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Woodward's New Audio Book; Putin Announces Martial Law; Treasury to Study Weather's Affects on Insurance; Thousands Hospitalized with Flu. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired October 19, 2022 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:31:43]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: CNN has exclusively obtained a copy of journalist Bob Woodward's audio book ahead of its October 25th release. It's called "The Trump Tapes" and includes more than eight hours of the journalist's raw interviews with the former president. This includes a conversation in which Trump discussed and shared sensitive letters from North Korea's Kim Jong-un, something that Trump demanded Woodward stay quite about.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Nobody else has them. But I want you to treat them with respect. I haven't shared (ph) them with anybody.

BOB WOODWARD, JOURNALIST: I understand. I understand.

TRUMP: And don't say I gave them to you, OK.

WOODWARD: OK. I --

TRUMP: But I think it's OK. Normally I wouldn't have given - I wasn't going to give them to Bob, you know. What, did you make a photostat of them or something?

WOODWARD: No, I dictated them into a tape recorder.

TRUMP: Really?

WOODWARD: Yes. Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Joining us now with more, CNN special correspondent Jamie Gangal.

You know, "The New York Times" and "The Washington Post" heard this and they noted that Donald Trump referred to the letters he wrote back to Kim Jong-un as extremely top secret, indicating a knowledge that he knew that these were something to be protected. You know, what are the security implications of this?

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: So, John, first, I think the exact quote for classification was so top secret, which is a whole new classification. I've never heard that. Let alone can we talk about the photostat.

But, look, on a more serious note, when Trump says, don't say I gave them to you, or he says something is top secret, these are classified documents. This is undoubtedly the kind of moment that made his national security advisers very unhappy because it's not that he was giving away nuclear secrets, but it's just not something -- as Woodward writes in the book, it's, quote, careless, it's cavalier and it's potentially dangerous. And what you really see here, John, is Trump trying to impress Bob Woodward.

BERMAN: That's what it sounded like right there.

GANGEL: Right.

BERMAN: Jamie, you've had a chance to listen to all this. What more did you hear in this?

GANGEL: So, first of all, there are other conversations. There are eight hours of the Trump interviews, but there are new interviews that have never been heard before with Trump's then national security adviser, Robert O'Brien, his deputy, Matthew Pottinger. And maybe most interesting throughout the recordings you hear in the background from advisers, allies, family, what you might call it Trump's court. Melania Trump, Senator Lindsey Graham, Kellyanne Conway. It really gives you a glimpse of Trump's inner circle. And we have one exchange - this is where Donald Trump hands over the phone to his son-in-law Jared Kushner to help Woodward set up interviews with other people in the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JARED KUSHNER: Hello.

BOB WOODWARD: Jared, Bob Woodward. How are you?

KUSHNER: Good. How are you?

WOODWARD: Good. Did you hear what he said, that I'm going to come see you. We've got a date scheduled. I think next week.

KUSHNER: OK.

WOODWARD: And then you're going to help me with some of these other people I want to talk to. Is that --

KUSHNER: Perfect. Well, what I'll do is I'll make a list of other people. What I heard from the president is basically that I now work for you. So, I will make myself available around that schedule.

[08:35:01] And I will make sure I get you a good list. I'll come up with my list. And if you come with your list of wants, I will work to try to make it all happen.

WOODWARD: I want you to know I have no illusions that you work for me. I know you work for Ivanka, right?

KUSHNER: OK, fine, you get it. You get it. That's probably why you're Bob Woodward. So, that's true.

WOODWARD: I get it. I -

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GANGEL: John, one of the few times we hear from Jared Kushner.

But I think what's most interesting about the book, a lot of this news was broken in Bob Woodward's book "Rage," but you really get a sense of Trump unvarnished. It will not surprise you that he attacks people he doesn't like and he boasts a lot about himself. You will hear the word tough over and over again. The book comes - the audio book comes out next week.

BERMAN: Very interesting to here. Also the systemic sucking up to Bob Woodward there, extraordinary.

GANGEL: He wanted to impress him. Always the salesman.

BERMAN: Jamie Gangel, thank you very much.

GANGEL: Thank you.

BERMAN: So, Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced martial law in the four regions that Russia claims to have annexed from Ukraine. We're live in Moscow, next.

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[08:40:15]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: This just in, Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced martial law in the four regions that he claimed to have annexed from Ukraine. Putin made these comments during a security council meeting here in the last hour.

I want to bring in Matthew Chance in Moscow with the very latest.

Matthew, what can you tell us?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, thanks.

Well, I mean, there's been a lot of anticipation about what Vladimir Putin would exactly announce during this security council meeting here in the Russian capital. And there was some expectation as well that it may be something to do with martial law. The concern was that he was going to announce martial law across the whole country. He didn't do that. He announced it in the four areas that he said Russia had annexed some time ago inside Ukraine. Remember, it's areas Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk, that are not fully under Russian federal control.

And so there's a very limited extent to which martial law, even though it's now been announced in those regions, can actually be imposed on it by the Russians. And as we've been hearing, of course, the Ukrainians are making steady progress in taking back a lot of that territory, particularly in the Kherson region. Indeed, it's against the backdrop of those military advances by the Ukraine armed forces, particularly around Kherson, that this announcement is being made alongside a declaration that civilians in the are of Kherson are being evacuated from the region towards Russia as well, which is an acknowledgment that Russia is really on the military backfoot when it comes to the Ukrainian conflict at the moment.

And I suppose it's within that context that this announcement of martial law was made because I think it shows that Vladimir Putin is trying to be seen as taking concerted action at a time when military forces are definitely suffering some humiliating setbacks on the battlefield.

KEILAR: How much pressure, Matthew, is he under to do that?

CHANCE: Well, I think he's under quite a lot of pressure. I mean there's been unprecedented criticism of Vladimir Putin on state television, which is controlled by the Kremlin, of course, supposedly, over the past several weeks and months about the humiliating setbacks that Russia has suffered on the battlefield inside Ukraine. We've seen military bloggers really come to the fore in this country, leading the criticism against the defense establishment and the decisions that have been made by officers in charge of what Russia calls its special military operation. Criticism of Putin directly has been avoided. But, of course, everybody knows it's Vladimir Putin that has been leading this operation inside Ukraine since it was launched back at the end of February. And so there's this sort of indirect criticism of him as well. But certainly there is, you know, given the setbacks, given the losses, given the mobilization that's taken place here, yes, there's a lot of political pressure on Vladimir Putin to start showing some results and to prove himself as a war leader, which he's not doing at the moment.

KEILAR: Matthew Chance, thank you so much for that report, live for us from Moscow.

And ahead, the climate crisis has already wrecked parts of the U.S. We've seen it in hurricanes, wildfires. Now the Treasury Department is launching an assessment to see how extreme weather is affecting your wallet.

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[08:47:59]

BERMAN: This morning, the Treasury Department is announcing that it's going to take a hard look at how climate-related disasters are driving up insurance rates around the country. This will be the first time that the department has used its authority under the Dodd-Frank Act to ask insurance companies for zip code level data regarding their policies and prices.

With me now, CNN chief climate correspondent Bill Weir.

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Hey, John.

BERMAN: Explain this because this is really interesting.

WEIR: Right now it's really opaque in terms of what neighborhoods pay what premiums. And now they want to use these powers from the financial crisis to take insurance companies to task and say, we want to see this wildfire cabin neighborhood, you know, that's in danger of wildfire over here or floods on the barrier islands because what's happening is these small insurance companies are going under. Three of them in Louisiana last year. A bunch in Florida. Even before Ian. And the rates are going up for everyone with these massive claims come in after these increasingly expensive natural disasters. The last resort is either reinsurance companies, a lot in Europe who are backing up our insurance companies, and they hold all the power, they're the ones raising the prices, or, you know, they're just going to cross state borders and other people around the country are going to start paying higher rates.

BERMAN: What kind of changes could this ultimately lead to?

WEIR: That's a great question because right now the system is so broken. A lot of people don't have flood insurance. So there are fights over, was it wind damage, was it flood damage. The national flood insurance program, which is backed by FEMA, is completely under water, pun intended. So, yes, there's a lot of big reforms that are needed here.

BERMAN: I mean is it just -- could it get to a point where it's too expensive to live by the beach?

WEIR: If you follow the logic out, yes. If people walk away and say, look, if you want to live in paradise, you assume all the own risk. All -- you assume it all. And that will separate things economically. And so people who can afford to rebuild and to shake off a storm like Ian can afford to live on the beach. But what about the teachers and the cops and the people who work in the restaurants?

BERMAN: I want to look at the pictures we've all been looking at, the Mississippi River.

WEIR: Yes.

BERMAN: The -- a little bit less mighty than usual Mississippi River.

[08:50:02]

We've all seen just how low it is.

WEIR: All-time (ph). BERMAN: I think about you when I see pictures like this. I think about you a lot, Bill.

WEIR: Well, thank you, John.

BERMAN: But this is - this is really extraordinary.

WEIR: But this is a story too that shows - I mean I travel around the country and sometimes you go to places that are beautiful and they have high elevation and fresh water and they're like, ah. You know, the climate crisis for other folks, half of the grain that is moved up and down out of the heartland comes down the Mississippi on barges. A third of the heating oil this winter will have to go up that river and it's too low for those barges to move. They can't load fully. And that affects prices and inflation. It's all connected. And there's saltwater intrusion down around New Orleans because there's not enough fresh water to hold out the sea.

BERMAN: You speak for the bees. Now talk to me about the bees in Florida.

WEIR: Yes.

BERMAN: And how they were affected by Ian and how that's a problem everywhere.

WEIR: This is just like the Mississippi. You know, the barge traffic affects all of us economically. A huge percentage of the crops from the cherries in Washington, to avocados, to peaches in Georgia are pollinated by bees, many of them which are kept in Florida, right in Ian's path. And this hurricane was devastating to about 15 percent of the beekeepers' business in this country.

BERMAN: Wow.

WEIR: It ripped -- it ripped the roofs off their hives. It sucked the bees out. It drowned some of them in floodwaters. And it destroyed all their food. And so now the survivors are starving. They're robbing honey from each other's hives. And volunteers are feeding them corn syrup to try to keep them alive so that they don't just collapse on each other. It's just another ripple effect. This will affect next year's harvest as well.

BERMAN: It's going to have a huge impact.

Bill Weir, great to see you. Thank you so much.

WEIR: Good to see you, John. You bet.

KEILAR: Flu season getting a jump in parts of the country. Already a thousands people hospitalized for flu just last week. This is on top of facing other respiratory viruses, including Covid.

Dr. Tara Narula is here with us to discuss.

Dr. Narula, what can you tell us? Remind us of what kind of toll the flu can take here.

DR. TARA NARULA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, exactly. It's important to remind that the flu is not a cold. The CDC estimates the annual burden of hospitalizations for flu, we're talking 100,000 to 700,000. The annual death rate anywhere from 12,000 to 50,000. So, we are concerned that this may be a tough year for us here based on what we saw in the southern hemisphere also due to all the Covid mitigation strategies. We all potentially have our immunity down when it comes to facing the flu. So, it's really important right now to remind people to get their vaccine, ideally before the end of October, it takes about two weeks to build up those antibodies, even though peak flu season is really December to May. We know last year only about 45 percent of Americans got vaccinated. A recent study in 2021 showed if you did get vaccinated, you decreased your rate of hospital - of ICU admissions by around 20 percent and death by about 30 percent. And important you can get the flu vaccine with your Covid vaccine or booster.

KEILAR: And there's a new CDC report and it cites where there are lapses in flu protection and preparedness. What did this report find and what can be done to fix this?

NARULA: Well, it really highlighted the disparities when it comes to race and ethnicity in this country. So, important they not -- they noted that African Americans, Hispanic Americans and also American Indians and Alaska natives had increased rates of hospitalization over the last 12 years and decreased rates of vaccination. So, when you look in the past 12 years, we're talking about 80 percent increased rate of hospitalizations for African Americans, about 30 percent for American Indians and Alaska natives and 20 percent for Hispanics.

And then, when you look at those vaccination rates, whites and Asian Americans, about 50 percent are getting vaccinated. And compare that to around 40 percent of African Americans, American Indians, Alaska natives and Hispanics.

So, a lot of work to do here. We know that a lot of this comes down to lack of access for many of these groups. More chronic conditions in these groups. And mistrust and misinformation. So, there are ways to approach this in the same ways that we did with Covid, which is trusted messengers going into the community, at schools, libraries and reaching people where they are and creating culturally sensitive messaging, right, in the proper language, in ways that is transparent and that really addresses concerns and misinformation and educates and also appointments with health care practitioners. We know that if somebody sees a provider they're more likely to hopefully get screened and pushed to get their vaccination. Again, if you're over six months, this is the ideal time to get your vaccine right now.

KEILAR: What advice are you giving parents of small kids right now? I ask because, I mean, this is anecdotal but I'm hearing this a lot, kids are missing so much school already this year because of so many viruses. I know that's the case in my house.

NARULA: Correct. And we've seen this even in California recently in many of the -- one of the high schools there where so many absences and the concern is it's from the flu. So, yes, important for parents to also get their children vaccinated. Again, if they're over six months, this is the right time before Halloween, take your child to their pediatrician and get them their flu vaccine.

KEILAR: All right, Dr. Narula, great to see you. Thank you so much.

NARULA: Thank you.

BERMAN: So, Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced martial law in the four regions it claims to have annexed from Ukraine.

[08:55:06]

And a new round of secondary measures over area inside Russia. This breaking right now.

CNN's coverage continues right after a quick break.

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