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good evening. thanks for joining us. we begin tonight with a warning from the governor of south carolina. this is real hurricane we have coming. hurricane florence is getting stronger, bigger and closer to the east coast. satellite imagery gives an amazing look at the eye of the storm right there. that was earlier today. a mandatory evacuation order goes into effect at noon tomorrow along eight counties along the carolina coastline. there's also evacuation orders in virginia and south carolina. hundreds and thousands of people affected. talk to me about how much stronger this storm is expected to get. >> anderson, yesterday it was a category one so it jumped to a three and a four. it is very difficult for a storm this size to maintain this strength and this forward movement. i expect some fluctuation to take place, but i think once it starts waubling a little bit, like taking a top and spinning it on a table, it's going to reorganize. i think it could get to category five. and that said, how long will it

hold that before we're expecting to edrop back to category four? i mean this is historic with hugo september 22nd back in '89. >> the concerns are not just about the initial impact with the storm but the possibility it stalls like hurricane harvey did over texas last year. >> exactly. you could out-walk harvey, and it was a big concern. once the systems slows down we could be in big trouble. you're looking at 10, 20enches of rain. this is high terrain. piedmont, the smokies, the blue ridge, that's obviously a concern. >> we have some technical problems with your thing. there's nothing up there. but if you can go back to the original map, though, and talk about the chances that the forecast actually shiflts. >> okay, that is concern. you can see this cone of uncertainty we call if just north of charlatan, and that's

actually where hugo made landfall all the way to the outer banks. there's always some fluctuation with this from the nrgt aorth a south. we're pretty much discarding the u.s. model right now. it's not grasping it. it could still happen. but right now it looks more and more like the european model is on. it could hit us thursday morning into thursday evening. so many different elements of concern, obviously. >> tom, i think we have the virtual thing working. if you could go back through there and walk us through it again. >> the rainfall is the big concern. let's go back to the floor if we can. the rainfall and the problem we're going to have like with harvey, it took a few days for the models to grasp harvey putting on the brakes. and when it did that the amount

of rain was staggering in houston. notice the colors of purple here, anderson. from wilmington northward you get into the high terrain and flash flooding is going to cut off some communities. from the blue ridge southward, northern areas to the rockies, but it's the storm surge, too. water is the big element when it comes to the loss of life. storm surge could be 15 to 20 feet from wilmington up towards cape fear, moorhead city and the outer banks. so the storm surge and the heavy rainfall. it's possible, anderson, this could be a stronger than hugo. there's a whole generation of people 30 years ago that have never lived through something like this, and that's why everybody needs to know where their evacuation zones are. >> just in terms of the timing, it all depends on the speed of this thing, but if it's making landfall thursday night it looks like the states could still be

effected moving into saturday. >> absolutely. when harvey moved into texas it stayed a main storm for like two weeks. if that happens this is just catastrophic. this changes the whole story here and whole game plan. there's been heavy rain in the d.c. area, up into areas of pennsylvania. i mean the flooding right now is already in some communities it's chaotic. this is going to make a much, much worse. again, it looks like thursday night. but i want everyone to understand timing could change a bit. this could fluctuate to the south and north, but we're pretty sure this is going to be wilmington northward. the white house dusted off the pode frm for the first press briefing in 19 days today. like they literally dusted it off. it's been so long since the white house had a briefing. the dust hasn't begun to settle from a scathing op-ed from a white house official. the president has said his attorney general jeff sessions

should investigate who it is and it's somehow a matter of national security. that "the times" should quote, turn the gutless person over to the white house immediately. at the same time sarah sanders said the white house really isn't focused on this. >> is the white house actively trying to find out who this person is, or do you not really care and moving onto other things? >> we're focusing on things that actually matter and the staff here is here to do their job and not undermine the great work this president and this administration has done. and we're going to continue focusing on that. it's frankly i think sad and pathetic that a gutless anonymous source could receive so much attention from the media. >> look, of course sarah sanders would try to turn this op-ed into media criticism, but saying it's sad and pathetic, it's not every day or every year or any administration for that matter that someone in the

administration publishes a scathing criticism of the president of the united states. saying his leadership style, and i'm using the words of the op-ed writer, impetuous, petty and ineffective. it's not every day that someone writes, and i'm quote, we believe our first duty is to this country and the president continues to akct in a manner that's detrimental to the health of our republic. not every day an administration official writes the root of the problem is the president's imorality. everyone who works with him knows he is not moored to any disearnable first principles that guide his decision making. he engages in repetitive rants and his imulsiveness results in

half-baked and ill-informed decisions that have to be walked back. given the instability many witnessed there were early whispers within the cabinet of invoking the 25th amendment, which would start a complex process for removing the president, but no one wanted to precipitate a constitutional crisis, so we will do what we can to steer the administration in the right direction until one way or another it's over. when asked about the 25th amendment whispers today sarah sanders said it's ridiculous in her words, as quote most of bob woo woodward's book. the white house line is pretty much the same, that woodward of woodward and bernstein fame do sloppy work. >> a number of people have reached out and said woodward never reached out to corroborate statements, which seems incredibly reckless for a book

to make outrageous claims, to not even take the time to get a $10 fact checker to call around and verify some of these quotes happened. it seems like a careless and effortless way to write a book. >> sanders was asked whether the president thinks he can actually win a credibility battle with bob woodward, and before we play you what she said about that where new cnn ssrs poll today shows 32% say the president is honest and trustworthy and 65% say he's not. >> i'd actually rather take the on record account from people who are here, who are working with this building, who are interacting with the president day in, day out, like general mattis, like general kelly and myself not former disgruntled

employees that p employees that don't put their names on things. >> on that you had savannah guthrie asked woodward if they were lying when they denied saying those things. >> they are not telling the truth, and no, but look what's going on here, and my old boss at "the washington post," ben bradley, the great editor, used to say the truth emerges. sometimes it takes time. these people -- these are political statements to protect their jobs, totally understandable. but this is as carefully done as you can do an excavation of the reality of what goes on. >> as for how the public feels about bob woodward's credibility you can gauge it by interest in the story he has to tell. today we burn learned the publisher here is printing a

million copies to keep up with demand. jeff zeleny was at the briefing and joinds us now. i'm wondering how thestruction feels it can win a credibility contest with bob woodward. because the book tracts with multiple organizations cnn included about the white house. >> it offers a deeper look into the dysfunction here, but certainly not a surprise to common who's been watching this or reading about what's happened, but the audience here is important. the press secretary and the president not talking to the entire american people. they are talking to the president's base. they're trying to question and m.d. mine the credibility of all of this. and there's a good reason to believe that the supporters of the pre the president will believe it, because he has been successful in undermining. the question is are those nmts. his approval rating has fallen from 41% to 31% among

independents in just a month. all this has been happening in the last month, so i think that's an interesting indicator. >> as for the anonymous "the new york times" op-ed i just want to play the exchange you had with sarah sanders. >> do you know if the president believes these denials that have been coming in from his top advisers, or does he believe it's someone from within? and does he believe that lie detector tests should be issued as the vice president volunteered to do on sunday? >> no lie detecters are being used or talked about or looked at as a possibility. frankly, the white house and the staff here are focused on doing our jobs and trying to show up here every day and do what we can to help better the american people, not deal with cowards that refuse to put their names in an anonymous letter. >> so maybe no polygraph machine, but it's not like the white house that given up trying to figure out who wrote the piece. that's one of her lines today,

they're basically down-playing the white house is focused on this, but it seems there are plenty of people in the white house who are focused on this. >> no question and the person on the top of that list is the president. so, yes, the white house staff, sarah sanders there we saw happen in realtime is trying to move people beyond this story. the question is will the president move beyond it or not? so far he's shown few signs of wanting to do that. and i thought this lie detector question very interesting. the vice president of the united states volunteered to do this in two sunday show interviews, really extraordinary when you think about it. so sarah sanders says they're ruling it out. is the president ruling it out? we know senator rand paul suggested this idea. so we'll see if this is as done an opportunity or not. the question, anderson, will the president stop talking about all this, we'll find out. >> especially as bob woodward continues to do interviews. and joining me now is former

advisors for presidents, david gergen and michael d'antonio whose new book is out now. and jennifer rogers. they may play well with the president's base, but do they get the white house beyond that. >> they've embraced the communications strategy that is loser and coming back to haunt them now. the fact the president's personal approval among americans has gone down 6 points in the past month, a sharp drop. all of that says they haven't handled this well. we're in the sixth day, the sixth day of obsessing with who the this person was, who the anonymous writer was. they should have closed this down and basically say, listen, we have some unorthodox ways of doing things in the white house

but look at the results, the economy and so forth and keep coming back to this. there was a time, anderson, as you know i thought they were whipping this up to distract us but clearly they've let this thing go on so long they need to change course. we're 8 or 9 weeks here before the elections, democrats can only sit there and say keep going, keep going, just do what you're doing. >> michael, it makes sense for sarah sanders to say, look, we have important work to do, but when you have the president tweeting about this stuff, and as i said bob woodward, he's just getting going with the interviews, it's hard to believe that the president is going to go along with this line we have more important things to be thinking about. >> well, you're right, anderson. and i think it's also true that sarah sanders would like to draw attention to the positive things the administration is doing. but who -- what worse person could the president pick than bob woodward to get into a credibility fight with.

this is guy who's literally published millions of words of prose going back to the early 1970s when donald trump was telling lies about his real estate endeavors, bob woodward was telling the truth about watergate. so this is the wrong person to pick a fight with, and it's going to go on for weeks. we now have a million people having indicated they're going to buy this book. i don't know see how the president gets out of this. >> jennifer, about the anonymous "the new york times" op-ed is there a national security rationale which was sort of floated by some of in the white house? >> no, there's no crime for writing op-ed, and there's no crime for doing what the op-ed writers suggested he and others are doing, which was to try to undermine some of what the president was doing here. sarah sanders tried to say, well, if the president's in a national security meeting, all in all of that huge federal code

there are lots of crimes there, right, you could be a spy, espionage, leaking classified information. but what the op-ed writer is doing what he or she says they're doing, then there's no crime there. >> but the kind of public red alert by somebody currently working for president trump, is there any precedent for that? >> none of which i'm aware. there were rumors -- a lot of people in washington were gossiping towards nixon towards the end, the drinking and one thing or another. and he did become unhinged. he was a dangerous situation. and it was really important for the secretary of defense to tell the armed services chiefs don't fire anything if he orders you. you've got to call me first. we've never been through anything like that. i don't think there's any precedent, but what i do think

is that the longer the president keeps tweeting about this anonymous and the search for that and tweets about the woodward book and also keeps pushing the idea that the justice department now should investigate all this, it shows -- it increasingly shows a disrespect for the law and for the legal traditions of the country, the independents of the justice department that fuel your sense, well, if he haserment of the law over here on these issues, why would he think he was so careful obeying the law on the russian issues? >> vice president pence just this past weekend, the reporting by "the new york times" some of the president's staffers were wondering whether some on the vice president's team may have had something to do with the op-ed, which the vice president has obviously denied. are the president's allies and vice president's allies always on the same page? >> no, they're not. and i think what you point out

that the vice president's team could have been involved in this but the vice president himself left no fingerprints is likely. when my coauthor and i read the initial publication in "the new york times" we both thought we saw the vice president's speechwriter or maybe his former chief of staff at work on that prose. so you've got now a vice president who's racing to humiliate himself. this whole idea of there being a lie detector test, he goes one step further and says, well, i'll take the lie detector test. and that's something out of reality tv. but it's certainly not something dignified. it's degrading to any executive to be asked to do that, and it's really pretty pathetic for one to volunteer to do it. if he truly had nothing to do with this, he would issue his denial and move on. but i almost think he's

protesting too much. >> can a lie detector test be given to people in the administration inthey're given to people at the cia, not at the state department. can they be applied to a federal worker. >> well, they're not admissible in court, but they can be used as an employment tool as the cia uses them. donald trump is a boss, and as an employer he has a right to find out if someone is not doing something. the problem is he's using the department of justice as his hr department. you know, you're not supposed to use the department of justice which a law enforcement entity to do what is an employment matter. that's really the issue where he's going too far here. >> also, what kind of an impact would mass polygraphing of white house employees have, do you think? >> it's completely degrading, completely demoralizing. you do not do that to

professionals, and it would leave a trail of bitterness that i just think is very destructive for this president. but, you know, we're six days into this and we still do not have an administration that can identify a single law that potentially has been broken. sarah sanders was asked about this repeatedly today, and she kept retreating into sort of, you know, mothy words and just sort of a fog bank but did not and could not identify any law, any crime that has potentially been committed here. that's what's so objectable about trying to beat up on the justice department to try to get them to investigate. is the op-ed a matter of national security as the president has suggested or is this just insecurity and fear in the white house? going to talk to the former head of the national security agency next. also the latest on hurricane florence. we'll hear from our hurricane hunter pilot who got an up close view how strong this is right now.

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the list goes on and on. that's the power of &. & when your patient's tests come back... we're keeping an eye on hurricane florence tonight, as it heads for the east coast. the governors of virginia, north carolina, and south carolina all have issued mandatory evacuation orders. now, florence was upgraded to a category 4 today, we'll be updating its progress throughout the hour. more on that ahead. as we mentioned earlier today, the white house press secretary continued the president's narrative that the anonymous "new york times" op-ed by a senior white house official, somehow a matter of national security. so we want to talk to somebody who knows a little bit about these things. joining me now, former nsa director and cnn national security analyst, general michael hayden. general hayden, is this an issue of national security? >> no, i don't think so. certainly not within the four corners of the anonymous op-ed, anderson. look, i willingly concede the president has legitimate administrative, political, and even policy reasons to find out

who this individual is. but this is not a question of law or a crime or national security. and, anderson, if i can suggest, i frankly think the white house is looking through the wrong end of the telescope here. >> how so? >> well, if you got the woodward book and all of the anecdotes in that and what's been revealed in the op-ed, we would define this as a problem of command climate. when you have so many people seeming to be disloyal to the commander's intent, we would say, we've got a problem with the unit. and command climate is a function of command. so i think the white house should be focusing at least as much on introspection as it is on investigation. >> that this is -- i mean, that in any rational organization, this would be a point where someone might step back and say, well, wait a minute, is there actually something i as the

leader am or as the ceo, maybe i'm not setting the right example. is this actually a reflection on me? >> exactly right. and we do hold the commander responsible for the overall climate within their organization. so you've got the president and frankly, the key members around him and on his staff and i think john kelly would know this very well, as a marine, that the commander, the command section bears responsibility for the morale of the unit, for the purposefulness of the unit. and i really do think that the white house would be well advised -- and here, i'm trying to be supportive -- would be well advised to look inward to see what it is they're doing to make this kind of climate possible. >> but you are, i mean, uh, you're being generous then to the president to suggest that he is the type of person who might think along those lines. i mean, that -- that, you know, that he -- i'm not sure that he agrees that the fish rots from

the head. >> yeah, well, and again, i wouldn't even use that metaphor, but simply say, if i'm in that position, i think a good commander, a good commander in chief says, have i done anything? am i doing anything? is my staff doing anything that creates this kind of low-level rebellion within people whom i think are essential personnel in my unit? now, look, i think this is a low-probability shot, anderson. i'm not holding my breath, but anyone looking at this objectively, in addition to the investigation, which i've already said is legitimate -- >> right. >> -- but not a matter for law enforcement, you need to be looking inward. what are we doing or not doing that creates these type of circumstances, which are self-destructive by definition. >> bob woodward revealed this weekend something else that's in his book, which is that the president had drafted a tweet saying the u.s. was going to pull the family members of u.s. troops out of south korea, but according to woodward, before he could send the tweet the north

koreans sent a back channel message that they would interpret it as the u.s. was about to attack, which if true sounds like the president was dangerously close to inciting a conflict. >> if all of that is true, he was. i was doing some reflection on this, and other than popping off t lamps in the north sea in the direction of north korea, it's hard for me to see anything that the north koreans would view as imminent hostilities, and since they weren't planning to initiate them, they would only assume that the americans were planning to initiate them. otherwise, why would you take such a dramatic and frankly very expensive act of withdrawing american dependents from the republic? >> general hayden, thank you. just ahead, the results on a new poll. why there's bad news and some good news for the president. and we're keeping an eye on hurricane florence, now barreling its way towards the carolinas. we'll look at how other storms have battered the region and the lessons learned from them, when we continue.

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latest bob woodward book were released and the publication and the op-ed in "the new york times" by what the paper described as a senior administration official blasting the president's performance. his job approval is down six points since our poll on the same topic last month. there is some good news, just to point out, 69% of those polled believe the economy's in good shape, something the republicans believe they can certainly build on for the upcoming midterms. joining me now to discuss is trump supporter, steve cortez and jen psaki, former white house communications director for president obama. good to have you both on. >> great to be here. >> so, steve, the overall approval rating is one thing, but you look at the approval rating among independents, it's dropped 16 points since august. how much of a concern should that be for the president and what can he do about it? >> right. well, look, i think, anderson, if we were to compare this -- the president used to own beauty pageants. if politics were a beauty pageant, the president clearly would do very poorly on congeniality. he would not be mr. congeniality, but he would win, i submit, the talent

competition, why? because he's so effective. that's what you're seeing in these poll numbers. there are a lot of people that are not drawn to him largely because of his pugnacity and because he's been in such an entrenched fight with the media and the washington establishment, but those same people are willing to concede he's particularly effective on the issues, particularly the key issue of the economy. >> so you don't think these numbers are a problem for him? or if you do, is there something he can do? i mean, to reach out to people? or is that not a winning cause? >> no, look, i think there are concerns. i would be the first to admit that i wish his poll numbers were higher. i do think if we continue to succeed on the key issues, particularly prosperity and security, the key macros, i think these poll numbers will rise. but i also think polls are important, but they should never be -- to borrow a term that's being used a lot lately -- they should never be the lodestar. they shouldn't be the northern light to which we ascribe every prescription. they're important, pay attention

to them, and i think they will rise in time, because nothing succeeds like success, and the success of this country i think will transit late into approval for the president. but i'll be the first to admit that i'm frustrated that it hasn't already. >> i like your use of the word "lodestar," getting it in there. jen, even though the president's support among republicans has dropped slightly, the fact of the matter is that republican support is still very strong at 82%. >> that's true. and he's the consistently had strong support among the base of his party. the problem he has are not just the independents and the drop among independents, which is a double-digit drop, as you mentioned, but also on some of the personal, you know, characteristic attributes. so he came in, running as the candidate who was going to change washington. he lost points on that in this last poll. he also came in as the person who was going to fight for the little guy. he lost several points on whether respondents thought that he was fighting for them. those are problematic. i agree that polls are not the be all, end all, especially after the 2016 election. but they are indicators and even the generic ballot numbers are problematic for republicans who are going to be on the ballot come this november. >> but what about to steve's point which is, look, okay, maybe he's not get the

congeniality award, but if the economy is doing well and things seem to be working, he's going to get rewarded for that. >> i guess we'll see, anderson. but i mean, i think some of the polling numbers that came through are typically, historically problematic for other candidate -- for candidates that are lower down on the ballot. so the generic numbers, his approval rating. his approval rating is below 40%. i mean, that is a hugely problematic number, if you're a vulnerable republican running for office. and his change number is hugely problematic, as he's looking to 2020, which we know he's looking to. but he's no longer the change candidate. and that's who he ran as and who he really wants to be positioned as. >> steve, we've been talking about the white house claims, the pushback on the bob woodward book. 65% of the people in this poll

believe the president is not honest, not trustworthy. i'm wondering what you make of how the white house -- the strategy the white house is using on the woodward book, on the op-ed. is it wise, is it keeping it in the headlines? >> you know, no, i don't think it's wise, quite frankly, to keep those stories in the headlines. i think it's wise to try to find out who it is, because i really think that there is a really sniveling, dishonest, disloyal person who needs to be outed within the administration, and perhaps people. so i think that part is important. but i don't think that the president should be focusing on it in terms of his social media, in terms of his speeches and interviews. i would like him to focus on the things that are going on. for instance, the idea that he's not supporting working class people in this country, the facts are otherwise. we're seeing the best blue collar job creation we've seen since the 1980s. i want to hear him talk more about that and less these things like this op-ed. as reprehensible as it may be. >> mick mulvaney is reported by "the new york times" suggesting that the republican party officials in a private meeting on saturday, that republicans might fare better in november if

they, quote, subtract the president's divisive personality from voters' minds. number one, do you think he's right, and two, is that possible? >> no, with of course it's not possible. my midterm election is a referendum on the president, his policies and his personal attributes. look, we were walloped in 2010 when i worked for president obama, because he used his political capital to get health care through or move health care through. and the candidates who voted for that were caught up in the cross fire of that as the tea party was rising. people have concerns, as we saw in this poll, about president trump's leadership, his fitness for office, whether he's actually fighting for the little guy. that impacts people, as well. you can't just subtract the president's approval rating. it is fascinating, though, because mick mulvaney has been on every short list out there for chief of staff. and your potential chief of staff is saying, subtract the president's approval rating from the, you know, calculation here, which you absolutely can't do politically. >> all right. jen psaki, steve cortez, good discussion, thank you very much. >> thank you. up next, hurricane florence gathering strength in the south atlantic and right now heading on a collision course with the carolinas. this is a big, big storm, as it is right now. a live look, just where florence

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more on our breaking news. take a look at this incredible video. the eye of hurricane florence. now, imagine flying a plane right into that massive category 4 storm. maximum winds, 140 miles per hour. that's what my next guest did. he's monitoring the storm as it takes aim at the carolinas, where about a million people have been ordered to evacuate. many more at risk along the east coast, as florence gets closer and stronger tonight. joining me is that brave pilot, commander justin kibbe, a hurricane hunter for noaa. commander kibbe, what were you able to learn from your flight today? >> well, from our flight today, we learned that florence is getting stronger and stronger by the minute, and it's truly turning into a beast of a storm. >> you've been flying in and out of florence since saturday. can you just talk about the changes that you've seen since then? >> sure, yeah. our first flight saturday, florence was just under hurricane strength and then

sunday, it was just over hurricane strength. and today, it was a category 4 storm. so it went from, you know, a tropical storm to a major hurricane in a matter of 72 hours. so it has -- it's what they call rapid intensification. so this storm has really got its act together and is just a heck of a storm out there. >> can -- you know, i talked to our meteorologist earlier who was saying, you know, it's a cat 4 now. he wasn't sure it's going to be able to sustain this, you know,. it might kind of fall apart a little bit and then gather strength again. is that possible? >> yeah, anything's possible. i think -- i think, you know, us in there taking measurements, the air force taking measurements. so i think we'll find out hopefully instantaneously what this storm is doing before it makes landfall. >> how does this storm compare to other storms that you've flown in? >> well, comparatively to last year, you know, last year was the busiest hurricane season that i've flew. and this storm is on -- it's on par with the storms we flew last year, like maria and irma. so it's -- it's a powerful storm. >> and the eye of this storm,

how do you -- i mean, it seems pretty well, i guess, i don't know if well organized is the right term, but it seems pretty distinct. >> absolutely, yeah. it is very well organized. we saw today anywhere from about a 10 to a 12-mile eye that was just absolutely spectacular to be in. but, knowing that the power and the damage that those eye walls can do, you know, it's kind of scary. but it is a very powerful storm that's got its act together. so it is -- it is -- it is no joke storm. >> what is it like flying through it? >> it is moments of intensity followed by some lulls, but it's a challenging environment for any crew and any pilot. >> it's just fascinating, what you do. and i appreciate what you do, because it allows everybody else to know exactly minute by minute where this thing is and how big it is. so thank you and your crew, commander kibbey, thank you very much. >> no problem. thank you.

>> the carolinas have been in this dangerous situation before. our gary tuchman has this for us tonight. >> reporter: 29 years ago this month, the last category 4 hurricane to hit the carolinas. hurricane hugo striking just north of charleston, with 140-mile-per-hour sustained winds. hugo had already created calamity in the caribbean and it continued in south carolina. more than 20 people were killed in the palmetto state. the hurricane, which continued down to north carolina as a category 2 storm, caused billions of dollars of damage in the carolinas, where people were stunned by what they saw. >> it was a little rocky. see, the dogs were petrified. >> when was this house built? >> 1790. >> reporter: two other category 4 hurricanes have hit the carolinas in recorded weather history. hurricane hazel struck the north and south carolina border area 64 years ago in 1954.

more than 400 people were killed in haiti before it hit the u.s. coast. at least 19 people were killed in the carolinas. five years later, another category 4 hurricane, gracie hit southern south carolina. that storm killed at least ten people in south carolina and in georgia. the last major hurricane of any type to hit the carolinas was in 1996. category 3 fran. the winds, which peaked at 120 miles per hour, made landfall near cape fear, north carolina. 22 people were killed in the u.s., 13 of them in north carolina. damage in the carolinas was estimated to be over $50 billion. it's very rare for major hurricanes to hit the carolinas. and these words uttered almost 30 years ago during hugo remain accurate today. >> it's just a terrible thing. the storm was extremely severe, a category 4. biggest hurricane this city's

had in a century, maybe in its history. >> reporter: but now, here comes florence. gary tuchman, cnn, new york. >> just -- that is a big storm. >> just -- that is a big storm. i want to check in with chris cuomo to see what he's been working on for "cuomo prime time" at the top of the hour. chris, i mean, category 4 at this stage, it's incredible. >> looks like we're staring at our future right there. those people on the coast, that is a particularly vulnerable coastline. >> yeah. >> so we're going to be taking people through what the latest is on the trajectory, what they can prepare for, how they're doing it, and what they can't prepare for. you'll remember during irma, we hooked up with these federal first responders from south florida. they just got the call. and this is pretty early, anderson. they're headed to south carolina. so, we're bringing on one of the guys that we were with down there to tell us why they're going, what they're looking for, and you know, what our future will probably be in terms of the need to cover this. >> yeah, and i mean, just in terms of the size of this and the slow speed of it. >> if it takes landfall thursday

night, it could -- through the weekend, could be affecting people still in that area. >> that's the exact right point. people get such eye focus. when does the real big deal come? they don't understand the outer bands and those that come behind it with the eye are often the most destructive. that's what we saw with irma also. that's when they make the funky turns, once they hit the coastline like that one did. it supposed to go up the east coast. made a left. all of us had to scramble. that's what they worry about. people get affected tomorrow. we will stay on it hour by hour. >> i look forward to that. chris joins us in about ten minutes from now. there are concerns with georgia's voting system. what happens when your name isn't where it's supposed to be on the ballot and you lose an election.

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in the state of georgia, there are questions about the integrity of voting. they are being sued by voting rights activists. now there's evidence an election outcome may be wrong. drew griffin has details. >> reporter: on may 22, the only two people running for state representative district 28 in northeast georgia squared off in a tight republican primary that would decide who would hold the office. state representative dan gasaway lost in a squeaker. >> i lost by 67 votes. >> reporter: remember that number, 67 votes. he congratulated his opponent and thought it was all over. until the next day when his wife came home from her teaching job. >> said, dan, my colleague came in and said she had gone to vote for you last night, and your name was not on her ballot. she's in my district. >> reporter: his name wasn't on her ballot?

how could his supporters vote for him when they couldn't find him? it wasn't just one voter. he broke out maps. overlapped voting rolls and found for each dot, voters were assigned to the wrong district. your district is 28. >> that's correct. >> reporter: these people were voting for district 10. >> that's right. i realized we had a problem. i don't know how it happens. but it did. >> reporter: how many votes were affected? it's now up to 70. more than the number he lost by. meaning the wrong person may have won the election. he is suing. this election shouldn't really stand. >> right. >> reporter: the county sent out a news release conceding errors were made and we owe the voters the assurance that their right to vote is not being compromised. the secretary of state's office, which initially certified the

election, has opened an investigation. the county has called for a new election. it's up to a judge to decide. jake evans is the attorney. >> the secretary of state's office runs the elections in this state. i would think the secretary of state's office and perhaps the secretary of state would be just jumping at the bit trying to rectify the situation. you have an election that was wrong. >> that's a valid question. i wish i knew the answer to that question. i would direct that to the attorney general's office of secretary of state's office. >> reporter: the top election official in georgia of secretary of state brian kemp. he is running for governor. his office is distancing itself from the mess. properly districting voters is a county responsibility his office told us, reiterating the claim that georgia's election systems remain secure. the botched georgia primary is one in a series of problems

challenging voter confidence in the state. last month, cnn reported a massive security breach that exposed the records of millions of georgia voters for more than six months. a lawsuit is challenges the potential security of georgia's all electronic voting system. that same lawsuit details case after case of voters allegedly assigned to the wrong precincts. they have found 1,200 voters assigned to the wrong district. >> i learned that there are serious problems that need to be fixed. >> reporter: for now he just wants a new election, a fair one this time. >> how would this work? how would it be fair to the person who won the primary? >> it's not fair either way, anderson. keep this in mind. there's no democrat in the race. it was just these two republicans who ran for this seat. re-running the race would essentially be a re-match if you will. the easiest solution would be to have that re-match on november 6

in a winner take all general election. the winner did win. it's unfair to him he has to go through it again. the loser may have lost by this error. >> just to go back to the core of the problem, is anyone saying what went wrong? is there guarantee it didn't happen in other places around the state? >> there has been no explanation for what happened. until that is determined what went wrong, it's hard to tell how widespread or perhaps how localized this problem is. that is very unnerving for those watching georgia's elections. >> yeah, it certainly is. drew griffin, appreciate it. don't miss "full circle" our interactive newscast on facebook. picket stories we cover. see it weeknights at 6:25. a lot of news ahead. i want to hand it over to chris cuomo. thank you, anderson.