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Mayor Erik Arroyo (R-Sarasota, FL) Discusses Hurricane Ian Barreling Toward Florida; Keisha Lance Bottoms, White House Senior Adviser For Public Engagement, Discusses Student Loan Forgiveness & Immigration; Russia Claims Majorities In 4 Ukrainian Regions Favor Annexation After "Sham" Referendums. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired September 27, 2022 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: Joining me now Sarasota Mayor Erik Arroyo.

Good to have you with us.

As I understand it, the governor was at Sarasota County emergency offices a short time ago for a press conference.

Where do things stand for you at this hour? I know bridges are set to close in a half an hour. Do you feel that these evacuation orders have been heeded?

MAYOR ERIK ARROYO, (R-SARASOTA, FL): Yes. Yes. By and large, yes, they have. Our number-one priority in city of Sarasota is the safety of residents. So that's why we ordered local state of emergency, a city state of emergency at the county and at the state level.

We have mobilized all of our personnel. We've activated our Emergency Operations Center, meaning that utilities is making sure that the generators are up and running. They are.

Public works began clearing out the storm drains last week. We have fortified our city buildings. We have Parks and Rec clearing out everything in the parks.

We have our fuel farms that are operational are ready to go. Florida Power & Light have thousands of individuals are at a staging area and ready to.

If the power grid goes down, which it is very likely to, we have police officers redirecting traffic. And we have numerous Web sites that are constantly being updated to show you what the latest is.

We ask everyone to please be proactive. Take the measures. We are in this together and we, as a community, are -- we are as prepared as we can be.

HILL: That's good news, being as prepared as you can be.

Having covered so many hurricanes, we know -- I have seen firsthand how important to have that staging ready to go.

We hear consistently for folks that don't leave, if there's an emergency, understandably because of concerns for their own safety, first responders won't be able to get to them.

How are you first responders doing at this point? Do they have everything they need moving into the next 24 hours?

ARROYO: Yes, we do. We have a transportation hub. Sarasota County has sort of upgraded its public transportation system. We now have a hybrid so it's sort of Uber. We drive to you and pick you up.

Plus, we have a transportation hub. Plus, we have the National Guard that is helping us in case we need additional personnel.

I have also been getting numerous e-mails and calls of people wanting to volunteer. So it really is a community coming together to ensure everyone's safe.

HILL: Which is great to hear about that community response.

When I spoke about half an hour, with the mayor of Tampa, who said what you said in terms of the federal, the state, local support and coordination, how strong it's all been.

Her biggest concern is water. Is that your biggest concern, water, the storm surge, and how long the storm could stick here with all that rain?

ARROYO: It is. And it's slowing down. It was supposed to arrive today, right now, and then, as it progressed, it got slower. So it's a lot of rain, a lot of water for a longer period of time.

So now we are anticipating we are going to feel the effects at around 1:00 a.m. And we're going to get hit by it around 2:00 p.m. tomorrow. But it's going to last a while.

We can't take for granted the -- or underestimate the impact of storm surges and the wind gusts.

I mean, even if it gets downgraded from a category 4 to a category 2, we are still going to feel category 4 winds and feeling a lot of the remnants of a category 4, even if it is downgraded. So we need to be very, very careful.

HILL: Absolutely. We'll continue to check in with you as well.

Mayor Erik Arroyo, appreciate you taking the time to join us. I know you have a busy few days ahead. Thank you.

ARROYO: I appreciate you. Thank you.

[14:34:11]

HILL: A new report says the price tag of President Biden's student debt relief plan could be some $400 billion. So how will the White House pay for that? We're going to ask, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: Just in the last hour, President Biden speaking in the White House Rose Garden where he touted the administration's efforts the lower health care costs and also to protect Medicare and Social Security.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Over the last few years, we have faced some of the most difficult challenges in our history. But we are actually making progress helping folks get just a little more breathing room.

Lowering health care costs and strengthening Medicare is a big part of the progress that we've been making on inflation not just with gas prices and other progress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Keisha Lance Bottoms is the White House senior adviser for public engagement and joins us now.

Nice to see you this afternoon.

What we heard from the president there, this is seen as a big win for seniors, older voters as well.

Student loan forgiveness is also seen potentially as a win for young voters. Today, we got a finding from the Congress Budget Office, an estimated $400 billion price tag if there's no offset, cut or tax increase to the president's plan for student loan forgiveness.

[14:40:01]

What's the plan to pay for that?

KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISER FOR PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT: We have to remember, Erica, that under President Biden's leadership, our deficit has been reduced by record numbers already, $350 billion last year. We are on track for a $1 trillion reduction.

And also these estimates, from my understanding, were based on the assumption of 90 percent of the eligible borrowers taking advantage of this program. We know that's not the case. It's not normally that high.

But at the end of the day, this is about helping everyday working people. If you make less than $125,000 a year, you are eligible for a $10 reduction in you student loan payment amount, $20,000 if you were Pell Grant eligible. T

his is also for families making $250,000 or less a year. So this is a game changer.

The president and our team have been very thoughtful about rolling out the plan and making sure that our budget could accommodate it.

HILL: So you're saying you're sure the budget can accommodate it. This score we got yesterday from the CBO, you said that's based on 90 percent.

I know initially, when this plan was announced, when you were pushing for the numbers, the White House said we have to see how many people sign up.

In terms of being thoughtful of this plan, did the White House really work through all of these numbers? What if it does end up being $400 billion?

LANCE BOTTOMS: The White House was very thoughtful and will continue to be very thoughtful.

You have to remember, this is not a one-time hit. This will be absorbed over many years.

And again, when we look at the record reduction in the deficit under the Biden administration, we know that this reduction in the deficit in the trillions of dollars will help significantly towards passing on these savings to everyday working people.

HILL: Quickly, when will we have those? I know the White House is still working on this and we have other topics we want to get to.

When will we have the numbers?

LANCE BOTTOMS: The White House is continue to work on all of the details. We will have a rollout in a few weeks to make sure that people can go into the portal and apply for this relief.

We have to remember, this is not automatic relief. We don't expect all 40 million eligible borrowers will take advantage of this. They will have to go in and apply for the relief.

And we know, with other programs that the government has rolled out, we have not seen numbers near 90 percent. It will be very surprising if those numbers are near 90 percent. But we certainly are prepared for that.

And it's our hope that as many people as possible, almost half, who will have the chance to have their debt completely wiped out, will take advantage of this program.

HILL: So we'll keep looking for those numbers.

I do want to get you on immigration. This is a major focus for voters across the board. Everybody has different reasons for it, but it is a major concern for the county.

Now CNN has just learned that the White House actually spoke with representatives from 19 countries in the western hemisphere yesterday about the issue of migrants, an increase in migration. One senior official saying blunt, quote, "There's consensus that

there's value in us working more closely and trying to synchronize our policies."

Would it make sense to work closely, to have a more uniform policy? What is the biggest holdups there? And are there holdups in the White House itself?

LANCE BOTTOMS: We have to remember, over the last few years prior to the Biden-Harris administration coming into the White House, there was no thoughtful policy. So there's a lot of catching up to do here.

We also have to remember that, when we see people like Governor DeSantis and others play with people's lives, these are people who are fleeing Communism. They are fleeing Venezuela and Cuba, and countries where they are experiencing Communism.

So it behooves all of us to globally work together to address this crisis. And that's exactly what this White House is doing.

HILL: Can you give me specifics on what you're doing in terms of that coordination with other countries?

LANCE BOTTOMS: As you have mentioned, we have had discussions with world leaders in making sure, as we're dealing with the challenges that we are facing right now, that we are looking at long-term strategies on how we can globally work together to address this issue, whether it be migrants coming into the United States or going into other countries.

This is something to be thoughtful about and all work together to address the challenges.

And also, again, remembering that many of these people may not necessarily receive asylum in the United States. But also being thoughtful that these are families. These are women and children who are fleeing Communism.

I don't think anybody wants to pack up and leave their homeland and walk days at a time. So it's something that we know is a crisis and a challenge that the president is taking head on.

[14:45:00]

HILL: One of the challenges is the stress on a number of border areas. CNN has reporting that, as far back as June, DHS was talking about plans to send migrants to cities further from the border with Mexico to alleviate some of that stress.

The "New York Times" was reporting that ICE was also pushing for part of this once they've been processed by CBP, that migrants could be sent to cities where they have families or other sponsors to help them out and continue the progress there.

Would the president support a plan like that to help alleviate the stress and move people around? LANCE BOTTOMS: The president has been very clear, this is a challenge

for us as a country. And so the challenge or the issue, the primary issue is not that migrants are going to other cities where perhaps they can receive more support.

The biggest challenge is that there's no coordination. When you have governors putting migrants on buses --

(CROSSTALK)

HILL: Right. But this proposal for coordination. This would be a specific proposal for coordination. Would the president support that? It would be a way to do that, in your view, a more efficient way to do that?

LANCE BOTTOMS: The president wants to be very thoughtful about how we do it. So you can't just bus migrants into cities and that are not prepared to receive them.

But if cities are giving notification they able to receive the appropriate support that they need to absorb these migrants, make sure that these migrants have an opportunity to be properly notified of their court hearings, then that's a very different story than putting people on buses and airplanes and just leaving them.

HILL: Keisha Lance Bottoms, appreciate you taking the time to join us. Thank you.

LANCE BOTTOMS: Thank you.

HILL: U.S. officials expecting Russia to waste no time annexing four occupied parts of Ukraine after the sham referendum carried out at gun point. We'll take you to Ukraine next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:51:01]

HILL: In Ukraine, voting is scheduled to end in the so-called referenda to decide whether four Russian-occupied areas will actually join Russia. U.S. officials say they won't accept any results there.

Observers say they were probably decided, the results that is, long before any ballots were cast.

Also today, a source telling CNN the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. will introduce a resolution condemning Putin for the use of force to redraw Ukraine's borders.

CNN's senior international security editor, Nick Paton Walsh, joining me live from Kramatorsk.

Nick, at least one of the four regions say voting has ended. How soon do we suspect Russia will try to annex these areas?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Yes, it's going to be in a matter of days. At this stage, we're beginning to get preliminary results, all suggesting approval in the high 90s.

I should point out, again, this is not a democratic process. These are people in occupied areas being asked by the occupied military force whether or not they want that military force to allow them to become part of Russia's territory.

Of course, anybody faced with a gun is going to likely say yes.

So high 90s approval numbers, what we always expected. That will probably get formalized in the hours ahead.

Already, the Russian-installed so-called leaders of some of these areas are saying they're going to go to Moscow to begin the formal process of recognition of these areas being part of Russia.

Importantly, these areas are changing in the size that Russia holds because of Ukrainian advances on the frontline as we speak. The clock is certainly ticking on that.

There's a suggestion from the British military of defense that they Putin might use a speech on Friday to announce this continued annexation.

The United States says it will introduce economic sanctions in the event this formalization occurs, only after that formal moment.

And Russia, too, has said it's likely to extend its umbrella of full protection to parts of new Russian territory that are formally recognized.

That has many deeply concerned that we could be talking about becoming closer to realizing the constant nuclear threats they've been making over the past days.

Again, the U.S. adjusting its relatively silent response to these previous threats in the last days to start talking about how there will be horrific consequences.

And how they've been on the phone for the Russians to try to persuade them against anything like that at all. So a very dark few days ahead here.

We know for sure that Russia is going to claim parts of Ukraine that its occupied by military force since February. A smaller and smaller patch all the time, as genuinely, in their mind, being part of Russia. We know, also, Kyiv and Washington won't accept that. What we don't know is quite what Russia can do on a battlefield where its losing to alter that equation.

Back to you.

HILL: Yes, there's a big unknown there.

Nick Paton Walsh, appreciate it. Thank you.

Seismologists in Sweden say they have detected two explosions in a area close to the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines, which run under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany. That alert came just hours after Nord Stream 1's operator said it sustained, quote, "unprecedented damage."

The region's maritime authorities say at least three leaks have been identified. This is fly-over footage we're showing you here. You can that's actually a patch of bubbling gas. To give you a sense of how bit that is, it's nearly a mile wide.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken says, if these leaks were caused by some sort of sabotage, it's, quote, "clearly in no one's interest."

[14:54:33]

Here in the U.S., we're keeping a close eye on Hurricane Ian barreling toward Florida's west coast threatening severe flooding. The director of the National Hurricane Center joins us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: Good afternoon. I'm Erica Hill. Thank you for joining us on CNN NEWSROOM. Alisyn Camerota and Victor Blackwell are off this afternoon.

We begin this hour in Florida where millions of residents up and down the state's west coast are bracing for Hurricane Ian. The powerful category 3 storm is intensifying at this hour thanks to the Gulf of Mexico's warm waters. It's winds now up to 120 miles an hour.

[14:59:51]

Ian could make landfall as soon as tomorrow night, possibly as a category 4. Parts of the Florida coast may see up to seven feet of storm surge. Some areas perhaps as much as 12 feet.

It's important to note, though, it's not just Florida's west coast that's under threat.