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Idalia On Track To Make Landfall As Cat Three Hurricane; Biden Unveils First Drugs Chosen For Medicare Price Negotiation; Judge Asks For Additional Briefs On Mark Meadows' Bid To Move Georgia Election Case To Federal Court. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired August 29, 2023 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): From your house, so please use that appropriately. There's obviously a need for power generation in these circumstances. We understand that. But make sure that that's being done outside and that there's no exhaust coming into your house. We're going to be heading back after this to Tallahassee to continue with preparation efforts. In the meantime, we'll hear from Director Guthrie, Director Morgan, and CFO Jimmy Patronis.

KEVIN GUTHRIE, DIRECTOR, FLORIDA DIVISION OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Thank you, Governor. And thank you for your continued support and leadership in this disaster. I'm going to pick up where the governor left off about generator safety. Again, please make sure that that's 20 feet outside your home. I know that we've had a couple of times where we have --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: All right, you're hearing emergency officials there following Governor Ron DeSantis in Florida talking about this hurricane that as you can see is just barreling towards the west coast of Florida. One of the things that was really interesting there that the governor is warning about is the potential -- the potential for as this storm is heading there up into kind of that Big Bend area that catcher's mitt, we've heard it referred to, there is a potential for the storm to make a little bit of a left turn and head more towards Tallahassee.

His point there is that don't think that if you are there in the Panhandle, you are there in Northern Florida that you are out of trouble. He's saying everyone should be prepared in case this storm does make a turn. And he's telling people, look, you should be prepared to lose power and you need to get out of the way of the storm surge.

You don't have to go far but you have to get far enough away to get out of that storm surge. 10 to 15 feet in some areas. We're talking about a lot of water. And that water can be very deadly.

We've got our CNN team tracking every angle of the storm. I want to start with CNN's Chad Myers, who was in the weather center. Chad, we heard a lot of warnings, they're very good warnings including that one about generators. You cannot operate a generator inside of your house.

And so many times we see people making it through the storm and afterwards, that is actually the thing that will get them in trouble. So, certainly a good warning there. But tell us what you're tracking.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We're tracking now a 90-mile-per-hour storm. This storm is intensifying now. It does have an eye, but it's hard to see from the Key West radar because by the time the radar gets there, the earth because it's round, is falling away from the radar site. And so, we're 30,000 feet in the sky by the time the radar beam goes.

But what we can see without any distinction here are the lightning strikes now right near the eye wall. That means that the storms around the eye are getting stronger. That's always an indication of a storm -- any storm getting stronger there around the eye wall, and that's where the lightning is.

Already had a wind gust in St. Petersburg of 44 miles per hour. Already had two tornado warnings because of landfalling waterspouts very near Marco Island. So yes, all the things that we talked about earlier about the big storms to the east on the outer leg there, of the storm, but obviously everybody looks at the center of the cone but there are so many things away from the hundreds of miles both ways. There will be power outages from the center of where this cone goes.

And the governor was also talking about the storm surge. This is a big storm surge. This is five meters high or up to five -- 15 feet high.

So, this water is not going to come in like a tsunami. It's going to be wave after wave after wave. Each successive wave getting a little bit higher.

So, these towns that he was talking about. Cedar Key, Steinhatchee, all the way up towards St. Marks in really the way of this 15-foot potential surge. You need to get out of those areas. I know storm chasers want to be there to see it. I don't recommend it at all. Not with a storm like this.

This is time to get away from the water for sure. 125-mile-per-hour winds right there on the shore, talked about Tallahassee. A city that's full of trees, live oaks, pine trees, airy, these trees are going to come down, power lines are going to come down. And I'm telling you the power is going to be out for weeks in some spots because there will just be too many trees to get out of the way, too many lines to put back up before you can actually get it.

So, prepare, almost like camping for the next two weeks in places if you decide to stay. Without power, it really does feel like camping. You kind of cook outside on a charcoal grill. You do all these things without -- sometimes without water because with the power's out sometimes, the water can be out as well. So, this is kind of the time to prepare. The models have all really agreed. We talked about that potential turn to the left as the governor talked about or the potential turn to the right. The potential turn to the right is more likely just because that's where the trend is going. But the trend is still pretty much your friend here.

If it does decide to turn a little bit to the right the deal is -- the problem is that when you have a parallel almost parallel to the coastline five Degrees difference brings all the way over here, compared to five Degrees difference on landfall here, doesn't move it. Maybe more than five miles.

[14:05:08]

But when you have a landfall that's really very, very parallel to the coast, that's when you get in trouble with these little slight wobbles like Charlie or like Ian. Just little tiny wobbles when you're paralleling the coast make a very, very big difference, Brianna.

KEILAR: Thank you so much, Chad, for taking us through that. We'll be checking back in with you, of course. Jim?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: Idalia has already been through Cuba, and some areas of Western Cuba got more than four inches of rain overnight. Maybe they're still without power. Check out this time-lapse video out of Havana. Heavy rainfall making Cuba's capital just vanish as conditions were shouldn't -- worsen there.

CNN's Patrick Oppmann is there in Cuba. And I wonder, Patrick, was it as bad as advertised as it came through?

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, we shot that timeline video, right, where I'm standing up this morning. And it was somewhat surreal to look out and all of a sudden have the city not be there anymore. And I think, you know, on the island that is so used to hurricanes, people certainly took precautions.

But you know, you hear a tropical storm. We've all gone through that many, many times. And yet, here we are, hundreds of thousands of people without power now in an area that was hard-hit by a hurricane last year.

So, even a glancing blow can land sometimes pretty hard, Jim. And you know, for the people whose houses were got -- were flooded, who may not have powered out for days or weeks, you know, probably feels like a direct hit. And so, you know, nearly 10,000 people were evacuated late last night. Well, that was the final number we heard. We know now that, you know, most of the western Cuba is without power. Officials working on getting the power back on but that is going to be a very slow process.

And flooding throughout much of (INAUDIBLE) from Havana west of this island. So you know, for an island that is frankly, as poor as this one is lacking in resources you know, if you get all your belongings wet, if you have a water come through your roof, it feels pretty catastrophic.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

OPPMANN: But you have to remind people watching, Jim, that what Cuba faced was a far less powerful storm than what Floridians are going to have arriving very, very soon. So, even a tropical storm -- even a category one can be catastrophic.

SCIUTTO: Yes. And the difference, of course, between a glancing blow and a direct hit. Patrick Oppmann, in Havana, Cuba, thanks so much. Our Carlos Suarez is right in the path of the storm, might not be quite a direct tip, but it's certainly going to get a hit.

In Tampa, storm surge, the real threat there. I wonder how much are they expecting? And what can you do really in preparation for that?

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. That's right, Jim. So, the biggest concern going into tomorrow is going to be the flooding as a result of this storm surge. The forecasting right now is calling for anywhere between four to seven feet of it. And so you can imagine that some of these low-lying areas in the Tampa Bay area will most likely flood.

We're live right now alongside the river -- alongside the bay out here. And I can show you exactly the concern going into the storm out here. You can see exactly where the water level is right now.

We expect that this time tomorrow, we'll have all of this storm surge, we're going to have all of this rain and then we're also going to have to figure in high tide. And so you can see why the concern is that as this hurricane makes its way off the coast of the Tampa Bay area, we are going to experience some sort of flooding. Tampa General Hospital, just on the other side of where we are, they have already put up their flood gates. We're told that that can handle a storm surge of up to 15 feet.

Again, we're expecting maybe half of that to take place. There are two mandatory evacuation orders that have gone out in this part of the state. Over in Pinellas County, the St. Pete Clearwater area, there was one mandatory evacuation order there.

The other is right here in Hillsborough County, which is home to the Tampa Bay area. The city's mayor had a news conference earlier today where she talked about some of these preparations that are now underway. Here's a bit of what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANE CASTOR, MAYOR OF TAMPA. FLORIDA: What we say is you hide from the wind and run from the water. So, if you can just go in 10, 20 miles inland where the water won't be an issue, that's what we are advising to all of our residents.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SUAREZ: And in anticipation of whatever effects come this way, they have opened up hurricane shelters in Hillsborough County. We're told up to 20,000 people can be housed at these locations, Right now, at least in this part of downtown Tampa Bay, what they want is folks that live in this low-lying part of town to go ahead and try to get more inland. Jim and Brianna.

SCIUTTO: Hide from the wind. Run from the water. Carlos Suarez in Tampa -- Carlos Suarez, in Tampa, thanks so much. Brianna.

[14:10:04]

KEILAR: So, right now, there are some huge concerns about the small island of Cedar Key there in Florida, which could take a direct hit and face life-threatening storm surge. Here's the Deputy Director of the National Hurricane Center with a dire warning for Cedar Key residents.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMIE RHOME, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: Look at the values up here in the Big Bend here. Eight to 12 feet along the Nature Coast. And Cedar Key -- Cedar Key is right smack in the middle of that area. I'm especially concerned for them.

If you're watching from Cedar Key, it is imperative that you take this very seriously. And in order to evacuate, heed those evacuations immediately. The entire island could be completely cut off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: And we are now learning that number could be even higher, perhaps 10 to 15 feet. Joining us now is Eric Jungklaus. He is the owner of Tony's Seafood restaurant, which is on Cedar Key.

Eric, thank you so much for being with us. You're dealing with so much right now. You have moved away from Cedar Key. You've heard the warnings. Can you tell us a little bit about how you prepared the restaurant and how you prepared yourself?

ERIC JUNGKLAUS, OWNS RESTAURANT ON CEDAR KEY, FLORIDA: Well, basically, we've done this before. Seven years ago, we had Hermine, in 2016. And the tidal surge was really bad. It got into the restaurant waist-high. So, we've been down this road before. We do realize the seriousness of this and all of our employees are out of town and safe.

KEILAR: Which is very good news. So, you've dealt with this before. Waist high water from storm surge before. Now, we're looking at -- you heard that eight to 12 feet warning, it looks like it may be even a little higher 10 to 15 feet if the worst of this hit Cedar Key. What do you think that would look like going through Cedar Key, through your restaurant? What is that going to look like?

JUNGKLAUS: Well, the big problem is the infrastructure of Cedar Key is really old, and a lot of wood, a lot of older structures may have some issues standing up to the high winds and of course, this tidal surge that we're really faring right now.

KEILAR: Right now, Levy County where Cedar Key is, is under mandatory evacuation orders. It sounds like the folks who work at your restaurant have heeded that. Do you feel like most residents of Cedar Key have heeded that? Do you know anyone who's writing this out or planning to be on the island?

JUNGKLAUS: I actually do know one that said that he's going to try to hang in there. He doesn't live right in the main area where the water is, but there's always going to be diehards people that are going to try to hang it out.

You know, Cedar Key over the years has had a lot of storms. And it's a very resilient town. Everybody that's there knows a lot of this and has always heeded the proper warnings. I do believe that we're going to have some pretty bad damage in that town, but I do think that we will snap back.

KEILAR: You obviously know the island very well. You're the former president of the Chamber of Commerce there. What are you most worried about? You're talking about damage there, but what are you most worried about in terms of the town's vulnerabilities?

JUNGKLAUS: Well, it's truly low-lying. The proximity to the seawater rushing in. It's pretty devastating.

And all of our businesses are commerce businesses over on the waterfront. Fortunately, Tony's, our business -- our businesses in the downtown section so we're not really on the water, but we're going to get it anyway more than likely. And we sandbagged and we've done everything we can but honestly, it's up to Mother Nature and it is what it is.

But like I said, Cedar Key is a very resilient town. It has stood the test of time for hundreds of years of storms. And we'll come back and we'll persevere and we'll be back running again before you know it.

KEILAR: Well, Eric, I love your attitude and I'm so glad that you're in a safe place talking to us. We do appreciate your time today and we wish you the best of luck. Thank you so much.

JUNGKLAUS: Thank you.

KEILAR: Jim?

SCIUTTO: Drug companies are preparing for a battle with the White House after President Biden revealed the drugs that he wants to negotiate Medicare prices on. We're going to have the details just ahead.

And the FBI is working to track more than a dozen Uzbek nationals who crossed the southern border by an ISIS-link smuggler. More on that next.

And later, Russian state media releases rare footage of wrongfully detained American Paul Whelan. You are watching CNN NEWS CENTRAL. And we'll be right back.

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[14:19:18]

KEILAR: President Biden is about to speak. Right now, the vice president is speaking about a major step that his administration is taking to lower healthcare costs. Today, they announced the first- person option drugs whose prices will be negotiated by Medicare.

And this is a list that includes medications that millions of seniors take. Some of them spending thousands of dollars on them. This historic new power was authorized by the Inflation Reduction Act, and pharmaceutical groups are suing to block it.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is at the White House following this for us. OK, Jeremy, which medications is this going to affect and when are people actually going to see these prices drop?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, they've just announced 10 drugs. That will be the first round of drugs to be negotiated between Medicare and these drug companies.

[14:20:05]

And these are all common drugs that are used to train -- treat a range of conditions, everything from heart disease to cancer, diabetes, and much more. I think we have the list of those 10 drugs that we can put on the screen. But these drugs are responsible for about $3.4 billion of out-of-pocket expenses by Medicare recipients just in the last year.

Now, when will this go into effect? Over the next year, the drug companies and Medicare will negotiate the prices of these drugs and then it won't be until 2026 that Medicare recipients will actually start to see those new prices kick in.

But at that time, the White House estimates that these drug price negotiations will impact as many as nine million Americans by that time. And then over the coming years, they will add more drugs to the list. 15 more drugs then the year after that, 15 after that, and then it'll be 20 drugs per year in those subsequent years.

KEILAR: Drug companies, as I mentioned, are fighting this, Jeremy. Could that derail this?

DIAMOND: Yes. Look, Brianna. There are eight federal lawsuits currently being brought against the administration questioning the legality of this program. These lawsuits are being brought by pharmaceutical companies as well as trade association groups. I asked the president's domestic policy advisor, Neera Tanden, today about those lawsuits and whether she's concerned about any of them, here's her answer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEERA TANDEN, WHITE HOUSE DOMESTIC POLICY ADVISOR: We are very confident in the law, and we should recognize there is no part of the Constitution that prohibits Medicare drug negotiation. So, we are very confident and -- in these cases, very confident that the law will deliver results. And just important to remember that basically what pharma is arguing in these court cases is that they should have -- they should have no limit to be able to charge whatever they want. And that is exactly why Americans support Medicare drug negotiation by 80 percent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: So, Brianna, you can hear there. The White House certainly seems confident in the legality of this program and the firm legal grounds upon which they are standing here. But it is nonetheless an open question over these next couple of years.

Will any of these lawsuits derail this program? And also, will Republican lawmakers who have sought to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act? This is a key provision of that law. Will they perhaps derail this program? But the White House points out that this is a program, drug -- Medicare drug pricing negotiation that is deeply popular with the American public and they believe that it will stand. Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes. And seniors who both parties rely on it would be very hard for them to see their drug prices drop, and then have someone increase them. Certainly, something the White House is banking on. Jeremy Diamond, live for us at the White House, thank you. Jim?

SCIUTTO: Today, there are serious new concerns about an emerging group of synthetic opioids, potentially more potent even than fentanyl. Also, more resistant to -- resistant to life-saving medication that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.

CNN Health Reporter Jacqueline Howard has looked into the study. And, Jacqueline, first, I have to wonder why. I mean, why such powerful synthetic opioids? What are they for?

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Well, Jim, what I can tell you this subclass of synthetic opioids that we're talking about here are called Nitazines. And what we do know about them, they're about a thousand times more potent than morphine. And in comparison, another powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl is about one hundred times more potent than morphine.

So, that's a significant difference here. And what we have learned in this new study that just came out today, Jim. Researchers looked at data on emergency department patients who were hospitalized for an overdose. And they found that those patients who were using Nitazines at the time of their overdose actually needed more doses of a medication called Naloxone to treat their overdose in comparison with patients who are using fentanyl.

So, specifically, the study found about 36 percent of fentanyl patients received two or more doses of Naloxone compared with about 67 percent of Nitazine patients. So the takeaway here, Jim, is that it -- if clinicians see more of these Nitazine patients, there is this possibility that they may need more doses of Naloxone because of our understanding of really the potency here when it comes to Nitazines, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Goodness. Concerning given already, there's a tremendous cost of opioids as we know them.

HOWARD: It is concerning.

SCIUTTO: Jacqueline Howard, thanks so much.

And this is just into CNN. The federal judge -- district judge who is hearing Mark Meadows' request to move the Georgia election subversion case from state to federal court now says he wants an additional briefing from both parties on Meadows' bid. CNN's Sara Murray is with us now.

And, Sara, this is notable here because it appears the judge is open reading this to both sides of the argument. Open, at least for now. So, what happens now?

[14:25:10]

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes. I mean, he obviously heard a lot yesterday, what was the full-day hearing, but there is more he wants to know about the law from both sides in this case. He's basically saying, look, this indictment is charging Mark Meadows you know with racketeering. He lays out a number of acts that are overt acts, essentially in furtherance of this conspiracy. And he says, look, if one of these acts relates to Mark Meadows' official duties, his duties as White House Chief of Staff, is that enough for him to be able to move this case against him to federal court or does that not meet the threshold?

And he's asking Mark Meadows' attorneys as well as the Fulton County District Attorney's office to weigh in on this. And he's asking for them to do it by 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, which is an indication for everyone who's been looking for time and guidance of when may the judge rule that we're not likely to get his opinion on this matter any time before Friday. Again, arraignments are set in this case for September 6.

Those may be done in person. Those may be done remotely. They may be waived entirely. But the judge is aware that Meadows wants him to rule on this in a speedy fashion and he wants some more answers to some of his outstanding legal questions before the -- before he does.

SCIUTTO: Yes. We'll see if these questions now telegraph his potential decision here. Sara Murray, thanks so much. Brianna.

KEILAR: So officials have been warning that hurricane Idalia would strengthen and that it would strengthen quickly. We have details next on how climate change is changing how these storms develop. We'll have that. And between the hurricane taking aim at Florida and the upcoming holiday weekend, gas prices could spike once again.

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