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Deadly Tornadoes Devastate Communities in 8 States; Lawyer: Meadows Received, But Did Nothing with Coup Plan. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired December 13, 2021 - 06:00   ET

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. It is Monday, December 13. I'm John Berman, on the ground in Mayfield, Kentucky. Kaitlan Collins with me this morning in New York.

[05:59:29]

We do begin with destruction and devastation from at least 50 tornados that ripped through eight states, smashing communities and leaving dozens dead, with victims as young as 3 and 5 years old.

I'm standing right by what was an auto body glass shop. It was simply pushed over to the ground here. More than a thousand homes in Kentucky destroyed. Behind the auto body shop, there's a post office which you'll see as the lights come up here, the roof there is just gone.

And that's what it looks like in Mayfield as you go block to block. And there is destruction like that across the state of Kentucky and across the region.

It all started Friday night with the first twister touching down in Arkansas and striking a nursing home. One person died. The governor called it a miracle as the swarm of twisters then tore a path across 20 miles of Kentucky.

One tornado slammed into a family-run candle factory here in Mayfield. The building was leveled with about 110 people working a night shift. It's unclear how many were inside at the time.

Rescuers crawled over the dead to get to the living, at a disaster scene. And we know it smelled like scented candles. Eight people there have been confirmed dead. Another eight at this point unaccounted for. That news is still developing.

In Dawson Springs, Kentucky, about 70 miles from where I'm standing, the death toll stands at 13. There are still 100 people missing there. Home after home destroyed. The mayor estimates that 75 percent of the town is, as he says, gone and described the scene in one word: chaos.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT/ANCHOR: Right now more than 50,000 Kentucky residents are without power as temperatures are dropping in to the low 40s.

At least 18 counties in Kentucky are reporting damage. And the governor of the state, who lost members of his own family in this, says there's, quote, "not enough -- camera lens big enough to show the path of absolute destruction."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Gone. We have glass broken. All the furniture is torn, broken. It's just -- it's just sad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to find my wife. I want to find her if she's still somewhere safe. I hope she's somewhere safe. Baby, please call me so we can get connected. Please call me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The windows start breaking, dogs flying through the air. I didn't know what to do. Walls just feel like they was caving in. It was very scary.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just told her to close her eyes. She started counting. She was like, Like, hide and seek, Mom? So we just counted until we didn't feel any more pressure, any more wind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: In Illinois, an Amazon warehouse was completely leveled. Employees there only had an 11-minute warning before a tornado ripped through the building.

This morning, search efforts are continuing for people who are still believed to be trapped inside in the rubble. Housing, power, water and fuel will all be a tremendous need going forward.

It is a heartbreaking scene as the level of destruction still remains unclear this morning.

BERMAN: So we've been in Mayfield now for a day talking to as many people as we can and learning some of the stories of the people who survived.

Tommy Anderson and his family rode out the storm in a basement bathroom as the tornado was tearing his home to sleds. He described what he saw, heard, and felt that night.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOMMY ANDERSON, SURVIVED TORNADO: I watched the -- I watched the storm come. And then I watched rain, the lightning and stuff. And then I saw when the city transformers or the electrical station -- I saw when those transformers blew up.

BERMAN: You saw this boom, boom?

ANDERSON: Well, you couldn't hear necessarily the noise. But I've been in a lot of storms. Ice storms. And when those transformers arc together, they make a blue. It's not red; it's a blue color. And so I saw the blue flashes, and I knew what that was. The lights blink, and then all the power goes off.

And about that same time, within a minute, then you could feel the wind changing, the air changing. My son was with me. And I said it's time for us to get to shelter. So we stepped inside the shelter.

BERMAN: What kind of shelter are you talking about?

ANDERSON: Well, it's a basement bathroom is what it is. But you know, it's against the ground or whatever, you know, the bathroom. Downstairs.

BERMAN: So how many of you were in there?

ANDERSON: Five of us and a cat.

BERMAN: And then what?

ANDERSON: Well, as soon as we closed the door, it tried to pull it back open. I guess the air pressure or whatever. So we pulled it closed. And then the air pressure, our ears popped.

And then, I mean, stuff started shaking and moving, and we could hear the glass breaking and stuff flying around. And I mean, just shaking and moving and the noise from the rumble of the wind and everything.

And you know, we don't have any idea what's going to -- what we're going to see when we come out. It lasted probably about two minutes at most. This was our front porch. You can see the railing here and one of the columns there. Our front living room. This room we called our piano room. We had piano and instruments and things in there.

BERMAN: Where is the piano now?

ANDERSON: It's still in there.

BERMAN: All right.

ANDERSON: We hope to get it out without any more damage tomorrow. And our kitchen is here. You can see it. And the window's blown out of it. And I mean, stuff just crazy. And back bedroom.

BERMAN: This is the bedroom right here?

ANDERSON: It was.

BERMAN: Who slept here?

ANDERSON: Well, it was a bedroom -- our boys slept -- one of our -- our oldest son slept there when he was at home. He's been gone for a while.

BERMAN: OK.

ANDERSON: So he kind of let his boys take over that.

BERMAN: But this was a bedroom.

ANDERSON: Yes. And then on the other side, you see the other wall there. That was another bedroom. That was our daughter's bedroom. You see the wall of it sticking out there. BERMAN: And down here is the basement. This is where, ultimately,

inside there, the bathroom where you stayed was back underneath there?

ANDERSON: Yes.

BERMAN: And that's still -- there's still walls in there.

ANDERSON: Yes. It is. And then you know, our cars -- our vehicles.

BERMAN: You got yourself. You've got your family.

ANDERSON: That's right. That's exactly right. And -- and everything else is just stuff.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: So a couple things Tommy told me there. Their Christmas tree survived the tornado. It was pushed over and moved all over the place. They were able to get it out.

They've moved it to in-laws, and they will have Christmas there with the Christmas tree that survived the tornado, which is just remarkable.

One other thing. I asked Tommy to take me inside to show me the bathroom where they all sheltered. And he said he couldn't take me inside, because his wife wouldn't let him, because it looks like a tornado tore through the House is what he said. It's amazing he still has a sense of humor after all this.

Joining me is Sam Brown. He is the owner of Gibson's Pharmacy, as well as his father was before him. The pharmacy is in Mayfield now, and it is now in ruins.

Sam, thank you for being with us this morning. I am sorry for what happened to your pharmacy. But your family, how are they?

SAM BROWN, OWNER OF GIBSON'S PHARMACY: Thankfully, they're OK. Our House survived -- survived the tornado. It just missed our House by a few hundred yards. But my family is safe.

BERMAN: And you live just a few hundred yards from the candle factory?

BROWN: Just down the road.

BERMAN: So it came very close to you. The pharmacy's been in the family for 40 years?

BROWN: For a long time. My dad worked there and then purchased it the year I was born. I'm 38. So it's all we've ever known.

BERMAN: And what's it look like now?

BROWN: A war scene. It -- just totally demolished.

BERMAN: After the tornado passed through your House, how long -- by your House, how long did it take you to get your first look at the pharmacy?

BROWN: It took -- well, I started receiving photos from friends that had gotten word that they could get up here faster than I could. I got here, my wife and I just as fast -- as fast as we could. It was just trying to navigate through downed power lines.

And we were running over road signs that were just bent over into the road. My wife works there, as well. And we just wanted to see the -- see the damage. You can't comprehend -- we couldn't comprehend it until we saw it in person.

BERMAN: What was it like the moment you saw it?

BROWN: Heartbreaking. It really was. My dad worked a lot of years in that store.

BERMAN: Santa had come to the store earlier that day.

BROWN: That's right. About five hours before the tornado hit, the lobby was full of families for the community. My kids were in there. And it's just, you know, it's packed. The parking lot's packed. And that is just -- that's actually the very last video I have of the property, is a lobby full of kids sitting on Santa's lap.

BERMAN: It's got to be a sweet memory. If the last memory you have of the pharmacy intact is of Santa in there with the kids --

BROWN: It is. That -- my dad always looked forward to the day Santa came, seeing the grandkids sitting on the lap. He always liked seeing the customers and just people in the community bringing their kids in. And he would always chat with them.

So that's just kind of what I tell myself is, you know, that was the day of the year Dad really always looked forward to.

BERMAN: You lost your father not long ago.

BROWN: I did. He passed away of cancer in February. And he -- he was a great guy. He provided a life for me that I've benefited from, that pharmacy. And I just had dreams of doing the same for my kids.

[06:10:05]

BERMAN: I'm so sorry for your loss.

BROWN: Thank you.

BERMAN: What would he want for you to do now with the pharmacy?

BROWN: Well, we're just -- we're picking up. We have another location open on the other side of town. We're wanting to be up and running today and -- and trying to just service the community the best we can. We've been working nonstop to get it going.

BERMAN: That's what he would want. He would want you to serve the community the best you can. Whether or not the building is still standing.

BROWN: That's right. What other choice do we have?

BERMAN: You're working to get prescriptions to the people of this town.

BROWN: That's exactly right. At the end of the day, there's still a community that needs to be served. And -- and we have a -- we have a great team. And we're just working endlessly, trying to get it going.

BERMAN: And that's all you can do. I mean, that's all you can do.

Your son Jonah, right, the beauty area inside was named after him. Your wife named it after him.

BROWN: That's right. My wife lost 100 percent of her income. She's a pharmacist at the store, and then she also had the boutique. And when my son was born, we named the shop Jonah Brown.

And yesterday, while we were picking up, he wanted to have his picture taken on top of the rubble where -- where the boutique was. So she's just -- she's heartbroken. And it's hard waking up in the middle of the night to your wife, laying in bed crying.

BERMAN: I'm sorry, man. It's -- it's so much loss. You look everywhere, and there's loss. But you also look, and you see people like you who are still working for the community, who know you have to be there for everybody.

BROWN: Yes. That's right. You know, we're not going anywhere. We're committed to the community. The community has been great to -- great to my family over my life. And we're going to serve it the best we can.

BERMAN: Because you've been there for them for four decades. They're going to be there for you. They're going to be there for you now. You're all going to be there for each other.

And, you know, I know that Jonah and his brother, they'll have a chance at the pharmacy. You're going to make it right. You're going to get this thing rebuilt, and you're going to be here for them. And you're going to be here for this town going forward.

BROWN: I sure hope so.

BERMAN: Sam, be well. Again, we're so sorry for your physical loss but we're -- I mean, I'm glad that you have your wife and your kids. And I'm glad you're there for her.

BROWN: I'm thrilled that, at the end of the day, my family is OK.

BERMAN: I mean, now I know you're waking up crying, but it won't be long before you're waking up smiling and laughing. And be well. Thank you very much.

BROWN: Thank you. BERMAN: All the best going forward.

It's just one story in this town. But you get a sense of what people here are going through. And I just want to make one thing clear. And Sam made this clear, too. There's a lot of loss here, but no one stopped.

You're on the ground on the streets for five minutes. It takes five minutes before someone walks up to you and offers you water or a sandwich and a chance to try to do something for everyone else here to rebuild.

It's just been a couple of days here, but you would be amazed how much progress has been made. And that is a testament to the spirit of the people here.

There is other news beyond this town and this state. We have new details about Mark Meadows and his actions during the insurrection, who he wanted on stand-by to protect pro-Trump people just one day before the attack on the Capitol.

COLLINS: Plus, putting the rumors to rest. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi may not retire after all. We have new reporting on what she plans to do next year, ahead of the midterm elections.

And Boris Johnson is under fire again for allegedly breaking COVID laws during a Christmas quiz party last year. There are only more questions after new pictures from emerged.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: The House committee investigating the January 6th attack on the Capitol is now laying out the case for its contempt of Congress charge against Trump's former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, including how the committee wanted to question him over an email that he sent the day before the attacks, saying that the National Guard would be used to, quote, "protect pro-Trump people."

Meadows is obviously no longer cooperating, and the committee is slated to vote today to recommend a contempt of Congress charge against him.

CNN's Whitney Wild is in Washington. Whitney, what did we learn from this new 51-page document that came out overnight?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is really giving a lot of color to the extent to which the former chief of staff went to try to utilize basically every outlet he felt like was available to him to try to overturn the election, largely because that's what the president wanted.

So let's go back to this January 5th email. This is one of the key findings here. Again, a January 5th email in which the former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, said this: "The National Guard would be present to protect pro-Trump people and that many more would be available on stand-by." That's significant, Kaitlan, because what we know is that the National

Guard did not arrive to the Capitol until hours after the fighting began. And there continue to be questions about who made the decisions, how they were made, and what was -- basically responsible for the time lag between when the initial request was made and when the National Guard ended up being activated and finally making its way to the Capitol.

I mean, there are a ton of revelations in this resolution. There's another one about Mark Meadows' communications with members of Congress about appointing an alternate slate of electors that would, in effect, nullify the votes from their areas, which would, in turn, overturn the election.

So here is a little -- just a little snippet of that section from the resolution. "Received text messages and emails regarding apparent efforts to encourage Republican legislators in certain states to send alternate slates of electors to Congress, a plan in which one member of Congress acknowledged was, quote, 'highly controversial' and to which Mark Meadows responded, 'I love it'."

[06:20:11]

So there, again, continue to be more and more examples of what we already know, that Mark Meadows went to great lengths to try to overturn the election.

There are also new details about what was going on within the White House, within Trump's orbit on January 6th. And one of those revelations is that there was a media personality encouraged the former president to put out a statement once the fighting was going on at the Capitol on January 6th, urging people to leave peacefully.

Additionally, there was a communication between Mark Meadows and a rally organizer in which a rally organizer said to him, This is getting crazy. We really need to get some guidance here. I desperately need some guidance.

And the resolution alludes to communications there. I mean, it just goes on and on. But ultimately, Kaitlan, this is the committee's effort to try to get more information from Mark Meadows, especially about documents he's already provided. However, Mark Meadows contends that their request for information is overly broad, that it has no legitimate legislative purpose. A concept that courts have roundly rejected, Kaitlan.

COLLINS: Yes. Of course, he's now saying that, after he turned over these documents and these text messages. Whitney Wild, thank you so much.

Joining us now is CNN legal and national security analyst Asha Rangappa. She's a former FBI special agent and lectures at Yale University.

Asha, I just want to show you, you know, the broader picture of this, what Whitney was just laying out, how intertwined the former chief of staff was in the events leading up to that day. When before, it kind of seems like it's these shadowy figures outside the White House. You're seeing just how close it was inside the West Wing as they were planning this.

ASHA RANGAPPA, CNN LEGAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes. Kaitlan. I think what the resolution makes clear is that Mark Meadows was kind of the ground zero for a lot of the different threads that were leading up to January 6th.

They know, for example, that he was receiving and sending messages related to the National Guard as we just heard, and the delay in deploying them, and the fact that they were assigned, I guess, to protect the -- the people who were at the Ellipse.

But also, the efforts to weaponize DOJ in terms of calling into question election results. Also in terms of being in touch with the rally organizers.

So he has a lot of information to give. And Kaitlan, what I'll add here is the resolution makes clear that the committee already has a lot of information. They have a picture here. And they have very, very specific lines of questioning for Mark Meadows, in which he'll have to name names and also provide the content of specific communications that he had with all of these people.

COLLINS: Well, and I wondered, what was your reaction to what we learned from this about the National Guard, the fact that Mark Meadows was saying that they would have the National Guard there to protect -- to protect the pro-Trump people?

I guess the question would be, protect them from whom, given they were the ones attacking the Capitol that? But what other questions does this raise for you about how long it took to actually get the National Guard there?

RANGAPPA: Well, Kaitlan, I would even rewind for one -- one more loop. They actually contemplated the fact that the National Guard might be necessary.

I mean, you know, there's -- there's this building picture here that the idea that there would be some kind of big disruption on January 6th that might require a large law enforcement response, a National Guard response, tells us they were anticipating something, potentially violent.

And that they were actually planning out, they were gaming out how, you know, how to make this benefit Trump.

But it does shed light on the fact that the delay in the deployment of the National Guard, you know, was not just some kind of miscommunication, which it sounds like, you know, until now this has sort of been the narrative, but something that was more deliberate.

COLLINS: And what about this PowerPoint? I think this is something that everyone has been talking about. It's something that Mark Meadows turned over to the committee. His attorney said he just turned it over because it wasn't privileged. It was something he received but didn't do anything with.

Yet, this is completely concerning. Because if you look at it, it's titled, "Election Fraud: Foreign Interference and Options for January 6th." This was something that was sent to the chief of staff at the White House at the time.

And of course, in part of it, it talks about declaring a national emergency when it comes to how they wanted to contest these results. And so Mark Meadows says he didn't actually do anything with this. But what did you read from the fact that he had this in his hands in the first place?

RANGAPPA: Yes, Kaitlan. There is a lot of crazy in the PowerPoint. At least the version that's been circulating online.

And I think what is striking about this is, again, that this was formalized. You know, we've heard a lot of these conspiracy theories, you know, sort of circulating about in different ways. These are -- this is compiled all together.

[06:25:08]

And there was an intended audience for this. This was intended for everyone to get on the same page.

And as you mentioned, there is a part in there about Trump declaring a national emergency.

Now, Kaitlan, declaring a national emergency triggers a lot of stand- by statutes that gives the president a lot of extra power. What was going to be the precipitating event that would allow the president to do this?

Again, I think Mark Meadows, even if he didn't create this PowerPoint, has a lot of answers to these questions.

COLLINS: Yes. But of course, now he's not cooperating. We'll see how this vote plays out today with the committee.

Asha Rangappa, thank you so much for joining us this morning.

RANGAPPA: Thank you.

COLLINS: Up next, we are live in Bowling Green, Kentucky, where many families there are still picking up the pieces after devastating storms ripped through their communities.

BERMAN: And the teen accused of killing his classmates in Michigan due in court later today. The charges he faces, ahead.

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