Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Biden Speaks On Response To Idalia, Maui Wildfires; Idalia Now A Cat 1 Hurricane As It Batters South Georgia; Idalia Now Lashing Georgia After Slamming FL Big Bend Region; Mayor Chris Jones, Chiefland, Florida Discusses About State Condition Amid Hurricane Idalia; Giuliani Loses Defamation Lawsuit from Two GA Election Workers. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired August 30, 2023 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:00]

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I mean, my state is - when you have anything like hurricane in my state in Delaware and suburban - I mean in the eastern shore of Maryland. We're three feet above sea level, man.

You worry about what those surges do and that's - same thing still happening in Florida because you're talking about the high tide, low tide, adding three feet and so on. So, I found them all to be laser focused on what their needs were and I asked them, but I think they're reassured that we're going to be there for whatever they need including search and rescue off the shore of the Coast Guard and Coast Guard helicopters and the like.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President ...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mister President, a question for you about - you talked a lot about power lines and the - having stronger poles. I was curious, some power companies have talked about potentially shutting off power when there's a high wind incidence for vast parts of the their - the country.

And I'm wondering, do you think this is sort of an appropriate response by power companies or if you think that they should be working hard in their infrastructure more than just ending power when there's (inaudible) --

BIDEN: I think both. Look, I can - it's very expensive to secure these power lines, um both in terms of the actual structure. We look out there and you see these large towers carrying multiple wires and the wires are like that thick and they're - they're carrying an awful lot of energy. And sometimes those entire towers come down.

I am not expert enough to know when it makes - it's appropriate to shut down that line. And that's one of the reason why I think having the technology to have these meters on each of these facilities tells you where the danger is. So I can picture - I'm getting them beyond my expertise here, but -- UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So you're talking about huge numbers of Americans suddenly not having power because the company ...

BIDEN: Well --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... makes a determination that ...

BIDEN: Well, but by the way, we also how many huge number of Americans have died, how many huge number of Americans have - for example, more forest has been burned to the ground since I become and - the time I've been doing this, than the entire square miles of the state of Maryland. Imagine the entire state of Maryland burning to the ground.

That's how much has already burned to the ground. So, I think as we try to harden the capacity to transmit energy. It's not to make a judgment that you may have to in a certain circumstance shut off the power. I just don't know enough to know the detail on how to do that, I mean where that decision is made.

That's why we're starting off - I was talking with miss Sherwood- Randall (ph) who handles this for me about the need to put these meters along the - so we know where the power's going down, it may be able to shut off parts. I just don't know enough to know that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, are you concerned at all the potential government shutdown would impact the recovery efforts and what is your reaction to House Republicans who stated they're reaching a investigation into the federal response in Maui?

BIDEN: Well, I'm - I welcome a federal response in Maui. I think that they should go out and talk to every elected official from the mayors, to the governors, to the United States senators, to the congress persons. I welcome them.

And once they go out and see it, then I'm sure they're provide the money. Thank you all very much.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any concerns about ...

(CROSSTALK)

BIDEN: By the way, I just heard literally coming out and Mitch is a friend as you know, not a joke. We always - people don't believe that's the case, but we have disagreements politically but he's a good friend and so I'm going to try to get in touch with him later this afternoon. I don't know enough to know.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think (inaudible) ...

BIDEN: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... and should run for the election.

BIDEN: Are you ready?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am not, sir. BIDEN: Okay. Thank you.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Okay. So a couple things to deal with here, as the president heads towards a cabinet meeting to deal not only with what has been happening in Florida and is now happening in Georgia with Hurricane Idalia, currently a Category 1. This also has to do with what has happened on Maui.

But he was asked a question there about Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell who appeared to have another incident where he froze while speaking with reporters in Kentucky. He was asked about re-election, and he didn't respond, and he didn't seem capable of answering.

[15:05:00]

And the president there saying that he was going to go ahead and try to reach out to the senator. So obviously concerns that it's serious.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: Emphasizing that the two of them are friends. He had updates on the federal response to Hurricane Idalia, but also a lengthy one - lengthy - more lengthy, in fact, on the federal response to Maui. Talking about $400 million has been allocated for removing debris, a lot of concern there about debris in Maui contaminating the waters.

He says, "We're going to be with you every step of the way." That is pledged to the people of Hawaii.

On Florida, he said, no signs of politics between him and the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, who's, of course, running for president, for the GOP nomination for president and noted that President Biden approved an early request for an emergency declaration for Florida. We'll continue to follow all those updates there and we're going to update you as well on the moment with Mitch McConnell. We'll play some video for that later in this hour.

KEILAR: We will. And our breaking news coverage of Hurricane Idalia will continue.

Right now, flash flooding, a major threat as Idalia moves across South Georgia as a Category 1. Some parts of the state are already getting eight inches of rain just in the last several hours, really an extraordinary amount of rain there with much more expected as the storm crosses into South Carolina.

Hundreds of thousands of customers in Georgia and Florida are currently without power. Parts of Interstate 10 are shut down.

And in Florida, Gov. DeSantis says the city of Perry in the Big Bend area of the state has really suffered the most damage. Just take a look at this video out of Perry as the eye of the storm passed over here. The strong winds pushing over a gas station awning. We were expecting an update from Gov. DeSantis later this hour. We're going to bring that to you live.

We have CNN's Carlos Suarez, who is on scene in Gulfport, Florida. Carlos, some better weather behind you, but obviously they're dealing with some flooding there.

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's exactly right, Brianna.

So we are in Gulfport, that is in Pinellas County, just to the west of the Tampa Bay area, where the cleanup effort out here really is now getting underway. These two businesses on the corner here, this is a restaurant and then there's a pet supply store just next door.

The folks that own those two businesses came back to take a look at some of the damage here. They said it wasn't too bad. Both of those businesses said they got several inches of water from the bay just to my left out here, some of the storm surge, as you can see is very much still around.

High tide is underway here in this part of Pinellas County. And so we don't expect this water level to recede until around seven- or eight o'clock tonight. The mayor of Gulfport tells me that right now it seems a lot of the damage to this part of Pinellas County was the result of all of that flooding and that it really wasn't much of a wind event, though the public works department tells us that much of the roads going up and down where we are right now are still pretty much impassable, guys?

SCIUTTO: Our Carlos Suarez there in Gulfport, Florida, thanks so much. We also have Chad Myers, of course, in the Weather Center. He's been following this since the beginning. Tell us - we're still seeing the storm, Chad, churning over Florida as it heads towards South Carolina. Biggest threat is all that water, all that rainfall, I imagine.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, I think it's all freshwater flooding now. Also, I think we're probably going to see some salt water flooding into Charleston. I mean, Charleston floods on a sunny day sometimes, right? And then obviously we're talking about these king tides that are still around.

Yesterday, the highest tide of the year, really almost worldwide. For that matter, this is the threat at this point in time. Eight to ten inches of rainfall coming down in places that are a little bit topographic, not so much the low country of South Carolina or into Georgia.

But as you push some rain back up here, maybe toward Columbia, that water is going to have to run back down toward the ocean at some point. So onshore flow here, onshore flow here, so still seeing that wind trying to blow water into Naples.

Naples, you have your highest water level of the storm so far and it should been gone now for 24 hours for you. But you still have that push, the wind right onshore, keeping that number right at about five feet. So we know that at five feet, there are some waters in roadways in Naples.

So one - Category 1 right now, but then the thing is here, it follows the coastline for a very long time. So we're going to have this onshore flow all the way through South Carolina, possibly all the way as far as North Carolina.

And that repeated onshore flow and the waves, guess what else is out here in the Atlantic? The waves from Franklin, which was 150 mile per hour storm, are going to be added at times to the waves that come in from Idalia. Also the threat of some tornadoes, slight water spouts that can come onshore.

That's about the size of what you'll see today. No warnings out there right now, but certainly still some of the bigger cells are coming onshore in the low country of South Carolina and also now there's Vidalia, Georgia.

[15:10:04]

That's where you get your onions from, the sweet ones. And it's getting an awful lot of rain from Idalia. I don't find that interesting, but here you go, Brunswick to the west of you, that's where the eye is, right around Waycross, Georgia right now.

The rainfall coming down at rates of two to three inches per hour, and power lines are still coming down, 475,000 customers right now without power. The wind is still blowing. Many of those power companies say, we're not putting these things back up until this wind gets below 35. We're not putting our buckets in the air just yet. So that's going to take some time to fix that.

SCIUTTO: And you make a good point. I didn't think about Idalia, in effect, meeting Franklin on the other side, on the east coast of the - or the eastern seaboard there, something to keep conscious of the effects of those two storms.

Chad Myers in The Weather Center. Thanks so much.

MYERS: Right.

KEILAR: We are right now awaiting another update from Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, this hour on the state's latest rescue and recovery efforts. In one good sign, we know that the Tampa airport sustained minimal damage and that it is planning to reopen to inbound flights at 4 PM Eastern.

Let's talk now with Laura Wilcoxen. She is the Assistant Emergency Management Director for Pasco County, which is outside of Tampa. Laura, thank you so much for taking the time to be with us.

The airport partially opening next hour. Talk to us a little bit about what Pasco County is dealing with. I know that there were rescue teams getting calls from people who decided not to evacuate and they needed some medical care or to be rescued. What can you tell us?

LAURA WILCOXEN, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, PASCO COUNTRY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Right. Right around 6 AM this morning, we started to see the storm surge coming in. We were fortunate that overnight we were okay, but as soon as the water started to rise, we have about 6,000 homes that have been inundated with water. Many of them are - we're seeing have major damage. That means that we have water at least 18 inches or higher that have gone into these homes.

SCIUTTO: Are you getting the help you need? We just heard from the President now describing all sorts of federal help for those involved, including federal disaster declarations for the state of Florida and others, as well as federal personnel coming in, Coast Guard, et cetera. Are you - is your community getting the help you need from outside to respond and recover from this?

WILCOXEN: We've been very blessed. Everybody's been taking an extremely proactive approach. We've had representatives from the state that have been with us throughout the entire storm, as well as FEMA representatives already here in the EOC that are out helping conduct damage assessments right now.

KEILAR: What is the advice that you're giving people right now? I think - and we've been talking about this - people make it through the storm. They think the danger is no longer - that most of the danger has passed, but obviously there is a lot of danger after a storm as well. What do you want people to know?

WILCOXEN: We still have a lot of water coming into the Tampa Bay area. Make sure that you're not driving through any standing water. Turn around. Don't drown. If you need help, reach out to your local community. We have a lot of resources coming into the area and we're here to help you as you need.

KEILAR: Very good news. Laura Wilcoxen, thank you so much for taking the time. We know that you are incredibly busy there, thank you.

WILCOXEN: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Yes, for a lot of those folks, their work's just beginning. We will continue to monitor the latest on Hurricane Idalia. Storm surge has already topped some nine feet in parts of Florida, still rising. Stay with CNN special coverage. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:17:36]

KEILAR: We are following the latest on Hurricane Idalia. Mandatory evacuations have been taking place in more than two dozen Florida counties, that includes Levy County, which got hit hard by the storm.

SCIUTTO: Joining us now is Chris Jones, who is the mayor of Chiefland in Levy County, Florida.

Mayor, I know a lot of folks evacuated, so that takes some eyes off the ground there, but I know you have a lot of emergency responders out. What are they seeing in the wake of the storm?

MAYOR CHRIS JONES, CHIEFLAND, FLORIDA: Pretty much - we were blessed, I must say. Pretty much most of the damage we sustained was pretty minimal, mainly like a lot of limbs (ph) down in this area. Currently, we're still without power from - in certain areas from both electric companies, but right now we have - there's crews in, even some contract workers are in town trying to get power restored.

But overall, we fared pretty well. Like I said, most of the - what I've seen is just damages from limbs down, but we haven't sustained any major damage, at least not directly in the area where I'm at in Chiefland.

KEILAR: Are you getting any word from the coastal areas? I ask because it seems like they had really good luck with evacuating people from Cedar Key and other neighboring areas to you. But that also means that there aren't really a lot of eyes back in those areas. There's not obviously, WiFi and comms up for people to report what the damage is like and people haven't gone back to survey it. Are you getting any word of what it's like there?

JONES: Yes, as far as I know now, we - like I said, we fared pretty well, like I said, right up here in Chiefland. I'm in the city limits itself, but I'm out much more towards the coast, I'm referring to out towards Cedar Key.

Now, they sustained substantially more damage, more so from the waters rising and coming in. In fact, some of that area is still - you're not able to get in there. We were actually going to visit Cedar Key this morning just to do the neighborly thing, but however, we weren't able to get into there.

Right now, I think currently the bridge is still has some access issues or being across certain roads in that area. So like I said, they sustained a little bit more damage down there. Like I said, I personally haven't seen that area, but like I said, we were going to visit this morning and we were unable to get into that area.

But as far as I know, most people abided by the mandatory evacuation.

[15:20:03]

This area out here, there's a lot of people that live in mobile homes. So most people got out of their homes.

And also right here in Chiefland, we have two RV parks and most of the people abided by the rules and we haven't had too much of a problem. Like I said, the biggest issue that we have right now is limbs down and actually we don't have power in quite a few areas right now, but that's pretty much been the - what's going on directly here in Chiefland.

But like I said, the coastal area has definitely - has a lot bigger issues to deal with, with water rising than we do.

SCIUTTO: Understood. Well, Chris Jones, it's good to hear from you and good to hear that you may have fared a little better than you expected. Let's hope the good news keeps coming in. We wish you the very best of luck.

JONES: I appreciate it. Appreciate your time, sir. SCIUTTO: Thanks.

KEILAR: We have CNN's Ivan Rodriguez, who is in one of the hardest hit areas, which is Crystal River.

Ivan, I think it's about high tide there. Can you tell us what you're seeing?

IVAN RODRIGUEZ, CNN NEWSOURCE CORRESPONDENT: Jim, Brianna, that's right, high tide, according to NOAA, expected right around 4 to 5 PM. Since the last time we spoke, though, we've seen the water level considerably drop down now at this point below my ankle. One thing that is new as of just seconds ago, we were reporting last time all those rescue boats, two of them, that were in the water here in this neighborhood of Crystal River.

They've just been pulled out just again seconds ago, both of them now. In total, for the last two hours, more than that, we saw them rescue three separate groups, one couple with their dog and some belongings, two other women and then another couple as well. In one instance, in one of the trips, they even brought a big birdcage with them.

So it's unknown right now if they're going to another area in Crystal River or if they're going to another location along the coast. We know that this area isn't alone in terms of rescue efforts. In St. Petersburg, their fire rescue teams there rescued more than 75 people.

But behind me here is State Highway 19, still seeing a lot of action there. We're seeing power utility trucks driving up and down this route, made it a little easier now that those water levels are able or have been decreasing.

SCIUTTO: Ivan Rodriguez there, thanks so much for joining us.

And right now Hurricane Idalia is hovering over Georgia, making its way towards South Carolina after dumping dangerous levels of rain in Florida. It's doing the same in Georgia now. This in Florida, the governor's mansion in Tallahassee, a hundred-year-old oak tree fell not too far from the home. Thankfully, we hear from the governor and his wife that all inside were safe. We're going to have more on the breaking news just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:27:26]

KEILAR: A new legal blow for Rudy Giuliani, a federal judge determining that he forfeits the defamation lawsuit that was filed against him by two Georgia election workers. The president's former attorney said he could no longer contest that he made false and defamatory statements about Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss. And this means that Giuliani could be hit with significant penalties.

CNN's Sara Murray is following this for us.

So Sara, explain what happened here and what's next for Giuliani. SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: So essentially he lost. The judge said he is forfeiting and that's because he handed over a few documents in this case, but nowhere near the discovery that he was expected to hand over. And the judge said, essentially, you didn't comply with the discovery in this case, the election workers who, of course, Rudy Giuliani talked about publicly in the aftermath of the 2020 election accused baselessly of ballot tampering.

They can't meaningfully go through with this kind of defamation case if you're not going to hand over a discovery. So essentially he loses.

And what this means is that he could potentially be on the hook for significant damages. Those are going to get determined down the road either this year or early next year at a trial. And perhaps unsurprisingly, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss say that they're grateful to finally get this kind of vindication. They said it was a living nightmare what they had to go through with Rudy Giuliani talking out there publicly about them.

Now, Giuliani's political advisor, Ted Goodman, says that he hopes that this will be reversed. But again, it's tough to imagine how Giuliani is going to be able to take another bite at this apple, especially considering that he is mounting legal problems. He is mounting financial problems.

KEILAR: Why didn't he just comply with discovery? He was asked, you need to provide documents about this or that or the other thing, and he just didn't do it fulsomely. Why not just do it?

MURRAY: He cited a number of issues, I mean, including the fact that previously the feds had taken a number of his electronics related to another investigation. There were also cost concerns. But look, Donald Trump eventually came in and helped him with some of the record keeping cost concerns. And the judge did note, you're an attorney, essentially.

So she was not buying the excuses he was giving for why he was not able to provide a more fulsome discovery on the timeline expected in this case.

KEILAR: Really interesting.

Sara Murray, thank you for the latest on that. Jim?

SCIUTTO: This just in to CNN, lawyers for the New York Attorney General's office allege that Donald Trump inflated his net worth by as much as 2.2 billion dollars all in one year. This is part of the New York AG's lawsuit against the former president, his adult sons and The Trump Organization.

[15:30:01]

CNN's Kara Scannell, is following this.

$2.2 billion dollars, it's a lot of money. Explain the legal ramifications of that.