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New Day

Hurricane Ian Threatens Parts of Florida and Cuba; U.S. Stocks Appear Up After Five Day Downturn Due to Fears of Fed Rate Increases; Russian Men Flee Country to Avoid President Vladimir Putin's Mobilization of 300,000 Reservists; Protests Continue in Iran after Death of Woman While in Custody of Morality Police; CNN Obtains Roger Stone Videos Shared With January 6th Committee. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired September 27, 2022 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Certainly are, John. We are in downtown Punta Gorda, Florida. And you can certainly see here people are starting to board up their businesses here in downtown. They've also put some sandbags down. That's because people here, there's a real culture of preparedness. They remember what happened here in 2004 when hurricane Charlie when it chewed through this area. That, too, was supposed to go to Tampa, made a right turn, and instead plowed right through Punta Gorda.

So they've been stocking up on gasoline, stocking up on water, and certainly up and down this street they have been putting up boarding along their shops. The story with hurricane Charlie was wind. The story and the concern with hurricane Ian, of course, is water and storm surge. They're expecting a four to seven foot storm surge here in the Punta Gorda area. They have four shelters opening this morning at this hour here. They can hold about 4,000 people. But the evacuation order right now underway for Zone A is about 40,000 people. So they're hoping that they will use those shelters as a last resort and maybe go find family or friends on the east coast of Florida or just get out of town.

I spoke with the spokesperson for the emergency operation center here in Punta Gorda, and he told me that their motto is hide from wind and run from water. He said a wall of water is not your friend, so you don't want to stick around here in Punta Gorda. But certainly, the north of here, as you know, there's a lot of concern in the Tampa area.

The St. Peterburg mayor certainly has been voicing his concern, saying this could be the storm that they never hoped would come to their shores, and of course, the director of the National Hurricane Center saying that this could be the storm of a lifetime, and a near worst case scenario for Tampa Bay, and that is because they haven't seen a major storm there in about 100 years. So there is a lot of concern that residents are inexperienced with hurricanes. A lot of people moved to Florida, as you know, to live on the water, and they might not be so experienced with hurricanes when they plow through this area. Also, he was warning that this could be Florida's superstorm Sandy. We all remember what happened with that back in 2012 when that just soaked New York City. So a lot of concern about the storm surge, possibly as many as 10 feet in the Tampa area, four to seven feet here. So people are certainly getting prepared. Back to you.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, the storm surge is something you really can't do anything about it except get out well beforehand. Randi Kaye, thank you very much.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Right now, Ian is unleashing those powerful winds on western Cuba and threatening to leave a path of destruction in its wake. More than 38,000 people were evacuated just ahead of the storm. Let's go to CNN's Patrick Oppmann. He is standing by live in Havana. Tell us what's happening there in Cuba, Patrick.

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As this storm cuts across western Cuba, we're feeling the outer edges, some of those bands of rain and wind come across to where we are in Havana. The weather conditions have been deteriorating all day. We've seen some flooding in low lying areas. And that's just going to continue throughout the day as the storm eventually moves into the Gulf of Mexico.

In western Cuba where the storm made landfall, I've been able to be in touch with several people there, and they say that they winds are still so strong they cannot leave their homes. They say that the rain continues to pound down on them, and they're just sheltering in place. About 40,000 people ahead of the storm's path in western Cuba evacuated from their homes according to the Cuban government to get out of the way of danger. And even here in Havana where it does not look like we will take a direct hit, when you have so much wind and rain throughout the day, that can lead to building collapses. That can lead to flooding.

So even very far from the eye of the storm, it can still be a very dangerous situation that will continue to be that way all day long here as Cuba just gets lashed by this very powerful hurricane.

KEILAR: Now a category three. Patrick, thank you so much for that report.

BERMAN: Let's get right to meteorologist Chad Myers. Chad, the 8:00 a.m. eastern update to the advisory has just come out. What have you learned?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Still 125 miles per hour, and almost now the outer eye wall almost off the northern shore of Cuba, which means almost back in the water to get stronger, because, again, this is very warm water.

There is the eye, this is from the Weather Service radar in Key West, but you can see the eye did move right over Pinal del Rio, and now that eyewall is getting back into this 30 degree Celsius, 80 something degree weather. The water here is just so warm. This the high test, this is premium fuel to this fire. Eight million people under hurricane warnings right now. Today is the day to leave. If you want to, if you can, if you're told to, today is the day. Tomorrow it will be too windy, the roads will be too clogged. You need to go today.

Now look at the 48-hour forecast. This is still 150 miles across from left to right.

[08:05:00]

Things can go left or right, things could change, but for now you need to make the decision today whether your house can withstand 120 mile- per-hour wind, whether your area can withstand a 10-foot storm surge or 20 inches of rainfall. That's the problem. Tampa, the storm has moved a little bit farther to your south overnight, putting most of the effort now here into Port Charlotte. And where Randi Kaye was just standing will be underwater. There will be a nine-foot surge in this Cape Coral all the way down to the Punta Gorda area. And those homes on the canals, and there are thousands, are only three feet above sea level.

And if you do get missed by the eye itself because you are to the north of the eye, John, that white, that large area of white is 20 inches of rain or more expected. So watch what you wish for. But also, watch all of the things that can go wrong, and make the right decisions.

BERMAN: That's right, freshwater flooding could be a major issue with all the rain that's coming down as well. Chad Myers, I know you're watching this very closely. Much more with you ahead.

KEILAR: This morning, U.S. stock futures are higher after all three major indexes started the week in major decline. The Dow slipping into its first bear market since the pandemic, plunging more than 300 points amid investor concerns about central bank efforts to slow inflation. CNN's Alison Kosik live at the New York Stock Exchange with the latest. Good morning, Alison.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Brianna. Yes, we are less than an hour to go here for the New York Stock Exchange before the opening bell rings, and I am seeing green arrows, but that's after a five session losing streak where, as you said, we saw the Dow plunge into a bear market for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic. So it's a 20 percent fall from its recent high.

And the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, they've already been in a bear market, the S&P 500 down 23 percent for the year, the Nasdaq down a whopping 30 percent for the year. We're seeing all of this selling as the Federal Reserve ramps up its mission to try to tame red hot inflation, and it's doing this by aggressively raising interest rates. And that's what's worrying Wall Street. It's worrying investors because they think that the Fed could get this wrong, that the Fed could overdo this and wind up triggering a recession, pushing the U.S. economy into a recession.

All of this is impacting the currency markets as well. We did see the British pound fall to a fresh new low yesterday against the U.S. dollar which is surging. And that's good news if you're a U.S. citizen and you want to go to the U.K. and go on vacation and go shopping. But if you're a multinational company that's involved in trade, it hurts trade and it certainly hurts company profits. It's why we've seen all this selling and seeing this repricing happening in the stock market. Brianna?

KEILAR: It certainly is. Alison Kosik live for us, thank you.

Ahead, Senator Joe Manchin is going to be joining NEW DAY as his new energy proposal faces opposition from Republicans and some progressive Democrats.

BERMAN: This morning, new satellite images show really an exodus from Russia as fighting age men try to get out because of President Vladimir Putin's mobilization order. Traffic is seen backed up for miles for people trying to leave Russia to get across the border to Georgia. That's what you're looking at right there. Witnesses say people waited up to 48 hours to cross the border.

CNN has reporters covering the latest from around the world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Clare Sebastian in London. The head of Russia's powerful Orthodox Church, an often vocal supporter of President Putin's policies, has offered up a spiritual incentive to those being called up to fight in Ukraine. In a celebration of the divine liturgy on Sunday, Patriarch Kirill said the church prays the battle will end as soon as possible. But if a person dies doing their duty, this would be seen as a sacrifice, and, quote, "a sacrifice washes away all sins that the person has committed." His comments come amid ongoing protests against the partial mobilization and an exodus of military aged men from Russia.

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Jomana Karadsheh in Istanbul. Video emerging from Iran on Monday evening showed protestors back out of the streets of different cities across the country. But because of the severe restrictions on the internet that the government has put in place, it's very difficult for us to assess how big and how widespread these protests are. But from what we can see, protestors remain undeterred by the ongoing government crackdown with, so far, more than 1,000 detained including 20 journalists according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Dozens are estimated to have been killed according to Amnesty International, state media, and others. And there's a lot of concern that that crackdown is only going to intensify.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Protestors in Iran aren't the only ones challenging autocratic governments. In Russia antiwar protests ramped up after Putin announced that up to 300,000 reservists and citizens would be drafted.

[08:10:05]

The move is an effort to try to block Ukraine's offensive, which has reported reclaimed thousands of miles of occupied territory.

Joining us now is Christiane Amanpour, CNN chief international anchor. Christiane, thank you so much for being with us. We're seeing what you're seeing there in Russia. And I wonder if you can just put it into context if this is some kind of shift, if this is a big deal, or if this is something that Vladimir Putin is just going to easily put down.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: I think it's a major shift, the fact that you see so many people on the streets in Russia, because you had not seen that up until now. His declaration last week that he was going to mobilize reservists, and let's not talk about a partial mobilization, because human rights organizations there say it could be up to 1 million people. This has put people out onto the streets and also have them vote with their feet and with their attempts to leave, as you just mentioned. The borders to Finland, to Kazakhstan, to the state of Georgia down there, are jampacked with men trying to leave.

And in addition now, human rights organizations from inside Russia are pointing to the fact that Russian women are now much, much more present on the streets in protest because the men are now, as they're being arrested and hauled off to the police stations, they are also at risk, and many are being drafted themselves. So it is a really crucial situation.

And inside Ukraine, in the sort of Russian occupied areas, these sham referendums, which apparently we'll hear so called results tonight, are also putting a huge amount of pressure on Ukrainians there to potentially be drafted to fight against fellow Ukrainians. So this is a very big moment in Russia and also in Iran. Both leaderships there under very, very big pressure from their people.

BERMAN: And in both cases, Christiane, the question does remain, are there limits to how big these protests can get?

AMANPOUR: That question is always relevant, and it absolutely depends on the willingness of the leadership to crack down harder and harder. In Iran we're seeing it spread further and further, and what's interest there is that actually men and boys are coming out to support the women. Again, I have been talking to journalists and others who have contacts inside Iran, are able to reach them, and I've spoken to them on my program. They are determined to stay out on the street. Again, this is crucial, because the last major demonstration was in 2009, the so called Green Revolution, which was put down by the Revolutionary Guard and the plain clothes militias called the Basij. This time, the government has also tried to put them down, but they continue apace.

And I was told, look, after 40 plus years of the Islamic Revolution, and particularly this regime, the current presidential regime, of pressuring people on their social mores, and particularly women on their dress codes and behavior, has snapped a fuse. And that's what we're seeing on the streets right now.

KEILAR: Do you think, Christiane, you can know when it is different in Iran, when it is different than past protests that have swept the country and that have been eventually easily put down by the government.

AMANPOUR: Well, everybody there says that this is very different because of the age, because of the range of people who have come out, not just so called young people who want reform and actually democracy, but also more traditional Iranians, including Iranian women who voluntarily wear the headscarf because that's what they like to do. They are also joining these protests.

For me, and I think for those watching, the test will be how long people will stay on the streets if and when much more heavy and deadly firepower is used against them. It's always been that, how long they are prepared and how far they're prepared to put up with that kind of terrifying response from the regimes. And that's the same in Russia and it's the same in Iran right now. These autocratic regimes are suddenly finding themselves under massive domestic pressure, their legitimacy being questioned. And again, it will depend on the strength of resolve and how long they want to stay out in the streets despite the violence of the response of the governments.

KEILAR: Christiane, thank you so much for putting all of this into perspective. We appreciate you.

So just into CNN this morning, Facebook's parent company Meta detecting and shutting down networks of fake accounts that were run from Russia and China. Some very interesting details here ahead.

BERMAN: New footage obtained by CNN shows Trump ally Roger Stone call for violence just a day before the 2020 election.

And soon members of the Oath Keepers including their leader will enter a D.C. courtroom. A reality check, ahead.

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[08:15:02]

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BERMAN: A video just obtained by CNN taken a day before the 2020 election shows Roger Stone, a longtime Republican operative, an ally of former President Trump, a documentary film crew captured him talking about violence before election day itself. Not that he seemed to care what the actual votes actually showed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

ROGER STONE, TRUMP ALLY: Excellent. (EXPLETIVE DELETED) the violence, (EXPLETIVE DELETED) the voting. Let's get right to the violence.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's get right to it.

STONE: Shoot to kill. See an Antifa, shoot to kill. (EXPLETIVE DELETED) 'em. Done with this bullshit. Let's just hope we're celebrating. I suspect it will be -- I really do

suspect it will still be up in the air. When that happens, the key thing to do is to claim victory.

Possession is 9/10 of the law. No, we won, (EXPLETIVE DELETED) you. Sorry, over, we won. You're wrong. (EXPLETIVE DELETED) you.

What they're assuming is, the election will be normal. The election will not be normal.

Oh, these are California results? Sorry, we're not accepting it. We're challenging them in court.

If the electors show at the Electoral College, armed guards will throw them out, I'm the president, (EXPLETIVE DELETED) you. You're not stealing Florida. You're not stealing Ala -- I'm challenging all of it.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

BERMAN: So, these clips obtained exclusively by CNN have also been shared with the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th riot.

[08:20:02]

In response, Stone released this statement writing, quote, I challenge the accuracy and authenticity of these videos. I believe they have been manipulated and selectively edited.

I also point out that the filmmakers do not have the legal right to use them. How ironic that Kim Kardashian and I are both subjected to commuter manipulated videos on the same day. The excerpts provided below prove nothing, he says. Certainly, they did not prove I had anything to do with the events of January 6th. That being said, it clearly shows I advocated for lawful congressional and judicial options.

BRIAN KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Five members of the Oath Keepers, including the group's leader, are facing the highest profile case today the investigation into the January 6th insurrection. Opening statements begin today in the first trial for seditious conspiracy that the U.S. has seen in more than a decade.

John Avlon with today's reality check.

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Seditious conspiracy, that's the charge five members of the right wing militia known as the Oath Keepers will face charges in federal court today. It's the most high-profile trial today surrounding the January 6th attack on the Capitol. It is one that promises to shed a lot more light on the broader plot to overturn the 2020 election.

Now, in the bizarre world were attempts to steal an election are called Stop the Steal, it should probably comment no surprise. In the end, the Oath Keepers try to shred the Constitution they promised they would defend it. It is especially ironic because the Oath Keepers were founded soon after the inauguration of President Obama with a stated goal of preventing a, quote, full-blown totalitarian dictatorship.

I started covering them around that time, and in their list of the 10 orders they would not obey was, wait for it, a pledge to not obey orders to impose martial law or a state of emergency.

Fast forward to the days around January 6th, there was their leader, Elmer Stewart Rhodes, allegedly willing to respond to the capital with weapons. If Trump were to declare an insurrection to call us up as the militia.

In other words, they were armed and ready to act as shock troops for a presidential coup.

Now, the evidence presented in the 48-page indictment isn't subtle, full of talk about the need for an armed civil war and a massive bloody revolution, to resist the peaceful transfer of power. It turns out that we should have taken them seriously and literally.

Listen to Rhodes in his own words.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) STEWART RHODES, LEADER, OATH KEEPERS: We will have to fight a bloody civil war, a bloody revolution to take our country back.

Which is a civil war because you have sitting politicians who are part of the enemy's -- enemy's ranks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AVLON: Now, keep in mind that three Oath Keepers have already pled guilty to two seditious conspiracy. The goal seems to be intimidating members of Congress to stop the certification of electoral votes.

Among the many open questions to be answered, who are the Oath Keepers in direct contact with? The idea for invoking the insurrection act was hatched. We want to know whether the violence against Congress was a feature or a bug in their larger plans.

Now, in the 21 months since January 6, we've learned a lot more ability world of extremist groups like the oath keepers. According to the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and response to terrorism at the University of Maryland, get this, roughly 35 percent of the more than 860 people federally charge in the Capitol riot were associated with extremist groups or conspiratorial movements.

We have learned more about the oath keepers rank and file as well, with the Anti-Defamation League centered on extremism, analyzing a massive data leak of the group's membership.

Now, among the 38,000 listed members were 81 people either currently holding or running for public office, from sheriff's to state legislatures, more troubling, the 373 members identified as currently serving in law enforcement around the country, and the 117 members the ADL says currently serve in the U.S. military. Now, the trial is expected to go on for weeks. But as the January 6th

House Select Committee gets ready to hold what is likely the final hearing, issued a final report, this trial is an urgent reminder of why we need not just legal accounting, but also laws formed to ensure that future coup attempts will not be successful.

Now, the first crucial bit of legislation has already been introduced and passed by the House to reform the Electoral Count Act, making clear that the vice president's role is ceremonial and that partisans can't steal elections from the people procedurally.

A version of this bill must pass the Senate next where Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell seems inclined to support it for the stability of the country. Good. This is absolutely necessary. But it's not sufficient.

According to the Oath Keepers' statements, the insurrection attempt on January 6 was predicated in large part on President Trump invoking the Insurrection Act. That speaks to the need to reform the Insurrection Act itself. As the Brennan Center explains their new proposal, restraining the potential for abuse of power by making it clear that it can't be used to impose martial law, and there must be congressional and judicial oversight.

[08:25:07]

Yes, it's darkly ironic to see cars-playing super patriots tried to destroy the peaceful transfer of power the founders fought for. But it is also a reminder that we can no longer take democracy's norms for granted. The guardrails around our democratic republic must be strengthened now, with legal accountability and legislative reforms to stop any future insurrections before they start.

And that's your "Reality Check".

KEILAR: John Avlon, thank you.

New this morning, Meta, Facebook's parent company, shutting down covert social media influence campaigns reportedly run from Russia and China.

Plus --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wow.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are getting visual confirmation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: What gets astrophysicist so jazzed up. They are actually cheering their first planetary defense test. It is being called a success.

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