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Donald Trump Insinuates 2024 Run For President; U.S. COVID Cases Slowing And Pfizer Seeks Emergency Use Authorization For Kids; Man Driving Truck Towards Pedestrians Dies; Is Brain Laundrie Still Alive?; Afghan Women Under Taliban Rule; Expected High Results For Corporate Profits; Jewish Singer Refused Service At German Hotel. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired October 10, 2021 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington. Former President Donald Trump dropping his biggest hints yet. He plans to run in 2024. His rally in Iowa last night feeling a whole lot like the campaign trail. He's teasing a new-ish campaign slogan "Make America Great Again, Again," and of course re- imagining the 2020 election in the way only he can.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: First of all, he didn't get elected. Okay, forget that. Some people said, oh, sir, it was COVID.

Hillary conceded. I never conceded, never. When you hear these numbers of swing states, there was no reason to concede. They should have conceded. And no presidential candidate has ever lost an election while winning Florida, Ohio, and a place called Iowa. First time it's ever happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: He says he never conceded. That's, in part, because he has conceded in addition to being deluded. He's ego simply unable to tolerate loss or a shred of truth and that explains his next statement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It's the single biggest issue, the issue that gets the most -- the most pull, the most respect. The biggest cheers is talking about the election fraud of the 2020 presidential election. Nobody's ever seen anything like it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: So he just gave away the big lie. Did you catch that there? He is admitting that his election lies are ego juice, just there to pump up the crowd, the very stuff that fueled the insurrection. And by now, we know he'll take those crocodile tears, the big lie is the big cry of course as we said before, all the way to the bank and perhaps to the 2024 election.

For more on this I'm joined by CNN senior political analyst John Avlon who is also the host of the new CNN digital series reality "Extremist Beat" and CNN political commentator and host of PBS' "Firing Line" Margaret Hoover.

Guys, thanks, as always, for being with us. Trump's 2024 teases are beginning to feel like infrastructure week. I guess they just happen over and over again. They never really come to fruition. But, you know, this may actually happen. He is sounding more and more like a contender despite, you know, all of those lies that he tells over and over again.

MARGARET HOOVER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Jim, he's in it to win it. Let's not, I mean, let's not kid ourselves. Let's not fool ourselves. A lot of Republicans are, by the way --

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, maybe not win it.

HOOVER: Maybe, but he's -- well, as we know, he'll claim that he won it even if he didn't, so.

AVLON: Fair enough.

HOOVER: But -- but I think this is a really serious point, Jim, because there are a lot of Republicans who still look me in the eye, serious Republicans who were officeholders, various levels of federal government who say he's not going to run, and they have some kind of justification.

But if you look at every single thing he says and every single thing he's doing, which includes putting the team back together and having his PAC going and basically saying everything he can legally without triggering a campaign violation, he has said that he's running.

So you got to take him for his word. This man is running and he still runs the Republican Party. Republicans need to get their head out of the sand and start dealing with it.

ACOSTA: Yes, out of something, the sand or other places, John.

AVLON: Yes, well, you know, as I said in the "Reality Check" last week, that you know, the symbol of the Republican Party is no longer the elephant, it should be the ostrich.

HOOVER: I sort of borrowed that from you.

AVLON: I appreciated that.

HOOVER: But it was kind of maybe last.

AVLON: But I mean, you know, but the reality, of course, is that it's deadly serious. And it's not just people are in denial about Donald Trump running. It's all these Republicans whose silence is effectively compliciting in this effort to overturn an election, you know, because, look, if trying to overturn an election isn't wrong, isn't disqualifying? Nothing is.

And every single (inaudible) Republican who stood on the stage that night with Donald Trump is complicit, is complicit out of fear, out of a desire to get some benefit from his base. They are complicit in an effort to overturn an election and to have that cancer metastasize itself in the Republican Party and the republic itself, which is what's happening right now.

ACOSTA: Yes. And they're normalizing what he did after the 2020 election in the run-up to January 6th. They are normalizing it and sanitizing it by being up on that stage with him. And the fact that he goes out and blurts out in front of the crowd that, oh, by the way, when I talk about this election stuff, that's what gets most of you guys all fired up. I mean, he's just out there admitting what he's doing here.

AVLON: Yes.

ACOSTA: But, you know, Senator Mitch McConnell has become -- this was the other thing that just stood out to me last night, has become one of Trump's go-to targets this year. Here is Trump attacking Mitch McConnell again last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Mitch McConnell didn't have the courage to challenge the election. He's only a leader because he raises a lot of money and he gives it to senators. That's the only thing he's got. That's his only form of leadership. He should've challenged the election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[17:05:03]

ACOSTA: What do you make of that, Margaret?

HOOVER: Jim, the only thing Mitch McConnell didn't have the courage to do was to encourage his Republicans in the Senate to actually vote to convict because they had way more than 10. They were ready to go. And if they had had the courage to do it, Donald Trump would not be on a stage right now naming him in infamy.

Donald Trump would not be a threat to the republic. That was Mitch McConnell. It was in Mitch McConnell's hands, and instead we exiled him. We sent him to Elba. That's a Napoleon conference, and he's coming back.

AVLON: In case you missed it. I mean, yes. I mean, such an important point because McConnell tried to walk that line. He knew what Trump did was wrong. It's the opposite of not having courage. He had the courage to condemn Donald Trump but not to take the final step that could have disqualified him for future office under article -- the 14th Amendment Section 3.

And by pulling that punch and by still trying to like play footsie with the fanatics in the party, they create the conditions they're dealing with the conditions. The Golem always turns on its creator. That is what Mitch McConnell and that's what every Republican should know by now. And if they don't, they'll learn it soon enough.

ACOSTA: Yes. And we still have these high-ranking Republicans clinging to this idea that President Biden's victory was illegitimate, or at least fueling that belief inside the Republican base. And maybe you saw this earlier today. Congressman Steve scalae, the number two House Republican earlier this morning. Let's watch. It's painful to watch, but let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. STEVE SCALISE (R-LA): At the end of the day, are we going to follow what the constitution says or not? I hope we get back to what the constitution says. But clearly in a number of states they didn't follow those legislatively set rules.

CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS HOST: So you think the election was stolen?

SCALISE: What I said is there are states that didn't follow their legislatively set rules. That's what the United States constitution says.

WALLACE: Last time, I promise. Do you think the election was stolen or not? I understand you think there were irregularities or things that need to be fixed. Do you think the election was stolen?

SCALISE: And it's not just the irregularities. It's the states that did not follow the laws set, which the constitution says they're supposed to follow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: This voting irregularity thing, this voter integrity -- it's just phony baloney nonsense. It's just nonsense.

AVLON: It's much more than that. And to invoke the constitution as a way of deflecting from the attempt to undercut and undo and attack the constitution is disgusting. It's pathetic. Scalise knows better and he's a coward for not being willing to say it.

HOOVER: What Scalise is doing though, Jim, I mean, let's not lose the lesson, Scalise is representing the views of Republican primary, self- identified Republican primary voters who I have seen in focus group after focus group say, you know, there were probably voting irregularities. And they start to use the term the constitution and undermining the constitution as shorthand for something that was unfair to Donald Trump.

AVLON: Right.

HOOVER: And so we're actually not talking about the constitution. But this is what a solid part of the Republican Party, the base of the Republican Party believes. And so that also has to be factored in as we deal with the very real prospect that Donald Trump is coming back. And if you want to win at the ballot box, you have to understand what his voters are thinking if you're going to have a prayer at trying to persuade some of them not to turn out to vote.

AVLON: And all they do is project the term of their guilty of on the other guy. It's project and deflect. That's what they're doing right there.

ACOSTA: Yes. And I want to ask you about this, guys. Because last night I spoke with Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn who is just could not be a nicer, sweeter guy. I mean, he is a great guy. And I asked him about people like Tucker Carlson who are still portraying the January 6th attack as some sort of peaceful event with tourists. That is so appalling. I'll put that to the side for a moment. But listen to what Officer Dunn had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRY DUNN, CAPITOL POLICE OFFICER: When they saw that clip, how did they get in that capitol? How'd they get in there? We didn't just let them in. It was a fight. They fought their way through layers and layers of security to get there. It's coincidental that they just show that particular footage.

Show the footage leading up to that. How about that? That clip that you just showed there -- them spraying us and fighting us and hitting us with poles. Show that clip. What do you got to say about that?

ACOSTA: Why do you think they're not showing that on Fox?

DUNN: It goes against their narrative. It goes against their narrative. And the whole thing about what Tucker Carlson, he had some words about me. Have me on your show. I'll go on. They want to talk about you, not to you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Margaret, I have the feeling that guys like Officer Dunn are just, they're just angry, they're just upset that not only are we seeing like rioters getting slaps on the wrist and Trump and his associates trying to get off scot free. But this deliberate attempt on Fox to whitewash what took place.

[17:09:58]

HOOVER: Yes, I mean, Fox -- that show, Tucker's show is deliberately doing that. It's not universally done across the board at Fox, but the truth is, Jim, I condemn and can't stand what Tucker is doing, but Tucker is the least of it. Most Republican primary voters aren't watching Fox News anymore.

They're on OAN. They're on Newsmax. They're on other channels that definitely aren't showing him. And I was with a Republican member of the House of Representatives this week who told me her -- the most traction she gets from her voters is from those channels, the other ones, not Fox, and Facebook. All right. So, I know Fox is in the wrong here, but its way worse than just one network.

AVLON: But it's created the ecosystem, right. And that's why, look, you know, we need to take this seriously right now, you know. Congress needs to pass the Electoral Count Act. There needs to be accountability through the January 6th commission to hold rioters accountable and end any members of Congress who played footsie with this stuff. There needs to be accountability that leaves a mark. Otherwise, we will have this again, and we need to take steps to stop the next one, now.

ACOSTA: Yes. And I just have the feeling that we're just letting these police officers down, you know. If they were harmed in this way in any other setting, if it wasn't an insurrection, if it had nothing to do with the -- and you just had a bunch of cops brutalized and attacked and some of them, you know, dying as a result of it, we would all be on the same team wanting the perpetrators to be brought to justice and have the books thrown at them. And in this case, you know, we're on opposite sides and it is just so damn frustrating.

HOOVER: Frankly, it was because of their heroism that that day wasn't worse, that no member of Congress or senator was hurt. I mean, that's what's so extraordinary about it.

AVLON: Yes.

ACOSTA: Yes. Well, that's why our hats are off to them for their bravery. And thanks so much, guys for coming on and talking about it with us. We appreciate it. John Avlon, Margaret Hoover, great to talk to you as always. Give us something to think about. Appreciate it.

Up next, a potential milestone in the latest U.S. COVID surge. Is the country finally turning a corner? Dr. Jonathan Reiner, he joins us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:15:00]

ACOSTA: COVID cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are falling nationwide at a much-awaited positive sign in the fight against COVID. But can the pandemic really end if everyone who is eligible for a vaccine doesn't get one, kids included? I spoke yesterday to Dr. Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health about parents who are holding out on getting their kids vaccinated. And here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANCIS COLLISN, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: Come on, parents, look at the data, figure out what's best for your kid, and then try to make a decision based on that evidence, not something that somebody told you based on some crazy rumor. There's too many of those. You know, this is the thing that really bugs me and worries me, Jim, about our country.

We have two epidemics going on. One is COVID-19. The other is an epidemic of dangerous disinformation that is causing reasonable people who care about themselves and their families to make bad decisions. This is heartbreaking. ACOSTA: Really bad.

COLLINS: It never should've come to this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And here with me now is Dr. Jonathan Reiner. He's a professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University. Dr. Reiner, what did you think of what Dr. Collins had to say? It makes a lot of sense.

JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: He really does. Look, there is -- there's so much misinformation in this country and people have been making their decisions not based on facts but based on deliberate, calculated misinformation being targeted at them. To put this pandemic down, we're going to have to reach those folks. We're going to have to tell them the truth. We're going to have to keep at it. We just can't write them off.

And the last 25 percent is going to be the hardest, clearly the hardest. Everyone, essentially everyone who wants to get a vaccine has gotten a vaccine. Now we'll see what mandates can do to essentially nudge people to getting a vaccine. But people who aren't subject to mandates and who are steadfast against it who have been misinformed, deliberately misinformed are going to be very, very hard to convince.

ACOSTA: And Pfizer this week announced it is seeking FDA authorization for its vaccine in kids ages 5 to 11. But it's looking unlikely that we'll see vaccines for kids that young before Halloween. Do you think kids in that age group will be able to get vaccinated before Thanksgiving or Christmas? What's your sense of the timing?

REINER: It's important for this age group sometime probably in the beginning of November. And the vaccine -- the virus has been very active in kids. There have been about a million children who have tested positive since the beginning of September. The Kaiser Family Foundation, their recent poll found that 25 percent of parents have had at least one kid have to quarantine this school year.

So, vaccines for children 5 to 11 can't come soon enough. And it looks like we'll probably hopefully see it sometime maybe the first part of November being available for kids, assuming both FDA and CDC committees give it the nod.

ACOSTA: OK. And let's get back to that topic of misinformation. Over the summer, Dr. Anthony Fauci and I were talking about this subject, and he said that polio would still exist to this day -- you might remember his remark -- if vaccine misinformation currently being spread in the United States existed back then decades ago. Let's listen to that and let's talk --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASE: I mean, if you look at the extraordinary historic success in eradicating smallpox and eliminating polio from most of the world, and we're on the brink of eradicating polio, if we had had the pushback for vaccines the way we're seeing on certain media, I don't think it would've been possible at all to not only eradicate smallpox.

[17:19:55]

We probably would still have smallpox, and we probably would still have polio in this country if we had the kind of false information that's being spread now. If we had that back decades ago, I would be certain that we'd still have polio in this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And we're bringing this up because you made a really good point. You tweeted this picture of an iron lung where you said every year thousands of kids, and there's the tweet right there, would end up in one of these.

Why don't we need them anymore, referring to polio patients? Because we didn't have the kind of vaccine misinformation back then that we have now. And we were able to eradicate it as a country. We were able to come together as a country and do that together. Your thoughts?

REINER: Right. And so, the last case of smallpox on the planet was found in Somalia in 1977. So how did we do that? How did we eradicate something that had been around for millennia? We vaccinated the world. So we have the ability to do that now. We have the vaccines that can largely eradicate this virus if we vaccinate the world.

We are the richest country in the history of the world. We have more than enough vaccine for everyone. We just need the unity to do it.

ACOSTA: Tes.

REINER: We have the technology. We have the capacity. We just need the smarts to do it. And we are smart people. We're not acting that way now.

ACOSTA: Yes. Well, I mean, and because we have so many influential leaders out there who are just leading folks astray.

REINER: Right.

ACOSTA: Leading them to the hospitals and to their graves. And there is still a lot of confusion over boosters right now. Pfizer is the only one approved under emergency use authorization right now. Vaccine advisers with the FDA meet this week to discuss Moderna and Johnson & Johnson. If I'm eligible for a booster but got the Moderna or J&J what do I do right now? What do you recommend?

REINER: Well, the good news is that FDA VRBPAC committee is meeting on Thursday to talk about Moderna booster, on Friday to talk about J&J booster. And also to talk about an interesting study that combined a different booster from the original vaccines. So, the good news is you don't have long to wait.

So I would say right now you wait for what FDA says at the end of this week. So we should have more clarity on that. My guess is that we'll start doing for Moderna and J&J what we did for Pfizer, vaccinate, boost everyone over the age of 65, boost 18 to 64, and people who are either immunocompromised, at high risk of severe disease, or have an occupational exposure that puts them at risk of infection.

But it's important to wait and understand because, for instance, with the Moderna booster, the Moderna booster is half the dose of the original shot. The J&J original shot had some risk of cerebral thrombosis.

So the question is will it be safe to give a second dose to certain demographics in this population or to use mismatched RNA vaccine? So we should have clarity in the next week or so. So all your answers should be --you're your questions should be answered.

ACOSTA: All right. And that's good information because the mixing and matching is a key question on all of this. All right. Dr. Reiner, thanks again. As always, we appreciate it.

And still ahead, where is Brian Laundrie and are authorities any closer to finding him? The very latest on the investigation, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:25:00]

ACOSTA: This just into CNN, in Hawthorne, California, a man has died after police say he drove his truck onto a sidewalk nearly hitting several pedestrians. Bystanders then pulled him from his truck and when police got to the scene, they saw the driver dead on the ground. CNN's Natasha Chen is in Los Angeles. Natasha, this sounds like it could've just been so much worse. What do we know about this?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. The L.A. County Sheriff's Department is assisting Hawthorne police here. This happened late Friday night into the early morning hours of Saturday. Our affiliate, KABC, is reporting that this was at the establishment Rocket Sports Lounge where this man was apparently asked to leave after some altercation there at the business.

He did leave according to the Sheriff's Department, but came back in his truck nearly driving to hit some pedestrians and patrons on the sidewalk there, ultimately lost control of the truck and drove it into a tree. Now, at this point, police say people tried to pull him out of the vehicle, but he was able accelerate and ultimately drove his vehicle into a nearby building.

At that point people were able to pull him out and police said that a physical fight began and they beat the driver. By the time police got there at that point that's when you mentioned they found him, paramedics tried to assist, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. Right now the coroner's office has yet to determine cause of death here.

But police say there was blunt force trauma, which, of course, could've been from the people attacking him after he left the vehicle, after he was pulled out of the vehicle, or it could also have been from driving his truck into a building or a combination of both.

Right now, there are very few other details besides that. But of course, because we're talking about an establishment on a Friday night where this guy was apparently driving his vehicle onto a sidewalk, he could have hit a lot more people. So we're trying to learn more information about that, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, Natasha Chen, thanks so much for that.

[17:29:59]

And for more than three weeks now police have been combing through a gator-infested nature reserve in Florida looking for any sign of Brian Laundrie. So, could he really still be alive there if that's where he's been this entire time? Survival experts say that depends on what he might have with him and his experience in wilderness survival.

CNN's Nadia Romero has been following the story for us and is in North Port, Florida. Nadia, what do we know about Laundrie's preparedness? Could this -- could he still be there? It seemed so far-fetched that he would still be there after all this time, but I guess anything's possible.

NADIA ROMERO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Anything's possible, right? That's exactly what North Port police spokesperson said, anything's possible. But I just want to really give you an idea of the area we're talking about, Jim. When a lot of people think of Florida, they think of Calle Ocho and South Beach or they think of Orlando and Disney World.

This is Florida, Florida, with the swamps and the gators and the snakes. I mean, this is an area where a lot of people wouldn't be able to survive, especially not from four weeks long, right, of being there. Brian Laundrie's parents say that he left on September 13th with only a backpack.

So CNN interviewed some survival experts and they say a backpack really wouldn't have enough supplies to keep someone alive in those conditions for four weeks. Carlton Reserve, 25,000 acres of swampy areas. And last month a lot of those bikes and hiking trails were flooded out because of so much rain. Those waters now are starting to recede.

And then you think, well, maybe he could go hunting and kill some animals and eat them. But the survival experts said, well, if he started a fire that would draw too much attention for somebody who is trying to potentially hide from police and authorities. So, listen to what his own sister, Cassie, had to say to another news outlet about her brother Brian's survival skills.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CASSIE LAUNDRIE, SISTER OF BRIAN LAUNDRIE: I'd say Brian's a mediocre survivalist. It wouldn't surprise me if he could last out there a very long time. But also I don't think anything would surprise me at this point. (END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMERO: And that's what a lot of people are saying. We've had so many twists and turns to this story that stretches back through the summer months when Brian Laundrie and Gabby Petito first went on that voyage out west for their Instagram and to live out of a van. And now here we are still wondering where is Brian Laundrie. Jim?

ACOSTA: Nadia Romero, thanks very much for that update. Coming up, brave Afghan women and girls speaking out about their treatment under the Taliban and how they are being erased. A report from Kabul, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:35:00]

ACOSTA: For women and girls in Afghanistan, life isn't what it used to be now that the Taliban is in control, and many fear that things will never be the same. But in a show of defiance, many are now protesting and returning to work, school, and the streets. Clarissa Ward reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A handful of women stand quietly but defiantly. They're here to protest the Taliban's de facto ban on girls going to school after fifth grade. A small act of great courage. Taliban fighters start to pour in. Their heavily armed presence a menacing question mark.

A new arrival appears unsure of whether to get out of the car. For a moment, it seems the Taliban may have come to protect the women. But the illusion is quickly shattered.

WARD (on camera): Someone from the Taliban has just come in telling everyone to put away their cameras. It's getting a little tense over there.

WARD (voice-over): A senior Talib rips a phone out of one woman's hands. His men shove journalists back. We try to keep filming, but the Taliban don't want the world to see. They're ripping the women's posters. No, put it way, put it away.

A machine gun burst sends a clear message. The protest is over. (Inaudible) tells us he is the head of the Taliban's intelligence services in Kabul and that the women did not have permission to protest.

(On camera): Why does a small group of women asking for their right to be educated threaten you so much?

UNKNOWN (through translator): I respect women's rights. I respect human rights, he says. If I didn't respect women, you wouldn't be standing here.

WARD (on camera): Would you have given them permission if they had asked for one? UNKNOWN (through translation): Yes, of course, he says. We would have.

WARD (voice-over): But permissions are elusive and previous protests have met a similar fate. On the streets of Khair Khana neighborhood, the consequences of one recent demonstration can still be seen. At almost every beauty salon, images of women's faces have been defaced as if to erase them from public life completely.

The women inside this salon are too scared to appear on camera.

[17:39:57]

Hi. As-saalamu alaykum. How are you?

(Voice-over): I ask them about the posters outside.

Who did it?

UNKNOWN: Taliban.

WARD (on camera): The Taliban did it.

UNKNOWN: Yes.

WARD (voice-over): The Taliban came and drove away the protesters. Then they cursed us and said to remove the posters they tell me. They told us to put on a Burqa and sit in our homes.

But this city is full of brave women like Arzo Khaliqyar who refuse to do that. The activist and mother of five says she was forced to become a taxi driver when her husband was murdered one year ago, leaving behind his car but little else.

WARD (on camera): Tell me a little bit about how life has changed for you since the Taliban took power.

ARZO KHALIQYAR, TAXI DRIVER (through translation): A lot of changes, too many. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

WARD: It's okay. Take your time. It's okay.

KHALIQYAR (through translator): Since the Taliban regime has come to power, it has become very difficult.

WARD (voice-over): She offers to take us for a ride. It's another small act of courageous resistance. While the Taliban have not officially banned women from driving, she says she has received threats and that the militants hit her car two weeks ago as a warning.

(On camera): I see the men, they stare at you. They look at you.

(Voice-over): It's not long before she picks up fare. Usually she prefers to take women and stay in areas she's familiar with.

(On camera): Are you aware of the risks that you're taking when you go out every day and do your work? KHALIQYAR (through translator): Yes, yes. In some places where I see

Taliban checkpoints, I'm forced to go through a street or change my route. But I accepted this risk for the sake of my children.

WARD (voice-over): On the other side of town, English teacher Atifa Watanyar is also working hard to give her students a better future. The past year has not been easy. In May, a horrific bombing targeted the Sayed Al-Shuhada school where she teaches, taking more than 80 innocent lives.

(On camera): So you were here when the explosions happened?

ATIFA WATANYAR, ENGLISH TEACHER: Yes, I was in front of the door.

WARD: You were in front of the door. Did you see it with your own eyes?

WATANYAR: Yes. Yes. I saw a very huge explosion in front of the other door.

WARD (voice-over): Incredibly, the school reopened. But weeks later the Taliban swept to power and announced that for the time being from 6th through 12th grade only boys should come to school. It's just very striking that a bomb was not able to stop these girls coming from school. But now the Taliban has been able to stop them from coming to school.

WATANYAR: Yes, it's true. Every day I see Taliban in the streets, I become -- I'd be afraid.

WARD: But you're still coming here every day, you're still teaching.

WATANYAR: Yes. What should we do? What should we do? It's just the thing that we can do for our children, for our daughters, for our girls.

WARD (voice-over): In the fifth grade classroom, the girls are excited to test their English skills.

(On camera): Hi. I want you to raise your hand if you love school. Wow. Everybody loves school.

(Voice-over): This may well be the last year they get to come and study. Yet, they are still full of hope for the future.

(On camera): Raise your hand and tell me what you want to be when you grow up. What do you want to be?

UNKNOWN: Doctor.

WARD: Doctor. Okay. Who else wants to be a doctor? Oh, wow, we have a lot of doctors.

(Voice-over): Sixteen-year-old Sanam used to have dreams, too. She wanted to be a dentist. The explosion at her school left her with serious injuries. But she was brave enough to go back for the sake, she says, of her close friend who could not.

SANAM BAHNIA, STUDENT (through translation): I felt that I must go back and study for the peace of her soul. I must study and build my country so that I can make her wishes and dreams come true.

WARD (on camera): So right now you cannot go to school. How does that make you feel?

BAHNIA (through translation): I feel all my dreams are crushed and buried. For I won't be allowed to go to school and study. All my motivation is completely gone.

[17:45:00]

WARD: It's okay. Take a minute. It's okay. If you want to stop, we can stop. It's okay.

BAHNIA (through translation): No. The Taliban are the people who -- they are the cause of the situation I am in right now. My spirit is gone. My dreams are buried.

WARD (voice-over): And yet, recently, she has started to read her books again and study a little bit every day. Just one more small act of great courage. Clarissa Ward, CNN, Kabul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: And coming up, a Jewish man in Germany told by a hotel they would only check him in if he concealed his Star of David necklace. We spoke to the man about an act of hate that's gone viral, next. But first here is Christine Romans with your "Before the Bell" report.

CHRISTIN ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Jim. With a showdown over the debt ceiling averted for now, investors turn their attention to corporate profits. This week, companies begin reporting third-quarter results. And expectations are pretty high here.

S&P 500 profits are forecast to jump more than 27 percent from a year ago. That's the third highest growth rate since 2010. The big question is what companies say about the future. How are they managing kinks in the supply chain? Are they passing higher cost for materials and labor onto consumers?

Wages did jump again in September, and that's feeding inflation worries. But job growth overall was disappointing. The economy created just 194,000 jobs. That's well short of expectations, Jim. The unemployment rate fell below 5 percent, but some of that may reflect people actually leaving the labor force.

This week, new inflation numbers are due. The government releases reports on both consumer and producer prices for September. In New York, I'm Christine Romans.

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[17:50:00] ACOSTA: A popular German musician was told to hide his Star of David necklace or be denied entry into a hotel. That story coming from as Jewish groups warn of a rise in hate across Europe. CNN's Frederik Pleitgen reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Jewish-German musician, Gil Ofarim, close to tears in his video he posted on Instagram right after he said staff at this hotel in Eastern Germany told him they wouldn't allow him to check in unless he concealed a necklace bearing the Star of David.

GIR OFARIM, MUSICIAN: He told me to put away my Magen David, my David Star. And I was really shocked. And looked over to the next person and he just repeated the same sentence.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): Gil Ofarim is a big star in Germany with thousands of fans. But he tells me the moment he was singled out and denied service for being Jewish, he never felt more alone.

PLEITGEN (on camera): Did anyone come to your aid? I mean, you would think when something like that happens, that someone would jump in and support you.

OFARIM: No. No support. No one like speaking up, no one.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): Gil Ofarim's video has gone viral in Germany, hundreds protested outside the hotel to support him. And in a statement, the Western Hotel, part of the Marriott group says it has launched an investigation, "Our goal is to integrate support and respect all our guests and employees, no matter which religion they believe in.

The employees concerned have been suspended and we will clarify the issue without compromises." But Gil Ofarim says so far the hotel has not apologized to him.

OFARIM: No. There was no apology. There was no statement. There was nothing.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): On the same day as the incident in the German hotel, the Auschwitz Memorial announced that barracks at the former Nazi extermination camp where more than a million mostly Jewish people were been killed had been desecrated with anti-Semitic graffiti.

Jewish groups have long been warning of a massive rise in anti- Semitism in Europe. The coronavirus pandemic has only made things worse with conspiracy theorists like QAanon moving anti-Semitism more into the mainstream, the head of the American-Jewish Committee in Berlin tells me.

REMKO LEEMHUIS, AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE BERLIN: During this protest, we have registered hundreds of anti-Semitic incidents, not necessarily crimes, but anti-Semitic incidents, and this has definitely fueled the rise of anti-Semitism in Germany over the last year. (END VIDEOTAPE)

PLEITGEN: And Gil Ofarim continues to say that he's absolutely shocked by this incident. He also says that he's not sure whether or not he's going to press charges against the hotel and possibly some of the staff, but he says what he really wants is for there to be fundamental action against anti-Semitism here in Germany. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

ACOSTA: And our thanks to Fred for that report. And now CNN's Max Foster with the preview of a new CNN Original Series about Princess Diana and the woman behind the crown.

[17:55:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Clarence House in London where Diana spent some (inaudible) shortly before her marriage to Prince Charles. It was billed as a fairytale of the 19-year-old schoolteacher marrying the future king. But this wasn't an entirely alien world to her.

She was brought up in aristocrats and the two families knew each other pretty well. But nothing could prepare Diana for palace life, particularly as the marriage started to break down. Watch our new series into the remarkable life of Diana, this Sunday, only on CNN.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And "Diana" premieres tonight at 9:00 p.m. That's the news reporting from Washington, I'm Jim Acosta. Thanks for watching. I'll see you back here next Saturday at 3:00 p.m. eastern. Pamela Brown takes over the CNN NEWSROOM live after a quick break. Good night, everybody.

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