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good evening. you've been watching congressman chris collins of upstate new york, an early supporter of president trump, speaking out tonight hours after he was charged along with his son and another man with 13 counts of securities fraud, wire fraud, and false statements in connection with an alleged insider trading scheme, some of which may have unfolded on the south lawn at the white house. cnn's brynn gingras joins us now with more on the charges and the alleged corruption. brynn, we just heard the congressman basically wrapping himself up as an investor in this company, the company -- there was a trial of a drug that did not work out. he really is trying to put the focus on that drug trial and not on the allegations against him of basically informing his son that the drug -- giving his son insider information that his son and others then used to sell stock. >> yeah, that's right. i mean, anderson, you heard him say multiple times how he defended that drug, how he was

an adamant supporter, not only currently, but was even before he was a congressman. and he said that multiple times, really speaking about the merit to this drug. but of course, these are very strong allegations that are against him concerning this drug. he even pointed out in that news conference that he believes his political opponents have been using this drug to place attacks against him, as well. of course, the u.s. attorney's office paints a very different picture in their indictment that came down today, that concerns not only him, but his 25-year-old son and his 25-year-old son cameron's future father-in-law. and in that indictment, again, that centers around this drug, the really striking point of it is this timeline that the u.s. attorney's office laid out. and that timeline really starts at a 2017 congressional white house picnic, where the attorney's office says the congressman received an e-mail from the drug's ceo saying that clinical trials failed. and of course, that means bad

news for that drug. and then, the u.s. attorney's office points to the number of phone calls that the congressman makes to his son, trying to get in touch with him to send the message that this drug had failed, and then that timeline continues where his son then tries to sell off many of these stocks, not only of his, that he had a part in, but also the family members of his fiance, her father, her mother, uncles, aunts, friends, even a financial adviser. so that's really the crux of what we've heard in this indictment. certainly we would expect to hear more if this goes to trial. but he is facing some serious charges here that he really didn't address in that news conference, really only saying that they're meritless and that he intends to fight them, and he intends to seek re-election in november. anderson? >> you talk about that timeline, brynn, this is not just the government thinking about these phone calls. they actually have the records of the phone calls made from the congressman to his son, the phone calls from the son made to

i believe it was the future father-in-law and the other calls made from there. how much time we he be facing if convicted of all the charges? >> yeah, i mean, he is facing 150 years, and that's just addressing the congressman. we're not talking, again, about the 25-year-old son and his future father-in-law. and 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 they're very quick. they finally connected on that seventh phone call. this is shortly after only minutes that the u.s. attorney's office says that he received that e-mail saying that the drug trial had failed. and then according to the attorney's office, his son, cameron, 25 years old, again, went to his fiancee's family's 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. attorney's office was from his future mother-in-law who called her stockbroker to sell those stocks. and then, over the next four days, before the public announcement that his drug trial had failed, the u.s. attorney's office says 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 son's family. brynn, i appreciate it. now the latest on -- well, we're going to have more on this, we'll talk to breet bharara here in new york, whose office has

brought these charges. always, want to look at the negotiations between the president's legal team and the russian special counsel robert mueller's team about whether the president will voluntarily sit down to be interviewed. there is a new offer on the table. new reporting why presidential lawyer rudy giuliani thinks there could be a benefit to republicans should this drag out even longer. with that, we're joined by cnn political correspondent dana bash. so what did rudy giuliani tell you about dragging out past labor day about this dragging out? >> anderson, he said today several times publicly in interviews that this should be completed by september 1st, which is something he's been saying for a long time now. >> and when he says this, meaning what, the entire mueller investigation? >> that's an important clarification. the negotiations over whether the president will talk. basically summing up the president's role in this, if there is one at all. but i spoke with him today, and he also made the case to me that republicans could actually benefit from this dragging out 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 notch thing would be the right legal strategy, but then hurt politically. now i'm 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 they're energized. nothing would energize republicans more than, let's 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 to say that this is in keeping with a lot of political operatives on the republican side have said, that they're looking for something to energized 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's a split, and many of them, i would even say most of them say, no, no, we have to do this fast and that would be a

bad thing, politics be damned. >> it's kind of interesting that rudy giuliani would be musing with you about the politics of the advantage of dragging this out through -- >> well, in fairness, i asked him about it. >> right, well, yeah. >> i asked him about it, because that's something i had been hearing from political operat e operatives on the republican side. >> but that he answered is intere interesting. >> yeah. not the first time. >> so what can you tell us about the latest round of negotiations between the teams? >> well, the rebuttal or counteroffer, however you want to put it, that the president's team said today was yet another attempt to narrow the scope of questions, not just the number, but the themes and the kinds of things that the president would answer. we've reported before, and it's still the case, that they simply don't want the president to be questioned about things relating to obstruction of justice. some general questions perhaps, but for the most part, they want it off the table. but what is so interesting is

that giuliani and other members of the legal team, they concede that they're not in control here at all. we're in the dark about what's 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, i want to testify. so, they have no choice. but on the other side of the negotiating table, they don't 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 doesn't get what he wants in these negotiations. and they can see that the ball is very much in mueller's 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 won't want to subpoena. but it's an educated guess. it's a gamble. it's a gamble in the truest sense of the word. they just don't really know. >> the other question, and we don't know the answer to this, and it sounds like they don't either, is, how much does mueller 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 don't know the's. >> do you -- do you have a sense of when -- i mean, i know you don't -- of one mueller's team may response to this latest -- >> no, that's actually an interesting question, because the last time the trump team sent a counteroffer to mueller, he sat on it for weeks, anderson. and they were getting worried. they were perplexed inside the trump team about why it took so

long. and then my understanding is that when mueller finally responded, they shortened the number of questions, but not necessarily the themes. the themes were basically the same. and that's why they sent a counterproposal. so they don't know. but at -- if mueller really does want to wrap up this section of his investigation dealing with the president, before the midterms really kick in, and that's where the september 1st date comes in, because it's right before labor day, then pree sum b presumably, it would have to end soon. but it's also possible that he could just keep his cards close to his invest, not do anything until after the election, and then resume. i mean, there are so many options, and, again, we're in the dark. >> dana bash, thank you so much. i want to dig deeper on this and the chris collins charges. before the broadcast i spoke with cnn legal analyst preet bharara, the former district attorney for the southern district of new york. i wonder what you make of the president's team continually talking about a perjury trap, that that's something they just

don't want their client exposed to any questions that would be a perjury trap. if you tell the truth, i don't understand -- how a perjury trap is a perjury trap. >> if you tell the truth and you have nothing to hide and you've told the truth before, so, you're not in danger of contradicting yourself, then there's no perjury and there's no trap. and this president has said over and over and over again he has done nothing wrong. i mean, what i think is really going on here is not that there's a perjury trap that someone is trying to set that's somehow inappropriate, but that the lawyers for donald trump, knowing his penchant for lying generally and specifically and on a daily basis, are concerned that he will exaggerate, fudge the facts, say things that are not correct, because that's who he is. and that's dangerous for him. >> alan dershowitz was on the show recently and talked about this perjury trap. and he said, well, look, there could be two different sets of facts or two different opinions, and comey has testified one thing and the president says something else, and that mueller's team decides to believe comey's side and that

becomes a perjury trap because they're believing comey's version of facts as opposed to the president's. >> yeah, i mean, i think what people are talking about when they're talking about sharp practice by a prosecutor, which i don't think these folks would engage in, is that you're engaging in a game of gotcha. you're not asking basic questions and trying to get to the truth, but you're trying to find some sliver of inconsistency between something that someone said and someone else said, sort of like what you're describing. and then bring the whole weight of the government down on you for making a false statement in that context. i don't think the mueller team operates that way. i think for them, to take some action based on a false statement in connection with an interview, it would have to be really important, it would have to be really material and it would have to be very clear. >> giuliani says this needs to be wrapped up by september 1st. does -- >> he initially said it was going to be wrapped up in a week. >> right. well, they talked about after thanksgiving a long time ago. does that timeline make any sense to you? i mean, do you see mueller -- i mean, with that timeline, there's no way mueller would be

able to try to go for -- to subpoena the president. >> yeah, i don't think it's going to end, overall, it's not going to end. we 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 of columbia. and i have a sense, you know, not based on any inside knowledge, that a 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. i mean, look, they may well be done or close to being done, which is why they're negotiating a potential conversation with the president, and then all power to them and maybe they'll end it, but i don't think there's an artificial -- i don't think they're going to do something on the eve of the election, so, if they don't do something by the end of august as it relates to the president, then i think it's reasonable to think you're not going to see anything until november, december or next year. >> how vital do you think it is

to actually have the president to sit down? >> i don't know that it's 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 you're 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 hadn't dictated the statement? when you had, in fact, dictated the statement? sometimes you learn things that are actually helpful to 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 people's story because they'll say things that might incriminate them. and overall, it's 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. >> let's talk about the collins case. i mean, what i -- i just don't

understand, why would he not -- i mean, it just seems such an obvious way to get caught. why -- >> 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. >> but when you were prosecuting, do most of the people just think, well, nobody's really watching this kind of stuff? >> i think some people think that. some people we prosecuted had what are called burner phones. they're not traceable back to themselves. and they engaged in their unlawful communication of giving insider information on those phones that couldn't be traced. >> but also the charges are lying to investigators about it. i mean, it's one thing to -- >> 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's not going to give me up. and maybe his son did.

maybe his son didn't. but there are other people who can be told things contemporaneously by the son and there are other ways to infer what the conversation was about. so it wasn't 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 government's star witness against paul manafort. we'll tell you what rick gates said on the stand, plus what paul manafort's business partner has to say. roger stone joins us as well. and later, as california faces 17 fires, we'll talk with the man in charge of the fight. how do you win at business?

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now from the courthouse in al sand dree ya, -- alexandria, virginia. 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 affairs. at 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 we've 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 has testified, had an affair. but the point of all of this, anderson, is the defense attorneys here want to strike at his 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 manafort's money trail? >> right. that was later this afternoon. today, when the fbi economics -- their accountant and analyst 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, they even subpo a subpoenaed information from a bank in the uk. they also showed how they were able to track some of the purchases that we've 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 manafort's 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 mueller's radar. right now, joining us primarily as a member of the consulting firm black, manafort and stone, the manafort being paul, the stone being roger. it's great to have you on again. so roger, as paul manafort's trial unfolds, i'm just wondering how do you think it's looking for him at this point? do you think he is in real trouble here? >> first of all, with all due respect, i'm not sure i was ever his right-hand man. we were certainly partners, and he is a boyhood friend. what's 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 i'm 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 manafort's team have not raised it. beyond that, i'm 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 viewing rick gates and paul manafort monolithically and i think that that's an error in trying to figure out what has happened here. >> how do you mean 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. >> well, there's no question -- there's no question that -- look, i don't know mr. gates very well, but i know a great deal about him. and there's no question that he was handling the logistics of the business he was doing with paul manafort. but because of manafort's 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 don't 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 can't deny his inner knowledge of manafort's 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. it's 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. si i mean, 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 ham-handed and ineffective and not had much impact 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. we've talked about that before. i know of no evidence of it. i don't 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 counsel's 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 podesta's e-mail. but i'm also mindful of any prosecutor's ability to squeeze underlings to get proposed composed testimony against a bigger fish. i have not been contacted by the special counsel's 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 don't know if it's fair to say a cloud, but certainly the concern about an indictment, you know,

when you see associates of yours, people you have been involved in business with and done business with being called. you know have this woman who had done some work for you, going to be testifying in front of the 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 don't. 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. i'm the godfather to her son, carter stone davis, and i love that boy. she's 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 presidential election or otherwise. and she's 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 don't 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 e-mail communications, any e-mails you exchange with other people since she had a role in -- would she know about that? would she know -- what exactly -- what kind of 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 e-mails 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 don't 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. obviously, not clear if or when that would even take place. i'm 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. i'm 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 that's 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, we're going to have more on today's developments in the manafort trial. i'll talk details and implications with members of our legal team. and word of new sanctions against russia in the aftermath of those poisoning of a former russian agent and his daughter in england back in march. (phone ping) gentlemen, i have just received word! the louisiana purchase, is complete! instant purchase notifications from capital one . technology this helpful... could make history. what's in your wallet?

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today is your day. crush it. angie's boom chicka pop whole grain popcorn. boom! so rick gates today finished his testimony against his former boss paul manafort. like everything else in the trial so far, it been going almost too quickly for us 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 he's ever let on? >> i've never totally understood roger stone. i don't understand why he was wearing a hat in your interview. i don't understand the books that he writes that are nothing but way-out conspiracy theories. i'm not sure, anderson, how reliable, or important, even, roger is. i think we'll have to wait for manafort's 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 2014.

the forensic financial evidence certainly doesn't look good for him at this point, i mean, 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 helpful to 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, you're saying? >> i think the documents are very strong. i think the witnesses provide the context. but the documents themselves, the investigators, they have all of these different wire transfers and evidence of the e-mails that went back and forth with manafort and others, what they were trying to do with the transfers and hiding money in offshore accounts. so, i think the documentary evidence is probably pretty devastating. >> john, the defense today is obviously trying to sow doubt. suggesting that the signature on documents presented is not manafort's signature.

i assume if that's the case that would be damaging to the prosecution. the question, of course, is, 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 don't 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. so, i don't think this is going to be a real issue, anderson, unless they decide to put on an expert to attack the documents. >> carrie, he admitted to cheating on his wife, defense attorneys suggest a secret life. does that really matter? because, i mean, certainly no one is painting gates as a saint going into this. i mean, he was stealing from paul manafort by his own admission. >> yeah, the prosecutors 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. so, i think they did that. i did want to clarify, anderson, one thing roger stone said about the manafort trial, which is he said manafort should have challenged fisa surveillance, and that referring to the foreign intelligence surveillance act. the government didn't use fisa information in this case. if they used it, they would have had to give notice to manafort and he would have had the opportunity to challenge it. stone going down that path, i think, is unfounded. >> john, i'm 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 have been treated unfairly. do you think it's likely that manafort is counting on that? >> well, it's possible. you know, i can't imagine the president pardoning any of the players involved in these scandals. particularly 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. that's the way george h.w. bush handled iran-contra. he kind of cleaned it up with pardons or other people had done it with appeals and gotten cases reversed. so it's not unheard of. i just don't think it's going to happen here. i don't think -- as bold as trump is likely to be, the pardon power is one i don't think he's going to 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, suergei skri l skripal, and his daughter, were poisoned and released in may. the sanctions will target american exports to russia that could have military uses, exports that have previously undergone reviews before approval will now presumptively denied, according to a senior state department official. 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 major wildfires still burning across california. more than 2,000 structures damaged or destroyed. tens of thousands evacuated from their homes. i'll talk to a california fire chief, next. what will you discover with a lens made by essilor? 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.

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wildfires are still raging across much of california. at the latest count, there are 17 burning throughout the state. more than 14,000 firefighters. an incredible number. 14,000 people on the lines working to put out the blazes. this is the holy fire in both orange and riverside counties in southern california. what you're looking at is what experts call a firenado, when a fire's intensity causes the air to heat up and rise rapidly combined with high winds, there is a vortex that pulls fire in different directions. some communities have already been issued evacuation warnings. officials say the warnings could become orders. meantime, authorities say they have arrested a man on suspicion of starting this particular blaze. here is the man overall in charge of the firefighting effort, chief pimlott, thank you

for being with us and taking the time to talk with us. can you just give us a sense of what your firefighters are up against at this moment? >> absolutely. well, anderson, you pointed out, 14,000 firefighters on the fire lines in california. that's 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 yeoman's effort, all hands on deck here. but again, warm temperatures. we've got triple-digit temperatures in southern california. we have a red flag warning coming back over the state starting tomorrow and all the way through saturday night that will bring low humidities, strong temperatures and high 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 it's not a matter of whether you're 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 it's 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 fires. >> that's 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 drafting from lakes and rivers. water is not the issue. it's 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 they're noticed. all of these things combined creating obviously the kinds of challenges that we're facing. we have plenty of water, firefighters. operationally, that's working very well for them. >> i also want to read a part from an op-ed in "usa today that secretary ryan zinke wrote saying radical environmentalists would have you believe forest management means clear-cutting forests in national parks. the rhetoric could not be further from the truth. are forests posing challenges to you and the firefighters right now? i mean, is there some sort of change that's needed in state or federal policy?

>> so forests across the west, including california, are decadent. we've got 100 years where we've been suppressing fires because we're protecting lives and property, 40 million people in california. can't afford to have fire burning the landscape. but with that has come a buildup of -- a natural buildup of fuels. and 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 that's forest thinning, that's prescribed fire. that's 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 fuel treatment project actually helped save a community, because the fire actually 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

>> lastly, for those who have been affected by this to those whose homes may still be in danger, i'm 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. have your evacuation plan in place, know what you're going to take, pay very close attention to social media and all of the other media outlets. be prepared to go and go when you're asked to go through an evacuation order. we need people to get out safely so law enforcement and firefighters can protect property and lives. >> so someone cutting the grass, that can cause a spark? >> absolutely. if a weedeater, a lawnmower strikes a rock, it can create a spark. literally every spark right now will start a new fire. >> it's incredible, just extraordinary what you and all the firefighters are doing.

stay safe. thank you. >> thank you, anderson. we'll take you to the beaches of southwest florida where this year's red tide bloom is causing widespread devastation along the coastline. how do you win at business? stay at laquinta. where we're changing with contemporary make-overs. then, use the ultimate power handshake, the upper hander with a double palm grab. who has the upper hand now? start winning today. book now at lq.com. chicken! that's right, chicken?! candace-- new chicken creations from starkist. buffalo style chicken in a pouch--

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if you've been watching our show "full circle" on facebook you've 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 it's especially bad in southwestern florida. we want to have a status report from the heart of the stricken area. cnn's bill weir is there. warning, some of the images might be tough to watch. >> reporter: normally a voyage like this are filled with relaxed anticipation but these days a trip off florida's 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 -- >> that's two right there. >> reporter: -- now only makes

you worry. >> there he is. he's right here. look at this. wow. you can really feel it in your nostrils and your sinuses and the back of your throat. it's like a mild pepper spray when this algae gets up in the air. and so if we can feel that discomfort, you've got to wonder what it's 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, doesn't it? >> you go through stages. hurts. then you're 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. >> that's 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 america's sugar habit is also making red tides worse. >> you're looking for the smoking gun. >> i'm 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 it's 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. >> you're kidding. really? >> i did. >> have you seen red tides this bad before? >> i have not. >> and who's 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. they've 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. that's u.s. sugar. but of course they have huge political influence in the state. a state run by a very pro-growth republican legislature. so what really needs to happen, the scientists say, is to create more wetlands. but anderson, as you know, it's tough to run on a platform of less housing, less mini malls, more swamp.

but looks like the bill is finally coming due after 100 years of growth. >> bill weir, glad you're there. quick reminder don't miss our daily interactive newscast on facebook. it's called full circle. 6:25 eastern at facebook.com/andersoncooper full circle. 6:25 p.m. eastern. the news continues right now. i want to hand it over to chris. "cuomo prime time" starts right now. chris? >> thank you, anderson. i am chris cuomo. welcome to "prime time." several key races are still being counted. president trump says it is a red wave, all caps. a lot of the voting, though, suggests he may be colorblind to democrats. now, when i say democrats, we need to be more specific. the far left progressive bernie sanders and star acolyte ocasio-cortez wing of the party did not do as well. as men and especially women who ran as more traditional democrats. ocasio-cortez is here to make her case to you. and another trump buddy in trouble.