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Life-Threatening Storm Nearing Texas Coast; Source: Cohen Almost Resigned over Trump's Charlottesville Comments; Surge in Gas Prices Expected Due to Storm; White House Press Conference Begins on Venezuela & Hurricane. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired August 25, 2017 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:31:01] JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: Welcome back. You're looking at live radar of Hurricane Harvey. It's expected to make landfall in about 11 to 12 hours from now. When it does, it could be a category 3 storm.

Let's turn to Meteorologist Tom Slater in the Atlanta Weather Center for us.

Tom, how is this looking? Not kidding around. Could be the strongest storm we've seen hitting the gulf coast in years, right?

TOM SATER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely, Jim. We're blowing the horn, saying catastrophic, devastating, like we've never seen before, and terminology like that. But the National Weather Service out of Houston this morning put out a statement with language we haven't heard since Hurricane Katrina. It stated there will be locations that will be uninhabitable for weeks if not months.

This is a double-edged sword. First, the landfall. Everybody wants to know, how strong will it be, where, at what time? Devastating enough. It's been nine years since the state of Texas had a hurricane make landfall. Harvey is making up for lost time. The other edge of the sword is what happens after landfall. That's our concern for days. National Hurricane Center brings it in the wee hours of the morning, maybe, 3:00, 4:00 or 5:00, and brings it inland. I'm going to extending the model out 120 hours. It loops back into the gulf, where it could easily regenerate, re-strengthen, feeding off the warm waters, and tosses it up to Galveston and the Houston area. Looking at all of the models, like we have in the last couple of days, there's one thing is for sure, they all agree on landfall. That's good. That gives us an idea of where evacuations should take place, gives us confidence this will occur. But just like yesterday, the models become this birds nest -- the terminology I'm using -- but there's even differences in this as opposed to yesterday. The reason it's doing this, we just do not have a dominant steering current to push this system to the west or to the north. We like to get these systems in and get them out, because the slower they are, the more rainfall. That's exactly what this is going to do. The difference with today's is more of a do bring it back out, we could have a second landfall with this system. The concern for me, in many locations, not just 20 or 30 inches of

rain. Break it down. Houston. Houston historically can flood in many locations with 2.5, 3.5 inches. They're looking at 22.5 in a five-day period. One of the computer models, Jim, we use a lot, the American model, called the GFS model, yesterday and this morning, brings it in saturday. Then loops it back around to San Antonio with heavy rainfall. Sunday, Monday, brings it back down. Tuesday, Wednesday, still going. Thursday, up towards Houston. Friday, hanging around and still in the state of Texas until saturday. That is catastrophic.

Now, listen, you can live without power. Obviously. Storm surge will move in. Live without power a couple days, food, water, medicines. But when water pours into your home and you're watching the water level up the wall, that's when 911 is called. I fear there will be thousands of 911 calls. They could be just overloaded here and really strapped as far as all of the emergency services -- Jim?

ACOSTA: Tom, we have to hope people are paying attention to these warnings here, because what you painted there for us is a very serious, very dire situation --

SATER: It is.

ACOSTA: -- for the state of Texas.

Tom, thank you.

Keeping our eyes on the Texas coast as Hurricane Harvey comes closer to landfall. Winds are gusting to 140 miles an hour. And there's the fear it could cause catastrophic flooding along the coast and miles inland. As Tom was just saying, Corpus Christi, Texas, is expected to be hit hard.

Joining us, that city's mayor, Jim McComb.

Mayor McComb, have you spoken to the governor about all of this? And are you telling residents there, because Tom Sater, with our CNN meteorology department, just painted a very dire picture. Are you telling folk there's to get out of the way of this storm?

[13:35:08] JOE MCCOMB, (R), MAYOR OF CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS (via telephone): Well, we're telling them to get out of the way if they're in some of the low-lying areas. Absolutely. Mustang Island, North Beach, and low-lying areas out in that area also. But, yes. The water is going to be the issue. You combine this much rain and the storm surge. We've never had anything like this. So this is -- I guess this is one time we really hope the weatherman is wrong. But we're leaning towards them being right and telling residents they need to evacuate the low-lying areas, get to higher ground, because, you know, the preservation of life is our number-one objective. What you have there can be replaced, rebuilt, whatever. We want to make sure everybody is safe and that's our goal.

ACOSTA: And, Mayor, we heard a little while ago from Ed Lavandera in Galveston talking about the seawall. What's the infrastructure like in Corpus Christi? Can you handle a storm surge that is up to two feet followed by what could be several feet of -- a few feet, at least, of rain? What is that going to do to the beach areas in your community? What is that going to do to streams, flood-prone areas, low-lying areas? People who live in the low-lying areas? I imagine you have an estimate or a sense as to how many people live in those low-lying areas. What does all of that mean, that combination of factors?

MCCOMB: Well, if they're living out there on the island, or on the beach, you know, I think anything probably above -- above 10 to 11, probably have water in their house. Actually, say on North Beach, some of the areas where they're basically at sea level, most of those structures are at least on -- on pilings and they're 10, 12 feet off the ground. But that means their cars are going to get -- if they leave their cars out there in the storage rooms underneath, they're going to get full of water. And, of course, you couple that with the wind pounding on them, we don't know the effect. That's why the folks on the two islands, Mustang, Padre, the North Beach, need to evacuate and get away from the water issue so they don't have to worry about, you know, personal injuries.

ACOSTA: And, Mayor, I covered a few of those very powerful hurricanes in the mid-2000s, like Hurricane Katrina and so on. You do have people who refuse to heed the warnings, drive around and play disaster tourists, want to gawk at the storm and so forth. What are emergency officials doing to get those people out of there so they're not driving around in the middle of this? As you know, Mayor, the people will be tempted to do that sort of thing, and those are the folks who really get themselves into trouble.

MCCOMB: Yes. Well, I can't give you specifics, because I'm not the police chief, but I can assure you that the chief takes his responsibility very seriously, and they have a plan, you know, to deal with those kinds of situations. Because -- and the other issue is that, you get somebody hot-dogging down the road. They've got a big four-wheel drive vehicle, huge tires and decide to drive real fast. Throws water higher into folk's houses than normal is not going to be tolerated if they're caught. But we think most people will behave themselves, and we're not going to deal with that. I can assure you, the police will be on -- on alert and pay attention to that sort of thing. But again, we're basically wanting to make sure that the people themselves get out of these low-lying areas, and -- and that they remain safe. I personally have seen the impacts of what water rising to high levels and coming in big volumes can do, and it can be devastating. So we're trying to make sure people don't have that experience.

[13:39:19] ACOSTA: OK. Mayor Joe McComb, a few moments ago, hopes the weatherman is wrong. I suppose we all do.

Mayor McComb, thank very much, from Corpus Christi. Appreciate it.

Coming up, Texas Governor Greg Abbott will be speaking soon in Austin, Texas. Live pictures there in Austin, Texas.

Also, at the White House, where Sarah Huckabee Sanders will brief the media at any moment. And keeping tabs on what the Trump administration is going to be doing to grapple with this hurricane as it comes ashore. We'll bring you both events live. That's just ahead.

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ACOSTA: OK. Looking at live pictures from Austin, Texas, Governor Greg Abbott will brief the media ahead of the storm hitting the gulf coast. We'll continue to track Hurricane Harvey.

We want to get to significant news out of Washington. A source telling CNN that Gary Cohn, President Trump's top economic advisor, was on the brink of resigning after the president defended white supremacists in Charlottesville. "The New York Times" reports Cohen went so far as to draft a resignation letter. In a new interview, Cohen publicly condemns the president's remarks saying, "Citizens standing up for equality and freedom can never be equated with white supremacists, Neo-Nazis and the KKK. I believe this administration can and must do better in consistently and unequivocally condemning these groups."

And joining me, CNN politics reporter and editor-at-large, Chris Cillizza, and national political reporter for "The Washington Post, Matea Gold.

Chris, how bad is it when the top economic advisers is making statements like that saying, President Trump, you need to condemn white supremacists more than you're doing right now?

[13:45:16] CHRIS CILLIZZA, CNN POLITICS REPORTER & CNN EDITOR-AT- LARGE: Puts out lie to the idea Trump tried to put out there in Arizona earlier this week, that this was a media creation and he, in fact, said everything -- he said the words were perfect. A direct quote from him. So we knew that that wasn't true. Obviously, a lot of Republican Senators, members of Congress, governors, speaking out saying this didn't go nearly far enough. He needs to do more. Now someone from within the White House doing so and clearly an ally of this president and also an ally of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump within the White House. That said, I'm not sure how much credit we should, back patting we should give to Gary Cohn.

ACOSTA: He could have resigned.

CILLIZZA: This is not the same as resigning. A massive abrogation of his principles he could not stand and thought the president absolutely failed on a moral level, that would seem to suggest that resignation would be in order. The fact we now know, well, he thought about it, drafted a letter. Some to say, for Gary Cohn to make good with the folks who keep saying, why don't you resign.

ACOSTA: And, Matea, it is striking. Not one person resigned from this administration following the president's response last week at Trump Tower. Stunning.

MATEA GOLD, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Right. Not only no one resigned but actually Jewish members of his cabinet, such as the Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, stand by him. We can't overstate how unusual to have a top adviser to the president publicly critiquing. Albeit, the president needs to do more. And indicates a break between the president and one of his top advisors. And raises a question about how unified they are in that effort and the nature of their dynamic is and how close they are.

CILLIZZA: Right. You have a perfect illustration how what Donald Trump says gets in the way of Donald Trump's agenda. That Gary Cohn interview with "the financial times" theoretically 100 percent should be about tax reform. How he's doing it, in the process, much further than people think, et cetera, et cetera. What is the one thing people know about now? He publicly rebuked the president. The whole thing Donald Trump seems to say, my words don't matter except when they do. Don't pay attention. They do. We will see it coming up in the Senate. He is publicly attacked in the last few years, 11 Republican Senators. 21 of the Republican Senators. Mitch McConnell is not going to bend over backward to help Donald Trump. John McCain certainly won't. Lindsey Graham, Bob Sass, Bob Corker, Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The things he does have real world impacts even with Gary Cohn trying desperately to be an ally.

ACOSTA: And hearing from a top Congress' aide on Capitol Hill saying, we haven't seen the White House, the president do anything about tax reform yet. Supposed to be a big legislative priority.

GOLD: Yes. Yes.

ACOSTA: This was supposed to be the month. We understand the president will be in Springfield, Missouri, next week, apparently, selling this thing. But you have to wonder up on Capitol Hill, if your Senator McConnell, Senator Corker, some of these Senators he's been tangling with in recent weeks, McCain, Flake, Graham and so on, do you want to help?

GOLD: Right. And a big, open question, how much skin President Trump puts in the game of actually selling this. Our reporting indicates they actually see an advantage to him down the road to putting the blame for whatever happens with this effort on Congress. And if the House loses seats because they aren't able to pass some of his signature agenda items, he'll say, look, they failed. There's a question about how much effort will be put into this and funny, during the campaign we heard a lot how President Trump was the great negotiator and dealmaker and haven't seen him use those skills when it comes to the complex aspects.

ACOSTA: And call into the question, Chris, how detached a Senator can be from his own, or her own, personal feelings about the president and say, for the good of the team, we got to get tax reform passed? I keep thinking back to John McCain with the thumbs down. On health care.

[13:49:48] CILLIZZA: And revenge. And John McCain, went about, I like my war heroes not captured. Anyone who knows who spends time like we have covering politicians is, this is an intensely personal thing. I urge people, watching -- go up and sit in the Senate gallery. Relationships matter. ACOSTA: Lindsey Graham said, the day, before, it's like they have their own Article V, an attack on one is an attack on all.

CILLIZZA: It's true. Donald Trump says, I have spent an hour and then say I need to crash somewhere. You're like I just spent all of this time say it's like he doesn't get they go together. Every Senator who put a statement out will say it doesn't matter. It's about the issues. To an extent, that's true. When you need trust and faith, any hard negotiation requires that, you need personal relationships. He seems to either willingly or he doesn't get it not understand that.

ACOSTA: And we'll see coming up here to what length it is White House will go to try to mend some of those fences. We didn't really see a lot of that yesterday with her going after him the way he did.

Matea Gold, Chris Cillizza, thank you very much. We appreciate it.

Coming up, we are waiting on two different briefings on Hurricane Harvey, one from Texas Governor Greg Abbott, one from Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Both of those briefings are moments away. We'll take that live coming up next.

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ACOSTA: Hurricane Harvey barreling towards Texas and in its path, a refinery rich stretch of the gulf coast, all of which could have an impact on gas prices around the country.

Let's go to CNN correspondent, Alison Kosik.

Alison, how could these prices go and for how long?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jim, analysts I have talked to said you can see gas prices go up from 35 cents a gallon to 25 cents a gallon. You can see them going go higher beginning this weekend into next week. They say you could see, if all goes well, you could see the higher gas prices turn lower by the end of the week. There are two important caveats. If the storm winds up kind of stalling between Corpus Christi and Houston and parks itself, you could see infrastructure, refineries and oil rigs, stay offline longer. It could keep gas prices higher longer. Also if there is any damage to that infrastructure, it could also impact prices in a big way -- Jim?

[13:55:10] ACOSTA: OK. Alison Kosik, thank you.

Love it or hate it, President Trump's Twitter use is not slowing down any time soon. The president already tweeted several times today. But is all of this tweeting good thing or could it backfire, or backfire again and again? Tonight, at 9:00 Eastern, we'll take a closer look at all of this in a CNN special report, "Twitter and Trump."

CNN's Bill Weir joins us live now. He is a big part of this program.

Bill, Twitter means direct access to his thoughts but also means foreign leaders have that same access. What have you been finding as you have looked at all of this?

BILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jim, you cover all of this and some days you can't focus on one tweet before another arrives. They are digital. They seem disposable. These will be the historical record of our times. I thought it would be helpful if I had them printed and bound. These are all of the tweets going in there.

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ACOSTA: OK. We have to go now.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders is coming in live now and briefing the press at the White House now.

SARAH HUCKABEE SANDEDRS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRTARY: -- Secretary of Treasury Steve Mnuchin and National security adviser, General H.R. McMaster, up to discuss the new financial sanctions on the dictatorship in Venezuela that the president imposed today. They will deliver brief opening remarks and take your questions on your topic. After that, Homeland Security Advisor Tom Bossert will give an update and take your questions on preparations for Hurricane Harvey. The administration has been closely monitoring the situation. We want to make sure the American people are fully briefed on this important news of the day. Finally, after all of the three of them wrap up, I'll be back up here to take a few of your questions on other topics. Thanks.

GEN. H.R. MCMASTER, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: Good afternoon, everybody. This order demonstrates more clearly than ever that the United States will not allow on illegitimate dictatorship to take hold at the expense of its people. Through the president's strong action, the United States will target the means which the dictatorship to enrich the corrupt regime insiders and perpetuate this repressive behavior. Several million voted overwhelmingly against the regime's plants to convene an assembly that the people of Venezuela never requested. The United States and the regional community stood in solidarity with the Venezuelan people and demanded that their voices be heard. He chose to embrace dictatorship over his own people. As a result, a dozen Venezuela's neighbors gathered in Peru and rejected his actions. President Trump promised strong action if he moves ahead and ignored his people's will. With today's announcement, the president is keeping his promise of strong action and continuing to show strong leadership. This executive order does not need to be permanent. The president has said that, "A stable and peaceful Venezuela is in the best interest of the entire hemisphere." We'll continue to work with our friends and partners in the international community to support the Venezuelan people until their rights and democracy are fully restored.

I'll turn it over to Secretary Mnuchin to describe this executive order in greater detail.

Mr. Secretary?

STEVEN MNUCHIN, TRESURY SECRETARY: Thank you.

Thank you. Today's executive order demonstrates the U.S. government's condemnation of tyranny and dictatorship in Venezuela. The Maduro regime has shown hostility to the rule of law, democratic institutions, and the Venezuelan people. This has been a catastrophe for the country. Nicolas Maduro has financed his regime by hollowing out Venezuela through economic mismanagement, corruption and the assumption of onerous debt. Let me be clear, today's action is focused on restricting the regime's access to American debt and equity markets. Maduro may no longer take advantage of the American financial system to facilitate the wholesale looting of the Venezuelan economy at the expense of the Venezuelan people. These measures will also undermine Maduro's ability to pay off political cronies and regime supporters and increase pressure on the regime to --