michael cohen just said hi to me at the airport. i meant to take a flight to new york, but isla landed on mars. michael cohen ran into stormy daniels at the airport. just for habit, he wrote her a check for $13,000. i'm christine romans. >> i'm joe johns. "new day" starts now. fall along the panhandle as a category three. >> i'm not looking forward to it. i want to apologize to brett. you, sir, under historic scrutiny. >> of course he was not proven innocent. >> sent a message to women that we are not taken seriously. >> i think it is raising enthusiasm on both sides. >> it is dividing the country. >> where is this going to go. >> this is "new day" with alisyn

camerota and john berman. >> welcome to our viewers. 6:00 here in new york. we start with stormy weather. the gulf coast and the southeast u.s. are bracing for hurricane michael. forecasters say the storm will strengthen to a category 3 hurricane before making land fall in the florida panhandle sometime tomorrow. millions of people now under investigation orders in at least ten counties. some of these are mandatory. others are voluntary at the moment. hurricane watches and warnings up in several states because of life threatening storm surge and heavy rain expected. florida's governor, rick scott, has a dire warning, calling hurricane michael a quote monstrous storm that could bring total devastation. governor scott says he has never seen a hurricane like this hit this part of the state. also this morning, justice brett kavanaugh will sit on the bench for the first time this

years ago. overnight he took part in a swearing in ceremony that felt one part swearing in and many parts political. president trump apologized to kavanaugh and claimed he was found innocent of the allegations of sexual assault. there were no such findings. earlier he called the investigation into kavanaugh a hoax. it just shows how the president intends to use the kavanaugh confirmation as a political weapon heading into the mid terms. he is stoking these flames on purpose. we will get to that in just moments. let's begin with cnn meteorologist chad myers with the new advisory on hurricane michael. >> still a 90 miles per hour storm. hurricane hunter aircraft in there now john investigating finding slightly higher gusts. we will watch the pressure. fit goes down, that means the wind speed is going to go up. right now, 90. that's the good news. we are not waking up to a

category three storm. we may tomorrow. that is the forecast. 120-mile-per-hour wind making land fall near panama city. that's where these wind gusts will be the highest. that's where the wind damage will also be the highest from that land falling storm. somewhere aroundcal tomorrow morning you will begin to feel close to hurricane strength gusts. here we go. this is this morning. tuesday, wednesday, wednesday afternoon, finally up into parts of georgia. here's how the ball shapes up here. these are tropical storm force winds by 6:00 tomorrow morning. you are not going to be able to do more work outside, no more prep work tomorrow morning, it needs to be done today. the red dot, that's the hurricane force wind over panama city. i don't know how you get a more bullseye shot here of panama

city. and the surge is to the east of there, into the big bend area. that's where the water is going to get pushed up into the bays, into the estuaries. it will be nine to 12 feet deep. notice, we are still seeing wind speeds at 40 miles per hour or so over north carolina before it finally days. that will knock down trees because those trees in north carolina are sitting in mud. from is your storm surge from cedar key to after latch coala. could see up to nine feet of surge as the storm pushes on shore tonight into tomorrow. something else, lots of rainfall. tallahassee you are in the warning itself because you are going to see hurricane force winds and that will knock down trees as well. not just along the coast. this is going to the remain powerful for at least 50 to 100 miles. >> a billions eye on panama city, there on chad's map.

let's go there. cnn's diane gallagher is standing by and watching people get ready. >> reporter: we are in panama city beach. the emergency evacuation actually requires everybody who is here on this beach to be gone by 6:00 our time. so in about an hour people are supposed to be out of here. now the governor did go ahead and deploy an extra 100 members of the highway patrol to help and alleviate with the evacuation process out of the panhandle. on the beach right now we have had a little bit of rain. the wind is just kind of nice and breezy like you would experience any time on the beach. the water isn't that bad either. come this afternoon all of that is going to change. that's why officials here are working to get ever out right now. anticipate traffic of course people leaving out of here. you need to anticipate if you haven't already gotten gas to worry about some of those. on our way in the lines were extremely long, people trying to get gas, people trying to get

out. lot of people who are here right now were visiting. the hotel we are in overnight was full of people making travel arrangements to get out of here. along the beach they are trying to get all the things along the beach, umbrellas, chairs and things like that off in anticipation of the storm of the not far from here eight miles is tindall air force base. they have a mandatory evacuation as well. everybody needs object out, pir period. they are going the work on expenses for the families who live there. they need to be gone. they are taking thissers isly right now. ten counties have the evacuation orders. the people who run the communities here are asking everyone to get out now. you can come back afterwards but it is going to be too dangerous to stay here. >> thank you very much for reporting on the ground. be careful. as we have been saying the

florida panhandle is bracing for a direct strike from hurricane michael. joining us now is panama city beach city manager mario g izbert. >> thank you for having news we have been working on this the last two days, as soon as we started to receive the warnings of our bay county emergency operations center kicked off. we started meetings yesterday. they started talking about the evacuation, the logistics of the evacuation, traffic control already started changing the timing on the traffic lights so people could leave town easier than they could come into town. these things have been in the works for the last 24 hours and implementation today. we kick off the eoc atcal in the morning and go forward from there. again we saw people leaving town yesterday. wonderful. the mandatory evacuation starts today at 6:00 a.m. when people start to leave as

early as yesterday at noon it helps the congestion further down the road. again, the city is prepared for a mass entrance and a mass exit bass on any given weekend we grow our population by 100,000 to 200,000 people. the people leaving town yesterday drained all of our gas stations but i'm sure that overnight all of those stations refueled and will have fuel for people to make it in and out of town. our local larger stores have restocked with water. so there is water within the island. >> yeah. >> again it is mandatory evacuation for the entire island. a lot of people are moving into town where they have friends on higher ground. it is better the heed the warning and move if at all possible. >> definitely. we are glad you are getting word out. with the mandatory evacuation we have all seen dozens of hurricanes. people get storm fatigue after a while. is it your sense that everyone in your area is heeding the

evacuation or do you think there will be stragglers and people who stay behind. >> i hate to bring up a storm that just passed because it hurts the people that were in it but the fact there was a storm not too far away that had some problems it made people notice that they needed to heed the warning for this storm. i think everybody is listening to this storm and moving out. it's best to be safe. the biggest loss you can have is a loss of life. we don't want that here on the island. we are thankful for all the people that are taking off. our police department, our fire department, street department, storm water department are all here, we will remain here throughout the storm. we have storm hardened buildings. we just finished buildings that are designed for 140 mir winds. we are set up here to be back up and running after the storm, during the storm, and before the storm. >> i think it is important to bring up hurricane florence.

it hit a different area, on the other side of the coast, it hit north carolina. same thing, life threatening storm surge was predicted there. that's what we saw. and life threatening storm surge is predicted where you are. 5 is people at our latest count lost their lives after hurricane florence. i think these are cautionary tales, each one, and it's important to really sound the alarm. obvious obviously, not unnecessarily, but it sounds like this is going to be a big one where you are. what is sewer biggest fear as you confront this one coming? >> again w everything that we've heard on weather channel and in the news and through ems, it is the storm surge. 120-mile-an-hour wind is nothing to sneeze at either. but a storm surge in an area that is relatively flat. i think the highest part of the island is 30 feet high. front road is 15 feet high.

a storm surge of eight to nine feet means it could rise up to front road our thoroughfare that follows all the way to the beach. we have three levels of access to and from the island. so we have a good evacuation route. we have three roads that lead out of town. we have 231, 79, and 81. so we have good evacuation going north. then you hit i-10 and you can disperse east and west. again, we are set up for that -- the group of people coming in on weekends and leaving on weekends. so the traffic side of it we are fairly well. we just need people to gather up their things and head up into the northern portions of bay county or into adjacent counties. >> mario, tur city manager of panama city beach it sounds like you are as prepared as any city

could be as you prepare for the approach of a hurricane, category 3. thank you, we will be checking in with you throughout the day. >> thank you very much. >> he was saying a storm surge of eight would be catastrophic, of course. we heard chad myers to say that in that area they could expect nine to 12 feet of storm surge. >> it is flat along the panhandle. that storm surge could push way way up inland. >> still ahead, the director of the national hurricane center and senator bill nelson. >> i am expected to head to panama beach where we are expecting the eye to pass sometime tomorrow morning. it is warm if here. >> i didn't request it but balmy in here. it is usually a meat locker. but today it is like a saupa. >> it is like a desert inn here. >> i will have you hydrating soon. justice brett kavanaugh

heads to the supreme court in a few hours for his first day on the job. he does so with the president intentionally fanning the flames of controversy using the bruising confirmation battle as a political wedge before the mid terms calling the allegations against kavanaugh a hoax. abbey phillips live at the white house with the latest. abbey. >> good morning, john. after this confirmation battle president trump last night at the white house hosted a ceremonial swearing in for brett kavanaugh. did he something unconventional. he apologized to his nominee. >> on behalf of our nation i want to apologize to brett and the entire kavanaugh family for the terrible pain and suffering you have been forced to endure. i must state that you, sir, under historic scrutiny, were proven innocent. >> these sorts of events are fairly unusual. the president hosting kavanaugh

being sworn in in a ceremonial fashion after his official swearing in over the weekend. it was attended by all the members of the supreme court who were seated in that audience as well as several republican senators. now, just to underscore the political nature of this event. republicans gave mitch mcconnell the senate majority leader a standing ovation at that event and president trump used it as an opportunity to sharply criticize democrats for this confirmation battle -- and he used them of using this as a cudgel against his nominee. president trump is using this argument as we go into the mid terms to build a wedge between voters and democrats. as we are expecting what could be a kind of wave election especially for thousands of representatives. president trump hoping to put stop to that by using the momentum on the republican as a result of this kavanaugh fight. >> abbey thank you very much. president trump's reversal on christine blasey ford whether or

not she was credible and whether he believed her, was this a midterm strategy. >> yes, i'll answer the question. yes. >> there we go. >> announcer: "new day", brought to you by markham llp, accountants and advisors. coaching means making tough choices. jim! you're in! but when you have high blood pressure and need cold medicine that works fast, the choice is simple. coricidin hbp is the #1 brand that gives powerful cold symptom relief without raising your blood pressure. coricidin hbp.

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today is brett kavanaugh's

first day on the bench as a supreme court justice. president trump is using this for political gain. he called the allegations of sexual assault against brett kavanaugh a hoax. listen. >> a man that did nothing wrong, a man that was caught up in a hoax, that was set up by the democrats, using the democrats' lawyers, and now they want to impeach him. i have heard this from many people. i think it is an insult to the american public. and i think you are going the see a lot of things happen on november 6th that would not have happened before. >> a hoax. a hoax. that is very different than what he said about the testimony from professor christine blasey ford a week and a half ago when it happened. thought her testimony was very compelling and she looks like a very fine woman to me. a very fine woman. she was a very credible witness. she was very good in many

respects. >> you will notice the difference between the words hoax and a very credible witness, right. >> i did pick that up. there was an inconsistent there i feel you are pointing out. >> the president says i think this will matter on november 6th. it is arizona if he is saying i want this to matter on november 6th. johning us now, cnn senior political analysts and white house correspondent abbey philip. david, if we could go back to the ceremony last night president trump seemed to approach that events ree event -- past supreme court justices did have events, others did not. the president aproved it as if intentionally trying to pour salt in the political wounds. >> no question about it. actually, kagan did, i went back and looked at the remarks of the event that was at the white house. it was strikelily different. these are all by nature

political events if you are doing it for the cameras to try to shore up your base. but what obama said about elena kagan, this was not a controversial nomination, he made a point of thing both majority leader reed, and mitch mcconnell who was the minority leader at that time. you didn't hear any of that last night. it was a political event, the president going out of his way to apologize to justice kavanaugh saying that he has been found innocent, really going over the top with this. and this inconsistency you point out with president trump is certainly nothing new. this is someone who in the course this has deliberately gone over the top. obscuring points that he makes that will resonate with a lot of people in complaining about the process toward justice kavanaugh by calling it a hoax, by saying he has been proven hadn't. but, look, make no mistake, there is now a feeling that republicans have to match the democrats' anger that was

already there, exacerbated by the kavanaugh confirmation fight. now republicans think they have got something to push back on and say, hey, the democrats want to storm the gate, you should be afraid, and keep us in power. >> abbey, listening to the president call these accusations against brett kavanaugh not one, but certainly two credible ones, there was also a third one a hoax, it was like the real president trump was back from hiding. i mean what was so stunning was that other person who materialized for a little while who seemed so measured and claimed that he felt that christine blasey ford was credible. do you have reporting on who that person was and where that person has gone? >> i think, alisyn, a lot of people were really more surprised by the restraint than by the president reverting back to the person that he really is. i mean if you listen to him both when when he was talking to us on the lawn -- i was there

yesterday when he said that it was a hoax -- and at the ceremony that's his true sechl it's very genuine for him. he said it before, he believes kavanaugh is being treated unfairly. he thinks he has been similarly treated unfairly. for president trump, it is personal and not just political. i think aides have actually now come around to president trump's strategy on this. there was a time at the beginning this process when they were advising him to really keep calm here to take the temperature down to say we wanted to let christine blasey ford talk and give her side of the story. president trump saw a opening here when he wpt to that rally a couple of days after kavanaugh testified. he sensed something in his sporters and felt like he needed to say out loud the thing he felt was percolating under the surface of republicans. when he did that, i think many in the white house now believe that helped change the momentum of this whole confirmation fight. president trump is feeling

pretty good about his instincts right now. i think a lot of republicans actually who once doubted them, who were quick to condemn them, criticizing christine blasey ford now believe they helped change the dynamic in kavanaugh's favor. >> there is a needle that needs to be threaded that he is not exactly threating. most republicans are happy about criticizing the process. saying the democrats threw this up and were on a witch-hunt. that polls well. what doesn't poll well is going after christine blasey ford. on accusations of sexual misconduct who do you believe, 61%, kavanaugh, 39% men. >> the president seems intent on driving a keeper wedge. his instinct are winner for the republican base, of course white

and overwhelmingly male when it comes to donald trump's support. his use the language yesterday, hoax, impeachment, abbey made this point. these are words that resonate with them because they are his favorite words to describe the persecution which he himself feels. the republicans are more motivated than they were. they have got a supreme court seat on the bench. and what democrats in all their righteous anger and motivation right now sometimes miss is culture war fights often benefit republicans. identity rights and protests often benefit republicans. >> i want to make sure i understand that. the anger is still on the democratic side but you are saying the sense of accomplishment motivated the people on the right. >> not just sense of accomplishment. listen to the language. calling the democrats the mob. they are using anger and fear as well. >> they are angry about the process. >> accomplishment plus anger and

fear equals republican strategy for the midterm. >> in 2002. i was thinking of an example of an incumbent party that actually did well this the midterm. that was well after 9/11, and the republicans did well. but a lot of that was about fear. i was talking to joe lockhart who was on the program yesterday who was in the middle of that fight. the economy was beginning a downturn in 2002 but republicans were able to stave that off because of the need among voters for continuity to stay unified in the fight against terrorism. i think it is more -- i think it's interesting alisyn. it is not accomplishment. the republicans should be talking about the president got a big trade deal, the economy is really hot, know unemployment and all of these things and relative peace and prosperity. instead it's no, be afraid of these democrats, who are acting -- who are overdoing it, who had an unfair process and

who want to impeach justice kavanaugh or at least investigate him. >> yeah. >> you should be afraid of what their power looks like. >> i think that's interesting, david. abbey, before i get back to you. it's that they won. the president got who he wanted. he got a seat on the supreme court. they won. just like after the president won the election, there was still -- as you remember, the inaugural speech about fear and anger. >> carnage. >> carnage. so winning doesn't somehow abate. >> they won so narrowly. >> that's what president trump does is the politics of grievance. no matter where he is, he's the victim in the political battle. that's his skill is his skill is convincing his supporters that they are the victim even when -- even when they are winning. the president's approval numbers have ticked up, i want to note that after the last month in the cnn poll. now 41% approval. it was 36% in september. 41% is not exactly super super

strong if you look at history the only president who had as low of an approval just before midterm was bill clinton in 1994. and bill clinton, as you remember, the democrats lost control of the congress at that time. i know the times are different and president trump never enjoyed that high of an approval rating but his numbersr improving. >> look at this poll. it is a five-point bump but it's particularly strong among independent voters. that's the switch that drives this between september and october. up 39% among independents compared to 31% last month. but you feel great about the five point bump. in any historical context it's still terrible. and with those ratings numbers those presidents tend to get shell actings in the midterm. >> in some ways the republicans conceded that the house is not

going to go the way they want. but the senate is where the battleground is. i think that's where we saw the impact of the kavanaugh nomination. you saw those red state republicans really being put in tough places. one of them, know manchin, coming over to the republican side on this. that's why mitch mcconnell feels so great. because republicans are feeling better about number prospects there. i think it put the squeeze on red state democrats. at the same time the house is still not looking great because of the women who are so angry about this process and the way that politics are going in general. >> for them the word hoax that the president uses, that will not sell well. that is not a selling point, the hoax. >> abbey, david, john, thank you very much. we have breaking news to get to right now in the search for a missing saudi journalist. new video of the last time he was seen before entering saudi arabia's consulate in turkey. >> a much different story. the most lopsided win by a

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breaking news. turkey now says it will allow saudi officials to search their consulate as they investigate the disappearance of journalist jamal khashoggi. this comes as we now see the last moment he was seen entering the consulate before vanishing. we are live in istanbul with the breaking details. what are you learning? >> reporter: the image almost exactly a week ago to the hour, 1:14 p.m. local time. that's what he jamal khashoggi was seen going into the consulate. what we have heard from the president here is that he says it is up to the saudis now to

prove that khashoggi left the consulate. but of course this latest news that you are reporting, this we are hearing from state media here, the news agency saying that saudi officials have now agreed to allow turk irk investigators into consulate behind me. but it is a week after khashoggi's disappearance. it is not clear what they are going to find what the conditions of access might be. we have heard from president trump on this saying he is concerned about khashoggi's disappearance. he says nobody knows anything at the moment. vice president mike pence weighed in saying he is dooply troubled. and says that the saudis should support an investigation which appears on the surface at the moment that the saudis are now supporting an investigation, they are allowing the turk irk officials in a week after the disappearance, into the consulate. but suspicion here in turkey centers on other video

surveillance that covers the arrival in saudi arabia -- the state news agency is reporting rathering the arrival of 15 officials in turkey the day that khashoggi disappeared, where they went, what they did, how they got in and out of their vehicles. all of this at the center the turk irk investigation. what is emerging it's clear that tensions between saudi arabia and turkey are ratcheting up, the saudis saying it is ridiculous to allege that khashoggi might have been killed or otherwise removed from the ca consulate. they are knocking that theory down completely. >> we obviously need to get to the bottom of it. those are the key questions you have outlined. i'm supposed to read sports now but i am going to gift this one to john berman. >> really? >> you are going the read the sports report right now. >> when i went to bed last night the red sox were up 1-0. when i woke up it turned out

they won 16-1. the most lopsided road win in postseason history. the best part of all, in yaerch stadium. the red sox beat the yankees 16-1. nothing like this has ever happened in history. holt hit for the cycle, he got a single arc double, a trip cell and a home run. that never happened ever in the postseason. >> i am happy for him. and you. >> no one alive has ever seen that happen in the postseason. here's the problem, though. >> what? >> it only counts as one victory. the red sox lead the series 2-1. they could clinch tonight. >> or they could still lose the whole thing. >> absolutely. we don't want to get ahead of ourselves here other than to say any fleeting humiliation of the yankees is valuable. >> now i am stressed about tonight because i can't imagine how you will feel -- we are mott going to go there. anyway, you are saying they won

last night. >> they won. if i haven't made that clear, they won. >> moving on. other news, something is growing. growing questions, about the deadly upstate crash in new york, the limousine crash. new details are emerging, that the limousine should never have been on the road. what we are learning ahead. the closer you get to home, the more you know the commute is worth it. for all the work you pour into this place, you sure get a lot more out of it.

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that a top trump campaign official reached out to a foreign firm for proposaled to manipulate social media during the 2016 presidential election. the goals were influence and opposition research, but was it all legal? we have a washington investigator for the "new york times." he cowrote the article. he is a cnn security analysis. we are talking about rick gates. he pleaded guilty, he worked for the trump campaign, he worked for the trump campaign for a long, long time. what exactly was he discussing? with whom. >> this was in the spring of 2016 as donald trump was emerging out of the primary fight with his republican

opponents looking toward the general election and immediately looking at the republican convention when we were worried about the possible defection of delegates away from trump towards the establishment. what rick gates heard in this washington hotel lobby was a proposal to basically manipulate the convention taking a proposal to use fake avatars, fake on line identities and bombard delegates with pro trump messages and anti-ted cruz messages who was the person they were fearing would lead the revolt. this was put together by an israeli firm staffed by former intelligence operatives. gates requested more information, the proposals, et cetera, and it was really -- and then they got a number of proposals. not just that, but also an intelligence gathering proposal about hillary clinton and general election proposal. so there were three in total at least as far as we know. >> proposals but none of them

were carried out. >> that's right. there is no evidence that the trump campaign paid money to the firm or executed the proposals we report in the story that they have become of interest to robert mueller, the special counsel. he has the proposals and he has interviewed several of the firm's employees. the investigators traveled to israeli and interviewed the people associated with these proposals. no russia connection but the potential for a foreign influence connection. also mark it seems to show the willingness or at least the knowledge of the trump campaign of the possibility of manipulating social media, correct? >> right. remember, after the election, we were -- the campaign was talking about how, you know, they didn't know anything about this kind of stuff that the russians were doing. all of this, all of these avatars, all of this manipulation that we now know the russians were doing in

spades. this story shows that pretty early on, really before the general election even started top officials at least were aware and expressed some interest in the promise this technology how it could be used to influence voter behavior. i think that's one of the significant things here, but as you say there is no direct tie in our story toll anything the russians were doing. >> there was an additional meeting beyond the spring one that happened in august that did include donald trump jr.? i can put up on the screen attendees of the meeting. interesting motion. zamel is the israeli. erik prince ran black water, nader is close to the uae. and donald trump jr. the significance this meeting. >> it is curious. we reported on heating in may in a story where we high lighted that zamel appeared at trump

tower and appeared to offer some services to the trump campaign but we didn't know much more about that. we now know these proposals from his company. it adds another piece. there are more questions about how this fits together, particularly how erik prince ended up bringing these people together at trump tower in august of 2016 and exactly the role of george nader. nader is an adviser to the uae and is now a cooperating witness in the mueller investigation. you know, how these different aspects fit together we are still trying to figure out. but we now know more about the back story to the august meeting. >> let me read you a statement from zamel's lawyer. he says he and his company have never been a target and provided full cooperation to assist in the investigation and we have never heard from them since. are there questions about

legality. one of the things in your article -- it was all fascinating was the notion that they hired a u.s. law firm to figure things out. >> it is where is the line of what is allowed in terms of foreign participation, the participation of foreigners in campaign work. we reported the story that the firm reached out to a large firm based here in washington and asked for a legal review. we tried the firm and the firm didn't give a comment about the conclusion of the review. it's unclear exactly whether as proposed it would have been compliant with american law. we do know that the firm was concerned about this, the israeli firm, and they were considering hiring some americans, american citizens to actually carry out this work as if that might have, you know, brought the firm more in

compliant with american area. >> mark mazzetti, thank you for your work, and welcome to the cnn family. to an update on the limo accident. this limo involved in a 20-person deadly crash. it should not have been on the road. and the driver should not have been behind the wheel. there were also apparently signs of trouble before the crash. we have a live report on all of these updates, next.

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there are still so many questions about the deadly limo accident that killed 20 people in upstate new york. authorities say the vehicle should not have been on the road and the driver was not properly licensed. these developments come as more than 1,000 people gather to remember the victims at a vigil last night. cnn's paolo sandoval is live in amsterdam, new york, with more. >> reporter: the accident happened about 20 miles south of here yesterday. this community coming together to show of their support. messages of love and remembrance written on the banner behind me. meanwhile the investigation continues. yesterday the ntsb and state

police revealing they recovered the air bag control module, call it the black box this limousine and hope it can provide crucial clues as they try to find out how the birthday celebration turned into one of the most deadly transportation accidents in the last decade. >> inspected by the new york state department of transportation last month and failed inspection. and was not supposed to be on the road. >> reporter: growing question about prestige limousine the company that operated the modified ford excursion that barreled through an intersection in upstate new york hitting a parked car ultimately killing 20 people. >> i heard a loud bang and screaming. >> reporter: the company's vehicles were inspected five times in the last two years with four taken out of service. prestige limousine releasing a statement they are cooperating with authorities and quote performing a detailed internal

investigation to determine the cause of the accident. the credentials of the limousine's driver who was killed in the crash also under scruti scrutiny. >> the driver didn't have the appropriate license to operate that vehicle. >> reporter: now cnn learning there were signs of trouble before the tragedy the family of friends saying one of the victims reached out complaining about the vehicle. >> i think my niece instinctively had thoughts that geez, you know, this is not good, what theysend sent us. >> her niece, erin zooid died in the crash. erin's friend telling the "new york times" she received a text saying a party bus had broken down to pick them up and instead they traveled by a stretch limousine that was in shoddy condition. the motor is making everyone deaf. the design also played a factor in the deadly crash.

>> it was stretched. we want to make sure that the vehicle when it was converted that the conversion was conducted in accordance with federal regulations. >> reporter: among the victims, newlyweds amy steenberg and her husband axel, the group all there to celebrated her birthday. they never made it. and amanneda hulls on board with his boyfriend patrick curbing. >> in the days gone by i found out more and more thing wrong and it really hurts. it nation me feel -- my heart is just sunken so far down. i have never felt this before. ♪ amazing grace, how sweet the sound ♪ >> reporter: a small town in mourning gathering last night to remember the lives cut tragically short. >> my heart breaks as i think of all the lives that never will be the same. as we all know, that words will

never ever fill the void in the hearts. >> reporter: adding to the sadness there is also the sense of anger. people here are quite upsaid after hearing the information that the limousine never should have been on the road in the first place and the driver didn't have the right license. the ntsb will be focusing on mechanical and human factors. they stopped short of saying speed played a role in the investigation. they are going to be looking at the toxicology reports that will be released hopefully soon. >> seems like there are factors across the board there, paolo thanks for the report. florida governor rick scott calls hurricane michael a monstrous storm. the storm is heading closer and fast, to the florida gulf coast. the latest forecast, next. can be relentless.

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