Congressman to his son, the phone calls from the son made to i believe it was the future fatherinlaw and the other calls first lady there. How much time would he be facing if convicted of all the charges . Yeah, i mean, he is facing 150 years, and thats just addressing the congressman. Were not talking, again, about the 25yearold son and his future fatherinlaw. Those phone calls, anderson, there were seven in total that went back and forth between the congressman and his son while the congressman was at that white house congressional picnic. And theyre very quick. They finally connected on that seventh phone call. This is shortly after only minutes that the u. S. Attorneys office says that he received that email saying that the drug trial had failed. And then according to the attorneys office, his son, cameron, 25 years old, again, went to his fiancees familys house to tell them in person that the drug trial had failed, that they needed to do something about it, allegedly, and then
another phone call was made, and that according to the u. S. Attorneys office was from his future motherinlaw who called her stockbroker to sell those stocks. And then over the next four day, before the public announcement that this drug trial had failed, u. S. Attorneys office said that Cameron Collins sold off more than 1. 4 million shares of this stock, saving, really, himself hundreds of thousands of dollars. Now, of course, the congressman could not sell his shares because of several reasons. He was under investigation himself and also his shares were with an australian stock, so there were technicalities there. However, you know, he lost a lot of money in this, but it seems like he was trying to save his family money instead. And again, allegedly using inside information that was not publicly known at that time, giving an advantage to the son and to the sons family. Brynn, i appreciate it. Now the late well, well have more on. This well talk to preet bharara
into the heart of the Midterm Election season. I want to read you what he said. He said when i first got involved, i would have told you not testifying would be the right legal strategy, but then hurt politically. Now im thinking the continuance of the investigation would actually help because people are getting tired of it and the president needs something to energize his voters because the democrats look like theyre energized. Nothing would energize republicans more than lets save the president. A pretty remarkable statement from somebody who of course is on the president s legal team, has a very distinct political background, though. And i just want the say that this is in keeping with a lot of political operatives on the republican side have said, that theyre looking for something to energize a not very energized republican base. On the other hand, Gloria Borger who reported this story with me notes that not all lawyers on his team feel that way there is a split, and many, many of them, most of them say no, no, no, we got to do this fast, and that
Anderson Cooper takes viewers beyond the headlines with indepth reporting and investigations. That giuliani and other members of the legal team, they concede that theyre not in control here at all. Were in the dark about whats going on, really going on behind the scenes in the mueller investigation. They are too, even with this round of negotiations. And what i mean by that is they have no choice but to go back and forth on these proposals and counter proposals, and they have been for a couple of months. Because their client, the president insists over the advice of people around him, both politically and personally that this is a terrible idea. He says no, no, no, i want to testify. So they have no choice. But on the other side of the negotiating table, they dont really know how far Robert Mueller is willing to go, whether he just wants to say forget it, write a report, or whether he is actually preparing a subpoena if he doesnt get what he wants in these negotiations. And they can see that the ball is very much in muellers court. Jay sekulow was on one of the sunday shows, and laying out the timeline for what if if there was a subpoena. Right. And how long it would drag out in the court. Months and months and months. Which is why the most people in the president s legal team and Gloria Borger has heard this from her sources especially are banking on the fact that mueller wont want to subpoena. But its an educated guess. Its a gamble. Its a gamble in the truest sense of the word. They just dont really know. The other question, and we dont know the answer to this, and it sounds like they dont either is how much does muller actually need the president to sit down and answer questions . And the answer to that is basically how much does mueller know and where is he really going with this . And we just dont know the answer. Do you do you have a sense of when i know you dont of when muellers team may respond . Thats actually an interesting question because the last time the trump team sent a counteroffer to mueller, he sat on it for week, anderson. And they were getting worried. They were perplexed inside the trump team about why it took so
muellers team decides to believe comeys side and that becomes a perjury trap because theyre believing comeys version of fax as opposed to the president s. I think what people are talking when theyre talking about Sharp Practice by a prosecutor, which i dont think these folks would engage in is youre engaging in a game of gotcha. Youre not asking basic questions and trying to get to the truth, but youre trying to find some sliver of inconsistency between something that someone said and someone else said, sort of like what youre describing. And then bring the whole weight of the government down on you for making a false statement in that context. I dont think the mueller team operates that way. I think for them to take some action based on a false statement in connection with with an interview, it would have to be really important, it would have to be material, and it would have to be clear. Giuliani says this needs to be wrapped up by september 1. He initially said wrapped up in a week. Right. They talked about after thanksgiving a long time ago. Does that timeline make any sense to you . Do you see mueller with that
timeline, there is no way mueller would be able to try to go to subpoena the president. I dont think its going to end, at least overall its knotts going to end. Well still have one Manafort Trial going on as we speak. We have another Manafort Trial that is already scheduled to go after labor day in the district attorney. And i have a sense, you know, not based on any inside knowledge, but the sense that there are other shoes to drop, that there are going to be other people charged. As long as the mueller team is continuing to look at things and continuing to investigate things that are appropriate within their ambit, there is no reason to have an artificial deadline with respect to obstruction against the president by labor day. Look, they may well be done or close to being done which is why theyre negotiating a potential conversation with the president , and then all power to them. I dont think there is an artificial i dont think theyre going to do something on the eve of the election. So if they dont do something by the end of august as it relates to the president , thing its reasonable to think youre not going to see anything until november, december of next year. How vital to you think it for mueller to actually have the president sit down . I dont know that its that vital. One of the things that prosecutors like to do, contrary to popular belief, to get it right and to get the truth, and to give the person youre investigating, the potential subject, the opportunity to explain away things that the prosecutors might think are nefarious. Why did you fire james comey . Why did you make this statement on a particular date . Why did your lawyers say you hadnt dictated the statement . Sometimes you learn things that are help to feel the defense or the target or the subject when you engage in that kind of inquiry. On the other hand, it is also helpful sometimes to get peoples story because theyll say things that might incriminate them. And overall its generally helpful to check every box and to dot, you know, every i. And so you want to do the interview. At the end of the day, if they have Chris Collins just got indicted. He was spoken to by the fbi, and that ended up becoming one of the charges in the indictment. Lets talk about the collins
case. I just dont understand why would he not it just seems such an obvious way to get caught. The prisons are full of people who are dumb, who are educated and powerful but also engaged in dumb behavior with respect to not being able to cover up their crimes. We prosecuted a lot of Insider Trading cases when i was prosecutor. Do most the people just think nobody is really watching this kind of stuff . Some people think that some people we prosecuted had burner phones. Theyre not traceable back to themselves. And they engaged in their unlawful communication of giving insider communication on the phones that couldnt be traced. But also the charges are lying to investigators about it. That is also dumb. Right. When you know that the investigators are going to be able to figure it out. Maybe he figured the lies about whether or not he told his son about the drug trial, and he is thinking to himself, well, my son is not going give me up. And maybe his son did. Maybe his son didnt. But there are other people who can be told things contemporaneously by the son and there are other ways to inferrer what the conversation was about. So it wasnt smart, and the prosecutors are going have a field day because of it. Preet bharara, thanks very much. Thanks. It was quite a day in washington. Beyond the mueller news and the Chris Collins bombshell, another dramatic day for the governments witness against Paul Manafort. Well tell you what rick gates said on the stand, plus what Paul ManafortsBusiness Partner has to say. Roger stone joins us as well. And later, as california faces 17 fires, well talk with the man in charge of the fight. Belly fat the chili pepper sweatout. Not cool. Freezing away fat cells with coolsculpting . Now thats cool coolsculpting safely freezes and removes fat cells
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heating up as the prosecution asked a few last questions of mr. Manaforts former righthand man. In the moment well talk to manaforts original righthand man roger stone. First, Shimon Prokupecz joins us now from the courthouse in alexandria. Shimon, what more did gates talk about on the stand today . What more was he asked about . Well, it was a short day here for rick gates. The defense continued to ask questions, really try and strike every bit that they can at his credibility, bringing up these afires one point suggesting in front of the jury that rick gates had admitted to having at least four affairs. The judge did not allow rick gates to answer that question. But weve learned that rick gates told the Special Counsel when he initially started cooperating with investigators that he had cheated on his wife perhaps several times. He did as he testified had an affair. But the point of all this, anderson, is that the Defense Attorneys here want to strike at hiss credibility, and they want
to use these affairs to show, obviously, to poke holes at his credibility. They say that he led this secret life, at One Point Stealing Money from Paul Manafort to try and fuel the secret life, these affairs and the cheating on his wife. How did the fbi lay out the financial details of manaforts money trail . Right. That was later this afternoon. Today when the fbi economics, their accountant and analysts took the stand, kind of dry painstaking detail using charts at one point to show how Paul Manafort moved money, how he had overseas accounts, how the fbi was able to track some of these accounts through wire transactions. At one point, that even subpoenaed information from a bank in the uk. They also showed how they were able to track some of the purchases that weve all been talking about. It was the ostrich jacket and also the Snakeskin Jacket that Paul Manafort purchased. The fbi here today showing
really in painstaking detail, going over every inch of Paul Manaforts finances. Obviously an important part of this case for the prosecution, anderson. All right. Shimon prokupecz, thank you very much. Perspective now from someone who it is fair to mention may also be on Robert Muellers radar. Right now joining us primarily as a member of the Consulting Firm black, manafort and stone. Its great to have you on again. So roger, as Paul Manaforts trial unfolds, im just wondering how do you think its looking for him at this point . Do you think he is in real trouble here . First of all, with all due respect, im not sure i was ever his righthand man. We were certainly partners, and he is a boyhood friend. Whats amazing to me is that he got to trial at all given the enormous pressure put on him by the Special Counsel to plead guilty. And im still perplexed as to why he has not raised the question of whether he was under
illegal fisa surveillance in this trial and in the upcoming trial. Sharyl attkisson, the new york times, many others have reported that he was, but the government does not agree to that in discovery, and manaforts team have not raised it. Beyond that, im not following every every word of the trial, but the drama is obvious, and i think the perhaps the mistake that people are looking at is that they are reviewing rick gates and Paul Manafort monolithically and i think that is an error in trying figure out what has happened here. How do you mean monolithical monolithically. Obviously rick gates was a close associate of him and seemed to be deeply involved in setting up these overseas Bank Accounts and seems to have wide knowledge. There is no question there is no question look, i dont know mr. Gates very well, but i know great deal about him. There is no question that he was handling the logistics of the business he was doing with Paul Manafort. But because of manaforts economic model, i think that gates was squeezed financially, and i think he had clients of his own and Business Activities of his own. I assume that he has told the government about this, but i dont know what he has disclosed to them. When he said that he had embezzled 400,000, i had heard that numbers were much larger than that. So i think he has to be viewed not as a joined to manafort at the hip, but with his own agenda and his own issues. He certainly has his own agenda, but one cant deny his inner knowledge of manaforts affairs, correct . I believe that to be true. But at the same time, what does manafort know about gates affairs . Remember, this investigation is supposed to be about russian
collusion, yet none of the charges against manafort or gates for that matter thus far regard that particular issue. The investigation, though, is not just about russian collusion or allegations of russian collusion. Its also about any involvement in russia attempting to meddle or attack the United States during the 2016 election, and anything that came out of that. They have a pretty broad mandate. Of that there is no question. And while mr. Mueller has certainly provided evidence of russian meddling, it has largely been hamhanded and ineffective and not had much effect on the results in my opinion. He has yet to prove actual russian collusion between the Trump Campaign or Trump Associates or trump Family Members with the russian state. Weve talked about that before. I know of no evidence of it. I dont think mr. Mueller has
proven that case yet. The last time we spoke, i asked you about whether or not you had been contacted by the mueller investigation. At this point have you been asked to appear before the Special Counsels team . I have not, but it has been publicly reported that they have interviewed and subpoenaed a number of my associates. I know that there exists nowhere evidence of russian collusion or wikileaks collaboration or any nonsense pertaining to John Podestas email. But im also mindful of any prosecutors ability to squeeze underlings to get proposed testimony against a bigger fish. I have not been contacted by the Special Counsels office. I made it abundantly clear that there is no circumstances under which i would testify against the president. I would not rule out cooperating if they think i can be helpful in some area, but beyond that, i have not spoken to them. Just can i ask you, just on a personal level, what does it feel like to have this i dont know if its fair to say a cloud, but certainly the concern about an indictment, you know, when you see associates of your, people you have been involved in business with and done business with being called. In you now have this woman who had done some work for you going to be testifying in front of in front of a grand jury, kristin davis. She is expected to appear on friday. Just on a personal level, does it does it worry you . Do you lose sleep over this . No, actually i dont. Kristin davis is a brilliant woman, a friend of mine, someone who has made mistakes and has paid her debt to society. She is now a single parent. Im the godfather to her son, carter stone davis, and i love that boy. Shes certainly not engaged in any illegal activities today. She is trying to launch a
cosmetology business. She knows of no russian collusion or wikileaks collaboration or any other illegal activity on my part in connection with president ial election or otherwise. And shes going to talk to the prosecutors voluntarily. She is not looking for a media circus in her life. She is going to tell the truth. Of that i am certain. It seems, though, what they are interested in, again, i dont know this, but the only thing that just from the outside it would seem that they would be interested in is any knowledge she would have of your schedule, your email communications, any emails you exchange with other people since she had a role in would she know about that . What exactly work was she doing for you . Well, in the time period that is most under focus, 2015, 2016, she was not working for me. She came back to work for me in january of 17, although i think
i paid her in december of 2016. But i believe that my emails have been thoroughly reviewed by the Special Counsel under a fisa warrant or some other warrant, and there is no evidence of russian collusion or wikileaks collaboration. So i dont believe she possesses any knowledge about this area. Earlier today wikileaks said that the Senate Intelligence committee has asked Julian Assange to appear for a closed interview on 2016 Election Meddling at a mutually agreeable time. Not sure if and when that would take place. Im wondering what you think about that possibility. Well, i think it would be a positive development. Look, this is a tremendously expensive process to be under the scrutiny of a all powerful federal prosecutor. Im being sued by the Democratic National committee, and in that lawsuit, whether or not the russians hacked the dnc is a
central question. The indictment announced by mr. Mueller claims that they did, but thats an indictment, not a conviction in a court of law. Mr. Assange would have information regarding this, that he might be able to illuminate the American People regarding. So i think his testimony would be a positive thing. Roger stone, i appreciate your time. Thank you. Just ahead, were going to have more on todays developments in the Manafort Trial. Ill talk implications and ramify equations with our legal team. And new word of sanctions against russia in the aftermath of the poisonings of a former russian agent and his daughter in england back in march. Ooh, heaven is a place on earth
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so rick gates today finished his testimony gwen Paul Manafort. Like Everything Else in the trial so far its been going almost too quickly to keep up with. Here to help us try is john dean and carrie cordero. John, you were in the midst of another famous investigation, obviously. Do you think roger stone should be more concerned than hes ever let on . Ive never totally understood roger stone. I dont understand why he was wearing a hat in your interview. I dont understand the books that he writes that are nothing but wayout conspiracy theories. Im not sure how reliable or important even roger is. I think well have to wait for manaforts move on that. Carrie, in terms of the Manafort Trial today, according to an fbi witness, manafort collected more than 65 million in foreign offshore accounts from 2010 to 201014. The forensic financial evidence
certainly doesnt look good for him at this point, does it . No. This case has always been about the documents and the evidence that the investigators collected that demonstrate all the wire transfers, the deposits, the shielding of money, the offshore accounts. The gates testimony was help to feel the government in terms of laying out some of those accounts. But really, the Forensic Accounting and the testimony of the other accountants and Financial Professionals was probably significant for the jury. The paper trail is strong enough, youre saying . I think the documents are very strong. I think the witnesses provide the context. But the investigators, they have all of these different wire transfers and even evidence of the emails that went back and forth of manafort and others, what they were trying do with all these different transfers and hiding money in offshore accounts. I think the documentary of evidence is probably pretty devastating. John, the defense today is obviously trying to sow doubt. Suggesting that the signature on documents presented is not manaforts signature. I assume if thats the case that would be damaging to the
prosecution. The question, of course, how real is that . Well, they did not call a Handwriting Expert and merely asked a witness who said she was not Handwriting Expert. So i dont think they made the case. We all know that different people or most all of us have different signatures at different times in different moods. I dont think this is going to be a real issue, anderson, unless they decide to put on an expert to attack the dirjts aoc. Carrie, he admitted to cheating on his wife, Defense Attorneys suggest a secret life. Does that really matter . Because certainly no one is painting gates as a saint going into this. He was stealing from Paul Manafort by his own admission. Yeah, the prosecutors that. Tried to get out a lot of the Bad Information that rick gates had about himself and the crimes that he committed himself in their examination of him. So they got a lot of the bad out, clearly rick gates is a flawed person, and he made the best case that he could as far as explaining why he was cooperating, which is really to try to reduce his own time in
jail. I think they did that i did want to clarify, anderson, one thing that roger stone said about the Manafort Trial, he said that manafort should have challenged fisa surveillance. That refers to the foreign Intelligence Surveillance act. The government didnt use fisa information in this case. If they would have used it, that would have had to give notice to manafort and then he would have had an opportunity to challenge it. I think stones going down that path sun founded. John, im curious what you make of the President Tweeting last week that Paul Manafort is having a rougher time than al capone. The president is obviously using his pardon pen for people he deems to be treated unfairly. Do you think its likely that manafort is counting on that . Well, its possible. You know, i cant imagine the president pardoning any of the players involved in these scandals. Spectacularly at this stage. Maybe at the end, he might in one fell swoop take care of all these problems. Actually, there is a precedent for that. Thats the way george h. W. Bush handled iran continue ra. He kind of cleaned it up with pardons or other people have done it with appeals and gotten cases reversed. So its not unheard of. I just dont think its going to happen here. As bold as trump is likely to be, the pardon power is one i dont think hes going destroy and politicize. John dean, carrie cordero, thanks very much. The Trump Administration is imposing sanctions on russia in the wake of the poisoning earlier this year of a former russian agent and his daughter in england. The former agent, sergkirple. The sanctions will target american exports to russia that could have military uses, exports that have previously undergone reviews before approval will now presumptively be denied. Late today, a russian representative to the u. N. Dismissed the announcement calling it absurd, adding, quote, let us welcome the united sanctions of america. A lot more news straight ahead, including the very latest on the 17 wildfires still burning across california. More than 2,000 structures damaged or destroyed. Tens of thousands evacuated from their homes. Ill speak with a california fire chief, next. vo when bandits stole the lockbox from the wells fargo stagecoach,
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for taking the time to be with us. Can you give us a sense of what your firefighters are up against at this moment . Absolutely. Anderson, you pointed out 14,000 firefighters on the fire lines in california. Thats almost half of the 30,000 firefighters that are deployed across the western United States right now dealing with fires in many, many states. So we are having a yeomans effort, all hands on deck here. But again, warm temperatures. Weve got tripledigit temperatures in california. We have a red flag warning coming back over the state all the way through Saturday Night that will bring low humidities, strong temperatures and winds. What are some of the challenges your facing . There is obviously the weather, as you just said. The weather, the fuel conditions, the vegetation is critically dry anywhere in the state. So its not a matter of whether youre at the coast or in the elevations up in the Sierra Nevada mountains. All the vegetation is critically dry. Every spark is starting a new fire. The fires we have, spot fires occur often from these fires. And so its just dealing with
erratic conditions, like you just referred to the fire whirls, the tornadoes, like the large significant tornado that occurred on the carr fire. So these are conditions that firefighters are experiencing in the last several years, unlike what we experienced in previous decades. And i remember just from Reporting Fires in the past that an ember can travel a huge distance and set down and start another fire. Absolutely. Embers from these fires can be carried aloft into the air, and they can be transported well over a mile ahead of the main fire and start new fire, thats incredible. I want to clear just a bit of confusion from earlier this week when the president tweeted about the fires affecting your state, saying massive amounts of readily available water is not being what he said is properly utilized and diverted into the pacific ocean. First of all, just to be clear, do you have enough water . And do you know what he is referring to here . We have full access to all of the water that we need. Many of these fires are burning in areas where there are lakes. Our helicopters are actively dipping water from those. Our fire engines are accessing water from Fire Hydrants and drafts from lakes and rivers. Water is not the issue. Its literally the conditions these fires are burning in, the intensities, and getting resources where they need to be. And again, evacuations and ensuring communities are prepared and are evacuating when theyre noticed. All of these things combined creating obviously the kinds of challenges that were facing. We have plenty of water, firefighters. Operationally, thats working very well for them. I also want to read a part from an oped in usa today that secretary ryan zinke wrote saying radical environmentalists would have you believe Forest Management means clearcutting forests in national parks. Is there some sort of change thats needed in state or federal policy . So forests across the west,
including california are decadent. Weve got 100 years where weve been suppressing fires because were protecting lives and property, 40 Million People in california. Cant afford to have fire burning the landscape. But with that has come a buildup of a natural buildup of fuels. So active thinning. Governor brown has led efforts through a Tree Mortality Task force dealing with 126 million dead trees, and now a Forest Management task force that is leading significant efforts to increase the pace and scale in treating up to 500,000 acres a year. And thats forest thing. Thats prescribed fire. Thats putting in fuel breaks around communities. We have an example on the cranston fire in Riverside County a few weeks ago where a fuel break and treatment project actually helped save the community of idyllwild because the fire was able to be steered away from the town because active Forest Management and fuel break work was done. And those are the kinds of things that we are increasing the pace and scale of across the state. Lastly, for those who have been affected by this to those
whose homes may still be in danger, im wondering what your message is at this point tonight. So we are well past the point in the year where we should be outdoing Defensible Space and clearing our properties. Any use of lawn mowers and weed eaters will create another spark and create a fire. Now it is all about preparing to leave when the fire does occur. Pay very close attention to social media and all the other media outlets. Be prepared to go and go when youre asked to go through an evacuation order. We need people to get out safely so that firefighters and Law Enforcement can come in and safely protect properties and lives. So someone cutting the grass, that can cause a spark . Absolutely. If a weed aeter, a lawnmower strikes a rock, it can create a spark. Literal i. Every spark right now will start a new fire. Its incredible p chief, just extraordinary what you and all the other firefighters are doing. Stay safe. Thank you, anderson. Well take you to the
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If youve been watching our show full circle on facebook youve probably heard our reporting on the red tide, the toxic algae bloom that can devastate coastlines and kill thousands and thousands of fish. This year its especially bad in southwestern florida. We want to have a status report from the heart of the stricken area. Cnns bill weir is there. Warning, some of the images might be tough to watch. Reporter normally, places like this are filled with relaxed anticipation but these days a trip off floridas gulf coast brings only boatfuls of dread. Toxic algae is blooming like mad here, and you can see and smell the result everywhere. Onshore and off. A Dolphin Sighting that would normally inspire wonder thats two right there. Reporter now only makes you worry. There he is. Hes right here. Look at this. Wow. You can really feel it in your nostrils and your sinuses and the back of your throat. Its like a mild pepper spray when this algae gets up in the air. And so if we can feel that discomfort, youve got to wonder what its like to be a dolphin in a red tide like this. Oh, there he is. Their blow hole is just inches beneath the surface. 90 miles up the coast they just found two dolphins that could not survive this epic red tide. And a visit to The Marine Biologist at Florida Gulf Coast university is like a sad visit to the morgue. These are just two of the more than 400 sea turtles found in this area alone. This one is able to breathe. And this one here is a juvenile. Makes your heart hurt, doesnt it . You go through stages. Hurts. Then youre angry. This is the villain right here. This is the red tide. Yeah. And this one down here on the bottom. Reporter the algae that cause red tides occurs naturally in saltwater, but Human Activity on land can make the situation much, much worse. While they love nitrogen and phosphorus which are fertilizers. Yeah. Thats burning sugar . Processing. Processing sugar. Reporter Generations Of Sugarcane Farming has altered the chemistry of Lake Okeechobee and the health of the everglades. In wet season florida dumps a massive amount of water into the most delicate ecosystems. While in dry season that water is diverted to farms and cities. Great for the economy. Horrible for the environment. You have a natural phenomenon called red tide. As mike said. But you have the nitrogen then coming in and giving it a booster shot. And now these scientists from Florida Gulf Coast university are Testing Water up to 20 miles offshore. Looking for the definitive proof that americas sugar habit is also making red tides worse. Youre looking for the smoking gun. . Im looking for the smoking gun. I think we also have to realize that, you know, collectively we got to this point. It took 70 years, 80 years to get to where we are now. And its going to take a while to work our way out of it. Reporter back on a beach that should be full of tourists i find only cleanup crews. Many of them unpaid volunteers. You live in tennessee. Did you come out here just to do this . Absolutely. Youre kidding. Really . I did. Have you seen red tides this bad before . I have not. And whos to blame, do you think . I think we all are to blame, to be honest. You know . I think we all play a role in this one way or the other. I think it goes all the way up the chain and all the way down. Yeah. I just think we need to come together, figure it out, and you know, let scientists do what they can do and try to get to the bottom of it. Bill joins us now. Bill, we see that Manatee Crawling on a dead manatee. I mean, has the Sugar Industry had any reaction to what scientists are saying about the the possible connection to red tide . Yeah, absolutely. Theyve been beat up on for years over this issue as it gets worse, obviously, when you see emotional pictures like that. They have a whole website devoted to pushing back saying we share in the frustration over the Lake Okeechobee discharges, we want to collaborate in finding solutions, but that these radicals are blaming a single company, u. S. Sugar, for systematic regional problems wrought by over 100 years of change is utterly ridiculous, they say. Thats u. S. Sugar. But of course they have huge political influence in the state. A state run by a very progrowth republican legislature. So what really needs to happen, the scientists say, is to create more wetlands. But anderson, as you know, its tough to run on a platform of lessousing, less mini malls,