Draft Episode for Sep 26, 2024
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for every life-saving treatment, for every next step, for every care in the world. Cleveland Clinic. It's Thursday, September 26th, right now on CNN This Morning. You need to have a plan and you need to get out now. Catastrophic and life-threatening, Hurricane Helene rapidly intensifying. Expected to be a major storm when it makes landfall tonight. And this. I have pledged that building a strong middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency.

A direct appeal: Kamala Harris making her pitch to the middle class are undecided voters buying it. And this: These charges will be entirely false based on lies. the mayor of New York facing criminal charges after an investigation into corruption and illegal campaign donations. And later: So Nevada, get out and vote. We win this state, we're going to win the whole thing.

In our battleground beat, taking a bet on red or blue with only six electoral votes, Nevada could tip the election. The state's attorney general joins us live.

All right, 6:00 AM on the East Coast. A live look at Clearwater, FL on the West Coast of Florida as Hurricane Helene barrels through the Gulf of Mexico, gaining more and more strength through the day today. Good morning everyone. I'm Casey Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us. The latest update from the National Hurricane Center just a short time ago shows Helene is getting stronger now with 90 mile an hour winds.

The storm, though, expected to get much stronger than that. Helena is forecast to arrive as a major hurricane along Florida's Big Bend later this evening, bringing life-threatening storm surge and catastrophic winds. Widespread power outages also expected. Recovery teams already mobilizing across the state to get the lights back on once the storm passes.

Many people will lose power depending on where you are in the state. So just be prepared for that. Understand that that's something that could happen and have a plan in place so you're able to weather that. All right, let's get to our meteorologist, Allison Chinchar, who's tracking all of it and has the latest. Allison, good morning. What are we seeing now?

Yeah, good morning Casey. Well, we're seeing exactly what we expected to see. The storm is continuing to strengthen. It will continue to do that as we go through the rest of the day today. Sustained winds right now 90 miles per hour. That makes it a high end category one for some perspective. 95 miles per hour would be that threshold where we start talking about category two storms. Now the storm is over the Gulf of Mexico. Now it is very warm water here, so we anticipate that this storm is going to continue to strengthen.

because this warm water i like this. So now what's is it will continue to in making it to a major hurri some time today when it to continue its trek off to late tonight somewhere alon of florida. Now at the ti forward speed of this sto miles per hour or even fa

For some perspective right now, it's moving at 12 miles per hour. The thing is, when it moves that fast, especially as it will at landfall, that means it can move pretty far inland before it weakens back down to a cat or back down to a tropical storm. You can see still expected to be a category one hurricane across portions of southern and central Georgia.

This means a lot of cities that are hundreds of miles away from the ocean, like Atlanta, Greenville, Spartanburg, and even Nashville, are likely to pick up significant impacts from this storm. Obviously, the highest impacts are going to be along the coast. You've got the potential for 15 to 20 feet of storm surge right there in the Big Bend region, not to mention incredibly heavy rainfall and strong winds through the day.

All right, a lot to watch out for there. Allison Chinchar for us this morning. Allison, thank you very much. We're going to be keeping an eye on this storm throughout the hour. But with just 40 days to go until Election Day, it's still the economy, stupid. And Vice President Kamala Harris was in western Pennsylvania, deep in the Rust Belt, in a must-win state, trying to explain to voters who say that they need to know more about her just how she would handle the economy as president.

I promise you I will be pragmatic in my approach. I believe we shouldn't be constrained by ideology and instead should seek practical solutions to problems. Look, I'm a capitalist. I believe in free and fair market. So that was some not so subtle pushback against Donald Trump's consistent attacks against Harris as quote, comrade Kamala.

And she's a Marxist. We're not ready for a Marxist president, and we never will be. We don't want Marxists to be running our country because it's a short way to... Oh, no, we pass socialism. She's a communist? Her views are communist?

All right, joining us now to discuss Annie Linsky, reporter for The Wall Street Journal, Elliott Williams, CNN legal analyst, former federal prosecutor, Karen Finney, CNN political commentator, former senior advisor to Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign, and Mark Lauder, the former special assistant to President Trump and former press secretary for Vice President Mike Pence. Welcome to all of you. Thank you so much for being here.

When I was listening to this speech yesterday and kind of reading some of the headlines, it really did strike me that she had these lines in there. I mean, she called herself a capitalist. She used the word pragmatic. The pushback against the way Donald Trump has

been framing this race seems very clear to me. I thought it was very interesting. What was your take? - Right, it's not a surprise that she used the word capital. It's not a surprise that she mentioned last week that she's a gun owner speaking to a segment of the population that I think she thinks she needs to target. I would also note that the speech took place

in Pittsburgh, another part of the-- - Was that a coincidence? - Remarkably, the vice president happened to be in the swingiest city in the swingiest state in this election. And that was deliberate as well. And so it's part of a very disciplined message from the campaign. It really just depends on whether voters buy it. A big criticism has been that voters don't know and the media do not know enough about what

the vice president's economic policies are. And again, it remains to be seen how much this moves the needle about whether people are comfortable with what they do know. Yeah, I mean, it sounds like we got an 80-page-plus policy book that they're now going to point to and say, well, here we have this. My question, I mean, look, Hillary Clinton put out a lot of policy papers. Didn't mean that voters really kind of bought what she was selling. You know what, I have a

been struck by when the economy with these two candidates is that both of them have degrees in economics, which is the first time in a certainly modern history. They both went to college and focus on economics. So they have a both have a strong background. And, you know, they are in some ways

and I know I might get some pushback from the panel here. They are both saying similar, they are both giving a similar message, which is investing in the countries in manufacturing and industrial policy. They're going about it very different ways, but they are both essentially saying that they want to bolster manufacturing and American jobs. Kamala Harris is saying we want to do this through tax credits. Donald Trump is saying we want to do this via tariffs, but it's the same goal.

right so forgive me because what any decision is in fact correct but it does in fact sound as though harris is the republican in this scenario and donald trump is the liberal in terms of the nature of the policies i mean mitch mcconnell mark water looks at donald trump's policies and the leader conservative

well i also i think with one thing we talk about tears we have to remember is he's talking about free and for a fair trade reciprocal trade so he will talk about tariffs of the trip of a country is not treating us fairly or well he's a man who has young deer if they were a manager if you take american jobs and then ship them overseas to mexico and expect to sell it back here in the u_s_ so it's protecting american jobs but the thing i took a from the speech last night with the vice president harris as she said she's a

capitalist, followed up by government price controls and rent controls, which isn't capitalism. Well, Trump has talked about price controls as well. I think that the challenge in what he's talking about is, you know, tariffs can work if it's very strategic. He's not talking about them in a very strategic way. It's much more of a like, what audience am I talking to? OK, you get something, you get something.

And if you think about it, 200% tariff on John Deere, that's a tax on farmers, people who really cannot handle more taxes. And he talks about tariffs in a way that doesn't actually clarify that the companies pay the tariff, which means they pass on the cost to us, versus I think what Harris is talking about. And the other reason I think she wanted to lay this out is pragmatic.

was to say, look, I'll work with business, I'll work with the private sector, we'll work with economists to figure out what's gonna be a smart strategy, not, I don't wanna be defined by, you think this is liberal, you think this is conservative, but rather, well, what's gonna make sense? - One second, I just wanna play, Mark Cuban was at this event that Harris held, right? And he was defending her, right, this businessman. I wanna play a little bit of what he said after, and then Elliot, feel free to jump in, watch.

Donald Trump really is the one that should be worried. When it comes to the economy, she was 20, 30 points behind 45 days ago. Now the trend is her friend and she's catching up. Look at Donald Trump. He's threatening one of the most legendary companies in America, John Deere, with 200% tariffs that would make buying from China cheaper than buying from John Deere. That's insane. So he's looking to just throw just...

beat down American companies while Vice President Harris is saying, look, we want to work with you. I want to talk to you. So a couple things. What he's saying there, and it's a fact, Kamala Harris has cut into Donald Trump's lead on the economy, which was and certainly is to some extent his big issue. Look, if she's going to win the election, that's why. She's chipping away at it. The point I was going to make before is that

The tariffs sound like such a great idea when you frame them in terms of this is about protecting American business and American consumers. The problem is that when you start talking about slapping tariffs on goods that might be coming from England and our allies or countries that we trade a tremendous amount with,

that can carry, as Karen was saying, a tremendous cost to actual consumers in America. But to your point, though, it does sound good. And this is about messaging. And that's what Trump is great at, right? Yeah, that's what he's great at. And when you start talking about tax credits, it's harder for people to understand. And I thought her point of saying, you know, what Trump is saying is not serious was an interesting one. It's a way for her to sort of ratchet down the rhetoric, which

that we've talked about before on this show, but also kind of poke Trump and get at this point that this is kind of a broad-based concept that he's trying to lay out. - The one challenge Kamala Harris faces is that the American people's hopes and aspirations are to not get sticker shock at the grocery store and the gas station, and she has no answer for that, and that's gonna be really ultimately her undoing.

it's going to be we unfortunately have to go to break karen uh but you know she has been separating herself from biden in certain ways and i think some of the stuff may be out of her direct control and is going to have a huge impact i think you're right about that all right coming up next here on cnn this morning new york city mayor eric adams is defiant insisting that he is innocent and refusing to step down after being indicted plus calls for a ceasefire the us and its allies banding together asking israel and lebanon to ease tensions

And we of course continue to track Hurricane Helene. It's a monster of a storm expected to have catastrophic consequences. We're expecting 8 to 12 foot of storm surge. That is catastrophic, life-threatening floodwaters.

Hi, I'm Angie Hicks, co-founder of Angie. When you use Angie for your home projects, you know all your jobs will be done well. Roof repair? Done well. Kitchen sink install? Done well. Deck upgrades? Done well. Electrical upgrade? Done well. Angie's been connecting homeowners with skilled pros for nearly 30 years, so we know the difference between done and done well. Hire high-quality, certified pros at Angie.com.

From all over the world, people turn to Cleveland Clinic for our expertise and our compassionate care. As leaders in heart, neurology, and cancer, the future of specialty care is happening right now at Cleveland Clinic. For every life-saving treatment, for every next step, for every care in the world, Cleveland Clinic.

These charges will be entirely false based on lies, but they would not be surprising. I always knew that if I stood my ground for all of you, that I would be a target, and a target I became.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams expected to surrender to authorities early next week. Sources telling CNN he's being indicted on at least one federal criminal charge. The indictment follows a months-long federal investigation into possible campaign fundraising violations and foreign influence. The exact charges are not known at this time. Some local leaders are calling on Adams to step down. Among them, New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

It is a very unfortunate time. We do not want to see this happening in our city, but unfortunately it is. And I think for the best of the city, and so that we can continue to staff the administration of the city, it would be best for Mayor Adams to step aside.

So Elliot Williams, what do we know about what's going on here? The foreign influence piece of this? And we've seen a number of resignations across his aides. I mean, this is kind of all falling apart. It's not just resignations. It's even before the resignations, the searches of people's homes, the searches of people's devices, the seizing of Eric Adams's own cell phones and personal devices and so on. So it was clear that something was brewing. Now, what's going on is allegations, at least right now, and the rumored allegations, we haven't even seen the indictment yet, of

in effect, influence peddling with the Turkish government. It's the fundraising and providing things to individuals there, including through some staff in his office. The thing that I was thinking about just this morning-- anybody watch-- and you've got Baltimore connections-- "The Wire," the TV show? OK. Of course, yes. And not even joking aside, two things tend to really do big city mayors in. It's the fundraising, as happened to Clay Davis in the show, but also the cronies around them that

will not tell them no when people show up with bags of cash and asking for favors and so on. Now, there's no bags of cash in New York, but it's the same general pattern of conduct. It's not getting in the way of...

either the mayor's or other people's impulses. It's happened before. And just given the proximity that we've seen to the mayor of the kinds of people that were being searched, charges here are probably inevitable. Yeah, I mean, this is just like a shocking, when I woke up this morning, I was like, I'm sorry, they did what? They indicted the mayor of New York?

But Karen Finney, we're also apparently hearing that if in fact he does step aside, first of all I'm interested to know if you think he should step aside, but we're also hearing that if there's a special election, one Andrew Cuomo, according to our reporting, has been telling those around him he would run if Adams left office and a special election were scheduled. If Adams resigns before the last week in March, the acting mayor has to put one on the calendar.

Yeah. Good luck with that, Andrew. What a stupid idea. I mean, he just Jones in for power or attention. I don't know. He doesn't realize it's like, just shut up and go away. We don't, we're not interested. That being said, I'm sure I'm going to get, you know, here's some blowback on that one. I was going to say, I think we just had a little, little tweeted clip. No,

- No, I mean, seriously. 'Cause I know something about some of the charges against him and it was quite disgusting what was going on. - Again, you're talking about Andrew Cuomo. - Andrew Cuomo, yeah. - With regard to the current mayor, I think, you know, we don't know what's in the indictment and we don't know the charges. I think with more information, I mean, I understand his instinct to try to do damage control, which is what you do. You go out and you say, you know, I'm being attacked and,

But if indeed the charges are as serious as they sound, and this has been coming for quite some time, as Elliot pointed out, and we've seen also people around him, you know, with investigations and their homes being raided and such.

He might have to step down. I mean, it may get to that, particularly because, as tends to happen, look at Bob Menendez, it becomes such a distraction and it takes away from actually doing the job. Even in the absence of his getting charged, the amount of people around him, including the school's chancellor just yesterday or the day before, it puts a cloud over his administration, making it impossible for him to serve. Ed Koch,

who might be one of the more iconic modern American mayors in New York history, served two very successful terms. But his whole third term was clouded by all of this nonsense around him with the people around him all getting indicted. One man ended up committing suicide.

it was sort of a mess. And when we look back at the Koch years, that final term kind of becomes his legacy and Eric Adams has to think about it. - One of the interesting things that will be interesting though is in a special, if this comes to a special election, I mean, Andrew Cuomo comes in with massive name ID and massive fundraising abilities and in a shortened, compressed, obviously it's basically a Democrat primary,

Are you able to sneak through that way because you have the name ID and the fundraising advantage that some of these other candidates may not have? Well, there are a lot of important people in New York. I mean, you don't know who else is going to jump into that fray. But I just kind of think, like, just taking a step back for a second here. I mean, you know, two years ago, Eric Adams was just flying so high, particularly in this town. I remember seeing him at the Gridiron dinner. He was driving in the Beast. He was at the U.N. with Biden last night at an event in the Met.

- Oh, was he really? - Yes, he was. And of course, the Mark Garland, Biden's IG was busy indicting him. - My gosh, yeah. Right, and the Turkish government was there too, I believe. I mean, maybe not at the event, but in New York City. - I don't know about that, but yes. - They're there for UNGA. - I'm sure representatives are here for UNGA, yes. - Yeah, yeah, they're there for UNGA. But I just kind of think about that. A lot of Democrats saw him as a leader on messaging on crime and also on immigration issues that they were having a difficult time moving to the center on.

And so just for me to see this incredible fall from Grace, where he was a promising national leader, I mean, it's an incredible story. It's really remarkable. It's a really good point. I'm glad you brought that up. All right, still to come here after the break, Hurricane Helene making its way to the Florida coast. We're tracking the latest on this potentially catastrophic storm. It's forecast to make landfall later on this evening. Plus, the controversy over baseless claims on Haitian migrants continues on Capitol Hill.

a live look right now at Crystal River, Florida, a city on Florida's west coast bracing for Hurricane Helene. The storm strengthening as it barrels through the Gulf of Mexico. It is currently about 350 miles southwest of Tampa, expected to make landfall as a major hurricane later on this evening. Officials warning the storm surge in some areas could get as high as 20 feet. We're going to keep our eye on it throughout

The morning and the day today, but let's turn now to this story from Capitol Hill. Republican Congressman Clay Higgins of Louisiana facing backlash after he posted this yesterday. He wrote, quote, LOL, these Haitians are wild, eating pets, voodoo, nastiest country in the Western Hemisphere, cults, slapstick gangsters, but damned if they don't feel all sophisticated now filing charges against our president and VP.

All these thugs better get their mind right and their A.S.S. out of our country before January 20th. Higgins deleted the tweet after his Democratic colleague, the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, Stephen Horsford, confronted him about it, leading to a heated exchange on the House floor. House Speaker Mike Johnson later weighed in on the controversy.

He was approached on the floor by colleagues who said that was offensive. He went to the back. I just talked to him about it. He said he went to the back and he prayed about it and he regretted it and he pulled the post down. That's what you want a gentleman to do. I'm sure he probably regrets some of the language he used, but you know, we move forward. We believe in redemption around here.

Higgins, however, does not seem to regret the post. In a statement to CNN, Higgins said this, quote, "It's all true. I can put up another controversial post tomorrow if you want me to. I mean, we do have freedom of speech. I'll say what I want. It's not a big deal to me. It's like something stuck to the bottom of my boot. Just scrape it off and move on with my life."

panels here punch bowl is also punchable news is reporting this morning that an uh black colleague on uh the republican party mark lauder byron donalds also told him to take this down that's not cnn reporting but it is punchable reporting um

I mean, why do this? - No, there's no reason to do this. I get the larger argument about immigration and problems, this is not it. And I said last night on Jake Capper's show, I'm like, this is the reason as a communications professional, I never want my member or principal to have control over their own Twitter account.

Although you can't always control, right? No, it's horrible. And, you know, our own Gary Tuchman has done some reporting talking to children in Springfield who are Haitian. And it's heartbreaking. They're terrified. And their parents are terrified. And so it just shows how this has gotten so out of control. It is so irresponsible. And it's spreading to the Haitian community in different parts of the country, frankly, where...

certainly kids are thinking, do people think we do that? And of course not, it's ridiculous. But this is, we have to be more responsible with our language and someone who is an elected official

we've said it before, we'll say it again, you have to be responsible with your language because you are putting people in danger when you act like this. Yeah, and I unfortunately, I'm sorry we have to go, but I do want to just kind of underscore the impact that some of this language is having on our political debates because CNN asks people

people in our polls to say whether or not increasing the number of races and ethnicities and nationalities, whether it is enriching or threatening to American culture. And just look at what they say, they said,

is 33% say it is threatening versus 66% who say it is enriching. That is a dramatic change from 2019 when we asked the question when 11% said it was threatening and 82%

said that diversity was enriching to our country. So that is the impact that this kind of rhetoric has on all of us. All right, still to come here on CNN this morning, the partisan divide over Ukraine's war against Russia seems to be getting even wider. We're going to talk to Alexander Vindman. He was the whistleblower at the middle of Donald Trump's first impeachment about where things stand in terms of U.S. support for Ukraine. Plus, hot to go for Harris, the vice president picking up another pop star endorsement. That's in our morning roundup.

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Look at the war in Ukraine, and I think it's something we have to have a quick discussion about because the president of Ukraine is in our country, and he's making little nasty aspersions toward your favorite president. Those cities are gone. They're gone. And we continue to give billions of dollars to a man who refuses to make a deal, Zelenskyy.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will be here in Washington today, just a day after his speech to the United Nations in New York. And President Biden's announcement of a $375 million aid package for the war-torn country. Donald Trump taking issue with Zelensky's appeals for funding from the U.S. The former president has a long history with the Ukrainian leader. Our next guest knows a little something about that.

Lieutenant Colonel Vindman, I understand you have a long history of uncovering corruption. I reported President Donald Trump when he was sitting president and he attempted to extort in a quid pro quo President Zelensky, who is now fighting a war against Russia. And President Trump ended up being impeached. I continue to expose corruption wherever I find it. And I will not tolerate corruption from Trump, Putin, or Larry David. Trump, Putin, and Larry David.

that's an unusual combination and joining us now is retired lieutenant colonel alexander finman uh colonel thank you so much for being here uh we enjoyed uh enjoyed seeing that cameo again uh but but you're here for serious reasons uh you have a new piece in foreign affairs and it's looking at the fate of ukraine depending on the outcome

of the U.S. election. You say it may ultimately depend on American voters choice in November. Explain what you mean and what you think Zelensky should be doing about it. Thanks for having me on, Casey, and I appreciate the light humor to start off, but switching to a very serious topic.

Look, I would say that I tend to be probably a little bit critical of the current administration and some inadequacies in the kind of support that's being provided. My next book that's coming out in February actually lays out the failure of six administrations along the way, missed opportunities to warn off Putin, to harden Ukraine. And I think the Biden administration has probably fallen into that band a little bit on the more effective side of that spectrum.

What I want to do to do right is a piece that addresses two topics. A theory of victory for Ukraine because it's possible it's within reach. A change in policy, a policy review from a Paris administration that recognizes the shortfalls, provides more fulsome support, does some key things like better training for the Ukrainian military.

The funding that we provide to Ukraine, almost all of it, every penny just about comes back to the U.S. defense sector. Some of it actually has to go into Ukraine to do things like build drones. They're doing very well in that space. And we need to fix the things that we've provided to the Ukrainians. And the Ukrainians have some things to do themselves. They need to draw in more manpower to fight the war, and they need to juice up their industrial base.

But all that really kind of pales in comparison to the alternative, which would be chaos and a spiral towards a broader confrontation. We see the outlines of that already. We see a coherence and a coalition forming between Russia, Iran, this discussion of providing cruise missiles to the Houthis, the proxies of Iran.

advanced weapons kind of circulating around the world from Russia, the North Koreans pitching in, the Chinese trying to figure out if they should get off the sidelines. They are providing material support. And we have a scenario in which we would really kind of almost fall off a cliff, in which the Trump administration would cater to our enemies and be an adversary to our allies, be threatening to our allies. We saw that on display just within the past 24 hours

and the way that Donald Trump

talked to and referred to Russia as the good guy, the U.S. as somehow precipitating this confrontation, and then damned Ukraine and President Zelensky for doing what he needed to do in order to advocate for his country. It is bizarre. Somehow, you know, we hold one side to a higher standard without recognizing that the utter chaos and the really, you know,

the brink of disaster that we would be, that we are on if we make the wrong choice on election day. Sir, yeah, I mean, I think you may be referring in part to what Donald Trump had to say about Russia. Let's watch that briefly and then I'll ask you about it on the other side. Take a look. Biden says we will not leave until we win. What happens if they win? That's what they do is they fight wars. As somebody told me the other day, they beat Hitler, they beat Napoleon. That's what they do.

So when he's saying they, he means the Russians there. Do you think Ukraine will cease to exist if Donald Trump is reelected? First, I have to address this commentary. I mean, just the other day, somebody told him about World War II. I mean, how preposterous is this? It is embarrassing that a former president would say, even use that kind of language.

that he just learned about world war ii and and you know his false impressions of how the russians or the soviet union performed really the backbone was support from the west um and massive casualties that they took but i think uh i would say that that we would be facing a different kind of disaster it wouldn't be a complete collapse of the ukrainians the fact is that the europeans are spending more money on ukraine they're putting more resources resources in ukraine but they don't have that defense industrial base

to really provide adequate support for Ukraine to gain ground. So what we would probably see is a shift to the Russians being more effective in their offensive operations, slowly grinding down the Ukrainian military and making incremental gains. But that would result in the Europeans

recognizing that there is no longer U.S. support, doubling down and providing more aid, including troops. Why? Because they have to send a message to Russia that a Russian attack, more Russian aggression against Europe, will not be tolerated. And the only way they could do that is by ramping up. They couldn't be weak-kneed at that point because they know that Europe would be the next target. So it's a recipe for a spillover.

That's what Donald Trump would be creating. He'd be creating a larger war. It's a war that's already expanding in different hybrid spaces, including, like I said, these cruise missiles,

these coastal defense missiles that are being dispatched for the Houthis. And Donald Trump would oversee that. He would oversee a much more dangerous world. That should not be underestimated. The threat would not just remain overseas. It would migrate over to the United States. And we would be in a precarious situation but without allies. We cannot allow something like this to happen. I can't underscore this enough.

The time to make that decision will be November 5th. Everything kind of revolves around the outcomes in our election that will drive consequences both domestically and overseas. All right. Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, thanks very much for your time today. I really appreciate your insights. I hope you'll come back.

Thank you, definitely. All right, coming up here on CNN this morning, a powerful and dangerous storm, the Florida coast bracing for a direct hit from Hurricane Helene in just hours. Plus, we're gonna take you to Battleground, Nevada. Kamala Harris heads there this weekend, focused on a core group of voters that could win her the state and how natural disasters can create some very interesting political bedfellows, potentially define a presidency. When you see neighbors helping neighbors,

then you're reminded about what America's all about. We go through tough times, but we bounce back. All right, 47 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup. Hurricane Helene racing towards Florida's Gulf Coast. The storm forecast to make landfall as a major one later today. There is a runway for this to rapidly intensify. That's just a fact. You're going to have impacts far beyond the eye of the storm. That's just a fact.

officials urging residents to finish preparing for the storm's arrival within the next few hours. One of the summer's biggest pop sensations, Chapel Roan, weighing in on the presidential election, but she says she's not making an endorsement. So yeah, I'm voting for Kamala, but I'm not settling for what has been offered because that's questionable. Okay, there you have it. Let's turn now to our Battleground Beat.

The big story at this moment, Nevada. With all the votes now tallied, Senator Bill O'Brien's lead over President Selina Meyer is now less than half a percent, which by Nevada state law would allow for a possible recount. Do we actually have a chance in Nevada? Nevada. Oh my God, I get to be president. I don't have to move. What do we do? Well, ma'am, we need to be sure that when we get on the ground... No, shut up, Kent. You already lost Nevada for me once. Nevada.

A recount in Nevada. Maybe not totally off the table in this election year given how tight the race is in that state. Kamel Harris is returning to Nevada this weekend for another campaign rally. It's a key place to court the Latino vote. Some of Nevada's Hispanic voters telling CNN's John King what they're looking for this election. I see people on social media, Hispanics, sharing

that post that I'm not with her, I'm like, whoa, even people that I know that they don't have a legal status in this country are doing that. They think he'll make the economy better. That's exactly what it is. That's exactly what it is. It's all that. It's 100% that. We need a different plan to get over the hump with this inflation that has caused severe damage to a lot of businesses. I've heard about...

you know, that we immigrants are the worst, and we're coming from mental institutions and jails and everything else. It is very insulting.

All right, joining us now is Nevada's Democratic Attorney General, Aaron Ford. Aaron Ford, excuse me. Sir, thank you so much for being on the program this morning. I really appreciate it. We, of course, have talked so much about Latino, Hispanic voters, such a critical piece of the electorate for Kamala Harris in your state. She's clearly doing better in the state than Joe Biden was when he was at the top of the ticket. But you heard what I was going to say.

those voters there talk especially about inflation and that has really hit a lot of these communities so hard the in your state hospitality workers etc donald trump has been talking about not taxing tips for example what does harris need to do to convince those voters that they should stick with her after the years that they've been fighting with inflation

Well, good morning from Las Vegas, Nevada. I'm glad to hear you pronounce it correctly. It is 3:45 out here. Never too early to be on the phone to talk about the importance of Nevada in this election cycle. But to your question, I think Kamala Harris is doing exactly what she needs to be doing, and that's talking about what she calls the opportunity economy.

a one that does more than just allow people to make it it allows them to get ahead uh focusing on uh things like inflation that she's talking about ensuring that price gouging is is taken is under control ensuring that people are given 25 000 if they're first-time home buyers talking about things are important for everybody to move to the next level the next station in their lives is one of the most important things that she could be doing and that she is doing out here in las vegas nevada and that's what's going to help sway this election in her favor

Mr. Attorney General, do you believe that she is leading in Nevada right now? How concerned are you that Trump might carry the state? I do believe she is leading. I think we've seen a swing from Mr. Biden, unfortunately, being a little bit below in the polls, but in margin of error, to Kamala Harris being ahead in the polls within margin of error, to be sure. We're a purple state, and you have to run purple. So you have to ensure that, as Kamala Harris has been doing, you pay attention to our state.

She's been here more than a half a dozen times. She's coming here on Sunday to continue talking to us. And I think that, again, that's going to help push this election into the win bracket for her. Sir, the Senate race is also getting considerable attention in your state. And polling seems to show a much wider gap between the Senate candidates. It's not clear how much credibility that polling has necessarily. Are you confident Jackie Rosen is going to win this race? And is she running ahead of Kamala Harris?

So you are correct that polling in Nevada is notoriously and historically difficult to do, and it's difficult to believe oftentimes. But I do believe, as do most folks here, that Jackie Rosen is indeed running ahead of the ticket. She will be prevailing. Jackie has done a tremendous job for the people who sit in Nevada, and she's been rewarded for that by the numbers of the polls, as they are showing. She's leading, again, atop of the ticket. She's leading more voters.

by more over Sam Brown than Kamala Harris is right now over Mr. Trump. I do think those numbers are going to tighten up at the end of the day. Jackie Rosen will return as our U.S. Senator.

And finally, sir, before I let you go, are you confident in the infrastructure that Nevada has set up in a situation where we've already had Donald Trump talking about the potential for rigged contests? He in a very close election, he is there are clear signs that he may be challenging results. Are you ready for that?

Absolutely. You know, I'm known to say that we stay ready so we don't have to get ready. My office last go around in 2020 had to fend off and defend against no less than half a dozen frivolous, meritless lawsuits that were filed against the state of Nevada, arguing that the integrity of our elections have been undermined. And at the end of the day, again, we were able to develop those lawsuits because they were wrong. And we view that as a test run for 2024. And we

were correct about that. They've been suing us for months now and they've been losing in court again. We will continue to lose in court because my lawyers, again, understand the importance of what the law says. We understand the facts here on the ground. We have some of the freest, fairest, most open and secure elections in the

And we will continue to support that along with my secretary of state, who is my client, Francesca Aguilar. We work very hard to ensure that people can trust and believe in the outcomes of this election. And we will defend that in lawsuits, these frivolous lawsuits that the GOP continue to file.

All right, Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford. Sir, thanks very much for being on the program. Really appreciate the very early wake-up call. And I do hope it wasn't too bad and you'll come back and join us again down the road. Thank you. Anytime. Cheers. All right, let's turn now to Hurricane Helene because it's bearing down on Florida and it's just weeks out from an election day. It's another reminder about how politics and hurricanes, weather, natural disasters can collide to create some presidency-defining moments.

Again, I want to thank you all for, and Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job. The FEMA director's working 24 hours a day. You may remember that clip of President George W. Bush praising his FEMA administrator, Michael Brown, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina two decades ago. For many critics of FEMA's response, Brown was not doing a heck of a job. He resigned from that post just 10 days after those comments from Bush.

Donald Trump had his own post-storm moment, including this visit to Puerto Rico where he tossed paper towels to people waiting for assistance after Hurricane Maria.

And of course, hurricane responses can be, they can remain one of the last events that can cut through divisive politics and bridge partisan divides. Just two years ago, another Florida storm brought together President Joe Biden and Governor Ron DeSantis, who was just a few months away from announcing his campaign for the Republican nomination.

And of course, President Obama had this notable election year moment just days before his bid for reelection, visiting New Jersey after Hurricane Sandy, the Republican governor at the time, Chris Christie putting aside election politics to praise the federal response.

This is so much bigger than an election. This is the livelihood of the people of my state. And what they expect me to do is get the job done. And when someone asks me an honest question, I give an honest answer. How's the president been to deal with? He's been outstanding to deal with on this.

very interesting set of old footage that sets up, of course, we're not sure yet how bad this storm is going to be, Elliot, but I mean, I was covering the Romney campaign when that was happening, when Superstorm Sandy was happening. They could not have been angrier at Chris Christie for literally embracing President Obama. And I say this as a proud son of the Great Garden State of New Jersey.

Universally, Chris Christie was praised for his conduct and management following Hurricane Sandy on all political sides. But he got skewered for that hug. It was called a hug, a warm embrace of Barack Obama. And I think particularly as it seems we're a little more polarized now than we were even back in 2012, it

It remains to be seen what happens if a governor of one party and a President Biden or President Harris, President Trump, whatever else,

were to be seen embracing whatever it just-- - Brian Kemp, I mean, right now this hurricane is barreling towards Florida, towards Georgia. Georgia, of course, a swing state. There's a Republican governor in charge and you could sort of, the political dynamics are somewhat similar to that. But you know, it's interesting that you showed Katrina because that was in 2005.

in 2004 when George W. Bush was facing re-election, he sent his chief of staff, Andy Card, down to Florida and said, make sure that this doesn't get effed up. And we

we don't talk about the 2004 hurricane. So in a political year, I think perhaps it gives leaders a little bit more incentive to get their acts together with the-- - Bush was doing quite well up until that point. And it just sort of, that was the turning point. - Yes, yes. - All right, I do wanna wrap up our show, very interesting conversation, but I wanna wrap up our show on this because it's kind of a unique thing that we don't see every day. So we do talk about political polarization all the time on the show, we were just talking about it. And it is natural to wonder whether the partisan divide among adults

is affecting the next generation of voters. So CNN partnered with a political scientist from Stanford and a psychologist from Arizona State University to conduct a study looking at polarization among, get this, fourth graders. So with permission from their parents, CNN spoke to children at schools in New Jersey, Texas, and Arizona. And as children often do, if you have them, you know, they offered their brutally honest opinions of the candidates.

What's the first word that pops into your head when you hear the name Kamala Harris? Liar. What's the first word that pops into your head when you hear Donald Trump? Pure evil. I feel like all he does is complain and yell. Donald Trump, he's given his life and his heart. Which one of these two candidates do you think is more likely to do bad things? A convicted felon against a liar. It'd be good for us to have

a black woman as president for the first time in history. But my vote's kind of still on Trump. The fact that she's a woman and she's black, that could help kids who are like her or are different feel a lot more accepted. I just feel like boys would probably be better as president, but she's pretty.

Wow. Wow. Parents, your children are listening. As if we didn't already know, right? I mean, they listen to us. They imitate us. And the impact of our politics on them, like, let's not forget. I mean, they're fourth graders. And these are the words that they're using about the people that one of them is going to lead the country. Just a good reminder and a pretty stunning example.

Pretty stunning clips there. All right, panel, thank you very much. And thanks to all of you for joining us. I'm Casey Hunt. Don't go anywhere. CNN News Central starts right now. From all over the world, people turn to Cleveland Clinic for our expertise and our compassionate care. As leaders in heart, neurology, and cancer, the future of specialty care is happening right now at Cleveland Clinic. For every life-saving treatment,

For every next step. For every care in the world. Cleveland Clinic. Don't let CNN's John King have all the fun. Experience the CNN Magic Wall on your mobile device. Get live results, expert insights, and an immersive election experience. Find it at cnn.com slash magic wall or in the CNN app today.