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Appeals Court Temporarily Blocks Biden's Vaccine Mandate For Big Companies; Eight Dead, Dozens Hurt As Crowd Rushes Stage At Music Festival; Trial Over Arbery Killing Begins With Nearly All-White Jury; Virginia Suburban Moms To Dems: Don't Ignore Us; Greta Thunberg Mocks Climate Conference. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired November 06, 2021 - 18:00   ET

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

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[18:00:32]

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Eight are dead, hundreds more hurt at a music festival in Houston after a crowd surge.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was having constant pressure on my chest.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everyone should go to a concert to have fun, and this shouldn't have happened.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What we know about the investigation into this senseless tragedy.

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Finally, infrastructure week.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Biden's long road to a huge infrastructure win.

BIDEN: I know we're divided, and I know there are extremes on both ends.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But has the damage been done? The deep divides that remain inside the Democratic Party.

AARON RODGERS, NFL PLAYER: I'm in the crosshairs of the woke mob right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Aaron Rodgers taking serious heat after saying he was immunized when he wasn't.

RODGERS: I think I'd like to set the record straight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why he says he wasn't lying in the first place.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All three of these defendants did everything they did based on assumptions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This case is about duty and responsibility.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Two very different stories taking center stage in the trial for the three men accused of murdering Ahmaud Arbery.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: I'm Pamela Brown in Washington. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM and we are following breaking news out of New Orleans this hour.

A Federal Appeals Court, the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has put a temporary halt to President Biden's vaccine mandate for larger companies. Twenty seven states have already filed lawsuits to challenge the mandate. CNN's Arlette Saenz is at the White House. Arlette, what does this mean?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is an incredibly quick move, Pamela. It was just on Thursday that the Biden administration announced this new rule requiring some large employers to require vaccines for their employees. And now, there is this new ruling from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which is considered to be a conservative leaning court which is issuing a temporary stay on that rule.

Now, in this short brief that was filed, they wrote that the petitioners in this case, which include Republican-led states and private businesses that it quote, "Give cause to believe there are grave statutory and constitutional issues with the mandate." The Court has asked the Federal government to respond by 5:00 p.m. on Monday and said that they would be expediting the case. What's unclear is how exactly this ruling applies, whether it would apply -- have a nationwide effect, or would it only apply to the states under the court's jurisdiction.

Now on Thursday, the White House had announced this new rule, which was set to take effect -- go into effect on January 4th. The White House has insisted that they believe that they do have the legal standing to implement this rule, but we will see what else further develops with this ruling and any other possible rulings as so many states have sued the administration over this.

BROWN: Arlette Saenz, thanks so much for bringing us the latest there from the White House.

And now to the breaking news and tragedy in Texas. Two teenagers, just 14 and 16 years old among the eight killed in a deadly human stampede at a Music Festival in Houston. Scores more are injured tonight after fans rushed the stage during a performance by rapper Travis Scott at the Astroworld Music Festival in Houston, the crush of people squeezing other audience members who had nowhere to go.

[VIDEO CLIP PLAYS]

BROWN: A video from the soldout event shows the moment that performer pauses and looks on and confusion as an ambulance moves into the densely packed crowds of about 50,000.

And the Houston Police say there are still plenty of unanswered questions. They call it an active investigation.

Joining me now is Martee Boose, Public Information Officer for the Houston Fire Department. Thanks so much for joining us tonight.

The Houston Fire Chief says a security officer who appeared to be injected in the neck was revived with Narcan. Can you tell us anything more about this report?

MARTEE BOOSE, PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER FOR THE HOUSTON FIRE DEPARTMENT (via phone): Unfortunately, that is going to be under investigation. But we are hearing some speculation that there were people hit with syringes and so, I know that HSC units on team did use Narcan on several individuals, but that's all I can say because the entire thing is under investigation at this time.

[18:05:14]

BROWN: OK. And I understand there's a lot you can't say, but just to be clear. So there is more than one individual because we know that we heard from the press conference, there was a security officer who appeared to be injected in the neck, had to be revived, and there are more people beyond the security officer where possibly the same situation happened. Correct?

BOOSE: That's under investigation. There is speculation and HPD is currently doing an investigation and it would be illegal for me to speak on another agency's investigation.

BROWN: Okay. We know two of the victims killed in this tragedy were 14 and 16. The others were in their 20s. Do you have any other information about the victims at this point?

BOOSE: No. The ages that the Mayor released earlier today in the press conference are all that we have. We know that six out of the eight families have been notified, and we know that 25 people have been transported, 13 of those people are still in the hospital.

BROWN: The Houston Mayor said that there were more than 500 Houston police officers and over 750 private security persons for Live Nation at the event. Is there any concern that there simply wasn't enough security to maintain crowd control? I know you're sensitive about being with the Fire Department, but is there anything you can say about that?

BOOSE: As far as crowd control and occupancy. No occupancy permits were needed as this was an outside event. If it was inside, the footprint would have been allowed for maybe about 200,000, but that is also going to be under investigation by entities in our agency, and so that's about all I can say about that.

BROWN: All right, Martee Boose, thanks for joining us. We appreciate it.

CNN's Rosa Flores is in Houston for us tonight. What have I witnessed has been telling you -- Rosa.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Pam, a lot of troubling details. Some of the eyewitnesses, both adults, teens, and children say that they were very concerned that there were very tense moments. Some of them telling me that depending on how tall they were, that's about how much oxygen they were able to get. Now, when you think of the children, they are obviously going to be shorter than adults. So those are very, very troubling details.

I talked to one father who was there with his nine-year-old son who was very concerned, counting his blessings this morning. He was actually in a VIP section. So he had a different vantage point. Here's what he saw. Take a listen.

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JESSE DAHL, ASTROWORLD CONCERTGOER: The whole crowd was kind of pulsating. It was like this weird vibe was going on, and then it just -- it was like the biggest mosh pit ever. Everybody was pushing and people were jumping barricades trying to get out, and I was trying to shelter my son as much from seeing any of that, you know.

So, like, here, look over here. I'm just glad my son is okay to be honest. I kind of regret bringing him. You know, I didn't know it's going to go down how it did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: I talked to his son, Cristiano, the nine-year-old boy. He said that he was very happy that he was okay today. But he was very concerned, the little boy described seeing water bottles being tossed around in the crowd and the crowd swaying. So very, very traumatic for children, as well.

Now, Pamela, the other thing that we learned is that the number of people who were transported to the hospital increase from 23 to 25. According to officials here, 13 individuals are still hospitalized, five of them children. Again, Pamela, this goes back to the concern about just how many young people really wanted to be at this concert, because they are fans.

And when it comes to the compression of a crowd towards the stage, and trying to gain oxygen just to simply breathe, the individuals who I talked to described it as their survival instincts kicking in because all they wanted was just to breathe and to get water.

And so you can only imagine those tense moments where these individuals were trying to get out of there. All of this, of course, still under investigation. And now because of that security officer who reported that somebody pricked his neck, he was revived with Narcan. And so now, according to HPD, Narcotics and Homicide Divisions are part of this investigation.

And of course, all officials here are calling for a thorough investigation because the families of these victims want answers -- Pamela. BROWN: Right. There is still clearly a lot more to learn. The official

I was just speaking with, with the Fire Department said that several people have to be revived with Narcan. We know about this security officer, they are investigating these other circumstances as well. Still a lot more to learn to make sure that this never happens again. Rosa Flores, thank you.

[18:10:18]

BROWN: And much more than tragedy at the Astroworld Music Festival eyewitnesses, Nema Goods (ph) will share her story with us later in the hour.

And I sit down with four normally apolitical suburban moms to find out why they voted Republican in Virginia.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were saying, hey, this is happening. How can we change this? How can we work together? And they dismissed us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Their warning for Democrats, ignore us at your own political peril.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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[18:15:00]

BROWN: Two 16-year-old high school students have been charged with first degree murder for allegedly killing a teacher from their school in Iowa. Candles lit up the night right outside the school in Fairfield, Iowa last night to remember 66-year-old Noema Graber who taught Spanish there for nine years. Her remains reportedly found in a nearby park under a tarp, wheelbarrow, and railroad ties with severe head trauma.

Officials say, the teenagers chatted online about the killing, while one of them ultimately gave up details to police about the teacher's death and cover up.

Well, two trials this week underscoring that race is very much still an uncomfortable and important part of the national conversation. In Glynn County, Georgia where three white men have pleaded not guilty to multiple charges stemming from the death of Ahmaud Arbery.

Gregory McMichael, Travis McMichael, and William Bryan, Jr. allegedly chase down Arbery while he was jogging before he was fatally shot. Prosecutors are arguing that Arbery was killed because he was jogging while black.

In Wisconsin, 18-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse is on trial for shooting and killing two people and wounding a third in Kenosha during riots following the police shooting of a black man, Jacob Blake.

CNN legal analyst, Joey Jackson joins me now. He is also a criminal defense attorney. Joey, great to see you, as always. Let's start with the Arbery case. What is your big takeaway from the opening day at the trial?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, Pamela. Good evening to you. The big takeaway is that you have two battling narratives. I think that the prosecution really did a lot in their opening statement to neutralize this Citizens Arrest law. How did they do that? Well, the Citizens Arrest law is only applicable number one, if there's a crime; number two, if it's committed in your immediate presence or that you have some other knowledge of, and you can only chase after someone if they committed a felony.

And so, I think, the prosecution in their opening statement, spent a lot of time saying that, yes, Arbery was in this construction site, but he certainly wasn't engaged in any criminal activity as we look at the three defendants there.

And then, of course, when it got to the defense case, they pivoted and they spoke about very much the Citizens Arrest law, the issue of self- defense, the fact that they had to protect the neighborhood, the fact that they were concerned citizens, et cetera, and so I think that's the narrative that you'll see play out moving forward.

And then finally, Pamela, we heard, of course, testimony from the second officer on the scene. And we saw a very graphic photograph of, you know, of Arbery as he lay there in blood, and I think that was very powerful, and it is going to be an image that those jurors take home throughout the weekend.

BROWN: We'll, let's talk about those jurors. There is only one person of color on the jury in a county that is 26 percent African-American. How troubling is the makeup of this jury?

JACKSON: I think it's very -- I think, particularly when you had the Judge who acknowledged and gave the indication that it appeared to be that there was, you know, some intentional discrimination surrounding the selecting event jury.

I think if you're a jurist, and you're going to make that assessment, I think you have to then, Pamela, do the next thing, which is to fashion a remedy to address that, like what? Like, for example, calling back some of the African-American jurors that were excluded, like perhaps unseating the panel and starting anew -- a number of things.

And so you want a jury, certainly, I mean, that favors the defense in this jury, I think that's the jury they wanted. But I think overall, if you're going to honor the commitment, right, of our Constitution, the commitment of our democracy, the commitment of justice, you have to have a fair demographic of the population and 11 white jurors and one black juror certainly doesn't represent that.

Last point, Pamela, people have to have trust in a system. People have to believe the system works for everyone, and when you don't get that in the event there's an acquittal, I think people are going to have very legitimate gripes, right, not prejudging, we'll see, it is a long way to go. There certainly could be a conviction here.

But in the event, it goes the other way, I think people are going to be crying foul with respect to the jury, the demographic of that jury, and the non-representative nature of the jury as it is impaneled listening to the case.

BROWN: All right, so let's now turn to the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse in Wisconsin. We heard key testimony from a video producer at right- wing news site. What did the prosecution try to establish there? And did they succeed?

JACKSON: So in that trial, I think again, every trial you're going to have two professors in the courtroom, one being the prosecutor and the prosecutor in that case is indicating that as we look at him there, he did not have justification to do what he did. And in fact, he intentionally killed or if he wasn't intentional in doing it, he certainly was reckless with respect to using his rifle to shoot down two people dead and injuring another one.

So the prosecution's theory is that's exactly what it was. It was murder. And if it wasn't intentional murder, it was reckless.

So their thought, the defense is trying to establish that look, the environment was chaotic. There was mayhem all over the place. Their client feared for his safety, and as a result he acted in accordance with what he felt he needed to do, and that was to deal with the imminent threat that he was posed with.

And so that's what the different things that are being said in that courtroom during that trial.

[18:20:17]

BROWN: And this week, the Judge dismissed one of the jurors for making this joke about the police shooting that sparked the protests that were the backdrop for these shootings. Is the jury also a concern here for prosecutors?

JACKSON: So you know, every jury is a concern. I think the Judge did the right thing with respect to the joke that was stated, just very briefly. Apparently, the juror was being walked to his car and gave the indication of course, you know, the shooting that occurred just two days before that sparked unrest. The shooting resulted in another African-American not dying, but being paralyzed. And that juror said, why did he only get shot at six times? Because the officer ran out of bullets.

I don't think that that should be the mindset of anyone, much less someone who is impaneled to sit. And so it begs the question, how did someone like that get on a jury? And certainly if there are others who are of like-mind to that, I think, it is very much a concern for the prosecution.

BROWN: All right, Joey Jackson, thanks so much for breaking it down for us, as always.

JACKSON: Thank you, Pamela.

BROWN: And when we come back on this Saturday, I'll speak to someone who was at the Astroworld Music Festival who says all hell broke loose when Travis Scott came out to perform. More on that ahead.

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BROWN: This just in, a huge milestone to report on the battle against COVID-19. The C.D.C. is now reporting that as of today, 70 percent of American adults are now fully vaccinated and more than 80 percent have received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine.

Today, Walgreens pharmacies across the country began administering Pfizer vaccinations against COVID-19 for children ages five to 11. And as the nation begins to feel hopeful that the end of the pandemic is near, there is another potential sign of progress. Pfizer now says its experimental COVID-19 pill can cut the risk of death or severe illness by nearly 90 percent.

CNN's Evan McMorris-Santoro reports.

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EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): As younger children begin to receive Pfizer vaccines this week, the pharmaceutical giant has been working on something new -- an experimental new treatment for the virus.

An interim analysis from Pfizer showed that when their experimental pill is taken in conjunction with another antiviral within three days of symptoms appearing, there was an 89 percent reduction in the risk of hospitalization or death.

The company's hope is that people would take it at home before becoming sick enough to go to the hospital. But the pill is still far way off from reaching patients. Pfizer's data has not been peer reviewed, published, or submitted to the F.D.A. yet.

ALBERT BOURLA, CEO, PFIZER: This is significant, that means that instead of having among this group of people, 10 going to hospital, only one will go, and likely very few if any will die. So the introduction of this pill will save millions and millions of lives.

MCMORRIS-SANTORO (voice over): With nearly 60 percent of the U.S. population fully vaccinated, the government's emphasis has turned to vaccinating children between the ages of five and 11. They began to receive their vaccines earlier this week, with more shots rolling out for that age group this weekend at Walgreens locations and other sites throughout the country.

BIDEN: Were prepared for this moment by security enough vaccine supply for every single child in that age category in America. Those doses have started to arrive at thousands of pediatrician's offices, pharmacies, schools and other sites.

Starting next week, our kids' vaccination program will hit full strength with about 20,000 trusted and convenient places for parents to get their kids vaccinated.

MCMORRIS-SANTORO (voice over): But vaccine hesitancy is still with us. NFL star, Aaron Rodgers said he is unvaccinated and consulted with podcast host Joe Rogan about a course of treatment when he caught the virus.

He says he took several treatments, including the drug, ivermectin, a medication that is not a proven treatment for COVID-19.

Here in New York City where tense battles over vaccine mandates for municipal workers led to protests last week, the vaccination rate for city employees has continued to inch up, now about 92 percent. Approximately 80 percent of the city's firefighters have been fully vaccinated, and 86 percent of the New York City Police Department have received their shots. Only 130 people have been put on leave without pay. But about 6,000 uniformed and civilian officers have requested exemptions from the mandate.

Commissioner Dermot Shea telling CNN's Jim Sciutto that the department is handling each of those cases individually.

DERMOT SHEA, NYPD COMMISSIONER: The impact comes from the uniformed and civilian members that have not requested an accommodation and were put out leave without pay. It's manageable. You know we're able to move resources around, stop training in certain areas, do things behind the scenes by trying to get those people back to work.

MCMORRIS-SANTORO (voice over): Evan McMorris-Santoro, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And back to our breaking news, that horrible concert tragedy in Texas. Thirteen people remain hospitalized following last night's deadly stampede at the Astroworld Music Festival in Houston. Eight people were killed in the incident, two of them just 14 and 16 years old.

Earlier I spoke to eyewitness Billy about what he saw last night.

[18:30:02]

BILLY NASSER, ATTENDED ASTROWORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL: There was a kid in the crowd. People were getting trampled. They're losing their balance and then tripping over to people on the floor. And people were just dying left and right. The heat lasted about 15 minutes after Travis came onto the stage and just progressively got worse. There were shoving - the barricades couldn't accommodate all the people that were there. It was too small. It was a death trap, basically.

BROWN: A death trap. And what was that like for you to be caught in the middle of that? NASSER: I've seen kids pass out before, but everyone usually always

helps out. But in this time, people are basically fighting for their life. I was trying to pick kids up. They were getting stomped on and I picked some kid up and his eyes rolled to the back of his head. So I checked his pulse, I knew he was dead and then I checked the people around me and just had to leave him there, there was nothing I could do. I had to keep going.

BROWN: So even in the midst of the chaos, you were trying to help someone else, check their pulse, there was no pulse. What was going through your mind as this was all unfolding?

NASSER: It was really frustrating. I wanted the music to stop and I wanted everyone around me to realize what was going on. But people didn't have very much like self-awareness. It was like kids were just going crazy and partying for the festival and they weren't actually paying attention to the bodies that were dropping behind them.

BROWN: Did you feel like as this was unfolding, it was getting really bad, you're there trying to help the situation that there was enough security guards or people there who were supposed to be jumping in at moments like this to contain the situation?

NASSER: No. No, no, no. There wasn't enough security guards and there wasn't enough EMTs or people helping out the crowd. The paramedics couldn't even reach the crowd. I was in an area that I was trying to lift kids out of the crowd that wasn't being reached. And the ambulance, that little golf cart ambulance got to us about 30, 45 minutes after I saw like 10 to 20 people passed away.

BROWN: Did you fear for your life? Did you think you were going to die? You described it earlier as a death trap, is that what you thought was going to happen to you?

NASSER: Yes. I've been in crazy mosh pit like this, so I know how to maneuver my way out. But for people who were in there for their first time, I just felt bad for them because they didn't know what to do. And a lot of these kids go there to see Travis Scott and Fortnite and they're younger kids and they don't know what to expect.

And when I was posting the content from what happened at the show, I just wanted to be able to see the reality of how these festivals can be, it's very dangerous.

BROWN: Just awful. Again, among the eight who died, 14-year-old and 16-year-old.

And still to come on CNN NEWSROOM, the Virginia governor's race between Terry McAuliffe and Glenn Youngkin was neck and neck leading up to Election Day. So what may have tipped Youngkin over the edge to victory, suburban moms. My report next.

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[18:37:19] BROWN: Well, they were a key to Donald Trump's victory and four years

later his defeat, suburban white women who send another message this past week in Virginia helping to elect a Republican governor. Glenn Youngkin won 53 percent of suburban voters to Terry McAuliffe's 47 percent.

That number is flipped from November 2020 when Biden carried suburban voters in the state by eight points. I sat down with moms in suburban Virginia to ask what made the difference.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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KAY GREENWELL, VIRGINIA VOTER: This is the first year in my life that I've ever put a yard sign out for a candidate and I did this year. I've never done that before. Never in a million years.

BROWN: So how many of you voted for Biden in the general election, raise your hand.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN (voice over): But now all four suburban Virginia moms, a Democrat, two independents and one unaffiliated say they voted for Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, in Tuesday night won that seat in Virginia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN (off camera): Do you think suburban moms like you basically put Youngkin into office?

SHAWNNA YASHAR, VIRGINIA VOTER: Yes, absolutely.

DANA JACKSON, VIRGINIA VOTER: One hundred percent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN (voice over): And there's one key issue all four of these women say played a huge part in their choosing a Republican, feeling heard about their child's education. They spend months fighting to get kids back into school and now they want more done to make up for learning loss from the pandemic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GREENWELL: The school closures were really hard for a lot of kids and one of my kids in particular really suffered when schools were closed.

YASHAR: It affected my family dynamic. It affected my social circles. It affected every part of me that the kids couldn't go to school. And so I had to figure out what can I do to make sure that that never happens again.

BROWN (off camera): And you feel like even right now not enough is being done to address the learning loss and you think that is a crisis.

JACKSON: Yes, absolutely. Yes, it's part of the emergency.

YASHAR: We think our kids are in crisis. The learning loss is real. So we're in a situation where our kids are really far behind and they need a lot of help. They need a lot of additional tutoring. They need a lot of additional time after school to help catch them up and they're still not focusing on that.

It's like a situation where you're in front of your house and the driveway is really dirty, but the house is also on fire and you're using the hose to hose off the driveway instead of putting out the fire on the house.

BROWN (off camera): How much did that factor a deal for you, the CRT debate and everything?

JACKSON: definitely the education, the learning loss was number one for me. Everything else was below that.

YASHAR: Mandates and CRT did not influence my decision at all.

JACKSON: Yes.

BROWN (off camera): How about for you, Sandra, Kay?

GREENWELL: No. Mine was all about the school closures.

[18:40:01]

BROWN (off camera): How did Terry McAuliffe handled the education part of everything?

GREENWELL: Well, parents were very angry during school closures at the teachers' unions. And for me the nail in the coffin was on his last day of campaigning. He brought the head of the teachers' union to his rally and she spoke and it was like someone just poked me right in the eye and said, you think you want to have a say in your education, well, you're not going to.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Glenn, he listened to us. He met with us. He sent his wife to meet with special education parents and they spent a lot one-on-one time with parents.

BROWN (off camera): Dana, do you think that's why Glenn Youngkin won Virginia because he made education such a centerpiece of his campaign?

JACKSON: I do. We felt listened to for the first time or I did.

BROWN (off camera): If Terry McAuliffe had made it more of a centerpiece, made listening to parents, listening to their concerns, made that more of a centerpiece of his campaign, would you have maybe voted for him instead or were there other concerns you had?

GREENWELL: He seemed very sort of dismissive of the general voting public. JACKSON: Terry seemed to be campaigning everywhere but Virginia.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Shop for democracy, for Virginia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN (voice over): They say they were also off put by former President Obama when he came to Virginia to campaign for McAuliffe and called education issues 'phony trumped up culture wars'.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN (off camera): Offensive in what way?

JACKSON: I just feel like they're really tone-deaf. They're really dismissive and kind of blanket statement.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It reminded us of the school boards.

YASHAR: They weren't looking at the concerns on the ground. The concerns on the ground where we were really concerned about our kids' education and the Democrats were not listening to that.

BROWN (off camera): And what about like in Washington with the Democrats' agenda, and the back and forth, the two bills not being passed, did that have any sway at all on you.

JACKSON: No.

YASHAR: Nope.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN (voice over): Another problem in their view, the Trump factor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YASHAR: We wanted to move on from the Trump administration.

JACKSON: I felt like it was really tone-deaf to just discount parents and the whole educational struggle and to make it about Trump all of the time. I mean, there's a place for that but he never really talked about what he was going to do to improve things. He just talked about how bad everyone else was and that was a real turnoff, especially, leaving our kids in the dust.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN (voice over): But they admit, had Trump stumped in Virginia for Youngkin, that would have been a problem.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I told if you bring Donald Trump in Virginia, I'm not helping you. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN (voice over): And they say they believe the way once Biden- supporting suburban moms helped propel Republican Glenn Youngkin into an unlikely victory in Virginia could happen again across the country for the 2022 midterms that parents continue to feel ignored about their kids' education.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN (off camera): What do you think the message is to Democrats from the election results in Virginia?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're going to keep losing if you don't pay attention to parents.

YASHAR: They neglected us, they neglected our kids and they ignored the parents.

BROWN (off camera): And so they're going to have to re-earn your trust?

YASHAR: Absolutely.

BROWN (off camera): And that's going to take awhile.

YASHAR: It's going to take a long time.

JACKSON: It's just going to take a long while.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And CNN has obtained a copy of an analysis by the McAuliffe campaign of their loss on Tuesday. It found that education was not a decisive issue in the governor's race, but it was an important weakness that the McAuliffe campaign suffered from day one and never improved on it.

Well, today, massive protests happening all around the world, people demanding climate justice. It's happening at the same time at the Global Climate Summit in Scotland. We're going to have more on that ahead.

But first, a look at an all new episode of CNN's Original Series This is Life with Lisa Lang. You'll see it tomorrow night. And here's a quick preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LISA LANG: When did you join a gang?

CURTIS: I'm probably was nine. LANG: Wow. What was it about gang life that appealed to you?

CURTIS: family and toughness, I just felt the sense of security. I felt that I could get away from home, from the verbal and physical abuse that was going on.

LANG: Curtis' commitment to gang life grew even stronger after he experienced an even deeper trauma.

CURTIS: I lost my mom when I was 17 and she was killed by my stepdad. I was already on this trajectory of being a bad ass and that was just the icing on the cake. It changed me. So it went from me picking up a stick, bottle, knife to guns.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[18:49:12]

BROWN: Well, they are the ones who will inherit this planet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CROWD: We are responsible and not our world responsible. We are responsible and not our world is responsible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: This big protest was specifically for youth climate activists organized by Fridays For Future. The founder of that group, Greta Thunberg gave the headline speech in which she called the UN Climate Conference just blocks away a PR event.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRETA THUNBERG, CLIMATE ACTIVIST: This is no longer the climate conference, this is now a global north greenwash festival. A two-week long celebration of business as usual and blah, blah, blah.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[18:50:00]

BROWN: That was Greta Thunberg speaking there.

And joining me now is David Wallace-Wells, the Author of The Uninhabitable Earth. So what do you think, is Greta right? Is this conference more of the same blah?

DAVID WALLACE-WELLS, AUTHOR, "THE UNINHABITABLE EARTH": Well, it's definitely not sufficient progress. What we're seeing is really the leading countries in the world announcing plans that they had already made privately. And what she's pointing out rightly is that they don't yet have a good idea. They haven't given us a good idea of how exactly they're going to make those pledges real. So at the moment, we have rising ambition, which many analysts say if

realize these pledges could keep us below two degrees Celsius of warming, which is huge progress. But we don't yet know exactly how seriously to take those pledges. And I think she's absolutely right, we definitely can't take them to the bank, because we have a long record of all of these countries making promises just like this and then failing to fulfill them.

BROWN: And what do you mean by that? What is that long record? And it sounds like from what I hear from you is, you don't really think anything substantive will come out of the conference in terms of meaningful climate action?

WALLACE-WELLS: Well, there are a couple of things that have come out already that are significant. India made a net zero pledge. There has been ...

BROWN: Agreements.

WALLACE-WELLS: ... there has been this pledge to cut methane emissions over the next decade, which is really significant. But there isn't really hardcore negotiating going on as there was in the Paris Agreement. This conference was designed for countries to basically announce their growing ambitions since Paris and there isn't going to be a legally binding agreement of any kind that comes out of this. That's wasn't its purpose.

And when you look back at all the climate conferences that come before, this is COP26, there have been 25 previous ones, each of them took seriously to some degree the existential threat of climate change. And yet, emissions have kept rising, concentrations of carbon in the atmosphere have kept going up. And as a result, we're seeing all of the extreme weather that we're seeing all around the world today.

Now, there has been progress. The distant future looks considerably more comfortable than it looked a few years ago, because the price of renewables is falling really dramatically and there is this growing consensus among leaders in the world, both in the private and the public sector that we need to do something about it.

But we haven't yet seen concrete plans, policy coming out of domestic legislatures or really clear investments in the private sector, that give us any faith that the promises that are being made at Glasgow are all that likely to be fulfilled.

BROWN: As you all know, David, a centerpiece of President Biden's massive climate legislation, spending legislation was cut from the Build Back Better plan. What would you say to Sen. Joe Manchin who stood in the way of that and wanted it removed?

WALLACE-WELLS: Well, I think it's a tragedy of American democracy that we have a Senator who represents 1.7 million constituents blocking a provision that would have created 8 million American jobs, not to mention put us largely on track for our climate goals and cleaned up our air in a way that would have huge, massive public health benefits, including to his constituents in West Virginia. I think it's unfortunate.

I do think that there are significant investment in the bills that are being put forward in the aftermath of that, that could meaningfully reduce our carbon emissions. And I think we can make progress, it's not like that provision was the end all be all. But I do think it's terrible precedent globally and within the U.S. that a single senator could spike something that so important.

We know what we need to do here. All of the scientists tell us. All of the energy analysts tell us and to have the sort of, I think, poorly informed perspective of a single senator of a very small state block that is a tragedy for the U.S. and a tragedy for the world.

BROWN: And a New York Magazine piece you write, "It is, I promise, worse than you think. If your anxiety about global warming is dominated by fears of sea-level rise, you are barely scratching the surface of what terrors are possible, even within the lifetime of a teenager today."

If someone accuses you of being alarmist, what would you say to them?

WALLACE-WELLS: I think the science is pretty alarming. I mentioned earlier that some of the worst case scenarios that we're seeing more plausible when I wrote that article have become a little bit less plausible. We're on track for something in the neighborhood of three degrees of warming as opposed to four degrees of warming and that really does make a world of difference.

But even at two degrees, which is I think at this juncture a pretty optimistic outcome for us. We're talking about 150 million additional people dying from air pollution from the burning of fossil fuels. We're talking about storms and flooding events that used to hit once a century, coming every single year.

We're talking about people in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East not being able to walk around outside during summer without some risk of heatstroke and possibly heat death, which is one of the reason why the UN believes that out about that level of warming two degrees, which we're likely to see I think the century, we're going to see something like 200 million climate refugees.

Now, I think Humans are adaptive and resilient.

[18:55:01]

We can respond to those challenges. We will build a future on top of them, but it is a much more brutal landscape than the one that we'd be building our future on if we avoided all that warming. And I do think that the science tells us, we need to wake up and move quickly.

So although I'm happy to be called an alarmist, it's really the science itself that's alarming and which has been called alarming.

BROWN: Right. The science itself that is alarming as you put it. David Wallace-Wells, author of Uninhabitable Earth, thank you so much.

WALLACE-WELLS: Thanks for having me.

BROWN: And we're following breaking news out of Houston where at least eight people were killed at a music festival after a crowd rushed the stage when rapper Travis Scott started to perform. Stay with us.

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