Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Debby Strengthens into Category 1 Hurricane; Harris Close to Maker Her VP Pick; Israel on Hight Alert as Iran, Hezbollah Vow to Retaliate; Violent Protests Erupt Across U.K. as Tensions Escalate Over Knife Attack. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired August 05, 2024 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now strengthened into a category one hurricane as the storm moves towards Florida's Big Bend region.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please. please make sure that you are not messing around in those floodwaters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vice President Kamala Harris will soon decide who will join her on the Democratic ticket as a running mate.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Harris, this is the biggest decision that she's going to make as the presumptive Democratic nominee.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We saw protests across cities in the U.K., but they really have degenerated into perhaps even more violence than we saw a day earlier.

KEIR STARMER, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: This is not protest. It is organized violent thuggery.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from London this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Christina Macfarlane.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, a warm welcome to our viewers joining us from the U.S. and around the world. I'm Max Foster.

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Christina Macfarlane. It's Monday, August 5th, 9 a.m. here in London, 4 a.m. in Florida, where all eyes are on Debby, a category one hurricane that could strengthen further as it moves towards the state's Big Ben region over the coming hours. The National Hurricane Center says the storm now has winds near 80 miles per hour.

FOSTER: Parts of Florida are already experiencing heavy rain and life- threatening flooding. The National Weather Service says a flash flood warning has been issued for more than two million people across several Florida counties. MACFARLANE: Officials are also warning residents to stay away from floodwaters. Hundreds of flights have been canceled or delayed across Florida, and more than 100,000 people are already without power.

FOSTER: Georgia, Florida and South Carolina have all declared a state of emergency as the storm approaches. The cities of Savannah and Charleston could receive a month's worth of rain in a single day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM COGSWELL, MAYOR, CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA: This unprecedented amount of rainfall poses a real risk of life-threatening flash flooding across Charleston. Residents must take immediate precautions. Please remain indoors and avoid any unnecessary travel. Roads and areas that do not typically flood are expected to be impacted, perhaps severely so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well, CNA meteorologist Derek Van Dam joins us now live from Atlanta with the latest. And Derek, tell us what we can expect in the coming hours.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Max, look, we're seeing videos of storm surge from Hurricane Debby already along that west coast of the Florida Peninsula. This is concerning for me because it doesn't take much to push up that very shallow nature of the water.

Here's what it looks like overnight in Clearwater, Florida, well away from the center of Debby. We saw flooding imagery coming out of Fort Myers Beach. Remember that area was hit so hard by Ian back in September of 2022.

The bulk of the storm surge that is going to inundate six to ten feet of normally dry water right near the catcher's mitt of the Florida Peninsula. That's all the water from the Gulf of Mexico will be pushed up in advance of this approaching tropical system, which is nearing landfall as we speak. So basically Cedar Key to the north and west, even Tampa Bay and where we've got some of our reporters positioned as well.

Currently right now, Hurricane Debby, a Category 1, 80 miles per hour, but it has been consolidating and strengthening overnight. And this is new overnight as well.

So we have hurricane warnings where you see that shading of red, but there's also tropical storm warnings that extend throughout the Florida Peninsula into southern Georgia, as well as the coastal areas of the Carolinas, South Carolina particularly. This is an area we're concerned about strong gusty winds and then the potential for flash flooding going forward into the early parts of this week.

There's a landfalling storm. We're probably about three hours or so away from a landfalling hurricane, Category 1 hurricane. There have been spin-up tornadoes that have occurred overnight. That's why we still have a tornado watch across that right quadrant of the hurricane.

This is concerning. So what you're looking at now is a estimated rainfall total. So the outer rain bands of Debby have already produced nearly a foot of rain south of Tampa, according to this radar estimation. That is impressive. So it's holding a lot of moisture with this storm.

So the potential for flash flooding exists today across the Florida Peninsula, particularly that western coastline. But notice the watches that extend into southeast Georgia and southern portions of South Carolina. And the reason I say that is because notice how this track kind of starts to get larger and larger. That is because there is so much model uncertainty. Where is the storm going to go? The steering patterns for Hurricane Debby are basically going to collapse.

We don't like to hear those words when we're talking about a tropical system that holds a lot of rain in the atmosphere. It will produce extremely heavy precipitation.

[04:05:00]

Weather Prediction Center has a high risk, their highest level for excessive rainfall that could lead to flash flooding.

And then as we head into the day tomorrow, Savannah to Charleston, that's where we're pinpointing the potential for over a foot of rain. This area floods very easily. So when we get that amount of precipitation going forward over the next few days, that is going to be a recipe for problems. They're using the words catastrophic. Look out for the potential for historic rainfall totals.

That is truly going to be the main story of this storm as it slows down and meanders across the southeast. Max, Christina.

FOSTER: OK, Derek, thank you so much.

Joining us now, Sheriff Mike Prendergast of Citrus County, Florida. Thank you so much for joining us. Just take us through the evacuation plan and how many people are affected.

MIKE PRENDERGAST, CITRUS COUNTY, FLORIDA SHERIFF: Well, right now we have about 20,000 give or take folks that live on evacuation zone A. Unfortunately, we didn't have as many take our advice and get out of the evacuation zone as we would like to. We expect to see some very serious effects of storm surge a little bit later today.

The next high tide is going to be at about 6 a.m. We are experiencing tropical storm force winds here in Citrus County today. We're under a tornado watch, a flood watch, and also a hurricane watch as Hurricane Debby continues to bear down on the victim area, which is a little bit to our north and to our west from where we're standing right now. We are encouraging everybody to please stay indoors because the high winds and the downed power lines are causing some problems.

We have some localized flooding. We also have some winds down south of Austin. When I told the sun comes up in a few hours, we really won't be able to do too much in the way of damage assessments, but we do anticipate additional localized rainfall that will probably equate to a foot or more in a 24-hour period here for the Citrus County community.

So, again, we're encouraging folks to keep those warnings, stay indoors, and if you've any power outages to call your local power provider. We've got about 400 homes right now in Citrus County that have lost power overnight, and we anticipate to see those numbers go up during the day. As the high winds continue with thunderstorms and the heavy lightning continues to move its way north, the potential for some tornado outbreaks a little bit later today is pretty high as well.

Overnight, we saw some to our south, and those storms are now working their way up north towards Citrus County.

MACFARLANE: And Mike, as we brace for this storm to make landfall, what are the most important pieces of advice do you have for people bracing for this storm? I mean, you mentioned the rainfall there and the fact that there's going to be a massive amount of flooding. It's important for people to stay home.

What other advice do you have for them?

PRENDERGAST: Well, the folks that are in evacuation zone A, we really would like for them to get out of evacuation zone A. The National Weather Service told us to anticipate a storm surge similar to what we saw during Hurricane Delia last year, which was a heretofore never seen amount of storm surge in the western part of Citrus County in the Crystal River area. It exceeded the no-name storm of 1993, and it exceeded what we saw in Hurricane Jermaine and Hurricane Irma a few years back.

And again, last year, it came in like a vengeance well after Hurricane Delia made landfall up in the Big Bend area up in Taylor County. And so we could see very similar storm surge effects tomorrow, late today into tomorrow morning, as a matter of fact, because we've got two high tide cycles.

FOSTER: And Mike, how does this compare to other years?

PRENDERGAST: Well, you know, we are very early in the hurricane season. We haven't even reached the midway point of the 2024 hurricane season. What I would say is based on the predictions, we're going to see a lot more tornadic activity and a lot more hurricane activity long before we get to the end of November this year.

And again, it's always the thing that we preach to everybody is please be prepared, have your go kit ready to go with your medicines, your documentation that you need, and be prepared to evacuate when the word does come out so that you can get to a safe place and then go back and assess the damage after the hurricane passes and then get life back to normal as much as possible as quickly as possible.

We can restore a lot of things, but we cannot restore someone's life if they tragically lose their life being electrocuted or falling a victim to being swept away and then drowning in some of the storm surge that we could see later today.

FOSTER: OK, Sheriff Mike Prendergast of Citrus County, thank you so much and good luck with your work today.

It is perhaps the most consequential decision of her political career so far. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will soon decide who will join her on the Democratic ticket as her running mate and the clock is ticking as she's expected to appear at a Pennsylvania rally with her choice on Tuesday.

[04:10:00]

A source familiar with the search says Harris is hoping to keep her selection under wraps as close to the rally as possible.

MACFARLANE: CNN's Julia Benbrook has the latest now from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We know that there were plans for Vice President Kamala Harris to meet with at least three of the top contenders on Sunday. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. Throughout the process Harris has been asking close advisors who would make the best governing partner for her at the White House.

Another top consideration though is electability. She's been looking at how each of them would balance out the ticket and how they'd help in key battleground states. Shapiro and Kelly of course from states that will be critical in November.

Now the VP pick is often a political afterthought once they're selected but for Harris this is the biggest decision that she's going to make as the presumptive Democratic nominee and she's still working to introduce herself to many Americans.

She's been speaking with a close group of confidants including her husband Doug Imhoff and former Attorney General Eric Holder whose law firm is helping with the vetting process. A reminder of just how quickly this process is taking place.

Just a couple of weeks ago Harris was President Joe Biden's running mate and now she's selecting her own VP. We will hear a decision soon because she and her running mate are expected to appear at a rally on Tuesday in Philadelphia. That kicks off a battleground blitz.

They're going to be crisscrossing the country visiting key states ahead of the Democratic National Convention which starts on August 19th.

In Washington Julia Benbrook, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Israel's military says it struck multiple Hezbollah targets in Lebanon overnight amid fears of a wider war breaking out in the Middle East. It comes hours after Hezbollah said a, quote, squad of attack drones hit a military target in northern Israel although Israel says many of them were intercepted and the damage was minimal.

MACFARLANE: Iran and Hezbollah have vowed revenge against Israel blaming it for assassinating the political leader of Hamas in Tehran last week and killing Hezbollah's most senior military commander in Beirut.

U.S. President Joe Biden will convene his national security team in the coming hours after a call with the King of Jordan and the White House says the U.S. and Israel are preparing for every possibility.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KIRBY, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COMMUNICATIONS ADVISER: Now I don't know what they're going to do or when they're going to do it but we got to make darn sure that we're ready and that we have the capabilities in the region to be able to help Israel defend itself and quite frankly defend our own people our own facilities our own national security interests.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: CNN's Nada Bashir joins us. I noticed that, you know, a lot of foreigners are being told to get out of Lebanon as soon as possible by whatever means but the flights are being canceled and then we see these military efforts going into the region as well. It's very worrying.

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is very worrying and we're seeing lots of people now leaving Lebanon for fears and concerns of course that Lebanon could be targeted if Iran chooses to target Israel.

Of course Hezbollah in Lebanon is a key proxy for the Iranian regime and we have seen that crossfire even overnight further attacks, rocket attacks by Hezbollah into Israeli territory. Israel again striking parts of southern Lebanon but this isn't the response that we are expecting. We're expecting something much more broader much more complex potentially and that is the fear U.S. officials saying they expect this to be imminent in the coming days.

We've heard from Iranian officials including just yesterday from the acting foreign minister saying that the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh on Iranian soil -- this is of course Hamas's political chief -- was crossing a big red line for Israel. And of course Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for the assassination but the Iranian regime has vowed to inflict severe punishment in their words on the state of Israel. So that is a huge point of concern now.

We've been hearing from Israeli officials over the weekend. Netanyahu has said that they are determined to stand against Iran on every possible front. The Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has said that they are already reviewing possible options for Israel to retaliate if indeed they are struck by Iran at some point. And of course the IDF chief spokesperson Daniel Hagari spoke over the weekend saying that they are preparing for an emerging threat. But there are questions around what this potential retaliation by Iran

could look like. Whether it's a direct attack by Iran like we saw in April. So a drone attack or missile attack on Israeli territory or whether perhaps we see more coordination with Iran's proxies namely Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

Of course there are questions as to whether Iran is actually seeking to restore deterrence against Israel without provoking an all-out war or whether this could drag the whole region into war. Which is a huge concern not only for regional leaders but as you mentioned for members of the international community. Biden again, meeting with his national security team today. He's set to speak with the Jordanian King.

[04:15:00]

Just yesterday, Jordan's foreign minister was in Tehran holding talks around the regional situation. So there is a huge flurry of diplomatic activity going on as we speak, and we heard from Antony Blinken yesterday. He spoke to his G7 counterparts about the importance of trying to de-escalate those tensions.

But he also spoke to the Iraqi prime minister, again a key regional leader Mohammad Shia al-Sudani. His message to Blinken was that there can't be a de-escalation until there is a cessation of violence in Gaza. That's a message we've been hearing from multiple regional leaders and crucially from both Hezbollah and of course Hamas.

So clearly a lot of focus there still on trying to get a ceasefire deal. But at this stage, it seems that the assassination of Haniyeh has scuffed any hopes of securing a deal right now.

MACFARLANE: All right, Nada Bashir, for now, thanks, Nada.

Let's bring in Lina Khatib in London. She's an associate fellow of the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House. Thank you so much for joining us.

Lina, we were just hearing there from Nada about international efforts ongoing for deterrence at this hour. We were talking about how President Biden was speaking to the King of Jordan, is looking to convene his national security team in the coming hours.

How effective do you think those efforts for deterrence could prove to be in the coming hours with the Middle East really on a knife edge right now?

LINA KHATIB, ASSOCIATE FELLOW, MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA PROGRAMME, CHATHAM HOUSE: These kinds of efforts had been taking place in April. At that time, there was increased tension between Iran and Israel. And I think these efforts back then did serve an important role in limiting the Iranian response at that time when Israel saw lots and lots of Iranian drones heading in its direction, but the actual damage was minimal.

The hope is that if Iran sees this stepped-up international activity in the diplomatic scene, then this would make it think twice about it and its proxies taking any actions against Israel that would actually cross red lines.

What we're seeing actually in this conflict is the concept of red lines is really, really stretched. When it comes to escalation, it seems everyone is ready to push things further than what had happened in the past.

FOSTER: In terms of advice for people living there, they're being told to leave if they can leave. A lot of people obviously can't leave. There's a huge amount of damage being done to the economy whilst we await some sort of outcome on this as well.

Do you think this is part of the thinking of Iran to try to prepare as best they can or try to string it out as long as they can?

KHATIB: I think the Iranians are actually feeling quite humiliated, frankly, because Israel has shown that no matter Hezbollah's arsenal, for example, which is significant, it has a lot of weapons, probably more than any other militia in the world. However, despite all this, Israel is showing that its intelligence is far superior. Its security arrangements are far superior.

And so, also with the assassination of Haniyeh in Tehran, although Israel has not admitted responsibility for that, this definitely shows a security breach inside Iran. So, Iran at the moment is actually taking a bit of time just because it is measuring what response it can do that would save its face, but at the same time, it really knows that it is vulnerable and its proxies like Hezbollah are also vulnerable.

MACFARLANE: And as we consider what type of retaliation you might see, and you mentioned those attacks in April, the fact that there was a coalition of countries who really stepped up to help defend Israel at that time. In light of Israel's actions over the past week, do you expect that the same sort of axis, the same coalition of countries would look to step in and defend Israel once again?

KHATIB: I think that is definitely going to happen, because the United States is not going to let Israel fight this fight on its own. If Israel is under any real threat, then the U.S. and its allies will definitely coordinate to help Israel.

And I think, personally, looking at the number of countries that have asked their nationals to leave Lebanon at the moment is also a message. It's also a message to Hezbollah to try to pressure it, to limit what it might want to do against Israel, to show that there is international coordination going on regarding the sharing of security. And definitely, the U.S. is sending warships to the region, and it will get its own allies on board if needed.

FOSTER: Lina Khatib, thank you so much for your insights today.

[04:20:00]

Still to come, protests escalate in the U.K. as rioters attack hotels housing asylum seekers. We'll get a live update just ahead.

MACFARLANE: First Ukraine says it has accomplished the impossible, while its new F-16s could change the game in its fight against Russia.

FOSTER: And a global sell-off intensifies following a weak U.S. jobs report and worries that the U.S. economy is losing steam. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Here in the U.K., violent protests fueled by far-right groups have intensified. On Sunday, protesters in northern England vandalized and set fire to two Holiday Inn hotels that are being used to house asylum seekers.

MACFARLANE: They also smashed windows and attacked police. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has condemned the violence, calling it, quote, far-right thuggery.

FOSTER: And Elliott is here. He's been looking at this. I note the police saying this is some of the worst violence they've ever seen, and they're quite astounded by the numbers of people getting involved, although they're not obviously representative of those societies.

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Right, I mean, I think you have to go back to 2011 and the London riots, the last time there was anything kind of getting to this level of violence that we've seen quite shocking scenes with, certainly in Rotherham.

[04:25:00]

The police, riot police with their shields up, almost being pinned against the hotel as they were just set upon by so many people in those -- in that group, in that mob that were hurling, you know, everything from bottles and bricks and even armchairs that they'd taken from the hotel and attacking the police officers. Then you see the attempts to set fire to these two hotels with staff and asylum seekers inside.

So quite shocking scenes that we've seen. And as you say, Prime Minister Keir Starmer coming out on Sunday and giving a press conference and saying that, you know, we've seen Muslim communities with targeted attacks, attacks on mosques, other minority communities singled out, Nazi salutes in the streets. Him saying, I won't shy away from calling it what it is, which, as you say, he said, is a far-right thuggery.

And there was an op-ed from Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, who's ultimately, of course, oversees the police, saying: Make no mistake, there will be a reckoning for the individuals who took part in this violence, those who whipped them up on social media and in online chat forums, and those who have felt emboldened by this moment to stir up racial hatred.

And on top of that, over the weekend, the government announcing extra protection measures for mosques so they can kind of request rapid deployment, which sounds to me similar to kind of what synagogues and Jewish community buildings have in terms of almost like a hotline to the police to get them to respond faster in the event of an incident. So very concerning and certainly the first big test of Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who's been in office for, what, a month.

MACFARLANE: And of course, you know, I think the appalling thing that people feel here in the U.K. about this is that these are attacks on some of the most vulnerable communities in the U.K.

Obviously, we're going to hear a strong kind of reaction from the government saying they're going to crack down on this. But isn't the reality that a lot of this was spurned or encouraged with online activity to begin with?

I mean, has there been any efforts that we know of yet to crack down on social media accounts, on some of the online accounts that have been fueling people to come out and join these riots?

GOTKINE: Well, Yvette Cooper has, you know, just this morning been saying that social media companies need to take some responsibility. A lot of the misinformation about the horrific stabbing of and killing of those three small girls at that dance class, that Taylor Swift- themed dance class in Southport near Liverpool, and seriously injuring eight other children.

A lot of the misinformation started on social media, particularly X, where it was rumored this misinformation coming about saying that the perpetrator, the suspect, was an asylum seeker and was a Muslim as well. Prompting the judge to take the unusual step of removing reporting restrictions despite the person being a minor, although he's about to turn 18 this week.

So certainly that's something they're looking at it, and Elon Musk on X hasn't been helping either by amplifying some of these tweets and posts.

MACFARLANE: Well, it's a challenging few hours ahead for the government. Elliott thank you very much.

Now, Ukraine is celebrating what it calls a new chapter two and a half years after Russia's full-scale invasion.

Here's why.

(VIDEO OF F-16 FIGHTER JETS)

FOSTER: These are the first of the long-awaited F-16 fighter jets operating inside Ukraine. They've been donated by Ukraine's allies after months of negotiations and pleas from Ukraine's leaders, and training for Ukrainian pilots who had to actually learn to fly them.

MACFARLANE: Russia has maintained air superiority throughout the course of the war, but these F-16s and others still to come will offer critical air cover for Ukrainian forces. They can attack ground targets, intercept missiles, and take on enemy planes from the sky.

FOSTER: Name calling in politics certainly isn't unheard of, but does it work? When we come back, a look at the new weird trend leading up to the U.S. presidential election.

MACFARLANE: And later, Olympic medal wins for the history books. We'll take you to Paris Live, the latest gold medal moments. And that's it.