Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom With Brooke Baldwin 20180911

Miles. This is from one evacuee, caught in traffic out of north myrtle beach, South Carolina. See that traffic there. The carolinas are expected to get the brunt of florence, now a category 4 with 130 Miles Per Hour winds, forecast to dump as much as 20 inches of rain in some areas. So much water that the risk of flooding extends miles and miles beyond the coast of the carolinas, days into next week, and could impact places like ohio, maryland, west virginia, and georgia. More than 20 Million People face the threat of the storm. More than 1. 5 million are currently under a mandatory evacuation. Plus if the forecasts are accurate, florence will hit farther north on the east coast than any other category 4 hurricane in history. I canwe are planning for devastation. This is not a light storm, this is not a glancing blow. This is a category 4, category 5 storm, separated by Miles Per Hour. We get wrapped up in it. This is a major storm thats going to hit the coast, stay on the coast, dump amounts of water that the area, some areas are not seeing in a long time. Start with Kaylee Hartung there live in wilmington, North Carolina. There were 90 minute waits for plywood, and stores are limiting how much they can buy. Whats the story . Reporter yeah, it is true, brooke. The same true for gas and gas stations like the one im at. You cant let the beautiful weather were standing in now fool you, and you sure cant let the lack of heavy traffic behind me fool you either. From what locals are telling me, traffic is not much worse than a typical day, but a lot of people are taking advantage of time they have, despite warnings from officials because the Barrier Islands where theres mandatory evacuation in place, that deadline isnt until 8 00 p. M. Tomorrow. So were seeing people take time to get out of town, but making preparations first. Everyone i should say that we talked to is taking warnings to heart. Whether they are choosing to go or stay, they recognize the storm the threat poses like jr pitman, long time resident i spoke to earlier. You have to get out, not going to stop the water or wind if you dont get out, youre going to be a casualty. Reporter thats what im talking about, brooke. People recognizing the real threat, the lifethreatening capacity of the storm. We have seen the lines stay moving in the gas station behind me today. Some guys filling up gas for generators to wait out the storm. Others are filling up gas tanks to get out of town and far beyond. One man had to drive 25 minutes to find a gas station that had gas he could put into his truck and help him get out of town. Precious gas at times like these. Thank you. A lot of people are staying put. The mayor of myrtle beach, South Carolina pleading for people to get out now. More than a Million People in the carolinas and virginia are under a mandatory evacuation in coastal areas, lane reversals under way on several South Carolina interstates so folks can get out of town. Nick valencia, we talked to you last hour with the guy thats hunkering down. Is that the exception from folks youre talking to or are most planning to stick it out . Reporter you know, we want to talk to congressman tom rice that represents the district. He was telling us the majority of people that are here potentially are those that decided to stay or slowly starting to leave. He thinks a lot of people left, is that right, congressman . Yes. The tourists get out on any warm weekend day or summertime day, there are multiples of residents here and tourists are gone, and so the residents, a lot of them i think are staying around, watching the tv, and seeing the path of the storm. I think most of them will leave well before the storm is anticipated to get here. Youre joined by your son, lucas. You have family here. Are you worried as local residents . Are you planning to leave . Were getting out of the evacuation zone which the governor recommended. This is a large, potentially devastating storm. What the governor has said i think is exactly the right attitude. First priority is no loss of life. I hope others heed that warning. Theyre closing the emergency room at the hospital. If you stay and get stuck, youre on your own. People cant come get you. And when they do, theres nowhere to take you. Puts lives of First Responders in jeopardy. Where are you telling people to go, do you have evacuation shelters, go further inland . Whats the guidance . I would get on the county website or state Emergency Management Division Website and they have shelters listed for you. There are Hotels Available in the midlands. Theres a wide range of options. Get on either of those websites. And there will be a lot of options for people that need help. How concerning is it to you, congressman, how much does it bother you when people dont listen to the warnings . It happens all the time. We cover hurricanes year after year, here we are in Hurricane Season again. Everyone i talked to outside this costco says theyre staying. Well, it is certainly scary. The thing is this storm is not like a typical hurricane which may be a category one or two. This is a massive, powerful, destructive, devastating beast, and it is headed right at us. And the last question. We talked about this with the mayor earlier this morning. This area if youre familiar with it doesnt have an interstate, not connected to a major interstate. We are working on that. I73, priority one. Sounds like a different interview question. Are you worried about people in the process, how slow it can be to get out . Certainly. The government is doing what they can. Reversed the one four lane out of here, 501. That will certainly speed things up. But people need to plan well in advance. Dont wait until the last minute and get stuck here. Congressman, thank you so much. Thanks for being on camera with your dad. Good luck to you. You hear the congressman there, tom rice saying get out while you can. Dont put the First Responders in jeopardy. Even still, brooke, you heard it last hour, people are planning to stay despite warnings. Nick, thank you. Thank the congressman for us. Lets go to meteorologist Jennifer Grey tracking the wind. It sounds like it is not only the wind but the fact that it could stall over the coastline, dumping all that rain for all of the folks on coastal carolinas. Thats the true part, brooke. You talk about the storms, we always talk about the coast. Move away from the coast, move inland. If you move inland, you could still be inundated with 20 or 30 inches of rain. When you evacuate the storm, you have to go far and wide because theres going to be flood water not only on the coast but very, very far inland. We have the latest advisory come down about an hour ago. Nothing has changed with the winds. It hasnt strengthened, but it has organized better. So theres room for strengthening in hours and days to come. West, northwest winds, 17 Miles Per Hour. It sped up a little bit. This is expected to be a category 4 until it makes landfall. Expected to make landfall late thursday, early friday as a category 3. And sit there. It is going to dump so much rain over interior sections of North Carolina and possibly South Carolina. Were talking 20 inches or more, including wilmington. This can change a bit closer we get to it. Were talking about a lot of rain. Could see up to ten inches in western portions of North Carolina, not to mention that, but storm surge. 6 to 12 feet, filling rivers, overfilling their banks far inland. And let me show you what were talking about when we talk about 6 to 12 feet of storm surge. Thats going to fill not only your first floor but it could go into a second floor, an attic. Thats where we have seen in storms in the past, people have been stuck in attics, and it creates a lot of problems. Dangerous situation that people cant seem to get out of. Thank you. Florence could be the strongest hurricane to hit since hurricane hugo in 1989. With me now from wilmington, congressman david rouser that represents the area. Congressman, good to see you, sir. Looks can be deceiving with the beautiful blue skies overhead. You look at the different models, our weather experts are tracking the models. Looks like wilmington is a prime target, no matter which model you look at. Tell me, sir, why isnt wilmington under mandatory evacuation . Well, the coastal towns are under mandatory evacuation. New hanover county, that is a little further inland is not. But the local officials here are all encouraging folks to evacuate, particularly if they have a place to go. Shelters are made available outside this area, one in raleigh, North Carolina. We dont want anybody to take this for chance. If you look through hurricane history, hurricane hazel hit in 1954, and its destruction is legendary. This is a very similar type storm, and everybody i know is taking this seriously. I have some friends that are staying. Many others that are on the way out of town as they should be. Hope that folks heed warning. To your friends that are staying, you say what, congressman . Well, theyre adults, can make their own decision. But theres a reason why mandatory evacuation or an evacuation has been encouraged, even if it is not mandatory. I would encourage them to do so, but thats their choice obviously. Sure. I want to say, i left the wilmington ems. Can you hear me . Yes, yes, wilmington ems. I just left the wilmington ems. Theyre doing tremendous work there. The director stood up told his folks we have been preparing for this type of storm for five years, lets go and execute. I commend them for all of their great work. Again, to all of the residents here, please heed the advice of the local officials and evacuate if you can. One last one for you, congressman. We know the white house is in touch with various governors, fema. Youre there on the ground, walked out of wilmington ems. You have an ear to the ground. What would you want the president to know as the storm approaches your home district . Well, we had a call this morning with the administration, brock long, administrator of fema. The administration is well aware of the scenario here. All hands are on deck. The federal government is going to have all Resources Available to us. And i know the president has been well briefed by brock and others in the administration. I have no concern about that whatsoever. I hope folks heed the warning to evacuate. Flooding could be significant. Thats what concerns me the most. You can have from 13 to 30 inches not just here but inland. Thats a concern for all of us. Thats what the meteorologist said, dont just leave town, get really far inland. Youll still see two feet of rain. Flood waters. Congressman, thank you. Great to be with you. Thank you. Still ahead, we will talk to a man who has evacuated his wife and children from the carolina coast but says he is staying to ride out the hurricane. Lets ask him why. And don jr. Says he is not afraid of going to jail when the special counsel reveals his findings. Hear what he had to say about that and muellers motives and President Trumps Approval Rating falling significantly in 8 separate polls. Whats behind this. Youre watching cnn. I am brooke baldwin. Directly to investors. And now we have zero account fees for brokerage accounts. At fidelity, those zeros really add up. Maybe ill win, saved by zero but prevagen helps your brain thoswith an ingredient up. Originally discovered. 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When we switched our auto and home insurance. With liberty, we could afford a real babysitter instead of your brother. Hey oh, thats my robe. Is it . When you switch to liberty mutual, you could save 782 on auto and home insurance. And still get great coverage for you and your family. Call for a free quote today. You could save 782. Liberty mutual insurance. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Despite his involvement in the Infamous Trump tower meeting, the president said his son is speaking out the president s son is speaking out and what it could mean when he is asked about the possibility of jail time. That doesnt mean they wont try to create something, we have seen that with everything. Again, im not. So it sort of stops, but basically he is saying if somebody makes something up to lead him to go to jail, there you have it. You know, when you listen to the clip, josh, to you first, does it sound like he is resigned to the fact that he might serve time depending on what may transpire. Putting on his best face. He has to realize having watched people close to trump kind of fall one by one either to indictment or guilty pleas to the Mueller Investigation and know that he is somebody whose actions and meetings are being scrutinized. On the other hand, he is one of the few surrogates the president has left to send out and talk to the media, push back against various encroaching story lines from Bob Woodwards book to the anonymous oped that have been dominating the news cycle. You mention the oped. Let me play this for you. Pretty disgusting, pretty sad. Perhaps it is a disgrunlt eld person that was driven out because they didnt do what they should. Whats the crime . You have millions and millions of americans that voted for this. I think there are people in there he can trust, it is a Smaller Group than i would like it to be. Who do you trust . Ill keep that to myself. And theyre not family. Obviously talking outside family. That one goes without saying. Nia, josh mentioned how he has few surrogates left because of the trust gap and the white house. Are his family members the only one the president can trust . You can imagine after the oped, the sense of paranoia around the white house has only increased. They said they narrowed it down, maybe it is someone, but who knows. Perhaps it is somebody in the white house. In that white house there are few family members, ivanka, jared, keith schiller, his bodyguard, at one point hope hicks. She is not there any more. You can imagine theres concern that theres a shrinking circle of people. Bill shine in there, people new to the trump circle. As josh said, only a few people that have that kind of loyalty to the president that he can rely on. Even with that, what we have seen in the last weeks is even people that trump thought were loyal to him like Michael Cohen, people he could depend on have turned against him. I think it is a concern to don jr. , should be a concern to americans, too, that theres a shrinking circle in the white house around this president. If anything, if youre the administration, you want to expand the circle, you want to be bringing in new people you can trust. Not have it be smaller and smaller. Right. And on the oped, theres a greater over arching question being floated, josh, to the fact that you have the baseball cards of all of the people in the cabinet and beyond who are denying, it wasnt me. If the oped writer is one of those who denied it, do you think the New York Times should expose that person . I dont think so. The times as any reputable journalististic o journali journalististic outlet would have to protect themselves, give plausible deniability or excuse, knowing if esshe is exposed wile fired or worse for what trump considers a fairly egregious sin. I think you see it not only with the oped times writer and gary cohen, rob porter, senior white house officials come out, criticize Bob Woodwards book for which theyre presumed to be sources without saying i didnt talk to woodward. When they cooperate or write an op et like thd, it isnt to out. Theyre dancing all right. Nia, there was a dramatic drop in President Trumps Approval Rating. It wasnt just cnn. 8 high quality polls have been completed in the past two weeks. You can see the numbers for yourselves. Every single one has trumps approval falling. Why such a dramatic drop . If you look at the past month of headlines, paul manafort, the trial and then the guilty verdict from that jury, you think about omarosa, the tapes that came out, called her a dog, you think about john mccain, his handling of his death which a lot of people found despicable in the way he reacted to it and talked about john mccain even when john mccain was alive has been a really, really tough week for this presidency. Not to mention Michael Cohen, not to mention david pecker. All these headlines and scandals really any presidency, maybe you see it over four years or eight years, with this president we have seen it over a really short period of time. I think if youre republican, whats most troubling, two things for you really. Republican support is Something Like 83 . If youre republican, you want to see it higher, closer to 90 . Then the numbers among independents are going to be swing voters, those are likely people that may have voted for democrats in the past, maybe voted for trump, dont have a real allegiance to the party. Support among independents is Something Like 33 . A lot of drop is with those independents, theyre now losing faith in him, that should be troubling to not only the president as he looks to reelection but in the near term certainly to republicans on the ballot in november. Theres only bad news in many ways for republicans facing the blue wall. You look at this dip in Approval Rating for this presidency, this president in november it will be all about him and this Approval Rating is not going to help. A lot of books written about it. Josh, you wrote the definitive book on steve bannon, devils bargain, theres your plug. Thank you. Think of all of the books written in the last 20 months, fire and fury, Omarosa Manigault newman book, bob woodward book. Every time he is called a liar, cha ching. Is trump making america buy books again . Absolutely. Look, he has been a godsend to nonfiction publishing industry. I can tell you from firsthand experience. To some degree that this even ties into the earlier point why his Approval Rating is falling. He was viewed by enough as a strong commander in chief, strong leader. What all the books have in common, including mine, when you go inside, tell the real inside story based on people around him, what you see is something quite different, that image of strength erodes. Whats happened in the past summer is there has been one story after another after another that showed trump out of control or doing dishonorable things like trashing mccain, separating Migrant Children from their mothers. You see his complaints out there. Theyre all about him now. He is tweeting about woodward and not doing anything for the country. I think collectively thats led a lot of movement of independent voters who seem to be split on him at the beginning of the summer and now are shifting in a direction that is much more negative. Thank you both so much. Just ahead. This cartoon, have you seen this of Serena Williams being called racist. Now the newspaper and cartoonist of doubling down. Hear how. And he is the fired fbi agent whose Text Messages have been the focal point of President Trumps anger. New texts from peter strzok and what they reveal and his explanation ahead. Unmotivated . Feeling like you cant keep up . Maybe youre tired of the same old workout. Then you need aaptiv. Aaptiv offers incredibly motivating musicdriven workouts led by the worlds best trainers. Youll find classes for everything. From running, to strength training, to yoga. Aaptiv real trainers, real music, real workouts. Dial star star aaptiv on your smart phone to get 30 days free. Our new, hot, fresh breakfast will get you the readiest. buzzer sound holiday inn express. Be the readiest. Text messages from fired fbi agent peter strzok are back under scrutiny. His attorney denies reports that strzok and his girlfriend had a strategy to leak information hoping to harm the trump administration. President trump seizing on the allegations, tweeting today that department of justice and fbi are doing nothing. Cnn justice reporter Laura Jarrett is with me now. Strzoks Attorney Says the characterization of the texts is all wrong. Whats going on here . Brooke, for months we have seen something of a pattern develop here, where House Republicans find a text Message Exchange without much context at all, and then the president jumps on it, amplifies it on twitter, and it takes off from there. Today appears to be no exception. This time around congressman mark meadows, republican, found a text message from april of 2017 where strzok says this. He says to page i want to talk to you about media leak strategy with doj. And the congressman is raising questions about this because of the timing, and it happens in the exact period of time where news organizations start to publish stories about the surveillance warrant on carter page. So congressman meadows is questioning whether in fact page and strzok had some cabal to out it to news organizations. His attorney is firing back, saying absolutely not, thats nonsense. And goldman says this in a statement to us. The term media leaked strategy refers to a Department Wide initiative hold that thought for me, lets go to the president. Sure. Senior staff regarding Hurricane Florence and other tropical systems that will soon impact the United States and its territories. The safety of American People is my absolute highest priority. We are sparing no expense. We are totally prepared, ready. Were as ready as anybody has ever been. And it looks to me and looks to all of a lot of talented people that do this for a living like this will be a storm thats going to be a very large one, far larger than we have seen in perhaps decades. Things can change but we doubt they will at this stage. Pretty late stage. We doubt theyll be very far off course. The places that are in the way and in the most jeopardy would be virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, that area. And again, they havent seen anything like whats coming at us in 25, 30 years. Maybe ever. It is tremendously big, tremendously wet. Tremendous amounts of water. So i have spoken with the governors of South Carolina, North Carolina, virginia. Theyre prepared, we are prepared. We are working well in conjunction with the governors. I would like to ask brock long, our administrator who has done so well for us in texas and florida, we have something that could very well be similar to texas in the sense that it is tremendous amounts of water. Texas was the one that had i would say to this point, brock, probably more water than weve ever seen in a storm or a hurricane. And it went out for seconds and thirds. Weve never seen anything like it. Fema as you know did a fantastic job and fantastic job also in florida. And i would like to ask, brock, if you would, to say a few words to the media as to where it is now, whats going to be happening, and how well prepared we are. Thank you, mr. President. Unfortunately Hurricane Florence is setting out to be a devastating event to the carolinas and potentially virginia as well. As you can see, theyre forecasting a major landfall storm, category 3 or category 4 at landfall. Biggest hazard we are worried about is storm surge, primary driver of the evacuations under way by the states of North Carolina and South Carolina, virginia now. As the system comes in and makes landfall, during the weekend it is forecast to stall out, lose its steering currents and drop Copious Amounts of rainfall. Unfortunately the remnants of gordon pass through the midatlantic over the weekend, dropped a lot of rain, saturating rivers. So Hurricane Florence as it comes in and puts anywhere between 20 and 30 inches more in isolated areas could create a lot of inland flooding. Right now were supporting governors with achieving their life safety evacuation movements. Were focused on mass sheltering, and focused helping them execute their response and recovery goals. What are the chances it veers off course and the hit not as direct. Unfortunately theres quite a bit of certainty in the track forecast because the forward speed is picking up, it is getting faster. When systems do that, the track forecast becomes a lot more accurate, and i think the expectation needs to be set with the citizens in this area that if you have been asked to leave, get out of the areas that are going to flood and get into a facility that can with stand the winds. Lets set the expectations as well. This has an opportunity of being a very devastating storm. The power will be off for weeks, youre going to be displaced from your home in coastal areas, there will be flooding in the inland areas as well. These are going to be statewide events, hazards will be statewide. You want to show us this then . This is a seven day rainfall graphic. As you can see, the pink areas and purple areas indicate 20 inches, thats average rainfall amount, but you may see isolated amounts greater, into the 30 inch range over virginia. Central portions of virginia, west virginia. These impacts are going to be through the midatlantic, so were coordinating not only with South Carolina, North Carolina, virginia, other Midatlantic States to delaware. And it has been great coordination. I have to tell you, the states have been terrific. Everybody is working together. Governors and all their representatives have been absolutely fantastic. Fema, theres nobody like your people, what theyre doing is incredible. Do you have any questions for secretary neilson . What can we take from what happened in puerto rico, how do you apply lessons from puerto rico. I think puerto rico was incredibly successful. Puerto rico was actually our toughest one of all because it is an island. You cant truck things onto it. Everything is by boat. We moved a hospital into puerto rico, tremendous Military Hospital in the form of a ship. We know that. And i actually think and the governor has been very nice, you ask the governor, he will tell you what a great job. I think probably the hardest one by far was puerto rico because of the island nature, and i actually think it is one of the best jobs thats ever been done with respect to what this is all about. Puerto rico got hit not just with one hurricane but with two. The problem with puerto rico is that their electric grid and generating plan was dead before the storms ever hit. It was in bad shape, in bankruptcy. Had no money. Was largely closed. When the storm hit, they had no electricity before the storm. When the storm hit, it took it out entirely. The job that fema and Law Enforcement and everybody did working along with the governor in puerto rico i think was tremendous. I think that puerto rico was an incredible unsung success. Texas we have been given a pluses for. Florida, we have been given a pluses for. I think in a way the best job we did was puerto rico, but nobody would understand that. It is harder to understand. It was a very hard thing to do because of the fact they had no electric before the storm hit, it was dead, as you probably know. So weve gotten a lot of reaccept activir reception for what we did in puerto rico. Speaking of puerto rico, theyre going to be effected pretty much pretty soon by Something Else on its way, is that right . Potentially hurricane isaac now is tracking south of the island. But we have several thousand people inside puerto rico now working on long term recovery that shifted to the response and monitor as isaac passes south. We do not want to see hurricane isaac hit puerto rico. Thats all we need. We have a big hurricane out there, it is skirting along puerto rico and the edge of puerto rico, that would not be good. How long do you need for Recovery Efforts for this next hurricane. We have it currently, obviously these are all unanticipated. Well go to congress. Congress will be generous because we have no choice. This is the United States. And whether it is texas or florida or frankly virginia, because virginia looks like it is very much in the path, maryland by the way could be effected very seriously effected just to add. It is a little outside the path. And then of course South Carolina, North Carolina. I think that any amounts of money, whatever it takes, were going to do. But were already set up. We have tremendous trucking systems, food systems, we have a lot of contractors waiting. For the most part it has been handled by fema, and also we coordinated locally. We have food for days. We have emergency equipment and generators for many days. We should be in great shape. Now, ive also heard it could be 21 and 22 inches. You can imagine what that is. 22 inches of rain. It is not something that we have had. Certainly we never had this on the east coast. But i think were well prepared, well set up. I think the storm here is similar to hurricane hugo, almost like a combination of hurricane hugo in 89, hurricane floyd in 1989. Successful Disaster Response and recovery is one locally executed, state managed, and federally supported. What fema is doing is prepositioning the federal government assets to support each of those governors about to be impacted with achieving their response and recovery goals. Thats the way Emergency Management and Disaster Response works best. I also like to point out what we learned last year is we have to build a culture of preparedness within our citizens in america. This is a partnership. And it takes anything from neighbor helping neighbor up to the federal government when it comes to correctly responding and recovering. Thats a great question. Fema doesnt own the power grids in any of these states. A lot of them are owned by private industry. We have Business Emergency Operation Center calls. Were concentrating with private vendors to be sure they have strong mutual aid programs in place, and we set up Incident Support bases to help stage power crews coming in from other states, and largely it is femas job to get out of the way to make sure private Power Companies can get into the areas to set up their grid. We dont own it. Unlike puerto rico, you have strong Power Companies, theyre very powerful, very well managed in the sense that they have tremendous overcapacity. Theyre going to do a great job. They also have made contracts with other Power Companies that wont be effected and theyre coming in, to answer your question, coming into the various states that will be effected. Theyll be coming in very strongly and theyre already lining up. Theyll be here probably for the most part tomorrow or shortly before the storm hits. So theyre going to be in great shape. These are really states that have very, very strong power authorities. Whats your message to people that may not have evacuated yet . It is very risky. Again, we have never seen anything quite like this on the east coast at least. If it turns out to be as bad, we go out there, you have people that actually go fly through the storms. These are very brave people. They fly through. And from what im hearing shall the sights theyre seeing havent been seen on the east coast before. I would say everybody should get out. Listen to your local authorities, whether youre up land or down land, depending where you are, you have to listen and you have to get out. If they want you to get out because it will be impossible to have people get in there, whether Law Enforcement or fema or anybody else, once this hits, it will be really, really bad along the coast. Okay . Anything else . I appreciate the stapltement they said the book is a piece of fiction. Thank you very much. I think we are well prepared. Thank you all very much. Appreciate it. Trade talks are coming along well. We are dealing with china as you know. We have taken a tough stand on china. I would say to put it mildly and with canada, they want to make a deal very much. Me, if we make it, thats good. If we dont make it, thats okay too. Canada wants to make a deal. Well see if we can get them into the deal we already have with mexico. I think the deal with canada is coming along well. We have all been dealing in good faith. Okay . Thank you, everybody. Lets hone in on one of the president s points when he was asked about puerto rico. It is wonderful that were hearing from fema in how the administration is preparing, i couldnt help but notice the comments on puerto rico, referring to the response as incredibly successful and unsung success and one of the best ever. That is successful, despite a study found nearly 3,000 people died. Indica Kaitlin Collins at the white house, 3,000 people died according to the recent George Washington University Study and the administrations response is still under fire. Where is this incredibly successful even coming from . Reporter thats the question a lot of people are going to have after hearing the president s comments there. First, some leadership, president ial comments, hearing from the president and Fema Administration ahead of the Hurricane Florence and what people need to do to prepare on the coast. Then the president looking back at puerto rico saying it was an unsung success, that it was very successful, talking about the praise they received after that hurricane hit for the administrations response, which frankly, brooke, isnt the case here. It has been widely criticized because at first the death toll was in the dozens, then it was raised to 3,000 people who died there in puerto rico. Now, of course thats not shocking that the president made the comments. Last week he was praising the way his Administration Responded to puerto rico, and we know in the past he said he believed they had responded, he would grade that response as 10 on a scale of 1 to 10, saying they did a good job. Thats not what a lot of people and experts that look at the weighs would say with the way puerto rico was handled, not only 3,000 people dying but several people, hundreds of people going without power for so long. Certainly that will raise questions there. The president in the oval office. And Something Else you saw, brooke, in the past few days, aides tried to redirect the president s focus to focus on Hurricane Florence and the administrations response as they prepare for this, something the president said theyre sparing no expense for this and warning americans this is going to be a very big storm that is headed towards the east coast. But he also was asked about denials from the two former top aides today that responded to the bob woodward book, gary cohen, former chief economic adviser and rob porter, former staff secretary. There at the end he was asked if he believed their denials of what is attributed to them in Bob Woodwards book. He chided the reporter for asking, then said he believed they were excellent statements and that they proved that the book was not true. That raises a lot of questions after the denials which were largely seen as denial denials. They didnt deny specific instances from the book. But of course the president answering the question there after saying the reporter shouldnt have asked it does show how the president s focus has been on that as well as his administration is preparing for is preparing for Hurricane Florence. Kaitlan collins. I want to take you back to this hurricane. Now to one of the places directly in florences path, wrightsville beach, North Carolina, under a mandatory Evacuation Order starting at 8 00 a. M. Tomorrow. We saw the lifeguard stands being hauled off the beach just a little while ago. With me now, todd byrd. He runs this live web cam of this boat ramp there in wrightsville beach. So weve seen, todd, this steady stream of people pulling their boats out of the water, in preparation for this storm. And i hear youve decided to ride this thing out. Tell me why. Caller well, ive sent my family away. Well say this first. Ive sent my wife and my kids on a little vacation down to florida, let them go to disney land, while we ride this out. Actually about a mile in shore. So i feel pretty safe here. Weve battened down the hatches. Yesterday was a big day at the boat ramp. And its just been steady as she goes. Everyone is preparing. Whats wrong with you going to disney world with them . Caller ive got to stick around. Weve got to take care of our property here. Weve got a lot of friends doing a lot of work. My buddy, Chris Willetts with sea tow has Sea Tow International helping him to help with the aftermath of this storm, which is expected to, from what i understand, get a doozy. You may indeed get a doozy. And i think youve lived through some doozies, as well. Youve been there since the 80s. What are some of the worst hurricanes youve seen, and did you ride those out, as well . Caller yes, maam. Ive been here since 1984, probably one of the worst ones ive seen hit here at wrightsville was hurricane fran. We also had hurricane floyd, which was pretty bad. The thing that kind of bothers me now, we have a new generation here who has never seen anything like this. And its going to be quite interesting to see how many people will take and heed the advice of our officials in order to get out of harms way. Because this is nothing to play with. And just lastly, the fact, though, youre sticking around. What have you learned through those storms like fran, as you have stayed behind . Caller well, the first thing you learn is how human nature comes together in a time of crisis. Some folks may not speak on certain days, but when hurricanes come, your neighbors come to you, what can i do for you. Its an amazing thing to see the Human Element Work Together during a crisis. Thats something that has always amazed me about these storms, on how people help one another. Its very important in these times. And we will have those that are going to need a lot of help after this storm. They will indeed. Ems crews, fire crews, have their work cut out for them. Todd, be safe, please. Thank you so much for calling in. Appreciate it. Wrightsville beach, North Carolina. Coming up next, new details on Michael Cohens legal troubles. Well explain what tax investigators are now interested in. The fact is, there are over ninetysix hundred roads named park in the u. S. Its americas most popular street name. But allstate agents know thats where the similarity stops. If youre on park street in reno, nevada, the high winds of the Washoe Zephyr could damage your siding. And thats very different than living on park ave in sheboygan, wisconsin, where ice dams could cause water damage. But no matter what park you live on, one of 10,000 local allstate agents knows yours. Now that you know the truth, are you in good hands . Since youre heading off to dad. I just got a zerowater. But weve always used brita. Its two stagefilter. Doesnt compare to zerowaters 5stage. This meter shows how much stuff, or dissolved solids, gets left behind. Our tap water is 220. Brita . 110. Seriously . But zerowater let me guess. Zero . Yup, thats how i know it is the puresttasting water. I need to find the receipt for that. Oh yeah, you do. And the wolf huffed and puffed. Like you do sometimes, grandpa . Well, when you have copd, it can be hard to breathe. So my doctor said. Symbicort can help you breathe better. Starting within 5 minutes. It doesnt replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. Doctor symbicort helps provide significant improvement of your lung function. Symbicort is for copd, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. It should not be taken more than twice a day. It may increase your risk of lung infections, osteoporosis, and some eye problems. Tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high Blood Pressure before taking it. Grandpa symbicort could mean a day with better breathing. Watch out, piggy giggles get symbicort free at saveonsymbicort. Com. If you cant afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. Sharper vision, without limits. Days that go from sun up to sun down. A whole world in all its beauty. Three Innovative Technologies for our ultimate in vision, clarity, and protection. Together in a single lens. Essilor ultimate lens package. Purchase the essilor ultimate lens package and get a second pair of qualifying lenses free. Essilor. Better sight. Better life. Just in, new details on the legal troubles for President Trumps former attorney, Michael Cohen. A state investigation could now come into conflict with the federal case in which cohen has already pleaded guilty to eight counts, including tax evasion. Cnns erica orderen has the story. So tell me what you know. Sure what we know is that today new york state tax investigators are scheduled to meet with Michael Cohens attorney, guy patrello, tax Fraud Investigation regarding the trump organization, information included in the federal charges against Michael Cohen brought in august by the u. S. Attorneys office for the Southern District of new york. As with any ongoing criminal investigation or criminal case, federal prosecutors usually dont want other offices from taking certain investigative steps that might potentially entire fear with their case and in this matter we know that the u. S. Attorneys office has dissuaded other offices from doing that at this moment until their case regarding cohen and some of the other related matters is over. Is part of those eight counts when he pleaded guilty downtown a couple weeks ago, one of which was Campaign Finance violation, right, and so you and i were talking on commercial break that the Southern District of new york also has an inquiry into that. The Southern District of new york has an inquiry that stems from their cohen investigation, and that is a probe into potential Campaign Finance violations by the trump organization, as opposed to cohen himself. Okay. Okay. Erica ordin, thank you very much. With this final bit, lets just remind everyone as we have been talking to people up and down the carolina coastline, Hurricane Florence, category 4, the story as we have been talking to meteorologists, isnt just the powerful winds, right . Isnt just the fact that it could really stall over the coastline and pour 20 to 30 inches of rain. The issue is, so many of these areas are under this mandatory evacuation that its going to continue in. And so for folks who are leaving the coastline and going inland, you really need to go quite a bit inland, as Jennifer Gray was just reporting out this last hour. You know, even inland carolinas could see up to 20 inches of floodwater. So we are thinking about all the ems crews, the rescue crews, you know, fire, as they prepare for what is to come here with Hurricane Florence. Stay put. Im brooke baldwin. Lets go to washington. The lead with jake tapper starts now. President trump says were totally prepared for the hurricane. Where have we heard that before. The lead starts right now. Breaking news, President Trump addressing this monster storm. What could be one of the most powerful hurricanes to ever hit the east coast, as he then brags at the response in puerto rico to Hurricane Maria was a, quote, unsung success. That about a disaster with a death toll of nearly 3,000. Also today, President Trump playing uniter and divider to mark the attacks of 9 11 while also launching a