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Four Missing After Cargo Ship Capsizes Off Georgia Coast; Camp David Peace Talks With Taliban Canceled; At Least 44 Dead As Humanitarian Crisis Unfolds In Bahamas; New Poll Shows Joe Biden Lead; New Economic Data Due This Week, Shows Signs Economy Is Slowing; Trump Diverting Billions To Build Border Wall; North Carolina's Fraud- Tainted Election Gets Do-Over; House Dems Demand Details About Trump Resorts And Government Spending. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired September 08, 2019 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

ANA CABRERA, CNN NEWSROOM: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York.

Our breaking news coverage continues now off the coast of Georgia, where four crew members are missing after a massive shipwreck. We are told this cargo vessel was transporting some 4,200 vehicles when it suddenly capsized early this morning.

20 of its 24 crew members have been rescued, but efforts to reach the four people still missing were suspended after a fire broke out on board. Coast Guard Commander Captain John Reed spoke with CNN earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPT. JOHN REED, U.S. COAST GUARD COMMANDER: We had to suspend our search for the four persons on board as a fire started on board and the vessel continued to be unstable.

Our first priority is the safety of the responders as well as the public. And so doing that, once we are able to ensure their safety through securing the vessel and ensuring that it is stable via salvers' (ph) assessment, we will then work through the possibilities of trying to get back on board and locate the individuals.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: A swimming advisory has now been issued for beaches near the overturned ship as concerns for water quality rise.

I want to bring in former Pentagon spokesman and currently CNN Military and Diplomatic Analyst, Rear Admiral John Kirby. This is a port, Admiral. How could this happen?

JOHN KIRBY, CNN MILITARY AND DIPLOMATIC ANALYST: Yes, it's one of the busiest ports on the east coast, Ana. Some 600,000 vehicles alone transit through the port of New Brunswick there in Georgia, so a very, very busy waterway. How it could happen, I think that's what the investigators are going to try to figure out. It happened in the early morning hours. It doesn't look like weather was a factor. The hurricane had long since passed this part of the coast. So it could have been an engineering casualty that resulted in a fire and then flooding. Maybe they hit something in the water. We just don't know right now.

But, clearly, this is -- you can see it in that video, it's right in the middle of St. Simons Sound, which is the entranceway into the New Brunswick River for all this commercial shipping. So, clearly, she's going to be a hazard to navigation for quite a while.

CABRERA: The good news is officials think the fire is out, but they have to stabilize the boat now in order to continue rescue efforts. How do you go about that?

KIRBY: So what that means is you want to be able to minimize the movement of the ship. I don't know by the looks of it and I don't know the depth of St. Simons Sound. So I can't tell whether she's lying on the bottom or not. Most likely she will at low tide, I would think, probably. I just don't know.

But you want to make sure that the ship isn't moving and isn't taking on any more water, that's number one. Number two, that you have prevented a re-flash opportunity for the fire, that the fire is completely out and there's no way that it can start again there or anywhere else on the ship.

So you want the ship sort of firmly placed and stable in terms of movement so that you can then conduct recovery operations and go look for those four people that are still on board.

CABRERA: Do you have a sense of how dire the situation could be for those four members who didn't make it off before the fire broke out?

KIRBY: Well, I think the Coast Guard and rescuers are going to treat it as if it's dire for all four of them until they can locate them and communicate with them. You have to assume that they're in very perilous situations. But the truth is they won't really know the details until they can get back on board and start looking for them.

One would hope they have found themselves air to breathe and a place to go away from the fire and from the flooding. But it really is going to depend on whether they're together, whether they're separate, whether they can be communicated with and what kind of injuries they might have sustained. I think you have to treat each one as if -- you have look at them all from a worst case scenario and then go from there.

CABRERA: Admiral Kirby, I appreciate it. Thank you.

KIRBY: You bet.

CABRERA: Now to those presidential peace talks with the Taliban that nobody even knew were scheduled or that they would involve Taliban leaders being personally hosted at Camp David by President Trump himself. Those talks were supposed to happen today.

The president of the United States, the president of Afghanistan along with the Taliban leaders all at Camp David talking about terms to end nearly 18 years of combat in Afghanistan. Now, President Trump says he cancelled that secret meeting.

CNN's Kylie Atwood is our National Security Reporter. Kylie, the president laying blame on the Taliban for these talks breaking down, referring to last week's bombing that killed an American soldier, we are hearing today that this unprecedented meeting was in the works for a long time.

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: That's right. So we're told that the decision to have this meeting at Camp David with President Trump and the Taliban and leaders of the Afghan government was made last week during a meeting that President Trump had with his national security advisors.

And he decided that he personally wanted to get involved in these discussions because he was worried about the negotiations. He was told by folks like Senator Lindsey Graham and National Security Advisor John Bolton [18:05:00] that there was too much trust being put in the Taliban throughout this process. That's according to a source familiar with the matter.

But now, of course, they have put pause on what was going to be this meeting and potential continuation of U.S./Taliban talks. And we do know that the U.S. felt pretty good about some of the conversations they were having with the Taliban over the past months.

Two of those things that Secretary Pompeo highlighted today when he did a round of interviews on the Sunday morning shows was the fact that the Taliban had agreed to reduce violence in Afghanistan, at least in part. We don't know exactly the commitment that they were making there. He also said that the Taliban had agreed to break with Al Qaeda.

Now, when asked about trusting the Taliban, Secretary Pompeo told Jake Tapper, trust, but verify. So there are still questions here.

But let's listen to how Secretary Pompeo described the decision to eventually call off the talks that were supposed to take place at Camp David.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE POMPEO, SECRETARY OF STATE: We've been working on those for a while and it was the case that when the Taliban tried to gain negotiating advantage by conducting terror attacks inside of the country, President Trump made the right decision to say that's not going to work. We're going to walk away from a deal if others try to use violence to achieve better ends in a negotiation. It's not right, it's not appropriate. It killed an American and it made no sense for the Taliban to be rewarded for that kind of bad behavior.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: The Taliban have obviously been doing these kinds of attacks and killing U.S. service members and innocent civilians for a generation, as you note.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ATWOOD: So we know that one of the things that was part of these discussions was the potential drawdown of about 5,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan within 135 days of a potential U.S./Taliban agreement.

Now, when Secretary Pompeo was asked about the status of that drawdown today, he said that a decision has not yet been made. But we know that President Trump has been focused on trying to get the number of U.S. troops out of Afghanistan, just talking about that this week to reporters in the Oval Office.

CABRERA: Kylie Atwood in Washington, thank you.

As the political ramifications play out over this scuttled meeting, I want to show you a somber moment from last night. This is at Dover Air Force Base, the dignified transfer of the remains of Army Sergeant First Class Elis Barreto Ortiz. Sergeant Ortiz was from Puerto Rico. He died Thursday in Kabul, Afghanistan, when a Taliban car bomb exploded at a checkpoint.

He is the 16th U.S. combat fatality this year in Afghanistan. He leaves behind a wife, two sons and a daughter. The president cited Sergeant Ortiz's death in his decision to cancel this secret meeting with the Taliban.

Joining us now with more, CNN Global Affairs Analyst, Aaron David Miller, a former State Department negotiator, and CNN Military Analyst and Lieutenant General Mark Hertling.

Thank you both for being here.

General, I want to start with you. How do you think troops on the ground are feeling about this, learning that the president had plans to meet with the Taliban on U.S. soil?

MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I would contend that the troops on the ground are not only confused but at times somewhat insulted by how their mission is being used and manipulated and even maimed. The president last week also said he didn't want a lot of U.S. forces being policemen in Afghanistan, and that's not their mission set. They have been conducting counterterrorism operations and also training and advising missions with the Afghan security forces.

SO even though it's an extremely difficult mission in a country that's very complex, and it is teetering back and forth between accepting some of the norms of a modern nation. And the negotiation process, in my view, and I'm sure you're going to get to this, has been flawed from the very beginning, because the Taliban has had the upper hand in these negotiations. And I think they've been given more of an advantage by the negotiators, specifically looking only toward withdrawing forces from that country.

CABRERA: Aaron David Miller, we now know the talks were called off on Thursday and that Afghanistan's president, the Taliban leadership never traveled to the U.S. So why on Saturday night would President Trump make this all public?

AARON DAVID MILLER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, first of all, I think this is one of those summit of the vanities. I mean, the rush, it seems to me, to put the president at center stage compromised what might with some tougher negotiating end up being a reasonably good agreement. I'm not sure that is the case. But I think he was in a hurry, I think he wanted the drawdown process to start.

I think he was probably enamored by the notion of bringing Ghani and Taliban representatives to Camp David.

[18:10:00]

It doesn't happen very often. I participated in one of these summits in July of 2000. It failed. We thought we had a reasonable chance of success with some preparation to bring (INAUDIBLE) Ehud Bark together for an agreement.

But this, Ana, to use one of my favorite words, was a train wreck from every conceivable angle. The symbolism, discount the fact that we shouldn't, the fact that 16 Americans have died, largely at the hands of the Taliban, certainly the one in Kabul on Thursday.

Think about the proximity to 9/11 and the support the Taliban provided. And then finally the notion you don't have a president preside over a withdrawal agreement that has so many holes and so many uncertainties that frankly even under the best of circumstances it was likely to demonstrate real weakness and probably come apart.

CABRERA: If it was strategic for the president to make this public announcement about a secret meeting that wasn't going to happen after all, what message do you think he sent to the Taliban and will it help or hurt the negotiations?

MILLER: I mean, I think we clearly are at sea with respect to our own policy. I think the president wants a withdrawal agreement. Others who have been more critical think withdrawal, including his key negotiator, Zalmay Khalilzad, thinks this has to be linked to some sort of peace agreement.

I think this sends a message of confusion, dysfunction, a tough assignment negotiating this, but there's an enormous amount of work to be done. Let's hope from now on that they look at this with more coordination and a bit more planning.

CABRERA: Here is more of what the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said of a potential deal. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POMPEO: We have it in hand. And there's still more work to do. There's still lots of work. But in the end, it won't be about the commitment. It will be about their delivery. It will be about their execution. It will be about their capacity to actually do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CABRERA: And when Jake Tapper pressed Pompeo on whether he trusted the Taliban to prevent Al Qaeda from launching attacks on foreign nations, Pompeo said, his strategy was trust but verify.

General Hertling, do you agree with that plan?

HERTLING: I listened to some of the interview that Jake did this morning, Ana. And, truthfully, a majority of it was insulting to intelligence of anyone who has fought or serviced within Afghanistan. To say that you're going to drawdown to say, let's take the number, 8,000 soldiers over the country the size of Afghanistan and still demand things of an opposing force.

The Taliban, which has already called itself the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan as they go into further meetings with Mr. Ghani's government shows that they are not going to be beholden to the United States. And it's going to be very difficult to verify with a few as number of 8,000 soldiers or troops in that country. Even conducting counterterrorism operations, that's a small number of troops.

Now, truthfully, everyone wants to end this war and get out of Afghanistan, but that number is not going to be able to solve any problem more than what the Afghan government faces. But it's especially not going to be able to provide any impetus to the Taliban to adhere to the behavior that's outlined in a potential peace agreement.

CABRERA: Aaron David Miller, we have seen Trump's unconventional diplomacy at work before with North Korea, meeting with Kim Jong-un without any guarantees of denuclearization. And now, it sounds like he was going to meet with the Taliban with no deal up front. This just sounds like classic Trump diplomacy, but is it effective?

MILLER: I mean, I think we're two and a half years in. And, again, I referred earlier to the summit of the vanities. I think the president really does somehow believe that he needs to put himself in the middle of every diplomatic engagement and that somehow by virtue of force of personality, self-styled world's greatest negotiator, he can somehow figure out a way to turn all of this around.

Look, in fairness to the Trump administration, Ana, the standard for victory in Afghanistan was never could we win, but when could leave and what would we leave behind. And the reality is the choice for us is not between a good and bad agreement.

And I agree with Mark. He's 100 percent right on the relationship between means and ends. The choice for us in Afghanistan, I'm afraid, is between a bad agreement and a worse agreement. And this president is risk-ready in a sense that he wants out. And that, at least at this stage of the negotiation, could be a very difficult and very dangerous position to take.

CABRERA: All sides signaling they are still open to continuing negotiations, so we'll see where this goes. Aaron David Miller, Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, thank you both.

MILLER: Thank you.

HERTLING: Thank you, Ana.

CABRERA: This hour, the death toll in the Bahamas from Hurricane Dorian has risen [18:15:00] to 44 and we are getting a better sense of the magnitude of the destruction. We'll take you there live for more on the recovery efforts.

Plus, workers at the country's top weather agency instructed not to contradict the president's claim that the hurricane threatened Alabama. Details next in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: A massive humanitarian aid effort is underway in the Bahamas one week after Hurricane Dorian leveled everything in its path. The death toll is increasing. 44 people are now confirmed dead and officials expect that number to rise sharply.

The Coast Guard says it has rescued more than 300 people so far, but hundreds are still missing. Volunteers with search dogs continue to scour neighborhoods decimated by the storm.

CNN's Paula Newton joins us now from the Bahamian capital of Nassau. And, Paula, we are told that some 70,000 people are now homeless. How are rescue teams helping?

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It's just -- the number is just staggering. And part of the problem now is trying to direct the aid where you need it.

Now, the U.S. has been here first and foremost with those search and rescue teams, Ana, that you mentioned, critical, and as you said now, over 300 done by the U.S. Coast Guard there.

They now have to move that operation to search and recovery. That is part of the coordination going on here on the ground in Nassau. But a lot of it also has to do where to place that aid.

The fact of the matter is, in the Abaco Islands where I've been the last few days, a lot of people have evacuated.

[18:20:00]

Many of them have come here to Nassau. And this is where the aid needs to be prepositioned now.

I want you to listen to Mark Green from USAID explain exactly why the United States is here and how they intend to help. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK GREEN, USAID ADMINISTRATOR: This is what we do to help make sure that aid is appropriately coordinated. We just got done meeting with a number of our humanitarian partners, NGOs, international partners, sharing information, working closely with the prime minister, so absolutely coordination, no room for duplication, no room for stepping on each other's toes. Our job is to help provide order and support to the prime minister.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: You know, Ana, I know there have been some incredibly generous and worried folks out there who have been trying to get their own private aid efforts together. What the USAID and the Bahamian government is saying, look, go to our websites, check it out and there are lots of ways to help.

One of the complaints from the survivors here has been that the aid has not been well-coordinated and that they have not seen enough of their own government aid. They're hoping to rectify a lot of that one week on.

The other thing I want to mention through too, Ana, is that death toll. Now, we really hope for some kind of an update soon on the death toll. But as I said, the search and recovery will be painstaking and could take several days, if not, weeks.

CABRERA: Okay. Paula Newton, thank you for keeping us posted and for your ongoing work there on the ground. And by the way, we'll be talking with Chef Jose Andres, who is also there serving thousands of people hot meals as they work to recover and get a sense of where they go next.

It was almost comical right at the beginning, President Trump in the Oval Office doubling, tripling down on his statements that Hurricane Dorian once had Alabama in its sights. Trump's Dorian forecast initially drew this tweet from the National Weather Service in Birmingham. Alabama will not see any impact from Dorian. We repeat, no impact from Dorian will be felt across Alabama.

Now there's more. Today, The Washington Post reports a top official at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, told its staff on September 1st not to contradict President Trump. A meteorologist who wishes to remain anonymous told The Post, quote, this is the first time I felt pressure from above to not say what truly is the forecast.

Coming up, they're leading in the polls, and now, Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are preparing for their next debate face- off. So what can we expect from the top three contenders? That story, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:25:00]

CABRERA: A new 2020 poll out today looks at the state of the crowded Democratic race for president ahead of Thursday's debate in Houston. Here it is. The ABC News/Washington Post poll shows Joe Biden at 27 percent with a sizable lead over his competitors, in second place, Senator Bernie Sanders at 19 percent, in third, Senator Elizabeth Warren at 17 percent, and in fourth, Senator Kamala Harris at 7 percent, rounding out the top five, Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana polling at 4 percent.

With us now, CNN's Senior Political Writer and Analyst, Harry Enten. So, Harry, more and more polls seem to tell the same story. What's your take?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL WRITER AND ANALYST: I feel like it's the same old days here again, right? I mean, if you take a look at the average poll, you consistently see Biden at 30 percent. Then you see Sanders and Warren somewhere between 15 and 20 percent.

The one thing I will point out though, there was also a CBS/YouGov poll that came out from Iowa today that shows that Sanders is much closer to Biden in the State of Iowa. And that, of course, is important because that's the first in the nation contest. . So these national polls are important, but we shouldn't lose track of the fact that both Iowa and New Hampshire are much closer.

CABRERA: And New Hampshire too. Wasn't Warren and Biden really neck and neck there?

ENTEN: They were neck and neck in that poll as well. So those are two states where Biden -- that campaign expects to show it (ph). They've already said, we don't need to win the first two states. Those states are overwhelmingly white compared to the Democratic electorate at large. So I take a look at both the early state poll and the national. I think it gives us a better understanding of what's going on.

CABRERA: There was a head-to-head poll out this week from the important State of Wisconsin. That state we know could be key for either party to win the presidency. That's the takeaway there?

ENTEN: I think the takeaway there is the takeaway with the national polls have been showing us, and that is Joe Biden is up in the State of Wisconsin over Donald Trump. That was the state that helped put Donald Trump over the top with over 270 electoral votes back in 2016. \ The fact that he's down there is big trouble for him. And the fact that Biden leads him by the most sort of lends credence to the fact that he's the most electable, at least at this point.

CABRERA: I know you've been looking at a number of head-to-head polls. And you say, based on your analysis, Trump trails Democrats by a historically large margin?

ENTEN: Yes. I mean, if you look at the worst poll that Trump has had over the last month, you see him down by at least nine points to all of his competitors nationally. Biden was actually up by 16 points at a Quinnipiac University poll.

If you go back since the Second World War and you look at the worst poll for an incumbent president against his eventual challenger at this point, the worst had that incumbent only down by four points. So the fact that Trump is down by double digits, pretty much all of his potential competitors is not exactly a good sign for the president. CABRERA: A couple of key events this week in the political race, especially for the Democrats in their debate that they'll have at the end of the week. And this time, all three of the frontrunners, Biden, Warren and Sanders, will be on the same debate stage.

ENTEN: Yes, we finally have done it. Oh my goodness. It's taking us so --

CABRERA: What are you watching for?

ENTEN: I mean, to me, it's going to be really interesting to see whether or not Biden and Warren actually go at it, because it's the first time those two are on the same debate stage. They've had a long history since Biden was in the Senate and Warren was testifying before that committee. You know, Warren is obviously on the left side of that party, doing well with white college graduates. Biden was on the center part of the party, doing well among African-American voters.

Is there going to be a moment on that debate stage where those two go at it? That, to me, is going to be the most fascinating thing to watch.

CABRERA: Okay. We'll be watching. Harry Enten, thank you very much.

ENTEN: Thank you.

President Trump promised Mexico would pay for the wall. Guess what? It's not. And yet plans for the project are plodding along.

So where is the money coming from? We'll show you, next.

[18:30:00]

But first, Christine Romans has this week's Before the Bell.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Ana. The stakes are high for Apple this week. The company is expected to unveil three new iPhones on Tuesday.

In recent quarters, iPhone sales have suffered double-digit percentage declines. Customers are holding on to their phones longer, and the company is contending with a slowdown in China amid the ongoing trade war. Now, despite slowing iPhone sales, Apple shares are still up more than 30 percent this year.

As for stocks overall, a fresh batch of economic data could move markets. Reports on producer and consumer prices are due. That's inflation. Inflation has remained historically low. That gives the Federal Reserve wiggle room to cut interest rates again.

Friday's job report also gives the Fed cover. The U.S. economy added 130,000 jobs in August, a slower pace compared to last year. And 25,000 of those jobs were temporary census positions. It's another sign the U.S. economy may be slowing, paving the way for the Fed to cut rates.

In New York, I'm Christine Romans.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:35:22]

CABRERA: We are now learning of the hollowness of Donald Trump's biggest campaign promise. You know the one I'm talking about, the one that had him and his supporters screaming during his rallies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are going to build a great border wall. And who's going to pay for the wall?

CROWD: Mexico!

TRUMP: And who's going to pay for the wall?

CROWD: Mexico!

TRUMP: Who?

CROWD: Mexico!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Well, that was then, and this is now. President Trump, despite that promise he made so many times as a candidate, he now knows Mexico isn't paying for the wall. But we are now learning who is -- the U.S. military.

CNN's Alex Marquardt takes us to a military town that's one of many now finding out the funding they were supposed to get for much-needed projects is being rerouted to help pay for the wall.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Norfolk, Virginia is home to the U.S. Navy's Atlantic Fleet and the largest naval base in the world. The area's central and vital role in military operations and national security hasn't stopped the Trump administration from naming four different military projects here whose almost $80 million in funding will now be diverted to pay for the border wall.

REP. BOBBY SCOTT (D), VIRGINIA: All of these projects are being lost for a wall that makes no sense, and everybody knows it.

MARQUARDT (voice-over): Democratic Congressman Bobby Scott has represented the district for almost three decades and says President Trump's decision is costing his constituents' jobs.

SCOTT: It means that the jobs that could have come to the area won't come to the area. Tens of millions of dollars' worth of -- worth of construction, that's a lot of economic impact to this area that we're going to lose for a wall that is not needed. MARQUARDT (voice-over): In all, $3.6 billion in military funds are

being taken to help pay for the wall, 127 projects from firing ranges to aircraft hangars to childcare, both at home and abroad, whose budgets are being gutted.

In Virginia, the four that are losing $77 million in funding are a naval ship maintenance facility, two hazardous materials warehouse projects, and a cyber operations facility.

In a place with such a historic and important military heritage where 40 percent of the economy is related to military funding, that hurts, both financially and emotionally.

COL. BRUCE STURK (RET.), DIRECTOR OF FEDERAL FACILITIES SUPPORT, HAMPTON VIRGINIA: Our community is a fabric built on military veterans and a very healthy military population here in the Hampton Roads region, so I think there's a general sense of disappointment.

MARQUARDT (voice-over): Bruce Sturk retired from the Air Force as a colonel, last serving at Langley Air Force Base which is now being stripped of $10 million for that cyber operations and training facility at a time when cyber-attacks are one of the greatest threats to national security. Along with others that will now be ignored, says Democratic Congresswoman Elaine Luria, a retired naval commander whose district is also affected.

REP. ELAINE LURIA (D), VIRGINIA: You know, I know firsthand from, you know, having spoken to the commanders at the bases where this impact is going to happen that it is going to impact our mission and our security.

MARQUARDT (voice-over): Not just the security of the nation, but those serving it whose priorities now may not be addressed.

LURIA: It's like your husband, it's your neighbor, it's your wife who's going on a deployment, and you don't want to think that, you know, their ship wasn't maintained properly, or they didn't have the right tools that they needed to go do their job. So it hits home a lot in a community like this where everyone is so tied to the military.

MARQUARDT (on camera): The Pentagon is pushing back on this idea that these projects have been defunded. They say they have just been deferred for now, that they'll get their funding back at a later date.

But this $3.6 billion had been specifically appropriated by Congress for these projects, and so it's getting political. Democrats say this is exactly why you have congressional approval. And now to get those projects refunded, the money needs to be reapproved by Congress, which is far from certain.

Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: As both parties are gearing up for the 2020 election, one 2018 congressional race still isn't over. And this Tuesday, voters there will test President Trump's 2020 message.

[18:39:44]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: You might think the 2018 elections are over. You would be wrong. 2018's final House race is headed for a nail-biting finish on Tuesday in North Carolina.

This race pits Republican State Senator Dan Bishop against Iraq war veteran and Democrat Dan McCready. Months ago, the state tossed the first round of election results featuring a different GOP candidate after an illegal ballot harvesting scheme was discovered.

CNN's Dianne Gallagher explains the complicated history of 2018's final election contest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the final race of 2018 and, in a way, the first test of 2020. The do-over election in North Carolina's Ninth District offering a glimpse into the future to see if the President's playbook still plays in a changing political battleground.

TRUMP: Dan Bishop. Dan?

(APPLAUSE)

GALLAGHER (voice-over): Republicans investing time and a lot of money to stop the Democrats from flipping their final midterm House seat, boosting two-time State Senator Dan Bishop with the party's biggest draw, the Trumps.

DONALD TRUMP, JR., SON OF PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: And this is going to be a big stake for us in 2020.

GALLAGHER (voice-over): Bishop tells CNN, he feels the national narrative playing out here benefits him. He's closely tied his campaign to the President.

GALLAGHER (on camera): So, in District Nine, is a vote for Dan Bishop a vote for Donald Trump?

STATE SEN. DAN BISHOP (R), NORTH CAROLINA: I certainly will go to the -- go to Washington and work very aggressively to help President Trump.

[18:45:06]

GALLAGHER (voice-over): Democrat Dan McCready is entering his 27th month of campaigning in the sprawling district, a longtime Republican stronghold that stretches from the southern Charlotte suburbs along the border of South Carolina.

The former Marine lost the original 2018 race by just 905 votes, but state election officials refused to certify those results due to allegations of ballot fraud committed by a consultant hired by then- Republican candidate Mark Harris' campaign who, citing poor health, chose not to run again.

CAPT. DAN MCCREADY (D), NORTH CAROLINA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CANDIDATE: This is a district that went for President Trump by almost 12 points. The fact that we're tied really means we're 12 points up of where we should be, and it's a testament to our message of bringing people together.

GALLAGHER (voice-over): Now, McCready admits some of the debates happening in his party's presidential primary don't exactly help him in a conservative-leaning district. Still, millions of dollars in outside spending have poured into the district from both sides.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When they were banned from social media, Dan Bishop took their side.

GALLAGHER (voice-over): Mirroring national controversies, attempting to tie Bishop to White supremacy, a charge he denies.

BISHOP: I'll go to Congress and fight these clowns for you.

GALLAGHER (voice-over): And paint McCready, who says he's running as a moderate, as a liberal who would align with the so-called squad.

GALLAGHER (on camera): Do you feel like you're running against Dan Bishop, or do you feel like you're running against Donald Trump?

MCCREADY: Well, I'm running against Dan Bishop. Unfortunately for him, he is not running against a socialist. He is running against a capitalist who's built a business from scratch. He's running against a United States Marine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: That was Dianne Gallagher reporting for us.

New details on the investigation into the fire on a California dive boat that killed 34 people. Why the boat owner has just been served with a warrant.

Plus, reports that members of the military stayed at the President's resort in Scotland has Democrats threatening to investigate. But is it actually illegal? Our Elie Honig is live with analysis, next.

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[18:50:25]

CABRERA: Welcome back. House Democrats are investigating whether a stay by Vice President Mike Pence at a Trump resort in Ireland was a conflict of interest and may have violated the Emoluments Clause in the Constitution.

In letters revealed last week, the House Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform Committees also demanded details about Trump's call to host next year's G7 Summit at one of his own resorts.

And that's not all. We now know the Oversight Committee has also been looking into increased military spending that apparently benefited the Trump Turnberry golf course and resort in Scotland as well.

This all comes as House Democrats get ready to take the next step in the impeachment process against President Trump, which, we should note, expands beyond any possible obstruction of justice.

And that brings us to our weekly segment, "Cross-exam," with CNN Legal Analyst, Elie Honig. He's a former federal and state prosecutor, and he's here to answer your questions about legal news.

So, Elie, one viewer wants to know, does it violate the Emoluments Clause for the Vice President to stay at a Trump resort while on official business?

ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: So, Ana, when I used to prosecute mafia cases, they had a practice called paying tribute or kicking up, and what that meant is the members were expected to put a couple of bucks in the boss' pocket every now and then in order to stay in good favor. And it looks like a version of that practice has started to catch on in the Trump administration.

So, emoluments, what does that strange word mean? The Emoluments Clause says that the President cannot take any income other than his set salary from a foreign government, the U.S. government, or any state.

So when Mike Pence stayed at Trump's resort, some of the money to pay for that came from the U.S. government. That was taxpayer money to cover Pence's costs and his official detail's cost. That is an emoluments problem, so we'll see where Congress goes with it.

Overall, Ana, the bigger picture, this just looks and feels corrupt. And we saw the evolving explanations this week. First, Pence's people said Trump had only suggested that he stay there, then they switched it over to convenience.

They said, well, the Vice President stayed there because he had to attend some meetings. But they're 180 miles away. That's like having a meeting in New York City and booking a hotel in Baltimore out of convenience. I'm not buying it; we'll see where Congress goes.

CABRERA: This is a little different but related.

HONIG: Yes.

CABRERA: You also have Attorney General William Barr planning this holiday party now at Trump's hotel in Washington. And another viewer asked, is it against the law for Barr to pay with his own money to throw a party there?

HONIG: Right, yet another top official paying money that will end up in Trump's pocket. But you're right, this is a little different because this money is coming from Bill Barr individually, not from any government. So it's not technically an emoluments problem. It is, however, I think, a very serious ethical problem that Bill Barr has created.

Now, Bill Barr's people said he got ethical clearance from -- in the Justice Department. I'm really having a hard time buying that because I worked at the Justice Department for eight years. We were not allowed to sell Girl Scout cookies within the department or to other government officials because you need to avoid even the appearance of a conflict.

CABRERA: Yes.

HONIG: You don't want money changing hands. So I think Bill Barr showed terrible ethical judgment here. DOJ is supposed to be strong and independent, and I think Bill Barr ends up here looking really weak and sycophantic.

CABRERA: Let's pivot to the 2020 election race. Right now, we have this huge field of Democrats. We know some --

HONIG: Yes.

CABRERA: -- will start dropping out. Some already have. One viewer wants to know, what can these candidates do with the remaining donor money contributed to their campaigns?

HONIG: Very common question from our viewers as candidates start to drop out. We have seen Swalwell, Inslee, Hickenlooper, Moulton, and most recently, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand all drop out.

So the golden rule is no personal use. No, they do not get to keep the money, pocket it, use it for jewelry or whatever. What they can do is they can donate to a charity, they can donate to a political party unlimited amounts. They also can donate to another candidate but only up to $2,000.

The most common scenario, what I think we'll see happening is, is they can essentially roll over any leftover money into a future campaign of their own.

So we see Inslee, he's going to be running for governor, Hickenlooper is going to be running for Senate. They can basically take their left-over money from their presidential campaign and give it to themselves for their next campaign.

CABRERA: OK. Now, what are your top questions for this week?

HONIG: It should be a big week. So, first of all, will we see the DOJ Inspector General's report on the origins of the Russia investigation? We already saw the Comey report. There's another one coming. I think it will be even more politically explosive. That could come very soon.

Second of all, will we see new charges against Jeffrey Epstein's co- conspirators? All the signals are there, the charges are coming. It's just a question of when, and clearly, DOJ sees the need to move quickly here.

And third, will Congress take actual steps towards gun safety legislation? They're holding hearings this week. Hearings are great, but action is what really makes a difference here.

There is legislation that we've discussed, background checks, red flag laws, that can make a big difference. It's just a question of political will. We'll see if they have that will this week.

[18:55:06]

CABRERA: And will they have a vote? We'll see.

HONIG: Right.

CABRERA: Thank you, Elie Honig, as always.

HONIG: Thanks, Ana.

CABRERA: Search warrants have been served against the business that owns the scuba diving boat that caught fire last week, killing 34 people. The boat went up in flames on Labor Day just off the coast of Los Angeles.

Officials say the Coast Guard Investigative Service issued search warrants on Truth Aquatics earlier this month, calling it in part -- a part of the ongoing probe. The "L.A. Times" says agents searched two other boats that belonged to the company, including one similar to the one involved in Monday's tragedy.

And we're following some breaking news off the coast of Georgia where officials have suspended rescue efforts for four missing crew members from this cargo ship that capsized. The former managing director of the NTSB joins me live, next.

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[18:59:31]

CABRERA: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. Thank you for staying with me.

We begin this hour with a jaw-dropping sight off the Georgia coast, a massive cargo ship, nearly 700 feet long, on its side in the water in St. Simons Sound. The Coast Guard says it was able to rescue 20 crew members before a fire onboard made it too risky for them to continue. And so, now, the fate of four more people onboard remains unknown.

We can tell you, at this hour, the smoke emanating from the scene has stopped, and now, rescuers are working to stabilize the ship before they can resume their operation. We know it was carrying cars when it flipped.