Return to Transcripts main page

Inside Politics

Florida Governor Gives Update On Response To Hurricane Milton; 80K Plus Orlando Residents Without Power After Hurricane Milton; Harris Accepts CNN's Invitation For Town Hall; No Word From Trump; Today: Obama To Rally For Harris In Pittsburgh. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired October 10, 2024 - 12:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:32:38]

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R), FLORIDA: -- and it's just the way you go. So people have been working 24/7 particularly on the west coast of Florida. We got a lot of first responders that have been working really hard. Kevin and his team, all of our state agencies get mobilized when we have these types of events and they've been working nonstop.

So my hats off to everybody that's worked hard. You know, unfortunately, we have the fatalities from this tornado here. We don't have confirmed reports of other fatalities throughout the rest of the state, but we may as the day goes on.

My sense is that a lot of the people did leave who were in the evacuation zones. I know we had over 80,000 people staying in shelters. You had massive heavy traffic on the interstates over the last several days leading up to the storm because I think people were deciding, you know, to just get out of Dodge.

We also can say that the storm did not produce the worst case scenario in terms of storm surge. If you remember about 24 hours ago, maybe 36 hours ago, the fear was a category 4, strong 4, going into Tampa Bay, producing about 15 feet of storm surge. That's an area with Pinellas County, Peninsula and then the surrounding areas in Hillsborough County. That is very low lying, very susceptible to storm surge. That did not end up happening.

The storm did weaken before it hit land and then it did bear further to the east and south of Tampa Bay. So I think a lot of what they had was the wind suck water out of Tampa Bay. You did have storm surge in Sarasota, Venice, Charlotte Harbor and all the way down the west coast of Florida, and some significant storm surge.

But not to the worst case scenario of what we were looking at. I mean, for example, Helene, we had storm surge in Taylor County up in North Florida, that was probably about 20 feet in places like Dekle Beach and Horseshoe Beach. And that is the real deal.

I mean, it's -- we have examples in American history where you've actually had a lot more than that, 24, 25 feet. Mississippi, Texas, Camille, some of those. But to have 18 to 20 feet, that's a big deal. So, doesn't mean there's not going to be a lot of damage, doesn't mean there's not going to be a lot we're going to have to contend with.

[12:35:05]

But just in terms of what we were prepped for, I think that we probably have an abundance of resources. My sense is we'll probably be able to release a lot of the search and rescue resources that we've had on hand very soon.

And then just get back to getting everybody back online with power, making sure that the gasoline is flowing and everything. So all in all, everyone's done a good job up to this point. We've got a lot more work to do, and I'll let Kevin come in and say a few things.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Governor. You know, I think of this situation here where we're at, this -- the strength of what happened here is organically --

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: We're listening to a briefing by the Florida governor and other members of the emergency management team in Florida. And as we monitor that, we want to go to Orlando, where more than 80,000 residents are without power as the damage from Hurricane Milton is becoming more clear.

Democratic Congressman Maxwell Frost represents Orlando, and you see him joining me now. Congressman, thank you so much. I know you rode out the storm last night. You are out, you're in a car right now, surveying the damage. What are you and your team seeing?

REP. MAXWELL FROST (D), FLORIDA: Well, thanks for having me on. A little earlier this morning, we were at the joint FEMA and state command post -- initial damage assessment. They're still out there assessing the damage far and wide across the state, but especially central Florida region.

It looks like what we mainly have are widespread down trees, creating a lot of roof damage and a lot of homes. And I'm actually right now in a community called Tangelo Park where we have a lot of seniors, damage from big trees, a lot of debris and widespread power outages as well.

Last night, we experienced some of the most intense wind gusts that Orlando and central Florida have ever experienced since Hurricane Charlie years ago. And that wind is powerful and can create damage. Objects and debris can be flying all around and creating damage to people's homes.

And so we're out serving that right now. Thank God, for now, it looks like we don't have mass health issues or casualties in Orlando reported so far. It's still being looked into, but there was a lot of death due to the tornadoes that came with the storm all across the coast of Florida.

BASH: Yes, I mean, those tornadoes were just unbelievable. I know that you're busy. Before I let you go, though, we have been talking about the misinformation, the alarming amount of misinformation that is circulating, that is being perpetuated by the Republican running for president, Donald Trump, and it's also appearing online.

As you go around and talk to your constituents, are you getting a sense that you're hearing -- well, are you hearing that misinformation come back at you? And if so, what can be done to quell it?

FROST: We are hearing that misinformation come back to me because here's the work, you know, a lot of (technical difficulty) vernacular of the MAGA call or something like that. But never just stays in there, especially when it has to do with hurricane preparedness and disaster response.

You know, a lot of times the power goes out, communication goes out and we rely heavily on word of mouth within communities. And if there's someone in that community who says, something false about FEMA, something false about getting help from the federal government to take your home, something that money's already been accepted, send your information to this random link that got texted to me, that breathes (ph) like wildfire.

And I've had several constituents come to me to ask about things. And we've had to dispel these myths for some people. There's been rumors left and right about FEMA. And the problem here, when politicians like Donald Trump use a natural disaster, a horrible disaster for political points, it can cost human lives.

In this environment, every second matters to save lives and to save property and help save people and their livelihood. And we need people to understand that government, state government, local government, and the federal government weren't there to help you.

(Technical difficulty) to be afraid to reach out for resources that they deserve, that their taxpayer money goes towards. And that's exactly what's happening now because of Donald Trump. And so how do we combat it? Being out in the field.

I'm out speaking with people one on one, dispelling these myths. If they want proof, I got proof for them. I got -- I'm here to help them out, learn what FEMA is, see what the information is so they can understand.

BASH: Yes.

FROST: On my official website, repfrost/recovery, we're adding the information there so people can know what's going on. So being out in the field is a big way that we can dispel these myths. It can literally cost lives and it's a (technical difficulty).

BASH: Congressman, thank you. The --

FROST: (Technical difficulty) incredible work.

BASH: Congressman, thank you.

The upshot is listen to your local leaders. Good luck out there. Thanks for joining us. And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:44:39]

BASH: Donald Trump is slamming the door shut on another debate with Vice President Harris. The deadline for him to accept CNN's invitation has now passed. Instead of a debate, CNN invited both candidates to participate in separate town halls October 23rd, and the Harris campaign just accepted. No word yet from the Trump campaign.

And MJ, we already -- are already seeing from Jen O'Malley Dillon in a statement, she runs the Harris campaign, that Trump may want to hide from voters, but Vice President Harris welcomes the opportunity to speak to them.

[12:45:11]

MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And, you know, the Harris campaign said minutes after the first debate between Harris and Trump had ended that they were ready to do another debate. Obviously, Trump has made clear that he is not interested in that any opportunity for the Harris campaign at this point to have a big audience.

And the opportunity to sort of shake thing loose in this election, I think they're going to take it particularly given that a lot of things can feel really baked in by the time you get to this point, whether it's fundraising infrastructure. So they want this opportunity.

BASH: OK. We're going to bounce off of that very thought with everybody after a quick break. Don't go anywhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:50:10]

BASH: ?Vice President Harris's campaign is marking a milestone, according to sources familiar. Look at that number. The Harris team has raised $1 billion, with the b, $1 billion since she entered the race just in July of this year. Now, even with all of that money, the race is stagnant. Begging the question, has the Harris joy ride reached a plateau?

My panel is back. And let's just put some numbers with that. Laura, I'll start with you and also bounce off of what MJ was saying before the break. Michigan, Harris, 48 percent, Trump, 47 percent. Pennsylvania, same. Wisconsin, 49 percent, 46 percent. And we obviously show you those three states for a reason, the blue wall, which is the ballgame for her.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right, all within the margin of error. And Harris is trying to figure out exactly how she's going to build this coalition that they're attempting to build in those states. Which is, if she continues to lose in states like Michigan, with some of the young voters, some of the Arab Muslim voters, can she make up in that gap with the independence and the moderates that we were talking about earlier. Are there enough of them? It's the same math game that she's playing in a state like Arizona. If she's losing working class Latinos, because some of them are moving a little bit more towards Trump especially men, then can she make up for them with those Republicans, Independents who used to vote for John McCain and Mitt Romney and who now feel a bit homeless in the Republican Party.

BASH: Yes. And then, you know, we did some great reporting, our team, our colleagues yesterday on the anxiety inside the Harris campaign about this feeling that they've gotten to a point and now they're just kind of stalled and it's hard for them to get ahead of Donald Trump.

Charles Blow in the New York Times writes about that very dynamic. "The rallies often don't seem to provide enough space for the organic moment, for the one-on-one human interaction. In its efforts, it seems to shield Harris from gotcha moments. It's robbing her of chances to have transcendent moments in which her appeal crosses over from those who strongly support her to those who remain wary."

Now, of course, he wrote this before, five minutes ago when we announced that Harris is --

HANS NICHOLS, POLITICAL REPORTER, AXIOS: That's the transcendent moment.

BASH: There you go. I mean, let's help (ph) support. So tune in October 23rd for a transcendent moment, but she will be facing voters and presumably there's a lot of pressure on her to do that more between now and a week from Wednesday.

NICHOLS: But for voters and her supporters and insider campaign, I mean, I think the key word in your reporting is anxiety, and there is so much anxiety. Let's all stipulate that the race is stuck, it's tied, whatever, however we want to describe it. It's a very close race.

And into that sort of very anxious moment, especially on the Democratic side, when there's one little bit of piece of information, a negative poll for their side, an anecdote that comes out, your phone blows up with sort of being like, is this true? What's happening? Is Pennsylvania over?

Here's my hot take in, you know, early October of 2024. No state is over that's going to matter. OK, is Ohio done for Trump? Yes, right? We can be fairly confident on that. But none of these states have been decided and it's going to be incredibly close until the very end and it's going to be in the -- it's going to come down to tactics at the end, it's going to come down to strategies, it's going to come down to everything we're talking about at this table, it's like, what can the two sides do to gin up their base and to actually appeal to independence.

BASH: Obama's going to Pittsburgh today for Kamala Harris.

LEE: Yes, I mean, that has everything to do with trying to drum up enthusiasm in these final weeks. When again, as we were saying before, so much feels already baked in. Just this anxiety that we are talking about, you know, Harris herself has used the word grind to describe the final weeks.

I mean, that genuinely reflects what so many inside the campaign feel about the last couple of weeks that are left. That they feel like it is going to be a grind. There are so much hard work. There's so much apprehension about the unknowns that can sometimes come in these final weeks.

And even a little bit of excitement that I'm starting to sense that it will soon be over. They just don't know which direction it's going to go.

BASH: Will it, MJ? Will it?

LEE: Yes.

BASH: Talking about the people who you described as feeling homeless. One of the constituencies that may feel that way in the Democratic Party are black men, which might surprise some people, not all of them, but a sliver of them.

And one of the ways that Donald Trump is trying to get some black men and others who are more moderate Republicans, if you will, is with cultural issues, particularly the trans issue. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Your child goes to school and they take your child. It was a he and comes back as she, and they do this, and they do it. And often without parental consent.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

[12:55:03]

BASH: You've been out in the field, you've been talking to undecided voters. Does this kind of thing work?

BARRON-LOPEZ: I haven't heard a single black male voter mention the trans issue, that doesn't mean it's not necessarily working with them. But I did, I have talked to a number of black men in swing states, in states like Wisconsin.

And, you know, they're -- they -- again, this is at the margins. If Trump is able to even slice off a little bit, it would be a very small margin because of the fact that black voters predominantly vote overwhelmingly Democratic. So, so far I haven't necessarily seen those lies about trans kids --

BASH: Yes.

BARRON-LOPEZ: -- working.

BASH: Yes. And it's the margins that are going to determine this, whether it's with black men or with suburban women or with low information voters, you name it.

We're going to have to leave it there. Thank you, everybody, for joining us. Thank you for watching Inside Politics Today. CNN New Central starts after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)