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Republican Nominees That Disputed the Election; Sarah Longwell is Interviewed about Republican Nominees; Damage to Ukraine Nuclear Plant; Alberto Carvalho is Interviewed about L.A. Public Schools. Aired 9:30-10a

Aired August 18, 2022 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:31:18]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: This is an important story as we approach the 2022 midterms. A new count by CNN has found that in at least 11 states, the Republican nominees for secretary of state, which is the job of overseeing future elections, have questioned, rejected or even tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: CNN reporter Daniel Dale joins with us more.

This is a really important story, Daniel. I'm glad you dug into this. And it's significant because secretaries of state have a notable influence on elections that many voters may not even be aware of.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

DANIEL DALE, CNN REPORTER: That's exactly right. It's a critical position. And the latest addition to the list is Wyoming State Representative Chuck Gray, who won a primary this week. He falsely calls Joe Biden's election illegitimate. He falsely describes the 2020 election as the fraudulent election. He told CNN last year that he, quote, absolutely believes that Trump won.

In any other secretary of state year, this would be just an extraordinarily, extraordinarily unusual candidate. But this year he's not alone. He joins a list that includes people like Mark Finchem of Arizona, a long time far right conspiracy theorist who continues to push to decertify Joe Biden's victory in that state, which is an impossibility. He was a key early organizer of the so-called stop the steal movement in Arizona. He was himself seen outside the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

So, it's a long list. It includes a number of people you can fairly describe as extreme.

GOLODRYGA: And on the gubernatorial side, Daniel, you found that 21 of the 36 Republican gubernatorial nominees are also election deniers. Who among them stands out to you the most? DALE: So, it's hard to pick, but I'll give you three. One is Kari Lake

of Arizona, gubernatorial nominee there, who not only described the election as stolen but says it is sickening and disgusting for fellow Republicans to not say the same. She also has pushed for decertification. She's also pushed for jailings, for the imprisonment of both her Democratic opponent and for journalists who have accurately reported on the election.

Dan Cox of Maryland, this stands out to me because the current governor, who's term limited, is a quite moderate Republican Larry Hogan, who is not an election denier, but Dan Cox chartered buses to the Trump rally on January 6, 2021. That day, during the insurrection, he tweeted that Pence is a traitor. He said last year, late 2021, that Donald Trump is the only president that he recognizes.

The third I'll give you is Doug Mastriano of Pennsylvania. Now, this is an especially important race, guys, because this is like a two for one. The governor of Pennsylvania gets to appoint the secretary of state. So, that could be Doug Mastriano making the appointment. Mastriano is a vehement denier who also chartered buses to that trump rally on January 6th. And I think it's fair to call him as well as -- an extremist on this subject.

SCIUTTO: Yes. And they have influence over elections.

Daniel Dale, thanks so much for breaking down the numbers for us.

So, joining us now to speak about the potential repercussions of this is Republican strategist Sarah Longwell. She's founder of the Republican Accountability Project, co-founder of Defending Democracy Together. These organizations in part pushing back on Republicans who deny the election.

Sarah, good to have you back on the program.

SARAH LONGWELL, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Thanks for having me.

SCIUTTO: So, until now this had been a theoretical threat, right, that you might have folks in positions of power who could potentially act to overturn election results in the next cycle. Now several of them have won at least the nominations now. For folks at home whom who are watching, does this mean that in 2024 there could very well be, or even likely in some states, be people in positions of power who can do that?

LONGWELL: Yes, there absolutely could be. Now, part of it, though, is that, you know, Trump has this incredibly firm hold on the base of the party.

[09:35:05]

And so, you know, when he went around endorsing people, he really wanted to focus on endorsing people who endorsed his election lie. And so, as a result, many of the people who have emerged from these Republican primaries, they are election deniers, but they are also weaker Republican candidates. And so it is possible to defeat the Doug Mastrianos, the Kari Lakes, more so than it might have been had they had different kinds of candidates.

But one thing that I just want to add to Dale's reporting that's really important is that, you know, all of these election denier candidates, many of them are in swing states. The states that will be in contention, will be close.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

LONGWELL: And so, you know, if they do win, because it is, you know, could be a tough year for Democrats, if they do win, then the states that are with the narrowest margins are the ones that have governors and secretaries of state combinations who are the most likely to try to overturn elections.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: So, Sarah, then what does this say as we look towards the midterms about the role that actual policy plays in the minds of voters and whether it's just the Trump base or Republican voters at large when it comes to Liz Cheney, for example, and this may be an outlier in Wyoming. You know, she voted with President Trump -- former President Trump, at the time, 93 percent of the time. So you can't say the differences there lied amongst policy issues. It was clearly about the election.

So how big of a role do policies play -- does policy play for these voters as they're approaching the midterms now?

LONGWELL: Yes, I mean, it doesn't play no role, but it plays a greatly subservient role with the base of the party than loyalty to Donald Trump. Like, loyalty to Donald Trump is the coin of the realm. It's the most important thing. And, again, with Trump, you know, he has this grip on the base and the base is big now. It is big enough to basically -- for him to have his way in most of these Republican primaries. It doesn't mean that there's no lane for a Liz Cheney in the party, because there are sort of nationally, right, you got about 70 percent of the Republican Party believes that the election was stolen, right? That is a big part of the party. Now it does mean that there's 30 percent who don't. There's not that many of them in Wyoming. But so there can be a bit of a lane, but people should recognize that it's narrow, and that Trump's base is big and that he's got a firm hold on it.

SCIUTTO: Sarah, there had been a sense among some pollsters and also some Republicans, including yourself, we've spoken about it on the air before, that Trump's overall hold on the party was slipping somewhat. Not falling off a cliff, but slipping somewhat.

And I wonder, after these most recent primaries, where several of Trump's picks have won, but not all of them, if you still feel the same way.

LONGWELL: Yes. I mean, here's the thing. I think that what was happening and what I've talked about before is, with the January 6th hearings, you did see -- it wasn't that they were breaking through so much as that they were seeping in with Republican voters and they were starting to worry about Trump's electability. That he might not be able to win. And they were kind of looking around and saying, you know who I like, Ron DeSantis, or I like Kristi Noem or Abbott in Texas. You know, they just had other people that they were starting to look at.

And I think what's interesting about what's going on right now with the FBI, there's a lot of chatter about the fact that this helps Trump. I'm not sure if that's true in the long-term. It's obviously going to depend on - on what's in those documents and a bunch of other factors.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

LONGWELL: But it does help him in this moment where he gets to be, like, it's all about me, and to sort of focus that Republican base energy back on him. And so there is a little bit of this rally around Trump effect. But we did just do a group in Florida and head to head with Ron DeSantis, Trump only got one vote. The rest of them were for DeSantis.

SCIUTTO: Interesting.

GOLODRYGA: Wow. That is interesting. We'll continue to follow that.

Sarah Longwell, thank you.

LONGWELL: Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: Well, straight ahead, devastating attacks in Ukraine have damaged part of a nuclear power plant, threatening to shut down the facility. Authorities warning that the shutdown would bring them closer to radiation disaster. We're live there next.

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[09:43:45]

GOLODRYGA: In Ukraine, the Russian ministry of defense is claiming shelling by Ukrainian forces has damaged the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant's backup systems, adding that it could shut down the facility.

SCIUTTO: Russia also claims this morning that Ukraine is preparing a false flag operation at the plant to coincide with a visit to the county by the U.N. secretary-general.

CNN's senior international correspondent David McKenzie joins us now from Kyiv.

And, David, as you well know, Russia's track record for truth in this war is horrendous. What is actually happening around that nuclear power plant?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Jim and Bianna, let me try and give you what we know. What we know is that there is a definite situation at that plant, which is very dangerous. As you can hear the church bells behind me. And that plant to the south of where I'm standing, there have been ongoing shelling and rocket attacks for many days now.

Now, Ukraine blames Russia. Russia blames Ukraine for this. But the bottom line is that there is a chance, a very real chance, of some kind of accident, of a leak. Not necessarily a direct strike on a nuclear reactor, because those are very heavily protected.

The big issue right now is the power supply to that plant that keeps those reactors cool.

[09:45:01]

Now, the Russian authorities, as you say, are saying that the auxiliary power has been damaged. Speaking to experts over the last few days, each one of those reactors has at least three backup systems, diesel power generators that will keep it going. But if that fails, and what you have is a total station blackout, which is a worst case scenario and could lead to a Fukushima-like disaster.

Now, who's to blame? Well, that's very murky. Of course, though, it's worth remembering that it was Russia that invaded Ukraine and they occupied that site from early March.

Now, Russians today, again, denying that they have heavy military on the site. But there have been aerial footage taken of them hiding assets inside that power plant.

Just a short time ago, President Zelenskyy of Ukraine meeting with the U.N. secretary-general. He says that there needs to be a demilitarized zone in that site, around that site, to ensure the safety, not just for Ukraine, but for the entire region. So far, though, the Russians are saying they have no plans to demilitarize that zone. So it's still a very precarious situation.

Jim. Bianna.

SCIUTTO: For sure.

GOLODRYGA: And this isn't the first scare at that facility since Russia has invaded. And we should remind viewers, it is the largest nuclear facility in all of Europe. So, if there were a disaster, the ramifications would extend way beyond just Ukraine.

David McKenzie, thank you.

Well, unfilled positions, lack of school bus drivers, and at least two health crises, Covid and monkeypox. How are schools planning to operate and get kids back into the classroom? I'll talk with the superintendent of L.A. Schools, up next.

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[09:51:09]

GOLODRYGA: Well, school districts nation welcome back students this week, but some classes were not fully staffed. With reports of unfilled positions in schools across the country, some states are left scrambling, trying to find creative ways to bring educators back into the classroom.

We had previously scheduled an interview to show you with Alberto Carvalho, the superintendent for the Los Angeles Unified School District. We have lost that connection. We hope to connect back with him soon. They had what he described as a stellarly successful first day at school. Wanting to get some details from him as to how that went, the second largest school district in the country. That's pretty impressive, Jim. We'll hopefully reconnect with him.

SCIUTTO: No question. We are dialing up as you speak.

Dramatic new video from eastern Spain is capturing firefighters running to escape a violent wildfire. Look at how quickly it's moving. They were working to try to save a number of homes from the flames. Two firefighters were injured there. The wildfire began on Monday, has led to hundreds of evacuations. Remarkable to see in Europe now what we've seen so common here in the U.S.

GOLODRYGA: And I believe we have Alberto back on with us, superintendent for the Los Angeles School District.

I guess that school bell rang, Superintendent. Glad we got you back on. Thank you so much for joining us.

So, we were talking about all of the difficulty and staff shortages and bus shortages and bus drivers, and yet you describe your first day of school as nothing but stellarly successful. You brought in over half a million students into 1,200 classrooms, 100 buses running more or less on time. So my question to you is, how is the second day looking? Are you expecting it to be as smooth as yesterday?

ALBERTO CARVALHO, SUPERINTENDENT, LOS ANGELES UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT: Good morning, Bianna.

Actually, we're entering the fourth day today. And the first three days were absolutely perfect. We were able to begin the recruitment process for teachers well before most districts. We actually began hiring at the end of last school year. We had provided teachers with advanced degrees. We had negotiated the health benefits package that was very favorable. And, look, I think we are providing a counter offense to some of the conditions that teachers face, under resourced, certainly lacking some of the respect they deserve. A lot of states passing legislation that removes some of the rights that teachers have. Certainly an intimidating force.

And then, of course, colleges of education are not graduating enough candidates for teaching positions. Less than 2 percent of individuals are choosing to enter colleges of education. When the country needs 3.6 million teachers every year, that's just insufficient.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, and, look, this is a problem that's only been exacerbated by the pandemic. We had seen these trends long before 2020. But they've just really been highlighted over the past two years.

You said that your district has been able to staff every one of our schools by hiring 1,500 teachers just from the last day of the last quarter of last year to the first day this week. But you also say that you've hired an additional 500 teachers on special assignment, coordinators, and other individuals who possess the appropriate credentials.

Can you just break that down for us? What does special assignment mean, what are coordinators, and what is the standard for appropriate credentials?

CARVALHO: Your last word is actually the most important one. We believe in a highly qualified, highly skilled, credentialed teacher, meaning someone who possesses the balance of core - a core subject area certification and has met all the requirements to actually be a teacher in the state of California. That means someone with a bachelor's or a master's degree. Someone who has core subject area expertise.

So, we hired, actually by now, in excess of 1,800 teachers, but we also built a reserve army of teachers made up of individuals who recently were classroom teachers, were recently promoted to a coordinator position, a coach, or an interventionist.

[09:55:08]

A lot of these individuals actually work in schools or in central office of direct support to schools. Why? If we need a teacher, we don't have to rely on a substitute teacher who does not possess the training or the course work to effectively teach kids. That's a smart way of approaching this problem.

GOLODRYGA: Can I ask you quickly, you know, you and I first met when I was covering the education crisis during Covid and you were superintendent of the Miami School District. And at the time it was one of the largest school districts that had remained open and opened early enough throughout the pandemic.

Here you are in California, one of the last states to open. What are some of the protocols that you are bringing with you? Obviously we've learned a lot more now about the virus. There are vaccines. But what are the protocols that you're hoping to utilize here to make sure that students are safe and that they're back in the school for as long as possible?

CARVALHO: Bianna, as far as the protocols are concerned, much like in Miami, LAUSD is a science-driven school district. We are advised by medical experts and public health officials. All of our protocols include what the experts recommend. You know, wear masks if you want to, but concerning the fact that 100 percent of our staff is vaccinated, and considering the fact that 82 percent of our students are vaccinated, the fact that we've installed air cleaning technologies, air filtration technologies, the fact that we continue to distribute antigen tests both to our students and our staff, and periodically test individuals and upload information put us in a position of having a balance between the protective measures that parents, students and the workforce expect and deserve, but also a fundamental concern right now with the acceleration of learning opportunity for every single student, considering the losses that were incurred during the pandemic.

GOLODRYGA: Of course. And there were a lot of losses there.

Superintendent Carvalho, thank you for your time and good luck in this school year. We appreciate your time.

CARVALHO: Thank you very much.

GOLODRYGA: And we'll be right back. No, go ahead.

SCIUTTO: And still ahead, we have a judge decision this afternoon on whether to release the affidavit behind that warrant to search Trump's Mar-a-Lago home. We're going to be live coming up.

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