan politics the legislation's also set to sunset at the end of Hobbs' term. And Republicans hope they'll have someone from their party in place.

So no wonder Hobbs' (ph) communications director described the GOP effort to me as being like mean girls in high school but you're destroying democracy instead of the prom. This is going to go a lot further than simply trying to make (inaudible). It's part of a sinister state by state effort by Trump-ist to grab power by any means necessary. Will of the voters be damned.

From laying the groundwork to override local election boards in Arkansas to the censure of Republicans - of Nevada's Republican Secretary of State to the refusal to renominate Michigan's Erin Lang Van de Velde (ph) for canvassing board - with the - for the sin (ph) of accepting Joe Biden's win as legitimate.

The pattern's clear here, folks, election law expert Rick Hasen warns that election subversion might be a more urgent danger than voter suppression. He points out that the message that's coming out is if you want a future in state Republican politics you'd better be willing to manipulate election results or lie about election fraud. Like most things in politics it didn't come out of nowhere. For example, in 2016 North Carolina Republicans reacted to the election of Democrat Roy Cooper as Governor by calling a special election to claw back power; cutting his number of appointees from 1,500 to 300, blocking his ability to appoint members of the State Board of Education, removing state and county election boards from democratic control while making the election of Supreme Court Justices partisan rather than non-partisan. This is the essence of situational ethics.

And in 2018 Republicans ran the same play in Wisconsin and Michigan after loosing the governor's mansions in the mid-terms. So these are the conditions that primed the GOP to believe in the big lie because they see any election they lose as illegitimate no matter the facts. And it extends to blatant disregard for bout (ph) initiatives as well. So when Floridians overwhelmingly voted to allow former felons to cast a ballot the GOP legislature essentially blocked the provision from taking effect with Governor Ron DeSantis leading the charge.

Again, will of the voters be damned. This ain't subtle folks because it's happening on a local and state level and they're counting on people not noticing until it's too late. When hyper partisan hacks have the ability to overturn an election result they don't like creating chaos and delegitimizing democracy.

And that's your Reality Check.

BERMAN: Good morning to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. It is Tuesday, June 29.

[08:00:00]

I'm John Berman in Surfside, Florida. Erica Hill with me in New York this morning.