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Hurricane Barrels Towards Florida As Category 3 Storm; Mcconnell Says He Backs Reforming The Electoral Count Act; Consumer Confidence, Home Prices And Interest Rates All On The Rise; Meta Shuts Down Covert Influence Campaigns From China And Russia; Prosecutor May Soon File Criminal Charges Against Baldwin, Others; Study: Embryos Frozen During IVF Linked To High Blood Pressure Risk. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired September 27, 2022 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

MAYOR FRANK HIBBARD, CLEARWATER, FLORIDA: Whether it be wind, rain or storm surge, nobody is going to escape without some impact. We just don't know exactly where. And so, we have to plan for everything and not be complacent. We are getting to the end of being prepared though. If you have not yet evacuated. If you have not yet got you supplies, it's becoming too late. You just need to shelter in place and wait out the storm.

The other thing we try to tell people that is, even when the storm has pasted the danger has not. Oftentimes trees, limbs and electrical lines are still down and people need to be very cautious until they know the coast is completely clear.

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: Those are important reminders not to walk through, not to drive through any standing water because you don't know what's in it. There could be down power lines. I know you spoke with the president earlier today. I spoke with the Mayor of Tampa who also spoke with the president. He offered whatever was needed. Was there anything specific that you asked the president to do?

HIBBARD: Well, we're most concerned with after the fact. That's really when we rely on FEMA for all of the supplies and obviously, the dollars that come from the federal government. That and working with our utilities to restore power as quickly as possible. Those are the big things that we're concerned about.

But the president was very supportive, said he was watching the situation throughout the day and would be checking in after the storm had passed. I truly appreciated him taking time out of such a busy schedule to check in with all the mayors in the Tampa Bay region.

HILL: You talk about the evacuation window closing in Pinellas County. Do you have a sense of how many people have actually heeded that order, how many people have left?

HIBBARD: Well, we have roughly 350,000 residents in evacuation zones within the county. The county has about 950,000 residents in total. What we tell people is, you don't have to go to (INAUDIBLE). You can drive 100, 150 miles inland and you are going to be out of harm's way for the most part.

And I think that's one of the things that some people miss. Also, there are many people who have houses that were built up to the Miami code. And if you have and you're not in an evacuation zone, it's good to shelter in place. But just be cautious after the storm has passed to make certain that all of your surroundings are safe.

HILL: Mayor Frank Hibbard, we know you have a busy few days ahead. We appreciate you taking the time to join us. We'll continue to check in. Thank you.

HIBBARD: It's my pleasure. Thanks so much.

HILL: And as we are tracking hurricane Ian, hurricane's Fiona's wrath still being felt across Puerto Rico. As of today, some 40 percent of customers there are still without power according to emergency officials. The island's utility company says restoring service to critical customers at hospitals is a top priority.

Meantime, the Department of Homeland Security says it is actively working on making it easier for emergency supplies to get to the island. So, we'll keep you updated on that situation there in Fiona.

Meantime, this just in to CNN. Republican Senator Mitch McConnell announced he backs reforming the Electoral Count Act. And the legislation aims to makes it harder to overturn a certified presidential election. CNN chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju joining us now from Capitol. So, Manu, what else did Senator McConnell say here?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is significant. Because for months a bipartisan group of Senators has been working to try to overhaul the Electoral Count Act of 1887. This arcane law dictates how Congress certifies it's a the state certified presidential election results.

What they're trying to do in changing the law is make it harder for a Congress to overturn the electoral results. Which is a direct response to how Donald Trump tried to pressure Mike Pence, try to pressure members of Congress to overturn the election results on January 6th.

And ultimately, of course, when we saw the deadly violence that occurred that day. But Mitch McConnell just went to the Senate floor, he announced that he plans to join this bipartisan group of Senators in voting to advance this plan.

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SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): I'll proudly support the legislation provided that nothing more than technical changes are made to its current form. I particularly want to thank Senator Collins and Senator's Capito, and Murkowski, Portman, Ramsey, Sasse, Tillis and Young for their intense work with Democratic colleagues to get this right.

(END VIDEO CLIP) [15:35:00]

RAJU: Now last week the House passed its version of this bill to overhaul the Electoral Count Act. That did not have as much bipartisan support. In fact, it only had nine Republicans voted for this plan. But even to have those numbers of similarities with the Senate bill including assuring the vice president's role in overseeing the counting of the electoral votes is simply a ceremonial role.

There are key differences including how to -- including procedures for suing when there's a dispute over an election result in federal court, and as well as a threshold for when there can be a vote to actually try to overturn an election result in both the House and the Senate. There a difference in between the two bills.

So, they'll have to reconcile those differences, try to pass this. Likely going to be an exercise after the November midterms. But McConnell's support critical here in almost ensuring that this bill will get out of the Senate sometime this year -- Erica.

HILL: Yes, certainly, an important development this afternoon. Manu, appreciate it. Thank you.

Consumer confidence is up. That's the good d news. So are home prices though and interest rates. So, what does this all mean for the economy? We'll get you an answer next.

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HILL: It is now official, the January 6th Committee postponing tomorrow's hearing due to hurricane Ian. The committee's chair and vice chair say they will announce a new date soon.

Chairman Bennie Thompson and Vice Chair Liz Cheney saying in a statement that in light of hurricane Ian bearing down on parts of Florida, that is why they've decided to postpone tomorrow's proceedings. They go on to say we're praying for the safety of all in the storm's path and that the Select Committee's investigation goes forward and we will soon announce a date for the postpone proceeding.

But of course, will bring that to you as soon as we know more.

Consumer confidence rose for the second straight month thanks to moderating gas prices and some hopes that inflation may soon ease a bit. The Dow down, but yesterday it slipped into its first bear market since the pandemic, likely due to investor concerns about The Fed's efforts to slow inflation through its aggressive interest rate hikes.

CNN business correspondent Rahel Solomon joining us now. So, we have three major economic reports that coming out, Rahel. What are they telling you?

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Some encouraging news on the data front, Erica, which I know we don't get to talk about a lot when we're talking about the economy. So, let's talk about home prices. We're seeing some slight cooling. Which if you have been trying to buy

a home, this is the sign that you have started watching for, right, so slight. So, median home price for a new home in August coming in at $436,000. Compare that to last month of $439,000. This is an area of the housing market that the Fed for one has been watching very closely. Powell, the chairman, has said that essentially the housing market needs a correction to make homes more affordable.

So, the first sign of that new home sales are rising actually quite significantly month over month, almost 29 percent compared to the month prior and just down slightly year over year.

One thing that isn't down, consumer confidence. That's something new. Consumer confidence increasing for the second straight month. And what's really important about consumer confidence is directionally where we're heading. So essentially this means that people are starting to feel a bit more optimistic about business condition, about the job market.

And so, that was good news. And when we looked at the survey of what folks were saying as part of the reason, they were feeling more optimistic, it was falling gas prices and it was the labor market which remains very strong.

HILL: So those are good news. Always a nice thing for you since you don't get to bring it to us. As you brought a lot these days. There's this new survey out which really caught my eye looking at wages and inflation and most Americans by and large feel that their paychecks are not keeping up.

SOLOMON: Yes, and you can understand why, right. So, this coming from Bank of America citing nearly 3 out of 4 workers say that inflation is outpacing how much they make. I want to show you these results here. And compare this 71 percent in July to just a few months prior at 58 percent had the same response in February.

And this is really driving inflation, of course, which still is hovering around 40-year highs at 8.3 percent according to the last reading for U.S. consumer inflation. This is driving more people to tap into their savings. So, a 21 percent of respondents said that they had to tap into emergency savings. About the same said they had to work extra hours just to keep up with inflation.

About the same say they're actually, just looking for a higher paying job. And how about that, 6 percent having to resort to 401(k) hardship withdrawal. So, this is the pain -- you know, we talk about the pain of rising borrowing costs in terms of what the Fed is doing. But this is also the pain of inflation. And that's what the Fed is trying to make better ultimately with these higher costs. But people are really suffering out there.

HILL: Yes, Rahel, good to see you. Appreciate it. Thank you.

Well, Facebook's parent company, Meta, says it actually shut down two separate networks of fake accounts run from China and Russia. Meta claims the accounts were engaged in covert influence operations, some of them even posing as Americans, weighing in on political issues. CNN's Donie O'Sullivan joining us now. So, what more do we know about these accounts and perhaps how broad the reach was?

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Two separate networks of accounts here, one run from China, the other run from Russia. Importantly Facebook is not saying what specific entities or if these are tied to the governments of either country in either way.

When it comes to these Chinese accounts, these are very small number of accounts. They basically had no traction at all. But what we have learned from Facebook is that these accounts were posing as real Americans on both sides of the political spectrum weighing in on divisive issues, everything from abortion to gun rights.

[15:45:00]

And the reason Meta is talking about this and making this public and sharing this information with the FBI and other Silicon Valley platforms is that in the lead-up to the midterms they're on high alert and they haven't seen that type of behavior from China before. And we spoke to Ben Nimmo who is on the team at Facebook and he explained it a little bit more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN NIMMO, GLOBAL THREAT INTELLIGENCE LEAD, META: This was a small operation. And it didn't seem to build any meaningful audience. But it's the first time that we've seen an operation from China like this really focusing on targeting the U.S. political debates. And we're all on high alert ahead of the midterms.

They were running fake accounts that pretended to be Americans and try to talk like Americans, and they were talking about really divisive domestic issues, like abortion and gun control. So that's a real step change from what we've seen before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'SULLIVAN: So, as Ben says there, they are on high alert. They, you know, were caught in the backfoot back in 2016 --

HILL: And they kind of need to be, too. Not just because it's important for Facebook users and in general, but also because they took a lot of heat and perhaps rightfully so, for what was not done or paying attention.

O'SULLIVAN: Exactly. And this Russian network which was found points to why this is also important. There is so much investment. There is so much happening in this space of online influence, and the Russian campaign, the accounts that were taken down, there was thousands of accounts.

They spent I think more than $100,000 on Facebook ads, all pushing pro-Kremlin messaging about Ukraine, even creating fake news web sites designed to look like Western media outlets like "The Guardian." Really quite sophisticated stuff and again, we're learning why it's important that these companies stay on top of it.

HILL: Yes. So, that Russian one seems a little bit more serious and wide ranging. Appreciate it, Donie good to see you, thanks.

A new study compares pregnancies, which is fresh embryos versus frozen ones. So, could expectant mothers be at risk? We'll tell you who may be at risk and why.

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HILL: The New Mexico prosecutor who is handling the fatal shooting on the "Rust" movie set could soon file criminal charges. We are told those charges could be filed against up to four people. And there are questions about whether Alec Baldwin could be perhaps one of those people.

Baldwin, you may recall, was holding the prop gun onset when it went off, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza. Now the actor insists he did not pull the trigger.

CNN entertainment reporter Chloe Melas joining me now live. So, what more do we know about these potential charges and whether Alec Baldwin could be a target?

CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Yes, so look, a whole series of events were set off when some news reports came out this week about the letter sent on August 30th. And it was the district attorney's office asking for more money.

Because they more positions, more infrastructure in order to handle such a high profile case. And they said up to four people including very high profile actor Alec Baldwin could be among those charged. Which left many people to say, oh, OK, so he is on the table to be charged.

Well, we don't know. So, I've spoken to Alec Baldwin's attorney who says that he spoke to the district attorney's office and that they said that don't even have the sheriff's report yet that they've been waiting on for months. And they do have the FBI report. The district attorney, once they got the sheriff's report, that's when the clock starts to ticking. It could be any day this week. Maybe next week, it could be several weeks once they get that report as to a charging decision.

So, who are potential people? I mean, it could be Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the armorer who is on the set. It could be Dave Halls, who was the assistant director. But again, all speculation. We don't know if any charges are going to come down at all. And let me also remind you, Alec Baldwin sat down with me just a few weeks ago, and one of the only sit-down interviews since this fatal shooting happened killing Halyna Hutchins on the set in New Mexico.

And he said that he had hired a private investigator who told him that he is not going to be charged. Which is, you know, a very strong thing to come out and publicly say that he knows that he's going to be charged. Because we can't read the minds of the district attorney's office.

HILL: Right. But that's was an investigator, certainly not a prosecutor, important to point out.

MELAS: So, Alec Baldwin's attorney Luke Nikas told me last night that again, the district attorney's office saying it is too early to make any sort of decisions. We don't even have the New Mexico sheriff's office report that they have been working on. They just got Alec Baldwin's phone records that have taken many months. So again, it's too soon to know but we should have some answers in the next couple weeks.

HILL: Chloe, I appreciate it and thanks for clarification too --

MELAS: Thank you.

HILL: -- it is important that we clarify what actually was in that letter.

Well, parts of Florida ready feeling the impact of hurricane Ian. We'll get into the very latest on the cat 3 storm's track. Also take a closer look at how residents are preparing and what officials are pleading with them to do. Stay with us.

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HILL: An important new study about in vitro fertilization or IVF as is commonly known, is raising questions. This new data suggests frozen embryos could be linked to an increased risk of pregnancy complications.

CNN's health reporter Jacqueline Howard joining us now with the details. So, what do IVF patients and doctors need to know about this study when it comes specifically to frozen embryos?

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Erica, patients and doctors should know that the complications we're talking about are related to high blood pressure. So, the study found an association with an increased risk of hypertensive disorders like preeclampsia and other types of disorders during pregnancy.

And what the researchers did, they looked at more than 4 million pregnancies in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. And they found the unadjusted risk for hypertensive disorders in pregnancy -- we should have these numbers -- was 7.4 percent after frozen embryo transfer. It was lower at 5.9 percent after fresh transfer and 4.3 percent when there was natural conception. So, that's the increased risk found.

And when the researchers adjusted the data to account for age and other factors, this increased risk still was present and it actually appeared to be more significant. So now, here's the question of why this increase risk exists, that requires, Erica, more research. Some people might think the women who use frozen embryos tend to be

older in age than women who conceive naturally. But the researchers adjusted for age. And this risk still was present. So, this requires more research for sure. And I think, Erica, and for patients what they can take away is talk to your doctor about your potential risks and benefits.

HILL: That's always the best advice to talk to your doctor. Jacqueline, appreciate it. Thank you.

HOWARD: Absolutely.

HILL: Just developing now, an American ski mountaineer has gone missing during expedition in Nepal. Hilary Nelson was reportedly skiing on the world's eighth highest mountain when she fell over the side and disappeared just below the summit.

The sponsor the North Face says it is in contact with Nelson's family and also supporting search and rescue efforts. Just last week Nelson wrote about the challenges of the trip in an Instagram post. The 49- year-old is a mom of two, a pioneer in the mountaineering community.

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In 2012 she became the first woman on record to climb Mount Everest and its adjacent peak in 24 hours. We'll continue to follow that story.

I Stay tuned, "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.