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Trump: FBI Director Has Guts: Iraqi Troops Recapture More Territory from ISIS; South Korea's Political Turmoil: Woman at Center of Scandal Returns to Seoul; Venezuelan Government and Opposition Hold Talks; How Huma Abedin Became Clinton's Trusted Adviser. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired November 01, 2016 - 00:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:00:12] ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: This is "CNN NEWSROOM" live from Los Angeles. Ahead this hour, Donald Trump says the FBI director has guts. Hillary Clinton says he doesn't have a case. And Election Day now one week out.

Iraqi troops recapture more territory from ISIS. Now only hundreds of meters from Mosul. And the woman at the center of South Korea's political crisis begs forgiveness, but her tears may not put out the fires of protest against the country's president.

Hello, and welcome to our viewers all around the world, I'm Ishay Sesay. "NEWSROOM L.A." starts right now.

A preliminary review of newly discovered e-mails belonging to one of Hillary Clinton's top aides will probably only take a few days, but sifting through those e-mails for possible classified information could last beyond Election Day, just over a week away. Clinton herself has been defiant toward the renewed FBI scrutiny. On Monday, she predicted there is no case here. The e-mails belonging to Huma Abedin were found on the computer of her estranged husband, Arnthony Weiner. Abedin's lawyer say she has not been contacted by the FBI but when she is, the attorney say, she'll be, quote, forthcoming and cooperative. The Clinton campaign has been demanding more information from FBI Director James Comey. A law enforcement official say Comey will not comment further until the investigation is concluded. More now from CNN's Jim Sciutto.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF U.S. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: CNN has learned agents at FBI facilities in Quantico are now combing over thousands of e-mails on a laptop belonging to disgraced congressman Anthony Weiner and his estranged wife, Huma Abedin, key aide to Hillary Clinton. Just eight days from the election, the FBI has now obtained a warrant to search those e-mails found in a separate investigation of Weiner for allegedly sexting with a minor. Officials tell CNN that Comey was made aware of the e-mails in mid-October but only went to Congress with the information after he was given a fuller briefing on Thursday. The White House walking a fine line, praising Director Comey's character ...

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Director Comey is a man of integrity, he's a man of principle, he's a man who is well regarded by senior officials in both parties.

SCIUTTO: ... but communicating the importance of FBI traditions, limiting public discussion of ongoing investigations especially close to an election.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Would not the White House say let's put more information out there then?

EARNEST: I think that was the hope that Director Comey had. That was his stated hope of sending the letter in the first place.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But clearly it's not enough.

EARNEST: Well, clearly had the opposite of the intended effect.

SCIUTTO: Comey's decision to go public so close to Election Day has drawn fire from Democrats and Republicans including George W. Bush's attorney general Alberto Gonzales who spoke to CNN.

ALBERTO GONZALES, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I really worry that in this particular instance the FBI director has made an error in judgment in terms of releasing this kind of letter which really says nothing.

SCIUTTO: However, when Comey testified on the Hill in September after recommending not to bring charges against Clinton, the FBI director did hint he would investigate if he discovered new evidence.

REP. LAMAR SMITH, (R) TEXAS: Could you re-open the Clinton investigation if you discovered new information that was both relevant and substantial?

JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: It's hard for me to answer in the abstract. We would certainly look at any new and substantial information.

SCIUTTO: Officials with knowledge of the investigation say that sorting through these e-mails electronically, that could go very quickly. They could use technology, it could be done within a few days but others steps determining whether there's classified information for instance contained in these e-mails, that requires judgment calls, it requires the opinion of several different intelligence agencies. That's going to take much more time. It's why many say it's extremely unlikely this is done before Election Day.

Jim Sciutto, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Well, joining me now, CNN Law Enforcement Contributor Steve Moore. He was a supervisory special agent for the FBI before he retired. Steve, my friend, good to have you here with us. STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: Good to be here, thanks.

SESAY: How are you reading this decision by James Comey to notify lawmakers of this e-mail review?

MOORE: I think people are getting this way wrong because maybe they don't understand how the FBI works. They are saying that James Comey, on 11 days before the election, got notification that there were some e-mails out there floating around that could be pertinent to the Hillary Clinton case and notified Congress that he was re-opening the investigation. No, that's not what happened. Two weeks beforehand, he was notified of these e-mails. If he was of a mind to simply re- open the investigation and notify Congress, he would have done it two weeks before.

[00:00:05] What he did is say, look harder, tell me how serious this is, because we're getting into an election. The agents then came back to him two weeks later with information on what they had found, not this ephemeral e-mails that might be pertinent and he re-opened the investigation.

As a supervisor, I can tell you that I opened and closed investigations. To open or re-open an investigation, you have to have two things. You have to have a reasonable indication that a crime has occurred, and you have to have reasonable indication that the person you're investigating did the crime. But re-opening has one more thing it needs, information not previously obtained. So people who say these might be the same old things, they're wrong because you can't open the case, re-open the case on that.

SESAY: He has himself said though. He has made clear they may or may not be related Steve to the initial investigation into Hillary Clinton's e-mails. But I think the question people have, and that people are puzzled by is the fact he would do this so close to an election. That even if it wasn't his intention to meddle that could be the unintended consequence here and has Senator Harry Reid saying that he may have contravened the Hatch Act. Did he?

MOORE: Harry Reid is much closer to the "National Inquirer" than he is "The Oracle" at Delphi, first of all. But he -- the director has come nowhere near the Hatch Act. He -- at worst, and I'm not saying this is the case ...

SESAY: And just to we tell our viewers, the Hatch Act is a law set in place barring political activity by federal employees, correct?

MOORE: Yes. What Harry Reid would have to believe is that there was an intent to influence the election on behalf of Donald Trump. That would be the crime. And that is a huge stretch for anybody. I will say, you know, I'm not a political person here, I'm an FBI former special agent. I think that talking about this and releasing that information 11 days before the election is one of the most extreme things that the FBI has ever done. And so, if James Comey does not have good, hard information, or at least a smoke from possibly a smoking gun, then this could be one of the great miscalculations. SESAY: Are you satisfied with what was put out there? Senator Chuck Grassley, leading Republican senator has said the information is insufficient and it leaves room for speculation. How satisfied are you with the statements put out surrounding the FBI's actions? Does that give you pause?

MOORE: I don't know whether a statement should have been made. The FBI as a matter of course does not tell people when they start and end investigations. They just don't.

SESAY: So why now?

MOORE: I think because -- and imagine this scenario, imagine there is a smoking gun in there. I'm not alleging there is. I think there might be. But if there is a smoking gun and Hillary Clinton went on to be elected and two weeks afterwards, the FBI brought charges against her, or even asked for a special prosecutor, imagine the outcry of saying, wait a minute, you knew this a month before the election and didn't tell the American people. That would be a crisis.

SESAY: And does it strike you as odd, according to our Pamela Brown, what she is hearing from her sources that James Comey acted over the objections of DOJ officials ...

MOORE: That doesn't surprise me at all.

SESAY: It doesn't?

MOORE: Doesn't. Listen, when I was an agent, one thing we knew is the Department of Justice was risk averse. And so if we had a case that we really believed in and we knew that DOJ probably wasn't going to go for it, we would not discuss it with DOJ until we had made the case. And then we would go to them with our evidence and then they couldn't turn it down. We would say, we can prove it, this is what happened, here's the evidence, you can't look away now.

And so what the agents did, I believe, was went to Comey with information gained in those two weeks and said, we've got enough now, see, they can't -- how could they get a warrant for the other e-mails unless the e-mails they already had were significant? A judge has to issue that new warrant and if they were insignificant, that judge couldn't issue the warrant.

SESAY: But again, not confirmed, we don't know that. We're still waiting for more information.

MOORE: Of course, this is speculation.

SESAY: Speculation. We're hearing this process was likely not to be concluded until after the election. Why? I mean, (inaudible) using special technology, special software. First of all, talk to us about the software. And again, our viewers at home want to know why this won't be completed beforehand.

MOORE: Well, because if you're talking about an investigation of the leading candidate for president of the United States, you don't rush it. Number one, you want to get this right.

[00:10:07] The other reason is there's too much information to simply just wade through it and give a shorthand version. You just can't do that. So what they're going to be doing is going through every single one of these very carefully. And the frustrating thing here is the Clinton campaign is saying, and I'm not shilling for any campaign. I'm talking as an FBI agent. The campaign is saying show us the e- mails you have.

Well, if they have Huma Abedin's e-mail account, she could log on anywhere, any computer, and download what her stuff was that might have been on Anthony's computer. So to me, it's disingenuous to say what do you have because all Huma has to do is go download it and give it to the campaign.

SESAY: Yeah, I mean, that's a complication where we could go down ...

MOORE: I agree.

SESAY: ... what she says is pertinent and not pertinent. Simply put, and briefly put, should he speak out before the investigation is completed?

MOORE: No. He shouldn't speak out and I will say this, he is either Hillary Clinton is in some serious trouble or the FBI director has made one of the greatest FBI mistakes that I can recall. We're going to find out.

SESAY: All right. We're going to keep this conversation going. You'll be back next hour.

MOORE: I hope.

SESAY: Steve Moore, pleasure.

MOORE: Thanks.

SESAY: Thank you.

Well, the Clinton controversy's energizing Donald Trump's campaign. Despite having no idea what's actually in those e-mails, the Republican nominee says they are, "absolutely devastating" and he's hoping the uproar will sway voters his way. Sara Murray reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Donald Trump is betting on blue territory and cutting attacks to turn around his fortune.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I think we hit the mother load as they say. Hillary is the one who broke the law over and over and over again. We can be sure that what is in those e-mails is absolutely devastating. Thank you, Huma.

MURRAY: The GOP nominee seeking to capitalize on the latest FBI probe surrounding Hillary Clinton's e-mails. TRUMP: And I have to give the FBI credit. That was so bad what happened originally and it took guts for Director Comey to make the move that he made in light of the kind of opposition he had where they're trying to protect her from criminal prosecution. It took a lot of guts.

MURRAY: Insisting they'll reveal criminal activity, even though the FBI says it's too soon to tell whether the e-mails are even significant.

TRUMP: Hillary is likely to be under investigation for a very long time.

MURRAY: Trump hitting the trail today in Michigan, a state that hasn't voted Republican for president since 1988.

TRUMP: In eight days, we're going to win the great state of Michigan.

MURRAY: That as Trump's advisers acknowledge they need to flip at least one or two states that tilt blue. Adding stops in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, after popping by Colorado and New Mexico this weekend. But in between swipes at Clinton, Trump is still raising eyebrows with his conciliatory approach to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

TRUMP: And to Hillary, she has such a bad relationship with so many countries. Putin can't stand her. Doesn't respect her. They want to get ISIS. We want to get ISIS. We put everything together, we knock the hell out of ISIS. Wouldn't that be nice? Wouldn't it be smart?

MURRAY: As outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid accuses the FBI of covering up ties between Trump and Russia, without offering any evidence. In a letter to FBI Director James Comey, Reid says, "It has become clear that you possess explosive information about close ties and coordination between Donald Trump, his top advisers, and the Russian government. A foreign interest openly hostile to the United States which Trump praises at every opportunity."

As both sides trade barbs on the trail, they're also pointing to bright spots in early voting. Democrats are running ahead of their 2012 total in Colorado and they're cutting into the GOP's advantage in both Arizona and Florida. But so far, Republicans appear to have made gains in Iowa and Ohio compared to 2012.

Now, Michigan has lured in Republican presidential candidates in the past only to leave them feeling burned, but the Trump campaign says that their internal polls show things tightening, not only here, but in a number of other blue battleground states. And on Tuesday, trump will head to another few of those stretch states for him. He'll be campaigning in Pennsylvania and in Wisconsin.

Sara Murray, CNN, Warren, Michigan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Well, joining me now, political strategist Mac Zilber and Republican Consultant John Thomas. Gentlemen, so good to have you with us. John, let me start with you, does the timing of the -- before I get to the timing, let me ask you right off the bat what Steve Moore said, that this is either a case of Hillary Clinton being in serious trouble or the greatest miscalculation by an FBI director that he can remember. Your reaction to that statement.

[00:15:17] JOHN THOMAS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I think that calculous is right. I think Director Comey did the right thing despite the political consequences and I think the way he looked at it in speculation of course is, first of all he had two weeks or his team had two weeks to potentially review it. We don't know if there was a smoking gun in there or not. But I think he figured if it turns out -- if Hillary Clinton gets elected and later action occurs that she is found of criminal wrongdoing, that the American people will riot, not so much just against Hillary Clinton, but against the institution of the FBI. And so I think he was trying to protect the FBI in putting politics aside, quite frankly.

SESAY: Mac?

MAC ZILBER, POLITICAL STRATEGIST: So, I mean, the fact that Comey has been condemned not just by Democrats like Harry Reid, but by George W. Bush's ethics lawyer, George W. Bush's attorney general, over 30 state attorney generals I think weights this toward the end of the spectrum that he likely is the one who's messed up here. And Hillary Clinton has had no wrongdoing shown up until this point. Meanwhile, just today, we have another revelation on Donald Trump's taxes, breaking in "The New York Times" that he likely broke laws and hid tens of millions of dollars in reportable income. And yet, you know, the FBI is not going to drop an announcement like that.

SESAY: Let me just say that's "New York Times" reporting, not CNN reporting. I'll say that.

THOMAS: The Democratic Party and top ranking Democratic officials were praising Comey as the model of government service a few weeks ago but the tables have turned because you don't like where he's can (ph).

ZILBER: I think that Comey made a mistake when he came out in public the first time and I think he made a mistake when he came out in public the second time. I think the think the investigation should be done behind closed doors. Investigations should not be litigated in the public sphere, you know, several weeks before an election.

SESAY: Well, let me read you part of what Senator Chuck Grassley, powerful Republican lawmaker said in a letter to James Comey. Let's read that and put it up on our screen for our viewers in part. "Unfortunately, your letter failed to give Congress and the American people enough context to evaluate the significance or full meaning of this development. Without additional context, your disclosure is not fair to Congress, the American people or Secretary Clinton." Is he wrong, John?

THOMAS: Potentially. Look, I think both parties including Hillary Clinton are saying they want the e-mails released. Now, for different motives. You know, Donald Trump and Republicans believe there is a smoking gun and so please release the e-mails so we can use that to defeat her. Hillary Clinton is using it to force -- the appearance of transparency that she did no wrong. But Hillary Clinton's really walking a delicate line here. She's gone to full war with the FBI and that's dangerous. Because she might get just what she wished for. The "L.A. Times" reported tonight that a preliminary review that might have taken several weeks, they're going to rush a preliminary review in the next couple days. Now, they didn't say that whether or not they're going to make a statement of what they found, but if they do, and there is a smoking gun, she's finished.

SESAY: But isn't Grassley's point that the statement made by James Comey was too vague, that it has -- basically he's thrown it out there and the consequence is it has opened the door to speculation.

THOMAS: It has and I think both sides agree that more information should be put forth it.

ZILBER: Right. And let's remember who this is, Chuck Grassley was one of the very first senators who was willing to appear with Donald Trump. Before Donald Trump had cleared the field in the Republican primary, Grassley was holding fundraisers with Trump. So the fact that him, the top ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee is saying that Comey has done this wrong, the fact Glenn Beck said this was one of the most irresponsible things he's ever seen, show there is bipartisan the anger right now at James Comey.

THOMAS: He's either irresponsible Isha or it is very responsible because he might have a bombshell changing election that he had to report, he couldn't sit on.

SESAY: Let's read in part the statement put out by Huma Abedin's attorney because of course this in relation to e-mails found on her estranged husband's computer. It reads in part, "Ms. Abedin's willing cooperation has been praised by members of Congress and law enforcement officials alike. She only learned for first time on Friday from press reports of the possibility that her laptop belonging to Mr. Weiner could contain e-mails of hers. While the FBI has not contacted us about this, Ms. Abedin will continue to be as she always has been forthcoming and cooperative."

So John, here's the thing, we got the statement from Huma Abedin's attorney saying she will be forthcoming and cooperative. Some are now looking at James Comey and saying he is not being forthcoming and cooperative by refusing to put out more information until this investigation is done. Right call?

THOMAS: I think the question of how cooperative Ms. Abedin has been. It is a question, how, how come she didn't hand over this laptop ...

ZILBER: It's her ex-husband. I mean, when you have a divorce, do you typically keep track of all the devices that your ex has?

[00:20:05] THOMAS: Yeah, it's news to her but she wasn't forthcoming in providing that as part of the original investigation.

ZILBER: I think that most of us have exes or former roommates who have possessions of ours but we don't remember. I mean, divorces are messy and you're not going to keep track of every iPhone that your ex- husband has.

THOMAS: I believe they were together until just recently. It was a -- the recent allegation. This is not something 10 years ago, Mac.

SESAY: I mean, we don't know what they have, what the FBI is looking at. Again, we don't know if it's even pertinent (ph) so I think there's a lot of unanswered questions here. But we'll continue the conversation in the next hour. You guys definitely will be back. And we shall pick it up then. Thank you Mac, John, appreciate it.

All right, well, time for a quick break now. The Iraqi offensive to retake Mosul from ISIS has entered a new phase and the worst of the fighting is yet to come. An update on the advance, just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Almost three dozen record-setting temperatures from the Ohio River valley to the deep south as we're still running well above normal for this time of year.

Hello, everyone. I'm CNN meteorologist Karen Maginnis. Take a look at the warm sector of this system, a gradually frontal system sweeps across the great lakes into the northeast and that will cool those weather conditions down just a little bit, but a couple of more days of at or just above record-setting temperatures going to be very impressive. And a weather system moves out of the Gulf of Alaska into the Pacific Northwest keeping things unsettled there. Vancouver, some rain showers. We might expect a few lingering showers in San Francisco. Dallas, 29, Atlanta, 28, New York City, partly cloudy skies and 15, Chicago, partly cloudy, and Miami will be partly cloudy as well.

You see the big dip that happens for New York City. We go from temperatures in the tens and 20s only to around 10 degrees on Friday. We head a little bit further toward the south. Havana, partly cloudy, 29, Kingston, Jamaica, thunderstorms and 29 degrees expected there. And in South America, Bogota, typical round of afternoon and evening thunderstorms and in Brasilia, 28, Rio de Janeiro, sunshine, 32.

SESAY: Iraqi Special Forces are set to be just hundreds of meters away from Mosul and quickly closing in. It's been two weeks since the start of the major offensive to liberate Iraq's second largest city. ISIS has controlled Mosul for more than two years. The fighting is expected to intensify once troops get inside the city.

[00:25:03] Joining me via Skype, CNN military analyst, Retired Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona. Colonel Francona, thank you for being with us. So, they are rapidly approaching Mosul on three different fronts. Talk to me about the calculation for when they actually enter the city, when the right moment is militarily.

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, it could be any moment now. In fact, the Iraqi counterterrorism forces claim that they've already penetrated into the city into one neighborhood, the Karama neighborhood that's on the extreme eastern side of the city. And so, I think things are going really according to schedule, maybe even ahead of schedule. But the problem is, as you say, they're attacking on three sides. There's one side that's still open. That's that western approach. And they're trying to get one of these Iraqi Shia militias up there to block that road at Tal Afar which is about 60 kilometers west of Mosul. And they got to block that escape route for ISIS to get into Syria. They've also got to prevent resupply coming in from Syria. So once that is blocked off, then they'll have the city surrounded and I think that's when we'll see the move to actually go into the city. So that's going to be a few more days yet.

SESAY: Well, we talked about this briefly in the past, that operating on multiple fronts is a challenge for coordination for so many different parties.

FRANCONA: Yeah, and this is where the American advisers down at battalion level are invaluable because they're good at this and they're helping the Iraqis with the advise and assist mission making sure that command and control. We brought in a lot of the communications and logistics support and this is where we can really help the Iraqis also with bringing in the air power where it's need.

So I think they're being very effective. You know, we were all very concerned about how the Iraqis were going to actually approach Mosul and how long that was going to take. And they've done a really good job. This Iraqi counterterrorism force that is actually on the outskirts of the city, they're the elite unit. U.S. Special Operations trained. So I think they will -- they will wait just a few more days until everything is in place and they'll start penetrating slowly. But as you said, the intense fighting has yet to begin. Once they get into that city, then they get into that rabbit warren, the booby traps, mine fields, oil trenches, and snipers that ISIS has prepared over the last 2 1/2 years.

SESAY: You mentioned the U.S. aerial power. How does the role of that shift given what we're talking about, moving this conflict into an urban setting? These rabbit warren that you mentioned, this kind of close contact.

FRANCONA: Yeah, that's a real problem. When they're on the outskirts and you're operating out in the open, the air power can be much more devastating, much more effective. But once you get into the city, you have to worry about civilian casualties and we know that ISIS is going to use human shields. They've already used it in certain instances but you have to be very careful when you employ airpower in urban area.

So, we have special ammunitions for that but still, it's going to limit the effectiveness of the air power and it's going to revert to a ground war, it's going to be house by house, street by street. And this is where the Iraqis are going to have to go slowly, methodically, carefully but in the end, the Iraqis have the skill and the power to do this.

SESAY: And you're confident of that, that they do have the skills and the power to do that?

FRANCONA: I am. You know, we've had two years to rebuild the Iraqi Army and we put a lot of money, a lot of effort into this. And the Iraqis weren't just starting from scratch. There was residual capability there and I think that we've done a very good job of getting them back up to speed. And look at the numbers though. The numbers are overwhelming. The Iraqis have really put everything they have into this. They're going to retake Mosul. The question is, and I think it's an important question is, what is the human cost of this going to be? What's it going to do to the infrastructure, how many civilian casualties are we going to have?

And the Iraqis have to be very careful because if we look at what happened in the past, Ramadi, Fallujah, Tikrit, Baiji are examples of how the Iraqis are going to do this, they cause a lot of infrastructure damage, a lot of civilian casualties and I think with the American advisers there, we're going to try and caution them to do this in a much more methodical, much more less costly manner.

SESAY: Colonel Francona, we always appreciate the insight. Thank you so much.

FRANCONA: Good to be with you Isha.

SESAY: Now, the woman at the center of a political scandal in South Korea returns to the country to face questions. A quick break. The details just ahead.

Plus, Venezuela's president and his political foes are talking for the first time in two years to defuse the country's crisis. The progress made after their first meeting. We will bring you the details. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:33:00] SESAY: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles, I'm Isha Sesay. The headline this hour.

Iraqi troops are quickly closing in on Mosul and are said to be hundreds of meters away. It's been two weeks since Iraqi-led forces launched the major offensive to reclaim the city from ISIS. The battles are expected to be even more intense once troops get inside Mosul.

Israeli military says three of its soldiers were wounded, one of them seriously when a gunman opened fire with an AK-47 assault rifle. The shooting happened at an Israeli defense force checkpoint near Ramallah. The shooter was identified in the Israeli press as a Palestinian police officer, who was shot and killed.

Officials say the FBI's review of e-mails belonging to a close aide of Hillary Clinton won't be completed until after Election Day. The e- mails are being screened for possible classified information. Law enforcement sources say FBI Director James Comey, who broke the news about the e-mails on Friday, won't comment further until the review is done.

After going months without a head of state, Lebanon finally has a new president. Former Army General Michel Aoun was sworn in Monday after parliamentary vote. Lebanon's presidency had been vacant largely because of political differences over the war in Syria. Michel Aoun sides with Hezbollah, a staunch ally of the Syrian regime.

And now to the political turmoil gripping South Korea. The president's shadowy confidant has returned to the capital to meet with prosecutors. And she made a startling and emotional announcement.

Alexandra Field explains what happened and what this could mean for President Park.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on-camera): Park Geun-hye's approval rating has plummeted to an all-time low. The South Korean president embroiled in a scandal that has thousands of protesters calling for her resignation.

Now the other woman at the center of that controversy has returned to South Korea to answer questions from a prosecutor's office which is promising a quick and thorough investigation.

Choi Soon-sil was mobbed by the media and by demonstrators when she made her way in to see investigators. The woman fought back tears. She offered apologies and she said that she had committed what she called a deadly sin.

[00:35:07] Choi and Park have been friends for decades. Choi is the daughter of a man who is well-known as a cult leader in South Korea. He's believed to have had a lot of influence over the Park Family and he was considered a mentor to President Park

Just last week the president publicly made her own apology saying that Choi who is not a government employee had been given access to classified documents.

With thousands of people taking to the streets of Seoul this week saying that the president is unfit to serve, she's trying to stem the bleeding. Just this week, the president ordered the resignation of all of her secretaries. She has yet to appoint new secretaries to those posts.

Alexandra Field, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Turning now to Venezuela and the president and opposition parties met well into Monday morning in an effort to resolve their political standoff. The Vatican mediated the first talks in two years. Despite strained relations, Washington even sent an envoy to encourage the dialogue.

Shasta Darlington reports, a major protest is scheduled for later this week.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on-camera): A top U.S. diplomat is now throwing his support behind talks in Venezuela.

Tom Shannon, the undersecretary of state for political affairs will be in Caracas through Wednesday showing his support for the national dialogue between the government and opposition leaders.

Embattled President Nicolas Maduro sat down with some members of the opposition late Sunday raising hopes that a potentially violent standoff can be averted. Now, this was just a first step. Some opposition leaders boycotted the talks. Others said it was nothing more than an exploratory meeting, but the fact is they shook hands and they even set up subcommittees to deal with some of the most contentious issues.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICOLAS MADURO, VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT: We come here willing to listen and hopefully be listened to and found points in the common interest of the great majority of the country of the national interests. I think that this is not the time for long speeches, but rather to assume a deep commitment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DARLINGTON: The problem is the opposition's main demand is reviving a recall referendum. They're hoping to have Maduro voted out of office this year, but his government blocked the efforts to hold this referendum just over a week ago, sparking massive demonstrations.

The opposition said it would march on the presidential palace this Thursday unless the government reversed its decision and government supporters said they would turn out and defend the palace really setting the stage for possibly violent clashes.

Now, during the talks, both sides said they were going to tone down the rhetoric. It's not clear how that will affect Thursday's protests, maybe a lower turnout, maybe no violence, but it sends a positive message.

At the same time, they set up these four subcommittees to deal with everything from the electoral process, to the economy. Those begin work immediately and all parties will sit down again on November 11th.

Shasta Darlington, CNN, Rio de Janeiro.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Still ahead, she's staying out of view, but the spotlight is on Huma Abedin. A closer look at Hillary Clinton's closest adviser, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:40:30] SESAY: Hello, everyone.

Just one week until this election is over. This historic election. Hillary Clinton's aide Huma Abedin is at the center of the biggest controversy hanging over the campaign.

Sunlen Serfaty looks at how Abedin became one of Clinton's most trusted advisers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have a great time.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For the last two decades, it has been Hillary and Huma. One of Clinton's longest serving and most loyal aides, a permanent fixture in Clinton's daily orbit.

It was 1996 when the two first met, Clinton then first lady; Abedin, a white house intern. Abedin was born in Michigan but raised in Saudi Arabia. She came back to the U.S. to attend college in Washington. Accepting a prestigious White House internship, assigned to work with the first lady's chief-of-staff.

Their bond and trust forged during that time, turned into a partnership that would outlast many of Clinton's other relationships. Huma has remained by her side ever since. Working on Clinton's Senate run. Her 2008 presidential bid as the candidate's essential right- hand woman on the campaign trail, in the State Department --

HUMA ABEDIN, HILLARY CLINTON AIDE: And with that, I'll be making no further comments.

SERFATY: Traveling the world alongside Clinton as her deputy chief- of-staff.

HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Unconfirmed, yes.

SERFATY: And rising now to vice chairwoman of the Clinton campaign.

ABEDIN: She's on the road a lot. And I just, you know, there to help keep it all together and help people be at their best including my boss.

SERFATY: Their connection goes beyond work. They are friends. E- mails released by the State Department show a flood of correspondence between the two highlighting their closeness.

One in 2009 shows Clinton e-mailing Huma to come over to her house in D.C. for a chat, quote, "I'm up now, so come when you're able. Just knock on the door to the bedroom if it's closed.

And other casual exchanges. The two checking in on each other in the middle of the night. "You still awake?" Huma emails. "Are you?" "Just woke up and saw this," Clinton responds. And others almost read like gossipy girlfriends. Huma once writing in the subject line "All good here. Have lots of stories."

Clinton has been known to refer to Huma as a second daughter. And it was Clinton who first introduced Huma to former Congressman Anthony Weiner.

When the two wed in 2010, their wedding officiated by Bill Clinton.

Later it was Hillary Clinton who helped Huma through the public fall of her now estranged husband over his sexting scandals.

ABEDIN: Our marriage, like many others, has had its ups and its downs. It took a lot of work and a whole lot of therapy to get to a place where I could forgive Anthony.

SERFATY: Sunlen Serfaty, CNN, Washington.

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SESAY: Well, thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay. "World Sport" is up next. And I'll be back with another hour of news from right around the world. You're watching CNN.

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