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Infected Trump to Hold WH Event Tomorrow, Florida Rally Monday; Fauci: Rose Garden Ceremony was "A Superspreader Event"; CDC Study Suggests Young Adults may be Sparking New Hot Spots; U.S. Coronavirus Deaths Top 213,000 With 7.6 Plus Million Cases; Fauci: Rose Garden Ceremony Was "A Superspreader Event"; Six Men Accused In An Alleged Plot To Kidnap Michigan Gov. Arraigned; Trump Slams Michigan Gov. After Feds Reveals Plot To Kidnap Her; Hurricane Delta Hitting Louisiana As Strong Category 2 Storm. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired October 09, 2020 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Tune in to CNN's "State of the Union" this Sunday morning. My guests include White House Director of the National Economic Council Larry Kudlow, Joe Biden's deputy campaign manager, Kate Bedingfield, and Democratic Senator from Hawaii Mazie Hirono. You can see it at 9:00 a.m., noon Eastern on Sunday. Our coverage on CNN continues right now. I will see you Sunday

morning.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM. We're following breaking news.

We're learning that President Trump is now planning to hold an event tomorrow at the White House despite his COVID infection where he'll address hundreds, hundreds of people on the Trump campaign. As just said, the president will also speak at a political campaign rally Monday in Sanford, Florida.

Also, breaking, Dr. Anthony Fauci is now calling that Rose Garden ceremony at the White House where Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, quote, "a superspreader event" where multiple people were likely infected due to the lack of masks and social distancing.

Meanwhile, the president is reversing himself once again on a pandemic stimulus package after calling off all talks with House Democrats earlier this week. He is now saying he wants a bigger stimulus deal than either Republicans or Democrats are calling for.

And as of this hour, the U.S. coronavirus death toll is now more than 213,000 people with more than 7.6 billion confirmed cases and 28 states. Right now, we are seeing dramatic -- seeing cases on the rise dramatically.

Let's get straight to the White House. First our chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta is joining us. Jim, I understand you're getting new details of this event the president is planning to hold at the White House tomorrow afternoon.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. And first, we should point out President Trump has been in the Oval Office this afternoon and we are learning as you said the president is planning on hosting an event tomorrow here at the White House even as he is recovering from the virus and other officials could be contagious with COVID-19. The event is planned for the South Lawn and the president is expected to address what is described as hundreds of attendees from the balcony where we saw Mr. Trump after he got out of the hospital earlier this week.

And on top of that, the president is planning on holding a rally in the Orlando area on Monday. This busy schedule comes as president is confirming what our sources have been telling us for days that he was in trouble as he grappled with the coronavirus at Walter Reed Medical Center.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA (voice-over): Keeping behind closed doors and away from reporters, President Trump is turning to a support network of conservative broadcasters to offer new details on his bout with COVID- 19 including an admission that his illness has been far worse than described by the White House.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (via telephone): I was not in great shape and we have a medicine that - that healed me, that fixed me. It's a great medicine. I mean, I feel better now than I did two weeks ago. It's crazy. And I recovered immediately, almost immediately. I might not have recovered at all from COVID.

ACOSTA (voice-over): Contrast that with what White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told reporters one week ago.

MARK MEADOWS, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: The president does have mild symptoms.

ACOSTA (voice-over): Mr. Trump also explained he has dealt with a lingering cough.

TRUMP: There's always that little, you know, that little lingering thing for a couple of days, but no I have, I have a - my voice is now perfect.

ACOSTA (voice-over): But hold on. That's not what the president's doctor, Sean Conley, stated Wednesday when he said the president has been symptom-free for over 24 hours. Mr. Trump was coughing and having difficulty breathing at times during another softball session on Fox.

TRUMP: We had three debates with Hillary. I think the first debate, they -- excuse me. On the first debate, they oscillated the mike.

ACOSTA (voice-over): One of two notable moments during the interview.

TRUMP: Well, I want them to vote but I will say this. Absentee is OK because absentee ballots - excuse me. Absentee ballots are fine. ACOSTA (voice-over): Contrast the president's sudden candor about his sickness with what he said in a White House video on Monday when he told Americans not to be afraid of the virus.

TRUMP: Now I'm better and maybe I'm immune. I don't know. But don't let it dominate your lives.

ACOSTA (voice-over): The nation's infectious diseases expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, is dubbing the White House outbreak "a superspreader."

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES (via telephone): The data speaks of themselves. We had a superspreader event in the White House and it was in a situation where people were crowded together, were not wearing masks. So, the data speak for themselves.

ACOSTA (voice-over): Yet the White House continues to stonewall the public on when the president last tested negative for the virus with one official refusing to answer that question six times in one interview.

BRIAN MORGENSTERN, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY: Just because he is president doesn't mean he shares every single detail of - of you know his entire life. But we do share enough information certainly for public health purposes. The fact of the matter is there is a reason to share certain information.

ACOSTA (voice-over): House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who has accused Mr. Trump of being in an altered state while on his medication introduced a bill that would establish a commission to help enforce the U.S. Constitution's 25th Amendment that calls for executive branch power to be shifted to the vice president when the president is incapacitated.

[17:05:07]

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): This is not about President Trump. He will face the judgment of the voters. But he shows the need for us to create a process for future presidents.

ACOSTA (voice-over): The president is signaling he is ready to work with Pelosi on a massive new coronavirus relief bill after ending stimulus talks earlier this week.

TRUMP: I would like to see a bigger stimulus package frankly than either the Democrats or the Republicans are offering. I'm going the exact opposite now, OK?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: And CNN has confirmed there have been other COVID-19 positive cases in the White House prior to this latest outbreak that infected the president. One official told CNN some cases have not been made public for privacy reasons and we are waiting on a new statement from the White House doctor. We still don't know what the president's condition is, Wolf, as he is planning these events on the White House South Lawn and the Orlando area on Monday. It sounds very reckless given the fact that we don't know whether or not the president is still spreading the coronavirus around inside the White House. Wolf?

BLITZER: Yes, it does. Jim Acosta, thank you very, very much.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden says he needs an overwhelming election victory to prevent President Trump from challenging the election results. Let's go to our political correspondent Arlette Saenz. She is covering the Biden campaign for us. Arlette, as President Trump continues to question the legitimacy of the upcoming election, how is Joe Biden responding?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, Joe Biden is telling his supporters to get out there and vote. He made his first stop here in the East Las Vegas area trying to court Latino voters, a critical voting bloc in Nevada. And Biden made it clear that in order for the president, to ensure that the president can't challenge any of the outcomes of the elections, that voters need to head to the polls and to vote for Biden decisively. Take a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: He is trying to scare us. He is trying to convince everybody there is ways they can play with the vote and undermine the vote. They can't. If we show up, we win. And look what has happened in early voting all across America. Long lines. Long lines. We can't just win. We have to win overwhelmingly so he can't be in a position where he can put the phony challenges that he is talking about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: So we are reaching that point in the campaign with just 25 days to go where Biden is not just making the case for why voters need to vote for him over President Trump but it's also starting to focus on turnout. Yesterday, he was in Arizona on the second day of early voting. Nevada is set to start early voting in about eight days. So, he is sending that message telling people to make sure that they vote and have their voices heard.

Now he is traveling here to Nevada on his first western swing as the general election Democratic nominee. This is the state that both sides want to keep and play. President Trump narrowly lost here to Hillary Clinton back in 2016 but a recent poll by "New York Times" showed that Biden is leading here in the state by about six points.

One group that both of these candidates will be courting in the final weeks is Latinos. Biden in a short while will be here in Las Vegas right behind me at a drive-in style event as they are trying to adhere to the regulations surrounding events in states like Nevada due to the coronavirus pandemic. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Arlette, thank you very much. Arlette Saenz on the scene for us.

Let's get some more on all of this. Our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is joining us and our chief political analyst Gloria Borger is with us as well. Sanjay, the president is holding another White House event tomorrow afternoon even though he's still for all we know he might be contagious less than a week after getting back from the hospital. He spent four days in the hospital. Now we have learned he is also going to be holding a political campaign rally in Florida on Monday. How reckless is this?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean you know even aside from the fact that the president you know has COVID, he is still dealing with that. It would already be reckless. I mean we are in the middle of a pandemic. I mean at the -- as far as the White House event goes, I mean, we just sort of talked about the fact that there was a superspreader event at the White House last weekend. You bring people together like this, I mean, there is plenty of proof now that this virus is very contagious and can spread in situations like that. And the same thing about Orlando. I mean you know leaving aside again the president's own health, that in and of itself is just -- remains reckless in the middle of a pandemic.

Now you know with regard to the White House event, I heard the president is going to be up on the balcony, maybe he will be distanced from people but there's other people at the White House that may have been exposed. We are dealing with a significant you know sort of viral activity at the White House. It's sort of this hot spot for viral activity and I don't know that I would be bringing people into a residence like that right now or even outside the residence. It's a concern.

[17:10:00]

And as far as the rally goes, just like we were talking about a few weeks ago, you know President Trump getting diagnosed, those are concerns. Those are potentially all superspreader events. We saw what happened at the Rose Garden because we were able to see those people, so many of them well-known people. This is happening over and over again at these rallies almost assuredly, Wolf.

BLITZER: Certainly is, you know. And Dr. Fauci just said that the data is very clear right now that the last time the White House held a major event the one in the Rose Garden it turned into what he called a superspreader event. I assume you agree with Dr. Fauci?

GUPTA: Yes. I mean you know, so what is a superspreader event? It is an event where you have a bunch of people who become infected. Now, you know, one thing that we don't know about that particular event, because they are not really doing any contact tracing, was there a single source, a single individual who was, you know, the source of those infections? Was there more than one person? You would be able answer that question by contacted tracing and really going back and looking at who likely got infected when.

But regardless, Wolf, even based on what we know, there are lots of people who, based on the timeline, became infected at that event or events around that day. Maybe they clustered together right before the formal event. Maybe they clustered together afterward. But you can see them sitting close together within six feet for longer than 15 minutes and even though it's outside as we talked about yesterday, Wolf, you have to imagine the virus sort of is like smoke like a camp fire. It can move around even in an outdoor setting like that.

BLITZER: Certainly can. You know, Gloria, that U.S. Marine you can see him right there. The Marine guard standing outside the door to the West Wing over the north lawn of the White House, the driveway there, that means the president is now not in the residence but in the West Wing presumably in the Oval Office right now. All of this stuff that is going on. The event tomorrow. The campaign rally in Florida on Monday. The president walking around the large White House campus right now. How outrageous is this kind of behavior?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Look, it's not presidential behavior. The president is supposed to model good behavior in all ways including medical good behavior. And this is a man who has suffered coronavirus and in his own words he says he was very sick even though he didn't like it when Mark Meadows his chief of staff told reporters that he was quite sick. But now he is bragging about it because he wants to talk about how well he got and how quickly that happened.

But presidents are supposed to set examples, Wolf. We tell everybody in this country and Sanjay has said it is gazillion times. Wear a mask. Be socially distant. He is inviting people on to the White House grounds. Let's see how many of them are wearing masks. We all saw the Amy Coney Barrett event which was a superspreader event that Dr. Fauci is talking about.

Let's see how many are wearing masks in Orlando. The president may very well protect himself, but what about all of those other people if they don't get infected from him? They could in fact, each other. And this is something that Donald Trump seems to be giving absolutely no thought to.

BLITZER: You know It's really amazing when you think about it, Gloria. The president shifting story on so many of these issues, he is flip- flopping across the board. Now he is saying -- told Rush Limbaugh that he was very sick and might not have actually made it. Remember when he came home -

BORGER: Right.

BLITZER: -- from the hospital, Monday. He said and I'm quoting him. "Don't be afraid of COVID. Don't let it dominate your life." But now he is telling us he might not have made it. How do you explain the shifting story on his part?

BORGER: Well, he you know he was lying in one instance and there is only a couple of ways to explain it. One is he wants to show the American public he is some kind of a superman. The other is that he wants to brag about the fact that he is going to get great new drugs approved and pushed out to senior citizens with whom he is losing dramatically to Joe Biden. It's really hard to understand this shifting story and, again, if he is giving -- going to these rallies and he is going to have people at these rallies, presumably without masks, he was telling the American public how sick he was and he still going to do this. That is what I just can't understand.

BLITZER: It's really amazing when you think about it. Yesterday, more than 50,000 Americans were confirmed with coronavirus more than 900 Americans died just yesterday. Trust me, these people are very, very angry right now. And the president repeatedly seems to be downplaying the whole thing.

Gloria, thank you very much. Sanjay, thanks to you as well.

A quick programming note for our viewers. Sanjay and Anderson Cooper will talk with five former CDC directors tomorrow night in a new CNN Global Town Hall Coronavirus Facts and Fears. Tune in tomorrow at 9:00 p.m. Eastern right after our special edition of THE SITUATION ROOM.

[17:15:09]

Up next, House Democrats are pushing a bill that would let Congress assess a president's fitness to serve. I'll speak to the lawmaker, at least one of them, who is deeply behind this.

Pushing bill let Congress tennis a fitness service to serve. I'll speak to one of the lawmakers who is deeply behind this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Right now, House Democrats are pushing a new bill to give Congress a role in determining whether the president of the United States must be forced out of office because he incapable of doing his job. Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland, he's joining us right now. He introduced the bill along with the Speaker Nancy Pelosi as a member of the Oversight Committee. Congressman, thanks so much for joining us. And tell us why you believe Congress should have a new say in determining whether a sitting president can be removed under the 25th Amendment.

[17:20:09]

REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): Wolf, thank you for having me. This was called for and contemplated in the 25th Amendment which was adopted more than 50 years ago in 1967. And in the section we are talking about which is Section IV, it says that either the vice president and a majority of the cabinet or the vice president in a majority of a body setup by Congress can determine that the president is unable to execute the powers and duties of office.

And this was a matter of great concern to Birch Bayh and Robert F. Kennedy and the other authors of the Amendment because there was the new clear age and they wanted to make sure that there was stability in presidency. There are 535 members of Congress versus one president.

I think in the age of COVID-19, we should share similar sense of urgency about the situation. We have lost more than 200,000 Americans as you know, the White House staff is ravaged by it and COVID-19 is rampant. So, this president or any president because this bill was not about one president, it's about all of the presidents, any president could catch the disease and if they don't voluntarily transfer the powers over Section III they could go into the hospital and end up in a coma, on a ventilator, unable to communicate and so on.

What do we'll we do at that point? Who is in charge? Is it the secretary of state? Is it the vice president? Is it the chief of staff? Is it the first lady or the first gentleman? So, that exactly why the 25th Amendment was adopted by overwhelming bipartisan majorities in 1965 and by overwhelming bipartisan (INAUDIBLE) in the states in more than three-quarters of the states in 1967.

BLITZER: But you know what the critics are saying, it really, the legislation you're putting forward now has no chance of becoming a law at least no time and not anytime soon and they are suggesting this is simply a Democratic publicity stunt just before the election. What is your response?

RASKIN: Well, the first part of it is right which this is not going to be become law before the election. And so, of the many things that Donald Trump has to worry about, or we have to worry about with Donald Trump this is not one of them. But it identifies a serious structural deficiency in our mode of operating right now. Imagine if the president had gone into Walter Reed and there had been a different outcome than this one which is unstable and erratic enough but if there'd be a different outcome what would happen?

If everybody could just you know extract from the partisan politics for a second, just think about that. It's a really dangerous serious problem. The Constitution sets forth a way for us to deal with it. We have got to set up this Constitution, which is bipartisan, bicameral in nature. Half of the members will be doctors, physicians. The other half will be former members of the executive branch of government whether it's secretary of state or defense or treasury, or former presidents, vice presidents, surgeon generals. So, you get that collective governmental wisdom but not in politics together with the medical wisdom.

And in a serious emergency, they would be able to act to help transfer the powers to the vice president. So, none of this happens without the vice president because you need the vice president in a majority of the cabinet or vice president majority of this body. So, when they say it's partisan, I just don't understand it because it's totally bipartisan in nature. Half of the people are appointed by Republican leaders, half by Democratic leaders and then nothing happens without the vice president himself.

BLITZER: Congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland, thank you so much for joining us. Stay safe out there.

RASKIN: Thank you so much, Wolf.

BLITZER: Coming up, controversial restrictions in part of New York City right now that have turned into a coronavirus hot spot. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:29:00] BLITZER: We are following multiple breaking stories as the U.S. coronavirus death toll now tops 213 thousand and the country just saw the most new cases in single day in nearly two months. CNN's Brian Todd is keeping track of all the late-breaking developments. So, what's the latest, Brian?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, we have some new information in from the CDC. New CDC report saying that young people could be the sparks that set off all these hot spots that we are seeing across the country. CDC researchers say that in many hot spots, the percentage of people age 25 and younger who test positive often goes up about a month before those areas are declared hot spots. And this comes as we get new warnings from top experts that we could be heading into a darker period for this virus even than the one we saw last spring.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (voice-over): Shuttered businesses in parts of Brooklyn, a hot spot of COVID-19 clusters in New York City. The governor says the infection rate in those clusters is much higher than in the rest of the state. Residents of those neighborhoods, particularly religious group have been battling city and state officials over the closures of nonessentials businesses and the drastic limits of gatherings in Houses of worship.

[17:30:00]

RABBI SHNAYOR BURTON, RESIDENT: The way the government has been treating us and a lot of Americans has been like really as if we're not capable of making intelligent decisions. And I consider it simply tyranny.

TODD (voice-over): Governor Andrew Cuomo says it's not a matter of religious freedom, that they simply have to attack outbreaks in those neighborhoods.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): If you don't follow the rules, the infection rate spreads, people get sick and then you make others sick. You know, we're talking about Brooklyn. We're not talking about a hermetically sealed community in a rural area, this is in the middle of Brooklyn. They will make other people sick.

TODD (voice-over): Neighboring New Jersey just reported its highest number of cases in one day since May, with nearly 30 states seeing case counts go up, and the country averaging more than 45,000 new positive tests per day. A whistle-blower who recently left the Trump administration has an ominous warning.

RICK BRIGHT, FORMER DIR., HHS BIOMEDICAL ADVANCED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY: This winter we're going to have an explosion of cases of coronavirus. This winter we're going to have an explosion of influenza infections and other respiratory infections, is going to overwhelm our healthcare system again.

TODD (voice-over): In Wisconsin, that's already happening. The Governor says the number of people in the hospital with COVID-19 in that state has nearly tripled in a month. A temporary field hospital in Wisconsin will start receiving patients in the coming days. A top health official says doctors and nurses are among those infected.

ANDREA PALM, WISCONSIN DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH SERVICES: Every region in Wisconsin has hospitals reporting current and imminent staffing shortages. And at least one region is reporting these shortages in a majority of their hospitals.

TODD (voice-over): With the U.S. heading back to the kinds of spikes it saw in the early spring and part of the summer, one expert says this round could be even worse, because then the country was only starting with a few hotspots. Now --

CAITLIN RIVERS, JOHNS HOPKINS CENTER FOR HEALTH SECURITY: We see particular hotspots in the northern Midwest and the plain states, but it's not just there, it's actually really all throughout the country. And I think that puts us in a precarious position moving into the fall (ph).

TODD (voice-over): A leading member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force says people who are asymptomatic are silent spreaders in some communities. And she issues this warning for the upcoming holidays.

DR. DEBORAH BIRX, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE RESPONSE COORDINATOR: It's important for all of us to not let our guard down during Thanksgiving. We see that from the high holy days people are just yearning to be together.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: And there are questions over whether we'll see another favorite tradition around the holidays this year, pro-football. The NFL has just had to reschedule two games this weekend because of positive COVID test. The Tennessee Titans are under investigation after more than 20 players and staff members became infected and the NFL's chief medical officer said this week the league is not ruling out pausing the season. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right, Brian, thank you very much. Brian Todd with all the late breaking developments.

Let's bring in the former Acting CDC Director Dr. Richard Besser. Dr. Besser, thanks so much for joining us. The admission from Dr. Fauci, in his words, that we had a super spreader event over in the White House is now met with plans to hold another big event there tomorrow. Hundreds of people will gather on the South Lawn, the President's planning to address them from the balcony. He's also planning to travel to Florida on Monday for a campaign rally. Just how risky, Dr. Besser, are these events, especially given the President's recent coronavirus hospitalization?

DR. RICHARD BESSER, FORMER ACTING DIRECTOR, CDC: Well, Wolf, you know, as you know, outdoor events are safer than indoor events. But what I really worry about are those people who don't have a choice about whether they're going to attend. There are a lot of people that are required to keep the White House going. That's military to provide protection and Secret Service.

All the staff who run the White House in terms of providing food and maintenance and bottlers and such large proportion of people who work in the White House are people of color. And we know that that people of color have been hit especially hard by this. So it's one thing to have a choice to attend an event that may put you at risk. But there are a lot of people who are civil servants who are serving their country who don't have a choice in that. And I find that very concerning.

BLITZER: A former CDC Director, Dr. William Foege, and that's a row you once held, says President Trump, in his words, has his knee on the neck of public health experts that is preventing them from fighting this pandemic effectively. Do you agree with that assessment?

BESSER: Well, Dr. Foege is one of my public health heroes. He led the effort to wipe out smallpox around the globe, and he's one of the most moral and ethical people I've ever met. And his concern is that we are not following the lead of public health, that public health should be out front. And if we were following public health, we would be seeing far fewer deaths, far less of an impact in this country than we've been seeing.

And I agree with him, we need to get public health out in front. You know, your reporter was talking about the report out of Wisconsin in young people. And what they were saying was one of the reasons that they're seeing additional cases was that young people reporting stigma. They appear pressure to not wear masks.

[17:35:08]

They report the issue of misinformation. And if we're hearing young people being confused and being pressured to not do the right thing, that calls for 180. We have to turn this around and unite around the public health approach.

BLITZER: And the numbers keep exploding. This is really so worrisome. The Johns Hopkins University reports yesterday 55,191 confirmed coronavirus cases and sadly 961 Americans died from the virus. It just keeps getting worse and worse.

Dr. Besser, thank you so much for joining us. We'll continue our coverage with you down the road.

Coming up, as some of the suspects go to court, we're also learning new details about the alleged plot to kidnap Michigan's Governor. Also, the eye of Hurricane Delta is just off the Louisiana coast and just hours away from coming ashore. Standby, we're going to have a live update from our crew, they are on the scene in the storm's path.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:40:41] BLITZER: There's more breaking news we're following. Six men arrested by the FBI have now been arraigned in connection with an alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Our National Correspondent Sara Sidner is in Grand Rapids, Michigan working the story for us. Sara, the men are facing terrorism charges. Give us the latest developments.

SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, six of seven of the men were arraigned here on terrorism charges, state terrorism charges and other felony charges. The seventh actually is awaiting extradition back here to Michigan. And as you know, on Thursday, there were six other defendants that are charged federally in this terrorist plot.

The FBI said the plot really centered around a plan to kidnap and potentially kill Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. According to the complaint, they did surveillance on her vacation home more than once. They made explosive device and discuss detonating those explosive devices to try to divert police away from the area even talking about blowing up a bridge to keep police away while they are trying to kidnap the Governor, as well as trying to create a civil war and basically just take over the state government including storming the Capitol. All of these things, a terrifying idea.

But we also spoke today to the employer of one of the men at the FBI said was leading the charge, was the head of this plot. He told us that Adam Fox, the suspect, actually worked for him but also in the last few weeks had lived in his store where he worked because he had gotten into a fight with his girlfriend and got kicked out. He talked to us about what he thought when he finally heard that Fox was one of the suspects.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN TITUS, STORE OWNER: Adam Fox, since he was a kid, we tried to make sure he had a place to live and had a job, took care. This is a total shock. I can't believe it. I mean, that he would actually put his dogs at risk, his job, his family, but he was an employee me. And I told him once he -- November 1st, because I knew he was getting more from Amazon, he was getting buying more stuff.

SIDNER (voice-over): What was he getting from Amazon?

TITUS: Like MREs, food, stuff like that.

SIDNER (voice-over): So survival stuffs, it seems like?

TITUS: Yes. And I told him you have to have your own place on 1 November. He's buying more like attachments for like an AR-15.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: So, he said he was buying attachments. He said that Fox was in a self-styled militia that he created himself. The Governor tweeting today, "These are not militias. They're domestic terrorist endangering and intimidating their fellow Americans. Words matter." Wolf?

BLITZER: They certainly do. All right, Sara. Sara Sidner on the scene for us, thank you.

Let's get some more in the story. Michigan's Attorney General Dana Nessel is joining us right now. Attorney General, thank you so much for joining us. I know you have a lot going on. What more can you tell us, first of all, about the overarching ideology behind this plot?

DANA NESSEL, MICHIGAN ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, you know, Wolf, there's a number of different organizations, and this is multijurisdictional. It's not just a Michigan problem, it's a national problem at this point. But I would say whether they call themselves militia organizations, or whether they're white supremacy groups, they really all subscribe to a similar extremist ideology.

And it's this Boogaloo theory of taking over the government, civil war, and just general, they thrive on unrest. And that's what we have provided to them in 2020, right? I mean, the COVID epidemic, the Black Lives Matter protests. And, frankly, the fact that our federal government now seems to run on chaos at all times, I think is really fed into this movement. And that's happened in Michigan, but it's happened all across the country.

BLITZER: Yes. The FBI Director says this is the largest single greatest domestic terrorism threat, this white supremacy ideologues out there. You've confirmed, Attorney General, at least some of these suspects arrested were at the protests at your state capitol a few months ago against the Governor's coronavirus restrictions that they showed up what, with AR-15s and other weapons.

[17:45:07]

NESSEL: Yes, well they've been there multiple times. And I have tried in every way that I could knowing about this investigation to impart on our legislators how important it is to actually ban weapons at the Capitol knowing that at any time they could storm, take over the building. And there could be a massacre, to which the likes of we've probably never seen before in this country.

And -- but it always falls on deaf ears because, unfortunately, the Republicans that are in majority rule, the Speaker of the House, and the Majority Leader, just absolutely outright refused. And, in fact, even after this incident, the Majority Leader said that that would be, you know, an overreach and it would unduly burden the freedom that people have.

So, I don't know what to say, you know? I mean, whether it's not protecting people via -- using masks from COVID or from assault weapons, and apparently we can't do anything in our state to protect the public health, safety and welfare of our residents. And it's really upsetting.

BLITZER: If people can show up with weapons, including loaded weapons at the state capitol building, it's hard to believe but that's legal in the state of Michigan. Last night, President Trump gave credit to what he called his Justice Department, his law enforcement officers for foiling this plot but he actually attacked the Governor, Governor Whitmer, once again, for her coronavirus restrictions for not thanking him. What's your reaction to that? He says he's the law and order President. I haven't heard him speak a lot about this alleged terror plot going on in Michigan.

NESSEL: You know, he seemed to like to text a lot and to talk a lot about law and order. But those of us who really support the notion of law and order don't support, you know, domestic terrorism, the way that he has. I mean, he has a difficult time, even getting the words out to condemn these types of activities. And that's the irony of all of it.

He is the anti-law and order President because, you know, these are, in large, part, oftentimes his supporters, and I suppose he just doesn't want to lose his supporters. And it's odd to me sometimes when I see groups that are supposed to be anti-government groups, and yet, largely carrying Trump flags and signs. So, it's odd.

But that being the case, I mean, for him to go out and attack a woman who learned that, you know, her life and potentially life of her family could have well been taken via this plot. I mean, very upsetting. But I do want to commend the FBI and I do want to commend the U.S. attorneys both the eastern and western districts that work together with my department. Even if the President isn't a big actual fan of law and order, certainly there are career public servants that are willing to put their lives on the line to protect everybody in this country. And I really appreciate that.

BLITZER: Yes, I appreciate it, too. I think everyone appreciates what the FBI, the U.S. attorneys are doing to try to protect the people of Michigan, especially the Governor of Michigan.

The Attorney General Dana Nessel, thank you so much for joining us. Good luck. Stay safe out there. Be careful.

NESSEL: Thanks for having me.

BLITZER: There's some more breaking news we're following. Hurricane Delta now expected to make landfall just hours from now in Louisiana. We're going to give you the latest forecast, the update when we come back.

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[17:53:29]

BLITZER: There's more breaking news. Right now, the eye of Hurricane Delta is just hours away from making landfall over Southwest Louisiana. The conditions near the coast are deteriorating very rapidly. CNN's Ryan Young is in Louisiana for us. Ryan, so what are you experiencing there?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf, we're in Gueydan, Louisiana, and you can really see the power of the wind so far. I have a building sort of in front of me that's blocking some of the wind. But as you move out, we've been getting gusts that have been above 65 miles per hour. The wind and the situation has really deteriorated over the last hour and a half. I can tell you much of this area here is now without power. And this is an area that's already been dealing with a pack of four hurricane winds for the last few weeks. A lot of the power lines have been down. They just started getting power back 1,000. You can really see the force of the wind as it moves through this area, or is it even the area that we're staying right now. They had roofers out yesterday trying to work ahead of the storm to make sure some of these structures survive.

Now, the business here is a hunting lodge that we're here. This is going to be the worst year they've had in 47 years because when you combine COVID and also these back-to back-storms, this is really given their business a pounding they didn't inspect. On the roads, we saw people trying to be evacuated last night and the roads were packed for three to four hours, people were out there. Gas has been scarce to find as well.

Through all that in with the people who had to evacuate, 8,500 people are still in shelters from the last storm. And so, when you add this storm into it, plus the pandemic that's involved here, you have a lot of people who are worried about spending a lot of time in the shelter.

[17:55:11]

But as we're sitting here, Wolf, we are in the direct path of where the storm is expected to really count a while in the next few hours. The conditions have really been changing the work (ph). The wind has been swirling, and obviously, we're getting pounded with rain. Wolf?

BLITZER: I can see. Just be careful over there, Ryan. We'll stay in very close touch. Ryan Young on the scene for us, and we're worried about him, but he'll be fine.

There's more breaking news, we're following new details of President Trump's plan to hold an event at the White House with hundreds of people tomorrow afternoon, followed by a Florida rally on Monday even though he's offered no evidence, at least not publicly, that he's not still positive for the coronavirus.

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