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New Day

Death Toll Rises in Florida After Storm Destroys Lives, Homes; Oath Keepers Trial Tests DOJ's Case for Seditious Conspiracy; Putin's Nuclear Threats Stir Alarm in Washington. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired October 03, 2022 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Desperation and heartache this morning in Florida.

It is Monday, October 3rd. I'm Brianna Keilar with Alex Marquardt this morning. John Berman is off.

And we begin with the unprecedented search for survivors and the rising death toll in Florida as the state reels from the dangerous floods and destruction left in Hurricane Ian's wake. Officials say Ian has killed at least 76 people in Florida after the storm barreled through the state. Governor Ron DeSantis says more than 1,600 rescues have been made since the storm struck. This left some communities just unrecognizable, littered with homes and boats. Many Floridians are without clean tap water and more than 628,000 customers are still without power. Officials warn that the extent of the death and destruction left by Ian may only just be coming to light.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN ANCHOR: Meanwhile, Governor Ron DeSantis is defending officials in Lee County, where more than half the storm- related deaths have been announced. They're now facing criticism for issuing evacuation orders a day later than neighboring counties. Here's what Governor Ron DeSantis told CNN's Nadia Romero. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NADIA ROMERO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Is that what you'll be reviewing once we get out of the aftermath, people get their power back on, looking at the evacuation those orders? Because even Lee County, if they had followed their own evaluation orders, from what we reviewed, they should have had the evacuation order sooner.

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): Well, the issue is also that there were a lot of -- they informed people and most people did not want to do it. I mean , that's just the reality. So, you're in a situation, are you going to grab somebody out of their home that doesn't want to. I don't think that's the appropriate use of government. I mean, I think that takes it a little too far.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KEILAR: CNN's Boris Sanchez joins us live from Fort Myers this morning to tell us what they're dealing with there. Boris, what's the latest?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Brianna and Alex. Unfortunately, over the weekend, we got the news that we were all dreading, officials confirming a spike in the death toll. More than 76 people killed by Hurricane Ian here in the Sunshine State. They were able to access areas that they weren't because they were cut off by the storm parts of Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel Island, Captiva Island now accessible to crews that are combing through wreckage and finding bodies.

As you noted, the recovery is slow. Hundreds of thousands of people remain without power, many still without drinking water. And so it is going to be a delicate process of getting these communities back on their feet.

In the meantime, there are very serious questions about how evacuations were handled here in Lee County. Keep in mind, the Emergency Management Plan in Lee County stipulates that if there is a 10 percent chance of a six-foot storm surge, evaluation orders should be issued in some of the most vulnerable areas, like this one. That evacuation order went out Tuesday morning. But upon CNN's review of the National Hurricane Center's advisory, on Sunday night, there were expectations that there would be a seven-foot storm surge here. That's more than 36 hours without an evacuation order for an area that, as you can see behind me, was decimated by Hurricane Ian.

I pressed the sheriff of Lee County why that evacuation order was delayed. His response was similar to that of Governor Ron DeSantis, essentially saying that the storm shifted unexpectedly at a relatively late time, it intensified at a relatively late time, and that even if they issued the orders sooner, a lot of folks wouldn't have left the area.

Nevertheless, as Alex mentioned, 40-plus deaths in Lee County out of 76 in the state, that makes up the bulk of fatalities here in Florida. Brianna?

KEILAR: Boris, thank you so much for the latest there.

MARQUARDT: And this just in, newly released audio clips with former President Trump this morning, revealing his actions during the January 6th riot and about those classified documents that were found at Mar- a-Lago. This new audio coming from his taped interview with CNN Political Analyst Maggie Haberman for her new book, it is being released tomorrow. It's called Confidence Man.

Let's now bring in CNN's Katelyn Polantz, who has been following these developments. Katelyn, what do we hear in these reportings?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alex and Bri, this morning, The New York Times posted these pieces of audio. We have known that Donald Trump was saying these things because of some of the things that Maggie Haberman has put out about what she found in her book. But now, we're actually hearing Donald Trump speak about two of the hottest issues that he is facing right now, January 6 and the Mar-a-Lago documents.

In this first clip that I want have us to listen to, Maggie Haberman asks him in September of 2021, so a full year ago, what was going on with the Kim Jong-un letters, she asked him because it was something that she knew he was particularly proud of. Here's that audio.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST (voice over): Did you leave that White House with anything in particular?

[07:05:02]

Were there any memento documents you took with you, anything of --

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT (voice over): Nothing of great you urgency. I have great things there. The letters of Kim Jong-un, letters, I have many of them.

HABERMAN (voice over): You were able to take those with you?

TRUMP (voice over): Look at what's happening -- no, I think that's in the Archives. But most of it is in the Archives. But the Kim Jong-un letters, we have incredible things. I have incredible --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POLANTZ: So, these records absolutely were at Mar-a-Lago at that time and they were something of urgency. Alex and Bri, one of the things here is that, at that moment, there were protracted negotiations going on between Donald Trump's lawyers and the National Archives, as the Archives was trying to get back a number of documents that were kept at Mar-a-Lago, specifically these Kim Jong-un letters. And they ultimately were turned in the beginning of this year back to the Archives and what was in those boxes was so concerning that that launched this criminal investigation that Donald Trump is now facing.

KEILAR: He was even slippery a little bit even on the letters, though, the way he was sort of maneuvering around that there.

The New York Times also released a second tape here. What does that tell us?

POLANTZ: Right. Well, Maggie Haberman ended up doing three interviews with Donald Trump for her book. And she asked him about one of the other most pressing things happening, what was he doing on January 6th as the Capitol was under attack for two and a half hours. Here's the additional piece of audio.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HABERMAN (voice over): But what were you doing when -- how did you find out that there were people storming the Capitol? TRUMP (voice over): I had heard that afterwards. And, actually, on the late side, I was having meetings. I was also with Mark Meadows and others. I was not watching television. I didn't have the television on.

HABERMAN (voice over): You weren't? Okay.

TRUMP (voice over): I didn't usually have the television on. I'd have it on if there was something. I then later turned it on and I saw what was happening. I also had confidence that the Capitol, who didn't want these 10,000 people --

HABERMAN (voice over): The Capitol Police you mean?

TRUMP (voice over): -- that they'd be able to control this thing. And you don't realize that they --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POLANTZ: So, there, Donald Trump is downplaying what -- the level of alarm that the rest of Washington was feeling in those moments. He's also making a false statement that he wasn't watching T.V. We know from the House select committee they've played many clips of his advisers testifying to them that he was indeed watching T.V., he was sitting there, he had Fox News on.

And we also know from White House records that, for two and a half hours, there was no action, there was no call logs, there was nothing in his presidential data brief that was saying that he was taking any action to respond. He was clearly immersed in this. And the one thing to point out about this is Maggie Haberman is getting these pieces audio, these are the questions that investigators would surely want to be asking Donald Trump, and here he is taped with this responses.

MARQUARDT: Yes. And at the end of that reporting, he says of the Capitol Police they did lose control, essentially putting the onus on the Capitol Police and not the thousands of his supporters who were rioting and storming the Capitol.

POLANTZ: They were clearly outmatched.

MARQUARDT: Katelyn Polantz, thank you very much, clearly, a lot more to come. And we will be discussing Maggie Haberman's latest book with her. She will join New Day live later on.

KEILAR: And speaking of January 6th, opening statements this morning here in Washington as the sedition trial of five members of the Oath Keeper gets underway. The five defendants are charged with conspiring to oppose the lawful transfer of presidential power by force on January 6th.

CNN's Sara Sidner has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): These five people are the first Americans to go on trial for seditious conspiracy in connection with the January 6th on the Capitol. It is the most serious charge anyone faced from that day and very rare.

CARLTON LARSON, PROFESSOR OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW AND LEGAL HISTORY, U.C. DAVIS SCHOOL OF LAW: It's unprecedented in the sense that we have never had a violent disruption of the transfer of power from one president to another. That makes this absolutely a unique event in American history.

SIDNER: This is just some of the hundreds of hours of video that prosecutors can use as evidence. It shows three of the five on trial who prosecutors say are Oath Keepers. The alleged members of the far- right wing militia wearing combat gear, walking in a military stack formation and breaching the Capitol.

That is 40-year-old Jessica Watkins of Ohio, an Army veteran celebrating. Right there with her, 47-year-old Army Veteran Kenneth Harrelson of Florida shown here inside the Capitol, and 53-year-old Florida man Kelly Meggs, the only member of the five who is not a military veteran of the five. Two of the charged never made it inside the Capitol but prosecutors say they too planned and plotted to violently stop the peaceful transfer of power.

[07:10:02]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every single (BLEEP) there is a traitor, every single one.

SIDNER: That is Thomas Caldwell talking about the members of Congress inside. He's a Navy veteran who once worked for the FBI. Federal prosecutors say, just days before the Capitol attack, Caldwell messaged the group about a plan to have weapons ready and waiting in nearby Virginia. We could have our quick response team with the heavy weapons standing by, quickly load them and then ferry them across the river to our waiting arms, he said.

But the highest profile person in that group is Army Veteran Stewart Rhodes of Texas, the founder of the Oath Keepers. The other four on trial, prosecutors say, were his top lieutenants.

RACHEL CARROLL RIVAS, INTERIM DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS, SPLC INTEL PROJECT: They are conspiratorial. They believe in a tyrannical government that is out to get people at every turn. It is really a perfect example of what the anti-government militia movement represents in modern times in the U.S.

SIDNER: Rhodes, a Yale Law School graduate and later disbarred attorney can be seen outside the Capitol. Prosecutors say he had long planned for confrontation. According to court documents, Rhodes sent this message to his members in December, saying if Joe Biden takes the presidency, it will be a bloody and desperate fight we are going to have to fight. That can't be avoided.

U.C. Davis Constitutional law expert Carlton Larson says it makes no difference in this case whether Rhodes breached the Capitol or orchestrated it from outside. LARSON: Him not going into the Capitol sort of suggests he's willing to send other people in to do his dirty business. I mean, Osama Bin Laden didn't fly into the World Trade Center. He sent minions to do it. But he's equally culpable for what happened on September 11th.

SIDNER: The defense is expected to argue they came to Washington as peace keepers and believed President Donald Trump would invoke the Insurrection Act. The act is from the 1800s and gives presidents emergency powers to deploy the military to quell unrest.

What do you make of that defense?

LARSON: Well, it's really grasping at straws. The Insurrection Act was not invoked, and so everything they did was done without any cover of the Insurrection Act.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER (on camera): So, prosecutors are going to bring up tons of evidence that they have. We're talking tens of thousands of text messages between this group, including hundreds of hours of video. The statements from the defendants as well will play into this. But, first, they're going to start their opening statements this morning here in D.C. We also understand that the jury is made up of 12 people and 4 alternates, and this case could take up to six weeks. Brianna?

KEILAR: Six weeks. Sarah Sidner live for us here in Washington this morning, thank you so much.

MARQUARDT: And new this morning, at least nine foreign nationals were among the more than 1,200 people arrested in the latest anti- government protest in Iran and the death toll now tops 130 after a massive brawl breaks out following a football match in Indonesia.

CNN reporters are on the story.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Will Ripley. Heartbreaking details are emerging from East Java, Indonesia, the scene of that mass panic and chaos on Saturday night when police fired tear gas into a crowd of soccer fans and there was a mass rush for the exits resulting in at least 125 people killed, some of them children. Funerals are now being held for some of the victims and survivors are telling stories of white clouds of smoke enveloping them, making it impossible to breathe. People did die from suffocation and from being trampled.

And now, the police in East Java, Indonesia are announcing an internal investigation into the 18 officers who were equipped with tear gas at the match trying to figure out exactly why they took such drastic action to contain fights after the game.

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Jomana Karadsheh in Istanbul. Thousands of young Iranians, university students, took part in protests across the country over the weekend on campus and out on the streets in the capital of Tehran, at one of the most prestigious universities in the country, Sharif University, a real violent crackdown by authorities, according to video that has emerged, according to the university's newspaper and an eyewitness that we spoke to. They say security forces shot metal pellets at protesters.

We are still looking into possible casualty figures and there's a lot of concern about students who may have been detained. We spoke to one protester in Tehran who said that this crackdown has only made them more determined to continue. There's no turning back, he said.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Clare Sebastian in London. Yemen's warring sides failed to reach an agreement to extend a United Nations-backed truce, Sunday, a U.N. special envoy said.

[07:15:00]

The Iranian-backed Houthis and Saudi-led military coalition had agreed on a nationwide truce in April, the first since 2016. The proposal called for the negotiation of a ceasefire at the resumption of an inclusive political process and the payment of civil servant salaries and pensions. Aid groups, like the Norwegian Refugee Council, are calling the failure to extend the truce deeply disappointing, saying it's, quote, a missed opportunity to help millions of Yemeni civilians out of the brutal conflict.

KEILAR: This morning, growing concern in Washington over Vladimir Putin's implicit and explicit threats to use a nuclear weapon in Russia's war on Ukraine. Officials say that the chances that Russia would launch a nuclear strike remain low but that hasn't prevented them from considering possible responses.

The New York Times reporting this, in background conversations, a range of officials suggested that if Russia detonated a tactical nuclear weapon on Ukrainian soil, the options included unplugging Russia from the world economy or some kind of a military response, though one that would most likely be delivered by the Ukrainians with western-provided conventional weapons.

Joining us now, one of the reporters behind the story, CNN Political and National Security Analyst David Sanger.

This is such a great story, I think, because it puts us in the moment that we're in, which is kind of an alarming one, although you also do point out, for instance, that there are some reasons why senior officials are saying not to be fully concerned at this point in time. But just put into context where we are.

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, I think where we are, Brianna, is that this is probably one of the most fraught nuclear moments since the Cuban missile crisis, which was 60 years ago this month.

That said, there's no evidence right now that we see the Russians moving any tactical weapons. They're small, so it might be easy to miss them, but there's no evidence of that at this point. And they don't believe that Putin yet has his back so up against the wall that he would turn to this. It's also not entirely clear how much using a tactical weapon would help him on the battlefield, except to try to freeze things, to basically say to the Ukrainians, if you make one more move toward throwing us out of the Donbas or these other areas, just know that I can take out your entire country and turn it all into wasteland. But the consequences for Putin would be high.

MARQUARDT: And, David, surely, Putin knows among those consequences would be global condemnation, that there are still some countries that he has somewhat on his side, including China. He must know that he would very quickly lose that support if he were to do anything on the nuclear front.

SANGER: I think that's right. I don't think he would. And China and India are two countries that are continuing to buy oil, for example, and not part of the major sanctions regime. At the same time, what worries most American officials is what happens when Putin comes to the conclusion that the war is going so badly, it is an existential threat not only Russia but to him and to his own rule. And at that moment he may reach for whatever he's got.

Now, he may also think that over time, other countries have broken taboos and gotten away with it. You notice in the speech the first thing -- the one last week, the first thing he said was, there was Hiroshima, there was Nagasaki and you set a precedent when you did that.

KEILAR: Yes. That is so alarming because that's part of what has been this campaign of rationalization, right, where he's saying, oh, they set the precedent, the U.S. set the precedent. He's also on this rationalization had these illegal annexations of these four areas of Ukraine. And when you look at Russian military doctrine, and he keeps re-emphasizing this, as have other Russian officials, nuclear weapons can be used if there is an existential threat to Russia. And now, it seems to be the rationalization is, oh, well, this is Russia. So, if you go after this, yes, we can use a nuke.

SANGER: Right. That is the backwards rationalization. It would also seem to apply to Crimea, and, of course, we've seen the Ukrainians attack Crimea, and he's not reached for nuclear weapons at that moment. Though the oddity of all of this, Brianna, is that nuclear weapons are one of those things that are much more powerful in the perspective, in the threat that you might use it, than they are when you actually go off to use it.

And this is not like the old cold war days where the concern was they would lob a nuclear weapon at the United States, in return for New York, you take out Moscow or whatever. In this case, he's talking about using a small weapon that would be used on presumably a military base, maybe a low populated area.

[07:20:02]

The west is not going to fire a nuclear weapon back in return for that. They may actually, as we reported, use conventional weapons. There could be some kind of a military response but not a nuclear response.

And so he may well think that, you know, over time, he would get away with this. He also thinks that, over time, the west is going to lose interest in Ukraine, that as the winter sets in Europe, the interest in continuing the sanctions is going to diminish. We've already seen protests in Europe about high prices and shortages. So, he's betting that we'll lose interest.

KEILAR: His assessment on the determination of the west, though, has been wrong up until now though. That's important to point out.

David, great piece, really helps understand all of this. Thank you so much.

SANGER: Thank you.

KEILAR: CNN's Dana Bash speaking to voters in one of the most competitive districts in the country, the issues that could decide control of Congress.

MARQUARDT: Plus, reaction this morning after former President Trump says that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, has a, quote, death wish.

And the daughter of one of the men who was just released from Venezuelan detection will join New Day live. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:25:00]

KEILAR: Things are heating up in the contest for a key swing House seat in Virginia's tide water area. Two women, both Navy veterans, incumbent Democrat Elaine Luria facing Republican challenger, State Senator Jen Kiggans for the state's second congressional district.

CNN's Dana bash has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Early voting is under way in Virginia and incumbent Democrat Elaine Luria is out pressing the flesh. Her race here in Virginia's tide water region is one of the most closely watched in the country.

REP. ELAINE LURIA (D-VA): If you look across the spectrum in the country, this is number 218.

BASH: 218, meaning? If you win or lose, it could determine whether or not Democrats have control of the House. That's a lot of pressure.

LURIA: I spent 20 years in the Navy. I'm used to operating in a high pressure environment.

BASH: Luria is retired Naval commander who served on six warships as a nuclear-trained surface warfare officer. She's also a veteran of two intense political campaigns. Her first win in 2018 helped deliver Democrats their House majority.

This year, her Republican challenger is also a Navy veteran, a pilot, nurse and now state senator. She mostly communicates publicly with voters through paid ads. That message is resonating with voters, like Jason Fekete.

What's driving your vote is this?

JASON FEKETE, VIRGINIA VOTER: This. This was $127, and a year-and-a- half ago, it would have been $75, $80.

BASH: He feels let down by Democrats in Washington.

FEKETE: I'm a staunch independent but it's been going to one direction lately because they don't care about me.

RYAN FARMER, VIRGINIA VOTER: Gas prices are absurd.

BASH: But Ryan Farmer says Democrats are not to blame for the struggling economy. He's supporting Luria.

FARMER: I don't care who is president, the gas prices are going to be expensive. It is just the way it is right now.

BASH: Kiggans team declined an interview or share information about where she would be campaigning. They offered us Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares instead.

JASON MIYARES, VIRGINIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: A lot of people candidly are concerned of what's coming out of Washington. They don't think they're focused on the right priorities and they think they're spending too much money and it's impacting their wallet.

BASH: Why is inflation Elaine Luria's fault?

MIYARES: Well, she's voted with Nancy Pelosi over 98 percent of the time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She only sees Pelosi and Biden.

BASH: Kiggans' ads link Luria to Democrats running Washington.

LURIA: Thank God we elected Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and they've done so many good things.

BASH: Voters we met in Virginia Beach are watching.

JOSEPH SAN CLEMENTE, VIRGINIA VOTER: One commercial that I saw, she stood up there and said what a great job -- regardless of your party, where we are now is not comfortable for anyone.

BASH: This is a true swing district left in a largely gerrymandered House. It's gone back and forth between parties four times since 2000. The Democratic incumbent walks the finest of lines.

LURIA: I think the administration has accomplished a lot. We've gotten shots in arms, we've gotten kids back to school, we've helped the economy come out of a pandemic. And as far as the president's agenda, look, I don't support everything. I honestly think that he's now doing enough for defense.

BASH: Luria is a member of the committee investigating the January 6th insurrection.

LURIA: President Trump has never publicly acknowledged --

BASH: Which she thought could be a negative in tight her race but thinks now is a political plus.

LURIA: The number one thing people say to me when they see me is, thank you for your work on the committee. Because people really, I think, do understand like what a threat this is to our democracy.

MIYARES: I think for a lot of voters, they appreciate her service on that, they appreciate her service, in general, but they also want to see her being focused on what's impacting their pocketbook every day. That's inflation. January 6th committee is not impacting their daily pocketbook.

BASH: Like other Democrats across the country, Luria is banking on another issue driving her voters to the polls, abortion.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When Roe v. Wade was overturned, Jen Kiggans applauded the court decision.

BASH: Kiggans responded with a video on social media.

STATE SEN. JEN KIGGANS (R-VA): I've always been an advocate for a woman to choose life, therefore, allowing for exceptions in cases of rape, incest and life of the mother.

LURIA: I couldn't tell you what the hell she believes.

BASH: You don't believe her?

LURIA: I don't believe anything this woman says. She, in my mind, has no spine. She really just says whatever that she thinks she needs to say to get elected, and that changes every other week.

BASH: Luria's well-funded campaign paints her GOP opponent as an extremist, again, prompting a tightly scripted Kiggans rebuttal.

KIGGANS: Extremist, that's a new one.

BASH: Extremist is still a dirty word in this purple Virginia district, which will likely, again, help determine which party controls Congress.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: And Dana Bash, CNN Chief Political Correspondent and co- Anchor of State of the Union, is joining us now with more on this.

What a fascinating look at that race.

[07:30:00]

What was the biggest takeaway for you?