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World Leaders Prepare to Convene in Rome, Glasgow; Biden Making Final Legislative Push Before His Trip; Sheriff: Baldwin Fired "Suspected Live Round" on "Rust" Set; Storms Keep Millions on Alert in Eastern U.S. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired October 28, 2021 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

ISA SOARES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everyone, and a very warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and right around the world. I'm Isa Soares in London and just ahead right here on CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The president is preparing to go on a six-day trip overseas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Biden, and I'm coming with the reset for the foreign policy problems I had over the summer.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Also hoping to get his Build Back Better Act over the finish line.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: With a savage blow to his economic agenda, President Biden heads overseas to talk diplomacy with America's top allies.

New details in the investigation of the "Rust" movie set shooting. Authorities say it could take weeks before we find out how it happened.

And the Trump of the tropics gets a reelection boost from his idol, Donald Trump.

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Isa Soares.

SOARES: Hello, everyone. It is Thursday, October 28th and in the coming hours, President Biden is expected to leave for his second foreign trip but only after he makes a last-minute trip to Capitol Hill this morning to lobby Democrats to strike a deal on his agenda that has been somewhat stuck. Right now, it appears the president will arrive in Rome without a tangible achievement, and that could really handicap his diplomatic efforts overseas.

Ahead of the G20, he'll meet on Friday with Pope Francis, and after the G20 he'll deliver a keynote address at the U.N. COP26 claimant summit in Glasgow, Scotland. Now the president has a lot of fence mending to do with European allies, especially France. If you remember, Paris still sore that its lucrative submarine contract with Australia was canceled by the U.S. and U.K. without any advance warning. We'll have much more on President Biden's trip, what the G20 can potentially achieve. We'll go to Rome shortly. Stay with us for that.

As we mention, President Biden is delaying his departure and will make a final push on Democrats to pass his infrastructure measure while negotiations continue on his social spending and climate bill. One of the president's key provisions, paid family leave, appears to be scuttled by Senator Joe Manchin. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you still talking to Senator Gillibrand?

SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D-WV): I'm talking to everybody. But I've been clear to expand social programs when you have trust funds that aren't solvent and they're going insolvent. I can't explain that. It doesn't make sense to me. I want to work with everyone as long as we can start paying for things. That's all. I can't put this burden on my grandchildren. I've got ten grandchildren. I just can't do it.

Well, CNN's Jessica Dean has details on the other sticking point in negotiations on Capitol Hill.

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JESSICA DEAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: President Joe Biden headed to Capitol Hill on Thursday just before he leaves for his trip overseas. He's going to be meeting with House Democrats early Thursday morning as he hopes to encourage them and get them to the finish line on voting both for his bipartisan infrastructure bill which is just being held up there in the House, and then also hoping to get his Build Back Better Act over the finish line.

The hang-up here is that progressives in the house are tying the two together. They're saying they will not support that infrastructure bill until the Build Back Better Act has gotten a vote as well. So that's where he's trying to thread the needle.

When it comes to the Build Back Better Act, there are still details that need to come together there. Democrats are still working to get an actual top line of exactly how much this will cost. They're also trying to pin down exactly how they're going to pay for this. A corporate minimum tax is looking very likely. Will they keep a billionaires tax in there as they discussed on Wednesday and Tuesday? Questions remain about that if they can get all 50 Democratic Senators on board for that billionaires tax.

There's also a number of issues of what will be going into the bill. There are still questions surrounding if Medicare will be expanded to include dental, hearing and vision services for people on the Medicare program. That's something that's been very important to Senator Bernie Sanders, but Senator Joe Manchin has expressed real reservations about expanding that program before shoring it up. He's concerned that it could be insolvent very quickly.

[04:05:00]

There's also the question of expanding Medicaid, of prescription drug price negotiations. Will they move forward on that? Senator Kyrsten Sinema and other lawmakers who have pharmaceutical companies in their home districts in their states have expressed reservations about that as well.

Paid family leave, that was a big one on Wednesday when news came down that it is likely that that will be on the chopping block. Senator Joe Manchin does not see that as going into this bill, but its proponents including Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Senator Patty Murray say they are continuing to negotiate with him even as it looks more and more likely that will be pushed to the side.

And then probably the most optimistic thing right now is the climate provisions. The House Speaker Nancy Pelosi writing to House Democrats about the state of this bill today and speaking very optimistically about where the climate provisions are. We're told that that part of the bill could be upwards of $500 billion. The most money spent on anything in the bill, so House Democrats and Senate Democrats appear to be quite happy with that.

Again, though, President Biden coming to Capitol Hill on Thursday hoping to get his agenda over the finish line.

Jessica Dean, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOARES: Thank you, Jessica.

Well, the loss of paid family leave in the spending bill would be the latest major disappointment really for progressive Democrats. They've watched many of the social policies provisions eliminated because of opposition from moderates Joe Manchin as well as Kyrsten Sinema. The head of the progressive caucus is holding firm on passing the infrastructure bill without the larger bill finished. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REP. PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-WA): I'm a woman who has had a baby, and I know what that takes. And millions of women across the country are wondering how the president can go to Europe and explain that we are going to be one of six countries that don't have paid family leave because one guy says he doesn't want it. I don't know how you explain that.

So, look, we haven't drawn red lines, but I just think that we need to be really thinking about what we're saying about the United States' leadership with this bill. And the best course of action is to keep negotiating. We are close, but we're not there yet. So, let's finish the negotiations and then let's vote both the BIF and Build Back Better Act out of the House with a commitment from the Senate that they're going to do it. We all put together this billionaires tax and Senator Sinema said she

was OK with that. Then Senator Manchin said he didn't like it. So, this is what we're dealing with. And this is why we need to have the two of them come to agreement with the rest of us and with the president. We've made tremendous concessions to get them there, but now they need to step up and recognize that we all need the Build Back Better Act to pass and they need to quickly get their act together and figure out how we're going to get this thing done.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOARES: Of course, we'll continue to follow developments from the president's morning meeting on Capitol Hill for you.

Now, despite the deadlock in Congress, the White House is considering executive actions and new federal regulations to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Analysts say those actions won't be enough. And President Biden will still need Congress to pass clean energy bills to meet his goal of at least 50 percent fewer emissions by the end of the decade.

Now, as we told you a few minutes ago, really our top story, President Biden leaving today for his G20 trip to Europe. CNN's Ben Wedeman joins us from Rome. And Ben, good morning to you. I mean, there's plenty on this agenda for this G20. What realistically, Ben, do you expect to come out of this given that neither Xi Jinping nor Russia's president will be attending here?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there's going to be a serious absence when it comes to the members of the G20 without Russia and China. Now, they're going to be talking about a variety of things. Climate change, the economy, basically the Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said that the priority will be on three things. People, planet and prosperity.

But, for instance, when it comes to climate, we've heard, for instance, Greta Thunberg, the climate activist has accused world leaders, specifically the wealthy countries, of basically doing blah, blah, blah when it comes to fighting climate change. So, on Saturday and Sunday for the G20 and then following that in Glasgow with the COP26 summit on climate change, we're going to see if they're going to do more blah, blah, blah or actually take action.

Keeping in mind that the countries of the G20 account for about 80 percent of the world's carbon emissions.

[04:10:00]

But given the divisions within the G20, it's hard to say whether they're going to be able to actually achieve anything at this point.

Here in Rome, the silver lining of all this is, of course, the city's five-star hotels for the first time since the beginning of the COVID pandemic are full as well as many of the four-star hotels. The city's taxi drivers are very busy. So, there is some short-term benefit to this summit for at least Rome. But for the planet, we shall see -- Isa. SOARES: Indeed. And I know you will keep us posted. Ben Wedeman for us

in Rome. Great to see you, Ben, thanks very much.

Now, there are still a few steps left before children ages 5 to 11 can get the Pfizer COVID vaccine. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has to give the green light for Emergency Use Authorization. Meantime, the CDC vaccine advisers will meet next Tuesday to give their recommendation. But the CDC director will have the final say whether to actually accept it. Dr. Rochelle Walensky says the virus has killed more than 700 children in the U.S. So, Americans must remain vigilant heading in, of course, to the winter months. Here's her message to parents. Take a listen.

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DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, DIRECTOR, U.S. CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: As we anticipate authorization for vaccines for children, I want to emphasize ways we can continue to protect our children today. Surrounding our children with people who are vaccinated helps protect them against COVID-19. It's important that we continue to vaccinate as many adults as possible, to provide protection to children in the community, especially those who may not be eligible for vaccination themselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Well, data from Johns Hopkins University shows cases in the U.S. are declining -- as you can see there on your screen. But America's top health expert says it is still a good idea to get children vaccinated.

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DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, U.S. NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: All you need to do is go to the pediatric hospitals around the country, and you see particularly with the Delta variant which has a much greater chance of transmitting, that more kids are getting infected. And as more kids get infected, some of them, maybe a small proportion, are going to have a serious outcome.

Also, you want to make sure that we don't have a situation where the children inadvertently and innocently, when they get infected, many of them without any symptoms, are spreading it within the family unit, which is something that recent studies indicate that that might be the case. So, there's a really good reason to have the children vaccinated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Well, we could also see vaccines for kids under 5. Dr. Fauci says Moderna has is studying data is COVID vaccine for younger children. We'll stay on top of that for you.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization has some bad news for Europe as the region heads into winter. It says while other parts of the world are seeing declining or steady COVID numbers, Europe -- as you see on the screen -- is reporting a dramatic increase in cases as well as deaths accounting for over 57 percent of new global COVID infections just in the past week. The situation is especially dire if we look at Russia. These are the streets of Moscow where a new lockdown went into effect early today. The country reported a record number of COVID deaths in the past 24 hours second day in a row.

I want to turn now to the investigation into last week's fatal shooting on the "Rust" film setting in New Mexico. The Santa Fe County Sheriff says the gun fired by actor Alec Baldwin shot a suspected live round killing crew member Halyna Hutchins and injuring the film's director. Take a listen.

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ADAN MENDOZA, SANTA FE COUNTY, NEW MEXICO SHERIFF: We suspect that there were other live rounds but that's up to the testing. But right now, we're going to determine how those got there, why they were there, because they shouldn't have been there. We would consider a live round a bullet live because it did fire from the weapon and obviously caused the death of Mrs. Hutchins and injured Mr. Sousa.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Well meanwhile, court documents released Wednesday revealed the film's assistant director admits he failed to fully check the prop firearm before handing it to Baldwin. And two crew members tell CNN that the lead armorer on set had mishandled weapons during a previous film project. CNN's Josh Campbell has more now on the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Isa, we are learning new details about the circumstances surrounding that fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins here in the U.S. state of New Mexico. The sheriff announcing on Wednesday that it was a suspected live round of ammunition inside a gun fired by actor Alec Baldwin that ultimately resulted in her death.

Now, there are a number of questions that remain, specifically how did a live round of ammunition actually make its way onto a set? I posed the question to the sheriff. He said that very much remains under investigation. I also sat down with the district attorney here, the person who's responsible for the prosecution side.

[04:15:00]

She said that it is that key question about the circumstances surrounding the bringing of live ammo onto the set, the person or persons that may have done it. That will be the key calculation in her ultimate decision to potentially bring charges.

CAMPBELL: And so as of this point, would you say that there's any particular time line on making that decision about charges?

MARY CARMACK-ALTWIES SANTA FE DISTRICT ATTORNEY: It's -- no, there's not a time line at this point. I would say weeks to months. I was sort of taught was you treat a firearm like a live snake, and so it's a terrible tragedy. We don't know how those live rounds got there, and I think that that will probably end up being kind of the linchpin for whether a decision is made about charges.

CAMPBELL: Now, officials say that they have interviewed a number of witnesses who were there on the day of the shooting, describing them thus far as cooperative. But there's also a forensic examination that continues. We're told that among the items that investigators seized on that set were over 500 rounds of ammunition. Those will be sent to the FBI's laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, for analysis.

Again, authorities are trying to determine how much of that is possibly the typical type of dummy rounds you might see on a movie set, and how much of it might have been live ammunition. That will help them determine the person or persons that might be responsible for this death -- Isa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOARES: Thank you very much, Josh Campbell there.

Well, power outages across the U.S. Northeast and fear of tornadoes in the South. Coming up, we take a look at powerful storms that are rolling into two areas of the Eastern U.S.

Plus, the top U.S. general says he is concerned about China's test of a hypersonic weapon. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM live from London. I'll be right back.

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SOARES: Thousands -- you can see there -- dead crustaceans washing ashore on beaches in northeast England. Residents say the dead crabs and lobsters have been washing up around this estuary for weeks now. It is unclear why. But the U.K. environmental agency has sent samples to lab to see if pollution could be to blame. Former Parliament member tweeted these scenes look, quote, apocalyptic.

Now in Italy, more rain is on the way for the parts of Sicily, already inundated by heavy flooding. A hurricane-like storm known as "Medicane" is expected to linger until the weekend and keep dumping rain unfortunately. The storm hits this week, killing at least two people and leaving one person missing. Firefighters have carried out hundreds of rescues in the city of Catania. Some areas in Sicily have received a year's worth of rain in just two days.

Meanwhile, millions of Americans will also keep a watch on bad weather today. More than 400,000 homes and businesses are still in the dark after a storm knocked out power across New England on Tuesday. It's not done yet. Possibly bringing more rain and coastal flooding.

And in Louisiana, a tornado tore through the city of Lake Charles yesterday, as you can see, forecasters say two people were injured and about a dozen homes were significantly damaged. The same storms are now moving into Alabama and Florida, and may bring more tornadoes there, too.

Pedram Javaheri joins us now with the weather forecast for the rest of the day. And Pedram, as we just outlined, we've got we got more without power and the south seeing severe weather. I mean, the U.S. is really being battered on those two fronts there.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It continues every single day. We have a different region of the U.S. seeing some significant weather and whether it was the bomb cyclone across the Western United States, the tornadoes that now we're seeing in portions of the southern United States, and of course the nor'easter that just wrapped up as well.

But take a look at this. Upwards of ten reports of tornadoes just in the past 48 hours. Almost 40 reports of severe wind gust reports. And those are right around the plains region of the U.S., along parts of the Gulf coast as well. And that system responsible for all that severe weather. It is on the move. It is pushing in along the Southeastern United States at this hour. And the concern is we're going to see another line of active weather potentially coming in areas from, say, the Carolinas as far south as south Florida here where we have the potential for those straight-line winds and some isolated tornadoes later on Thursday afternoon and Thursday evening.

Now, as this system wraps up along the Southeast, it eventually ends up around the Northeast for another round of potentially nor'easter in place there going in towards the weekend. Now take a look at this. Wind alerts, widespread coverage of it for 40, to upwards of 70 mile per hour winds on the backside of this particular front. And, of course, you noted that nearly 400,000 customers without power. Almost all of them across the state of Massachusetts. And again, these are customers, so you assume at least about four people per household and we're talking potentially getting up to 1.6 million customers without power across some of these areas. So, people that are impacted.

Notice this though, when it comes to the wind speeds, the storm that just wrapped up around the Northeast this, Isa, we had wind gusts that were almost at category 2 hurricane strength. High-end category 1 coming in there at 94 miles per hour. And again, this system departs, another one follows suit right on its heels. So, the active pattern continues into this weekend.

SOARES: And do keep us posted on this. Pedram Javaheri there, great to see you. Thanks, Pedram.

Now, China says the U.S. is posing seismic risks to ties with Beijing over a comment from America's top diplomat. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on the international community to support Taiwan's meaningful participation in the United Nation. Here's a response from China's foreign ministry.

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ZHAO LIJIAN, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN (through translator): For a period of time the U.S. has continued to make mistakes in its words and deeds on the Taiwan issue, and China has made resolute and necessary responses. If the U.S. insists on continuing on this path until the end regarding the Taiwan issue, it will Inevitably cause a huge subversive risk to the Sino-U.S. relations, severely damage the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait and will also seriously damage the self-interests of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[04:25:00]

SOARES: China's foreign ministry there.

Well, the tension between the U.S. and China doesn't stop there. The top U.S. general is confirming for the first time, the Pentagon believes China has tested a hypersonic weapon back in August. "The Financial Times" reported earlier this month, the space launched weapon could potentially evade U.S. missile defenses. Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley said he is worried about China's expanded military as well as cyber capability. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK MILLEY, CHAIRMAN, U.S. JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: Now what we saw is a very significant event of a test of a hypersonic weapons system, and it is very concerning. And I think I saw in some of the newspapers that they used the term sputnik moment. I don't know if it's quite a sputnik moment, but I think it's very close to that. So, it's a very significant technological event that occurred or test that occurred by the Chinese. And it has all of our attention.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Iran, meanwhile, has agreed to resume crucial talks about its nuclear program before the end of November. Low-level talks with world powers were suspended back in June when Iran's hardline president took office. Ebrahim Raisi has blamed the U.S. further leaving the earlier agreement and is demanding sanctions be lifted. The Biden administration has been trying to get Iran back to the negotiating table and warned the window for diplomacy was closing.

Ongoing protests for strike are now mounting international pressure on Sudan's coup leaders. We'll have an update on the developments with a live report just ahead.

Plus, they share a world view and a whole lot more. Brazil's embattled president gets a vote of support from Donald Trump.

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SOARES: Welcome to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Isa Soares. If you're just joining us, let me bring you up to date with our top stories this hour ...