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Parts of Florida Underwater as Helene Nears Cat 3 Ahead of Landfall; Appeals Court Hears Argument in Trump $454 Million Fraud Judgment; Mayor Eric Adams (D-New York City, NY) Indicted on Federal Corruption Charges. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired September 26, 2024 - 13:00   ET

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

DEANNE CRISWELL, FEMA ADMINISTRATOR: Allows people that work from home to actually get compensated for some of their business losses if they work from home, like if they had a computer or other equipment that they needed to do their personal, if they're a photographer and they lost their cameras. So, we just made that change recently in March to be able to compensate small business owners that work from home.

SBA can speak specifically about their programs, but they've also made some really amazing changes this year, which increases the dollar amount that people can borrow from the SBA. It extends the time where they're going to delay the interest until they have to pay it, or to start to repay that loan. And it's a tremendous resource to really help small businesses get back on their feet.

REPORTER: And how do you decide where to position yourself tomorrow with the storm?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: We're listening here to the FEMA administrator, Deanne Criswell. She is giving an update on Hurricane Helene, which is intensifying and which is huge. It is now on the verge of becoming a Category 3. It is barreling towards the Southeastern U.S. And she is warning so much of the storm surge that we are expecting.

We're already seeing tropical storm conditions as we are looking towards this landfall that is expected here in the coming hours. But already there are parts of Florida, we're seeing it here, underwater as these conditions are battering the coast. The National Weather Service is warning of unsurvivable storm surge. That's how they're describing it, up to 20 feet in some areas.

Helene is forecast to become one of the largest storms to hit the Gulf of Mexico in over a century. That is how big this thing is. It's so big that its winds actually span nearly 500 miles. And to put that into perspective, that's about the distance between Cincinnati and Washington D.C., or for you, West Coasters, San Diego to San Francisco. It's huge. I can't say it enough here.

The worry, of course, is that's going to mean widespread damage. It's going to mean power outages for so many people across so many states.

We right now have crews on the ground across the coast of Florida as the storm is bearing down. So, first, let's go to the CNN Weather Center and our Elisa Raffa for an overview of what we're seeing. You're tracking this. What are you seeing, Elisa?

ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. We are expecting it to intensify, and like you were mentioning, it is so large. This will not just be a Florida problem.

Right now, it's a Category 2 hurricane. That eye is trying to organize a little bit better, a sign of strengthening. Right now, it's got 105- mile-per-hour winds, still sitting about 290 miles per hour south of Apalachicola.

We've already had multiple tornado warnings coming in on some of these outer bands across parts of Florida, the Carolinas, a tornado warning there near Charleston and Southern Georgia, as some of the heavy rain and some of the spin already comes in on land.

Here's a look at the hurricane warning from Apalachicola up through Tallahassee. That's where we're expecting that Category 3 landfall by tonight. And then look at the blue. That's all the tropical storm warnings. We're looking at this, keeping its organization as far north as Atlanta, worried about widespread power outages even as far north as Atlanta because of the damaging winds and the heavy rain.

This is the unsurvivable part, 20 feet of storm surge, unsurvivable. That is what you need to evacuate from and move inland away from. This is what we're incredibly worried about from Cedar Key over towards Apalachicola. This is what we need to evacuate from, and what we're incredibly worried about.

Again, the storm is wide, the tropical storm force winds spanning more than 400 miles. So, that's why we're going to find impacts from the southern tip of Florida up through Georgia in the Carolinas. Look at how these tropical storm force winds spread again, even up into Atlanta going into tomorrow morning. In the purple, that's where you have the catastrophic, you know, landfall damaging winds of the eye. But look at how far they stretch, looking at hurricane force winds up towards Macon, tropical storm force up in Atlanta.

We're also very concerned about this heavy rain. This high risk from Asheville down to the coast is incredibly rare, only issued 4 percent of the time, and we're worried about damage from flash flooding. Brianna?

KEILAR: All right, Elisa. Yes, this is serious, and you're keeping an eye on it. We'll be coming back to you for updates here.

Let's turn now to CNN's Carlos Suarez. He is live for us in Gulfport, Florida. This is near St. Petersburg. We see the scene behind you there, Carlos. Tell us what you're experiencing.

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, as you mentioned, we are in Gulfport. That is in Pinellas County. So, we are just west of Tampa, where some of the flooding that we saw here earlier today has receded just a little bit in large part because right now we are in low tide. And so what you're seeing is that some of the water that accumulated here during high tide and some of the rain this morning has gone down just a little bit.

As the hours progress, though, and this hurricane continues its trek north and just off the coast of where we are, we expect that this part of Gulfport will flood again, because once high tide comes in the afternoon and then that storm is just due west of us at around 6:00, 7:00, 8:00 tonight.

[13:05:05]

We expect to get all of that rain to move into this area. Once you get all of that high tide in there and then that expected storm surge of anywhere between four to eight feet, you can see exactly how all of this is going to play out here.

If my photographer can show some of the businesses here to my left, they put sandbags out here yesterday, all in an effort to try to keep some of this water that eventually will make its way up to some of these businesses out here. I can tell you that just on the other side of the street, there does appear to be some minor breaching of the bay.

I was over there maybe about an hour ago and you could see that some of the water because of the rough seas and the strong winds have started to push that water over the barrier out here from a fishing pier. And so that is contributing all of this water that's being pushed to the end of the block where we are.

I can tell you that this part of Pinellas County is under a mandatory evacuation order. And, in fact, emergency officials really gave the folks that live here until around noon today to go ahead and seek higher ground. Brianna?

KEILAR: All right. Carlos, live for us there in Gulfport, we appreciate it.

Let's go to CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam. He's tracking conditions in Apalachicola, which is along the Florida panhandle in Franklin County, in which, quite frankly, Derek, we have said a lot here in recent hurricane seasons. We're hearing that Helene could bring devastating storm surge there.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, that's definitely true. And, you know, we're keeping a very keen eye to the sky around here because on top of that storm surge threat is the threat of water spouts moving inland. There was a specific discussion from the weather prediction center that highlighted this area of Franklin County and Apalachicola, where I am for these incoming water spouts. We've been monitoring very closely to see if any of these brief spin ups come through.

But that's just one of the myriad problems and threats that face this area. You can see the vacant streets that line Apalachicola, mandatory evacuations for all of Franklin County. But I want to show you the pooling of the water. This is inland flooding, because before Helene's the arrival, we've already seen the rain overperform on one of the computer models have suggested the worst of the storm hasn't even approached. So, we're getting all this tropical moisture that's streaming northwards.

And, you know, we can hide from the wind, but we cannot run from the rain and the flooding, right? Storm surge and flash flooding, that is going to -- when we look back at the history books of the storm, will be one of the major components of how Helene plays out. I mean, we've got this high risk that stretches from the Florida panhandle where I'm located right through the Atlanta metro region and all the way northward into Asheville, North Carolina. So, the southern Appalachians landslides are possible.

And I can't stress how rare these high risks are. They're only issued about 4 percent of the time, yet 40 percent of fatalities and 80 percent of the damage occurs within those zones right where we're located. So, this is an expanding storm. It is not only strengthening, but it is also expanding in Winfield.

And I think Elisa mentioned it, but this is important, this could go down as one of the largest storms in terms of Winfield in modern record keeping. Brianna?

KEILAR: You're watching it. This thing is huge. Derek, thank you for those updates. We know you'll continue to keep us posted. Danny?

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Brianna.

As Helene tracks north towards the Florida Panhandle, community leaders are pleading with residents to get out. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF A.J. SMITH, FRANKLIN COUNTY, FLORIDA: If you're on the fence about evacuating, please do go ahead and make that. Let me nudge you on off the fence. Do evacuate. If I wasn't a sheriff, I'd be evacuating somewhere else. You can believe it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: That right there was Franklin County Sheriff A.J. Smith. He's joining me right now on the phone. Sheriff Smith, thank you so much for your time.

Just give us the latest. What are conditions like right now where you are in Franklin County?

SMITH: Well, the tide is definitely rising. And as you said, a lot of our streets in Apalachicola and on the island are underwater. And I just came across the causeway. The water is about even with the top of the causeway. It's not over the road, but if we get any more water, it will be over the road.

And I'm encouraging people do not get out in this weather. Stay home. I just witnessed a car right through high water and it broke down. They called 911. So, don't get out in this weather so that we don't have to be out trying to save your life. And if you stay home, then you're protecting your first responders as well.

FREEMAN: Sheriff, at this point, I know aside from that car that you just mentioned, are residents in your area heeding that advice?

SMITH: Yes, for the most part they are, but we still, just like this person, there was really no reason for them to be out, particularly drive through the water, they did.

[13:10:01]

And so, really, unless you're a public safety or public works, there's really no reason.

Everything is closed. I haven't seen the first business that's open today. Everybody is closed. There's really no reason for anybody to be out unless, you know, you're mission critical, like a first responder or some kind of public works person.

FREEMAN: Last thing, Sheriff, while I have you on the line here, what are your biggest concerns and what are you watching over the next few hours as this hurricane really approaches land?

SMITH: Well, you know, we're still -- we're not sure if it's going to be a 3 or a 4. The wind is certainly -- it's certainly a concern how high the wind is going to get and certainly how high the water is. All our main road, Highway 98, is -- you know, sometimes it's two feet from the water. So, how much road damage are we going to have and who may have stayed behind in a place that is going to flood? And so those are my concerns as we approach -- as this hurricane approaches the coast.

FREEMAN: Franklin County Sheriff A.J. Smith, please stay safe, thinking of you and your community this afternoon and evening. Thank you very much for your time.

And please stay with CNN for breaking news coverage of Hurricane Helene all day. Ahead, how the storm is creating a ripple effect on flights across the country.

Also coming up in a moment, the appeal hearing over former President Donald Trump's $454 million fraud judgment just wrapped up. We're live outside the courthouse with details.

Plus, federal prosecutors indicted New York City Mayor Eric Adams on charges of bribery, wire fraud, and taking illegal campaign contributions. We'll tell you how the mayor is responding just ahead.

You're watching CNN News Central. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:15:00]

KEILAR: Today, a major legal battle unfolding for former President Donald Trump. Just moments ago lawyers for Trump were in a New York appeals court. They were trying to get his file $454 million civil fraud judgment overturned.

FREEMAN: Now, in February, Judge Arthur Engoron found Trump, his two eldest sons, and his business liable for fraud, as well as issuing false business records and financial statements.

CNN's Kara Scannell is outside court in New York. Kara, I mean, just tell us, what were the big takeaways from court today?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Danny, these arguments went even longer than expected. Both sides were given about 15 minutes. This whole argument took about an hour. And the judges really were questioning the attorneys on their legal arguments and scrutinizing two key areas. One of them was, the size, that it was initially a $354 million judgment that was with interest now calculates to about $478 million. That's how much the judge said that Trump needed to pay in this. One of the judges on this appeals panel honed in on that and questioned the deputy solicitor general for the state. Take a listen to this exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUSTICE PETER MOULTON, APPELLATE DIVISION FO THE SUPREME COURT, FIRST DEPARTMENT: The immense penalty in this case is troubling. So, how do you tether the amount that was assessed by the Supreme Court to the harm that was caused here, where the parties left these transactions happy about how things went down?

JUDITH VALE, DEPUTY SOLICITOR GENERAL FOR NEW YORK A.G.: Well, disgorgement, Your Honor, looks at taking the gain away from the wrongdoer. And although this is a large number, it's a large number for a couple reasons, one, because there was a lot of fraud.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCANNELL: Now, the other argument that was a focus of the questions by the judges was the scope of the attorney general's authority. Trump's lawyers have argued all along that this was -- these were deals. These were loans between sophisticated parties. Trump's business and Deutsche Bank, one of the lenders, saying that the bank never complained that they were defrauded and that the attorney general had overstepped their authority.

The judges focused in on that, several of them asking the attorney general's representative about where's the line, what is the end and the scope of the Attorney General's authority in this case? She argued back saying that the statute protects people big and small and that deception by one player in the marketplace harms honest business owners.

Now, no decision is expected until more likely after the election. So, we won't get a ruling on this anytime soon. But certainly, the judges in this case, five panelists, peppering these attorneys with a lot of questions about the size of this penalty and the scope of the attorney general's authority. Trump has already posted about $175 million of this bond and his judgment on that is all on hold until this appeals court rules on whether the judgment ultimately stands. Danny, Brianna?

KEILAR: All right. Kara Scannell, live for us from New York, thank you. Let's turn now to the corruption charges against the mayor there in New York, Eric Adams. A 57-page indictment was unsealed today. It accuses Adams of bribery, wire fraud, conspiracy, and soliciting campaign contributions from foreign nationals. Prosecutors allege that for nearly a decade, Adams not only accepted but sought improper gifts and illegal contributions to his campaign.

FREEMAN: U.S. Attorney Damian Williams says it was all part of a, quote, long running conspiracy. He also gave details of $100,000 in luxury travel benefits Adams allegedly accepted from wealthy Turkish business people and at least one Turkish government official seeking to gain influence over him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAMIAN WILLIAMS, U.S. ATTORNEY, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: We allege that Adams accepted these benefits knowing that they were given to him because of his position. And in exchange for some of those improper benefits, he intervened in the New York City Fire Department's inspection process for a building owned and operated by the Turkish government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[13:20:01]

FREEMAN: However, Mayor Adams is pushing back on these claims. Here's what he said earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ERIC ADAMS (D-NEW YORK CITY, NY): I ask New Yorkers to wait to hear our defense before making any judgments.

I will continue to do the job for 8.3 million New Yorkers that I was elected to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: All right. Let's talk about this now with former federal prosecutor and CNN Legal Analyst Elliot Williams. Elliot, how much of a case do prosecutors have here? How bad is this for the mayor?

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Oh, it's bad, Brianna. Based -- whenever you read an indictment, it's a story, and they start by introducing the characters and walk through what the characters had done. And this paints a vivid picture of, number one, knowledge on the part of the mayor, number two, knowledge on the part of the people in Turkey and elsewhere who knew they were getting something from him allegedly, and number three, the actions he took.

So, at a minimum, it's politically disastrous for someone who has a city to run, but at a maximum, he could be looking at very serious jail time.

FREEMAN: What do you make of -- I mean, when I first started reading the indictment and the first words were back in 2014, I mean, what do you make of this being such a long spanning argument against the mayor?

WILLIAMS: Absolutely it gives prosecutors more to work with, because they're not just picking out isolated incidents from 2021 or 2022 and saying, aha, look, there's a long running conspiracy. They're saying that going back to the time at which this individual was a state senator in New York. He was well aware of the favors he was getting from the Turkish government and interests connected to Turkey.

Now, they've got to prove it in court and still establish it. But, again, as allegations setting up a wide and broad scheme, it's actually quite strong evidence,

KEILAR: The specific official act that they detail, which is that he, after receiving a lot of favors and alleged illegal contributions, that he intervened on behalf of the Turkish government to get the FDNY to back off of a particular skyscraper and approve because, obviously, the fire department has the say over that kind of thing. It has to pass muster, right? And it wasn't passing muster, this building. Talk a little bit about that. It's a really interesting situation.

WILLIAMS: It's a fascinating story, and it's the quintessential backroom deal, smoke-filled room, where an individual knew that they could not get this building approved based on the clearances from the New York City Fire Department without intervention from the mayor and so on.

Clearly, at least based on the allegations, there was funny business with respect to that whole process. Number one, it deals with public safety. Number two, it deals with patronage and favors. And number three, it's just dishonesty to the constituents of the city of New York. It's a lot of things, almost as a human drama, that's very powerful to read.

KEILAR: Because it seems to favor the government of Turkey, which this was a building that housed the Turkish embassy, is that correct, or the Turkish facility? It was a Turkish office.

WILLIAMS: Yes, it's like a Turkish cultural center.

KEILAR: It seems to work in favor of Turkey and against the favor of New Yorkers, which is particularly bad.

WILLIAMS: Which is particularly bad. And beyond that, Brianna, so that was particularly bad because just the divided interests or loyalties that the prosecutors were alleging here. The single allegation that I found -- it's not even an allegation, it's a detail was after the mayor understood that there was an investigation into him. He changed the passwords on his phone and made it harder to get into his phone.

Now, he claims that it was about keeping his staff from meddling in his phone, but that's incredibly damning from somebody who knows that they're being investigated, making it harder to seize their devices. Now, again, on multiple occasions, law enforcement came in and took devices from him. So, he knew that the jig was up, but it is all just so damning and problematic. And, again, innocent until proven guilty, but the question here is, can this person still effectively lead, let alone will he be a free man, you know, in a couple of years?

KEILAR: We'll see. Elliot, thank you so much for your insights. We appreciate it.

And ahead, bracing for Hurricane Helene, you're looking at live pictures out of Naples, Florida. We're following this breaking news. This is a huge storm and residents are preparing for it to be a very powerful one.

And Israel launching more strikes into Lebanon as the U.S. and its allies call for a 21-day ceasefire. We will be live from the region.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:25:00]

KEILAR: Our breaking news, Hurricane Helene is intensifying, and it is on a collision course with a Florida. It is, at this point, almost a Category 3 storm, wind speeds are over 100 miles per hour, significantly higher wind gusts as well. And already this system is slamming coastal cities and towns from the Keys all the way to Tampa Bay.

Right now, these are pictures that you were looking at of Apalachicola, Florida, hit with sheets of heavy rain, and officials are saying that there will be unsurvivable storm surge and catastrophic wind damage in some of the areas that this storm will be hitting.

There's already flooding up and down the Gulf Coast. You're looking at it here, Helene on track to make landfall tonight, these pictures before landfall, Tallahassee bracing for a possible direct hit. And right now, the system is forecast to grow into one of the largest storms that we have seen in the Gulf of Mexico in the last century, tropical storm force winds spanning nearly 500 miles.

[13:30:00]

Danny?

FREEMAN: Helene is also prompting airport closures, cancelations and, as you can imagine, delays.