Transcripts For MSNBC Andrea Mitchell Reports 20240927

Foreign businesses and officials for nearly a decade. The mayor this morning defiant despite cascading scandals and resignations from top aides. Its an unfortunate day. Its a painful day. I look forward to defending myself and defending the people of this city as i have done throughout my entire professional career. This hour, the House Task Force investigating attempt against former President Trumps life in butler, pennsylvania. Questioning the secret Service Today and local Law Enforcement about critical failures in protecting the former president. Israels Prime Minister is coming to new york to speak to the United Nations tomorrow morning. The White House has no plans for a meeting with the president. The Secretary Of State tries to cobble together a temporary halt in the escalating fighting between Israel And Hezbollah in lebanon. Hoping for a ceasefire there as fighting in gaza fades. Israel, our closest ally, we provide them more weapons than anyone in the world, keeps raising objections every time you think you are close to the finish line. You say that you have 15 of 18 clauses finished. Those are the toughest. You are in the red zone. By definition, when you are in the red zone, those are the toughest yards to get. Good day, everyone. Im Andrea Mitchell in new york where the Citys Mayor has been indicted and charged in an alleged pay to play scheme, soliciting and accepting illegal Campaign Funds allegedly from turkish officials. Democratic mayor Eric Adams is the first sitting mayor of the nations largest city to be criminally charged while in office. The charges include conspiracy, bribery and two counts of solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national. The indictment details an alleged quid pro quo. Adams intervened to permit the turkish consulate to occupy a skyscraper that had not passed a fire safety inspection. In exchange for among other things, Luxury Travel benefits provided by the turkish Official And Airline manager. The u. S. Attorney for the southern district of new york speaking moments ago. As we allege, mayor adams took these contributions even though he knew they were illegal. Even though he knew these contributions were attempts by a turkish Government Official and turkish businessmen to buy influence with him. We also allege that the mayor sought and accepted well over 100,000 in Luxury Travel benefits from some of the same foreign actors who arranged many of the illegal campaign contributions. The fbi conducted an early Morning Search at Gracie Mansion, the residence of all new york mayors, since taking office in 2022, the administration has been caught up in several federal investigations and multiple highlevel officials have been resigning. Moments ago the mayor says he intends to fight. My attorneys will take care of the case so i can take care of the city. My daytoday will not change. I will continue to do the job for 8. 3 million New Yorkers that i was elected to do. We begin right here with national Law Enforcement and Intelligence Correspondent Tom winter, former u. S. Attorney chuck rosenberg, and maura gay, a member of the New York Times editorial board. Tom, these are serious charges. Thats right. I was struck by the tone of u. S. Attorney williams today. I have seen him speak at public events, do a host of Press Conferences speaking about the things that his team and the fbi have uncovered in the course of their investigations. What struck to me today was his tone. Just how pointed he was in going through the Allegations Step by step, which are contained in the indictment. We heard the same thing from the new Assistant Director in charge of the fbi in new york, talking about the violation of public trust. The thing that was said at The End of the briefing he did not take any questions. But one of his last remarks was, we will hold more people accountable. You know as i do, andrea, that typically at The End of the Press Conferences, they say the investigation is ongoing. We will continue to look into things. We know the investigation is ongoing because as you showed, the fbi showed up at Gracie Mansion this morning. The tipoff is the individuals coming in in suits with cameras, with duffel bags. In new York City to get preferential parking, which is a challenge, they put little placards on the cars to allow them to park in certain zones. It says federal Law Enforcement. That was the tipoff the fbi was there. Unlike what was referenced at the press conference, it wasnt because somebody at the fbi called us. Not only do we know this investigation is going forward, but theres essentially a promise from the u. S. Attorney here that more people will be charged. As you showed there on the chart, there are a number of investigations that involve City Hall or at least avenues of investigations. Were not talking just about the mayor. We are talking about List Head his head of public safety. An unindicted coconspirator who had to resign in 2014 in an unrelated investigation. The School Chancellor who resigned, his brother. He had his phones taken a couple of weeks ago. The nightclub investigation, potentially the brother of the former Police Commissioner who had his phone taken along with the mayor had his phone taken. Now twice three times. There was the point where the fbi agents approached him and his detail back in November Of 2023 and said, can we get the phones, his ipad . They issued a subpoena for the personal phone, which according to the allegations in the indictment, he changed the password. They were able to determine it was after he had his phones taken that he changes his password and told the fbi, i dont remember the password for his personal phone. Then theres a third time this morning, according to adams attorney, where the fbi again took his phone. This investigation is evolving, is ongoing. Not all of the investigations i just referenced necessarily tie back to the new York City mayors office. Certainly, all of them involved individuals that might be a point, depending which charges come up, if any come up in the future, i did mention that promise, involve individuals that were appointed by this mayor. Looking forward, i could tell you the mood inside City Hall, the Police Department is terrible. There are people there that have devoted their life to public service, people i know, our colleagues know that go in and out every day trying to do whats best for the city. They are really upset and they are angry about the types of things that they are reading and seeing today and the tarnish this will have on their careers, the tarnish on the city and the tarnish on the Police Department. We should stress these are just allegations. Chuck rosenberg, there is a standard at the Justice Department before a prosecutor brings charges, which is you know better than anyone, that they have to believe they have a case and that its a provable case, a case that would stand up before a jury. Thats exactly right. They have to have a reasonable probability of conviction. That means they have to have evidence that is admissible in a federal court and that they believe will withstand Cross Examination by mr. Adams lawyers. I can assure you because ive been through this many times and have prosecuted Public Corruption cases, theres not a word in that indictment, theres not an allegation in that indictment that the u. S. Attorneys Office Isnt confident they can prove by proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Every word, every allegation would have been inspected by numerous lawyers, prosecutors and by numerous agents. Nothing is in there by accident. They are confident they can prove all of that. Let me add one thing. Sometimes people think that these are just sort of paper crimes. He got a little money, he got travel, he got a good meal or two. Its actually far more serious than that. Think about this. According to the indictment according to the allegations in the indictment, mayor adams intervened with the new York Fire department to order a building not safe, a highrise be open despite numerous potential Safety Code violations. That endangers people who work there, endangers people that visit there and god forbid theres a fire in that building, it endangers the new York City Fire Department. These are very serious allegations. Receiving bribes, soliciting bribes and all the Straw Donations that have been described. I dont want people to lose sight of the things that could happen when public officials act in a corrupt manner. Maura, lets talk about how the city can run. Does the mayor resist the pressure to resign . There are a lot of calls for him to resign. The mayor says he is staying. Its very clear that i want to say the mayor is entitled to a defense as is any defendant. However, its clear that this could be just the beginning of the legal storm at City Hall. These are the first charges in at least four federal investigations into mr. Adams, his administration or his campaign. There could be more charges to come against him or other individuals. My concern is not only that the mayor is under investigation and now under indictment but actually in recent days the city has seen the resignation or announcements of the resignation of a number of senior officials, including the School Chancellor of the largest School District in the country, nearly 1 Million schoolchildren attend that district, as well as the Police Commissioner in recent weeks, now the interim Police Commissioner had his home raided as well. We have seen the resignation of first deputy mayor. We have seen a number of these individuals be the target of some inquiry or at least had their phones seized or homes raided as part of an inquiry into someone else. These are key positions in City Hall that run the largest city in the country. This is tragic, first of all. This is not Business As Usual in new York City government. I think there may be some perception simply because of Public Corruption across the country, its an issue everywhere, that new York City operates in this way. It does not. This is tragic, again, because new York City for decades had a very clean government. The quick work that mayor adams appears to have done according to federal prosecutors to bring in cronies and folks who seem to look at City Hall as a Slush Fund for their personal use is disturbing. I want to say that these are not victimless crimes. If they were committed, we are talking about 10 Million in city matching funds. These are taxpayer Dollars Row occurred by mr. Adams using illegal straw donors. Donors that didnt exist. 120,000 in illegal foreign contributions from turkish officials who then received special favors at City Hall that included pressuring the mayor pressuring Fire Department officials to approve the creation of a Consulate Building that was not safe for occupancy. He even solicited this is sad. According to the indictment, an official acting on the mayors be excuse me, the mayorelects behalf, Solicited Special Travel Arrangements from turkish officials on The Day of the 2021 new York City mayoral primary. The staffer is quited in the indictment as talking to a turkish official and saying, why dont you charge us 1,000 or so, quote, Let It Be somewhat real. The real cost would have been much higher. This is very disturbing. The people of new york deserve not only answers but they deserve to know that their city is going to continue to run as it should. Mara gay and we have been following your writing about this in the New York Times. Tom winter, thank you. Of course, chuck rosenberg. In 90 seconds, the latest from todays hearing with the House Task Force investigating the July Attempt on former President Trumps life in butler, pennsylvania. You are watching Andrea Mitchell reports on msnbc. With fastsigns, create Factory Grade visual solutions to perfect your process. 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Get 20 off when you order in app. Hurry and get this deal before its gone the House Task Force probing the massive Security Failure that led to the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in pennsylvania in july brought members of Law Enforcement to Capitol Hill today. A former secret Service Agent who testified at the hearing was asked about the Agencys Setup in butler, pennsylvania. There wasnt a single unified Command Station on site. The Secret Service did not establish that. Is that atypical in your experience . Would there be one Command And Control station to unify command and communications . Yes. Thats atypical. Im very surprised. Normally, theres an overall Command Post for the entire visit. Each site will have whats called a Security Room where Radio Traffic pertinent to that individual site is controlled. The Command Post should be the state and local police, Secret Service and other federal partners that may be assisting. This is very unusual that the way it turned out here at this site. Joining me now are nbc News Capitol Hill correspondent Ryan Nobles and nbc News Justice and Intelligence Correspondent ken dilanian. Ryan, who were the takeaways . There are so many questions. Its a scathing report. Reporter thats right, andrea. I think that what we heard today, mh of the content, the information specifically was not all that new. We have now seen the interim report released by the Senate Committee investigating this yesterday. We have had multiple public hearings from some of the Law Enforcement agencies that have been involved in this investigation. What was so particularly poignant today was the fact we heard directly from local Law Enforcement officers on the front lines that day. They talked about this lack of or breakdown in communication between the operation that they were running and the operation that the Secret Service was running. Thats perhaps where the most criticism has come from the Secret Service in the wake of this assassination attempt, that there was not a direct line of communication between the multiple agencies that were involved in the protection of the former president and that No One appeared to be in charge. Specifically, there was No One who made the call to say, that roof, where the shooter ended up being perched, was taken care of and protected, to say this is the individual or individuals responsible for taking care of that. You heard directly from these local Law Enforcement officers about their at some times confusion over who was responsible for what and why that, in part, led to what happened there on that day in butler, pennsylvania, in july. Ken, how have these two Assassination Attempts two against Donald Trump changed how the Secret Service does its Job Protecting mr. Trump . Reporter clearly, they have changed it a lot. The Secret Service are taking a heightened posture towards the protection of mr. Trump, giving him president ial level protection. They dont talk about all the details. We have seen evidence of the heightened posture. We have seen a secret Service Agent following Donald Trump down the steps of his airline. We have seen him surrounded by Bulletproof Glass when he is speaking at outdoor rallies. He hasnt played golf since this incident. He actually posted on his truth social account, im surrounded by more men, guns and weapons than i have ever seen before. Of course, this is coming not only after these two attempted assassinations but amid intelligence that there remains an iranian plot on mr. Trumps life. What this doesnt address are the systemic issues that were are hearing about in this hearing. We heard about in Senate Report released yesterday. No one appeared to have been in charge of advanced security. Resources were requested but were denied. An Agent Couldnt Figure out how to run the drone that may have detected the shooters drone flights hours before the rally. There are clearly systemic issues here that cant just be solved by throwing more resources at protectees. Ken, thank you so much. Ryan nobles, as well. Next, the escalating conflict between Israel And Hezbollah in lebanon after the netanyahu Government Bristles at the latest ceasefire proposal. That may not be the final word on it. You are watching Andrea Mitchell reports on msnbc. San franciscos been through tough times. London breed led us through the pandemic, declaring an emergency before anyone else, Saving Thousands of lives. From growing up in the western Addition Housing projects to becoming mayor, london has never given up on the city that raised her. London is getting people off the streets and into care. London never gave up on me. I found a home, and My Life is on the right track. London made it super easy for me to open my small business, by cutting city fees. And shes reinventing downtown to make our City Vibrant again. Shes building 82,000 new homes and helping first time homebuyers, just like us. And londons Hiring Hundreds of police officers, and arresting drug dealers. San francisco has been through difficult times, but our hard work is paying off. Working together, were building a better future for the city we all love. Ad paid for by reelect mayor London Breed 2024. Financial disclosures are available at sfethics. Org. The u. S. And france backed by European And Arab Allies are calling for a temporary 21day Ceasefire between Israel And Hezbollah to try to avoid a full Ground Invasion by israel into lebanon. The fighting continues. More on the diplomacy with the players gathered here in new york in a moment. First, we want to go to nbcs chief foreign correspondent richard engel. He is in lebanon. Richard, bring us up to date on the situation on the ground. Reporter there has been this push from the united states, france, the uk, other countries to implement a ceasefire, to prevent the war that for the last year has been in the West Bank but primarily in gaza from escalating here into lebanon and becoming a fullfledged war in a new country. Prime Minister Netanyahu of israel rejected that. He said that the war will continue, that it will continue in full force. Just yesterday, the Chief Of Staff of the Israeli Army said that there could be a Ground Invasion. He told israeli troops, in fact, that they will be coming into lebanon. So far, according to a senior u. S. Military official i have been speaking to, there are no indications that an israeli Ground Invasion into lebanon is imminent. They are not seeing the kind of Troop Buildup that would be required for a Ground Invasion. I can tell you what we have been seeing, even amid the calls by President Biden and others for a ceasefire, is a continued Air War by israel. There was a strike in the center of beirut in the southern suburb. The southern headquarters of hezbollah. We have heard incoming and outgoing rounds here in the south. Also in the east. An intense Air War is underway at the moment. Richard engel, thank you so much. Prime Minister Netanyahu has flown to new york to speak to the u. N. Tomorrow. Israel said wiping out hezbollahs offensive forces is the only way to enable 65,000 israelis evacuated from their homes after October 7th to finally go home. Secretary blinken is meeting here with netanyahus top advisor to argue that a ceasefire with hezbollah is the best way to get those people back to their homes. On morning Joe I asked blinken about this. Mr. Secretary, prime Minister Netanyahu influenced perhaps by his right Wing Coalition is doing exactly the opposite. He is saying that the only way to get them back into their homes is to wipe out the hezbollah Command And Control and eliminate them as a Military Threat once and for all. He is not listening to you. In fact, if you go back to October 7th, one of our primary objectives, of course, making sure israel did what was necessary to make sure that October 7th could never happen again, working to make sure that the men, Women And Children In Gaza who have been caught in the crossfire got what they needed to get protected, to get assistance they needed, but also to make sure to the best of our ability, that this conflict doesnt spread, we dont have another front. Joining me now, ambassador pinkus, and former advisor to israeli prime Minister Barack and perez, and diplomatic correspondent michael crowley. They are searching for a temporary ceasefire for 21 days or fewer to try to avoid a Ground Invasion and try to avoid they hope iran doesnt get into this. The signals from iran are they would not get into this. But hezbollah is their proxy. Hezbollah, as you know, and israel have been firing back and forth since October 7th, october 8th. This is something very different. Thats right. Andrea, as Secretary Blinken suggested when he spoke to you, this was the great fear of the biden Administration Right when september October 7th happened. They were concerned about what would happen in gaza. In some ways, the greater concern they had was this would spread into a potentially more destructive war between Israel And Hezbollah in lebanon and that the real concern there is that the dynamics of that war, for reasons we can explain, could draw in both the united states and iran. That is a more dangerous situation even relative to the catastrophe in gaza. Prime Minister Netanyahu has said things that dont sound like he is prepared to hit pause. The administration wants to hit pause. They want to stop it if they can. We have seen a pattern of the israeli government saying one thing and u. S. Officials saying, well, they dont really ean it. Thats happened during the Gaza Ceasefire negotiations for months. We are seeing a replay. The question is, will this be the time where something does fall into place even though the israelis dont seem ready to go along with it in the public rhetoric . They have strong support from the saudis, from the uae, qataries, others in the region who are trying to avoid this. The other problem is that the West Bank is blowing up. Jordan feels threatened. This could be a Threefront War is netanyahu taking on more than they can chew . Thats exactly what he wanted to happen. This is how he wanted things to transpire. This serves a narrative that this was not an isolated Hamas Attack on October 7th for which he did not, to this day, take responsibility or is willing to be held accountable. Let me update this. As he landed in new york, he said, were continuing to fight hezbollah with full force until we reach our goals. No one knows what the goals are. He needs to validate this narrative that he developed, that this is a 360degree war. That this is theres an epicenter of an axis of Anarchy And Terrorism in iran and its employing all these proxies, hezbollah, hamas, Houthis And Israel is right in between. Get off my back, mr. Biden, and the world should understand this. What those goals in lebanon are is not clear, because were going to go michael here said correctly that this is a replay of what happened in gaza. But this is a replay of our back and forth, this pingpong with hezbollah for the last 25 years. And the invasion in 2006, which was devastating to lebanon, and hurt israel as well. I remember in 1982, which was another invasion of lebanon. Michael, this is happening with less than six weeks before an election. Now you have two wars. Today the zelenskyy meeting at the White House. Donald trump criticizing zelenskyy, praising Vladimir Putin. This is a total mess for the administration. This was supposed to be the Victory Lap for Joe Biden this week at the u. N. You put your finger on it. I think President Biden was hoping to come here, give a speech. But on the big things like the war in ukraine, the middle east, the Trend Lines are not in the right direction. Its just not the sendoff that President Biden was hoping for in front of this global audience. Theres still time. If they could clinch a deal and get these larger agreements moving forward, like the idea to get a Normalization Agreement between the saudis and israelis, that could be a great feather in President Bidens cap for his legacy. The odds for that at this point are dwindling close to zero. Michael crowley, ambassador pinkus, thank you. Nearly a year after October 7th, the Military Offensive by israel that followed, gaza is a shell of its former self. Tens of thousands of palestinians in gaza have been killed by israeli strikes, and the infrastructure there has been decimated. Now as Israel Hits Hezbollah targets in and around beirut, some 90,000 lebanese people are being forced to flee their homes as well. This is in addition to the 65,000 israelis who have been internally displaced. Joining me now, samantha power. The u. N. Secretarygeneral is warning hell is breaking lose in lebanon, what are the ramifications of more people being displaced . The world doesnt need another conflict. Thats for sure. Theres more conflict happening right now around the world than at any point since World War ii. More displacement and the humanitarian needs in most of the ongoing conflicts where infrastructure has been decimated. Those needs are outpacing the resources we are able to dedicate. This is why diplomacy is so important. This is why the call for a 21day Ceasefire to work through the security concerns that people have, why thats so important. We hope and will work tirelessly to try to ensure that that Ceasefire Appeal is embraced. In lebanon, 90,000 new people displaced on top of 110,000 who had been displaced in the Tit For Tat and 70,000 civilians in Northern Israel as well out of their homes. All that will happen with further escalation is more pain, more displacement. There has to be a diplomatic path to working through the security issues. The u. N. s most senior official overseeing Aid And Reconstruction in gaza said the international community is failing innocent civilian, not for lack of trying. The situation according to that official is just significant catastrophe. Can more be done to help the people in gaza . I mean, more supplies have to flow into gaza. Theres also lawlessness that is gang induced inside gaza. Aide workers dont feel sufficiently safe even moving from Point A To B to reach the civilians. Again, we have to see an end to the incidents where clearly marked vehicles are fired at. There has to be better civilian protections, civilians who come out to Food Distributions dont feel safe even when its a u. N. Distribution or one of our trusted ngo partners. Thats about, again, the idf being more careful about the way they conduct military operations. One good thing is the Polio Vaccinations seems to have worked. I want to ask you about dissent within the administration. A report was submitted that israel was blocking medical aid and food. If that were deemed to be happening, that would mean the u. S. Would cut off weapons. In may the secretary told congress that israel was not blocking aid or that it was not a significant factor. So the president clearly and the secretary decided to discount the findings by their own agency. Well, i think the secretary and the president , everyone has been clear that more aid needed to flow, that there were too many blockages at different stages. Theres been modest improvements over time, but like i said just before, these processes have to be streamlined. We are heading into winter. We saw with polio what can happen when there is political will. The security hours of tranquility that allowed that first shot of the Polio Vaccination or the first reaching of children to occur, we now need the second to occur in the coming weeks, but Thats Proof of concept. We need exactly that kind of political will, political Leadership And Security enabling environment in order to prepare gazans for this brutal winter that lies ahead. Remember, i was on probably last year talking about how bad conditions were. You dont have buildings into which people can flow, even if they are overcrowded. Its tarps and extremely rudimentary conditions on the beach and in a humanitarian zone, the socalled safe zone, thats smaller than Dulles Airport where 1. 5 million people have congregated. I think whatever about any internal deliberations that we may have and a report from months ago, our focus is on how finally do we get the equivalent of an easy pass for humanitarian assistance so people can be reached . At times, the Rafah Crossing are closed and Aid Cant get in. I want to ask about you trying to eliminate lead that is poisoning children in low and middle income countries. The numbers are staggering. Tell me about that joint effort. Thank you for raising it. Theres almost no awareness of this, not only in our country about whats happening in developing countries, but in the countries themselves. At the height of the flint, michigan, crisis in the country, 1 in 20 kids had lead poisoning. In developing countries is one in five. We launched this coalition with 150 million. We have 60 partners, 25 countries. The more that people are aware that theres still lead in paint, lead in spices, lead in cosmetics, that comes out of battery recycling, the more we will see a groundswell similar to what occurred in advanced economies. We can prevent kids from being poisoned. Thats an important cause. Thank you so much for what you are doing. Its enormous. The latest from florida on Hurricane Helene as millions of residents are bracing for powerful winds and heavy flooding as the storm is moving closer to shore. You are watching Andrea Mitchell reports. This is msnbc. But who has the time to clean . Thats why i love my swiffer wetjet. Its a quick and easy way to get my floors clean. Wetjet absorbs and locks grime deep inside. Look at that swiffer wetjet. Zyrtec Allergy Relief works fast and lasts a full 24 hours so dave can be the. Deliverer of dance. Ok, dave lets be more than our allergies. Zeize The Day with zyrtec. So, you know, han is 22 years old, and weve been together most of My Life. Not often do you have a Childhood Dog that, that lives this long so i think its really unique and special that weve experienced so many, so many things in life together. Knowing that hes getting good nutrition and that he has energy is a huge relief for me and my dad. such a good little bean. were so grateful to have had this time with him, so lets keep it going and make every day special. Cordless outdoor power, brings you the ego power blower. Reaching an incredible 765 cfm, its more powerful than gas. And at speeds of up to 200 mph, its the most powerful Ego Blower ever. Featuring egos patented 56volt Arc Lithium Battery technology, it runs up to 90 minutes on a single charge. Plus, the same battery powers all ego tools. Exclusively at lowes, Ace And Ego authorized dealers. We are watching the latest on Hurricane Helene, a potentially catastrophic Storm Pummeling floridas Big Bend region. Evacuations are underway as the now category 2 storm is expected to intensify, to a category 3 hurricane by this afternoon. Helene is going to continue to intensify until it makes Landfall Tonight between 8 00 and 11 00 p. M. Officials are warning Storm Surges could reach what they describe as unsurvivable levels of 20 feet. Joining us floridas chief financial Officer And State fire marshall. Its good to see you. We always meet under these terrible circumstances. I know, right . It sounds like the Storm Surge is going to be perhaps the worst aspect of the storm. Unfortunately, this particular part of the state in the last two years has been hit by two storms. Both were not as intense as Hurricane Helene is. My fear is those that are staying in the lowlying areas that are refusing to evacuate are going to be with outcomes that are not going to be ideal. Our first responders are to the point where they are hunkering down. The winds are getting to the point where they can no longer follow up on 911 calls. We just ask those that are watching, if you have not evacuated, notify a Loved One so we know where to look. How bad could this be for the Tallahassee Area . Tallahassee is its a tree community. We love our trees here. The storm has not put as much rain on the ground, but its a massive storm. They are expecting that by the time the storm makes landfall its moving 14 miles per hour. It could move as fast as 27 mile s per hour. The wind could do devastating damage in tallahassee. Tallahassee was levelled with tornadoes this past january. We are still recovering from the weather affects of earlier this year. I think this is what you were referring to. The sheriff is describing frustration during a Briefing Today that people are not listening to evacuation orders, especially in Zone A where the water is beginning to rise. It will be too late to get out. This is exactly we were in Tampa Bay yesterday. Those are heavily populated areas. One of the concerns that we have had is theres more evs On The Road now than a year ago. Evs and saltwater dont mix. That problem doesnt exist in atlanta or oklahoma. But in the coastal area, the batteries short out and combust. You cant put it out like a gas fire. They have to burn. Unfortunately, it could lead to losing your house even though you survive the storm. We have heard people describing officials describing an expected surge, 15 to 20 feet. What message do you have for florida residents facing that . We plead with people. We tell them, hide from the wind. But run from the water. You cannot combat against storm water surge. Homes can survive Hurricane Force winds better than before. Nothing can stand up to the punishment that the Storm Surge provides in those lowlying areas. Theres no way you can survive, unless you have a threestory house, its almost impossible to survive the Storm Surge event those lowlying areas are about to experience. Thank you and good luck to you and all of the people in that part of the state. Thank you. Thank you so much. Right now, in new York City, an Appeals Court is Hearing Arguments from Donald Trumps lawyers as they appeal his 478 Million civil fraud judgment, including interest payments. Joining me now is lisa rubin. You have been tracking it. I have been. Im not watching the argument now as we are sitting here on set. The argument continues. What struck me is that the bench is a hot bench, the five judges on the appellate division, who are hearing this appeal, asking a number of questions of the governments lawyer, showing hostility to the underlying theory of the attorney generals case, which is, is new yorks executive law, 6312, meant to be so elastic as to encompass a dispute about lenders who were not unhappy with the nature of the transactions . Asking them, are you stretching this statute beyond what its designed to do, which is to punish Consumer Fraud . If the banks werent unhappy and they werent victimized, is there a case . Really surprised to see four of the five judges coming out strongly and swinging on that point. We will have to watch that closely. It could be another trump Appeals Court victory. Thank you so much, lisa. At White House, the Fema Administrator is speaking in the Briefing Room about florida and Hurricane Helene. The president wants to make sure that everyone is paying attention to the potential lifethreatening impacts that this storm may bring. He has directed me to travel there tomorrow to assess the impacts. The entire state of florida is under some type of warning right now, whether thats a Hurricane Warning or a tropical storm warning. We expect lifethreatening Flash Flooding in the states north as the storm continues to move north. I need everybody to pay attention to their local officials. They are going to have the best information on the specific risks where you are at. We are already seeing impacts in florida. The forecast indicates we could see up to 20 feet of Storm Surge. Just think back two years ago to hurricane ian. The Storm Surge from that was 14 feet. We saw the amount of destruction and 150 people lost their lives. Majority of them from drowning. Please, take this threat from Storm Surge seriously. Residents that are in these areas, they can still take action. They can take action now to move out of harms way. Remember you may only need to go ten or 15 miles inland to get away from the threat of the Storm Surge itself. Water is the number one reason that we see people lose their lives in these storms. Please dont underestimate what the impacts could possibly be. At the president s direction, we have over 1,100 personnel so far across the federal government supporting the Preparedness Efforts for this storm. We also have an additional 700 personnel from fema that are in the state supporting other disasters that we can pivot to support any of the response needs. Some of the resources we have deployed include eight Search And Rescue teams across florida and georgia, as well as resources from the coast guard, the department of defense, to immediately support any Life Saving Operations as needed. The Army Corps of engineers has Power Restoration teams to restore Power And Support Debris Removal as soon as its safe to do so. Health and medical task forces from Health And Human Services to evaluate the impact to medical facilities. We have food, generators and tarps deployed to staging locations across the region, and so they are easily accessible and movable poststorm and the Red Cross is actively standing up shelters in areas that are expected to see and feel impacts from helene. My regional administrator is currently embedded in the Florida Emergency Operations Center as well as Management Assistance teams in florida, Georgia And Alabama and we have one currently moving to North Carolina today. So we can ensure seamless communications between the federal government and the needs of the states. Im grateful, as you heard, President Biden quickly approved declarations for florida, georgia and North Carolina, and this allow us to immediately provide any lifesaving support in the coming days. And im grateful for the rest of the federal family that is there on the ground working with us Side By side as we prepare to support the american people for what is to come over the next several days. I just want everybody to know that the Bidenharris Administration is ready for this event and have aggressively predeployed resources, postured for whatever response is needed. One more time i say before i take questions, take the storm seriously. People in Hurricane Helenes path you need to listen to your local officials. If they tell you to evacuate, please, do so. If they tell you to shelter in place, thats what you should do. They are going to give you the best information that you can do for your specific situation. Those decisions can save lives. With that, ill take any of your questions. So this is likely to be the 21st million Dollar Weather Disaster this year. So does fema have resources to keep responding to disaster after disaster like this . We have absolutely enough resources to continue to support the lifesaving response we need to for this event. I think everybodys aware that we went into immediate Needs Funding as our disaster relief fund, the funding was running low. But the reason we do that is to make sure we have enough money for an event just like this. So i want everybody to know we have exactly what we need and there are no limitations to our ability to support the response for this disaster. As we continue to go through the recovery, though, for all of these disasters, that also taking personnel and were going to continue to work through with our states about what they need and how we can best adjudicate the resources but are seeing an increase and seeing a strain on our staff with more of vep deployed for longer periods of time, helping support these communities recover. Just also related to the money here. Pretty substantial losses projected in terms of insurance, flood insurance, and no new money in the cr, as far as this is concerned. Is there any expectation youre going to have to go back with a supplemental request . Yeah. We did put a supplemental request in with the cr it does not give a supplemental at this time but gives us ability to spend the money Put Forth in the president s budget. Were already through inf 9 Billion, close to 9 Billion in projects put on hold we cant reimburse communities for. Once we lift inf and the cr goes into effect well be able to pay those. Without a supplements back in in the january time frame. Can you talk more how widespread you think prolonged Power Outages will be and what those Power Restoration teams are doing to prepare . Is think anything they can do pro actively before the storm . Florida has a really robust plan and aggressive targets to get majority of people, i forget the exact percentage. I think 85 or 90 within 48 hours back up. They have several thousand resources positioned to come in and Support Florida Power light and other florida utilities to help get power back on. We expect widespread outages. Tall la tallahassee, a lot of trees. Removing debris from Power Lines can take a long time. And the Army Corps can help put general raters in in critical facilities making sure the facilities have power and also make accessments how to prioritize work so they get power restored as quickly as possible. Of course, we will continue to follow all of the developments with Hurricane Helene lout The Day. The State Department is offering a 20 Million reward leading to arrest of a member of irans revolutionary guard. He is allegedly working to arrange a Revenge Killing of john bolton, former Trump Administration national Security Advisor, and u. N. Ambassador. Bolton, of course, along with former Secretary Of State Mike Pompeo a long list of others former joint chiefs chairman, others, centcom, all under 24hour Protection because of Irans Death threats targeting, killings, ordered by their head of the revolution guard. Irans general for the killing, rather, of irans general hassum in 2020. This is the revenge. Former national Security Advisor and u. S. Ambassador to the u. N. John bolton living under this threat. Thank you for joining us. Your reaction to the State Department putting a 20 Million reward for the iranian who issued this Death Threat against you . I think it certainly is entirely warranted from a Law Enforcement point of view. The sort of activity that the Justice Departments and other parts of Law Enforcement at the federal level have been working on. I do think that we should understand what iran is up to, however, as more of a national security threat. That this is Activity Theyve engaged in that threatens a lot of people including american civilians, exiles from Iran And Europe and elsewhere. But when they come after u. S. Government officials, current or former, for doing their job, really, thats an attack on the united States Government itself. And i dont think staying in a passive mode about it is the best way to go. We know that this is more than idle speculation in tehran, and in my case it happens its laid out in a criminal complaint filed a couple years ago. Its simply that the attempt failed. Its not that they werent trying to kill people. Its that they were foiled by the fbi doing its very good work. So i think the u. S. Position should be more pro active and i think iran should not just worry about american threats. It should worry about kinetic action we take to tell iranians the price they would pay for continuing will be severe. I want to get your reaction to former President Trump talking about President Zelenskyy and about trumps friendship with Vladimir Putin. The president of ukraine is in our country and hes making little nasty espersians towards your favorite president , me. But take a look at the war happening now in ukraines it would have never happened if i were president , to started off with, and there didnt have to be a settlement. Wouldnt have happened period. Russian wouldnt have gone in. I spoke to putin about it a lot. I got along very well with putin. So if Donald Trump is elected, will there be pressure, do you think, on President Zelenskyy to make concessions to Vladimir Putin . Well i think the risk is worse than that. I think trump will probably move to cut off assistance. Hes not going to say it in the middle of a campaign. But the things he has said, the things the Vice President ial candidate, Senator Vance has said, all indicate they think russia should reap the fruits of victory. The Vance Settlement Plan leaves russia in possession of the ukrainian territory is now holds. And would have ukraine commit never to join nato. In the kremlin putins saying should have asked for more, would have gotten it. I think this is of a piece with what trumps view of the whole conflict has been and its a further indication of the threat to nato, and how serious it would likely, the likelihood would be once having disposed of ukraine trump would prove to withdraw from nato as well. Are you supporting Kamala Harris . No. Im not. Im not going to vote for either one. I dont think either one is fit for president for different reasons and not going to make a judgment between which one is less fit. Its going to be a bad four years for america. I just hope republicans can gain control of the senate and get, keep control of the house. Frankly, whichever one wins we need responsible people as an anchor. Thank you very much, john bolton. Good to see you. Thank you. That does it for this edition of Andrea Mitchell reports. Follow us on social, mitchellreports. Jose diazbalart bicks up our coverage right now. Good day. Im if your chris jansing. A hurricane potentially for the history books. Hurricane helene still growing, still intensifying as we speak. Set to cause destruction across a huge swath of North Florida and beyond. Get an update on Helenes Path coming up as well as a live report from Floridas Capital Right in the middle o