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Three Killed In Racially Motivated Shooting In Jacksonville, Florida; Interview With Martin Luther King III, Arndrea Waters King, And Jonathan Greenblatt About Jacksonville Shooting; Federal Hearing To Test Legal Waters Of Fulton County Case; Trump Becomes First President In History With A Mugshot; Florida Braces For Impact From Tropical Storm Idalia; NFL Game Ends Early Due To Injury Two Weeks In A Row. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired August 27, 2023 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:01:10]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington. Good evening.

Tonight Jacksonville is in mourning after a gunman killed three people in what the sheriff there is calling a racially motivated attack. At a vigil tonight, the mayor is vowing to not let hate win.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR DONNA DEEGAN, JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA: We have to do everything that we can in this community to bring unity, unity to our city. No more division. No more hate. We cannot tolerate hate against our black community. We simply cannot and will not tolerate it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And let's take a moment to read the names of those killed. 52- year-old Angela Michelle Carr, 19-year-old A.J. Laguerre Jr., and 29- year-old Jerrald Gallion. All of the victims were black.

We are also learning more about the gunman. 21-year-old Ryan Christopher Palmeter who was white. The sheriff says he legally purchased both guns used in the attack, a handgun and an AR-15 style rifle. One of those guns had swastikas on it.

President Biden just addressed the shooting briefly here in Washington saying, quote, "I will speak with the people of Jacksonville." He didn't have more to say than that, but we'll get more as it comes in.

But in the meantime, CNN's Isabel Rosales is there outside the Dollar General in Jacksonville. There was a vigil there in the community that I guess was going on just a short time ago. Perhaps it's still happening right now.

Isabel, what more are you learning?

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jim, the vigil is wrapping up right now but it's just been a mood of resiliency, a unity of this community, faith leaders, local lawmakers, the residents of Jacksonville, coming together to figure out the next steps and figure out how we learn from this, how we make the country a better place.

I want to introduce you to someone right now. This is Councilwoman Ju'coby Pittman.

JU'COBY PITTMAN, JACKSONVILLE COUNCILWOMAN: Yes.

ROSALES: And you've been leading this vigil right here. It's been a day since this shooting happened. What can you tell us you're hearing, seeing from your community?

PITTMAN: Well, you know, my community has been hurting and they want answers. I'm saddened, you know, for this to happen in broad daylight in the middle of a community that thrives. And I wanted to bring all of the leaders who are lawmakers, who can really just make a difference and that's from state, local and federal, and today to just see the beautiful crowd that wants to do something, but why we're here is to address the victims that were hurt by a person who thought it was not robbery for him to come in our community and kill somebody.

You know, I'm saddened. My heart hurts. I'm mad, and if I was a fighter I would want to kick somebody's behind, and I just want to say that today is a testament of what this community believes in in terms of unity.

ROSALES: And you're actually trying to do something actionable and that's raising money for these families that need some help right now to bury their loved ones. Tell us about that.

PITTMAN: Well, absolutely. You know, the father was the breadwinner of the family. He had a small child. You know, he takes care his family.

ROSALES: Jerrald Gallion.

PITTMAN: Yes. Mr. Gallion. Yes, 29. And, you know, too young. You know, no life should be taken. You know, he wasn't, you know, a thug. He wasn't in a gang. You know, he was a person that had just joined the church and really just trying to get his life back and this happened. It was undeserving, and right here in this community who really want to do some different things. We've done studies. We don't need any more studies.

[19:05:02]

We understand what our community needs. But not only that. I had the sheriff and the mayor and the city council and the Divine Nine, you know, all who have initiatives in the community, and they came here to show solidarity. And I am forever grateful, as well as faith-based communities.

ROSALES: And real quick, because we could speak forever on this.

PITTMAN: I know. I know.

ROSALES: Tell me what people who are watching this right now not from Jacksonville need to know about this community.

PITTMAN: Well, I tell you what, we are proud of this community and what we've done from an economic standpoint. We want to make sure that you help us get to the finish line, and I'm asking you all to go to -- Penny, could tell them, I just want to make sure I didn't make that up, but it is the JacksonvilleFirefighters.com, and I'll give you that just to make sure because I just got it today. I want to get that straight because I really need the money to help the people here.

ROSALES: And for mental health, as well.

PITTMAN: Absolutely.

ROSALES: To help them through that trauma.

PITTMAN: Absolutely. We need the whole package, you know, mind, body and soul.

ROSALES: Thank you so much, Councilwoman.

PITTMAN: Thank you, Isabel.

ROSALES: I appreciate your time.

PITTMAN: Thank you all for coming.

ROSALES: Back to you.

ACOSTA: Isabel Rosales, thank you very much and thanks to the councilwoman as well.

I'm joined now by human rights activist Martin Luther King III and Arndrea Waters King, president of the Drum Major Institute. Also joining us for this important discussion, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, Jonathan Greenblatt.

Martin, to you first. We were just talking about this just before we came on the air. But you were here in Washington yesterday participating in the 60th anniversary of the commemoration of the March on Washington, and this violence down in Jacksonville, to my understanding, broke out as you were marching. Can you talk about that?

MARTIN LUTHER KING III, GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS LEADER: Yes. That is absolutely correct. We assembled a huge, huge coalition including the ADL, including Jonathan Greenblatt, including religious leaders, including labor leaders, including the LGBTQIA community. And the Latino Hispanic community, the Islamic community, the Native American community.

Now the higher point is we are talking about ridding our society of hate and hostility, and while we're talking about this, 60 years after Dad delivered his vision for our nation, that kind of violent, beyond understandable hate behavior takes place, and three tragic lives are lost. First of all, our condolences we send to those families and to the community of Jacksonville. The question is, what are we going to do about it?

It was reported that this young man was able to buy a gun with no checks apparently, legitimately buy guns that are used to kill people. The president has been talking about getting rid of assault weapons. There's not enough of a desire at this time. There are many of us who do want to see that. Somehow we've got to come together as a nation and say not just enough is enough. We have to go even further.

We do need some kind of a different kind of plan. Darkness can't put out darkness, only light can do that. Violence will never stomp out violence, only love can do that.

ACOSTA: Yes, Arndrea, we do live in a country where hate exists. We saw yesterday this gunman down in Jacksonville. He had a swastika scrolled on one of his weapons. How do we -- we were trying to talk about this at the end of the program yesterday. How do we get to a better place in this country where this is not happening, because it keeps happening over and over?

ARNDREA WATERS KING, PRESIDENT, DRUM MAJOR INSTITUTE: You know, it really is -- yesterday was so heartwarming and uplifting and heartbreaking, and when we talk about organizing the March on Washington, the 60th anniversary with ADL and NAN, and all of our other partners, there was a lot of conversation and chatter, you know, saying, well, we are -- it's very different than 1963.

And I think that yesterday at the end of the day demonstrate the parallels, the uncanny parallels as to where our country is in 2023 as where it was in 1963, and one of the main reasons I say that is that after the original March on Washington, three weeks later, four little girls were killed in the bombing in Birmingham.

ACOSTA: Right.

WATERS KING: Yesterday, the same day when you had almost 200,000 Americans standing together for the best of who we are in humanity, we also saw the worst of who we are in humanity.

[19:10:01]

We saw the manifestation of love and the manifestation of hate just as we saw in 1963. So I think it demonstrates that we are in a critical juncture here in our nation. I think it also begs each of us to ask what type of world do we want to inhabit? Do we want to inhabit what we saw yesterday at the Lincoln Memorial, everyone standing shoulder to shoulder, no violence, you know, humanity and the tapestry of love? Or do we want to live in a world where we see hate and devastation?

So now I think it's up to each one of us and I think it's going to take both legislation as well as liberation of the soul. Martin Luther King Jr. said that, you know, I can't stop a man -- I can't legislate a man from loving me -- to love me, but I can legislate him from lynching me. So he understood that it's going to take both a moral reignition and then also legislation, and that's what we're facing now in 2023. ACOSTA: Absolutely. And, Jonathan, I mean, let's talk about the case a

little bit. Law enforcement telling us that this gunman was a lone wolf, but can you truly be a lone wolf if you're a Neo-Nazi or a white supremacist with swastikas on your gun?

JONATHAN GREENBLATT, CEO AND NATIONAL DIRECTOR, ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: Yes. I mean, look, first of all, like Martin and Arndrea said, our hearts go out to the victims of this, which is just a horrible thing, and Arndrea said it. This was both a heart-lifting day and yet a heartbreaking moment to see this happen. And while this man, as far as we know at (INAUDIBLE), what we've heard from law enforcement, had no known ties.

Let's be clear. He had accomplices. Social media companies which allow this sort of filth and this poison to spread across their networks, they owe all of us not just an apology, they need to be accountable because that attack yesterday, that was an attack where three people were gunned down just because they were black. But that attack on black Americans is an attack on Jewish-Americans, it's an attack on all of us because we need to recognize if black people aren't safe, then none of us are safe.

That's why I'm so proud to stand with Martin, with Arndrea, with Reverend Al, and we're going to will take this coalition and we're going to use hope to fight hate. We have got no other choice.

ACOSTA: Yes. No, and the work has to continue. And Martin, tomorrow marks the 60th anniversary of your father's "I Have a Dream" speech. Your thoughts, here we are, 60 years later and on the same day that you're down in Washington on the National Mall, violence, racially motivated violence, hate violence, breaks out in Jacksonville.

I guess your thoughts on 60 years later and maybe, if you can, what would your father be thinking right now? Any insights?

KING: Well, there are two schools of thought. The first one is had my father lived we would be thrust in a different trajectory, so I don't think we would be necessarily addressing this kind of issue. I think he would have worked to create a culture of non-violence many years ago. We have accepted this culture of violence and it's destroying us and it creates decay. If he was to come today and look at things, he'd be deeply disturbed because he would know America is much better than the behavior we are exhibiting.

And as has been said by Arndrea, by Jonathan, we have to create some different laws. consciousness. We have to arouse the consciousness because when people engage, changes occur. So tomorrow morning I'm going to be thinking about 60 years ago there was great hope for at least at the time the march was taking place, at the time of the speeches were being delivered, and then just a few days later there's always -- Dad used to say there's always a pushback, there's an inevitable pushback whenever there is a perception of progress.

So evil is always lurking. We have an ability, though, as human kind to overcome evil, and that's what we've got to work on. We need to look to the future. We understand the past, but we're looking to the future. There are many other things. You know, history has been written out especially black history. Books are being banned about the holocaust and so many other things about the history of people.

You know, our daughter has fewer rights today than she did when she was born. She's 15 years old. In 2008 she had more rights than she does in 2023. That is unacceptable, but it only changes when we come together. We can't give up. We can't give out. We can't give in.

ACOSTA: Yes. Jonathan, this is no time to be banning books or trying to whitewash white supremacy.

GREENBLATT: A hundred percent. Like let's be clear.

[19:15:00]

The ugly racist who murdered these people, the vicious antisemites who spread their lies, the cruel homophobes, the (INAUDIBLE), the Zionists, all of them, they're attacking all of us. I'll say it again. An attack on black people is an attack on Jewish people. Just like an attack on Jewish people, I would say is an attack on black people. And so taking books off shelves, telling teachers they can't teach black history, questioning the veracity of the Holocaust, I don't know what we've come to. But I tell you, the only answer is to dig deep and press forward, and not let the white supremacists, not let the ugly bigots win.

ACOSTA: And Arndrea, as part of it there needs to be a greater push through peaceful means for a better country, and not just on the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington, but every day.

WATERS KING: Absolutely, and we were always clear with this particular march that we saw it as a beginning, not an end. We saw it as the beginning of truly building this coalition of conscience in this nation. You know, you can't play footsie with hate and that's what's been happening just literally down the road just, you know, a few weeks ago.

Neo-Nazis were standing outside of Disney World, you know, and then a few months before that, I had the distinct pleasure yesterday of hugging A.J. Owens' mother, a black woman who was slaughtered for doing what any mother would do defending her kids. You know, we really need to look at what's going on in this country. We need to look at what's happening in the state of Florida.

You're talking about not teaching history. You know, teaching history is about collective -- it's not about collective guilt, it's about collective responsibility. You're talking about not teaching history in a state where roles would happen. Where there were a lot of -- so you can't -- you know, so we have to really now we have to stand up and stand for the kind of nation that we want to live in, the kind of nation that we want our children to live in.

We're at a point in time where laws are being passed, oppression is being legislated, and laws are being passed so rapidly that are restricting freedoms that we haven't seen this truly in this manner since the end of reconstruction and the beginning of the passage of black codes. So what we are saying and what we all are standing for is that laws should lift us all up and not limit us.

And that's our work, that's what we all, I think now and particularly after yesterday that we are going to quadruple, as Martin said, our efforts and what we are asking is that any American that is standing for democracy, that stands for the ideals of freedom, of peace, and justice and equity to join us and be a part of building the beloved community of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King.

ACOSTA: Yes. And that beloved community needs to exist everywhere in this country.

WATERS KING: Absolutely.

ACOSTA: Places like Jacksonville, Florida.

Martin Luther King III, Arndrea Waters King, and Jonathan Greenblatt, my friend, thank you so much. All of you my friends. Thank you so much for coming in this evening. We appreciate it.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:22:21]

ACOSTA: We're just hours away from what could be a pivotal moment in the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump. A federal judge will hear arguments from co-defendant Mark Meadows as he pushes to get his state charges moved to federal court and even possibly dismissed.

District attorney Fani Willis of Fulton County will provide evidence and legal arguments detailing her sprawling anti-racketeering case against Trump, Meadows and 17 other co-defendants. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger who was pressured by Trump to find him more votes has been subpoenaed to testify.

And tomorrow we'll likely learn, we think, the trial date for the federal election interference case against Trump. Special Counsel Jack Smith wants it to start in January. Trump is pushing for April 2026.

Let's discuss all of this with lawyer George Conway.

George, great to see you as always. Let me ask you, you know, this could be -- it is kind of strange to think that Fani Willis is going to be going into federal court to lay this all out, to prevent the White House chief of staff, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows from having his case moved over to federal court. What are you going to be watching for?

GEORGE CONWAY, CONSERVATIVE LAWYER: Well, I'm going to be watching for is we're going to get a little preview of the evidence that she has. It's a little bit of a mini-trial. The issue isn't, you know, whether he did bad things or whether Trump did bad things. The issue is whether or not what Meadows was doing was basically under color of his federal office and that's the language in the statute. Under color -- ACOSTA: What does that mean? Yes.

CONWAY: What it means is when you are arguably working on behalf of the United States of America, and the answer is clearly he was not. I mean, he's been saying that I was exercising my First Amendment rights. Well, if you are exercising your First Amendment rights, you're engaging in political speech which is violative of the Hatch Act. And that's not what -- you work for us. You're not supposed to be working for the Trump campaign when you are chief of staff.

So the answer is he went down there in his own private capacity, either that or he was violating the Hatch Act, and he went down there in his private capacity and was engaging in political activity in support of the Trump campaign and there's no way that that should be held under the color of federal law.

ACOSTA: It's got to be one or the other.

CONWAY: It's got to be one or the other.

ACOSTA: Yes. Yes. And Fani Willis, I mean, I kind of wonder what the strategy is going to be for the Fulton County district attorney because she also has a trial to prepare for and she can't necessarily be laying all of her cards on the table. She has to be --

CONWAY: She doesn't have to. All she has to -- she'll put Raffensperger on and my guess is going to be, you know, Raffensperger will go through what happened in the sequence -- because what happened was when Trump made that phone call, was it January --

ACOSTA: Yes. Yes. Right before January 6th.

[19:25:03]

CONWAY: Like there had already been an audit, a full audit of the Georgia results. There had been a recount, these electoral votes that Biden had been certified as the winner, and the electors had been chosen and the electors had already sent their votes to Washington. So there was nothing --

ACOSTA: And there were people inside the Trump campaign.

CONWAY: Right.

ACOSTA: And the White House saying forget it, it's over.

CONWAY: Correct. And the people who are telling the fake electors to be fake electors were campaign people, not government people. And beyond that, I mean, there are so many arguments here.

ACOSTA: Yes.

CONWAY: The United States Constitution and the federal election laws do not put authority in the president of the United States to monitor any elections, even federal elections. That's not his job. It's the job of the states and if there's a violation of law there could be enforcement by the Justice Department, but it doesn't put the president and his chief of staff, give them any direct role in monitoring the security of elections, and here there was no issue about the security of the elections. It was about stealing an election.

ACOSTA: Yes. And you and I have talked about Trump so many times. Do you think there's any way --

CONWAY: P01135809?

ACOSTA: Whatever that --

CONWAY: I'm trying to call him that.

ACOSTA: Yes. Yes. It's a series of numbers.

CONWAY: Right. Yes.

ACOSTA: And I just wonder, is there any chance in the world this he would accept a plea deal, do you think?

CONWAY: I don't --

ACOSTA: He put never surrender in that ad or his fundraising appeal using his mug shot. Never surrender. I mean, going into a plea agreement would be surrendering.

CONWAY: Right. And I don't think he would do that. I mean, maybe if he got a full and complete pass, he might think about it, but I just don't -- the problem is a guilty plea would require him to admit fault and admit wrong, and he is basically the quintessential malignant narcissist, and they can't admit error. He won't admit error. He won't even admit that he weighs more than 215 pounds.

ACOSTA: Right. Yes. If he's 6'3", 215 pounds, I'm Tom Brady.

(LAUGHTER)

CONWAY: That was actually Tom Brady's rookie numbers in the combine.

ACOSTA: Sadly I am not 6'3" and 215 pounds. But you think some of the other co-defendants might plea?

CONWAY: I think so --

ACOSTA: What does that do to the case?

CONWAY: Well, I think it makes -- streamlines the case for the district attorney which is good and focuses -- allows her to focus more on the defendants who are remaining, and I think, you know, it's in the best interest of many of those people to plead because they don't want to go to jail.

ACOSTA: Right.

CONWAY: In a George state prison. It's not the place to be. ACOSTA: And I want to ask you about the debate. During Wednesday's

debate, Asa Hutchinson, the former Arkansas governor, was the only candidate to not raise his hand when asked if he would still back Trump as a nominee if he's convicted in a court law.

CONWAY: So you don't think this was Christie's --

ACOSTA: I guess it was Christie -- where was he? He

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: Maybe we can give Chris Christie a little bit of the doubt, maybe he's in there, too. What did that say to you?

CONWAY: It said to me --

ACOSTA: About the party, about where this primary contest --

CONWAY: I mean, the party is going nowhere fast. And the metaphor that keeps popping into my head is -- or similar, I compare it to that Malaysian Airlines flight. I know it's a terrible comparison, but from Kuala Lumpur, it was supposed to go to Beijing, and the crazy pilot flew south into the Indian Ocean and ultimately ran out of gas and was never seen again. You know, here you have, you know, GOP air and you've got this nut job locked in the cabin, and he's flying off to nowhere.

You've got, you know, people in first class like Pence who's, you know, I don't know, maybe watching the "Barbie" movie because Mother is asleep and you've got -- you've got other people just sort of pretending nothing is happening. You've got Hutchinson and Christie running up and down the aisles saying, this guy's flying us to nowhere. It's a disaster, and then all the people in the back are saying, oh, we like the pilot.

ACOSTA: Yes.

CONWAY: And it's too late for them.

ACOSTA: But in all seriousness, the party right now is all Trump.

CONWAY: No, no.

ACOSTA: I mean, they're almost all Trump right now.

CONWAY: That's right.

ACOSTA: Do you see any potential for any of these other candidates to emerge and knock him out of the race?

CONWAY: No. No. And that's the point, I mean, with my extended metaphor. I was trying to make is if they had time to turn the plane around four or five years ago they could have made it back. They can't now, they're in the middle of the ocean, and even if they got control of the plane it's out of gas and it's half way to Antarctica. It's a disaster for the Republican Party. And look, the smart people in the party kind of know that, but they can't do anything about it.

[19:30:04]

ACOSTA: And in your talks, I would imagine you talk to people in the party and they acknowledge this case.

CONWAY: Privately. You know, I am not going to divulge conversations, but they -- you know, they don't divulge that to me in the sense that you know, they're not going to share that with me, but they know better.

ACOSTA: Yes.

CONWAY: They absolutely know better.

ACOSTA: All right, George Conway, great to see you as always. Thanks so much appreciate it.

Join us next hour for a special look at what you need to know as the case against Trump faces a major test on Monday. Don't miss "Election 2024: The Campaign and the Courtroom" at eight Eastern right here on CNN. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:35:01]

ACOSTA: Another first for the American presidency last week, a booking photo of President Donald Trump after he was charged with conspiring to overturn the 2020 election results. For many, a mugshot could be a step towards jail, but Donald Trump is hoping it will lead him back to the White House.

Joining us now, CNN political analyst and professor of political history, Julian Zelizer.

Julian, great to see you, as always. You know, let's --

JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Great to be with you.

ACOSTA: I guess let's dive right in and talk about -- yes, good to see you. Let's talk about how the Trump campaign says they are capitalizing on this. They say, they have raised a record $7.1 million, they call it a record, since his arrest on Thursday, much of it coming from mugshot merchandise.

I mean, your sense of it? I mean, obviously, there's not a historical precedent for this, to have a president get a mugshot, we will raise money off of it. We are truly in unchartered territory, but do you think it is really helping him that much?

ZELIZER: Well, I don't think it's hurting him. He is raising money. He is also taking away all of the attention from his Republican opponents at this point in the primary, which is very early, but we just had a first debate and what we're hearing about more is the mugshot. And it helps to define him, meaning his entire character revolves around being the person fighting the establishment that is out to get him. So he is using this or he is trying to use this to play into that narrative.

So it doesn't hurt him, whether it helps him, that we will see in the next few months.

ACOSTA: And you write in your piece for cnn.com: "With Trump facing an array of legal troubles, for many Americans, this is just another booking or just another day in what is just another example of Trump being Trump." You go on to say, "It's dangerous that this could be losing its shock value." I think you make a good point there. I mean, with Trump, nothing really shocks us anymore.

ZELIZER: And it's a problem. I mean, here we are talking about four indictments. We're talking about two indictments that revolve around the former president trying to overturn the election that he lost, and yet it's a news story, it is not the news story.

So I contrast it to 1974 when the nation is swept up by Watergate and that is the question that Americans are wrestling with. There's outrage, they're shocked. Today, I suspect within a few days, even if not already, a lot of the public has moved on. And I think this is part of the Trump effect, and there is a numbness that the polity gets toward these scandals and toward the issues at the bottom of the scandal that I think is damaging to us as a nation.

ACOSTA: And I presume if Trump is the nominee, the mugshot is going to be living with us for some time, because I can't imagine how the Biden campaign or the Democrats would not show that mugshot over and over and over again, between now and November of 2024. Presidential photographer, David Hume Kennerly says he thinks that Trump's mugshot will be the most published photograph in history. What do you think?

ZELIZER: I'm sure that's correct in some of the publications coming from the Trump campaign themselves, but it will be part of what the Biden campaign wants to argue that this is who you would be putting into office. This is why it's dangerous not to elect the Democratic candidate.

But the question again, is their outrage? Is there any sense of shame within the Republican Party that causes them to agree to that or causes voters to move to Biden who are not already in that camp? And I think at this point in American history, that's an open question, and we just don't know if this will have that impact.

And knowing what you know about presidential politics, presidential history, the way we're seeing this Republican race for the presidential nomination shaping up right now, is there really anything standing in the path of Trump getting that Republican nomination next year?

ZELIZER: Not much. I don't really see it. When everyone raised their hand just about at that first debate about whether they'd support him if he was convicted. Those hands went right up, even former Governor Christie's hand kind of went up, and I think that said a lot.

And look at the polls. He is far ahead. He is the dominant force in the Republican Party right now. So to knock him down will depend on him somehow taking himself out of this campaign, and I just don't see him doing that right now.

ACOSTA: All right, Julian Zelizer, great to talk to you, as always. Thanks so much. Appreciate it.

ZELIZER: Thanks for having me.

ACOSTA: All right, still ahead, Florida is preparing for a likely hit from a hurricane. The latest forecast is just ahead. Stay tuned for this. You're not going to want to miss it down in the Gulf Coast, because it is very likely heading in that direction.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:44:09]

ACOSTA: The White House says President Biden has been briefed on Tropical Storm Idalia. It could hit parts of Florida as early as Tuesday.

CNN meteorologist, Chad Myers joins us now.

Chad, I'm hoping repetition is helping get the word out. We've had you on every hour here in the CNN NEWSROOM. And just -- I know you've covered these so many times, and sometimes you have to get people by the shirt collar and get their attention and say hey, this is coming. It sounds like this is one of those moments.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It really is.

Right now, it doesn't look impressive and people are going: Oh, that's nothing. But you know we talked about what can kill a storm, cold water, land interaction, dry air, wind shear. This storm will encounter none of those.

Warm water, no shear, no land interaction, and the water is just insanely hot there in the Gulf of Mexico and so yes, all of the things are coming together for this storm to intensify. It isn't moving much, only three miles per hour right now.

[19:45:08]

But by Monday, Tuesday it gets into a very warm Gulf of Mexico, and it is even forecasted to be a 100-mile-per-hour storm, that may even be conservative.

Hurricane watches are posted in places in Florida. Tomorrow is your day to get ready for this because the storm surge, seven to 11 feet up here along the Big Bend. But if that storm turns just a little bit to the right, all of a sudden a major population center is in the way and Tampa Bay area, you are going to have impacts even if the storm does take a current track that the forecast say, on up toward maybe Apalachicola, but you're still going to have significant rain and winds over hurricane strength gusts that'll bring down power lines and all kinds of things there.

And just a slight turn to the right will make this a very impressive storm for The Villages, New Port Richey, Tampa, St. Pete. I mean this is just a big storm headed to the north. But if it slightly turns to the east, which a lot of models are doing, you have a lot bigger problem here.

We're going to keep watching that for you. There is Franklin out here in the Atlantic as well. It is going to be a major hurricane. It is going to make major swells for the Atlantic East Coast.

ACOSTA: All right, Chad Myers, we have to practice saying Idalia, too. That'll be awesome.

MYERS: Idalia.

ACOSTA: Idalia. We will also work on that over the coming days.

Chad, thanks very much.

Brace yourselves, everybody.

MYERS: You're welcome.

ACOSTA: We appreciate it.

For the second weekend in a row, the NFL decided to call off the rest of the game because of an injury. CNN's Coy Wire explains why this could prove to be an inflection point for player safety in the NFL.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Hi, Jim.

This is showing that the culture of football in the NFL, that gladiator mentality, and the perception that players are just replaceable pieces of meat, well, that's changing.

Before Damar Hamlin's injury about eight months ago, no NFL games had ever been called off mid-game due to an injury. Now, two more, this preseason alone.

It happened last night, Dolphins-Jaguars' game, Miami rookie, Daewood Davis, taking a blow to the head in the fourth quarter. Davis was down several minutes before being immobilized and carted off to the hospital. The Dolphins say he was conscious and had movement in all extremities.

Dolphins coach, Mike McDaniel said he, Jags coach, Doug Pederson and the two teams player association reps all agreed that game needed to stop being played.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MIKE MCDANIEL, MIAMI DOLPHINS HEAD COACH: Without a shadow of doubt, I know that was the right call. So I'm proud of the collective group for doing the right thing.

He was the guy that you know, his teammates really root for, that tells you everything about a human being more than anything. You know, we're just hoping for a full recovery and have had some good news and hope to have some even better news, moving forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Jim, this seems to be showing that all the efforts being made by the NFL and the players association to make the game a safer place seem to be paying off and not just in regards to the player's health and safety, but to their mental health as well.

ACOSTA: All right, good to see the game is changing. Coy Wire, thanks so much. We'll be right back.

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[19:52:36]

ACOSTA: At presidential primary debates, it is common to see other candidates criticize the frontrunner, but that is not what we saw at the first Republican debates. CNN's senior data reporter, Harry Enten joins us with numbers that might explain why.

Harry, what can you tell us? What do the numbers show?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: I mean, just look at the critics of Donald Trump within the Republican Party, right? You think of Chris Christie, you think Asa Hutchinson, you think of Mike Pence. Will Hurd didn't even make the debate. Look at their net favorability ratings.

Chris Christie minus 44 points, 44 percent of Republican voters are more likely to have an unfavorable than favorable opinion of him. That is the worst net favorability rating for a presidential candidate within their own party at this point in cycles going all the way back since 1980. Asa Hutchinson, minus 18 points, Mike Pence minus 17 points. Most people don't even know who Will Hurd is. He somehow manages to get minus seven points.

So the fact is, if you are critical of Donald Trump, the Republican voters are critical of you. Simply put, Jim, do not want to hear in that Chris Christie rating again at minus 44 points, my goodness, gracious.

ACOSTA: Yes. He is not running to be Donald Trump's vice president this time around, that goes without saying. And Harry, which Republican candidates are actually gaining ground in the polls. Are we talking about Ramaswamy? Who are we talking about?

ENTEN: Yes, we are talking about Vivek Ramaswamy. We're talking about Tim Scott, look at their net favorability ratings among GOP voters. Ramaswamy has been basically praying at the altar of Donald Trump, so not much of a surprise that his net favorability is as high as it is. And Tim Scott basically isn't even mentioning Donald Trump. He's sort of trying to strike that middle ground, which also seems to be working.

So either striking the middle ground or praising Donald Trump works within Republican ranks, being critical of the former President simply put, does not work.

ACOSTA: And you have some new data on who Trump supporters believe the most, the former president or their family and friends? I feel like I want to like shield myself from the graphic here. I don't want to -- I don't want to see this, but please shed some light on us here.

ENTEN: Feel what they tell you is true. This is among Donald Trump supporters. Look at this, 71 percent say what Donald Trump tells them is true, just 63 percent among friends and family, 56 percent conservative media, religious leaders which of course used to be you know the big thing within the Republican ranks, at least among evangelicals come in at just 42 percent.

[19:55:13]

So the fact is, given that Donald Trump right now is polling more than 50 percent of the Republican vote, and if 71 percent of those Trump supporters say they feel what they tell -- what Donald Trump tells them is true, the fact is that I think more than anything else, gives you an indication that if you want to succeed in the Republican Party these days, you best not be critical of the former president.

ACOSTA: Yes. I mean, that is -- that is pretty indicative there for a lot of people in the party. Donald Trump is the religious leader. That is who they follow at this point.

And finally here, you are a big sports fan. I know we've talked about this in the past. Let's talk about it again. The New York Yankees. You know, I try not to feel sorry for the New York Yankees, but I almost feel sorry for the New York Yankees this year. They could finish with the worst record in more than 30 years. Is that for real?

ENTEN: Oh, right now -- right now they have the worst record since 1995, they are dead last in the ALS. It is beautiful. The baseball gods are finally answering my prayers. It's just so fantastic. Beautiful.

ACOSTA: Yes, please be careful going home in New York, Harry, when you leave the studio. Yankees fans are not happy about what's happening right now.

Harry, great to talk to you as always. Thanks so much. We appreciate it.

ENTEN: See you later, buddy. Have a good one.

ACOSTA: See you next time. You, too. Trump's trial calendar and the campaign season are colliding, CNN's special coverage, "Election 2024: The Campaign and the Courtroom" is next after a quick break. I'll be here hosting that, so standby.

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