Return to Transcripts main page

The Lead with Jake Tapper

Trump Asks Supreme Court To Intervene In Mar-A-Lago Docs Fight; North Korea Fires Ballistic Missile Over Japan; Report: G.A. GOP Sen. Candidate Walker Paid For Woman's Abortion; Report: G.A. GOP Sen. Candidate Walker Paid For Woman's Abortion; New Ad Slams Fetterman For Chasing Down And Holding Innocent Black Man At Gunpoint In 2013; Fetterman Compares Oz To "The Simpsons" Quack Doc In New Ad; Women's Soccer League Players Express Anger, Frustration And Disgust Over Findings In Sex Abuse Investigation. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired October 04, 2022 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: That's what the judge had ordered, that this special master be allowed to not only review these documents but also to also potentially share it with Trump's legal team.

Now, this is a technical, very highly technical petition to the Supreme Court. What the Trump team is asking is simply that the Justice Department not be allowed to block access to these documents from the special master that the Trump appointed judge in Palm Beach had initially appointed to oversee all of this, Jake. What he's not even challenging here is for the Justice Department to be able to continue their criminal investigation.

This was a criminal investigation as reviewing the 100 or so classified documents. He's not even going after that part of the case. This is really strictly going at this issue that he says the appeals court exceeded its jurisdiction.

But look, you can look at the -- you can look at this one way. One -- the first sentence of his argument goes at the issue that he says this is an investigation by his political rival and the successor. which is of course, Joe Biden.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: All right, Evan Perez, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

Let's discuss this with our team of legal experts. Fernando Mariotti, what jumps out at you from Trump's emergency legal request?

RENATO MARIOTTI, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Well, two things, first of all, Jake, the narrowness of the request of the request by Trump. All he's asking for is that the special master review the docks, presumably so that his team can receive them, he can kind of get early discovery in the case. And also I just have to say it's a sort of move that on its face is a head scratcher to me. It's not the sort of thing I think most litigants would do in this situation, because, frankly, the request by the DOJ was very narrow, it was very well tailored and the court of appeals decision was well reasoned. And so I don't know why this would ordinarily be a wise choice of resources by the Trump team.

TAPPER: Carrie Cordero, in a separate case, the justices have previously rebuffed Trump's efforts to stop information or documents from being released to the January 6 committee. Do you have any reason to think they would rule differently here?

CARRIE CORDERO, FORMER U.S. ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL: I don't think this should be any different. This is an emergency request. There's not really a good argument laid out, at least in what I've read so far, in the former president's arguments making a good case for why this should be different, why the court, in this case, should grant an emergency request on this. And really, what the Trump team seems to be arguing is that the 11th Circuit was out of its bounds to review the District Court's decisions, which really is not a particularly strong argument. I think there's pretty -- there's better arguments that the 11th Circuit was well within its authority to do that.

TAPPER: And Renato, we can't ignore the reality of the U.S. Supreme Court and its status right now. It's under intense public scrutiny. Justices have been taking public snipes at each other all summer, public opinion on the court, approval has plunged. Do you think that will factor at all, as they decide whether or not to accede Donald Trump's request here that they take up this case?

MARIOTTI: No, I don't think so, Jake. I actually think this is a fairly safe bet that either the court won't, will decide not to review this at all or that the court will -- which would essentially deny Trump's request or they will ultimately ruled against the former president here. I just don't think this is very strong. I would have trouble seeing some of the justices like Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and others deciding that they wanted to overrule the 11th Circuit in this particular case.

TAPPER: So, Carrie, Trump has claimed repeatedly outside court that he may have declassified these documents. He brings it up in this emergency request. He says, quote, "Moreover, whether classified or declassified the documents remain either presidential records or personal records under the Presidential Records Act."

We also know that he has said to Sean Hannity that he can declassify a document just by thinking about the document is declassified. What do you make of this? What do you think he's doing here?

CORDERO: I think the difficulty, and he does, he's the -- his team cites in this brief the executive authority that belongs to a president in order to have classification authority and to declassify documents. What it continues to ignore is that he is not the president anymore. And so, those decisions about whether documents are classified rightly belongs to the current executive and it's the executive branch that is currently claiming that these documents remain classified.

[17:05:02] And there has been nothing that has come out publicly that I have seen that provides any fact indicating that former President Trump actually executed a declassification action while he was the current president. So, absent any information like that, there's just not a persuasive argument that he currently has any say over whether these documents are classified or not.

TAPPER: And Renato, what does it tell you that Trump is asking the Supreme Court to vacate this ruling by the 11th Circuit court of appeals made up of two judges that he appointed?

MARIOTTI: Yes, I have to say, Jake, what it tells me is that that decision was, that I called a moment ago well-reasoned, it was well- reasoned analysis by Trump judges, and that we can't always assume that the judge -- the justice, for example, who's appointed by a particular president or the judges appointed by a particular president is going to rule in that president's favor. I think the former president may believe that the Supreme Court will rule with him because he appointed a number of the justices there. And I predict that they will follow the path that these appointees in the 11th Circuit did.

TAPPER: So Carrie, what's next in this process? And how long do you think this could play out?

CORDERO: It's hard to say exactly how long. And the justice who is the circuit justice in this case, Justice Thomas, could reject it. He could also refer it to the case -- to the rest of the court to consider so. It's hard to figure out, the timing usually an emergency application they would handle promptly.

This is off of the regular schedule of the court, so it's not a normally docketed case that would take months and months to brief. So, it really is in the discretion of the justices.

TAPPER: Renato, is there any court precedents that the justice is could rely upon in this manner?

MARIOTTI: I don't think so. I mean, frankly, this is going to revolve around some pretty technical questions regarding the jurisdiction of an appellate court to consider certain orders that are tied together that are ordinarily not appealable but are kind of tied together with orders that are appealable. So it's a pretty technical question of law.

I think that, you know, the real question here is whether the court even wants to consider this issue at all or whether they'd rather not deal with it. I think a subject that touches on the broader question of this with some critics called the shadow docking, in other words, the non-ordinary way in which a Supreme Court can consider issues.

TAPPER: All right, Carrie Cordero and Renato Mariotti thanks to both of you. Appreciate it.

Kim Jong-un doing something he's not done in five years, launching a ballistic missile over Japan. What might that mean for North Korea's missile program and aspirations?

Then a bombshell in Republican Herschel Walker's Senate campaign, report claims that the staunch anti-abortion candidate paid a girlfriend to get an abortion? How the campaign is responding today? Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:11:46]

TAPPER: Topping our world lead, North Korea cause terror throughout Japan earlier this morning when the rogue regime launched a ballistic missile over Japanese airspace. This is the first time in five years that the North Koreans have been bold enough to fly a missile over their neighbors to the east and it's the most recent of 23 North Korean missiles conducted this year. The U.S. has condemned today's launch. President Biden spoke with Japan's Prime Minister today and reiterated his, quote, "ironclad commitment" to Japan's defense. But as CNN's Will Ripley reports, this surprise missile test comes amid a deeply unsettling time for the region.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Across Japan, a chilling and familiar sound. From Hokkaido and the north to the streets of central Tokyo, Tuesday began with an ominous emergency message, an incoming missile from North Korea minutes away.

Many heard a similar warning five years ago. In 2017, the last time North Korea launched a missile over Japan. This time, it flew more than 20 minutes passing Japanese airspace at 17 times the speed of sound. The missile traveled more than 2800 miles farther than any of this year's 23 missile tests. Japan calls it an act of violence.

JEFFREY LEWIS, DIR. EAST ASIA NONPROLIFERATION PROGRAM, MIDDLEBURY INSTITUTE OF INTL. STUDIES: I think what it tells us is the North Koreans are in no mood to talk, they're in the mood of testing and blowing things up.

RIPLEY (on camera): Why?

LEWIS: Well, I think the North Koreans tried their hand at diplomacy in the Trump administration. They didn't get what they wanted.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Now, in unprecedented testing binge accelerating ever since U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris visited the heavily armed DMZ, dividing North and South Korea.

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In the north. We see a brutal dictatorship, rampant human rights violations and an unlawful weapons program that threatens peace and stability.

RIPLEY (on camera): Kamala Harris at the DMZ said we call for complete denuclearization from this brutal dictatorship. It sounds like the same language they've been using for years. ANKIT PANDA, SENIOR FELLOW, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: Absolutely, denuclearization is now I think in the dustbin of history as a failed policy. There's simply no practical plan at this point, especially in the short term to bring North Korea to the negotiating table and to pursue denuclearization.

RIPLEY (voice-over): A crisis that just got even more real. Last week, South Korea, the U.S. and Japan held anti-submarine exercises, the first of their kind in five years. Hours after Tuesday's launch, the U.S. and South Korea stage of precision bombing exercise, a cycle analysts say will likely escalate in the coming months.

(on camera): What can we expect between now on that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, there's a lot of things that North Korea is going to do, I think, in the next few months. We are probably going to see a nuclear weapons test.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Experts say, instead of calling for denuclearization, the focus now should be on risk reduction, preventing a crisis from spiraling out of control.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

RIPLEY: And that is a very dangerous possibility given that Kim Jong- un appears, according to analysts, to have completely abandoned diplomacy for now after things fell apart with the former President Donald Trump.

[17:15:09]

And what they showed the world without even saying it with this missile test, Jake, is that their missile by traveling more than 2800 miles, it can easily hit among other territories, Guam, which is only 2100 miles from North Korea. Remember, Guam is a territory that North Korea threatened a number of years ago at the last time the tensions were ratcheting up like this.

TAPPER: Yes. Will Ripley reporting from Taipei, Taiwan, thank you so much.

Let's get right to this with former FBI Senior Intelligence Adviser and CIA Counterterrorism Official Phil Mudd joining us live.

So Phil, why now? Why would North Korea choose this moment to fire this missile?

PHILIP MUDD, FORMER FBI SENIOR INTELLIGENCE ADVISER: Let me give you a couple of snapshots, Jake, if you go back to a few years ago when we're looking at missiles shots from the North Korean's Kim Jong-un, a man with a great deal of ego, a man who's got to prove himself to his own national security apparatus, a man who wants to play on the international stage which -- with people like China, Russia and United States.

Years ago between 2018 and 2019 he had a series, a handful of meetings with the Chinese Premier and the famous meetings, of course, with Donald Trump. Fast forward to 2022, you've got the pandemic, you've got inflation, you've got war in Ukraine was subtle threats from Putin about nuclear activity, and North Korea is off the map. So if you're an egotistical leader, one of the things you might do is to say the thing to get me on the map, the thing that makes people pay attention is missiles and news. And that's what you got. Jake.

TAPPER: Let's show our viewers a map of this missiles trajectory. Normally, North Korea's test missiles splashdown west of Japan. This one went much farther, posing a threat to populated areas, shipping lanes, other aircraft. It would stand to reason that North Korea could learn a lot about its own capabilities with such a long flight path. What do you think they learned from this?

MUDD: There's a lot of things they would learn. I would be more interested in what we learned. So let me put two and two together.

Number one, they're going to learn about the deployment of missile. If this is a new type of missile, did it operate as previous missiles have operated? Have they had failures in the past? And did they learn about the difference between those failures in this success? They're going to learn from the ballistics of the missile about what it -- how far it went and how far they expected it to go. They're going to learn about precision. So there's a lot they're going to learn.

And as I said, I think we're going to be learning some of the same things. In addition to, did we get warning? How much warning did we get? What was the deployment compared to other deployments we've seen? How capable are we of intercepting a missile like this?

I know this is a bad news day, Jake. If you're an Intel, this is a goldmine.

TAPPER: What does what happened today tell you about Kim's ambitions for his country's weapons development? I presumed just -- that he's going to keep doing it because it's the only way he feels he gets any respect and attention.

MUDD: Yes, and you know, if you're a realist, you're going to hear to hear a bunch of fantasies from Democrats and Republicans in this country about what they can do about programs in places like North Korea and Iran. Let me tell you, there's not much they can do. So going back to where we started, if Kim wants to continue to prove that he's a military player who can deter the Japanese, the South Koreans and the Americans, in his eyes, this is simple. I can't deter them just with conventional military, I got to have missiles and nukes. And furthermore, psychologically if he wants to be a big man on campus, the only way you can be a big man is with nukes. So, from his shoes, this makes perfect sense, Jake.

TAPPER: Phil Mudd, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

A new report claiming Georgia Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker, who is a staunch anti-abortion advocate report that he paid a girlfriend in order so she could afford an abortion is shocking the race. Herschel Walker strongly denies it, but now one of Herschel Walker's sons is speaking out about this latest claim against his father. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:23:24]

TAPPER: In our politics lead a blockbuster report from The Daily Beast could possibly up end the all-important Senate race in Georgia. Republican Herschel Walker is denying the story from The Daily Beast that he paid for an abortion for a woman he was dating in 2009. He's calling the story a flat out lie.

The Daily Beast would not name Walker's accuser, but says that this happened in 2009 and that she showed the reporters a receipt from an abortion clinic and a $700 check from Walker as well as a signed get well card from him. The former football star has been a vocal abortion opponent on the campaign trail and has said he supports a ban on the procedure with no exceptions for any reason. And as CNN's Manu Raju reports, Republicans are rallying behind Herschel Walker.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Herschel Walker's Senate campaign now reeling, up ended by an explosive report alleging the staunch anti-abortion Republican paid for a girlfriend to get the procedure for a child that conceived 13 years ago.

HERSCHEL WALKER, (R) GEORGIA SENATE CANDIDATE: I never pay for an abortion and that's a lie.

RAJU (voice-over): Walker stayed behind closed doors on Tuesday with his aides refusing to disclose his schedule, even after they initially agreed to say where he would campaign this week. CNN however, did obtain an invitation to an event hosted by prayer warriors for Herschel at a Baptist church in Atlanta, but CNN was not allowed to cover the event or wait in the parking lot. Even as a leading conservative activist Ralph Reed came outside to defend the candidate.

RALPH REED, FAITH & FREEDOM COALITION: I will promise you this, the voters of Georgia are going to reject this kind of gutter politics.

[17:25:03]

RAJU (on camera): Can you tell Herschel Walker that he come out here and answer these questions himself?

REED: This is a closed event. It's a prayer event with faith leaders.

RAJU (voice-over): According to The Daily Beast, Walker in 2009 reimbursed his then girlfriend $700 for the cost of the abortion. The woman was not named and CNN has not verified the report. But The Daily Beast reported obtaining a bank deposit slip with a copy of Walker's personal check and a get well card signed by H, telling the woman pray you are feeling better.

H. WALKER: I sent out so many get well, send out so much anything. But I can tell you right now I never asked anyone to get an abortion.

RAJU (voice-over): One of Walker's sons, Christian Walker lashing out publicly against his father.

CHRISTIAN WALKER, HERSCHEL WALKER SON: Don't lie on the lives you've destroyed and act like you're some moral family man.

RAJU (voice-over): While Walker tweeted, I love my son no matter what.

(on camera): Can you respond to Christian Walker saying this is a lie, sir?

REED: I gave my statement.

RAJU (voice-over): Like so many battleground states, the Supreme Court's decision to strike down Roe v Wade putting abortion front and center especially for suburban women.

SUSAN SEGAL, GOERGIA VOTER: Abortion is certainly a driving issue for me.

RAJU (voice-over): Senator Raphael Warnock, the Democratic incumbent tapping into the issue at a campaign event outside of Atlanta.

SEN. RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D-GA): The patient's room is too small and cramped space for a woman, her doctor and the United States government, that's just too many people in the room.

RAJU (voice-over): But the freshman Democrats sidestepping questions about the stories impact on the race.

(on camera): Senator, do you believe the Daily Beast story?

WARNOCK: I honestly haven't had a chance to look at it.

RAJU (voice-over): Warnock and his allies have already spent $76 million on ads here about $10 million more than the GOP attacking Walker's complicated past. But Republicans are hoping Warnock's ties to an unpopular President Biden and concerns over inflation and crime --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Raphael Warnock he chose felons over Georgia families.

RAJU (voice-over): -- will be enough to overcome Walker's problems.

DAVID GOULD, GEORGIA VOTER: I don't agree with Warnock's philosophy.

RAJU (voice-over): Walker, keeping Biden at an arm's length.

(on camera): Do you think Joe Biden should run for reelection?

WARNOCK: Part of the problem in American politics is too much of the conversations about the politicians.

(END VIDEO TAPE) RAJU: Now major Senate Republican groups are rushing to Walker's defense including a Super PAC link to Mitch McConnell, which plans to spend more than $20 million in the final weeks of the campaign. The National Republican Central Committee also planning to spend big. On the Democratic side of group linked to Chuck Schumer, the majority leader plans to release an ad tomorrow attacking Walker for support for a total abortion ban.

And for Walker himself, he threatened to sue as early as this morning a lawsuit against The Daily Beast over that article. But as of now, no lawsuit has been filed.

TAPPER: Yes, we'll see if he actually files that lawsuit. Manu Raju, thanks so much.

Let's discuss with my biggest panel. And I have to say, Zolan, let me start with you, one of the reasons -- I think it's fair to say one of the reasons the story seems to have legs is because Walker's son, Christian, who's 23 years old and has been a an outspoken influencer and Trump supporter and went to a campaign event for his dad, he went online in social media and talked about it. Here's a little bit more of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

C. WALKER: Lie after lie, the abortion part drops yesterday. It's literally his handwriting in the car. They say they have receipts, whatever, he gets on Twitter, he lies about it. OK, I'm done. Done. Everything has been a lie.

Don't lie on my Mom. Don't lie on me. Don't lie on the lives you've destroyed and act like your some moral family man. You all should care about that. Conservatives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: And we should note that Christian considers himself to be a conservative. Do you think that's going to have an impact on the race?

ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": I mean, this is what we're watching for now. That was the initial Daily Beast report that obviously has its finding is in there. But then you also have Herschel Walker's son, a member of the family coming in basically alleging hypocrisy, calling to question the image of a family man that has these values.

Let's also remember, the Republicans as a party at this point haven't really been able to form a consistent message since the leak of the road decision, let alone the actual decision. Talking to some Republicans on the Hill, they'd much rather talk about the economy, talk about immigration, talk about crime.

With this report, as well as his son's post on social media, not only are you now forced to talk about this issue that they haven't found a consistent message on but also beyond their kind of heels and now defend a candidate who has talked about Lindsey Graham's proposed 15- week ban as well, something that many Republicans have tried to avoid --

TAPPER: Yes.

KANNO-YOUNGS -- at times as well. So, it really brings an issue that we have yet to see a consistent message on now back into the limelight, rather than some of the other points of criticism against Democrats they would like to be talking about.

TAPPER: So David, Herschel Walker wouldn't talk to Manu Raju but he did go on Sean Hannity show to deny the allegations and try to explain the get well card and the check. Let's watch a little bit of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

H. WALKER: I sent out so many get will, send out so much anything. But I can tell you right now, I never asked anyone to get an abortion, I never pay for an abortion and it's a lie.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: What about the $700 check? Is there anybody you can remember sending that much money to?

WALKER: Well, I send money to a lot of people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Do you think that's going to cut it?

DAVID URBAN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Probably not. I remember Access Hollywood tape, it was probably far worse than that and the guy got elected president. So, you know, I wouldn't hold your breath that this is going to take down Herschel Walker, I think that the Biden administration's numbers, you know, as we know, in the low 40s, high 30s, low 40s, right track, wrong track, those kitchen table issues affect people directly. I think that's going to play a bigger role here.

And I think that the governor's race, you know, the Kemp Abrams race is going to play a big role here too. I think that that Kemp is winning by such a large margin, that that boat, that rising tide may lift that Herschel Walker boat just enough to get across the finish line.

TAPPER: And Alencia, speaking of that Access Hollywood video, Donald Trump released a statement in support of Herschel Walker, who we should note was like kind of his handpick candidate in the Georgia Senate race. Trump says, partly, Herschel Walker has been slandered and maligned, Herschel was properly denied the charges against him, and I have no doubt he is correct. And it seems as though right now Republican leadership is rallying around Trump and Herschel Walker.

ALENCIA JOHNSON, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I mean, they're going to, whether or not they believe it's right, whether or not they are enjoying this October surprise that is causing live humor on Twitter. But the reality is, their voters are going to vote for him. Their voters sent him to the general election, and they are following Trump. And so, Republicans have to get in line with how their voters are voting. And unfortunately, this is what they're voting for, sadly.

SEUNG MIN KIM, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS: Right. I feel like the one political lesson that Republicans may have learned from the Access Hollywood episode is that politically, it is better just to stick through with -- stand by your candidate. Because if you recall, some of the Republicans who did shun Trump in that era they were actually punished by voters and did not win or did not win reelection. And some of the Republicans I've talked to today, they feel that if you were someone in Georgia who was voting on abortion that -- so this would really be important to you probably weren't voting for Herschel Walker anyway. So, in terms of the actual impact in terms of voters, certainly it's a huge story, certainly the substance of what is being reported here are serious. But in terms of how much it moves needle, I think it's still very early to tell.

TAPPER: Let's turn to another key Senate race in Pennsylvania, the Republican Jewish Coalition has released a new ad targeting black voters in favor of Republican nominee Dr. Oz against Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman, an incident involving him when he was mayor of Braddock in 2013. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN FETTERMAN, (D) SENATE CANDIDATE PENNSYLVANIA: They may have broken the law. They may have broken the law.

JANICE H.: That's what John Fetterman said after he chased down an unarmed innocent black man and held him at gunpoint. Now, this guy wants to be in the Senate? Are you serious? My message to black voters do your homework about John Fetterman.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So, I mean, I think that it's possible that the Herschel Walker story could suppress turnout among Christian conservatives, especially women. This ads are aimed at black voters, it's from the Republican Jewish Coalition. I think the black voter is clearly aimed at discouraging blacks from voting for Fetterman or maybe even turning out to vote.

ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Yes, no, it's something that we reported earlier this year too that there were Democrats that were nervous even earlier this year that this would eventually be seized on in an ad just like that. But one thing that I thought was interesting, that same group that put that out, they did do some surveys and release data that showed still there's a slim minority of voters, including black voters who say that they are familiar with this 2013 incident. However, when they did actual means testing, there was a view that there was a negative view over it as well. So, it will be interesting looking forward to see just how this has an impact.

JOHNSON: Can I just say no to that? This is the Republican Party playbook. This race baiting. A party who does nothing for black voters, but yet they will use an ad like this to try to dissuade black voters from voting against their opponent. Let's be clear Fetterman, like he's talked about this incident, he was mayor of a majority of black town. And so, he does have support. And it's very clear that this is literally just a chip off the black vote in Pennsylvania.

URBAN: Yes, but come on. If that was Mehmet Oz that hold a shot gun to black jogger in Pennsylvania, it would be much bigger deal. John Fetterman was given an opportunity. Malcolm Kenyatta gave him an opportunity to address in a debate.

TAPPER: In the primary.

URBAN: In the primary debate.

TAPPER: Yes.

URBAN: Gave him a chance to come clean, talk about it and he didn't say it, hey, it was wrong.

JOHNSON: It's their playbook, though. They haven't presented any --

URBAN: John Fetterman had a chance to say he was wrong.

JOHNSON: -- policies to help black communities in Pennsylvania.

TAPPER: OK.

URBAN: He could have said he was wrong. Fetterman didn't say he was wrong. He should have apologize.

TAPPER: Seung Min, We know that Fetterman is also a quick out there with ads --

KIM: right.

TAPPER: -- and especially on social media. Here's an ad I'm taking aim at Mehmet Oz, his credibility as a doctor comparing him to a character on "The Simpsons," one of my favorites, Dr. Nick

[17:35:10]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. NICK RIVIERA, THE SIMPSONS CHARACTER: With my diet, you can eat all you want anytime you want.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And you lose weight?

RIVIERA: You might. It's a free country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've got the number one miracle in a bottle to burn your fat.

Loose fat without diet or exercise.

That brings stomach fat instantly disappears. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I recommend a slow steady gorging process combined with assal horizontology.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Garcinia cambogia extract crystal sonic therapy. Sea buckthorn.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: I mean, Oz has made his medical background --

KIM: Right.

TAPPER: -- the centerpiece of his campaign, his banners are emblazoned with Dr. Oz, his campaign slogan is dose of reality. But we should note his credentials have been called into question many, many times over the years, including by members of Congress, "The Washington Post" that was a story about Oz's promotion of weird, perhaps even fraudulent products. What do you think about this?

KIM: Right. So the big Democratic message, especially from Fetterman's campaign as it relates to Oz has been 2.1 that he's actually lives in New Jersey, which I'm sure does not help in Pennsylvania, and also that he's kind of the snake oil salesman type of quack doctor as we kind of saw in that ad. They've been at this for a while, obviously is a liability that the Oz campaign recognizes but I do think it's interesting that, you know, Fetterman has been on that message for some time. But you see the race tightening --

TAPPER: Yes.

KIM: -- a lie, fairly so. I think it's pretty obvious that Republican voters were probably going to come home before Election Day. So is naturally going to tighten, but is that message actually working? I think it's still to be seen.

TAPPER: All right. Thanks one and all for being here. Really appreciate it.

By land and by sea, CNN rides along as rescuers go vote to vote to see if any Hurricane Ian and survivors are trapped inside. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:41:21]

TAPPER: In our national lead, more than 100 Floridians dead, others missing, homes destroyed, power out, billions of dollars in damage, those are the realities still facing Florida almost a week after Hurricane Ian pummeled that state. CNN's Leyla Santiago joins a search and rescue team looking for people who might be trapped on boats.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): By land, by water, the search continues across the hard hit area of Lee County, Florida after the wrath of Hurricane Ian left behind destruction and devastation. With more than 100 deaths blamed on Ian so far, 55 are reported in this county alone.

This is Central Florida Task Force 4, a search and rescue team out of Orlando here to help. Their mission, get to the mangroves on the barrier island of Sanibel cut off when it's bridge collapsed to search for anyone on a boat in need.

MATT JAYNES, RESCUE TEAM MANAGER, TASK FORCE 4 FORIDA: There's a large population of commercial shrimp vessels and mooring fields where people live on sailboats and cabin cruisers year round. And many of those people, you know, will ride out a storm on their boat, that's their home. Many of those vessels have been pushed deep into the mangroves and inaccessible area, so we are taking the smaller boats that we can to get back in these backwater areas and make sure that we're clear.

SANTIAGO (on camera): These are the boats that will carry in the search and rescue teams. They'll go about 45 minutes that way near Sanibel into the mangroves to find boats.

(voice-over): And this is what they're coming across, mangled boats in tough to reach areas.

JAYNES: The inaccessibility is probably the greatest challenge we have.

SANTIAGO (on camera): So, this is the bridge of Sanibel. This is usually where they would move people and supplies. But you can see it's collapsed over here and the road just completely caved in right over here by the water.

(voice-over): But tomorrow, for the first time since the storm, residents of Sanibel will be allowed to get back on the island by private boats to inspect their property. Not the case for those who live on Fort Myers Beach. They were ordered to leave the barrier island with no guarantee of when they'll be allowed to return.

Korin Gulshen was dropped off here by Lake County officials where friends and families are reunited with their loved ones who rode out the storm.

KORIN GULSHEN, FORT MYERS BEACH RESIDENT: Shock, disbelief that such a massive storm came through here, you know? We were warned. We knew it was going to be big, you know, we made that choice to stay. My island of paradise has gone as I knew it.

SANTIAGO (voice-over): And as we approach a week since this tragic hurricane hit, many are holding out hope.

GULSHEN: We're strong people, we'll get through it and will rebuild and come back.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

SANTIAGO: And you know, Jake, you heard him talk about the shrimping vessels and they're -- I'm in a fishing community, you can see the boats kind of piling up right behind me. If you talk to people here, they will express frustration and are eager to get everything cleaned up to move on and rebuild because not only do they want to get this area cleaned up but the economic impact here of them not being able to get those boats back on the water and get back to work.

TAPPER: All right, Leyla Santiago in Fort Myers Beach, Florida, thank you so much for that report.

Athletes are speaking out after multiple allegations of sexual verbal and emotional abuse at the top levels of women's soccer. Coming up next, we're going to talk to a former player on one of the teams that fired its coach. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:49:01]

TAPPER: In our sports lead, outrage over a long list of failures to protect players within the National Women's Soccer League, an independent investigation into the league found a culture of systemic abuse that was protected by silence and fear of retaliation, ultimately allowing these women to be verbally abused and subjugated to sexual misconduct. Just a short while ago, the captain of the women's national soccer team, Becky Sauerbrunn, spoke out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECKY SAUERBRUNN, CAPTAIN, U.S. WOMEN'S NATIONAL SOCCER TEAM: We are horrified and heartbroken and frustrated and exhausted and really, really angry. We are angry that it took a third party investigation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: I want to bring in former professional soccer player Joanna Lohman.

Joanna, what's your reaction to all this?

JOANNA LOHMAN, RETIRED PROFESSIONAL SOCCER PLAYER: I'm just disgusted. I'm disgusted that it's taken close to a decade systematic failure after failure to find us in this spot now and the lies into the seat. It wasn't just a culture of silence, it was actually a culture of cover up.

[17:50:06]

And as a player who played in the league for 16 plus years, I've seen it with my own eyes, we knew this stuff was going on. There was the silence, but now I know they were actively covering this up. And it wasn't until we had the authentic leadership of the players themselves who brought this forward, who had on October 6, 2021, the moment where they all came together and locked arms, stop the game. Canceled games in the league that were finally being told the truth. So I feel very -- I feel lied to.

TAPPER: Yes. And it's a shame that it took the players to bring this change about (ph). Before retiring in 2019, you played for the Washington Spirit. Richie Burke was the head coach from 2018 until he was fired in 2021 for violating the league's anti-harassment policy. He was also one of several coaches named in the report, quote, "One spirit employee described Burke's treatment of players as quote, "battered wife syndrome," or Burke , quote, "lose his shit" one day, and then apologize, apologize the next. Players describe the same dynamic."

Burke's been -- Burke's denying being verbally abusive to his players. But you briefly played on his team right before you retired. What was your experience with him?

LOHMAN: It was an incredibly volatile environment, it was a toxic culture on the team where you would show up and you wouldn't know what version of Richie you would get. He would call players names, he would erupt during practice. And as athletes who are already are struggling because of low pay of the resources that we get to have to come to work every day and feel scared to be your authentic self, to be scared to show up and to make a mistake. It's just a toxic culture where you're never going to get the best out of athletes. And I feel sad for these players that they've lived so long in these types of cultures.

TAPPER: So, let me just -- if there's any viewer out there who's wondering something, and I just want to play devil's advocate here.

LOHMAN: Yes.

TAPPER: Obviously there's no justification or excuse for sexual harassment, sexual assault would put that aside, what is the difference between a tough coach --

LOHMAN: Yes.

TAPPER: -- and an abusive coach?

LOHMAN: Yes. It's a great question. And I'm so glad that you asked it because a tough coach gives you feedback in a way that you want to be better for that coach. A coach that abuses you, again, will break you down as an athlete. I think that type of leadership, that type of coaching is archaic, Jake.

We don't need people to break us down to build us back up again. Because when you break someone down, you're losing trust with that athlete. A great coach will build trust between them and the player. And they will give them constructive feedback to make them better as opposed to breaking them down.

And you're never afraid to show up to practice when you have a coach that you know is going to be the person that drives you to develop and grow and get better. You're never afraid to show up at training.

TAPPER: And the report also describes how this cultural of abuse and worse is happening in the youth leagues with girls. How is this possible that it's being normalized? You have all, you know, kids have systems of protectors, teachers and gym teachers and parents and siblings? How is it possible? LOHMAN: Jake, I work a lot with youth athletes now and I see a lot of coaches. And you see them on the sideline stocking up and down and screaming and joy sticking our kids telling them where to be every single moment. And it's outrageous to me that these types of coaches get to lead our kids. And they grow up in a situation where this is normalized that you learn that leadership is through abuse, leadership is through yelling, and that is not at all what these kids should be learning in sport.

Sport has the power to teach incredible lessons. And sadly, we've reached a point where so many coaches feel like screaming at kids is the way to teach them something. And so, from a young age, they learn this. And so when they get older, we've seen this in NWSL, they don't realize when it's abuse, they think, oh, it's just the coach being coach. And so, it's swept under the rug, they're not believed, right, they're afraid to speak up because they don't realize how bad this behavior actually is.

TAPPER: So what now when there was a scandal involving the girls and women's gymnastics team of the Olympics. I mean, one of the problems was that the whole system, USA Gymnastics, U.S. Olympic Committee, like there were so many complicit people throughout the entire system. What about national -- what about women's soccer, what needs to happen?

LOHMAN: You do see a lot of complicit actors in this investigation that have allowed this to continue for so long. I think we need more jurors' prudence. We need better hiring processes to make sure we're getting the right people as our coaches. We need policies, Jake. We didn't have any policies until recently, until 2021 recently for the NWSL.

[17:55:06]

In place that if a coach is abusing or harassing a player, they have a safe space to verbalize this. They feel like they're going to be listened to. There's going to be reconciliation. And then after the fact, right, we see these coaches -- the worst thing that's happened to them is a bad report, right? They've lost their coaches license.

There really hasn't been any legal ramifications for these coaches who have ruined lives. So it has to be policies before during and after that allow these players to show up and feel psychologically safe to be the best athletes that they can be.

TAPPER: Joanna Lohman, thank you so much.

LOHMAN: Yes.

TAPPER: Really appreciate your time tonight. Good to have you. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: We close tonight remembering a country music legend whom we just lost, Loretta Lynn. (SINGING)

TAPPER: Born to poverty in Kentucky, Loretta Lynn found her voice winning a singing competition that would ignite her meteoric rise to stardom. She often wrote about her tumultuous marriage in songs such as "You Ain't Woman Enough" and "Fist City."

(SINGING)

TAPPER: Loretta Lynn, 90 years old. May her memory be a blessing. Our coverage continuous with Pamela Brown in for Wolf Blitzer right next door in "THE SITUATION ROOM."