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Connect the World
Trump says on Social Media that he Encourages the Release; Deadline Nears as Justice Department moves to Unseal Search Warrant; Ukraine: "No Adequate Control" Over Zaporizhzhia Plant; Author Salman Rushdie Attacked During Lecture in New York; Study: Still Time to Save East Antarctic Ice Sheet; Official: U.S. and Syria have had Direct Engagements to Release Austin Tice, taken Hostage 10 Year Ago. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired August 12, 2022 - 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)
PAULA NEWTON, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: Hi I'm Paula Newton in New York. Hello and a warm welcome to "Connect the World". Now right now it's your
move Donald Trump his lawyers have four hours to respond to a Justice Department motion to unseal documents about the FBI search of his home.
The Former U.S. President posted on his social media site that he won't oppose it, and that he actually encourages it. But he could have released
them himself. We have to say over the past four days if that's actually how he feels.
Now, this is about the alleged mishandling of classified documents taken from the White House to Trump's home Mar-a-Lago in Florida. And we have to
tell you this; a new report in "The Washington Post" suggests authorities were worried that classified documents relating to nuclear weapons and
national security were among them. CNN though has not been able to independently confirm that report.
Meantime, Mr. Trump has dismissed it calling it a hoax. The FBI's unprecedented search has infuriated his supporters and claim that all of
this is politically motivated. Now that blowback is partly why the nation's top law enforcement officer went public Thursday and explained how he
personally approved the decision to seek the warrant listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MERRICK GARLAND, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: There are however, certain points I want you to know. First, I personally approved the decision to seek a
search warrant in this matter. Second, the department does not take such decision lightly. Where possible in a standard practice to seek less
intrusive means, as an alternative to a search and to narrowly scope any search that is undertaken.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Elie Honig is CNN's Senior Legal Analyst and a Former Federal Prosecutor. My goodness, have you been doing some long hours right here,
Elie? And I'm sure you were also surprised by the DOJ's move yesterday, the fact that he came out and did this. But I know that you can give us some
glimpse into what we will learn if those documents are released in about four hours from now what could they tell us?
ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, Paula. So these are the documents that any person who's the subject of a search warrant is given by
the FBI. And what Merrick Garland said yesterday, is Donald Trump has these documents, but now I want the court to release them.
So there are really three categories of information that I think we're likely to learn from the documents that we may see later today. First of
all, we will see how DOJ and FBI describe the premises they were going to search.
Do they just say Mar-a-Lago? Or is it more specific than that? Does it specify certain rooms, closets, perhaps the safe at Mar-a-Lago? Second of
all, we will get some indication of what evidence items were seized by the FBI from out of Mar-a-Lago?
Now, sometimes the FBI frames this very generally, they may just say, X number of boxes, Y number of laptops, but sometimes they're more specific
about what items they seized. And finally, Paula, we should get a sense of what potential crime DOJ believes may have been committed here, because
there is a part of this form that we may see today, where's the prosecutor, you have to fill in which specific crime do you believe may have been
committed here? So that's what I'm going to be looking for if these documents come out later today.
NEWTON: OK, Elie, I still have questions there. So I really was hanging on that last point you made right? We might get an indication of the nature of
the crime. But that doesn't necessarily mean that the President is in jeopardy of being charged with anything, right? I mean, clearly, their
justification was that they wanted to secure these documents immediately. It was a matter of national security.
HONIG: Correct. So in order to get a search warrant, though, which prosecutors did, you do have to establish what we call probable cause that
a crime was committed? Now, probable cause is a significantly lower legal standard than proof beyond a reasonable doubt, which is what you would
ultimately need to prove to a jury.
So we do know that the government, the prosecutors were able to prove probable cause of some federal crime, maybe more than one. And we know that
a federal judge reviewed that and agreed, yes, this is probable cause now, why did the FBI go in they could have had to, or they could have had
multiple goals.
One, they could have been looking for evidence of those crimes. And two, they could have just wanted to make sure that they got those classified
documents if in fact they are classified back into government possession.
NEWTON: So you know, full disclosure, Elie and I, we've been having water cooler discussions about this. So now, I haven't talked to you since the
latest news from yesterday. So does the nature of these documents change the justification for carrying out the search?
Because, you know, you and I were talking about this great debate raging about whether the Justice Department really had to do this? I mean,
Garland's move was historic any way you slice it?
HONIG: Yes. So legally, Paula, all they have to do is show probable cause that's fairly easy to do. A judge has already signed off about that. But
let's live in reality here. There is a lot of politics around this and the question that is being asked I think fairly is was a search warrant
justified? Was this overkill?
Was this more burdensome and invasive of privacy than next necessary? And I think a lot of that we'll turn on the nature of the documents that they
recover. If they are classified documents that are different than if they're not classified documents.
[11:05:00]
HONIG: But then even within this world of classified documents, there are enormous variations. Of course, the most sensitive documents are documents
relating to anything to do with our nuclear practices. Now, we don't know that this is something that only "The Washington Post" has reported.
And it's important to know, they're reporting is not that such documents were found at Mar-a-Lago, but that the FBI was looking for them now.
Anybody can look for anything. So my question is what basis did the FBI have if this is true to believe that there may have been documents in there
related to our nuclear programs?
NEWTON: And I have to ask you from a legal perspective here, what happens if all of these investigations when and it looks like maybe if Trump
decides that he's going to announce his reelection campaign, let's say in the coming weeks or months?
HONIG: Yes. Legally, that has no bearing on anything. It's legally irrelevant. We do have a long standing DOJ policy here that they will not
prosecute a sitting president, but there is no such policy with respect to a candidate for president.
But again, we have to think about the practicalities and the realities here. It is already 18 months past January 6th; we are well into sort of
the next almost presidential cycle. And you have to think about if you're a prosecutor, ultimately, you have to convince 12 jurors unanimously, not 11
to 1, 12-0 beyond a reasonable doubt that very high standard of proof that I mentioned before that the person is guilty.
It is already going to be hard enough to reach that burden with a Former President for the first time in U.S. history if there's a charge, of
course, we don't know. Now multiply that if Donald Trump has to declare his candidacy, by the time this case gets tried, Donald Trump could well be a
front runner, he could well be the nominee and in my view that makes the task of getting a guilty verdict against Donald Trump even more difficult
again, if he is ever charged.
NEWTON: Yes, so much to parse there. And when you were speaking Elie, you know, we had up the recap of all the investigations looming against the
Former President right now. Elie Honig I know what you're going to be doing in about four hours for now--
HONIG: Waiting for some documents.
NEWTON: Absolutely. And we'll be waiting to hear what you find in them if and when they are released. I appreciate it Elie.
HONIG: Thank you.
NEWTON: Thanks so much. Now last hour, CNN's Senior Justice Correspondent Evan Perez explained why Washington Post reporting we were telling you
about that right about the possibility of nuclear documents in Mar-a-Lago raises such alarm at the Justice Department listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the significance of what "The Washington Post" reporting is, it sort of explains why there has
been this month's long, 18 months really, of back and forth between the federal government between the National Archives and between the U.S.
intelligence agencies and the Justice Department to try to retrieve these documents.
We know from our own reporting, that among the documents that ended up the FBI and the Justice Department believe ended up at the beach house of the
Former President, were documents related to what we call Special Access Programs.
Now, these are the most highly prized, highly secured, or supposed to be highly secured jewels, frankly, of national security of the United States
government. Nuclear weapons programs would be among those. We reported that SAP programs were among the things that the FBI was trying to get back.
And which, you know, over a period of months, there was some resistance from the Former President and his legal team about whether they should run
to send it back. That's the context. The other important part of this is that Mar-a-Lago which is a private club that belongs to the Former
President is known for, let's just say lacks procedures, where you have foreign nationals, people who should not have any close access to things
like nuclear weapons programs, details would, you know, be able to get access.
There was a case of a foreign national Chinese national, who was actually prosecuted because of this. And we also know, you know, from previous
reporting, that the President was known to carry around classified documents to social settings and wave them around things that should never
ever happen.
That's the context for why there's been this very big push to get these documents back. And why ultimately, the Justice Department after exhausting
all of its efforts, decided to do this highly unusual move to search the Former President's home, you know, despite the fact that he's been claiming
that he's been cooperative.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: OK, that's reporting from Evan. CNN's Katelyn Polantz has also been doing so much reporting on this story, as it has been fast breaking all
week. Thanks for joining us now from Washington.
I mean, given the Former President's posture here towards these documents we were just talking about I mean, you've pointed out to us before he could
have released them himself. And yet, what is he saying about this looming deadline? Because they have he and his lawyers have until 3 pm to object to
these being unsealed?
KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: They do and they also have until 3 pm to agree to these being unseen in court. So far all we
have is what was on social media posted by the Former President around midnight last night.
[11:10:00]
POLANTZ: So that's 11 hours now since then, when he said it, not only will I not oppose the release of the documents, and then he criticized the raid,
I am going a step further by encouraging the immediate release of those documents.
But in this situation, I mean, what Donald Trump says, is not always what Donald Trump does here. And in his history, we know that in the past, there
have been times where he'd called - he's called for the declassification of materials whenever he was President, he had the authority to declassify
them.
And then they were not declassified ultimately. And so we really are watching very closely to see what is said in court in the court filing that
is going to be coming from the Justice Department by this 3 pm deadline.
I just looked, it hasn't come in yet. So we don't know formally what position the Trump lawyers are going to take here. But one of the things
where you're comparing what people are saying publicly to what they're doing.
I should say, Merrick Garland, the Attorney General yesterday, when he made his public statement, it was very much in line with what the Justice
Department said in court, and only came a few minutes after the Justice Robin had made a filing in court arguing that it was in the public interest
to release these documents.
And also it would be OK for them to be released, because Donald Trump had already said so much, excuse me publicly about them that he had disclosed
that it was his house that was being searched. And also he had his son out there talking about the reasons for this search.
And so all of that taken together is what we are watching. That will be built upon today by this filing, it may be very short. And things could
happen quite quickly after that. We know that the judge is - watching what's happening in the docket. We've already seen a little activity from
this judge this morning nothing that material at all. But we are watching to see the judge respond fairly quickly.
NEWTON: Yes, and I don't have a lot of time left. I just wanted to ask you quickly, is there a chance that nothing could happen today, even though
we've got this 3 pm deadline?
POLANTZ: Yes. I mean, with court, you never know what's going to happen. And one of the things that can happen in court is that people love to do
lawyers, especially Justice Department lawyers is ask for extensions to their deadline so we will see that's always a possibility as well Paula.
NEWTON: OK, still a lot to get through in the next few hours. Katelyn Polantz there for us I would wish you a good weekend but something tells me
you will be working through the entire time. Katelyn Polantz for us thanks so much.
Now to disturbing developments in the U.S. State of Ohio in the wake of the FBI search on Mar-a-Lago, a social media account linked to this man you see
him there, Ricky Schiffer made a post on Donald Trump's platform Truth Social about attacking FBI offices.
Ohio police have confirmed that he was then killed in a standoff with police after trying to storm the FBI field office in Cincinnati. Brynn
Gingras brings us up to date now on those very dramatic events.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Now listen, let's talk about this Truth Social account details a person who clearly
believes the election was stolen in 2020 who admits to being in D.C. on January 6th, and really who wanted to wage a war with the FBI.
And as we've just talked about this account bears Schiffer name and a source tells CNN the account picture matches you know there are a
government ID of the man killed after the hours' long standoff and shots exchange with authorities in rural Ohio ending in Schiffer's death.
Now CNN has not confirmed the account belongs to the suspect. But listen, there's this. A post minutes after sources tell us Schiffer walked into the
Cincinnati FBI Field Office with an assault rifle and a nail gun. And this is what it said, well, I thought I had a way through bulletproof glass and
I didn't it.
If you don't hear from me, it is true. I tried attacking the FBI. And it'll mean I was taken off the internet, the FBI got me or they sent the regular
cops while and that post possibly ending abruptly because a pursuit then ensued as we know.
The user of this account also fixates on pushing violence against the FBI, including one on Monday after news broke about the search of Mar-a-Lago.
Now this poster encouraging people to actually go to Florida writing this, this is your call to arms for make it whatever you need to be ready for
combat, then tyranny becomes the law rebellion becomes duty, killed them referencing actually FBI agents in that last killed that part.
So again, just a disturbing looks into the possible mind of Schiffer now dead. We don't yet know exactly why he tried to breach the FBI building?
That's something that's still under investigation. It's possible it came out during the hours' long negotiations before he was killed.
But again, this is an account of possibly what happens after all this violent rhetoric is out there. And law enforcement is looking into this and
there's a lot of questions that we're still posing to them did and we know that they're looking into is did he have any ties to right wing extremist
groups if in fact he was there on January 6th, was he already on the FBIs radar as someone that they were looking into and this prompted him to go to
that office and take out his anger a lot of questions but certainly it's disturbing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[11:15:00]
NEWTON: Our Brynn Gingras there brings us the details of what was an incredibly disturbing event. Coming up right here for us on "Connect the
World" new warnings on both Ukraine and the United Nations from the United Nations about the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, while the UN's nuclear
watchdog says the situation has reached a grave hour also ahead for us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: The Russians are already on the edge of the city. If there was ever a moment for these people to leave,
it will be now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: People in eastern Ukraine under the constant threat you saw there of attack and they face in fact the biggest decision of their lives you
will want to see this report from Nic Robertson.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NEWTON: Ukraine's nuclear authority says the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant now faces a serious risk of violating radiation and fire safety standards. And
Ukraine's interior minister meantime says there's no adequate control over operations there. These warnings come a day after an emergency UN Security
Council meeting on the plant as the fighting there just continues to rage.
Ukraine says rockets and shells hit two cities not far from the plant overnight. The Head of the IAEA in fact says that the fighting around
Zaporizhzhia must stop and stop now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAFAEL GROSSI, IAEA DIRECTOR GENERAL: Experts have preliminary assess that there is no immediate threat to nuclear safety as a result of the shelling
or other military actions. However, this could change at any moment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Senior International Correspondent David McKenzie has been following all this closely for us. He is live for us in Kyiv at this hour.
We just heard from the IAEA there saying, look, there's no immediate threat. And it's important to put that on the table.
And yet what are their main concerns given that you know, week after week there seems to be no stabilizing what is going on outside of this plant?
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's it. That's the volatility of the situation, Paula, which is really difficult.
This is the first time in modern history that or in any history that a large nuclear site of this kind has been right smack in the middle of a war
zone, a civilian nuclear site.
Now I've been speaking to experts, they said the biggest worry isn't necessarily of a munitions or rocket hitting the reactor itself. Those are
very heavily protected with a great deal of concrete.
It's unlikely you could spark any issue though of course it is a worry. The bigger issue is they say if there is in the medium term is shutdown of
power and a backup of power to that site to stop the cooling of the fuel rods from which could then lead to a meltdown or possibly a leakage of some
kind.
[11:20:00]
MCKENZIE: The last few days certainly have been very alarming, there's been yesterday at least at least 10 rocket strikes or munitions strikes against
the general area of the site, according to Ukrainians. Russian continues to blame the Ukrainian side for this. And there doesn't seem to be any
movement in solution that stops this zone and its workers there from being put at risk. Paula?
NEWTON: Yes, and given what's at stake here. And this is not just for Ukraine, but indeed, for Russia, Europe and the world. What are the odds of
trying to get some kind of a settlement so that you can get a demilitarized zone? I mean, we did see a settlement on grain exports, how is this
different?
MCKENZIE: One of the things people are asking for is to have blue helmets peacekeeping force of some kind placed inside that side. I think in the
short term that's highly unlikely never say never.
But at the UN Security Council, you had the diplomats of both Ukraine and Russia, yet again, blaming each other for what is happening, which
indicates that maybe we're a long way off of some kind of settlement. Let's listen to Ukraine's Ambassador first.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SERGIY KYSLYTSYA, UKRAINIAN PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE TO THE U.N.: Dear colleagues, none of us can stop the wind, if it carries radiation. But
together, we are capable of stopping a terrorist state.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCKENZIE: The Russian ambassador continues to say that Ukraine is at fault and using language, very similar to the Ukrainian side just pointed in the
other direction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VASSILY NEBENZIA, RUSSIAN PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE TO THE U.N.: We repeatedly warned our Western colleagues that if they didn't talk some
sense into the Kyiv regime, then it would take the most monstrous and irrational steps.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCKENZIE: And the big issue here right is that, the two sides are very far apart on those statements, both sides flinging mad at the other. The bigger
problem right now is not necessarily who is doing the shelling but that the side is right there on the front lines unsecured.
And as an expert told me everything with nuclear power is long term, you can't just turn off the lights and leave the site, you need ongoing cooling
and safety of those spent fuel rights even.
And that requires a long term solution that might be difficult given this war that shows no sign of being resolved one way or the other, Paula.
NEWTON: Yes. And as you've pointed out to us before David the staff, they're under incredible duress just to keep it going and to keep it going
safely. David McKenzie for us live from Kyiv, appreciate that update.
Now meantime, Ukraine's military reports its widespread shelling on targets in the East even as it claims to beaten back to Russian attempts to
advance. Now the latest fighting comes after Ukraine ordered the mandatory evacuation of civilians from the Donetsk region.
Nic Robertson met shell shocked residents who are finally fleeing their homes and others who are choosing to in fact risk their lives just to stay
home.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice over): Inside a sweltering train station, families wait for a journey to the unknown. A
government offered to escape the war in eastern Ukraine. Artem is saying goodbye to his wife Sophia and son Phillip.
The situation is getting worse, he says - son is scared Sophia adds, yesterday the shelling was so bad. We decided we just had to go. On the
platform, the old and confused helped and heave the board.
The free train ride westwards ramping up efforts to relocate civilians before winter. Liudmyla is leaving with her family. We don't want to go she
says, but the missiles are flying. I've had no salary for five months. I don't even know where we going.
ROBERTSON (on camera): Officials here are telling us there are far fewer people on the trains right now. Just a few months ago, they say there were
hundreds of people crammed into these carriages. It's much MTNL.
ROBERTSON (voice over): Hampering evacuation efforts, some who left months ago are coming back. I spent all my money on rent Valentina says, I'm
broke. I have to come back even though we've been told there'll be no heating and no water here this winter.
OLEKSANDR HONCHARENKO, MAYOR OF KRAMATORSK, UKRAINE: Now we are asking people to leave the remaining people to leave as much as possible the city.
ROBERTSON (voice over): The mayor of the region's biggest city Kramatorsk is struggling, 65,000 civilians here he says even as soldiers dig new
trenches and rockets regularly impact.
HONCHARENKO: It's difficult to protect the cities by our army if we have a lot of citizens.
[11:25:00]
ROBERTSON (voice over): Even closer to the creeping Russian advance in Bakhmut, where officials say seven civilians died in shelling Wednesday.
There is resistance to leaving.
ROBERTSON (on camera): The Russians are already on the edge of this city. If there was ever a moment for these people to leave, it will be now.
ROBERTSON (voice over): I know the government wants us to leave Sergei says, but I can't. I've got three houses, which will look after them, his
rig, his basement to be a shelter.
ROBERTSON (on camera): This is where they're living in here. And it's just dust dirt corridors.
ROBERTSON (voice over): He isn't sure if the walls will hold a heavy blast, but says he's got a whistle if the worst happens. In Ukraine's east, it's
clear it will take more than an offer of a free train ride to get citizens to safety, Nic Robertson, CNN, Eastern Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: Just ahead for us and official drought declared for parts of England and more extreme weather problems for the continents as well, we'll
see if there's any relief in store, that's next.
And the cracks are showing in a Swiss glacier, thanks to Europe intense heat. Now this comes a scientist scramble to rescue East Antarctica's Ice
Shelf from climate change. The co-author of a very important Arctic report is coming up for us next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:30:00]
NEWTON: Here's some breaking news coming in award winning novelist Salman Rushdie was just attacked on stage while giving a lecture in Western New
York. A reporter for the Associated Press witnessed the attack.
Rushdie as you know has faced death threats for years over his novel "The Satanic Verses". We bring in CNN's Polo Sandoval. He's gathering more
details on this. Polo, what do we know about what happened?
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, as we tried to find out more about his condition, and also a possible motive, here's what we can tell you in
terms of what that AP journalist was actually at this lecture series.
Witness just a few moments ago, according to that AP reporter that celebrated author and also winner of some of the world's top literary
prizes was, according to this journalist with the Associated Press attacked on stage before giving a lecture there in Western New York, part of the
Chautauqua Institution's lecture series.
This journalist reporting that a man that he witnessed a man run up on stage as he was, as the author was being introduced and then began to
"Punch and stabbed the novelist before the event".
We do know that emergency medical services as well as police officers quickly responded to the scene. And again, we're still trying to sort out
exactly not only his condition, but a possible motive as well, in terms of what may have led to this particular attack that happened a few moments ago
in Western New York.
NEWTON: OK, much more to learn on this. Polo is going to stick with it and bring more details as we learn about it. That was our breaking news, of
course. Both Salman Rushdie will continue to bring you updates on his condition and the circumstances around this incredibly horrifying event.
So the extreme weather nightmare is escalating in Western Europe, parts of England are now officially in drought after several months of low rainfall
and waves of extreme heat.
Now the announcement came just a short time ago, and it means stricter water controls and risk of fire in London. Meantime, the fire brigade
describes the British capital as tinderbox dry.
The EU meantime says carbon dioxide emissions from wildfires raging in France are at their highest levels in at least two decades. Meteorologist
Chad Myers as always following this from the CNN Weather Center, incredible statistics.
And given what we know now Chad, I mean, is there any relief in sight for the continent at all?
CHAD MYERS, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: There is going to be an area of rain in central France of about 50 millimeters over the next seven days. So yes,
that's something but it's certainly not going to be up in the British Isles, not going to be up in the UK.
Not going to be in all of Northwest Europe still going to be in this brutal drought that we have been in for so long. This is a map this is a real
color map, true color from NASA, from me.
You can see the growth springing. Now I push you ahead to just last week. Spring is gone. The green is gone. The Brown is here. You could see it on
the pictures of the lawns that we just showed you there on the screen fires, wildfires; absolutely does climate change make wildfires? No makes
it makes fires worse. We don't get the rain we get the heat. We got things drying out. So could there have been a fire anyway?
Yes, but not when you see this tinderbox as they called it, dry conditions here 40 in Toulouse today, a nice day tomorrow 37. So a slight that's all
tongue in cheek because these temperatures are still very hot, and we're still not getting that widespread rainfall that we truly need.
Let's talk about the Rhine River for a bit. These big barges that go up and down the Rhine delivering coal, propane whatever's in the whole of this
barge, need about a meter and a half of water to go past CALB calibrate there, 42 centimeters in the river right now.
These barges are going up at 25 percent full. And at some point in time, maybe even this weekend, getting down below 37 or 38, centimeters deep, the
river traffic is just going to stop. There's just no water, there wasn't much snow in the Alps. We didn't get that spring runoff.
[11:35:00]
MYERS: And we certainly haven't had any rainfall, since there's that 50 millimeter rain. I'm talking around from - all the way back up to almost
Paris. So yes, we are going to see some rainfall coming in some spots, Paula.
NEWTON: Yes. And it's better not seeing any, although I take your point, probably not enough, in terms of what's needed so and what else can you
tell us now about the latest climate research that we are getting from the Arctic?
MYERS: Some very disturbing and very interesting. And we're going to have to analyze this data to a bigger point. We used to know or think that the
Arctic was warming at a rate about two to maybe three times greater than the rest of the globe.
But now a new study says if you'd go from 66 degrees north up to the pole, we're not at two or 3 percent, we are at four, four times, four times the
heating in the Arctic that we have across the rest of the globe.
Let me take you to this animation. And you will notice across the top of the screen, just in the past few years, how much warmer it is up here. Now,
these are anomalies. This isn't the temperature; it's not warmer at the North Pole than it is in France.
These are anomalies, how much different it is than what it should be like, if you want to be going 50 kilometers per hour, but you're going 70
kilometers per hour. Your anomaly is 20. So this is the difference.
Our anomalies are significantly higher up at the polls. And that is a problem because our computer models, not the models that predict whether
it's going to rain tomorrow, but the models that predict climate or at least try to predict climate. They're wrong. At least the old ones are
wrong. How are we going to fix that and how are we going to figure out what's really going on here?
NEWTON: Yes, absolutely startling what you just pointed out there, Chad, thanks very much for that. And that primes us for this next conversation.
We are joined now by the co-author of that report. Timo Vihma, Head of Polar Meteorology and Climatology at the Finnish Meteorological Institute.
He's live for us now in Helsinki, I can't thank you enough for weighing in here. Bottom line, as we just heard from Chad, the Arctic has warmed much
faster than the rest of the world in the past several decades.
You know, how surprised were you from what you learned from this study? And what could the ramifications of all of this be?
TIMO VIHMA, HEAD, POLAR METEOROLOGY & CLIMATOLOGY, FINNISH METEOROLOGICAL INSTITUTE: Well, it was not particularly surprising. It is well known that
Arctic is warming faster than the rest of the globe. But they have not been very many quantitative studies using all available observations to quantify
the ratio of Arctic warming and the global warming.
So in many studies, and in media, it has often been such three fair that the bombing rate in the Arctic is twice or perhaps three times faster than
that for the globe. But now we did a very thorough study using all available high quality observations since 1979.
And analyze these data and indeed found that the Arctic warming rate has been four times faster than the rate for the globe. And, and this is, this
is, of course, a very, very big difference between the Arctic and the rest of the planet.
NEWTON: And what could that possibly mean? I mean, what are the ramifications of what you're learning from those new high quality
observations?
VIHMA: Well, so this warming rate has been valid for the last 43 years. It does not necessarily indicate that the warming rate compared to the globe
will continue to be as fast.
But of course, this very fast warming rate during the past decades has, has allowed the very much melt of terrestrial snow, sea ice and the Greenland
ice sheet. And these are processes that tend to amplify the climate warming. So we saw this alerting in years.
NEWTON: And I want to talk about that arctic amplification, which is clearly the problem. How is there any way to turn that around or have we
already reached a point of no return here and what we have to do is reach a point of stabilization?
VIHMA: Well, Arctic amplification is due to several physical processes. And some of these processes will continue to act also in the future. In
particular, sea ice is a strong caramel insulator between the cold atmosphere and the relatively warmer ocean.
[11:40:00]
VIHMA: And when sea ice melts, insulator disappears, and therefore, particularly late or to midwinter, a lot of heat is released from the ocean
to the atmosphere contributing to the atmospheric warming - the ice disappears once less solar radiation is reflected back to space back there.
But bigger and bigger portion of solar radiation is absorbed by the open ocean that has much, much weaker reflectivity than ice and snow.
So these processes will continue to act in the Arctic as long as there is sea ice left. But if we manage to stop the increase of greenhouse gas
concentrations in the atmosphere, then this warming, warming may also stop.
And Arctic sea ice reacts fast to climate variations because it is so teen and so if there will become colder years due to natural variability, sea
ice will recover. But if the present trend will continue, the sea ice will diminish more and more.
There are other components in the Arctic climate system adapt, react more slowly, like the Greenland ice sheet. So it's instead of one or two meters,
the thickness of sea ice in Greenland ice sheet is up to three kilometers thick, and therefore it reacts more slowly.
But when it melts, it's much less, much, much more difficult to make it to grow again. Because when I see it melts, also the surface elevation, it
becomes slower. And because it depends on the height in the atmosphere when the ice gets thin, then we don't have any more these cold high altitude,
low case and severe precipitation falls as snow went and could reestablish the ice sheet.
NEWTON: And we will leave it there for now. But a lot of good information there especially when you indicate that look, there is some recovery that
is still possible here, which is why we'll continue to keep an eye on especially here in the United States, or Congress may indeed pass finally a
bill on climate change.
I appreciate your input there on that all important study. Thanks so much. Now, as we were just saying that Arctic that the Arctic melts and in fact
Europe rose part of northern China, practically underwater this hour state media reporting that five people are still missing after record rainfall
caused severe flooding in Shanxi province.
Search and rescue efforts are ongoing this hour and I want you to take a look at this incredible video out of California now. You're looking at a
fire whirl or a spinning wave of fire and interrupted out of a brush fire and your quail lake in California. Fire worlds or fire devils are similar
to dust devils they form when the rising hot air from a fire pulls in smoke debris and flame creating you sees it right there an ominous spinning
vortex now the brush fire erupted on Wednesday and grew to more than 60 hectares.
We're not talking about a small thing here and that's according to fire officials. The cause of the fire is unknown and thankfully no injuries were
reported. OK, coming up next for us a race against time in Mexico, high water and debris have kept rescuers from 10 trapped miners for more than a
week. Now authorities say they may finally be able to get through.
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[11:45:00]
NEWTON: So we want to bring you right up to date on our breaking news here at CNN, award winning author Salman Rushdie has been attacked on stage at
an event in South West New York State.
Now this happened at an educational center in summer resort. And he was actually witnessed if you can imagine by a reporter from the Associated
Press. Now Rushdie was set to give a lecture when the AP reporter witnessed a man that began punching or stabbing the novelists.
Now we're told police and medical staff responded very quickly. No word yet on Rushdie's condition, and we continue to follow this of course. And we'll
bring you all the details as they come in. A reminder that that author has been under death threats for decades now given his writings.
Now 10 miners trapped underground in Mexico for more than a week are still waiting to be freed, but there may be new hope for them today. Authority
said earlier they've made progress removing the debris and high water that's been blocking the rescue.
I want to bring in our Rafael Romo who's live for us from Atlanta now. And it seems that everything that they've tried so far, unfortunately has
failed. I mean, Rafael, do we take this as good news and what are the families crucially read into this?
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Hi, Paula. That's a very good point. Just imagine how hard it must be for the loved ones of the trapped miners.
Mexican officials said Wednesday they were within hours of being able to rescue them.
They said something similar Thursday. Earlier today and Laura Velasquez Mexico's National Coordinator of Civil Protection said crews have removed
97 percent of the water and remove debris that will allow search and rescue to resume. Mexican defense minister who is consensus on the wild said
rescuers made four attempts to enter the mind on Wednesday, but they found too much debris blocking the way inside.
The minister said rescue attempts failed again Thursday evening when the rescue team and a diver came across obstacles that made it impossible to
reach the trap men.
The main challenge continues to be the water that flooded multiple mine shafts nine days ago Paula causing walls inside the mind to collapse and
trapping the miners, just to give you an idea of how challenging flooding has been.
A top Mexican official said Thursday morning that in the first eight days since the collapse happened, they pumped out nearly 150,000 cubic meters of
water.
That's enough water to fill up around 60 Olympic pools Paula. And President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said in his daily morning press conference just
hours ago that several mine shafts got flooded with water that flowed from an abandoned mine at the site that was full of water.
There were originally 15 miners who became trapped, but five were able to get out Paula.
NEWTON: Yes. And that obviously is giving the families some hope there. I can't imagine how agonizing this is. Thanks for staying on top of the story
for us Rafael, I appreciate it.
And we want to bring you up to speed on some other stories that are on our radar right now. Peru's President facing a sixth criminal investigation
barely a year into his term.
Prosecutors allege Pedro Castillo disrupted public order in the form of a criminal investigation. That investigation involves his awarding government
contracts his housing minister also under investigation.
The president meantime denies any wrongdoing. And investigation is underway to try and find the cause of Thursday's roller coaster crash at a legal and
amusement park in southern Germany.
Police say 31 people were hurt and one of them suffered severe, but thankfully non-life threatening injuries. A senior Biden Administration
official says the White House has engaged in direct engagements in their words with serious government to try and secure the release of detained
American Austin Tice.
Now the official says several interactions so far have not yielded progress. Tice was taken hostage in Syria; a decade ago this week, still to
come for us, yes, a day, a big day makes a whole lot of difference.
NEWTON: Why FIFA is moving up the start of the World Cup in Qatar.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:50:00]
NEWTON: So a World Cup winter already that's unique enough, right? Well now FIFA is making a new change to the opening tournament in Qatar moving
proceedings up by a day.
As it's just one day, Qatar will play Ecuador a day early on November 20. That is by the way for certain F1 fans like my family, it is to F1 season
finale in Abu Dhabi. Alex Thomas thankfully is joining us to try and fill me in, in here.
You know, I can't I want you to fill us in as to why this is going on because that I have to have explained to me, having said that I do
understand this is going to really annoy so many people.
ALEX THOMAS, CNN WORLD SPORT: Yes, Paula, it's quite hard to understand why a tournament that was decided a decade ago has waited till just a few
months before the tournament gets underway to decide it needs to begin a day earlier than planned.
This is the reason that FIFA gave that show you what they said in a statement to us a little bit earlier. These are reports confirmed from 48
hours ago and only just firmed up on Friday.
The change ensures the continuity of a long standing tradition of marking the start of the FIFA World Cup with an opening ceremony on the occasion of
the first match featuring either the hosts or the defending champions.
The impact of the decision on fans was assessed by FIFA. We will work together to ensure a smooth tournament for the supporters affected by the
change. And of course, I guess one of the issues is how much they really thought about those fans, particularly the ones from Ecuador that have
probably had to book flights and hotels many months ago just to ensure they can get to that game day on time.
And if you're going to fly in on the day of the match well we can now going to be turning up a day too late.
NEWTON: Yes, Alex and that's what's so annoying right at the end of the day, they did it for their own reasons. But this is really putting a wrench
into fans who in many cases have spent years saving up for this event. Alex Thomas, thanks so much, appreciate it.
Now tonight for our parting shots recently discovered footprints from the end of the ice age are shedding new light on North America's earliest
humans. 88 fossilized footprints were located in dried up river beds in the U.S. State of Utah - Keon drive up riverbeds.
They were preserved in the self-flats of the U.S. Air Force Utah test and training range. Archaeologists stumbled on the fossils last month and are
now gaining insight into how hunter gatherers yes, we're going back that far how they lived more than 12,000 years ago. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DARON DUKE, ARCHAEOLOGIST, FAR WESTERN ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCH GROUP: What I found was bare feet by people including adults and children that had
stepped in what looks to be shallow water where there was a mud sub layer. And they probably thought they're stepping on sand largely and the minute
they pulled their foot out the sand and filled that track and preserved it perfectly since then.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Well, how much they've learned there. I want to thank you for joining us. That was "Connect the World". I'm Paula Newton in New York.
Everyone have a great weekend stay with CNN.
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