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New Day Sunday

Tropical Storm Nate Lashes the Gulf Coast; Trump: Chief of Staff Kelly Doing "Incredible Job"; Trump Wants "Temporary Deal" With Dems on Obamacare; White House: All North Korea Options Are Still On the Table; Source: Gunman Left Behind Calculations for Targeting Crowd; Two Advisers Quit Weinstein's Legal Team. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired October 08, 2017 - 07:00   ET

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

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: While you were sleeping, Nate made landfall and then a category 1 hurricane.

[07:00:04] It's since been downgraded to a tropical storm and it is headed now towards Tennessee. And there are threats of potential tornadoes spawning. So, the threat, the danger here is not over.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: The storm surge is also a threat that is continuing this morning.

Take a look at what was going on in Biloxi there. Cars in a parking garage of a Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Mississippi there, floating around in those flood water. The flooding put the first floor of the casino under water we know, the Biloxi Fire Department.

Take a look here at this video of firefighters as they were wading through it, those first responders.

Mississippi seemed to really see a lot of this as the first light is coming up now. We are in the 7:00 hour. And good morning again to you.

The people there are finally going to able to at least try to assess some of this damage.

BLACKWELL: Yes. CNN's Martin Savidge is standing by in Biloxi. He's been there throughout the night.

Martin, give us all an idea of how things are now?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Victor. Hello, Christi.

Doing better. Doing better.

Let me -- let's talk about the storm surge because I think that is the real story when daylight comes up. Give you a sense of where it was, to give you a sense of where it was. It stopped about here. OK?

So, Gulf of Mexico is all the way across four lanes of roadway there. It came roaring in around midnight last night and when I say surge, it surged. I mean, at one moment, you thought, all right, it's OK, it's right there. Then about one minute later, it's washing around your ankles and pretty soon up around your calf.

So, a lot of debris in that water too. Tore up a number of piers. So, a lot of heavy debris that was floating down U.S. 90.

Now, you can see by the traffic, though, that water is all gone. It drained away quickly, but the debris is still there. They just started a front-end loader moving down the roadway here so they have not only got to clear a lot of stuff, there's a lot of the beach that is on that highway as well.

In Biloxi itself, as you already saw, floodwaters did get into some of the casinos, the parking lot areas, and also some of the public spaces on the ground floor. We're told, none of the gaming areas, though.

And in there are other parts of the city have been inundated with water as well, because it pushed around. It came in right at high tide. That was a problem. However, it could have been a lot worse, could have been a category 2. As it was, the winds were strong, but they weren't heavily damaging kind of winds.

A lot of power out. Tens of thousands of people without it, but I think, for the most part, if you talk to city officials, they are feeling pretty good about things. There was one rescue that took place, a family drove their car in the high water. They were rescued by one of those high profile vehicles and there was a fire that had to be dealt with at the height of the storm but no injuries reported so far and that is the best news of all -- Victor and Christi.

PAUL: No doubt about it.

You know, Martin, we had an official on saying that Highway 90 there is economic life blood of the area. So, I know that that is most likely, I assume, going to be a priority?

SAVIDGE: Oh, it is. Yes, you can tell already, the sun isn't even up, and they've already got work crews on it. That's how important it is. It's also one of the reasons why they were very concerned they closed down the casinos here, not just because they worried about water in the casinos, but they're worried about first responders had to get to the casinos for any kind of an emergency.

It's a crucial roadway here as anyone who has been on it knows. But it's also right up against the gulf. So, they have been through this before. But they will probably have to go through it again sometime -- Christi.

PAUL: They have learned to master the cleanup, I suppose. The good thing is, as Martin said, no injuries.

Martin Savidge, you, yet again, wear a hurricane well. Thank you so much.

BLACKWELL: All right. So, let's go now from Mississippi to Alabama that is also feeling the impacts of Nate. Tornado watch is in effect there. Also one along the Florida Panhandle.

Of the 330,000 customers without power, about 50,000 are in that number in Alabama.

Let's go to CNN's Ryan Young. He is in Mobile.

And you're in standing water there. So, obviously, storm surge is a problem for you too. I see a truck trying to pass through.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

And that's what I wanted to get to, Victor. If you look behind us, this FedEx truck is passing through. This is one of the larger trucks that we've seen come by here. There are people who have been testing this intersection to see if they could get through. Obviously, that heavy duty rig plowed through here. We have seen a couple of pickup trucks also push through this water as well.

And you see this guy who is sitting there in his car. He has been there for quite sometime. Firefighters went over to talk to him to see what was going on. They decided he didn't need to be rescued.

We are under water streets here, so you can understand, look, the water here was pushed up from that gulf area. It came all the way up the street. We have seen it recede just a little bit. That's the convention center in Mobile and, obviously, they were smart enough to build it high and that way the water really didn't do any damage to the structure there. But down below, the water never got above that sign, so that is good news.

We do know that firefighters have had to do some rescues of people from their homes.

[07:05:03] In fact, I think three people have been total so far that they were able to get out. There have been several car rescues because people have tried to drive through water like this and as we know, sometimes, you think you can make it. Then it gets a little deeper and then the car starts to be pushed along a little bit. Those 911 calls came in. Firefighters were able to get to them.

The good news we did a survey this morning, we haven't seen any major damage. Not a lot of wind damage. Last night, the wind was gusting very strongly here. We thought we would see a lot more downed trees.

So far, the good news here, we don't see that damage that is widespread. But, of course, as the sunlight comes up they will be able to do that assessment to see what is actually going on. Once again, though, as it starts, you really have to worry about these patches of water, 2 to 3 feet standing in some places. Just you got to be careful, got a little shiver as you stand in this stuff throughout the morning.

BLACKWELL: All right. Ryan Young there with the coastal flooding here we see in Mobile. Ryan, thank you so much.

PAUL: So, let's talk from Gulfport, Mississippi, to Lee Smithson, the director for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.

Mr. Smithson, thank you for being with us. Let you know, if you would, please. I understand you have an update

for us regarding the power outages in that area.

LEE SMITHSON, MISSISSIPPI EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY (via telephone): Yes. Good morning. The original report that we had over 187,000 without power was incorrect. That was just a miscommunication between my office and the Mississippi Power and Light.

So, right now, we are tracking 38,795 without power in our electric power cooperatives and right at 12,000 with Mississippi power. So, just a little bit shy of 50,000 is without power right now. And that's down just slightly from the height of about 65,000.

So, at the height of the storm when it made landfall at midnight last night, we had less than 100,000 without power.

PAUL: OK. So, we have established the power situation there. How about any potential flooding or storm surge?

SMITHSON: Well, we still have five rivers that are reporting above flood stage and two of those are actually above major flood stage, most of those in the Jackson County, our farthest east county. So, we're going to continue to watch those rivers as the day goes on.

As Martin reported, the storm surge has pulled out. Our priority is ensuring that U.S. Highway 90 is clear and open. That is an academic as well as first responder lifeline.

One of the things that we are really pushing for, public messaging, is as the curfews are lifted at 7:00 Eastern Time, this morning, we still ask the general public to stay in, do not get out and sight see. We are trying to get the roads cleared. We're trying to start our damage assessments. So, we don't need unnecessary traffic out on our on highways.

BLACKWELL: For those people who are hearing that message, localize that for us. I know you'd like that across the state, but especially where?

SMITHSON: Especially in Jackson County, again, our farthest county. I did talk to the county emergency manage director about 15 minutes ago. The storm surge was as predicted. The western part of that county did see ten feet of storm surge. The eastern part, eight feet of storm surge.

The good news is, is right now we don't have any reports of homes or businesses that were flooded by the storm surge which is very, very good news and in the testament to the rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina. However, we're not out of the woods yet. We still have several rivers that are in flood stage.

And so, we're going to be watching those as the day goes on because, again, as now tropical storm Nate moved to the northeast, it continued to dump a lot of water in our rivers that, obviously, have to flow downstream, so we're not out of the woods yet as far as flooding goes. PAUL: Director Smithson, one of the things the meteorologists are

concerned about today and several days but there right now are tornadoes. What are the winds like there and do you have those same concerns?

SMITHSON: We don't have the same concerns that Florida and Alabama have with regards to tornadoes. The system has pretty moved out. Those tornado threats are really on the northeast part of the storm.

So, we're looking in the clear. In fact, I stepped outside a while ago and was able to see the moon. So, we've got the clouds are dissipating. Still some pretty strong winds, but those winds are coming out of the Northeast now as the storm continues to go up to the Northeast.

So, we are really out of the inclement weather now to include tornadoes. So, now, we're focusing on damage assessments and getting the roadways cleared.

BLACKWELL: All right. Lee Smithson, executive director for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, thank you for that clarity on the outages. Fifty thousand just shy there in Mississippi without power, another 50,000 in Alabama and a few thousand across the Florida panhandle just above a hundred thousand after Nate pushed through. Still, a tropical storm with the dangers of tornadoes there.

[07:10:01] PAUL: We're going to continue our storm coverage, obviously. But we do want to talk, first, about President Trump talking to reporters and he mentioned several topics, including his relationship with Rex Tillerson with General John Kelly, and what he plans to do about North Korea and Obamacare.

BLACKWELL: Plus, key information on the note that the Las Vegas gunman left behind. What his handwritten numbers as they were earlier described actually mean, according to sources. We'll tell.

PAUL: Also, the president weighs in on the sexual assault allegations surrounding producer Harvey Weinstein.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm known Harvey Weinstein a long time and I'm not at all surprised to see it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: President Trump commenting yesterday on reports of this growing rift, reports of it, between himself and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson after the secretary of state reportedly called him a moron, and the future of White House Chief of Staff John Kelly also came up.

[07:15:07] His comments, the president's, come right before he was traveling to North Carolina to attend an RNC fund-raiser. BLACKWELL: And the president said again that he wants to make a deal

with Democrats on Obamacare that he says is exploding. But the one thing he wouldn't talk about really is that calm before the storm comment. He also wouldn't explain his tweets on North Korea.

Let's bring in now Tom LoBianco, now White House reporter for "The Associated Press", and Melissa Quinn, breaking news reporter for "The Washington Examiner".

Good morning to both of you.

TOM LOBIANCO, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS: Good morning, guys.

MELISSA QUINN, BREAKING NEWS REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER: Good morning.

BLACKWELL: So, first, let's listen to the president's comments on General Kelly, his chief of staff.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: John Kelly is one of the best people I've ever worked with. He is doing an incredible job and he told me for the last two months, he loves it more than anything he's ever done. He's a military man. But he loves doing this, which is chief of staff more than anything he has ever done.

He's doing a great job. He will be here, in my opinion, for the entire seven remaining years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So, I mean, reportedly, no one in the history of the position of the White House chief of staff has done the job for seven years.

But, first to you, Tom, the president painting a rosy picture here. He loves the job more than actually being in the military.

(LAUGHTER)

LOBIANCO: Well, maybe. We don't know that yet. He is surviving. There is a lot of support for him inside the White House.

What was interesting about that is that we didn't hear two names there. We don't hear Reince Priebus and we don't hear Steve Bannon. I was thinking back a few months ago to just the incredible warring that used to go on inside the White House, between these different power factions. You still have a measure of that, but Kelly has really clamped down on that.

The bigger question is not whether Trump wants him there, but whether Kelly, himself, wants to stay there, because remember, there is this freelancing that goes on where Trump tweets in the off hours and that makes it very hard to be a chief of staff. BLACKWELL: Yes.

Melissa, how effective has the new, again, the job for about two months now, the new chief of staff been in this role of trying to bring some order to the White House?

QUINN: Well, it seems like initially, especially when he was hired, we did see a noticeable shift among the White House. Like Tom mentioned, with the warring factions, that seems to have been certainly tamped down a little bit. But, of course, I think a lot of people were hoping where Kelly could really make a difference is in the tweets that the president was sending in the early morning hours which he is, obviously, by himself and sounding off on a variety of issues, and that really hasn't happened.

But, of course, the one thing about President Trump that we know and have seen come to light over and over again is that he really cannot be controlled even by a former marine general, his Chief of Staff John Kelly and in terms of what he is commenting on in the early morning hours sort of sounding off. That really hasn't changed at all.

BLACKWELL: Tom, the president expounded upon his tweet came out about this time yesterday in which he said that he called Minority Senate Leader Chuck Schumer to talk about potentially a deal on health, some health care bill.

Here is what he said about that call.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Obamacare is a disaster. The numbers are out. It's exploding like I said it would. So, basically, if we could do a one-year deal or a two-year deal as a temporary measure, you'll have block-granting ultimately to the states, which is what the Republicans want. That really is a repeal and replace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Now, Senator Schumer dismissed that out of hand, saying that, you know, he was talking repeal and replace. There's nowhere that the Democrats or the president can negotiate if that's the starting point. So, both parties agree that stabilizing the insurance market is something that must be done.

Does a one-year, two-year deal accomplish that?

LOBIANCO: Well, it could. You know, what is fascinating here is that in politics, you can see the president here clamping on to this, is you got to walk away with victories. You have to walk out there and claim victory. So, it's possible.

This is, you know, a long way off, but it's possible you could have President Trump and the Republicans walk out there and claim a victory alleging that they have repealed Obamacare. At the same time, you have Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi walk out and claim a victory, saying they save Obamacare. And possible that neither is true, right? You have a stopgap measure

of one or two years going for it.

What is interesting, though, is that he is still stuck on health care. He hasn't moved past this. In going to the Democrats is a fascinating turn here.

BLACKWELL: Yes, Melissa, let's explore that a bit.

[07:20:01] The rest of the party on Capitol Hill has moved on to tax reform and you see all of the GOP affiliated super PACs are now running ads tax reform bills or plans. And the president is talking health care.

QUINN: It certainly seems like it's going to complicate things for Republicans. Obviously, you know, President Trump seeming like he is still stuck on the issue of health care while Republicans are out there trying to pursue their tax plan. You know, it would be good for Republicans to have the president out there on their side backing them up.

But, look, this is something that Republicans seem perhaps a little bit more excited about. They said, I believe it was Senator Bob Corker said that our tax reform could actually make health care reform look like essential a cake walk. So, even though the president seems to be stuck on health care, it seems like the GOP and Congress, as a whole, has moved on to tax reform and that could really make all of the difference from them, regardless of what the president is saying and who he is speaking with.

BLACKWELL: All right. We'll see if there's any progress made on either of those, too.

And before you let you go, Tom, let's go through the headlines here from this "A.P."/University of Chicago Poll on the president's job approval poll and the right direction/wrong direction number. Thirty- two percent, which is a new low number for President Trump, approve of the job he is doing as president.

Sixty-seven percent disapprove. I should say that this is a little lower than, a few points lower than other polls that were out in the field at the same time. And when it comes to the country heading in the right direction, only 24 percent of the respondents, one in four, believes that the country is heading in the right direction, 74 percent believe it's in the wrong direction.

This comes after the president got high marks for his reaction and response to Harvey and Irma and, for the most part, Maria.

What are you learning from this and how will this impact his agenda?

LOBIANCO: Well, this goes to an existential problem for him, which is that he has to be able to move past his base. You know, we have seen, you know, where with the NFL tweets, for instance, going after the NFL and the players there, where there is a strong support from his base for that, but strong opposition elsewhere. And when you look at -- you take it on the whole, there is an

existential question for him, his popularity. The president's popularity carries on to the ability to push an agenda and then the question is how much do the Republicans in control in both the Senate and the House, want to carry through with that. And, you know, those numbers directly deal with that and if he is not building out beyond his base, he is constantly going to have something hard like one- third, you know, 33 percent that supports him and the rest of the country maybe not.

BLACKWELL: Tom LoBianco, Melissa Quinn, thank you both.

QUINN: Thank you.

LOBIANCO: Thanks.

BLACKWELL: All right. This Las Vegas massacre investigation is going to be at the center of all our minds for sometime and it's not reigniting the gun control debate on Capitol Hill. Will lawmakers be able to get something done?

Senator Chris Murphy joins Jake Tapper for a "STATE OF THE UNION" exclusive. That's at 9:00 a.m., right here on CNN.

PAUL: And we are continuing our coverage of Tropical Storm Nate. It's left thousands of people without power, close to a hundred thousand at one point in Mississippi and Alabama, along the Florida panhandle, still waking up right now without it. Look at the surf that came in, the surge. The biggest concerns right now along the Gulf Coast when we come back.

BLACKWELL: Plus, the president says only one thing will work on North Korea. What is it?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:27:48] PAUL: Good morning. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell.

Breaking news this morning.

PAUL: Nate is now a tropical storm after it made landfall twice overnight, first in Louisiana and then again in Mississippi, and it was a category one hurricane as it did hit both of those areas. It is the first hurricane to make landfall in Mississippi we should point since Hurricane Katrina back in 2005.

BLACKWELL: Now, the storm as expected is bringing strong winds, heavy rain, major flooding for some areas.

Here is some video inside the Golden Nugget Casino. This is the garage there in Biloxi. Expect it to weaken, though, this storm. It's continuing as it moves farther inland.

Right now, there are thousands, tens of thousands of customers without power in Alabama and Mississippi. Also a few thousand more along the Florida Panhandle.

Let's start this coverage with meteorologist Chad Myers.

Chad, the storm is not done yet, the potential for tornadoes, talk about that, if you would.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Sure, any time you have a hurricane moving on shore, you can bring a tornado or two with it. They start out as water spouts, really, and then they move on shore. But, today, because the storm is not really on the shore anymore, it's on land, there will be tornadoes to the north of there as well.

Still seeing flooding here. We call it the back bay areas here from Biloxi, all the way over to almost Panama City about three to five feet still in some of those bays. The worst weather right now is in Montgomery, Alabama, about a 50-mile-per-hour, just to the south and southwest of the town there. Also, Dothan seeing some pretty heavy weather at this point in time.

The second landfall was very close to Biloxi in the overnight hours. The first one was in Louisiana, on Plaquemines Parish, the parts out there. Venice Beach, though, Venice, Louisiana, had 89-mile-per-hour wind gusts, that was the biggest we had.

There is still the weather, still coming on shore here in the Florida Panhandle, still pushing water, still pushing wind and that's why we have a little bit of that surge.

But what else will happen is that the water will come down from the clouds and we will have flooding as the storm moves all the way up the East Coast into Ohio, into Pennsylvania, into West Virginia and Kentucky, maybe even some flooding into Alabama and Georgia as well. By then, though, the storm will only be a 40 or 50-mile-per-hour storm.

Don't let your guard down because there could be four to six inches of rainfall from that.

[07:30:03] Four to six inches of rainfall in any city in the U.S., especially one with any hills around it, will cause some flooding, and that's what we're still expecting with the storm as it makes its way all the way to Boston. It will be in Boston in about 24 to 36 hours, making rainfall there, not as a hurricane, of course.

BLACKWELL: All right. Chad Myers, thanks for watching, of course.

We'll have more on Tropical Storm Nate and its path throughout the day.

PAUL: President Trump is warning North Korea via Twitter in two tweets. He said this: Presidents and their administrators have been talking to North Korea for 25 years. Agreements made and massive amounts of money paid hasn't worked. Agreements violated before the ink was dry, making fools of U.S. negotiators. Sorry. But only one thing will work. Let's talk to Gary Samore. He's a former adviser to President Obama

on arms control and weapons of mass destruction and now the executive director for Research at Harvard's Center.

Director Samore, thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate it.

I want to go back to --

GARY SAMORE, FORMER OBAMA ADVISER, ARMS CONTROL & WMD: Good morning.

PAUL: Good morning. I'd like to go back to this one line: sorry, but only one thing will work.

Is there one thing that will work and what would that one thing be?

SAMORE: Well, I personally think the only way it really resolve the problem is the removal of the North Korean government. Unfortunately, I don't think we have the power to bring that about, especially without Chinese cooperation. And so, therefore, I think we have to suffer with this problem and try to management as best we can using the tools we have available, including our military alliance with our allies, economic sanctions, diplomacy. Those are the instruments we have to manage the problem. But I doubt those solve them.

PAUL: China doesn't want to see a change of the regime in North Korea. Most others have said they don't necessarily want to see that either. But when you talk about these options, diplomatic dialogue, maybe cyber and information war, warfare, I've heard about international pressure campaigns, are you saying the strategy is just wait it out with Kim Jong-un until somebody else takes over power? Because this is a very young leader.

SAMORE: Well, it's not just Kim Jong-un personally. It's the entire Kim dynasty. It was his grandfather that started the nuclear weapons program. His father continued it and now, Kim is doing it as well. So, as long as the Kim dynasty is in control and continue to see nuclear weapons as an essential element of their survival to maintain their power, then I don't think we have any way to resolve the problem and it is really a question of management, containment, deterrents and trying to limit the development of their program and, obviously, preventing use is the most important thing.

And so far, I think our strong military position in the region has deterred use of nuclear weapons, as well as large conventional forces since the end of the Korean War since 1953.

PAUL: But we did see the first nuclear test from North Korea in some time recently. Do you believe that Kim Jong-un will not strike, that it was just a way for him to try to, as we understand, he wants to be known as a nuclear power in the world, but do you think it will really go beyond that in some way?

SAMORE: Well, it's a very good question and it's very hard to answer that because for the first time, we are dealing with a North Korea that has a new leader. He is not his father or his grandfather. And for the first time, we are dealing with North Korea that has a much more potent nuclear and missile capability, including, I think, eventually the ability to attack the United States directly.

So, up to now, the North Koreans have been very careful to avoid actions that could trigger a larger conflict because they know they would lose that war. Once North Korea has a great capability, we're not sure what kind of behavior we will see and there is a risk that North Koreans may feel they have nuclear protection to be more aggressive towards South Korea. So, I think we need to strengthen our military position on the Korean Peninsula.

PAUL: All right. Director Gary Samore, thank you for your input and for your perspective. We appreciate you being here.

SAMORE: My pleasure. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Sources now tell CNN that investigators know what those numbers that were left behind on a note inside the suite of the Vegas shooter, what they actually mean. They are handwritten calculations. We'll tell you what those numbers tell investigators about the plot to massacre so many people.

[07:35:02] PAUL: Also, Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein accused of sexual harassment and two high profile lawyers have left his team.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: You know, there's a lot of new wearable technology that's hitting the market to help you get in shape and just about all of the major fitness brands are getting into the game.

In this week's "Tech-ing Care of Your Health", Jacqueline Howard tests some of the latest gear. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: First up, smart eyewear. Many companies make them. These are from Oakley.

OK, Radar, what is my workout?

AUTOMATED VOICE: You're going three miles on the flat.

HOWARD: These would be utilized more by your cyclist and your runners.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do like that psychological input while an athlete is performing their activity.

HOWARD: Are there any other downsides that come with this technology?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Technology can be added stress. Your heart rate doesn't get to the rate that you would like. Those type things can lead to a person feeling depressed or feel like they failed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There you go. HOWARD: Rings are another way to help track your activity. There are

many out there. And this is from motive.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I like it's light and comfortable and very user friendly to track all activities. I'm not sure about the placement, if this is the most accurate location for heart rate detection. There is a lot of debate on the accuracy of some of the wearables and a lot of that is focused on location.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:40:52] PAUL: Forty minutes past the hour right now.

And authorities are really focusing on one particular clue now in the wake of the Las Vegas massacre. A source tells CNN that note Stephen Paddock left behind in his hotel room, it contained written calculations and those calculations authorities now say they believe are regarding how he will target the crowd at a country music festival there. Remember, he killed himself after killing 58 people and injuring another 500 last Sunday.

BLACKWELL: CNN's Scott McLean is in Las Vegas with more on these calculations and what they mean in establishing a motive potentially. Investigators don't yet know.

What are investigators saying about the meticulous nature and the detail into which this gunman went to plan this shooting?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. There is no doubt, Victor and Christi, how much length the shooter went to planning this. He had 23 guns inside of that suite, meticulously brought up there over several trips. He clearly planned this out and so much has been made of this note because there have been so few clues, though, as to the suspect's mindset and his motivation.

On that note, as you said, a series of numbers that pertain to trajectory and distance from his hotel suite inside the Mandalay Bay Hotel on the 32nd floor to that concert venue which was several hundred yards away. It also shed some light on how well he planned this and one expert says it is also proof that he was no amateur.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ART RODERICK, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: I went through training as a counter-sniper for the U.S. Marshal's Special Operations Group, and that was old school style how to get down windage elevation, trajectory of your bullets, so that you could keep on target. And that's what you did. You kept a notebook off to the side. You laid down at a proven position, you look at windage, elevation, you look at the distance to your target, you wrote it at all down and figured out what the trajectory of your rounds are going to be.

That's not unusual. That makes sense to me. Considering that he sat back away from the window and found the position that they could not see the flash out of the -- out of the rifle barrel, to me means he knew what he was doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLEAN: And Vice President Mike Pence was in Las Vegas yesterday to offer his support to the victims and to their families. He said this was a tragedy of unimaginable proportions. He praised first responders, hospital staff and all of the ordinary people who showed some pretty extraordinary acts of courage -- Christi, Victor.

BLACKWELL: Yes, so many of the people who were taken to local hospitals were taken in private cars, taxi drivers piled people in, people who just happened to drive by.

Scott McLean, thank you so much.

PAUL: Well, white nationalists are back in Charlottesville, Virginia, this weekend.

BLACKWELL: Yes. They held a torch light rally again in the same park where the violent protests happened. Remember, that was back in August. This, according to our affiliate WVIR. It's a much smaller group than the one in August, lasted just a few minutes, there's no violence this time. And they stood in front of that same statue, Robert E. Lee statue that first sparked the earlier protest, but this time, you can't see it because there's tarp over the shroud, it's called.

Government officials have reacted quickly, at least via Twitter. The mayor of Charlottesville tweeted this: Another despicable visit by Neo-Nazi cowards. You are not welcome here. Go home. In the meantime, we are looking at all of our legal options. Stay tuned.

Another tweet, this one from the governor of Virginia, Terry McAuliffe. He says here, we are monitoring the situation as we continue to oppose this racist and a message of hate.

PAUL: Well, Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein is accused of sexual harassment. Some of the information that is coming out is really pretty disturbing. And he had a high profile adviser in Lisa Bloom. But now, she's quit. So where does he go?

BLACKWELL: Plus, "Saturday Night Live" pays tribute to the victims of the Las Vegas massacre with the man who was on stage as the shooting started.

[07:45:00] Country music singer Jason Aldean.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Well, this weekend, Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein lost two advisers as he is fighting a sexual harassment allegation.

BLACKWELL: Yes. The first was lawyer Lisa Bloom who spoke on his behalf when "The New York Times" first broke the story. She quit yesterday. And was followed by another lawyer on Weinstein's team, Lanny Davis. Here to talk about what is going on here, Brian Stelter, CNN senior

media correspondent and host of CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES".

[07:50:00] And a lot of people were confused when they saw Lisa Bloom, who is typically an advocate for sexual assault victims and sexual harassment victims, now speaking lawyer on behalf of Harvey Weinstein, with all of the allegations that were made originally in that "New York Times'" piece.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Right, a man who's being accused of very alarming behavior over the span of decades. In some cases, his company paid settlements to women who accused him of sexual harassment. In other cases, he was accused of abusive and harassing behavior in the workplace and out of the workplace. These stories came to light in "The New York Times" a couple of days ago.

And Lisa Bloom was by his side. Bloom said that she'd been working with him for a year, trying to counsel him, give advice on how to change his ways. Bloom said he's a dinosaur trying to adapt to the 21st century.

Now, a lot of folks thought the answers rang hollow. There was a lot of mockery of Bloom for deciding to work with this man who is accused of sexual harassment. We don't know exactly why she quit the team, but according to "The New York Times", some of the board members didn't like her strategy, her plan to actually go out and show pictures of the accusers, smiling next to Weinstein, the kind of stuff she would normally criticize.

Now, Bloom is denying the "New York Times" report. But the bottom line here is that Weinstein has a lot of problems in front of him. There are more accounts from other women coming forward. He has lost two of his advisers in the past day. It seems that there is more shoes to drop in the coming days.

BLACKWELL: Yes, dinosaur trying to adapt to the 21st century. Some things that are described in the stories that are coming out are not newly abhorrent. I mean, these are things that would have been offensive at anytime in history that a man were to do.

PAUL: Yes.

STELTER: That's exactly right. There are descriptions of his behavior when he's talking with women, he might be casting in his movies, showing up partially naked, asking to shower in front of them, things like that. He doesn't need a coach in 2017 to tell him that was inappropriate 10 or 20 or 30 years ago.

Weinstein is one example of this kind of power imbalance in the entertainment industry. We heard stories about Fox News chairman Roger Ailes last year and Fox News star Bill O'Reilly who then lost his job. There have been a series of these stories about powerful players in the media business and the entertainment and news space, Weinstein the latest example now coming to light.

PAUL: All right. We have to talk, Brian, about "SNL" last night too. STELTER: It was incredible.

PAUL: It wasn't what we usually talk about, is it? It was very different. It was very reverent, I think, and really, I think people needed to see Jason Aldean.

STELTER: I think the whole country, of course, has been gutted by what happened in Las Vegas. And because it was Jason Aldean's performance, he was on stage at the time, he was able to rush off the stage to safety when the shots rang out.

Here he was on "SNL" last night. Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON ALDEAN, COUNTRY MUSIC STAR: This week, we witnessed one of the worst tragedies in American history. Like everyone, I'm struggling to understand what happened that night. And how to pick up the pieces and start to heal. You can be sure that we're going to walk through these tough times together, every step of the way, because when America is at its best, our bond and our spirit, it's unbreakable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STELTER: Jason Aldean there speaking on "SNL." He was scheduled to resume his tour this weekend in L.A. He canceled those tour dates in deference to the victims in Las Vegas. Then, he performed a cover of Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down." It was a beautiful moment.

PAUL: It really was. Brian Stelter, thank you so much.

STELTER: Thanks.

PAUL: Good to see you.

And, again, you can catch Brian Stelter on "RELIABLE SOURCES". It's 11:00 a.m. Eastern today. Yes, in just a couple of hours, right here on CNN.

BLACKWELL: All right. Tropical Storm Nate has caused trouble in Alabama and Mississippi and Florida. Now, it's headed to Tennessee.

And there are threats of potential tornadoes and flash floods. So stay with CNN as we continue to track the storm throughout the next several days.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:58:35] BLACKWELL: Do you ski?

PAUL: I try.

(LAUGHTER)

BLACKWELL: Yes. I don't. But apparently, Anthony Bourdain tries and really doesn't have any skiing skills. He's showing them off in the latest episode of "PARTS UNKNOWN".

PAUL: Which is just as fun to watch anyway.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

PAUL: He's got his good friends there. He's eating a lot of good food and even milking a cow in the French Alps.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY BOURDIAN, HOST, PARTS UNKNOWN: The French Alps, these mountains are majestic and beautiful.

My friend Eric grew up in mountains like this. He's an expert skier. This is like home to him.

Did you ever milk a cow before?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

BOURDAIN: Oh, jeez.

I'm not a graceful skier. I am an enthusiastic one.

Holy Christ!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's amazing.

BOURDAIN: And that's what you come here for in winter and early spring, some of the best slopes on earth. Where I learned to ski we're lucky to get lukewarm chicken fingers and Bud Light at the lodge. Here, we start with foie gras.

All right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why don't you eat up on the ski slope? Seriously.

BOURDAIN: Also cheese apparently. Lots of cheese.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fondue.

BOURDIAN: Let's do the fondue. Oh, man, that's good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Looking forward to the episode. Explore the French Alps with Anthony Bourdain on the next episode of "PARTS UNKNOWN", this Sunday at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

PAUL: We hope you make some good memories. Thanks for being with us.

BLACKWELL: "INSIDE POLITICS" with John King starts right now.