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Visiting The Most Pro-Trump County In The Swing States; Former Trump Prosecutor To Testify Before House Judiciary Committee; Hurricane Milton Still Causing Chaos At Florida Gas Stations. Aired 7:30-8a ET
Aired October 15, 2024 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:30:25]
SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Right now early voting is starting in one of the most pivotal battleground states of the election, Georgia. In one rural county Donald Trump won more than 90 percent of the vote four years ago. Georgia's Brantley County may be the most pro-Trump county across all the swing states that could decide the presidency this year.
CNN's Elle Reeve went there to find the elusive Democrat and has this story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATHY HENDRIX, RESIDENT, BRANTLEY COUNTY, GEORGIA: Ms. Barber, I promise you this is not a trick question. Where are you at? Gosh, all right. I have the CNN reporters here and they want to talk to a Democrat. I'm serious as a heart attack. Who is here in town that would talk to them? Hmm, that's sad when you have to hunt a Democrat.
ELLE REEVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah.
REEVE (voiceover): It's hard to find an open Democrat in Brantley County, Georgia where Trump won more than 90 percent of votes in 2020. Of all the counties in all the 2024 swing states it's the most pro- Trump and we wanted to know why.
RONALD HAM, GOP CHAIR, BRANTLEY COUNTY, GEORGIA: We vote 92 percent Republican not because of anything Ronald Ham does, OK? Let's get that on the board. This ain't about me.
We're a small rural county. A lot of folks here live paycheck to paycheck and when there's too much month at the end of the money people vote with their wallet.
At one point in time the Democratic Party was for the working man and the Republican Party was for all the elites, and somewhere that got switched around.
HENDRIX: This is some of that stuff I -- Everybody here calls him President Trump. As far as the people around here is concerned, he's still the president.
REEVE (voiceover): Democrats didn't used to be rare here. Almost everyone we spoke to said their grandfather had been one. But those days are gone.
HENDRIX: Numbers do not lie. Watching people five and six years ago, they had successful businesses. They were thriving. They were doing well. Every time somebody comes, they say we'll have to close. It honestly hurts.
REEVE (voiceover): Hendrix got a heat press to make custom t-shirts, and it turned out that one kind of design really helps pay the bills.
HENDRIX: I've learned how to put it on my computer and kind of change things. As long as I can still sell Donald Trump stuff, we doing good.
They're just five dollars. That's --
REEVE (voiceover): One her customers was Sherri Rowell. We met her while she was buying a Trump sign, and she said we could come see her put it up. Her grandson, Talan, died in an accident his summer before he could vote in his first election.
SHERRI ROWELL, RESIDENT, BRANTLEY COUNTY, GEORGIA: He did (INAUDIBLE) trying. He couldn't wait to get 18 so he could vote.
MICHAEL TANNER, RESIDENT, BRANTLEY COUNTY, GEORGIA: Yep.
ROWELL: He wanted to vote for Trump.
TANNER: Now he had just got his first job, and he was like I make $9.00 an hour and I work this many hours. Why do I only make this much money? And I told him -- I said, son, it's politics. You've got to pay taxes. Talan became really intrigued with it and started doing some more research. And he said you know, dad, looking at what me and you talked about, we need Donald Trump in office, and he just became a huge Trump supporter.
REEVE (voiceover): His parents said he would want people to know he was for Trump, and so they put this sign up because he's not here to say it himself.
ROWELL: Things change pretty fast when we went from Trump to Biden. Even they could see the difference.
REEVE: You mean the kids?
ROWELL: Yeah. I could take you to the Piggly Wiggly in Nahunta and you just look at the prices. I don't know where you all come from but compared to what we've had four years ago it's tripled.
REEVE: There's some statistics that show that younger women are more likely to be for Harris. Do you see any evidence of that here in this county? ROWELL: No, not really in this county, but I do know some younger females that are very much a Harris person. And I'm -- I mean, I'm not against her if I thought she was going to do different than what was already in there. You know what I'm saying? Like, she should have come out running Independent and I might have listened to her a little more.
REEVE (voiceover): Ron Ham invited us to breakfast the next day at a diner where regulars talk politics.
BUTTON LEE, RESIDENT, BRANTLEY COUNTY, GEORGIA: When Biden claims that he had more jobs and created more jobs, that's only because of corona because everything shut down. That was not Trump's fault.
REEVE: The jobs report numbers were really good for September. That just came out this week.
DAVID HERRIN, RESIDENT, BRANTLEY COUNTY, GEORGIA: The American people resist --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The job is an issue of numbers.
LEE: It's just they --
HERRIN: Hold on, though. You can't take that and give credit to Washington, D.C. You give credit for that to the American people that go to work every day even when they down, even when it's against them, even when it's going uphill. We get up and we continue to work, we continue to fight, and we've made this country better. There ain't nobody in Washington got a right to take credit for what the American people have done.
REEVE (voiceover): But we didn't want to leave town without hearing a different point of view, so they called some old friends to come by.
[07:35:00]
HERRIN: I'm still at the breakfast. They is some folks up here that wants to talk to you.
LEE: Tell them to hurry up. I want to go fishing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that right?
HERRIN: Yeah.
She made me do it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sit down.
HERRIN: This is a real live CNN reporter, and she wants to meet a Democrat in Brantley County.
CORBET WILSON, RESIDENT, BRANTLEY COUNTY, GEORGIA: Oh.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were few and far between us so they -- HERRIN: We called you and Donald both. A registered Independent.
WILSON: Well. Hey, I ain't a Democrat but I'm an Independent.
REEVE: OK. What are your views on the election?
WILSON: Well, I ain't going to vote for a criminal. What he did on January the sixth and you'll know. And the way he could have did something, you know. They went beating on them cops down there.
HERRIN: There's your other Democrat right there.
REEVE: Hi. Come join us.
HERRIN: She's a CNN reporter and she wants some Democrats in Brantley County, and she can't find one. I told her I knew a couple and she said please call them -- please -- and she wouldn't quit till I --
REEVE: Thank you.
DONALD LEWIS, RESIDENT, BRANTLEY COUNTY, GEORGIA: I haven't voted Republican, you know? Yeah. I vote for the man; I don't vote for the party.
REEVE: So what are your thoughts on the election?
LEWIS: What are my thoughts on the what?
REEVE: On the election.
LEWIS: Ain't much to think about it.
REEVE: Well, who are you going to vote for?
LEWIS: For the right person.
REEVE: Well, who do you think the right person is?
LEWIS: It won't be Donald Trump.
REEVE: OK, tell me why.
LEWIS: The last time you saw him talking did you watch his lips?
REEVE: Uh-huh.
LEWIS: Were they moving?
REEVE: Uh-huh.
LEWIS: He's lying.
REEVE: All right. Well, so Mr. Wilson here was telling us that January 6 was a big disqualifier for him.
LEWIS: It should have been. REEVE: What -- how do you feel about that?
LEWIS: I feel about it like he's anti-American. He's trying to overthrow the power of government.
REEVE: And so are you thinking about voting for Harris?
LEWIS: Yeah, I have to or not vote. She's the only choice we have other than Trump.
REEVE: Yeah.
LEWIS: If (INAUDIBLE) would run, I'd vote for him.
REEVE (voiceover): Elle Reeve, CNN, Nahunta, Georgia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Really fascinating reporting by Elle as always.
Joining us right now to talk about some of it and much more, CNN senior political commentators Ana Navarro and Scott Jennings, also fascinating people to talk to always.
Ana, one woman -- there's a lot that was said that's worth discussing when hearing from voters. One woman in Elle's report kind of encapsulates maybe what the problem is -- the challenge is before Kamala Harris, which is -- she said I'll take you to the Piggly Wiggly and I'll just show you the prices. You could end it there full stop, right?
ANA NAVARRO, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Right.
BOLDUAN: She also said she's not necessarily against Harris, but she just doesn't think Harris is any different than Joe Biden. As she put it, she's no different than what's already there.
It was on your show on "THE VIEW" --
NAVARRO: Um-hum.
BOLDUAN: -- when Harris was asked -- when Kamala Harris was asked how would you do things differently if you were president, and she says I don't -- not a thing comes to mind.
How does she thread this needle correctly because with voters right there she's not?
NAVARRO: Look, I think -- first, I love it when we do --
BOLDUAN: Yeah.
NAVARRO: -- these type of stories because I think the voters who speak unvarnished and not trying to spin stuff, not talking with media points -- BOLDUAN: Um-hum.
NAVARRO: -- it just -- it's so revealing. And people -- if you listen to them, you learn so much.
As far as how does she thread the needle, I think it's difficult. I think she's -- it's difficult because she has great loyalty and affection for Joe Biden. He has -- she has been his vice president for four years and frankly, I think she's very proud of a lot of the achievements.
I think she needs to lean --
BOLDUAN: But how do you -- how do you be change and not confuse voters?
NAVARRO: Right.
BOLDUAN: It's kind of what I almost got from that woman, right?
NAVARRO: What I think she needs to lean into is who she is. I mean, if you think an 81-year-old man from Delaware -- white man -- is going to govern the same as the experience of a woman, child of immigrants, from California, South Asian, African American, then you're crazy. So I think she needs to lean into --
Look, we all come -- we all are who we are, plus our circumstances. My circumstances are very different from Joe Biden's circumstances. I grew up in a completely different era. Of course, we're going to govern differently.
And I think she also needs to find some specific places where there would be some differences. She talked about having a Republican in the cabinet.
BOLDUAN: Um-hum.
NAVARRO: I welcome that. I think it was a very good thing when Bill Clinton did that with Bill Cohen who was very qualified and did a very great job.
So I -- you know, she needs to find a few more examples -- concrete examples because people want to hear concrete examples.
BOLDUAN: So we're talking about -- this is Georgia that we're talking about, Scott. And Trump's headed to Georgia today. Early voting starts -- early in-person voting starts today in Georgia.
Republicans seem more confident about Georgia than maybe they -- than I would say they seem about some of the other battleground states.
Do you think that's founded? Do you think that risks spiking the football before you're in the endzone?
[07:40:00] SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: There's always a risk in being overconfident.
And I do think Republicans generally feel good about the Sun Belt. They have -- even before Harris got into the race, they thought things were trending their way. I mean, Georgia was an extremely close state.
And they believe that Trump's retrospective job approval has gotten better. They believe his popularity has gone up, and they believe people are comparing him to what the --
BOLDUAN: And you don't have -- and you don't have two Senate -- two Senate races --
JENNINGS: Yeah.
BOLDUAN: -- on the ballot that were helpful in turnout.
JENNINGS: Yeah. And so you throw all those things in a pot. I mean, are there -- are there enough votes to overturn an extremely -- or over -- you know, change the color on the map of an extremely close state, absolutely.
But they think that about a lot of these states that in hindsight Trump wasn't so bad, especially when you compare it to what Biden- Harris are doing. That's what a lot of Republicans think is happening in the closest states.
But if I were either of these campaigns, I wouldn't be overly confident. I mean, I might feel good about a state or feel good about something I did or feel like my opponent just made a mistake at any given time. Make no mistake though, it's an extremely close election --
BOLDUAN: Yeah.
JENNINGS: -- and either could win.
BOLDUAN: We're not going to make -- we're not going to call --
JENNINGS: Yeah.
BOLDUAN: -- today. I'm just going to throw that out there -- breaking news.
You were talking about how people are thinking if Trump is -- he wasn't that -- he wasn't that bad. What Kamala Harris is trying to do is a new tactic that she -- that we've -- that we're now seeing kind of allowing Donald Trump to speak for himself at her rally in Pennsylvania yesterday. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will show you one example of Donald Trump's worldview and intentions. Please roll the clip.
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The worst people are the enemies from within.
I think the bigger problem are the people from within. We have some very bad people. We have some sick people -- radical left lunatics. And I think they're the -- and it should be very easily handled by -- if necessary, by National Guard or if really necessary by the military.
HARRIS: So you heard him -- so you heard his words. You heard his words coming from him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: She's using his words to try to make her argument that he is dangerous and he is unhinged. And it gets -- it's a little bit back to, like, the beginning where Joe Biden kind of ended his run, which was focusing on the danger of Donald Trump to democracy.
Do you like that as part of -- as a focus of her closing message?
NAVARRO: Well, I like the fact that she's actually making a case better than having the candidate I support standing on stage for 39 minutes swaying to music and saying forget the questions, let's just play music.
So look, I do think that nobody does Trump better than Trump and are you going to change the mind of people who support Trump? You're not. The question in places like Michigan and places like Georgia, and all of these swing states is going to come to turnout.
And Trump uses fear very effectively -- fear of immigration. And I think that Kamala Harris should use the same tactics. She's been lifting people. She's been talking about joy and --
BOLDUAN: Yes.
NAVARRO: -- unity. OK, well let's now try to cure some of the Trump amnesia and remind people because let's think about this. This is not coming in a vacuum, right?
This is not Donald Trump saying this out of the blue. This is after January 6. This is after saying he wants to be a dictator for a day. This is after saying he wants to be retribution. This is after saying he wants tribunals against Liz Cheney.
So when you put it all together and you hear it from his mouth -- yeah, I think it gives you pause.
BOLDUAN: One of the questions is what is -- what is the thing to convince the suburban voters that are sitting on the fence? What is it? Is talking about the enemy within, talking about bringing the National Guard and the military to go after the enemy within -- do you think that focus helps Donald Trump with -- forget supporters on either side, right? It's -- we know what we're focusing on at this point. Do you think that's effective?
JENNINGS: Well, a couple of things.
Number one, in the interview question they were talking about -- the reporter asked him do you think there's going to be chaos on Election Day. He said well, not from my people. And I think what he was referring to are the fact that there are radical leftists all over this country for the last calendar year who have been wreaking havoc on college campuses in major American cities.
BOLDUAN: Well, again, he --
JENNINGS: So he's not -- he's actually not wrong about that.
BOLDUAN: It's vague enough -- it's vague enough you don't know, which is a trait of Donald Trump. J.D. Vance was asked about it and he started talking about illegal immigrants.
JENNINGS: Look, I mean, I think everybody's trying to ignore that we have had radical leftists in this country who have no respect for our institutions, our laws, our government, our -- you know, whatever, wherever they happen to be. And just a few weeks ago in Washington, D.C. they took the American flag down in front of Union Station and burned it and were hoisting and flying the colors of Hezbollah and Hamas.
I mean, I -- look, these people do exist. I hope they don't do anything on Election Day, but you can't ignore the fact that they exist.
[07:45:00]
Number two, his best vectors for the people you just described --
BOLDUAN: Um-hum.
JENNINGS: -- are quite obviously the economy, immigration, crime, and the concept of is it a change election because most people want change. And his best vector is look, if you want change you can't leave the same people in charge who have given you results that you don't like. It was, is, and will forever be for the next three weeks his best vector for people who are on the fence.
Look at the polling. His retrospective job approval is better than what's currently in the White House and he's never been more popular. There's a reason for that. It's because people are comparing in real time two presidencies, and they know they got better results out of him. That's his best message.
BOLDUAN: We will see what actually occurs.
NAVARRO: YMCA.
BOLDUAN: I am --
NAVARRO: That's his -- his best message is just, you know -- BOLDUAN: And this is not a political statement. My called up playlist would be slightly different. No offense to Pavarotti. No offense.
NAVARRO: Well, he's very limited in his playlist given that most artists are suing him if he uses their songs.
BOLDUAN: Stop -- and stop. I love you both. Thank you very much -- John.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Kate is partial to "In the Navy" by The Village People.
BOLDUAN: (Laughing).
BERMAN: Happening today, the former special prosecutor in the election subversion case against Donald Trump in Georgia is set to sit for a closed-door deposition before the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee. Nathan Wade resigned in March after allegations of an improper romantic relationship with his boss, Fulton County D.A. Fani Willis.
CNN's Zach Cohen covering this in Washington. What do we expect and why now?
ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yeah, John. Nathan Wade was subpoenaed by House Republicans as part of their investigation into how the Fulton County D.A.'s office has been using federal funding, but also as they've been claiming publicly that the prosecution of Donald Trump in Georgia was politically motivated.
So you can expect members, especially Republican members, of the House Judiciary Committee to press Nathan Wade both for details about that investigation and about his relationship with Fulton County D.A. Fani Willis.
Now, Fani Willis making clear in a letter to the committee before today's deposition that Nathan Wade's been told not to answer any questions about the investigation and the case against Donald Trump and those co-defendants in Georgia.
Fani Willis wrote, "I am concerned that your demand for Mr. Wade's testimony could force him to improperly divulge confidential information that is protected by privileges held by the Fulton County District Attorney's Office and demands that Mr. Wade violates State Bar of Georgia rules that govern conduct of attorneys."
So clearly, Fani Willis trying to put up a wall of sorts between this deposition today from Nathan Wade, her former top prosecutor and former romantic partner, and questions about -- that could get to the heart of her criminal investigation into Donald Trump, which obviously remains on ice as of now while an appeals court tries to settle whether or not she should be disqualified from the case.
BERMAN: Where (audio gap) stand?
COHEN: Yeah, John. Right now things are still in limbo. We know that the case is on pause -- on hold right now while the appeals court tries to decide whether or not Fani Willis should be thrown off the case. Obviously, that could have implications. We know this case won't go to trial before Election Day, which is just, as you said, under 30 days away from now. But if Donald Trump loses, we could potentially still see this case go to trial if Fani Willis is allowed to remain on the case.
I mean, that's why Nathan Wade's deposition today is relevant still to this matter. Nathan Wade was obviously a key part of those allegations of an improper romantic relationship between he and Fani Willis.
And take a listen to what Nathan Wade said earlier this summer when he was interviewed by Kaitlan Collins and asked about that relationship and his role on the -- in the Trump case.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Just to clarify, when did the romantic relationship between the two of you start?
NATHAN WADE, FORMER FULTON COUNTY SPECIAL PROSECUTOR: Yeah. So, you know, we get into - there's been this effort to say that OK, these exact dates are at issue and these exact dates are -- I'm getting -- I'm getting signaled here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COHEN: So Wade obviously then huddled with his attorney.
This will be a question again he'll be asked today, and it's a question at the heart of whether or not Fani Willis could be disqualified in the case. And if that happens this case all but goes away. And if Donald Trump is elected it opens up a whole new can of questions down the line that we'll have to sort out the answers to if and when that happens.
BERMAN: All the twists and turns. Zach Cohen, you're covering it all. Thanks so much -- Kate.
BOLDUAN: More twists and -- look at that twist and turn.
BERMAN: I just did a full turn. Actually, more like a half-turn.
BOLDUAN: I mean, it was -- you --
BERMAN: I can add a sashay.
BOLDUAN: I would love a full --
BERMAN: Yeah.
BOLDUAN: -- triple lindy --
BERMAN: Exactly.
BOLDUAN: -- or whatever it's called. Let's talk about what's coming up in the show.
The Florida Highway Patrol is -- get out of my shot. The Florida Highway Patrol escorting gas tankers through hurricane debris as officials are warning a gas shortage is there. It could last a few more days. The impact of that is next.
I need to apologize for him. You can come in now because it's your favorite story.
Panda watch, phase two. We're tracking Bao Li and Qing Bao was they are making their way from China to the United States. Panda diplomacy that we have not seen in 24 years.
[05:50:05]
BERMAN: Every time we cover pandas I die a little bit.
BOLDUAN: (INAUDIBLE).
(COMMERCIAL)
SIDNER: New this morning, Hurricane Milton may have passed through Florida days ago, but it is still causing major issues when it comes to the accessibility of gasoline, and it could be days until the situation is back to normal.
CNN's Matt Egan is joining me now. There is a serious problem here. You are seeing these lines and you're seeing the frustrations go sky high.
MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Yeah. So this has been such a headache for people who are just trying to recover from back-to-back hurricanes.
[07:55:00]
Hundreds of gas stations in the region have no fuel. When people are fortunate enough to find them sometimes they are on long lines -- sometimes hours long. And yeah, tensions have flared. There have been reports of fights at gas stations.
Now, as of yesterday afternoon, according to GasBuddy, 17 percent of Florida's gas stations had no fuel. That amounts to about 1,200 stations that are dry. Now, in Tampa it's nearly half of them that don't have fuel.
The good news though is that we have seen these outage numbers come down. If you look at the trend in Tampa -- that chart shows it nicely -- at one point a couple of days ago there were 80 percent of the gas stations that didn't have any fuel. So now the fact that it's below 50 percent is moving in the right direction.
The problem is that there's no pipeline delivering fuel into South Florida, right? They're really relying on Port Tampa Bay to get fuel in from the Gulf Coast refineries. But that port is not operating 100 percent -- not yet -- nor are some of the terminals in the region. Now, there is help on the way. According to FEMA, 70 million gallons of gas, jet fuel, and diesel are scheduled to arrive in Tampa over the next few days. Hopefully, they're able to get the port back up and running so they can get the fuel off those vessels because we've got vessels out at sea that are sort of piling up waiting to come in.
In the meantime, Florida officials say they're doing a lot here to try to help the situation. They are doing these police escorts for the fuel tanker trucks. They are providing up to 10 gallons of free gas at 12 different sites, and they're providing almost $10 million in funding to try to help another port recover.
Experts tell me that they're hopeful that over the next few days things will be moving back towards normal. We know that people in Florida really need it, Sara.
SIDNER: Yeah. I mean, they've been hit with two major hurricanes and the fuel is just part of the problem. The frustration understandably high there.
Thank you so much, Matt Egan.
EGAN: Thank, Sara.
SIDNER: We appreciate it -- John.
BERMAN: All right. This morning after a threat against FEMA workers, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper is directing the state's Public Safety Department coordinate with law enforcement to ensure the safety of the FEMA teams. FEMA had to pause its work after these threats.
Police did find a suspect armed with a handgun and a rifle in a car outside a grocery store serving as a Hurricane Helene relief site.
FEMA teams have resumed assisting storm victims.
Surveillance video shows a family narrowly evading a blast while driving. John Richards was driving his family when what he thought was a ball fell onto the road. He quickly realized that the ball had smoke coming from it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN RICHARDS, DROVE CAR THAT EVADED EXPLOSION: And the soccer parent in me is that's a soccer ball. So I actually slow down a little because I'm like a kid is going to run possibly behind this ball. And then within a second, I turned to my wife and I said, "That's not -- that's a bomb."
They saw it explode behind the car. All three of us were -- it was like a movie where you're a little muffled. Everything is a little muffled. And we came out absolutely in shock.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Obviously, we need information on what the heck that bomb was doing there and who placed it. Richards said his car was slightly damaged. His family doing OK.
This morning two giant pandas from China -- they are in U.S. airspace. The 3-year-old bears -- they made a pitstop in Alaska before a special charter plane dubbed "The Panda Express" -- very creative -- delivers them to the Washington National Zoo. Chinese officials say on their long journey they will snack on corn buns, bamboo shoots, and carrots.
The pandas are the first China has sent to Washington in 24 years, Kate. We're going to stand by at the airport to get comment from the bears when they land.
BOLDUAN: I mean, they may -- they may have some commentary on the in- flight meal. I'm just saying. It could be upgraded when it's specially --
BERMAN: Yeah.
BOLDUAN: -- when it's specially chartered. I mean --
BERMAN: They didn't have enough points to upgrade. I mean, clearly.
BOLDUAN: It's been 24 years. Their sky miles is like clearly --
BERMAN: Expired.
BOLDUAN: -- expired.
OK, I know you're so excited. Would you like to move on with me? Thank you.
Nearly 45 million people across 20 states are facing freeze and frost alerts right now. Some areas could see temperatures drop more than 20 degrees.
CNN's Derek Van Dam is tracking this. OK, OK, OK -- yes, it is fall. Yes, temperatures are supposed to go down in the fall. But weren't we just --
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes.
BOLDUAN: -- talking about record-breaking heat like a moment ago?
VAN DAM: Oh, forget summer, Kate. We're going to forget fall, too, because we're going to go right to winter if you're in Upstate New York. I mean, this is the first snow falling from the skies in Saranac Lake creating quite a sight. A little light dusting in some of the Adirondacks as well.
So a beautiful sight but this cold weather not welcomed for everybody. Remember, there's a lot of relief efforts still taking place in and around western North Carolina, particularly Asheville. Temperatures flirting with the freezing mark there -- overnight lows -- and really not getting more out of the middle 50s for the afternoon high temperature. So it will be cold for the next couple of days for those without electricity still and without power.
So here it is.
