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Soon: Bidens Visit Maui To Meet With Survivors, Responders; Poll: Trump Holds Biggest Iowa Lead Since Bush In 2000; California Hit With Historic Rain, Floods, Mudslides, A Quake. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired August 21, 2023 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: What's your understanding of what that number represents? Is it possible there are 850 deceased people still unidentified?

SEN. BRIAN SCHATZ (D-HI): I don't want to speculate. There is a process that we are going through FEMA-led with cadaver dogs to go through every single structure in Lahaina town, and wherever else there was damage. And obviously, we have between 110 and 120 confirmed deceased. And then there's a process of identifying via DNA sample, the identity of the deceased.

But we're just not done with the process yet. We are hoping that many of the missing simply haven't checked in and lacked telecommunications. But we just don't know.

And I think it's -- you know, not responsible to speculate. Obviously, all of us every day as those reports come down are waiting nervously for the next number. But we just don't know how high the death toll will go.

BERMAN: What is it that you hope President Biden sees today when he tours the island?

SCHATZ: Well, I think it's two things. The depth of the tragedy is very easy to feel once you're on the ground when you see Lahaina town, which is this incredibly vibrant coastal community, a multicultural place. It used to be the whaling town. It used to be a plantation town. It was the seat of the kingdom of Hawaii. And to see it just absolutely flattened, I think there are no words to describe the devastation. It really does look like a warzone.

And I want the President to understand that, although we are very appreciative of FEMA's support and the full mobilization of the federal government, and we've got it, this is not a short-term thing. This is not a two to three-week emergency. Restoring Lahaina, getting kids back to school, getting connectivity back, getting the roads back, and then removing the debris and doing whatever the community wants next with all of that, that is a multi-year and multi-billion- dollar process. And we want to make sure the federal government is there for us.

BERMAN: Senator, you talked about the full deployment from FEMA and the boots on the ground there. But I'm also sure that you have heard from some of the people that we've heard from who've expressed enormous frustration over the last two weeks with the response both the local and federal, that supplies aren't reaching them, that people aren't hearing their calls for assistance. So what do you say to that?

SCHATZ: Well, I think within six hours, the president signed the major disaster declaration and that unlocked all of FEMA has resources. We also have more than 500 of our National Guard mobilized under a joint command with INDOPACOM. So, the federal response has been robust.

But there's a lot of frustration out there. For instance, in order to enlist in FEMA benefits, you normally have to present an ID and a lot of people don't have an ID because it went up in flames. And so you know on the ground, there has been frustration in terms of accessing all the programs that exist. And then for a couple of days, because Lahaina Town is a toxic rubble, we had some difficulties securing the perimeter of Lahaina town.

People understandably, wanted to get back to their properties and check it out, but it's just not safe. And as a result, they cut off vehicular access to all of West Maui, which I think really exacerbated the frustrations because even people who did not experience the wildfires directly whose homes were intact, were therefore cut off from basically anything back in Central Maui. So, that has been resolved, and I think we're on a good rhythm of allowing the community to resupply itself and start the long, long process of both grieving and trying to restore some sense of normalcy.

BERMAN: Senator, what do you think the most important specific lessons are that can be learned from this to make sure a tragedy of this level does not happen again?

SCHATZ: Well, I think we all have to understand that severe weather events are going to get more frequent and more severe. Hawaii is a place that has experienced volcanic eruptions and tsunamis and hurricanes and tropical storms. And we've had a few wildfires but nothing that threatened a whole city -- nothing that flattened a whole city.

And I just think this is the new normal for not just the State of Hawaii, but for the whole planet -- for the whole country. So, you know, as we contend with increasing severe weather all the time, we're not only going to need to take action on climate. We actually need to be prepared in terms of our emergency response at the state, local, and federal levels for the kind of disaster that maybe you hadn't contemplated before.

[11:35:09]

BERMAN: Senator Brian Schatz, from Hawaii, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us this morning. I look forward to talking to you again soon.

SCHATZ: Thank you.

BERMAN: Kate? KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Coming up for us. This is the week Donald Trump will show up to surrender and be booked on new criminal charges. This is also the week that he will not show up to join the debate stage with the other Republicans running for president. In Trump's absence, who is the top target on that stage?

And later, Russia calls it an escalation. Ukraine's president though we'll call it just in time, now thanking European allies for pledging to provide U.S.-made F-16 jets to help in the fight. We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:40:10]

BOLDUAN: So, a fresh look coming out of Iowa today shows that Donald Trump remains dominant in that key early caucus state. The poll conducted by the Des Moines Register and NBC News finds 42 percent of likely Republican caucusgoers say right now they are backing Donald Trump as their choice. More than twice the support of his nearest competitor.

That lead, that's the largest Republican Caucus lead recorded by this poll in Iowa since the 2000 contest won by George W. Bush. And take a look at this. Among Trump supporters nationally right now, a CBS- YouGov poll finds that Trump supporters believe what he says is true over any other source, including even their own family and friends.

Joining me right now is CNN Political Commentator Scott Jennings. And Jamal Simmons. It's good to see you, guys. Scott, let's talk about the polling against the backdrop of the coming debate and what people can glean from it.

You've got the polling -- we've just -- got the polling that we just laid out. You've also got the CNN poll of polls that finding that Trump tops his closest rival by 40 points in an average of recent polls. If that is what they're looking at going into this debate, what do they -- what do they need -- what do they need to do? How do they change that on the debate stage?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, the challenge for the people on the debate stage is the challenge that we've been talking about since the beginning. And that's the fragmentation of the non- Trump portion of the electorate. If you look at the Iowa survey you mentioned you've got you know, some 60 percent of Republicans who aren't with Trump right now.

But if you divide all of that up among other people, it's very hard to beat someone that has, you know, over 40 percent of the vote, which Trump does have. So, the people on the stage want to supplant Ron DeSantis as the principal choice of the non-Trump portion of the party. And so, I think the knives will be out for DeSantis.

And for DeSantis, he needs a minute here to reassert his dominance. You know, he has been at the top of this heap since we started. But there's blood in the water right now. He's faced like a barrage of $20 million in attack ads. Although the Iowa survey shows his favorables are still quite high, what he needs is a narrative reset that he and not someone else is the principal way to take out Donald Trump if that's your inclination.

BOLDUAN: And, Jamal, also in the CBS News poll of likely Republican primary voters, that also said majorities not only -- most of them likely to support Donald Trump, but the majority say that there aren't currently even considering eight of the 11 Trump rivals tested in the poll. And I keep thinking like, what can you do to change this?

JENNINGS: Yes. The CBS national poll --

JAMAL SIMMONS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: First of all, you've got a carve-out --

JENNINGS: -- was really good. It's a great --

BOLDUAN: Oh, hold on, Scott. Go ahead, Jamal.

SIMMONS: First of all, you got to carve out a different lane. That's OK, Scott. We'll have enough time to get back and forth over time.

First of all, you got a car by a different lane here. You can't just run for president taking swipes at Vivek Ramaswamy. You know, likely, Donald Trump is the one who's on the ballot. He's the one that definitely to go after it.

Listen, whether he shows up or not, he -- because you know, he's Gulliver, and the rest of these folks are the little precious. Like he really is the biggest giant here. Whether he shows up at the debate or not, he is going to be on the menu. He is going to be the one that we're all going to be talking about. What if you do, how did it happen, whether or not it worked, if he -- if he made the right call.

And Trump and MAGA-ism is what's on the ballot here for the Republicans. Whichever one of these candidates comes up, the ones who are at the top, we know it's going to be a MAGA candidate. And we also know the majority of Americans aren't really in favor of that.

We got 53 percent of Americans in the AP-NORC poll who said they won't even consider voting for Donald Trump. Definitely won't vote for Donald Trump. Another 11 percent say they probably won't vote for Donald Trump. That's 64 percent. If you have that number of people who vote against the Republican candidate, that's a colossal failure for governors, mayors, senators, everybody up and down the line.

BOLDUAN: But let me ask then this, that's Jamal's take on what's going to be kind of like on the ballot and kind of on the menu of things to take on when you're -- when they're on the debate stage though, Scott. In Trump's absence, the top target, as you mentioned, does become Ron DeSantis. His campaign put out a new debate memo was revealed. And this is what he -- Ron DeSantis's campaign says about his rivals.

The first debate is their biggest chance yet to grab headlines by attacking the governor, so we know they will try their best. In contrast, Governor DeSantis's objective in this debate will be to lay out his vision to beat Joe Biden, reverse American decline, and revive the American dream.

That memo in stark contrast to conversations you and I have had, Scott, about the one published by the big super PAC supporting DeSantis, which said that he needed to go after Ramaswamy, hit him with a hammer, and also then defend Donald Trump against attacks from Chris Christie. What is it? Is this cleanup on aisle DeSantis?

[11:45:02]

JENNINGS: Well, I think DeSantis is suffering from the fact that virtually every corner of the American political spectrum whether you're Trump, never-Trump, Democrats, media, everybody's been piling on to Ron DeSantis. He's faced 20 million in a -- in attack ads. And this is really the first big chance for him to talk about what he wants to do and why he's running in his own words.

So, as much as attacking anyone else on the debate stage, that's what I would advise him to do. I know he's getting a lot of advice from his outside helpers and stuff but the bottom line for DeSantis is one of the problems plaguing him is he's being defined by everyone else. This is a chance to define yourself, which mostly means talking about why you're running and what you want to do as president. That's his best course of action, in my opinion.

BOLDUAN: And, Jamal, I mean, you talk about what -- the fact that Trumpism and MAGA-ism is what's on the ballot, in your view. What do you think the impact would be or will be if Trump ends up skipping all of the debates?

SIMMONS: Here's the danger for Donald Trump in all of that. You're asking a quite complicated question. Of course, you do because you're asking.

The challenge for Donald Trump here is that there's -- campaigns are like kindling. Like every one of these candidates, it's like a little piece of kindling. And you never quite know when that kindling is going to catch fire.

So, if he's not present, everybody's coming after him and going after each other, somebody might have a breakout moment. He won't be on stage to try to arrest that moment or steal that moment back from the person, which he's really good at. And that's the point where he gets to be in trouble because somebody might have a breakout and then they begin to rise in the polls, and he's not there to stop it.

BOLDUAN: That's interesting. Scott, one thing that you've been wondering we've talked about is the concept of a conviction for Donald Trump being a red line for some sectors of Republican voters. I want to play for you what Republican Senator Bill Cassidy said yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R-LA): We may have a candidate for president who has been convicted of a crime. I think Joe Biden needs to be replaced. But I don't think Americans will vote for someone who's been convicted. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Do you think the candidates should be making that argument on the debate stage?

JENNINGS: I think someone likely Chris Christie will say there's every reason to believe that Donald Trump could become the de facto nominee of the party in March. And by the time we nominate him formally at the convention, he could be a convicted felon. Some 70 percent of Americans in the Quinnipiac survey last week said a convicted felon should not be eligible to be president. And that included 58 percent of Republicans. It would make it almost a metaphysical certainty that he couldn't get elected president if he were convicted of a felony.

I think someone will say it. Whether it's one of the more you know, Trump-centric type candidates, I doubt it. But someone on that stage is going to say it and they would be well-founded to say it. The polling is fairly obvious more than half the party agrees with what Senator Cassidy said.

BOLDUAN: Quite a moment. Good to see you, Scott. Good to see you, Jamal. Let's see what happens when that debate starts. Sara?

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Still to come. Millions of people under flood watches across the Southwest at this hour. Daylight is revealing the toll Tropical Storm Hilary has taken on California and Arizona. A look at that damage and the storm's path, that's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:52:38]

SIDNER: From Southern California, Idaho, 16 million people are under flood watches right now after a historic storm, dangerous flooding, mudslides, even an earthquake in California. Hilary now a post- tropical cyclone drenched Palm Springs with six months of rain in just six hours. Golf courses there now lakes. And then there's this magnitude 5.1 quake that also shook parts of southern California as the storm-battered that region.

CNN's Stephanie Elam is joining us from Cathedral City, just East of Palm Springs. And you're in a different spot than we saw you earlier where your boots were sinking into the mud. What's going on in that neighborhood?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's still sinking in the mud over here, Sara. I can't -- I can't lie. It's still very gross.

Look at this. Because I'm at a pretty big intersection. This would be a normally very busy intersection here. You see that there's basically a little pond here, and you see that that road looks like it's not a road, it looks just like complete mud.

And what we have been seeing are that people are out here thinking that it would be fun to drive through this. And we did see a truck. It's starting to get lower, and they plowed through here a little bit. We saw a truck, come through here and made it through. And they were all very excited, except for when they got down there where the police officers are, and now they're sitting on the curb. So, this is the reason why they don't want people out here. They don't want people coming out here thinking this is fun and getting stuck because that takes resources away from people who really need it.

And let me tell you, there are a lot of people who need it. I mean, it looked back this way. All I have to do is turn around and I can show you that there are more cars that are stuck. They're clearing out some of the road down there but there's still semis truck. There's a police car stuck down there.

I talked to one man, Jay Bublitz. He's been out all night helping people get their cars out or at least save themselves. Take a listen to what he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY BUBLITZ, DESERT HOTSPRING RESIDENT: Cars floating especially up by Varner and Monterey, is it? And there's cars -- that road is almost washed out. Plus, you have the power plant right there.

And people were trying to cross it. Saw the sheriff actually couldn't get across it, so I took them across so they can block the road off. But yes, there's people stuck everywhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELAM: But he's got a Jeep with a winch and a snorkel so that he could go through that. But even he was not willing to drive down this road. He's like that I know that will stop my car. So, he wasn't going to go down here.

But he was helping out police officers overnight. Resources are thin here and they want people to stay off the roads because obviously, now that the sun is up, there's a lot of work to do. A lot of cleaning up that needs to happen here, Sara.

[11:55:10]

SIDNER: Stephanie Elam, John Berman has something he'd like to say to you.

BERMAN: Yes. I'm just curious. You're standing in this mud. What's the consistency of it, Stephanie? What does it feel like in your hands?

BOLDUAN: That's just --

ELAM: Oh, right. Yes. You know what? John, I'm going to package them up and send them to New York. And then you can tell me exactly what it feels like. But I can tell you on the outside of my boots, here, let me show you this.

SIDNER: She's not going in there.

ELAM:" On the outside of my boots, it actually feels like cement and like -- it's just bad. It's gross. But yes, I'll report back to John.

SIDNER: Don't think it's funny.

BERMAN: There goes the front-end loader. Stephanie Elam, you had talked that perfectly.

SIDNER: She went away. And there's a reason for that because this hour, her photographer Mike Love got completely covered in mud because the car went by. So, did his car.

Throw that picture up just real quick. Stephanie Elam, you're the best. Thank you so much. Thank you to Mike Love who's out there with you. And to Sarah Moon.

That is our crew car. So, I think the company needs to pay for a full cleaning there. What do you think?

BERMAN: And new slacks.

BOLDUAN: There you go.

SIDNER: And new pants.

BOLDUAN: Thank you so much for joining us, everybody. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. "INSIDE POLITICS" is up next.

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