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Connect the World
CNN Speaks To Trump Campaign's Communications Director; President Donald Trump Claims Of Mail-In-Voting Fraud, Without Evidence; Iran: Someone Dies From COVID-19 Every Seven Minutes; Large Explosion Heard In Beirut, Thick Smoke Rising; Lebanese Media: Multiple People Injured After Beirut Explosion. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired August 04, 2020 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from CNN Abu Dhabi, this is "Connect the World" with Becky Anderson.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: Perception versus reality. We start this hour with a deep dive into the Coronavirus crisis in the United
States and a President who is trying to paint a rosy picture of success despite stock numbers that show otherwise.
Fact, the United States has about 4 percent of the world's population. Fact: The U.S. accounts for more than 25 percent of the world's COVID-19
cases and 22 percent of deaths, the American death toll now at 155,000.
And in a new interview with "AXIOS," Correspondent Jonathan Swan, the President, Donald Trump simply refused to acknowledge those numbers or any
failures in his administration's response. When Swann confronted him with that rising U.S. death toll, have a listen to the exchange.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JONATHAN SWAN, AXIOS NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: The figure I look at is death, and death is going up now. That's a thousand a day. It's going up
again, daily deaths.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Take a look at some of these charts.
SWAN: I'd love to.
TRUMP: We're going to look.
SWAN: Let's look.
TRUMP: And if you look at deaths--
SWAN: They started to go up again.
TRUMP: Right here, the United States is lowest in numerous categories. We're lower than the world, we're lower than Europe.
SWAN: In what?
TRUMP: Take a look right here, here are case deaths.
SWAN: Oh, you're doing death as a proportion of cases; I'm talking about deaths as a proportion of population. That's where the U.S. is really bad.
Much worse than South Korea, Germany, et cetera.
TRUMP: You can't do that.
SWAN: Why can't I do that?
TRUMP: You have to go by where - look, here is the United States. You have to go by the cases, the cases of deaths.
SWAN: Why not as a population?
TRUMP: When we have somebody - what it says is when you have somebody where there is a case, the people that live from those cases.
SWAN: It's surely an irrelevant statistic to say if the U.S. has X population and X percentage of deaths of that population versus South
Korea.
TRUMP: --by cases.
SWAN: Well, look at South Korea for example, 51 million population 300 deaths.
TRUMP: You don't know that.
SWAN: I do, it's on the - do you think they're faking their statistics South Korea?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Joining me now live is Tim Murtaugh. He is Director of Communications for Donald Trump's 2020 reelection campaign, a campaign sir
and thank you for joining us, which like did or not will have to deal with the U.S. death toll in what his critics describe as the President's
disastrous handling of this pandemic? How would you describe that performance by your candidate?
TIM MURTAUGH, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, TRUMP 2020 RE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN: Well, Americans have been able to see the President out front and leading
in the Coronavirus crisis since the very beginning, Becky.
In fact, the President acted early way back in January to restrict travel from China to the United States, a move which has been credited with saving
thousands of - countless thousands of American lives and a move, in fact, that was criticized by Joe Biden, our opponent in this race as being
xenophobic and fear mongering.
So if Joe Biden had been in charge at that time he would not had limited travel from China and the problem would be even worse. The President has
the United States leading the world in testing, both in the number of tests more than 50 million tests, and also in per capita testing as well leading
the world.
So the President has been fighting this Coronavirus since the very beginning and the critics are just sitting on the sidelines. Go ahead.
ANDERSON: Let's ensure that we get through this interview. I did ask you how you would rate his performance in that interview. So let me move on.
How is it okay for the current U.S. President, your candidate, to believe that what matters is not how many Americans have lost their lives but how
many people have been tested. How is that okay?
MURTAUGH: The President is very concerned with any American death. One death is too many, certainly, and the President is very saddened by the
numbers and certainly feels very badly for the families involved of those people who have died. That's why the President has been fighting this very
hard from the very beginning.
He's enacted a whole of America approach, enlisting also the private sector. We heard in the early going the projections for ventilator
shortages in states like New York and California and Washington state. Those shortages never materialized.
And in this country, no patient who needed a ventilator went without one. And, in fact, the fact that - remember, this is not a test for Coronavirus
that was just sitting on a shelf somewhere waiting to be mass produced it had to be invented first.
[11:05:00]
MURTAUGH: And let's not forget China's role in this. We couldn't even get a strain of the virus to develop a test from China where this originated. We
had to get it from Italy. So everyone started from exactly zero in fighting the Coronavirus test.
ANDERSON: I understand that these stats don't lie sir. There have been 18 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, nearly 700,000 deaths. Of those
America makes up 25 percent of the global total of cases and deaths with just 4 percent of the world's population. You can spin these numbers any
which way you will, sir, but these numbers, you have to admit, are awful.
MURTAUGH: Well, I mean, if you accept those numbers, you're also taking China's claims at face value where this entire thing originated.
ANDERSON: Do you not accept those numbers?
MURTAUGH: If China has been telling the truth at any step along this way then you would accept these numbers, of course.
ANDERSON: Those are numbers from the W.H.O., the World Health Organization.
MURTAUGH: President Trump has been fighting the Coronavirus since the very beginning. And I would say that Joe Biden, our opponent in this race, has
been armchair quarterbacking this whole thing, and every time Joe Biden has said that he would run a certain play if he were President.
It's something President Trump has already done, like getting the private sector involved in producing things like ventilators and personal
protection equipment, masks and gowns and gloves and those kinds of things. It has been a whole of America approach.
ANDERSON: So let me ask you this question, in one way how do you describe the way that the U.S. President - okay, so you're calling in a whole of
America approach. In one word, how would describe the way that the - that this current U.S. President has dealt with this crisis, in one word?
MURTAUGH: Excellent. The President has fought this virus on all fronts. He has done an excellent job against an invisible enemy and one that doesn't
know state lines and doesn't know cities versus rural. The President has done this from the very beginning.
Again, every time the President has acted and acted early, if Joe Biden, like he claims now, Joe Biden claims to have been warning everybody about
the Coronavirus since January, if that were the case, why was Joe Biden still campaigning normally into the second week of March, holding in-person
rallies and in-person events?
Joe Biden is trying to reinvent his own history here when Donald Trump is the one who has actually been fighting the fight.
ANDERSON: This is an interview about Donald Trump, not about Joe Biden. The President has been accused of not being overly compassionate. Have a
listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SWAN: When I hear you say everything is under control, don't worry about wearing masks, these are people - many of them are older people, Mr.
President.
TRUMP: We have this under control. Right now I think it's under control.
SWAN: How? A thousand Americans are dying a day.
TRUMP: They are dying, that's true. And it is what it is. But that doesn't mean we aren't doing everything we can. It's under control as much as you
can control it. This is a horrible plague that beset us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: How do you react when you hear that, honestly?
MURTAUGH: Listen, President Trump is a realist. And he understands the conditions on the ground. And he also understands that very many, a high
percentage of the American deaths have occurred in our more aged population, and we have seen states like in New York and in Michigan and in
Pennsylvania where the Governors of those states actually ordered nursing homes and assisted living homes to take in known COVID-positive patients.
And so when people in states, when leaders in states are doing things like that, like Governor Cuomo in New York ordering nursing homes to take COVID-
positive patients, of course the disease is going to spread in those nursing homes. And here in America, the American media is holding up
Governor Cuomo as some sort of hero of the Coronavirus when he ordered nursing homes to take in infected patients.
So the President is dealing with this on many fronts. Again, it's a global pandemic that has affected every nation on earth. And there are spikes that
we're seeing in other countries all over the globe across Europe and Australia and Japan.
ANDERSON: Let's look at the polls for Donald Trump. A new poll in North Carolina shows Joe Biden with 51 percent support, Trump 44 percent amongst
registered voters. Let's look at that poll. Trailing, right?
MURTAUGH: So am I allowed to talk about Joe Biden now since you brought up the polls?
ANDERSON: You absolutely can.
MURTAUGH: Okay. Thank you. These public polls are conducted by these organizations that are attempting to paint a narrative. When they do these
polls, they severely under sample Republicans in their polls, they oversample Democrats.
[11:10:00]
MURTAUGH: The only polls we trust are the ones where we know the methodology is sound. Every media poll made the same mistake in 2016 that
they are making today. We know in our own data the 17 states that we look at that we know will make the decision of which the next President is
President Trump is either leading or tied against Joe Biden in the 17 key states that will determine the outcome of this election. We're very
comfortable with where President Trump is right now.
ANDERSON: By what margin does your polling show him leading?
MURTAUGH: Well, it depends on which state you're talking about. We know that in the 17 states that will decide this election, President Trump is
either leading Joe Biden or is tied. And Americans know two things about Joe Biden.
They know, one that he is hiding from the American people and doesn't want to face them, and two, they know that he is a tool of the extreme left of
his party. He's an empty vessel that is being filled with the radical agenda of Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
We are eager to continue having our conversation with the American voters for the next 90 days and when that occurs on November 3rd President Trump
will be reelected. People are making the same mistake they did in 2016.
And you're frankly we urge them to go ahead and keep making that mistake. If everyone wants to believe that Joe Biden is way out in front and this
thing is practically over, we encourage that kind of thinking. Please continue to tell your audience that Joe Biden is way ahead.
ANDERSON: Just have look at our latest polling Arizona, Florida, Michigan from a couple weeks ago - you agreed to come and do an interview with me.
This is CNN and this is the poll just a couple weeks ago Mr. Trump also trailing, sir.
I'm not sure - clearly you've got your own polls, they work for you. We are an organization which is polling, and this is what we show at this point.
Does polling like that worry you?
MURTAUGH: No. And I'll tell you why. Because the CNN poll that you're referencing in that sample, 24 percent of the respondents were Republican.
And that compares to the actual exit polls in 2016 and 2018 that showed that 33 percent of the people who voted in those elections were Republican
so your poll under samples Republicans by nine points.
Somehow 27 percent of all Republicans in the United States have vanished in that poll, just wiped off the table. It also doesn't screen for likely
voters, which also adds a few points to our side. So when you begin with a poll that eliminates 27 percent of all Republicans and you don't screen for
likely voters, of course it shows Joe Biden with the lead.
That's exactly what I'm talking about. These polls are conducted with the sole purpose of convincing people that Joe Biden is dramatically ahead. I
encourage you to keep thinking that, because I tell you what, these polls are designed to suppress the enthusiasm of President Trump supporters and
that will not work. President Trump supporters would run through a brick wall to vote for him.
ANDERSON: We're talking to President's Campaign Manager, Tim, let me just stop you for one moment. Will the U.S. President accept the results in
November?
MURTAUGH: In a free and fair election, absolutely, President Trump will accept the results. But what the Democrats are pushing, we saw just in
Nevada--
ANDERSON: I asked you whether he would accept the result of the election on November 3rd.
MURTAUGH: And I just answered you. On November 3rd, in a free and fair election, absolutely President Trump will accept the results. But what we
saw in Nevada just this past weekend, they changed their election law 90 days before an election. They're going to extend the date of the election.
They have actually moved the date of elections. They are saying that they will accept the mail-in ballots coming in from 1.6 million Nevada voters a
week after Election Day. And if votes come in without postmarks, meaning that you don't even know when they have been mailed, they'll accept those
votes three days after the election.
What that means is, let's say in Nevada, after Election Day, let's say President Trump is ahead by 5,000 votes. That tells the Democrats, okay,
we've now got a week to go out and find 5,001 votes. They've extended. They've actually changed the effective date of the election and moved it
back a week to give them time to go out and find the votes they need.
That's what the President is talking about when he talks about the different changes to election law. That is precisely it. There is no way
anyone can deny what the Democrats have done in Nevada is what they're trying to do in the rest of the country, and that is tamper with the
integrity of the election system. It is undeniable.
ANDERSON: And with that, we will leave it there. You've been listening to Tim Murtaugh who is the Communications Director for the 2020 Campaign for
Donald Trump. Thank you, Tim.
MURTAUGH: Thank you.
ANDERSON: We're going to take - well, let's get Stephen Collinson up at this point.
[11:15:00]
ANDERSON: He is the White House Reporter and a regular guest on our show, your response to what you've just heard, sir?
STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well Becky, I think what you saw there in your repeated questions to try and get Tim Murtaugh to square
the question of why so many Americans have died from the virus and the President can say that he's done an excellent job in fighting it, you
didn't get an answer because there isn't a good answer, and that's the real problem the Trump Campaign has.
Tim Murtaugh has his talking points. He's very skilled at putting them across, but the problem is he's weaving an alternative reality to the
actual facts on the ground where a thousand Americans are dying a day. And I think you can probably argue that he made a lot more coherent arguments
than the President did in that interview from HBO and AXIOS which you played the portions of.
That's another problem for the campaign. While the campaign can create this narrative say all the things that President has done and put the best spin
on them, the President will then come out and talk about deaths and say in a very callous way, it is what it is, and it makes it look like he doesn't
care.
So it's really hard for any political campaign to run a coherent message to the voters if the President repeatedly, several times a day, comes out and
completely contradicts that message.
ANDERSON: Perhaps no surprise, the campaign doesn't want to acknowledge the polling that is being done at present which shows Donald Trump trailing his
opponent by a significant margin Stephen?
COLLINSON: Right. And so it's true that some of the state polls in 2016 were wrong, and they didn't pick up Donald Trump's surge. Look at the more
natural, general polls, popular vote polls. They got it mostly right that Hillary Clinton would win the popular vote but didn't kind of pick up the
state she was going to lose very narrowly.
It's true that in November it's likely to be closer than it looks now. There are changes to polling models. When he talks about how people are
under sampling Republicans in polls, well, the polling companies phone up people and ask them to identify themselves. They don't go around and try to
find more Republicans or more Democrats to balance it out.
So it's not really a very good argument that Republicans are being under sampled, if you like. But it's very, very difficult to look at all the
polls and think that Donald Trump is leading Joe Biden in this race at this point.
And, in fact, the actions of the campaign, the Trump Campaign, they keep resetting, they trying to find a new argument to go after Biden. That tells
us that they think they are behind in the polling, and look at the places the President is visiting. He's visiting Texas, North Carolina.
These are not states that he thought he would have to fight for in this election, they should be solidly in the Republican column. That tells you
where the fight in the election is being conducted right now. That's, in many cases, in territory that Donald Trump didn't think he would have to
fight for.
That tells you exactly where the election is. And, you know, we're not talking about, for example, Virginia and places like that where Biden
expects to win. So the territory is being fought on Donald Trump's territory, and that tells us he's behind in this race.
ANDERSON: I just want to talk mail-in voting for a moment. Have a listen to what the American President had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: They're using COVID to try and get the mail-in ballots. Now, absentee ballots are great. Absentee ballots, they have to request them,
they go through a process. They get them. But the universal mail-in ballots have turned out to be a disaster.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: The post office, as I understand it, insists that they are fine, and nine states allow voting primarily by mail, another 35 allow it with no
excuse. This is setting up an excuse at this point, right?
COLLINSON: Definitely. There are multiple fact checks about the ability of mail-in voting. None of them show that there is a propensity of fraud that
the President is talking about. There are a couple things going on here.
First of all, it's clear that the President is looking for a way out should he lose to say he wasn't beaten fairly and squarely, both for his own
political reasons and to spare his own modesty. What is also happening is given that a lot of these states are going to mail-in voting because it's
the middle of a pandemic and people don't want to go out and vote.
[11:20:00]
COLLINSON: It's very likely we're going to see delays on Election Day of days, perhaps even weeks, before the final counts when a lot of these races
are in. That means it's going to be a lot of time, possibly, if it's a close election, between the time we vote and the time we find out who the
president is.
That is going to create a lot of openings for legal issues, for example, on behalf of the Trump Campaign. He's already casting doubts on the process.
The fundamental fact and the President himself once said this out loud. He said the more people who vote by mail, i.e., the bigger the turnout, that's
bad for Republicans.
So it's not difficult to see how the campaign is maneuvering here, but I would prepare us all for a very contentious period if this election turns
out to be a lot closer than it is now. We could be seeing similar scenes as we saw in the Gore-Bush race with the election going to the courts back in
2000.
ANDERSON: Fascinating stuff. Stephen, it's always a pleasure. Thank you very much, indeed. Stephen Collinson is out of Washington for you. We're
going next to Capitol Hill as Democrats and Republicans remain at odds though a new Coronavirus relief bill. How Donald Trump says he could step
in to help.
And there is a push for a U.S. company to buy TikTok just keeps getting more unconventional. Here is President's latest deal demand is ahead. Plus,
it's known as football's richest game. One team will not only be looking for a nice payday, but also to break a 73-year drought, all of that, coming
up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Senior Trump Administration officials are entering seven-day talks over a new Coronavirus relief bill. There filling the void left by
the two most powerful players, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his rival Chuck Schumer who have really held direct talks.
Well, President Donald Trump has said Monday he is considering taking executive action if Republicans and Democrats remain perilous over a way
for it. The virus, on the other hand, is taking no sides, killing over 155,000 Americans and leaving millions more in economic limbo after their
$600 weekly unemployment benefits expired to Friday. Let's get you to Lauren Fox live on Capitol Hill. Lauren?
LAUREN FOX, CNN POLITICS CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Hi, Becky, that's right. Up here on Capitol Hill they enter into more discussions today. We expect
that Steve Mnuchin, the Treasury Secretary, and Mark Meadows, the President's Chief of Staff, will both be in the Republican lunch today.
We also expect that they will meet with Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi later this afternoon. But one thing to keep in mind about
these negotiations is that despite the positive talk that you're seeing as they exit these meetings, they are no closer to a deal.
[11:25:00]
FOX: They have key sticking points, including those around state or local government. Here's what the President said about Democrats' demands in
these negotiations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We're having a very good discussion with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer. The problem is they want to do bailouts of their various Democrat-
run states and cities, and they want a lot of money. They want a trillion dollars for that, and so they want to do much more than COVID related, they
want to bail out cities and states that have been in trouble for years of bad management. In all cases Democrat-run cities and we don't think that's
fair.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOX: And that's just one of dozens of sticking points, Becky. One thing to keep in mind about these negotiations is the deadline for an additional
federal unemployment benefit that ran out on Friday. Democrats have been pushing for an additional $600. That was money that was in the last Cares
package in the spring.
Republicans have argued that number is too much they want to reduce it to $200 a week. But I will tell you that's just another one of these sticking
points. Like I said, there are dozens of them. And despite the fact these discussions have been going on for more than a week now, there is no deal
in sight. Becky?
ANDERSON: Thank you, Lauren. As we've been discussing this week, the U.S. President plowing ahead with an effort to eliminate China from TikTok's
operations in the United States. Donald Trump set a September 15th deadline for the Chinese-owned app to find an American buyer or, he says, he will
shut it down in America.
Right now Microsoft is in talks to buy a portion of TikTok. Mr. Trump also gave another somewhat unusual demand for the sale. Have a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: My personal opinion was you're probably better off buying the whole thing rather than buying 30 percent of it. I think buying 30 percent is
complicated. If you buy it, whatever the price is, that goes to whoever owns it because I guess its China, essentially, but more than anything
else, I said a very substantial portion of that price is going to have to come into the treasury of the United States, because we're making it
possible for this deal to happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, Chinese state media are reacting to the President's latest demand, calling it a smash and grab raid. Coming up on "Connect the World"
every seven minutes that is how often Iran says someone in that country dies from COVID-19. We will take a look at the worst outbreak in the Middle
East, up next.
Plus, Coronavirus has silenced some of the world's most vibrant cities. London is one of them. A closer look at the much diminished city is ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:30:00]
ANDERSON: After months of laying waste of human lives in the global economy, COVID-19 has produced a new threat. United Nations Chief called it
a generational catastrophe, Human Secretary General Antonio Guterres says the largest disruption of education ever is a defining moment, one that
will impact not only students but the development prospects of countries for decades to come with more than a billion, a billion children not in the
classroom.
Mr. Guterres says getting them back to in-person learning couldn't be more urgent, and he adds, remote education just isn't cutting it.
In every seven minutes, that is how often someone in Iran dies from COVID- 19 according to the country state media. It adds up to around 200 people every day, and based on Iran's population, that's close to the same daily
death rate that we have been seeing in the United States, which is suffering the worst outbreak in the world.
CNN's Jomana Karadsheh joining us now live from Istanbul. What do we understand to be the situation on the ground? These numbers are pretty
devastating, aren't they?
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I mean, really a grim statistic from the Iranian Health Ministry. And we've seen the numbers Becky as you
mentioned over the past few weeks more than 200 people have lost their lives on a daily basis from COVID-19.
And you know Iran is the hardest hit country in this region. It was the epicenter of the outbreak in the Middle East. We're talking about more than
300,000 confirmed cases, more than 17,000 deaths. But officials have hinted at times that the numbers could be even higher than that.
And if you look, Becky, at one point it did seem like they had gotten the situation there under control, but as the country began to reopen in April,
the numbers began to rise again in the weeks that followed.
You know, July, that one month, had the highest number of deaths since the start of the pandemic and it doesn't seem to be getting any better right
now. The numbers are still rising at an alarming rate. You know, you have - restrictions in place--
ANDERSON: Jomana, let me - let me just interrupt you just for a moment, because we are just getting some pictures in to CNN of what is a large
explosion in Lebanon's Capital, Beirut witnesses, including own correspondents have heard an explosion, they have seen smoke rising.
No word yet on the cause, but these are pictures coming in to CNN. We will get Ben Wedeman who is in Beirut on the line as quickly as we can. Our
Bureau is about a kilometer from the port.
The damage is extensive in this area many windows have been blown out. So as soon as we can get to Ben Wedeman, we will, but just to confirm, these
are pictures coming to us live from Beirut in Lebanon where we are seeing the aftermath of what appears to have been at least one large explosion,
possibly more.
But at the moment confirming one large explosion in Beirut, windows blown out in the center of town you can see people running from the center of the
town. There appears to be a sense of confusion. This is the center of Lebanon's Capital, Beirut, after a large explosion there. Let's just take a
look at these scenes just for the time being.
A large explosion heard and thick smoke seen rising from the Lebanese Capital in Beirut. According to some reports, a major fire broke out at the
port in a warehouse there. That is the smoke, the evidence of this large explosion.
It is very unclear what has happened, so we will not speculate at this stage our journalists and producers doing their work on the ground to try
and work out exactly what has happened?
[11:35:00]
ANDERSON: As I say, this is what we have at present and these are just coming in to CNN, a large explosion, rising smoke there, the evidence of
that in Beirut in Lebanon. Working this story for you, and we will get more information on this just as soon as we can.
Evidence of smoke there after an explosion in Beirut, things are incredibly tough in that country at present. We have been reporting now for weeks, if
not months of the economic collapse in the country, COVID taking a heavy toll on not just Beirut but the country as a whole. And now this the latest
pictures from Beirut for you as they come in to CNN, an explosion and rising smoke there in Lebanon's Capital.
Reports of windows being blown out quite a distance away, in fact, checking social media reports that windows were blown out some 7 kilometers away
from what people believe is the center of this attack so clearly an enormous explosion and the fallout significant there in Lebanon's Capital.
We're going to take a very short break. We will endeavor to get you more on these pictures and exactly what is going on in Lebanon after this very
short break. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: We have breaking news out of Lebanon's Capital Beirut. Witnesses, including our own teams there on the ground, have heard an explosion and
have seen what we are witnessing in these images now of smoke rising. No word yet on the cause.
The CNN Bureau is about a kilometer from the port from where the smoke seems to be rising. This is an extensive area, and the entire area, it is
reported, has seen windows blown out. These pictures just coming in to us.
Apologies for the slight technical glitches on these, but this is as we speak, images today, this afternoon out of Beirut in Lebanon where a huge
explosion has rocked the Capital. And this the aftermath of that as we see that smoke continuing to rise from what looks to be the port area in
Beirut.
We are, as I understand it now, able to contact Ben Wedeman who is on the line. He is in Beirut. Ben, if you can hear me, what can you tell us about
these images? What do we understand to have happened?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, within the last hour, in fact, the reporter for the "Los Angeles Times" here in Beirut had
tweeted a picture of the fire in the port itself. And just about 15 minutes later after he tweeted that picture, that video, there was a massive
explosion.
[11:40:00]
WEDEMAN: I mean, something the likes I've never seen before. The windows of the CNN Bureau have been completely blown out. I'm looking at the buildings
all around me. Many windows are also smashed. There is lots of glass and other debris in the street. There is still smoke rising from the port, and
there was an odd red cloud hanging over the downtown District of Beirut.
Now, we're seeing local media saying this was some sort of accident in the port, but the size of the explosion is hard to explain no idea at this
point any casualties, fatalities. We know there are casualties, fatalities I haven't seen a figure on yet.
But certainly this is something that really shook this city like I've never seen before, and I've been through wars and civil wars here in Lebanon, and
this is something unheard of.
ANDERSON: Ben, can you just describe where you are, and then where the port is in relation to downtown Beirut?
WEDEMAN: Well, I'm in the wreckage of the CNN Bureau right now which overlooks what's known as the downtown. And to our left here is the port,
which normally has five or six ships in it.
It's an area where normally you're not - you can't gain easy access to, but even though it's about a kilometer away, perhaps slightly less, the force
of the blast was just massive, absolutely massive. I'm right now just treading on broken glass of what used to be the CNN office in Beirut.
ANDERSON: You're listening to Ben Wedeman reporting from Beirut where a large explosion has rocked the Lebanese Capital this afternoon. Lebanese
state-run NNA news, Ben, reporting that a major fire has broken out in a warehouse for firecrackers where they report strong explosions were heard.
I realize that this is early, just after this explosion. You've been explaining the aftermath and the effect and impact on the Bureau. Does that
- does what NNA is reporting tend to make sense to your mind?
WEDEMAN: I am looking at local television running pictures of the explosion itself, and that doesn't look like fireworks to me. I mean, it almost is a
mushroom cloud when it goes off. And why there would be that amount of fireworks in Beirut port is beyond my level of comprehension.
ANDERSON: Can you just explain the atmosphere in the city at present?
WEDEMAN: At present its panic. People are driving around on their scooters. They're looking to see what happened. There was a large crowd earlier
looking for injured. People are looking everywhere to find out if they can be of assistance in any way.
Keep in mind, Beirut has seen its troubles in the past. It's certainly been an area of unrest for the last few months, but it's not of this nature, so
this has really taken everyone by complete surprise, and people are really in a state of shock at the moment.
I can hear sirens in the distance, no doubt going in various locations in Beirut at this point to find people who are injured, to perhaps try to put
out this fire that is at this moment spewing black smoke into the skies over Beirut, over the port, and over the city as well. Becky?
ANDERSON: Ben, so those views, if you may just be joining us, can you explain as we look at these images coming in to us at CNN exactly what has
happened and when in Beirut this afternoon, and what we understand, clearly, the details very, very limited at present, but what we understand
to have happened?
[11:45:00]
WEDEMAN: What we understand, and as I was saying on the phone earlier, was that there was a fire somewhere in the port. This was video tweeted by the
reporter for the "Los Angeles Times" a very reliable source, and within about half an hour, there was this massive blast, huge.
You could hear glass breaking everywhere, not just in our office, but in the entire downtown area, which contains, of course, the prime ministry,
several ministries, many five-star hotels, stores and offices. It's an area that on a normal day is quite packed, quite active.
ANDERSON: Clearly there will be much speculation as to what has happened here, and until we get confirmed details, we won't be part of that
conjecture and speculation. But as we look at these images and as we await more information to confirm exactly what has happened, just describe if you
will, just life in Beirut at present. These are difficult times, not just for the Capital City, but for the country as a whole.
WEDEMAN: The city is in a state of panic. The city is in a state of shock right now. People are trying to figure out what on earth has happened. But
I think people's immediate concerns, and as I'm talking to you on the phone, I'm getting lots of missed calls because I think people are calling
in. They're looking for their loved ones.
They're looking for people who they can't get through to on the telephone at the moment, because either in some areas the cell phone system is down
or the people they're trying to get in touch with may be injured or worse at this point.
So it really just happened not long ago, and it's still very difficult to collect the sort of information that will allow us to get a very clear
picture of what has happened beyond just this massive explosion and now the ongoing fire from the area of Beirut port.
ANDERSON: Before I let you go, just again, for those who may just be joining us and are eager to find out what these images are suggesting, you
talked about a massive explosion, and you describe earlier the impact that you felt and the damage to the Bureau which is not very far away in
downtown Beirut. If you can just repeat what happened, Ben?
WEDEMAN: Okay. I was basically at about 40 minutes ago, though at this point I can't keep the time completely straight in my head, there was - the
building shook like it was an earthquake. And I ducked down, and moments later the blast impact actually hit this area where we are, and I heard
glass shattering everywhere.
In the adjacent room, in the room after that, in the buildings in front of us, and very soon afterward, there was the wail of sirens as ambulances and
fire trucks started, from what I could see from my vantage point, heading in the direction of the blast.
And I saw many Beirut residents on scooters and cars looking around, checking for injured people. I had several people come into the shambles of
our office asking if everyone here is okay. I'm the only one here.
And right now people are really just trying to figure out where their loved ones are, how they are, and then people will hopefully start getting
answers about what the hell happened in Beirut this afternoon.
ANDERSON: Ben Wedeman, who is speaking to us from the Beirut Bureau, the CNN Beirut Bureau, which is really just moments away from the port in
Beirut where you are seeing images of significant smoke, huge clouds of black smoke after what was, as Ben described it, an enormous explosion
which blew out the windows of not just the CNN Beirut Bureau, but homes and offices around the area.
I'm reading on social media, for example, people have lost the glass in their windows and 7 kilometers away from where this blast happened.
[11:50:00]
ANDERSON: This is what we understand to have happened. Details are very, very slim at present. We are working every source that we have in Beirut to
try and identify exactly what happened in Beirut in the port, as we understand it.
That's certainly where this smoke appears to be coming from today, this afternoon and early on into the evening now in Beirut. As Ben described,
panic in Beirut as people, quite frankly, try and get in touch with their relatives to ensure that they are okay as the details are as limited as to
exactly what has gone on.
Ben, I know that you are monitoring as we continue to look at the pictures coming in to CNN, you are also monitoring local TV. Is there any further
detail on what, locally, has happened?
WEDEMAN: Okay, well, what it appears is that the authorities are saying there was an accidental blast of some sort. They are reporting that there
is a large number - the authorities are reporting that there was large number of injuries as a result of this explosion.
That's really all we have in terms of people getting hurt. It would be a miracle of miracles if several people, at least, were not killed in this
massive explosion. Becky?
ANDERSON: Does it resonate with you, as I look at social media comments suggesting that glass from this explosion, the impact glass shattering in
people's homes some 7 to 10 kilometers away from Beirut Port? Does that make sense?
WEDEMAN: It's believable. It's believable. There's shock waves, and I said from where I am, it felt like an earthquake initially. And when I felt what
I thought was an earthquake, I just ducked down and fortunately avoided any injury to myself.
But yes, it's certainly absolutely plausible that 5, 6, 7 kilometers away that glasses might have been shattered. Because looking out the window
here, I see almost only shattered windows. Not only shattered glass, but the actual frames of the windows are blown out as well in several locations
of this building just across from where I am.
ANDERSON: Ben Wedeman on the phone from the CNN Bureau working on his own at present as our producer is out, clearly working our sources trying to
identify the source of this explosion. Ben, there are reports that there was more than one explosion. Has that been confirmed at this point?
WEDEMAN: I only heard and felt one explosion. I mentioned the fire that was coming from the port, and it sounded like there were - in the video that
was posted by the "L.A. Times" Correspondent, you heard pops which sounded like not small explosions, nothing particularly noteworthy that one would
have thought listening to them that they could have been just sort of commercial goods burning up and blowing up in a fire.
But as far as I can tell, there was just one absolutely massive explosion which has caused all this damage in the Lebanese Capital.
ANDERSON: Ben, you have been around the block, as it you've been in war zones, you've been in situations where things have been very, very
difficult. You described to me earlier how you felt when you felt this explosion? You said you had never felt anything like it, correct?
WEDEMAN: That's correct. You know, as you said, I've been around the block. I've seen some pretty large explosions, but this one was - I was at Tora
Bora when they were dropping Daisy Cutters. And this was bigger.
[11:55:00]
ANDERSON: If you are just joining us, you're listening to the voice of Ben Wedeman who is in Beirut at the CNN Bureau which is in downtown Beirut,
very short distance away from Beirut port.
The smoke that you see on your screens is smoke from a huge explosion from that port, which Ben has been reporting, blew out the windows of the CNN
Bureau and the windows of those buildings around in downtown Beirut.
As we assess the social media footage coming in on this, one line clearly resonating again and again, repeated by so many who are either in Beirut or
in the suburbs of Beirut. This explosion had an impact 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 kilometers away, people reporting that their homes shook and their windows
were blown out as much as 10 kilometers away from the source of this explosion, which, at present, is unclear.
What we do understand is that this was in Beirut Port, and you are seeing evidence there of people who, it seems, have been injured as a result of
this explosion. Ben is at present, as he speaks to me, also working his sources and keeping one eye on local media, trying to get a better
assessment and detail on exactly what happened.
Ben, we are going to have to take a very short break in a moment or so, so just before we do, at present, what is it that we understand to be the very
latest on what has happened in Beirut this afternoon?
WEDEMAN: What has happened is that there was a massive explosion from the direction of the Port of Beirut. Buildings shook, glasses were broken for
kilometers around, a huge cloud of smoke, which seemed oddly red, as I saw it drifting not far above our Bureau came from that direction.
Immediately afterwards, there were sirens of ambulances and fire trucks as the ambulances go out looking for the injured and perhaps the dead, and the
fire trucks are trying to put out this fire that still seems to be raging in Beirut Port.
Now, the local news, the National News Agency of Lebanon is reporting some sort of accident in the Port. It's still not clear. Certainly if it was
fireworks as some news sources are claiming, those were some damn big fireworks.
The explosion that was videoed by eyewitnesses looked something like a mushroom cloud, briefly. And now people are still sort of driving around. I
can see from my vantage point in the shambles of the CNN Bureau, just trying to figure out what on earth has happened.
And I know from acquaintances here in Beirut, one of the first things or one of the things many people are still doing as we speak is trying to find
out the whereabouts and the conditions of their loved ones.
ANDERSON: Sure. As local media reports multiple injuries at present. Those are reports from local media until we can sand up these reports. We will
attribute them and thus, Ben, we are going to take a very short break.
Stay with us as we continue to monitor these images and the sirens wailing there in Beirut as cloud rises from what has been described as a huge
explosion from one of the buildings in Beirut port. More detail after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
