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McAuliffe And Youngkin Make Final Pitches In Virginia's Tight Governor Race; Interview With Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI); White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki Tests Positive For COVID-19; Knife-Wielding Man Sets Fire On Train; American Airlines Cancels More Than 1,500 Flights This Weekend; Supreme Court To Go Public With Debate On Texas Abortion Ban; World Leaders Meet In Scotland To Combat Climate Change. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired October 31, 2021 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:07]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: It's a sprint to the finish in Virginia with both candidates hitting the trail to make their closing arguments on why they should be governor.

GLENN YOUNGKIN (R), VIRGINIA GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: On day one, I will absolutely declare that Virginia is open for business.

TERRY MCAULIFFE (D), VIRGINIA GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: Do you really want parents here sending your child to first grade where the teacher is not vaccinated or not wearing masks?

CROWD: No.

MCAULIFFE: Well, that's what you got with Glenn Trumpkin.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Tonight President Biden wraps up meetings with key U.S. allies in Italy.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What we've seen again here in Rome, what I think is the power of America showing up and working with our allies and partners to make progress in issues that matter to all of us.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Rising temperatures, extreme flooding, drought. Scientists say we're living in a climate crisis. Now world leaders meet to discuss how to stop it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What would be a success in Glasgow? A success would be if we came out of it with enough emission reductions to keep warming below two degrees.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: Good evening. I'm Jessica Dean in Washington. Pamela Brown has the night off. And you are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. A major test for Democrats in the post-Trump era. Terry McAuliffe and

Glenn Youngkin are blitzing Virginia just two days before one of them will be elected governor. The race has captivated the nation's top political power brokers and could provide some valuable insight about voter sentiment ahead of next year's midterm elections when control of Congress hangs in the balance.

The race right now is neck and neck even though Joe Biden won the commonwealth by 10 percentage points just a year ago. But as president, his approval rating is sliding. A new NBC News poll shows just 42 percent of Americans are OK with his job performance.

CNN's Arlette Saenz is covering the McAuliffe campaign and Eva McKend is covering the Youngkin campaign.

Eva, let's start with you. Right now this evening what is Youngkin saying to win these last undecided votes?

MCKEND: Well, Youngkin has really centered this parents matter message as his closing argument. That is his strategy. He is sort of speaking to parents who are frankly exhausted right now. Many who have never felt so isolated from their schools, especially during this time of the pandemic. Some voicing frustrations with mask mandates. Others part of this cultural battle over what is taught in Virginia public schools and so that is the issue that seems to be resonating with the people that are showing up at his rallies and something that he is hitting hard here in the final days.

Today he traveled to Southwest Virginia. That's a conservative part of the state where former president Donald Trump captured that region by nearly 70 percent but still he's traveling everywhere because this is really about turnout and so neither candidate can leave any stone unturned.

DEAN: And let's go now to Arlette. Arlette, McAuliffe is campaigning aggressively against Trump. That comes up a lot on the stump. But how much is President Biden casting a shadow on his campaign as well?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's one of the big questions of this election is whether this will be a referendum on President Biden's first year in office particularly with those independent voters who may have sided with him in the 2020 election and now are viewing their prospects of a possible -- another Democratic governor coming into office here if McAuliffe were to pull out this election.

Now McAuliffe has spent the weekend really trying to promote his record as governor when he served here in the state of Virginia, talking about the jobs that he's created, and he's also gone after his opponent with some personal terms calling him clueless and dangerous for Virginia and he has repeatedly turned to tying him to former president Trump. That has been a central argument of McAuliffe's campaign, something that he has not shied away from in these final days.

Today even giving Glenn Youngkin the nickname Glenn Trumpkin. What McAuliffe is hoping is by tying him to the former president, by invoking the former president's name that that will be a motivating factor for Democrats and independents heading into Tuesday's election. Now McAuliffe campaign here in Henrico County. This is an area where Democrats have been making gains in recent years but it's still an incredibly competitive area.

Tomorrow McAuliffe will be hitting the biggest cities across Virginia, Roanoke, Virginia Beach, Richmond and Northern Virginia where he'll end the day as he is trying to leave it all out on the field and drive out as many voters as he can to the election polls on Tuesday -- Jess.

DEAN: All right. Arlette Saenz and Eva McKend, across Virginia for us tonight, thanks so much to both of you.

[19:05:02]

And let's discuss this all now with the Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Dingell of Michigan. She is deputy whip of the Progressive Caucus.

Congresswoman, wonderful to have you with us. Thanks for making time tonight. The White House desperately needs a win in Virginia. We just got the report there on the ground. Biden beat then president Trump by 10 percentage points last year. There's a lot of political eyes on this election. A lot of people talk about what it might mean if this happens or this happens. What do you think we can we learn from the outcome on Tuesday? What are you looking to find out based on the outcome on Tuesday?

REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-MI): Jessica, good to see you. Happy Halloween.

DEAN: Yes.

DINGELL: Look. We've had COVID's a year and a half old. People are tired. They're fatigued. We need to get the Build Back Better bill and the infrastructure bill passed. We need to -- people are worried about their job, they're worried about the economy. We need to build resiliency in the supply chain. So what you're seeing is people expressing their frustration at where we are. We thought we would have licked COVID by now and the fact of the matter is I don't know how things has become so political.

And when you look at the wearing of masks and vaccinations and how it's all become so political. So it's a snapshot in time. I sincerely hope that Terry McAuliffe wins this election but I'm not surprised by it because I do think there's just a lot of frustration out there. People want to get back to normal, whatever that new normal is.

DEAN: And they seem to be frustrated at Democrats, at President Biden. You look at those new poll numbers, they're frustrated and seemed to be blaming him and this administration. Do you think that's fair?

DINGELL: Look, I don't think it's fair but I also will say that I understand it. I also think polls are simply a snapshot in time. Everybody thought I was crazy when I said that Donald Trump would win his first election and the polls did not show it and the polls aren't showing other things, too. What they are is a reflection of people's frustration, their anger, their wanting to get on.

But those polls can go up and down. They more so fast. Polls are not -- people say this poll shows, you know what? I have seen so many too many polls that have not been accurate and have been dead wrong.

DEAN: And I want to ask you about this "Washington Post" reporting. It's a stunning, multi-part investigation into the January 6 attack on the Capitol which you were there for, you lived through. It shows that warning signs were being ignored before, during that siege, right up to Trump in the Oval Office. There's a lot of concern out there that January 6 was in fact the beginning of something, maybe not the end that this could perhaps happen again,.

Are you concerned that an insurrection could be attempted again?

DINGELL: Jessica, I'm very concerned. You do not understand this hate. There are people that are trying to undermine people's confidence in our democracy. I have been the focus of this. I call it the hate tunnel and I've had militia in front of my house with assault weapons. I've had some of those saying -- people that threatened to kidnap Governor Whitmer, threatened some really awful things towards me.

It's really scary. And I don't know how this country, what's causing this country to be divided by fear and hatred? But all of us need to take a deep breath because it is a danger to our democracy. It is real. And people -- what is happening out there right now people are attacking the fundamental pillars of our democracy. We cannot take our democracy for granted. This is something we all need to worry about.

DEAN: And it is attacking those fundamental tenets, a free and fair election, things like that as well. I want to talk a little bit --

DINGELL: Losing their confidence.

DEAN: Right.

DINGELL: I mean, what people need to understand is that Donald Trump is trying to undermine people's confidence in election results. If people don't believe that an election result is -- it's true, it's honest, then they lose faith in your government. We need -- that election day is the most fundamental element of our democracy. Confidence in the people's vote.

DEAN: And before I let you go, we've just got about 90 seconds left but I do want to touch on the spending plan, and also the infrastructure bill. They had hoped to vote as early as Tuesday. We're learning now that House Democrats want some additional time to craft language, get to a final agreement.

How long do you think this will ultimately play out? And what are your hopes for getting -- it sounds like they're making a lot of progress on negotiating drug prices, also maybe how hopeful are you paid leave gets in ultimately?

DINGELL: I don't know what's going to happen on paid leave but there are a lot of various significant things that are going to happen in both of these bills. We need both of these bills. I do believe -- you know, people don't know how hard it is to actually write this legislation.

[19:10:03]

Having talked with people that were writing it I think it was optimistic to think it could be done by tonight. I think everybody, and I talked to everybody wants to get this done this week. I believe both bills will pass this coming week at some point.

DEAN: And as the whip of the Progressive Caucus I talked to Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez and Congresswoman Jayapal last week, they said they support the Build Back Better plan and it sounds like based on what you're saying as well, when it comes to the floor it will have the support of the progressives.

DINGELL: So it appears to be that way. I think people want to see the written text before they sign off on it. I'm also a member of the Problem Solvers. I'm somebody that views herself as an American. I'm tired of all of these labels. Democrats have been united in their value of what we need to get done and I think that you will see people come together this week and get two bills that are badly needed done.

DEAN: All right. Well, I will see you up there on Capitol Hill this week. We'll see what happens. Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, thanks so much for being with us.

DINGELL: Thanks, Jessica.

DEAN: Also tonight, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki revealing last hour that she has tested positive for COVID-19. The news comes while her boss, President Biden, is overseas. Psaki says she last saw the president Tuesday. That's two days before he left the country but that she was outside and masked at the time.

CNN's Phil Mattingly has more details for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: For White House officials the focus of President Biden's two-stop, two-summit foreign trip has most certainly been on the policy. Most certainly been on international relationships. But there has been a question, why White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki ended up dropping off the trip because of a family emergency. We didn't have much more detail on that family emergency until now.

We've now learned from a statement from White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki that she has tested positive for COVID-19. The reason she wasn't on that trip is because a family member had tested positive for COVID-19. Now Psaki in her statement says that decision was made on Wednesday with the White House medical unit and in the wake of that decision she tested negative for COVID-19 on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Today she tested positive. And in the statement she says, "While I have not had close contact in person with the president or senior members of the White House staff since Wednesday and tested negative for four days after that last time contact, I'm disclosing today's positive test out of an abundance of transparency." Psaki goes on to say she last saw the president on Tuesday when we sat outside more than six feet apart and wore masks.

Psaki says, "Thanks to the vaccine I have only experienced mild symptoms, which has enabled me to continue working from home." So at this point Jen Psaki seems to be OK with only mild symptoms. We now have the explanation for why she's not on the trip and based on the negative test, her last contact with the president being both outside and with masks and socially distanced there isn't any sign whatsoever this will change anything about this White House trip.

I think White House officials mostly just happy to hear White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki is doing OK. Obviously, we now know why she is not on the foreign trip because of the potential for testing positive for COVID-19, something we learned did happen today after four straight days of negative tests. So White House Press Secretary Psaki tests positive for COVID. Not on the trip and that is the primary reason why. The potential for that, the possibility for that.

Phil Mattingly, CNN, Rome.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Should a controversial Texas law that bans abortions after six weeks be allowed to stand? The nation's highest court is about to hear those arguments and all eyes should be on three justices.

Plus new details after an attacker injures several people on a Japanese train and then sets that train on fire.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:17:49]

DEAN: A terrifying incident on board a commuter train in Japan today. Witnesses say a man suddenly attacked passengers with a knife and then started a fire on the train as it was speeding toward Tokyo. Nearly 20 people are now hurt.

Let's go live to Tokyo now and CNN's Blake Essig.

And Blake, we're just learning the man who attacked passengers was wearing a Joker costume like from the "Batman" movie. Tell us more about that.

BLAKE ESSIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jessica, what we know right now is that a knife-wielding man that witnesses say was dressed as the Joker from "Batman." He was wearing a dark jacket, lime green shirt with a purple vest, purple tie, purple pants. He has injured at least 17 people on a train and trying to set it on fire as it was heading into Tokyo. At least one of those injured a 70-year-old man who was stabbed in the chest and is now in serious condition. Passenger cell phone video posted on Twitter captured the horrific

chaotic scene from inside the train as it was happening. Now in the video you can hear loud bangs and people screaming as they're seemingly running or their lives to get away from the attacker. You can also see a large ball of flames in one of the cars which filled the train with smoke. Police say the suspect used a cigarette lighter fluid to try to set the train on fire.

And according to public broadcaster NHK the train made an emergency stop allowing passengers to evacuate by any means necessary including climbing out of the train's windows on to the platform.

It happened around 8:00 p.m. local time as large amounts of people were streaming into the city center to celebrate Halloween -- Jessica.

DEAN: It's absolutely horrific just watching this video. And Blake, do authorities know any more about the suspect? Was this person known to them? Do we even know that?

ESSIG: Yes, you know, Jessica, we're still learning a lot of information about this suspect but what we do know is that police have arrested a 24-year-old man at the scene on suspicion of attempted murder. Witnesses say that again he was seen wearing a dark jacket, lime green shirt, purple vest, tie, and purple pants, resembling the Joker from "Batman." Investigator say that the suspect told them that he wanted to kill at least two people and then receive the death penalty.

[19:20:06]

Now unlike the United States where Halloween is more so geared towards kids, here in Japan the holiday is more so for the adults. People would dress up in costumes, celebrate in popular places like Shinjuku or the famous Shibuya Crossing which is the general direction, Jessica, that this train was heading.

DEAN: All right. Blake Essig for us, thank you so much for that update. We appreciate it.

It has been a rough weekend for American Airlines and even rougher for its customers. American canceled hundreds of flights since Friday. More than 800 just today. The carrier blaming a perfect storm of problems happening all at one time.

Here's CNN's aviation correspondent Pete Muntean.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Jessica, no airline is immune to these cascading kind of problems. First it was Southwest Airlines three weeks ago, now it is American Airlines. Take a look at the latest numbers here. American says it canceled more than 800 flights today alone. More than 500 yesterday. More than 300 on Friday. That means about 1 in every 10 American Airlines flights has been canceled over that three-day period but American says it all really started on Thursday when high winds and bad weather hit its major hub at DFW. The caused a cascading chain reaction of problems leading flight crews

and planes out of position. American Airlines COO David Seymour sent a letter to all the airline employees where he said he wanted to build certainty into the operation and the airline was proactively canceling flights but that left thousands of passengers stranded in long lines across the country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't understand why it's canceled. I've heard they don't have enough staff. Well, you sold me a product. I paid for it. Now it's your job to get me there.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: Remember this is not just about staffing. That is only part of the issue here. But a bit of good news. American says about 1800 flight attendants who are on pandemic leaves of absence are coming back on the job, Monday, November 1st. The airline says this problem will end soon but it will still take a couple of days for things to return to normal -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right, Pete Muntean for us, thanks so much.

It is a critical week for the Supreme Court as they hold arguments on the controversial abortion ban in Texas. We got more on that ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:26:47]

DEAN: All eyes on the Supreme Court tomorrow. The justices will begin oral arguments on the Texas abortion ban for the first time.

CNN's Supreme Court analyst Joan Biskupic is joining me with more.

Joan, I'm so excited to talk to you about this because there's so much to kind of dive into here. This was just added to the docket two weeks ago. How rare is it to move at this pace?

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN SUPREME COURT ANALYST: This is lightning speed, Jessica. Normally what happens is several months pass between when the justices take a case and when they actually hear it because you have to have full briefing, just also the filings that come in over the months. But this is moving -- this is comparable to like U.S. v. Nixon, the Nixon tapes case or the Pentagon Papers.

DEAN: Wow.

BISKUPIC: Not as fast as Bush v. Gore back in 2000, but almost as significant in terms of the magnitude. For two months now, since September 1st women in Texas have not had the right to abortion that was guaranteed under the Constitution back in 1973 with Roe v. Wade.

And I think the justices after they let that take effect realized there's a lot of pressure here and they needed to step in and say, OK, we're going to hear the merits of this situation and try to decide it. So I think we'll also see a fast ruling once they hear it, too.

DEAN: So interesting. So as someone who's watched the Supreme Court, analyzes the Supreme Court for years, what shall we be -- what do you think we should be watching for tomorrow?

BISKUPIC: OK. OK. So first of all, even though abortion rights loomed over this case, Jessica, the question before the justices has to do with this unusual procedure that Texas wrote into its abortion ban. It essentially delegated enforcement to private citizens.

DEAN: Right.

BISKUPIC: So what Texas has said is we can't be sued. We have no responsibility for this law. We have not caused the abortion clinics or the Department of Justice representing the United States, we have not caused to challenge it here any kind of injury. So we should not even be here at the Supreme Court so the justices are going to have to decide, first of all, can the state essentially insulate itself from responsibility for a law like this when -- just through this mechanism?

And then once they decide that, you know, we'll know whether the ban will be suspended. As Chief Justice John Roberts had wanted to do when he sided with the liberals, but in dissent, Jessica, the five conservatives to his right were the ones who formed the majority twice to let this law stay in place.

DEAN: And you've written a great analysis that people can read on CNN.com about this and kind of shaping all the pieces of it. You also write about the particular justices to keep an eye on.

BISKUPIC: Yes. First of all, I'd say the chief for sure. We want to hear out loud his arguments. One thing I should tell you about how the Supreme Court works, so far they have only discussed this in private but oral arguments give them a chance to sort of tell the public what they're thinking so we'll hear what his -- essentially what his arguments are as he asked questions of the lawyers arguing before him.

And then in particular, Jessica, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, the two newest Trump appointees, I think are the ones that if any of the conservatives are in play, to possibly give a vote to the chief justice and the three remaining liberals to try to suspend this law, it would be them.

[19:30:00]

So, we'll want to hear from all nine, and we will, since Clarence Thomas is now speaking in these oral arguments. We'll hear from all nine. But Justice Kavanaugh has been the one who has been most inclined to maybe more over toward the chief in the middle of the bench, possibly changing things here. And then, of course, we have the newest justice, Barrett, who is yet to face an abortion test. Her past record suggests that she will not be open to trying to lift the law but she's also sent signals of being cautious. And we might see her -- what we'll hear, at least her rationale hints of it, Monday from the bench. And one last thing, Jessica, we would not be in this moment if she had not one year ago succeeded Ruth Bader Ginsburg and transformed this court from one that was sort of teetering between the right and left to now has a solid supermajority of conservative justices.

DEAN: Yes. And that was such was a political pivotal moment that has reshaped everything.

BISKUPIC: That's right. And that's what will bring us to Monday. That's what will bring us to Monday.

DEAN: Well, you'll be watching it and we'll be waiting to hear what your analysis is. Joan, thanks so much for being with us.

BISKUPIC: Thank you.

DEAN: Leaders and diplomats from all over the world are now in Scotland for a major climate summit. And coming up, I'm going to talk to a scientist about what they need to do to save our planet and also how would you talk to people who don't believe climate change is real. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:35:00]

DEAN: Climate change is front and center for the next two weeks as President Biden and leaders from dozens of countries meet in Scotland for COP26. And scientists warned this decade will be crucial for the future of our planet. And COP26 is seen as a critical moment to prevent a climate catastrophe.

And the last year alone, we have seen extreme floods, fires, droughts and record temperatures both across the U.S. but also around the world. And it is proof, scientists say, we are already living in a climate crisis.

Now, COP26 means Conference of the Parties, and it's been the scene of some major breakthroughs and also bitter disappointments through the years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAUL ESTRADA-OYUELA, CHAIRMAN, KYOTO COP3: This is very a long process. It would take decades.

PAULA DOBRIANSKY, HEAD OF U.S. DELEGATION, BALI COP13: We will go forward and join consensus in this today.

LEONARDO DICARPIO, ACTOR, CLIMATE ACTIVIST: Now must be our moment for action.

ANTONIO GUETERRES, UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL: The world is on a catastrophic pathway to 2.7 degrees of heating.

(END VIDEO CLIP) DEAN: It started in 1995 when more than 170 states and territories met in Berlin. In 1997, the Kyoto Protocol weekly bound 37 states and territories to cut harmful emissions, but it fell short when the U.S. didn't sign on, taking issue with the exclusion of developing nations, like China, India and Brazil. In the following years, amid the war on terror, it sparked by 9/11, climate took a backseat to all of these. And greenhouse emissions soared. The Kyoto Protocol crumbled and COP26 conferences in the following years fell flat.

But then in 2015, there was a huge breakthrough when the U.S. joined more than a 190 nations, including China this time, and signed on to the Paris Agreement that replaced Kyoto with the ambitious goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

But as governments lagged on the pledges, a new breed of young, vocal climate activists is now stepping out to call out the inaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRETA THUNBERG, CLIMATE ACTIVIST: We can talk about is money and fairytales of economic growth. How dare you?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: The main objective this year at COP26, how to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. A U.N. report in August revealed the world is warming faster than scientists thought and said that slashing greenhouse gases by at least half is crucial to preventing the more catastrophic impacts of the climate crisis.

This past year of deadly wildfires and floods in many parts of the world has left little doubt, that climate change is here now is touching all corners of the Earth.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, U.S. CLIMATE ENVOY: We are behind and we have to stop the B.S. that is being thrown at us by a number countries that had not been willing to sign up to what Great Britain has signed up to, we have signed up to, Japan, Canada, the E.U., that is to keep 1.5 degrees alive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: And joining me now is Climate Scientist Katharine Hayhoe. Katharine, thanks for being with us. Your new book is called, Saving Us, a Climate Scientist's Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World.

First, I just want to ask you the simple question of what do you hope to see accomplished at COP26 and how would you measure success?

KATHARINE HAYHOE, CLIMATE SCIENTIST: We need to see two things happen at this meeting in Glasgow. First of all, we need to see the high- emitting countries up their ambitions, because we are nowhere near holding warming below two degrees or even 1.5, as the Paris Agreement states. We're only at 2.7 now. So, we need more ambition to cut emissions, but that's only half of it.

The other half is all of the low-income countries who have done almost nothing to contribute to the problem. The poorest 50 percent of people in the world have contributed to 7 percent of our carbon emissions, and they need something called climate finance, where the high- emitting countries pay into the agreed climate fund through loans and grants to help them develop without carbon emissions and prepare for the impacts they are already suffering today because poor countries are being hit hardest and first.

DEAN: Yes. And as we mentioned before the past U.N. summits have been largely disappointing, are you hopeful this will be different? And if you are, what's making you hopeful?

HAYHOE: Well, in 2015, as you pointed out, all the countries in the world finally agreed to the Paris Agreement. It took 25 years to agree on what was dangerous since 1992. They had agreed to limit dangerous human interference to the climate system.

Before Paris, we were on target for a four-degrees Celsius warmer world. That is over seven degrees Fahrenheit than the world that we grew up in. But now, thanks to the policies that countries are taking and have promised, we have gone from 4 down to 2.7.

So, we're heading in the right direction but we're not there yet. We need more but that giant boulder of climate action, it's not sitting at the bottom of the cliff. It is already at the top of the hill rolling in the right direction, it just needs more hands on it to go faster.

DEAN: Yes. And you're talking about the numbers. The magic number everyone is aiming for is holding global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius. But scientists are saying we're on track below by that number in just a matter of years. Is this a goal that's impossible to meet? Is this a goal that is possible to meet?

HAYHOE: Well, we have already seen 1.1 degrees of warming in Celsius, and that's 2 degree in Fahrenheit. So, we have a very narrow window here. But we have a secret weapon and it is called photosynthesis. It's the fact that we can work with nature to pull carbon out of the air and put it back into soil and ecosystems both on land and in coastal areas that want carbon and that need carbon, and carbon is good for them.

So, nature-based solutions are the secret to getting the carbon down just a little bit more to get us below 1.5 degrees, if we can. But they aren't going to be enough if we don't cut our emissions as much as we can as soon as we can.

DEAN: And I want to shift, before I let you go, to something a little bit different. A Reuters poll found that 69 percent of Americans, including a majority of Republicans, say they want the U.S. to take aggressive action to fight climate change, but only a third support would support an extra tax of around $100 a year to help. It seems the problem is less about denialism but more about convincing people to act, or to put some skin in the game, as it were. What are your thoughts on that?

HAYHOE: I completely agree with you. In fact, the point I make in my book is that only 7 percent of us are truly dismissive. The vast majority of us are worried but half of us feel helpless and hopeless when it comes to climate action.

So, one solution is to put a price on carbon but it wouldn't be making people pay, it would be putting the price on carbon and then using the dividends to refund to middle and low income households so that they wouldn't be financially affected. That's one solution to climate change.

Of course, there is the infrastructure and the Build Back Better bills that are currently being considered and those have many climate actions in them that would actually grow jobs and help to grow the economy at the same time as cutting carbon emissions.

There's a lot of good solutions to climate change but we have to realize if we don't fix climate change, it will fix us.

DEAN: Yes, got to act now. All right, Katharine Hayhoe, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it.

And coming up, Diana's so-called fairytale marriage with Prince Charles crumbling, and the war of the royals is playing out in the media for all to see. When we come back, how Princess Diana won't rogue to control her narrative. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:45:00]

DEAN: Princess Diana challenged the royal family in a way that would shake the British monarchy to its core, and that's the focus of tonight's all new episode of the CNN original series, Diana.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD KAY, JOURNALIST AND FRIEND: She was one of the best examples of soft power that Britain possessed. And she was outshining whatever Charles was doing and the other members of the royal family too.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was one message from the foreign office saying Princess Diana is a great asset to diplomacy and another voice from sections of the royal establishment who wanted Diana's profile on these trips to be downplayed.

As one ambassador said to me, Princess Diana is coming to Tokyo to support British interests. She's having tea with the emperor. How am I supposed to downplay that?

KAY: Diana was in no doubt that it was the Prince Charles' office officials who were out to downgrade her. She was perceived as a threat to the helm (ph) because her publicity was generally greater and more effective than Prince Charles' and Charles was the heir to the throne.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: And joining us now is CNN Contributor and Author of "Diana: In Search of Herself," Sally Bedell Smith.

[19:50:03]

Sally, we're so delighted to have you here.

We want to talk a little bit about tonight's new episode and it centers around Charles and Diana's marriage is disintegrating to the point that she's trying to decide if she can even take it anymore. And the royal family is trying to portray her as unstable but she was quite strategic about how she pushed back against that and tried to kind of have her own narrative

SALLY BEDELL SMITH, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes. Well, she was. What we're looking at right now they had been leading separate lives really since the mid-80s, and that' when Charles went back to Camilla, that's when Diana became involved with a few other men. But, basically, she was very -- she was feeling very aggrieved, she was feeling very undermined. She was feeling that the royal family did not appreciate her.

So, in the summer of 1991, she decided that she wanted to tell her version of their failed marriage. And she embarked on a project, a secret project with a royal reporter named Andrew Morton. And it was supposed to end up a as a tell-all book.

What this episode tonight shows is how deeply involved she was in this process. We hear her clandestine tape recordings, we see manuscript pages that she has marked up. So, then when the book came out in June 1992, Diana, her true story, it was a bombshell. And at first, she tried to deny that she had been involved. Then when the truth came out, Charles and the royal family were furious. And they felt that it was a big betrayal.

Diana on the other hand, felt a great sense of relief because this was -- these were experiences that she had been having and that she felt she needed to share.

DEAN: And that was just not done. It's really not done now either in the royal family. But the idea of it, such a high-profile member, the Princess of Wales would participate in a tell-all book. I mean, that was a bombshell in itself, right?

SMITH: Yes, it was revolutionary. And then the royal family were not supposed to talk to the press, period. It was an unwritten rule. And people had abided by it for years.

DEAN: It's incredible.

Now, the queen finally allows then Diana and Charles to separate, but that's really when the war between them kind of went public. You kind of had these Warring Wales', as I guess they were saying, right? And they were already living different lives but now they're living very publicly different separate lives. SMITH: Yes. And the period before this effort (ph), they were leading separate lives. After the separation, Diana was able to do kind of what she wanted to do. She had been terribly, terribly worried about whether she would be able to have custody of her sons and that, when the separation came, was fine. She was going to be able to do that. But more importantly, she was able to carve out a role as a really independent royal operator.

DEAN: When we really saw her step into that last iteration of herself.

SMITH: Yes.

DEAN: Well, Sally, thank you so much for the insight. We're really looking forward to tonight's episode. Don't miss the all-new episode of the CNN original series, Diana, it's tonight at 9:00 P.M. and Pacific right here on CNN.

And, of course, CNN is proud to announce the top ten CNN Heroes of 2021. Each honoree will receive a cash price and viewers will select the CNN Hero of the Year who will earn an additional $1,000 for their cause. Plus, you get to help decide who that person is going to be.

Here is Anderson Cooper to show you how.

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ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Now that we've announced the top ten CNN Heroes of 2021, it's time to show you how you can help decide who should be CNN Hero of the Year and receive $100,000 to continue their work. Just go to cnnheroes.com where you can learn much more about each hero. And when you're ready, just click on vote.

You get ten votes every day to help support your heroes. That means you can cast all votes for one hero or divide them among your favorites. To confirm your vote, just log in using either your email address or Facebook account. This year, you can even double your votes by rallying your friends on social media.

Then on Sunday, December 12th, join me and my friend and co-host, Kelly Ripa, as we reveal the 2021 CNN Hero of the Year live during the 15th annual CNN Heroes All-Star Tribute.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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DEAN: And meet all this year's top ten heroes, vote ten times a day every day at cnnheroes.com to help decide who should be our CNN Hero of the Year. All ten will be honored at the 15th Annual CNN Heroes All-Start Tribute, but only one will be named CNN Hero of the Year.

You can join Anderson Cooper and special guest co-host Kelly Ripa live Sunday, December 12th.

And I want thank you so much for joining me this evening. I'm Jessica Dean. And before we go, a look at the White House all lit up orange for Halloween. Have a great Halloween, everyone, good night.

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