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Death Toll Rises Following Hurricane Helene; Disaster Recovery Becomes Campaign Issue; Jason Miller is Interviewed about the Vice Presidential Debate. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired October 01, 2024 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:30:00]
DOUG JONES (D), FORMER ALABAMA SENATOR: Those are the kind of things I think that people are going to really pay attention to and it's gong to affect races down the ballot.
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: Very interesting.
All right, Senator Doug Jones, you'll be back with our panel.
JONES: OK. Sounds good.
HUNT: Thank you for being here.
Still ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, the death toll from Hurricane Helene sadly continues to rise ahead. How state governments are responding, and how the disaster is impacting the race for the White House.
Plus, we're just hours away from what is potentially the last biggest debate in this campaign. Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller joins us with his thoughts on what we'll see tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is not - this is important.
MIKE PENCE, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: Susan, I - I have to weigh in here.
HARRIS: And I want to add - but if - Mr. Vice President, I'm speaking.
PENCE: I have to weigh in.
HARRIS: I'm speaking.
PENCE: Fueled (ph) the Trump tax cuts.
HARRIS: Mr. Vice President, I'm speaking.
PENCE: Well, you -
HARRIS: I'm speaking. If you don't mind letting me finish -
PENCE: Please.
HARRIS: We can then have a conversation, OK?
PENCE: Please.
HARRIS: OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:35:13]
HUNT: All right, at least 130 people are dead across six states, and officials fear that number could rise after Hurricane Helene made landfall late last week devastating parts of the southeastern United States. Several hundreds more are still unaccounted for. Approximately 600 people were still missing yesterday afternoon just in Asheville, North Carolina. The community is reeling after the powerful storm washed out large parts of the city's infrastructure, making it even more difficult for crews to reach residents with vital supplies. Mules are now helping to deliver food, water, and diapers to those remote mountainous areas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR ESTHER MANHEIMER (D), ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA: As we watched these rivers recede, we are seeing just piles of people's houses that were destroyed, buildings that were destroyed, cars overturned, trash, and debris. I mean, it reminds me of Katrina, where they had to go door to door and look in each vehicle and mark whether or not anyone was in it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right, let's get to our meteorologist, Derek Van Dam.
Derek, the devastation, just unimaginable and, of course, so many questions about preparation and what these communities are going to do now.
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, and I think this also reminded the public that these hurricanes that we often forecast days in advance are not just a coastal storm. Look at the impacts over 500 miles away directly related to a hurricane. Now, how do you even compartmentalize coming back to a scene like this? I mean this is Chimney Rock, North Carolina.
And it's also a reminder to people that in our new warmer world, we're experiencing these more frequent, heavy rain events. For every two degrees Fahrenheit of warming that our world goes through and undertakes, we have 8 percent more water vapor in the atmosphere. That means that we have the ability to hold more moisture, the ability to create these more frequent and more extreme heavy rain events, just like we saw.
Now, there are still some tropical moisture residual moisture from Helene that is still in the atmosphere and the rivers there are still flooding and cresting across downstream South Carolina as that water makes its way towards the East Coast. You can almost follow the track of destruction with 1.5 million customers without power left in Helene's wake.
Now, we need to focus on the Gulf of Mexico again. This is troubling news. But the latest computer models have simmered down on the potential development, but I do want to talk about this area here. Potentially over the next seven days, there is a 40 percent chance of development once again in the same area.
Kasie.
HUNT: Oh, I'm sure not welcome news for folks who are having such a hard time, of course, recovering from what they've already seen.
VAN DAM: Right.
HUNT: Derek Van Dam for us this morning. Derek, thank you.
And as disaster recovery efforts continue to unfold across the southeast, Hurricane Helene's aftermath is also, of course, playing out on the presidential campaign trail. Monday afternoon, Donald Trump visited Valdosta, Georgia, where storm cleanup is underway. While there, he seemed to suggest President Biden isn't responding to the storm.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The governor's doing a very good job. He's having a hard time getting the president on the phone, I guess they're not - they're not being responsive. The federal government is not being responsive. But they're having a very hard time getting the - getting the president or the phone. He won't get on it. And, of course, the vice president, she's out someplace campaigning, looking for money.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So, that's Monday, right? Those claims appear to be false because Georgia's Republican governor, Brian Kemp, says he has spoken with the president about federal aid.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. BRIAN KEMP (R-GA): The president just called me yesterday afternoon. I missed him, and I called him right back. And he just said, hey, what do you need. And I told him, you know, we - we got what we need. We'll work through the federal process. He - he offered that if there's other things we need, just to call him directly, which I appreciate that.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HUNT: So, of course, again, Trump's in Georgia on Monday saying the governor can't get the president on the phone. The governor, on Monday, says he got a call from the president the previous day. He missed the call, but then he called him right back.
President Biden was asked about Trump's claims during a press briefing in the Oval Office.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He's lying. And the governor told him he was lying. The governor told him he's lying. I've spoken to the governor. I've spent time with him. And he told me he's lying. I don't know why he does this.
And the reason I get so angry about it, I don't care about what he says about me. I care what he - what he communicates to the people that are in need. He implies that we're not doing everything possible. We are.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right, our panel is back here.
Mike Dubke, I mean, this is a situation where the focus needs to be on the people who are recovering from this horrible storm, from us, as reporters, who are looking at it, from everyone else.
[06:40:07]
President Trump seemed to make it about himself here and his criticisms of President Biden.
Why is he doing, and what impact does this have?
MIKE DUBKE, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Well, I mean, we've seen storm politics affect presidential races. There always seems to be a big hurricane just before a presidential election over the last several years.
HUNT: Well, it's - it is - it is hurricane season. Yes.
DUBKE: It is hurricane season. And we'd seen different - different styles of politics here where it's - it's helped the incumbent president and where it's hurt the incumbent president. We can talk about Sandy. We can talk about Katrina and all of that.
I think, you know, look, Trump was on the ground. I fully expect that Harris - was on the ground in Georgia. And I fully expect that the two battleground states of Georgia and North Carolina, that Vice President Harris will be there. It's going to be a bit of a struggle figuring out, do they send Harris, do they send Biden, because of these storm politics.
So, I appreciate the question, but I think both sides - both - both political parties and both candidates are going to look to - to say, I could do a better job with response. And that's ultimately what you saw from - from former President Trump.
ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: And it puts them all in a - like to pick up on your point, a difficult situation.
You know, we're all baseball fans at this table. And often when they take a pitcher out of the game, this sportscaster will say, he can't win it, but he can lose it. And the scenario here is one in which a candidate can maybe get the brownie points of showing - of showing competence in a time of stress, but also really can lose an election by appearing all the things you're saying, Mike, whether it's not carrying, insensitive, to political, not political enough, not - not empathetic enough. And, you know, it's a world of things.
DUBKE: A very unpredictable environment.
WILLIAMS: Very unpredictable.
EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: But it is - and, look, Donald Trump was in Georgia. He did what he did. If Biden or Harris goes there - this is all this sort of theater of it. What matters is what they're doing and what the response is.
WILLIAMS: Yes.
DOVERE: And - and it is a - I think this week all the things we've been talking about, it's a reminder of what this job that Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are running for actually is, it's managing a war in the Middle East potentially.
DUBKE: Right.
DOVERE: Certainly a war - what is a war so far that could get bigger. It's dealing with flood responses. It's dealing with the port strike. It's that kind of stuff. And then we can let ourselves be distracted sometimes by the theater of it.
It really, I don't think it mattered at all for Trump to be there for the actual response to the storm. It won't really matter at all if Biden or Harris goes for what it will do to the storm. It's just, do they look like they're caring? Do they look like they're in charge?
WILLIAMS: The difference - one difference -
DOVERE: And we should focus - and we should focus on -
HUNT: Well, and that's why the "heck of a job, Brownie" comment was such a problem -
DOVERE: Right. Right.
WILLIAMS: Yes.
HUNT: Was because the words did not match the actions.
DOVERE: Right. And so we should focus on the action, frankly.
DUBKE: And he didn't go. That as the other part of it, he didn't go during Katrina.
WILLIAMS: Yes.
DUBKE: And that - and he got - he got dinged for that as well.
WILLIAMS: It's a couple things. Like his - his approval was starting to go down at that point and people were sort of done with him anyway.
HUNT: And this was 2005, of course, which is not (INAUDIBLE).
WILLIAMS: This is 2005.
JONES: You know, look -
HUNT: Final word.
JONES: There's a couple of things.
First of all, you don't need the president, you don't need the vice president. You don't need people coming into a disaster area right now. It is disruptive. I have lived through those things and I - and it is incredibly disruptive. And they know that.
The other thing I would say is that I - I know Joe Biden. Joe Biden is going to do the best job he can for the people regardless. These are all red states generally. I know Georgia's in play. North Carolina may be in play. I think it is. But the fact of the matter is, he is representing all people. And he is going to do his best.
But if there is anybody, Mike, that has played politics with weather, it is Donald Trump. You can only remember Sharpie-gate when he, you know, kind of redid the hurricane map. And I think it's just wrong. And I think while people like to see their leaders doing some things, they want to see action. They want to see things that are happening. It is difficult. In this particular situation you've got destruction for, as they said, 500 miles. This is not like just farmers. This is really, really very difficult to -
HUNT: Yes.
JONES: To try to get disaster across the board.
HUNT: That's Sharpie-gate, just increase you forgot it.
DUBKE: But speed matters.
JONES: Speed matters.
DUBKE: Speed matters in this case. And this is where there could be a hit on the Biden-Harris administration if they don't get relief aid -
JONES: No, I -
DUBKE: Not them, but relief aid to these devastated areas fast enough. And we - you know, we're sending it in by mule at the moment.
JONES: Yes, no I -
HUNT: Because we have to.
DUBKE: Because we have to.
HUNT: It's an astonishing situation.
JONES: Yes.
DUBKE: Right.
HUNT: All right, coming up next here on CNN THIS MORNING, nearly 50,000 port workers go on strike. How this walkout could send shockwaves through the economy right ahead of the election.
Plus, Jason Miller will be here. We're going to ask the Trump campaign's senior advisor what to expect at tonight's vice presidential debate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE H.W. BUSH, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT (October 11, 1984): Let me help you what the difference, Ms. Ferraro, between Iran and the embassy in Lebanon.
GERALDINE FERRARO, FORMER VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (October 11, 1984): Let me just say, first of all, that I almost resent, Vice President Bush, your patronizing attitude that you have to teach me about foreign policy. I've been a member of Congress for six years
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:48:56]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY FALLON, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON": But I read that a poll found that one quarter of Americans have never even heard of J.D. Vance or Tim Walz. Yes, a lot of people don't know these candidates, which might explain this debate promo. Check this out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tomorrow night, don't miss the epic showdown between this guy and other guy. One believes stuff, while other believes opposite stuff. First grew up in place, while second who up in elsewhere. Him versus him also as well, fighting for a job. One, stage two guys, nine viewers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: All right, tonight's vice presidential debate is a key opportunity for Tim Walz and J.D. Vance to reintroduce themselves to millions of viewers, despite Fallon's take there, who may not know very much about these two Midwesterners chosen by Kamala Harris and Donald Trump to be their respective running mates.
While Walz is reportedly a bit nervous heading into tonight's showdown, the Trump campaign made clear during a press call yesterday that they are not underestimating Walz's debate ability.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JASON MILLER, TRUMP CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER: Walz is very good in debates. I want to repeat that. Tim Walz is very good in debates, really good.
[06:50:04]
He's been a politician for nearly 20 years. He'll be very well prepared for tomorrow night. He's not going to be the wildly gesticulating, effeminate caricature we see at rallies pointing to Kamala Harris and dancing about on the stage.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right, joining us now is the man that you just heard there, Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller.
Jason, good morning. I'm glad to have you on the program.
JASON MILLER, TRUMP CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER: Good morning.
HUNT: So, that was your evaluation of Tim Walz's skills on the debate stage. It differs remarkably from that of your boss, Donald Trump, who had this to say about Tim Walz.
Watch.
There's a - we're looking for the sound bite of Donald Trump on "Fox Nation" on Monday where he's talking about Tim Walz.
Sorry, Jason, we're having a bit of a technical glitch.
Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He's going up against a moron. A total moron. How she picked him is unbelievable. And I think it's a big factor. There's something wrong with that guy. He's sick. He went into the Michigan game the other day. He got booed out. I went into the Alabama game. The - 120,000 people went crazy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So, Jason, is Tim Walz a moron?
MILLER: Well, two things can be true at the same time here. Again, the Tim Walz that we see on the campaign trail, as he's bouncing around and dancing and pointing to Kamala Harris and looking kind of goofy, is not the Tim Walz that shows up in debates.
And, Kasie, I will tell you, I've watched more debate footage of Tim Walz than anyone should ever be forced to do.
But here's the thing, he's been in office for two decades. J.D. Vance has been in official office for two years. But Tim Walz has been in office for two decades.
He's good. He was in Congress. He's in his second term as governor of the state of Minnesota. When he shows up and hits that stage, he's disciplined, he's on point and he lies through his teeth. And that's the thing that most people who are tuning in tonight, or many of the people I should say, will not have watched Tim Walz bouncing around on the campaign stage. What they will see is tonight they'll see Tim Walz for the first time. And he will come across with very much an awe shucks Minnesota persona. But where he's going to have an issue is, how does he defend his record? How does he defend Kamala Harris' record? And to be honest, he has to defend Joe Biden's record as well.
HUNT: Well, do you think that someone who is a moron can be good on the debate stage? I guess - I guess that's the part I'm tripping on.
MILLER: Well, no, it's a - and, again, two things can be true here, because Tim Walz, when you see the - the issue is that facts are his kryptonite. When he starts getting pressed on the actual issues, how does he go and defend the inflation record of Kamala Harris? How does he defend Kamala Harris allowing 20 million illegals into the country? That's where I see - I think you'll start to see it come unraveling a little bit for Tim Walz.
But on the debate stage, it's almost like a muscle memory. It's like getting back in the gym if you haven't been in, in a while. He knows exactly what to do on that stage. He's well programmed because this has been his life for the past two decades.
And so with all due respect to my - my boss, trust me, when he gets to the debate stage, Tim Walz is going to be good. And J.D. Vance, I think, is going to do very well also. But do not underestimate Tim Walz. It can be much better than people think.
HUNT: Well, I'll just say that we're - we're engaging in some good old-fashioned expectation setting, which is a - a classic campaign tactic, Jason, but let's move on.
You've been in debate prep with J.D. Vance. You've been the main sort of Trump team member that's been involved in that. You mentioned facts. You said they would be Tim Walz's kryptonite.
The facts around what's been going on in Springfield, Ohio, and the things that J.D. Vance have had to say about that, sure to come up on the debate stage tonight. The facts have been that the officials in Springfield have repeatedly told Vance that the things that he's been saying are not true.
What are we going to hear from Vance tonight on that issue on the stage? MILLER: Well, I think Senator Vance is going to use this as an
opportunity to talk about the migrant crisis that's impacting America and the fact that under Kamala Harris every single community around the country has been turned into a border community.
Springfield, Ohio, is a small town. I believe they're approximately, or at least before the influx of migrants, both legal and illegal, there are about 60,000, now there are about 80,000 people or so in the town. And what's happened is that many of these folks who have come were illegal. They were granted TPS, temporary protected status, by Biden and Kamala Harris. And that's created this overwhelming surge on whether it be schools, whether it be hospitals. We see from the hospital, there's - there are things - outbreaks such as tuberculosis, even an HIV increase. A lot of things are really taxing the services. Law enforcement. Migrant crime is out of control.
And - but it's not just Springfield, Ohio, Kasie. You look at Charleroi, Pennsylvania. You look at Prairie du Chien in Wisconsin. These communities that are thousands of miles away from the southern border are now themselves border communities. And that's something that has to change.
[06:55:00]
And again, it's not just legal migrants coming in, it's mainly illegal migrants and also what Kamala Harris has done with TPS, I think, has to be reversed.
HUNT: Well, look, let's just be clear that that - that program was not initially created under the Biden-Harris administration. Thats - that's simply not the case.
MILLER: But - but - but specific - but specific to what's going - happening with Haiti and with Haitians, that was something that Kamala Harris did.
HUNT: Jason, before I let you go, I do want to follow up on something we heard from you on that - that press call, where you referred to Tim Walz as effeminate. That stuck out to me.
Why - why did you use that term?
MILLER: Well, I mean, you look at the way that Tim Walz dances around on the stage. That's just the way that it struck me. And so that was my characterization. And that's Tim Walz's - that's why I said he's kind of goofy, bounces around. He doesn't look like a particularly -
HUNT: Well, goofy and bouncing are not - I mean effeminate is - has a lot of specific connotations to it.
MILLER: Well, goofy and bouncing around. It's not someone who comes across is this alpha male, someone who's a killer that's going to come out there and be sharp on the debate stage. But that's what we're going to see tonight with Tim Walz. Again, not to say that J.D. Vance isn't going to show up and do very well. But Tim Walz will be an absolute killer. He's not going to be this goofy caricature of himself as we normally see when he's on stage and doing the weird pointing thing to Kamala Harris.
Tim Walz is good. I would say the advantage definitely goes to him since he's been doing this for song. Let me tell you where J.D. Vance, though, is going to excel. Where he's going to excel is when he's talking about his humble upbringings, as well as his military service. Also, nobody defends President Trump's record on building a great economy and securing our border better than J.D. Vance. That's where I think the matchup's going to be.
HUNT: J.D. Vance did say recent - at a recent appearance that he didn't think that Kamala Harris' background had any bearing on whether she could fight inflation. Why will he say his background matters here?
MILLER: Well, J.D. Vance, I think is someone who has been impacted by a tough economy. Someone who grew up in very humble circumstances. He tells a story about knowing what it's like to have to grow up and not sure if you're going to have the heat turned on that evening, raised largely by his grandmother. Also someone who spent time in the private sector in business. So, he understands the economy. He understands what we have to do.
And also the other thing too is, I don't think you have to be a Ph.D. to know that what Kamala Harris did with those two votes to increase spending at radical levels launched inflation. I mean that's what it was. It was cutting off the energy with their executive orders and then also with those votes in favor of record spending, that's what did it.
HUNT: I - I still - I mean, if she's going to talk about her middle class upbringing as relevant, and he's going to talk about his lower class, working class upbringing as relevant, I fail to see why they don't both matter in the construct that you've given us, but we're out of time.
Jason Miller, thank you very much for coming on today. I really appreciate it.
MILLER: Yes, thanks, Kasie.
HUNT: All right, 57 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup.
New overnight, nearly 50,000 dock workers from Maine to Texas are now on strike. Workers hit the picket line shortly after midnight. The strike could cause serious disruption to the flow of goods at almost all ports from Maine to Texas.
Major League Baseball's all-time hit king has died. Pete Rose, best known for his grit and his hustle in his 24 season career, 18 of those years spent with the Cincinnati Reds, but, of course, a gambling scandal and his refusal to own up to it cost him a spot in the Hall of Fame. "Charlie Hustle" was 83-years-old.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul weighing in on the federal charges surrounding Mayor Eric Adams. She said in a private phone call, he needs to clean house. However, she's not asked Adams to resign. Instead, she makes clear that Adams needs to work on regaining the trust of New York residents.
And now I will leave you with this. Today, President Jimmy Carter turns 100.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY CARTER, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT (1976): Hi, Governor Carter from Georgia.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How you doing?
CARTER: I'm running for president. I want to ask you to help me next year.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: He's the first president to reach triple digits. Carter was sworn in as the 39th president of the United States in 1977. During his first and only term, he created the departments of Energy and Education, as well as FEMA. Maybe most notably, he oversaw the Camp David Accords, an historic peace agreement between Egypt and Israel.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY CARTER, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT (September 5, 1978): We are privileged to witness tonight a significant achievement in the cause of peace.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: After leaving office, Carter dedicated the rest of his life to helping others. Since 1984, Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, donated a week of his time each year to Habitat for Humanity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY CARTER, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT (October 7, 2013): Hard working, unpredictable, adventurous, challenging, but always gratifying.
We've never had - never have been on a habitat project that we didn't get more out of it than we put into it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: But when asked what he considered his biggest accomplishment, he said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY CARTER, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT (August 20, 2015): Well, the best thing I ever did was marrying Rosalynn. That - that's the pinnacle of my life.
(END VIDEO CLIP) [07:00:03]
HUNT: So, happy 100th birthday, Mr. President.
Senator Jones, 100 years. I mean, what a legacy he has. He's been in hospice for a year.
JONES: Yes, no, it's - it's really remarkable. And I think, you know, people today forget a lot about Jimmy Carter from the 1960s and the 1970s, when he really was one of the first southern governors to really talk about racial relations and ending discrimination. People forget about his views on the environment and climate.
HUNT: Yes.
JONES: That FEMA, right now we're seeing what happened. FEMA was - was started because Jimmy Carter saw what the federal government could do to help people.
HUNT: Indeed he did.
JONES: He was a remarkable individual.
HUNT: Remarkable. He still is a remarkable man.
JONES: Still is a remarkable individual.
HUNT: Happy birthday, Mr. President.
Thanks to our panel. Thank you guys for joining us as well.
I'm Kasie Hunt. Don't go anywhere. CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.
