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Florida Braces for Direct Hit from Hurricane Matthew; Trump Latches Onto Bill Clinton's Obamacare Critique; Obama's Approval Ratings a Positive for Clinton; How Will Hurricane Matthew Impact 2016 Race? Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired October 06, 2016 - 06:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. it is Thursday, October 6, 6 a.m. in the East, and we do begin with that breaking news. The state of Florida bracing for a direct hit from Hurricane Matthew. Millions of people urged to evacuate as this powerful storm intensifies and heads towards the East Coast. More than 26 million people are now under watches and warnings in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.

[05:558:46] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Local officials in Florida are saying that they're not getting the kind of response they need to the evacuation efforts and the preparation efforts. This is not a time to take chances. This could be the worst hurricane to ever hit Florida's space coast, the right side, so -- the east side.

So residents, look what's going on in the stores. I mean, this is what we see when you're getting ready for a major hurricane. But it's also an indication of what won't be there for you if you decide to stay behind.

Matthew right now slamming into the Bahamas, already proving deadly. Fifteen people have lost their lives.

Let's begin our team coverage with Hurricane Matthew. We have CNN's Boris Sanchez, live in Daytona Beach. Boris, what are you seeing in terms of preparations and people taking this seriously?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Chris, people certainly have to take this seriously. More than 2 million people are under evacuation orders this morning. It's going to be the largest mandatory evacuation, potentially, since Hurricane Sandy back in 2012.

All along the coast, there are mandatory evacuation orders. North of us in Flagler County, here in Volusia county, and south of us in Brevard and St. Lucie counties, as well.

All along the beach here we've seen businesses that are boarded up. Our hotel is actually boarded up right now, and they have sand bags outside, because the biggest concern for areas along the coast here is that storm surge.

We're talking about 125-plus-mile-an-hour winds that are picking up water from the ocean and just slamming it into the coast. So obviously, another major concern has to be flooding, as well. The governor, Rick Scott, yesterday saying that people really shouldn't pay attention necessarily to where, exactly, this hurricane is going to make landfall, but rather, they should prepare for a direct hit just about anywhere.

We're starting to feel the storm surge right now, as sand and water gets picked up and starts hitting us here in Daytona Beach. We're going to keep monitoring the situation and keep you updated, Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Boris, I'll be seeing you soon.

Florida's governor is urging coastal residents to heed the calls to evacuate. We're already seeing long lines at gas stations and empty store shelves as Hurricane Matthew bears down on the state.

The first effects of the storm are going to be felt tonight in parts of southern Florida. It's tomorrow morning when we're really going to have to see what the situation is.

We find CNN's Nick Valencia live in West Palm Beach -- Nick.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris.

It is already an eerie feeling here on the beach in West Palm. This community, which has been bracing for potential devastation for the last several days, it seems now more than ever it is eminent.

As we got here yesterday, one of the local Wal-Marts in this community was empty of some of the bare essentials. No bread, no water. We saw a lot of nervous families going through the aisles, trying to get their hands on essentials that were left behind, anyway.

Out in the streets, more eerie signs. We saw a gas station closed without gas. So Florida's governor, Rick Scott, says that there's enough supply to get through this hurricane.

This community where we are at, under a mandatory evacuation since 6 p.m. yesterday, thought there are still some residents who have decided to stay behind. This morning we spoke to the police. They say those that do stay behind will be on their own -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK. Thanks so much for that update.

Airlines, we should say, have canceled more than 1,500 flights ahead of Hurricane Matthew. That number, of course, will certainly go up as the storm heads towards Florida.

As for trains, Amtrak is suspending service in the southeast, urging customers to check their train's status and also review refund information before heading out.

CUOMO: So obviously, the ominous question is what do the next 24 hours hold? We have CNN meteorologist Chad Myers tracking the storm for us.

Chad, what do we need to know?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The storm gained strength overnight. It's now up to 125. When it makes a run at Ft. Lauderdale/West Palm/Ft. Pierce, it's going to be 145. We have not seen that type of intensity at the space coast in recent memory. There's nobody on the space coast that can think of, "Oh, my gosh, I'm going to see 145." We had Jean; we had Charlie; we had Francis all in one year. But this is not just going to be a one-storm or one-city event.

That right there, that's a Category 4. One hundred and forty-five miles, hugging the coast, doing damage the entire time it's up the coast. All the way to Jacksonville and finally dying off, if you want to say that, to 110.

I can't stress enough that, if you live in these areas, it's time to go now before the roads are jammed. Get to the west. You need to get out of there. This will be a major hurricane impact here tomorrow morning, even like about 2 a.m. will be the landfall, if there is such a thing. Even if we don't get the middle of the eye, the eye wall will be on shore. That's the most important part; that's the most damaging part. So don't focus on the center of the line. Focus on what the eye wall will be. And how much damage a Category 4, 145- mile-per-hour storm will do to that coastline.

Now, eventually, it turns out to the sea and moves away. Something else, it's going to be very heavy rainfall. Every time the rain comes in, the winds are going to pick up again. There are gusts in this storm of about 150 to 155. No one there can imagine what that feels like. No one there has ever experienced that.

CUOMO: Chad, that's a good point. They're all good points. But because we haven't had one hit Florida, hit this region, hit the space coast in recent memory, as you say.

MYERS: Sure.

CUOMO: Just put some substance to the numbers of what this storm can do to what it touches.

MYERS: You know, I saw what Charlie did to Punta Gorda, to all of the mobile homes that are parked there. Beautiful little places on canals. There are many mobile homes on these outer islands, on these barrier islands, and they will not take 145-mile-per-hour wind. Absolutely, you cannot stay there.

So people need to leave the coast. They need to go to the west or to the northwest and away. There are so many structures that have never felt this. There are landowners that haven't boarded up, because they don't live there. It's only a partial time community. There will be parts of the beach that are gone. There will be homes that are gone. There will be condos with significant wind damage, windows blown out. Storm surge of nine feet. If your house is less than nine feet above sea level, you're going to have water in it; and these waves will be almost 20 feet high on top of that, Chris.

CAMEROTA: OK, Chad, I'll take it. Thanks so much. We'll check back with you, obviously, throughout the program.

One of the counties, the Florida counties under evacuation is Brevard County. As you heard, that is Florida's space coast.

[06:05:04] Joining us now is Tom Bartosik (ph). He's the public information officer for the Brevard County Office of Emergency Management.

Good morning, Tom.

TOM BARTOSIK (ph), PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER, BREVARD COUNTY OFFICE OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT (via phone): Good morning, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: What's happening at this hour?

BARTOSIK (PH): We are -- the Brevard County EOC's priorities are to support the evacuation orders that are in effect to help our special needs people that are on the special needs registry to get to the shelters, and to make sure that all the operating -- the shelters are operating correctly.

CAMEROTA: Tom, we see here your most recent update, 400 people are in shelters. That doesn't sound like enough. Are there still people who are thinking they can ride it out at home?

BARTOSIK (PH): We hope not. We do still have plenty of room in the shelters. So, if people have not evacuated yet, we are encouraging them to do so. And we would like everybody to be evacuated by 5 p.m. this afternoon.

CAMEROTA: Governor Rick Scott says that Florida could be facing its evacuation ever. Tom, I mean, this is -- it's hard to put this into context, because you know, we're all so used to thinking that Florida knows how to handle hurricanes. You guys are no strangers, obviously, to hurricanes. Why is this one in a different category?

BARTOSIK (PH): Because it is so large, and it's been so long since we've had a storm event like this. We've had a lot of new residents that have come into the state and come into our county, so people have not experienced it. They are not exactly sure what to do.

So we're trying to educate them to do the right thing and to evacuate and make sure that they're safe.

CAMEROTA: Yes. And that is why you're trying to get the word out here on our program. So, how will you have a sense of -- if -- whether or not people are still in their homes?

BARTOSIK (PH): I am not sure. I don't know the answer to that question.

CAMEROTA: We just had Chad Myers on the program, and he said that he's looking at, you know, obviously, this could make landfall where it's a Category 4 and that winds are up to 140 miles per hour. What would that look like in Brevard County? Tell us the landscape there and what would be so dangerous? BARTOSIK (PH): Well, we have -- it's not a very high county. I mean,

we're not very high, sea-level-wise. So, I am sure we will have extensive damage if the eye even comes close to us.

Of course, we're the home of the Kennedy Space Center and Port Canaveral. So the port has been evacuated. Kennedy Space Center is pretty much evacuated. There are no tours at the Kennedy Space Center visitor complex for the next couple of days. So it could be very extensive and very bad for us.

CAMEROTA: Yes. There's a lot of cruise ships, also, around in that area and, of course, mobile homes. And, Tom, last we were just seeing the lines of traffic of people trying to evacuate. How is the evacuation going?

BARTOSIK (PH): As far as I know, it's under way. I haven't heard anything about road conditions locally. I have heard that it's -- yesterday and last evening it was very busy heading west on 528 and 520, the main roads over to the Orlando area.

CAMEROTA: Yes, that is what we're looking at.

BARTOSIK (PH): I'm not sure what conditions are like right now.

CAMEROTA: Yes. Tom, best of luck.

BARTOSIK (PH): Thank you.

CAMEROTA: We are thinking of you, and we will check back with you. Thanks so much for being on NEW DAY.

BARTOSIK (PH): Thank you.

CUOMO: All right. We're going to stay on Hurricane Matthew throughout the morning. We're going to be giving live updates from the National Hurricane Center.

We're also going to be following the 2016 race, of course. You've got Donald Trump's campaign calling Bill Clinton one of their best surrogates. Why would they say this? Tell you what: there could be a headache coming from Hillary Clinton.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:13:02] CUOMO: You never know what's going to happen in this election. You've got Clinton and Trump testing the waters for different attack lines that they may use in this next big debate on Sunday, right?

Well, Donald Trump just got a gift from the Clinton campaign. They have a new great surrogate, as they're calling him. You know who it is? Former President Bill Clinton. Why? We're going to tell you.

Let's discuss with "Washington Post" reporters Philip Bump and Abby Phillip. Good to have you both here. Let's play what former President Bill Clinton said about Obamacare out on the hustings. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You've got this crazy system, where all of a sudden 25 million people have health care, and then the people that are out there busting it, sometimes 60 hours a week, wind up with their premiums doubled and their coverage cut in half. It's the craziest thing in the world.

I strongly supported that bill, and it's given people more 20 million people more insurance. But there are problems with it. There are problems with it. And everybody knows it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Now, the phones lit up from Clinton people after the sound went out there from the president, which is not that unusual. Right? And they're saying he supports the bill. It's not perfect. They've always said it's not perfect.

But for him to detail that it is flawed and the group that it is squeezing is really the group in play in this election right now, people working, but kind of on the margins, you know. Not poor, not wealthy enough where the costs don't matter. How big a deal is this?

PHILIP BUMP, "WASHINGTON POST": I mean, I think we'll see over the course of time how big a deal it is. I think it's partly a problem simply because Obamacare has been something that the Republican Party has been focused on and that Donald Trump has been focused on.

And having Bill Clinton, of all people, come out and say, "Hey, this is something that" -- you know, I think the pejorative of "crazy," I don't think he meant that it was, the entire thing was broken and terrible. I think he simply was using his colorful language in the very Bill Clinton speaking off-the-cuff sort of way.

I don't know that this is going to move a lot of opinions, in part because opinions are so polarized already. Essentially half the country likes Obamacare; half the country hates Obamacare. I'm not sure who in the middle is going to be pushed one direction.

[06:15:08] CAMEROTA: But he said it's the craziest thing in the world, Abby. I mean, this is way off-message. Why would Bill Clinton insert this into one of his stump speeches?

ABBY PHILLIP, REPORTER "WASHINGTON POST": Well, you know, I think the second version of what he said was probably closer to what the campaign might have wanted him to go for.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

PHILLIP: But I mean, the Clintons have been saying for a long time, "We've got to fix it; we've got to fix it." They just don't always get the specific and kind of the talking points around it. Talking about people who are busting it, working 60 hours a week. That really plays into Republican hands. But at the same time, the good news for Hillary Clinton is that, of

all people, Bernie Sanders helped her get to a place where she could be critical, a little bit more critical of this law, which makes it easier for her to offer solutions to this problem.

I don't actually necessarily think that what the plan that she's put forward actually deals with this issue of cost, which is huge around Obamacare. But it -- but she has an open window to do that at this point.

CUOMO: You know, look, the main problem is Obamacare, the ACA is very complicated. Took me 2 1/2 weeks to get through all the documents of it, just so I had a basic understanding of it.

The president is right, Bill Clinton, about what he's saying the problem is. But there's another story line here that we have to see if the Clintons try to play to advantage with their campaign, which is the reason that this group is still struggling, finding its place is because there's no accommodation by the GOP in Congress. They won't work on any fixes to the system. They've tried, what, 47 times just to throw out Obamacare. Failed every time. But they won't fix it. Does that matter, as well?

BUMP: I think it does matter from the standpoint of when you're looking at the policy and the positive and negative effects of a policy, that does matter. That's a level of complexity. It took you 15 seconds to just articulate that. It's absolutely correct. You're absolutely right. But it takes a long time to explain what the actual problem is and the politics that are driving it.

And I think everyone understands Republicans are trying to throw out Obamacare. I don't think people understand why Obamacare is struggling in the way that it's struggling and the way that politics plays into that. And I think it takes too long to explain that, to have it be coming up in the next month.

CAMEROTA: So people don't love Obamacare, but they do like President Obama. We have the new approval ratings. This just out. He's at 55 percent approval; 44 percent disapprove.

And just for some context, that -- we can look at where other presidents were at this point in their term. President Obama, 55. President Bush, 27. President Clinton, 58. Reagan, 54.

Abby, what does this mean for the election?

PHILLIPS: Well, it's almost as if President Obama's approval rating and the approval rating of the two party nominees are moving in opposite directions.

But for that reason, it just means that he's going to be probably the most important surrogate out there for Hillary Clinton this fall. I mean, he's already incredibly important. Turnout for African- Americans and millennials really riding on his back going into this election cycle. But a popular President Obama is good for Hillary Clinton. She is

running as his successor. She's running as the fulfillment of his legacy. He has to remain popular in order for her to have the best case for herself, especially given how negatively people feel about her going into November.

CUOMO: It offsets the big weakness, right? The big weakness is we've had two terms of this. It's supposed to switch, unless Clinton can pull a George Bush from 1998 and be the -- you know, the extension of it.

But if he's positive, it's easier for her to make the case. Why is more of what we've been doing necessarily a bad thing?

BUMP: No, that's exactly right. And there's an -- there is a direct correlation between the popularity of a president and how his or her party -- well, his party -- does in November. I mean, there's a direct correlation there.

And it's important to remember, it has been a long time since we've seen a president out on the stump for the potential successor. We didn't see it in 2000, because Bill Clinton and Al Gore had issues for a variety of reasons. We didn't see it in 2008, because George W. Bush was so unpopular, as we just saw right there.

It will be interesting to see how this plays.

But this is absolutely good news. And part of the reason he's popular, quite frankly, is because all of the fire is directed at Hillary Clinton. He's not taking as much incoming fire as he normally does. All of that works to Clinton's benefit.

CAMEROTA: So a big hurricane like Hurricane Matthew is obviously a human catastrophe. It's also a political football at times. So the politics of the storm. The president is convening a big meeting with FEMA, et cetera, and how to -- how to move forward. Donald Trump has tweeted about it. What do the candidates need to do in this moment?

PHILLIP: Well, we know that the Clinton campaign has been thinking about going to Florida in the next week or so for campaigning. That might get pushed back, or it might present itself as an opportunity for her to go down there, sort of offer the kind of comforter-in-chief image that sometimes candidates...

CAMEROTA: As Trump did with Louisiana and other places.

PHILLIP: As Trump did in Louisiana. That's really, really tricky. Because I mean, if the damage is bad, you don't want to be there. You're pulling resources out of the scene.

But there's another factor. I mean, we've heard this week Al Gore is coming out on the campaign trail. Climate change, climate change, climate change. I think they want to talk about that around this time, because I think it's a big issue.

[06:20:08] CUOMO: It will be interesting to see what the campaigns put out. Trump put out in a tweet early this morning -- maybe it was last night -- "I hope it dissipates, but if not, I hope everybody is OK."

Even that. You don't want to give anybody any reason to believe that this hurricane is not going to be as bad as it possibly can be. That's what they have to prepare for.

Thank you very much for being with us this morning. We'll see you again in a little bit.

We're also going to have a treat for you this morning. Vice- presidential candidates, both of them, here on NEW DAY talking to you. Virginia Senator Tim Kaine joins us in our next hour. And at 8, Indiana Governor Mike Pence.

CAMEROTA: Well, Hurricane Matthew is gaining strength and barreling towards the United States. Millions of people are now in harm's way. We have much more of our storm coverage straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Breaking this morning, Hurricane Matthew is gaining strength as it heads towards Florida. If you are on this east coast of Florida or you're in the regions that could be affected, please, pay attention.

Millions of you have been told to evacuate. Twenty-six million are under watches and warnings in the southeast. This hurricane could be the most powerful storm to hit the southeast in more than a decade.

[06:25:10] We have people all over the place. CNN's Boris Sanchez is live in Daytona Beach with the latest -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Hey, good morning, Chris.

Yes, more than 2 million people are under evacuation orders this morning. It could be the largest evacuation, mandatory evacuation, since Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

Right now where we're standing in Daytona Beach, there's a very strong wind coming off the shore, and that's really the concern here: the storm surge as it picks up water with winds of more than 125 miles an hour and slams it into the coast.

All along Florida's coast, we're seeing evacuation orders, from north of us in Flagler County, here in Volusia County, and south of us in Brevard and St. Lucie counties. About 1,500 National Guard members have been deployed, in order to help with evacuations and preparations.

All across Daytona yesterday, we saw businesses that had boarded up their windows and set up sandbags. Here at our hotel, they're actually doing the same. Some of the windows are already boarded up. They've also set up sandbags. Because again, the concern is that strong storm surge, once it comes off the coast and inland, and the flooding that comes with it, as well. As we continue watching this situation, the wind has gotten

significantly stronger; and we've already had bands of rain starting to hit us. It is going to continue to get worse as the day progresses, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: It sure is, Boris. Thanks so much for that.

So what is going to happen over the next 24 hours? CNN meteorologist Chad Myers is tracking the storm for us. Chad, what are you seeing?

MYERS: Well, if you don't believe it on satellite, you can now believe it on radar. Yes, Miami radar is now picking up the eye of the storm. There it is, right there. There's Nassau, the Bahamas. Wouldn't want to be on a cruise ship right there. There's Freeport, right up here, and there's Florida. So, that's what we're dealing with. We're dealing with a storm that we can already see. We're dealing with a storm that is going to make impact in Florida. We are dealing with a storm that is forecast to be 145 miles per hour, not all that far and north of Ft. Lauderdale to Ft. Pierce, to all these towns we've been talking about, all the way up to Cape Canaveral. Cape coast, the space coast. Cinnamon Beach.

This is 145-mile-per-hour storm. I can't really stress what that means. This is the same power that hit Haiti. We've seen the pictures out of Haiti. We don't need those kind of damages, that kind of devastation in Florida; but it appears that that may be very much the case. That the eyewall will make landfall somewhere north of Ft. Lauderdale, run right along the coast. This is 2 p.m. tomorrow afternoon. Still 130, so it hasn't even lost that much power.

Think about what's going to happen here from Melbourne all the way to Ft. Pierce, Indialantic Beach. What will happen to that area? It will be devastated.

We'll keep watching, you guys.

CUOMO: All right. We can't control what the storm does. We can control what we do. Chad, thanks for getting the information out. We'll keep covering the hurricane, tell you what changes or not.

We're also going to stay on the election. You've got a big night coming your way on Sunday. This may be the last chance for Donald Trump to win this election. What happens on Sunday night matters. Is he preparing differently? Hillary Clinton, does she have a strategy? We have news, ahead.

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