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Erin Burnett Outfront

Trump Plans To Surrender Thursday In Georgia, Bond At $200K; Trump Skipping First Debate, Dominates In New Iowa Poll; Biden Speaks In Maui As Death Reach 114 With 850 Still Missing; Powerful Storm Hilary Breaks Rainfall Records Across Southern California; Longtime Reporter In Moscow Expelled From Russia. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired August 21, 2023 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:31]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next, breaking news. Sources tell CNN former President Trump is expected to surrender at the Fulton County jail this Thursday. An historic moment as the former president's bail is now set at $200,000. We have breaking details, ahead.

Also breaking, President Biden touring the devastation from the deadly wildfires that have killed at least 114 people on Maui, as the search continues for the 850 still missing.

And expelled by Putin. I'll be talking to a reporter from "Politico" who was just forced out of Russia after ten years of reporting there. Why now?

Let's go OUTFRONT.

(MUSIC)

KEILAR: Good evening. I'm Brianna Keilar, in for Erin Burnett.

And OUTFRONT tonight, breaking news, former President Trump will turn himself in Thursday at the Fulton county jail. Two sources familiar with the plan tell CNN Trump's lawyers worked out that date during talks earlier today with the district attorney's office, a major and historic development after Trump was indicted there for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, including racketeering charges.

This is video of his legal team leaving the courthouse late this afternoon in Fulton County. During those negotiations, Trump's lawyers also agreeing to a $200,000 bond. It's the first time that Trump has had to put up a cash bond.

The former president will have to abide by a host of rules under this bond agreement, including not communicating with his 18 codefendants or any witnesses. He's forbidden from threatening anyone related to the case, including with social media posts, and reposts.

And the clock is ticking for more than just Trump, because Trump and his codefendants now have less than four days to turn themselves in. And while we're watching all of this out of Georgia, we're also following more breaking news out of Washington tonight. Special counsel Jack Smith pushing back on Trump's argument to wait until 2026 for his trial on election interference.

Evan Perez is OUTFRONT.

So, Evan, we'll get to Jack Smith here in just a moment. But this breaking news that Trump will turn himself in Thursday after we learned about his bond agreement. What else can you tell us about these negotiations today for Trump's surrender on Thursday, and what are we expecting to see?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, the prosecutors down there in Fulton County, Georgia, wanted this negotiation to be handled in person. And so that's what you saw today. You saw the legal team for the former president arriving there at the government center to hash out the details of how the former president is going to turn himself in.

And to get the $200,000 bond, which was negotiated and approved, by the state judge that is overseeing this case. As you pointed out, the first time that he's having to put up cash, essentially, to have his freedom while he awaits trial. In the previous cases, the two federal indictments, the one in New York, he was released on his own recognizance.

He had a lot of restrictions in all of those cases. But this one has the most extensive set of restrictions on the former president. A lot of it having to do with his penchant for lashing out at some of his critics including people who could be witnesses. You pointed out the defendant, the former president, is required to refrain from any direct intimidation or threats against codefendants, against co- conspirators, people who are unindicted co-conspirators, 1 through number 30 listed in this indictment.

And, of course, they also mention that he is restricted from making any threats on social media, which, of course, he already has been doing that kind of thing even on the day of his indictment. For instance, he warned the former lieutenant governor from going in to testify, again, on that day of his indictment, Brianna.

KEILAR: Yeah, he'll have to change his behavior is what they're saying here. And in the special counsel's election case, tell us how Jack Smith just responded to team Trump's bid to push his election interference case there back to 2026.

PEREZ: Right. Well, one of the things that the Trump team did was they showed a graphic in which they stacked up all of the documents and compared it to the height of the Statute of Liberty. And they pointed out that the former president has all of this material to go through to prepare for trial. That's the reason why they asked for a trial in 2026.

The Jack Smith team, the prosecution here, the Justice Department says that you're misleading the court.

[19:05:00] They said that the discovery is going to be laid out in a way for the former president and his team to be able to go through it very, very quickly and very clearly, pushing back clearly, Brianna, against this idea that the former president doesn't have time to prepare for trial.

KEILAR: Yeah. All right, we'll see how that all plays out.

Evan, thank you so much.

And OUTFRONT now, former deputy assistant attorney general Elliot Williams, and also, Anthony Michael Kreis, a law professor at Georgia State University, who has been following the Fulton County case closely. And also, Gloria Borger, CNN's chief political analyst.

Elliot, I want to start with Trump's bond agreement, part of the negotiations that he would also surrender on Thursday. And there are these very clear parameters here. Trump has to abide by them, including that he is prohibited from any direct or indirect communication about the case with witnesses or codefendants or any direct or indirect threats toward any codefendant, witness, or victim in the case. The agreement says that those rules, quote, shall include posts on social media or reposts of posts made by another individual on social media.

Do you think that's fair, or should the judge have waited to draw that line?

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It's absolutely fair. And these are generally unremarkable provisions trying to minimize the fact that a defendant might threaten witnesses or could threaten witnesses in the future. Look, any judge lives in the real world and is aware of the history certainly of defendants that come before them, but of this particular defendant and is aware of this defendant's history of sometimes incendiary social media postings.

It's giving him a little bit of a leash here, but making clear that if the president steps out and engages in misconduct while there is a pending court proceeding that there could be serious consequences for it. And I think, yes, it was aggressive, there's nothing in there that violates any right of the president, and it was certainly probably the right thing to do given the circumstances, and all the chaos surrounding this case.

KEILAR: Anthony, if Trump violates the terms of his bond agreement, and I think we can all say it will be difficult for him not to, what does the judge do here? Is jail time really a realistic option?

ANTHONY MICHAEL KREIS, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF LAW, GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY: Well, it's certainly an option. But I think it's probably not in the cards for Donald Trump. I think it's important to note, however, that most Fulton County defendants won't get the slack that Donald Trump will get simply because he's Donald Trump. So that's a very important fact.

And I think just as a general matter, the kind of sanctions that a defendant might get for engaging in the kinds of activities that Donald Trump has a pension for engaging in, even in the best of circumstances, you know, a judge or the prosecutor's office trying to get some kind of remedy for that could be a very slow process in an ordinary case. So, I think that folks who think there will be some kind of swift reaction necessarily to each and every possible offense that Donald Trump makes that could run against this order, I think that there will be slightly disappointed or surprised that that won't come to pass.

KEILAR: Gloria, how do you see Trump responding to these limitations? And if in the case as you hear this may be he's not getting dinged for every little violation. Is he going to be emboldened by that?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah. Well, let me go out on a limb here and say that Donald Trump is just not going to be muzzled. I've dealt with enough Donald Trump attorneys over the years to know that they all have been unable to do that. And they are unable to control his impulses. We know about his social media at 2:00 in the morning.

And I don't see him changing his behavior in any way, shape, or form. I'm sure they are going to try and read him the Riot Act if they can to say you got to cool it. But he's going to say, look, I'm a presidential candidate, and if you muzzle me, your -- it's my First Amendment rights you're infringing upon and you cannot -- and you can not do that. So then there will be a fight over that.

And then if he doesn't think that he's going to be really threatened in any way, say, getting thrown in jail, which I agree, I doubt that they would do, why shouldn't he do whatever he wants to do? I just don't see him listening to this. I think he's unable to muzzle himself, to tell you the truth.

KEILAR: He does test boundaries. That's just the way he is, of course.

So, Anthony, we've heard the Fulton County sheriff insisting all the defendants are going to be treated equally, which has led to a lot of questions about what happens when Donald Trump turns himself in. Does this include having a mugshot taken? That has not happened at his other indictments, by the way. Will he be subject to a physical search by a sheriff's deputy as his usual? How do you see this surrender playing out?

KREIS: Well, I think the United States secret service is going to have a lot to say about how this precisely goes down.

[19:10:01]

And, of course, this is a different scenario than the federal cases where there might be a better understanding between federal agencies about what can and cannot be done.

I think the big things in particular the mugshot, right, those things which really don't affect Donald Trump's person are likely to be followed through on, and Donald Trump will be treated just like any other defendant here in Fulton County in that sense. And I think it's important for folks to know that, generally speaking,

mugshots aren't released. But there is an open public records option for those mugshots that get released, which I'm sure the media will be doing. And so, we will be able to see that should that take place as expected.

KEILAR: It would really be amazing to see, won't it? I mean, Gloria, this is now the fourth indictment for the former president. This includes racketeering charges. His surrender right now is expected for Thursday. That's just hours after the first Republican debate. And the effect there is going to be, right, that it kills the debate news cycle. I wonder what you think about the timing.

BORGER: I think that Donald Trump wants to and probably will just usurp all the oxygen, take it out of the room, this is now going to be about Donald Trump's fight and I am fighting for you, and my grievances are your grievances.

And, look, Brianna, I mean, this is somebody who's the frontrunner in the Republican Party for the presidency, who's got 91 counts against him. And we are drowning in uncharted waters here. It's not just uncharted. We do not know what is going to happen next, how he's going to behave, and what this will do to the campaign in the future.

Will there be a trial before the election? We don't even know the answer to that.

KEILAR: Yeah, we don't.

Elliot, I do want to take a little bit of a turn here before I let you go and ask you about Trump's classified documents probe. We've heard from the vice president. He has said that their process for the White House going through to declassify materials, he doesn't have any knowledge of any broad-based directive from the president. Is that really flies in the face of what Trump has said. I wonder if you think that causes problems for Trump.

WILLIAMS: It doesn't cause any legal problems for Trump because, whether the documents were unclassified really doesn't matter based on the things he was charged with. He was charged with mishandling defense information and obstruction of justice. It doesn't matter if those documents are classified or declassified. What it does is it pokes holes in the former president's credibility. He made a statement that sort of ended up getting debunked by the vice president. It's a credibility question, certainly not a legal one.

KEILAR: Yeah, and that is certainly someone to have your credibility questioned by.

Elliot, Anthony, Gloria, thank you so much for all of you this evening.

OUTFRONT next, we have more on our breaking news. Former President Trump set to surrender in Georgia just a day after the first GOP primary debate, which he plans to skip. And despite all of the chaos swirling around him, he is still dominating in Iowa. Plus, President Biden touring the heartbreaking devastation on Maui at

this hour as the search intensifies for the more than 800 missing.

And devastation after tropical storm Hillary left one city submerged in mud. And fear that it could trigger more life-threatening floods.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:17:15]

KEILAR: We are following the breaking news. CNN learning that former President Trump will be turning himself into the jail in Fulton County, Georgia, on Thursday.

The former president is charged with 13 criminal counts for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. And this comes as Trump announces that he will be skipping the first Republican primary debate on Wednesday, the night before.

These are the eight candidates who will be on the stage the day before Trump is set to turn himself in. And it comes as a new poll out of the key state of Iowa shows 42 percent of Republicans name Trump as their first choice for president. That is more than double Ron DeSantis at 19 percent.

OUTFRONT now, we have Van Jones, former Obama special adviser, and Scott Jennings, former senior adviser to Mitch McConnell.

So, Van, we now know Trump turning himself on Thursday, the day after the debate. What does that mean for this race?

VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, it means that we're going to talk about the debate for about 13 seconds, and then we'll be back talking about Donald Trump as usual. And that's, you know, that's how he does.

Rather than showing up and talking about issues and talking about the American people, talking about the price of living, he's going to wait and then step on that whole conversation so he can talk about himself.

KEILAR: If someone, Scott, has a breakout moment the night before, now people will be talking about it significantly less.

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. This is the next best thing for Trump. If you can't turn yourself in during the debate when we should all be discussing who got off a good one-liner, who came up with something creative on policy.

No, I have to agree with Van, instead of watching video from the debate, we'll be watching video of Trump's motorcade headed to another courthouse. It'll be thrilling.

KEILAR: We've seen it a few times now, but certainly it gets a lot of attention. It's always unprecedented.

And, Scott, when you're looking at this Iowa poll, 66 percent of Trump supporters say their mind is made up. Then you have Florida Governor Ron DeSantis out today saying, hey, it's early, and voters aren't paying attention yet. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Most people aren't even paying attention yet. So we're going to earn it in the state of Iowa. And that poll that came out, take a lot of these top lines with the grain of salt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: So, which is it, Scott?

JENNINGS: Well, there are people in Iowa that'll tell you there are folks out there that like to break late. So I do agree that there will be some voters who are going to make a late depiction.

The trouble for the rest of the field is two-fold. One, a lot of Trump's voters aren't going to move no matter what happens, come hell or high water, they're in for Trump, whether he gets indicted a thousand more times or not, they're all in.

And, of course, fragmentation is the other issue for Ron DeSantis.

[19:20:00]

He's doing okay. His probabilities look good in this poll. He's in second place. But a lot of the people that don't want Trump are split up among several other candidates.

And so the faster he can get this race down to a two or three-person field, there's no evidence that's going to happen before Iowa. And so, you look at Trump's very high floor, it's going to make it very difficult to dethrone him.

But I think generally, DeSantis is right, it's early and there are arguments to be made and plenty of money to make them.

KEILAR: Plenty of money.

Okay. So, Van, you have the Republican candidates debating on Wednesday. And during that time Trump is expected to spend the evening at his Bedminster golf club. He has this Tucker Carlson interview that's pre-taped, that's going to be releasing that night.

Trump's former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany says that this decision by the president is a mistake. Here's what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This is a huge political miscalculation. You give others the opportunity to shine. You give others two hours to throw lobs at you. And I know former President Trump can dance across that debate stage and defend himself, but you're not there to do it yourself, you're counting on others to step in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Do you agree with her, Van?

JONES: I see a little bit differently in that you are going to have people like Vivek and frankly DeSantis defending Trump more than Trump would defend himself. They are just unbelievably committed to making his case and defending him. And then, of course, he has a strategy of crushing the whole conversation afterwards. So, I understand Kayleigh's concern.

But I think that Trump kind of knows what he's doing. He's going to let them throw spitballs at each other and then he's going to stomp on the whole thing. That's how I see it.

KEILAR: Scott, what do you think?

JENNINGS: Yeah, I disagree with Kayleigh on this one because you've got Ramaswamy who's running -- is a pure surrogate to Trump. So, without Trump on the stage, he's going to dry to absorb the Trump point of view, the Trump world view, the Trump mantras up there. And I suspect if anybody on that stage goes after Trump, Ramaswamy will be the first one trying to land the people's elbows.

So, yeah, Trump, he can sit back and watch people attack Ron DeSantis. He can watch Ramaswamy defend him. And I don't suspect he's worried at all about missing an opportunity to talk to folks here when he's going to dominate the conversation in less than 24 hours anyway.

KEILAR: Yeah, I mean, Ramaswamy certainly is, right? He's already trying to portray himself as a fighter in this case. He's put out a fundraising email today attacking robot Ron DeSantis. He's got a video on social media aggressively whacking tennis balls, writing, quote, three hours of solid debate prep this morning.

And he's someone who is largely unknown before this debate. But CNN's latest poll shows him third nationally, only 11 points behind Governor DeSantis.

Van, what does he need to do with this debate?

JONES: He's going to do well. I mean, he's the young guy and he's a rising star.

We're in a world now where you don't have to be a governor of a state. You don't have to run a city. You don't have to pass the bill.

Just have a big mouth. Just be obnoxious. And you're going to wind up getting a ton of attention. It's a different world now. So celebrity in and of itself is qualification for more celebrity.

And, so, look, he's fast on his feet. He's going to do well for himself. But I think he's running for VP or cabinet secretary. The chance that he's going to somehow pass up Donald Trump is about zero. But it'll be fun to watch. KEILAR: Gentlemen, thank you so much for joining me. I will say you

agreed on a lot of things tonight, Van Jones and Scott Jennings. Thank you so much.

JONES: Tomorrow will be different.

JENNINGS: If I had five more seconds, I would have agreed with the last point, too. Van's got it exactly right. So kumbaya tonight on CNN.

KEILAR: A total kumbaya.

Good night, fellows. Thank you so much.

OUTFRONT next, President Biden on the ground in Maui this hour. You see these pictures here from just moments ago. He's about to meet with survivors and with families of the victims after seeing firsthand the devastation as more than 800 people are still missing.

Plus, forced out by Vladimir Putin's government. A top journalist was just expelled from Russia where she has been reporting for the past ten years. Why? She'll talk about that. She's my guest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:27:46]

KEILAR: Tonight, President Biden on the ground on Maui, meeting with local leaders and getting a first-hand look at the devastation that was left behind from that catastrophic wildfire.

The president speaking just moments ago with this message after touring Front Street in downtown Lahaina where so many died.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The devastation's overwhelming. To date, 114 dead, hundreds of people unaccounted for. I know the feeling, as many of people in this town, this community, that hollow feeling you have in your chest like you're being sucked into a black hole wondering will I ever get by this. It's one thing to know, but it's quite another thing to have to wait to wonder whether your family member is going to be okay.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Bill Weir is OUTFRONT tonight.

Bill, what else did we hear from the president?

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Well, we heard the president talk fondly of his friendship with Hawaii Senator Daniel Inouye, the Medal of Honor winner, a longtime senator who lost his arm in World War II, a big champion of the kingdom of Hawaii and native rights as well. And also what made my ears perk up, he said, we will rebuild Maui the way the people of Maui want it rebuilt, essentially. And after hanging out with them, my reaction to that, I'm sure,

they're wondering, which people? Is it the people currently hoping to roll back hard-won water rights for native communities and ecosystems at the expense of new housing developments and mansions and golf courses? There is so much tension over land and water rights on this island. It goes back a long way in this fire sort of laid bare a lot of that. That'll be all worked out.

But in the immediate term, the questions he'll be facing today are housing. Will they cover people the way they covered during the COVID pandemic, be these islands went from 10 million visitors a year to zero for a year. But they made it through because of governmental support. They're wondering if that will come back. They're wondering if the president will support Maui's efforts to sue big oil companies for the climate change that made these fires much more intense.

[19:30:05]

But he, of course, shared a familiar story about the loss of his daughter and wife, and the uncertainty of knowing if his sons had survived a tragic accident years ago. And that's how he connects with these people who are so wounded, 850 still unaccounted for. Some local neighborhood folks we saw put up dozens of crosses on the Lahaina bypass there.

So the president would see some manifestation of the souls lost. They only had enough wood to make 53 of them. And they will come back to finish them. And they will put 850 yellow ribbons for the unaccounted for.

So, so much raw emotion, so many hurt feelings after the initial response. But here he is the empathizer in chief on the ground in Lahaina today. A really, really historic disaster for these folks.

KEILAR: Yeah, just the magnitude of the grief there unimaginable. And so many people just still waiting for answers.

Bill Weir in Lahaina, thank you so much for that report.

OUTFRONT now is Dustin Kaleiopu, lifelong Maui resident who lost his home that his family has lived in for four generations to this wildfire.

Dustin, you were on the show the very next day after the fire describing the trauma that your family had been through. Your cousin was there today, as the president was visiting, as she's organizing some of the help in the community. What is the reaction that you've heard, or what is your reaction to what you heard from President Biden tonight?

DUSTIN KALEIOPU, SURVIVED MAUI FIRE: Whatever was just broadcasted was my first knowledge of anything he said. And I hope he'll remain true to wanting to support the community and rebuilding and having a say. It remains to be seen.

KEILAR: He said, as he's promising resources, and certainly some question about how Lahaina will be built, which people, as you heard in his report there saying. But the president said he wants to honor sacred lands, cultures, and traditions. I know this is the first time that you're hearing that.

But what does that mean to you hearing that from him?

KALEIOPU: I mean, as Hawaiian people, all of our land is sacred to us. But just, again, being respectful in the rebuilding that we're not going to prioritize, you know, mansions and golf courses and hotels. That homes are going to be the first thing -- first things that are built, and done in a respectful way that preserves the areas that are historically dedicated or have historical meaning.

KEILAR: Obviously, you need housing, as you just mentioned. What else does your community need at this point?

KALEIOPU: Just a sense of security, I think, and knowing that we have our own government on our side. I've been saying this all week for the last two weeks. But it's been the community doing the work. And if the people who've had their boots on the ground working face to face with the survivors can be supported by the government, and we can all have this same mission, then I think that would be great.

KEILAR: And tomorrow actually marks two weeks since you were forced to flee the fire with your grandfather. No warning. You had no warning there.

You described on this show how your father was at work and drove back to your house to look for you, and when he saw the house burnt to the ground, he thought that you had died. These are photos that you shared with us of your home before and then after the fire, a home that has been in your family for generations.

How are you all coping today?

KALEIOPU: I mean, every time I see these photos, there is a mix of emotions. We can only remind ourselves so many times that it was just material stuff that we lost. But we've also -- you know, when I see these pictures, I think of all of the good times that we had there and all of the milestones we shared as a family.

Just trying to hang onto whatever positivity we can I think is the only way anyone is coping right now.

KEILAR: Yeah, look, we're so lucky that you're okay and that you're here to talk with us. But the loss is unimaginable. We see it there in the pictures, and that is the story for so many families like yours.

Dustin Kaleiopu, thank you so much for speaking with us again. We appreciate it.

KALEIOPU: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

KEILAR: OUTFRONT next, rescues underway in California after Tropical Storm Hilary left one city covered in mud. And tonight, the threat is not over. [19:35:01]

Plus, I'll speak with a reporter who was forced out of Russia by Vladimir Putin's government with no warning. What happened? That reporter is my guest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Tonight, trapped. Floodwater and debris from tropical storm Hilary trapping residents of Cathedral City, California, inside of their homes as rescue teams work to clear roads. And nearby in Palm Springs, rescuers are using bulldozers to carry people safely from floodwaters and from thick mud. Sixteen million people remain under flood watches and the National Hurricane Center warns that the storm could still lead to life-threatening floods.

Stephanie Elam is OUTFRONT in cathedral city for us.

Stephanie, tell us what you're seeing and what it's like on the ground where you are.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Brianna I can tell you that they have been out here working to make this road somewhat passable. And the mud level here is a lot lower. So it is getting there.

But there is so much work to do because so many of the police officers I've spoken to, that have been out here for hours told me they've never seen anything like this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELAM (voice-over): Southern California facing unprecedented flooding.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Holy (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

ELAM: Violent mudslides, flash floods damaging roads and homes after bearing the brunt of Tropical Storm Hilary.

[19:40:03]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a lot of destruction.

ELAM: Roads became rivers in the streets of Cathedral City overnight. And entire neighborhoods were submerged in nearby Palm Springs into the early morning. Piles of thick mud left behind from floodwaters blanketing everything in sight. The mud inescapable for anyone attempting to get around.

DANIEL DESELMS, EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT COORDINATOR, CITY OF PALM SPRINGS: We're absolutely telling people, if they don't have to be out, to stay in their homes. One, the roads, we're still assessing the damage and the places where there's still water and mud over the roads, we don't know how safe those are.

ELAM: Jay Buble (ph) spent the night rescuing drivers stuck on flooded and muddy roads. What kind of conditions were you seeing while you were out there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cars floating. And there's cars the roads almost washed out.

ELAM: He echoed authorities' warnings to stay off the roads.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of them were regretting that they tried to get across. They have dad's car and dad doesn't know yet. So I'm guessing they're grounded. When you see water, you don't cross it.

ELAM: The area around Palm Springs saw nearly a year's worth of rain in just 24 hours.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I spent the night on the road of my truck.

ELAM: 911 lines saw outages overnight in a handful of cities. Downtown Los Angeles experienced the rainiest summer day on record going back more than 100 years.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Los Angeles was tested but we came through it.

ELAM: The Los Angeles Fire Department fielded more than 4,000 emergency calls on Sunday, and responded to about 1,800 incidents.

CHIEF KRISTIN CROWLEY, LOS ANGELES FIRE DEPARTMENT: We responded to a flooded intersection in Sun Valley where five vehicles were stranded.

ELAM: Los Angeles public schools were closed on Monday, while officials surveyed facilities for damage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take all those conditions into account. After careful consideration, we decided to shut down the schools.

ELAM: The Los Angeles angel postponing their home became because of the effect from the storm. So much rain in San Diego, a tower of water was seen erupting from a manhole today. The city saw its rainiest summer day in over 170 years, getting ten times their average summer rainfall in just one day.

The cleanup effort now the top priority, with Hilary continuing to move through the west, millions will still remain under flood watches from California to Idaho.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ELAM (on camera): And even though it's about 24 hours since the storm really started to hit here in the Palm Springs area, they're plowing the roads and look at this water. It just started rushing all over again. That shows you how much water is still out there, that they're still trying to clean up and trying to make these roads passable, Brianna.

KEILAR: Yeah, so much effort ahead of them still. Stephanie Elam, thank you for that report. OUTFRONT next, banished. A top reporter in Russia given less than a

week to leave the country after a decade reporting there. It's the latest escalation in the Kremlin's crackdown on journalists.

That reporter is OUTFRONT.

And an annual salmon festival devoid of salmon. What is causing the problem and how locals say they can fix it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:46:57]

KEILAR: Tonight, intense fighting underway across eastern Ukraine, with Russian forces trying to regain lost ground in numerous locations according to a top Ukrainian defense official. This as Russia says it intercepted multiple drone attacks earlier in and around Moscow, as well as that a Russian air force base south of the capital, which Ukraine says it did carry out.

The attacks inside of Russia coming amid a continuing internal crackdown with the government ejecting multiple foreign correspondents from reporting in the country.

OUTFRONT now is Eva Hartog, a reporter for "Politico" Europe who was just expelled from Russia after reporting there for the past ten years.

Eva, thank you so much for being with us this evening. Can you tell us, how did you find out that you were being kicked out of Russia, and what went through your mind when you learned that you had just six days to get out of the country?

EVA HARTOG, POLITICO EUROPE REPORTER EXPELLED FROM RUSSIA: Yeah. Thanks so much for having me.

So, foreign reporters, in order to be able to work and live in Russia, you need two documents. You need an accreditation from Russia's foreign ministry and a visa. And since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, foreign reporters are meant -- are supposed to reapply for those documents every three months. So that's quite a lot.

And basically that's exactly what I did. And a week before my current -- my old visa and accreditation were set to expire, I got a phone call from a representative of the foreign ministry, and they said that a decision had been taken that my visa wouldn't be renewed, and apparently that that decision had been taken by, quote, unquote, the relevant authorities, which, if you ask any Russian, is basically a euphemism for Russia's security services.

KEILAR: So your expulsion is coming -- this isn't just you, obviously. This is a larger crackdown on foreign journalists who are in Russia, the most extreme example, of course, being Evan Gershkovich. He was arrested on espionage charges nearly five months ago. He has been in Russian custody ever since, even though obviously he is not a spy. You know Evan well. What is it like being a foreign journalist in

Russia knowing that could happen to someone in your ranks?

HARTOG: Yeah, absolutely. You asked me what I felt when I heard that decision when they told me that my visa wouldn't be renewed. And that ties into what you just said about Evan. So, I think, in a way, we feel like we've lost the right to be surprised since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

And specifically when it comes to foreign reporters, we lost the right to be surprised after Evan's arrest earlier this year, because that was something unimaginable. The unimaginable happened. And I've known Evan since his first days in Russia. I know him quite well, and it's -- I know him as a talented reporter. So basically since that happened, since a reporter was jailed on espionage charges, very serious charges.

[19:50:04]

And, by the way, Evan has been locked up for more than four months now. He's still in Lefortovo, this high-security prison. Basically, foreign reporters in Russia expect -- should expect anything to happen. You just -- you walk on thin ice. We're all very aware of that.

A lot of media pulled their reporters from Russia over safety concerns. But dozens of Western reporters have stayed from different countries. But in the meantime, you do feel there's this kind of sort of Damocles hanging -- dangling over your head because you never know when it might come down on you.

Having said that, of course, you expect the unexpected and you should. But, of course, I'm a human being. So, having six days to leave a country that I've invested in so much is obviously -- wasn't easy for me. And especially leaving a story that I think really deserves to be told.

KEILAR: Your reporting is so important. You've been there for years. You bring so much knowledge to your reporting. Do you think that you'll be allowed back in the country? Do you have any idea when that might happen? And is that something that you would return to, that you would want to come back to?

HARTOG: You know, I think people might be surprised or even shocked. Definitely people close to me would be shocked if I answered, yes.

The answer is, yes. I think it's an extremely important story. There's a reason why I've reported on Russia for ten years. And I think it's more important than ever now to cover Russia from inside Russia.

KEILAR: It's such important work that you have been doing from inside Russia and you will continue to do from outside.

Eva Hartog, we thank you so much for being with us this evening.

HARTOG: Thank you. KEILAR: OUTFRONT next, what's it like to go to a salmon festival that

doesn't have salmon?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It feels like having a party but your favorite person isn't there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:56:11]

KEILAR: Tonight, a salmon festival in northern California, but hold the salmon. None of the namesake fish served at the Yurok Tribe's annual festival this year because the salmon population in the region is devastated. And now tribal leaders are fighting back one dam at a time.

Nick Watt has the story that you'll see first here on OUTFRONT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to the Yurok Tribe's 59th annual salmon festival. There's a parade, craft stalls, a stick game tournament, and plenty, plenty of food. But --

GEORGIANNA GENSAW, YUROK TRIBE: It feels like having a party but your favorite person isn't there.

WATT: Because this year, they are not serving salmon at the salmon festival.

FRANKIE MYERS, VICE-CHAIR, YUROK TRIBE: The word ney-puey, ney-puey, our word for salmon, the literal translation is, what we eat.

WATT: That pretty much says it all.

MYERS: That gets to the heart of it.

WATT: But out on the river, there just aren't enough salmon. The tribe says the fish have suffered since the gold rush. The river near ruined by mining, rising water temperatures, and huge hydropower dams.

BROOKE THOMPSON, YUROK TRIBE: There's only about half the salmon returning we need to sustain the current population and that's why salmon fishing was shut down completely this fall.

WATT: That's why there's no salmon to eat. But the mood at the festival is, well, festive, celebratory. Why? Because the Yurok and others are doing something about that lack of salmon. They've campaigned hard to have dams removed.

Federal regulators approved a plan last year, three more will follow next year. And then there's this, what looks like environmental destruction but is actually the opposite.

This bit that we're on now, this will eventually be the floodplain.

MYERS: Yeah, this will be the floodplain here.

WATT: That's me and Frankie Myers, the tribal leader from the salmon festival. They are undoing damage done by miners and more, recreating bug habitats, food for the fish.

MYERS: When I look out and I see our tribal members running these excavators, they're fighting for their right to exist, because our stories tell us that without the salmon in the river, there's no need for us to be here.

WATT: You don't mean to be bitter and pissed about what's happened to your land. You seem energized about what you can do to change that.

MYERS: We have every reason to be pissed off and angry. Is that going to bring our salmon back?

WATT: No, but fighting against the dams might, recreating the conditions that once allowed this river to pick its own path might. And they say humans must play a part in nurturing this environment.

MYERS: This is the problem right here. You are the problem. You have an idea that there is a wilderness that existed before you showed up, before people showed up. And the truth is it never existed. The wilderness never existed on this continent.

WATT: It was always managed by the native people who lived in concert with that nature.

MYERS: Absolutely.

WATT: Now I get it.

MYERS: Absolutely. That's what we're trying to do here. You might see salmon coming back. That's if you hang out for another couple of weeks actually.

WATT: Oh, that's quick, you think?

MYERS: That quick.

WATT: Back at that celebration of salmon, we met Oscar, a Yurok fisherman.

So, this is where you should be cooking the fish.

OSCAR GENSHAW, YUROK FISHERMAN: Yes, yeah.

WATT: But this year, nothing.

O. GENSHAW: Nothing.

WATT: the pit is empty. Well, saved for some symbolic chunks of that first dam that came down.

O. GENSHAW: We're hopeful that when the dams come down that this pit will be full again.

WATT: Along with the river.

Nick Watt, CNN, Klamath, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Our thanks to Nick Watt.

And thank you for joining us.

"AC360" starts now.