Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Hurricane Ian a Cat 3, Expected to Get Stronger Before Hitting Florida; Video Shows Roger Stone Call for Violence Ahead of 2020 Election; Dems, GOP Begin Sprint to Midterms. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired September 27, 2022 - 10:00   ET

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

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: As well as hurricane force winds.

[10:00:01]

Last hour, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis warning residents under mandatory evacuation orders not to take this storm lightly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): In some areas, there will be catastrophic flooding and life-threatening storm surge. And our recommendation is to heed those evacuation orders.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: This is key, the Tampa area could get its first direction hit from a hurricane of this strength in more than 100 years. Meteorologists warn that the impacts could, if it follows this path, be devastating. The hurricane is projected to become a category 4 storm as soon as later today. It is a category 3 right now, still pretty powerful, 130 miles an hour.

We have teams on the ground as Florida prepares for Hurricane Ian's eventual landfall. CNN's Randi Kaye in Punta Gorda, Florida, CNN's Carlos Suarez near Tampa, in Gulfport, Florida.

And, Carlos, as we've been discussing, Tampa, that is where the real worry is, right, because they're worried about storm surge and a lot of the residential areas there are vulnerable.

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is exactly right, Jim and Poppy. Good morning. The concern across the Tampa Bay area is the forecasted five to ten-foot storm surge with Hurricane Ian. We are in Gulfport. That is about a half hour drive outside of Tampa where a number of businesses right before you get out to the barrier islands have already boarded up. They got have their plywood out. They've got their sandbags in place. Other business owners, they're about to start doing that right now.

In fact, Mike Jackson, you own a shop out here. You've got your sandbags almost in place but you have got to start doing some work out here. MIKE JACKSON, STORE OWNER: Yes, sir. We have got to board up the windows still and try and cover up these windows, the door. We still have to sandbag our door after we put some spray foam to keep the water out, because in November of 2020, we got flooded and it was kind of a mess. But we'll get past it again.

SUAREZ: What was your experience then? I mean, we're looking at video that showed just how much water.

JACKSON: Our water line outside of the door was right here. And we used spray foam around the door, which kept a majority of the water out. So we only got six, seven inches of water inside.

SUAREZ: How worried are you? I mean, it seems like with that kind of a storm surge -- I mean, we were talking about the water making its way right here from the bay all the way up past --

JACKSON: I'm extremely worried. But we can only do what we can do and there is nothing else we can do and prepare the best that we can, hope for the best. Hopefully, it turns a little bit, we get less water. But it is pretty guarantee we're going to flood.

SUAREZ: Thank you so much, Mike, I appreciate it. Please stay safe.

JACKSON: You too. Thank you.

SUAREZ: And so, Jim and Poppy, as you can see here, the work for some of these folks is still underway out here. The mandatory evacuation, again, two of them already in place for Pinellas County. The folks that live on the barrier islands are being told you have got to get out here by the end of the day.

HARLOW: Carlos, thank you very much. We'll get back to you soon.

Let's go to our colleague, Randi Kaye. Randi, evacuations are underway where you are in Charlotte County. What can you tell us?

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely, Poppy and Jim. They've been under way here now for the last 24 hours. They are evacuating zone A, which is the coastal communities and the barrier islands, trying to get those folks out of town, about 140,000 people under evacuation orders right now.

Just a couple of hours ago, four shelters opened up here in Charlotte County. They can only hold about 4,000 people though, so they're not sure where the rest of those people are going to go to when they evacuate but they need to get out of town.

Now, you can't talk about Hurricane Ian in 2022 without talking about Hurricane Charlie from 2004, because that too was supposed to go to Tampa, ended up barreling right through here in Charlotte County, chewing right through Punta Gorda. So, certainly, a lot of concern, a lot of people here still remember what happened.

We just spoke with here the director of the Emergency Operations Center in Charlotte County and we talked about the concern for storm surge, because they're expecting about four to seven feet of storm surge here in this area. And they know what happened back in 2004 and this is what he had to tell me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATRICK FULLER, DIRECTOR FOR CHARLOTTE COUNTY, FLORIDA EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Storm surge is always one of our largest concerns here in Southwest Florida. 90 percent of fatalities occur due to water, whether it is storm surge or freshwater flooding. In Southwest Florida, Charlotte County specifically, is extraordinarily vulnerable to storm surge. With a storm like this traveling from south to north from that angle of approach and as strong as it is, we've already received forecasts for excessive storm surge, life-threatening storm surge, and that is our largest concern.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: And their motto here in Charlotte County is you can hide from the wind but you need to run from the water. A wall of water is not your friend. So, they know what the storm surge can do. In fact, that director told me that just 18 inches of rainwater can be very, very life-threatening here in this county. So, certainly, a lot of concern about that. Back to you.

[10:05:00]

SCIUTTO: Listen to those warnings before it is too late. Randi Kaye, Carlos Suarez, thanks so much.

All right, let's go to CNN Meteorologist Chad Myers at the CNN Weather Center tracking the storm. Chad, we've been talking about the models. You were saying yesterday how they gave a pretty wide variance as to where this storm might end up. Has it narrowed in the last 24 hours?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It has and it has shifted to the south. So, now maybe not right down the throat of Tampa Bay but farther to the south, still putting some surge in the bay possibly. The winds off shore for a lot of the time but there is still a lot of water. There's going to be a lot of water under this bubble right here.

So - but the big threat would be where Randi is, right in Punta Gorda. That is where I spent five days of my life with Anderson Cooper after Charlie. And that is such a vulnerable area. Most of the land around these canals is three feet tall. And the surge may be nine feet tall. Because of this, because the storm now, half of it, at least, now back in the water.

And it spent some time. It actually made landfall around 4:30 this morning, so about five hours on shore. But now, the center of the eye has moved back into the warm water, which means the storm will begin to regenerate. It will begin to get stronger again. And then turn to the north and then likely turn to the east.

Now, ahead of this, on the east side of this, there will be tornados today. There will be waterspouts that come on land. There's also already been some street flooding around Miami. And the east winds could push more water into Biscayne Bay.

But here is what you asked about. You asked about those -- the tracks of those storms. Are they still 40 or 50 miles apart? Yes. And would 40 or 50 miles make a tremendous difference for the Tampa Bay area for Charlotte Harbor? Absolutely. There is going to be another model. It just started running for about two hours ago. We will have that model for you. The hurricane center will update everything here because of those models, and that is still to come a little bit later. Jim and Poppy?

HARLOW: Chad, thank you. We'll look at that new model as soon as you get it in.

So, let's bring in to talk about all of this from our reporters and from Chad, Rob Herrin is with me, spokesperson for the Hillsborough County Fire and Rescue. The city of Tampa, of course, is in Hillsborough County. Thank you very much, sir, for being with me.

So, people understand, I mean, this is the first time that your area has been under a hurricane warning technically since 2017 in Irma. But you guys have a real clear message for residents and that is basically it is time to move from planning to just leaving.

ROB HERRIN, SPOKESPERSON, HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY FIRE RESCUE: Correct. We are past the planning phase. It is execution time now. So, whatever plans you had in place, whether it be evacuating, boarding up your home, making sure you have provisions to sustain for a few days, it is time to execute that now.

HARLOW: I was struck by what our reporter, Randi Kaye, just said on the ground there nearby, and that is that authorities have been telling her to remember that you can hide from the wind but you have to run from the water. Is that also your message?

HERRIN: Absolutely. The biggest concern locally with any of the emergency operations up and down the West Coast of Florida is that storm surge and rain water, flooding, as was stated, 90 percent fatalities due to water. Wind, we can -- not saying we can't -- we can handle wind. Wind is certainly a threat as well. But the evacuations are because people are in lower-lying areas and water is the threat. We don't evacuate wind. We evacuate water.

HARLOW: You've talked about people needing a plan. Now, they need to execute on that plan. But I was struck reading some of the notes from your division saying essentially shelter should be the last resort. Is that right? And if so, who should go to shelters? Because I would expect a lot of people might think, all right, well, at least I could go to a shelter until I could get a hotel room, if I could even afford a hotel room or until I can go inland and stay with family?

HERRIN: Yes, correct. I mean, certainly, shelters are an option, and that is what we provide. We have 48 shelters open. They can accommodate general population, special needs and pets as well. We have options for all three. But we do encourage our citizens and visitors to try to seek shelter a little bit further inland, if you have friends or family just 20 miles inland, 30 miles inland, use that as your first option.

I will tell you, the shelters are not comfortable. They are not hotel- like. You are going to have the space just a little bit bigger than a cot perhaps and you're going to be in a room with a lot of people. It will protect you from the wind. It will protect you from the water. But it is not the most comfortable setting. So, if you have other options, exercise that. But, of course, shelters are available if needed.

HARLOW: What are you most worried about right now, Rob, that you are not seeing covered enough in the media coverage of this storm?

[10:10:00]

HERRIN: I mean, we're kind of receiving word that there is still a decent amount of citizens who are saying that they're just going to ride it out that are in these evacuation zones. In fact, as we speak, Hillsborough County just effected a mandatory evacuation for that next level evacuation zone B now is under mandatory evacuation. It was previously under volunteer, now it is mandatory.

And we continue to hear folks saying, no, we've been through this before, we're going to stay home. And you run that risk. As a firefighter, it is hard to get to you when there is a potential ten- foot storm surge and a foot of water that has been dumped on your area. So, we urge you, if you're in one of those evacuation zones, please get out.

HARLOW: All right. Rob Herrin with Hillsborough County Fire Rescue, thank you, not only for this but, really, for what you guys are going to be doing for the next few days around the clock, no question.

HERRIN: Thank you, Poppy.

HARLOW: So, stay with us here at CNN as we track Hurricane Ian's path toward Florida and see how residents with preparing for potentially a direct hit. Later this hour, we're joined by the mayor of Cape Coral, where yet another mandatory evacuation order is going into effect.

SCIUTTO: Plus longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone on video in the months before January 6 saying, and we're quoting here, let's get right to the violence. We're going to have that revealing video coming up.

And later, Russian President Vladimir Putin under pressure as many Russians, thousands of them, defy his demand to fight in the war against Ukraine. Longtime Putin critic Bill Browder had lots of time in Russia, he once ran Russia's largest foreign -- he was largest foreign investor, joins us live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:15:00]

HARLOW: Welcome back. So, this morning, CNN has exclusively obtained new documentary footage of Roger Stone that may be used in the January 6th committee hearing tomorrow. In the video clips released, Stone, a longtime Republican operative and ally of former President Trump, appears to call for violence even before the votes were counted in the 2020 election. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROGER STONE, LONGTIME TRUMP CONFIDANT: xcellent. (BLEEP) the violence or (BLEEP). Let's get right to the violence.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's get right to it.

STONE: Shoot to kill. See an Antifa, shoot to kill. (BLEEP) them. I'm done with this (BLEEP).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: In another clip, Stone says that the key to victory is just to take the presidency. Here is that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STONE: Let's just hope we're celebrating. I suspect it will be -- I really do suspect it will still be up in the air. But when that happens, the key thing to do is to claim victory. Possession is nine- tenths the law. No, we won (BLEEP). Sorry, over, we won, you're wrong, (BLEEP).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: That was the plan. That is how it played out.

Roger Stone responded to CNN in a statement saying, quote, I challenge the accuracy and authenticity of these videos and believe they've been manipulated and selectively edited. I also point out that the filmmakers do not have the legal right to use them. How ironic that Kim Kardashian and I are both subjected to computer-manipulated videos, again, these are his words, on the same. The experts you provided below prove nothing. Certainly, they do not prove I have anything to do with the events of January 6th. That being said, it clearly shows I advocated for lawful congressional and judicial options.

Joining us now is CNN Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig. As we've had conversations through the weeks of these January 6 hearings, you pointed out that the committee's aim and, really, its standard is to put together the pieces here to determine what happened on January 6 and the days leading up to the attack. Do these video clips of Stone describing some things which later happened, do they get them closer to accomplishing that?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: I think they do, Jim. Roger Stone, of course, is doing Roger Stone things here, inserting himself directly into the middle of any controversy. But one of the big remaining questions is, is there a link, was there some chain of communication between the White House, Roger Stone and these extremist groups. We know for a fact Roger Stone associated himself with the Oath Keepers, with the Proud Boys. We've seen it on prior evidence that has come forward. And let's remember, Cassidy Hutchinson testified in front of this committee, in front of all of us, that on January 5th, the day before the attack, Donald Trump had Mark Meadows get in touch with Roger Stone and Michael Flynn. That's all she knew about it. That's all we know about it. So, if I'm the committee here, I would really be aiming to get to the bottom of those calls. Why was Mark Meadows supposed to get in touch with Roger Stone and Michael Flynn and what did they discuss?

HARLOW: Yes. So, Elie, you talk about the link, which is crucial, right, establishing like whether this helps the committee establish a direct link between the White House and the rioters and the violence, add to the mix here what Denver Riggleman, former Republican congressman, told 60 Minutes over the weekend, right, he used to work for the January 6th committee, that there was a call, albeit a short one, between someone in the White House and a rioter in the middle of all of it. How does this factor potentially into those question marks?

HONIG: Yes. Well, Poppy, it is no surprise that that line on the phone records caught former Representative Riggleman's eye. I mean, it is a nine-second phone call from a White House phone number, we don't who specifically but from a White House exchange out to one of the rioters who has now been convicted of going into the Capitol.

So, there is obviously a lot we don't know, most importantly who was on the White House end of that call. Why was it placed? Was it placed intentionally? And what was discussed, if anything, during those nine seconds?

But, yes, the very fact that a phone call was placed from the White House switchboard to a rioter, to a person in the process of committing a federal crime, that is really important and something that the committee I'm sure will dig into.

[10:20:07]

And if they can't get to the bottom of it, then DOJ will need to look at.

SCIUTTO: Let me ask you, though, Elie, if this is a normal criminal trial, which it is not, or a normal trial, I mean, you would call potential witnesses in and presumably they would show up and answer questions under oath. I mean, the questions you're asking there would require a Trump or a Stone to come and testify under oath, say this is what we talked about the day before January 6, right? I mean, this is why I had them in and presume some sort of obligation to show up and answer questions truthfully, which, in our experience, we haven't seen a lot of, right, from a lot of people. So I wonder where that leaves the investigation.

HONIG: Yes. Well, it will require somebody on the inside, Trump, Stone, Meadows, somebody like that. The reality is the committee really has done a remarkable job, I think, big picture, of presenting us with new and important evidence and testimony. But the committee, as a part of Congress, really has sort of limited enforcement tools here, especially compared to the Justice Department. DOJ has grand jury subpoenas, which you cannot simply shrug off the way we've seen so many people shrug off their January 6th committees. They have the ability to wiretap, to do search warrants, and most importantly, I think, to threaten potential jail time to get people to flip.

And so the January 6 committee, I think, by and large, should be praised for the job that they've done but, really, DOJ has to pick up the mantle now if they want to get to the absolute bottom of these crucial questions.

HARLOW: So, speaking of that and DOJ, they don't need a criminal referral from this committee to proceed, but the question is will the committee make a referral to DOJ. Adam Schiff said yesterday to Jake Tapper on State of the Union, if they do, he thinks it should be unanimous, right? And we know from previous reporting this is an area where the committee at least previously was split. I wonder, A, if you think it should be unanimous, and also, B, would you consider this panel a success if there is no criminal referral?

HONIG: Yes. So, the committee has been a bit all over the map, even publicly on where they stand on the referral. Understand, a referral is a symbolic gesture. It is a political gesture. Legally, it has no particular binding impact. It does not require DOJ to investigate. DOJ does not need a referral to investigate.

I think it is probably smart politics to decide that we need to be unanimous if we're going to do this. If they issue a referral, Poppy, then I think what it will do is further increase the pressure on DOJ to investigate and potentially to charge.

Now, will that work with Merrick Garland? Could it even backfire knowing Merrick Garland's sort of predisposition against politics, I guess, remains to be seen. It also, on the other hand, could make any sort of subsequent charge look political. The argument would be, hey, Congress asked to you do this, DOJ, and then you jump. So, it is a complex political calculation here.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HARLOW: Elie Honig, thanks you very much. Good to have you.

HONIG: Thank you, both.

HARLOW: Well, of course, the next and last January 6th public hearing is tomorrow. CNN special coverage of that final hearing begins tomorrow at 12:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

We are exactly six weeks from the midterms, from Election Day. Republicans seem to have momentum heading into the summer. But after the Supreme Court over turned Roe versus Wade, some polls started showing Democrats doing better with expected voters.

SCIUTTO: So, where do things stand now? How much confidence do we have in those polls? Track record is not great. Let's bring in CNN Politics Reporter and Editor at Large Chris Cillizza.

So, I mean, it's the big question. And, by the way, pollsters, many of them, are very public about this, about issues they've had in the past and levels of certainty today. How can we accurately forecast this far out from the election?

CHRIS CILLIZZA, CNN POLITCS REPORTER AND EDITOR AT LARGE: All right. So, Jim and Poppy, I want to highlight all questions that pollsters ask called the generic ballot. The way to think about this broadly is somewhat of a political weather vane. Which way are the winds blowing and how hard is the wind blowing nationally?

Generic ballot question goes like this. The wording can be a little different but, generally speaking, if the election were held today, would you vote for the Democratic or Republican candidate in your district? It's called the generic ballot because no names are mentioned, just Republican or Democratic.

Let's look at where it was in 2018. Obviously, we had Democrats big leads, D plus nine, D plus ten on all of this. Democrats wound up winning 40 seats. So, we know D seven and up, big gains for Democrats. 2014, two midterms ago, we had a more narrow Democratic gains, 45 to 43, 49 to 43, D plus two, D plus six. We had a Republican gain of 13 seats despite the fact that Democrats had a narrow generic ballot lead.

Let's go all the way back to 2010, three midterm elections ago. This, obviously, we see a different story. Republicans, Republicans had six and a seven-point lead. This was an election in which Republicans won 63 seats.

I want to just go back to 2014 because I think this our closest analog right now. Remember, let me show you here, reminding what was now, this is a plus one for Republicans now, a plus one for Republicans now.

[10:25:04]

But that is not always the case. 2014, we had a plus two for Democrats and a plus six for Democrats.

So, this is a similar thing to what we saw in 2014 when Republicans gained 13 seats. If they did that, they would be in the majority. But that is a far cry from what we saw here, which was Republicans plus seven, Republicans plus six and a 63-seat gain.

So, what I think we're looking at here is it is still likely to be a pretty good election for Republicans at the House level. Remember, they only need five seats to put them back in the majority. They are likely to get that. They are not likely, if we believe the generic ballot, and I do, they're not likely to get anywhere near 63 and probably not even near 30. Maybe we're talking in between 5 and 15 seats if the generic ballot is to be believed. Poppy and Jim?

HARLOW: You make that magical wall more magic, Chris Cillizza.

CILLIZZA: Look at this, Poppy, that smile is for you.

HARLOW: Give one to Jim too. Come on, you're right like next to him.

CILLIZZA: All right. Look, Jim, that one is for you. And you're right, fair enough. I can see him. I can just smile at him. I can't see you.

HARLOW: I know. All right, Chris Cillizza, we'll see you tomorrow. Thank you.

Still ahead, back to our top story, several Florida counties issuing mandatory evacuations, warning people get out of the way of a potentially very dangerous hurricane, that is Hurricane Ian. Up next, we'll be joined by the mayor of Cape Coral as this storm heads straight toward his city.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:30:00]