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Cuomo Prime Time
Bahamas Official Warns People To Prepare For The "Unimaginable"; NOAA Now Covering For Trump's Dorian Error; CDC Warns About E-Cigarette Use After Vaping-Related Deaths. Aired 9-10p ET
Aired September 06, 2019 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[21:00:00]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Oh, snap! Burn! "Nancy, as I call her."
I mean haters going to hate, but - but where? This President is a counter-puncher. He'll repeat your given name back right at you, and then he'll tear off your birth certificate. Boom! Just like that.
As for Mr. Powell, if he's bothered that the man who gave him his job is now publicly heckling him, he's not showing it, which is showing a lot of Federal Reserve, which is what actual human adults should do.
And as for President Trump, well it is almost the weekend, and while many Americans enjoy a couple days away from the noise, he'll no doubt have the volume cracked up on the golf course and on The Ridiculist.
News continues. Want to hand it over to Chris for CUOMO PRIME TIME. Chris?
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: Saint Jerome, Doctor of the Church, very esteemed saint. Wonder what he's talking.
COOPER: What's wrong with Jerome?
CUOMO: Thank you, Anderson. Nothing's wrong with Jerome. I want that T-shirt. I am Chris Cuomo. Welcome to PRIME TIME.
Fear of the unknown, that's what's spreading fastest in the Bahamas, because communities are now ghost towns, and they're described as having a stench of death in the air. Survivors say there are bodies everywhere.
But authorities are overwhelmed. They're undermanned. They're dealing with flooding, impassable roads, limited resources.
Tonight, one of the Island's most famous residents is answering desperate calls for help and asking for more. Legendary artist, Lenny Kravitz is here to tell us about what needs to be done and what he is doing.
And the CDC now saying e-cigarettes, vaping may be deadly, just as use is seemingly exploding in our country. A mother and father are here sounding that alarm after their own daughter's near-death experience. And the President now wants us to give him an apology for his Alabama fiasco. Really? We've got something for him.
What do you say? Let's get after it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TEXT: CUOMO PRIME TIME.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: The Bahamas Health Minister is now issuing a public warning, prepare for, "Unimaginable information" on the loss of life and human suffering.
What we do know is there are thousands still missing. The death toll is expected to go far higher than what it stands at now, which is 30. Many survivors are still desperately trying to get off obliterated Islands.
CNN's Victor Blackwell flew over much - much of the destruction today. He joins us now from Nassau. He has an update on rescue efforts. Nassau was not hit with the brunt of the storm.
Victor, this fear of the unknown, how palpable is it there on the ground?
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, it is day five after the hurricane hit Abaco. And people who have loved ones there, they just are unsatisfied with what they're getting from the government.
This official number of 30, listen, I've spoken to people who survived the storm, and came over. I have heard the stories of more than 30 people who they say they watched go out into the storm or were - were hurt in the storm, and lost their lives.
Listen, we're hearing these - these dramatic adjectives from officials, "Unimaginable, staggering," when it comes to the - the death toll. But they're not committing to even an estimate.
We went there to - today to Abaco. What I think people don't get really respect for, or an appreciation for, is the height of the rubble in some of these - these communities, and what could be under there.
The number of dead, just like we knew that there were more than 64, the official number for so long in Puerto Rico, after Maria, the people here are just - cannot fathom that the number is so low, even now five days after this storm, and people they've not been able to contact.
CUOMO: So, you have how they're doing their job, and just what their capability is, in terms of doing the job.
When you think about infrastructure and resources from this government, you know, what do they have at their disposal? Do they have enough to go out and do this kind of canvassing job?
BLACKWELL: So, they do not have enough. But they do have a lot of help from the U.S., the U.S. Air Force here. The Coast Guard is taking flights. We know that they rescued another 34 people from Abaco.
USAID disaster relief is out. We're told that they will be walking through the Keys, looking for potential survivors or those who have not survived.
But when it comes to NEMA, from the Bahamas, the National Emergency Management Agency, they have a hotline set up, so people could call and get information about missing loved ones. I had called it several times yesterday, did not get an answer once.
But they've also set up, consider this, on NEMA's Facebook page, there is a SurveyMonkey called FIND ME NEMA, where people are expected to go on, and figure out.
They - they're - they're asked "What's your name? How old are you? How many people do you have with you? What's your address and phone number?"
Listen, people on Abaco don't have internet access. They can't go to Facebook and fill out a survey about their address. So, that's how the - the country - that's the infrastructure they've set up. And again, people here, just not satisfied with that.
[21:05:00]
CUOMO: Wow! I mean, look, they're going to be dissatisfied. The question is for how long.
You will never know what the toll is on the ground unless each of those streets are canvassed and walked. It's the only way it gets done. We've seen it time and time again. The numbers are going to change, and they're going to change in a way that's going to make everybody very upset. We've got to stay on this story.
Victor Blackwell, thank you for being in there early, and telling the story often, appreciate it. Be safe.
All right, I want to bring in a well-known Bahamian doing whatever he can to help. He is a legend in music, but what he cares about is the people on the ground in the Bahamas.
Lenny Kravitz has a home in the country and is working with the Let Love Rule Foundation to rush aid to survivors. Here's the interview.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TEXT: ONE ON ONE.
CUOMO: Lenny Kravitz, thank you very much for joining us on PRIME TIME.
LENNY KRAVITZ, ARTIST: Good evening. How are you, Chris? CUOMO: I'm doing well, certainly better than your brothers and sisters, down in the Bahamas right now. For those who don't know, you spend a lot of your time on the Island of Eleuthera, which is just due east from Nassau. You didn't see the brunt--
KRAVITZ: Yes, yes.
CUOMO: --of this hurricane the way Great Bahama did, and Great Abaco. But how is everybody in your world and your circle of friends down there? Is everybody OK?
KRAVITZ: I mean in Eleuthera everything is fine. I mean it made a bit of a mess. We had very high winds. But, as you know, we got the edge of the storm. But we've had no destruction. We were very fortunate, unlike the good people of the Abacos and Freeport.
CUOMO: And I know that's why you are mobilizing with your Foundation to try to get donations in because the needs' going to be very great. I'm hoping you can help me a little bit with perspective on this.
My fear is the unknown. I don't think that they know how many people have been lost. I don't know that they know who's missing versus who's lost. And I don't know that they have the resources to even figure it out very quickly. What do you know?
KRAVITZ: I've talked to a lot of family back in Nassau, as well as Eleuthera, and there are a lot of people that have not been heard from. So, we don't know all of the answers yet.
But yes, they're going to find a lot, as the days and the weeks move on. We've never seen anything like this. This is absolutely, you know, monumental.
CUOMO: What do you want people to know about the place that you've come to call home, and what the need may be like in the near and distant future?
KRAVITZ: Well the Bahamas is a beautiful, beautiful country with beautiful people, and pristine water. You know, I've spent my whole life there. And it's the place I call home. It's very special to me. And people around the world love what the Bahamas has to offer.
You can go to bahamas.com/relief, which is an easy way to start.
Another thing that people can do is to continue to support the Bahamas. So many islands did not get hit. And tourism is what we, you know, count on. So, there's Nassau. There's the Exumas. There's Eleuthera, and so on.
So, if people would continue to travel to the Bahamas, and enjoy its beauty, that will help our economy, help the people, help the locals, keep thriving.
CUOMO: You've been donating to several charities, so far. You have your own Foundation. You've directed people to the bahamas.com. Is there any type of help in particular you want to draw attention to at this point?
KRAVITZ: Right now is stage one.
You know, so through my organization, the Let Love Rule Foundation, we have boats that will be leaving Eleuthera tomorrow, filled with basic needs, generators, chainsaws, flashlights, water, food, roofing materials, drop cloths, I mean things, so people can get dry, they can have some shelter, food, etcetera.
We've had medical, you know, equipment and meds sent over as well. But the end goal is to get the Islands back on their feet. And for me, it's so important that the locals get their housing back, get their lives back, and that's going to take a great effort.
So, I've been on the phone all day today, talking to lots of people in my business, and other businesses, as to how we're going to come together, and - and really help the Bahamas.
And I was on the phone just a few minutes ago with Reese Witherspoon who lives down in the Abacos in Baker's Bay, and we're talking about what we can do.
So, as the days progress, we will continue to figure things out, and continue, that's the - that's the key, is to continue until everybody's back on their feet.
CUOMO: Well here's what I will tell you. We're talking to you tonight because it matters. I'll talk to you in a week because it matters. I'll talk to you in a month because it matters. You get us--
KRAVITZ: Yes.
[21:10:00]
CUOMO: --the information about what is needed and what you're learning through your Foundation. We will put the word out. If this situation starts to reveal a new layer of tragedy, once what is unknown is known, we will be there, and we will tell people the story.
You know, our brothers and sisters are there, so it doesn't matter how beautiful place it is. It is certainly beautiful. But it's right off our shores.
KRAVITZ: Absolutely.
CUOMO: And it should matter to us as much as home. So, Lenny, thank you for coming on. You got a friend in us here. You let us know what we need to tell people. We'll get the word out.
KRAVITZ: I - I appreciate that very much that. And I'll be on the ground as soon as I get through the end of this tour. I will be there. And I'll be on the ground. And I will keep you updated. Thank you so much.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CUOMO: All right, Lenny's Foundation is the Let Love Rule Foundation. You can find it on your own.
Now, let's switch to the President who seems to want Let Lies Rule be the name of the foundation of his Presidency. He could be fixated on helping the Bahamas or getting Congress to make some deals for you. But he is obsessed with proving he was right when he was dead wrong.
Chris Cillizza has been keeping count on Sharpiegate. Guess how many times the President has doubled down on dumb? That's Cillizza's number of the day, and why it matters, next.
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TEXT: CUOMO PRIME TIME.
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[21:15:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TEXT: LET'S GET AFTER IT.
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CUOMO: How many times do you think, this week, the President has insisted he was right about the threat of Hurricane Dorian going to Alabama? He tweeted about it again today, after trying to do damage control on camera, earlier this week that looked like this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I know that Alabama was in the original forecast.
But Alabama was hit very hard, and was going to be hit very hard.
On the right would have been Georgia, Alabama etcetera.
It's called Alabama.
So, for Alabama, just please be careful also.
Alabama is going to get a piece of it, it looks like.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: Just didn't happen, and it was never going to happen when he said it.
Chris Cillizza is here with his number of the week. How's 14, and why, and what?
CHRIS CILLIZZA, CNN POLITICS REPORTER & EDITOR-AT-LARGE: OK, 14. Let's start with this. 14, to your point Chris, eight tweets, six on-camera comments, eight
and six, 14 times Donald Trump - I don't even know, double down, triple down, quadruple done, I don't know what 14 times down is, but let's say 14 times went back to this thing that was not true at the start.
I don't care how many times he tweets about it. I don't care who - what kind of statements he gets his administration put out. It wasn't true then, it isn't true now.
CUOMO: In Italian, they'd say (FOREIGN LANGUAGE). Let's call it a (FOREIGN LANGUAGE).
CILLIZZA: I like it.
CUOMO: It's a new word. So, why does this matter?
CILLIZZA: It matters, a couple things.
I think the big reason it matters is because Donald Trump doesn't tell the truth. We know that. That's a given. But it - this involves people's well-being, telling people that they need to be worried when they don't, number one.
And number two, if you are so obsessed with being right Chris that while people are in danger, OK, while he was doing all these 14 times, the hurricane was actually impacting states like Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, parts of Virginia.
So, while he's tweeting these defenses, Wednesday, Thursday, even today, about why he was right about Alabama, who cares? I mean he's wrong, but who cares.
Because people, Americans, last time I checked, he represents North Carolina and South Carolina, though - they're part of the America, he's their President too. He's taking his eye off of that. He's getting staff to put out statements. All of this is a distraction and not what it means to be President.
CUOMO: So, before you tell me whether or not you're going to heed his call to apologize, 14 is also a certain number of Representatives who said--
CILLIZZA: Yes.
CUOMO: --they're not going to run.
CILLIZZA: Yes, it's remarkable. So, I wanted to highlight 14 for two reasons, one, because of the tweets and B - and his appearances and all of that.
But the other reason, and this didn't get nearly as much attention, but it matters, 14 Republican Members of Congress are retiring now, Chris, 14, two this week, two on Wednesday announced.
Why does that matter? I'll tell you. Four - out of that 14, 12 are just leaving. They're not running for any other office, not running for governor, Senate, not - nothing else, they're just retiring, OK?
Now you compare that to 2018, 14, at around this time, were also retiring, same number. You know how many of those were running for other higher offices?
CUOMO: How many?
CILLIZZA: Nine.
So, what does that tell you that Washington - first of all, the House Minority is not a great place to be. Second, Trump's Washington, they're worried about losing. It's uncertain. It's unstable. And they want to walk away.
CUOMO: Chris Cillizza, thank you for that pithy take on 14. I will take your silence as non-acceptance, and that you will not apologize.
CILLIZZA: I will not apologize. Thank you, Mr. Cuomo. Have a good weekend.
CUOMO: You too, Brother. Appreciate you being with me on a Friday.
CILLIZZA: You bet.
CUOMO: All right, so what have we seen? Government officials falling on their sword for this President to help prove something right that was demonstrably wrong. This is about a lot more than a petty tit-for- tat. It's not personal. It's about a pattern.
There's a new twist on Sharpiegate, and we're going to talk about it in The Great Debate, next.
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TEXT: CUOMO PRIME TIME.
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[21:20:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TEXT: LET'S GET AFTER IT.
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CUOMO: Sharpiegate, far from over. The President's obsession only escalating tonight with this.
NOAA disavowing the tweet from the National Weather Service in Birmingham saying the field office, quote, spoke in absolute terms that was inconsistent with the best available forecasts at the time.
Ask me - answer me this question. Why would NOAA correct a suggestion that wound up being accurate? Have they ever done that before? The answer is no.
That's the start of tonight's Great Debate with Karen Finney and Niger Innis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TEXT: THE GREAT DEBATE.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: And Niger, I'll give you another piece to the puzzle. The President of the National Weather Service Employees Union put out a tweet. Do we have that? Nope. But - but I'll fake it. Here's what he said. I'll put it up for you.
"Let me assure you the hard working employees of the NWS had nothing to do with the utterly disgusting and disingenuous tweet sent out by NOAA management tonight."
Question to you, Niger, why is the President making people in positions of power echo his error?
NIGER INNIS, CONGRESS OF RACIAL EQUALITY NATIONAL SPOKESPERSON, TEAPARTYFWD.COM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, POLITICAL CONSULTANT: Because there's another missing piece of the puzzle, which is that the National Hurricane Center issued a number of maps from the 27th of August through the 3rd of September, one of - several of which showed that Alabama did have a 30 percent chance, as high, as high as 30 percent chance of getting hit by the hurricane.
And it is based on though - some of those reports that the President made his - his estimation.
CUOMO: Karen Finney?
INNIS: Better safe than sorry. But--
KAREN FINNEY, FORMER HILLARY CLINTON 2016 CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER, FORMER DNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes.
CUOMO: In point of fact, on this Sunday that he made the statement--
FINNEY: Right.
[21:25:00]
CUOMO: --these were the only available maps that he would have been shown--
FINNEY: Right.
CUOMO: --assuming he looked at anything.
FINNEY: Right.
CUOMO: There is no reasonable basis. And - unless you want to look at outer wind bands--
FINNEY: Right.
CUOMO: --that would justify this.
FINNEY: Well and no reason why he couldn't have tweeted "Hey, Great news! Alabama--
CUOMO: Yes.
FINNEY: --is out of the woods," right? Because here is the thing Chris that I think is so important, and I think this is a little bit of what Chris was getting at.
What we're seeing here is - I mean we had a warning of this in 2016, when Hillary Clinton did a policy speech, and talked about the President - talked about Trump as having thin skin, he goes and does an interview with Jake Tapper, and spends some time talking about what good skin he has, not so much the policy piece, but his own skin.
So, we had a preview that this was the kind of person that was going to - that we were electing here. But two quite - important things about this incident.
Number one, he is - his ego and his skin is so thin, he's willing to put Americans' lives in danger, because he's also told everybody "Fake news! I'm the only one you can believe."
So, if you're in Alabama, and you see that tweet from Trump, what are you supposed to think? Who are you supposed to trust?
CUOMO: Well listen--
FINNEY: Do I go get my kids?
CUOMO: --I put the brakes on--
FINNEY: Do I worry?
CUOMO: --in terms of what damage he did.
FINNEY: Well--
CUOMO: In fact, he could have spun it by saying "You know what? I was overcautious."
FINNEY: But I--
CUOMO: Better to be overcautious than under-cautious. I'm not about him putting people in danger with what he said. That's not my - that - that's - I'll push it back on that.
FINNEY: Well--
CUOMO: What I'm saying is this, Niger. He made a mistake. Why would you justify it when you know it was a mistake, you know it was wrong? And if anybody said it, other than this President, you wouldn't be torturing yourself with an explanation right now.
INNIS: I will tell you why. And I'm going to flip the script on - on this segment and that I'm going to give you some words, "School bully, adulterer, dog abuser, racist," a 1,000 times, and some 10,000 ways, "Sexist, liar, murderer, vulture capitalist, traitor, Senicide," means that you're guilty of murdering seniors.
These are just a few of the words that Presidents - Republican Presidents and former Republican Presidential candidates have been called by various campaigns, including yours, Karen, and by members of the mainstream media for 20 years.
CUOMO: So, what is happening?
INNIS: Trump saw that and - and--
FINNEY: What is that?
INNIS: --here's - here's - here's - here's my point.
CUOMO: All right, go ahead.
FINNEY: Oh, come on.
INNIS: Trump saw that as - as a - as a future candidate, and he said the era of Turn Your Cheek Republicanism has come to an end. Any time a member of the media--
CUOMO: First of all, Newt Gingrich said the same thing--
INNIS: --or a member of the opposing party is going to come at me--
CUOMO: --with the Contract with America. He said you guys have to learn to be mean.
INNIS: --I'm going to come back at them twice as hard.
CUOMO: Niger, hold on a second. I don't like when people call people ugly names. I don't let it happen--
FINNEY: Yes.
CUOMO: --on my show. You've seen that in real time. But it's also a complete distraction from the point that he was wrong, Niger. And now he's going to people around him, and saying, "You got to take one for the team."
FINNEY: But--
CUOMO: And that is a dangerous thing to do because if you'll do it with this little stuff--
FINNEY: Right.
CUOMO: --what happens when he needs to justify saving his behind on the big stuff? FINNEY: But can I just - Chris, to that point--
INNIS: Look, what I put--
FINNEY: --can I just--
CUOMO: Hold on, Niger. Let Karen get in. Go ahead.
FINNEY: To that point, I mean--
INNIS: OK. No problem.
FINNEY: --it is very disturbing the idea. I mean because I think what we're seeing here is the President of the United States, he controls NOAA, right? That isn't a government agency under his control.
CUOMO: Obviously, it does. That's why they put out the tweet.
FINNEY: But that's my point.
CUOMO: You saw what the President of the Employees Union--
FINNEY: So, that--
CUOMO: --says.
FINNEY: But that's an abuse of his power, Chris, that's what I'm saying, on something so small, as you point out. So, it does make me wonder would he be willing to do it on something larger. How about the time that during the shutdown--
CUOMO: Why do you have to wonder? He has done it on larger things.
FINNEY: Yes. I know. Well I'm trying to - I'm trying to--
CUOMO: He said that the people in the caravans--
FINNEY: --you know.
CUOMO: --were mostly murderers and rapists.
FINNEY: And he and--
CUOMO: He says that there was voter fraud in California. He says there were people celebrating on the roof after 9/11.
FINNEY: Well--
CUOMO: It happens time and time again.
FINNEY: And he also - he is so thin-skinned and spiteful.
Remember when Nancy Pelosi wouldn't let him give the State of the Union speech during the government shutdown, for legitimate reasons, because some of the people who would have had to work were technically not working, what did he do? He outed, he leaked the fact that there was a secret trip that was happening with Nancy Pelosi, and a Congressional delegation, to Afghanistan, right, and said - there was a whole tweet about how--
CUOMO: Right.
FINNEY: --he outed the - so the point is he not - he doesn't just lie. He is spiteful. His thin skin - the thin-skinned means spite. He attacked Mayor Nan Whaley and Senator Sherrod Brown while on the trip that he did to El Paso and to Dayton, Ohio, in the aftermath--
CUOMO: Right.
FINNEY: --of that trip.
CUOMO: But listen, I'll tell you what, Karen.
FINNEY: I mean so time and time again--
CUOMO: I'll tell you what - and this going to be the second thing you don't like that I say. I don't even care about the name-calling. They're all grown-ups. They're all in a snake pit.
He can be spiteful. He can be vindictive. Niger and his supporters will say that's him being tough and protective. Fine! I'm not taking issue with any of that. Those are style points fundamentally, and people can decide.
But here's what is objective, Niger. The man is distorting reality to advance a farce.
INNIS: Well--
[21:30:00]
CUOMO: There were no models that showed Alabama getting hit on Sunday when we were told he was getting hourly updates. I put the map up there.
INNIS: According to the--
CUOMO: My nine-year-old could read it.
INNIS: But according to the various reports, and this is from an AP story, according to various reports that he got from the 27th of - of - of August--
CUOMO: Yes. But not on the Sunday that he made the statement.
INNIS: --to the 3rd of the September, there was a period--
CUOMO: So at a minimum, Niger, he was relying on--
INNIS: --there was - there was a period of--
CUOMO: --old information. INNIS: --that Alabama was in the - was in the range.
CUOMO: No. Not on Sunday.
FINNEY: But he could have just said.
INNIS: And - and had a 30 percent chance of--
FINNEY: He could have said "Good news!"
INNIS: --getting hit. But you--
CUOMO: Not on Sunday.
INNIS: Look, look, look, the fact is the President can walk and chew - chew gum in the same time.
CUOMO: Not on Sunday, Niger.
INNIS: He in addition - not going down that rabbit hole--
CUOMO: No, it's not a rabbit hole.
INNIS: --again. The - the - the - the reality is--
CUOMO: It's the only hole.
INNIS: --is that this President--
CUOMO: It's the only hole, Niger. Hold on, Niger.
INNIS: --engaged this - this--
CUOMO: Don't over-talk me.
INNIS: OK. Yes. Yes.
CUOMO: On Sunday--
INNIS: Go ahead.
CUOMO: --that's when he made this statement. We were told he was getting hourly updates. The updates came from a set of models that we keep putting up on the screen that cannot lead you logically to the conclusion that he reached.
So, maybe he was going off old information he got, maybe, and that's why he was wrong or he misheard, or he pretended. Whatever it was, Niger, you cannot make him right. He was wrong.
INNIS: He - he was with--
CUOMO: And then the problem becomes--
INNIS: --I - I--
CUOMO: --you're defending something you know is indefensible.
INNIS: I - I - I know - I would prefer, OK, as a Trump supporter, I would prefer that he talk about the record-low unemployment that - that he would--
CUOMO: But you won't call him out for doing this.
INNIS: --that - that--
CUOMO: You'll say you prefer it.
INNIS: No, I - I am saying I am--
CUOMO: You prefer he rather, you wish both sides would stop--
INNIS: --I am giving you--
CUOMO: --you wish the media would be nicer--
INNIS: --I - I am--
CUOMO: --but you won't tell him stop saying this. But if it were Obama who did it, or President whoever, it was a Democrat, some point in the future, you'd be all over. Fair point?
INNIS: Look, you - you said it, Chris. Maybe he relied on - on older report, all right?
CUOMO: Then say it.
INNIS: But the fact is--
FINNEY: But the--
INNIS: --the - the fact of the matter is at the point that the media went and dove in, the - the mainstream media, on this Alabamagate, or this Inkgate, whatever, I forget what the - Ink--
CUOMO: Sharpiegate.
INNIS: Thank you, Sharpiegate, OK--
CUOMO: Well that's because he drew--
INNIS: --and got - and got himself with this--
(CROSSTALK)
CUOMO: --that's because he drew a fake - a fake cone on a map.
INNIS: --I mean we - we - we--
CUOMO: Niger.
INNIS: Look, look, Chris--
CUOMO: Who does that?
INNIS: --on - on - on CNN, on Anderson's show--
CUOMO: Yes.
INNIS: --which - which was on an hour ago, you had a member of the Bahamian Parliament that was applauding the engagement of the United States government.
CUOMO: I agree.
INNIS: Which came to fruition--
FINNEY: In the Bahamas.
INNIS: --after - after the President of the United States talked to the Prime Minister--
CUOMO: Good.
INNIS: --and promised engagement.
CUOMO: Good.
INNIS: His engagement not only what the states that have been hit, the Carolinas--
FINNEY: But that's not the point.
INNIS: --and Virginia--
CUOMO: Good.
INNIS: --from FEMA are engaged and - and - and involved.
CUOMO: Yes, all good.
INNIS: But he is even helping our neighbors to the South in the Bahamas.
CUOMO: Good for him.
FINNEY: But Niger.
INNIS: He can walk and chew gum at the same time.
FINNEY: That's not the point.
INNIS: Does he take a thrill at - at - at fighting the media and doing the Ping-Pong match on--
CUOMO: A thrill?
INNIS: --on this Gate--
CUOMO: It's-- INNIS: --yes, he does.
CUOMO: All right, listen.
INNIS: And I wish he would spend more time on talking about this--
CUOMO: Niger, I gave you all the chances I can.
INNIS: --his staff choice (ph) and the winners--
CUOMO: I'm out of time.
INNIS: --within his administration.
CUOMO: The man was wrong. He's trying to get people pretend he was right. He drew a fake cone on a map or somebody did it. It's all wrong.
And if he wants us to talk more about the things he does that are right, he's got to stop with so many grotesque violations that abuse his office.
But it's Friday night, you came in, you made the case. Karen Finney, you did the same. I thank you both. And I like what you're wearing, Niger.
INNIS: Thank you.
CUOMO: I'll talk to you later.
INNIS: Thanks so much.
CUOMO: All right, another big issue that I don't think is getting enough attention, but I think we're going to start hearing more and more.
Vaping, we see it all over the place, so many kids, it's like one of the main things that we're dealing with - with parents of teens now, am I right. You know where I'm coming from on this.
The CDC now says what seemed like common sense. "You're breathing in all these chemicals, may not be safe," who says it? Parents of a teen, who almost lost her life after vaping. They are here to give you a warning that we should all heed, next.
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CUOMO: It - look, here's the raw reality. People have died. The CDC and others are racing to figure out why. Common link, at this point, appears to be vaping. What are the numbers? At least 450 cases of severe lung-related diseases, 33 states, and the Virgin Islands. Who? Young, healthy people.
Here's one on your screen right now. 18 year-old Piper Johnson, very healthy, everything's fine, suddenly very sick, happened while she was driving with her parents to college. We asked her mother and father, Ruby and Tim to join us to tell their story.
Thank God, Piper is doing better. She's in college. But what do you want people to know? And thank you for sharing your story.
TIM JOHNSON, DAUGHTER HOSPITALIZED DUE TO VAPING: Thanks for having us, Chris.
RUBY JOHNSON, DAUGHTER HOSPITALIZED DUE TO VAPING: Thank you for having us.
Well what we want parents to know is that our kids have been told that these devices that these substances are safe. And we're finding out now that we're not - they're not.
And it's just it's an epidemic. It's in the schools. It's being passed from teen to teen. I mean it's as far down as the middle schools. And they're causing serious damage.
CUOMO: Well, look, we see vaping all over the place. I'm a parent. I got a 16-year old, 13-year old, nine-year old.
T. JOHNSON: Yes.
CUOMO: I'm seeing it all over the place, very close to home.
R. JOHNSON: Yes.
T. JOHNSON: Yes.
CUOMO: So, Tim, I told them that she was in the car with you on the way to the collage. What kind of use was she making with the vape and then what happened to her?
T. JOHNSON: Well actually, Chris, she was with Ruby. Ruby and Piper left on what would be Friday, August 15th, I believe.
R. JOHNSON: 16th.
T. JOHNSON: 16th. And they started driving to Colorado. They broke the drive up into two days because it's about a 14-hour ride.
CUOMO: Sure. T. JOHNSON: So, I'll let Ruby take it from here.
CUOMO: All right, what happened?
R. JOHNSON: So, when we got in the car on Friday morning, she said that her chest hurt a little bit, and she was kind of coughing. And she said "Oh, I feel like I have bronchitis or something."
And, of course, I'm thinking, "Oh, my Gosh! We're driving you to college. And now you're telling me you don't feel well." And so, I just kind of kept an eye on her.
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And I said "Well you know what? Maybe we'll just stop at like a - a quick care, a MinuteClinic, and get you checked out because I don't want to leave you across the country if you're getting sick."
And we stayed in Nebraska for the night. And I could tell that she was feeling worse. And she woke up early in the morning, was - was vomiting. We finished the drive to Colorado, went straight to an Urgent Care in Greeley.
And when they took a look at her, they said, "We think she's got an early pneumonia." She was really dehydrated, high fever, high resting heart rate, and low oxygen. And when they did a chest X-ray, it - it actually looked pretty clear, but the doctor said she wanted us to come back.
And long story short, when we came back the next morning, even after some antibiotics she was in pretty bad shape, and they sent us to the ER, and she was then admitted. And eventually we--
CUOMO: When did they discover that it had something to do with the vaping? And how did they tell you?
R. JOHNSON: Well they ask, you know, the question the doctors ask is "Are you a smoker?" And she says, "No." And then, they said, "Even e- cigarette use," and she said, "Yes."
And she - now, she was very honest with me. When we got in the car, and she started coughing, was not feeling well, she said, "Mom, I've been vaping, but I quit about a week ago because my chest started to hurt."
So, the admitting doctor at the hospital was the one who kind of started to put two and two together, and said, "Hey, wait a minute. You know, we're kind of right in the middle of this outbreak of cases." And he said, "This sounds a little bit like what I'm hearing come out of the Midwest," which is where we're coming from.
And it just - it just - she just declined. She went up to 35 liters of oxygen. She was moved to the ICU. Her chest - her CAT scan showed that she had a diffuse pneumonia across--
CUOMO: Did they say what caused it? Were they able to isolate anything? We've been reading reports about some Vitamin E oil that is in some of the--
T. JOHNSON: No.
CUOMO: --some of the vapes that have THC in them.
R. JOHNSON: No. They asked her. And she was very honest. She said she had vaped both nicotine and THC. And - and they - they - they sent out labs to check for any bacteria, any viruses. Those all came back negative.
So, you know, then they said, this is - this is what we're seeing, this is consistent. Our doctor did a lot of research, reached out to other hospitals and doctors, and kind of put two and two together.
And so, I really think that when he did that, and they started a steroid, that was what, I think, saved her. It - it really started to turn her around. But she was in the hospital, in the ICU, for the latter part of it, for a week.
CUOMO: Well, look, here's the good news. Thank God she's OK.
R. JOHNSON: Oh!
T. JOHNSON: Yes.
CUOMO: And she's passed it, and hopefully, it's going to inform her choices going forward.
R. JOHNSON: Oh, yes.
CUOMO: Here's the hard news.
R. JOHNSON: Absolutely.
T. JOHNSON: Yes.
CUOMO: No way any company is going to say that this was because of them. No way.
R. JOHNSON: Oh, absolutely.
T. JOHNSON: No. No.
R. JOHNSON: Yes.
CUOMO: It's going to have to be proven. We've lived through this before. I believe it could be the next tobacco. And I'm not indicting--
R. JOHNSON: Oh!
CUOMO: --any company. I'm not making any conclusions.
R. JOHNSON: Yes.
CUOMO: But this is how it happened then too, you know. R. JOHNSON: Right.
CUOMO: "Prove it's from the device. Prove it's from the steam. Prove it's not some chemical that we have nothing to do with."
But what we know is that we keep hearing stories like Piper's, young, healthy, good, vaping, then sick, very sick. So--
R. JOHNSON: Yes.
CUOMO: --Tim and Ruby, thank God your story has ended the way it has. Thank you so much for sharing it with us. And thank you for being a cautionary message for other parents out there.
T. JOHNSON: Thanks for having us.
R. JOHNSON: Thank you for having us.
CUOMO: All right, God bless Piper and your family. Be well.
We're hearing more about it. We have to stay on it. It can't be a coincidence, can it?
All right, medical scares, medical marvels. How about this one? 73- year-old woman just given birth to twins. Yes, it was IVF. And it's making a lot of headlines, ethical concerns. D. Lemon, who's going to be D-Doctor in the house, next.
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CUOMO: So, have you heard about this, burning up the internet? Everybody's got an opinion. You can let Don know yours. A 73-year old woman in India just gave birth to twins. Yes, she used IVF. And her two healthy girls were born yesterday via C-section. The husband, 80, controversy.
D. Lemon, people say that this is like an ethical dilemma. Should they have been helping people at this age and stage, have babies? What do you say, Good Doctor?
DON LEMON, CNN HOST, CNN TONIGHT WITH DON LEMON: Are the - the babies are healthy? CUOMO: Yes.
LEMON: Then who am I to judge?
CUOMO: The guy I'm asking.
LEMON: That's - live your own life. I'm not going to judge him. I - listen, I don't - it seems odd that someone that, you know, of that age would be having a baby. I don't want to be an ageist or anything.
But I say, look, you do what's right for you. I do what's right for - for me. I'm not going to judge them. It is a bit odd. But you know there are - listen, we have - we have great advances when it comes to medicine now.
And so, let's just see. I'm just going to be a bystander on this one.
CUOMO: Two questions.
LEMON: Is that fair enough?
CUOMO: Not me. I'm always in, baby. That's what "Let's get after it"--
LEMON: I know.
CUOMO: --is about.
LEMON: I know. I know.
CUOMO: One, ethical considerations for the doctors. This is an interesting conversation for me. Just because you can, should you? And that's interesting. What parameters are there? When do they ask questions? When do they make a decision back and forth? Are you with me on that?
LEMON: Yes, I'm with you.
CUOMO: All right.
LEMON: I don't say I'm agree - I'm going along. But though--
CUOMO: No. I'm with you. So, you have those ethical questions about whether or not you're doing this because what is the standard. The standard isn't if you can make it happen. It's what's in the best interest of the child. Those are the eyes of the law on situations with kids all the time.
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: So if these parents, let's say they live to be something short of a 100, is it OK that let's say they're - if they're really lucky, they get 15 years with these parents, maybe they get less, does that matter?
LEMON: They got 15 good years with parents who love them, and obviously wanted to have them. Listen, I would - I would imagine that the consideration that you
mentioned before about the health of the baby, and the health of the mother, I would imagine that they - I would hope that they took that into consideration before bringing a baby to term, before bringing a baby into the world.
So, you know, maybe that should be the standard. If the baby's healthy, then you can go along with it. But again, I'm going to say, I'm not going to judge. I'm not there. I don't know the specifics of the - their - of her treatment, and his treatment, and, you know, what all went into it.
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But, you know, I think about, you know, some kids don't get any time with any parents because their parents lead them, and they're put up for adoption, and they're in foster homes.
So, they get 15 good years, then good for them, and hopefully, they will move on to another family, and then get, you know, many more good years, so.
CUOMO: By all accounts, the babies are healthy.
LEMON: That's good.
CUOMO: So thank God for that. If you look online, you will be blown away--
LEMON: If you look online--
CUOMO: --by the realms of judgment.
LEMON: --you're going to be blown away by Sharpiegate, and about a President who's trying to rewrite history when it comes to the forecast for Dorian and hitting Alabama.
We have a woman on, who is a former official, and a former counsel, from NOAA, who was on this show last night. She predicted this would happen.
She - when the system gets corrupted, and people tried to make up for the President, and make the President accurate, she's going to talk about - she - she predicted it. You need to watch what she has to say.
CUOMO: Good.
LEMON: Why this is so important.
CUOMO: Good. I like it D. Lemon.
LEMON: See you.
CUOMO: I'll see you in a second.
All right, the President wants an apology, sorry, for going after his Alabama gaffe. Never going to happen! Something else is what we have for him, and it's in the Closing Argument, next.
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CUOMO: No apology, Mr. President. You can bully those beholden to you to take the fall. But it was still false. And more and more you're acting like something that we thought was just fiction.
"Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past." That's from George Orwell's 1984.
This President wants to control the present by having people change the past, backing up fake 9/11 celebrations, backed up by bogus accounts, fake crowd sizes with fake charts, fake descriptions of a fake Brown Menace, and now, what would be petty if it were not part of such a pernicious pattern.
When George Orwell wrote this, it was fiction. Now, it's just frightening. Here's where we are.
Trump tweeted on Sunday "In addition to Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama will most likely be hit, much harder than anticipated."
At the time, on Sunday, when he said it, it was not true. The path had changed. So, at best, he was relying on old information.
But the idea that he was briefed on Sunday that Alabama was still in major danger, look at it, believe your eyes. Alabama was no longer threatened in any real way, certainly not "Much harder than anticipated." The opposite was true.
Within minutes, the National Weather Service of Birmingham, which is part of NOAA, pointed it out, "Alabama will not see any impacts from Dorian."
Then came the next page out of Orwell, the party keeps repeating two and two is five. Trump repeated the lie over and over. He faked a map in the Oval Office. That's the Sharpiegate. He forced the farce on other parts of the government.
Tonight, a new NOAA press release, no name attached, says "Information provided by NOAA and the National Hurricane Center to President Trump demonstrated that tropical-storm-force winds from Hurricane Dorian could impact Alabama."
"The National - the Birmingham National Weather Service's Sunday morning tweet spoke in absolute terms that were inconsistent with probabilities from the best forecast products available at the time."
The NWS Employee Union President didn't take it lying down. "Let me assure you the hard working employees of the NWS had nothing to do with the utterly disgusting and disingenuous tweet sent out by NOAA management tonight #NOAA."
Understandable anger! That anonymous NOAA statement, it's an argument that a tiny sliver of Alabama, that wasn't in the hurricane cone, with minimal potential to see tropical force winds makes it all OK.
Look at the key at the bottom. It was 5 to 10 percent. He's just wrong. The same chance as the White House seeing high winds, Long Island, he didn't seem concerned about those possibilities, and he shouldn't have been.
The facts are clear. The models on Sunday do not justify what he said Sunday. He won't say it was based on all - old information or just wrong. But Dorian didn't threaten Alabama.
He was wrong. He is wrong. And his people keep coming on and off camera to say "If you'll just let it go, he will too." No. And I will never apologize for calling out power when they abuse the same. What you ignore, you empower. And those who cover for this behavior are complicit.
This is not just about the facts. He's dead wrong on those. It's about a fiction of Orwellian proportions. This President will say and do anything to protect himself and his interests, and that is a manifest abuse of power. What's worse? He'll do it to your face.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That map that you showed today, it looked like it almost had like a Sharpie.
TRUMP: I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.
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CUOMO: He doesn't know? Really? He doesn't know who drew that?
The Washington Post reports the President himself made the edit. He's playing you for a sucker. He believes if he tells you enough that he's right, it will no longer be wrong.
Another quote from 1984. The first line, "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." How could that be?
The result of those in power forcing people to believe things. The heresy of heresies was now common sense. Orwell made the premise an exaggerated sense of an authoritarian state. And yet, much of what he saw as fiction is now in our face. That's all for us tonight. Thank you for watching. Have a beautiful weekend. There's a lot of news. CNN TONIGHT with D. Lemon has it right now.
LEMON: It's really unbelievable, isn't it? When you - I mean if you just - and you have to go into explaining.
