Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Southern California Issued First Tropical Storm Warning Due To Path Of Hurricane Hilary; Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Sets Deadline For Indicted Former President Trump And Codefendants To Turn Themselves In For Processing; Former Aide To Rudy Giuliani Is Interviewed On Giuliani's Visit To Mar-a-Lago To Ask Former President Trump To Help Pay His Legal Bills; Cadaver Dogs Help Search For Remains Of Victims Of Hawaii Wildfires; Judge Orders Deadlines For Presentation Of Evidence In Trial For University Of Idaho Murder Suspect Bryan Kohberger. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired August 19, 2023 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:03]

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right, so still just off the coast of Baja, California. We did get the 2:00 update, and we've seen the storm weaken just a little bit more. Still a category three, still a major hurricane, but winds sustained now down to 115 miles per hour. They're still gusting up to about 155 miles per hour, and that forward speed still going at about 16 miles per hour.

We're already starting to see some of those outer bands begin to push some moisture into southern California, areas of western Arizona and southern Nevada as well. Here is a look, too. Again, you can see some of these, you're starting to see the orange and yellow indicating some of the more moderate rainfall pushing into some of these locations, also some thunder and lightning starting to occur in some of these thunderstorms. One thing to note is we do have a flash flood warning. It's in effect for two counties in southern California, again, just because of the amount of rain that has already fallen, and in anticipation of the amount that is expected to fall over the next 48 hours.

We also have flood watches, all of the green you see here, for numerous states in anticipation of all of that rain that is expected to fall in the coming hours. The storm is expected to weaken further as it really pushes into colder waters in the next 24 to 48 hours. When it finally pushes into California, it will be a tropical storm.

So, yes, the winds, the overall winds of the storm are going to weaken significantly, but the overall forecast in terms of rainfall really has not changed. We will really start to see a lot of the heavy rain really begin to filter into the area by tonight, especially overnight hours. This will continue off and on throughout the day on Sunday. And then finally we begin to see the bulk of that moisture retreat once we get to the latter half of the day Monday. So you're talking a 48-hour period for a lot of these areas to be dealing with moderate, if not even very heavy rainfall.

So you have a potential for excessive rainfall, the flood threat here. We've got a moderate risk for Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and San Diego. And this pink area here, that high risk, that does include Death Valley stretching into areas like Palm Desert and Palm Springs. That's where you're going to have the highest concern for that flash flooding.

Widespread these locations, you're looking at two to four inches. I know that may not sound like much, especially for folks east of the Rockies that are used to that in thunderstorms. But these areas are not. You're talking a year's worth of rain in just one day. Some of these locations could get six, eight, even 10 inches of rain. So now you're talking multiple years worth of rain in just a 24 to 48-hour time period.

So that's why there's such a large concern for flooding in these areas, and that subsequent other things that come with it, not just the flooding itself, but mudslides. You have some of these areas that have been dealing with wildfires, you now have the burn scars, those turn into debris flows. So a lot of those concerns there, Toluse Olorunnipa

And also, one other thing, too, Fred. We've got a lot of other potential systems out here we'll keep a close eye on. So we'll continue with more updates throughout the rest of the day.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, suddenly very active. It has been a very active summer, but active in a new kind of way. You've got your hands full. Allison Chinchar, thank you so much.

Now to new details on the negotiations for the surrender of former President Donald J. Trump in Georgia. With less than a week to turn himself into the Fulton County jail in Atlanta, sources tell CNN that Trump is now expected to surrender on Thursday or Friday. He and 18 co-defendants are charged with plotting to subvert the 2020 election results in Georgia. Local officials have said that they will treat the former president like any other defendant. And sources tell CNN that Trump's team has been in contact with the district attorney's office about the conditions and terms for his surrender. CNN's Paula Reid has more on the complicated logistics involved.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: On Monday Trump's team is going to head down to Fulton County, Georgia, to negotiate the details of this expected surrender. The D.A., Fani Willis, has given all of the defendants until next Friday at noon to surrender. Right now, it's our understanding that Trump is likely to do his surrender towards the back half of the week.

Now, here is what's going to happen when he goes to surrender. He is going to surrender to the Fulton County sheriff's office, and this process typically involves a mugshot and fingerprints. The mugshot is important because, remember, at the federal level they did not take a mugshot of the former president, because they said, look, we use those, they don't release them, but they use them for law enforcement if someone goes on the lam. And Trump is one of them recognizable people in he world. They don't really need a mugshot for that. And it's unclear if Fulton County is also going to make that kind of exception.

Another big difference between the state and federal appearances here is that he's just going to be processed next week. Then a judge will schedule a court hearing. At the federal level, all of this happened on the same day. So the judge will have to schedule a hearing, and the district attorney has asked for the initial appearances of all of these defendants to happen the week of September 5th.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

[14:05:05]

WHITFIELD: All right, Paula Reid, thank you so much.

With me to talk more about Trump's Georgia case is Caren Morrison. She is a former federal prosecutor and an associate professor at the Georgia State University College of Law. Professor, great to see you.

CAREN MORRISON, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: You, too.

WHITFIELD: OK, this is going to be quite the week coming up, whether it be logistics or even the challenges of the law, and, of course, the defendants at hand. So Fulton County's D.A. says that she plans to try all 19 defendants, including Trump, together. One of my last guests said that potentially some of the defendants may be -- this was the terminology used, severed or put into separate groups because it's difficult to envision all of their attorneys, all defendants, in a courtroom at the same time. Do you think that's potentially what's going to happen, or is it really more than issue of might some of these defendants be willing to plead?

MORRISON: I think it's an issue of both, really. When you start with 19 defendants, you're often going to have a certain number of defendants who are going to plead guilty, some may even plead guilty and move to cooperate with the prosecution, and some may have arguments that their cases should be severed, that is, made smaller and brought to a different court. Not to mention that we have some of the defendants, Mark Meadows in particular, who is trying to move his case to federal court. So it's extremely unlikely that we'll have 19 defendants on, you know, whatever the first day of trial is.

WHITFIELD: Do you think the prospects are favorable or Mark Meadows or anybody else to try to move this to a federal level, federal court?

MORRISON: I don't really think so. So Mark Meadows is trying to move his case to federal court under a statute which has been around since the early 19th century, which is basically there to prevent the states from interfering with the operations of the federal government. So as a federal official, he can say, I was taking actions in the course of my work, federal authorized executive branch business, and that I shouldn't be prosecuted in a state court for that. But because overturning the results of a fair election is not part of the executive branch's --

WHITFIELD: That was going to be my follow-up question.

MORRISON: Right, exactly.

WHITFIELD: By way of the phone call.

MORRISON: Right, right. So arguably -- we'll see what happens. The district court is going to make a decision, but my -- he has a good chance of not succeeding.

WHITFIELD: OK, so the charges that Trump and these other 19 are facing, they're looking at 13 charges, and much of it predicated on the whole racketeering, and racketeering is usually associated with organized crime and, for example, in connection with mobs, gangs.

It involves several people working together to commit crimes that are connected to a common goal. And this law also sometimes comes with a mandatory jail sentence of five to 20 years. Do you believe that what is being alleged is in the fair scope of the application of this law in Georgia?

MORRISON: Yes, I do. But before that, can I just say one thing about the mandatory five to 20 years? That's an alternative to a fine. So it's not necessarily the case that any defendant convicted of Georgia RICO is facing prison. If they go to prison, they face at least five years, but they could not go to prison at all and simply have a fine.

So I'm sorry, getting back to your --

WHITFIELD: Go ahead.

MORRISON: -- getting back to your question about whether I think it's a fair use of RICO. Yes, I do, absolutely. I think that it fits extremely well the facts of this case. And while you're entirely right that RICO statutes began as a way to combat the mob, the Italian mafia specifically, it's been decades that it's been used in a much more wide range of applications, things like automobile chop shops, illegal stock broker businesses, drug rings, all kinds of things, and indeed, even in Atlanta, the school cheating scandal, which Fani Willis brought herself.

WHITFIELD: That's right. That was one of her signature cases.

And then as it pertains to the scope of your eligibility to even run for president, some prominent conservative legal schoolers are raising a constitutional argument that Trump should be barred from any future presidency, running for it, because of his actions to overturn the previous presidential election result.

I mean, there's a new piece in "The Atlantic" magazine from liberal law professor Laurence Tribe and J. Michael Luttig, the former federal appellate judge and a prominent conservative who has become a strong critic of Trump's actions after the election, making that case, specifically citing the president's words at the ellipse on January 6th, that that is the precipice for the disqualifying action for ever being president again.

[14:10:16]

MORRISON: Right.

WHITFIELD: Is this going to be a strong argument? And if so, at what point is this argument made, and in what forum?

MORRISON: Right. I think the problem with the argument, appealing though it might be to some people, is that he has not been found guilty of anything. These are just allegations. So to put my law professor hat on, he is innocent until proven guilty. Now, I'm not sure what the standard of proof is that they need to prove under the 14th Amendment which would make him ineligible, but to the extent that they want to use the fact that he's criminally charged, it would seem to me they would have to wait until there was a decision by a jury, one way or another, in order to trigger that.

WHITFIELD: As it pertains to this week, do you believe that you're going to see the former president treated as any other defendant at the Fulton County jail?

MORRISON: I think that the sheriff is doing his best to make that happen, but we have to be realistic. There are security concerns, he has a Secret Service detail. I very much doubt he's going to be patted down or given a medical screening or any of the types of things that are done with ordinary defendants.

WHITFIELD: Professor Caren Morrison, thank you so much.

MORRISON: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Great to meet you.

MORRISON: You, too.

WHITFIELD: One of Donald Trump's co-defendants, Rudy Giuliani, reportedly made a humbling trip to Mar-a-Lago recently to plead with the former president for help in paying a mountain of legal bills that he's facing. Joining us right now is Ken Frydman. He is a former aide to Rudy Giuliani and served as a consulting producer on the CNN series on Giuliani. Ken, good to see you. First up, what does it tell you -- thank you. What does it tell you about Giuliani's situation that he would make this trip?

KEN FRYDMAN, CONSULTING PRODUCER, "GIULIANI, WHAT HAPPENED TO AMERICA'S MAYOR?": Well, that's utter desperation. But if he thought that Donald Trump was going to reimburse him, he was mistaken. Anybody who knows Donald Trump knows he doesn't pay his bills. But Rudy said in 2019, on November 14th, that he had very, very good insurance on Donald Trump just in case he throws him under the bus. Well, I think that case has arrived in Georgia.

WHITFIELD: And so with this trip to Mar-a-Lago, reportedly Giuliani and his team visiting would imply to the former president that it would be wise that they would assist with legal bills. What did you believe that inference to mean?

FRYDMAN: Well, if you're suggesting Trump should pay more hush money, maybe he should. But understand that he's already paid him a couple of hundred thousand dollars, he, Trump, which is the way he keeps you on a string and keeps you coming back to Mar-a-Lago for more help. Well, it's every man for himself now in Georgia, and no one goes to jail for someone else. So Rudy Giuliani is not going to go to jail for Donald Trump.

WHITFIELD: And then what do you make of -- is this irony? Is this a sad full circle moment? What do you make of the fact that the man who once aggressively used RICO charges for years to help prosecute and go after mobsters would now be facing charges under the auspices of the statute of the same level, but on a state level now?

FRYDMAN: It's incomprehensible, the irony, certainly. And you've got to believe Fani Willis studied Rudy Giuliani's successful application of the RICO statute against the mafia and against white collar criminals. So he has been hoist by his own petard, and he has no one to blame but himself for all these self-inflicted criminal charges.

WHITFIELD: Ken, thank you so much. It, too, will be an extraordinary -- I'm sorry, we're going to play a clip real quick of the CNN original series, "GIULIANI". Sorry about that. Let's watch.

FRYDMAN: Thanks very much. Appreciate it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can remember Rudy reading us passages from the book about the Commission and said this would be a great case that he would take on personally.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the attributes that he had, which I think was very important, was that he tried to see how things could be done rather than finding reasons for not doing them.

[14:15:09]

The really good lawyers are those that spot the issues and then figure out legally how you can accomplish what you want to do.

RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: First we can expose them. That is a very, very important ingredient in taking some of their power away, not all of their power. Because, as I said, they operate through secrecy. And it's also very important for the public to see what we do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was a real sense that Rudy was the dominant personality in that office and that he did not brook dissent. He wanted people to agree with him. There was a joke around the office that the people around him were members of the Yes-Rudy tribe, because they said "yes, Rudy, yes, Rudy."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Ken, you know the former mayor well. Is there a way to succinctly say what happened, what happened?

FRYDMAN: Well, it's a succinct question, but it's a very complicated answer. I've spent the better part of the last four years trying to figure that out. And there are a lot of theories, educated and otherwise, that he was desperate to remain relevant, desperate to make a lot of money. But his integrity has suffered greatly, obviously. I met him when he did have integrity, when he was running for mayor, and became the best first-term mayor maybe in the history of New York City. He was a transformative mayor. It's hard for me to reconcile, obviously.

WHITFIELD: Yes. And then able to cash in, right, on his expertise as a public servant, did really well with consultant fees and contracts, et cetera, only to now hear reportedly that he's also selling off assets in order to help pay for these legal bills.

FRYDMAN: Well, he's used the expression "hogs get slaughtered," and I think that applies to him.

WHITFIELD: Ken Frydman, thank you so much. And, of course, we will be watching, because that was a heck of a tease, right. We're going to be watching the original series "Giuliani, What Happened to America's Mayor?" That airs tonight with back-to-back episodes beginning at 8:00 p.m. eastern only on CNN. Thanks so much, Ken.

Still ahead, the search and rescue effort in Hawaii continued today. More than 1,000 people are believed to be missing still after the wildfires scorched parts of Maui. We'll go live next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The death toll in Hawaii increased once again overnight after catastrophic wildfires swept through Maui. Officials there confirmed the Lahaina wildfire claimed at least 114 lives, only 10 have been identified. CNN chief climate correspondent Bill Weir is joining me live from Maui. Bill, earlier today I spoke with a search canine handler who said the situation on the ground is 10 times worse than what is seen on television, and just heart-wrenching and exhausting. How does that compare with what you have seen and what people are expressing to you?

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: That's absolutely true. It's the worst I've seen since the campfire in California burned the entire town of Paradise down to the ground here. Everything flammable burned all the way in Lahaina. Metal was twisted there, and now that dust is blowing around.

There's worry that rain could come this weekend and wash a lot of that into the sea right there. And so you've got these search and recovery teams picking through this, looking at sort of the granular level, while outside people are just crushed. And they know that that fatality count is going to mount by the day, and the number of missing still exceeds 1,000.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

WEIR: With noses 40 times more powerful than ours, a trained cadaver dog can smell a body buried 15 feet deep. But in Lahaina the challenge for these good boys and girls is not depth, but breadth, as they work three-and-a-half square miles of ash and loss. For their handlers, this is painstaking, heartbreaking work. For the dogs, it's hot and hazardous.

CELINA SERRANO, LOS ANGELES COUNTY FIRE CAPTAIN: Easy, easy.

WEIR: Who is this?

SERRANO: So this is Prentiss (ph).

WEIR: Hi, Prentiss (ph). Prentiss (ph) is a boy?

SERRANO: He's a boy, yes.

WEIR: Hi, good boy. Did you hurt your foot?

Burned paws and clumsy booties are just two more things to overcome for search and recovery teams from 15 states around the nation. Los Angeles county fire captain Celina Serrano has been working and living with her Labrador partner for nine years, including her state's deadliest ever campfire, which laid similar waste to Paradise, California.

Are you also looking for bone fragments or signs, or is it purely the dog --

SERRANO: We will. We have some rescue team members that are coming with us, and they are also searching to see anything visible that they can make out. It is a little difficult, though, because there's some stuff, that you're staring at this debris and it's starting to look like it's bone, but it really isn't. And so that's where we really rely on the dogs.

STEPHEN BJUNE, FEMA URBAN SEARCH AND RESCUE PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER: So we've actually brought in about 40 different search canines, which is a fair amount of canines for this kind of project, because we want to make sure that we're doing it as fast as we can while still remaining as accurate as we can. So at the end of this, we've got the highest confidence. But as far as the time scale, it's really going to be about that ability to work through this kind of technical search to make sure that we bring everybody home.

WEIR: Because you're really searching at the granular level, aren't you?

BJUNE: In a lot of cases this is a lot smaller than what we're typically dealing with. But again, we're making sure that the sensitivity and the somberness of this, because this is a very special site to the people of Hawaii, and certainly the fact that we're talking about homes, communities, and lives that are all missing and all lost, this is something we take very serious, we take with a lot of respect.

[14:25:09]

And we have to make sure that everything down to the smallest thing is treated with that level of respect. TIARE LAWRENCE, LAHAINA COMMUNITY LEADER: Not knowing where your

friends and family are still missing today, a lot of people are just so hurt and in pain.

WEIR: According to the last update from the governor, over 1,000 people remain missing. And while they understand that forensic science take time, Lahaina survivors are agonizing over how that number remains unchanged.

What do you make of this number of the missing? How accurate that is, and whether --

LAWRENCE: I believe it. I know this because I know many people who got out who know people were stuck. A lot of people didn't make it out. But that number is real. I hope it comes lower, but at this point we're over eight days, we're on our 10th day, and if we haven't found them yet, they're gone.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WEIR (on camera): Especially upsetting to folks here is the idea that school was out when the fire broke out, and so the number of children that were in keike, as they call them in Hawaii, we don't know. We just hear from families that they never got back to see their children. So there hasn't been a list of the missing according to age. Most of those identified so far were over 70 years old. A lot of the seniors, obviously, weren't able to get out of the path of the fire.

Those community leaders also yesterday held a press conference. Along with her was Archie Kalepa who was a hall of fame water man, sort of the de facto leader of the Hawaiian homes community which survived, and they have not yet met with the governor, who held an emotional press conference last night saying Lahaina will rise again. And that worries them that they're not being consulted at this level as to what is the sensitive way to reopen, how should the local community, especially native Hawaiians be at the table as they decide the future.

Generationally, the Hawaiians here have been victimized and taken advantage of. They've lost land and water rights, which created the fire conditions of what used to be sugarcane plantations there in Lahaina. So a lot of trauma built in historically to obviously what they're going through right now, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yes, it's seemingly never ending. Bill Weir, thank you so much.

Still to come, the southwest bracing for catastrophic and life- threatening flooding. Hurricane Hilary is now moving faster than originally forecast. How people are preparing straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:32:00]

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. We continue to track a major hurricane that is barreling toward the southwestern U.S. The category three storm is churning in the Pacific, with wind speeds of 115 miles per hour. The system is expected to bring potentially catastrophic and life- threatening flooding as it treks north. Southern California is facing an exceptionally rare threat, with a first-ever tropical storm warning issued. The California National Guard is now on standby with resources deployed throughout the region.

Let's bring in CNN's Natasha Chen live for us in Los Angeles. Natasha, people aren't used to this. How seriously are most taking it?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, officials are quite aware that people in southern California are not used to seeing this kind of warning. We're used to wildfires, earthquakes, mudslides and landslides, and some of those emergencies, preparing for those, translates to this situation.

But officials really got in front of the cameras yesterday, a lot of different agencies together, to tell people to please be prepared, because in this situation, at least, you can track where the storm is going, unlike some of the other west coast disasters that usually come this way.

Here are a couple of officials from the city of Los Angeles' press conference yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF KRISTIN CROWLEY, LOS ANGLES FIRE DEPARTMENT: We know that this is coming. This is one particular situation in the city and the state and the region where we know it's coming, versus a wildfire or an earthquake.

MAYOR KAREN BASS, (D) LOS ANGLES: We are not used to hurricane preparation, but it's another example of climate change, so we have to be prepared for climate events that we are not used to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN: So what does prepared mean for this area? Well, the Coast Guard is going to be monitoring the ports to see if they need to stop boats from coming in. And we've got national parks and preserves in the area closing those facilities, trying to discourage people from coming out there. People telling folks to stay home if they don't have to be out, especially Sunday and Monday.

The school districts are all monitoring the situation to see whether they need to adjust plans at all. We've got three Major League Baseball teams that have moved Sunday games to today, so that means they're all doing doubleheaders. And a lot of events that are canceled or postponed until future dates.

It is a lot for this area to consider since we have not seen a tropical storm here in 84 years, about, so people need to be aware and get those sandbags, take everything inside, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yes, take all those precautions. Natasha Chen, thank you so much. Let's talk more about all of this with Brian Ferguson. He is deputy

director of the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services. Brian, great to see you.

BRIAN FERGUSON, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR'S OFFICE OF EMERGENCY SERVICES: Thanks for having me.

[14:35:00]

WHITFIELD: So hurricane Hilary, this could dump a year's worth of rain across parts of the southwest in a very short amount of time. What is being done specifically on the state level to prepare for a storm of this magnitude?

FERGUSON: Yes, it's really all hands on deck here in California. Behind us, our state emergency operation center has been activated 24 hours a day for the last several days to prepare for this. And while hurricanes are a new challenge that we face, unfortunately our state has had a lot of practice in recent years with other disasters. And so we're lucky to have some of the best trained, best equipped first responders any place in the country.

And really our goal is to lean forward, get resources out there, position personnel in the communities so they can rapidly respond, and then just be ready for what comes next. And we're also trying to help Californians understand the unique risks they face, because people are often one of the biggest challenges we face in any disaster is individuals, families understanding the risks so they can keep themselves and their loved ones safe.

WHITFIELD: Yes, and among those unique risks you're talking about, everything from landslides to flooding that could come with this kind of torrential, very aggressive downpour in a short amount of time. So then does that mean that there are particular areas of the state that you are most concerned about because of those kinds of potential vulnerabilities?

FERGUSON: Yes, we're keeping a very close eye on our desert regions east of San Diego and Los Angeles, so some parts of those areas may receive double their yearly amount of water in just a single day. And so certainly we're going to be watching very carefully for flash floods, mudslides, debris flows in that area, looking at the burn scars from fires that have happened in recent years for mudslides.

So lots of work happening behind us, thinking about vulnerable Californians, so maybe those that are in hospitals, nursing homes, homeless people or people who live outdoors, and what we can do to get people out of the storm's path before it arrives. I think we have eight to 16 hours to do that preparation, so we're working on a pace today to try to really keep as many people safe as possible.

WHITFIELD: Yes, because even when we're looking at pictures there in Santa Barbara, people who are making sandbags, this is not something that a whole lot of folks are accustomed to on a regular basis, not like, say, on the east coast with the threat of constant hurricane activity, they know how to board up their windows, use of sandbags like that, and their evacuation zone. But you mentioned, if there were evacuations that you had to conduct there, is there kind of like an evacuation route that people are accustomed to in the case of something like this, hurricane-force winds and rain?

FERGUSON: Yes, absolutely. We have some of the most progressive laws in the country in terms of alert and warning, and we're absolutely going to lean forward on those notifications, not just in English, but in Spanish and other languages as well, and doing that on the front end. And so a lot of the things we're doing today is talking to folks like you and getting the word out about this so people understand what this means to them and their families.

We also know that vulnerable Californians, whether it's because English is a second language, or they're homeless, they're disabled, they're older, they're children, are disproportionately impacted by all disasters. So taking early proactive steps to protect those kind of folks today before the storm gets here is the kind of stuff we're working on 24/7.

WHITFIELD: And then sometimes you have folks who perhaps don't believe that it's a real threat or are in denial, or they feel like, look, this doesn't usually happen, so we're going to be OK. So is there any coordination with, perhaps, federal agencies that your office is having to embark upon to make sure that people get the notice and take this very seriously?

FERGUSON: Yes, we're very lucky to have a close relationship with our federal partners. We actually have FEMA, the Forest Service, the Coast Guard all embedded here with us. They're going to be out doing the work. And we want people to take those steps and get out early. But if we need to, we'll go in and proactively remove people or rescue them to save lives.

And so we have swift water rescue teams, high water vehicles positioned all over southern California. We've also moved millions of pieces of commodities into the region, so cots, blankets, food, water, in case we need to set up shelters. And so we really want to be on the front foot of this, and that's what's happening now.

And we feel fairly confident that we're going to do it, but we just need a little help from the folks in our communities to help keep themselves safe as well so they don't become one more thing for first responders to do.

WHITFIELD: Right. All right, thank you so much, Brian Ferguson, all the best.

FERGUSON: Thank you so much.

[14:40:00]

WHITFIELD: Coming up, new details in the trial of the man suspected in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students. Bryan Kohberger's attorneys are now required to submit evidence for an alibi by September 8th. Details straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: In Idaho a judge has set a deadline for defense lawyers in the case against accused killer Bryan Kohberger. Kohberger is the man charged in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students last November. His attorneys have until September 8th to submit evidence in his alibi defense ahead of his trial, which could start as soon as October. CNN's Veronica Miracle has more.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It appears University of Idaho murder suspect Bryan Kohberger will be on trial in just six weeks. During a pretrial hearing where several decisions were made on several motions, the judge slated jury selection for one week before the trial set to start in October, saying he expects to bring in potentially 1,000 potential jurors, and that may not even be enough.

[14:45:07]

Now, one of the key issues discussed during that pretrial hearing was Kohberger's alibi. His defense team has said he likes to take long drives in the middle of the night and that's exactly what he was doing the night of the murders.

Now the state is saying that the defense has taken too long to submit a witness list of people who may have seen him driving that night, and that there's not enough time for the state to prepare for cross- examination before the trial. The judge ruled that Bryan Kohberger has until the beginning of September to submit witnesses for an alibi if he has any.

There were also other procedural items brought up. The defense wants more information from prosecutors about how they came to the conclusion that Kohberger is the suspect in this case based on DNA. They brought in expert witnesses to explain why they should have more information, saying it's going to help the defense decide what experts to bring in for trial. A judge did not make a decision regarding that motion, but it does appear this is moving very quickly toward a trial which is set to start on October 2nd. And very important to remember, this is a death penalty case.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: Veronica Miracle, thank you so much.

Still ahead, we're counting down to Sunday's women's World Cup Final. Spain and England will come face to face in the eagerly awaited match. Details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:50:55]

WHITFIELD: Tomorrow Spain and England will come face to face at Stadium Australia in the eagerly awaited World Cup Final. Both countries are battling it out for the right to be crowned world champions for the very first time. CNN's Amanda Davies has more.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: Ten-and-a-half thousand miles from home, but closer than they've ever been to being crowned champions. Two sides who have gone further than ever before in their quest to win the Women's World Cup now just one victory away from getting their hands on that trophy.

All 23 England players are here training, including Lauren James, whose suspension is now over. England has the experience of having won the European championships last year. They beat Spain in the quarterfinals. They also have two players who know many of these Spanish players very well, Keira Walsh and Lucy Bronze playing their club football at Barcelona. And in Sarina Wiegman they have a coach who has been described as the missing piece of the jigsaw. She led the Dutch to the final in 2019. This time she says she's ready.

SARINA WIEGMAN, ENGLAND COACH: We've felt the support here, but also from the other side of the world in the U.K. And, yes, that's something that you dream of. And we just hope that we play our best game ever tomorrow.

MILLIE BRIGHT, ENGLAND CAPTAIN: I think it's been the players' dreams for years, so I think everyone already knows that. And we know how passionate our nation is back home and how much they want us to win. But for us, it's a process. We have a game plan to execute. And like Sarina said, we need to play the game of our lives.

DAVIES: Where England have had to deal with injuries and suspensions, Spain have been unable to escape the talk of unrest in their camp and disquiet over the players' relationship with coach Jorge Vilda. Even on the eve of their first ever final as the tournament's top scorers, the questions are being asked.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): How are you managing as a trainer the crisis that exists between some players who are not supporting you?

JORGE VILDA, SPAIN COACH (through translator): Next question, please.

Well, from the very beginning, the players have been united, they've been working a lot. Today will be the 65th training session, and all of them have come out very well. And that's what's happened on the field, they will have memories for the rest of their lives. They've had fun. We've been together. Tomorrow, we also want to celebrate together.

DAVIES: For all the records this tournament has set in milestones it's marked for the women's game, ultimately there's only one thing that matters now for these two sides. To have come this far, both in miles and matches played, it's not the taking part. It is the winning that counts, and becoming just the fifth country in history to get their name engraved on that women's World Cup trophy here on Sunday.

Amanda Davies, CNN, Sydney, Australia. (END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, it's probably going to be a nailbiter.

Native Americans, they die from preventable illnesses and diseases at higher rates than other Americans, partly due to a struggle to find adequate health care. This week's CNN Hero is working to change that.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

TESCHA HAWLEY, CNN HERO: Our reservation is about 30 miles from the Canadian border in north central Montana. We're probably about a good three hours to major hospitals.

OK, we're on our way.

He know the need is huge for transportation. The majority of our people are living in poverty. If I didn't physically transport them and help them with food, hotel, or gas, and I started getting into the nutrition of it. If we can eat healthy it will reduce our risk of cancer.

[14:55:03]

We have done distributions of fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh eggs, and we join in a collaboration with our tribe to help harvest our buffalo.

Prior to my diagnosis of cancer, I thought my life was based on my professional career and my education. But now I know that this is my calling.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: Wow. See her incredible story. Go to CNNheroes.com right now.

And thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. "SMERCONISH" starts right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)