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Interview With Former FBI Director James Comey; Hurricane Laura Gains Strength It As Barrels Towards Gulf Coast; Update On Coronavirus Responses Around The Country; Convention Highlights Bitter Divide Between Family Members. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired August 25, 2020 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[13:30:00]
JAMES COMEY, FORMER FBI DIRECTOR: Yes. I agree. My first reaction is that's the result of Bill Barr's worldwide dragnet.
But I don't want to downplay it. It's important that people tell the truth in investigations.
And it looks from the pleading and the court hearings that, as a junior lawyer at the FBI -- I only know what I know about this from reading it because it happened after I was fired.
But a junior lawyer changed the document for reasons I can't understand from the public record. That's serious and he ought to be taken seriously. And he is before a judge to decide what a just punishment is.
I hope it reflects a new approach by the Justice Department of false statements. They haven't thought they were serious when it came to Mike Flynn or Roger Stone.
They have to be taken seriously no matter who makes a false statement in an investigation.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: The Justice Department is investigating the investigation into 2016. Do you think Bill Barr will release a result of this probe before the election? And do you worry about it being political in nature?
COMEY: Of course I worry about anything this administration is doing. And especially this notion that they need to investigate the investigators after the investigators had been investigated by everybody already.
But I don't know what they're doing so it's hard for me to say.
I hope, at some point, the American people get transparency of what John Durham is doing and what he has found. I'm confident he'll find the work was done in a professional way. But I just don't know.
And I'm skeptical that they'll be respectful of conducting themselves like professionals.
COOPER: Did you know the attorney who falsified this document?
COMEY: No. No. Maybe I was in a meeting with the guy but he was a junior-level person in the Office of General Counsel. But it doesn't mean it's not serious or it shouldn't be taken seriously.
COOPER: Do you worry about the public's trust in the FBI, that it has been so damaging, shaken? The number of missteps in the past four years.
COMEY: Oh, very much. The FBI depends upon the faith and confidence of the American people that it is competent, honest and independent. I know it's all three of those things.
But mistakes are important. Lies about the FBI are more important because they're harder to undo.
The FBI has to worry about it, as I do. And the best way to deal with it is show the American people your work. When you make a mistake, add it and wok to make sure it doesn't happen again.
But, yes, I worry very much. We need the FBI no matter what our politics.
COOPER: You are a lifelong Republican, I believe. What is your message? You're speaking at this Founding Principles convention tonight. What is your message to Republicans, to conservatives?
COMEY: My message is to Independents, former Republicans, and those principled Republicans that are left, that there are things above policy disagreements. It's important that we have policy disagreements in this country.
But when it comes to our core values, there's no them. There's only us. And you need to stare at those things, like the rule of law and the truth in deciding who should be president.
And my message is we have to have a president who is decent and is a person of integrity. We don't have that. We will have that if we elect Joe Biden.
COOPER: You know, I don't know if QAnon was an issue so much when you were at the FBI. I'm wondering what you make of this -- I mean, is this bizarre, you know, conspiracy theory is kind of an overused word.
But it is based on anti-Semitic, anti-Catholic tropes used for generations.
This time, it's of a cabal of Democrats and Hollywood celebrities and others who are allegedly and ridiculously running a child sex trafficking ring out of a pizza parlor and communicating in code in the public and drinking the blood of children to stay young and worshipping Satan.
There's now candidates, who are -- one who has a chance of becoming a congressperson in the Republican Party. And the president called that person a future star of the party. I know the FBI has said it could lead to -- it could be a kind of a
risk for domestic terrorism or illegal actions.
What do you make of this?
COMEY: There's always been an attraction to nutty conspiracy theories. The difference here is that it was always hard to talk to crazy, but crazy was outside the fence. Maybe shouting at the White House from outside the security fence.
Well, now, it's not only on the White House grounds and in the building and building. So how do you deal with it?
It makes a much more serious phenomenon that the president is not only not condemning the craziness, which, as the FBI said could be doing dangerous, but wrapping his arms around it.
So crazy is in the house. It is not enough for all of us who are not crazy to say, who can believe that. Blood-drinking pedophiles? We have to take it seriously because it's in the house and it could be dangerous.
[13:35:07]
COOPER: Yes.
James Comey, I appreciate your time. Thank you very much.
COMEY: Thank you for having me.
COOPER: Hurricane Laura targeting Louisiana and Texas. Some counties telling people to leave now.
Plus, a cluster is linked to a Starbucks. Hear what happened inside the cafe.
And the spread of the virus from that massive biker rally, it's now worse than previously thought.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:40:19]
COOPER: Hurricane Laura continues to gain strength as it barrels toward the gulf coast. The storm's expected to be a major hurricane by the time it makes landfall.
A hurricane warning for portions of Texas, Louisiana along the coastline. Low lying areas are already under mandatory evacuation orders as it's quickly approaching.
To get the latest, I want to bring in meteorologist, Jennifer Gray in the CNN Weather Center.
What is the latest? JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Anderson, this is not going to have
more interaction with land before it makes landfall in the U.S. gulf coast. And so basically, this storm is in the perfect environment to rapidly intensify.
It crossed over Cuba, now in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico with winds of 75 miles per hour, gusts of 90, moving to the west northwest at 16 miles per hour.
The hurricane hunters have been out there. They have found wind of 83 miles per hour. So that does indicate some strengthening with this storm.
This storm could very, very likely rapidly intensify by the time it makes landfall as a potential category 3 storm. Talking winds of more than 111 miles per hour. This is showing 115 mile per hour winds by Wednesday evening.
It's expected to make landfall somewhere around east Texas, south Louisiana, overnight Wednesday night into Thursday morning. And then make its way to the north and then eventually east.
Here are the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, low 90s. It's about to enter into.
Here's the other storms that have rapidly intensified. Think of Rita, Katrina, Michael. I don't like to compare storms but don't think of this as a Harvey. This is not a storm to sit over one area for a week at a time. This is going to be a storm that you have worry about the wind as well as the storm surge.
We're looking at anywhere from, say, 74- to 110-mile-per-hour winds potentially around Houston, just east of Lake Charles. That does include Lafayette. More than 110 mile per hour winds for places like Port Arthur, Beaumont, Texas.
And that's if this track stays the same. It could wobble to the west or the east. There's still time to do that.
Could see 13 feet of storm surge across southeast Texas, southwest Louisiana. Six to nine feet of storm surge just to the west of that near Galveston Island. Could pick up three to five feet of storm surge into Galveston Bay as well.
And this the water quickly goes up to those lakes and the rivers and they can cause major flooding to areas well inland.
Anderson, we are looking at a lot of rain, as well. Six to 10 inches potentially in the hardest-hit areas. But some could be more -- Anderson?
COOPER: Jennifer Gray. Jennifer, thank you.
In South Korea, a large cluster of new coronavirus cases are being linked to a Starbucks. South Korean officials believe 66 COVID cases connected to a Starbucks there. Health officials say it's mainly among customers not wearing face masks inside the cafe, which they say if poorly ventilated.
Similar isolated outbreaks are also happening here in the U.S.
Let's quickly check in with our correspondents.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Lucy Kafanov. Coronavirus cases linked to the Sturgis motorcycle rally have spread to at least two other states.
According to Minnesota health officials, at least 27 cases of COVID-19 are linked to the bike rally. And Nebraska health officials say at least seven cases are linked to the event.
South Dakota's now warning of possible exposure at four businesses that served Sturgis attendees.
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Brynn Gingras, in Hoboken, New Jersey. Schools in Danbury, Connecticut, will begin with virtual learning only. There's an outbreak in the city that canceled youth sports for the summer.
And residents in all nursing homes are being tested as the state says it's trying to squash the outbreak by, in part, just doing more testing.
The state believes that the flare-ups in cases could be tied to international travel and domestic travel, which could then get spread at gatherings where people don't wear masks or social distancing.
The state is also trying to get a handle on flare-ups in East Windsor at a farmworker's house and also at a nursing home in Norwich, Connecticut.
As far as the school situation in Connecticut, the superintendent says he'll revisit that decision of remote-only learning in October.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: I want to thank the correspondents.
Political shifts and family dynamics come to a head with my next guests, a father that supports Trump and his Biden-supporting step- daughter join me.
[13:45:03]
And in her RNC speech, Kimberly Guilfoyle claims she's a first- generation American, citing her mom's Puerto-Rican roots.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: As we all know, political conversations at the dinner table have always been a fine line for families to walk, but in the Trump- era, family get-togethers can turn into arguments sometimes with tensions running high.
[13:50:06]
One family, the Trump presidency has shown how much politics can shift. Dan Moore is a union worker, former Democrat, voted for Obama twice and now supports Trump. And Kelley Boorn used to vote Republicans and has become an enthusiastic Democratic voter.
One thing the two have in common his they're family Kelley is Dan's step-daughter.
And they both join me now.
Thank you for being with us.
This is a situation going on in a lot of families across the country.
Dan, what was your take-away from night one of the Republican National Convention?
DAN MOORE, UNION STEEL WORKER & TRUMP SUPPORTER: You know, I was -- Anderson, I'm doing my best to try to stay positive and solution- oriented. I'm a guy that tries to give credit where credit is due.
And, you know, one of the reasons why I supported Trump in 2016 is because Americans need jobs. We need a lot of jobs. And I always thought, as a United Steelworker, I thought NAFTA was always a bad trade agreement. And I'm an unapologetic supporter of freedom.
COOPER: And, Kelley, for you, Kelley, if you watched the convention last night, what did you think of night one?
KELLEY BOORN, BIDEN SUPPORTER & DAN'S STEP-DAUGHTER: I didn't watch that much of it. I've been pretty nervous to see you guys today. So I didn't want to add to that.
COOPER: I understand.
BOORN: I mean, I did try to watch a recap and like a fact-checker, that's basically what I've been looking at today.
COOPER: It's interesting because we wanted to talk to you because, as I said, I think there's so many families that have, you know, people in families that have different points of view.
And it's interesting how your politics have kind of -- or at least the parties you support have switched for both of you over the years.
As a family, what kind of impact does this have, Dan? Is this a topic of debate often or is it just not discussed?
MOORE: Well, no, it was during 2016. We had some pretty heated debates. Now Kelley and I are finding a lot of common ground.
I've always been open-minded. And I've always enjoyed history and learning more about the slavery and racism in America. And my talks with Kelley has educated me a lot on things that I was not even aware of. So I'm greatly appreciative for this. But --
COOPER: Kelley, over the summer, I understand your family sat down and watched two Netflix documentaries, both were focused on race. A lot of families shy away from topics when people are on opposite sides. You guys dove right in.
Can you talk to me about that?
BOORN: Yes, it's an ongoing thing, you know. I'm trying to get them to come over and see my side. And there was an opportunity when they came to my house.
I don't have FOX News on. I was like, hey, this documentary is inspiring, let's watch it together. I really want to know what you think. And I want you to see why I take my sons to the protest marches because it's not what you think.
There were protests and we went and it was a good experience for us. And I really want to pass it on.
I guess I'm trying to justify my actions, as a mom, to my family and get them on board.
COOPER: Kelley, you used to be a Republican. Do you see yourself firmly now as a Democrat?
And I guess then I'll ask a similar question to Dan.
BOORN: Yes, so when I was young, I was raised Catholic and I would go to like the pro-life fair with my grandma and pass out pens. And I felt like it was really important. And I thought I was saving lives and making a difference.
You just see all of this going on around you and I, myself, had two miscarriages and I had to take a pill that was used for abortions.
And the story came out about a woman that couldn't get a prescription filled from a pharmacist because he didn't agree with it. If that happened to me, that would be really hard. So it was a real eye- opener.
But a true pro-life movement is so much more than taking care of a baby. We've got to give moms access to health care and health insurance. We need so much more.
COOPER: Dan, is your mind made up so far for the election or do you think it could change over the next couple of months?
[13:55:07]
MOORE: Well, you know, Anderson, I'm pretty much locked in with President Trump because of -- I do -- because, you know, the United Steelworkers has always been looking for a president who is going to stand up to China on decades of unfair trade practices, you know. So that's important for me as a steelworker.
And, also -- so we've got that. And also I have to give President Trump a thumb's up on the Opportunities Initiative.
But I also see a lot of improvement, a lot of room for improvement with that initiative.
COOPER: Dan and Kelley --
(CROSSTALK)
MOORE: I'm willing to work with President Trump or, you know, Candidate Biden, should he be elected.
COOPER: I appreciate both of you talking about this. It's uneasy for families and it's nice to see that you're both talking and having good --
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: -- conversations and respectful.
So thank you so much for both of you for joining us. Wish you the best.
MOORE: Thank you.
BOORN: Thank you.
MOORE: Anderson, can I make a real quick shout out here to Dr. Gerald Higginbotham, in Los Angeles, California, with the Descendants of American Slaves, and also Norris Shelton, with American Slaves Incorporated in Louisville, Kentucky. If I could do that, I would greatly appreciate it. 2 I've been working with these two gentlemen and they are very solution oriented. They've got great ideas as far as how we can improve race relations in America.
COOPER: I appreciate your time. Thank you for joining us.
Coming up, the confusion over the fate of Liberty University's president, Jerry Falwell Jr. Trump's leading evangelical supporter, in the center of a controversy, a sex scandal, involving a pool boy.
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