Return to Transcripts main page
New Day
Blue Star Welcome Week For Military Families In Full Swing; Tonight: NASA Crashes Spacecraft Into Asteroid As Defense Test; Florida On Alert As Ian Strengthens Into Hurricane. Aired 7:30-8a ET
Aired September 26, 2022 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[07:30:00]
JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST, AUTHOR, "LINCOLN AND THE FIGHT FOR PEACE": This is really about let's have a trolls -- trollish arms race -- an escalation around various stunts to see who can get the most attention. And those do seem to be the terms around which the Republican primary might be conducted.
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: I also want to get your take -- both of you -- on another excerpt from the book.
So, Maggie asks him specifically about January 6 -- what he was doing that day.
AVLON: Right.
HILL: Now, we have heard from multiple witnesses what they say he was doing that day. So let's take a listen to what we know up until this point.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: To the best of my recollection, he was always in the dining room.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: During that brief encounter that you were in the dining room, what do you remember?
GEN. KEITH KELLOGG, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: I think they were -- everybody was watching the T.V.
MOLLY MICHAEL, FORMER EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT: It's my understanding he was watching television.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was the violence at the Capitol visible on the screen? On the -- on the television?
PAT CIPOLLONE, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: He was always watching television.
AVLON: Yes. HILL: And yet, in the book, he tells Maggie, "I didn't usually have the television on. I'd have it on if there was something. I then later turned it on and saw what was happening." Maggie goes on to say it's at this point "he lied throughout that bit of our interview," she writes. He goes on to say "I heard afterward and actually on the late side. I was having meetings. I was also with Mark Meadows and others. I was not watching television."
AVLON: Jesus.
MARGARET HOOVER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, HOST, PBS "FIRING LINE": I mean, we know that -- I mean, there -- you don't -- the good part about Maggie's reporting is that she also has a treasure trove of hours stacked up of reporting on Donald Trump and working with Donald Trump, so she can see through the lies of which there are so many. And so, I'm glad she calls a spade a spade.
That's why this well-reported document is the first draft of history. And then, you stack it up against a hundred other interviews of people under oath having absolutely no qualms saying exactly what was happening.
AVLON: Yes.
HOOVER: By the way, he watched television for hours every day of his presidency.
AVLON: He can't help himself.
HOOVER: We also know that.
HILL: Yes.
HOOVER: Right?
AVLON: He just -- he can't -- he lies about big things and small instinctively, even when it's self-evidently a lie, because it's about the con game in the current moment.
HILL: It is something.
All right, let's move on if we -- if we can.
HOOVER: Please.
HILL: California Gov. Gavin Newsom --
AVLON: Yes.
HILL: -- speaking over the weekend in Texas. He was saying he's not so focused. He would like to move on from Donald Trump --
AVLON: Yes.
HILL: -- clearly, saying he's not so focused on Donald Trump. He is far more concerned about Ron DeSantis. And he said over the weekend it is really time for Democrats to learn to go on the offense. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): These guys are ruthless on the other side -- ruthless on the other side. That primetime lineup of Fox -- they're ruthless. They dominate the most important thing in American politics today and that's the narrative. Facts become secondary to narrative. They dominate with illusion and we are getting crushed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: When it comes to narratives -- when it comes to messaging in terms of getting crushed, this is something that has been an Achilles heel for Democrats for decades in terms of having a united message across the party.
AVLON: Yes.
HILL: Does it change now? I mean, is Gavin Newsom the person to say we've got to turn this train around --
HOOVER: I mean --
HILL: -- and we have to have a narrative because the other narrative is working?
HOOVER: I don't know. I think -- I think there is a very united narrative under the Obama presidency. I think in the 90s, Bill Clinton had a united narrative for Democrats. I don't -- I don't think necessarily Democrats suffer from lack of a narrative. By the way, they -- I mean, they own the presidency right now and have control of the Senate.
I worry about what Gavin Newsom is pointing to because we are just talking about the Trumpification of our politics and the impact Donald Trump has going downstream.
AVLON: Right.
HOOVER: And another thing he said is he completely reneged on Michelle Obama's statement --
AVLON: Yes.
HOOVER: -- that we shouldn't go -- when they go low we go high. He's saying we shouldn't. We need to double down. And that is the existence or, sort of, the evidence of the negative effect -- downstream effect of Trump and our politics. I think that's a bad idea.
HILL: He said, specifically, to that moment --
AVLON: Yes.
HILL: -- that's not the moment we're living in right now.
AVLON: Yes, and this is the danger of that -- of that feedback loop. I think he's right in saying that Democrats want a fighter right now. And he has a good point about the unified narrative of Republicans that tends to put Democrats on defense --
HILL: Yes.
AVLON: -- because we're saying gosh, you know, look at -- look at all those lies. It goes back to the old saying that Will Rogers said almost a century ago -- you know, I'm not a member of an organized political party. I'm a Democrat. There's not the sort of -- there's talking points that are being issued in this way.
But I think Margaret makes a great and important point, which is if both parties say you know what, we're going to get in the mud. We're going to have dirty fights. We're going to go low. And that's what is necessary in this moment.
That's bad for our democracy and I think the really galvanizing message is we need to defend our democracy. And polls show that Democrats actually want a uniter where -- unlike Republicans who really want someone who can play to the base. So, you risk making politics toxic and seeding that sensible center that still exists in America.
[07:35:06]
HOOVER: Are you agreeing with me?
AVLON: Yes, I am --
HOOVER: OK.
AVLON: -- shockingly.
HOOVER: I just wanted to get that on the record.
AVLON: A little bit.
HILL: Do we want -- do we want to leave that there?
HOOVER: Yes. This is just a --
AVLON: It's probably a good idea.
HOOVER: It's a win. Stop while you're ahead.
HILL: And Margaret won the day. She'd be tracking the marriage today.
Good to see you both this morning. Thank you, guys.
So, could more changes be coming to "JEOPARDY!"? The new rule being floated this morning.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, a family goes outside to see what their dog was barking about only to find an abandoned baby in their backyard. We'll have their story next.
(COMMERCIAL)
HILL: This morning, a baby is recovering after being discovered in a shed. Now, the Texas family who found her was actually alerted by their dog Archie who started barking. And when they opened the shed that's where they found the baby lying on the ground.
[07:40:02]
The couple quickly called 911. Dispatchers told them it was OK to pick up the child. They wrapped her in a towel while they waited for the ambulance. The baby was then airlifted to Houston.
The baby's father, caught on security camera, accused of leaving her in the shed and stealing a neighbor's truck. He is now in jail facing multiple charges, including abandoning a child.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just hope he comes out and takes care of his kid and cleans his act up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just want her to be happy and live a good life. And, you know, if they'd give her to me, I'd take her in a heartbeat and she'll never have any worries again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: I just can't imagine you hear your dog barking, you open the shed, and the last thing you expect to find is a baby.
KEILAR: Yes. Thank God for that dog, right --
HILL: Yes.
KEILAR: -- just being alerted. And the picture, though, of her as she's holding that baby and the look on her face -- I think that's exactly the look you would have on your face. She's so confused and startled --
HILL: Yes.
KEILAR: -- by how did that even happen. So --
HILL: Absolutely.
KEILAR: So, this week is actually Blue Star Welcome Week. It is a nationwide effort designed to help military families get settled into their communities. The nonprofit Blue Star Families estimates that nearly 600,000 military and veteran families move every year, some of them onto military bases. But most of them are actually relocating into local neighborhoods -- maybe your neighborhood.
Unfortunately, many families have a hard time settling into their new communities. According to a 2021 military family lifestyle survey by Blue Star Families, only 30 percent of active-duty respondents feel a sense of belonging in their civilian community. Joining us now is Blue Star Families DEPLOY Fellow and military spouse Laura Abubekr. And also with us is her son, Omar Abubekr. Thank you so much to both of you for being with us.
LAURA ABUBEKR, DEPLOY FELLOW, BLUE STAR FAMILIES: You're welcome. Thank you.
KEILAR: So you guys actually -- you moved kind of in the height of the pandemic --
L. ABUBEKR: Yes.
KEILAR: -- from -- in winter -- from Hawaii --
L. ABUBEKR: Yes.
KEILAR: -- to the Washington, D.C. area.
L. ABUBEKR: Yes.
KEILAR: Tell me what that transition was like for you.
L. ABUBEKR: Well, we're still transitioning, right? It was very different but different -- even that doesn't even describe it. The contrast between two -- not just the climate but the community, the contrast between the area -- our surroundings -- it was a lot. And I still to this day don't know how we did it. It was a lot.
It was almost like getting -- what would you say, Omar -- like olive oil and water and trying to make the best pasta maybe?
OMAR ABUBEKR, BLUE STAR SON: Yes, I guess.
KEILAR: How did -- how did you -- how did you approach it? I mean, how did it go for you?
O. ABUBEKR: Well, it went fairly well for me. I didn't have like any like friends that I was deeply connected with, so it was easy to like latch off from Hawaii to D.C. But I would go back to Hawaii.
KEILAR: Oh, you would? But you miss Hawaii and that's tough --
O. ABUBEKR: Yes.
KEILAR: -- right?
O. ABUBEKR: Yes.
KEILAR: It's tough to move to a new place.
So this welcome week is about trying to strengthen bonds between --
L. ABUBEKR: Yes.
KEILAR: -- civilian and military families.
L. ABUBEKR: Yes.
KEILAR: I will just share I became part of a military family several years ago and it was really kind of a shock to me, you know. I felt like I needed to strengthen those bonds and it was very important for me for everything -- for the health of my family and for myself.
Why do you think that it's so important that we build these bridges?
L. ABUBEKR: Oh, absolutely. Well, we support our partner, right -- my partner -- the member -- the service member -- so we do everything that we possibly can to make sure that everything goes smooth. But then, at the end of it, the support for me is what I find in the community. So if it's not there, I am not supported.
So, as a result, it can be harder for my partner to kind of, you know, understand that we are OK. I can say that we're OK until I'm blue in the face --
KEILAR: Yes.
L. ABUBEKR: -- but if I'm not -- you know, I live with my partner. They're going to recognize that.
So knowing that I need to build a community. So if I come to an area where it's harder, like D.C., to build a community than it was in Hawaii, then it's going to be harder for me to ultimately genuinely support my member -- my service member because I am -- I don't have my community. I don't have my backbone. I don't have my friends, my girls.
KEILAR: Yes.
L. ABUBEKR: You know, the simplicity of going hey, what are you doing now? I'm going to run over there and get a cup of coffee with you. We don't get that. We don't have that.
Luckily, my mom still lives in the same house that I was raised in. She can go over to her neighbor's, which I call aunt, and have that amongst many. So it's kind of hard not having that.
KEILAR: Yes. That's really tough.
So what do you guys want? What is helpful to you when you go to a new place to have, whether you're in school, Omar, or Laura, you are at work or in your community to have people reach out to you? And it goes both ways, obviously.
[07:45:07]
L. ABUBEKR: Yes.
KEILAR: But what do you find -- what do you find helpful to build that connection?
L. ABUBEKR: I think -- Omar, what do you think? I think we care when people care. I think we care when people care. If somebody were to ask me like, oh well, where's your home state? Oh my gosh, we'll gab about it.
And it's a flip from California and Hawaii. In Hawaii, we really did grow some roots there --
KEILAR: Yes.
L. ABUBEKR: -- so any time we could talk about our home places -- right, Omie -- kind of --
KEILAR: Just a simple --
L. ABUBEKR: Yes.
KEILAR: -- conversation is always helpful.
L. ABUBEKR: A simple conversation and --
O. ABUBEKR: Yes.
KEILAR: What do you think, Omar?
L. ABUBEKR: Yes.
KEILAR: What is helpful to you?
(Drops something)
Oh, don't worry about that. You're good. It's fine.
O. ABUBEKR: Well, I don't really know. I really just attach to whatever place we go to no matter what. But, like, I really don't know but, like, I always just like kind of go with what's happening.
KEILAR: Just go with the flow.
O. ABUBEKR: Yes.
KEILAR: Go with the flow.
Omar --
L. ABUBEKR: Yes.
KEILAR: -- thank you so much. He's amazing.
L. ABUBEKR: I'm here for my kids.
KEILAR: Yes. You just hang in there, Omar.
L. ABUBEKR: Yes, yes.
KEILAR: Well, thank you so much, Laura. Thank you so much for being with us --
L. ABUBEKR: Thank you.
O. ABUBEKR: Thank you.
L. ABUBEKR: Thank you.
KEILAR: -- on this Blue Star Welcome Week.
L. ABUBEKR: Which is so important.
KEILAR: We hope everyone will sort of tune into it.
L. ABUBEKR: Yes, yes.
KEILAR: Thank you guys, again.
L. ABUBEKR: Yes, thank you.
KEILAR: Hurricane Ian is on track to become a monster storm tonight as it inches closer to Cuba. We are live in Tampa as Floridians prepare for this strengthening storm.
HILL: And we are just hours away now from a real-life Armageddon test mission. NASA planning to crash a rocket into an asteroid.
(COMMERCIAL)
[07:50:44]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Clip from "Armageddon."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Always bring in Bruce Willis to save the world.
It's been the plot of several Hollywood movies -- a giant asteroid headed for Earth. Someone has to stop it.
Well now, NASA is actually testing out a way to do that. Tonight, a spacecraft will deliberately collide with an asteroid. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test mission, or DART as it's known, aims to see if this could actually help to deflect an asteroid should one come on a collision course with Earth.
Now, the cost of the historic mission, more than $300 million. The payoff perhaps far exceeds that.
Joining me now is Michio Kaku, professor of theoretical physics at the City University of New York, and the author of "The God Equation" -- the search for a theory of everything. It's such a treat to have you in the studio.
And I think it's important that we start off by saying all of the Hollywood stuff and the Hollywood approach to dealing with asteroids -- you say this is all wrong.
MICHIO KAKU, PROFESSOR OF THEORETICAL PHYSICS, CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK, AUTHOR, "THE GOD EQUATION: THE QUEST FOR A THEORY OF EVERYTHING": That's right. Well, first of all, the dinosaurs did not have a space program and that's why there are no dinosaurs here today to debate the question, OK?
So the last thing you want to do is do what Hollywood says -- blow it up with a hydrogen bomb -- because then you have lots of baby asteroids coming at you, which can do more damage than one mama asteroid. So what you want to do is you want to nudge it out of the way and that's what this mission is all about.
The mission is about the size of a refrigerator.
HILL: Yes.
KAKU: It's going to hit this asteroid, the size of an apartment building, at about 14,000 miles per hour without shattering it but pushing it out of the way.
HILL: So it's gently nudging it --
KAKU: That's right.
HILL: -- away from Earth.
KAKU: That's right.
HILL: You say this is a long time coming, too. We should have been working on this a little sooner.
KAKU: That's right, and history is finally being made when you bought this decades ago. In fact, for example, Russia. Russia has been hit with two city bussers. That is asteroids which can knock out a whole city twice in the last 100 years in Tunguska and also in Chelyabinsk.
So these things do happen. These things do come from the sky and land on the planet Earth. And we need a defense mechanism and it's about time that we tested one.
HILL: So it's about time. Now it's happening. When will we know if the test is successful?
KAKU: Well, very soon after the impact takes place at about 7:14 eastern time tonight, satellites, and sensors, and telescopes will see whether or not the object was deflected by less than one degree -- and that's the test. If we can confirm that the thing was deflected by less than one degree, we know that this would, in principle, work on a large scale.
HILL: So, when -- you know, you've said we needed to do this for some time. It's great that it's happening now. The fact that these city bussers, as you called them, to have hit Russia, how concerned do we need to be sitting here today about asteroids actually coming at Earth?
KAKU: Well, I don't want to like give you nightmares but they are 30 -- HILL: Good -- we don't need those.
KAKU: There are 30,000 asteroids that circle around the sun that actually intersect with the orbit of the planet Earth. OK, 30,000 of them. Now, we track them.
The next one, which will come with a near miss, is Apophis, in 2029. It will come so close to the planet Earth that it will fly underneath our satellites. That's how close it will be. And it's the size of the Rose Bowl. It's about 1,000 feet across.
And we're tracking that very carefully. It will probably miss. But it just goes to show you that there's a lot of debris out there that could impact on the earth.
Now, less than the size of a football field, there are perhaps millions of debris that could knock out, for example, a city, that we don't track. We were kind of unprepared when Russia was hit at Chelyabinsk because an asteroid about the size of an apartment building --
HILL: Yes.
KAKU: -- sailed right over that city.
HILL: So we're tracking some of the larger ones. So if we focus in on that one that you mention that in 2029 could come close by, if this is successful tonight, could that then give us enough time to be ready if it does get too close to ideally be able to push it out?
[07:55:08]
KAKU: Probably not.
HILL: Great.
KAKU: I mean, we're novices. We're just beginning the whole process of trying to track these killer satellites -- killer asteroids and to calculate how much energy you need to nudge them out of the way.
So, 2029 is the next big milestone when an object the size of the Rose Bowl -- 1,000 feet across -- is going to come barreling -- skimming right near the planet Earth.
HILL: OK, you don't sound concerned about this at all. I know you said you don't want to give us nightmares but I have to say it's freaking me out a little bit. If you say we're not going to be prepared for it by 2029, is that concern of mine misplaced at this point?
KAKU: Well, on one hand, we're sitting ducks. We have no shuttle craft that can intercept an asteroid out there and deflect it out of the way like in the movies. We can't do that. That is way beyond our capabilities.
But we track these things -- HILL: Yes.
KAKU: -- and so far, we see no evidence -- no evidence at all of a potential impact within the next, let's say, 100 years.
HILL: OK.
KAKU: We're going to come close with Apophis in 2029 and also in 2060. It's going to make two passes and we're tracking it very carefully.
HILL: OK, so --
KAKU: But it will probably miss.
HILL: So it will probably miss. I'm going to stick with the probably. I'm going to put my money on that. It'll make me feel better. And if we have 100 years to figure it out, I feel like time might be on our side.
KAKU: Yes, but remember, objects smaller than a football field, we don't track at all.
HILL: OK, but we don't want to focus on those because that would be the nightmare scenario.
KAKU: Right.
HILL: So we'll focus on the stuff we can control --
KAKU: Right.
HILL: -- ish.
Always such a treat to have you here. Thank you -- appreciate it.
KAKU: OK.
KEILAR: Well, I'm having nightmares. I don't know about you, Erica.
Tempers flaring in the sports world this weekend. Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey threw just an epic tantrum. I mean, look at this thing. He was in the coach's booth after his team suffered a frustrating loss -- yes -- to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.
But then this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know if you're inside that top 10 -- we've got trouble, Ken. We've got -- we've got --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, whoa.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got a major fight going on down here, and I mean tempers have flared. Kicking the race car. We've got fists flying. We've got all kinds of stuff going on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Andrew Grady.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Yes, because kicking a race car makes so much sense.
That is NASCAR driver Andrew Grady pummeling Davey Callihan through an open window after they got into an accident in heat one on Saturday.
Here is his explanation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW GRADY, NASCAR DRIVER: I wanted to talk to him and he flipped me off. So I started Mike Tyson-ing his head.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: You heard that correctly. Mike Tyson as a verb.
HILL: There's that and then there's the very mature behavior that we saw. I just love that --
KEILAR: Yes.
HILL: -- as an example for my kids.
KEILAR: Just highly unnecessary. Highly unnecessary.
HILL: Also, I bet it didn't feel good to kick a race car. Going out on a limb here.
KEILAR: I think that his toe hurts. And isn't that also the foot that you need to drive the car, so is that really smart? No.
HILL: No, no. I'm with you. Yes -- so we wouldn't have done it that way.
KEILAR: No.
HILL: NEW DAY continues right now.
KEILAR: All right. Hurricane Ian is gaining strength in the Caribbean, putting Cuba and Florida on high alert for a monster storm.
It is Monday, September 26. I'm Brianna Keilar. John Berman is off and Erica Hill is here with us this morning.
Ian is forecast to become a major hurricane as it bears down on Cuba and it's on a path toward Florida where it's expected to hit midweek. Exactly where, though, it will make landfall is uncertain at this point. But Floridians are battening down. They are filling sandbags to protect against the heavy rains, strong winds, and storm surge that are predicted. HILL: Long lines outside of stores as people stock up on supplies, and plenty of empty shelves inside as you can see here. Bottled water, of course, a major necessity. Folks stocking up on that.
All of Florida, at this point, is under a state of emergency. Governor Ron DeSantis has activated the National Guard. And a hurricane watch has been issued for Florida's west coast, including Tampa Bay.
CNN's Carlos Suarez is in Tampa for us. Meteorologist Chad Myers is standing by in the CNN weather center in Atlanta. Let's go first now to Carlos. Carlos, what is happening behind you there?
CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, ladies.
Storm preparations across the city of Tampa are well underway. We are, right now, at one of three sandbag distribution sites that just got underway just a few minutes ago. And you can see just how many folks have already showed up here to try to fill up their sandbags. The line to get into this park goes all the way down the block and it stretches all the way to the other side.
The city, in anticipation of Ian and the fact that we might be seeing some sort of impact from that storm, has been trying to tell folks that they need to finish their storm preps today. They want them to go ahead and take a look at their evacuation routes, and they want them to look at the flood zones -- the flood maps. That's if they make a decision to go ahead and stay put.
[08:00:00]
