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Gulf Coast Braces For Impact As Hurricane Ida Bears Down; Biden: Another Kabul Attack Highly Likely In Next 24-36 Hours; Judge Strikes Down FL Governor's Mask Mandate Ban As Cases Surge; Nationwide Marches For Voting Rights Held On Anniversary Of 1963 March On Washington. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired August 28, 2021 - 17:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:00:22]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now is the time to leave.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: The National Weather Service warning some areas could be uninhabitable for weeks or months as Hurricane Ida barrels toward the Gulf Coast.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Pay attention and be prepared. Have supplies for your household on hand.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The U.S. strikes back for the Kabul bombing that killed 13 U.S. service members.

MAJOR GEN. HANK TAYLOR, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, JOINT STAFF REGIONAL OPERATIONS: The two high-profile ISIS targets were killed. Zero civilian casualties.

BROWN: Meantime, the mission to get American forces and their allies out of Afghanistan reaches its final phase.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We continue to evacuate American citizens and vulnerable Afghans to meet the mission requirement by August 31st.

BROWN: And judges in Texas and Florida push back against bans on mask mandates.

GOVERNOR RON DESANTIS (R-FL): Those school districts are violating state law.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Parents' rights are very important but they're not without some reasonable limitation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: I'm Pamela Brown in Washington. You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM on this Saturday. A monster named Ida. The hurricane is rapidly intensifying and drawing chilling comparisons to Katrina. Specifically and ominously, Ida is charging straight towards Louisiana right now as we speak.

It is due to make landfall tomorrow as a category 4 storm. Near New Orleans and on the 16th anniversary of Katrina's catastrophic siege of the gulf coast.

This afternoon, Louisiana's governor doubled down. He says Ida will be one of the strongest hurricanes to hit the state since the 1850s. Parts of Louisiana are under mandatory evacuation orders and time is quickly running out to escape the impact zone.

The National Weather Service is underscoring the dire stakes, warning that Ida could leave some places, quote, "uninhabitable for weeks or months".

We are covering all the angles of the approaching hurricane and the growing sense of urgency.

Let's begin with Tom Sater in the CNN Weather Center.

So Tom, you have a new update from the National Hurricane Center. What are you learning?

TOM SATER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, Pamela, this is a visual satellite. And as the sun sets you start to get a lot of detail. You'll start to see some shadows, ridges of high thunderstorms but also the well-defined eye.

Now, moments ago the latest advisory has come in and what we know is the pressure is dropping. That means it's getting stronger. Once the pressure drops, it takes a while for the winds to react and they pick up in their intensity which has happened.

We've now jumped from 100-mile-per-hour sustained winds to 105. Doesn't seem like a lot but this environment is conducive for it to blow up even more.

Typically these storms will fight off some dry air. And Ida did that earlier in the day and it won the battle. A lot of times you'll have a little weak shear that tries to break them down as well. There is no shear. Nothing but extremely warm, high octane fuel for those temperatures as it's going to make its way to the north.

Now, something else of note that is interesting. They have extended the surge warning to the east all the way to the Alabama and Florida line, and that now includes Mobile Bay. So their surge is increasing.

Why is it extended eastward? In the last hour and a half if you watch closely, and this is where it's going to be interesting in the next several hours going forward tonight, we watch the center of the eye. It's like spinning a top on a table. It's not going to stay in one vertical position with complete symmetry. It's going to wobble somewhat. And we have found, or the National Hurricane Center has found that the center of the eye has wobbled somewhat to the north and the northeast. Why is that important? If it moves just five, eight miles, it throws off the projection of where landfall will be. I mean you've got to extrapolate the entire distance of 300 miles so that can shift somewhat.

And we did have that and I'll show you the new one. Computer models still want to make this as a landfall now mid-day tomorrow as a major category 4. But you don't have to be near the core of the center to feel the effects.

Early this morning we had a wind gust in one of the outer bands in Key West that gave us a wind gust of 67 miles per hour. That's exactly what we had with landfall when Henri moved up into areas of New England knocking out power.

So again, we're going to be watching that. There will be tornado watches throughout the day tomorrow.

So also in the brighter colors of orange and yellow, possibilities of power outages. The big concern with this is catastrophic winds that will be in excess of 110 miles per hour.

[17:04:54]

SATER: If we have a Category 4 with 130-mile-per-hour sustained winds, those wind gusts could be 145, 150, 155.

We always look at the computer models and these are going to change now that more data is coming in.

Now the Airforce hurricane hunters have taken off about 4:30. They are now getting ready to enter the center of Ida so we're going to get a lot more information in the next couple of hours. But this is the American model, a GF (INAUDIBLE) or several others.

But it we always like to compare it to the European as well. This is at 1:00 p.m. local time and we have our landfall. And it looks pretty close to around Grand Isle. Maybe just to the west.

This one is a little further offshore which means the timing is a little slower with this. But each and every change, Pamela, and where that center is could change that track as mentioned.

And again, earlier this morning it was 50 miles from New Orleans. If it continues that movement and that trend to the east, we could see this move closer to a higher populated area.

And why is that important? Because those east winds and if New Orleans gets into the eye wall in those strong winds, widespread power outages. And not just to the east wrapping around to Lake Charles, which has tens of thousands of homes still with tarps.

Still looks to move up to central Tennessee. We'd had those problems in Waverly last week. It's going to drop a lot of rainfall. But hour by hour now we're going to be watching every little movement, every little change and the information coming from the National Hurricane Center.

BROWN: I know you'll be tracking it all for us. Meteorologist Tom Sater --

SATER: Yes.

BROWN: -- thank you so much.

And CNN's Nadia Romero is on the ground in New Orleans. Nadia, city officials are warning of power outages and significant flooding. Are people prepared?

NADIA ROMERO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well Pamela, it depends on who you talk to, right. So there is one group of though where people say I'm from New Orleans. We do this all the time. I survived Rita and Katrina and I'm not moving for Ida. And those are the folks who are planning to hunker down in place.

And then we have other people, take a look, there's a taxi leaving right behind me. This is what you see all across the French Quarter. People getting in a taxi, a ride share, trying to get out of town as quickly as possible.

We ran into some tourists who say that their flights were cancelled or their flights were booked so they just couldn't leave so they're stuck here.

There are other people who are trying to get out of the city and these business owners boarded up because they're not messing around. They realize that this could be a significant storm. That's it was predicted to be.

And you can always tell when you're in an area that is used to having storms because they board up their windows and they number then or letter them. 1, 2, 3 so they know exactly where that plywood goes each time there's a storm.

And that's what business owners are so afraid of, that debris breaking through their windows and sending glass and things all over the place. We've also seen sandbagging happening.

Listen to the warning from the governor here. John Bel Edwards telling residents to get out, get to higher ground, evacuate if they can.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOVERNOR JOHN BEL EDWARDS (D-LA): This will be one of the strongest hurricanes to hit anywhere in Louisiana since at least the 1850s.

We can also tell you that your window of time is closing. It is rapidly closing. And just like we said yesterday, by the time you go to bed tonight, you need to be where you intend to ride this storm out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMERO: Wherever you sleep tonight is where you will be until after the storm because the governor says that they're not sending in those emergency response crews to help you in the middle of the storm. They're going to wait until the storm passes, then they'll come out.

The National Guard, some 4,000 of them on stand by, ready for this storm. First thing they'll do is clear the debris out of the roads, especially around hospitals. Then they'll work their way through neighborhoods to see if there are people who are trapped.

And remember, we're talking about significant flooding, a storm surge and wind that could knock out power, which is why we're seeing people at the long lines of gas stations fueling up their cars and the grocery stores just barren right now.

We had to ask one of our photographers, Dominic Swanson, to stop at one of the grocery stores in Alabama to get water for us before coming all the way here to Louisiana because we couldn't find any water anywhere in town, Pam.

BROWN: That says a lot to me. Ominous words coming from Louisiana officials today as they are urging people to leave, evacuate before Hurricane Ida gets there.

Nadia Romero, thank you so much.

And n And now let's go southwest of New Orleans to Houma. That is a city in the crosshairs of the approaching storm.

CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam is there for us. So what are you seeing there, Derek?

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Pamela. In fact residents are taking advantage of that very narrowing window of opportunity to sandbag, to prepare their homes and to protect themselves from this monster hurricane that is approaching.

This is a particularly vulnerable location. I'm in the Terrebonne Parish, home of about 100,000 people. And where I'm standing right now, only 10 feet above sea level and that's pretty much the story across much of this particular parish.

Of course, there are a system of levees in place, floodgates have been closing and will continue to close up into the approach of Hurricane Ida.

[17:09:58]

VAN DAM: But of course, this is within the city and a state that has been hit particularly hard by the COVID pandemic. Low vaccination levels and high hospitalizations adds a complexity to this whole situation as well.

Talked to a nurse from this particular area just off camera telling me that she's never witnessed or experienced in her entire career of working here a mandatory evacuation aside from Katrina. But they were easily able to evacuate patients from her hospital during Katrina. This time there are no hospital beds available in the regional hospitals here, so that obviously complicates things as they want to evacuate people but they can't, Pamela.

BROWN: All right. Derek Van Dam, thanks so much.

And up next, the U.S. strikes back for the Kabul bombing that killed 13 U.S. service members. How the surgical strike went down and who was targeted.

Plus, a warning from the president tonight about a potential new threat.

Also ahead, it has been 58 years since Dr. Martin Luther King delivered his famous "I have a dream" speech. How activists are marking that anniversary with a nationwide march for voting rights.

[17:11:05]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: President Biden says the conditions in Afghanistan right now are extremely dangerous and he's warning that another attack at Kabul's airport is highly likely in the next 24 to 36 hours. Those sobering words come after the Pentagon confirmed two high-profile ISIS targets were killed in a drone strike last night in Afghanistan.

The president authorized it as retaliation for Thursday's suicide bombing outside Kabul Airport. 13 U.S. service members and at least 170 other people were killed.

It marked the deadliest day for U.S. troops in Afghanistan since 2011. And it came as the U.S. nears its deadline to exit the country on Tuesday and as more Afghan refugees arrive to a new life in the U.S. narrowly escaping the Taliban's takeover.

Kimberly Dozier is a CNN global affairs analyst and retired Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt was assistant Secretary of State for political/military affairs under President George W. Bush. Thank you both for joining us.

General, first to you, what is your reaction to this warning from the president tonight?

BRIGADIER GENERAL MARK KIMMITT, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, it indicates, as Kim said between the breaks, there are multiple threat streams and there's every intention and reason for another attack and that's to respond to the attack on the ISIS-K leadership.

So I would expect that there's going to be an attempt and obviously they know when we're leaving, so it's very obvious when it's going to happen, between now and the 31st.

BROWN: And what do you think, Kim? What does this signal in terms of where Afghanistan is heading now that the withdrawal is supposed to be done by August 31st.

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, ISIS-K has always been fighting with the more moderate parts of the Taliban internally. And now they're going to be pushing at the Taliban to be more extreme.

They have criticized the Taliban for making a deal with the U.S., for letting its soldiers leave, quote unquote, "peacefully".

So first of all, this is one of their last chances to get an attack on a large number of U.S. troops of some sort. Probably something like an RPG or some sort of rocket from outside the base aimed at those within.

And well, it means that while U.S. officials have been quietly trying to push the Taliban and Pakistan has as well to be somewhat moderate in what it forms as a new government, perhaps allowing some form of voting, perhaps putting a woman in one of its senior ranks, maybe making her minister of women's affairs.

The right side of the Taliban is going to say, if you do something like that, ISIS-K is only going to grow and make more of a problem for us.

BROWN: And just in the immediate future, how do you protect our service members in the wake of the 13 service members dying after that attack? The president has said he has directed all resources to go to protecting them, but how do you do that with what Kim just pointed out?

KIMMITT: Well, first of all, I don't think that we need to worry about our troops. They've been doing this for 20 years, they know how to protect themselves.

But obviously, the most spectacular way of making the point to President Biden is running a vehicle-borne IED into the middle of the Afghan civilians. We've got to remember, they're at far more risk than our troops, or going to be in the next 72 hours.

So if they want to get the point across to President Biden, they'll go after those large masses of Afghan civilians that are still trying to get into the base.

BROWN: And it's worth noting that our troops, as you said, this is what they want to be doing, helping Afghan allies, helping others get in and evacuate. And they're doing this in the face of this threat.

Looking ahead, as you laid out the landscape in Afghanistan, what this means for ISIS-K -- I remember when the Khorasan group was just gaining steam in ISIS. I think it was what -- 2016 or something like that. And there was a big concern about these lone wolf attacks, that there will be ISIS sympathizers in the U.S. that would launch attacks. How big of a concern is that now with the U.S. withdrawing?

DOZIER: Well, the ISIS-K group has mostly been focused locally domestically. They're an offshoot of some militant groups in Pakistan that don't think the Pakistani government is theocratic enough, extremist enough.

So while they're going to be perhaps a problem that metastasizes and threatens the west in the future, I think right now what they're going to be is one more distraction for a Taliban government that is trying to for the first time govern the entire country in a modern era, in a modern way, with a population that expects them to have electricity on and the water running and the phone system working.

[17:19:52]

DOZIER: Otherwise the Taliban is going to face an insurgency from its own people just because people expect them to be better than the last group or hope that they are.

BROWN: And how significant, General, was the strike against those two ISIS-K members? Will that have any impact moving forward?

KIMMITT: It was tactical in nature. It's going to be tactical in effects.

I want to go back to that other point that was made. The fact remains that what's ISIS-K doing now? They're celebrating. Every terrorist group in the world is celebrating because they now have the formula about how to get the Americans out of the country and how they can now use this as recruiting material to increase their ranks and we've given away Afghanistan.

So they not only have the cause, they not only have the place. ISIS isn't about to do a lone wolf attack. They're going to be too busy celebrating after the 31st at this great victory they have just achieved.

BROWN: So what do you think the U.S. needs to do then to avoid that?

KIMMITT: Well, it's too late. We should have stayed after the 31st to demonstrate we are willing to get not only American citizens but those that fought alongside of us back to the United States.

Kim thinks the Taliban is now going to be Taliban 2.0 and very moderate. I think that's not in their DNA. If they have a minister of women's affairs, she's going to be in charge of observing the stonings of adulteresses in the football stadiums that they used to do.

We are going back to pre-9/11. This isn't a modern group. Ignore the charm offensive. They don't have it in their ideology and they don't have it in their DNA.

BROWN: Just quickly here.

DOZIER: I would say that the Taliban has a political wing that's a bit more moderate but also understands what kind of face they have to present to the rest of the world to get international aid, et cetera.

But they have a military wing that wants to implement all the things you just described. That's going to be a tension going forward. But the last point we've got to remember, those marines and other servicemen and women who lost their lives in that attack did so because they were taking extraordinary risks to try to find American citizens and SIV candidates, people who worked and fought alongside them in that crowd to pull them into the airport.

That's what exposed them to the risk and that is what the Afghan people will remember, them taking those kind of risks and paying the ultimate price to try to save them.

BROWN: All right. Kimberly Dozier, Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, thank you both for your analysis.

Well by the time Hurricane Ida reaches the Louisiana coast tomorrow night it could be a powerful category 4 storm that's even stronger than Hurricane Katrina 16 years ago.

I'm going to talk to Ken Graham, the director of the National Hurricane Center right after this quick break.

[17:22:41]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Leave if you can. Those are the words from New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell earlier today. And indeed all roads out of southern Louisiana are seeing heavy traffic, as you see in this video right here.

16 years ago tomorrow Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and much of the Gulf Coast. And Hurricane Ida is poised to wreak similar if not more damage. Katrina was a category 3 storm that stalled over the state. Ida is predicted to hit as a category 4.

The National Hurricane Center expects Ida to make landfall Sunday, bringing damaging winds, power outages, heavy rain, tornados and more.

Ken Graham, the director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami, joins me now. So help us understand this. If Ida slows down enough before landfall, what are the chances Ida could become a category 5 hurricane?

KEN GRAHAM, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: Well, Pamela, I think at this stage to me, just looking at the latest data from the aircraft, we've got aircraft out right now and I was listening to the conversation back behind me. I think the big story here is it looks like the wind field is expanding. So it's not just about, you know, this intensification and getting to these different categories. This is a large wind field and growing wind field and that's a significant problem.

Because when you think about forecasting a category 4 storm, 135 miles an hour, it's just a large area of folks that can get these hurricane- force winds. And I think that's going to be the big story.

New Orleans metro area, the North Shore, any one of these areas in these warning areas could get hurricane-force winds. And that's prolonged power outages, roofs off houses, trees down. Just a significant, large, dangerous impact.

BROWN: How much is New Orleans in the dangerous zone with this storm?

GRAHAM: Well, this storm, Looking at this latest forecast, and if you think about this wind field, Pamela, this is a good way to look at it. When you look at the center, the actual hurricane-force winds could stretch out 30, 40, 50 miles from the center. Tropical storm force winds could stretch out a good 100 -- 120 miles from the center.

So when you start moving this forecast forward and think about the winds, not just a point on the map but an expanse outside that point, that puts some of those hurricane-force winds easily into New Orleans.

So that's why there's a danger of those winds, damaging prolonged winds. But the other part of this Pamela, you've got the storm surge and the rainfall on top of that.

Some areas getting, like Lake Pontchartrain, 5 to 8 feet of storm surge; mouth of the Mississippi River back to Morgan City, 10 to 15 feet of storm surge. That's inundation. That's the maximum that we could see at any one of these points. That's water up your pant leg. That's an incredible amount of dangerous water.

BROWN: And you were part of an award-winning team, we should note that made critical repairs to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Is New Orleans ready for this storm given what you just laid -- will the levees hold?

[17:29:55]

GRAHAM: Yes. That is what it's looking like now. I think there's some local levees that you have to be careful about.

These are the areas that are under mandatory evacuations. Those are people that really need to get out of those areas.

But the big part is the rainfall as well. I have to move on to this because it's not just the storm surge.

Even the improvements with the levees, if we keep back that water, look at the rainfall forecast here. We're talking 10 to 15 inches of rain, some places getting 20 inches of rain.

In addition to these other hazards that I talked about, this is a very life-threatening situation.

Even with the rainfall, right along the center, our forecast, something similar to that, but that center and right side puts New Orleans right over that area that could get that heavy rain.

Not just there, but Mobile, the Mississippi gulf coast. And look how far it stretches inland. There's places in central Mississippi that could see five to 10 inches of rainfall. So a dangerous situation.

Pamela, 90 percent of the fatalities in these tropical systems comes from the water, storm surge and inland rain. We've got to be ready for that in addition to the dangerous winds.

BROWN: All of this is a recipe for disaster.

Ken Graham, thank you.

As Hurricane Ida targets Louisiana, hospitals across the state are already at near capacity, filled with COVID-19 patients. As of right now, the hospitals there will not be evacuated.

Officials are encouraging people not to come to the hospitals in Louisiana unless it is life threatening.

Thanks to the Delta variant, COVID-19 hospitalizations across the U.S. surpassed 100,000 again this week. That's a level not seen in eight months.

CNN's Polo Sandoval is tracking the latest developments from Florida, where mask mandates in schools are still a hot-button issue -- Polo?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They certainly are, Pam, especially after yesterday's order from a judge here in Florida that sided with many school districts in the state that have been defying Governor DeSantis' attempt to try to prevent mask mandates from actually being put into place.

The judge there ruling that the governor does not have the authority to issue this kind of blanket mandate that would prevent mask mandates from actually kicking into place.

When you hear from parents and schools, they say that this decision, referring to those policies and measures, were put in place to try to keep the spread from getting worse.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL (voice-over): With the U.S. still falling well short of the 70 percent vaccination rate experts say is needed to achieve herd immunity, troubling new information about the Delta variant.

A study out of the U.K. finds that the now-dominant Delta strain is not only more contagious but also more dangerous, doubling the risk of hospitalization compared to the once common alpha variant.

That's bad news for many Americans, only 52 percent of whom are fully vaccinated against COVID.

The White House is urging people to get the shot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): If you're an American who is not yet vaccinated or if you're an employer who has yet to adopt vaccination requirements, we have a very simple message: Get off the sidelines, step up and do your part.

SANDOVAL: But as the government pushes Americans to do more to stay safe, the debate over masks rages on. The New York Department of Health will require students, faculty and

staff at all public and private schools in the state to wear masks while inside school buildings.

Judges in Texas and Florida are pushing back against bans on mask mandates implemented by Republican governors in those states, ruling that school districts are allowed to require students to mask up.

In Alabama, where counties are mixed on mask mandates, at least 5,500 school-age children tested positive for COVID during the week ending August 21st.

Cases and deaths are on the rise in that state with double-digit deaths reported every day for the past three weeks.

An Alabama state health officer says a situation is dire and people need to take this seriously.

DR. SCOTT HARRIS, ALABAMA STATE HEALTH OFFICER: We are really in a crisis situation. We've said that over and over for several weeks.

We need people to understand that you, yourself, if you're hearing these words, you're the person who can make a difference. You need to be responsible for your behavior. You need to do what it takes to not continue this situation.

SANDOVAL: Meanwhile, the mystery over what started COVID in the first place remains unsolved.

A 90-day investigation by the U.S. Intelligence Community concluded the virus could have come from a laboratory leak or jumped from animal to human naturally.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Back here in Florida, the state's health department recorded just over 150,000 new COVID cases in the last week alone here, Pam.

That is the highest number for a seven-day period since the start of the pandemic and certainly speaks to the fact that it is far from over.

In fact, the health care system that you see here behind me, Tallahassee Memorial Health Care, they saw an average of 41 patients, treated about 41 patients a day back in January during the last surge. Right now, that number, about 135 patients.

So as one health care worker told me today, Pam, the situation isn't as bad as what they saw months ago, it is worse. It is much worse right now here in Florida.

[17:35:02]

BROWN: And they're just exhausted, these health care workers, who are working so much, seeing things get worse there in states like the one that you're in right now. Polo Sandoval, thank you so much.

An unprecedented effort is under way to get Afghans who helped Westerners during the war out of harm's way. A translator for my next guest narrowly avoided the terror attack at the Kabul airport and is still struggling to escape Afghanistan. His story, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:40:05]

BROWN: Afghan allies at the U.S. still scrambling to escape Afghanistan. They're trying -- against the Taliban, trying to get out against the Taliban, terrorism and time.

But the people they helped throughout the war are fighting to make sure no one is left behind.

And that includes our next guest, Toby Harnden. He says his Afghan translator has been gambling with his life trying to get into the airport.

His face is covered here to protect him.

He recently needed treatment after nearly getting crushed by crowds.

The closest call yet was Thursday's attack at the airport in Kabul. He told Harnden that he was at the gate just minutes before the explosion saying, "God saved me and my sister."

Mr. Harnden joins us now. He's a dual U.S./British citizen who spent a decade as an officer in the Royal Navy before becoming an award- winning journalist and author.

He has reported from dozens of countries, writing about terrorism and war. His latest work is the upcoming book, "First Casualty: The Untold Story of the CIA Mission to Avenge 9/11."

Toby, thank you for joining us.

We're so happy to hear your translator was not hurt. But what was it like for you to learn how close to danger he was?

TOBY HARNDEN, JOURNALIST & AUTHOR: Hi, Pamela. Thanks very much for having me on the show.

Yes, it's heartbreaking. It's kind of a rollercoaster of emotions and facts and speculation all mixed together every single day. So yes, my heart sank.

I had a real feeling of dread when I didn't hear from him for really an hour or two after that attack. He was just getting away, checking on his sister, checking on his family.

Then I did hear from him. And so, yes, there was a sort of a surge of joy. But then, of course, he's still in this situation. He still has to go

back into danger to try to get into the airport.

And yesterday, he was picked up. He had a rendezvous point with one of these outside groups. A former CIA officer put me in touch with somebody, so he was in the right hands, he was on a bus.

He then spent 26 hours standing on this bus outside a gate, once again in danger. He was turned away first by U.S. military, and then hours later by the Taliban.

And so now he's getting a few hours of sleep and we're going to go through the same cycle again once he wakes up tomorrow.

BROWN: And now you have President Biden warning tonight that there will likely be another attack in the next day or two. Are you still hopeful that he will be able to get out? Is he hopeful at this point?

HARNDEN: We have nothing else to do but hope. But time is running out. We've got less than three days now.

And every day it gets -- it gets more dangerous. It gets less likely that he's going to be able to get through that gate.

The terrorist attack on Thursday obviously was a huge tragedy. Thankfully, he and his sister survived, or escaped without injury. But it has vastly complicated the situation. He went through that yesterday.

We've got another warning from President Biden saying another attack is likely. So I mean, the tension around that airport and the difficulties of getting through.

I mean, it shows how much he wants to get out and how so many Afghans want to get out that he's going to risk his life as he's done every day for nearly two weeks now to get out.

It's a race against the clock. Right now, we have to hope, but it's not looking good.

BROWN: Why is this so important to you to help him?

HARNDEN: Well, it's kind of simple human, really. He helped me. I was in Afghanistan for six weeks at the end of last year. I was up and he worked with me.

He is 29 years old, an intelligent young man. Learned his English mostly from movies but it's very good. He had a journalistic instinct, which translators often don't.

He helped track down two doctors who witnessed the last moments of Mike Span (ph), who was the first American casualty after 9/11, CIA officer. So he showed a real resourcefulness.

We had great conversations. I remember us talking about movies. He was very interested in idioms and vernacular English. I remember explaining to him what the phrase "a perfect storm" meant

and also what the term "Groundhog Day" meant. And now he's going through a Groundhog Day every single day outside that airport.

It's not just a movie, but it's real life, and it's life and death.

BROWN: And it shows the desperation and so many others trying to get out, willing to risk their life to go through that Groundhogs Day every day, trying unsuccessfully going back the next day.

Do you think the Biden administration appreciates the urgency of what may happen here? What may happen if the U.S. does leave people like your translator behind?

[17:44:59]

HARNDEN: I hope they do. I've applied for an SIV for him and then a P- 2 and I was advised that that was a better route to go.

I haven't had any word back from the State Department, absolutely nothing. No case number.

So really it feels like his fate is in the hands of brave Afghans, Afghan Americans, Americans who want to help, private groups who are going to do their best to get him out.

So, yes, it's one of those times where you feel a little bit abandoned by your government.

And I know that he feels certainly sort of abandoned by the Afghan government that sort of folded in the way it did.

And also by the U.S. government, which has promised to get American citizens and green card holders, but also American allies out of that country and away from, you know, the prospects of a medieval Taliban regime.

BROWN: Toby Harnden, thank you so much. Please keep us updated on how this unfolds. We hope that he can get out.

HARNDEN: I will.

Thank you very much, Pamela.

BROWN: On the 58th anniversary of when Martin Luther King Jr told the world about his dream, demonstrators in Washington, D.C., and across the country put pressure on lawmakers to protect voting rights by taking to the streets in dozens of cities.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:50:44]

BROWN: On this 58th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, a new nationwide push to fight what organizers consider to be voter suppression. Take a look at all the cities joining the so-called march on voting

rights. At least 18 states enacted 30 laws this year that make it harder for Americans to vote.

Rallies are happening in places like Texas, where just yesterday Republicans moved their bill one step closer to the governor's desk, after Democratic lawmakers left the state in a failed bid to stop it, calling it racist.

Our Suzanne Malveaux in Washington.

Suzanne, some well-known families are part of the demonstrations we're seeing.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Pam. A lot of enthusiasm and emotion as well.

There are thousands of people gathered across the country but here in Washington, two main rallies. One at the base of the Lincoln Memorial. Then one here in front of the U.S. capitol.

You had Martin Luther King Jr's son hosting and leading one of those marches in this 90-degree heat in this four-hour program.

But you had a lot of people very much enthusiastic about this.

King making the case that the 1965 voting rights legislation was critical, even though blacks official had a constitutional right to vote. It was state restrictions, like actually guessing the number of Jellybeans in a jar or a fee that would disenfranchise black voters.

He said this is the problem today, that you have legislation, this voter rights, original landmark legislation, that's being chipped away. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTIN LUTHER KING III, SON OF MARTIN LUTHER KING JR: This is a battlefield of morals and you are armed with the truth. And the truth is a flame you cannot extinguish.

People have done it before and will do it again. We will demand federal voting rights until we have them.

So don't give up. Don't give in. Don't give out. You are the dream and this is our moment to make it true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: So what he is actually fighting for is the John Lewis Voting Rights Act to try to restore some of those provisions, Pam.

Also the focus was the filibuster, that Senate procedure that requires 60 votes to pass legislation.

Reverend Al Sharpton taking clear aim at that, explaining why that has been so detrimental to civil rights.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. AL SHARPTON, NATIONAL ACTION NETWORK & ACTIVIST: This is not a law. This is a Senate custom.

Well, sitting in the back of the bus was a custom. Making us drink from the colored water fountain was a custom. Making us stand in the gutter while others walked on the curb was a custom.

We are the custom breakers. We are the filibuster busters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Noticeably absent, Pam, Reverend Jesse Jackson. He was here in Washington, D.C., a couple of weeks ago. I had a chance to catch up with him. He was protesting voting rights and was even arrested as well.

But he and his wife are now battling COVID-19. I had a chance to talk to family members who say Mrs. Jackson is in the ICU but breathing on her own, responding to treatment.

Reverend Jackson is in a separate facility, also responding to treatment.

There was a moment of silence and prayer to both of them, wishing them a speedy recovery -- Pam?

BROWN: We all hope for that.

Suzanne Malveaux, thank you for bringing us the latest there.

[17:54:14]

Well, Hurricane Ida is getting stronger as it moves closer to the Louisiana coast. People across the area evacuating ahead of this storm. And we're covering it all.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: I'm Pamela Brown in Washington. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. Thanks for being with us on this Saturday.

We're following two major stories this hour. Tonight, President Biden is warning another attack on Kabul airport is, quote, "highly likely in the next 24 to 36 hours."

And he's also vowing that today's U.S. drone strike against ISIS-K terrorists would not be the last.

Also tonight, we're tracking Hurricane Ida as it barrels towards the gulf coast. The governor of Louisiana warning it could be, quote, "one of the strongest storms to hit the state since at least the 1850s."

But let's start tonight in Afghanistan. The Pentagon has confirmed two high-profile ISIS targets were killed last night in a drone strike.

[17:59:56]

It was retaliation for Thursday's suicide bombing that left 13 U.S. servicemembers and at least 170 other people dead.

The Department of Homeland Security is tracking three primary threats, one being the possibility ISIS or al Qaeda members could use this relocation process to enter the U.S.