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Storm Forecast To Hit Florida As A Major Hurricane Within Days; Tropical Storm Ian Strengthens With Florida In Crosshairs; Jackson Lawsuit Alleges City's Water Has Been Contaminated With High Levels Of Lead Even Before Last Month's Crisis; Nearly 1,500 Protesters Have Been Detained In Russian Demonstrations; House GOP Leader Unveils "Commitment To America" Plan; Trump Waging Secret Court Fight To Block 1/6 Testimony By Ex-Aides. Aired 12-1p ET

Aired September 24, 2022 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:01]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

All right. Right now, a state of emergency is in place for parts of Florida as officials brace for what's expected to be the first major hurricane to hit the state since 2018.

WHITFIELD (voice-over): Tropical Storm Ian strengthened overnight and is forecast to intensify into a major hurricane when it moves into the Gulf of Mexico in the next few days. Landfall is possible on the west coast of Florida as early as Wednesday.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, has declared a state of emergency for 24 counties in the storm's path and is urging people across his state to get ready right now.

We have team coverage tracking Tropical Storm Ian. CNN's Carlos Suarez is covering storm preparations. And meteorologist Allison Chinchar is in the CNN Weather Center.

And let's begin with you, Allison. So, how powerful might this storm be?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST (on camera): It's very possible that this could end up becoming a major hurricane in just the next two to three days.

We take a look at the current statistics. Sustained winds, 45 miles per hour, gusting up around 60 miles per hour. Now, with this storm, you've got tropical storm watches in effect for Jamaica.

But hurricane watches for the Cayman Islands. And that's because when we take a look at the forecast, we do anticipate that this storm will become a Category 1 storm, maybe even as high as a Category 2 storm as its crossing over the Cayman Islands.

It is then expected to intensify even further as it makes its way up towards Cuba and crosses into the eastern portion of the Gulf of Mexico. At that point, perhaps, getting into that major hurricane strength.

Here's the thing, though, a lot of that has to do with the sea surface temperatures that are in the mid and even upper 80s for the area in which it's expected to travel through. And that sea surface temperatures are big fuel for the storms.

And it's not just at the surface. But even when you start to go down 10s of feet where you're talking about that ocean heat content, even down 10s of feet, that water is still very, very warm. And that's what these storms need to strengthen and intensify as they continue on.

From there, once it goes through the Gulf of Mexico, we anticipate it's going to make a little bit of a right turn and head back towards Florida. At this point in time, anything from Apalachicola, all the way down to Key West is still in the cone of uncertainty.

So, anywhere in this area is still a possibility for landfall. So, do keep that in mind. There will be some fluctuations with this because right now, the models just don't really agree on exactly when and where this storm is going to go.

This blue is the European model, it's a little bit faster trying to make landfall maybe more on the lines of Wednesday. But it also favors more of a South Florida landfall.

The red dot, that's the American model. That's a little bit slower, holding the landfall off to late Thursday, maybe even as late as early Friday. And the landfall point is more in line with the Big Bend area.

So, again, Fred, you're talking here, there's a lot of components at play here, and a lot that can change in the next few days. But ultimately, if you live in Florida, go ahead and start preparing regardless of where in Florida you live.

WHITFIELD: That's right. All right, Allison, thank you so much. We'll check back with you.

And Carlos, NASA has called off a moon rocket launch from Florida's Kennedy Space Station because of the storm. So, what are people across the state doing to prepare?

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Right? So, from the space coast all the way to the west coast and then down to the Florida Keys, emergency officials really are trying to get a better sense of where the storm might be, so they can take the appropriate actions.

We know that down in Monroe County, which is where the Florida Keys are, they're not expected to go ahead with an evacuation order anytime today, just because we have that much time left to see where the storm ends up.

That being said, officials there did say that they were going to reassess at around 3:00 this afternoon. But I'd imagine that is not going to change much of their thinking.

That also aside, the governor in anticipation of this going into the weekend did declare a state of emergency in 24 counties across the state of Florida. He also activated the National Guard and he put them on standby.

Now, where exactly those resources will end up depends on where Ian ends up going as well. Officials throughout the state of Florida are using the weekend to try to get folks better prepared ahead of that storm.

They're really telling everyone to try to get their storm preps done by Monday night so that as this cone either shifts or ends up holding steady, folks will be ready and good to go.

And as you know, down in the Florida Keys, the folks there are still rebuilding after Hurricane Irma. That was in 2017, and it was a Category 4 storm.

WHITFIELD: Wow. It's a painstaking but very important routine. Getting ready ahead of the storm. All right. Thank you so much, Carlos. Appreciate it. And Allison, thank you.

All right. Let's bring in Sarasota, Florida Mayor Erik Arroyo. Mayor Arroyo, good to see you. So, the city will begin offering sandbags for local residents tomorrow. What else are you doing to make sure everybody is ready?

ERIK ARROYO, MAYOR OF SARASOTA, FLORIDA: You know, as mayor, one of our main priorities at the city is just the safety of our residents. We're monitoring this very closely. We're having these regional conferences and meeting with the weather service.

About twice a day, we have a meeting coming about 1:00, and at 2:30 with the county and surrounding municipalities.

[12:05:04]

We're taking appropriate action like we're checking our fuel farms, we're checking that our generators are ready to go. We have a plan of action, with our police department. We're checking the free boards, how much -- how much flooding there could potentially be. We're measuring that.

Of course, we have a plan for sheltering that is largely going to be driven by the county. And we don't anticipate any action being taken today. But tomorrow, we do anticipate when we see where this -- where this potential hurricane is going.

WHITFIELD: So, for now, what are you bracing most for? Is it the potential storm surge, the hurricane force winds, heavy rainfall?

ARROYO: Yes. I mean, we were telling our -- we were telling our residents to be prepared. It -- you know, don't underestimate the dangers that come with gusts, with storm surges, with flooding, especially in us, us being a coastal city.

So, we're telling them to go now, be prepared early. If you need a checklist for what to get, go to -- go to floridadisaster.org. There is a checklist on what to go and get to get be prepared.

We talked to Florida Power and Light, and they are using our city as a -- as a staging area, and we have a law enforcement plan to support them as well and anything they might need.

WHITFIELD: So, what is your message to those who are particularly vulnerable, who may have, you know, special medical needs? You know, what are you urging them to do right now?

ARROYO: Right now, be proactive, contact your doctor, make sure you stock up on your medications. If you need to, have some -- have a radio, have some water, have your basic necessities, see if you can have someone take care of you while this -- when the storm hits landfall.

WHITFIELD: The combination of high tide, storm surge, I mean, that's prompted flooding in the past in Sarasota so you know what the most vulnerable areas are? But how do you get the message out about what people need to be doing?

Well, they need to follow our social media, we're sending e-blast to our e-mail servers, check the local stations, news stations like yourself, and just we are -- we are blasting the information out as soon as we get it.

And we encouraging everyone to be very proactive and be prepared.

WHITFIELD: Do you feel like evacuations are going to be imminent?

ARROYO: No. As of right now, there is no evacuation, you know, plan set out by the county, but that is a county responsibility per Florida statute.

WHITFIELD: All right. And Mayor Erik Arroyo, we wish you the best. Stay in touch. Thank you so much.

ARROYO: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, to another major storm that we are watching.

WHITFIELD (voice-over): Fiona continues to batter eastern Canada after making landfall as a post tropical cyclone earlier today.

The storm is bringing heavy rain and hurricane force winds to the area. New images show Fiona already leaving behind a trail of destruction. And you can see at least one home was swept away in rising waters.

And right now, more than 500,000 customers are without power. Some folks in Nova Scotia are being asked to shelter in place amid widespread outages and damage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN BUTTON, MAYOR OF PORT AUX BASQUES, NEWFOUNLAND: We've kind of right up until about 11:30pm last night. We were still making calls to residents just to try to give some heads up that you need to be up, you need to be watching what's going on.

And you need to be ready to move at a moment's notice if you don't already move right then.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And officials say Fiona is expected to cause life threatening surf and rip current conditions over the next few days. So, be aware and be careful.

WHITFIELD (on camera): Residents in Jackson, Mississippi are demanding change and accountability.

WHITFIELD (voice-over): They have filed a class action lawsuit over the water crisis that left the city without clean drinking water for weeks.

The mayor of Jackson joining us live, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:13:12]

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. Several residents of Jackson Mississippi are suing the city over its persistent water crisis. This comes after 1,000s in Mississippi's capital city were left without safe, reliable tap water service for weeks.

The class action lawsuit was filed last Friday, one day after a four- day boil water order was lifted.

The residents are asking for lead testing, water pipes to be fixed and bills to be canceled. And for the city, to establish other safety protocols.

Jackson Mayor Chokwe Lumumba is one of several current and former city leaders named in the lawsuit.

WHITFIELD (on camera): And Mayor Chokwe Lumumba is joining me right now.

Mayor, so good to see you. So, how do you respond to this lawsuit?

CHOKWE LUMUMBA, MAYOR OF JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI: Well, Fredericka, thank you for having me. And thank you for continuing to lift up the issues that Jackson faces.

I'll stop short of litigating the case. But what I will share with you is that we are well aware that the law firm that has posed this lawsuit has been soliciting claimants for some time.

I will also share that the law firm that is the local council was also the counsel for the water meter manufacturing company that led to water bills being stranded, led to insufficient revenue that goes towards repairs in our water system. It is well documented on this show and others that our administration and several administrations, in fact, my predecessors, have been lifting up the issues of our water distribution system.

What I would share is that we share our residents resolve and desire for the system to be corrected. I think that this lawsuit just aims the arrow at the wrong target.

[12:14:58]

WHITFIELD: So, you've been a resident of Jackson for over a long time even before you were mayor. So, are you in agreement or disagreement with these four residents who claimed that there have been water problems in Jackson, Mississippi for decades? That's at the crux of their class action suit?

LUMUMBA: Yes, I'm absolutely in agreement that there have been challenges with the water distribution system for decades. Once again, you know, when there is litigation, there is -- there is a limitation to what I can say.

But what I will share is that the city has, you know, been very persistent in its efforts to correct that. The challenges that the city faces is beyond the fiscal ability of the city to address those challenges. And so, that is why there have been numerous occasions where we've made legislative requests on the state to support that.

I know that when residents are in trauma, when they're dealing with circumstances, they're reaching for relief, and they're looking for any area where that relief may appear to be present.

And so, I certainly share and join them in the sentiment that this is a social circumstance, that is has been in need of correction, and it's certainly necessary that we correct it now. And we're working aggressively to make that happen.

Now, I just believe that the lawsuit and some of the name parties are not actually those that are most accountable, and most capable of seeing that take place. And so -- and it's a copycat lawsuit from another lawsuit that was filed some time ago, that appears to be a mirror image of that in there. And this is just a law firm trying to get in on that.

WHITFIELD: So, it's now been a week since the boil water alert was lifted. And earlier today, one of the plaintiffs in this class action suit, join CNN and had this to say about whether she feels safe drinking the water?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAINE BECKER, SUING OVER WATER CRISIS IN JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI: Absolutely not. And you see it all over the city right now, even when you go to a restaurants, they are using canned sodas.

They are not going to -- they are not giving out tap (INAUDIBLE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So, what do you say to residents, not just, you know, that resident who's part of the lawsuit, but other residents who say they still are not comfortable about the drinking water?

LUMUMBA: But what I would -- what I would share is that, you know, I'm in a position of privilege, that I have a little more information than the average person. I know what the tests have revealed. I see the quality that comes out of the water treatment facility. That being the case, I understand the circumstances that myself and our residents have been under for some time.

And so part of our process is not only creating resiliency, sustainability, and equity -- I'm sorry, equity within our water system.

It's also creating the confidence amongst our residents, that this is a problem that is resolved not only in the present, but, in the you know, going forward. And so, that's what we're working to do.

We fortunately have not only the team on the ground from the state from the federal government and various agencies participating, but we have something to look forward to in terms of federal support that potentially could help us resolve this and create more sustainability for us.

WHITFIELD: In what way do you look forward to this support? Because I know you do. And you have blamed the state and federal level agencies, for, you know, being also at the centerpiece of why water has been the way it's been for decades there.

So, what is it that you're looking forward to? And how immediate is it?

LUMUMBA: Well, I want to be clear. What I have said is that the federal funds, in fact, the historic funding that is now available, we have to make certain that it goes from the federal intent into our hands. And that has been complicated, because the conduit that brings that to us is the state of Mississippi.

Fortunately, we have state teams and, you know, not only federal teams and agencies that are present at the water treatment facility right now.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

LUMUMBA: We have the benefit of professionals and technicians from all over the country. So, we're grateful for that.

Right now. We are in, you know, deep discussions with federal leadership, whether it's the EPA, FEMA, or our congressional delegation, that we are having intense discussions about how we fund the fix.

And so, you know, there is a briefing that I have every Monday with the team that is on the ground here. And invariably, I speak with someone that has some agency with respect to this issue every single day.

WHITFIELD: And fixing it is one thing. But who should be held accountable for the crisis?

LUMUMBA: Well, this is a set of accumulated challenges that have happened over the better part of 40 years. I shared that I moved to Jackson -- my personal experience that I moved to Jackson in 1988. And '89, I remember a winter freeze that left the city -- left the system debilitated, left the city without water pressure.

[12:20:02]

LUMUMBA: And over the years, there are too many instances for me to really recount of this happening. That is on account of differed maintenance in some regard. It is on account of a lack of proper investment in the system.

And so, I think that there are a number of people that could have acted more swiftly. I think that there are capital improvement plans that could have been put in place that have -- could have done it over the course of time.

But it would really take a deep dive to know where it started, and how many opportunities were missed. I can share that our administration has had some legislative requests and made our own personal investment.

We've been going alone for the better part of you know, now six years, whether it's been investing in a 48 inch water meter that creates better water pressure to South Jackson, which is disproportionately affected. Whether it's our investment in the weatherization of our membranes that were debilitated to winter storms ago. Whether it is the countless amount of dollars that we have invested in, in terms of working on our clear tracks and various components of our water treatment facility.

While we have these requests, and we make these requests known, we still are not waiting for those requests to be met. But we have to understand that the city doesn't have sufficient funding to actually accommodate all of the challenges that are necessary.

WHITFIELD: All right. We'll leave it there for now. Mayor Chokwe Lumumba of Jackson, Mississippi, appreciate you joining us today. Thank you.

LUMUMBA: Thank you.

WHITFIELD (voice-over): All right, coming up, just 45 days until the midterms, and House Republican leaders are unveiling their blueprint to try and take back the majority. A look inside their plans, next.

Plus, growing fear and panic inside Russia over Putin's new troop mobilization announcement. 1,000s are taking to the streets while others are fleeing the country all together.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [12:26:26]

WHITFIELD: All right. Police in Russia breaking up more protests today. Nearly 1,500 protesters have now been detained across Russia since demonstrations Wednesday. That's according to protest monitoring group.

They are furious over a plan to constrict Russians into war in Ukraine. The same monitoring group said some protesters this week were conscripted directly into the military.

1,000s of Russians have also been streaming over the border since the new military mobilizations were announced and it comes as Ukrainians are being forced to vote in what are being called sham referendums on joining Russia.

The votes which are illegal under international law are taking place in four Russian occupied territories of Ukraine.

CNN's Matthew Chance has more on the new military draft.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the darkness, Russian men being wrenched away to fight.

These are heartbreaking scenes from Dagestan, in southern Russia, where wives and mothers hoping for a last glimpse of loved ones are wailing in despair.

The Kremlin says this is just a partial mobilization, but rights activists tell CNN, ethnic minorities in remote regions of Russia are being disproportionately called up one way perhaps, of hiding the impact.

Across the entire country though, an eruption of anger that Putin's forced to mobilizations, the scene distraught protesters, risking jail, even direct conscription into the ranks to speak out. People here as simply terrified of loved ones being sent to kill or be killed in Ukraine.

I got two kids of conscription age, says this protester in Moscow. I brought them up alone and don't want to lose them, she cries. And for what? Asks her friend. Just so they can kill the sons of other mothers, she answers.

There are growing concerns too. The Kremlin is violating its own pledge that only reservists with military experience will be called up.

But men like Artyom (PH), a coal miner in Siberia, who recorded himself on the military bus taking him away, insists he's never served, who was officially summoned like many other workers to join up during his shift.

He just didn't know what to do, he says. And 1,000s of Russian men of fighting age are now desperate to avoid that fate. Cramming into trains like this one to neighboring Kazakhstan, or driving to the nearest border crossing. Cheap flights have quickly sold out.

Everyone is on the run from Russia, this man's voice says, amid endless cars now making for the exits.

Escaping the trauma of being sent to Putin's war.

Matthew Chance, CNN, London.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:30:00]

WHITFIELD: Wow, some powerful images and sound there. Let's bring in Jill Dougherty. She's a CNN contributor, and former CNN Moscow bureau chief, she's also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University. Jill, great to see you. I mean, heartbreaking. There's pictures and sound coming from, you know, family members about the separation, about the prospect of going to war with no training. So overall, this kind of conscription and drafting is a sign of desperation on Putin's part?

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I think that it is Fredricka. And, you know, Putin up to this point, remember, we all know, this was not a war, you couldn't even use the word. This was a special military operation. And what Putin was trying to do was to tell the people of Russia, yes, you know, there is this conflict. We'll win it very quickly. No real cost to anyone in that sense.

And then all of a sudden, with this conscription, the reality has come home to a lot of Russians, and to Russians that Putin worries about educated, big city, people like that, who might have even forgotten, you know, that there's a war going on, life seems pretty normal, except for the people, as Matthew pointed out, in kind of poorer areas of Russia, who were fighting this war. And now all of a sudden, the truth is here, and young, you know, guys in Moscow, St. Petersburg, big cities, are being dragged off to fight. So it's a shock. It's a shock.

WHITFIELD: Yes, I mean, just listen to sound bite from that one minor, you know, who fits the bill that you were talking about some being, you know, conscripted out of small towns, and he said, I don't know what I'm going to do, I don't have any military training. So I wonder in a case like that, will you know, Russia end up seeing a lot of these conscripted, you know, men who might even refuse to fight or defer to their inability to know what to do with this machinery et cetera.

DOUGHERTY: You know, sadly, I don't think that is going to make any difference. If you look at that video, people are being literally dragged off or put on buses, and the training that they are going to get is going to be very short. I have seen the actual, you know, military experts saying it would be roughly two weeks, two weeks to prepare for a war. So they're going to go into the fight, if that is correct, and I believe that it is, they're going to go into a, an all- out war in Ukraine, with two weeks of preparation.

So you know, what is going to happen to them. They're not -- they are very vulnerable. So I think as, you know, getting back to your first point, I think it is an act of desperation by Putin, that the war is not going well, troops are being -- Russian troops are being killed, machinery and equipment and, you know, weapons are being destroyed.

And so that he had to do -- or these feels that he had to do this in order to kind of stop the losses. But this cannot be a long term strategy. It simply can't. And it would appeal, you know, to really train troops, you need a long time, and you need professionalism. And this looks completely chaotic.

WHITFIELD: It does. And all with the backdrop of, you know, people who are protesting as well, and they are being arrested for speaking out against the war. And then Jill quickly, it's been said that Putin is actually calling the shots with the military, over his generals, et cetera, is this typical of what he does when it in conflict or is this something different?

DOUGHERTY: Well, it is different to a certain extent, although, you know, Putin has had the military, the heads of the military, with him making some of these decisions. And in some cases, they were pushing him to do more, but I think you'd have to say the security forces and what they call the party of war, we're really pushing him to get tough, and apparently that convinced him. So now he is telling his military who are probably more, you know, sober realists about what war really means saying you can't give up, you have to go forward. And here comes the, you know, reinforcement. It's a very dangerous. I think this is very dangerous situation, not only in the war, but for Russia itself, because very, very unstable.

[12:34:41]

WHITFIELD: We'll leave it there for now. Jill Dougherty, thank you so much. And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right with just over 44 days until the crucial midterm elections, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and other House Republicans are now unveiling their new agenda called Commitment to America. It's part of the GOP's final pitch to voters before voters decide who controls Congress in November. CNN's Melanie Zanona has the details of the plan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's my honor to introduce my good friend, the next Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy.

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA), MINORITY LEADER: Thank you my friend.

MELANIE ZANONA, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER (voice-over): Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy has a plan to win the House Majority. And with it, the coveted speaker's gavel, flanked by members of his own party, including some of the most controversial members, McCarthy unveiled an official agenda on Friday, a picture of unity from a sheet metal plant in the Pittsburgh suburbs, all this just weeks before the November elections.

MCCARTHY: So you know what, we've created a Commitment to America.

ZANONA (voice-over): Absent from the scene, red hats and Donald Trump gear, typically staples of Republican events.

MCCARTHY: There are some policies that President Trump had to work very well, securing the border. We've watched economic policies has gone through. But this isn't about an individual, this is about the nation.

[12:40:06]

ZANONA (voice-over): McCarthy pushing the former president's MAGA policies but never mentioning Trump by name, as Republican leaders laid out their pitch to solve some of the nation's most pressing issues, including inflation.

REP. ELISE STEFANIK (R-NY): It's a direct result of the failed policies of one party Democrat rule in Washington. And there is a better way.

ZANONA (voice-over): Border security.

REP. STEVE SCALISE (R-LA), MINORITY WHIP: You know, we would like to know how many people have come across our border illegally, don't you want to know that answer?

ZANONA (voice-over): School policies.

MCCARTHY: As we should ensure women only compete in women's sports.

ZANONA (voice-over): And a pledge to investigate what they call abuses by the Biden administration.

REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): House Republicans are committed to exposing and holding accountable those in our government who have come after we the people.

ZANONA (voice-over): President Joe Biden wasting no time pushing back attacking Republicans as extreme and arguing their plan isn't serious.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Kevin McCarthy went to Pennsylvania and unveiled on what he calls a Commitment to America. That's a thin series of policy goals, with little or no detail.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZANONA: Now, the one issue that Republicans did not talk about at the rollout on Friday was abortion. That, of course, is an issue that Democrats have made a central pillar of their midterm messaging. But Republicans have really shied away from the issue. They've struggled to talk about it. In fact, this policy platform only has a passing reference to abortion, just saying Republicans are going to protect the lives of unborn mothers and -- or unborn children and their mothers. But, you know, this is going to be what they're going to do in the midterms coming up here, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, it's going to be a very interesting next month and a half for sure. Melanie Zanona, thank you so much.

All right joining me right now to discuss, David Swerdlick, he is a CNN political commentator, and a senior staff editor for The New York Times opinion and Margaret Talev is a CNN political analyst and is managing editor for Axios. Good to see both of you. All right, David, you first. So what do you make of the GOP new midterm agenda, Commitment to America?

DAVID SWERDLICK, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Fred, I think if we went back a year, Republicans might not have thought that they needed something like a Commitment to America, which by the way, sounds a lot like the Contract with America from the Gingrich era. Democrats did not have a good 2021. Republicans were going to run purely against Democrats. Now, the Biden-Harris administration has a little bit of a story they can tell. They got, you know, semiconductor funding. They got Justice Jackson confirmed. They got a budget. They got a small gun bill. They got burned pits legislation.

And I think Republicans now see that if they want to take back control of Congress, which they certainly can, I wouldn't make a prediction that they're going to have to fuse their message together a little bit more have a unified agenda. And I think that's what Congressman McCarthy is doing there. The problem is, when you look inside the Commitment to America, which I looked at a little bit this morning, it mostly is still criticizing Democrats as opposed to putting forward policy alternatives.

WHITFIELD: And also the focus though, Margaret, you know, Republicans want to appear to be laser focused on inflation, border security, and what they see is government overreach by Democrats. And just as Melanie said, there is an omission of talking about, you know, abortion. So what will resonate with voters?

MARGARET TALEV, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, Fred, to the extent that voters are paying attention to this document, these may be passing mentions. But there are some guiding principles in here that voters should pay attention to. It does address the issue of abortion. They say they're going to focus on protecting the lives of unborn children. And when it comes to elections, they make reference to the idea of increasing accountability in the election process through voter ID. That's an issue that many voting rights advocates and of course Democrats are against.

And it also alludes to changes they would want to make with regard to prescription drug and Medicare changes that the Democrats have made. So there actually are allusions to very specific plans in this document. But I do think this is really a matter of messaging. It's the Republican Party trying to tell voters we want to make a compact with you without getting hung up on details. You'll remember Mitch McConnell is really against the idea of putting out detailed plans like the one Senator Rick Scott put out that can be picked apart. He wants to focus on Democrats. Mitch McConnell has actually been for this document. He thinks it's just big enough not to hurt Republicans in the House.

WHITFIELD: David, President Biden is already calling, you know, this new GOP agenda thin on details. So what is the Democrat strategy to try to drive voters to the polls?

SWERDLICK: Fred, it is thin on details. But the question is who can use this messaging to their advantage and who can sort of get their message out better than the other party? President Biden, the Biden- Harris administration wants this to be about all those bills they passed this summer. They want it to be about the fact that gas prices are coming down. On the other hand, Republicans want this to be about the border, about the fact that food prices are still high.

[12:45:22]

And I think what's going to happen is which party can stay on message going into the homestretch and not get distracted by sideshows? And the other thing that's going to make a difference, probably, the Dow took a little bit of a beating yesterday. If that's just, you know, the market pricing in interest rate hikes, then I think the Biden- Harris administration can weather that. If it's a downward trend that goes toward Election Day, they're going to have a problem countering the Republican economic message.

WHITFIELD: And Margaret, back to the issue, you know, of abortion, Democrats seem to believe it, they actually got a boost from the U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade. And Senator Lindsey Graham's proposed 15-week federal ban on abortion. So is it going to be the case that abortion will be a deciding factor on who controls Congress in December, I'm sorry, in November?

TALEV: It's certainly the Democrats biggest kind of messaging weapon and you see them pushing very hard on it. We have been doing some monitoring with our partners, both at Google Trends and news with of news searches. Google searches and also mentions around story, story interactions on social media. And what we've seen in recent weeks is that issues like abortion and the FBI search at Mar-a-Lago have actually come down quite a bit in recent days. As two issues, immigration and crime have skyrocketed up. Republicans thinks this is really helps them. But Democrats are going to continue to push very hard on abortion messaging from now through the November elections.

WHITFIELD: All right, we'll leave it there. David Swerdlick, Margaret Talev, good to see you. Thanks so much.

SWERDLICK: Thanks Fred.

TALEV: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, coming up, former President Donald Trump's secret court battle to protect his inner circle, details next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:51:38]

WHITFIELD: All right, CNN has learned of a secret court battle being waged by former President Donald Trump's lawyers. Sources say Trump's attorneys are fighting to keep witnesses from testifying before a federal grand jury about Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. CNN's Marshall Cohen joining us now. So Marshall, what more can you tell us about this court battle?

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER: Hey, Fred, these are fresh insights, a glimpse into the January 6th criminal investigation. As, you know, there is a grand jury, a federal grand jury based here in D.C. that has been really leading this investigation. And now we can report about a battle about what kind of information is going to be presented to the grand jury. This is critical, of course, because a grand jury can decide to hand up an indictment. We'll see if that happens, but the battle lines are like this.

On one side, you've got the Justice Department. They want to get testimony, expansive testimony, questions getting answered by senior Trump White House officials who were there during critical periods in the transition. On the other side of the dispute, you have Donald Trump's lawyers. They want to block that testimony. They want to assert privilege, executive privilege, attorney-client privilege, et cetera.

What the Justice Department might be trying to do here is to get a court order from a judge that would basically pierce that privilege, knocked down those claims, and open the door for additional testimony to the grand jury. This is very important stuff. However, we don't know the full story because these are secret court proceedings by law. Grand Jury activity is totally secret. These have been closed door hearings.

However, we might have some insights into what this could be about because we already know who was testified. The people we're talking about were key White House players, folks like Pat Cipollone, Patrick Philbin, they were in the White House Counsel's Office, Greg Jacob, Mark Short, those were senior advisors to Vice President Pence.

These men have already testified to the grand jury, but they declined to answer some questions because of privilege. The answers to those questions that might be what this dispute is about, Fred, and if those questions get answered, it really could potentially help the DOJ while it makes its case, looking toward a possible criminal charge if the law supports it. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: All right, Marshall Cohen, thank you so much for that.

All right, meantime, we are also keeping our eyes on Florida right now. What is expected to be the first major hurricane is barreling toward the state. The governor has declared a state of emergency and already shelves are empty as residents rushed to gather supplies. We'll bring the latest forecast straight ahead. And this quick programming note, join Dr. Sanjay Gupta for a new investigation into a global mystery that confounds scientists, this CNN special report Immaculate Concussion: The Truth Behind Havana Syndrome begins tomorrow night at 8:00.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Something happened to those individuals of Havana.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A global mystery.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This suggests that it is damaged.

[12:55:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Confound scientists.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: What's the level of concern now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Much higher.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What would the motivation be to be doing that to American diplomats?

GUPTA: Were you worried about the President potentially being attacked?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Join Dr. Sanjay Gupta on a search for answers.

GUPTA: When you think the brain is the battlefield of the future.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: CNN special report Immaculate Concussion: The Truth Behind Havana Syndrome, tomorrow at 8:00.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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