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Rescue Teams Begin Secondary Searches Today in Sanibel; Las Vegas Police Say One Dead, Several Hurt in Stabbing Outside Casino; Concerns About Gas Prices After OPEC+ Slashes Production; Ex-Oath Keeper: Leader in Touch with Secret Service Before January 6. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired October 06, 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]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: On Sanibel Island today, a round of secondary searches is under way. Teams are revisiting homes that were damaged or destroyed by hurricane Ian but they will not enter unless they believe someone needs assistance. Sanibel Mayor Holly Smith is with me now. Thanks for a little bit of your time. These secondary searches, have they discovered or recovered anyone?

MAYOR HOLLY SMITH, SANIBEL, FLORIDA: Not that I'm aware of today.

BLACKWELL: OK. Are there any outstanding missing persons reports on Sanibel Island?

SMITH: We do have a list, but it's really hard to keep track of, because so many people were evacuated in different ways. But we're trying to gather the information to find out who are the actual ones that we have not had a response from and we're making that call all the time and just kind of going through our list and checking people off. So, doing the best we can to find out that information. And that's why we have to go as SOP, standard operating procedure to do a secondary search.

BLACKWELL: OK. We know that Sanibel Island residents and those who own businesses, and the people with these hurricane passes are allowed to come by boat because the causeway is damaged back to the island. We understand while you were with the president and the governor yesterday, your husband saw your home. How is it?

SMITH: We might be one of the lucky ones. We did have our -- we have an elevated home on the island, so our living level is pretty high up. Our master bedroom, our roof was breached, so we had a hole in our master.

[15:35:00]

My son was there with my husband and his fiancee and they started trying to tarp that. And then also, we had considerable water, I'm going to say probably six to seven feet on our lower level. So that cleanup has started with my family. And remember, we can't use anything. You've got to go in with your hands. We are not able to have -- we have no electricity. We cannot use generators. Certainly, understandable because it's a safety hazard. So, they're out there mucking it out and cleaning it out like so many people on the island.

BLACKWELL: Yes, certainly as we've seen from the pictures a lot of people far worse off than your family. But for those like your family, who can get you to start to put things together on their own. When do you expect there will be an allowance for generators or some heavier equipment. I understand the fire concern right now.

SMITH: Well, we're treating this like a mission of war. And you have to go through the certain steps before you can get people back on for the next steps. And right now, our main access is limited by barge and we're trying to get all the construction for LCUC, the tower, our utilities, security. All of those people, they need to get on first to start to do the work.

Debris cleanup, when we did an assessment with Governor DeSantis yesterday, he realized quickly on the ground that we needed more debris cleanup. That's going to be a major issue that we've got to deal with so people can get to their properties and we can have safe passage. We've got to wait with all the these construction -- private construction but all of these assets that need to be on the ground to get ready for the people to be able come on to have a clear and safe path to get their jobs done. So, we can get people on with a different level of means. And we have no date on this. So, I want to make this very clear.

When they can get on utilizing a generator or having construction, their own construction person coming on. What we're doing right now is a look and leave. That's what we established today. It's 7:00 in the morning until 7:00 at night. Come look at your property, get what you need, try to start that work and then leave. And that was the whole reason they have we opened it up. It was not opening it up and then immediately letting that residentially or businesswise come on. There's too much to be done before we can start that.

BLACKWELL: Understood. These are the first steps after that devastation to try to get some normalcy back to that island. Mayor Holly Smith, I thank you for your time.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: We have some breaking news right now. Las Vegas police are responding to a report of a stabbing on the Vegas Strip. Six victims, we're told, one person is dead.

BLACKWELL: CNN's Josh Campbell is following the latest for us. What you know -- Josh.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this developing situation there on the Las Vegas Strip, authorities say this is happening near the 3100 block of South Las Vegas Boulevard. That is near the Wynn Casino complex, where multiple people have been stabbed, according to police.

I'll leave you would tweet that was sent out just a short time ago by Las Vegas Police. They say: At approximately 11:42 a.m. the Vegas police received a

report of a stabbing with multiple victims in front of the casino there at that address at this time. At least six victims have been located, one victim has been declared deceased.

Now police have shut that area down. They say that this ongoing investigation continues. They have -- they believe the person who perpetrated this, that person has been taken into custody. Authorities not releasing any details about that individual's condition, whether it was a man, whether it was a woman. Certainly, too soon right now to know the motive, but this investigation continues. Again, the breaking news from the Las Vegas Strip, multiple people have been stabbed, authorities say that they are being taken to nearby hospitals -- Victor and Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, keep us posted. Josh Campbell, thank you.

Now to this, OPEC says it will cut oil production. What does that mean for all of our gas prices? That's next.

[15:40:00]

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CAMEROTA: President Biden says he's disappointed by OPEC's decision -- the world's major oil producers -- to slash their production by 2 million barrels a day. That could spike the already rising gas prices. The president says he's working to find ways to mitigate the impact.

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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's a lot of alternatives. The trip was not essentially for oil. The trip was about the Middle East and about Israel and rationalization of positions. But it is a disappointment and it says that there are problems.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Joining us is former Obama economic advisor Austan Goolsbee. Austan, great to see you. In practical terms, for all of our pocketbooks, how much will this move by OPEC+ increase the cost per gallon of gas at the pump?

AUSTAN GOOLSBEE, WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL OF ECONOMIC ADVISORS CHAIRMAN UNDER PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, you know, nobody truly knows the answer to that, because it partly depends on how strong is the world demand for crude oil going to be.

And it partly depends on whether the other members of OPEC are all going to abide by the agreement. OPEC frequently has things where they agree we're all going to cut production, but then it's in the interest of some of the participants that kind of cheat on their part. But it could have a material impact.

[15:45:00] Normally, as you know, gas prices come down as you come out of the summer. The summer is kind of a peak time. So, if we don't get that drop, it could be a disappointing period.

CAMEROTA: So, what can President Biden do?

GOOLSBEE: I mean, you've seen on the geopolitical side discussion about them talking to ease sanctions on Venezuela, restart the Iran deal to get more crude oil out on the market. They're trying to put in price caps on Russian oil, using a technique through the insurance of the tankers.

There's been a rapid and sizable increase in production from the United States. But the thing is, it's a world market. So, if they truly cut 2 million barrels a day off of the supply and demand stays where it is on a worldwide basis, the price is going to go up. And everybody sees that price. It's the most public part of inflation in the United States.

CAMEROTA: As you know, President Biden has already tapped the strategic oil reserves twice this year. Is it risky to do it again?

GOOLSBEE: I don't know if it's risky. Before this crisis, I've been of the view that as the U.S. became a major producer of oil, it meant we probably needed to have less in the strategic petroleum reserve, that we ought to gear how much we put in that to how much we're able to produce ourselves. But that said, the strategic petroleum reserve is just a band-aid. I mean, it's just a short run thing. It's not going to replace 2 million barrels a day on an extended basis for sure.

CAMEROTA: Is it fair, Austan, now to conclude that President Biden's controversial trip to Saudi Arabia was a mistake?

GOOLSBEE: I don't know if it's a mistake. I think if OPEC ends up cutting production by 2 million barrels a day, you have to say that that trip was not a success. I still wonder whether this is part of a negotiation, you know, kind of a public position. Because it's going to bring the OPEC+ members under a lot of scrutiny and they're going to get a lot of blow back. Not just from the United States on the foreign policy side, but from the rest of the world. They're going to say, you know, we got war in Ukraine, what are you doing? So, I'm going to be interested to see. Hopefully this doesn't get put in place as a permanent thing.

CAMEROTA: I do want to ask you about something that the managing director of the IMF said today. Basically, the that the risks of global recession are rising. Now

She says: We estimate that countries accounting for about one-third of the world economy will experience at least two consecutive quarters of contraction this or next year. And, even when growth is positive, it will feel like a recession because of shrinking real incomes and rising prices. Tightening monetary policy too much and too fast could push many economies into prolonged recession.

That's a pretty gloomy outlook. What are your thoughts on a global recession coming?

GOOLSBEE: Yes, look, that is a gloomy outlook. And you've seen a kind of a blow back against the U.S. Fed's policies of raising the interest rate trying to reduce inflation in the U.S. The rest of the world is saying, ah, you're driving up the dollar, you're going to make our problems worse and you might start kind of developing country debt crises like we've seen other times when the dollar went up.

I think when you've got war in Ukraine driving up energy prices, now you've got actions by OPEC, you still got a bunch of the supply chain issues. All of those things combined mean it's going to likely be a rough patch for the whole world economy. And it's worth remembering that when we argue in the U.S. about what's happened to inflation and is the Fed responsible, is stimulus responsible or what's responsible. This is a worldwide phenomenon. There is not a single country on the earth that is currently below the 2 percent inflation target.

CAMEROTA: Yes, I'm not sure that that makes all of us feel better, that we're all in this together, but I take your point.

GOOLSBEE: Right.

CAMEROTA: Austan Goolsbee, thank you very much. Great to talk to you.

BLACKWELL: Some new stunning details today from the seditious conspiracy trial of Oath Keepers members including testimony that the group's leader was in touch with a Secret Service agent leading up to January 6th.

[15:50:00]

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CAMEROTA: This just in. A top lieutenant in the Proud Boys, that far right militant group, is set to plead guilty tomorrow.

BLACKWELL: CNN's Whitney Wild joins us with details. What do you know?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jeremy Bertino is one of the members of the Proud Boys. He is the first member of that organization to plead guilty to seditious conspiracy. He is also set to plead guilty to unlawful possession of a firearm by a prohibiting person, which basically means he wasn't allowed to have a gun and had one any way.

This is an important guilty plea because similar to the case that we're watching now with the Oath Keepers, these guilty pleas going into these -- the ramping up of these trials for the Justice Department is giving them quite a bit of strength when eventually these cases go to trial.

Back here at the Oath Keepers though, this is really the first test of the DOJ prosecution, bringing these cases directly to a jury to see how hard it's going to be to gain a condition for a seditious conspiracy. Today, pretty important testimony. There was one man, a man named John

Zimmerman, who says he's a former member of the Oath Keepers, the North Carolina chapter. And he made a pretty notable allegation today. It raised a lot of eyebrows in the courtroom.

[15:55:00]

In which he said that the leader of the Oath Keepers, Stewart Rhodes, who is, again, on trial for seditious conspiracy, purported to be in contact with the U.S. Secret Service prior to the 2020 election. And he told a story about how he was preparing for a September 2020 rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina in which Stewart Rhodes was on the phone and represented to Zimmerman that he was on the phone with a U.S. Secret Service agent to figure out what the parameters would be, the security parameters would be for that event.

Zimmerman mentioned that they brought weapons to the event. Taken all these allegations to the Secret Service who says you can't have weapons inside a secure area at an event. Whether or not people brought weapons outside the secured area, that's up to state and local laws. As far as that phone call, the Secret Service says they don't have enough information to say anything about this. They can't say if the call ever happened. Back to you.

CAMEROTA: OK, Whitney Wild thank you very much for that breaking news.

BLACKWELL: And "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts after a short break.

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