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Hurricane Hilary Threatens CA With "Life-Threatening" Floods; Trump And 18 Allies Facing Racketeering Charges; Biden Hosts Trilateral Summit With Japan, South Korea; U.S. Commits To F-16s For Ukraine When Training Is Complete; Wildfires Prompt State Of Emergency In British Columbia; GOP Candidates Attend "The Gathering" In Atlanta. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired August 19, 2023 - 11:00   ET

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

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[11:00:45]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Saturday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

The southwestern U.S. is bracing for potentially catastrophic flooding as Hurricane Hilary churns off the Pacific. And we just learned moments ago that the storm has weakened just a bit to a category three storm with 125 miles an hour winds. And right now, it's lashing Mexico with strong winds and high waves.

Forecasters warn that it could dump more than a year's worth of rain across parts of California, Nevada, and Arizona. The storm is expected to weaken as it moves north. But the threat is so severe, a tropical storm watch has been issued for California, the first ever for that state. And people there are trying to prepare as best they can. CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar is joining us right now.

Allison, I mean a new advisory has just been issued. While it may have been, you know, downgraded a little bit, that's still very threatening a category three.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right. And keep in mind, the weakening was forecast. We knew that as it slid into some cooler waters, this was going to happen. So in terms of the forecast, it's doing exactly what we expected it to do. So right now, winds are sustained at 125 miles per hour. That's a high end category three storm. So still a major hurricane at this time. Forward movement has picked up speed to the north northwest at about 16 miles per hour.

Now that is important because that means it's making its way faster, which means the impacts are arriving earlier. We're already starting to see some of those outer bands begin to spread rain into portions of Southern California, Nevada as well as Western Arizona. So, Yuma over towards Palm Springs, starting to see the beginnings of some of those showers and thunderstorms. The storm will continue to weaken even more as it continues to slide into that colder water and likely going to cross into Southern California as a tropical storm. Now, rain is certainly going to be the biggest concern with this. Not just along the Baja California, but even the state of California areas of Nevada and Western Arizona as well, because we get a lot of that heavy rain really settles in overnight tonight, lasts the entire day tomorrow before finally retreating out in the second half of the day, Monday. You're talking 48 straight hours of very heavy rainfall.

So you've got a very high risk for excessive rainfall in this pink area here that includes Death Valley stretching down into Palm Desert. Then areas like Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Diego looking at a moderate risk of excessive rainfall. Widespread, these areas are talking two to four inches of rain. Keep in mind, that may not sound like all that much, especially if you live, say, east of the Rockies, but for these areas, that's a year's worth of rain in some of these spots, and they're just going to get that in one to two days.

In a few of these areas, we're talking eight to even 10 inches of rain. So now you're talking multiple years worth of rain in just a very short period of time. Another thing to note, too, is there's another system right behind Hilary down to the south and then count them. Yes, Fred, four possible systems that we're watching in the Atlantic. It's that time of year again, so we will likely be busy and giving you some more updates throughout the rest of the day.

WHITFIELD: Yes, we had said that it had been a fairly mild summer, but this is now approaching that kind of peak season for hurricane activity. Allison Chinchar, thanks so much.

All right, debris flow remains a major concern as Hilary marches towards Southern California. Signs are up warning residents near burn areas in the San Bernardino Mountains. And on the coast, officials are preparing by creating sand barriers on some of the beaches. The storm even forcing sports teams to overhaul their weekend schedules.

The MLB has moved its Sunday games hosted by the LA Dodgers, LA Angels and San Diego Padres to be split doubleheaders today. And Major League Soccer rescheduled tomorrow's matches to later dates. Let's bring in CNN's Natasha Chen live for us in Los Angeles. Natasha, I mean, Southern California is facing an exceptionally rare threat. Not everyone knows how to prepare for this kind of threat. What are they doing?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Fred, a lot of people here are used to dealing with wildfires earthquakes, mudslides, some of that emergency preparation translates to what's happening here. But we see lot of people with questions too, about what to expect exactly from this tropical storm. And I have to be honest, when I moved from our Atlanta bureau to our LA Bureau, I didn't think I would still be talking about tropical storms here.

[11:05:12]

But that is where we are. And you see officials hammering that home that people may not know exactly what to expect here. They're trying to have them prepare as much as possible, sandbag available to all residents who would like to take those asking people to stay home instead of driving out if they can, for Sunday and Monday. Here is one of the LA County supervisors talking about this rare event.

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JANICE HAHN, LOS ANGELES CO BOARD OF SUPERVISORS: Never thought I'd be standing here talking about a hurricane or a tropical storms. They're talking about winds up to 145 miles an hour hitting Los Angeles County. It's been 84 years since one came ashore. So it's a once in a lifetime event that we're going to be experiencing.

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CHEN: Some of the other things that the county is doing as well as the city is really going out to those riverbeds and trying to over loudspeakers tell the encampments of unhoused people what is happening and trying to get them indoors, because there are a lot of people who stay intense and stay on the streets. Keep in mind, this is typically dry season in Southern California. The last time there was any heavy, weather heavy rain here, it was months and months ago. So people are sometimes really not expecting this. And officials are asking them to please prepare, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Right. And pay attention to the warnings. All right, Natasha Chen, thanks so much.

All right, with less than a week now to turn himself in at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, Georgia, sources now tell CNN that former President Trump is expected to surrender on Thursday or Friday. He and 18 co-defendants are charged with plotting to subvert the 2020 election results in Georgia. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has set Friday, August 25th, as the deadline for the defendants to surrender.

Trump's arrest will likely look different from his previous three criminal cases. Local officials have said that they will treat the former president like any other defendant. CNN's Isabel Rosales is outside the Fulton County Jail. Isabel, good to see you. So what more do we know about Trump's expected surrender and how might this all play out there?

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred, good morning to you. And as you mentioned, officials like the Fulton County Sheriff, they have vowed to treat Trump and his co-defendants like everyone else. This goes to things like fingerprinting and having his monk shot taken, something that we have not seen in any of the three prior federal indictments.

So let me run you through what a typical booking process would look like here at the Fulton County Jail for any newly charged defendant. They would typically wait around for their turn for hours to get their fingerprints taken and to get that mug shot. Also that they would have a thorough body search done by a jail deputy, although in the past, high profile defendants who have voluntarily turned themselves in have not been subject to a body search.

They would also go through a medical screening and then a pretrial consultation to see if it's appropriate in their individual scenario to be released without bond.

Here is the sheriff, Patrick Labat, and what he has to say about this high profile case.

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SHERIFF PATRICK LABAT, FULTON COUNTY GEORGIA: Our goal is to treat everybody equally. And so if you're indicted, then we're going to treat you as though you were indicted here locally. And so we will continue to do fingerprints, mugshots, et cetera, in the safest possible fashion.

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ROSALES: And that is the goal, right? But likely impossible to happen in this scenario due to just all the safety precautions that have to happen with a former president of the United States and also the high profile nature of some of the co-defendants, including Meadows, his former chief of staff. So it's very likely that this booking process for these defendants will act more swiftly than regular defendants here at the Fulton County Jail.

And Fred, we also have new reporting from my colleague, Ryan Young, speaking to the Secret Service that they have actually been on site here at the jail for weeks, speaking with the city of Atlanta and also the Fulton County Sheriff's Office in preparing for Trump's surrender and for his arraignment that first court appearance.

Now, it's possible that Trump and his co-defendants will never even have to show up in person for that first court appearance because a judge could arraign them virtually or even waive their right if they so choose to that arraignment. So really a big question mark here if that happens, when the public will be able to see Trump in a Georgia courthouse for the first time.

[11:10:01]

WHITFIELD: All right, Isabel Rosales, thank you so much. So many steps that are about to take place as early as next week. It's a lot to talk about. With me now to talk about the Trump Georgia case, Michael Mears, he is a professor at Atlanta's John Marshall Law School. Professor Mears, great to see you.

MICHAEL MEARS, LAW PROFESSOR, JOHN MARSHALL LAW SCHOOL: Glad to be here.

WHITFIELD: All right, so this is going to be really remarkable, because while we heard from the Fulton County Sheriff, who says Trump will be treated as will the other co-defendants like everybody else, but what we saw in New York and in Florida, Trump was not subjected to mugshots or even medical screenings. Do you see that regardless of whether his attorneys object to it or not, that he will indeed be treated like every other defendant in Fulton County?

MEARS: I think Sheriff Labat is going to follow the rules for Trump like he would for anyone else. That the wild card with regard to Trump's turning himself in is going to be the Secret Service. Law gives the Secret Service certain responsibilities and certain rights when it comes to someone under their protection.

WHITFIELD: What do you mean? What would be the, you know, how would that differentiate from how other defendants are treated? I mean, yes, he'll have that detail with him, but what does that mean in terms of the process or the process?

MEARS: The process means that the Secret Service is going to go with him through this process. I fully believe he'll be fingerprinted, mugshot, probably not a body shirt. Usually a defendant gets a body cavity search. I don't see that happening. But I think you'll see the presence of the Secret Service agents who are sworn to protect Donald Trump as the ex-president. I think you'll see a greater involvement with his processing than with any of the other defendants.

WHITFIELD: All right, and now to the charges. Trump is facing 13 charges in this Georgia indictment. Perhaps the biggest threat he's facing is the racketeering or RICO charges. So help people understand the reach of this racketeer influenced corruption organizations or RICO law. And why should Trump's legal team perhaps be rather concerned or worried about it?

MEARS: Well, they should be worried. This is a very serious matter. And Georgia's RICO statute was passed in 1980, 10 years after the federal statute. The Georgia RICO statute is much broader in its application and its grasp of various crimes. There are 161 separate incidents mentioned in this indictment, and all of those are going to play into creating the story about how Trump and these other 18 individuals were part of a net or a network that were working to commit certain predicate crimes, forgery, false statements to officials, impersonating election officials, things of that nature.

All of those comprise this network of crimes. They don't all have to be connected under the Georgia law. Georgia's RICO statute is extremely broad when you compare it to the federal statute. And for that reason, Trump and all the other individuals should be very afraid because this is a very serious matter, and they're coming up against not only Fani Willis, who is an expert in this area, and she's proven her track record to be very good at prosecuting RICO cases. She's got a chief assistant, Mr. Floyd, who's acknowledgeable or more knowledgeable than Fani herself. So they're facing some formidable charges and some formidable evidence already in the public domain.

WHITFIELD: Interesting. And Georgia isn't unique. I mean, there are 30 other states that also have RICO laws. So it's not that this is a real anomaly, but there are 30 other states that are doing the same thing, which all branches from the federal law that you mentioned. So do you expect that while the former chief of staff, Mark Meadows is trying to make his appeal, that the charges really should be handled in a federal court with this law in place? What are the chances that he would get that kind of request honored?

MEARS: I think Meadows probably has a stronger argument than Trump or anyone else because he's claiming that he was working as the Chief of Staff of the President. Trump is going to argue, I'm sure. WHITFIELD: But he was on the phone call.

MEARS: He was on the phone call.

WHITFIELD: Right. That perfect phone call, which really was the springboard to all of this. He was on that call with Trump, and the allegation is he was trying to pressure the Secretary of State. That's how all of this got started.

MEARS: Well, what Trump is going to argue, and I think his attorneys will argue that I was doing that as president. Therefore, any charges against me in Georgia should be tried in a federal court. However, there's nothing in the law that gives the president the right to oversee the election in state courts and states and around the country. So he was clearly out of bounds with regard to any presidential duties. I think he's going to have a harder time.

[11:15:07]

WHITFIELD: Why would Mark Meadows in making that suggestion, why would he think that there's greater leniency in a federal court than with this jurisdiction?

MEARS: One, you get a federal judge who may or may not have been appointed by Donald Trump. There's five judges in the northern district of Georgia that were appointed during Trump's presidency. Also you get a larger jury pool. The jurors for Fulton County, the Fulton County RICO case will be drawn strictly from Fulton County.

If you are transferred to the federal court and you're tried in federal court, then your jury pool, the pool from which you would select the 12 jurors, will come from all of the counties in northern Georgia, which tends to be somewhat more political. But I would say that the jury pool is not going to be dispositive. There's an old attorney in legendary attorney in Georgia, Bobby Lee Cook, who said that when the jury gets the case, no matter what it is, the Holy Ghost descends upon them and they do the right thing.

And I think that even if you do get a more conservative base of jurors, they're still going to be looking at how these facts are going to play out. I don't think that the jurors will be made up of Marjorie Taylor Greenes. They're going to be made up of citizens who live in northern Georgia, even if it's in federal court.

WHITFIELD: Fascinating. All right, Professor Michael Mears, great to see you. Thank you so much. Come back.

MEARS: Thank you for having me.

WHITFIELD: All right, thank you.

All right, in this programming note, the man once known as America's mayor is now indicted alongside Donald Trump in Georgia. Coincide, his rise and fall in the CNN original series Giuliani: What Happened to America's Mayor? That's tonight at 8:00 Eastern right here on CNN. All right, still ahead, the search and rescue efforts in Hawaii continuing today. More than 1,000 people are believed to still be missing after the wildfires scorched parts of Maui. The emotional update from the governor, next.

Plus, we're also monitoring wildfires in northwest Canada. Tens of thousands of people are scrambling to evacuate as more than 200 fires burn.

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[11:21:18]

WHITFIELD: The death toll in Hawaii has gone up once again overnight after apocalyptic wildfires scorched the Island of Maui last week. Officials there confirm the Lahaina wildfire has claimed at least 114 lives. Only 10 had been identified and more than 1,000 residents are still believed to be missing with thousands more displaced. Governor Josh Green shared the latest update on search and rescue efforts.

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GOV. JOSH GREEN (D-HI): Now we are engaged in the difficult work of searching for survivors, reuniting separated families and identifying the remains of those we've lost. There are now 470 search and rescue workers and 40 search dogs combing through the hundreds of burned buildings. And they've already completed searching more than 60 percent of the disaster area. The number of lives we've lost has climbed to over 100 and we expect it to increase each day as we continue our search.

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WHITFIELD: And before rebuilding can begin, crews must finish the heart wrenching search through scorched debris to locate and identify victims' remains. New video taken on Friday shows the daunting cleanup in Lahaina. As search and rescue teams bring in heavy equipment for the task, community leaders told CNN chief climate correspondent Bill Weir what they hope to see moving forward.

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Hawaii Hawaii's Governor Josh Green held a press conference last night but offered no real new information on the numbers of the missing or fatalities. He encouraged visitors to come to Hawaii, places not affected on Maui as tourism dollars will help the islands heal.

But the leaders I talked to online or this week held a press conference to specifically call out the governor and say please don't reopen until we're ready. Please consult us on your rebuilding plans for Lahaina and be transparent on all of these plans. There is a transparency Sunshine Law in Hawaii, the locals in Lahaina imploring the governor to abide by that. So much pain and a lot of distrust these days around this really traumatized community.

WHITFIELD: Bill Weir, thank you so much. And on Monday, President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will head to Maui to tour the devastation firsthand. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez joining me right now. Priscilla, what do we know about the plans?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, he'll be going down there with his own officials, FEMA Administrator will be traveling with the President as he meets with local and state officials and sees all of the devastation firsthand. White House officials have told me that the President has been regularly briefed since these wildfires ripped through Maui and in the interim has been deploying federal assets to the islands to assist them in their recovery.

But this will be a moment for the President to see it all firsthand and to go into his consoler in chief mode. It's something we've seen many times when he has visited devastation in empathizing and sympathizing with the people on the ground and assuring them that they will get the resources they need.

WHITFIELD: And Priscilla, Biden held a historic trilateral summit with Japan and South Korea at Camp David yesterday. What were the takeaways from that meeting?

ALVAREZ: Well, they are trying and the president but and the President was underscoring the trilateral sort of agreement and cooperation moving into the next few months and years and underscoring the shared interest that both of them have when or all three of them have when there are aggressions by North Korea as well as aggressions from the military and economic aggression from China.

[11:25:00]

So all of that really coming together at this trilateral summit and they were able to roll out a series of commitments including annual military exercises, intelligence sharing, setting up a three way hotline for times of crisis, so they can consult with one another, and formalizing the summit so that it happens annually.

Now, of course, these are two countries, South Korea and Japan that have a fraught history. So all three of them being in a room, but especially the two of them being in a room to discuss how they can cooperate and work together moving forward was significant. And it happened at a place of historic diplomatic negotiations, that being Camp David. So all of those threads really coming together Friday, and culminating in these commitments with the President hopes can continue to be a three way engagement moving forward as that influence of China grows in the Indo Pacific region. And we should also note that the President did say that the summit was not about China, but it certainly loomed large over all of it.

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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Your leadership, with the full support of the United States has brought us here, because each of you understands that our world stands at an inflection point, a point where we're called to lead and new ways to work together, to stand together. And today, I'm proud to say our nations are answering that call.

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ALVAREZ: The bottom line here, Fred, is that President Biden is trying to mark a new chapter with Japan and South Korea as they try to stabilize that Indo Pacific region.

WHITFIELD: All right, Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much in Washington.

All right, coming up, a six-year-old girl and at least six others are dead after a Russian missile struck a university and theater in the middle of a busy Ukrainian city. We'll go live to the region next.

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[11:30:57]

WHITFIELD: The death toll from a missile strike in Chernihiv, Ukraine continues to rise. This is video of the moment the missile slammed into the Palace of Culture Building in the city center this morning. Ukrainian officials say at least seven are dead, including a six-year- old and more than 90 are injured. CNN's chief international security correspondent Nick Paton Walsh joining us right now with more on this. Nick, what are you learning?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fredricka, the number of injured now 117. You said seven dead there as well, a startlingly callous Russian missile strike on the very center of Chernihiv. Local officials describing how the area is struck. You can see as a big flag of spans, had cafes, their terraces, families going from an orthodox festival in churches nearby walking in the park, specifically nearby, a sort of closed exhibition center where we have since learned that indeed there was a closed meeting of people discussing drone technology that had been spoken about on Facebook a matter of hours earlier, whether that was somehow or not connected to this Russian decision to bomb innocent civilians, we simply don't know.

But whatever their rationale was, they missed and we're now dealing with another barbaric Russian strike in the very center of a populated area in the middle of a weekend day, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Terrible. And then we're also learning that Ukrainian pilots are going to start training on how to operate F-16 fighter jets and that can take place in Denmark.

WALSH: Yes. Look, they're all part of this plan. It's a complex one worth explaining was the U.S. would support Ukrainian pilots and trainers being trained on F-16 technology, which basically belongs to the United States provided that European Allies did the actual training and likely were involved in the eventual supply of jets. Now there's been a lengthy process rumbling on lots of hurdles. But Denmark announced yesterday that in the next 12 days or so, they would likely start training Ukrainian pilots in this technology. But there are a lot of steps. The next now, U.K., the Netherlands are also going to get involved once they're trained, and that could take five to six months, potentially. Then there's the case of the actual supply of the jets. The U.S. said it will assist in that but we have a long road ahead until we finally actually see Ukrainian jets F-16s flying. It's a distant prospect from one that urgent Ukraine wanted immediately because the impact it could have in the southern counter offensive pushing back Russian air superiority there. Some signs of positive progress, but still nothing fast enough for Ukrainians dying on the front lines, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: No. Not at all. All right, Nick Paton Walsh, thank you.

Officials have declared a state of emergency in British Columbia during what they say is the worst wildfire season in the provinces history. Wildfires throughout the area have already prompted evacuation orders for approximately 15,000 homes and additional evacuation alerts in other words be prepared for 20,000 more homes. This comes as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the Canadian government has deployed quote significant military assets to assist with air evacuations and firefighting efforts taking place in the Northwest Territories.

A majority of residents in the capital city of Yellowknife have already been evacuated due to threats from wildfires. CNN's Paula Newton joining me now from Ottawa. Paula, are officials gaining any ground and trying to battle these fires?

PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: You know, they are in many cases, Fred, and that's good news. But what they really need is a break in the weather. I want to go to the map first and let you know that this is happening hundreds of miles away from each location but each location dealing with its own adversity. We go to Yellowknife first. I mean, Fred, they evacuated their capital city. Nearly 20,000 people now though successfully evacuated and that allows the resources on the ground to really concentrate on protecting that capital city, that community, the hospital, the fire hall, schools, properties.

[11:35:00]

And what they are doing is continuing to bring up those fire guards whether they use, you know, gel retardant or whether they clear out trees. What has happened is that overnight, the winds were in a favorable condition. But the reason they evacuated this community, Fred, is bluntly they didn't want people there to be sitting ducks in case that wind moves again.

Right now, that fire not so close to Yellowknife. And that is good news. We want to turn now though, to the critical situation in West Kelowna in and Kelowna, British Columbia. You know, Fred, you were saying that it is the worst historically. It's the worst fire season historically throughout all of Canada. And Canada is really stretched on his resources. It continues to send those resources to British Columbia. Everyone in that area on alert. Everybody's got that go bag, Fred. Again, I just checked the evacuation alerts, nothing new updated since 11:00 p.m., which is good news. What they need is they need to smoke to clear in that area so that the water bombers can get up in the air. I have to tell you, Fred, already, though, harrowing rescues. I want you to listen now to the fire chief from West Kelowna, talking about what it was like.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON BROLUND, WEST KELOWNA FIRE CHIEF: We fought hard last night, to protect our community. Somebody described it to me last night in the heat of the battle as it was like 100 years of firefighting all at once, in one night.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Now, the good news here is that there's been no loss of life reported that they continue to work as hard as they can. Some structures have been lost. And we await an update in the next few hours from British Columbia. Fred?

WHITFIELD: And has it been so hard to battle because it's been so dry and or is it windy? Is that why the air assets are having a difficult time too? What's happening?

NEWTON: You know, for it's such a good question, and here's what's happening is that we are dealing with significant historical drought and wildfire conditions throughout Canada. I've had updates from federal officials literally, Fred, for months now and the wildfire season isn't over. But what happened and I know we can all relate to this, having heard the news, the tragic news for Hawaii, is that yes, those winds picked up in dramatic ways, both in Yellowknife and in Kelowna.

In Kelowna, they again, they had these stories of fire, actually skipping the link, which they've never seen before. In Yellowknife, the fire was expanding so rapidly in some cases earlier this week that they absolutely had to evacuate that community. So it's bang on, Fred, it's historic conditions in terms of climate for sure, perpetuated by some, you know, unfortunate winds. And what they need is rain. It is not on the way yet. It is cooler, though. And they are waiting for those winds to turn. So hopefully these fires in both locations turn on themselves instead of towards the communities.

WHITFIELD: Yes, the parallels to why extraordinary but at the same time, this has been going on for a really long time, you know, for the entire summer. All right, Paula Newton, thank you so much.

All right, right now, Republican presidential hopefuls are pitching themselves to voters in Atlanta in the very city where former President Trump was just indicted, but he won't be there. How are the other candidates handling his absence at that event?

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[11:42:18] WHITFIELD: Welcome back as the former president and his 19 Associates prepare to surrender in Georgia for charges connected to 2020 election interference, the rest of the GOP is debating who should lead the party and why. Some are making their cases in Atlanta as part of the gathering and event hosted by conservative radio show host Erick Erickson. CNN national politics correspondent Eva McKend joining me live now from the gathering in Atlanta. So Eva, what are the speakers saying?

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fred. Well, Vivek Ramaswamy is on stage right now behind me. So I'm going to do my best to do my best campaign trail whisper. True to forum, he is talking about making patriotism cool again and railing against these corporate diversity efforts. Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie spoke before Ramaswamy. And he talked a lot about school choice, strong foreign policy, and taking a very aggressive public safety position.

Former President Donald Trump really not the focus of this event. He was not invited by Erickson to the gathering here. But after Christie left the stage, he did address reporters and he just really attacked Trump for not participating in the debate next week. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There's no other conclusion to come to that. He's both afraid of me. And he's afraid of defending his record. And if I had his record, I'd be nervous about showing up too. And let's face it, guys, by Wednesday, he's going to be out on bail in four different jurisdictions. That really, when are we going to stop thinking that's normal? When are we going to allow our country to understand again, that nominating someone who's out on bail in four jurisdictions is not a winning formula?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: So separate from Trump, Christie, when he was up on stage, he talked about advocating for cutting spending, limiting the federal government. But then just a few minutes later, talked about how the federal government has to get more aggressive in terms of addressing public safety if they have disagreements with progressive prosecutors. I asked him if he saw this as intellectually dishonest, these two roles that he saw the government should play. Take a listen to what he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTIE: We have a crisis right now not white collar crime. We have a crisis right now violent crime. So what you need is a Justice Department that can be nimble enough to go and address the problem that needs to be addressed. I'm not going to expand the size of Department of Justice. I'm going to just change their priorities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[11:45:00] MCKEND: So this is a major opportunity for all of these candidates. Trump not here to sort of take up the oxygen. And they are -- they have an audience with conservative activists from across the region from here in Georgia, but also from South Carolina and Florida as well. Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right, keep us posted in Atlanta. Thanks so much, Eva McKend.

All right, U.S. mortgage rates are the highest they've been in more than two decades. What you need to know if you're looking to buy a home, next.

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WHITFIELD: U.S. mortgage rates surge this week rising to their highest level in 21 years for 30 year fixed rate mortgage average 7.09 percent on Thursday, up almost a whole percentage point since last year. That's the highest it has been since April 2002 when it was 7.13 percent. CNN's Nathaniel Meyersohn joining us now from New York. Nathaniel, so what's going on in the housing market?

[11:50:20]

NATHANIEL MEYERSOHN, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: Fred, it's a really tough time for families to buy a house right now. The Federal Reserve has been raising interest rates and so that's led mortgage rates to spike. So housing affordability at its lowest level in years. If you have a home right now, you're very unlikely to sell. And we see a housing shortage. It is really tough to find houses right now in major cities and suburbs for families.

WHITFIELD: Wow. I mean, it's a big picture. I mean, what is the state of our economy? I mean, is this a barometer of that?

MEYERSOHN: Well, right now we see businesses still hiring, wages are going up, and consumers are still spending. So this week, retail sales for July came in. They were 3.2 percent higher than they were a year ago. We see consumers still traveling. They're going on vacations. They're certainly going to the movies to see, "Barbie," concerts, Taylor Swift, Beyonce. So we have Beyonce, I think to thank for that for the strong economy right now.

WHITFIELD: Oh, incredible. And so Walmart and Target, I mean, they are reporting their results this week. What are they telling us about consumers?

MEYERSOHN: Yes. So Walmart and Target can give us a really interesting read onto into consumers. These are the largest retailers in the country. Walmart sales were really strong, up about 6.4 percent last quarter from a year ago. Walmart said that more people were shopping for groceries in its stores. Meanwhile, Target a struggling. Target sales fell for the first time in six years. Target said that customers are pulling back on home goods and some of the clothing that they buy it at Target. And also target really was caught in the culture wars over some of its LBGT merchandise. WHITFIELD: All right, Nathaniel Meyersohn, thank you so much.

Still ahead, what exactly is the RICO law that is at the heart of Trump's Georgia indictment? Ahead, we'll talk to one of the federal prosecutors who put mob boss Whitey Bulger in jail for similar charges.

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WHITFIELD: The FBI, U.S. Marshals and several law enforcement agencies are teaming up to combat smash and grab robberies across Los Angeles. At least 30 mass robbers ransacked this Nordstrom store last week and stole hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of merchandise. CNN correspondent Brian Todd has more on this newly formed task force.

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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With overwhelming force at least 30 masked robbers tear through a Nordstrom store in the Westfield Topanga shopping center near Los Angeles. They ransacked, attacked a guard with bear spray, and within minutes made off with hundreds of thousands of dollars in stolen merchandise. This incident on August 12th is one of at least five so called smash and grab or flash mob robberies at high end stores in the L.A. area since early July.

SCOTT TENLEY, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Perpetrators know what to do. Try to dress in mono single color clothing, cover your face, stay in the pack don't do anything that distinguishes you and get out of there quick.

TODD (voice-over): A crime spree with a level of violence, chaos and organization that's so serious that several Southern California law enforcement agencies along with the FBI and the U.S. marshals are teaming up in a newly formed task force to go after these groups.

MAYOR KAREN BASS (D), LOS ANGELES: When incidents of brazen theft and robbery occur. It shatters that feeling of safety. These are not victimless crimes.

TODD (voice-over): The dragnet has brought one arrest so far, 23-year- old Ivan Isaac Ramirez. It's unknown if Ramirez has an attorney. He's believed to be among at least 30 suspects who swarmed an Yves Saint Laurent store in Glendale, California on August 8th, and made off with an estimated $400,000 in stolen goods. CNN analyst John Miller says these are likely crews, some associated with gangs. How would they organize for one given hit?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: It's a word of mouth but the electronic version so somebody will send out a text message saying we're thinking of doing a hit on Wednesday. This is where we're thinking of doing it, who's in. Other people may speak in person but they'll begin to gather and then it's who's going along, what vehicles are we using. TODD (voice-over): Authorities say there have been at least 170 of these flash mob robberies across the U.S. since the fall of 2021. Can law enforcement catch up to these perpetrators? Miller believes they can with the FBI and the marshals able to bring federal charges.

MILLER: once you start to find the shot callers, the people who are the organizers of these groups and swarms and they start to face federal charges under the Hobbs Act for organized crime theft, that is usually what will break a crime spree like this.

TODD (voice-over): Another analyst says customers can also help.

TERRANCE GAINER, FORMER U.S. CAPITOL POLICE CHIEF: If it goes down while you are in the store or nearby, stay out of the way. If you are in a position to take a photo that would be helpful to police or just observe what you're doing.

TODD (on camera): Law enforcement analysts say this task force will go after the robbers using a multi layered approach using cyber investigators to monitor communications, facial recognition, informants, physical surveillance. And they say they'll also track the people who buy and sell the stolen merchandise.

[12:00:14]

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

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