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Hurricane Ian Intensifies, Moves Closer To Florida; New Details On Mysterious 9-Second Call From WH To A Rioter; Tonight, NASA To Crash "DART" Spacecraft Into Asteroid. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired September 26, 2022 - 15:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone. I'm Alisyn Camerota. Welcome to CNN NEWSROOM. Victor is off today.

We're on hurricane watch with Ian barreling towards Florida. At the moment, it looks like this will be the first storm in a century to directly hit Tampa. Right now, people there and other parts of Hillsborough County are being ordered to get out. The red on this map shows the mandatory evacuations as of one hour ago, basically all of the low lying areas near the water.

Ian is currently packing winds of 85 miles per hour and getting stronger. Florida's governor says the hurricane is 500 miles wide at the moment and he adds that the storm surge and heavy rains will impact the entire state.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R) FLORIDA: We will see on the Gulf Coast of Florida, heavy rain, strong winds, flash flooding, storm surge and perhaps isolated tornado activity. And that is true regardless of the precise track that this takes. Don't think because that I may or may not be in your area that you're not going to see impacts. You're going to see significant impacts. This area here, Pinellas County and Hillsborough County, expected to see a lot, a lot of water and a lot of flooding.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: The Governor has activated 5,000 members of Florida's National Guard and brought in another 2,000 guardsmen from other states. CNN Meteorologist Tom Sater is here with the latest on Ian's path. So Tom, when, where is it going to make landfall?

TOM SATER, CNN METEOROLOGIST AND WEATHER ANCHOR: Well, first landfall, Alisyn, will be in western tip of Cuba, we're within 200 miles of that. Still a category one, 85 mile per hour sustained winds, but it's over the warmest waters of the entire Atlantic. So we had rapid intensification.

Typically, when they move over a landmass, they can lose a little strength. We do not expect that. This could be a category strong two or maybe a three passing Western Cuban. Then it makes a northward turn. Notice the pink, that's the hurricane watch from Tampa southward. In yellow, tropical storm watch.

Why is there a difference? Because the models are becoming more and more in agreement that this is going to park itself right off shore or make landfall in Tampa. The last one that they had a direct hit in Tampa 1921 but within 30 miles, if it remains offshore, which we think it will, it'll be the - major hurricane that makes its closest pass since 1950.

Category four, category two, do not pay attention to the numbers going down, because it's going to have category four storm surge. This is all about water coming in from the gulf and raining down above.

Look at this, U.S. model, right, they're offshore at Tampa, the European model just updated at 2 pm has not moved. They're becoming in agreement. But the problem is we believe the system is going to stall right off shore. When hurricane stall, bad things happen.

This is going to just continue to shove water into the bay, into every inlet, every canal for 36 to 48 hours impeding the water to run off and then because of that it acts as a dam and then you're dealing with 10, 20 inches of rain on top of it. Total inundation of flooding. Do not worry about the winds even though they are broadening in their scope. Yes, there will be some power outages, but this is all about storm surge five to 10 in the Tampa Bay area, every inlet. And this has gone to shove in several miles, so that is a problem.

Think of all the businesses, homes, churches, hospitals that have been built since 1950 and the millions of residents who have lived now or moved into this area. Extremely dangerous. Still, as it gets closer to us. We'll be able to fine tune it a little bit more. But this is not looking good. In fact, worst case scenario, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Okay. Tom Sater, thank you very much for the latest update.

Let's head now to Florida and the preparations underway. CNN's Carlos Suarez is in Tampa for us. So Carlos, we know this mandatory evacuation went into effect for parts of the area where you are. Are people leaving already?

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, that's exactly right. So that mandatory evacuation for a part of Hillsborough County got underway about an hour ago. So folks have started to leave their homes if they live right along the coastline. There's also a mandatory evacuation order that will go into effect later this afternoon in Pinellas County. That part of Florida really is surrounded by water.

You've got the gulf side. You're going to have all of that storm surge coming in from the Gulf of Mexico and then you're also going to have all that water coming in from the bank. Just a few minutes ago, another shipment of sand was brought out here. And in the last hour since we last joined you, Alisyn, there is a second line of folks out here. This is now a walk up location it seems.

[15:05:00] Folks have apparently ditched their cars a few blocks over. They've

got to fill their own sandbags and they've got to figure out how they're going to get them back to their cars.

Now, the mayor of Tampa, she held a briefing earlier this afternoon and she's trying to keep some of these evacuations in perspective, telling folks, if you're in one of these areas, you do have to leave, you just don't have to get that far out. You just got to get to a safer location.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR JANE CASTOR, TAMPA, FLORIDA: When we say evacuation, that doesn't mean you have to go to another state. You can go stay with friends and family that are in a location that's closer inland, a little more high and dry. Wind is an issue. It's always an issue. But the storm surges, those are the most deadly part of any one of these storms.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SUAREZ: All right. So the county hopes they continue the sandbagging effort out here, all day today and into tomorrow, all of that, of course, depending on where Ian tracks and just how bad the weather starts getting. Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: Okay. Keep us posted. Carlos Suarez, thank you very much.

So before Ian even reaches Florida, it will hit Cuba and our Patrick Oppmann is in Havana. So what's the situation there, Patrick?

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, just this afternoon, we're starting to see the sky darkening and feel a little bit more wind and rain, certainly not typical for a summer day in Havana. Except, of course, a hurricane is coming. It does not look like it will have a major impact in terms of going over Havana. It's going to be - going over to the countryside in western Cuba is what it looks like.

But even if we get tropical storm force, winds and rain here in Havana that can cause massive flooding and there are very old buildings here which can collapse and heavy rainstorm much less a hurricane type wind. So there is concern and we've been seeing cargo ships actually leaving the port of Havana all day today. They're getting all the ships out as they do when the storm is on its way because if those ships were to break loose, it would damage the ships and, of course, the port facilities.

So Cuban officials are taking this very, very seriously. All the western side or the western half of Cuba is under hurricane warning. And there could be a winds and rains where I am later on this evening. So people are being told to get home and to begin to hunker down.

CAMEROTA: Okay. Patrick Oppmann, take care, be safe and we'll check back with you.

Now, earlier today the head of emergency management in Pinellas County, Florida, gave this warning about Ian.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CATHIE PERKINS, PINELLAS COUNTY DIRECTOR OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: The bad piece of news we got this morning is that this storm is trending to slow down, which means it potentially could sit on top of us for 47 hours.

David Connor is the spokesman for Pinellas County, Florida. David, thanks so much, I know you guys are busy. Sitting on top of Pinellas County for 48 hours, that sounds horrible. And so is there an evacuation, a mandatory evacuation at this hour in Pinellas?

DAVID CONNOR, SPOKESMAN, PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA: Yes, we did recently issue a mandatory evacuation for our zone A residents. Those are the residents closest to the water, as well as we anticipate extending that to our zone B and our Zone C residents tomorrow morning at 7 am.

Additionally, all residents living in mobile home parks or trailers, anywhere in the county are included in that evacuation order. And that's just because the mobile home parks and trailers are often less stable under high winds than more permanently built structure.

CAMEROTA: Where are people going if they don't have other relatives in Florida?

CONNOR: As you heard, Mayor Castor mentioned earlier in your broadcast, an evacuation does not have to be a road trip. You just have to get out of the evacuation zone. So if it's family, if it's friends, those are always an option. We do maintain public shelters. We are opening several of those today, both general population shelters and special needs shelters for residents who may be dependent on medical equipment that needs electricity to work or who may need some additional medical care from our Department of Health. We will be opening a number of additional shelters tomorrow. There are also hotels, both in the area and nearby out of the area.

CAMEROTA: Are schools closed this week there?

CONNOR: Yes. Schools will be closed starting tomorrow and that's both to give those families the freedom to take care of themselves and act on their hurricane plans, as well as to convert the larger areas in those schools like the gyms or the cafeterias into those public shelters that I was talking about.

CAMEROTA: Your sheriff earlier was really trying to get people's attention this morning about if you're in evacuation zone, you better go because we can't make any promises, so let me play that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF BOB GUALTIERI, PINELLAS COUNTY, FL SHERIFF'S OFFICE: When we issue that mandatory evacuation, what that means is, is that if you don't and you call for help, we're not coming because we're not going to put our people in harm's way and put them in peril because you didn't listen to what we told you to do.

[15:10:06]

So nobody's coming and knocking on your doors, nobody's coming and taking anybody out when it says mandatory. What that means is, you need to do it and if you don't do it, you're on your own. Please don't put yourselves in that situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Are you sure people are getting that message at this hour?

CONNOR: We're doing everything we can to try to reach all of our residents, whether it's through conducting interviews with the media, working on social media, doing direct call outs to our community groups, passing out fliers kind of across the board. We really want our residents to be able to make an informed decision.

We are taking this very seriously at Pinellas County. We're working with our state, our local, our community partners and we need our residents to do the same, because we can get the information out. We can do everything in our power to preserve our infrastructure, our stormwater systems to move water out of the way.

But like the sheriff said, we can't force anyone to leave. And unfortunately, when those wind speeds, when those first tropical storm winds start picking up at 40 and 50 miles an hour, we have to suspend our ability to offer emergency services, because we don't want our ambulance going out to run a call to then become another casualty of storm surge or storm force winds. We need to preserve our capability to respond until after that threat of the - the acute threat of the storm has passed.

CAMEROTA: Right. Right.

CONNOR: So we really need residents to take this seriously.

CAMEROTA: Yeah, of course. And so as you look at the map and you watch it heading directly towards your county, what part worries you most?

CONNOR: One thing that's easy to be misled by when you're looking at those forecasts from the National Hurricane Center is how small that cone is compared to the real thing. This storm is more than 300 miles wide. I mean, that's the distance from our city or county, Pinellas to Mobile, Alabama.

So no matter how far or close off shore this storm runs, we are going to experience impacts and that is something that we are trying to impress upon our residents. Our coastal areas are clearly of a very high concern. We have barrier islands, we have a bay. And unfortunately, just because of geography, we're on that more dangerous eastern side of the hurricane system where you get the large storm surge, which is basically a wall of water.

So we're very concerned for the safety of our coastal residents and that's why we've ordered an evacuation. That's why we'll be facilitating that evacuation. And we're really just encouraging everybody, no matter where you live in the county to prepare, take those simple steps to get yourself, your family, your pets and if you can, your neighbors, ready for this storm that's coming in.

CAMEROTA: All right. Well, we'll definitely help you get the word out over the next 24 hours. David Connor, thanks so much for your time and talking to us.

Okay. So someone in the White House made a mysterious phone call on January 6th to a man who stormed the capitol that day. What we know about that call next.

And later, NASA has planned to slam a spacecraft into an asteroid. This may sound like science fiction, but this is really happening in just hours.

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[15:17:43]

CAMEROTA: The committee investigating the January 6th insurrection will hold another public hearing this Wednesday. But now a former adviser to the committee is revealing new details about what happened on that day. Denver Riggleman says someone in the White House made a phone call to a Capitol rioter as the insurrection was underway.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DENVER RIGGLEMAN, FORMER UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE: So you get a real aha moment when you see that the White House switchboard had connected to a rioter's phone while it's happening?

BILL WHITAKER, CBS HOST: Someone in the White House was calling one of the rioters while the riot was going on?

RIGGLEMAN: On January 6th, absolutely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Joining me now is CNN Senior Crime and Justice Reporter Katelyn Polantz. Katelyn, what do we know about this call?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Alisyn, a call like this between a White House landline and a rioter hasn't been disclosed before. But a few things here that make it hard to know how significant this detail is today is the phone call only lasted for nine seconds. Who placed the call and why remains a mystery. Phone logs don't reveal any specific extension that it would have come from.

But our reporters have confirmed who received this call. It was a man in his 20s named Anton Lunyk. He attended the Ellipse rally with two friends. They were only in the Capitol for a few minutes. And the call happened after they had left and Lunyk was likely on his way back home already to New York is where he lived. But our understanding right now, Alisyn, is the House Committee

continues to investigate this phone call. So far they've been unable to learn who placed it or why. They've also been very cautious on what this detail means even downplaying Denver Riggleman saying just there that this was an aha moment for him.

This call also did not come up during Lunyk or his friends' criminal court proceedings this year. They have been sentenced to misdemeanors for demonstrating inside the Capitol and their attorneys are declining to comment to CNN.

But Alisyn, sources tell CNN's Jamie Gangel and Elizabeth Stuart that Lunyk says he doesn't remember receiving the nine-second call and he claims he doesn't know anyone who worked in the Trump White House, Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: Okay. Katelyn Polantz, thank you very much for that information.

So the January 6 Committee plans to hold what will likely be their final public hearing on Wednesday. The Committee says there's more to reveal about Roger Stone, extremist groups and those missing Secret Service text messages. CNN Chief Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju is live for us from Capitol Hill.

[15:20:00]

So Manu, what should we expect this Wednesday?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, unlike past hearings, Alisyn, this one is a bit different because the lawmakers themselves have yet to settle on the exact themes of this hearing. There have been discussions internally to try to sort out exactly what they want to focus on in this hearing. But we do expect to learn more details about things that they have uncovered, including all about those missing Secret Service texts that occurred on January 5th, January 6th 2021 and what happened to those texts.

We do anticipate learning more about some of the interactions within the Secret Service in the run up to that day, as well as some Trump associates, one of them Roger Stone, his contacts with extremist groups. The Democratic members of the Committee are indicating that there is more information to shed on that as well.

But when I did put a question about exactly what this committee would reveal, whether there'll be significant pieces of information, like past hearings, Jamie Raskin, one member of the Committee did not go that far.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Is there actually going to be significant new information in this hearing?

REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): I mean, I suppose that will be in the eye of the beholder. RAJU: But that's different than what you said in previous hearings in

which there will be a significant amount of new information.

RASKIN: Look, I believe that the American public understands all the basic elements of what happened in the same way that we do. People understand that the former president wouldn't take no for an answer. He tried to shake down the legislatures, he tried to shake down the election officials, he tried to overthrow his own team at the Department of Justice. But undoubtedly, there are significant details that are still outstanding and I hope we can make them public.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: And as we head into the final weeks and months of this investigation, still some outstanding questions, including whether they will actually try to get the former Vice President Mike Pence to come testify, whether they'll actually ask Donald Trump to come as well. It seems unlikely that we'll go that route, according to committee members and there's also a court fight now brewing from the Wisconsin State House Speaker Robin Vos who was subpoenaed by this committee over interactions that he had recently as recently as this past summer with Donald Trump, who wanted to decertify Joe Biden's electoral victory in Wisconsin.

Vos has sued to stop that subpoena, so you will not be forced to be deposed before this committee. It's supposed to happen today, so tomorrow is this court - Wednesday is this court hearing and we'll see how that plays out, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: And Manu, have you heard anything about whether or not the Committee is going to make any criminal referrals?

RAJU: That is still an open questions within this committee. There was some been some debate that has happened for some time. months ago, weeks ago, Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the Committee, indicated to me and others that it was unlikely that it would go that route. He faced swift pushback, including from Liz Cheney, the Vice Chairman of the Committee who said there has now been (inaudible) decisions made.

And the Committee members are saying that any decision will be unanimous and that is one thing they are still sorting out as they put together this report, see if they can make a criminal referral. But the Justice Department does not need a criminal referral to act on anything this committee found, but that is still one of the areas where they're trying to figure out here in the final weeks, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Okay. Thanks for the update. Manu Raju, thank you.

All right. It sounds like it's straight out of Hollywood. But in just hours from now, NASA will crash a spacecraft into an asteroid to try to change its path. We'll explain how it should work next.

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[15:28:11] CAMEROTA: It's not a movie, it's real. Tonight, NASA will attempt to

slam a spacecraft into an asteroid, knocking it off its trajectory. This is a cosmic defense test, a first of its kind. It's aimed at preventing future planetary disasters. CNN Space and Defense Correspondent Kristin Fisher has all the details. Kristin, how is this going to work?

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know Alisyn, for billions of years, the inhabitants of planet Earth have just really had to take it anytime that there was an asteroid headed our way. Tonight, what is so special about this mission is for the first time humanity is really trying to change that and potentially take matters into their own hands. This is the very first planetary defense test mission.

And so what we're going to see is a spacecraft called DART, short for the double asteroid redirection test. It's about the size of a refrigerator. And at 7:14 pm eastern time, it is going to slam into an asteroid called Dimorphos. It's going to slam into this asteroid at a speed of about four miles per second, that's about 14,000 miles per hour.

And the goal here, Alisyn, is to push this asteroid slightly off its current orbit, just slightly off course. We're not going to know if that part of the mission is a success for at least a few more days or weeks. We're going to learn that by ground based telescopes that can actually see what's happening up in space, see if this asteroid was able to be nudged slightly off course.

But Alisyn, the really exciting thing about tonight is that there is a camera mounted onto the Dart spacecraft and so we're going to be able to see live pictures as this spacecraft gets closer and closer and closer to the asteroid Dimorphos. It's been traveling through space for 10 months to get here.

[15:30:01]