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Hurricane Milton Back To Cat 5 Strength As It Closes In On Florida; Florida Governor To Residents, If You're Going To Get Out, Get Out Now; Woodward Book Reveals Candid Convos Inside Trump And Biden Admins; Afghan National Charged With Election Day Terrorist Plot In U.S.; Fulton County Sues Election Board Over Proposed Voting Monitors. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired October 08, 2024 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, Hurricane Milton is back to powerful Category 5 strength and is expected to double in size as it gets closer and closer to Florida's Gulf Coast. We're breaking down a brand new forecast of Milton's potentially catastrophic power and path.

And more than a million Floridians have now been ordered to evacuate and the governor is warning residents there's little if any time left to get out safely. This hour, I'll speak with local and federal officials about the devastating toll Milton could take on a region still reeling from Hurricane Helene.

Plus, new revelations about Donald Trump's secret talks with Russia's Vladimir Putin while Trump was president and after. Stand by for details from a new book by the legendary journalist, Bob Woodward, that also describes President Biden's private complaints about Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu and much more.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in The Situation Room.

Let's get right to the breaking news on Hurricane Milton, regaining strength and growing in size big time. This monster storm is bearing down on Florida with landfall expected tomorrow night. We have teams standing by in the hurricane danger zone and over at CNN's Extreme Weather Center. Let's watch what's going on.

CNN's Randi Kaye is in Sarasota, Florida, part of the Tampa Bay area that's bracing for a direct hit. Randi, are people there taking the evacuation orders seriously?

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, they are, Wolf. We drove over here today from the east coast of Florida to Sarasota on the west coast of Florida, and it was gridlock going the other way, people heading east, trying to get to safer ground. And then we spent much of the day just driving around here and it's really like a ghost town around Sarasota. We saw very, very few people.

Although, Wolf, I did meet one woman who is determined to ride out the storm with her husband.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This may be the worst storm that we've seen in a hundred years to hit West Central Florida.

KAYE (voice over): The west coast of Florida has barely cleaned up from Hurricane Helene as this monster hurricane takes its aim at Florida.

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: The most important message today for all those that may be listening to this in the impacted areas, listen to the local authorities.

KAYE: A major hurricane hasn't made a direct hit on the Tampa Bay area since October of 1921.

MAYOR JANE CASTOR, TAMPA, FLORIDA: Helene was a wakeup 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.

KAYE: A very real sense of urgency to leave before it's too late.

SHERIFF CHAD CHRONISTER, HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY: Don't gamble with your life or the lives of your loved ones. The time to get out is now.

KAYE: This area could see storm surge of up to 15 feet.

MAYOR BRUCE RECTOR, CLEARWATER, FLORIDA: If you choose to stay in evacuation area, you're all going to die.

KAYE: Milton's so massive, it's moved even this veteran Florida meteorologist to tears.

JOHN MORALES, VETERAN FLORIDA METEOROLOGIST: It's just an incredible, incredible, incredible hurricane. It has dropped 50 millibars in ten hours.

KAYE: Roads are clogged as residents heed the warnings to evacuate. The search for gasoline getting more difficult as some gas stations here are starting to run out of fuel. And for those who are staying, a rush on water and plywood as residents make last ditch efforts to board up businesses and homes.

Katie Curran (ph) and her husband, Chris, have lived on Siesta Key, an island off Sarasota, for the last 25 years. She evacuated for Helene, but her husband stayed behind to ride out the storm.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That night, he got no power, he had no phone, and we lost touch with him. And we found out the next day there was a five foot surge of water in the house and he was all night in the pitch dark in five foot of water. And he sat there for hours on the top of a neighbor's high house until the water went down a little and then went back in the house and laid on a wet bed until light came up.

KAYE: They lost all of their belongings and the house now has to be gutted due to mold in the walls.

[18:05:02]

Now staring down Hurricane Milton, the couple has still decided to stay this time in a friend's condo on the ninth floor of a building in downtown Sarasota, which has windows built to withstand a Category 5 hurricane.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now, as this hurricane is barreling down directly on our community, it feels like maybe Helene was just a rehearsal for what's to come.

KAYE: Looking out the window of the condo where she'll ride out Milton, she wonders if they've made a mistake staying put.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're talking possible 15-foot storm surge. None of us in a hundred years have seen anything like this. It is shocking.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE (on camera): And, Wolf, while many of the residents have evacuated from Sarasota, this is what's left behind, many of their belongings still in the street from Helene just a couple of weeks ago. You have a dresser here, refrigerator there, a china cabinet, their couches. You go from neighborhood to neighborhood, Wolf, as we drive around and this is what we see. And the concern, of course, whether or not Sarasota gets a direct hit or not, the concern is that much of this debris will become airborne or start floating down the streets and through the city and the floodwaters, which is a big concern for people here, Wolf.

BLITZER: And a lot of that will be projectiles that potentially could eventually damage not only houses, but eventually kill people as well. Randi Kaye, stay safe over there. Thank you very, very much.

I want to check in with our CNN meteorologist Chad Myers right now. He's over at CNN's Extreme Weather Center.

Chad, we just got a new hurricane forecast a little while ago. What's the biggest threat from Hurricane Milton?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is absolutely the surge for anyone along the coast. If you're less than, let's call it, 25 feet above sea level, you really should leave, whether you're in Zone A, B, C, or whatever, anywhere from Anna Maria Island all the way down to Fort Myers. That's where the surge is going to be.

And then right in the eye itself, which may be very close to Anna Maria Island, somewhere in there, you're going to have winds of 125 to 135 miles per hour. That will take off roofs and power lines and trees and all those things. But it's the surge, and I listened to Randi's package where there was five feet of water in the house, and it was actually a six-foot surge. This is forecast to be a 10 to 15-foot surge. So, the airplane is in it right now. We didn't have a plane in it for a very long time. Sun is setting on the hurricane. You can see kind of the ripples there as we look at that visible satellite. But here's the plane that looked on through. Now, I want you to go find your grandma, grandpa's aunts and uncle's barometer and try to find 26.72 inches of mercury on that barometer because it doesn't exist. It is so far below anything of reality. That's how low the pressure is. You wouldn't be on a modern barometer probably either, unless maybe it was digital.

But as we see the impact, the track has changed slightly, moved to the south about 20 miles from that Anna Maria possibility, all the way down just a little bit farther to the north, obviously, of Sarasota and Bradenton.

But we're talking about storm surge. It's the water that will be above the ocean level, the normal ocean level, whether it's 2, 3, 6, or for that matter, 8 or 10 or 15. There will be islands that get completely washed over by this surge. There will be homes that don't exist. There will be roads that will be gone. There will be bridges that will be gone.

And then, of course, we have the possibility of a couple million people without power and then, of course, the loss of life. I'm trying to keep that to a minimum because I don't think I'm going to keep it to zero, Wolf, because people sometimes just refuse to leave, even when they know they should.

BLITZER: Yes, it's so heartbreaking to hear it. Chad Myers, thank you very much.

I want to get some more on this looming disaster with the White House Homeland Security adviser, Liz Sherwood-Randall, who's joining me here in The Situation Room, our Situation Room. Liz, thanks very much for coming in.

I know you brief the president and other top officials hourly sometimes on what's going on. How bad is it going to get?

LIZ SHERWOOD-RANDALL, WHITE HOUSE HOMELAND SECURITY ADVISER: As you've heard in your broadcast, this is an extremely serious storm, a hurricane that's going to make landfall probably Category 4 or 5, very high storm surge, very high winds. And every person on the broadcast in an official capacity, law enforcement, Mayor Castor has said, get out while you can. And the president today said the same thing. He urged Americans who are in the communities that are in the storm's track to evacuate now.

It's hard to leave. You don't know if you'll find your home when you come back. But you and your loved ones can save your lives if you move now. And we want to tell people if you're worried about where to find shelter, you can text shelter and your zip code and 43362. Again, text shelter and your zip code to 43362, and you will get back an answer where the nearest shelter is and how you can get there, what the directions are to that location.

[18:10:11] So, we really urge people to go now. There's still time to move. It's not a moment too late to do so.

BLITZER: So, people can still get up. We see that traffic on some of those interstates leaving the Tampa area. It's jammed car to car to car to car.

SHERWOOD-RANDALL: It is jammed and it could get more jammed and it could get much more dangerous. So, the point is now is the time to go. You need to get out if you are in the storm's track. And you can hear the guidance you're receiving from your leaders in your local community, you can find it online, move now to safer areas so that you are not at risk of dying, as many of the officials who have spoken on this broadcast have already said.

BLITZER: What really worries me, you see all that debris out there, and once the winds start coming in, those are going to be projectiles that potentially could be extremely dangerous. I'm sure you appreciate that.

SHERWOOD-RANDALL: So, we have actually been working with Florida officials to support their efforts to remove as much debris as possible in advance of the storm making landfall precisely for the reason that you said. FEMA has been on the ground. We've moved in heavy equipment. We're doing everything we can to support those who are doing the hard work to get that debris out of the way of the storm.

But whatever is left could become very dangerous to those who are in the vicinity, another reason to get out of the way now.

BLITZER: You know, FEMA is doing really important work down there. All of us have been watching that very closely. And speaking FEMA, as you know, Donald Trump, has been saying that FEMA is not necessarily even on the ground, that they're wasting a lot of money, they're giving money to migrants instead of helping the people who need it most.

SHERWOOD-RANDALL: You know, as the president said today, this is a situation in which people are scared and they need to trust their leadership to do the right thing. This government, this administration under President Biden and Vice President Harris' leadership is doing the right thing, surge in support to the people of Florida now in the form of search and rescue teams, Coast Guard teams, power restoration teams, ambulances, food and water, everything we can get in place in advance of the storm to help people.

And then in the aftermath, we've got a thousand people on the ground already to help immediately with what has to happen after the storm passes through and anyone who is left behind, who is not evacuated, may need help. We need to be there for them. We need to help survivors who've had to move, come back into their communities as quickly as possible and assist them in putting their lives back together again.

So, I will say about the misinformation and disinformation out there, our brave search and rescue teams, when they run toward danger in the wake of a hurricane like this, don't ask what someone's politics are before they save their lives. So, it's really unAmerican, as the president said today, to insert this kind of politics into a situation that is life and death for our citizens.

BLITZER: I assume you're going to be heading back to the White House. You've been working 24/7 getting ready for this potential disaster.

SHERWOOD-RANDALL: I will be. I've been briefing the president, as you said, regularly. The vice president is also receiving regular briefings. We're making sure that everybody in the administration is focused on what we can do now. The president convened this meeting. It's 16 departments and agencies, the leadership of those departments and agencies today to give clear guidance to each of them about what he expects them to do to prepare for and respond to this storm, just as we are doing to respond to the impacts of Helene.

And he specifically directed us to do this with heart, because he understands that people are scared and they will be hurting and we need to be there for them as long as it takes.

BLITZER: Liz Sherwood-Randall, the White House Homeland Security Adviser, thanks for coming in, and we appreciate all you're doing.

SHERWOOD-RANDALL: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Thank you very, very much.

Just ahead, we're going to have much more on Hurricane Milton with another live report from a city sitting directly in the storm's path.

But, first, a stunning behind the scenes look at the presidencies of Joe Biden and Donald Trump, a brand new book revealing private criticism of a key American ally, as well as details on conversations with a brutal dictator.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:15:00]

BLITZER: The legendary journalist, Bob Woodward, is coming out with a brand new book revealing very candid, blunt, and often profanity-laced conversations inside the Biden and Trump White Houses.

CNN's Jamie Gangel was able to get her hands on a copy of the book just ahead of its official release date. Jamie, this book contains startling revelations about Trump's relationship, for example, with Putin. What can you tell us?

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: It really does. Woodward reports that Trump, while he was in the White House, at the height of COVID, actually sent a shipment of those avid COVID test machines, they were very rare at the time, everybody wanted them, to Putin for his personal use. But he doesn't just report this. He actually has verbatim a phone conversation between the Russian president and Trump. Here it is. Putin says to Trump, please don't tell anybody you sent these to me. Trump, I don't care. Fine. Putin, no, no, I don't want you to tell anybody because people will get mad at you, not me. They don't care about me.

There's also in the book Woodward reports a top Trump aide told him that since Trump left the White House in the post-presidency years, that he has kept in touch with the Russian president and that there have been as many as seven phone calls between the two men.

[18:20:12]

We do not know the content of those calls.

BLITZER: Very interesting, indeed. The vice president, Kamala Harris, responded to all of this earlier today. Let me play a clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: He admires strong men and he gets played by them because he thinks that they're his friends.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

HARRIS: And they are manipulating him full time. This person who wants to be president again, who secretly is helping out an adversary when the American people are dying by the hundreds every day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: What does Bob Woodward report, Jamie, about how the Biden administration actually dealt with Russia?

GANGEL: So, a couple of things. First of all, before I read to you the next part, which is President Biden talking about Russian President Putin, we should know it is not a secret, Joe Biden likes to swear. So, there is a lot of profanity in this book.

What you hear is, we see what happens in public, this is what's going on in private. And President Biden is furious with the Russian president. This is both in leading up to his invading Ukraine and during a very tense situation where our intelligence analysts felt that there was a 50 percent chance that Putin, who was sort of desperate on the battlefield in Ukraine, might actually use a nuclear weapon.

So, in this part of the book, Woodward has Biden talking about Putin, and he says, quote, that effing Putin. Putin is evil. We are dealing with the epitome of evil. The book also has two extraordinary conversations between Biden and Putin, where President Biden calls Putin and confronts him first in a video conference and then in what Woodward calls a 50-minute hot phone call between the two of them.

BLITZER: Leave it to Bob Woodward to get all the details in this brand new book entitled War. Jamie, excellent reporting, thank you very, very much, Jamie Gangel.

Coming up, we'll go back live to Florida with final preparations underway right now. Just ahead, Hurricane Milton's landfall, we'll have a live report from one city now staring down this monster, monster storm.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:25:00]

BLITZER: Let's get back to our top story. Hurricane Milton tearing across the Gulf of Mexico right now as it takes direct aim at Florida's west coast.

CNN's Boris Sanchez is joining us right now. He's live from Treasure Island in Florida, just outside Tampa and St. Petersburg. Give us the latest, Boris.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf, this area is going to be remade by Hurricane Milton, at least according to the forecast, in large part because this area has already been weathered by Hurricane Helene up to two weeks ago. And that's why you see these giant piles of trash strewn across this area block by block by block of Treasure Island, has about six-foot piles of trash.

One of the first things I noticed walking into this area was the smell because this stuff has been sitting out. This is actually a boarded up beachfront property, the Page Terrace Hotel, and you can see the damage that Helene left behind. There's stuff like chairs, tables, I've seen appliances, dishwashers, a water heater. You don't want that stuff, especially some of the construction equipment, there's cinder blocks as well and sheet metal, you don't want that stuff flying at your head at roughly 125 miles an hour, which is what forecasters are projecting will happen once Hurricane Milton makes landfall here. Add to that a nearly 15-foot storm surge, plus about a foot of rainfall on top of that.

And, Wolf, I want to show you the giant pile of trash that is just opposite of city hall, that thing is about 20 feet high. You could probably see it from our CNN air drone right now. Imagine what it would be like to be in this neighborhood once the hurricane hits. That's why officials are putting out the word that residents in this area need to get out. They've actually been blasting a siren through the neighborhood. I want you to listen to exactly what that is like.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Emergency currently exists. Quickly securing your home or business and safely evacuate the area. Listen to local media and authorities for additional information.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: And we are actually getting alerts right now on our devices. Mandatory evacuation zones are in effect for this area. At 7:00 P.M., access to Treasure Island will be cut off. And soon after that, we'll have to see how this hurricane will remake the landscape here, as with so many other areas along Florida's Gulf Coast.

BLITZER: All right, Boris Sanchez, as I always say to our reporters in the war zones, I'll say to you right now, stay safe over there. We'll try to stay in close touch with you. Boris Sanchez reporting, thank you very much.

Right now, I want to continue this conversation. Joining us, Mayor Liz Alpert of Sarasota, Florida, she's right in the middle of things as well.

Your city is rushing, Mayor, to clear as much of this debris from Hurricane Helene as possible. How much progress have you made in this front and what damage do you fear the remaining debris potentially could do?

[18:30:04]

MAYOR LIZ ALPERT, SARASOTA, FLORIDA: Well, we've gotten a lot of it cleared. We've concentrated first on our barrier islands because that's where the worst of the storm surge will be. But as of 2:00 today, we had to stop. So, anything that is still left, we aren't going to be able to get to. And I think it's going to be very dangerous. That's why we work so hard to try to get as much of it hauled away before the storm as possibly that we could.

BLITZER: Your city, Mayor, Sarasota, is expecting up to 15 feet in storm surge and up to 110 mile-an-hour winds from Hurricane Milton. How destructive do you see this being for your community so soon after Hurricane Helene?

ALPERT: After seeing what Hurricane Helene did with just a six-foot surge and not the high winds that Milton will have, I really worry that this is going to be terribly destructive and that we're going to have to rebuild an awful lot of Sarasota.

BLITZER: Yes, it's so sad to even think about the millions of people who are going to be impacted by this hurricane.

The Sarasota commissioner, as you know, had a very stark warning to all the residents ignoring mandatory evacuation orders, saying, and I'm quoting now, get a sharpie and write your name on your arm, at least so we can identify your body after. Is everyone listening to that or are some people still in harm's way?

ALPERT: After what they experienced just a few -- you know, a couple of weeks ago, people are listening this time. I don't see people talking about having a hurricane party or I'm going to ride it out. I haven't seen any of that. I think people are truly worried and are getting out where they can.

BLITZER: Well, good luck to you. Good luck to all the folks in Sarasota. The Sarasota mayor, Liz Alpert, thanks very much for joining us.

ALPERT: Thank you very much, Wolf. BLITZER: And just ahead, Vice President Kamala Harris blanketing the airwaves today with multiple interviews with a new national poll showing one candidate rising with four weeks to go until Election Day here in the United States.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:35:00]

BLITZER: Turning now to the race for the White House and Kamala Harris making some major new media pushes. The vice president making appearances today on The View and The Howard Stern Show, as well as taping an interview for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

CNN's Eva McKend has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Vice President Kamala Harris in the midst of a media blitz, as the Democratic presidential nominee tries to reach as many voters as possible in the coming weeks of a campaign that is exceedingly close.

HARRIS: It is good to be with you.

MCKEND: Among the flurry of unscripted interviews, most of them on nontraditional news shows, including an appearance on The View, where Harris was asked if she would have done anything differently than President Joe Biden.

HARRIS: There is not a thing that comes to mind in terms of -- and I've been a part of most of the decisions that have had impact.

MCKEND: Harris later pointed to one way she would differ from Biden if elected.

HARRIS: I'm going to have a Republican in my cabinet, because I don't feel burdened by letting pride get in the way of a good idea.

MCKEND: The Trump campaign quickly seized on the vice president's comments, saying in a statement, if you're a voter who wants to turn the page from Joe Biden's failed economy, open border, and global chaos, then Kamala Harris is not the candidate for you.

With four weeks until Election Day, Harris also calling out the former president's series of falsehoods about the federal response in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

HARRIS: It's profound and it is the height of irresponsibility and, frankly, callousness.

This is so consistent about Donald Trump. He puts himself before the needs of other. I fear that he really lacks empathy on a very basic level.

MCKEND: In addition to The View, Harris also sitting Tuesday with Howard Stern and Late Night Host Stephen Colbert, following a wide ranging interview with CBS' 60 Minutes. This section posted online.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Which foreign country do you consider to be our greatest adversary?

HARRIS: I think there's an obvious one in mind, which is Iran. Iran has American blood on their hands, okay? This attack on Israel, 200 ballistic missiles, what we need to do to ensure that Iran never achieves the ability to be a nuclear power, that is one of my highest priorities.

MCKEND: Harris telling Stern the high stakes of the election is causing her to lose sleep.

HARRIS: I literally lose sleep and have been over what is at stake in this election.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCKEND (on camera): And, Wolf, the media strategy here seems to not only to preach to the converted, but also to speak to Americans more broadly. We heard the vice president today, trying to remind Americans about some of the chaos that came to define the Trump presidency. She argued that the former president is easily manipulated by dictators and characterized his response to the pandemic as botched. Her next appearance tonight with Stephen Colbert, Wolf?

BLITZER: Eva McKend, thanks very much for that report.

Let's get some analysis right now from our political experts, and, Gloria Borger, I'll start with you. This is how Trump's running mate, Senator J.D. Vance, responded to Kamala Harris' appearance on The View earlier today.

[18:40:05]

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Kamala Harris' economic policy, you heard her say it on The View today, it's to do exactly what Joe Biden did, and it's going to lead to the exact same place, higher inflation, fewer Americans with good jobs, and a manufacturing sector that we're shipping to China instead of building right here in the great city of Detroit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So, Gloria, how big of a potential misstep was this answer for Kamala Harris?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, there's no doubt about it, Wolf. She gave the Trump campaign a real opening here. She is campaigning very hard to be the change candidate. And she's made some progress on that front, but she's got a needle to thread here because she was vice president, she is vice president, under Joe Biden, who was not popular. And a lot of his policies were not popular.

And so when you're trying to be the change candidate and then you say, well, there's nothing I would have done differently from what Joe Biden did, that's easy for your opposition to pick up on and say, wait a minute here, as the Trump campaign said, how can you turn the page if you thought there was nothing wrong before?

BLITZER: Jamal Simmons, how do you see it?

JAMAL SIMMONS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You know, it's interesting, Donald Trump, we find out today from this Bob Woodward book, wanted to send, or did send testing kits to Vladimir Putin during COVID. But then we also find out that he doesn't want to spend money to take care of people who were in storms in California. They weren't necessarily going to be people who supported him. We saw that from an ad that came out today. I think the change here is Kamala Harris will take care of Americans before she takes care of Vladimir Putin. I think that's a fundamental point here.

Now, the next part of this, I think, for the Harris campaign is to define some places where they might want to be a little bit different than Biden. I think they've already talked about expanding the $35 insulin to more people than just seniors. They talked about getting $25,000 for homeowners, like trying to lower costs there. So, you have some policy agenda.

The question they have to answer though is the people who want to hear about some policy change that's going to be different than Joe Biden are those people really the ones who are available to her to swing and sway for this election, or is that just a talking point for some of the Trump folks who are trying to needle her to get her to distance herself from the president that she can't be distanced from because she was his vice president?

BORGER: I'm just surprised she didn't have a better answer on that, Jamal. I just think that if you're in a campaign, that's kind of one of the questions you would prepare her for because it's an obvious question. So, I'm kind of surprised about that.

BLITZER: Yes. She could have said, for example, the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan could have been handled a bit differently.

Kristen Soltis Anderson, to Gloria's -- yes, go ahead.

SIMMONS: But, Wolf, if she had said that, then we'd be spending this entire segment talking about another policy, like Afghanistan or someplace else the president made a decision. The question here really is about, it's not really just Joe Biden's shift, this is a shift away from the kind of politics that Donald Trump has been running for the last ten years that he's been in our national lives to somebody who -- according to The New York Times poll, somebody who people think is more honorable and somebody who they think cares more about people like them. That's the change and they already think that she's going to be somebody who is new and different and not somebody who is captive to that same old ten-year-old -- BLITZER: Well, let me pick up that point with Kristen Soltis Anderson, who's also with us. In that new poll from The New York Times, Kristen, there's no clear leader when likely voters are asked who the change candidate in this race is. Harris is, what, at 48 per -- Harris is at 46 percent, Trump's at 44 percent. Not much of a difference at all. So, does an answer like this undermine her fairly successful efforts to be seen as the change candidate despite being the incumbent?

KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It does, and to Gloria's point, this was an easy question to answer when you knew this question was coming. And it's clear later in the interview, she had something, or she said, you know what, I'll appoint a Republican to my cabinet. So, it's not as though there wasn't an answer there. She could say, frankly, what Jamal said, that it was, that would have been an answer that would have sufficed.

Look, she could even say, I don't feel right throwing the president under the bus because he chose me and we've had a great working relationship, but I do want to do some things different. But that's not what she said. And by ceding that ground, you know, these voters who at the end are frustrated, they hate the choices in front of them, they really are trying to decide do they even bother voting. By not seizing that ground to really say, I'm going to be a break with everything you've disliked from the last decade, which sure includes some things Donald Trump has done, but also includes some things Joe Biden's done.

She doesn't have to be nasty. She doesn't have to throw him under the bus, but she does need to be very clear about what she will do that's different. And that answer is just an example of the real peril of this media strategy. She's been hidden for a long time.

[18:45:01]

Now, she's getting out there doing a ton of things, but it really opens the door for many of these missteps that the Trump campaign is obviously going to use to their advantage.

BLITZER: Gloria, Kamala Harris also did an interview with Howard Stern. I want to play a clip from that interview. We listen and watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I do believe that this is an election that is about strength versus weakness.

HOWARD STERN, HOST: Yeah.

HARRIS: And weakness as projected by someone who puts himself in front of the American people and does not have the strength to stand in defense of their needs, their dreams, their desires, the work that must happen to make sure that we are a secure nation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Gloria, Kamala Harris is calling out what she sees as Trumps weakness to Stern's predominantly male audience and that seems clearly intentional.

BORGER: Sure. I mean, today was all about slicing and dicing the electorate and appealing to different, to different groups. And I think obviously going on "The Stern Show" is to appeal to men. But I would have to say that all voters want a strong president. And she made a point of saying that Trump gets punked by strongmen, that he was manipulated by Vladimir Putin and went on and on about this, and with a very friendly interviewer.

But, you know, clearly, she wants to make the case that she is actually someone stronger than Donald Trump. I think underlying all of this, is that a woman can be stronger than a man, although she doesn't say that out loud, but she's trying to portray Donald Trump as someone who -- if you flatter him, he'll listen to you and he'll like you. And that's the way he's been treated. And as a result, he's easily toyed with.

BLITZER: Kristen, what did you make of a Kamala Harris's appearance with Howard Stern?

ANDERSON: I think it's important for her to be out there reaching audiences that are not necessarily real political junkies because if you're a real political junky, you've already decided. So getting out there in front of her audiences is good, but you have to go on with a message that is clear and where you don't make any gaffes.

And so while the Howard Stern one may not be the choice, I still do think that moment on "The View" is one that is going to be turned into ads. It's going to be broadcast on swing states. It's going to come back and bite her.

BLITZER: All right, guys. Thanks very, very much.

Coming up, the U.S. Justice Department has announced right now some changes in an alleged election date terror plot. We're going to share details on the foiled attack. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:51:49]

BLITZER: Here's breaking news, the U.S. Justice Department has just announced charges against the Afghan national for allegedly plotting and election date terror attack.

Let's bring in our senior justice correspondent, Evan Perez.

Evan, what did this plot allegedly entail?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, according to prosecutors, this was a 27-year-old Afghan national who's been in the United States since September of 2021, and he was conspiring, according to the FBI affidavit, he was conspiring to carry out a terrorist attack, was possibly a mass shooting on election day in the United States, according to the FBI affidavit, that was unsealed this afternoon. He is accused of not only providing material support to ISIS, the terrorist organization, but also conspiracy to receive a firearm and ammunition that would be used in this terrorist attack.

According to the FBI affidavit, both Nasir Tawhedi and an underage Afghan national who had come into the United States back in 2018 and who was a relative of his wife both of them were arrested yesterday in Oklahoma, where they live.

According to the affidavit, I'll read you just part of what they say was the goal of this operation. They say that this was the ultimate aim, was to stage a violent attack in the United States in the name of an on behalf of ISIS which was planned for Election Day.

Now, Wolf, according to this affidavit, the FBI found materials on Tawhedi's phone, his -- his electronics, indicating that he was communicating with someone who was essentially a recruiter. He was selling his property and plan to send his family back to Afghanistan before carrying out this attack, again, according to this affidavit, Wolf.

BLITZER: And this Afghan was here on a special immigrant visa. Were here legally, is that right?

PEREZ: He was here on a special immigrant visa. He entered in September of 2021, which was about a month after the he the withdrawal of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Evan Perez, thanks very much.

And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:58:25]

BLITZER: Tonight, there's a new legal fight as the Georgia election board pushes to have 2020 election deniers monitor voting in the state's biggest county.

CNN's Nick Valencia is in Atlanta for us, following all of this.

What do we know, Nic?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf.

This is the latest fight between Trump allies on the state election board. And what has become their favorite target, Fulton County. We want to be clear that state election board has no legal authority to install its own election can monitors, but that didn't stop them from trying here on Tuesday, pushing the limits of their power.

Fulton County has already agreed to an election monitoring proposal which would include, among others, the Republican Ryan Germany, former staff attorney of the secretary of state's office, as well as members of the internationally acclaimed and renowned election monitoring team at the Carter Center, Jimmy Carter's non-profit.

Neither of those monitors though are good enough for the Republicans on this board. Instead, they want to install known election deniers, two of them. We caught up during this meeting with a Republican Janelle King on this state election board. And she says that this has nothing to do with singling out the largest Democratic county in the state.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANELLE KING, MEMBER, GEORGIA STATE ELECTION BOARD: And they produce these documents for them. We wouldn't be here and they worked with us with the monitoring so this is not the war wanting to put pressure on any case. But if you're not going to listen, you're not going to response, you're not going to do what you say you're going to do, and we have to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: Fulton County has field a lawsuit against the state, pushing back and objecting to this effort by the state election board to install its own election monitors.

All of this, of course, is creating confusion and echoes evidence from special counsel Jack Smith, who cited an effort by Trump operatives in the days after the 2020 election, while votes were still being counted, to create chaos. In fact, there was a telling moment during the public comment portion of the hearing when an election poll worker says he's nervous about these news rules -- new rules changes, and unclear what will apply come election day -- Wolf.

BURNETT: All right. Nic Valencia, thanks very much and thanks to our viewers.

I'm Wolf Blitzer in the situation room.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.