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One World with Zain Asher
Floods Leaves Scores Dead, 1,300 Plus Missing In Nepal And China; Rescue Efforts Intensify After Floods Hit Nepal-China Border; "Butcher Of Bosnia" Ratko Mladic Dead At 84; Closing Arguments Wrap In Lindsay Clancy Murder Trial; Scientists: Collapsing Glacier Contributed To Flood Disaster; Later: Hearing Over putting Trump's Name Back On Kennedy Center; Revolutionary Japanese Artist Yayoi Kusama Dead At Age 97; Aired 12-1p ET
Aired August 27, 2026 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[12:00:30]
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN ANCHOR: Live from Abu Dhabi, I'm Eleni Giokos. This is the second hour of "One World."
Ahead on the show, the death toll continues to rise in Nepal as search and rescue teams desperately search for survivors.
The man known as the Butcher of Bosnia, Ratko Mladic, has died while serving a life sentence for genocide.
And the hearing is set in just a couple of hours on yet another attempt to add President Trump's name to the Kennedy Center.
More rain is predicted in an already devastated area, catastrophic flash floods. We begin in remote hill, border region between Nepal and China, a
place popular with tourists and revered by pilgrims.
At least 350 people have been killed and more than 1,300 are missing in Nepal and in Tibet controlled by China.
A senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute says the flood wave cascade of water, pulverized ice and rock descended at first at an average
speed of 193 kilometers per hour.
Rescuers are battling difficult conditions as they race to find survivors. Forecasters say, the flooded region could see more rain and thunderstorms
in the coming hours. The raging waters swallowed bridges and roads leaving entire communities buried under mud.
Scientists say, a huge chunk of ice sheared off from high -- on a mountain and plunged into the river below. Some families are walking up the hilly
route to trying to make it out of the area safely and others are hoping and praying. Their missing loved ones are safe.
BHIM BAHADUR TAMANG, NEPAL RESIDENT (through translator): His phone was unreachable. Then we heard that a landslide had come down from that side.
We still don't know whether he is alive because we haven't been able to reach him. My brother has also gone there by car to see if you can find our
father. We have hoped that our father may be alive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: A CNN crew is in Nuwakot district in Nepal at the heart of the disaster. Hanako Montgomery filed this report a short time ago.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, I'm walking down one of the main roads in Nepal, and this entire place used to be covered in mud. They've
cleared part of it now.
And I want to show you some of the damage that we've been seeing. This house, I mean, its first floor is completely submerged in floodwater. You
can see some of the windows and doors just caked in mud.
This house over here, I mean, its walls have completely collapsed. It's -- it's unlivable. And down here is a gas station, and again, just completely
inaccessible and totally destroyed by this floodwater and the mud and debris that are brought with it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: CNN's Gage Goulding joins us now from Hong Kong with an update. Gage, I mean, we're seeing some of these images. We know there's just been
so much damage to infrastructure but more importantly, so many people missing, the death toll is rising.
And, of course, rescue workers just trying, at this point, not only to assist people with fresh drinking water but also in terms of rescue
operations. Give us a sense of what you're hearing.
GAGE GOULDING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There's so much to unpack with this. And I want to start with the latest numbers, 350 people have been killed.
That's the number that we're hearing right now with well over a thousand still missing.
And you wonder exactly how can this happen because you're right, the videos there are absolutely incredible, the imagery, incredible. The one that's
really kind of jumps out to everybody. It's now an iconic image, the security camera video of the water just flowing over that port of entry
building there right along the -- the river base. And that video is just -- it's hard to wrap your head around exactly how something like that happens.
And, you know, we're getting a little bit more information. There was thought that this was an earthquake, but it's actually a glacial avalanche.
A big 2,000 foot wide section of ice fell about 7,000 feet of vertical drop, as well as another 2,000 foot chunk of rock that fell down that same
distance with it, now leaving around a 3,000-foot wide gash in a mountainside. And that's what forced all of that water to just rush down
the hillside there.
But I -- I do want to, you know, explain that there is some silver linings in this. We are understanding that rescue operations are happening,
nonstop. According to the Nepal tourism board, 31 foreign nationals, including two from the USA, have been rescued.
[12:05:09]
But while that is a good little tidbit of information, there are still, according to the U.S. State Department, 90 Americans, at least 90 Americans
that are unaccounted for, that are still missing.
So, while there are some miracles, while there are some happy moments that are occurring, you know, it's very overshadowed by the number of people
that are still missing. The rescue operations there are daunting, to say the least. The images that you're seeing of people in knee-deep mud in
silt.
And Hanako shot there, you could see they plowed this little tiny path of - - of silt and mud away, but everywhere is covered with that, not just the road, but everywhere, inside homes, in businesses, along the riverbed and
up.
I mean, it's -- it's unfathomable to think of the destruction and the cleanup that needs to happen so people can try to at least rebuild, try to
at least find any survivors that are out there.
The Nepal police actually launching a website with the most gruesome pictures, as you can imagine, asking families and friends to -- to log on
and see, if you are missing somebody, please see if we have found your loved one.
And unfortunately, it's not just whole human remains, it's, at some points, just fragments of remains. And it's just some of the most gruesome imagery
that you could think of.
And again, while there are slivers of hope, there's also tidbits of information coming in from law enforcement. There was a video that went
viral on social media of what looked like two men ripping earrings off of human corpse, remains that is floating in the water.
According to Nepal police, those two men have been arrested and charged with stealing gold earrings from a corpse. So, this -- these kinds of
situations bring out, you know, some of the worst in humans, but also some of the best because we've seen amazing imagery of people trying to help to
rescue.
I think there's an iconic video of -- of, you know, an elderly woman in the bucket of a bulldozer that is just being helped to safety. And it's just --
it's an absolutely, you know, hard to wrap your head around situation, not only just the -- the sheer volume of water, which the best way to describe
it was a scientist. And I wrote this down because it was -- it was an incredible way to describe it, a quote, gobsmackingly, unbelievable amount
of water.
I've never heard that kind of description before, but I think it's very appropriate here because the imagery really does show. It's something that
you don't even really think would come out of Hollywood movie.
So, there's the fact of that, but there's also just so much devastation, so much work to -- to do to literally rebuild these villages from the ground
up. But right now, the focus on trying to find any survivors and rescue those that are simply trapped and cannot get to safety.
GIOKOS: All right. Gage, thank you so much for that update. I just want to repeat a number that was really striking to me as well, according to
scientists, the cascade of water, as well as other debris, at first, average speed of 193 kilometers an hour. I mean, getting your head around
that just basically shows you the kind of devastation that, you know, Nepal and Tibet are dealing with.
Well, joining us now from Kathmandu, we've got Suraj Sigdel, the Nepal Country Director at Mercy Corps. Really good to have you with us.
Seeing some of the devastating images, seeing the sludge, the water, the news about people missing, how are you coping with rescue operations and
efforts on the ground?
SURAJ SIGDEL, NEPAL COUNTRY DIRECTOR, MERCY CORPS: Yes. It's extremely difficult at this moment here in Nepal. And, you know, like, this is the
monsoon season. And like on top of the -- the flash flood, we're also having the -- the monsoon rain going on, which is making the rescue effort
even -- even more difficult.
Basically, we are preparing with coordinating with the government. And we are waiting for to -- to finish the -- the first, you know, like search and
rescue operation by the government of Nepal.
Government of Nepal has deployed more than 10,000 security force to find if anyone is still alive and -- and rescue them from there. So, that's the
mission going on. And then gradually, we are moving towards the relief effort and providing food, shelter, water, sanitation to the people who
lost almost everything.
GIOKOS: When we see these images, I'm sure that rescue operations must be challenging because so many bridges and roads have been destroyed. How are
you dealing with that reality?
SIGDEL: Yes, that's another difficulty. Not just road, the (INAUDIBLE) are gone. And the power is down over there, because like most of the hydropower
base over there are all gone.
[12:10:07]
And then the internet is also down. So, we are caught up with the communication, electricity and roadway. So, the access to those locations,
extremely difficult. That's why government is prioritizing the helicopter, you know, like airlift to those who are surviving or in need of health
support.
From the humanitarian organization side, we are like using the alternate route, which is not very much accessible, but we are reaching to the ground
using alternate route from the mountainous areas.
GIOKOS: When we look at the number, we've got hundreds of people that have died already, 1,300 missing. There's concern that these numbers are going
to rise in the coming days. And I know that more rain is expected. What are your major concerns right now?
SIGDEL: Yes. The -- the major concern is of the -- like, survived people, because like they're -- everything is lost and they have to go back to
their shelters and which is -- which is gone. So, I think that's the -- the big worry at this moment.
You know, like, when we talk about the people who are still not, like, unaccounted, that number might go up because, you know, like, so far, this
number is of the people who were recorded, somehow recorded, you know, from the immigration or from the trekking agencies, something like that.
But there -- there might be a lot of other people, the villagers, the -- the people who went for the pilgrim -- pilgrimage in the -- in Mount
(INAUDIBLE). So, there could be a lot of people who are unaccounted, but they are trapped somewhere or they might have been killed by the -- by the
landslide. So, that's another worry we might have to hear in the days to come.
GIOKOS: Suraj, what do you need right now? We know that there's even been, you know, a concern around access to clean drinking water. What are your
needs right now? Are you getting what you need on the ground to help people?
SIGDEL: I mean, like, the first thing is drinking water, then connect them with -- with the communications, because like most of the people, they lost
their family members and they are still in trauma. They are in shock. And they want to know what happened to their, you know, like family members.
So, communication needs to be restored.
And then, yes, a shelter, maybe, first of all, a temporary shelter, and then gradually, we have to, you know, like, provide them with a
rehabilitation part.
So, I mean, everything is the need, you know, they lost everything. So, everything is the need at this moment. I mean, it's very difficult to, you
know, like, mention, which is the first -- I mean, it's according to their situation. There are like people, there are children, there are person with
disabilities, there are elderly population. So, everybody has their different needs. And many are -- and they might have lost their medicines
and all that also. So, the need is huge.
And first thing is to have the access. And, you know, still the -- the -- the Chinese government has shared that there's a -- a glacier has formed in
the -- in the Tibet site. So that might burst again. So that has, like, created some confusion. If we can still move to that area or we have to be
cautious.
So that has, you know, like, hindered us even to reach there. So, so many things happening. And there's a huge need.
GIOKOS: Suraj, thank you so much for taking the time to speak to us. And thank you for all the work that you're doing on the grounds. Suraj Sigdel.
The man known as --
SIGDEL: Thank you for having me.
GIOKOS: -- the butcher of Bosnia has died. Ratko Mladic was a Bosnian Serb general who led the Srebrenica massacre and the siege of Sarajevo in the
1990s.
In 2017, a United Nations court convicted him for masterminding a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Bosnia's non-Serbs. Mladic was 84 years old and
serving a life sentence at the U.N. detention unit in the Hague.
CNN's Nic Robertson has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RATKO MLADIC, BOSNIAN SERB MILITARY OFFICER (through translator): Don't be afraid. No one will do anything to you.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): This is how the world will remember Ratko Mladic, calming crowds of civilians ahead
of the biggest mass murder in Europe since World War II.
A genocide he engineered and would go on the run for a decade and a half before being captured and brought to trial.
It was July 1995 in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica. The country's bloody civil war was in its third year. Mladic commanded the Bosnian Serb army.
[12:15:09]
His forces brutally slaughtered more than 7,000 Muslim men and boys from Srebrenica. Mladic's central and blood-soaked role in the break-up of the
former Yugoslavia began years earlier, a frontline commander in 1991 spearheading Serb forces against Croatia.
Over the previous three decades, he'd risen rapidly through the ranks of the Yugoslav army, but it was Bosnia's battlefields that made him hero to
many Serbs, defender of their dwindling fortunes.
He was born in 1943 during the Nazi's World War II occupation, close to the crucible of much of his later killing, Bosnia's capital, Sarajevo.
He grew up imbued with Serbian ideology of Orthodox Christian faith and defense of ethnic kin. He got his chance in May 1992. Bosnia's Serbian
political leaders picked him to head their forces. Bosnia's Muslim leaders wanted independence. The Serbs remained part of Yugoslavia.
Mladic laid siege to Sarajevo, shelling and sniping its poorly prepared civilian population. More than a quarter million people died in the course
of the three-year war leading to charges of war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity against Mladic.
When peace came in 1995, Mladic went on the run. In the early 2000s, he was still drawing an army pension in Belgrade. There were reports of sightings,
rumors of arrest, a stroke, even suicide.
But eventually, in the summer of 2011, he was captured living on a Serbian farm with a cousin.
MLADIC: I am General Ratko Mladic.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): At last, he was bought into the dark in the tribunal in The Hague. His right arm appeared limp, almost useless.
During the hearings that followed, he would complain of fatigue and illness, citing past heart problems, but Mladic remained combative and
uncooperative.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Mladic, if you --
ROBERTSON (voice-over): He was removed from court during his sentencing, shouting, "it was all lies."
In November 2017, he was convicted, handed life in prison for genocide and crimes against humanity. His death ends one of the darkest chapters in
Europe's recent history.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GIOKOS: And still ahead on "One World," rare and deadly cases of malaria at a major European airport. Now, health officials are trying to determine
where it originated.
Plus, closing arguments just wrapped up in the case of Massachusetts mother who killed her three children. The latest from Lindsay Clancy's trial,
that's coming up straight after this.
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[12:20:07]
GIOKOS: Two employees at Germany's Frankfurt airport have died after contracting malaria. And what officials suspect is a rare case of airport
transmission.
For other infected workers have since recovered, it is believed the disease was sprayed by a mosquito that arrived on a plane from a country where
malaria is common. Mosquito traps have now been installed at the airport as health officials investigate. Any mosquitoes captured will be analyzed to
determine their species and origin.
Happening moments ago, closing arguments wrapping up in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial. Her lawyers argue she is not criminally responsible for
killing her three young children in 2023 because she was suffering from post-partum psychosis.
The prosecution has argued it was a choice and says Clancy knew right from wrong at the time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEVIN REDDINGTON, ATTORNEY FOR LINDSAY CLANCY: How does (BLEEP) this turn into this? How? Because of the damn medicine and the lousy medical care
that she got.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: CNN's Brynn Gingras joins us now with more on today's closing arguments. Brynn, good to have you with us. You've been following the
closing arguments.
What -- what have been the salient points that have come through today?
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Look, they've been emotionally charged, Eleni. I mean, there has been crying on the behalf of
some of the jurors. Lindsay Clancy herself has been crying. I mean, extremely emotional on both sides.
Essentially, the prosecution just wrapped up. The judge is giving the final jury instructions before this case. This trial really is in the hands of
those jurors.
And essentially, the -- the Commonwealth of Massachusetts saying that she completely knew what she was doing that day, so much so that she was able
to basically, you know, do things like bring her daughter to a pediatrician appointment. She was able to tell her husband that they should get takeout
that day and calculated the time that he would be away.
I mean, walking jurors through that day, up until these killings to explain that she knew the right and -- what was right and what was wrong. And that
is the crux of this case.
I want you to listen to the prosecution in some of this opening -- closing arguments rather.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENNIFER SPRAGUE, PLYMOUTH COUNTY ASSISTANT DISTRICT ATTORNEY: So, why did she specifically do it? She was depressed. She was exhausted. She was done.
She didn't want to try anymore. She felt damaged.
But those kids, those kids were her protective factor. Those kids were keeping her from ending her misery. And so she had to remove the protective
factor. And I'm not saying she was happy about it. I'm saying that it was what she had to do to end her misery, but it was a choice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GINGRAS: And for the defense's part, he's challenging that, quote-unquote, choice, essentially saying, you know, this is a young woman who has done
nothing wrong in her life. She was a good mother. So, what made her do it? You can say it was the voices. You can say it was the medicine and all the
different types of, you know, medicine she was put on.
But basically he says that she was in a moment of psychosis when this happened. And she obviously is so incredibly sad about it, pointing to her
often as she was weeping throughout this process.
He also took time on his closing arguments to really attack the prosecution and police investigation into this case, essentially saying that the police
investigation was shoddy. And that the prosecution has brought up points in this case that have been attacking Clancy that just haven't been right that
they've been manipulating the evidence.
So, it's been really strong closing arguments on both sides. The jurors have a lot to consider here. Dozens of witnesses over the last four weeks
that they heard from with tons of evidence.
[12:25:06]
And look, Eleni, they can -- they can basically decide guilty or not guilty on a number of things. One could be murder in the first-degree. It could be
downgraded to murder in the second-degree or even manslaughter. So, they have a lot to consider here in the next however long it takes.
GIOKOS: Yes. And look, and as you say, it's been emotionally charged. I think it's also brought to the spotlight the issue of postnatal and
postpartum depression. And it's been quite fascinating to see the -- the debates and the conversations that it's opened up on this very, you know,
sort of real scenario that is -- that is playing out.
How did the defense use that in this case?
GINGRAS: Yes. I mean, look, there are -- I don't know how much the jurors knew about this, but they didn't even need to really play into that too
much because the whole courtroom was basically full of women, to be honest with you. Many of them were standing outside this courthouse for hours
trying to get a seat inside that courtroom to support Lindsay Clancy. We've seen that throughout this entire trial.
But the defense really did talk about how she just did not get the care that she deserved that she went to, you know, a psychiatric hospital and
was turned away, that she called suicide hotlines multiple times, that she went to different providers to get the help.
So, it did open up this conversation. I think that's why a lot of people are empathizing with Lindsay Clancy. And it'll be interesting to see how
jurors, you know, have that conversation in their deliberations about how that might have played into this case.
GIOKOS: Yes. All right, Brynn Gingras, thank you so much.
Still ahead on "One World," it is a race against time along the Nepal-China border after catastrophic floods devastate the region.
And the fight to get Donald Trump's name back on the Kennedy Center heads to court today. Details on the controversy, just ahead. Stick with CNN.
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[12:30:08]
GIOKOS: Welcome back to "One World." I'm Eleni Giokos.
The rising death toll after catastrophic flooding swept through a mountainous region along the Nepal-China border on Wednesday.
This is what's left after the disaster unleashed a massive surge of water tearing through buildings and destroying vital infrastructure. At least 356
people are known to have been killed and more than 1,300 are still missing.
During daylight, rescuers were relying heavily on helicopters to reach survivors stranded by flash floods where most major roads and bridges have
been destroyed.
In our last hour, I spoke with Rabin Dahal, a coordinator with Save the Children Nepal. We spoke about the horrific conditions on the ground for
survivors and the people trying to rescue them. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RABIN DAHAL, COORDINATOR, SAVE THE CHILDREN NEPAL: It's a very busy river and like very worrying condition here in the ground. People are still
waiting for their families. Many people are not like accounted for and many people are -- they don't know the condition either if they are alive or
they are missing because mainly dead bodies are found in the rivers in the banks today as well. So, this is the condition here.
Besides that, like, there is a huge scarcity of drinking water as the drinking supply system water was damaged here. There is a very limited kind
of supply of water, drinking water.
And also there is a few tons of like disease outbreak here now as the hygiene. They cannot maintain the hygiene. And the wash facilities are
destroyed in many of the places. So -- and also the children are seeking care like children are in very traumatic conditions.
So, overall, this is the general scenario in the ground here. And -- but we have a very limited relief items support in the ground. Yes. Thank you.
GIOKOS: Rabin, you know, I want to talk about the impact on children. And we've also heard reports of some children being separated from their
parents as rescue operations are still on the go.
Could you give me a sense of how you're able to intervene and assist some of the children and some of the families that have been separated?
DAHAL: Yes. Many children were separated while they were traveling towards the schools and now the security forces are like trying to trace with the
students are like stopped if they are safe or not.
So, today only they have rescued student of 40 in one area where they were like living in the jungle area, in the forest area, for two days. And also
there are lots of students who were like staying in the hostels, in the like the relatives here and they are totally disconnected with their
families.
And also, they are like wearing the same clothing from three or four days and that they are -- they are suffering with the, like, water facilities.
They're also suffering with the trauma. And they have like very, very eagerly waiting for -- to meet their families as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: International scientists believe a glacier avalanche triggered the flash floods.
CNN's Laura Paddison takes a closer look at the initial findings.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAURA PADDISON, CNN SENIOR CLIMATE WRITER: A wall of water that swept through the Nepal-China border has killed at least 270 people and left more
than 1,300 missing.
Here's what we know so far about what caused it. So, it started with what was initially reported as an earthquake, turns out the shaking was actually
a huge glacier collapse and a landslide equivalent to a 5.2 magnitude earthquake.
Scientists believe an enormous chunk of glacier and mountain rock broke off and tumbled into the valley below. The sheer force of this collapse melted
the ice and on its way the torrent also picked up other waterlogged sediment and this could explain the sheer volumes of water that swept
through narrow mountain valleys swallowing everything in its path.
Now, scientists say it could take weeks even months to reveal the exact causes of the collapse. They will also explore the impacts rising
temperatures may have had.
It is far too early to say what role climate change may have played in the deadly flooding. But what we do know for certain is that Nepal is in a
rapidly warming Himalayan region and home to thousands of glaciers which are melting and destabilizing as temperatures rise.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GIOKOS: And recapping, at least 356 people are known to have been killed and more than 1,300 are still missing in this tragedy.
Now, in about 90 minutes, a judge in Washington is said to consider an emergency request to block President Trump's name from being etched back
onto the front of the Kennedy Center building.
[12:35:08]
And a higher congresswoman made the emergency request saying plans to put Trump's name back violates federal law and a federal judge's order that it
be taken down. It's part of a larger renovation plan for iconic building.
Earlier this week, the government argued, it might need to be demolished if the two-year plan cannot be completed.
All right. CNN's Sunlen Serfaty joins us now from Washington with the details. Sunlen, good to have you with us. Tell me where things stand right
now. This is becoming highly politicized. What are you hearing?
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Yes. This is certainly a very high stakes moment today for the Kennedy Center and the fate of the
preeminent arts institution in the United States. This certainly has become very politicized and we've seen many chapters of this long saga play out
over the course of the summer.
But here today, we will have an emergency hearing as far as two main things and really the heart of what is so contentious about the Kennedy Center.
One is, does President Trump -- does his name belong on this side of the building? Can they allow his name to go up on this side of the building?
And also, if the judge will allow them to close for this two-year renovation that the president, the Kennedy Center Board, which is of course
stacked with his loyalists, want.
So, what we saw this week was a real interesting move from the Department of Justice lawyers arguing on behalf of the Kennedy Center board. They
basically said trying to find a workaround and a provocative one at it and saying that, OK, if you won't let us have President Trump's name on this
side of the building, then we're going to -- and if you won't allow us to close for two years, then we're going to have to tear the whole thing down,
maybe build an open air amphitheater.
So, these arguments keep getting ratcheted up and ratcheted up. At issue today certainly is one of the other provocative moves that the lawyers
decided on and the Kennedy Center board voted on earlier this month to, instead of putting President Trump's name on the side of it, which of
course he was instructed over the summer to bring down, the board voted to etch, to inscribe, renovated and restored by President Trump as well as
also keeping -- naming one of the plazas in his name. So that was a workaround against the earlier motions by the judge.
So, certainly a high stakes, high pressure moment in the court today of which this is a huge project and a building that President Trump cares a
lot about and has become really central in his image, in his way that he wants to remake Washington in his image.
GIOKOS: All right. Sunlen Serfaty, thank you so much.
Well, as for President Donald Trump, he's been saying for months, the Kennedy Center has needed a facelift and he's ready to get it done.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You can't have this looking like it does.
It's a very big part of the fabric of Washington, D.C.
We're making a lot of changes, including the seats, the decor, pretty much everything. It needs a lot of work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: In a court filing earlier this week, the Justice Department writes, "The Kennedy Center is in terrible trouble. The crisis is so acute that
without the Trump administration, its people and President Trump, the center cannot survive either structurally or financially."
Time now for The Exchange and a look at the Kennedy Center controversy. We're joined by Greg Werkheiser. He's the lead attorney for the Kennedy
Center lawsuit against the Trump administration. Greg, really good to have you with us. Thanks so much for your time.
You know, in around 90 minutes from now, we've got this emergency request to block President Trump's name from being etched back onto the front of
the Kennedy Center building. This is an important moment.
I'm sure you're waiting with bated breath in terms of the outcome. How important is this going to be in terms of your fight?
GREG WERKHEISER, CO-FOUNDER, CULTURAL HERITAGE PARTNERS: Well, it's going to be incredibly important. I should mention at the outset that there are
two lawsuits against the Kennedy Center and I am co-counseling one of them. I don't want to take credit for both.
But this is incredibly important because this is not simply a renovation or a name change, it is an effort to fundamentally remake a national memorial.
The Kennedy Center was created by Congress as a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy. And it belongs not to any individual, certainly
not to any individual president. It belongs to the American people.
The -- ultimately the outcome of the legal case is important not just --
[12:40:00]
GIOKOS: When will --
WERKHEISER: Oh, sorry. Go -- go right ahead.
GIOKOS: No, no. Please finish your thought.
WERKHEISER: The -- the outcome for -- the outcome of the legal case is important, because ultimately it decides whether or not the American people
in Congress or a single president have control over a living memorial.
And the implications of the judge's decision now and in the future will have implications for a number of the other of President Trump's pet
projects around Washington.
GIOKOS: You -- you lead and you're assisting a coalition of cultural and architectural groups in -- in this filing and in this suit. On the -- the
other side of the spectrum, we know the administration is arguing that these renovations, they say, are necessary to save the Kennedy Center.
You're arguing that the process is unlawful. So, take me through the argument and how you're -- you're sort of positioning this.
WERKHEISER: Sure. Well, there is no one that I'm aware of, either a plaintiff or a defendant in this case, that argues that the Kennedy Center
is without any infrastructure needs.
Like any building of its age, it needs maintenance and upkeep. And Congress appropriated about $250 million for that. That is not the argument. The
argument is over whether in addition to that, the president can implement his -- to his tastes, effectively a tear down of the building itself.
He's talked about interior redesign. He's talked about exterior redesign that have nothing to do with the upkeep of the building and have everything
to do with the desire of the president to put his personal decorating style on an important memorial.
So again, the fight is not ultimately about whether not the building needs repair. The fight is over whether or not he can inscribe his name on a
memorial and whether or not he's doing any of this work with the permission of Congress.
Congress created the Kennedy Center. Congress has control over major changes to the Kennedy Center. This is ultimately about the rule of law.
Will the president abide by the rule of law and the court orders or will he not?
GIOKOS: It seems like a lot of -- a lot of this is hanging on whether President Trump can get his name on back onto the Kennedy Center. There
seems to be some kind of concession that could be made in terms of being etched that it was renovated by President Trump.
But they also seem sort of this big shadow of hanging and you mentioned that the possible demolition of this memorial, you know, that was completed
back in 1971, very important culturally. And it seems that the stakes are really high.
WERKHEISER: They are high. They're high for this particular building. They are high for all of the buildings and structures around the country that
depend on governments, presidents, members of the public following the laws that have been placed for some 60 years.
And ultimately, the damage that is done when the president moves so far out of the law is not just to one building. Although, obviously, impacting the
Kennedy Center would break many people's hearts and would be a disservice to the memory of a slain president.
But the implications go far beyond that. They really go to every community and town in this country that has a special place that they want to
preserve, because the laws that apply to the Kennedy Center we argue, apply around the country.
But there's something distinct about the Kennedy Center which is ultimately if you want to make changes there, you have to talk to Congress.
We don't know why the president has refused to go to Congress. Perhaps, it's because he fears that they will not endorse his redecorating plan, but
ultimately, that's not an excuse. He's going to talk to Congress and get permission if he wants to inscribe his name where Congress intended only
John F. Kennedy's name to appear.
GIOKOS: All right. Greg Werkheiser, thank you so much. Good to have you on the show.
We're going to a short break. We'll be back right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:45:14]
GIOKOS: I want to take you back to our top story. The devastating and deadly flooding along the Nepal-China border. A CNN crew is in Nuwakot
district Nepal at the heart of the disaster. Hanako Montgomery filed this report on what they've seen on the ground. Let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MONTGOMERY: So, over there in the distance is the Trishuli River, which is the river that flooded and killed, we now know over 100 people and left
hundreds more missing.
And if you can take a look over here, there is just a massive layer of mud and debris over what used to be green rice fields. This all used to be
green valley, and now, it's just covered in debris and in mud.
And just behind me here, a team of police officers have arrived. They're ascertaining the extent of damage. And they're speaking to local villagers
about who might need rescuing, who might need some assistance. We're told that the local mayor is also here to provide the police with more
information.
And I just want to show you just how extensive this damage was. And you can tell here just even on this road, at least over 100 meters away from the
actual river, you can see the mud has come up. It's blocked off parts of the road.
We can't actually go any further than this because the extent of damage is just that bad. We're told that if we were trying to go further, it could be
a risk to our lives, so we're staying here for now.
But the extent of economic damage, the extent of lives lost, is just immeasurable at the moment. And, of course, Nepal, the government, still
trying to ascertain just how many people have died and still trying to rescue those who might need in desperate, desperate need of assistance.
So, I'm walking down one of the main roads in Nepal, and this entire place used to be covered in mud. They've cleared part of it now.
And I want to show you some of the damage that we've been seeing. This house, I mean, its first floor is completely submerged in flood water. You
can see some of the windows and doors just caked in mud.
This house over here, I mean, its walls have completely collapsed. It's -- it's unlivable.
And down here is a gas station, and again, just completely inaccessible and totally destroyed by this floodwater and the mud and debris that are
brought with it.
Now, the Nepali government has said that several hundred people have been confirmed dead, several hundred more still missing. And they are afraid
that the death toll could tick up in the coming hours and days as they are still trying to find any remaining survivors.
And this village that we're currently in is actually several dozen kilometers away from the worst of the damage. So, you can imagine if you
get higher up in the Himalayan Mountains, just how many people have lost their homes, their livelihoods, and their loved ones.
And now they're left with very little, trying to find any remnants of hope, any remnants of their family members as they try to pick up the pieces of
their lives now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:50:39]
GIOKOS: A big loss in the art world. The renowned Japanese artist, Yayoi Kusama, has died at the age of 97. Kusama became best known for what she
called her infinity-mirrored rooms, installations that she built in cities across the globe.
CNN's Stephy Chung has more about her legacy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEPHY CHUNG, ASIA EDITOR, CNN STYLE (voice-over): Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, famed for her pumpkin sculptures in large-scale infinity mirror
rooms, has died at 97. She passed away at a Tokyo hospital on August 14, according to a statement on the artist's official website.
Kusama was born in Nagano, Japan in 1929 into a dysfunctional and abusive household. She first began experiencing vivid hallucinations at a young
age, which flooded her world with the polka dots that she would later deploy in her work.
The artist moved to the U.S. in the 1950s, where she produced a significant body of work that included, not only paintings and sculptures, but surreal
works of film, literature, and performance art.
In the 1960s, she staged what she called happenings, where she transformed naked bodies into dotted canvases.
She returned to Japan in the early '70s and checked herself into a psychiatric hospital soon after, where she continued to live in recent
decades, and up until her final days, produced art from the facility in a small studio nearby.
YAYOI KUSAMA, ARTIST (through translator): Since I was five or 10, I began drawing. Even now, there is not a day that goes by without me drawing.
CHUNG (voice-over): After some years of relative obscurity, she would later become one of the world's most famous artists and achieved mainstream
commercial success and collaborated with brands like Louis Vuitton.
Her famous infinity mirror rooms attracted millions of visitors to galleries and museums around the world, while many of her paintings have
sold for millions of dollars, proving her works resonated deeply and will continue to inspire audiences today.
KUSAMA (through translator): I want to spend every day with the desire to do whatever possible to bring love into humanity to battle for the best for
humanity in a society which is peaceful and a wonderful world without war.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GIOKOS: Well, sky gazers are in for a rare sight in the skies tonight. A partial lunar eclipse will be visible in the early hours this Friday. And
its peak around 96 percent of the moon will be in the Earth's shadow. Observers across North and South America will have the best view of the
partial lunar eclipse.
[12:55:16]
And unlike solar eclipses, you won't need any special equipment. Experts recommend heading to a nearby park or any open space that gives you a clear
view of the night sky, but you'll have to wake up quite early for that.
Well, I'm Eleni Giokos in Abu Dhabi. Thanks so much for joining us. Stay with CNN. "Amanpour" is up next.
END
