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Biden Approves Federal Funding For Areas Impacted By Helene; Special Counsel: Trump "Resorted To Crimes" To Stay In Office After 2020 Loss; Israel Strikes Beirut As It Vows "Strong, Painful Response" To Iran. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired October 03, 2024 - 07:30   ET

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

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[07:31:50]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning, the death toll from Hurricane Helene has climbed to at least 191 people across six states. It's the second deadliest U.S. hurricane and it is prompting feverish efforts to find those still missing and get basic services to some areas that are still in dire straits.

President Biden got an aerial look at some of those hard-hit communities in North Carolina yesterday. Today he will view parts of Florida and southern Georgia that were also damaged.

CNN senior White House reporter Kevin Liptak is joining us now. Kevin, the president is increasing federal disaster funding. Tell us about what he promised both residents and officials there as he was looking at this just enormous amount of damage.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. The president announcing that the federal government will cover 100 percent of the cleanup costs not only in Georgia but across a number of states who have been impacted by this storm.

And, you know, it's pretty rare for a president to spend two days in a row touring storm damage from the same disaster. And I think it gives you a sense of not only of the magnitude of this massive storm but also a window into how President Biden and Vice President Harris are looking to blunt any criticism that they're somehow absent from this crisis.

And so we -- that started yesterday. The president getting a very clear view from the air of the destruction in western North Carolina. That was kind of the 10,000-foot view.

Today he is really zooming in, getting onto the ground in Florida, in Georgia. The place he's visiting in Florida is where the storm actually came ashore. One estimate of the town, Keaton Beach, says that 90 percent of the homes have been wiped out.

Then it's onward to Georgia where flooding has been a serious issue. And certainly, President Trump will want to hear from the residents of those communities of what exactly their needs will be. And those needs are pretty great and certainly, they want to see the federal government responding to what they're dealing with.

Yesterday, President Biden announced that he was deploying 1,000 active-duty troops to help with the recovery effort. To help with the assistance and cleanup. But, of course, this is going to cost a lot of money. President Biden put the estimate yesterday in the billions. And we heard from the Homeland Security secretary that FEMA will run out of money if another storm hits this year.

And certainly, we know that climate change is making these storms wetter. It's making them faster. It's making them stronger. And President Biden addressed that yesterday as well. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Nobody can deny the impact of the climate crisis anymore -- at least I hope they don't. They must be braindead if they do. Scientists report that with warming oceans powering more intense rains storms like Helene are getting stronger and stronger.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: Now, the president also said that it was time to put politics aside. He said at moments like these there are no Democrats or Republicans. In fact, we saw him yesterday with the Republican governor of South Carolina and the Democratic governor of North Carolina. It's not clear yet today whether he will meet with Gov. DeSantis in Florida or Gov. Kemp in Georgia.

[07:35:00]

But certainly, President Biden very much wanting to put the focus on the needs on the ground as the recovery effort is still very much underway.

SIDNER: Kevin, was there any discussion about how quickly some of this federal funding will get to the places? Because obviously, some of the places like North Carolina, it's just hard to get anything to the people who need it most.

LIPTAK: Yeah, and I think that's the -- that's the issue that they're dealing with when it comes to the federal response. It's because, of course, they have prepositioned a lot of these resources on the ground, whether it's bottled water, whether it's tarps, whether it's meals.

But the issue is getting to these places, and that is an issue in some ways for the state governments to try and clear these roads of debris, of the knee-high mud. These towns are so isolated and that is part of what is making it so difficult to get this assistance to the people who need it. That is part of what these active-duty troops who are being deployed from Fort Liberty in Fayetteville, North Carolina to these states is to try and clear out some of these areas in order to get the assistance to the people who need -- who need it. The other issue that I think will be a task for the federal government in the days and weeks ahead is trying to reimburse people who are needing to rebuild their home -- who are trying to rebuild their lives. That is one of the key duties of FEMA at the end of the day is to try and provide the money that is necessary for people who have essentially lost everything in this storm.

And so when you talk to people on the ground -- and I know our reporters have spoken to people in some of these isolated communities who are wondering where exactly the federal government is in all of this -- part of the reason they're not necessarily seeing FEMA on the ground yet in some of these communities is because it's so hard to get to. But that isn't necessarily due to a lack of an effort.

The FEMA administrator, Deanne Criswell, remains on the ground in North Carolina. President Biden says that he's asked her to stay on the ground there until these recovery efforts are completed.

And in states like Florida where this storm came ashore, the task will really be to rebuild some of these homes, rebuild some of these communities. And so this is all sort of what President Biden is trying to oversee with these two days of visits.

SIDNER: Yeah, it's -- it is just immense what is happening there -- immensely terrible what is happening in places like North Carolina.

Kevin Liptak, thank you so much for all that reporting for us -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, with us now is the Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg. Mr. Secretary, thank you so much for being with us.

Obviously, the roads in and out of western North Carolina, not to mention Tennessee, have been a major issue. All you have to do is look at a map and you see I-40 and I-26 -- those are the interstates -- and then all of these smaller roads that have been simply wiped away.

What is the most current status of being able to get that aid in and out on these highways?

PETE BUTTIGIEG, SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION: Well, that's right. Between the interstate closures and the smaller roads we're tracking over 400 locations where roads are closed in North Carolina alone. Of course, this is important not just for restoring normalcy to the communities but also just in the more immediate term -- getting aid to where it needs to be and getting responders to where they need to be.

We're deploying a number of tools. Our folks are in the FEMA command center. I had a chance to be there and get briefed by teams from all of the affected states before briefing the president a couple of days ago, and since then I have continued to get updates.

What we're seeing is there are tools we have that can help. We have, for example, a routing assistance hotline that responders can use to find out our data on where the routes are available and if the normal routes have been closed off. But you've got to understand in some of these rural communities and mountain communities these are places where if a bridge gets taken out the next nearest bridge might be 20, 30, or more minutes away on a good day.

As far as the interstate, the miles of closure are down below about 40 miles from 100, so definite improvement there. But parts of I-40 -- North Carolina's DOT is telling us that at best -- the best case scenario, it is months before they are permanently restored.

BERMAN: Oh, wow. That will impact the ongoing efforts to get those communities up and running again.

It is notable that over the last five days that this has been going on there have been efforts to inject politics into it. There were accusations that President Biden didn't act quickly enough.

Just a few minutes ago I was looking at my email. The Trump campaign put out a statement that said, "Kamala's open border jeopardizes FEMA's hurricane response."

I wonder what the impact of politics -- the impact on the recovery efforts that politics has.

BUTTIGIEG: This is just not a time for politics. And I've got to say -- I can't speak to the campaign side of --

BERMAN: Yeah.

BUTTIGIEG: -- things, but I have been amazed by the bipartisanship among the people who are actually working the issue.

[07:40:00]

You know, I spoke to and reached out to the governors of the affected states. There was no difference in my interactions on my end or their end whether we were Democrat or Republican. That is not what we were talking about. We were talking about how to help.

And I think you've seen that on display -- the engagements that President Biden has had with governors. And certainly, at the working level as our DOT is engaging with the state DOTs as they are preparing their funding requests. That's -- it's really been free of politics.

Again, I can't speak to the -- to the --

BERMAN: Right.

BUTTIGIEG: -- campaign side, but I hope it stays that way.

One thing I will say, speaking of funding and speaking of bipartisanship, we're just doing the kind of rough math here. Our emergency relief fund as a department, which is what we use in cases like this -- the balance of that is in the hundreds of millions, and we can already tell that the need here is going to be in the billions. So put simply, there is no way that we can meet the need without congressional action. And it is my hope and my expectation that will be bipartisan and not

political because you don't have to be a Democrat or a Republican --

BERMAN: Right.

BUTTIGIEG: -- to have your heart go out to the people who are impacted here and to see just the absolute shocking imagery of what's happened to transportation, energy, water, communications, and think we've got to do everything we can as a country to help these communities get back to normal.

BERMAN: And to be clear, I was asking that question to you as a senior administration official.

I do want to ask about the port strike. Again -- and I ask you this as a senior administration official -- you've got a lot on your plate right now.

What will it take, in your mind, to end this, and how should it end?

BUTTIGIEG: Well, we think there is a deal to be had. Obviously, when there is a strike, that means the parties could not come to terms in time.

In this case, the parties means the ILA -- that's the dockworkers and their union -- and what's called USMX, which is a consortium of employers really largely driven by the ocean carriers -- the big shipping lines that move these container ships. And we have been engaging the parties on all sides urging them to come to the table and get to a deal.

We think that economically, they are not so far apart that they can't bridge these differences, especially when you consider that this is a very, very profitable industry.

So what you have with the dockworkers is they're looking at the shipping profits, especially over recent years -- post-COVID. Just one shipping company had, I think, a five-plus billion dollar stock buyback program.

There's another shipping company where a single shareholder -- just one owner -- one guy saw his net worth increase by over $14 billion in a one-year period. That, by my rough estimation, is a multiple of the entire wages of the entire East Coast unionized workforce collectively in that same year. And it happened to be a year where they actually did not get a raise under the last contract.

So what the workers are saying is look, we've been out there -- they were out there during COVID. Many of them lost their lives going to work during COVID at a time when they couldn't Zoom to go into work -- and we kept getting those goods moved around our country.

They want to participate in those profits. And there's clearly a deal to be had where these very profitable shippers -- shipping lines remain very profitable.

BERMAN: Um-hum.

BUTTIGIEG: But the workers are getting more of their share and something that is roughly comparable to what was recently worked out with the West Coast where in 2023, there was a historic contract.

So in industry after industry -- autoworkers, too -- you've seen historic deals with wage increases for workers coming alongside continued business success. And that's what we're hoping will be the outcome here.

BERMAN: Very quickly, Americans have enjoyed relatively lowish gas prices the last few months. But with what's happening in the Middle East and the possibility that Israel may strike Iran's oil refineries, how should Americans maybe be feeling about the possibility of higher gas prices the next month?

BUTTIGIEG: Well, you know, we're certainly tracking that. It's yet another thing that is a real concern here.

You know, if you look at the reductions to inflation that we've had, getting from nine percent back into the two percent range, that's come largely from things like unsticking our supply chains and a little more stability on the energy side, too. The administration has been pushing to make sure that there are options. That there is more American-made energy. That there is more American-made clean energy.

But in terms of what happens from day to day, week to week, month to month, there is that economic issue as well as, of course, just the basic human imperative that there be peace and that there be a resolution there.

BERMAN: Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, thanks so much for being with us this morning. Appreciate your time -- Sara.

BUTTIGIEG: Thank you.

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, John.

This morning we're learning bombshell new details in special counsel Jack Smith's federal election case against Donald Trump. Smith's new filing says Trump conduct did not fall under the official acts the Supreme Court ruled were immune from prosecution but were the "desperate" actions of a candidate who lost the 2020 election. Note there he said candidate.

[07:45:09]

Prosecutors allege Trump was directly involved in the plot to nominate fake electors, and they plan to call election officials from 2020 battleground states to testify against him.

Joining me now from one of those battleground states, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. She is the state's highest-ranking election official.

You have spoken to Jack Smith for this January 6 probe. It has now changed because of the Supreme Court ruling but it is still very much there, and we're learning new details.

In the filing released on Wednesday, prosecutors identified witnesses they hope to call at trial to testify against Trump.

What have you heard from Jack Smith recently, because I know you have been -- spoken to him in the past?

JOCELYN BENSON, (D) MICHIGAN SECRETARY OF STATE (via Webex by Cisco): Yes, we did meet with the investigators several months ago. Right now we're laser-focused on the election and voting has already started here in Michigan. And so our focus is on that. We have not heard directly from Jack Smith or his staff in the last several weeks, but we were -- watched very closely the filing yesterday because it does accurately describe, in my view, a lot of what we lived through and experienced in 2020.

SIDNER: Do you expect to be called, potentially, as a witness?

BENSON: I -- if called, I will be willing to testify about exactly what we did witness in Michigan in 2020, and I expect all of my colleagues who were similarly positioned during that time to do the same.

SIDNER: The filing also mentions, as you well know, that Michigan is mentioned multiple times as one of those battleground states where Trump and his allies attempted to cast doubt over the integrity of the election. There were claims, of course, of voter fraud made by the Trump camp in your state. Those were all found to be unfounded.

But voting, as you mention, now underway in your state. Absentee ballots are coming in.

Are -- how do you talk to people about security? Are people a) concerned about whether their vote is going to be counted, and b) how are you dealing with that?

BENSON: You know, the number one question I get everywhere I go is what are you going to do to keep voters and election officials safe if what happened in 2020 happens again? And certainly, we're hoping for the best.

We're hoping and planning for a smooth election where everyone respects each other and respects the results whatever they may be. But we're prepared for every contingency. So if there are disruptions to the -- to the -- in the light that was described in this filing and in the light of what we experienced in 2020, we're working closely with law enforcement at the local and state level, as well as the federal level, and also with first responders.

And we've done de-escalation trainings with our local clerks. We've done scenario planning as well with partners all across the state. So we're ready for anything.

But at the same time, we're trying to make a clear message to anyone who may be thinking of disrupting our process don't try it. It won't be effective. We're ready to protect our elections and there will be legal consequences if anyone does try to interfere with or disrupt our counting processes or the voting processes here in Michigan.

SIDNER: You know, you are talking about just being prepared and it's just almost a shocking thought that you have to think about potential violence. But Michigan has seen a group of people plot to kidnap the governor. I, myself, spoke with self-professed militia members warning of a response because they believe the lie that the election was stolen from Trump. This was in 2020.

How concerned are you about the possibility of political violence if Donald Trump loses this election, or if the election, which is -- which everyone expects to be very, very close takes days to determine who won?

BENSON: Well, first, the thing that does keep my up at night is this question of political violence. We're in an era both of political violence and of misinformation, and we know there's a direct line between the lies about election integrity that has been disproven time and time again. And the threats that election officials -- the very people who are charged with and committed to protecting the integrity of the process -- the threats that they receive.

So I'm deeply concerned about the potential for violence. It's one of the reasons we passed a law in Michigan to make it a crime to threaten an election worker in their line of work.

But all that said, we hope that all parties involved will respect the people involved in protecting democracy. And we're grateful for the many poll workers and clerks who have signed up to be a part of this process and protect the process along with law enforcement and other first responders who are going to be there, too.

So it is -- it is unnerving. We're in a state of hypervigilance. And people showed up in 2020 outside my home with guns trying to block certification of our results. But we won't be deterred. We're committed to making sure the process runs well.

That as soon as possible after the polls close, we have the unofficial results here in Michigan, and I hope in other states as well, so that we can begin the process of certifying and then everything else we do after the election.

And so my hope and my ask for everyone is to just respect the process, respect the people who protect democracy, and let us have a fair and secure election so that we can ensure the will of the people continues to rule the day.

[07:50:10]

SIDNER: All right, Jocelyn Benson. Thank you so much for talking us through this this morning. Appreciate your time.

All right. Ahead, a teen finds himself behind the wheel of an out-of- control SUV that reaches speeds up to 113 mile per hour. How police managed to stop him. That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL) SIDNER: Ready news for you now. These are live pictures of Beirut as that smoke is dissipating there after just a few moments ago new explosions in that densely populated city and area. They were heard by our CNN teams on the ground. You can see the result of them there. This is -- Israel has been bombarding the capital with airstrikes.

[07:55:00]

A missile strike earlier rocked the heart of the city. That area hasn't been hit since the 2006 war between Lebanon and Israel. The death toll there -- and that is the picture of the enormous explosion. The death toll now at nine.

President Biden has been urging restraint and Israel seems to be edging towards a direct confrontation with Iran following Tuesday's missile strike.

Joining me now, CNN military analyst and retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling. You have been all over this. You have been watching this as it is happening. We've seen this massive explosion and now we've seen several more this morning.

What are they targeting, and are they able to do these targets without hurting civilians because it is so, as you know, densely populated there in that section of Beirut and Beirut itself?

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST (via Webex by Cisco): Yeah. Well, good morning, Sara.

And first, I have been watching this all night long and what I'd say is it's been fascinating to me that Hezbollah continues to send both UAVs and artillery across the border into Israel. That's something that we don't report a lot about. But at about 11:00 this morning Israel time 30 UAVs came across the border from Lebanon. It's part of the operation to clear those potential targets.

The strike in Beirut earlier today I think was probably a direct reflection of intelligence-driven operation. There have been a lot of strikes in specific areas in and around Beirut and also in the south. And I think that's Israel continuing to use their increasing amount of intelligence out of Lebanon to help drive targeting against Lebanese -- excuse me, Hezbollah officials and leaders of that organization in the north.

SIDNER: Yeah. And this conflagration sort of began on October 8 when after what happened on October 7 -- the terror attack in Israel -- Hezbollah sent over rockets to Israel literally the day after that happened.

I do want to talk to you though about what we have been hearing from the Biden administration and President Biden himself, who is consistently and constantly and feverishly saying we have got to tamp this down. We do not want to see a huge regional war. That obviously involves Iran.

I want to listen and let our folks listen to Danny Danon, the Israel ambassador to the United Nations, and what he said yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANNY DANON, ISRAELI AMBASSADFOR TO UNITED NATIONS: Let me be clear. Israel will defend itself. We will act. And let me assure you the consequences Iran will face for their actions will be far greater than they could ever have imagined.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: The consequences to Iran will be far greater than they will -- they could ever imagine.

Do you think that President Biden's calls of restraint will be heeded?

HERTLING: Well, it's interesting, Sara. I'm not sure, to be honest with you. Israel is living in a very unfriendly neighborhood. They have two fronts right now and we just talked about Lebanon. They've also had a lot of action in Gaza over the last two days. And you account for the strike of almost 200 ballistic missiles into Israel from another region might open a third front.

But I think Israel will certainly strike back and it will be more than just a proportional response. They will strike hard into Iran and I'm not sure what the targeting is going to be.

But, yeah, the Biden administration continues to say we've got to have restraint because we want to hit the right targets. We certainly understand Israel's desire for self-protection against continued attacks inside their territory.

But at the same time, the intent is to keep this from spiraling into a regional conflict. And I think the United States might get involved not only with air defense equipment but with fighter jets in some ways if these kinds of attacks continue to come into Israel. So I think we have to really balance the approach to this.

To answer your question, which I've kind of avoided, will there be restraint? There may be some. The Biden administration is trying to get that restraint to refrain from a regional conflict. But, boy, I'll tell you what -- Israel is being hit from multiple directions and they have to defend themselves, and I think Sec. Austin said that to the Israeli defense minister yesterday.

SIDNER: Yeah. And the United States also promising that it will help Israel as it responds. So we'll have to see what happens. But the restraint is all about the people living there -- the innocent civilians -- and they don't want to see a humanitarian crisis like what has happened in Gaza.

Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, thank you so much. I appreciate your great insight this morning -- John.

BERMAN: All right, new video overnight. A 500-pound bomb from World War II buried beneath an airport in Japan explodes. It left a 23-foot- wide crater and forced airlines to cancel more than 80 flights. It is not clear what caused it to explode, and no one was hurt. The airport was built as a Japanese training base back in 1943.