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Former New York City Mayor Bloomberg Re-Registers As A Democrat; Nikki Haley To Step Down As U.N. Ambassador At Year's End; Hurricane Michael Strengthens To An Extremely Dangerous Category Four; Turkish Officials Say Khashoggi Killed Inside The Saudi Consulate. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired October 10, 2018 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: "At key points in U.S. history, one of the two parties has served as a bulwark against those who threaten our Constitution. Two years ago at the Democratic Convention, I warned of those threats. Today, I have re-registered as Democrat because we need Democrats to provide the checks and balance our nation so badly needs."

But give us the subtext here, David Gregory. Why is he doing this?

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, he's positioning himself to run in 2020.

What's interesting to me, following Bloomberg over the years as an Independent, is that he took a hard look at running for president as an Independent and he and his team concluded that he couldn't win going that direction. So being a Democrat would be his best opportunity.

He's got plenty of money, we know that. He's a billionaire. He could self-fund his campaign so money's not an issue.

He's certainly right with the Democratic base on certain key issues. Think about gun restrictions, climate change. But he is more conservative on others issues -- on fiscal issues. That could be an impediment.

I think the question is whether he will be trusted by the grassroots of the Democratic Party that is getting more progressive. And again, you'd have to win in those early progressive states, namely Iowa and the Iowa caucuses. Could he do that?

But one thing I think we can conclude is that the Democratic field in 2020 is shaping up as big, just like Republicans were in 2016, and it will be very intriguing to watch him in that mix.

CAMEROTA: Julie, I think what's really interesting is that Michael Bloomberg is a political shape-shifter. He was a Democrat for years, then he was a Republican for years, he's been an Independent for years. Today, he's a Democrat again. And that may sound strange except that so are many Americans. The people in the polls -- the polar extreme get a lot of attention. However, people -- most of -- more Americans identify now as Independents of neither party than do as Democrats or Republicans.

JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Right, and I think David pointed out that Michael Bloomberg took a hard look at running as an Independent and concluded that that was not going to be a viable path because even though many Americans do identify that way, it's difficult in our political system to run a viable campaign as an Independent. It's just -- it's structurally a difficult thing and people have not had much success with it.

But I would point out, as voters have sort of drifted away from the party for party loyalty, the parties haven't really changed.

So even though you could say Michael Bloomberg is sort of picking and choosing what might seem to be the most feasible political path, it's also the case that it means a different thing to be a Republican today than it did 10 or 15 or 20 years ago, certainly, and it means a different thing to be a Democrat today.

What I do think is going to be really interesting to see if whether he can forge ahead as a successful Democratic candidate given how far to the left the Democratic base is now going. You see the energy in the Democratic Party really now on the left.

They want to see new faces. They don't want to hear about people who have been around politics, as Michael Bloomberg has, for decades. And so it will be really interesting to see how he sort of positions himself in that field.

CAMEROTA: Jonathan, you've covered New York politics for decades. The idea of a New York billionaire running against a New York billionaire -- there was a time when people said that won't play in Peoria. But this is a different time.

JONATHAN WACHTEL, FOREIGN POLICY ANALYST: Oh, these times definitely would accept something like that.

Mayor Bloomberg is a big figure and, certainly here in New York, you can't go about looking at any sort of infrastructure issue or any sort of budgetary issue and think about Bloomberg and his long tenure here. I mean, he has a lot of government experience.

And at the same time, he's a man who is well known on the world stage. This is a guy who was often at the United Nations talking about climate change issues. Has taken on some very controversial issues and hasn't been afraid to do it.

So he's been in the limelight quite a lot. This is not a quiet figure.

CAMEROTA: David, maybe these are the polls that he is looking at in terms of deciding why to become a Democrat.

Generic polling, OK? So, this is just if a Democrat, right now, runs against a Republican. Here it is.

Fifty-four percent of voters would vote for the Democrat; 41 percent would vote for the Republican.

In terms of women, it gets even -- in terms of Congress -- who they would vote for, for Congress, women would vote 63 percent for a Democrat; only 33 percent for a Republican.

So what do you think? Is he really going to do this in 2020?

GREGORY: I don't know. I think he'll take a serious look at it. I think he has certainly positioned himself to take a serious look at it.

You know, I think back to other figures like Rudy Giuliani in a previous political incarnation where he still had all that wind at his back after leading New York so effectively after and during 9/11 and he really underperformed as a presidential candidate. That whole aura around him did not travel well and he just -- it just didn't work.

[07:35:08] And I wonder the same about Mayor Bloomberg. He, himself -- even in this changing political environment with New York billionaires, he, himself has expressed reservations about someone who's Jewish from the northeast playing outside of New York. So I think all of those are real questions.

But I also am with Julie. I think that the biggest concern is does he fit a Democratic Party and how it's moving as it starts to think about 2020? And I think that movement will be determined in large measure by what happens in the midterms because we've seen different paths.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

GREGORY: You've seen a progressive wing but you've also seen more moderates who have won special elections, so we'll see.

CAMEROTA: OK, Nikki Haley. We need to touch on this very quickly.

Jonathan, you worked with her at the U.N. Why is she leaving now?

WACHTEL: She's a very quiet person when it comes personal matters, so she will divulge things when she's ready to do it. There are a number --

CAMEROTA: But do you think this is a personal matter?

WACHTEL: It would be regardless, whether it's a political decision because let's face it, it's complicated to work at this time. And it may have been something after reviewing things and we've -- I'm not surprised she stepped down.

CAMEROTA: What is she positioning herself for?

WACHTEL: She could position herself for a number of things. One is she could sit it out and make a little money in the private sector. That's always a positive thing if you are in a -- in a weird political situation yourself and you want to just see where things go.

And then wait in a couple of months and see whether it's more expedient to come out and then do something with 2020 if it makes sense or you can think about doing something down in South Carolina.

CAMEROTA: Jonathan Wachtel, Julie Hirschfeld Davis, David Gregory, thank you very much.

Sorry to cut it short but we do have the governor of Florida on the phone. So let's go to John Berman who is there facing the eye of the storm -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Alisyn. I'm here in Panama City Beach, Florida.

A brief respite from the rain but I think you can begin to see behind me as the sun comes up the dangerous, dangerous seas. Expecting nine feet of storm surge here. A powerful category four storm hitting just a few hours from now, the most powerful storm ever to hit the Florida Panhandle.

We'll talk about it with the governor of Florida, Rick Scott, after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:41:08] BERMAN: I'm John Berman live in Panama City Beach, Florida.

I have my eyes on the ocean behind me. You can the sea beginning to come in here. We're expecting a storm surge here from Hurricane Michael of upwards of nine feet.

We just got word from 60 miles that way, from Apalachicola, that the water level is already four feet higher than normal. They are already starting to see some of that storm surge at four feet. They're expecting a surge to be 13 feet. That is very, very dangerous.

We got word overnight that Hurricane Michael is a powerful category four storm, the most powerful storm ever to hit the Florida Panhandle. The devastation could be catastrophic, says the National Hurricane Center.

Joining me now by phone is the governor of Florida, Rick Scott.

Governor Scott, moments ago you sent out a tweet saying that "The time to evacuate has come and gone. Take refuge immediately."

Why did you send that out?

GOV. RICK SCOTT, FLORIDA (via telephone): Well, John, I've been to meetings all up and down the coast the last two days and telling people you've got to evacuate. If you chose not to evacuate now you're not going to be able to get out. The thing is coming now.

We're going to get 140-plus mile an hour winds. We're going to flash flooding as a result of at least 12 inches of rain in some places.

But the thing that concerns me the most is storm surge. People just don't realize the impact of the storm surge.

I watched what happened after Irma down in the Keys where we had nine feet. We're going to have some places with 13 feet of storm surge. You're going to have a very difficult time surviving six feet of storm surge.

So you've got to -- you've got to hunker down. You've got to do everything that you can. And don't go out in the middle of this thing. Your -- you know, it's dangerous out there.

And so, I've got -- I called up 3,500 members of the National Guard. I have 1,000 people ready to do search and rescue. I have 19,000 people ready to work to get the power back on.

But we're right in the middle of this thing. You have got to do everything you can now to be safe. It's too late to get on the road. You don't know what trees are going to come down in front of you and you'd be stuck out there in the middle of nowhere.

BERMAN: As I look at the ocean behind me, I want you to talk about that storm surge one more time because I was down in the Keys after Hurricane Irma and what you saw was you saw that the ocean came into some of these homes and carried them away. It carried out the entire contents of the first floor of some of these houses, and that was at nine feet. This could be as high as 13 feet in some places.

SCOTT: John, let me give you a story of what's even left after Irma two years ago.

I went down to an area south of Tallahassee. There's a lady that was in a one-story house and she stayed because she was worried about her pets. She got six feet of storm surge.

What she did right was at the end, at three feet, she got out. She wouldn't have survived even three feet -- that's four (ph). There was a high-water vehicle that was just leaving her neighborhood -- the last vehicle out -- and she got in it and left or she would not have -- she would have passed away.

So we're talking about way more than six feet in many areas. At even six feet you're not going to survive.

But what you -- what you said is right. Nine feet just carries you away. It just carries -- when I saw houses that they just filled up with water and they sucked everything out and it was everywhere.

You try and think about this. We've watched these videos of these tsunamis with two and three feet of water coming in, right, and people dying there. But we're talking about nine, 10, 11, 12, 13 feet of storm surge, so I'm very concerned.

But we have -- we have done everything we can to tell people to evacuate and people have unfortunately chosen not to. I'm scared to death if there's any kids that didn't make that choice on their own.

[07:45:00] I've called up 3,500 members of the National Guard, 1,000 rescue teams -- 1,000 people who are going to do search and rescue, so we're going to do everything we can. At the moment, there's no first responders and nobody can come out and save your life today.

BERMAN: And that's such an important message to send right now. You are on your own for a few hours until this storm passes through.

We've been talking about the storm surge, Governor. A whole lot of people woke up to the news that this is now a category four storm.

The wind speed was at 140 miles per hour a short ago, with the potential to increase to 145 miles per hour. Those are very strong winds. That's basically an EF1 or 2 tornado-strength winds that could hit for hours at a time. That is much more than Florida Panhandle has ever seen.

What are your concerns there?

SCOTT: Well, we've never ever, ever seen anything this -- like this and it's not just -- think about John what you're saying. It's not just the coast. It's going to be horrible on the coast -- 140-plus mile an hour winds.

But we're going to see this in cities like Tallahassee. We're going to see 75-plus mile an hour winds inland as this thing comes ashore. So it's not just -- it's not just right along the coast.

And by the way, it's -- the storm surge is not right at the coast. That means that water is going to come way in. If you -- if you take the Big Bend area of our state and the -- it's very shallow. I mean, it's very flat so the water is going to come in possibly for miles and it's going to impact this -- not as much, but from Pensacola to Tampa.

It's going -- it's going to have -- the storm surge is going to come in. It will be way less at the two ends but there's plenty of places if you go down to like Levy County and places like that that are very, very flat and very, very shallow. And it's going to -- it's going to go way inland.

So I'm very concerned about people that have chosen not to evacuate.

But we're going to do everything we can to help people. We'll have -- we've got great search and rescue teams. We've got -- our National Guard is deployed.

We're going to do everything we can to help people. But during the storm, nobody can help you.

BERMAN: Again, it's a dire, sobering message.

Just to give you an update on some news we just received, the hurricane hunter -- the aircraft clocked a wind speed at 155 miles per hour. That's at flight level. At ground level, the National Hurricane Center confirms at 145 miles per hour and it's still several hours before landfall -- still some chance to get even stronger.

And, Governor, I can tell you as I stand here along the coast on Panama City Beach, we are starting to get wind gusts ourselves here that I'd estimate are about 45 miles per hour.

So your warning that the time to evacuate is over is well taken. This is beginning to hit. It is beginning to have an impact.

And as you know, the impact after the fact will be for some time. You can expect power outages for some time here.

What do people need to know about that?

SCOTT: Well, when this -- after this -- after this passes, you've got to be very careful on the roads. You can't -- you cannot -- there's going to be downed power lines, there's going to be downed trees. You've got to be very careful.

We have 19,000 individuals already ready to come in from all over the country. They're here now. As soon as this passes they will help get the power back on as quickly as possible.

We have -- right now, we have plenty of fuel in the state.

We're doing everything we can to get the power -- we're doing everything we can to get the power back on as quickly as we can. You know, when you don't have power, OK -- many people are relying on dialysis machines and things like that so we've got to get the power back on as quickly as possible.

So I've been working with our utilities to get trucks to try to get them to get plenty of people in here and get the power back on as quickly as they can.

BERMAN: All right. Governor Rick Scott, thank you so much for joining us. We're going to hear from you again in about an hour. We know you're holding a briefing at 8:30 a.m. eastern time.

Thank you very much for your time -- appreciate it.

SCOTT: Be safe, John.

BERMAN: All right, a few things the governor just said there that bear repeating.

Number one, if you are in your house, stay there. The time to evacuate, he says, has come and gone. The time to take refuge is now.

But be aware first responders can't get to you. You are on your own. The wind speeds are almost already too high for them to leave their bases.

And you need to ride this out until the end of the storm, so make good choices. Get to a safe place inside your house.

Also, we just heard from the National Hurricane Center they measured wind gusts of 155 miles per hour at flight level. On the ground, it's 145 miles per hour. Still several hours from landfall with a chance of getting even stronger.

This storm is catastrophic, the most powerful storm ever to hit the Florida Panhandle.

[07:50:00] CNN's special live coverage of Hurricane Michael continues right after this.

CAMEROTA: We also have new video showing the last time a missing journalist was spotted. So we will show you this and bring you the disturbing reports of what may have happened to him.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: I'm John Berman in Panama City Beach, Florida.

The National Hurricane Center just put out its 8:00 a.m. advisory -- 145 mile per hour winds for Hurricane Michael. Again, the most powerful storm ever to make landfall on the Florida Panhandle a few hours from now.

One of the most vulnerable areas is Port St. Joe, a little bit down the coast from where I am, east from here. That's where I'm joined by Christy Allen who has chosen to ride out this storm. I hope we can see you now, Christy.

Tell me why you decided to stay.

CHRISTY ALLEN, RIDING OUT HURRICANE MICHAEL IN PORT ST. JOE, FLORIDA (via Skype): Well, initially, we didn't expect the storm to be as strong as it is. We were expecting a cat five -- or a cat two. This really kind of just came about over a two or three day period.

[07:55:13] So, you know, we initially planned on staying for a smaller storm and then this happened so --

BERMAN: Yes, it was a heck of a revelation to wake up this morning and to see it as a category four storm and perhaps getting even stronger.

I have to ask, as you hear that news do you regret your decision?

ALLEN: I mean, we made the decision. Now we're here so we've got to just do the best we can and hope that we're as prepared as possible, so --

BERMAN: Hope you're prepared as possible. What have you done? What have you done to get ready for the next several hours?

ALLEN: You know, we have sandbags that -- the county offered free sandbags so my daughter and I went and got sandbags for the house and around the doors.

We have supplies for a long period of power outage, so food, water, a generator. And that's about it. Plus, we have candles, flashlights. And I feel better knowing that it's daylight now and it's getting here in the daytime, not at night. We can actually see what's going on.

BERMAN: Yes, it is daylight. What that means is behind me I can see the ocean beginning to kick up and it looks ferocious.

You said you have a teenage daughter at home with you. How's she taking it? How is she taking this?

ALLEN: Oh, she's sleeping like a baby right now. I'm going to let her sleep while it's calm.

She's OK. She's doing really good. We're --

BERMAN: It's nice to know that even a category four storm can't wake up a teenager. A teenager can sleep through --

ALLEN: No.

BERMAN: -- just about anything.

ALLEN: Absolutely.

BERMAN: Again, the big concern is storm surge. I know Port St. Joe is an area where storm surge is potentially a big problem.

Does that worry you? We're now understanding it could get as high as 14 feet.

ALLEN: Right. We're not in the flood zone area. We're about a mile inland and we're not in a flood-prone area so -- or an evacuation area and that made it a little easier for us to decide to stay.

However, I do have a business downtown in the -- in the evacuation zone so I'll be waiting to find out about that when it's all said and done.

BERMAN: All right.

Christy Allen, please take care of yourself, take care of your daughter. The time to go, as the governor said, has come and gone. You need to stay where you are and be as safe as you can over the coming hours.

Thanks so much for being with us.

ALLEN: Thank you.

BERMAN: Alisyn, let's go back to you. I do love the fact that a teenager is sleeping through a category four hurricane at this moment.

CAMEROTA: A teenager can sleep through a marching band through her room, but you're right about that.

But, John, now that you are wide awake and the sun is up behind you it is so helpful to have you there as our eyes and ears on the ground as we're watching the ocean there encroach the sea, getting churned up more.

And I know that you have been sounding the alarm for all Floridians to wake up and pay attention because we're following this breaking news as well for you back here.

There -- this Turkish T.V. has been airing surveillance video of the missing journalist, an outspoken critic of the Saudi monarchy, Jamal Khashoggi. That's him walking into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. But then what happens?

CNN's Nic Robertson is live in Istanbul with more. All of the stories about what the Turks believe happened are really chilling, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: They are, Alisyn. Look, I'm really afraid to say there's no good news out of here today.

We've heard from Khashoggi's fiancee. She wrote an op-ed in "The Washington Post" appealing to President Trump, appealing to first lady Melania Trump to help. Also, appealing to the Saudi leadership, the king and the crown prince there, to show some compassion if you will and release information about what happened to her fiancee.

"The Washington Post" has sort of followed up on that in its reporting, saying that U.S. intelligence had picked up chatter between Saudi officials saying that they intended to detain Khashoggi. Not clear if that information was passed on to him.

A Turkish pro-government newspaper here releasing the images and names of 15 people they say are associated with the abduction, arriving into the country, and the hours just before, one of them, a forensic doctor.

"The New York Times" reporting from their Turkish sources that Khashoggi was -- disappeared -- killed within two hours of entering the consulate. His body dismembered -- cut up with a bone saw -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Oh my gosh, Nic. It's just horrifying stuff. Thank you for staying on top of this story.