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Holding Off ISIS; Dennis Hastert to Plead Guilty; Epic Game One of the World Series; China Furious After U.S. Navy Destroyer Sails Into Disputed Waters; Spacewalk at the International Space Station. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired October 28, 2015 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00] CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The wreckage of months of fierce fighting and relentless coalition air strikes.

WARD (on camera): Dozens of villages like this one that were liberated from ISIS months ago are now still completely deserted. Now that's partly because the ISIS militants, before they retreating, planted landmines and booby traps all across this area. But it's also because many people here aren't convinced that ISIS won't be coming back.

WARD (voice-over): In the tiny village of Mehusia (ph), we met Wata (ph), who has lived here all her life. She told us she was too afraid to leave home when ISIS was in control. That they beat and killed people and brought misery upon the community. "There were no air strikes before they arrived. And then the strikes started. There was one next to me. We were scared of everything. Not just ISIS."

"Are you still afraid," I ask. She says not, but glances wearily at the Kurdish YPG fighters with us.

The Kurds question the loyalty of many of these villages, claiming they harbor ISIS sympathizers. The killing may have stopped, but there is no peace here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WARD: The problem now in Syria is that these sectarian and ethnic divisions, Carol, run so deep after years of fighting. We saw one boy in a village chanting "God bless ISIS," and another Kurdish fighter said to us, "we're Syrians but we're Kurdish first."

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Clarissa Ward reporting live from Irbil, Iraq. Thank you.

And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

House Republicans are gathering in Washington this morning, meeting behind closed doors, preparing to nominate a House speaker to lead their party. But a world away in Chicago it's a very different day for a man who once held that powerful job. Right now the former House speaker, Dennis Hastert, is inside the federal courthouse in Chicago. He's expected to change his plea to guilty against charges of lying to federal investigations about millions of dollars in hush money. Ryan Young is following the story.

Good morning.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

And you think about this, it's kind of astonishing, comparing what he's been charged with, with the powerful office that he once held. You know, right now, I'm monitoring my computer and my phone because we actually have a crew on the inside here because he just walked into court. Now, he arrived here at the federal courthouse around 7:20, but I've been told by our Rosa Flores, who's inside the courtroom, he just walked in and they've asked everyone to shut off their phones. But we're told he will plead guilty to trying to hid some sexual abuse allegations by paying several large payments, we believe at some point over $50,000, to a man who has now died. Of course, the federal authorities say he was trying to pay up to $3.5 million to this person to keep the allegations quiet.

This all stems back to when Hastert used to be a high school wrestling coach and apparently had some sexual abuse allegations with a young man from back then. And now we've been told that the federal government was able to track that money that was apparently -- supposed to be deposited and now he will face these charges. Of course, like I said, court is supposed to start here local time at 8:30. Hasn't just started just yet. We're told Hastert will face one count each of evading currency reporting requirements and making a false statement to the FBI.

Of course, this is a large fall for someone who held a very powerful office. We tried to lob some questions at him as he walked into the courthouse. Of course he looked straight ahead and walked toward the court. We're hoping maybe after court we'll hear from him or his attorney. We do -- we do not believe he will make a statement to the press as he's walking out and we also don't believe he'll be -- get his sentencing today. We believe that will probably happen a month from now.

Carol.

COSTELLO: What -- what punishment could he face?

YOUNG: Well, we know he could face some jail time, and that's been a discussion because, obviously, first he pled not guilty, now he's pleading guilty. So, obviously, there might be a deal already worked out. For someone of his age, you have to wonder whether or not he may even have house arrest or what will happen. Will he have to pay restitution? These are questions that we'll have to figure out coming forward.

COSTELLO: Ryan Young reporting live from Chicago this morning. Thank you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, it was a World Series for the record books, but a dramatic win by the Kansas City Royals took a backseat after tragedy struck one of the team's starts. That story's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:38:42] COSTELLO: An inside the park home run, power outages and a dramatic finish. The World Series is off to one amazing start. The Kansas City Royals were able to outlast the New York Mets after 14 innings. But the victory was bittersweet, especially for one of the stars of game one. CNN Sports anchor Rachel Nichols joins me now with more on this.

Good morning.

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Good morning.

Yes, a really strange story. Eddie Volquez, who is the starting pitcher for game one of the World Series, that's a huge position to be in. The ace of the staff. He, unfortunately, his father died in the Dominican Republic just a few hours before the game. And his wife, according to the Kansas City Royals, came to them and said she did not want anyone to tell Eddie that his father had died. That there was this big moment. This happened a country away. There was nothing that he could do and she wanted him to be able to go through the game with a clear mind. And then in the clubhouse after he came off the mound, she was waiting for him and she and some other family members told him. But, Carol, it was surreal because the news was out. It was out on social media. It was out among people who know baseball. So you had so many people in the stadium, around the sport, who knew that this man's father had died, but he was standing there in front of millions of people not knowing. Take a listen to the manager, Ned Yost, explaining the situation.

[09:40:11] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NED YOST: We found out about it before the game. And the wishes of the family was, you know, let Eddie pitch. So I was kind of keeping my eye, didn't want him to hear about it. I was keeping my eye on him and, you know, he -- he was fine. He didn't know. And I guess after the game is when he found out. He's gone home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's gone home?

YOST: Yes. He -- he left before the game ended.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NICHOLS: And, Carol, Yost had to tell one player before the game. He told a different pitcher on the pitching staff in case Eddie somehow heard something early in the game, found out and couldn't continue. So one of his teammates knew, had to keep the secret from him standing next to him while he pitched. Just a surreal situation. Sad. Obviously, our thoughts with his family right now.

COSTELLO: I -- I'm just trying to think, in my own mind, how -- would I -- would I have wanted to know, right?

NICHOLS: Would you want to know or not? There's so many people having that conversation this morning.

COSTELLO: Wow. Well -- well, it's good the Kansas City Royals won that -- it's extra good for them.

NICHOLS: Yes.

COSTELLO: There was a lot of weird moments in the game, though.

NICHOLS: Yes.

COSTELLO: There were those power outages and they kept like -- I guess it was Fox, right, they kept like cutting back to these three anchors whose didn't quite know what was going on. What happened?

NICHOLS: Well, Fox, of course, pays hundreds of millions of dollars for this broadcast. They've got a complicated technical set up there in Kansas City. But two different generators blew at the same time and they ended up going off the air for four whole minutes in the middle of World Series game one. And people -- millions of people watching. About 16 million people watching at the time, clicking their TVs, trying to figure out if it was on their end or not. They eventually were able to take over MLB Network's international feed. The guys not only used the feed for a while, but the announcer from Fox then came into the MLB Network booth, kicked those guys out. They took over the broadcast. It was a little bit of a comedy of errors. They finally did get the Fox Network back on the air. But, you know, a good example, especially as they had to stop the game for a couple of minutes because they didn't have replay capability anymore, that we are all very dependent on technology, Carol, even when playing a game as simple as baseball.

COSTELLO: I know. Well, at least I got to see Dontrelle Willis, who used to be a former -- you know, he was a Detroit Tiger.

NICHOLS: Exactly.

COSTELLO: So, he's looking good these days.

NICHOLS: Hey, you never know who's going to pop up on your TV screen.

COSTELLO: I know. Rachel Nichols, thanks so much.

NICHOLS: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the Pentagon defends a controversial operation in disputed waters and says missions will continue. Now the U.S. ambassador to China is being summoned to Beijing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:47:23] COSTELLO: All right. Are we going to head into space? Or are we going to talk about China? OK, we're going to head into the space in just a minute. We're checking that out because the spacewalk has just started at the International Space Station.

But let's do this China story first and then we'll go, head up into space there. You saw a little bit of it.

OK, so talking about China now. China comes down on the U.S. with a firm fist after a Navy destroyer sails into disputed waters near artificial islands in the South China Sea. Now the U.S. ambassador to China is being summoned to Beijing. And while the Pentagon defends its actions, China is blasting the operation, calling it hypocritical.

In May, CNN's chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto was on board for an exclusive surveillance flight over those islands. He joins us now live from Washington to tell us about the latest snafu. Good morning.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. So that flight in May that we took was the first message, kind of physical message to China that the U.S. does not recognize these manmade islands 600 miles from the China's shore in the South China Sea as China's territory. It doesn't recognize the airspace over them. And since then, it's always been on the table that the U.S. would sail a ship within 12 miles of those islands as the next message. And really a more severe one, just because you are much closer to the action there. And that's what they did in the last 24 hours.

China probably knew it was coming because U.S. officials have kind of telegraphed this, said they were considering it and so on. But the level of their anger and response shows really just the depth of the disagreement here. And now you see a Chinese party newspaper, a Communist Party mouthpiece there, with an editorial today saying that China has to take further military steps to challenge these transits as they are called. Challenge them not by starting a war necessarily, but by coming up close to them, maybe even firing a shot across the bow.

And these are the kind of steps that get really dangerous because it's hard to keep those from escalating into something worse. This is a real disagreement and the U.S. says it's not going stop these trips. They're going to go back again.

COSTELLO: So, will the U.S. amb -- I mean Beijing has summoned the U.S. ambassador to China. Will he go?

SCIUTTO: Yes. It's kind of a typical diplomatic way of delivering a message. You can either do it by paper, it's called a demarge (ph), or you summon them. And the U.S. will do this sometimes as well on the most serious issues. He will go and he will sit there and listen. I've been in these meeting before. You kind of listen quietly as you get the angry message from the other side.

To this point the U.S. has not confirmed that this has taken place; It is China that is saying it's happened.

[09:50:00] But, listen, it's a likely step in a scenario like this. You know, that will pass. That summoning will pass. What will not pass is that U.S. and China, two superpowers, really, have a disagreement on territory, and they're using now their militaries to send a message. They're not shooting at each other, but they're sailing pretty damn close to each other. And that's a problem. That's a problem that both sides acknowledge. But it's also a situation where neither side says it's going to back down.

COSTELLO: All right. Jim Sciutto reporting live for us this morning, thank you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, what are you doing this morning? Well, astronaut Scott Kelly and Chel Lundgren are spacewalking. For the very first time, first time for both of them. We'll find out more about this risky mission straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:55:01] COSTELLO: All right. Let's take a trip to the final frontier. Right now American astronauts Scott Kelly and Chel Lundgren are spacewalking. This is a live picture. This is the first for both men. And yes, it looks easy. They're making repairs on the International Space Station, but make no mistake, this is a risky mission. It is the kind of mission that has America enthralled. After all, "The Martian", the movie, has been No. 1 at the box office, like, forever.

So I am sure Chris Hadfiel,d who's also an astronaut, that many Americans are watching this spacwalk with interest. Chris was a commander of the International Space Station himself; he's also the author of the book "An Astronaut's Guide to Life On Earth". Welcome.

CHRIS HADFIELD, FMR. COMMANDER OF INTL. SPACE STATION: Thanks, Carol. Nice to be talking with you.

COSTELLO: So good to have you here. So you've been listening to the spacewalk. What are they most concerned about now?

HADFIELD: You're concerned about thousands of things. As you mentioned, Scott and Chel, it's their first time outside. Normally at least one of the spacewalkers has gone out before. So that's a big deal to try to get every detail right.

They're talking to Tracy Caldwell Dyson. She's done three spacewalks. She's down in Houston in mission control to try to keep everything straight. And what they're really doing today, the two new American spaceships, the Starliner and the Dragon, that are coming up in the next couple of years, they have to dock with sort of different mechanisms. So the guys are out there to put up a bunch of new wires to power up those docking mechanisms. So they're electricians today, a little bit of plumbing going on, and a little bit of sun shades going on. So it's a busy day for the two of them.

COSTELLO: OK. So I think every American has now seen the movie "The Martian", and you see the commander of the spaceship, you know, in that power pack suit. Is that what Scott Kelly is wearing, too, and Chen (sic)?

HADFIELD: Yes, both of them, they wear a suit, it's like a one-person spaceship, but strapped to the back of it is actually a jet pack just in case their little safety line broke and they went tumbling off into space like you saw in "Gravity". They could pull down this handle, a joystick pops out, and then they could actually fly their jet pack. More like a parachute, really, just to get you back safely and grab onto the station. You sure don't want to use it, but it's nice to have it just in case.

COSTELLO: Oh, I bet so, because you've done spacewalks yourself, and you were actually blinded in a spacewalk? Tell us about that.

HADFIELD: Yes, on the inside of the suits, there's a bunch of different chemicals for removing carbon dioxide from the air you're breathing and also just for cleaning the visor that you're looking through. And some of the chemicals got in one of my eyes. And without gravity, tears don't fall, right? So you just get this -- no way to clear -- you can't rub your eye, and eventually the big contaminated tear went across the bridge of my nose into my other eye, and both my eyes were blinded while I was outside. And I had to evaporate all my tears before I could properly see. So it was a little bit disconcerting. But hopefully that won't happen to Scott and Chel today.

COSTELLO: I hope not either. What kind of precautions do they take before they embark on the spacewalk?

HADFIELD: More than you could believe, Carol. They've trained for years and years. They've spent hundreds of hours underwater at the Johnson Space Center in Houston training for it in a virtual reality lab with a helmet and gloves on. And then on board for the last few weeks, they've been going over these procedures. We've been preparing these spacewalks for about three months. So everybody's right at the top of their game.

And if anything goes wrong, we have lots of different ways to rescue each other. Kim is inside flying the great big (INADUIBLE) robot arm so he could bring one of the guys back to the air lock if there was a hurry. We've got doctors watching every heartbeat on those guys up there. It's -- we take this extremely seriously, but it's also so magical to be outside, going around the world every 90 minutes, holding on with one hand, being alone in the universe. It is -- it's technical. It's professional. But it is so personally beautiful. It's just --

COSTELLO: Describe that feeling for us, Chris. What is -- I mean, there's no sound in space, right? So what's it feel like out there?

HADFIELD: You know, one of the beautiful parts of it, Carol, is the soundtrack is your own breathing. You hear your own heartbeat and your own breathing and you're alone in the universe. It's like Stanley Kubrick sort of imagined when he made "2001" and Dave was outside with the computer going crazy, that your breathing is sort of a reminder that you're alive. And you are not on the world, which is very different. You're in the universe, and the world is separate from you, and it's rolling by at five miles a second. And you're focused as can be to get the job done, but it's everything you can do just not to be gobsmacked by where you are.

COSTELLO: That's so awesome. HADFIELD: Scott and Chel are professional guys. But they're looking

around and noticing what a magnificent human experience it is.

[10:00:00] COSTELLO: Well, thank you, Chris Hadfield, for joining me this morning. It was awesome.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.