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Chief Jim Kilpatrick, St. Pete Beach, FL, Fire Department, Discusses Hurricane Milton; FEMA, White House Battling Misinformation As Milton Approaches; VP Harris Calls CNN As Hurricane Milton Barrels Toward FL. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired October 09, 2024 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

JIM KILPATRICK, CHIEF, ST. PETE BEACH, FL, FIRE DEPARTMENT: You should be in a structure that is able to withstand the storm and be hunkering down.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Certainly, that is the right approach and not being out here in these conditions.

Chief, I'm wondering what your principal concern is for the community of St. Pete Beach.

KILPATRICK: My concern is that we just went through another storm about 13 days ago. These structures have been hit by water and wind. They are in a weakened state.

I'm worried that this next storm may cause collapse. And it may -- these waters may raise -- rise to a point that they're affecting second and third-quarter structures as well.

SANCHEZ: What does that mean from a basic perspective for folks situated just outside evacuation zones? Is it a good idea for them to get out as well or do you suspect that they might be better off hunkering down at this point?

KILPATRICK: I think, at this point, it's probably best to hunker down. Weather conditions are deteriorating and they're going to continue to deteriorate until landfall.

SANCHEZ: And, Chief, you noted the damage caused by Hurricane Helene only about two weeks ago. We saw piles and piles of debris stacked across Pinellas County, across parts of the Gulf Coast.

I wonder what it looks like in St. Pete Beach, specifically. How much of the debris from Hurricane Helene were you able to remove?

KILPATRICK: We made a small dent in it. There was a great effort. I think there was over 9,000 National Guardsmen, equipment, dump trucks, but it was a massive task and they did their best.

But we still have lots of debris on the roadway or on the sides of the roadway. And that's just going to become, you know -- (TECHNICAL PROBLEM). SANCHEZ: Yes. And, Chief, one more question. I want to give viewers an

idea of what it's like for the folks in the fire department when this hurricane is coming through.

When you get calls from people asking for help, how are you able to process them? Is there anything that emergency officials are able to do in a situation like this with a massive storm?

KILPATRICK: We're limited. You know, those calls came in, in the last storm. Once we evacuated the island, once our resources have left the island, we are -- we're stuck. And our Emergency Operations Center, and we will not be performing rescues until we get an all clear to get back out on the island.

SANCHEZ: Chief Kilpatrick, thanks so much for joining us. And please keep us updated on -- please keep us posted on what you're seeing there. We appreciate you joining us.

We have to take a quick break. But we're continuing to monitor Hurricane Milton here in Tampa Bay. We'll, of course, keep you posted with the latest.

Stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:37:43]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: As millions of people are bracing for Hurricane Milton, FEMA and local officials are battling a dangerous -- a dangerous storm of disinformation, much of it coming from former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Senator J.D. Vance.

In the wake of Hurricane Helene, less than two weeks ago, Trump has repeatedly made misleading claims like this one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Kamala spent all her FEMA money, billions of dollars, on housing for illegal migrants.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Last night, on the eve of Milton's expected landfall, Vance doubled down on Trump's claims in an op-ed in "The Wall Street Journal" criticizing the Biden administration's response.

The Biden administration says that these false claims are putting lives at risk. And earlier today, the Republican governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, no fan of Biden and Harris, agreed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): Be careful about the nonsense that just gets circulated and just know that the more titillating it is, the more likely somebody is making money off of it. And they don't really give a damn about the well-being and safety of

the people that are actually in the eye of this storm.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: CNN's Daniel Dale and Priscilla Alvarez are here to help us fact-check some of this.

All right, Daniel, first, let's go over this op-ed and what J.D. Vance is alleging here. In this op-ed, he criticizes the time that it took for active-duty troops to be deployed in North Carolina.

He writes, quote, "A week went by while the citizens of North Carolina suffered without the equipment and soldiers needed to save lives and begin recovery."

DANIEL DALE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: So a couple of things here. I think it's fair game for anyone to argue that North Carolina didn't have what it needed. Who has to say for sure what it needed.

However, this op-ed omits some important stuff. It did not mention, while criticizing Biden and Harris, that thousands of FEMA personnel were pre-positioned in North Carolina and other states in advance of the hurricane.

It focused on the time it took to deploy active-duty troops to North Carolina. Didn't mention the hundreds and then more than 1,000, in fact, more than 1,500 National Guard troops in North Carolina were very quickly deployed.

And he also didn't mention that, in order for the president deploy active-duty troops in such a situation, there needs to be request from the governor.

So he put all the blame on Biden, put all the blame on Harris, didn't mention that they had to wait.

[13:59:59]

KEILAR: Yes. They're important questions to raise. But some of these allegations do not appear to be fully fleshed out for sure.

And, Daniel, the op-ed also doubled down on this claim from Trump that FEMA has run out of money because it's been spent on migrants. What's the truth here?

DALE: The truth is that this is false. And I think this is another example of Senator Vance delivering Trumpian lives in a slightly more sophistic good way.

So this op-ed says that some have claimed that FEMA disaster relief money is separate from the money that is going to migrate. This is not a somewhat claim. That is the truth. These are two separate pots of money, specifically allocated by Congress for two very different purposes. And $1,650 million for a migrant shelter program to be administered by

FEMA and then more than $35 billion this year to FEMA for disaster relief. There's no basis for these claims.

They're being -- you know, the money is being the stolen, you know, taken, is missing. No. FEMA is spending money as Congress required. And there's no hanky panky going on here.

KEILAR: And, Priscilla, local officials, we hear it, Democrats, Republicans, they are concerned about this disinformation, misinformation that is out there. We heard that from Ron DeSantis.

The Biden administration -- clearly, we just heard that in the briefing -- they're concerned as well.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. This has gone all the way up the ladder. In fact, I spoke to a source who told me that President Biden this week asked for a memorandum from his team about the digital response and how exactly they we're remediating the misinformation.

Because the scale and scope of this is unlike anything that they have seen before. It has become so ramped. And when false claims that you all have discussed has a direct impacts on the ground.

And that's ultimately the main concern within the White House and within the Department of Homeland Security that people will not seek out the needs that they need to have met because they don't think that it is available given what is being said.

The Homeland Security secretary said this earlier today. President Joe Biden also just touched on this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: President Trump has led the onslaught of lies. Assertions have been made that property is being confiscated. That's simply not true.

They're saying people impacted by the storms will receive $750 in cash and no more. That's simply not true.

They're saying the money is needed to -- for this crisis is being diverted to migrants. What a ridiculous thing to say. It's not true. Now the claims are getting even more bizarre.

Congressman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a congresswoman from Georgia, is now saying the federal government is literally controlling weather. We're controlling the weather. It's found ridiculous. It's got to stop.

Moments like this, there are no red or blue states. There's one United States of America where neighbors are helping neighbors, volunteers and first responders are risking everything, including their own lives, to help their fellow Americans.

State, local, and federal officials are standing side-by-side. (END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now part of this has also included the White House finding other corners of the Internet that they can occupy with accurate information.

Yesterday, they launched a White House Reddit page. So they are trying new tactics, including the transportation secretary talking to Elon Musk to try to tamp down some of these concerns, or some of these false claims, I should say.

So, in an all-of-government right now, they're working around the clock to try to swat this away, knowing that it can have that real impact on the ground.

I will also tell you, Brianna, I spoke to a FEMA official yesterday who told me they were getting calls from their colleagues who are on the ground in North Carolina, for example, who are also facing threats from people.

And those threats are stemming from they're hearing on the Internet. So this isn't just the survivors who are being affected, but also the FEMA personnel on the ground who are meant to help them.

KEILAR: Yes, we have heard Mayorkas and DeSantis saying there are people afraid their land will be seized if they deal with FEMA officials. Not true.

And Vice President Harris on the phone.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: That's right, Brianna. Thank you so much.

Vice President Harris, I believe that you are now on the telephone fresh off of that briefing that we all saw here on CNN. Thank you so much for being here.

What is the most important thing that you learned that you want to amplify for Americans who are in the path of this dangerous storm right now?

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (via telephone): The briefing was very helpful on a number of fronts, but most importantly in getting the word out to folks in Florida, in particular, to please heed the advice and direction of your local officials, because this storm is unlike anything we have seen before.

[13:45:18]

And that's the point of emphasis. This is unlike anything we have seen before. We got a lot of tough, strong people in Florida who have been through a lot of hurricanes, tornadoes, but this is not like anything they have dealt with before.

So, if they have been told to evacuate, they must evacuate. We expect that this is going to be catastrophic and deadly. And I would emphasize that.

I would also emphasize the information that we received that, even if the designation of the Category shifts from a 5 to 4, that's not actually a downgrade in terms of the danger and the dangerous potential of it.

And so let's not have people rely, to their detriment, on, oh, this sounds like it's going to be less serious than we thought. They made very clear Category 5, Category 4 are almost equivalent in terms of the danger and the damage that they will create.

So, I would urge people to really take that information away, as well as to know there are dedicated folks on the ground from FEMA, from federal, state and local agencies that are there to help you, to help you in terms of advice now, to help you get out, and to help with recovery and rebuilding after this storm and this hurricane passes.

BASH: And, Madam Vice President, I just want to follow up on the FEMA readiness part of this discussion.

We heard the administrator, Deanne Criswell, say earlier today that the agency is down to $11 billion in disaster relief funding because it spent about $9 billion just over the last week.

Are you confident FEMA has the resources to manage what we are -- never mind what we are about to see in Florida? But, of course, that's on top of Hurricane Helene two weeks ago.

HARRIS: FEMA absolutely has the resources that it needs now and to deal with this hurricane as it hits and the aftermath.

And, of course, we want Congress when they come back to do their job of making sure that they pass legislation to provide more aid, because, again, this is really historic in terms of what we have seen. And so we do need to buff up the aid and assistance that we give FEMA, understanding that this is unusual and may be, sadly, the new normal.

BASH: But you don't believe that Congress -- because Congress is not in Washington right now. You don't believe that they need to come back earlier in order to give FEMA more resources?

HARRIS: FEMA has what they need right now.

BASH: OK.

I want to talk a little bit more about what both you and President Biden talked about in this briefing and each of you has talked about many times over the past few days, which is this dangerous misinformation that is coming from a lot of corners, including your opponent in the race for the White House.

Several local Republican leaders have been pleading with them to stop. Have you spoken to GOP officials in Florida to figure out how to help combat that right now, as it's about to get a whole lot worse?

HARRIS: Well, I will tell you, I have spoken with local officials who have been struck, for example, by Hurricane Helene. And they are doing an extraordinary job in trying to combat the misinformation.

And I'm talking about sheriffs. I'm talking about mayors. I'm talking about local officials. I don't even know their party affiliation, by the way, but leaders on the ground who know that it is not in the best interest of the people living in those areas to not know their rights, not to know what they're entitled to, and to be afraid of seeking help.

It is dangerous, it is unconscionable, frankly, that anyone who would consider themselves a leader would mislead desperate people, to the point that those desperate people would not receive the aid to which they are entitled. And that's why I call it dangerous. And we all know it's dangerous. And the gamesmanship has to stop.

At some point, the politics have to end, especially in a moment of crisis and the crises that we have been seeing affect so many people. They have lost -- I have met people who have lost family members through Hurricane Helene.

We know the desperation and the fear that the folks who are attempting to evacuate Florida are experiencing. The last thing that they deserve is to have a so-called leader make them more afraid than they already are.

[13:49:57]

BASH: We have been fact-checking. And, in fact, just before you came on, we did so. My colleague Brianna Keilar, along with Daniel Dale and Priscilla Alvarez, are doing that. And we're continuing to do it.

One of my sort of follow-up questions to that is about -- we know what Republicans, many Republicans, are saying that are -- that is just not true.

One of the things that came out of the fire in Hawaii last year was that a lot of the misinformation was reportedly being stirred by foreign adversaries. Do you have any indication that that is happening right now?

HARRIS: I do not. No, I do not.

But whatever the source, Dana, just so we're clear, it hurts the American people, and it's got to stop.

BASH: Madam Vice President, I also just want to ask a little bit more about the federal response.

The -- one of the Republican senators from North Carolina, Thom Tillis, who I should say is not critical of the federal response, he says he believes that President Biden should appoint an active-duty commander to lead the federal response to these storms. Is that a good idea? Should he do that?

HARRIS: I mean, Dana, we're looking at -- we have already, as part of the briefing heard just minutes ago that tornadoes have actually already hit the area. So now is not the time to necessarily think about restructuring, as much as it is to get boots on the ground and the support directly that is needed as a matter of urgency.

And, certainly, all good ideas are welcome. But, right now, let's let FEMA, let's let the folks who are on the ground do the work they need to do right now in real time.

That's about assisting with evacuations, getting correct information out, battling, sadly, the misinformation, and putting in place the resources that can hopefully mitigate against the predictable damage.

Including, for example, we heard a very good briefing from the commandant of the Coast Guard, the work that needs to happen around being concerned about potential damage to the port in Tampa. That kind of work needs to happen urgently. And that's where my focus is.

BASH: Yes. And the window for evacuation is definitely closing as we speak.

Madam Vice President, before I let you go, I do have to ask you about another phone call that I believe you participated in earlier today with President Biden, and that is with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Did he talk at all about what his plans are to retaliate -- to retaliate against Iran after its ballistic missile attack against Israel last week?

HARRIS: Well, I will tell you, I -- it was a classified call. And I don't have any announcements to make about what happened during that call.

And I'm not -- I just can't get into private diplomatic conversations on this channel.

BASH: OK.

HARRIS: But it was an important call.

BASH: OK.

Thank you so much. I appreciate you coming on, spending a few moments with us. Thank you, Madam Vice President.

HARRIS: Of course. Thank you.

And thanks for getting the word out and around-the-clock information to the folks who are in desperate need of accurate information. Appreciate that.

Thank you. Take care.

BASH: Thank you.

I want to go back to Boris Sanchez, who is, of course, in Florida in Tampa.

Boris, as you hear the vice president and you are talking to people on the ground there and witnessing -- I mean, it was remarkable to me to see that you we're talking, you we're looking at some families there who are still just right behind me, though they we're not supposed to be.

What is your sense of the message that the vice president sent out just now?

SANCHEZ: It is significant that the federal government and, at multiple levels, not just Vice President Harris just now, but President Biden earlier, have had to continue reassuring folks that the federal government is doing everything that it can to help them.

In light of the disinformation that is out there from Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and others about whether and control of whether. Dana, actually, yesterday, I always what a site where folks were dumping out debris from Hurricane Helene, which hit here about two weeks ago as a Category 4 storm.

Folks we're moving debris out. And I asked an elderly woman what she thought of the fact that there were two storms coming into this area, one that rarely see storms of this strength. almost back-to-back within -- within weeks of each other.

And she told me that she believed it was geoengineering. So clearly, the disinformation is landing with folks.

The hope is that people there will take the warnings from federal and local officials seriously and not be out in the elements as this storm gets closer and closer.

We're talking about a potential 12-foot storm surge here in Tampa Bay. Further south, in Sarasota, you're looking at a potential surge of 15 feet.

[13:55:06]

And I just want to point out, Dana, right now, as we're nearing low tide, the water has receded significantly in this area. So what you see is that the wind is pushing this water out. As the hours pass, as this water will come back with a vengeance.

There is almost no doubt we're going to see widespread flooding. And of course, these very powerful winds sending waves sideways at me right now -- Dana?

BASH: Unbelievable.

Boris, thank you so much.

I want to now go back to the anchor of this hour, Brianna Keilar, along with Priscilla Alvarez.

And you we're both, before the vice president came on, talking about trying to poke holes in a lot of the misinformation that we're seeing that the vice president was talking about. KEILAR: Yes, it's -- Dana, it's something that is obviously so concerning to the administration and we're really seeing the effects of it and concerns about it, in a bipartisan way, right?

You have Republicans as well who are very worried about this and what it's going to mean on the ground and that it could be hurtful and potentially fatal for some people.

She really touched on that, that she said she didn't know, Priscilla, where the information was coming from when Dana asked her.

But that wherever it's coming from -- and that seemed to really be her emphasis, Dana and Priscilla, that wherever this information is coming from, or if you're talking about a restructuring response, let's focus on the here and now let's focus on the fact that misinformation is very helpful in the here and now.

ALVAREZ: Well, it's not only that, but it speaks to how urgently the administration and the White House, with the president and the vice president both appearing in that that briefing that was open to press, and the vice president joining you, Dana, to talk about the severity of this storm.

Not only is it because the storm is severe, but also because they are keenly aware of the misinformation that is currently circulating on all corners of the Internet and is keeping some people, according to the Homeland Security's secretary, from getting the help that they need in their efforts.

Now, I've been talking to sources about this. This is unlike anything that they have seen before. And from my coverage of hurricanes, the Department of Homeland Security, it has also been striking to see just how much information has been out there, false information that people are gravitating toward.

In fact, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg spoke with Elon Musk about something that he had posted on his platform, X, about recovery and rescue efforts.

And I am told that the president had asked his team this week to put together a memorandum on the digital response and how they we're remediating misinformation.

So in the White House, this has become a growing concern. And this storm is only exacerbating -- this storm being Milton -- those concerns because seeing what they've seen already, seeing that the FEMA personnel in North Carolina are getting threats by people because of this false information, they are trying to get ahead of it as best they can.

I had one source told me, look, unfortunately, we have a playbook now that they had to pull together over the last week to put into play now with Milton to make sure that the information, the right information is getting to these survivors and people who are currently evacuating in Florida. BASH: I mean, Bri, think about this. That, you know, we have been

talking about misinformation, disinformation for years. And it has largely been through the prism of politics.

This is life -- life or death. And it's stunning to me that it is happening in -- with the magnitude that it is.

And you guys played the sound byte from Iran, DeSantis, as, I think, you said, certainly no fan politically of Joe Biden or Kamala Harris, echoing what they said about the danger of people believing things, like Boris was told by somebody there in the storm, about that this is sort of a manufactured weather system by who knows who.

KEILAR: Yes. Dana, I mean, I think part of it is because politics has been injected into this.

And when you listen to Ron DeSantis, right, he is going to be judged by how his government, his state government reacts to this storm. He is going to be judged in very real terms. He's going to be judged politically for that as well.

But I think, Dana -- and you've covered this so often over past presidential cycles -- a natural disaster is something that can cost a candidate dearly and we can't ignore that that's been injected into this, Dana.

BASH: Yes. And of course, I'm thinking about what happens when it's done right, when it is a -- not just a bipartisan, a nonpartisan effort. Remember back in 2012, Chris Christie, when he was dealing with Hurricane Sandy, he put it all aside and he got a lot of political criticism for it.

[13:59:58]

But you know what? The people of New Jersey and New York and elsewhere who were hit by Sandy, they were the beneficiaries of a government that is - that was trying to work the way. It worked -- Bri?

KEILAR: Yes, these are lives and these are livelihoods at stake.