Return to Transcripts main page
CNN This Morning
Hurricane Milton Weakens Slightly, Now Category 4; Harris Pushes Back Against Trump Misinformation; Sullivan: U.S. Looking For "Set Of Objectives" From Israel. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired October 08, 2024 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:29]
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Tuesday, October 8th.
Right now on CNN THIS MORNING:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR JANE CASTOR, TAMPA, FLORIDA: If you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you're going to die.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: A dire warning. Evacuations underway as the extremely dangerous hurricane Milton nears landfall in Florida.
Plus --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: North Carolina is a disaster. They don't have the people, and they're complaining there's no people around to help.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Disaster politics. Donald Trump doubles down on his false claims about the Helene response. While Kamala Harris calls him out.
And continuing the fight. Israel's prime minister vows to not let up amid fresh airstrikes at Hezbollah targets.
(MUSIC)
HUNT: Five a.m. on the East Coast. A live look at Capitol Hill on this Tuesday morning. Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.
Breaking news this morning, we have a brand new update just moments ago on Hurricane Milton, the storm weakening slightly overnight, now a major category four storm. It is expected to regain strength this morning, could hit land tomorrow evening. It has been less than two weeks since the Southeast was pummeled by Hurricane Helene, and Florida residents are battening down the hatches once again. Mass evacuations along the state's west coast are underway. Cities
bracing for impact, distributing sandbags while still trying to remove debris left behind by Helene. Milton currently forecast to make landfall as a major hurricane near Tampa on Wednesday. The city's mayor urging residents to take this seriously.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CASTOR: Helene was a wake-up call this is literally catastrophic, and I can say without any dramatization whatsoever, if you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you're going to die.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right. Let's get to our meteorologist, Derek Van Dam, for more on this.
Derek, a very stark warning there. What are residents looking at right now?
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, they're facing according to the words from the National Hurricane Center, from the 5:00 a.m. update just moments ago that this could potentially be the most catastrophic hurricane in West Central Florida's history. They don't mince words, right? And they're getting right to the point, so as the mayor of Tampa. There's a reason for that because were facing down the eye of a monster.
Some weakening overnight, right? Category four, but we're splitting hairs here in terms of the potential impacts of this storm. It stayed north of the Yucatan Peninsula overnight, so spared the coastline there, still a powerful category four hurricane.
And what's new here is that when you went to bed last night, these were still watches. Now we have warnings. These are hurricane warnings for much of the west central coastline.
But notice it also extended tens inland as well. This is going to be a far-reaching storm that will make landfall late Wednesday into the day on Thursday.
So this is going to be the most impactful time, could still be a major hurricane, likely will be. Also explicitly stated within the National Hurricane Center's 5:00 a.m. update. It's a compact storm now but it's going through what is called an eyewall replacement cycle.
And what that means is that the wind field will grow in size. They state that it will grow to be double the size of what it is currently now.
So impacts from this storm, especially hurricane and tropical storm force winds, will extend well outside the center. So that means the storm surge and the catastrophic wind potential will be felt well outside of the eye of the storm. And fact, we have extended this major hurricane wind field across much of the interior, including Tampa, Pinellas, and Hillsborough, Sarasota, even further south. And this is just incredible, 10 to 15 feet of surge potential well into Tampa Bay. Remember what Helene did, six to seven feet. So, if we get this kind of realized storm surge potential, there will be homes that will be underwater, especially near the coastline.
Reiterating the timeframe here, this is late Wednesday into Thursday, even though we will start to feel the impacts from the storm through the course of the day on Wednesday, heavy rain inland flash flooding. This will take down trees, knocked down power and cause significant problems for the state of Florida -- Kasie.
HUNT: All right. Derek Van Dam for us this morning -- Derek, we're going to be talking to throughout the next couple of hours and I'm sure into the coming days as well.
VAN DAM: Definitely. But as Hurricane Milton closes in on Florida, the political fighting over the last hurricane is already spilling out into the campaign trail.
[05:05:06]
Trump and his allies continue to spread false claims about the Biden- Harris administration's response to Helene, despite bipartisan praise for the early resources deployed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: So were in almost $300 billion for Ukraine and yet they're offering people $750 --
LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: For immediate need.
TRUMP: -- for the worse -- yeah, but for the worst hurricane that anybody seen. But more importantly than that is they don't have the people. They're not doing -- it's bad, it's a very bad thing. This is Katrina --
INGRAHAM: How would you do differently?
TRUMP: I'd have a tremendous team of people here. They don't have any people here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So, the fact is that more than 3,000 federal responders are on the ground in North Carolina, according to FEMA, and Vice President Harris wants to make things clear.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There's a lot of mis- and disinformation being pushed out there by the former president about what is available, in particular to the survivors of Helene. And first of all, it's extraordinarily irresponsible. It's about him, it's not about you.
And the reality is that FEMA as so many resources that are available to folks who desperately need them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right. Joining us now to talk about this is Mychael Schnell, congressional reporter for "The Hill".
Mychael, good morning. Thanks very much for being with us this morning.
Harris there, of course, talking about how Donald Trump's Donald Trump has said that that Americans will only get $750 if they're affected by the storm when in fact that's just the beginning of aid that's available to them.
But big picture, what does this say? I mean, they're just -- this is more four Tuesdays from the election. This huge storm is bearing down on the country and this is becoming the center of the presidential campaign.
MYCHAEL SCHNELL, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, THE HILL: Yeah, I mean Kasie, I think it's an unfortunate reality of -- excuse me, our political system right now. But the fact that we are so close to this election means that anything and everything could be politicized. And we're seeing that happen right now, A, with Hurricane Helene. And now as Hurricane Milton is starting to make its way into Florida, and I think that one reason it is because of the devastation and destruction that Hurricane Helene left.
But another fact of the matter is that it hits swing states. We're talking about places like Georgia, places like North Carolina, Florida, not a swing state, but a lot of Democrats would have, would have them tell you that they think they have possibility to make gains in that state this cycle. So the fact that its these three to three really key states that are so important to the election outcome that talking to voters in those states it's so key. I think that's also why the response to this storm is taking such an outsized focus on the national political stage, but especially a politicized focus, as you mentioned, as we get into this final stage of the election cycle.
HUNT: Mychael, the Harris team put out a new ad around disaster issues targeted at Donald Trump. Let's watch and we'll talk about on the other side.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, POLITICAL AD)
KEVIN CARROLL, SENIOR COUNSEL HOMELAND SECURITY: I worked in the Trump administration.
OLIVIA TROYE, WHITE HOUSE HOMELAND SECURITY ADVISER: Never in a million years did I ever think that I'd be working in the White House with a president that didn't care about the American people.
CARROLL: He would suggest not giving disaster relief to states that hadn't voted for him.
TROYE: I remember one time after a wildfire in California, he wouldn't send relief because it was a Democratic state. So we went as far as looking at up how many votes he got in those impacted areas to show him these are people who voted for you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So there you have them laying out or attempting to lay out what a disaster relief would look like under a second Trump presidency for Americans.
SCHNELL: Right. And, Kasie, this is one of those sort of kitchen table issues you can sort of make it out as one of them because disaster relief and hurricane relief efforts really does affect the American people. It affects whether or not they're able to get back to their daily life, whether or not they have the financial feasibility to fare with the destruction in the devastation, which is why I think that were really seeing the campaigns lean into this issue.
And again, it's not something that you want to politicize, but it has become politicized because were so close to the election, it's happening in this key region of the U.S., where are those key swing states?
And also, you know, we're in the final stretch of the election. We're in November. Some folks have said, could this storm be then October surprise look like. Will there be something that could shake up the campaign trail in the final stretch?
Well, the campaigns are now spending a lot of time in the swing states, not for the reason to go and shake a lot of hands and then have these joyful conversations. But to talk about the impact of the storm, it's also an opportunity for the candidates to show a presidential side of then we saw the back-and-forth yesterday with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Vice President Kamala Harris about a phone call to talk about the devastation and the destruction.
Kamala Harris maybe trying to show that she could have these phone calls and have this excel in this moment of leadership during a time when the nation needs it. So I think that we're seeing the both campaigns really lean into this because it just has so many -- so many factors that play into why it's such an important matter at this juncture of the election.
[05:10:06]
HUNT: All right. Mychael Schnell for us this morning, Mychael, thank you very much for being with us.
And coming up here on CNN THIS MORNING: fleeing Florida. Mandatory evacuations underway in nine counties as Hurricane Milton approaches Tampa.
Plus, Donald Trump, once again, talking about migrants crime, and what he calls, quote, bad genes. We're going to ask Congresswoman Debbie Dingell of Michigan how his rhetoric is playing in her state.
And Israel launching airstrikes against Hamas and Hezbollah as the world waits to see how they plan to retaliate against Iran.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAKE SULLIVAN, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: The challenge going forward is to turn tactical wins in battle, into a strategy that secures Israel's people and its future.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:15:12]
HUNT: We will continue fighting. That is the message from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. We saw that playing out in Beirut overnight with the Israeli military striking Hezbollah targets there.
Hezbollah forces fighting back, launching nearly 200 rockets into northern Israel. Some intercepted, the rest falling in open areas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): The campaign must not be stopped prematurely. As long as the enemy threatens our existence and the peace of our country, we will continue fighting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Prime Minister Netanyahu is still deciding how to retaliate against Iran for its deadly missile attack last week. The U.S. hoping for a concrete plan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SULLIVAN: The challenge going forward is to turn tactical wins in battle into a strategy that secures Israel's people and its future that takes real discipline. It takes courage. It takes foresight to match the conduct of war to a clear and sustainable set of objectives, and to turn tactical advantage into enduring strategic gains.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: CNN's Jeremy Diamond joins us now live from Tel Aviv.
Jeremy, good morning to you. What do we expect to see from Israel in these coming hours and days as the world waits to see how they plan to retaliate?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, we are already seeing the Israeli military one year after the October 7th attacks, one year after it launched its war in Gaza, expanding military operations yet again, in the Gaza strip, over the course of the last few days, we have seen Israeli troops mounts a renewed offensive in northern Gaza, specifically targeted at the Jabalia refugee camp where the Israeli military says Hamas operatives have been reconstituting. But we should note that it is the fourth time now that the really military has been, has gone into Jabalia troops on the ground doing so. And that's -- speaks to the questions that the United States has been asking for many, many months now, and that is whether or not Israel truly has any kind of long-term strategic plan for this war in Gaza, but also for the other threats that it faces, as we watch these really military now, mounting ground operations in southern Lebanon, and, of course, as we are waiting to see how Israel will retaliate against Iran.
I recently interviewed Ami Ayalon, the former head of the Shin Bet, Israel's domestic intelligence service, to ask him this very question of whether or not Israel is actually safer today than it was a year ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DIAMOND: So one year later --
AMI AYALON, FORMER HEAD OF THE SHIN BET: Yes.
DIAMOND: -- is Israel safer than it was?
AYALON: No, no way. Israel is not safer because if you look on the day of tomorrow, no one can tell you that we should not face a regional war in which Hezbollah and Iran and the West Bank and Syria and the Houthis will not fight. It will be a regional war with a global impact.
So nobody can tell you today that we are safer than on 6th of October.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DIAMOND: And so, U.S. officials are also very much asking this question of what exactly Israel is achieving by continuing these fights with no clear end game in sight, no alternative governance structure in Gaza anywhere to be seen.
The United States has also right now trying to rein Israel in as it relates to how it will retaliate against Iran. We heard President Biden, of course, last week made clear that he opposes an Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear facilities. The Israeli defense minister, Yoav Gallant, now heading to Washington to meet with the secretary of defense, Lloyd Austin, tomorrow.
So those close consultations will continue make no mistake that there will certainly be questions as well about the kind of long-term strategy that Israel and the United States are looking at in the region as well -- Kasie.
HUNT: Jeremy, the question here really seems to be, will Israel hit some of the Iran nuclear sites? That's a focus of the conversation here in Washington. I'm curious your perspective from the Israeli side. Is there a political pressure on Netanyahu from people that he cares about at home to hit those sites? How does -- how is that playing out and how does it interact with the U.S. ability or not to convince him to not hit those sites?
DIAMOND: Well, there's no question that the Israeli prime minister is under pressure to go bigger than Israel has gone before in terms of striking Iran very publicly and in a way that will actually do some real damage to Iranian facilities. Unlike the retaliation for Iran's April attacks, when Israel merely showed Iran that it new where the facilities were, that it knew that it could -- to show that it could actually hit them, that it could get through their air defenses, this time, the pressure on Netanyahu is to do something big that will actually have an impact.
[05:20:13]
Now, there are certainly folks calling for strikes on nuclear facilities. It's not clear that that camp has won out yet but ultimately, it will be about doing something big that has impact. And there are other options at Netanyahu's disposal, of course, like hitting oil facilities, like hitting Iranian regime targets as well. And so, certainly as the Israeli defense minister told me on the phone the other day, all options are still on the table -- Kasie.
HUNT: All right. Jeremy Diamond for us in Tel Aviv this morning -- Jeremy, very grateful to have you. Thank you very much for being there.
All right. Coming up here on CNN THIS MORNING: the death toll from Hurricane Helene rises again, half of the deaths in North Carolina, how some survivors are moving forward.
Plus, stern warnings in Florida as hurricane Milton closes in, two major storms in two weeks.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:25:12]
HUNT: As the southeast braces for a second major hurricane in just two weeks, people in North Carolinas still are recovering from Hurricane Helene, responsible for the deaths of at least 235 people. Helene is now the second deadliest hurricane to hit the United States in 50 years.
CNN's Miguel Marquez is on the ground in North Carolina.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Cane River, on the way to Bloody Fork, North Carolina.
DIANA MERZ, STORM SURVIVOR IN BLOODY FORK, NORTH CAROLINA: I'm not leaving unless I have to. If our health doesn't hold up or, you know, if the help stops coming.
MARQUEZ: Diana Merz and her husband, William, both in their 70s, rode out the storm. More than a week later, Diana sits on her front porch with her gun ready for anything or anyone. And what has the last week been like?
MERZ: Just absolutely unfathomable. I mean, you couldn't imagine how high the water came and what we saw going down the river, you know. One of the graveyards up the river here was compromised and it was casket after casket going down.
You know, that house came right off the foundation without making a sound down the river. It went a trailer came down. I didn't actually see it, but I heard there were people in it. They could not get out.
MARQUEZ: You sound a little traumatized by all of us.
MERZ: I think we probably all are traumatized. It's -- it doesn't seem real.
MARQUEZ: Their house a bit higher than others survived. Their neighbors, not so lucky.
MARQUEZ: So what I'm standing on is what's left of the driveway of the Merz's home. The road that went along here was down here. It is completely gone. That empty lot across the river, that was their neighbors', that was their house that stood there before.
You could see those cement abutments along the riverbanks. That was a bridge that went across. It is gone. But those people were able to get across to the merges home before the flood completely took their home.
Cadaver dogs now sweeping this area of the river. The hope of finding anyone alive, faded.
MERZ: It is a catastrophe beyond belief. I mean, I'm sure they've seen Katrina and Sandy and this is on a par with those, if not worse because the communities are so isolated and there's nowhere for these people to go.
ELI RODRIGUEZ, HIKING IN TO HELP NEIGHBORS: We're just trying to fill whatever needs they need.
MARQUEZ: For now, neighbor helping neighbor. The only communications, word of mouth.
This past week, we've been just looking for people searching and getting them food and water the day after. Now, I think those needs are met.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNT: Our thanks to Miguel Marquez for that report.
All right. Still ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING: A.I. fakes during the final weeks of the 2024 race. Up next, the dangers of this new technology and how the government can potentially help. And we're watching Hurricane Milton closing in on Florida's Gulf Coast with evacuation orders in effect.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CASTOR: I can tell you that anyone who was born and raised in the Tampa Bay area has never seen anything like this before. People need to get out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
