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Progress on Ceasefire Talks; Steve Anderson is Interviewed about the War in Ukraine; Latricia Mimbs is Interviewed about Escaping Flooding; Starliner Crew to Stay in Space Until February. Aired 9:30- 10a ET

Aired August 26, 2024 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:32:26]

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: All right, welcome back. We're going to bring you some new reporting this morning out of the Middle East. Sources tell CNN that progress has been made on a Gaza ceasefire deal. The final details, though, still needing to be worked out.

I want to get right to CNN's Jim Sciutto.

So, Jim, what is the latest that you're hearing on this front?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Omar, I spoke to a U.S. official familiar with the negotiations and I'm told that they did make progress yesterday in these talks to the point that they're in the discussion of final details, final paragraphs of an agreement, right down to nuts and bolts issues such as the names of Palestinian hostages that would be released - or prisoners rather that would be released in exchange for Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

Now, that does not - certainly does not guarantee that they reach a final agreement, but they did make progress. And particularly I'm told that one of the most intractable sticking points could end up being surmountable. And that's the question of a continued Israeli military presence in Gaza. The debate, the discussion at this point seems to be focused on what constitutes a densely populated area with Israel agreeing to withdraw from densely populated areas, but perhaps keep forces in less populated areas around the border between Gaza and Egypt.

Again, they haven't worked out that final agreement, but I'm told that particularly when you look at Hamas' public statements that at the negotiating table Hamas seems to be more amenable to some compromise than it is letting on in some of its public comments. Again, all this comes with caveats that these deals can break apart and that the last mile can be the most difficult mile.

The other point that's been told to me is that there is some hope following the exchange of fire on Sunday that Hezbollah's expected attack on Israel, now that it has happened, and it was largely defended by Israel, that that has received - has removed a potential point of pressures that Hamas was hoping. Hamas was hoping that a large attack might force Israel into bigger concessions now that Hezbollah, for now, has carried out its attack, that that might remove some leverage.

Again, all these comes with caveats. But this U.S. official, with knowledge of the talks, says that they did make some progress on Sunday.

JIMENEZ: All of these negotiations intricate, but as you mentioned, even if someone believes that some of these sticking points are potentially surmountable, that's progress in its own right.

Jim Sciutto, really appreciate the reporting.

[09:35:02]

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Brigadier General Steve Anderson is joining me now to discuss more on this.

And while the Middle East conflict continues, there was a massive Russian assault on Ukraine overnight. Just moments ago, Russia's defense ministry announced it hit all its targets. More than 100 missiles and up to 100 drones hit multiple cities across the country, leaving at least four people dead. President Zelenskyy is calling it one of the largest attacks that Ukraine has faced yet.

All right, to you, Brigadier General, how long can Ukraine continue to fend off Russia when you see an attack like this one?

BRIG. GEN. STEVE ANDERSON, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Well, thank you, Sara.

You know, that's a very good question. This is a war of attrition. Neither side is truly capable of conducting decisive military actions against the other. So, what you're going to see is continued actions like this, you know, attacks against the people, attacks against hospitals and schools and apartment buildings. I mean that's right out of Vladimir Putin's playbook because that's really all that he can do. His military is just not good enough to really penetrate Ukraine. They've been on (ph) Donbass now for two-and-a-half years. Again, a war of attrition. He's simply targeting energy. He's targeting - he's trying to make things painful for the people. He tried to put political pressure on Zelenskyy, you know, and I just don't think that that's going to work because the Ukrainian people are incredibly strong.

SIDNER: I mean the Ukrainian people, having been there a couple of different times, it just makes their resolve even stronger when they see Russia do something like this. But the question is, do they have the weapons? Do they have the ammunition and the - and the number of soldiers that they need to try and continue this until which time they're hopefully able, in Zelenskyy's words, to end this war.

I do want to go now to the Middle East. We heard from Jim Sciutto. His reporting is that Hamas seems to be more amenable to compromise when it comes to what is happening in Gaza, the Israel-Gaza War, than they are putting out publicly. What do you make of that?

ANDERSON: Well, this is really good news and it's a great report from Jim.

I mean, of course we've been down this road before. We've been talking about this for months. But the fact that they're really getting into nuts and bolts of the IDF withdrawal and you define withdrawal from the populated areas, I mean that's a really, really good sign.

The other good sign on this is that there - that these talks are happening at all. Remember what happened yesterday, Sara.

SIDNER: Yes.

ANDERSON: We had, you know, a preemptive strike by Israel. We had 340 rockets fired by Hezbollah. Despite all that, they were able to continue with the negotiations. And so hopefully they're going to continue to make progress. And then we're going to see some real movement.

I really hope that the Israelis bend a little bit on the issue of total withdrawal of the IDF because they really need to get the hostages out of there. And we really need to start setting conditions for the development of a two-state solution. Something that we really haven't done yet.

SIDNER: Yes, we're not hearing that on Netanyahu's agenda for a two- state solution, but certainly the horror for the Palestinian civilians there has been unimaginable and the horror for the families of the hostages and the hostages themselves as well, it has been far too long.

Brigadier General Steve Anderson, thank you so much. Appreciate your time.

Omar.

JIMENEZ: All right, deadly flash flooding in Grand Canyon National Park killing one hiker and forcing more than 100 rescues. We're going to talk with one of those hikers next who was pulled to safety.

And while it's going to be months before two astronauts stuck on the space station can come home, the malfunctioning rocket that brought them could be back on earth within weeks. We'll tell you how they, though, plan to get back.

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[09:43:40]

SIDNER: You've got to see these pictures. More than 100 people rescued and dozens more evacuated from the Grand Canyon National Park after flash floods caused absolute chaos there.

JIMENEZ: I mean the National Guard, they had to use Black Hawk helicopters to rescue stranded hikers who say they had to form human chain to cross rushing rivers. You see some of the water there. One woman was swept away by the floods. Her body was found Sunday.

Joining us now is the person who actually took that video, is Latricia Mimbs. She's one of the hikers that was rescued as well.

Latricia, I just want to start from the beginning here.

When did you first realize something was actually wrong and that you were in danger?

LATRICIA MIMBS, HIKER RESCUED FROM GRAND CANYON FLOODING: We have a friend that is a park ranger that I'd met in Havasupai six years ago. And he saw that I was in the area and messaged me the night before and the morning that we left to be really careful, that it was monsoon season and there were some thunderstorms expected and it would be favorable for flash flooding. So, if we heard thunder, we should leave.

So, we got to the camp site and started setting up. Within 45 minutes of the time we got our camps set up, to the time the flooding started, we had to get back to higher ground.

[09:45:00]

So, we heard thunder and started heading up the falls above Havasu Falls. And it was lightning. So, it felt pretty dangerous. We tried to stay out of the lightning for a while, but we realized it was - it was getting too scary and we needed to get back to the village.

SIDNER: We're looking at some of your video right now where there's a human chain, sort of everybody's holding hands. And then we saw a helicopter lifting people out of the area.

How did you actually end up getting out of danger?

MIMBS: We - we actually made it to the village before everything was underwater. So, we spent the night in the school and slept on the floor in our wet clothes and we left the next day, Friday, around 7:00 by helicopter.

JIMENEZ: And did you get a sense, I - when - especially when you are waiting to be finally taken out, did you get a sense from some of the other hikers and - and visitors that were there of their experiences? I mean were - were they panicked? Did they feel OK once they were rescued? I mean what - bring us into the scene at that time?

MIMBS: We got to hear a lot of stories about people that didn't quite react fast enough and water started washing their tents away while they were inside of them. Some of them had to grab onto trees and - and help each other to get to safety.

There - there was a lot of people who spent the night in caves and in the, you know, just in the brush trying to keep safe until the water went down and they could actually make it back to the village. So, some people didn't make it back to the village until well into the day on Friday. SIDNER: What is your warning to people? Because it is so beautiful. It's so enticing to go see the Grand Canyon. Even now, you know, it's - it's a gorgeous, gorgeous place. But what's your warning to people who - who want to go, who want to experience it?

MIMBS: My warning is, during monsoon season to be very aware, to be weather aware. It was beautiful. One foot, two foot blue water and, you know, beautiful waterfalls. And within 45 minutes, it turned into a life and death situation. You know, the flood came so fast. So, if you're going to be in the Grand Canyon, especially on the floor of the Grand Canyon during monsoon season, to watch the weather, watch the radar, heed the warnings, take it seriously because it changed so quickly. There wasn't a whole lot of time to make decisions and react.

So, if anything, maybe don't be in a slot (ph) canyon during monsoon season.

JIMENEZ: It's a good place to start, but even as we look at that - the video that you took, it's hard to even imagine that it would get to this point and the water rushing as quickly as it did.

Latricia Mimbs, we're glad you made it out. Thanks for spending some of your time with us. Really appreciate it.

MIMBS: Thank you.

JIMENEZ: Of course.

All right, this story is still mind-blowing here. Boeing's Starliner will return to earth, but without its crew. Coming up, we're going to tell you when and how the stranded astronauts will return home. Spoiler, it's not soon.

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[09:52:42]

SIDNER: All right, it was supposed to be an eight-day mission. Now it's been more than 80 days. Two NASA astronauts who have spent months at the International Space Station will have to sit tight until February next year, eight months later than originally planned. NASA says Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore will not be coming home on the rocket they originally flew on as scheduled, but instead will have to catch a ride on a SpaceX rocket.

CNN's Kristin Fisher has all of the details for us.

Oh, man, six more months in space. I mean it sounds good to me and maybe to the scientist, but I don't know if their families are cool with it. What led NASA to make this call?

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: In the end, Sara, it really all came down to safety. Top NASA leadership were simply not confident enough that this Boeing Starliner spacecraft that got those two NASA astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, up to the International Space Station was safe enough to get them home, especially when they had a viable backup option in the pipeline. And that backup option is Boeing's big competitor, SpaceX.

And so now the Starliner spacecraft that got Butch and Suni to space, its first crewed test flight is going to be going back to earth without a crew. That's going to happen sometime in early September.

And then Butch and Suni are going to be staying up at the International Space Station until February of 2025 before hitching a ride back to earth on a SpaceX crewed Dragon.

But, you know, Sara, when you talk to NASA leaders, they say, look, we're acutely aware that NASA has made mistakes in the past. Look at what happened with the Challenger accident. Look at what happened with the Columbia tragedy. Those were times when NASA engineers didn't feel comfortable or confident enough to raise their hand and speak up and have management really listened to them in a meaningful way. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson saying today they are not willing to make that mistake again. That they've learned lessons from the past, and that's why they made this decision over the weekend.

Sara.

SIDNER: Yes, I mean nobody wants to see or go through that again with what happened with Columbia and with Challenger.

I do want to ask you about something else that could potentially be historic for SpaceX. They are sending civilians, or trying to. Tell me where they're sending the civilians and why this is such a big deal.

[09:55:03]

FISHER: Sara, this is one of the most exciting and potentially risky missions that I've seen in quite some time. What you're going to see is a entirely private crew, and this is funded by a private citizen, Jared Isaacman, who's flown on a SpaceX vehicle before in the Inspiration 4 mission. He is now funding a test and development program with SpaceX. This mission called Polaris Dawn.

And what they're going to be doing is the world's first commercial spacewalk. Sara, up until this point only NASA astronauts or government astronauts have ever actually gone outside of a vehicle. This is the first time that just private citizens are going and to be doing this. And what you're going to see is the entire Dragon capsule opening up, all four people inside exposed to the vacuum of space. Never been done before. And if all goes according to plan, they're going to be launching late tonight - very early tomorrow morning. Excuse me, Sara.

SIDNER: I want to go.

JIMENEZ: Yes, you go first.

SIDNER: Kristin, can you get me on - I don't mind. I'll try it.

Thank you so much. That's so cool. Appreciate your time this morning, Kristin.

Thank you so much for joining us. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL with Sara Sider and Omar Jimenez. "CNN NEWSROOM" up next.

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