Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Trump Not Limiting Probe of Kavanaugh; Indonesia Quake Tsunami; Women Respond to Kavanaugh Hearing; Stained Glass Tribute Fit for a Queen. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired September 30, 2018 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The FBI probe into President Trump's Supreme Court pick is in full swing. Investigators already reached out to another accuser of Brett Kavanaugh.
NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): A dramatic surge in the number of known victims after a devastating earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia.
HOWELL (voice-over): New video shows frantic rescue efforts by U.S. Navy sailors after a jet plunged into the sea in Micronesia.
ALLEN (voice-over): These are among the stories we have for you this hour. Welcome to our viewers in the U.S. and all around the world, coming to you live from Atlanta, I'm Natalie Allen.
HOWELL (voice-over): I'm George Howell from CNN World Headquarters, NEWSROOM starts right now.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
ALLEN: Thank you, again, for joining us.
We begin with the FBI investigation into allegations surrounding U.S. President Trump's Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh. Mr. Trump is blasting reports that he is limiting the investigation, tweeting late Saturday, "The FBI may interview whom they deem appropriate."
The president authorized the investigation Friday at the Senate Judiciary Committee's request to look into allegations of sexual misconduct and sexual assault.
HOWELL: Christine Blasey Ford told the committee Thursday that Kavanaugh drunkenly pinned her down to a bed, tried to take her clothes off at a party when they were both teenagers.
And another woman, Deborah Ramirez has said Kavanaugh exposed himself to her when they were both in college. At a rally in West Virginia, Mr. Trump accused Democrats of railroading Kavanaugh. And he mocked top Democrat Dianne Feinstein's insistence that she did not leak a letter from Christine Ford.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Remember Dianne Feinstein, did you leak -- remember her answer.
Did you leak the document?
What?
No, no, I didn't -- well, wait one minute. Did we -- oh, oh. No, we didn't leak.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: President Trump also told people at the rally, a vote for Kavanaugh's nomination is a vote to reject what he calls -- and I do quote here -- "ruthless and outrageous tactics of the Democratic Party," end quote.
ALLEN: That's where he's putting his focus and mocking Senator Feinstein there as well. And called on the crowd to turn out at the polls in the upcoming November midterms. CNN's Boris Sanchez has more from the rally.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here at a rally in Wheeling, West Virginia, President Trump calling his nominee to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court a brilliant man with incredible character, saying that judge Brett Kavanaugh suffered tremendously at the hands of Democrats who were seeking to obstruct and destroy for the sake of power. The president nom mentioning, though, Christine Blasey Ford or any of her accusations about judge Kavanaugh. President walking a fine line defending his nominee but also suggesting that his accusations are politically motivated. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The entire nation has witnessed the shameless conduct of the Democrat Party. They are willing to throw away every standard of decency, justice, fairness and due process to get their way. They don't care how they get it. You see it happening before your eyes. I think it's actually an incredible thing that's happening. And I just hope you don't sit home, because bad things will happen if you sit home.
This week, America also saw something else. On Thursday, the American people saw the brilliant and really incredible character, quality and courage of our nominee for the United States Supreme Court, Judge Brett Kavanaugh. A vote to confirm judge Kavanaugh is a vote to confirm one of the most accomplished legal minds of our time, a jurist with a sterling record of public service.
(END VIDEO CLIP) Another name the president did not mention here in West Virginia, Arizona senator Jeff Flake, who sources inside the White House tell CNN that the president blames for the delay in confirming Judge Kavanaugh.
The president did tout his endorsement of Republican Patrick Morrissey, who is running in West Virginia for the Senate against Democrat Joe Manchin. The president touting successes he's made in the economy, the unemployment rate, et cetera, asking supporters here to go out and defend his agenda in November.
He put it bluntly at the start of his rally, saying that though --
[04:05:00]
SANCHEZ: -- he is not running in November, really he is -- Boris Sanchez, CNN, traveling with the president in Wheeling, West Virginia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: The FBI investigation is supposed to be finished no later than next Friday.
HOWELL: Sources tell CNN three key senators set the terms of the investigation. A Republican aide says the FBI's findings are expected to be private and available to senators, not the public.
ALLEN: Then senators will move forward toward a yea or nay vote on Kavanaugh's nomination. We get more about it from CNN's Kara Scannell.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: An FBI investigation against allegations of sexual assault by Brett Kavanaugh is underway. A lawyer for one of the women who has accused Kavanaugh tells CNN he has been contacted by the FBI and his client, Deborah Ramirez, will cooperate with the investigation.
Ramirez alleges kava exposed himself during a party while they were classmates at Yale. Kavanaugh has denied the allegations.
The White House has ordered the FBI to conduct a supplemental background investigation of Kavanaugh that is limited in time and scope. The heart of the matter are the allegations by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. She alleges Kavanaugh assaulted her during a house party while in high school.
How this works if the FBI will fan out agents around the country to conduct interviews with any potential witnesses. Three people of the people Blasey Ford said were in the House at the time of the alleged assault have said through their attorneys that they will cooperate with the investigation.
None of them remembered the assault and Kavanaugh has vehemently denied the allegations. This is not a criminal investigation. So the FBI cannot compel anyone to talk to them and they will not reach any conclusions about the allegations of the assault.
But the FBI will submit 302s. Those are the forms that agents fill out summarizing their interviews, impressions and observations from when they talked to these potential witnesses.
Those documents will go to the White House and ultimately to the senators as they make their decisions later this week whether to confirm Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court -- Kara Scannell, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOWELL: Let's bring in Scott Lucas to talk about this. Scott, a professor of international politics at the University of Birmingham in England. Also the founder and editor of ""EA WorldView," joining us this hour from Birmingham, England.
Pleasure to have you, Scott. We know this FBI investigation is well under way. Agents have already reached out to Deborah Ramirez to follow up on her claim.
A third woman, Julie Swetnick, has not yet been contacted, according to her attorney. President Trump said the process could be a, quote, "blessing in disguise, so could it work in advantage to his favor?
Or is this just the typical political spin that one might hear?
SCOTT LUCAS, UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM: Certainly the White House and key Republicans in the Senate were trying to steer it to their advantage. And they're doing it in two ways, according to sources close to the investigation.
The first is they are limiting the witnesses who can be interviewed by the FBI because the White House can set the parameters of the investigation. According to the sources, they said, look, the White House gave a list to the agency. That list appears to include Deborah Ramirez, who made the second allegation against Brett Kavanaugh, but does not include Julie Swetnick, who made the widest ranging allegations against Kavanaugh, which, just to remind viewers, involve claims -- and I stress they are claims -- that Kavanaugh was present at parties where vulnerable women were drugged and gang raped.
Now if Swetnick is not interviewed and if people around that incident are not interviewed, clearly the investigation is being constrained. The FBI also has been told, according to the sources, they cannot question people at the Safeway where Kavanaugh's friend, Mark Judge, worked, which is an important question because it would establish the timing of the alleged assault on Christine Blasey Ford, which we've said occurred in 1982.
Beyond that, though, you heard the second bit of the strategy, which I think is just as important, that is Donald Trump and the White House and allied Republicans will attack the Democrats.
They can't attack Christine Blasey Ford because she was so impressive last week. So instead they will attack Dianne Feinstein. They will try to turn this on the Democrats, accusing them falsely, by the way, of leaking documents. Anything to divert from the core of the investigation.
Will it work?
Well, specifically the question is, what will those three undecided Republican senators, Jeff Flake, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins make of this?
Will they think a fair FBI investigation has been done?
Or will they think that in some way the White House is trying to tilt this just like it was trying to do up until the committee vote last Friday?
And will they react by blocking Kavanaugh's confirmation?
HOWELL: Scott, just one editor's note, we understand the White House pushing back against the reporting that is out there that they are providing a list of people for the FBI to review --
[04:10:00]
HOWELL: -- they're pushing back against that. We do understand this investigation limited to one week, we understand that it is also set to be focused on a particular group.
Let's talk about the Senate Judiciary Committee also, referring a false allegation against Brett Kavanaugh to the FBI and DOJ for criminal investigation. Now we don't know who the person is, Scott, but the allegation is separate from that of Christine Blasey Ford.
Still, should more allegations come forward and, if left unchecked, could that further cloud the path for Kavanaugh?
LUCAS: Well, right here, we got a contest, George. And you're absolutely right to bring up the White House denial that they're constraining the investigation. But in fact, what is going on is a tug of war here. And that is there was a fourth allegation reportedly made to the Judiciary Committee last week. But it was made by an unnamed woman.
Now whether that is the specific "false allegation" -- in quotes -- that is being reported by the Judiciary Committee, we'll have to wait and see.
But, again, what is clear is that the Republicans who support Kavanaugh will want to shift this toward the idea that allegations are false, without naming Ford, without naming Deborah Ramirez, for example; whereas the Democrats, of course, will maintain the focus on the idea of, look, these are credible allegations, not proven but credible and try to establish the idea that that investigation by the FBI comes first before any attempt to politically spin it.
HOWELL: Scott Lucas, live in Birmingham, England. Thank you, again, for your time and perspective. We'll keep in touch with you. LUCAS: Thank you, George.
ALLEN: Back now to the rally where the president spoke in West Virginia, from the Supreme Court to love letters. He had a lot to say including this about North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You know, the interesting, what I did is -- and I was really being tough and so was he. And we go back and forth and then we fell in love. OK? No, really. He wrote me beautiful letters. And they're great letters.
We fell in love.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: Love is in the air.
Well, will love be enough?
We'll see. The U.S. Secretary of state Mike Pompeo says he will meet with Kim Jong-un next month to plan a second summit between the U.S. president Donald Trump and the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
A major earthquake and tsunami have decimated a city in Indonesia. And days later, the scale of the disaster is becoming more apparent.
ALLEN: That's coming up here. Plus, new video of a dramatic water rescue. U.S. Navy sailors rush to help save a planeload of people after their jet crashed just shy of the runway.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:15:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
HOWELL: Following the situation in Indonesia, the death toll there has doubled, this following a major earthquake and tsunami. The officials now say at least 832 people were killed in this disaster. Hundreds more seriously injured or are still missing.
Rescue teams are searching for survivors of the earthquake and tsunami that struck Sulawesi island on Friday.
ALLEN: As you can see from this video, the devastation goes on for an extended distance. Rescue workers still don't know the full scale of the damage. Some rural areas are inaccessible and communications are still down. We get more from CNN's Pauline Chiou.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULINE CHIOU, CNN HOST (voice-over): Sitting on the ground outside, a woman cries, panicked and rattled. Another aftershock has just struck in Palu, Indonesia. Others run on to the street, scared to remain indoors. Body bags line the road nearby, some of the hundreds killed since Friday's massive earthquake, made worse by the subsequent tsunami.
Videos captured the scene as the massive wave hit. Homes, buildings, cars and roads, all swept away by the tsunami, about 3 meters high. A before and after image shows the force of the wave and the quake, crumbling a steel bridge.
Survivors are combing through the vast wreckage left behind, looking for their belongings or for loved ones. The Indonesian president says he is sending military to help with search and rescue operations, hunting for survivors among the chaos and destruction further complicated by downed power and phone lines all over the region.
Makeshift hospitals desperately try to help all those wounded, one medical center so badly damaged, staff are treating people outside with sparse resources, working to prevent any more lives being lost, though officials warn the death toll could continue to climb. For Indonesia, the tragedy has become all too familiar. On the island of Lombok further south, an August earthquake killed more than 430 people, leaving a country reeling and shaken -- Pauline Chiou, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOWELL: CNN correspondent Will Ripley is following the story live in Hong Kong this hour.
Will, we just heard from Pauline Chiou pointing out that Joko Widodo, the president of Indonesia, is in Palu. The death toll has risen substantially.
What more are you learning?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we expect the numbers to get worse, as Natalie mentioned a moment ago, because of the fact that a lot of the communication lines are cut off and the roads were destroyed in the quake, which means some of the hardest hit rural areas, presumably there's nobody on the ground yet to get an assessment of the situation.
So you have the death toll jump more than double from 405 a few hours ago, now reported to be 832 with 540 people injured. You know, obviously the majority of the deaths, 821 of them were in Palu. It is a coastal city that was obviously rattled by the quake, perhaps more deadly and dangerous situation were the tsunami waves.
Three meters, around 10 feet, you know, crashing in; there was a terrifying video posted on social media, you can hear a man up on a higher level shouting to people on the street, trying to warn them as you saw the waves approaching. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language). [04:20:00]
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIPLEY: Moments later, when the wave actually hits and you see people who are still on the street, we don't know if they were able to get out of the way or not. His voice goes from that panicked sound, almost resignation, watching the devastation. Reminded me of being on the ground in Japan and the areas devastated by that tsunami in 2011.
So President Joko Widodo is on the ground, inspecting the damage. There are some new images just posted of him and he has obviously a lot to see. In addition to those killed and injured, around 17,000 people, possibly more, are believed to be homeless right now.
The Red Cross is saying that the mayor of Palu and the former mayor were both killed in this horrific incident. Electricity is down, communication lines are down. They're trying to drive in supplies. But because the roads are so damaged, that's taking a long time as well.
So it really is a monumental task, not only in the hours and days to come, search for possible survivors and get a better assessment of the death toll but also to help these people, so many people who have lost everything and are now going to have to rebuild.
HOWELL: And Will, drawing from your reporting, your experience back in 2012, talk to us about the difficulty of getting those supplies in. People need food, they need water, medication, of course, as the search effort continues.
How difficult will that be over the next few days?
RIPLEY: Well, we know that there are resources on the ground in Indonesia, assisting after the earthquake in August that killed around 405 people. Indonesia is rocked by quakes on a fairly regular basis. Even on Sulawesi, there is a volcano on the island. Indonesia is used to tremors and whatnot.
But nothing can prepare a community for the devastation that a tsunami brings in. When you have the infrastructure down, the airport is closed, there is actually one report of an air traffic controller who stayed, even as people were being evacuated from the tower. But he stayed to make sure a passenger flight took off safely.
Then he thought the tower was collapsing, he jumped out and he was killed. So you know, the airport road is down, they need it to get in supplies as quickly as possible to keep people -- as far as hygiene, they need water, fresh water, food, places for people to sleep, because a lot of people have been sleeping outside.
They were actually warned not to be in their homes in case further aftershocks hit. So it is a monumental effort. One, getting all the relief supplies and personnel in there and actually helping people begin this very difficult process of rebuilding. So it is going to be a long haul ahead, as we're all too familiar, with natural disasters, certainly in this region and around the world.
HOWELL: CNN correspondent Will Ripley on the story in Hong Kong. Will, we'll stay in touch with you as you continue to get updates and details.
ALLEN: Another story we're following right now, Typhoon Trami heading to Japan's main island, this would be the fifth typhoon to hit the nation since the summer.
(WEATHER REPORT)
[04:25:00]
ALLEN: U.S. Navy sailors rescued passengers and crew from that commercial airplane that crashed into a lagoon in Micronesia Friday and it was caught in this dramatic new video.
HOWELL: Sailors were working in the area when the Boeing 737 went down near an airport runway. They used an inflatable boat to help local fishermen shuttle the 47 passengers and crew ashore.
ALLEN: All this happened as the jet was rapidly filling with water. You're going to see some inside video here. Look at that. Earlier we heard from petty officer John Monahan, who led the team of U.S. sailors.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETTY OFFICER JOHN MONAHAN, U.S. NAVY: We started taking about the starboard side and they approached (INAUDIBLE) opened the emergency exit door on that side and we poked our head in and had people start to come out that way (INAUDIBLE) everyone was trying to (INAUDIBLE) the port side of the vessel.
So we started yelling in and then I believe we took either six or seven on the boat. That was all the room we had. So we entered the aircraft and made sure everybody got safely into life rafts and then two gentlemen, (INAUDIBLE) farmer and (INAUDIBLE) went to the back of the plane and started to sweep from the aft galley forward and looking through each and every row on the aircraft, ensuring that everybody was out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: U.S. Navy steps in there.
(CROSSTALK)
ALLEN: Coming up here, women's issues, namely sexual assault, that's the central theme of Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation to the Supreme Court. When we come back, we'll hear how women are responding to the dramatic events of the past week.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (MUSIC PLAYING)
ALLEN: Welcome back to our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world. This is CNN NEWSROOM. Thanks for watching. I'm Natalie Allen.
HOWELL: I'm George Howell with the headlines at this hour.
(HEADLINES)
[04:30:00]
ALLEN: The nomination of Brett Kavanaugh has polarized people across the world. People are watching globally. For women, especially, hearing the details of Christine Blasey Ford's alleged sexual assault at Thursday's hearing brought on many emotions.
HOWELL: That's right. Our Randi Kaye sat down with a group of women in the U.S. state of Florida who identify as independent. They called themselves that but two are registered as Republicans, two are registered as Democrats and here's what they told her after watching the hearing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on-camera): How many of you thought that Christine Ford sounded credible?
JESSICA CIALLELLA, INDEPENDENT VOTER: I mean, you could hear the emotion coming forth. She was really reliving the trauma in everything that occurred that night.
KAYE (on-camera): As an independent who leans Republican right now, what did you think of Christine Ford's opening statement?
ERICA DIANGELO, INDEPENDENT VOTER: I thought the whole situation was a little theatrical. I would think that a person of her caliber would be able to keep it together if it was natural (ph) to keep it together a little bit better.
KAYE (voice-over): And Judge Brett Kavanaugh's opening statement?
DIANGELO: He broke down a little bit, he showed emotion, but he's worked his entire life to get where he has -- where he is today.
KAYE (on-camera): What did you think of his tone and energy and the passion?
(CROSSTALK)
SALLY CLARKE FOX, INDEPENDENT VOTER: He seemed angry and defensive. And I kept thinking to myself, why is he yelling?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wouldn't you be angry if you were him?
FOX: If you were innocent and you got put through that and if you in your heart believed you were innocent and you put through that.
KAYE (voice-over): Christine Ford's testimony about allegedly hearing Kavanaugh and his friend laugh at her in the bedroom resonated.
FOX: That was the moment that made me angry.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How horrible.
FOX: Yes. That made me --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bone chilling.
FOX: To have more compassion for her. And she described being on the bed, she described where the bed was in the room, she talked about where the bathroom was in the room, there were two beds in the room. I think that speaks to her that those memories are coming back and she was able to be in touch with those.
KAYE (on-camera): So the fact she knew that information that adds to her credibility?
FOX: I thought so.
DIANGELO: There's not a lot of corroboration so that's why I'm left wondering who's telling the truth or maybe they're both partial truth.
KAYE (on-camera): How many of you think that Mark Judge should come and testify before this committee now?
(voice-over): But when someone in the group suggested delaying the vote to confirm Kavanaugh, as is now the case --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who cares about a delay?
NICOLE PADRO, INDEPENDENT VOTER: Waited their whole entire life to maybe lose their opportunity due to the delay. He could loose opportunity to get to Supreme Court completely due to the delay.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It doesn't have --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That doesn't matter.
(CROSSTALK)
DIANGELO: What about her? What about her? What if it turns out there's nothing that happened to her and he was delayed and missed this opportunity --
JAMIE KATTREIN, INDEPENDENT VOTER: We as American people deserve the process to know.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Exactly.
(CROSSTALK) DIANGELO: Especially when it comes to the Supreme Court.
KAYE (on-camera): Judge Kavanaugh had a lot of opportunities to call for an FBI investigation.
CIAELLELLA: If he is innocent and it just seems like the unwillingness is very questionable.
SHANTEL NORMAN, INDEPENDENT VOTER: All I kept hearing him say is I am here talking now. Like I'm telling my story now. And to me that's not good enough especially when you have Ford --
[04:35:00]
NORMAN: -- continually saying let's do this FBI investigation.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: An FBI investigation in my mind would have given me more reason to believe him.
KAYE (voice-over): And what about all the drinking some friends say he did?
(CROSSTALK)
DIANGELO: That he's never had a blurry night and that he's never blacked out. I find that very hard to believe especially for how many times he said I like beer.
KAYE (on-camera): How many of you think that you're ready to say Judge Brett Kavanaugh should go on and be a Supreme Court justice? Raise your hand. None of you. What do you still want to know?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to know why a potential Supreme Court Judge wouldn't use every single tool he has to get to the truth no matter what it is.
KAYE (voice-over): Randi Kaye, CNN, Sarasota.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: Women's issues are central to the allegations against Brett Kavanaugh. Let's get more on this with "Huffington Post" senior reporter Emily Peck.
Emily, thank you for joining us.
EMILY PECK, "HUFFINGTON POST": Hi. Thanks for having me.
ALLEN: Sure thing. Two survivors of sexual assault accosted Senator Jeff Flake on Friday in an elevator. That seems to have changed his mind for him to support the FBI investigation.
Are women's voices finally being heard on Capitol Hill?
And wouldn't you say, if that is the truth, that they came in under the wire and it was a lot of luck if that is, indeed, what happened? PECK: I think it is what happened. I think those two women in the elevator were absolutely critical to getting Jeff Flake to get this investigation happening.
It was really two hearings in one day, right?
You had her testify in the morning; it was so moving. She came across as very credible and, you know, there were reports from the White House, even they were surprised there about just how well she came off.
And then you had him come in, in the afternoon, and just basically throw a tantrum at America, very forceful, very angry, yelling, deflecting blame.
And this seems to -- I mean, it was really devastating to watch, for most women or any sexual assault survivors. It was just -- to see him deny and deflect, really sort of put the fire out for women across the country.
And I do agree that, without those two women coming down to the wire in that elevator, it really could have gone the other way and it still could go the other way. We don't know what's going to happen in the next seven days with the investigation.
ALLEN: What do you make of the fact that this committee was ready to push him right through, even disregarding what was going on?
I think you wrote in your article, no reputable company would hire Brett Kavanaugh at this point. Yet he is still being considered for the highest court in the world, really, the United States Supreme Court, despite the fact that his testimony was, in many people's thoughts, less than honest.
PECK: I think it really speaks to the Republican Party and the lack of diversity on their end. You really saw that at the Judiciary Committee hearing. You saw just -- you saw these row of older white gentlemen, compared to the Democrats, which were a much more diverse group.
And, you know, social change moves at a really glacial pace, I think, in politics here, especially on the Right. And I just think they haven't really gotten the message yet that those businesses I wrote about, who wouldn't hire someone like Brett Kavanaugh, you know, with credible accusations of sexual misconduct hanging over his head, I think that politics is moving more slowly than other sectors in our -- you know, moving more slowly than the economic sector, moving more slowly than the business community.
And then within politics, you know, the Republican Party is moving more slowly than the Democratic Party in terms of diversity and the willingness to listen to women. There are no women -- there are hardly any women there.
ALLEN: Right. Lindsey Graham was yukking it up right before they voted and we saw how he reacted. So Kavanaugh, angry, furious even, he cried, he was sarcastic, he was
hostile, he didn't show much dignity in that.
And if a woman had been in that seat and she would have acted that way, would she not have been labeled hysterical?
(LAUGHTER)
PECK: Oh, hysterical, unstable.
ALLEN: Unstable, that is a good one, yes.
PECK: Every woman watching that hearing and watching the difference in how those two behaved saw just the unfairness but the predictability of it. Men are allowed to present the way Kavanaugh presented. And, you know, they're allowed to be angry and dramatic and that's --
(CROSSTALK)
ALLEN: It was seen as tough.
PECK: It was seen --
[04:40:00]
PECK: -- as tough. But really she was the one who, you know, honestly and straightforwardly answered the questions that were posed to her.
And if you go back and look at Kavanaugh's testimony, it is mostly angry deflection. He is the one accused of sexual misconduct. Yet he portrays himself as a victim. He's telling these senators, my life has been ruined by these accusations. Yet the man is still being considered for, like, a really good job, right?
Lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court. And if he doesn't get it, he gets to be on the second most powerful court in the country, also for life.
ALLEN: Where he would decide cases that involve sexual assault, sexual abuse and rape.
PECK: Yes.
ALLEN: He decides the cases.
We'll wait and see what the FBI investigation brings up as they do their work this weekend and next couple of days. And perhaps we'll talk with you again about it. "HuffPost" senior reporter, Emily Peck, thank you.
PECK: Thank you.
ALLEN: The visionary and entrepreneur Elon Musk, his antics of late catching up with him. More on the punishment he faces for a misleading tweet and details on the agreement he made with the U.S. regulators. Stay with us.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
ALLEN: More now on one of the top stories we're following, the damage, what's left over, as you see here in Indonesia. More than 830 people, we understand, have died after a deadly earthquake and tsunami that struck Sulawesi island. Let's bring in Jan Gelfand, head of the International Federation of the Red Cross in Indonesia, joining us this hour from Jakarta.
Thank you for your time today. We understand that it will take your teams some time to get in to really assess and see what is going on there. Talk to us about the difficulty of just simply getting into that area.
JAN GELFAND, INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE RED CROSS: Well, thank you, George, very much for inviting me. Yes, it is very difficult, when you have the --
[04:45:00]
GELFAND: -- combination of a massive earthquake, 7.7 on the Richter scale, that is very shallow, 10 kilometers, that will cause a lot of damage.
When you couple that with the massive tsunami that came in and then with the more than 100 aftershocks that have happened, it still increases the danger, does destruction to houses and buildings, as you can imagine.
Communication lines are down, the airport just opened recently in Palu for limited commercial aircraft. Roads are damaged, bridges are down. So it is hard enough to get into the major urban areas but it is even more so difficult to get into the more remote rural communities, rural areas, small towns that are farther inland.
HOWELL: You know, if we have this video, I would like to pull it up again, the video that shows when the tsunami came in. I just want to show our viewers again what that looked like. Let's listen for a moment.
Jan, so our viewers just saw, you know, what it looks like, what the people dealt with and experienced as the tsunami came in.
And from your experience, what will your teams prioritize?
What are the main needs for people on the ground there now?
GELFAND: Well, I mean, to be honest, the needs are high and the needs are everything. I know that what we, through the Indonesian Red Cross here, we've just started to do our work. We sent 15 water trucks, we sent tons of tarpaulins, of baby kits, of
blankets, field kitchens, tents. We sent a medical hospital, we sent a clinic, we sent health teams, we sent water and sanitation teams.
The whole infrastructure is gone for there. It is not only that, I think people should understand the trauma that the population feels, you know, having -- going through that and then going through the many aftershocks.
So we do psychosocial support to people. It is a chaotic situation. And it takes a while for things to get even organized in a minimal amount of way so we're able to implement and distribute goods to people. So there is needs in every aspect that you can imagine.
HOWELL: Jan, drawing from your experience, in other disasters similar to this, look, we understand the death toll has risen right now. We understand that more than 830 people have died as a result of this. And many, many more are still missing.
What does that process look like?
How long does that search and rescue play out after such a terrible disaster?
How long does it take to continue looking for, to find people?
GELFAND: Well, for people like our volunteers and for the people from -- that are from the government, that are doing search and rescue, the process never ends. And ideas that you find people alive or find people that have died, this number will go up.
I was talking to some of our volunteers that are on the ground and they were doing first aid but they were also stepping over people that had perished in this -- in the earthquake.
And so it takes a long time to go through all of the buildings, to go back into the more remote areas, because they have been hit just as hard. It is a very hard situation.
But I would like to share, just so that, you know, people see there is sometimes something good that happens, there is an example of where a baby was found in -- a baby boy in a drainage ditch actually was alive and safe. Can't find the parents but he managed to not perish in that.
So it is a very grueling, it's a very emotional experience for everybody that is involved. And it is still not finished. It will keep going until, you know, until the job is done.
HOWELL: Jan Gelfand, thank you so much for your time and helping us to understand the situation there.
GELFAND: My pleasure, thank you very much, George.
ALLEN: Certainly hope more people can be found alive and rescued.
One tweet has ended up costing Elon Musk $20 million. That's a lot for a tweet. And --
HOWELL: A little bit.
ALLEN: -- a little bit -- and his seat as chairman of Tesla, the electric car company he co-founded. It is part of the settlement agreement with the SEC, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. They say Musk misled investors when he tweeted that he had funding to take Tesla private, causing its stock to soar.
HOWELL: Put the phone down.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:50:00]
(SPORTS)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
HOWELL: One of Britain's most influential artists has completed his first stained glass artwork. David Hockney's work was commissioned for Westminster Abbey in honor of the queen.
ALLEN: CNN's Nick Glass sat down with Hockney to find out more about this tribute.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK GLASS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the pavement outside Westminster Abbey, a familiar figure with a cane and a smoker's cough. At 81, just time for a last few puffs, David Hockney's assistant, a pocket ashtray is evidently a key accessory. Then just a few moments checking the mobile on the way in and on reaching the great abbey door, politely waving us away.
DAVID HOCKNEY, ARTIST: You can't come in now. You can't come in now.
GLASS (voice-over): We've arrived too early; not unreasonably the artist wanted some time alone before the press corps. Of course, the abbey already has a lot of stained glass, much of it 19th century and solidly figurative. Hockney's window is of a different palette, wonderfully vibrant and almost abstract.
It was commissioned by the abbey to mark the queen's long reign. Hockney was given a free hand and chose an image of spring hawthorn blossom. He'd already painted hawthorn blossom many times in England. Just look at some of his landscapes from 2008.
GLASS: You had been enraptured by the hawthorn blossom during that period in Yorkshire, had you not?
HOCKNEY: Yes, I have, yes, yes.
GLASS: It is not there for very long. HOCKNEY: No, it only lasts for four --
[04:55:00]
HOCKNEY: -- days or something. I mean, it is a marvelous moment. Well, I drew it on an iPad because iPads are backlit. You could -- it is a marvelous thing for drawing stained glass on an iPad.
GLASS (voice-over): So designed by Hockney, specialist glass supplied from Germany and then all pieced together and assembled in situ by a company from Yorkshire.
GLASS: So are these the colors you hoped for?
HOCKNEY: Yes, yes, yes. Yes, they are. Yes, because I wanted stained glass colors. I mean, I did want that blue you get, with the green, the red, the yellow. The yellow is --
GLASS: I really love the yellow.
HOCKNEY: Yes, yes, yes.
GLASS (voice-over): Hockney's window hangs in so-called Statesman's Alley with its political statues, famous prime ministers like Benjamin Disraeli and William Gladstone. For the first time in over a century, Gladstone's tomb is now bathed each day by a shaft of colored light.
GLASS: The schoolchildren are just here to see it for the first time behind you.
Oh, that's rather nice.
GLASS: They're being shown it for the first time. Have a look.
It is your first audience, besides us media.
HOCKNEY: Oh, yes. Oh, very good.
(LAUGHTER)
HOCKNEY: Children like my work, I know.
GLASS (voice-over): So he confirmed it in person, yes, they did like it.
GLASS: I have to say it is kind of joyous.
HOCKNEY: Yes, yes. Well, it is meant to be joyous, yes.
GLASS: What do you think the queen will make of it?
HOCKNEY: I think she'll like it.
GLASS (voice-over): Nick Glass, CNN, with David Hockney, at Westminster Abbey.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOWELL: Cool.
ALLEN: Definitely stands out, doesn't it, among the others?
HOWELL: I think she will like it.
ALLEN: She will like it, George.
HOWELL: Absolutely.
ALLEN: Today's top stories are just ahead. Thanks for watching this hour. I'm Natalie Allen.
HOWELL: I'm George Howell. We'll be right back. Stay with us.
