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23 Million Under Warnings & Watches For Hermine; Donald Trump's Outreach To Black Voters; NY Times: Script Of Trump's Q&A With Pastor Leaked. Aired 7:30-8a ET
Aired September 02, 2016 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[07:30:00] POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It had been about 11 years, since October 24, 2005, that Florida got a hurricane that made landfall so there was some concern that people, perhaps, had forgotten about how powerful a category one hurricane could be. Also, a lot of people have moved to Florida since then so they may not have experienced what that kind of storm could do.
Fortunately, again, as the sun starts to come out and crews get a clear picture of how extensive the damage was, it does not look like it was nearly as bad as it could have been, Alisyn.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: That's good. That's a big relief for us. Thank you for that. So there are more than 23 million people, though, under storm watches and warnings for this tropical storm, Hermine. Where is the storm heading now and what impact will it have on your holiday weekend? Let's bring in CNN meteorologist Chad Myers -- he joins us. How's it looking at this hour, Chad?
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, where it's heading, Alisyn, is to a -- many, many more areas with more people. All of the sudden, now, we've moved through Tallahassee with 100,000 people there. That was really the major city that took a hit. But now we're moving into Savannah, Charleston, the Cape Hatteras area, all the way up North Carolina. And for that matter, all the way up to Sandy Hook.
Here it goes. By Wednesday and Thursday of next week we have no idea where it's going to be. I get that. This is the unknown that Dr. Knabb was talking about when it gets to the north. But I'm going to take you to the why. There is the low. There is Hermine -- it's still going to have a name at this point in time -- but it runs into a high to the north. That high is going to say not so fast. You can't go anywhere, you have to stay right there.
So now I'm going to take you to the wind gusts. This is the European model wind gusts. They go back and forth a little bit but I think the Europeans have done a pretty good job so I'll go with it. This is Saturday, 4:00 a.m. Winds at Cape Hatteras 55 to 60. And this is what Dr. Knabb was talking about -- how this storm will refuse to move.
Now we're Sunday, 1:00. Atlanta City, you have wind gusts 35 to 40. It gets a little bit closer Sunday night and into Monday and all of a sudden this storm is still sitting in the same place. And now I'm up to Monday afternoon, Monday night, and it just continues. The rain is going to continue. If this thing is any closer than way out here in the ocean, those winds will be much higher, the rainfalls will be much higher, and it is going to be a washout, one way or the other.
I don't need you in the water at all anywhere along the Atlantic beaches this weekend. The rip currents will be, maybe, to some kind of record, I don't know. It will be ugly out there with waves 10 to 15 feet, maybe water higher than it should be, and those rip currents just taking those sandbars and ripping them away, John.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: All right, Chad Myers for us. Hopefully, we'll pay attention to these warnings because they are very, very serious.
The island of Cedar Key, in Florida, feeling the force of the storm. Joining us now by phone, the city's police chief, Virgil Sandlin. Chief, thanks so much for being with us. Give us a sense of how it looks around you right now.
VIRGIL SANDLIN, POLICE CHIEF, CEDAR KEY, FLORIDA (via telephone): We are pretty well devastated down here. Businesses that have not had any substantial damage -- in my 32 years, anyway -- they're either destroyed or have major damage.
BERMAN: Pretty well devastated. What was it? Was it the wind or the water -- the rains? We heard that there could be an enormous storm surge on your island. What happened overnight?
SANDLIN: The storm surge got up to nine MSL. They were predicting anywhere from nine to 11. It got up to nine.
BERMAN: Up to nine feet of storm surge there right now. Are people out assessing the damage? Are people able to get out?
SANDLIN: Well, the ones that left the island, we're not letting them back on the island. The ones that are on the island, we're telling them to shelter down in place so we can get everything assessed.
BERMAN: Any reports of injuries or anyone hurt, in trouble, overnight?
SANDLIN: Not that we've had. We had -- we did have a structure fire during the night but no one was hurt in that.
BERMAN: Power where you are on the island or is that just out?
SANDLIN: It's intermittent. There's certain areas that have it and there's certain areas that -- most areas that did not -- that does not have power is a result of trees falling down across the lines.
BERMAN: What's your biggest need this morning, Chief?
SANDLIN: I wouldn't even know where to start, like I say. We have plenty of -- we've got law enforcement coming so we're going to have -- it will be secure. Our biggest priority right now is getting DOT to evaluate our bridges and make sure we can bring the equipment in to start our clean-up process. BERMAN: Chief, you told me it's pretty well devastated this morning.
We can't see pictures yet because we can't get cameras out to where you are on Cedar Key, but I wonder if you can describe for us what it looks like. What the downtown area is there. If these buildings are flooded out, if the structures remain standing.
[07:35:00] SANDLIN: We have residents that have the -- just the walls tore off the front of them. On Dock Street, the majority of the businesses down there -- they don't have a front anymore. The water come through the back door and went out the front and just tore everything to pieces. But they -- it's going to be a long healing process, I can tell you that.
BERMAN: How long before you know that the worst is over?
SANDLIN: Well, we're relying on you guys and we're hoping that the worst is over. Like -- it's just the clean-up process now.
BERMAN: All right, Chief Virgil Sandlin on Cedar Key, who is looking out his window and telling us things pretty well devastated there. They had a storm surge upwards of nine feet on that island. We'll get cameras out there. We want to get help out there, too, if we can. We appreciate you being with us, Chief.
SANDLIN: Thank you.
CAMEROTA: So, of course, John, the storm is on the move. We're keeping an eye on where it is heading next because it affects everybody up and down the East Coast. So keep it here and Chad Myers will show you what the models are telling him.
Also, if you're wondering what Donald Trump will say to an African- American audience this weekend, we have a preview. His script has been leaked. That's next.
[07:36:25] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:39:50] BERMAN: All right, the breaking news this morning, tropical storm Hermine just drenching the southeast. The storm made landfall in Florida as a hurricane a few hours ago. It brought damaging winds and torrential rains.
(Video playing) These are live pictures from Savannah, Georgia right now. The storm is moving over Georgia right now bringing dangerous levels of rainfall. More than 100,000 people without power in Florida. That number is going to grow as it moves across Georgia and the Carolinas. Just moments ago we talked to the police chief in Cedar Key, Florida. He told us his island pretty well devastated, so we are just getting a sense of the damage that's been done.
Twenty-three million people along the East Coast under watches and warnings this morning. The forecast uncertain and potentially dangerous, so we're going to have much more on this storm throughout the morning -- Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: All right, Donald Trump is set to visit a black church in Detroit tomorrow. He will address the crowd there after giving an interview to the only African-American-owned Christian T.V. station. However, the interviewer's questions and Trump's prepared answers were leaked to "The New York Times" and now we have them here.
So joining us to discuss all of this is former Detroit mayor Dennis Archer and Rev. Darrell Scott. Gentlemen, thanks so much for being here. Let's talk about what your expectations are for this weekend and Donald Trump's visit.
"The New York Times" did get their hands on copies of the questions that were submitted to Donald Trump in advance. That happens from time to time -- not from journalists but from, certainly, friendly interviewers -- as well as the answers that his campaign prepared for him and what they'd like him to say to this black audience. So let me just read you a couple and then get your responses.
Here is one that everyone has been interested in. The reverend at the church will ask Mr. Trump, "Mr. Trump, there is a perception that your administration is racist. With many of the African-American voters, their belief is that the Republican Party, as a whole, does not cater to African-American needs." That's just an excerpt.
Here is the answer that the campaign would like Mr. Trump to say. "Well, the proof, as they say, will be in the pudding. Coming into a community is meaningless unless we can offer an alternative to the horrible progressive agenda that has perpetuated a permanent underclass in America."
Mayor, let me start with you. How will those go over?
DENNIS ARCHER, FORMER MAYOR OF DETRIOT: I don't think it's going to make any difference whatsoever. If you consider that Donald Trump, from the outset of his campaign for the last 14-18 months, has not said anything whatsoever about doing anything for minorities or people who are in need.
He only has addressed it just recently within the last week or two, and in so doing he is going to communities in the suburban communities of several cities where there are absolutely -- or a very small one percent of their population happens to be either African-American or Hispanic. And so, he's not talked to the community in which he would like to get votes from.
CAMEROTA: Sure.
ARCHER: He's not going to get votes.
CAMEROTA: Reverend Scott, you're a Donald Trump supporter and, of course, a friend also of Bishop Wayne Jackson, who will be conducting this interview this weekend. Is this long overdue? Why has it taken Donald Trump so long to address an African-American audience?
REV. DARRELL SCOTT, FOUNDER & SR. PASTOR, NEW SPIRIT REVIVAL CENTER: Well, actually, our engagement with Donald Trump began well over a year ago. We've been engaged with him. We had a meeting with him in New York last July-August of 2015. We met with him and several African-American leaders.
From there, we met with him again in Atlanta with over 50 African- American leaders. And then we went back to New York with over 100 pastors to meet with Donald Trump -- African-Americans. And, in fact, Terry Arnold, the president of the Impact Network, was in attendance with us.
CAMEROTA: OK.
SCOTT: So he's been on the schedule to make this appearance on the Impact Network. This is not something that was done as a reactionary movement. We've been on the schedule. Since last December, he's promised that he would make this appearance on the Impact Network and now it has now made it to the schedule.
And, you know, they sent him questions. It's standard operating procedure to receive pre-interview questions. And then --
CAMEROTA: I mean, not from journalists. Just so that we're clear, not from journalists. But, obviously, in a friendly audience it's fine. I agree. There's nothing -- there's nothing sketchy about giving the questions.
SCOTT: This is for -- you know, Wayne Jackson -- Bishop Wayne Jackson is not only a pastor, he happens to be the CEO of the largest African- American owned and operated gospel network in America.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
SCOTT: So he's acting in the role of a broadcaster rather than as a pastor in this interview.
CAMEROTA: That's fine. The part that --
SCOTT: And he's giving them --
CAMEROTA: Yes. Sorry to interrupt you, Reverend, but the only part --
SCOTT: -- to him. And the one thing you know about Donald Trump --
CAMEROTA: Yes.
SCOTT: Can you imagine Donald Trump memorizing all that stuff you just read? These are not the specific questions, these are the types of questions that he will be asked and this is the type of response that he would give. But we can't -- we know full well Donald Trump is not going to memorize that long --
CAMEROTA: Yes.
SCOTT: -- statement that was just made, and remember it and say it on the air.
CAMEROTA: OK, so in order words you see this --
SCOTT: And he's not going to have a Teleprompter.
CAMEROTA: -- as more of a guideline from his campaign rather than verbatim.
SCOTT: Yes.
CAMEROTA: OK, that's fair.
SCOTT: Yes.
CAMEROTA: Let's look at -- let's look at another one because this is something else that comes up, obviously, with Donald Trump. So Bishop Jackson will ask "Are you a Christian and do you believe the Bible is an inspired word of God?"
What his campaign would like him to say is "As I went through my life things got busy with business but my family kept me grounded to the truth and the word of God. I treasure my relationship with my family and through them I have strong faith enriched by an ever-wonderful God." Mayor, are you comfortable with that answer?
ARCHER: Whatever his answer's going to be is going to be there. But you go to the barbershops, you go to -- listen, Rosa Parks lived in the city of Detroit. People are very in tune and have a long memory about what has not been said and what has been said.
So whatever he says at Bishop Wayne T. Jackson's interview is just going to be there. It's not going to get the kind of response that he wants. He's already hurt himself as it relates to the city of Detroit and communities like ours --
CAMEROTA: Yes.
ARCHER: -- throughout the United States --
CAMEROTA: Reverend --
ARCHER: -- for the reasons that -- for example, in the city of Detroit we've got a wonderful working relationship with our Hispanic population.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
ARCHER: We all work together. The same with the Middle Eastern community.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
ARCHER: The metropolitan area of the city of Detroit has the largest Middle Eastern population outside of the Middle East, itself. One of -- in my administration, for example, I had an imam who has served exceedingly well.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
ARCHER: So there's a lot of respect. You can't say the kinds of negative things that Mr. Trump has said --
CAMEROTA: Yes.
ARCHER: -- and then come out in the last several weeks and assume somebody's going to roll over for it. It's not going to happen.
CAMEROTA: Yes. Reverend Scott, how do you respond to that, that he feels there are people who feel it's too little, too late? So just respond to that.
SCOTT: Listen, listen, Detroit is in bad shape. Now, I don't know what Mayor Archer said about his administration, but whatever he's saying, Detroit is in bad shape. It's in bad shape economically, it's in bad shape as far as crime is concerned.
And so you have a candidate that's saying I want to improve the condition of the city economically, I want to improve the condition of the city as far as crime is concerned, you can't turn a deaf ear to that, whoever it is.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
ARCHER: Reverend Scott, I believe -- you know, I agree --
SCOTT: These same -- these same arguments --
ARCHER: I agree with your --
SCOTT: These same arguments --
ARCHER: I agree with your talking about --
SCOTT: I didn't interrupt you. I didn't interrupt you, man --
ARCHER: But the reality of it is, is that there is not --
SCOTT: -- so you --
(Crosstalk)
CAMEROTA: Mayor -- Mayor -- hold on one second, Mr. Mayor.
SCOTT: -- needs help and you have someone to say I'm going to be put in a position to help Detroit --
CAMEROTA: OK.
SCOTT: -- and the areas that it most needs help. He bailed out the auto -- I mean, he's going -- he didn't bail out the auto industry. What I'm saying is he's had a working relationship with the auto industry in order to stimulate the American auto industry. He wants to do that by curbing these imports.
CAMEROTA: OK.
SCOTT: So, I mean, I don't understand -- CAMEROTA: You've made your point, Rev. Scott. OK, Mr. Mayor, just respond to the fact that Detroit is in big trouble.
SCOTT: It is.
ARCHER: It is not in big trouble. He's not been here at all.
SCOTT: What? What are you going to get out of Trump?
CAMEROTA: Hold on, Rev. Scott.
ARCHER: We've essentially been out of bankruptcy.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
ARCHER: The city of Detroit has been booming. You cannot bring a car to downtown Detroit and find a place to lease a car. You cannot buy, rent, lease a condominium -- you can't --
SCOTT: So you're saying Detroit is back and Detroit doesn't need any more help?
ARCHER: Oh, no.
SCOTT: Are you saying Detroit is all the way back?
ARCHER: Every -- every --
SCOTT: OK, then. Then it needs help.
ARCHER: Every city -- Rev. Scott, every city needs help --
SCOTT: OK.
ARCHER: -- but you don't need the kind of help where somebody is going to say if I get into office, wait until you see the kind of Supreme Court Justice I'm going to support -- appoint to the United States Supreme Court.
CAMEROTA: OK.
ARCHER: Our city doesn't need -- or in my view --
CAMEROTA: Yes, quickly.
ARCHER: -- America does not need another Mr. Justice Antonin Scalia for the Supreme Court.
SCOTT: America needs a conservative Supreme Court Justice.
(Crosstalk)
CAMEROTA: Gentlemen, thank you. Thank you, gentlemen, we're out of time.
(Crosstalk) CAMEROTA: Thank you, gentlemen.
ARCHER: That's the reason why he's going to lose and you're on the wrong side.
SCOTT: If he's going to lose, what you so nervous about him coming to Detroit for?
CAMEROTA: Gentlemen, you've made your point. We understand your very heated feelings on both sides.
ARCHER: I'm not nervous about him coming to Detroit.
CAMEROTA: Reverend Scott --
SCOTT: You say you're nervous.
ARCHER: It doesn't make any difference.
CAMEROTA: -- Mayor Archer --
SCOTT: If it don't make a difference then what you --
CAMEROTA: Gentlemen, thank you. Thank you very much. We'll be watching very closely what happens in Detroit this weekend, gentlemen. Thank you. Let's get over to John.
BERMAN: All right, Alisyn, thanks so much. We are keeping a close eye on tropical storm Hermine, over Georgia right now. (Video playing) You're looking at live pictures.
Plus, the Hillary Clinton you don't know. CNN is getting up close and personal with the candidate. That's next.
[07:49:35] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:53:25] CAMEROTA: All right, we want to get you up-to-date on this morning's breaking news. Hermine making landfall on the Florida Panhandle with hurricane force just a few hours ago. The storm now weakened to a tropical storm but more than 23 million people along the East Coast are still under watches and warnings at this hour.
The center of Hermine now over Georgia with 70 mile per hour winds, and more than 100,000 customers are without power in just the Tallahassee area. So we will keep you posted throughout the morning as the storm moves up the coast.
BERMAN: All right, Hillary Clinton, she's been making headlines since her time as a student at Wellesley College where she gave the first political speech of her life. Now we're getting an in-depth look at her life in a two-hour documentary, "UNFINISHED BUSINESS: THE ESSENTIAL HILLARY CLINTON".
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CARL BERNSTEIN, HILLARY CLINTON BIOGRAPHER: There had been no tradition of a student speaker at Wellesley but the student body insisted that there be one and they chose Hillary.
PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: She was scheduled to speak at commencement after the invited guest, Republican Sen. Edward Brooke of Massachusetts.
BERNSTEIN: And he gave a speech that was dismissive and patronizing about the anti-war movement, about what students were going through in the country.
JANET HILL, WELLESLEY COLLEGE CLASSMATE: There was polite applause, but mostly from our parents. Then Hillary spoke.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And it is a great pleasure to present to this audience, Ms. Hillary Rodham. (Applause)
HILL: She got up and discarded her prepared and vetted remarks and spoke extemporaneously.
HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, SPEAKING AT WELLESLEY COLLEGE COMMENCEMENT, CLASS OF '69: We've had lots of empathy, we've had lots of sympathy but we feel that for too long our leaders have viewed politics as the art of the possible. And the challenge now is to practice politics as the art of making what appears to be impossible, possible.
[07:55:00] PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: While the administration was stricken by Hillary's rebuttal, the students erupted in applause.
HILL: I'll tell you what, we were ecstatic. We gave her a standing ovation. We were so proud of her.
PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: The following week, Hillary Rodham made national headlines for the very first time.
BERNSTEIN: It got tremendous attention. "LIFE" magazine did a story on her and her political future.
PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: And her future appeared wide open.
HILL: Someone put a sheet of paper in the dorm predicting things about different people. They predicted I would marry a football player. The only thing written in about Hillary was that she would be the first female president of the United States -- 1969.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: All right, one of the voices you heard there, that of CNN justice correspondent Pamela Brown. She is behind this documentary. She joins us right now. And you spent a lot of time working on this looking into the Hillary Clinton that we don't know, which has been a big part of this campaign. They've tried to introduce us to the other side of Hillary Clinton. What were you most surprised by?
BROWN: That's right. You know, she's been in the public eye for so long, but at the same time, John, she is still somewhat of an enigma. And so what we tried to do was peel back the layers and learn about her on the personal side of things. And I actually learned a lot about Hillary Clinton.
I mean, you saw there in that clip, she was really a rising star, even before she met Bill Clinton at Yale Law School. And what struck me was that she was holding back when he asked her to marry -- when he asked her to marry him several times because it was so clear he wanted to be in politics and she told me she wasn't sure if she wanted to be in politics. That was actually making her hesitant to marry him, initially, which is so interesting. You look at her now and she's now running for president.
And then you learned things about -- you know, little things. How she was as a roommate. One of her roommates told us that she didn't make her bed. I mean, little things like that you think this detail- oriented policy wonk isn't making her bed.
And what was really interesting to me, too, is I asked her what was the hardest moment when she was in the White House as first lady? Was it the impeachment proceedings against her husband? Was it Whitewater? Was it the failed health care initiative? She said none of those was the hardest moment. You'll have to tune in Monday to see what it was.
BERMAN: And also, you got a chance to talk to Chelsea Clinton, which I think is fascinating, along with Hillary Clinton, to get some of that mother-daughter relationship there. I think we have a little bit of sound that we have time to play right now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: What about your mom? What was she like when you would bring boys home?
CHELSEA CLINTON, DAUGHTER OF HILLARY CLINTON: Well, she already knew all about them, you know. I was so close to my mom that she had already kind of asked me, even grilled me, kind of anything and everything she felt like she needed to know.
H. CLINTON: I remember one boy she brought and he was through that stage where he was wearing a baseball cap the whole time. And I finally told him. I said you have to take off your baseball cap. You're in the White House and we're going to have dinner and you cannot sit at the table with your baseball cap on. So it was just being a regular mom.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: I'm sure that's exactly what Chelsea Clinton wanted to discuss -- the boy she brought home to see her mom, right there. But it is interesting to hear them both talking about it.
BROWN: Yes, you know, it is. And you learn a lot about the special relationship that Chelsea and Hillary shared. I mean, Hillary really went to great lengths to keep Chelsea sheltered, to keep her grounded. And the irony is she made Chelsea make her bed every morning, made her clean her room. I mean, really tried to instill values in her to make sure that she grew up to be a good person, a normal person.
BERMAN: I've asked this to the Clinton campaign staff for a year and one-half now, which is they keep on saying that we don't know the real Hillary Clinton? Does she have any insights as to why -- why we keep being told that we don't necessarily know what makes her tick?
BROWN: You know, I asked her. I asked her about that and also just the poll numbers showing, you know -- she was very popular as Secretary of State and then her poll numbers have plummeted. Of course, the email controversy didn't help. But she said look, I take personal responsibility. Clearly, I'm not communicating effectively and that's something that I need to work on.
BERMAN: Really, really interesting. We look forward to seeing this. Pamela Brown, thanks so much. Be sure to watch "UNFINISHED BUSINESS: THE ESSENTIAL HILLARY CLINTON". This is Monday at 8:00 p.m. It is followed by "ALL BUSINESS: THE ESSENTIAL DONALD TRUMP". We have it all going on. That's at 10:00 Eastern right here on CNN.
We are following a lot of news so let's get right to it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.
CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone, welcome to your new day. We do begin with breaking news for you. (Video playing) You're looking at some live pictures here as this tropical storm, Hermine, has been battering the southeast at this hour. These are live pictures of the heavy rain from Savannah's International Airport.
The storm making landfall just a few hours ago as a hurricane and that happened south of Tallahassee, Florida. One hundred thousand people there are still without power this morning.
BERMAN: Yes, this is the first hurricane to hit Florida in more than a decade, and that was just the beginning, right?
