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'Monstrous Storm' Michael Set to Slam Florida Panhandle; Trump Falsely Claims Justice Kavanaugh 'Proven Innocent'. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired October 09, 2018 - 06:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This storm will be life-threatening and extremely dangerous.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is looking to make landfall along the Panhandle as a Category 3.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is supposed to be really bad. I'm not looking forward to it.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to apologize to Brett. You, sir, under historic scrutiny, were proven innocent.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Of course he has not been proven innocent.

KIRSTEN POWERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It sent a very clear message to women that we're not taking you seriously.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's raising enthusiasm on both sides.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is dividing the country. Where is this going to go?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Tuesday, October 9, 6 a.m. here in New York, and we do start with very stormy weather. Because the Gulf Coast and the southeast U.S. are bracing for Hurricane Michael. Forecasters say the storm will strengthen to a Category 3 hurricane before making landfall in the Florida Panhandle sometime tomorrow.

Millions of people now under evacuation orders in at least ten counties. Some of these are mandatory. Others are voluntary at the moment. Hurricane watches and warnings up in several states because of life-threatening storm surge and heavy rain expected.

Florida's governor, Rick Scott, has a dire warning, calling Hurricane Michael a, quote, "monstrous storm" that could bring total devastation. Governor Scott says he's never seen a hurricane like this hit this part of the state.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Also developing this morning, Justice Brett Kavanaugh will sit on the bench of the Supreme Court for the very first time this morning.

Overnight, he took part in a swearing-in ceremony that felt one part swearing in and many parts political. President Trump apologized to Kavanaugh for how he was treated and claimed that Kavanaugh had been found innocent of the allegations of sexual assault. There were no such findings, one way or the other.

Earlier the president called the investigation against Kavanaugh a hoax. This is obviously a radical departure from the moments after the hearing when the president said the professor, Christine Blasey Ford, was credible. It just shows how the president intends to use the Kavanaugh confirmation as a political weapon heading into the midterms. He is stoking these flames on purpose.

We'll get to that in just moments. Let's begin, though, with CNN meteorologist Chad Myers, the new advisory on Hurricane Michael -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Still, a 90 mile-per-hour storm. Hurricane hunter aircraft in there right now, John, investigating finding slightly higher gusts. We're going to watch the pressure. If it goes down, that means the wind speed is going to go up. Right now, 90. That's the good news. We're not waking up to a Category 3 storm. But by tomorrow morning, we very well may be. And that is the forecast: 120-mile-per-hour wind making landfall not very far from Panama City.

In fact, that's anywhere from Apalachicola right through Port St. Joe into Mexico Beach and into Panama City. That's where these wind gusts will be the highest. And that's where the wind damage will also be the highest from this land-falling storm. Somewhere around 8 a.m. tomorrow morning you will begin to feel close to hurricane-strength gusts.

So here we go. This is this morning. Tuesday, Wednesday, and then Wednesday afternoon, finally on up into parts of Georgia. Here's how the ball shapes up here. These are the tropical-storm force winds by 6 a.m. tomorrow morning. You're not going to be able to do any more work outside, no more prep work tomorrow morning. It needs to be done today.

And then that red dot, that's the hurricane-strength-force wind, that's right over Panama City. I don't know how you get a more bullseye shot here of Panama City, Mexico Beach, Apalachicola. And then the surge that the governor was talking about is to the east of there, into the Big Bend area. That's where the water is going to get pushed up into those bays, into those estuaries. And it will be nine to 12 feet deep.

Now notice, here's still -- we're still seeing wind speeds at 40 miles per hour or so over North Carolina before it finally dies. And that will knock down trees, because those trees in North Carolina are sitting in mud.

So there's your storm surge, all the way from Cedar Key all the way over to Apalachicola, Panama City. You can still see six to nine feet of surge as the storm pushes on shore tonight into tomorrow.

Something else we're going to talk about: lots of rainfall. Tallahassee, you're going to get a lot of rain. You're in the hurricane warning itself, because you're going to see hurricane-force winds, and that will knock down trees, as well. Not just along the coast. This is going onshore, and it's going to remain powerful for at least 50 to 100 miles.

BERMAN: All right. Chad Myers for us in the Weather Center, a bull's eye on Panama City. You can see it right there on Chad's map.

Let's go there. CNN's Dianne Gallagher standing by and watching people get ready -- Dianne.

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, we are in Panama City Beach. And the emergency evacuation actually requires everybody who is here on this beach to be gone by 6 a.m. our time. So in about an hour, people are supposed to be out of here.

Now the governor did go ahead and deploy an extra 100 members of the highway patrol to kind of help and alleviate with that evacuation process out of the Panhandle.

On the beach right now, we've had a little bit of rain. The wind is just kind of nice and breezy like you would experience any time out on the beach at this time. The water doesn't look too bad either.

Come this afternoon, all of that is going to change. And that's why officials here are working to get everybody out right now. You need to anticipate traffic, of course, people leaving out of here. You need to anticipate, if you haven't already gotten gas, to worry about some of those. Even on our way in, the lines were extremely long, people trying to get gas, people trying to get out.

A lot of these people who are here right now were visiting. The hotel that we stayed in overnight was full of people trying to make travel arrangements how to go ahead and get out at this point.

We just saw, like, small bulldozers and other equipment come along the beach. I'm told that they're basically trying to get all of the things that are on the beach -- umbrellas, chairs, things like that -- off in anticipation of this storm.

[06:05:13] Now, not too far from here, about eight miles, is Tindall Air Force Base. They have a mandatory evacuation, as well. They say that everybody needs to be out by this evening, period. They're even going to work on expenses for those families who live there. But they need them gone. And that is because they are taking this so seriously right now.

John, Alisyn, ten counties have that evacuation order. The people who work here, though, who run these communities are asking everyone to please just go ahead and get out now. You can come back afterwards, but it's going to be too dangerous to stay here.

CAMEROTA: OK. Thank you very much for reporting on the ground. Be careful. As we have been saying, the Florida Panhandle is bracing for a direct strike from Hurricane Michael.

So joining us now is Panama City Beach city manager Mario Gisbert.

Mr. Gisbert, thank you very much for taking time from your very busy morning. Tell us how you're preparing this morning.

MARIO GISBERT, PANAMA CITY BEACH CITY MANAGER; Well, thank you for having us.

Again, we've been working on this for the last two days, as soon as we started to receive the warnings of our Bay County emergency operations center kicked off. We started meetings yesterday. They started talking about the evacuation, the logistics of the evacuation. Traffic control already started changing the timing on the traffic lights so that people could leave town easier than they could come into town.

So again, these things have already been in the works for the last 24 hours and implementation today. We kick off the EOC at 8 a.m. in the morning, and then we go forward from there.

But again, we saw people leaving town yesterday, which was absolutely wonderful. The mandatory evacuation starts today at 6 a.m. When people start to leave as early as yesterday at noon, it helps the congestion further down the road.

Again, the city is quite prepared for a mass entrance and a mass exit, because on any given weekend, we grow our population by 100,000 to 200,000 people. So the people leaving town yesterday drained all of our gas stations, but I'm sure that overnight all those gas stations refueled and will have fuel for people to make it in and out of town.

Our local larger stores have restocked with water. So there is water within the island.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

GISBERT: Again it is mandatory evacuation for the entire island. A lot of people are moving into town where they have friends that live on higher ground. But again, it's better to heed the warning and move further away from the storm, if at all possible.

CAMEROTA: Definitely. We're so glad that you're getting word out. And -- and look, with the mandatory evacuation, we've -- we've all seen dozens of hurricanes. And, you know, people get storm fatigue after a while.

So is it your sense that in your area, everyone is heeding the mandatory evacuation or do you think that there will be stragglers and people who always want to stay behind? GISBERT: Again, I hate to bring up a storm that just passed, because

it hurts the people that were in it. But the fact there was a storm not too far away that had some problems, it made people notice that this storm, they needed to heed the warning.

So again, I think everybody is really listening to this storm and moving out. It's best to be safe. The biggest loss that you can have is a loss of life. And we don't want that here on the island. So we're thankful for all the people that are taking off. Our police department, our fire department, our street department, storm water department are all here. We will all remain here throughout the storm.

We have storm-hardened buildings. We just finished building a police station and public services building that are designed for 140 mile- an-hour winds. So we're set up here to be back up and running after the storm, during the storm, and before the storm.

CAMEROTA: Yes. I think it's important to bring up Hurricane Florence. Because it obviously hit in a different area. On the other side of the coast, it hit North Carolina.

But same thing, life-threatening storm surge was predicted there. That's what we saw. And life-threatening storm surge is predicted where you are. Starting tomorrow, as we just heard from Chad Myers.

And just to remind people, 51 people, at our latest count, lost their lives after Hurricane Florence. So I think that these are cautionary tales, each one, and it's important to really sound the alarm. Obviously, not unnecessarily, but it sounds like this is going to be a big one where you are. What is your biggest fear as you confront this one coming?

GISBERT: Again, with everything that we've heard on the Weather Channel and in the news and through EMS. It is the storm surge. A- hundred-and-twenty-mile-an-hour wind is nothing to sneeze at either. But a storm surge in an area that is relatively flat. Keep in mind, I think the highest part of the island is 30 feet high. A majority of Front Beach Road is probably 15 feet high.

So a storm surge of eight to nine feet means that water could rise all the way up to the level of Front Beach Road, which is our thoroughfare that follows parallel to the beach.

We have a secondary road coined Middle Beach Road and a tertiary road, Back Beach Road. So we have three levels of access to and from the island. So we have a good evacuation route. We have three roads that lead out of town. We have 231, 79, and 81. So we have good evacuation going north. Then you hit I-10, and then you can disperse east and west.

[06:10:23] But again, we're set up for that -- the group of people coming in on weekends and leaving on weekends. So the traffic side of it, we're fairly well. We just need people to gather up their things and to head up into the -- into the northern portions of Bay County or into adjacent counties. CAMEROTA: Well, Mario Gisbert is the city manager of Panama City

Beach. It sounds like you are as prepared as any city could ever be as you face down a Category 3 hurricane. So thank you very much for taking time. Obviously, we will be watching and checking back with you throughout the day.

GISBERT: Thank you very much.

CAMEROTA: All right. So I mean, you know, what he was saying, that a storm surge of eight would be catastrophic, of course. And we just heard Chad Myers say that in that area, they could expect nine to 12 feet of storm surge.

BERMAN: Yes. It's flat. I mean, it very, very flat all along the Big Bend of the Panhandle there. That storm surge could push way, way up inland.

CAMEROTA: Still ahead on NEW DAY, we will talk with the director of the National Hurricane Center, Ken Graham; and Senator Bill Nelson about how Florida is preparing for Hurricane Michael.

BERMAN: Just to note, I am headed to Panama City Beach, where we are expecting to see the eye of the storm pass sometime tomorrow, mid- morning. And it's something of a weather event in the studio today, because you've requested the temperature be turned up to 130 degrees.

CAMEROTA: Well, I didn't request it, but I am happy about it. It's quite balmy in here today. It's usually a meat locker, OK? But I came in today, and it's like a sauna.

BERMAN: Yes. It's like the desert.

CAMEROTA: It is.

BERMAN: It's like the desert in here.

CAMEROTA: All right. I'll have you hydrating soon.

BERMAN: As we said, Justice Brett Kavanaugh heads to the Supreme Court in a few hours for his first day on the job. And he does so with the president intentionally fanning the flames of controversy, using the bruising confirmation battle as a political wedge before the midterms, calling the allegations against Kavanaugh a hoax.

Our Abby Phillip live at the White House with the latest -- Abby.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, John.

After this confirmation battle, President Trump last night at the White House hosted a ceremonial swearing in for Brett Kavanaugh. And he did something pretty unconventional. He apologized to his nominee.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: On behalf of our nation, I want to apologize to Brett and the entire Kavanaugh family for the terrible pain and suffering you have been forced to endure.

I must state that you, sir, under historic scrutiny, were proven innocent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: These sorts of events are fairly unusual. The president hosting Kavanaugh being sworn in, in a ceremonial fashion after his official swearing in over the weekend. It was attended by all the members of the Supreme Court, who were seated in that audience, as well as several Republican senators.

Now, just to underscore the political nature of this event, Republicans gave Mitch McConnell the Senate majority leader, a standing ovation at that event. And President Trump used it as an opportunity to really sharply criticize Democrats for this confirmation battle -- and he used them of using this as a cudgel against his nominee.

Now, President Trump is using this argument as we go into the midterms to build a wedge between voters and Democrats. As we are expecting what could be a kind of wave election, especially for the House of Representatives. So President Trump hoping to put a stop to that by using the momentum on the Republican side as a result of this Kavanaugh fight -- John, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Abby, thank you very much. So President Trump's reversal on Christine Blasey Ford and whether or not she was credible and whether or not he believed her, into well, as you heard, a Democratic hoax. Is this some sort of GOP midterm strategy?

BERMAN: Yes, I'll answer the question.

CAMEROTA: OK.

BERMAN: Yes.

CAMEROTA: That was supposed to be a tease, but OK.

BERMAN: Yes.

CAMEROTA: Here we go.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:17:51] BERMAN: Today is Brett Kavanaugh's first day on the bench as a Supreme Court justice. But President Trump, he is using this for political gain. He called the allegations of sexual assault against Brett Kavanaugh a hoax. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: A man that did nothing wrong, a man that was caught up in a hoax, that was set up by the Democrats, using the Democrats' lawyers, and now they want to impeach him. I've heard this from many people. I think it's an insult to the American public. And I think you're going the see a lot of things happen on November 6 that would not have happened before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: A hoax. A hoax. That is very different than what he said about the testimony from Professor Christine Blasey Ford a week and a half ago when it happened. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I thought her testimony was very compelling, and she looks like a very fine woman to me. A very fine woman.

She was a very credible witness. She was very good in many respects.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: You will notice the difference between the words "hoax" and "a very credible witness," right?

CAMEROTA: I did pick that up.

BERMAN: Not subtle.

CAMEROTA: I did. There was an inconsistency there.

BERMAN: A little bit of an inconsistency there.

CAMEROTA: I feel you are pointing out.

BERMAN: And also, the president tends to read the stage directions when he says, "I think this will matter on November 6." As if he's saying, like, "I want this to matter on November 6."

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes.

BERMAN: Joining us now, John Avlon, CNN senior political analyst; David Gregory, a CNN political analyst; and White House correspondent Abby Phillip.

David, if we can go back to that ceremony last night, President Trump seemed to approach that events -- and we should note that there have been past Supreme Court justices that did have White House events, others did not. Sotomayor, Kagan did not during the Obama administration. Before that, they did.

The president approached it as if intentionally trying to pour salt in the political wounds.

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, no question about it. Actually, Kagan did. I went back last night and looked at the remarks of the event that was at the White House.

BERMAN: Oh, yes?

GREGORY: Yes, and it was strikingly different. Because these are all by nature political events if you're doing it for the cameras to try to shore up your base.

But what Obama said, President Obama said about Elena Kagan, of course, this was not a controversial nomination, he made a point of thanking both the majority leader Reid, and Mitch McConnell, who was the minority leader at the time.

[06:20:08] You didn't hear any of that last night. It was really a political event, the president going out of his way to apologize to Justice Kavanaugh, saying that he's been found innocent, really going over the top with this.

And this inconsistency you point out with President Trump is certainly nothing new. This is someone who, in the course this, has deliberately gone over the top, obscuring, you know, points that he makes that will resonate with a lot of people in complaining about the process toward Justice Kavanaugh by calling it a hoax, by saying he's been proven innocent.

But, look, make no mistake. There is now a feeling that Republicans have to match the Democrats' anger that was already there, exacerbated by the Kavanaugh confirmation fight. Now Republicans think they have got something to push back on and say, "Hey, the Democrats want to storm the gate, you should be afraid, and keep us in power. "

CAMEROTA: Abby, listening to the president call these accusations against Brett Kavanaugh not one, but certainly two credible ones. There was also a third one, a hoax. It was like the real President Trump was back from hiding. I mean, what was so stunning was that other person who materialized for a little while, who seemed so measured and claimed that he felt that Christine Blasey Ford was credible.

Do you have reporting on who that person was and where that person has gone?

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think, Alisyn, a lot of people were really more surprised by the restraint than by the president reverting back to the person that he really is.

I mean, if you listened to him both when when he was talking to us on the lawn -- I was there yesterday when he said that it was a hoax -- and at the ceremony, that's his true self. It's very genuine for him. He said it before, he believes Kavanaugh is being treated unfairly. He thinks he has been similarly treated unfairly. So for President Trump, it is personal and not just political.

And I think aides have actually now come around to President Trump's strategy on this. There was a time at the beginning of this process when they were advising him to -- to really keep calm here, to sort of take the temperature down, to say that we wanted to let Christine Blasey Ford talk and give her side of the story.

But President Trump saw an opening here when he went to that rally a couple of days after Kavanaugh testified. He sensed something in his supporters and felt like he needed to state out loud this thing the felt was percolating under the surface of Republicans. And when he did that, I think many in the White House now believe that

that helped change the momentum of this whole confirmation fight. So President Trump is feeling pretty good about his instincts right now.

I think a lot of Republicans actually who once doubted them, who were quick to condemn them, criticizing Christine Blasey Ford now believe they helped change the dynamic in Kavanaugh's favor, something that they appreciate at this particular moment.

BERMAN: There's a political needle to thread here that he's not exactly threading, though. Because most Republicans, what they're happy about is criticizing the process. Criticizing the process, saying the Democrats threw this up and were on some kind of witch hunt. That polls very well.

What doesn't poll well is going after Professor Christine Blasey Ford. We have a new poll out on the accusations of sexual misconduct. Women believe -- or who do believe? The women, 61 percent; to Kavanaugh, 31 percent. Men, it's basically even there. That's not 9 -- the president is actually flying right in this by calling it a hoax.

AVLON: The gender gap, which is traditionally persistent, is a chasm, and the president seems intent on driving a keeper wedge.

But his instincts are winner for the Republican base, of course white and overwhelmingly male when it comes to Donald Trump's support. His use the language yesterday, hoax, impeachment, Abby made this point. These are words that resonate with them, because they're some of his favorite words to describe the persecution he himself feels.

And what I don't think Democrats fully get, though, is there is a degree to which this Kavanaugh fight is a trap. The Republicans are more motivated than they were. They've got a Supreme Court seat on the bench.

And what Democrats, in all their righteous anger and motivation right now sometimes miss, is how culture war fights often benefit Republicans. Identity politics, protests often benefit Republicans. That's their bet, going into the --

CAMEROTA: But just to be clear, John, I just want to make sure I understand that. The anger is still on the Democratic side, but you're saying the sense of accomplishment has motivated people on the right?

AVLON: Not just sense of accomplishment. Listen to the language that Donald Trump is using and Mitch McConnell is using. Calling Democrats the mob.

CAMEROTA: I see, so -- they're still angry --

AVLON: They're using anger and fear, as well.

CAMEROTA: They're still angry about the process.

AVLON: Accomplishment plus anger and fear equals Republican strategy for the midterm.

GREGORY: Can I also say, go back to 2002. I was thinking in more recent memory an example of an incumbent party that actually did well in the midterm. So that was right after 9/11, of course.

[06:25:04] And the Republicans did well. But a lot of that was about fear.

And I was talking to Joe Lockhart, who was on the program yesterday, who was in the middle of that fight. The economy was beginning a downturn in 2002, but Republicans were able to stave that off because of the need at that point among voters for continuity, to stay unified in the fight against terrorism.

So I think that's right. I do think it's more -- it's interesting, Alisyn. It's not accomplishment. I mean, you know, in a lot of ways, Republicans should be out there talking about, hey, you know, the president's got a big trade deal; the economy is really hot; low unemployment and all of these things and relative peace and prosperity. Instead it's no, be afraid of these Democrats, who are acting -- who are overdoing it, who had an unfair process and who want to impeach justice Kavanaugh or at least investigate him.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

GREGORY: You should be afraid of what their power looks like.

CAMEROTA: I think that's very interesting, David. I mean, I just want Abby, before I get back to you. It's that -- it's that they won. OK. So the president got who he wanted. He got a seat on the Supreme Court. They won.

But just like after the president won the election, there was still the -- as you remember, the inaugural speech about fear and anger.

AVLON: Carnage.

CAMEROTA: So winning -- Carnage. So winning doesn't somehow abate.

GREGORY: Because they won here so narrowly.

That's what President Trump does, though, is the politics of grievance. No matter where he is, he's the victim in the political battle. That's his skill is his skill is convincing his supporters that they are the victim even when -- even when they're winning.

The president's approval numbers have ticked up, I do want to note that, after the last month in the CNN poll. Now 41 percent approval. It was 36 percent in September. Forty-one percent is not exactly super-duper strong. If you look at history the only president who had as low of an approval rating was Bill Clinton -- just before a midterm was Bill Clinton in 1994. And Bill Clinton, as you will remember, the Democrats lost control of the Congress at that time.

I know times are different and that President Trump has never enjoyed that high of an approval rating, but it is improving. His numbers are improving, John.

AVLON: Yes, particularly, also, look at this poll. It's a five-month -- it's a five-point bump, but it's particularly strong among independent voters. That's the big switch that drives this between September and October. He's up 39 percent among independents compared to 31 percent last month.

But you're right, the five-point bump, you feel great about. In any historical context, it's still terrible. And it's presidents with approval ratings belong 50 percent that tend to get midterm shellackings for their party.

CAMEROTA: Abby, quickly. Final thought?

PHILLIP: I mean, I think one thing that's important to point out in the politics of this moment is that we have to separate the House from the Senate dynamics.

In some ways, Republicans have kind of conceded that the House is not going to go the way they want. But the Senate is where the battleground is. I think that's where we saw the impact of the Kavanaugh nomination.

You saw those red-state Republican really being put in tough places. And one of them, Joe Manchin, coming over to the Republican side on this. That's why Mitch McConnell feels so great.

Because I think Republicans are feeling better about number prospects there. I think it put the squeeze on some red-state Democrats. But at the same time, the House is still not looking great, and that's because of those women who are so angry about this process and also just about the way that politics is going in general at this moment.

BERMAN: And for them the word "hoax" that the president used -- uses, that will not sell well. That is not a selling point, the hoax.

CAMEROTA: All right. Abby, David, John, thank you very much.

We do have some breaking news to get to right now in the search for a missing Saudi journalist. New video of the last time he was seen before entering Saudi Arabia's consulate in Turkey.

BERMAN: And a much different story. Much different. The most lopsided win by a road team in baseball history. There was a glorious, glorious --

CAMEROTA: He's given up reporting objectivity.

BERMAN: Glorious story, which we'll bring you ahead.

CAMEROTA: I know.

BERMAN: Glorious.

AVLON: Utterly abandoned.

BERMAN: Glorious.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)