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>> washington and this is "bbc world news america." >> it looks like a war zone. it looks like someone came along and bombed the whole town. it is completely devastated. it is burned down to the ground. >> a thriving town reduced to almost nothing. the destruction left behind after one of the worst natural disasters in the state of hawaii's history. >> a new special counsel is named to oversee the case against hunter biden with mixed reactions. ♪ hello and welcome to world news america. we begin in hawaii where we are getting a better look at the

devastation from major wildfires that tore through parts of the island of maui. this is what is left of lahaina. the historic town hit hardest by the fires. blackened earth make for a bleak scene. 55 people have died but that number is expected to rise. the mayor of mao we said earlier the number was based -- the mayor of maui said the number was based on victims found outdoor spirit it is probably the largest natural disaster in the state's history. some people were forced to jump into the ocean to escape, treading water for hours. you can see the frantic moments. we are hearing about the terrifying ordeal. >> we stuck together. we held on. we are not going to die.

we are here. we are alive. >> the fires were at their most intense along the western coast of maui but other areas have been affected and some fires are still burning. the blaze around lahaina is 80% contained. the fire in the middle of the island has been 70% contained. officials are also coming across a third fire in upcountry maui with no estimate on its containment. people from across the hawaiian islands are mobilizing to help. this is video of members of the hawaiian national guard transporting first responders from honolulu to maui. u.s. president joe biden has approved the request for emergency support. in a statement he said he ordered all available federal assets on the islands to help with the response. these include the u.s. coast guard and navy. the army, sending blackhawk

helicopters to the big island. the department of transportation is working with commercial airlines to evacuate tourists from maui. vice president kamala harris spoke about the disaster. v.p. harris: we want to do whatever is in the best interest of the folks on the ground. the victims of this tragedy and the needs of the first responders to focus on the issue and not worry about things. >> for more on the federal response i spoke to a former administrator of fema, the federal emergency management agency. >> thanks indeed for joining us this evening. looking at the disaster we are seeing in hawaii and the island of maui, how big is this in terms of the scale of the rescue and recovery mission that lies ahead? >> this is incredibly devastating to the island of maui, which is very strong. unfortunately for lahaina, an

overwhelming majority of the infrastructure is gone and this will be a complete and total rebuild for a very small municipality focused on tourism. >> there is a balance to be struck between the efforts to maintain and preserve human rights and the basic needs of humans and the actual functionality of the economy, government relations and all of that. what exactly needs to be done? >> at this point fema is working with the governor's office and state and local officials to sustain life. 1, i spoke with an administrator at fema. she will hopefully be on the island today to assess the situation. they are focused on taking care of the initial needs of the disaster survivors. the ones who have lost everything and have nowhere to go. we will concentrate on a life-sustaining mission and that will start to transform into

more interim housing that you have to start taking care of as far as long-term recovery. with my experience with wildfires, this recovery will take many years. unfortunately, lahaina will be searching for a new normal in the future. >> is this situation made all the more challenging because of how physically isolated maui and hawaii is? >> absolutely. not only is it over 3600 miles away from the united states mainland, but once you have burned up a lot of the infrastructure, there is nothing left to really kickstart recovery with. unfortunately, a lot of the citizens will be displaced for a very long time. what will take place after the initial search and rescue mission is you are dealing with a massive debris mission. a lot of hazardous materials that have to be removed first

before the debris can be removed. once you have been able to clear the areas and open up rod with -- open up roadways, you have to figure out what infrastructure can go back in. how to salvage it. what infrastructure might be left. right now you have a total loss in communications, power, water systems. it takes a lot of time to bring back this infrastructure. a lot of times what we deal with is citizens want to immediately rush back into see what they can salvage but wildfires are incredibly cruel because they do not leave us much to work with. you cannot allow people to come back into an area that has been devastated because it is very dangerous even though the wildfires have passed. >> need is acute at the moment but how long does fema stay on the scene and stay involved, stay supportive of the people? >> fema would probably be involved with maui and the state

of hawaii for the next five to seven years at minimum to help with the rebuilding. once you are able to assess the situation with the infrastructure and you get public and private infrastructure owners back into the area to rebuild, then you start to assess how you bring back a new economy that works. lahaina is a port town. the port is gone. it has been heavily damaged along with the service industry that supports that tourist town. there are a lot of decisions that need to be make both public and private. figuring out to get the infrastructure back and running. private business owners that make these communities work have to decide what they are going to do, whether their losses are insured or whether or not they can rebuild and start a new, normal life in the community again. many people will not be able to

wait for the amount of time it takes to kickstart their lives back in order. they will have to either move to other communities on the island, moved to other islands or possibly move to the mainland to be able to find a new future, unfortunately. >> you were administrator at fema in 2017 and 2018 with historic wildfires and hurricanes. how is what we are seeing in hawaii compared to those crises >> >>? it is hard to compare this with anything that happens on the mainland. paradise, california, the wildfires in 2017-2018 was one of the worst disasters i have ever seen. over 14,000 structures burned to the ground but at least you had more surrounding capabilities with the neighboring jurisdictions to help resolve the situation over time. the fires on lahaina, the magnitude or the size of the

fires were smaller than what we have seen in california but the impact is exponentially greater because of the limited resources that are on this island. no disaster is the same. every wildfire hits communities differently. anytime you have an urban interface that has been completely devastated by wildfire, it is a total rebuild. >> is the state of hawaii better prepared to deal with this that it might have been in the past? >> during my time in office, multiple islands were impacted. we stop puerto rico and the u.s. virgin islands get hit by hurricane maria, we saw other u.s. territories impacted by hurricanes. it forced us to rethink island-readiness. hawaii is very strategic to the united states. we increased the response capabilities and logistical capabilities on the islands, specifically in the pacific.

we wanted the ability of not having to ship things from the mainland 3600 miles away. we wanted the ability to mobilize our equipment and our assistance within a matter of hours to the neighboring islands if they were hit by hurricanes or volcanoes or whatever it might be. in retrospect in 2018, the decisions to enhance the capabilities have played out hopefully in a positive fashion for the fires we have seen in maui. >> we will leave it there for now. thanks indeed for joining us. >> thank you. >> let's go to the airport on maui now and speak to the bbc's north american correspondent. people are trying to get off the island. what is the scene like at the moment? >> you are absolutely right. we saw it ourselves. people dropping their hired cars

off, heading to the airport. the advice from authorities is those tourists who are here should leave and anyone thinking of coming here should only come for essential reasons. this is clearly a disaster of serious magnitude as you have been hearing from your previous guest. the priority now, given the pressure on communications on the power networks and other services, is to focus all the effort onto the immediate task of looking for bodies that may remain in the debris in the devastated town of lahaina, and then begin to looking at ways they can provide support and assistance to those residents who do decide to stay. >> does that effort seemed to be well organized at the moment? >> you know, this is a first world country. america has huge resources.

the designation of a natural disaster will of course channel more aid and resources to hawaii , but nonetheless, again, the pictures speak for themselves. this was a huge disaster on a scale nobody anticipated, even with the increasing frequency of wildfires on islands like maui in recent years. there are real significant challenges. i know you have been speaking to people about the task of rebuilding. at the moment, the governor putting a brave face on it but you do have to wonder about the scale of that challenge. you are talking about the complete rebuilding of a community of some 12,000 people 2500 miles off the u.s. mainland. >> there is a massive human tragedy here. an unquantifiable human cost. what is the sense of the mood

around the island at the moment? >> it is one of total devastation, as you can imagine. people, as you say, facing unimaginable loss in terms of the loss of life, livelihoods, businesses. this is a real shock. hawaii is a place, for many people, of paradise holiday destination. yet, for a few hours on tuesday, the scenes in lahaina can only be described as apocalyptic. you would have heard the accounts yourself of people describing this wall of fire moving rapidly through the town. some left with no choice but to seek refuge in the ocean, trying to keep children afloat while shielding them from burning debris raining down upon them. these are unimaginable scenes. people will be suffering deep, deep trauma. the priority from authorities is to provide not just material

assistance but emotional and psychological support, as well. >> we have heard from the authorities, from the director of the department of business, economy and tourism that hawaii is still very much open for business. tourism is so important to the economy. at the airport, are there any signs of people still arriving for holidays, their vacations? >> that is the message at the moment. it is important to distinguish between the wider area of hawaii, that is open for business, and the island of maui , the impact on the infrastructure is just too great. the advice for people planning holidays elsewhere in hawaii is to take advice -- the expectation is those plans should not be impacted. those who were thinking of coming to maui should take advice and think again. >> thank you for joining us.

it still remains unclear what exactly spark these fires. let's look at what contributed to their spread and the severity. fires need three ingredients -- fuel, a spark and winds to drive the flames. hawaii has been experiencing abnormally dry conditions. 14% of the state is in severe or moderate drought. strong winds from hurricane dora also helped fan the flames. maui itself was already under a red flag alert. high temperatures, low humidity and winds causing concerns about fire danger. here is how one expert explained it. we do not have that at the moment so that's move on to our other big story. in a surprise announcement on friday, u.s. attorney general merrick garland elevated the investigation of president joe biden's hunter to special counsel status. david weiss will now continue

his probe into hunter biden, independent from the day-to-day supervision of the justice department. his special counsel appointment usually comes about when the justice department feels it has a conflict of interest or ones to avoid political entanglement. mr. weiss will be provided with extra resources including a budget and a staff of attorneys upon his request. mr. weiss is also vested with law enforcement tools like the power to have indictments, search warrants. he can bring further charges beyond the state of delaware. mr. weiss has already filed papers to do just that. once he concludes his investigation, mr. weiss will give a report. attorney general garland said mr. weiss requested the special counsel designation. >> upon considering his request as well as the extraordinary

circumstances relating to this matter, i have concluded it is in the public interest to appoint him as special counsel. this appointment confirms my commitment to provide mr. weiss all the resources he requests. it also via forms that mr. weiss has the authority he needs to induct a thorough investigation and to continue to take the steps he deems appropriate independently based only on the facts and the law. >> mr. weiss has decades of experience as a federal prosecutor and was appointed by former president donald trump in 2018 to become the u.s. attorney in delaware. he began investigating hunter biden's business dealings in 2019. the biden administration requested mr. weiss remain on as u.s. attorney, a move some say was an effort to remain as neutral as possible in the investigation. with me is our north american correspondent.

what is the significance of the appointment of the special counsel? >> first of all it shows this case is not going away anytime soon. there was a certain amount of debate. a plea deal was announced that this would be wrapped up. this would reach conclusion even when they have the plea deal hearing. in fact, this will go on now. in the court filing where weiss 's team announced they would possibly change the venue to somewhere else, d.c. or california where the crimes occurred, they said this was because the plea negotiations with hunter biden's legal team had reached an impasse and it is now their belief that this could go, or will go, to trial. we are looking at an extended investigation that could expand into other charges and ultimately a trial where the president's son is before a jury facing what could be a prison

sentence if convicted. >> has there been a reaction from the biden administration? >> the white house set up policy of trying not to comment about this investigation ongoing. hunter biden's legal team has come forward and said they still view their client as innocent and he will be exonerated when the investigation is concluded and the framework of the plea deal, what he said he was willing to admit to, will ultimately prevail. they will perhaps wait for their day in court to fight this out. >> what does this all mean for the republican-led investigations we have seen? has there been any response from the republican party? >> there has been concern with republican members of congress starting with kevin mccarthy on down that this was an attempt to block congressional investigations because now you have a special counsel that will continue to investigate and he will not be willing to testify because there was talk of weiss

testifying before congress. he will not do that now that the investigation is ongoing and they have said there investigations will not be stymied by the special counsel investigation going alongside it. they still want to look into any possible ties between joe biden and his son hunter's business dealings. republicans have been pretty skeptical and suspicious of this announcement. they have soured on david weiss. he was appointed by donald trump originally but they view that plea deal as what they call a sweetheart deal. he has been too easy on hunter biden and the investigation has not been aggressive enough. they think by and large that someone else should be put in charge of the investigation. someone who does not have the same history as david weiss. they do not think david weiss will be able to bring this investigation fully into joe biden where they think the real crimes and political implications might be. >> there has been so much

discussion about the political as ancient of the department -- political. how does it feed into that? >> it makes it a little easier for democrats to counter the republican accusations that there is some sort of two-tiered standard of justice. there have been multiple indictments against donald trump while joe biden and his family have been treated differently. now there is a special counsel with all the powers you discussed of special counsel's investigating -- not joe biden directly -- but hunter biden, the president's son and his business dealings and hunter biden was clearly talking about his connections to his father when he was making these business deals. maybe it makes it easier for the democrats to say the justice department investigations are happening independently but it will still be a headache for the white house. it will be a distraction.

this will drag on clearly into 2024. the presidential election cycle and maybe even after the election. it will be something they will have to deal with. >> thank you for bringing us up to speed with all the details. now you to ukraine, where president volodymyr zelensky fired the heads of committees. in a video message on friday, zelensky said there were signs that officials made illegal personal profits and helped men avoid being detained. he promised to crackdown on the corruption. are corresponded explains the president's decision. >> this is quite the clampdown from president zelensky. in an announcement few predicted, 33 regional recruitment heads from every providence in ukraine have been fired. he accuses them of accepting bribes through either cash or

cryptocurrency in exchange for helping men who have been mobilized be smuggled across the border. there is a bit of tension when it comes to ukraine's military recruitment centers. we have spoken to those involved and they say they feel like they are doing the dirty work of the military. the unpopular side of things. and that the whole process in general needs modernization. as far as the government is concerned, they say that is an unpopular decision. we have these allegations from president zelensky with this clampdown. it seems like the government might be engaging on these issues. we have heard allegations of heavy-handed tactics being used. men have been physically smuggled to recruitment centers. this is a delicate issue, as well. yes, there are sizable proportions of the population who are motivated to fight. they have either volunteered or become professional soldiers.

but the issue of mobilization is a tricky one because there are those who do not want to fight, who have tried to avoid the draft. there is a conflict between the state and its population in some areas. it is not just about soldiers getting called up to replace those who have been killed. it is also about, for ukraine, replacing those who have been fighting on the front line in unimaginable conditions for several months now. >> for the first time in 47 years, russia launched a moon landing spacecraft in what is shipping up to be a race to find water on the lunar south fall. there are two spacecraft heading toward the moon's south fall. the crafts are set to reach their destinations around the same date to look for water. that is it for now. i am katrina. . thank you for watching world news america. take care. [captioning performed by the national captioning narrator: funding for this presentation of this program

is provided by... narrator: financial services firm, raymond james. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪

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one giant leap for mankind. ♪ amna: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. geoff bennett is away. on the newshour tonight -- the maui death toll rises, even as the fire is increasingly contained and the long recovery process begins. attorney general merrick garland appoints a special counsel to investigate the fbi case against hunter biden as former president trump's attorneys spar with the justice department. and... the supreme court blocks purdue pharmaceuticals' bankruptcy plan that would have shielded the sackler family from legal liability for the opioid crisis. >> within the victim community, the opioid victim community and among these communities, many of them have said, "we don't really think this looks like justice where the sacklers are concerned." ♪