Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Hurricane Matthew Heading for U.S. FL, GA, SC Declare States of Emergency; Trump Watching Video of Debate Performances; FL Governor Gives Press Conference on Preparedness. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired October 06, 2016 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00] BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: We're hearing 140 to 145 miles per hour possible there. How many people are in your position where they were planning to stay or is it just you?

BRIAN WILHELM, RIDING OUT HURRICANE IN JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA: There's a full parking lot.

KEILAR: OK. A full parking lot. So I'm assuming they're prepared as well is there a possibility you missed your window with your fiance working at the hospital.

WILHELM: Absolutely. You figure if we're going to get out of here and 12 hours on the road just to get out, and we're not far enough away from the coast. I'd rather be here in the apartment than be vulnerable in a vehicle, especially with other drivers out there.

KEILAR: You have a lot to think about.

Brian Wilhelm, we'll be thinking of you as you are hunkered down for more than you expected.

The track on Hurricane Matthew, we will take you live to the coast of Georgia and South Carolina. Evacuations are under way there.

Just three days from the next presidential debate, Donald Trump watching video of his last debate performance. What he's admitting to advisors behind closed doors.

Also, the influential Republican about to join Trump on the campaign trail.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:35:46] KEILAR: Back to our breaking news, a monster hurricane bearing down on Florida and the east coast and it could make landfall as a category 4. We'll take you back to the coast in a moment.

First, when the storm hits, Donald Trump will be holding a rehearsal for Sunday's rematch debate. Hillary Clinton is taking a step back from campaigning to practice with advisors while Trump is set to do a town hall event tonight in New Hampshire.

Joining me to talk about it, we have David Gregory, CNN political analyst and author of "How's Your Faith?"; and Kirsten Powers, "USA Today" columnist and CNN political analyst.

Kirsten, we now know Donald Trump has watched the tape, he has seen it and we're hearing reports he his advisors, yeah, OK, I get it. That he's had some struggles with this. What do you think they do from there now that he's sort of admitted that and he seems to realize he needs to take a different approach?

KIRSTEN POWERS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: That's the first step is admitting there's a problem, in all seriousness. Getting him to the point of recognizing that something needs to be done different I think is a big step in the right direction. He has to make a decision whether or not he's going to try to be the more subdued Trump or if he's going to get -- hit back hard when he is attacked and whether or not he's going to prepare they say he's preparing, Kellyanne Conway says he's preparing constantly which is a very different tune than they were singing before the last debate when they were mocking the idea of preparation but lessons were learned from what happened in the last debate.

KEILAR: David, you had people say, many observers say OK, it's great he's preparing but preparing isn't a strategy, it's just what you should be doing from there.

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: And also there's only one strategy that Donald Trump has followed which is his own gut pretty far. He has demonstrated that he only listens to his own gut. I maintain the first 45 minutes Donald Trump unlike himself. He was at his best, he was disciplined, he had a strong change message, he was making the case against Hillary Clinton as a kind of self-dealing insider part of the establishment. Even had a critique of the world that the Obama years and the administration have been responsible for. So he's got the ability to do all of that. It's the counterpunch side when he feels diminished in some way. About his wealth or business success that he feels attacked. Whether he has the personal discipline to do it I don't know, I haven't seen it on display but he recognizes, certainly his team realizes that the first debate had a very real impact that has been measurable and, therefore, all the more pressure this go around.

KEILAR: Kirsten, I wonder if you think the counterpunch plays differently because the format is different. We'll get a different approach, whether he sits or stands, how he approaches the audience?

POWERS: Well, if he was counterpunching he would be counterpunching against a person who is a voter in the audience which is very different than counter-punching against an opponent. We have seen he is willing to attack regular people. He attacked the Khan family though he doesn't usually do it in person. My guess is that he will be more disciplined and, look, he did pretty well in the town hall format at the commander-in-chief forum. So this may be a better format for him.

(CROSSTALK)

GREGORY: Gregory, I also think Hillary Clinton is not a master of this particular format, either. In our modern presidential era, we look to Bill Clinton as the master of the town hall format, the ability to walk up to someone and have a moment with them and communicate empathy and be a good listener as well as a good talker. So there's pressure for her to advocate for herself to find her own voice, to animate her own voters. And she can't over-learn the lesson of the first debate, either, and do what Tim Kaine did, which is constantly be on the attack with Trump because that could backfire against her.

[14:40:22] KEILAR: And there's a difference, Kirsten, where you have to connect more as a candidate. It's very different format. And we've seen over the years, "SNL" pokes incredible fun at some of the awkward moments you see in these town halls.

POWERS: Well, it's showing empathy because inevitably someone is going to tell you a story that's heartbreaking and to be able to empathize with them. And David is right to raise Hillary Clinton as well in this situation. She's not somebody who most people, rightly or wrongly, consider to be the most relatable person so she has to be able to relate to the person and not just go into a policy prescription.

KEILAR: Before we go, David Gregory, Paul Ryan and Donald Trump, tell us about this.

GREGORY: Well, as Dana Bash said last hour, this is a big political event in Wisconsin. They'll appear together. This is more on Paul Ryan's turf where putting the Republican Party behind him. Let's not forget Reince Priebus' RNC chair is tight with Paul Ryan. Pulling out all the stops to appear with Trump. But this will be a reluctant kind of campaigning with him. Under other circumstances, you could see Paul Ryan hitting the hustings with Donald Trump throughout the swing states. Wisconsin could be slipping away from Trump. He is not a Paul Ryan kind of Republican.

By the way, I don't think Trump wants him as much either in terms of his core supporters. He has to reach out to more Independent voters and get Republicans leaning away at this point.

KEILAR: It will be so interesting to watch this event.

Kirsten Powers, David Gregory, thank you so much to both of you.

Next, we have more special live coverage. We're live in South Carolina where mandatory evacuations are under way.

We also are expecting to hear Florida Governor Rick Scott. He'll have a live update. Just hours ago, he issued a dire warning for people who will not leave.

You're watching CNN. We'll be back after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:47:15] KEILAR: Back now to breaking news. A category 4 hurricane is approaching the U.S. I want to turn to South Carolina where mandatory evacuations are under way along the coast. By day's end, nearly half a million people are expected to have left their homes. Charleston has handed out a record 15,000 sandbags but the mayor says now is the time to go.

Brian Todd is on the nearby barrier island of Folly Beach.

Tell us what you're seeing there, Brian.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, we're seeing some storm surge but it's not going to be here in earnest for at least 24 to 36 hours. Early Saturday morning is when it's expected to hit. This is normal wave surge, normal circumstances here. They're expecting storm surge of four to eight feet.

Here is where it will get problematic, Brianna. The surge will come up here past these low-lying dunes, past the fences, past the board walk, if it gets up to eight feet, it will carry past that area and on to the roads over here. One hurricane veteran who has lived here for years told us a short time ago that, in '89, basically, that hurricane carried the ocean all over the island that way. This will not be as strong. They also expect eight to 12 inches of rain. Last year at this time, they had a large rainstorm, not a hurricane, and much of this area is flooded. This is low country. Charleston and around Beaufort is at sea level or lower. So it will flood at the drop of the hat. When this hurricane comes up, here they could have problems.

That's why they ordered people to evacuate. They say, as of this morning, only about 175,000 people evacuated from the Charleston area. Governor Nikki Haley said that's not nearly enough. Her point is this, gas stations are going to close, pharmacies are going to close. If you need something after noon today, you may not be able to get it.

Also when we came into the island, we noticed the roads are very low leading into the island. There's water all around them. This is one of the islands that could get cut off. If you're here with no way to get off, no power and you need something, you could find it very rough going. Officials want at least 200,000 more people to evacuate. We'll see if that happens.

[14:49:36] KEILAR: Brian Todd in Folly Beach, South Carolina. Thank you.

Next, we have more of our special live coverage. CNN is on the coast of Georgia where the governor has ordered evacuations.

Plus, any minute, we're expecting Florida's Governor Rick Scott to give update in his state. Earlier, he gave a dire warning for people attempting to ride out this storm.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Hurricane Matthew is now a very dangerous category 4 storm. It's packing winds as strong as 140 miles per hour aiming straight for the U.S. Millions of people being told to leave danger zones in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, but some are still planning to ride it out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN CHERRY, OWNER, PALM COAST COFFEE: We've got water, we've got adult beverages, we're going to hunker down and ride this thing out. We're boarding up the coffee shop with OSB boards to protect the windows. Most of the employees have left for the week.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kind of more preparations, prepared for the worst.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to take the boards, put them up, put them in front of the windows on the out board, and screw them in to protect from debris flying around. It's better to be safe than sorry.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: So much wind and so much water expected there.

Sara Ganim is in Savannah, Georgia.

This place is beautiful, and it has so much historic significance and that's the utmost concern to officials there.

[14:55:02] SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Brianna. I'm in the landmark district where, of course, officials here, their first priority is getting people out, getting people to safety under that emergency mandatory evacuation order. But also officials here are concerned about protecting those historic buildings, more than 1200 of them just in this square mile.

And that's where Daniel Carey comes in. He's the CEO of the Historic Savannah Foundation.

You guys have been working on taping tarps like this up over those historic 18th century buildings. Tell me about this.

DANIEL CAREY, CEO, HISTORIC SAVANNAH FOUNDATION: Yes, This is the Kennedy Pharmacy and this high-impact tarp will keep debris out because there's plate glass behind that and we don't want the interior of the building to be harmed in anyway.

This is sort of the 21st century version of what you see over here in this house, which is the 18th century version of those terrific shutters, which work great. That's a 1791 building and those shutters will do just fine. We're still learning.

KEILAR: So those are the original hurricane shutters.

Daniel was telling me earlier, Brianna, that's the House George Washington visited himself. Obviously, that's the kind of building here in savannah they want to make sure to protect.

One of the biggest problems here is all this beautiful foliage. All these trees that make squares so beautiful also will be a problem in a storm with winds of this magnitude.

This is not high ground. They're not worried about flooding here. You're worried about those high winds. CAREY: We're 40 feet above sea level but once you get wind into the trees and debris that flies out of them and perhaps into windows of historic buildings, that's the problem. You want to keep the envelope intact.

GANIM: The other thing we were talking about was the aftermath. You've been to places with --

KEILAR: Sara, I'm so sorry to interrupt you.

We have to go live to Florida's Governor Rick Scott. He is holding an update, a press conference on preparations there.

RICK SCOTT, (R), FLORIDA GOVERNOR: -- as it can be, but it's safer than many homes. If you live on the West coast, call friends on the impacted areas and offer them a place to stay.

More than 3,000 people are already in shelters across Florida. As of last night, there were 58 shelters open. Today, more than 80 have been opened, and the number will continue to increase and will continue to increase as they're need. I know you don't want to sit in a shelter, nobody does, but it might be the safest place.

I-10 westbound out of Jacksonville is in some congestion but continues to move. (INAUDIBLE).

(AUDIO PROBLEM)

KEILAR: All right, we're trying to establish a better feed there. You're seeing we're taking some hit there is but that is Florida Governor Rick Scott. He's imploring people, if you live on the West coast of Florida, call your friends on the east coast, tell them to come over, give them a place to stay. He's imploring people to stay in shelters. He says no one wants to stay there. We're hearing that from a lot of people. They are hunkering down. Many may be prepared for a category 2, a category 3. But this is now a category 4. He's saying life or death, get to a shelter. 80 open in the state.

We'll continue to follow this.

Next, we have new video coming in. It shows a two-hour backup of people driving north to Atlanta. They are evacuating from Florida and South Georgia.

Plus, these winds are starting to pick up in Florida as we speak right now and the governor just told people leave now. We'll take you there live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)