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Hurricane Debby Makes Landfall; Sheriff Mike Prendergast is Interviewed about Hurricane Debby; Harris to Announce Running Mate Soon; Biden to Discuss Middle East. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired August 05, 2024 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

KIM DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: That's the reporting inside Israel. There's a lot of criticism towards Netanyahu for pursuing just an all-aggression campaign instead of taking the opportunity to get some of the hostages out. And inside Gaza there's a real sense of despair because the friction between Biden and Netanyahu has been widely reported. And yet the White House doesn't seem to get - to be able to get Netanyahu to pull back at all. And that's left us with this situation where we've got this high-stakes face-off between Iran and Israel again. Though I've got to add, Iran has been careful in the past not to cause massive destruction inside Israel because of how that could escalate and devolve into a major all-out war. So, they could, once again, try to do something that causes damage without waking an all-out war.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Kim Dozier, Colonel Leighton, thank you so much for coming on this morning.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And the breaking news this morning, Hurricane Debby makes landfall. This is a storm which could break records for the next week.

All right, who is the pick? Has Vice President Harris made a decision on her running mate? The latest updates on an announcement that could come at any minute.

And standing by for the markets to open in the U.S. Futures are down - way, way down after a record-breaking drop overseas. Brace yourself, seriously.

Kate is out today. I'm John Berman with Sara Sidner. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SIDNER: Hurricane Debby now walloping Florida, making landfall, and it is stalling, which is a major concern right now. Not because of the wind, but because of the amount of rain. Millions of people are now bracing for upwards of a month's worth of rain to fall in just the next hours. This is a life-threatening situation according to experts that could become very dangerous very quickly. An extremely rare level four out of four risk for excessive rain has been issued across three states. The catastrophic flooding is expected in the next few days.

Let's get right out to Elisa Raffa, who is in Steinhatchee, Florida, where the hurricane made landfall.

You are now off of that pier where you've been most of the day and onto the ground. I see the wind is still whipping pretty hard there.

ELISA RAFFA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, the wind is whipping, the rain has picked up, and we've got off of that dock because high tide is coming up and that water is rising. And you can see this is the Steinhatchee River. Look at the onshore flow of the water coming in, which is this intense wind right now.

We've got high tide, the intense wind, and all of that onshore flow that's picking up some of this surge in the tide. I mean you can see just how quickly this water is coming in, inch by inch, incredibly fast, getting that flooding that will eventually wind up crossing the street here.

And this is the big concern. Water is always the biggest concern in a hurricane. We are - we are finding - we are finding that some of the storm surge levels are up over six feet over parts of the big bend here up near Cedar Key. We've already found that this morning, plus eight inches of rain or more. So, water is the biggest concern here right along the coast of Florida.

And then, as we go inland the next couple of days, we're talking about a crawl for this storm. It will walk three to four miles per hour, and that could dump feet of rain. Catastrophic impacts are really a concern along parts of the coast of Georgia and South Carolina as we get those rain totals again, 20 to 30 inches. So just watching this very closely as the wind and the storm surge continues to pick up here.

Guys.

SIDNER: Yes, we can really hear the wind. You get to safety right there. I can see it really whipping you around there.

Let's bring in Derek Van Dam, who has been tracking the timing of where and when this is expected to sort of sit and create the worst conditions for people and their safety. Give us some sense of that, Derek.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, well, the steering winds that normally guide these tropical systems is collapsing. And we don't like to use those words in the same sentence, tropical system, collapsing, steering winds, because that means it's going to slow down. That's what it's doing right now.

Currently, right now, still a hurricane. It is moving inland across the Florida panhandle from the big bend. And you can see the warnings. This is a hurricane warning that extends into southern Florida.

But this is really interesting to note because as this storm makes its way towards the southeastern portions of Georgia and into the coastal areas of South Carolina.

[09:05:04]

This is how slow it's going to move. I'm going to broaden this out. Take note, this is the forecast position Wednesday morning. And then, two days later, 48 hours later, it is just to the north of that location. So, when Elisa was talking about crawling or walking as fast as this storm will move, well that is the concern. So, it will produce a prolific amount of rain in a short period of time because it will move so slow because those steering winds are collapsing or becoming non-existent.

The threats right now, the immediate threats, of course, still the ongoing storm surge that we saw in Elisa's there and impacting portions of the big bend. There's also the potential for spin-up tornadoes. That's very common on the right quadrant of landfalling in hurricanes. That being the eastern side of the storm.

There's the eye. What's left of it. And Steinhatchee, where Elisa is located, is right there. It moved through that location roughly about 7:00 this morning. But there's the flash flood warnings that are present right now. But notice the watches, they extend through southeast Georgia and into coastal South Carolina. That's where the Weather Prediction Center has a rare level four of four for excessive rain that could lead to flash flooding.

Today, and then particularly into the day tomorrow. Savannah, Charleston, you know that you flood very easily. But when you get the combination of a storm surge and then inland flooding, that water has nowhere to go but up. They kind of work against each other. So, that is why meteorologists and forecasters are so concerned about what the storm could potentially do going forward over the rest of this workweek.

There's the rainfall totals. This is just one computer's projection. But nonetheless, anywhere you slice it, this is going to be major rainmaker and the potential here for flash flooding really does exist.

Sara.

SIDNER: Yes, those two events with the water being pushed on to shore and the water pummeling the area -

VAN DAM: Trying to come up.

SIDNER: Could make for very dangerous conditions.

VAN DAM: yes.

SIDNER: Derek Van Dam, thank you so much. Also to our Elisa Raffa and her team out there in Steinhatchee, Florida. Thank you.

John.

BERMAN: All right, with us now, Citrus County, Florida, Sheriff Mike Prendergast. Sheriff, thank you so much for being with us.

Looks OK where you are right now. Give us an assessment of the damage. What are you seeing?

SHERIFF MIKE PRENDERGAST, CITRUS COUNTY, FLORIDA: Hey, right now we're standing at the intersection of Highway 19 and State Road 44. A year ago this spot was when Hurricane Idelia drilled down on Citrus County and brought record-breaking storm surge to our community.

We are in-between some squall lines out here in the weather right now so we can give you an up-to-date report. A little bit later today we anticipate the height tide that will come in and could possibly bring five to seven feet of storm surge right here in this area where we're standing.

And, of course, we've had a lot of other things going on across the community. Fortunately, no losses of life, no folks that have had some serious damage to their home yet, but we do have a lot of saturated ground across the community. And with the saturated ground, combined with all these high winds that we're experiencing, including 30 to 50 mile-an-hour gusts, we could see some trees toppling over a little bit later today and knocking down power lines and damaging some of the roofs and some of the other structures across our - our community here in Cirtus County.

BERMAN: Sheriff, I'm having a hard time hearing you. I don't know if you can get closer to the microphone. But you talked about how Idalia passed through there and brought storm surge and you're expecting some maybe later today. It's not over yet is what I'm getting at. What might you see in the coming days and weeks as the rain continues to fall.

PRENDERGAST: (INAUDIBLE) storm surge - storm surge should be - it's really loud right now, but -

BERMAN: (INAUDIBLE) there. We're going to move on. Thank you very much, Sheriff Mike Prendergast in Citrus County, Florida.

He is standing in a place that could see some flooding over the next several hours because the storm surge will continue and the rain inland will continue, which will bring freshwater down toward the coast. That is what we're watching over the next several hours.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right.

Ahead, Kamala Harris, we're expecting any minute now for her to announce her running mate. What we know about the top contenders.

And Israel's Iron Dome intercepting new rockets overnight on both its northern and southern borders. Concerns that a large scale attack from Iran could be imminent.

And she's in a class all her own. The first female nurse to graduate from the elite Army Ranger school will join us live this out. That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:14:14]

SIDNER: This does not bode well with folks that have money in the stock market. Right now, Dow futures are down, and I'm looking here, now 1,100 points. And it keeps going down. About 2.74 percent right now this hour. And then if you look at the S&P 500 futures down almost 4 percent. You know, things are not looking good here.

Some of this, obviously, affecting international markets in a huge way. Japan's stock market plummeted due to uncertainty in the U.S. economy, causing that ripple effect in other Asian markets.

This downward trend is continuing also in Europe and the U.S. futures, again, all pointing down this morning in big ways. Now, the Dow futures down over 1,000 points. This morning we're standing by for incredibly important announcement after we look at that, we are waiting for the markets to open as well.

[09:15:05]

But the world is waiting to hear who Kamala Harris will pick as her presumptive Democratic nominee for vice president. We are in the home stretch and it's down to a final three people. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, all still in the running. Each presents Harris with unique advantage in crucial battleground states she very much needs to lock up to win against Donald Trump in November.

Joining me now to discuss, CNN political commentator and former South Carolina Democratic State Representative Bakari Sellers, and former spokesperson for Governor Doug Burgum's 2024 presidential campaign, Lance Trover.

Thank you both for being here this morning.

First to you, Bakari. We have these three contenders that are - that are sort of still in this race, but Governor Shapiro, amongst them, has been facing some extra scrutiny, if I can put it that way, over the weekend, including some media reports, looking at his writings and college, how his office handled the sexual harassment report, and John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, obviously, a well-known first-term senator, is going after him as well. What do you make of all of this coming out against Shapiro now?

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: What - let me just say, if I had the ear of anybody around Kamala Harris, I would just tell them to ignore the noise. Look, you've got to kick the tires. And a lot of times when you kick the tires on a major highway that's being done with Governor Shapiro now, it's a lot different than when you're kicking the tires and you're just piddling around the city.

And so I do think that there is some extra light that is being shed on him and his record. But at the end of the day, can he improve marginally your outcome in Pennsylvania? If the answer is yes, then he should be your choice.

Now, there are going to be some factors around the first anniversary of October 7th. You know, that's going to come up and happen. Are we going to have campus protests? Those type of things. His response to campus protests.

But at the end of the day, I think Josh Shapiro is nimble enough, and a good enough political athlete to add substantial value to the ticket.

And one of the questions people have, and I'm just going to be honest with you, Sara, because that's why I come on TV often is, people want to know, can you have three Jews in the White House? Three Jews and a black woman in the White House. And my answer is resoundingly, yes, the possibility of it just excites me because I want people to see how far this country has come.

But if it's not Shapiro, then I think that there's no doubt that Mark Kelly is somebody who is robust, who has one of the greatest resumes we've ever seen for anybody who can possibly be vice president of the United States. And one of the things that Mark Kelly has over Josh Shapiro even is that Mark Kelly has the ability to be president on day one. His experiencing in the United States Senate is just amazing. And just respectfully to, you know, all of the candidates for office, you know, there is one endearing virtue that may, in my heart, put Mark Kelly above all the rest of them, and her name is Gabby Giffords.

And so there is an abundance of riches of people running for vice president. And I - if I knew anybody in the Harris camp, I would tell them to tune out the noise - we're not listening to Twitter in this particular campaign - and choose somebody who you can - who you can deal with for the next four years and sit in that office with and work together.

SIDNER: Our Republican friend listening to this. Who should the Republicans be concerned about of those three?

LANCE TROVER, FORMER SPOKESPERSON FOR GOV. BURGUM'S 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: Well, far be it for me to give advice to the Democrats on who they should choose as their vice presidential nominee. Obviously, she's looking at three individuals that she thinks hopefully will moderate her a little bit because Lord knows that her record and time in office is not one of moderation. But, I mean, listen to what Bakari was saying right now. I mean, even Josh Shapiro's not progressive enough for some of the Democrats out there. And I think that's the question that's going to be for Democrats is, how does she balance out? Is she - whoever she chooses going to be progressive enough to satisfy the far left of the Democratic Party, which is what's driving the party currently in this country. So, that's really going to be the question for her.

But does it matter at the end of the day because really it's going to be Kamala Harris versus Donald Trump. I'm not sure that it does.

SIDNER: All alright, that is a talking point that we've also heard from Donald Trump himself saying it doesn't matter, and from J.D. Vance, his presumptive vice presidential nominee.

All right, a new - I want to look at this poll, Bakari, because this is interesting. A new CBS poll asked Democratic voters who Harris should pick as vice president. Forty-four percent said a liberal, 41 percent, look at this, said that the person needs to be from a battleground state. And then they looked at man, woman, and you can see those numbers there.

When you look at this, what does it tell you about Democratic voters? Obviously, she's going to have to pull some independence as well and potentially some Republicans as well.

SELLERS: Well, all three of the finalists fit all of those things.

[09:20:00]

I mean, look, you don't win in Arizona if you're not able to pull some white voters, if you're not able to pull some independents, some moderates and some Republicans. The same thing in Minnesota. The same thing in Pennsylvania.

A lot of people think Pennsylvania is just Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. But there's a wide swath in between those two cities, which you have to go out and win votes. So, all three of those fit that.

There are two actual trains of thought here about the way you choose vice presidents. And you've seen this throughout history. Either you double down on who you are. Principally, you double-down on your politics. You look at J.D. Vance and Donald Trump. Or even you go back to something that's actually more successful and more memorable and you think about Al Gore and Bill Clinton.

Or you try to balance your ticket. And when you say balance, you want people to bring something to the ticket that you don't have. You look at Barack Obama and Joe Biden in particular when you talk about the foreign policy experience, or just that - that experience in Washington, D.C. Joe Biden was able to balance Barack Obama.

And so what - what Kamala Harris and the campaign are trying to do is try and find someone who can balance her. And that's why you're looking at this Midwest governor who can go out and possibly add a few points around the edges with independents, add a few points around the edges with moderates, et cetera. And so Josh, Governor Walz, who I believe is a far distant third, regardless of what Nancy Pelosi is trying to do, and Mark Kelly, who I believe would be an admirable member of her team, they all fit that extremely well.

SIDNER: All right, I just quickly want to go to some sound from Donald Trump that we heard over the weekend where he's attacking Kamala Harris on several different fronts, still trying to find the big attack that they're going to be using against her. Listen to this, Lance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to defeat crazy Kamala. Kamala. You know, there's about 19 different ways of saying if. She only likes three.

She was here a week ago. Lots of empty seats. But the crowd she got was because she had entertainers.

She refuses to even say the words "illegal alien" or "radical Islamic terrorist."

She is considered more left-wing than crazy Bernie Sanders. Look at her. She's worse than Bernie. And she happens to be really a low IQ individual.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: What do you make of these personal attacks? And there is only one way to say her name, it's Kamala Harris.

Lance.

TROVER: Yes, I say Kamala Harris. I know that's her name.

Look, people go to Donald Trump rallies because - part of the reason they go anyway is because they're entertaining. And he says a lot of different stuff like this. He tests a lot of different messages like that. But I do think, at the end of the day, and when we get through the - the choice of the VP and the DNC, I do thank the right path forward for Republicans is to focus on her record. She was labeled the most liberal senator in 2019 before ascending to the vice presidency. She has supported and, as far as I know, still supports the green new deal. She has at one time supported eliminating health care in this country as we know it. And many other things on the far left. She could be one of the most liberal nominees for president this country has ever seen. And I think that is the right path forward for Republicans to focus on going into November.

SIDNER: So far we're not seeing that discipline from Donald Trump. He keeps attacking her on personality and other things.

Bakari Sellers, Lance Trover, thank you so much. I appreciate you.

John.

BERMAN: I love it when Bakari says, if he has the ear of anyone in the Harris campaign. They have a dedicated phone line for Bakari in headquarters there.

SIDNER: He's a smart guys.

BERMAN: All right, behind me you can see stock futures right now. You can see the Dow set to open down more than 1,000 points. The markets open in about seven minutes. We are standing by. This could be an ugly, ugly day.

And President Biden calls together his national security team as fears of a larger war in the Middle East. those fears are growing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:28:15]

SIDNER: Very soon President Biden will convene his national security team to discuss his escalating tensions in the Middle East.

We have learned the commander of U.S. Central Command is in the region as it braces for an attack from Iran and its proxies that could be eminent.

CNN senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman is in Beirut. "Axios" reporting now Secretary Blinken is warning that the Iranian attack could start as soon as today. What are you hearing there from Beirut?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've seen Barak Ravid's reporting. But in terms of what we're hearing in Beirut, we don't have the kind of intelligence that perhaps Secretary Blinken does. What we're seeing here is that people are braced for the worst, hoping for the best. Keep in mind, Sara, that over the last ten months there have been periods where it looked like Lebanon and the rest of the Middle East was on the brink of a regional war, followed by periods of de-escalation. So, people have prepared and prepared again for perhaps the worst.

So, we were going around stores looking to see if people are hoarding food or buying food. Nope, not much - no more than usual. In terms of getting out of Beirut, those with foreign passports certainly are trying to get out, but it's very hard at this point to actually find a seat on any plane leaving the Lebanese capital. We've seen several airlines already canceling all flights here.

[09:29:53]

And, of course, a plethora of foreign embassies are urging their nationals to leave as soon as possible, including the Americans, who put out a statement saying, just get any flight, regardless of where it's going, out of Beirut.