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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Hurricane Milton Back At Dangerous Category Five Strength; Harris: Trump "Puts Himself Before The Needs Of Others"; New Book Reveals Conversations Of Biden, Harris, Trump And Putin; Harris Slams Trump For Secretly Sending COVID Tests To Putin During Pandemic; Category 5 Hurricane Milton Closes In On Florida; Actor Andrew Garfield On Living With Grief. Aired: 8-9p ET

Aired October 08, 2024 - 20:00   ET

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

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: I mean that is just an incredibly important detail.

All right, thank you so much, I Appreciate it. And thanks so much to all of you for being with us. AC360, as always with Anderson begins right now.

[20:00:13]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER 360": Tonight on 360, "Get out." That is the message from federal and Florida officials tonight, warning residents time is running out to evacuate before Hurricane Milton back at Category Five strength makes landfall.

Also tonight, the former president making a federal response to this life-threatening hurricanes, political yet again, despite officials saying misinformation has made the disaster relief all the more difficult.

Plus, new information tonight on multiple phone calls between Vladimir Putin and former President Trump since he left office. The details from Bob Woodward in his latest book.

Good evening. We start tonight with Hurricane Milton gaining strength at this moment and headed toward Tampa, Florida. The region still reeling from Hurricane Helene and that tonight for the second time in nearly as many weeks is expecting record storm surge.

Roads are jammed, gas running low in the area are not available in some places. I want to show you something you don't see too often in Florida. Take a look that Treasure Island near Tampa and St. Petersburg, a near ghost town after people evacuated.

One person who is there, our Boris Sanchez, we'll check in with him shortly. An astronaut aboard the SpaceX capsule published this time- lapse video Today, giving some idea of the sheer size of this storm and the like life-threatening trouble it represents.

President Biden today warned that this could be "one of the worst storms in a hundred years in Florida," in fact, the National Weather Service has Storm Prediction Center says we could see major impacts from the storm as early as tonight warning of possible tornadoes and waterspouts.

So let's start with Chad Myers in the CNN Weather Center in Atlanta. What is the latest, Chad?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Brand-new eight o'clock advisory, Anderson, just out now, still 165 miles per hour. Hurricane Hunter aircraft are in the eye and they can confirm those numbers, 440 miles Southwest of Tampa, moving at ten.

You can't do the division there and get 44 hours because the storm is expected to pick up speed. Pick up speed, turn to the north and then eventually turned to the east. And that's the forecast at this point in time, right through the middle of the Treasure Coast. Anywhere here on the other side of Florida as well.

So, anywhere from Tampa all the way down to Naples, you are really in this cone. The cone is the key here, because a lot of this, wherever this makes landfall, the southern part is where that 10 to 15-foot storm surge is going to take out barrier islands, take out homes, and hopefully you're not there.

COOPER: Chad, I mean, how likely is it that this is going to drop down to a lesser category storm and any idea exactly what time it would make, you know, really start to hit?

MYERS: It probably makes tropical storm force winds over the entire state other than the panhandle, around eight o'clock tomorrow night. So right now, this will be 24 hours from now, everybody will see tropical storm force winds and hurricane force winds will just be now coming on shore.

Why is it so hard for us to call where it's going to be? Because we can't tell you that there's going to be a wobble out here by about 30 miles to the south earlier today. And now, it's kind of wobbled backup to the north. It's those wobbles that are so concerning. Where does it actually go?

Well, the center now is likely Sarasota. If you're Sarasota South, That's where that big surge is going to be. Tampa Bay maybe a little bit of less surge, but still you're going to get the wind of 125 to 130. So, to answer your question, yes, the forecast is still for the wind speed to come down, but the surge will not come down. The surge is already built, its already built in and it's coming here to Western Florida.

COOPER: So, that's interesting. The surge has already been created by this Cat 5, and that's going to be the same surge?

MYERS: Yes. absolutely. That is exactly what happened in Katrina. When Katrina went from five to three and we thought, oh, maybe 15, 30 feet -- somewhere. It was 26 feet of storm surge in Bay Saint Louis, even though it was only a Category Three borderline four when it made landfall. It had a Category Five surge and that's what we're seeing here.

This is the area that were seeing. In Tampa you are not out of the surge. One little turn to the left and you're completely back in it. So 10 to 15 from fort Myers. Even Naples, you could get a 10-foot surge, that will wash over some of your barrier islands.

And then, we talk about where is it going to hit? Well, the answer is everywhere because look, 110 miles per hour all the way from North of Tampa, all the way down to Fort Myers. And then hurricane force all the way completely offshore through Daytona, through Cape Canaveral.

So many people, Orlando without power. I could see there'll be millions of customers without power in so many crews are up in the Carolinas trying to put those power lines backup.

COOPER: Yes, Chad Myers, we'll check in with you again.

Boris Sanchez joins us from Treasure Island, Florida. Again, you're in Tampa in Saint Petersburg. That area, obviously still recovering from Helene. What are people you've talked to there and how are the preparations?

[20:05:03]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Anderson, eerily quiet today on Treasure Island. This is an area with about 10,000 residents, roughly. Usually a big tourist destination, but many of the beach front hotels are shut down because of Hurricane Helene hitting about two weeks ago and there was trash strewn everywhere.

This is one of the giant piles that we've seen in Pinellas County. This thing is about 20 to 25 feet high, a couple of hundred feet long, and it is full of just random stuff. There's a bag of golf clubs, there's a ton of pieces of wood just like this.

Imagine this thing coming toward you at 120 miles an hour. On top of that, you've got space heaters, you've got all kinds of scrap metal.

The other issue with this barrier island, like so many others, on the other side of the ocean, there's a bay. So, you're talking about a 10 to 15-foot storm surge coming in here with a flip of rain more or less estimated to be on top of that. Where is this stuff going to go? So, in speaking to neighbors that live in the community that have debris lined up outside of their homes. And by the way, we've been seeing this block to block to block across Treasure Island, that's one of their chief concerns.

I spoke to a couple of different residents today. One of them, a gentleman named Matt who lives in a condo. He lives on the first floor of a condo and he rode out Helene here.

He said the water got up to his chest and he panicked and he got out. He was fortunate to get out. This time he wasn't taking any chances. He saw all this stuff and thought that this would essentially turn into projectiles headed his way. There was another lady who lived in the building next to his. She had some mobility issues. She was contemplating trying to ride out the storm. Fortunately, earlier this afternoon, I saw her family coming and asked them and she decided that it was the right decision to leave. Remember, this island, 7:00 PM about an hour ago, access was shut off to everyone -- Anderson.

COOPER: So, access was shut off. I mean, has anyone -- do you know to your knowledge refused to evacuate?

Oh, we just lost the link, Boris, we'll check in with him again.

Joining us now is Chief Barbara Tripp of Tampa Fire Rescue, who is also with us last night.

Chief Tripp, what's your message to people right now in the evacuation zones in Tampa who have not yet evacuated?

BARBARA TRIPP, CHIEF OF TAMPA FIRE RESCUE: Well, good evening.

First of all, a lot of people have definitely evacuated the area. They have been listening to the local and state rules as far as the different evacuation zones. So, I must say that we might have maybe one or two, law enforcement has been going door-to-door and making communication with all the residents and a lot of have taken heed to it.

COOPER: The Tampa Mayor Jane Castor told CNN, "If you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you're going to die." Do you agree with her?

TRIPP: Well, I don't think she means it like that. You're going to die. She's pretty much saying the chances of you surviving, especially it all depends on what kind of surge come in, if you end up drowning. And basically, to take yourself out of harm, you don't want to contain to keep yourself in harm.

So, we've seen from Hurricane Helene all of the water that came in and we had to so a lot of rescue. So, we don't want to put the first responders at risk trying to save someone. So, that's why we're telling everybody, please get out because we don't want this to turn into a casualty.

COOPER: I mean, I've just covered a lot of hurricanes and I mean out there a lot, when they come in, there's a lot of debris flying around in the air, even in just a place where there hasn't been a hurricane that he hit recently. Looking all these pictures, all the debris left from Helene. What is this going to be like out on the streets?

TRIPP: So you know, fortunately our solid waste has been working 24/7 ever since Helene came through and made a lot of damage and the two areas or the three areas that has been affected, we have cleared two of them 100 percent and one of the areas would probably about 10 to 20 percent that we wasn't able to cover. And we're going to try that first thing tomorrow morning.

COOPER: That's good.

What's the plan for Tampa Fire and Rescue, once the storm hits tomorrow? Obviously traditionally, fire rescue has to suspend operations until it's safe to go out.

TRIPP: Yes, that is true. So, that's why we want everyone to make sure they heed to the evacuation because once the wind gets sustained about 40 miles per hour, we have to cut services and we wouldn't be able to respond.

So once the storm is over and it's safe for us to go out and first responders are going to go out and evaluate and assess and definitely respond to all the 911 calls and with that being said, we urge everyone, once the storm is over, do not go outside, do not try to go out and see what's going on.

Let the city come in and do an evaluation and so we can make sure it's safe and clear for people to come out.

COOPER: Yes, well, I wish you the best. Barbara Tripp, thank you. We'll check in with you throughout the next several days. Stay safe.

Our next guest, Dr. Meghan Martin is a Pediatric Emergency physician in St. Petersburg, Florida. She posted on Instagram that she and her kids will be living in the hospital the next few days as she helps with the response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. MEGHAN MARTIN, PEDIATRIC EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN, ST. PETERSBURG: This is my bed, it's a couch that I keep in my office. I bought it a couple of years ago. During the normal times, anybody can sleep on it. But during hurricanes, I call dibs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[20:10:12]

COOPER: Dr. Meghan Martin joins us now from St. Petersburg. Thanks for taking the time just to talk to us.

So, you're going to be riding out the hurricane in the hospital where you work with your four kids and I think you're going to be working tomorrow. How are you feeling about everything with about 24 hours until this begins early hit?

MARTIN: You know, I'll be honest, I'm nervous. We're still in the recovery for Helene. This is a pretty big storm. It could wobble and come a little bit closer to our direction. The storm surge could just be devastating for this area.

So, I'm honestly -- I'm a little nervous, but we are going to, you know, we're going to keep working. We're going to keep hospital functioning. We're going to be taking care of the kiddos that come in and just kind of do our best here.

COOPER: How are your kids? How are they doing? Are they nervous? How old are they by the way?

MARTIN: My kids are six, nine, 12 and 14. COOPER: Okay.

MARTIN: And they have unlimited screen time right now. So they are living the dream, they are living it up.

The older ones kind of understand, the younger ones just think this is an adventure.

COOPER: Have you been in a hurricane like -- I mean, anything similar?

MARTIN: I've not been in a big hurricane. I've lived in Florida basically my whole life. We've had a lot of threats in the Tampa area, but a lot of times it'll just wobble south and we get really, really lucky in this area.

COOPER: Yes, I think it was -- was it Charlie? I was down there, I think it was for Charlie that it was supposed to hit Tampa and then it hit Punta Gorda, I think it was just really devastated Punta Gorda.

MARTIN: Charlie, Ian, Irma -- we've been looking at fives in the past, but they end up going south and we've just really lucked out.

COOPER: You were working at the hospital during Hurricane Helene and watched your house flood in real time on cameras posted around your home. We are showing some of those pictures. First of all, how much damage did it sustain? But also, what is that like, seeing that in real time happening to your house while you are at work?

MARTIN: You know, it's not fun, but there's nothing that I can do about it. We knew that this was going to be a big storm with a big storm surge. And we did our best to prepare ahead of time.

We hired movers, we had stuff-in trucks obviously, we couldn't get everything out as you can see, it kind of floating around the living room but it was -- it was tough.

I wasn't a biggest -- I'm not a big fan of watching that kind of damage to our house. We ended up with close to four feet of water throughout the house and we've had to gut it, in -- all the drywall cabinets, bathroom, sinks, everything out, and we are waiting to fix everything back up until the season passes just because of everything being so busy right now.

COOPER: Yes. Well, and what's your message to people who may not have heeded evacuation orders?

MARTIN: Hunker down the best you can. Stay safe and be really thoughtful. I posted a video earlier because once the water starts getting too high, you can't open your doors and if your windows are boarded up, you've got some problems.

So, be really thoughtful about what you're doing. And if you have the availability to get out, now is the time.

COOPER: I also keep coming back to all this debris from Helene. I mean, we're talking to the fire department, they were saying, you know, a lot of it has been picked up. I hope so, in Treasure Island, it looks like there's a lot of it still out there. People don't realize that those things get picked up and those are like missiles.

MARTIN: Yes, my street and our neighborhood really hasn't been addressed yet. I'm in Pinellas County, so a different county from Hillsborough. We still have a lot of trash on roads and it will all become projectiles, making the situation out there even more dangerous.

COOPER: Yes. Well, Dr. Meghan Martin, I wish you the best and I hope your kids enjoy the screen time. Thanks so much.

MARTIN: Thank you very much.

COOPER: All right, you take care.

Still ahead tonight, before Hurricane Milton has even made landfall, the former president is already in for the second time in almost as many weeks, politicized the federal response. We'll take a look at that. Plus what Vice President Harris said.

Also, tonight, reporting from the new Bob Woodward book on the long- distance relationship between former President Trump and Vladimir Putin, that's continued, apparently. We'll talk to -- we'll hear from what Bob Woodward is now reporting.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:18:42]

COOPER: Hours after President Biden announced he would be postponing an international trip to oversee the hurricane response and about the time Florida's governor was telling evacuating residents at a news conference to get out, the former president delivered a more political message on his social media site, and I quote, "The worst response to a storm or hurricane disaster in US history with another one coming, our country cannot withstand four more years of these incompetent fools. The whole world is laughing at us."

Now, keeping them honest, the federal response to Hurricane Helene was applauded, actually by Republicans and Democrats alike even by Republican governors and states affected by that massive storm.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. HENRY MCMASTER (R-SC): It's been superb, we're getting assistance and we are asking for everything we need.

GOV. GLENN YOUNGKIN (R-VA): I'm incredibly appreciative of the rapid response and the cooperation from the federal team at FEMA.

GOV. BILL LEE (R-TN): Response was quick from the federal government.

GOV. BRIAN KEMP (R-GA): We got what we need. He offered that if there's other things we need just to call him directly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: That last comment was from Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, days after the storm made landfall, Trump said that Kemp hadn't been able to get President Biden on the phone. Kemp earlier that day told reporters he had spoken to Biden actually, the day before.

Today, Vice President Harris appeared on ABC's "The View" before Trump had posted this message, she was asked, why does Trump do this?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS (D) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He puts himself before the needs of others. I fear that he really lacks empathy on a very basic level, to care about the suffering of other people and then understand the role of a leader is not to beat people down, it is to lift people up especially in a time of crisis.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[20:20:18]

COOPER: Let's get some perspective now, former Trump campaign adviser, David Urban; also Jasmine Wright, politics reporter for the news site, NOTUS, and Jamal Simmons, former communications director for Vice President Harris.

I mean, Jamal, is Trump's calculation that this rallies more people than it offends?

JAMAL SIMMONS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: If he's making that calculation, it is the wrong calculation. The answer comes out the wrong way. It's just so tricky to do this in the midst of a storm.

We just sat here and watched you go through a variety of things with folks who are on the ground who are showing what's happening, the devastation, how they're preparing.

This is no time for politics. I think that's the thing that vice president and the president have both been trying to say. It's the time for the country to pull together and everybody to pay attention.

It's interesting that there was this little back-and-forth between the vice president and Governor DeSantis in Florida, that perhaps she didn't call her back.

I mean, did he think he was calling for EPCOT tickets? I mean, she was calling because they have a job to do. I'm sure there are lots of things she'd rather do than take to Governor DeSantis on the phone.

So, they're neglecting the job they're supposed to do in order to play politics. And I think that's a dangerous calculation because most people would think, this is a pretty important time and we should be pulling together, not pulling apart.

COOPER: David, I mean is it defensible to make stuff up about natural disaster recovery efforts while it's ongoing? DAVID URBAN, CNN REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: No, but let's -- Anderson, look, to say this is like the first time, remember George Bush and Katrina, I mean, talk about politicization. It's been going on, every time there's a storm, it happens regardless the Democrats or Republicans are in office, I don't condone, I think it's bad, as someone who rode out Hurricane Ian and --

COOPER: David, there were no buses outside the Convention Center for days, you know, I mean, this is not -- it's not the same.

URBAN: Yes, it is the same, Anderson, you know, it's apples and oranges, you're right, but it was fumbled on multiple levels. The mayor, the governor in Louisiana, so it wasn't squarely on the doorstep of George Bush.

COOPER: Yes, but we haven't seen that. I mean, look, disaster efforts are difficult. They can always be done faster, obviously, there are people in need and communities that haven't been reached that should be. All that's valid, but there's stuff -- you don't need to make stuff up.

URBAN: I'm not sure what did he make up, Anderson, I'm not quite sure what he made up.

COOPER: That all the disaster money has gone, that that it's all gone to illegal immigrants, I mean, let's start there.

URBAN: I don't know if he said it's all gone. He was pointing out that some money under the DHS' budget did go to that. And I know it's different accounts but could be reprogrammed and --

COOPER: Right. He said that people are only getting $750.00 when in fact yes, that is initially for emergency needs, and again, you can argue whether that's enough, a valid argument, but there's also a lot of other things that people are able to get, so.

URBAN: Yes, I think he's just pointing out places in Western North Carolina. He was -- people are still hurting and that's the case. When FEMA gets on the ground, it takes a long time, it takes months and weeks and even years.

COOPER: I agree. He's just making stuff up though.

Jasmine, I mean, there has been this controversy that Jamal talked about between Governor DeSantis refusing take the call from the vice president, last night during the program, we learned that Biden and DeSantis did eventually speak. There were separate appearances on Fox, DeSantis dismissed Harris as having no role in the process.

On "The View" today, the vice president criticized the governor, around the same time, Biden was in Washington complementing it's very confusing, but here's two clips to play of both of their responses.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARA HAINES, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": You and Governor DeSantis have been going back and forth trading jabs over your attempt to check in and ahead of the storm, you've called him selfish for not taking your calls.

KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, first of all, I have called and talked with in the course of this crisis, this most recent crisis Democrat and Republican governors, so, obviously, this is not an issue that is about partisanship or politics for certain leaders, but maybe it's for others.

JOE BIDEN (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Every governor -- every governor from Florida to North Carolina have been fully cooperative and supportive and acknowledged what his team is doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: How do you see the politics of this storm?

JASMINE WRIGHT, NOTUS, POLITICS REPORTER: Yes, Anderson, well, I thought that that was a bit of counter programming between the vice president and current president. Obviously, I think we're kind of seeing the limits of having the official government versus having a campaign.

But I think this actually plays right into the arguments that the vice president and her campaign had been making, which is that what is at choice between or the choice that Americans have really are the choices between two different temperaments.

It is no mistake that the vice president is questioning whether or not Trump is being able to be empathetic after the comments that he's made really politicizing the storm saying that FEMA is giving money from disaster relief to migrants. Something that has been debunked repeatedly and that he knows has been debunked.

It's showing or it allows the vice president to really question his motives and question whether or not he is able to be there for the American people in a way that her campaign is really trying to do quite seriously, trying to show the American voters that whether or not they want to elect Trump and really have to deal with that chaos going forward.

[20:25:23]

So, this really plays to the hand a bit, but I would actually agree with David in that both sides, even though they're very different at the volume, both sides are really taking this storm coverage into political manners, talking about empathy, talking about whether or not the other side is doing enough to respond to the really gravity of the moment.

COOPER: There's new poll, Jamal, from "The New York Times" showing Harris leading Trump nationally by three points. She leads Trump by two points on the question of who represents change, it makes it all the more interesting, she gave this answer on "The View" this morning. Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUNNY HOSTIN, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": Well, if anything, would you have done something differently than President Biden during the past four years?

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.

You asked me what's the differences between Joe Biden and me, well that will be one of the differences I'm going to have a Republican in my Cabinet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Is that the right answer, there's no differences, it seemed like this is the first time she'd been asked this question which would be surprising or that it hadn't been thought out.

SIMMONS: Yes, I imagine she's thought about this before. Obviously, sometimes these interviews doesn't always come off in the most compelling way. But here's the thing, if she had mentioned something in that interview, we'd be spending this entire time right now talking about the differences between what Joe Biden did and then what she's arguing right now.

I think we are seeing that she is changed, not just because of Joe Biden, as she said, it's the last ten years. We've had ten years of Donald Trump on the scene and in those ten years, we've had somebody who has been putting himself and his politics ahead of what the country has been up to.

I think the country is now starting to recognize when we're seeing this "New York Times" poll and others that she represents change. She cares about people like them, and she's going to do things in a way that is honorable and respectable. And I think they want something different.

COOPER: David, when you see a two-point lead nationally, is that enough for, I mean, given that traditionally Trump has underperformed in polls? There were people months ago saying that she would need a double-digit lead nationally.

URBAN: Yes, look, Anderson, I don't live or die by every poll that comes out, but just to go back to Jamal's response there in your question.

That was a disastrous response, disastrous. She knows that question is coming. It's on "The View," it's like a softball question. Tell me one thing-- this is like a job interview, like, well, I work too hard. I'm too diligent, right?

Like tell me one thing you do differently about the disastrous Biden administration and she's running as an outsider. She's trying to distance herself from the administration, right?

That's her old stick for the past time in the campaign, she's not -- she's pretending she hasn't been the vice president for 1,400 days and she gives this answer that she did not one thing differently.

In that poll you're referencing, Anderson, I think the one crosstab that I found very interesting, people were asked, do Joe Biden's policies, has his presidency helped you or hurt you? Only 22 percent of respondents said Joe Biden's policies have helped me.

So, Kamala Harris just said, I would do nothing differently and just -- I would accept that 22 percent of success rate. I mean, That's just a debacle. Jamal, you know, you'd take it back if you could.

SIMMONS: For the record, Anderson, we have seen 16 million jobs in this economy, inflation is down, growth is up --

URBAN: Oh they are rebound jobs. They are rebound jobs.

COOPER: Jasmine, do you think this was a gift for Republicans because it certainly, David Urban, does, believe it is.

URBAN: It's a gift.

WRIGHT: I think it was a missed opportunity by the vice president, particularly when you look at that "New York Times" poll, we've seen her for the first time since respondents have been asked that question since she replaced Biden on the ticket. Who is the change agent? Who do they see being able to make the most change between her and Trump?

And for the first time, she is leading Trump, so instead of doubling down on that lead and saying, you know what in hindsight, as being the vice president I saw that we did X and maybe we could do Y even on something simple like I would have increased student debt cancellations from 20,000 to 30,000.

Her not saying or -- excuse me, her saying, I don't have anything in mind, of course, she did redirect a couple of minutes later and said that, you know, I would actually put a Republican on my Cabinet. I do think that was a missed opportunity for her to really try to create some space, particularly because the election is going to come down to a couple of things including who can change from the past four years? Who can provide Americans the relief that they didn't exactly get during Biden's administration, and I don't think that, that answer that she gave answers that question.

[20:30:00]

COOPER: Jasmine Wright, David Urban, Jamal Simmons, thank you.

URBAN: She now owns Afghanistan, all of those things.

SIMMONS: She's the vice president of the administration. I think if people care --

WRIGHT: That's going too far but --

SIMMONS: -- they already care.

COOPER: They'll continue during the commercial break. Coming up, the revelations in legendary journalist, Bob Woodward's new book, including multiple phone calls between Donald

Trump and Vladimir Putin after the former president left office.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: In his new book, legendary journalist Bob Woodward offers a stunning look behind the curtain at President Biden's sometimes profanity laced interactions with world leaders, including Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Russia's President Vladimir Putin.

Woodward also reveals previously unknown details about former President Trump's own interactions with Putin, including sending the Russian president a secret shipment of COVID-19 testing equipment at the height of the pandemic.

The new book is called "War". CNN obtained a copy of it before it's released next week.

[20:35:03]

CNN's Jamie Gangel joins us now with more. So what more can you tell us about what Woodward is reporting on these COVID test.

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: So as you just described, Anderson, these are never before revealed phone calls that Woodward is reporting about between Trump and Putin, including this verbatim conversation where they discuss what you mentioned, that President Trump apparently secretly sent the Russian president this scarce shipment of COVID test machines for his personal use.

So, here is the exchange from the book. Putin, "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."

Anderson, former President Trump to date denied sending the test to Putin. President Biden reacting to the reports that Trump had sent these, according to Woodward and said, quote, "What the hell's wrong with this guy?" Meaning Trump.

COOPER: And Vice President Harris responded to Woodward's reporting during an interview on the Howard Stern Show. I want to play that.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Think about this, 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 and in need of relief, and instead, how did he handle it domestically from Americans? He mismanaged the whole thing.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

COOPER: Woodward also is reporting about conversations between Trump and Putin after the former president left office. GANGEL: So, just for some context, it is true that sometimes former presidents have phone calls with other world leaders. Jimmy Carter has had it, Bush 41 did, but normally the protocol is you inform the State Department, you inform the White House.

Certainly, a call with Trump and Putin raises a certain level of interest. Woodward reports that a top Trump aide told him that Trump has had as many as seven phone calls with the Russian president. Trump today denied those calls. The White House declined to comment about them. We don't know the content of those calls, but if in fact they happen, it certainly is of interest.

COOPER: I understand that Senator Lindsey Graham apparently also makes some colorful, I guess, shall we say, appearances in Woodward's book with some observations about the former president. What are some examples?

GANGEL: So I think Lindsey Graham is always colorful and thinks he said, these comments are interesting because when he's talking about Trump, it's not always positive. And he writes, or quotes him, Lindsey Graham says, "Going to Mar-a-Lago is a little bit like going to North Korea. Everybody stands up and claps every time Trump comes in."

And he goes on to say that Biden, quote, "won fair and square," but that Trump doesn't like hearing that. Both true things, Anderson.

COOPER: Yes. Jamie Gangel, thank you so much.

GANGEL: Sure.

COOPER: Coming up next, we return to our breaking news, an already storm battered Florida, braces for Hurricane Milton. In a moment, what our Randi Kaye is seeing on the ground in Sarasota in the area as the dangerous storm takes aim.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:42:51]

COOPER: As we showed you earlier in some areas of Florida, piles of debris from Hurricane Helene now pose a threat that could be turned to -- into dangerous projectiles when Milton makes landfall. In Sarasota, dressers, mattresses and even refrigerators have piled up in the street.

Randi Kaye is on the ground where some residents already grappling with losses from one historic storm are now preparing to ride out another.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

KT CURRAN, SARASOTA RESIDENT: We've never flooded not even an inch and we've been evacuated numerous times over the years.

RANDI KAYE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): KT Curran and her husband Chris lived on Siesta Key, a barrier island off Sarasota for the last 25 years. She evacuated for Helene, but her husband stayed in their house to ride out the storm.

CURRAN: 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 5 foot surge of water in the house and he was all night in the pitch dark in 5 foot of water and he went out. He noticed the water rising and thought this could be really bad.

And he went out and the water raised up to his chest and he went across the street and climbed a neighbor's steps and was just in the dark counting the steps. 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.

KAYE (voice-over): Her husband has been ill ever since. So the two of them are planning to ride out Hurricane Milton at a friend's condo on the ninth floor of a building in downtown Sarasota. It's built to withstand a category 5 hurricane.

CURRAN: We're hoping we've made the right decision and we're just hunkering down. It feels like maybe Helene was just a rehearsal for what's to come, that they're talking possible 15 foot storm surge.

KAYE (voice-over): Sarasota's Mayor Liz Alpert told me she fears anyone who doesn't evacuate could be without power and water for a week, at least until it's safe for rescue crews to deliver aid. For many, it's too late to evacuate. Around the area, many roads are either clogged or closed.

More and more gas stations are closed, having run out of fuel. Even the penguins at the Florida Aquarium in Tampa are being moved to higher ground. And for those staying, there was a rush on water and plywood as residents made last ditch efforts to board up businesses and homes.

[20:45:07]

Milton is promising to be so massive. It's moved even this veteran Florida meteorologist to tears.

JOHN MORALES, VETERAN FLORIDA METEOROLOGIST: Just an incredible, incredible, incredible hurricane. It has dropped.

KAYE (voice-over): And shaken Florida's long-time residents who thought they'd seen the worst of it with Helene.

CURRAN: We lost all our belongings of -- all my clothes, my shoes -- I'm a filmmaker, all my camera equipment, my lighting equipment, my sound equipment, and also my clothes, shoes, all our furniture, everything. None of us in 100 years have seen anything like this. It is shocking.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

COOPER: And Randi joins us now from Sarasota. Is it clear if most people there have evacuated? KAYE (on-camera): It does seem as though most people have evacuated, Anderson. I mean, it's like a ghost town around here. I can't speak to those barrier islands which are just off Sarasota. Those -- they closed the bridge to those islands about 7:00 p.m. tonight, according to the mayor of Sarasota when I spoke with her earlier.

So, we don't know if those people evacuated, but if they haven't, they are stuck there now through the storm. But, Anderson, I don't know if you can see this pile of debris behind me, but if anything serves as a reminder of the power and the ferocity of a storm like this, this is what Helene left (technical difficulty) drive around Sarasota.

You see this everywhere. People's homes, their contents have just spilled out now onto the streets. You have refrigerators, China cabinets, dressers, couches just sitting here as garbage now. So if they need a reminder as to why they need to heed those warnings and evacuate, this right here is one of them, Anderson.

COOPER: Randi, thanks very much.

For more now on the federal government's response to the storm, I'm joined by FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell. Administrator Criswell, thank you. First of all, where do FEMA's preparations for Hurricane Milton stand tonight?

DEANNE CRISWELL, FEMA ADMINISTRATOR: Anderson, we have been preparing for Hurricane Milton for several days now. You know, we've got thousands of people in the state of Florida supporting the response and the recovery from Helene, but also from some previous storms. And this is the third year in a row that the West Coast of Florida has gotten hit, but we've moved additional resources in.

We've moved in search and rescue teams from our teams, from the Coast Guard, CBP, the Department of Defense. We've moved in commodities, healthcare assessment teams, all the same resources that we moved in ahead of Helene, so they can be ready to respond as soon as the storm has passed and as soon as they have needs.

COOPER: How stretched is the federal response at this point? I mean, obviously there's a lot of folks in North Carolina in need and elsewhere still from Helene.

CRISWELL: Anderson, we plan for multiple events just like this but this is going to be a challenge, right? These are two very large events back to back. But we have a layered approach to our staffing and we have done this before.

We have responded to Hurricane Harvey, Irma, and Maria in 2017. And even in 2020, while we had every state declared for COVID-19, we also had major hurricanes and wildfires. And so we've done this before, we plan for this, and we have strategies to make sure that we're using all available resources within FEMA. But we're just part of the team, the rest of the federal government as well.

COOPER: I know you're not focused on politics. Obviously, you got a lot to do, but it's -- I got to ask you. I mean, the former president continues to say things about the federal response, FEMA's response that -- about the Helene that do not seem to be true. I mean, among other things, he's claiming that funding was diverted to care for illegal immigrants, that there's no money left.

CRISWELL: No.

COOPER: What do you say to that? And what's -- what did that kind of information out there that he's spreading? What does that do to the, like, the morale of people working on disaster relief?

CRISWELL: Hey, Anderson, I've been talking about this for a few days now, and it's clearly that I've said that this is false, that this -- the information and the lies that are being spread are just simply untrue, and it's a distraction.

And I'm not going to let it impact our ability to continue to respond, and my focus right now, and our team's focus right now, is on a Category 5 hurricane headed towards Florida. That's where we're going to continue to push our efforts and make sure that we're meeting the needs of those that get impacted.

COOPER: When you talk about staging, you know, search and recovery teams, where do you do that given, you know, it's hard to know, you know, the storms can move can shift. I remember during Katrina that, you know, they were staged in one area and then ended up going to other areas. How do you figure that out?

CRISWELL: We actually take direction from the state, right? And so we want to coordinate and integrate with all of their search and rescue teams. Florida's got an incredible capability for search and rescue. And we bring in additional teams to make sure that we're integrated with them. And we'll stage with them in areas that we know are going to be safe for them. So they can immediately operate and get in and perform those functions if needed.

COOPER: Deanne Criswell, I appreciate all your efforts. Thank you. Good luck.

CRISWELL: Thanks, Anderson.

[20:50:03]

COOPER: Still ahead, third season of my podcast about grief and loss debuts tonight. It's available right now wherever you get your podcast. Actor Andrew Garfield is my first guest. You'll hear from him in a moment.

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COOPER: ?Grief and loss is something that all of us experience, but we don't talk about very much. The third season of my podcast, "All There Is," starts right now. It's available wherever you get your podcasts.

[20:55:03]

You can access it by pointing your phone's camera at a QR code on the bottom of your screen right now, and a link will appear that you can click to access it. The first episode is a conversation with actor Andrew Garfield. His mom, Lynn, died of pancreatic cancer in 2019.

He talks very movingly about his grief, and I share my feelings about it as well. Here's a preview of what you'll hear in this first episode of the podcast.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): Last season on my podcast, "All There Is," I discovered why it's been so hard going through boxes of things that belong to my mom, dad, and brother. I never allowed myself to grieve their deaths. I was 10 when my dad died, and I buried my sadness, fear, and rage.

And when my brother Carter killed himself 10 years later, I buried that grief too. I'm trying now to face my grief, feel it, and find a way to live with it. I can't run from it any longer. Andrew Garfield said something to Stephen Colbert about grief that stayed with me. Andrew's mom died in 2019.

ANDREW GARFIELD, ACTOR: I love talking about it, by the way. So if I cry, it's only like, t's only a beautiful thing. This is all the unexpressed love, right? The grief that will remain with us, you know, until we pass because we didn't -- we never get enough time with each other, right?

No matter if someone lives until 60, 15 or, you know, 99. So, I hope this grief stays with me because it's all the unexpressed love that I didn't get to tell her. And I told her every day -- we all told her every day, she was the best of us.

COOPER (voice-over): Andrew Garfield is my first guest this season.

COOPER: Has that grief stayed with you?

GARFIELD: Yes, it's here now.

COOPER: You feel it now?

GARFIELD: Yes, and it's the only root to feeling her close again. Crazy thing. It's the longing. It's the admission of the pain. It's the crying out. Hey, I need you. Where are you? I miss you so much. And only in that absence, only in really inhabiting that absence, being that little boy at the bottom of that empty cave in vast darkness, and just kind of crying out. That's the only moment that she comes.

It's so weird, it's like, the longing and the grief, fully inhabiting it and feeling it is the only way I can really feel close to her again. The wound is the only route to the gift. The grief and the loss is the only route to the vitality of being alive.

COOPER: Is there something you've learned in your grief that would help others who are listening? GARFIELD: I remember when mom died, I have a really incredible group of friends and I feel very grateful for them. They would send me messages and it would literally just be, I'm here, I've got you. It was like -- sorry, it was like this web, it was like this net of love and care that a handful or two or three handfuls of friends assembled underneath me where my mother's net used to be.

It was like they all kind of joined hands and created a container for me to feel safe in the loss. And I was an orphaned, you know. I was to a degree, but the love that held me and it was profound in its simplicity. It wasn't complicated and it wasn't fixing.

None of these people tried to fix it. They didn't try to run away from it either, but basically they were saying, if you need us to sit with you while you cry, we can do that. So maybe that feels more for people that are with other people who are going through grief. Because I know that that was a profound lifesaving thing for me because I knew I was held.

COOPER (voice-over): Episode 1 --

(END VIDEO TAPE)

COOPER: Andrew has a lot more to say about grief in the podcast. To access the new season, "All There Is," you can point your phone right now at the camera at the QR code, it's on the screen. A link will appear, you can click to download. You can also just listen to the podcast wherever you get your podcast. It's online and available now.

You can also watch a video version of the entire interview on CNN's YouTube channel. And also we're starting an online grief community where you can hear from others living with grief and share your own experiences as well.

Thousands of you have sent in voicemails in both seasons of the podcast. I've listened to all of them. A number of them are online at CNN.com/allthereisonline. You can also leave comments and stories of your own and connect with others in your grief. And I hope it makes you feel a little less lonely in your grief.

The news continues. The Source with Kaitlan Collins starts now.