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State Rep. Ronnie Crudup Jr (D-Jackson, MS) Discusses Water Emergency In Jackson; AZ GOP Senate Candidate Blake Masters Scrubs Trump's 2020 Election Lies From His Campaign Web Site; Secret Service Official At Center Of 1/6 Testimony Retires; Some Republicans Try To Shift Positions On Abortion As Midterms Loom; U.S. Navy Blocks Iranian Attempt To Capture American Maritime Drone. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired August 30, 2022 - 14:30   ET

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

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[14:31:51]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: The National Guard deploying 4,500 troops to Jackson, Mississippi, today to help with the water crisis there. There's not enough usable water to fight fires or flush toilets. All schools are closed and moved to virtual learning.

The city's water supply has been plagued with issues for years, but after days of flash flooding, the state Health Department discovered the pumps at Jackson's main water treatment plant have been severely damaged.

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MAYOR CHOKWE LUMUMBA (D), JACKSON, MS: We've been actually lifting up our persistent water challenges for the better part of two years, crying out for any assistance that we could get.

The good news is that we have seen persistent gains in our system overnight. There are residents who did not have water yesterday that their pressure is being restored.

But we won't be satisfied until every resident has their water restored to them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: State Rep. Ronnie Crudup Jr represents Jackson, Mississippi, the state's largest city. He's also the executive director of the New Horizon Ministry.

Representative Crudup, thank you so much for being here.

So 180 people in Jackson cannot flush their toilets or drink the water or brush their teeth. You live there. What is it like for your family?

STATE REP. RONNIE CRUDUP JR. (D-MS): Well, first of all, thank you for letting me share this opportunity. It is difficult, definitely. My wife and three kids are suffering the

same thing with our family not being able to flush toilets over the night.

We did have this morning a little bit of water pressure so we could flush toilets. But we can't shower, can't bathe, and can't send the kids to school.

And so it's been a difficult situation for myself but also for the residents all over the city of Jackson. It's over 180,000 residents who are suffering right now because of this water outage.

CAMEROTA: How long are the kids going to be out of school?

CRUDUP: We don't know right now. Last time -- this actually happened in February of last year. Some of our kids were out for, you know, almost a month. And so we're hoping it's not that long. But it's kind of a day-to-day situation right now.

So, you know, they're saying it may be three days, it may be three weeks. We're not really sure at this current moment.

CAMEROTA: When you turn on your faucet, the faucet in your kitchen, what happens?

CRUDUP: Well, like I said, last night, it was just air kind of coming out of it. Nothing -- not enough pressure at all to do anything with. You couldn't boil water at all. You couldn't flush the toilets because there just is not enough water coming into the system.

But this morning, there is water, enough to be able to do some things with. Like I said, you can flush your toilets.

But it's discolored so it's not safe to drink. So, we had to use bottled water this morning to be able to brush our teeth and just a few other things to make sure the kids had breakfast this morning.

CAMEROTA: I mean, one of the cruel ironies of all of this is that while so many places in the country are experiencing drought because of not enough rain, you all have had so much rain that, what happened? It overwhelmed the water treatment system?

I mean, is this sudden, or has this been building up for years?

CRUDUP: Well, it's been building up for years, but we have had an unprecedented amount of rain the last two to three weeks. And it just kind of created this havoc, what we're dealing with right now.

[14:35:06]

Like I said, last year, February, I think -- yes, last year, we had an ice crisis, and it actually messed up our water pipes where it's making it where it was extremely fragile.

This year, we had a lot of rain, which kind of did the same thing. And so this is something that's been occurring for years. But sometimes it takes these catastrophes to make sure that this disaster comes to light.

And so we hate it for our residents. But also, our businesses that are dealing with some of the same things. A lot of our restaurants closed as well.

And so a lot of residents are suffering right now in Jackson.

CAMEROTA: I was going to ask you about that. Of course, restaurants have to be closed. I mean, if you can't flush toilets, I assume restaurants can't be open.

What is it like in downtown Jackson? How many businesses are closed today?

CRUDUP: There's a lot of them that are closed. A lot of them going virtual themselves. Dealing with some of the same things that happened during COVID.

But there are people that have decided to bring in their own water trucks so there are certain restaurants bringing their own water in to give citizens something to be able to eat.

Because, if not, a lot of citizens would have to go outside the city, which everybody doesn't have transportation of that magnitude.

And so people are really resilient here in Jackson. They're doing the best they can to make a better situation out of what we got going on.

CAMEROTA: So, Representative, who do you blame for this? Who should have been on top of this before it got to this crisis?

CRUDUP: Well, I mean, I'm not here to play the blame game right now. We've been passing this buck around for years. This thing has been decades in the making.

We have had mayors of the past that try to call a state of emergency. And like I said, even the last two years, we've been dealing with things over and over again.

And so I'm just glad right now that the governor has decided to go ahead and step up to the plate and help us out right now. Because we need to be able to just have adequate water for our kids and families, and our residents at this current moment.

CAMEROTA: Yes. Well, State Rep. Ronnie Crudup Jr., thank you very much. We're thinking of you. Best of luck. We really hope this is short lived after today. Thanks for being here.

CRUDUP: Thank you. Appreciate it.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: A Republican Senate nominee is changing his tune when it comes to claims of a stolen 2020 election and scrubbing his Web site of the lies that Trump won. What this says about the Republican Party's strategy heading into the midterms. That's next.

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[14:42:00]

BLACKWELL: Midterm elections are about 10 weeks away. In Arizona, the Trump-backed Republican Senate nominee, Blake Masters, appears to be shifting his strategy of echoing the former president and his 2020 election lies.

CAMEROTA: During the primary, if you went to his campaign Web site, this is what you saw. The left side of your screen.

It read: "We need to get serious about election integrity. The 2020 election was a rotten mess. If we had had a free and fair election, President Trump would be sitting in the Oval Office today, and America would be so much better off."

Now, suddenly, it reads, simply, "We need to get serious about election integrity."

Masters also recently toned down his position on abortion on his Web site.

Let's talk about this with Alyssa Farah Griffin, who is our CNN political commentator and a former Trump White House communications director.

Alyssa, this is interesting. Particularly, the "election fraud, Donald Trump won portion of this."

Because isn't that -- don't you have -- isn't it a litmus test for Republicans, basically, a large portion of the party, to have to say that there was, you know, widespread election fraud and that Donald Trump, you know, was the true winner of this?

Why is Blake Masters, of all people, now tamping that down?

ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Therein lies the problem. As a primary candidate, he catered to the base, and 60 percent of the Republican base believes that the election was stolen.

So, he's obligated to make those sorts of claims. He wanted to ensure he got the former president's endorsement.

But now he needs to win statewide in Arizona, a state that could easily go either direction. And with a very credible Democratic challenger.

So, there's nothing totally new about people swinging a bit more moderate in a general election. But it is stark in this case, because it's something as extreme as basically saying the previous election was not legitimate and then just wiping away all references to that.

And obviously, the abortion language as well, realizing that that's going to alienate a number of moderate Republicans, Independents and women that he's going to need to win.

One thing I want to note is this. This is obviously something to watch in midterms, but also for 2024.

What I expect to see is a bunch of Republicans go on a primary stage and relitigate the 2020 election, not really recognizing what we all know, which is that is an unsustainable position in a general election, and you're handing the Democrats a victory by doing that.

BLACKWELL: Yes, well, you know, in the near term, before we get to 2024, just ask Mo Brooks about what can happen to a Trump endorsement if you back away too far from the 2020 election lies.

Let me go to Tony Ornato, who you have worked with. You know, Secret Service assistant director. He is retiring.

Of course, Cassidy Hutchinson told the January 6th committee that he was the person who recounted the story of what happened inside the SUV after the former president's speech on January 6th.

Let's get a reminder of what she told the committee.

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[14:44:58]

CASSIDY HUTCHINSON, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE AIDE: The president reached up towards the front of the vehicle to grab at the steering wheel. Mr. Engel grabbed his arm and said, sir, you need to take your hand off the steering wheel. We're going back to the West Wing. We're not going to the capitol.

Mr. Trump then used his free hand to lunge towards Bobby Engel. And when Mr. Ornato had recounted this story to me, he had motioned towards his clavicles.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Sources say he has denied that story.

And apparently, he is eligible to retire. Sources say he's been planning to retire for some time. But has he been too politicized to stay? What do you make of this decision now?

GRIFFIN: So, a number of us who knew Tony and worked with him in the previous administration, had known for a while or had at least heard rumblings that he was going to leave sometime this summer. His 25 years was up.

But the other side of that -- and I don't like to speak in rumors or speculation -- was that he was going to go to the private sector, likely to some sort of Trump-aligned group. He's denied that he's going to go work for Trump directly.

But I would remind folks, the broader Republican orbit is Trump's party right now. There's any number of organizations and groups he could go to that would still be in Trump's orbit.

And that matters because, of course, he tried to challenge Cassidy Hutchinson's incredibly credible testimony and has yet to himself go in front of the committee and say it was untrue on the record.

So I think he's very much a Trump loyalist. I think this is likely a step toward him being even more in the fold, not less.

It's been two months since he said that Cassidy misled the committee, which she did not. He needs to come forward and actually tell the truth.

CAMEROTA: Alyssa, I want to end on the abortion issue because it's not just Blake Masters who is now trying to moderate his position on his Web site.

There are all sorts of GOP hopefuls who, on their Web site or out loud, are now shifting their positions on abortion, their rhetoric, what they say on their Web sites, to be less extreme.

And I just want your impression. Does that mean, if they win, it is a bait and switch for voters?

So, voters will think that they have moderated their positions, they will believe what they say now in the general elections, but then if they are elected to office, they will revert back to their extreme positions?

GRIFFIN: That's an excellent question, Alisyn, because I could see how you could take it either direction. But I think that's a very valid point.

I talked to, unofficially, a number of elected Republican officials. And I have said before, I'm pro-life. But things are very different in a post-Roe era where you have to actually get to decide in states what that looks like.

Is there any access? Are there some sort of exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother?

And these highly extreme positions are never going to work statewide, certainly, but even in some of these smaller races.

So I think voters need to be extremely skeptical. They need to ask questions about, fundamentally, what is the position?

And it's smart to show this juxtaposition because, honestly, I couldn't tell you what the true position is of any of those folks that you put up. Were they catering to the base for a primary and now saying their real position or vice versa?

That's unfortunate in our politics, honestly.

BLACKWELL: Yes. On such a crucial topic, too.

Alyssa Farah Griffin, thank you so much.

GRIFFIN: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: All right, Iran intercepted. New details on how the U.S. Navy stopped an Iranian ship from capturing an American drone.

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[14:52:39]

BLACKWELL: We have some new satellite images there of Pakistan, and they show entire villages submerged by flood waters. This is after the record rainfall.

Pakistan's prime minister says the situation is the worst in the country's history. The climate minister says at least one-third of Pakistan could soon be under water.

CAMEROTA: Over a thousand people have died, including nearly 400 children. International aid is pouring in to help Pakistanis who have lost everything. The U.S. just announcing $30 million in humanitarian aid.

To find out how you can help Pakistan's flood victims, go to CNN.com/impact.

And this just into CNN. The United States Navy blocked an Iranian ship from capturing an American maritime drone in the Arabian Gulf Monday night.

BLACKWELL: CNN's Oren Liebermann is at Pentagon.

Oren, how did it happen?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Victor and Alisyn, for some context, over the course of the past year, the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, which operates in the region, has had a program to integrate unmanned maritime vessels more into the operations. And that's part of what you're seeing here.

One of those is the Saildrone Explorer, which is the drone in question. Take a look at this video. This is video of the encounter overnight.

The U.S. military says Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy attached a rope or a towline to the drone, the Saildrone Explorer, and started towing it away.

That's when a U.S. Navy ship that was in the area, the "USS Thunderbolt" got close, communicated directly with the Iranian ship and moved in, as well as a Seahawk helicopter from above.

Essentially, as a warning to the Iranians to let go of what is American property operating, according to the military, in international waters.

At that point, the military says the Iranian ship let go of its towline, essentially letting go of this American maritime drone, and then left the area after approximately four hours.

The commander of U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet said this was flagrant, unwarranted, and inconsistent with the behavior of a professional maritime force.

And it's not just this we're seeing from Iran. Keep in mind, just last week, we saw the back and forth between the U.S. forces in Syria as well as Iranian-backed forces.

So you're seeing this continued tension between the U.S. and Iran -- Victor and Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: OK, Oren Liebermann, thank you for the reporting.

BLACKWELL: Serena Williams is back on the court tomorrow in what could be her final run at the U.S. Open.

[14:55:04]

CAMEROTA: Or not.

BLACKWELL: Or not. Because when it comes to the question of is she retiring, I want you to hear that answer.

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[14:59:54]

BLACKWELL: Serena Williams plays in the second round of the U.S. Open tomorrow night. She won last night. She credited the crowd's support.

And after the match, she was honored by friends and family and fans.

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(CHEERING)

SERENA WILLIAMS, PROFESSIONAL TENNIS PLAYER: Oh, my god.