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Mandatory Evacuation Orders Issued For Parts of Pasco County, Florida; Idalia May Become Category 3 Hurricane As It Makes Its Way To Florida; Two People Injured In A Fire Rescue Helicopter Crash In Florida; $7.1M Raised By Trump Campaign Since Georgia Mug Shot; Interview With Former Republican Strategist And Former Chief Strategist For Romney Presidential Campaign Stuart Stevens; Ramaswamy Unveils Foreign Policy Platform. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired August 28, 2023 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: All right. Still coming up for us, tracking tropical storm Idalia. Emergency officials warning of storm surge that could swell to more than seven feet. And also, the possibility of tornadic activity on Florida's Guld Coast. Just ahead, we are checking on the storm's latest track with less than 48 hours until landfall. We'll be right back.

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN, the world's news network.

[10:35:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN NEW DAY WEEKEND ANCHOR: So, in the next hour, the National Hurricane Center will release an updated track on tropical storm Idalia. It's taking aim at Florida right now as it gathers strength in the warm waters of the gulf.

This is expected to be category 3 hurricane when it makes landfall on Wednesday. Emergency officials are warning that the storm could also cause tornadic activity. And just last hour, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis urged people to get to higher ground. Listen.

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REP. RON DESANTIS (R-FL), U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A lot of people thought it would end up being a tropical storm. Then they said, well, maybe a category 1. Then yesterday, well, so, maybe it will hit cat 2. Now, there really doesn't seem anything to prevent it from continuing to strengthen. It is going to be a major impact, and Floridians should expect that this storm will be a major cat 3 plus hurricane.

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SANCHEZ: Meteorologist Derek Van Dam has the latest forecast from the CNN Weather Center. Derek, what should we expect? What should people prepare for? DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST AND AMS CERTIFIED METEOROLOGIST: Yes, this is what people need to know right now, Boris. Just like the governor said, this will be a major hurricane upon landfall, that means 115-mile-hour winds plus. This is your last full day to prepare for this. If you are in the state of Florida, we expect the tropical storm force winds to move across the peninsula throughout the day tomorrow.

And by the way, it's not just Florida, that's the more immediate threat. But we have to remember that Georgia into the Carolinas, you will be impacted by the storm later into the future. So, here's the earliest arrival time of tropical storm force winds, remember, you can't put up hurricane shutters in tropical storm force winds. It's impossible. We've already started to see some of those mandatory evacuations for zone A in -- hoisted for places like Pinellas County, for instance.

65 mile per hour winds, this is important. It's moving north at eight miles per hour. And at the moment, it's battling a lot of upper-level shears. So, it's keeping the center, kind of, sheared off at the top and that's going to limit the strengthening of Idalia going forward for the next 24 hours. But trust me, there is a lot of warm water associated with this system and that will allow for strengthening as it approaching the big bend and the west coast of the Florida Peninsula.

We do anticipate a major hurricane to sit offshore just throughout the day on Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. Here's a look at the storm surge potential, of course, there's also flood threat, severe weather threat as well. Boris.

SANCHEZ: We will keep an eye on that updated forecast. Derek Van Dam from the Weather Center, thank you so much. Rahel.

SOLOMON: All right. Boris, thank you.

And coming up for us, Former President Trump is raising millions off his historic mugshot. But will his mounting legal problems ever hurt his campaign or will voters look the other way? We'll discuss, coming up next.

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[10:40:00]

SANCHEZ: Some news just in to CNN, two people were taken to a hospital after a fire rescue helicopter crashed this morning in Pompano Beach, Florida. The crash happening just after 8:45 a.m. We want you to take a look at this stunning video, you see the trail of smoke emerging from the tail of the helicopter as it starts a sudden tailspin and then eventually crashes on the roof of a building.

Let's get straight to CNN's Pete Muntean who's live for us Dulles International Airport. Pete, bring us the latest.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is breaking right now, Boris. We are getting pretty scant details, but we can see in that video some really key clues here as to what happened in this crash. This Broward County Sheriff's Department fire rescue helicopter, it's an EC-135 is the type of the helicopter. You can see in that video of the left side of the helicopter, something apparently on fire. The helicopter trailing some smoke.

And then this is where it gets really hard to watch. The pylon that goes out to the tail rotor, so critical in a helicopter to keep it flying straight breaks into two. And then the helicopter, the forces of the rotor, the main rotor just overcome it and it spins out of control. We're also getting video from the scene now of the helicopter's impact right over there in an apartment building. Still not clear if the two people who have been taken to the hospital were those on the ground or those in the helicopter. A very grisly crash.

This helicopter type has a very good safety record. Two engines on board. Built by Airbus and Eurocopter. It's been around for a long time. 2,000 of them out there. The flight path, though, tells a really distinct story here. You can see it from ATSB exchange, as the helicopter took off 8:45 this morning from the Pompano Beach Airpark, pretty busy airport there, a lot of flight training. They went out to the west, only gotten to about 650 feet, very low. And then immediately tried to make a turn back east to the airport when this accident so very clearly happened.

Still getting in information now -- right now, Boris. But the video, very hard to watch. It's so clear that this helicopter was out of control. Not much that the pilots could really do, especially without a tail rotor. It is so hard to keep a helicopter flying straight without it, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Yes, tough to look at these images. And specifically, the overhead view of the building that it landed on. Pretty clear that there was some kind of fire once it landed. We saw firefighters hitting the structure with water. Pete Muntean from Dulles, please keep us posted on the latest. Thanks, Pete.

Rahel.

SOLOMON: All right. And also happening now, two key hearings are under way, one in D.C., the other in Fulton County, Georgia where Former President Donald Trump had his mug shot taken last week.

[10:45:00]

And since then, the Trump campaign says that they have raised $7.1 million since Trump surrendered at the Fulton County Jail. The day after his arrest was the highest grossing day for his campaign ever.

Joining us, Former Republican Strategist and Former Chief Strategist for the Romney presidential campaign, Stuart Stevens. He's also the author of "The Conspiracy to End America: Five Ways My Old Party Is Driving Our Democracy to Autocracy."

Stuart, welcome and good morning. You know, part of that big fundraising pool is the mug shot merchandise that his team has put out, the Trump's team has put out. Is there, from your perspective, a tipping where the mounting legal problems start to negatively impact his campaign efforts?

STUART STEVENS, FORMER REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I think we have to look at it into two different universes. A universe of Republican primary voters and the universe of the rest of us. I think that if you get into the mind of the Republican primary voters, they have been told that there is a conspiracy against them, that there is a deep state, that their votes were stolen which a lot of them believe, that we have an illegal president.

And this is just further efforts, one enough just to steal the election, you have to go out now and try to stop the man who should be president from becoming the next president. Now, to most of us, that sounds stark raving and saying. It's been disputed by every court. There are no secretary of state in America, Republican or Democrat, who says that there was any serious problems with their elections. But if you believe that, there is a logical chain that lead you to believe the Donald Trump, the more he's persecuted, the more he's indicted, the more you should support him. And I think that's what you're seeing reflected here.

SOLOMON: Stuart, you told our producers that it's a mistake to compare Trump's campaign to other normal campaigns. He is the campaign.

STEVENS: Yes.

SOLOMON: Tell me more.

STEVENS: Well, you know, I worked in five different presidential campaigns on the Republican side. And they have a lot similarities, there's a lot of structure to them. You have campaign staffs with advanced teams and with messaging teams and voter contact teams. The Trump campaign really has bn been existing without all of that. He is the campaign.

When he goes out, he draws a crowd. He doesn't sit around and have meetings about what his message is, he just goes out and says it. So, I think if you compare, like all the money that DeSantis is spending now and his super PAC, it's just spending it on, sort of, structure and noise, and to try to look like a presidential campaign. Trump doesn't do that.

You know, in '16 when he ran, I've said, if Donald Trump wins, it means that everything that we know about politics is wrong. And as it turns out, everything we knew about politics was wrong. And I think he continues to break those rules. In '20, he was in a very difficult place for him because he was running as an incumbent who had to defend the record. And Donald Trump really had no idea what his record was. He's now back to being in a very comfortable space as an outsider.

That's probably like Ramaswamy, they're both outsiders. They can say, which is sort of, you know, another way of saying, they don't know what they're doing. But I think he likes to attack. He's got good targets and he is in a comfortable space now for him as a campaign. SOLOMON: Yes, I wanted to talk about Ramaswamy. He, of course, made waves at the GOP debate last week. He also made some comments about his foreign policy making those waves. But he also, this morning, officially rolled out his platform on the subject of foreign policy. He said he will accept Russian control of the occupied territories of Ukraine, and pledge to block Ukraine's candidacy for NATO in exchange for Russia exiting its military alliance with China. I will end sanctions and bring Russia back into the world market.

This policy of, essentially, punishing friends and rewarding enemies. I mean, how do you think this is going to play with Republican voters?

STEVENS: Well, you know, this is extraordinary disturbing. Ramaswamy is basically running on a pro-genocide campaign. You know, we forget about this but we should really look back. In 2016, the Russians, as every intelligence agrees and Republican-led U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee agrees, the Russians had a campaign to elect Donald Trump. Donald Trump won. What did they get? Well, what was -- for decades, the most consistent opponent to Russia and the Soviet Union is now the home of the pro-Putin movement in American politics. I think this is the most successful covert operation by a hostile foreign state in history.

So, Ramaswamy, when he says these things, he's basically functioning as a Russian agent. And he's saying the exact talking points of Putin, and it's extraordinary.

[10:50:00]

And if he's elected or Donald Trump is elected or Ron DeSantis he says, agrees with Putin that this is a regional dispute, it will be devastating for democracy. And -

SOLOMON: Yes. Well, it will be interesting to learn more. I mean, I think --

STEVENS: -- I just -- I just think it's such an extraordinary moment that we have people running for the United States presidency who are supporting Vladimir Putin.

SOLOMON: Yes. I mean, and yet after his performance at the GOP debate, we saw, you know, his favorability improved. I mean, it seems that he, you know, at least it resonated with some Republican voters out there. Stuart Stevens, we have to leave it here, but thank you for the time today.

Boris.

STEVENS: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Some major developments in two hearings underway right now involving the former president. We're hearing testimony from his Former Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows. We'll break down what he says, and how it could mean for his case. Coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SOLOMON: Welcome back. And the stage is set for some incredible showdowns at the U.S. Open, the fourth and final grand slam events of the year and tennis is under way in the big apple. And CNN's Sports Anchor Coy Wire joins us now. Coy, what's in store?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: What's up, Rahel. This year's U.S. Open gives us some potential epic clashes. Butting rivalries. We're at number one, Iga Swiatek is betting favorite to win the women's title, but American Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula, they're not far behind, they're doubles partners. 19-year-old Coco cruises into Queens on the hottest streak of her career. Winning two of the last three tourneys on the tour, beating Iga Swiatek for the first time along the way. Jessica Pegula won the other tournament, also beating Swiatek and she's made the quarterfinals that all four majors.

Now, fans will also be hoping to see another iteration of what's become an awesome rivalry. 20-year-old world number one, Carlos Alcaraz against the GOAT, Novak Djokovic. Head-to-head, they're tied to a peas. They've combined to win five straight majors. Djokovic's aiming for a 24th Grand Slam singles title, the time Margaret Court for the most all time.

And Rahel, you have to see this, little league world series championship for the ages.

[10:55:00]

El Segundo, California was up four against Curacao in the fifth inning. But Nasir El-Ossais launches a game tying grand slam. They say there's no mentum like momentum. But in the bottom of the six, lookout.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Challenge them and this game is over.

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WIRE: Louis Lappe is legend. A walk-off homerun making El Segundo the 18th from California to be crowned champs. There will be uprated (ph). They've gotten messages from LeBron and the Los Angeles Dodgers. They're riding high.

SOLOMON: So good. Coy, so many sports stories so much I want to talk to you about, but we're going to have to leave it here. Coy Wire, thank you.

WIRE: You got it.

SOLOMON: Boris.

SANCHEZ: We are following key hearings in two Trump cases. This morning, a judge rejecting proposed trial dates from both prosecutors and Trump legal team in his federal election subversion case. Plus, the latest from a crucial in his Georgia case. Some important testimony to tell you about when we come back in just a few moments. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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