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Race for the White House; Fighting for Iraq; Close Call in Syria; Maduro Promises Wage Hike; Candidate's Wife Begs Voters to Elect Him; Fighting for Iraq. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired October 29, 2016 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It is incumbent upon the FBI to tell us what they're talking about.
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GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): An old controversy throws a new wrench into the race for the White House just a week and a half before Election Day.
Striking back in Aleppo: Syrian rebels launch a new assault in an attempt to break a government siege.
Plus: lashing out at his critics Venezuela's president threatens the opposition after a planned strike in the capital city.
From CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm George Howell. CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.
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HOWELL: 4:00 am on the U.S. East Coast, just 10 days to go until Election Day and there is new turmoil in the Clinton campaign, this after the FBI discovered a new batch of e-mails that may be pertinent to its investigation into Hillary Clinton's private e-mail server.
A law enforcement source says these new e-mails were sent and received by one of Clinton's top aides, not by Hillary Clinton herself. Our Jim Sciutto explains how an unrelated FBI investigation led back to Clinton's e-mail server.
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JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF U.S. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Eleven days to the election, the FBI director informing lawmakers he is reviewing new emails related to the Clinton email investigation. Law enforcement officials tell CNN the new emails were not from
Clinton herself and were found on a device being examined as part of the probe into Anthony Weiner, who was recently separated from top Clinton aide Huma Abedin.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wow.
SCIUTTO: This three months after the FBI recommended closing the probe.
In connection with an unrelated case, Comey wrote to eight congressional committee chairmen, "The FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear pertinent to the investigation."
Director Comey continued that the FBI will, quote, "review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information as well as to assess their importance to our investigation.
"I cannot predict how long it will take us to complete this additional work," he wrote.
All this after Director Comey declared on July 5 that Clinton had acted carelessly but not criminally.
JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: In looking back at our investigations into the mishandling or removal of classified information, we cannot find a case that would support bringing criminal charges on these facts.
SCIUTTO: Arriving in the key battleground state of Iowa, Hillary Clinton ignored questions on the topic.
However, campaign chair John Podesta released a statement saying, quote, "The director owes it to the American people to immediately provide the full details of what he has is now examining. We are confident this will not produce any conclusions different from the one the FBI reached in July."
Donald Trump, however, pounced at a rally in another battleground, New Hampshire.
TRUMP: Hillary Clinton's corruption is on a scale we have never seen before. We must not let her take her criminal scheme into the Oval Office.
SCIUTTO: Trump's campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, tweeted "A great day in our campaign just got even better."
House Speaker Paul Ryan, until now locked in a public dispute with his party's nominee, accused Clinton of mishandling, quote, "the nation's most important secrets" before renewing his call for the director of national intelligence to suspend all classified briefings for Secretary Clinton until this matter is fully resolved.
Director Comey said in his letter he's not certain if these e-mails are significant. Our reporting is there are thousands of them. Determining whether there is classified information contained in those e-mails will require consulting with multiple intelligence agencies. It is not an exact science; there is often disagreement. It's a process that will certainly take longer than 11 days -- Jim Sciutto, CNN, Washington.
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HOWELL: Jim Sciutto, thank you.
Let's now bring in CNN Politics reporter, Eugene Scott, live via Skype in Washington.
Eugene, let's talk about this. There is an article that's published on cnn.com titled, "The bizarre day that blunted Clinton's good mood."
It really --
[04:05:00]
HOWELL: -- sets the stage for what we're talking about here, just 10 days to go until Election Day and going into this, look at Clinton's standings when it comes to her handling of e-mails and whether it affects her character and ability to be president.
We have a graphic here to show the percentage of breakdown and you see 62 percent of people, believe that it does present an issue, that it is a problem; 37 percent believe, no, it's not.
Clinton obviously caught by surprise with this, caught off guard, as we understand, to her campaign learning about it just as the plane landed. Here's what she had to say at a news conference about all of this. Let's listen; we can talk about it on the other side.
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HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think people a long time ago made up their minds about the e-mails. I think that's factored into what people think. And now they're choosing a president.
So I would urge everybody to get out and vote early in all the states that have early voting because I think Americans want a president who can lead our country, who can get the economy working for everyone, not just those at top, and who can bring our country together.
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HOWELL: Early voting, it's happening in so many different states. Hillary Clinton making the point that maybe this is already baked in for voters but, Eugene, the question, is it?
Especially for those independent voters who are going to the polls.
EUGENE SCOTT, CNN POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: I think the former secretary is correct in the sense that early voting has happened. We have to remember that millions of people have already gone to the polls and they've gone to the polls with the knowledge that Hillary Clinton's e-mails have been at issue.
And I think most voters have decided whether or not that matters to them in terms of who they're choosing to be their next president. But a lot of questions remain to be seen; we don't completely know what this investigation will reveal and, as we previously mentioned, that won't be evident until after the election.
HOWELL: Let's talk about the Trump campaign, seizing on this, Donald Trump making a point to talk about it when he spoke to his crowd. Let's listen to what he had to say.
DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The investigation is the biggest political scandal since Watergate. And it's everybody's hope that justice at last can be delivered.
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HOWELL: Fair to say, certainly, Donald Trump's hope that this issue will energize his campaign.
But the question again, Eugene, as voters are making that decision, those people who haven't made up minds yet, how will this play as Trump is pushing it?
SCOTT: I'm not sure the Trump campaign should assume that if people do not vote for Hillary Clinton that that will bring them over to his camp and perhaps he does know that that might not necessarily happen and maybe he doesn't need that to happen.
He just perhaps needs people not to vote for Hillary Clinton. But as many voters have said, they already have made up mind whether or not they believe Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump can be the best person to lead this country.
And this latest revelation isn't likely to change a lot of people's minds. Regarding the undecided voters and the independents, it's 11 days out. I think it's fair to say that most people have made up their minds.
HOWELL: Let's talk about Director Comey and timing of this move, according to sources, these are Huma Abedin's e-mails. They are not Hillary Clinton's emails. And the director made it very clear in his statement, the FBI is still not exactly sure of what is contained in these e-mails.
So the question now is, did the director jump the gun in going here at this point, as you say, 10 days before Election Day?
One of the Clinton campaign's demands that more information be released to voters as they make that critical decision.
SCOTT: That's certainly what Democratic members of Congress, who have been criticizing the director, have said. They believe he could have been more clear and less vague in what it is that is actually happening because in not doing so, he certainly allowed for Republican lawmakers to spin this the way that they see fit. But he was not outside of normal procedure in terms of letting all
lawmakers know what he was doing. But I think all voters want more transparency and I think we see most lawmakers on both sides calling for that from Comey.
HOWELL: Eugene Scott, live for us in Washington, Eugene, thanks for helping to make some sense of it all. We'll be back in touch with you next hour. Thank you.
Reaction to the new FBI probe has varied greatly with the two candidates' rallies on Friday, as you can certainly imagine. CNN's Miguel Marquez with that report for us.
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MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At the Hillary Clinton rally, news the e-mail investigation is being revived, for some, expected, but still a shock.
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MARQUEZ: You just put your head in your hands.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I did. We have been waiting for something like this, suspecting that something like this was going to pop up.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Some found the timing of the announcement the worst part.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought the timing was really terrible for Hillary. This is the worst thing that could probably happen when there's only 10 days left of the election.
MARTIN (voice-over): Six short blocks away, just across the river, a Donald Trump rally and the reaction decidedly different.
Trump supporters emboldened by news the FBI is looking at new information.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Finally. Yes. It needs to be taken care of. She got away with it the first time.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Many hoping undecideds will finally see the light.
Dena Larson (ph) drove eight hours from Langford, South Dakota, three kids in tow.
Do you think it will turn the tide in the election?
DENA LARSON (PH), TRUMP SUPPORTER: If they can get the word out there. I mean if these independents and Democrats would hear this now, maybe they would finally wake up and realize that she is a crook.
MARTIN (voice-over): Eric Randy (ph), who has already voted for Trump, says he knows he's not perfect but: ERIC RANDY (PH), TRUMP SUPPORTER: Yes, he has faults. Yes, he's not right about everything.
But like why do we have to be lied to?
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HOWELL: That was Miguel Marquez reporting for us.
Miguel, thank you for that.
We move on now to an incident that happened at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. Engine failure caused a commercial jetliner to burst into flames. According to sources close to the investigation, everyone on the American Airlines flight got out quickly after the pilot aborted the takeoff on Friday.
About 20 people who had minor injuries. And a FedEx cargo plane also burned Friday, this time at the airport in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The video obtained by CNN shows an explosion shooting debris into the air. Investigators say that the fire occurred after the plane's landing gear collapsed as it was landing. No one was hurt in that incident.
This is CNN NEWSROOM. And still ahead, Syrian rebels launch a new offensive to break a government siege in East Aleppo. Details next, including what the Russian president is saying about his military's movement.
Plus: as Iraqi-led forces advance on to Mosul, ISIS carries out mass executions. Details are straight ahead. Stay with us.
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HOWELL: The battle for Mosul: the United Nations said ISIS executed 232 civilians just outside that city for being disobedient. ISIS reportedly carried out the mass killings Wednesday as Iraqi security forces advanced on its last urban stronghold.
In the meantime, Iraq says those troops are making progress toward reclaiming Mosul, holding positions about 30 kilometers or 19 miles from the city. And we've just gotten word that Iraqi paramilitary forces are beginning an operation to cut ISIS supply lines to the west of Mosul.
CNN's Michael Holmes is on the ground in Irbil, Iraq, following developments and joins us live this hour.
Michael, it's always a pleasure to have you with us. First of all, what more can you tell us about these advances on the
battlefield and also disagreements between the United States and the Iraqis?
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there are those advances on multiple fronts and there are different units there at different distances from the outskirts. We know of one, for example, Iraqi counterterrorism unit that has eyes on Mosul at the moment.
There's Peshmerga units about four kilometers out but there are still towns yet to be taken and secured 15 to 20 kilometers away. So they've got to get everybody on the same page as far as the encircling of Mosul.
A little bit of confusion, as you said there, about the pace of the offensive or what is next. We had American officials saying late last night, Friday, that the Iraqis would be pausing on some fronts to allow other units to catch up and consolidate, which does seem to make sense.
But almost immediately we had Iraqi commanders saying well, that's not so, the U.S. comments were inaccurate. You mentioned the Hashd al- Shaabi or the popular mobilization units, these are the Shia paramilitaries feared by many Sunnis in this part of the country, it must be said.
They have announced that they are launching operations west of Mosul to, quote, "cut ISIS supply lines." They're going to put thousands of fighters into an area really where ISIS has been able to cross back and forth from Iraq and Syria, where, of course, they have de facto capital of Raqqah. So that's another development. And it's been a weak point in terms of trying to encircle Mosul, that western side heading into Syria -- George.
HOWELL: Michael, also this news of 232 civilians who were killed just outside of Mosul, killed for being, quote "disobedient."
What more can you tell us about these executions by ISIS?
HOLMES: Yes, just more atrocities, isn't it, George, more of ISIS' brutality, controlling the population through fear. Those 232 men, that was near Mosul, but we also heard from our own sources inside Mosul of a particularly gruesome execution of 20 men accused of being spies.
They were taken to Mosul University. They were tied together and they were all electrocuted and then their bodies left lying in the street as a warning to others. This sort of fear tactic apparently increasing inside of Mosul.
People who've asked to move into the city, for example, tens of thousands of civilians, according to U.N., being forced in from the outskirts of Mosul into the city as human shields. And if they refuse to go, being shot on the spot.
This all adding to this -- already you've got a million, million and a half civilians there, so these others being brought in just to add to these human shields. And it really does beg the question, when the assault on Mosul happens, how it's going to be handled. Obviously ISIS doesn't --
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HOLMES: -- care about civilians but Iraqi security forces will have to -- George.
HOWELL: You know, Michael as you're talking to us, just can't help but see the images that we're showing, as you explain these horrific details but the children, the families, the people who are there, who could be used as human shields, who could be executed for using a cell phone or being disobedient, again, the offensive presses on toward Mosul. But certainly the stakes are high.
Michael Holmes, live for us in Irbil, Michael, we appreciate your reporting. We wish you and our other teams there continued safety as you continue bringing us the news. Thank you.
Many of the families rescued from ISIS' control are traumatized but they are happy certainly to be free. CNN's Arwa Damon visited one refugee camp and heard horror stories of life before liberation.
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Despite the basic conditions at this refugee camp sprouted east of Mosul, there are still smiles.
It's over. They survived.
Nine-year-old Fatima hid with her family under the stairs.
(Speaking foreign language).
She says she was scared. And there were a lot of airstrikes.
Her uncle says an airstrike destroyed the wall in their home and they escaped by using a ladder to try to jump over the wall of their house into another house, where they thought that they would be safer.
Like everyone here Shansa Dinabas (ph) cannot stop talking about ISIS' iron fist. In this particular village, he's saying that ISIS took their cellphones away over a year ago. And then two to three months ago, they forced everyone to remove their television satellite dishes.
His friends, his neighbors had a little radio that they kept hidden and that's how they were getting snippets of news. Or sometimes they would turn on the radio inside their cars.
Outside his tent, we meet his grandkids. They have just seen their father for the first time in two years.
Oh, she kissed her father when she saw him. And this is his other son. He was 2 months old or 3 months old the last time he saw his father and they were finally reunited today. These families all say they didn't flee when ISIS first arrived. They
believed the fighters, who said we will not interfere in your lives. They had no idea what horrors ISIS would bring.
And for many, it was about long-term survival. They are shepherds. This is their livelihood, all they own in life, sheep and goats, now also being loaded into trucks away from the battle zone.
Dana says they lived in a constant state of terror.
So she's just telling us about the birth of her son. He is just 3 months old and ISIS did let her go out to the hospital to give birth. But she's saying it cost a lot of money, the equivalent of around $40. And that's considered cheap.
Others were charged double.
They brought their pigeons with them because pigeon breeding is quite a hobby here.
She's saying that it's the only thing that they kind of had left that they enjoyed. She's had pigeons in her family ever since she was a little girl. And for the last five months, there was no television at home. So the pigeons went from being a hobby to pretty much being their only source of entertainment, especially for the children.
And though they don't know what the future will bring, now, for the first time in over two years, they can sleep in peace -- Arwa Damon, CNN, Hazid (ph), Iraq.
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HOWELL: At least 15 people are dead and more than 100 others wounded after a new round of bombings in Aleppo. Rebels launched an offensive Friday. Video from an activist shows an unrelenting attack on that city. After the bombs started, the Russian military asked President Vladimir Putin for permission to resume its airstrikes. He said now is not the right time.
Here's CNN's Ivan Watson.
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IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Residents of the divided Syrian city of Aleppo woke up to an awful sound on Friday, barrage of rockets, mortars and artillery launched by rebels.
It was part of a rebel offensive against the Western government- controlled part of the city, aimed at breaking through Syrian government siege lines around Aleppo's rebel-controlled east.
To punch through government fortifications, rebels unleashed at least three -- [04:25:00]
WATSON (voice-over): -- armored car bombs, equipped with devastating firepower. As the rebels attacked, the top diplomats from the Syrian government and its most important foreign patrons, Russia and Iran, met in Moscow, Russia's foreign minister blaming the rebels for the collapse of a brief unilateral cessation of airstrikes, declared by Moscow and Damascus last week.
SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): Today the situation in the region of Aleppo has seriously deteriorated. The cease-fire has been broken by the opposition. The United States and their allies in the region were unwilling or unable to maintain the cease-fire.
WATSON (voice-over): The Syrian government and Russia bombed besieged Eastern Aleppo for months, killing at least 400 people there in October alone, according to a top United Nations official.
STEPHEN O'BRIEN, U.N. EMERGENCY COORDINATOR: The Aleppo offensive by Syrian and Russian military forces has been the most sustained and intensive aerial bombardment campaign witnessed since the beginning of the conflict more than half a decade ago.
The results in human terms have been horrific. Aleppo has essentially become a kill zone.
WATSON: The fact is, there are no angels in this awful, grinding five-year war. In the last few days, independent observers have accused both the Syrian regime and the rebels of carrying deadly attacks against schools in Northern Syria.
WATSON (voice-over): The U.N. saying airstrikes against a school near the rebel-held city of Idlib killed dozens, including at least 20 children on Tuesday, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says rebel artillery killed at least six children in government-held Aleppo on Thursday.
And with the rebels' latest indiscriminate shelling of Western Aleppo, the grim death toll in Syria just continues to rise -- Ivan Watson, CNN, Istanbul.
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HOWELL: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. Still ahead, Anthony Weiner's questionable behavior. It is reigniting the e-mail controversy in the Clinton campaign, something that they'd hoped was behind them. We'll have details on that story ahead.
Plus the campaign to remove Venezuela's embattled president suffers a setback.
We're live from Atlanta, broadcasting across the United States and around the world this hour. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
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HOWELL: For viewers here in the United States and around the world, you are watching CNN NEWSROOM. It's good to have you with us. I'm George Howell with the headlines we're following for you this hour.
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HOWELL: The FBI says it is reviewing newly discovered e-mails linked to Hillary Clinton's private server. Law enforcement officials say that the emails were not from Hillary Clinton. They were on a device being examined as part of a probe into Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of Clinton long-time aide, Huma Abedin.
The FBI will examine the e-mails for classified materials. That FBI probe is the latest in the episode that is complicating the relationship between Weiner and the Clintons. CNN's Chris Frates has more on this long history.
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CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Anthony Weiner, a young congressman with a bright future, and newly minted senator, Hillary Clinton, started serving together on Capitol Hill in 2001. About a decade later, Weiner would marry one of Clinton's most loyal aides, Huma Abedin.
ANTHONY WEINER, FORMER U.S. CONGRESSMAN FROM N.Y.: I've got an enormous respect for the Clintons, they've been enormous friends and (INAUDIBLE) my wife and family.
FRATES (voice-over): Now Weiner's bad behavior has reignited the e- mail controversy Clinton's campaign hoped was behind them.
The new emails come from the FBI's investigation into allegations that Weiner sent sexually explicit text messages to an underage girl.
At a Democratic Party retreat in 2001, Weiner asked Abedin, then an aide to the senator, out for a drink. She told Weiner she had to work. But then Clinton gave her the night off, according to "Vanity Fair."
At their engagement party, Clinton said she considered Abedin a second daughter and in July 2010, Bill Clinton officiated their wedding at a swank estate on Long Island. But the honeymoon wouldn't last long.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pardon me, sir.
FRATES (voice-over): A year later, Weiner resigned from Congress after tweeting a picture of his crotch.
Two years later, he ran for New York City mayor, a campaign that imploded after he admitted to having more lewd conversations with women he met on the Internet. WEINER: The level of guilt and pain that I feel. And I've very sorry I've put everyone in this position.
FRATES (voice-over): And this year, the FBI launched investigation into allegations Weiner exchanged sexually explicit text messages with an underage girl.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He'd ask me to undress. He started talking sexually.
FRATES (voice-over): Abedin and Weiner have since separated after six years of marriage but the political damage was already done.
DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Who is Huma married to?
One of the great sleazebags of our time, Anthony Weiner.
Did you know that?
No, think of it. So Huma is getting classified secrets; she's married to Anthony Weiner, who's a perv.
FRATES (voice-over): Chris Frates, CNN, Washington.
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HOWELL: This latest twist in the e-mail controversy could be called an October surprise. CNN's Tom Foreman looks at some of the most memorable October surprises from past campaigns.
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TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's been a while since we've had so many unexpected news events so late in an election cycle but we certainly have had surprises before.
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FOREMAN (voice-over): A raging storm on the East Coast, a sex scandal in D.C. and a nuclear test in China, each has been an October surprise, a big news event in the autumn of a presidential election that threatens to change the outcome.
Late 2008 saw one.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: $1.8 trillion: that is how much investors, including any of you with stocks in a retirement plan, lost today.
FOREMAN: As the stock markets dive and the recession roars, Republican John McCain insists...
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R), ARIZONA & FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The fundamentals of our economy are strong.
FOREMAN: -- and his once-tight race with Barack Obama becomes a Democratic blowout.
Four years later, fall reveals an audio tape of Republican Mitt Romney characterizing half the voters as dependent on government hand outs.
MITT ROMNEY, (R), FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR & FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what.
FOREMAN: The president lost to re-election.
The term "October surprise" gained popularity 44 years ago this week. In 1972, Richard Nixon's national security adviser, Henry Kissinger, had late news about the unpopular Vietnam War.
HENRY KISSINGER, FORMER NIXON NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: We believe that peace is at hand.
FOREMAN: He is wrong. The war goes on, but so does Nixon's presidency.
And we have had October surprises ever since.
In 1980, many think Jimmy Carter will be boosted over Ronald Reagan by the release of the American hostages in Iran. The surprise, it does not happen until after Reagan has won.
1992, Reagan's successor, George H.W. Bush, is just days away from the vote when a top Reagan team member is indicted over the Iran- Contra affair. Democrat Bill Clinton takes the White House.
2000, Clinton's vice-president, Al Gore, is battling George W. Bush. Republican strategists are certain Bush can move ahead. Then news emerges Bush was arrested 24 years earlier for drunk driving.
FOREMAN: In the popular vote, the race winds up a tie, but Bush ultimately wins.
So the backwash of that October surprise?
A Halloween trick-or-treat, depending on how you look at it -- Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
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HOWELL: Tom, thank you.
For the first time in the United States, the Supreme Court will hear arguments involving transgender issues. The case centers on a public school district in the U.S. State of Virginia. It wants to stop a female-born transgender student from using the boy's bathroom.
A lower court ruled in favor of the student who identifies as male. It found that federal laws ban sex discrimination in schools. Supreme Court justices agreed to hear the school board's appeal.
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HOWELL: Still ahead a close call in the skies between Syria -- in Syria, rather -- between the United States and Russia. What it could mean down the road.
Plus: Venezuela's embattled president uses threats and incentives to partially derail a nationwide strike.
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HOWELL: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm George Howell.
It was a close call between the United States and Russian planes in Syria. No one was hurt. But experts say incidents like this could have damaging diplomatic impact as they fight against ISIS. Barbara Starr has more for us.
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BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Near catastrophe in the skies over Syria, when a U.S. and Russian aircraft flew dangerously close to each other in a previously undisclosed incident. The closest call yet in this conflict.
The head of U.S. Air Forces in the region called it a "near miss" collision in the middle of the night.
But mixed messages from the U.S. military.
COL. JOHN DORRIAN, SPOKESMAN, OPERATION INHERENT RESOLVE: I don't think that it was perceived to be a danger.
STARR: The U.S. believes it wasn't a deliberate provocation by Moscow but even if it's just bad navigation --
COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: The risk of a disaster is certainly a very high one in a combat environment like this.
STARR: Both planes were flying on October 17th --
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STARR: -- at hundreds of miles an hour. The Russian fighter crossed less than half a mile in front of a U.S. surveillance aircraft. The two sides spoke about the incident. The U.S. says the Russian pilot didn't even know the U.S. plane was there.
The U.S. and Russia previously agreed they would keep a distance of three miles between aircraft and an altitude separation of 3,000 feet. That bubble is now violated about every ten days by the Russians according to U.S. military officials.
LEIGHTON: Because tensions are so high between United States and Russia, even an accident, a true accident could very well spin out of control.
STARR: In Iraq, new concerns that around Mosul, ISIS is taking civilians and using them as human shields.
DORRIAN: What's happening is as they fall back into the city, apparently, they are taking some of the local residents as human shields. So this is something that we try to stop, when we can or put a stop to it.
STARR: The U.S. recently struck 50 vehicles outside Mosul that ISIS was going to use to move captive civilians -- Barbara Starr, CNN, The Pentagon.
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HOWELL: The embattled Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, has delivered a blow to his rivals. Their plans for a sweeping nationwide strike on Friday was far from a success. That may be because the controversial president made threats and also made some new promises.
CNN's Shasta Darlington takes a closer look for us.
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SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Venezuela's president Nicolas Maduro managed to knock the wind out of a general strike by threatening to seize control of companies that participated and by announcing a 40 percent increase in minimum wage, aimed at easing some of the anger and frustration that many Venezuelans feel.
Now that doesn't mean that some establishments didn't close their doors; the streets were more empty than usual and some students didn't go to school but it was far from the crippling paralyzation (sic) that the opposition had hoped for. Maduro even got an important show of force with a large pro-government rally, vowing to stand by him.
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NICOLAS MADURO, PRESIDENT OF VENEZUELA (through translator): And I can tell you today, at this hour, that the strike summoned by the fascist right has been a failure.
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DARLINGTON: That doesn't mean, however, that the pressure is off. The opposition is furious after the government blocked efforts to hold a national referendum that could have seen Maduro voted out of office this year.
They've been staging massive demonstrations; they now say they're going to march on the presidential palace next Thursday unless the government reverses its decisions and there are concerns that things could get ugly with the vice president calling on government supporters to show up in the same place at the same time.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): You're thinking that you will go out there and oust Maduro but we will be there ensuring that Maduro is not leaving, that Maduro will continue to be president.
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DARLINGTON: All parties have agreed to sit down for talks on Sunday. Those talks will be mediated by the Vatican. But at this point it just seems that there's so little that they agree on -- Shasta Darlington, CNN, Rio de Janeiro.
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HOWELL: Columbia says that it's making progress towards saving a peace deal with the Marxist rebels known as the FARC, both sides are back at the negotiating table in Havana, they're trying to come up with a new deal after voters rejected the last one. Opponents say the original agreement was too easy on the rebels, who waged a long and bloody insurgency.
In my home state of Texas, there's a campaign ad that you would actually want to see, a motormouth politician and his long-suffering wife. Her plan to get him to tone it down and get him out of the house. That story ahead.
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HOWELL: For the first time in 71 years, a World Series game was played at legendary Wrigley Field in Chicago. But the Cleveland Indians spoiled the Cubs' historic home game beating them 1-0 on Friday. Pinch-hitter Coco Crisp hit a single in the 7th inning to bring in the lone run.
Cleveland now leads the best of the seven series 2-1. The teams play again Saturday in Chicago.
A man in Texas loves his job as county commissioner and he won't shut up about it and it's driving his wife insane. So CNN's Jeanne Moos reports she has joined a campaign to get him reelected and to get him out of the house really.
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JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Had enough of Trump bashing Clinton?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): How did Hillary end up filthy rich? MOOS: And Clinton bashing Trump?
SEN. MARCO RUBIO, (R), FLORIDA: He's a con artist.
MITT ROMNEY, (R), FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR & FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A phony.
MOOS: Maybe you would prefer a political ad in which a wife begs voters to relieve her of her husband.
GERALD DAUGHERTY, TRAVIS COUNTY, TEXAS, COUNTY COMMISSIONER: It costs $103 a day.
CHARLYN DAUGHERTY, GERALD'S WIFE: Gerald really doesn't have hobbies.
GERALD DAUGHERTY: Last year, tax rate was 1.469.
CHARLYN DAUGHERTY: Is he always like that?
Yes, all the time.
MOOS: He is Gerald Daugherty, a Republican running to be a Travis County, Texas, commissioner, with a little eye-rolling help from his wife of 21 years.
MOOS (on camera): Does your wife roll her eyes that often?
GERALD DAUGHERTY: She actually does. She didn't have to take two or three takes on that.
CHARLYN DAUGHERTY: Most people leave work at the office.
GERALD DAUGHERTY: We have three light rail cars. You can put 60 people on each car, even if you add two cars.
MOOS: Do you like your light rail cars well done?
GERALD DAUGHERTY: My opponent, I asked is there anything he didn't like about the ad and he said I think the meat was overcooked.
MOOS (voice-over): Gerald's political consultant dreamed up the ad, inspired by the office that took six hours to shoot. The neighbors were played by friends.
CHARLYN DAUGHERTY: All he wants to do is fix things.
GERALD DAUGHERTY: Quite frankly, it is not a code violation.
I think I like to help --
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GERALD DAUGHERTY: -- around the house here.
CHARLYN DAUGHERTY: Please re-elect Gerald. Please.
MOOS: Gerald thinks his ad went viral because humor takes the edge off the rancor of the campaign.
MOOS (on camera): Do you think your wife really wants to get you out of the house?
GERALD DAUGHERTY: Oh, absolutely. She does love me a lot but she loves me away.
CHARLYN DAUGHERTY: Please re-elect Gerald.
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN --
CHARLYN DAUGHERTY: Please.
MOOS: -- New York.
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HOWELL: You get the expression there. I'm from Travis County, Texas, Austin. And you know, just nice to see creativity coming out of that campaign as opposed to the very bitter campaign that many Americans are dealing with right now. Ten days until Election Day.
The International Space Station has a new commander. NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough -- in the burgundy shirt -- is now in charge of the operation. He takes over from a Russian cosmonaut, who joined -- joked about his time in space. Listen here.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I kind of reluctant to close the hatch because, being on the space station is a very unique experience. And, first of all, I didn't have time to know what's going on on our planet. And second, maybe it is for the better.
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HOWELL: The Russian, along with an American and a Japanese astronaut, head back home to Earth later this Saturday.
That wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm George Howell at the CNN Center in Atlanta. I'll be back after the break with more news from around the world. We always thank you for watching CNN, the world's news leader.
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