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Harvey Weinstein Confronted At Comedy Event; High School Athlete Runs Personal Best, Disqualified For Hijab; Internet Mocks Trump's "Great Wall Of Colorado"; Northern California Wildfire Forces People To Flee Evacuation Center. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired October 26, 2019 - 20:00   ET

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

He spoke with President Trump. And in order not to disrupt the fans getting in and out of the stadium, President Trump says he will arrive after the first pitch and then leave before the game is over.

Now, for tonight's game four, this continues to be one of the hottest tickets we've seen in sports the entire year. Just to get into the stadium, standing room only, it's going to cost you more than $800. So, Ana, it's guaranteed it's going to be another electric atmosphere here tonight at Nationals Park.

ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: Top of the hour. You are live in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. President Trump and his former right-hand man in the White House going back and forth today over advice on how not to get impeached. John Kelly, retired Marine Corps General and former White House chief of staff, he told reporters this weekend that if he had stayed on the job, the president would not be in the impeachment predicament he is in now.

The former chief of staff told an interviewer that when they were looking for his replacement last year, he told the president this. Quote, "I said, whatever you do, don't hire a yes man, someone who won't tell you the truth. Don't do that. Because if you do, I believe you will be impeached." President Trump is flatly denying Kelly ever said that.

CNN's Sarah Westwood is at the White House. Sarah, the president responded directly to CNN about this reporting. What's his reaction?

SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right, Ana, the White House sending an aggressive response to our colleague, Nikki Carvajal. In response to John Kelly's comments, Kelly had, essentially, claimed that if the president had heeded his advice about who to replace him, as chief of staff, he might not be getting impeached right now.

Now, I want to read you the president's statement. He said, John Kelly never said that. He never said anything like that. If he would have said that, I would have thrown him out of the office. He just wants to come back into the action like everybody else. The press secretary Stephanie Grisham said, I worked with John Kelly and he was totally unequipped to handle the genius of our great president. Now, of course, that's a remarkable statement from the press secretary, going after a widely-respected former colleague, one whose arrival in the White House initially was celebrated by Trump aides. So was his performance during the early months of his tenure. But the White House quick to disparage Kelly, after his comments to "The Washington Examiner."

But contrast that with the way the White House has handled the impeachment inquiry. Often, new allegations, new developments in House Democrats' investigation have been met with silence from the White House. They've often declined to dispute the specifics of what witnesses are testifying to on Capitol Hill. And that approach has caused frustration, among Republican allies of the president. Many of whom have wanted to see more of a strategy, more of a coordinated messaging effort coming out of this White House.

But when it comes to what the president perceives as a personal insult, in this case from his former chief of staff, the White House was quick with coordinated response, coordinated pushback in this instance -- Ana.

CABRERA: OK. Sarah Westwood reporting for us. Thank you.

Let's bring in Republican strategist, Shermichael Singleton, and chjef Washington correspondent for Politico, Ryan Lizza. Shermichael, John Kelly is, essentially, saying left to his own devices with no one to stop him, the president will commit impeachable and possibly illegal acts. What's your reaction to this?

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, Ana -- well, Ana, look, I would agree with that assessment by John Kelly. The reality is there isn't a cohesive strategy coming from this White House. If you were to compare how they're handling this, versus the Clinton administration, where you had a solid message. You had talkers. You had strategists trying to figure this out. This administration doesn't have any of that, because Donald Trump is not a disciplined character.

And so, as a result, you have Republicans who are, sort of, all over the place, not sure what is the best line of defense, messaging wise, because the president --

CABRERA: Right.

SINGLETON: -- could tweet or say something hours later that contradicts their very own position.

CABRERA: But hold on for just a second because I -- my takeaway from that is not that he was saying there is a messaging problem, but it's more about the president's actual actions. Not how he is trying to spin it.

SINGLETON: Yes. Well, no, I would agree with that point as well. I mean, look, if you look at the arguments that have come from Republicans thus far, they haven't, really, defended the president's actions. What they have tried to attack is the process. They have tried to raise doubt in the minds of voters, particularly independent voters, on there's something shady going on here about this entire thing. But I don't think you're going to find a single Republican that's going to go on the record, actually defending the president's actions, with the exception of a handful of them. But the vast majority are staying away from that and focusing primarily on the process. And those are two different things.

CABRERA: Ryan, this isn't the first time we've heard a former Trump official say they've had to stop the president from committing illegal acts. Almost a year ago, Rex Tillerson said this. Quote, "So often the president would say here's what I want to do and here's how I want to do it. And I would have to say to him, Mr. President, I understand that what you want to do but you can't do it that way. It violates the law."

[20:05:04]

RYAN LIZZA, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. Yes. Now, look, part of this is just complete inexperience about being president. And part of this is Trump's own instinct to, you know, be a, sort of, bull in a China shop and not really have much regards for the guard rails of the White House and the presidency. And, you know, a lot of those guard rails are laws. And he needs -- he needed someone, and always has, to tell him when he's breaking the rules.

And, you know, this is not the first time, as you point out, Ana, that someone has made this point. John Kelly has just, you know, been very public about it. And, as the White House became more and more controlled by Trump, himself, as he weakened every strong fiefdom within that White House over the first two years, it became really clear what was -- what was going to happen. He was no longer going to be hemmed in by any sort of sage advice, by people who know the system and understand the Executive Branch.

And, you know, it was entirely predictable what John -- what John Kelly was talking about, is that, eventually, he would do something self-destructive, because he didn't have anyone there to push back. And the current chief of staff, who's an acting chief of staff, never even was confident enough to want or take the full chief of staff title, is widely considered in Washington to be subservient to Trump. Weak and not someone who is going to push back the way that John Kelly, not always but a lot of the times, did.

CABRERA: Let me read the statement from Stephanie Grisham, the White House press secretary. I worked with John Kelly. He was totally unequipped to handle the genius of our great president. Shermichael, doesn't that just prove the point John Kelly was making about yes men or yes women?

SINGLETON: I mean, it does. And, I mean, let's think about this for a second, Ana. The fact that you have to, essentially, have a babysitter baby-sit the president of the United States of America, because he is not disciplined enough to be focused and not obstructing and break the law is absolutely ridiculous to me. The fact that you have to have a babysitter to stop the president from lying is ridiculous to me. Because it appears the only time Trump isn't telling a lie is when he's not talking.

And so, I think everything John Kelly has stated is backed by fact. We know, over record over record, that Donald Trump has almost avoided, for the most part, creating more problems for himself because of other individuals. And so, what that tells me is that you have someone who is woefully unprepared for this job. And I think that's why this impeachment inquiry, for example, continues to go on.

I think Donald Trump is only going to create and cause more problems for himself, no matter who was in the White House trying to advise him. The guy just doesn't listen.

CABRERA: And, yet, Republicans still are defending the president, which I would think puts their necks out there a little bit. And I don't want to seem like I'm harping on this. But the president, I mean, he's under investigation for illegally withholding aid for political reasons. And you have multiple former top officials now coming forward, saying the president, in the past, has asked them to do illegal things, including Jim Mattis, his former speech writer. We learned today that, in a new book, he says President Trump ordered Mattis to, quote, "screw Amazon out of a government contract."

If I'm a Republican and hearing Ambassador Bill Taylor say, there's a quid pro quo. We have a former chief of staff saying, I saw this coming. Other former officials saying, the president asked me to do illegal things. Ryan, is the water starting to get a little hot for Republican lawmakers?

LIZZA: I mean, this is why, you know, you truly cannot predict where this goes. I think, you know, the conventional wisdom, and I'm sympathetic to this argument, is that Republicans, because of the president's strength among Republican voters, you know, it's usually in the -- somewhere in the 80 percent support among Republicans, that most people in the House and Senate are scared of a primary challenge. They're scared of a mean tweet from the president. So, they guard him. You know, that's sort of a -- you know, they, sort of, you know, protect him, because they want to be -- they want to be re-elected.

However, I -- the information that has come out and the level of detail that is slowly being documented by the three committees in the House that are investigating the original whistle-blower complaint, it's starting to become a relatively powerful indictment of a clear quid pro quo. And as bystanders, like John Kelly and others, who feel like they weren't treated well by Trump, and might even have some guilt about maybe they should have done more while they were in the White House, as they come forward, you never know what kind of dynamic that could create within the Republican Party.

[20:10:04]

And these things -- you know, with Nixon, it happened overnight when the smoking gun tape came out. With Clinton, people forget this, but there was a moment in the Clinton impeachment early on, where Clinton had to shore up support among Democrats because there were some Democrats that wanted to go to him and tell him to resign. So, these things -- once an impeachment -- I guess my big point is, once the impeachment process gets going, it can be -- it -- the politics can change quickly.

CABRERA: Shermichael, the president has his White House attorneys, but he also has his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani. And we've learned that, earlier this month, Giuliani pocket dialed a reporter and accidentally left a voicemail where he could be heard talking about Joe Biden and needing cash. Here's a sample.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUDY GIULIANI, ATTORNEY FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP: Tomorrow, I got to get you to get on Bahrain. You got to call --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE.)

GIULIANI: -- you've got to call Robert again tomorrow. Is Robert around?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rob, he's in Turkey.

GIULIANI: The problem is, we need some money. We need a few hundred thousand.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Shermichael, why hasn't the president fired Giuliani?

SINGLETON: You know, look, I honestly cannot answer that question, Ana. I think from Trump's position, perhaps he sees Giuliani as one of his most ardent defenders on television. Although, as you know for a fact, Giuliana's appearances have decreased. He hasn't really tweeted as much.

But this, sort of, points to what I think has been a problem from the get-go. The way Donald Trump likes to operate is not consistent with the norms and values that we have become accustomed to as a country and expect out of our president. And, here, you have Giuliani, who's acting like a henchman for the president, talking about, we need to get some money. I mean, Giuliani should be concerned that he may find himself indicted in the near future.

And I can guarantee you one thing. If that does happen, Donald Trump would not be loyal to him any more than he was to Michael Cohen or any of the other individuals who found themselves in very sticky situations. Donald Trump says, oh, well, you know, this person didn't really work for me directly or, oh, this person stopped working for me a very long time ago. I had no idea they were doing these things.

So, Ana, all of this spells to me that there is trouble at the White House. There is a dark cloud hanging over this president. And I think the more and more he finds himself in a corner, the more he's going to react in ways that we just can't imagine.

CABRERA: Shermichael Singleton and Ryan Lizza, thank you, both, for being here.

LIZZA: Thanks, Ana.

SINGLETON: Thanks so much, Ana.

CABRERA: The House committees involved in the presidential impeachment inquiry working into the weekend. This, as we're just learning of two new depositions planned for next week. Live to Capitol Hill, next.

[20:12:43]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: On Capitol Hill today, the House committees involved in the presidential impeachment inquiry held a rare Saturday session and put a top State Department official under oath behind closed doors. The deposition of Ambassador Philip Reeker lasted more than eight hours. It ended just a short time ago. And Republicans who were inside are calling it a good day for the president. Committee Democrats are saying, not so fast.

CNN's Kylie Atwood was there. And, Kylie, what are you hearing about this long testimony today?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're still working to find out some details from the testimony today. But we did get a chance to speak with Chairman Schiff, when he came out of the eight-hour testimony today. And I want to just explain to you what he said. He said, we're trying to work expeditiously but also trying to be methodical in our work. And I think we're making rapid progress against our goal. So, him there not saying, specifically, what Philip Reeker, the Acting Assistant Secretary for European Affairs, said. But did say that he's hopeful in the direction things are headed right now.

But, as you've said, we have heard different things, in terms of characterizing this testimony from Republicans and Democrats. So, Republican Congressman Mark Meadows said that it was a good day for President Trump, because this was the testimony that backed up their argument that there is nothing that President Trump did that is an impeachable offense.

So, let's listen to what he said, specifically on quid pro quo.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MARK MEADOWS (R), NORTH CAROLINA, OVERSIGHT AND REFORM COMMITTEE: I think there was certainly a number of questions that continue to try to convey, is there an impeachable offense here? Was there some quid pro quo? And now, you have another high-ranking State Department official that didn't provide any support for that allegation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ATWOOD: And the question there is, how much did Philip Reeker, this person, this top State Department official, actually know? Our reporting is that Philip Reeker didn't even know that the Trump administration had been pushing Ukraine to publicly state that they would investigate Biden in 2016. So, maybe it's not that he didn't actually say anything, Ana. It's just that he didn't provide any new details on that, by virtue of the fact that he is a top State Department official who oversees all of Europe, not just Ukraine.

But it was a Democrat who came out of this testimony and said that there is a much richer reservoir of information than we originally expected from Philip Reeker. So, they are saying that there is new information. And, based on our reporting, we believe that that has to do with the ousted U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. But not necessarily having to do with this order from the Trump administration to -- for Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden in 2016.

CABRERA: Just a quick answer if you will. As we look ahead to next week, we just learned of two new depositions.

ATWOOD: Yes, that's right, two new depositions. These are both folks that worked with the Ambassador Kurt Volker who resigned ahead of all of this. He's already spoken with the committees. And these two officials will know some details about his interactions with the Ukrainians. And this also comes, however, as one of the other folks who is set to appear next week, Charlie Cooperman. He's a former White House official. He sent in a letter asking for a federal investigation to verify if he has to show up on Monday or not.

So, he is trying to get the legal side of this involved even more deeply. But we are expecting that these two folks, who were just announced today, are going to show up at their testimony next week.

CABRERA: Kylie Atwood for us in Washington. Thank you.

We'll be right back.

[20:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Now to the all-important swing states that could decide next election. President Trump won North Carolina by less than four points in 2016. Can he keep it in his win column next year? CNN's Martin Savidge went there to find out what voters are thinking.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's fair season. Whether you like your bacon on the run or on a stick, it's at the North Carolina State Fair.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

SAVIDGE: Here, you can satisfy your wildest deep-fried dreams. We've come to measure voter appetite for impeachment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it is a waste of the taxpayers' money. SAVIDGE (on camera): Do you think the president did something wrong?

JENNIFER WALL: Absolutely. Absolutely.

SAVIDGE: You don't really follow the whole impeachment thing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. No, I don't really know much about it at all.

SAVIDGE (voice-over): The Midway offers a virtual tilt-a-whirl of opinions. In this state, that went for Trump by less than four points, Jim Uzzle (ph) is angry at Congress for even considering impeachment.

JIM UZZLE: And I don't think he's broken the law, and I wish they would vote on trying to make things right in America, versus wasting their time and money, our money, on a lost cause.

[20:25:04]

SAVIDGE (voice-over): Most of the Trump supporters we talked to are unmoved by days of explosive testimony and revelations against the president.

(on camera): Do you think that it changes the minds of Trump supporters?

JEFF MASON: I do not. I think the ones of us that support him will continue to support him. If you look at the economy, there's no way to deny that we're doing pretty amazing.

SAVIDGE (voice-over): Sheri Price hasn't changed her mind.

SHERI PRICE: He don't -- he don't need to be taken out. He's the only one who is going to tell the truth and he can't be bought.

SAVIDGE: Rich Blewitt reflects a new and growing criticism of the impeachment inquiry by Trump backers, a perceived lack of openness.

RICH BLEWITT: If it was out in the open, and everything was discussed, and he did something wrong, impeach the guy. I just don't like the secrecy. It just sounds wrong, the way they're going about it. That's all.

SAVIDGE: Dennis Englebright is an exception. He also voted for Trump but he's starting to believe the president may have done something wrong.

DENNIS ENGLEBRIGHT: At first, I didn't. I thought it was just -- they was after him. But every time someone talks more about it, it all of it can't be lying, you know.

SAVIDGE: Besides what they think of impeachment, we also wanted to know how closely they were following developments. And there, too, folks are divided. Gina Hatch didn't vote for Trump.

JEANA HATCH: I follow it pretty closely. SAVIDGE (on camera): You do.

HATCH: Yes, I do, actually. I try to stay educated.

SAVIDGE (voice-over): Joe Miller did vote for Trump.

(on camera): Do you follow this?

JOE MILLER: Not much, no. I try not to, actually.

SAVIDGE: I was going to say, how do you avoid it? It seems to be everywhere.

MILLER: I watch a lot of ESPN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Martin Savidge reporting for us.

Talk about a hero. Up next, the remarkable story of a firefighter, who risked his life to save a couple in danger, amid raging wildfires in California. You're live in the CNN Newsroom.

[20:26:50]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:30:56]

CABRERA: Harvey Weinstein trip to a comedy show ends in a Me Too confrontation that's gone viral.

CNN's Brynn Gingras reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZOE STUCKLESS, ACTRESS: Nobody's going to say anything, nobody's really going to say anything.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 21-year-old, Zoe Stuckless, enraged at the sight of Harvey Weinstein at a private event in New York City.

STUCKLESS: I'll get out of here and that's fine. I am happy to leave. But nobody is going to say anything.

GINGRAS: And unleashing their fury at the crowd.

STUCKLESS: I'm going to stand four feet from a -- rapist and nobody is going to say anything.

GINGRAS: Weinstein among those in attendance at Actor's Hour, a monthly event in New York City that's dedicated to artists. He's accused of sexual misconduct by more than 80 women and set to go to trial on sexual assault charges in January.

Weinstein has pleaded not guilty in the criminal case and maintains the sexual encounters he's had with women have been consensual.

Stuckless told CNN they needed to confront the disgraced movie mogul after other people in the room seemed to welcome him being there.

"I kept thinking about the fact that we were in a room full of young artists, young women creating art and being vulnerable on the stage and this was the very community that Weinstein was able to terrorize for so many years."

The video shows Weinstein listened to Stuckless but didn't react. In a statement provided to CNN through his spokesperson Weinstein said, quote, "I am happy to address anyone's questions. We should all be offered the courtesy to voice opinions and be heard and to even get answers. I am glad we all still have these rights."

Stuckless wasn't alone in the protest. Comedian, Kelly Bachman, who says she is a rape survivor, addressed the, quote, elephant in the room during her act calling Weinstein, Freddy Krueger.

KELLY BACHMAN, COMEDIAN: I didn't know that we have to bring our own mace and rape whistles to Actor's Hour.

GINGRAS: Some guests booed Bachman, even told her to shut up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shut up.

GINGRAS: But she kept going.

BACHMAN: I've been raped surprisingly by no one in this room but I've never got to confront those guys. Just a general (BLEEP) you.

GINGRAS: Bachman walked out of the club when Stuckless was asked to leave by the venue. It's unclear whether Weinstein was invited to the private event. The event organizer told CNN, "I am deeply saddened that his presence was not only a trigger point for some attendees but that some women ultimately felt unsafe when a safe environment is what I set out to create for the acting community."

CABRERA: Our thanks to Brynn Gingras for that report.

With us now is Kelly Bachman, the comedian you saw confronting Weinstein from the stage. Thanks so much for being here, Kelly.

BACHMAN: Thanks for having me.

CABRERA: What's it like to watch that back?

BACHMAN: It's very surreal. It happened on Wednesday night and there's been such an outpour of support since then that I haven't really re-watched the video in a while. So it was just kind of surreal to think how recently that happened.

CABRERA: When you first saw Weinstein sitting there, what was your first thought?

BACHMAN: Shock. I was just -- I did a double take, triple take. Like is this really Harvey Weinstein? I went around and asked people, like every person I could find, I was like, "Is that really Harvey Weinstein? Is that Harvey Weinstein?" And some people were, like, "Yes. Yes, it is." And others were as shocked as me.

But I found out pretty quickly that he was invited and no one was going to ask him to leave. So I was totally shocked by that that he seemed to just be accepted as like a normal presence in this space.

CABRERA: You mentioned as we saw to the audience that you are a rape survivor you say.

BACHMAN: Yes.

CABRERA: And this must have been traumatizing for you.

BACHMAN: Yes. It was really triggering and the feeling of being triggered, it feels like your body -- you feel like you're in danger like your body is going into fight or flight protect yourself mode. And seeing him and seeing everyone treat it so normally, I think how people react to it is the most triggering aspect.

[20:35:21]

And so when someone says, shut up, that to me reminds me of being silenced as a rape victim or not believed as a rape victim. And so it's very jarring and I was sitting on the side of the stage just staring at my phone asking friends what I should do. I didn't know if I should leave or should I just do my regular set or do I need to say something.

And I was really kind of in a panic. But right before I went up, I decided I definitely needed to say something. I wasn't sure what it was going to be.

CABRERA: And that's what we came out, what we saw. You also saw that other audience member who was clearly upset about Weinstein's presence there.

BACHMAN: Yes.

CABRERA: Let me read you the statement from a spokesperson for Harvey Weinstein. "Harvey Weinstein was out with friends enjoying the music and trying to find some solace in his life that has been turned upside down. This scene was uncalled for, downright rude, and an example of how due process is being squashed by the public, trying to take it away in the courtroom, too."

Your response?

BACHMAN: I think it's fun that he thinks I'm rude. Like that's fun. It's fun to me. But --

CABRERA: You find that a good thing.

BACHMAN: Like if Harvey Weinstein thinks I'm rude, like that's, I don't know. That's cool with me. But the due process part, I think that -- whether or not you're invited to a private event for artists has nothing to do with due process. This is about protecting the artists and the space and making them feel as safe as they're supposed to feel to perform.

This is supposedly an organization designed to create a space for artists, so bringing someone that has a reputation for destroying the careers of young women and lives to have a room full of young women exposed to that person in a way where it's treated as normal and maybe even welcomed, I think to me that is a completely separate conversation than the conversation about due process.

CABRERA: It's hard to believe that the Harvey Weinstein story broke two years ago already.

BACHMAN: Yes.

CABRERA: What would you say to his accusers who may have watched this video?

BACHMAN: I would say, I hope that I said enough because, you know, I really -- I was thinking I was speaking for myself. But, you know, I know I think as a survivor myself, when I think about the idea of standing up for myself to people who have hurt me, it's sort of like you think about what you might say or what you could say or you should have said.

And I was really trying to just say something. And in the moment, I really felt like I could have said more and I really felt like I had let down other survivors by not saying more.

And to me, I felt like the woman who screamed out was the real hero. I thought she was so brave. And so I would just say to them that I'm -- they're my heroes for speaking out and I hope that I, you know, did right by them in some way.

CABRERA: Thank you, Kelly Bachman, for speaking out, for sharing with us tonight. We appreciate it.

BACHMAN: Thank you for having me.

CABRERA: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:40:01]

CABRERA: New tonight, images out of northern California showing just how bad the wildfires out west are getting. More than 50,000 people are under mandatory evacuation orders including in Windsor where you can just see a cloud of smoke hovering over homes there because of the Kincade Fire.

The state's largest utility is turning off power to nearly a million customers to prevent what could become catastrophic wildfires.

Also new tonight, we're learning that people had to flee an evacuation center because flames were dangerously close. And we're learning the remarkable story of a firefighter who deployed his fire shelter saving the lives of two evacuees as they were trying to flee the Kincade fire.

Both civilians and a firefighter were transported to an area hospital for evaluation suffering only non-life threatening injuries. And in southern California, firefighters are also battling the thick fire which has destroyed more than 4,500 acres. Officials say dry, windy weather is fueling both fires which are both less than 30 percent contained.

California's governor places blame firmly on the shoulders of the state's power provider.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): Years and years of greed. Years and years of mismanagement. Particularly with the largest investor owned utility in the state of California, PG&E. That greed has precipitated in a lack of intentionality and focus on hardening their grid, undergrounding their transmission lines. They simply did not do their job. It took us decades to get here but we will get out of this mess.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: The governor has declared states of emergency in Sonoma and Los Angeles counties.

A Russian woman convicted of conspiring to act as a foreign agent in the U.S. has just returned to her home country. Maria Butina arrived in Moscow this morning to warm greetings and bouquets of flowers. She was released from the Florida federal prison yesterday and immediately deported after serving more than 15 months behind bars.

The 30-year-old gun rights enthusiast was the first Russian citizen convicted of crimes relating to the 2016 election trying to infiltrate conservative political groups in the U.S. and promote Russian interests. She said today she felt pressured to plead guilty.

[20:45:15]

A high school runner in Ohio disqualified from a race for wearing her hijab. I'll talk to the 16-year-old live, next. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. Don't go anywhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Now to a story close to my heart as a former high school cross country runner myself. This is 16-year-old Noor Alexandria Abukaram, a high school runner from Ohio who crossed the finish line in a district cross country meet last weekend with a personal best only to learn moments later she had been disqualified because of the hijab she was wearing.

In a Facebook post written by her cousin, the 16-year-old was said to be humiliated, disappointed, rejected, and in denial. In a statement to CNN, the Ohio High School Athletic Association or OHSAA said in part cross country runners may participate in competitions with religious headwear provided the runner has obtained a waiver from the OHSAA and submitted it to the head official before the race, since it is a change to the OHSAA uniform regulations."

The official was simply enforcing this rule since a waiver had not been submitted. They do add, they are looking into potentially modifying their policy.

[20:50:04]

And Noor Alexandria joins us now.

First, congrats on a personal best.

NOOR ALEXANDRIA ABUKARAM, HIGH SCHOOL CROSS COUNTRY RUNNER: Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

CABRERA: How did you learn you had been disqualified?

ABUKARAM: I learned from my teammates. I went to go like ask them why my name wasn't on the list when we went to go find our placings, and they were the ones that told me that I had been disqualified and that I had been disqualified because of my hijab.

CABRERA: Had this ever happened before? Because I assume you had worn your hijab in other races, right?

ABUKARAM: Yes. I've worn my hijab the whole season before this race and this has never happened until the district invitational.

CABRERA: Why do you think it was an issue now?

ABUKARAM: Well, like talking to like other coaches, they like, they just tell me that people get feisty about the rules around districts, which, I mean, like, you know, talking to those coaches, they're annoyed that OSHAA's not, at least, consistent with their rules. If they have any, at least be consistent about it.

CABRERA: I know what it's like to run a personal best, that sense of satisfaction, that feeling of accomplishment. What did it feel like to then find out it technically didn't count?

ABUKARAM: It really, like, broke my heart. Because I worked hard, like the whole season before this. I wasn't a cross country runner before this season, so this is my first season running cross country. So I had to work really hard to get used to racing and running that 5k.

And then, you know, after running, you know, 3.1 miles, it was really like -- I was like, really? You know, I worked the whole season for this?

CABRERA: That must have been really disappointing.

ABUKARAM: Mm-hmm. CABRERA: Your coach was alerted about the need for a waiver moments before the race but decided to let you run without telling you. Do you wish he had told you the official's decision prior to the race?

ABUKARAM: I wish the officials had had the same dignity and respect that they had for my teammate who had a uniform violation and came to me and told me about my uniform violation instead of going around me to my coach.

And my coach deciding not to tell me was a decision that he had to make as a coach for his team. Because running is a very mental sport. And for him to like, you know, legit 30 seconds from the start of the race to either pull me out of the race or put in a different person or tell me to take off my hijab could like really mess with the other people on my team mentally, and potentially ruin the race for the rest of my team, not just myself. So he wasn't just thinking about me. He had to think of my team as a whole.

CABRERA: OSHAA tells CNN in a statement they're looking at the specific uniform regulation to potentially modify it in the future. What's your message to them?

ABUKARAM: I don't feel comfortable answering that question right now.

CABRERA: What are your thoughts about their response now and their plan to modify potentially this rule?

ABUKARAM: I think it's great that they potentially want to modify this rule, and I look forward to talking to them in the future.

CABRERA: All right. Noor Alexander Abukaram, thank you for sharing your story. And keep on running. Keep it on, keeping on. Good luck in regionals.

ABUKARAM: Thank you. Appreciate it.

CABRERA: A border wall in Colorado? That's the plan according to President Trump. We'll explain. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:55:25]

CABRERA: Holding on for dear life. A window washer in Edmonton, Canada was left dangling from the side of a 66-story building, when high winds sent his platform careening through the air. You saw it slammed right into the side of the skyscraper.

He falls off, but luckily is saved by his harness. First responders rushed to the scene, they rescued him. And we're told he's OK.

President Trump loves to plug his proposed border wall. But no wall could protect from the jokes, his latest jokes assertion has inspired.

CNN's Jeanne Moos reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Trump always likes to say he's doing something no one else has done, but building a border wall? Where there's no border with Mexico?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And we're building a wall in Colorado. We're building a beautiful wall. A big one that really works.

MOOS: He got a big beautiful ovation in Pittsburgh, but to Colorado's democratic governor, the idea is a dog.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even, you know, first graders know that Colorado is in the middle of the country surrounded by other states.

MOOS: Great wall of Colorado mocked on tweet and New Mexico will pay for it. If you fall for a wall in Colorado --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got some ocean front property in Arizona.

MOOS: President Trump later tweeted that he'd said it kiddingly.

MOOS (on-camera): But with politicians covering so much ground, no wonder they lose their geographical footing. Misstating the number of states --

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've now been in 57 states --

MOOS: Or being in one state, say, New Hampshire, and saying --

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What's not to like about Vermont in terms of the beauty of it?

MOOS: Trust the press to take pleasure in geographical bloopers such as when President Trump made a solemn visit to Paradise, California.

TRUMP: We just left pleasure.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Paradise.

TRUMP: Or Paradise.

MOOS: Citing the border wall in Colorado inspired a flood of doctored maps.

Critics made a point of using Sharpies to make their point. Senator Patrick Leahy shared one of the most popular ones. The southern border was adjusted and maps replacing the Hurricane Dorian one the president have famously amended.

If President Trump keeps rearranging things, he's going need a bigger Sharpie.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From the plains of Minnesota.

MOOS: To the walls of Colorado.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: I had play that for my home state of Colorado. Friends and family tonight. That's going to do it for me. I'm Ana Cabrera.