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NASA: Spacecraft "Successfully Moved" Astroid's "Trajectory"; Zelenskyy Calls For "Aid Shield" Against Putin's Intensified Strikes; L.A. City Councilmember Gets Emotional After Colleagues Make Racist Remarks Aimed At His Son; Today: Top Republicans Stump For Embattled GA Candidate Walker. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired October 11, 2022 - 15:00   ET

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

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: And here's by how much, before the impact, that asteroid orbited a larger asteroid called Didymos. Every 11 hours and 55 minutes. But after impact, it orbits it every 11 hours and 23 minutes. So that's a change of 32 minutes. And it may not sound like all that much. But it really is. And it's three times greater of a change than what NASA scientists had originally predicted.

Here is NASA Administrator, Bill Nelson, just moments ago.

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BILL NELSON, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: It was expected to be a huge success if it only slowed the orbit by about 10 minutes. But it actually slowed it by 32 minutes. Dr. Lori Glaze and the DART team will explain more about how we confirm that. Now, this is a watershed moment for planetary defense and a watershed moment for humanity.

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FISHER: So that is an image right there that NASA just released at this press conference, brand new taken by the Hubble Space Telescope on Saturday. And what you're seeing there is the aftermath of this impact, which was more than two weeks ago. You're seeing the bright spot that's essentially the point of impact at this asteroid and then this tail that stretches for about 6,000 miles.

So Victor, this definitely proves that if a potential killer asteroid were ever headed towards Earth, this is the type of technique that NASA would try to deploy. The only catch is you would have to deploy it many, many years in advance in order for it to work, Victor.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Well, now at least we've got proof of concept that it can happen. Kristin Fisher, thank you.

Top of a new hour on CNN NEWSROOM. Good to have you. I'm Victor Blackwell.

Ukraine is making a new plea in response to the largest scale of attacks from Russia since the first days of the invasion about 200 days ago. Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, requested an air shield during an emergency meeting with G7 leaders today. His country is now in the second day of one of Russia's fiercest bombing campaigns with more than 100 missiles hitting in the last 48 hours, that's according to Zelenskyy.

At least 19 Ukrainians have been killed, more than 100 wounded. Airstrikes as far away as the western city of Lviv we're seeing. That's hundreds of miles from the war's main theaters in the east and the south. Zelenskyy told the G7 that much more is to come from Vladimir Putin.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through interpreter): Russia wants to create chaos in Ukraine and in all the democratic world, that's why he uses everything from the missile strikes to the occupation of nuclear power plant, sabotaging the infrastructure in Europe up to the annihilation of all the energy facilities in Ukraine. We have to stop all of this.

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BLACKWELL: Today. Russia also admitted to striking Ukrainian energy facilities as winter approaches. The Ukrainians call this a war crime.

CNN Senior International Correspondent, Fred Pleitgen, is in Kyiv. What's the situation there?

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, it's no secret, Victor, that the Ukrainian say they need more of those Western modern air defense systems. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, obviously, calling for, as he put it, that shield. Obviously, meaning that they want more air to air capabilities and the Germans are delivering some, the U.S. are going to deliver some as well.

But it's definitely something where the Ukrainian say this is right now their top priority because they are facing all these long distance missile barrages and drone barrages as well that are hitting a lot of cities here in Ukraine. And it's something that we felt once again on the ground here today in the capital city as well, where we had an air alarm that lasted for five hours.

We were showing some of the pictures before, some of that black smoke rising up around to the city of Kyiv. Some of the places that were hit were in the vicinity of Kyiv, but as you mentioned it, also a lot of other places as well. And one of the interesting things that we just found out, Victor. Have the energy minister of Ukraine just told CNN that 30 percent of the country's energy infrastructure has already been hit by Russian missiles.

Obviously, this causes problems for the Ukrainians. They're already urging people to conserve energy, but at the same time, also calling on the international community, the U.S. and its allies specifically to get them those air defense capabilities as fast as possible, Victor?

BLACKWELL: All right. Ukraine is home to the largest nuclear power facility in Europe and it's under Russian control now. Vladimir Putin today said that he's concerned about it. Tell us about that.

PLEITGEN: Yes. The Zaporizhzhia power plan, you're absolutely right, six reactors, biggest nuclear power plant in all of Europe.

[15:05:01]

And it's one where there's a lot of shelling that's been going on, over the past couple of weeks, the past couple of months. And it always seems as though that plant is very, very close to some larger disaster happening. The power is very often cut. Emergency power systems very often have to be turned on. There's shelling in the vicinity of that plant both sides, really blaming each other for it.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, they actually have people at that plant and they do say that the Russians have military infrastructure, military vehicles inside that power plant. The big problem that they have right now is that obviously the Ukrainians are saying since this is their territory, it's their power plant and they are essentially in charge.

But Vladimir Putin has signed a decree saying that that power plant now belongs to Russia. It's a big problem and obviously it's something where today the head of the IAEA was in Moscow to speak to Vladimir Putin, not very much headway was achieved there, though, Victor.

BLACKWELL: Fred Pleitgen for us in Kyiv, thank you. With me now, Igor Novikov, former adviser to Ukraine's President Zelenskyy. Igor, thanks for your time.

I want to understand how these attacks have changed daily life. You're in Kyiv where diplomats went back to embassies there. Businesses reopen. There was some sense of normalcy, but now you've got these recent attacks. How has life changed where you are?

IGOR NOVIKOV, FORMER ADVISER TO UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT ZELENSKYY: Well, yesterday, Victor, came as a surprise, obviously, to the civilian population. So for the first time ever in this war, downtown Kyiv was struck, a busy intersection killing civilians. So yesterday, people were shocked and some of those instincts actually kicked in and people started stocking up on fuel and food and everything.

But to be honest, today, I was in central Kyiv and everything is more or less back to normal, Ukrainians are incredibly resilient, so the restaurants have reopened, the shops have reopened, shopping malls, everything. What's also mind blowing about these attacks is how carefully the international community is driving (ph), because yesterday one of the missiles actually struck very close to a German visa center facility which was actually affected and hit. The windows were blown and then people would have been injured if they were there, yet nobody is doing anything like, look, we can deflect killer asteroids, but for some reasons we can't deflect cruise missiles flying at a liberal democracy in Central Europe pretty much.

BLACKWELL: I watched one of your videos. You posted a new one today in which you suggested that you don't think that the attacks yesterday and today were planned for yesterday and today or were directly in response to the Kerch Strait Bridge explosion, explain that?

NOVIKOV: Well, to kind of coordinate this level of attack and we've actually had over a hundred cruise missiles launch at us over the course of the last two days. In order to plan for something like that, you need more than two days. And it's only been like, well, two days before - since the Kerch bridge incident before we got struck.

So I think Putin was originally preparing this for the Independence Day. At least we all got warnings from our sources to kind of be extra careful in Kyiv at the end of August, but nothing happens. So I think then he probably postponed it towards the colder months. But Kerch Bridge actually kind of provoked them into kind of launching this.

But there's one very important difference here. Like, look, most people see it as an act of brutality soon, so do we. But we also see it as an act of desperation. Putin is losing the war. Therefore, he's trying to basically escalate his way into negotiations. He's killing on purpose to force Zelenskyy to sit at the negotiating table.

BLACKWELL: Yes. I want your response to - a reaction, I should say - to what we just heard from Fred that Ukrainian official says that 30 percent of the country's energy facilities have been hit. I mean, if this continues, how will Ukraine provide for its citizens as we get into the cooler months?

NOVIKOV: Well, I've only spoken today with a number of acquaintances and friends of mine who work for energy companies. And one of those people actually work for DTEK, which is one of the largest if not the largest energy provider in Ukraine. Basically, like we've restored power. We kind of - we try and mend the damage as quickly as we can. I mean, some people actually got injured in Ladyzhyn in central Ukraine today, because they were working on a power plant that got hit and the power plant got hit again.

So we're going to we're going to be exercising every tool in our possession to try and kind of adapt to the situation. But worse comes to worse, look, we're willing to take it. I mean, this is nowhere near what we're willing to take to remain a free country.

BLACKWELL: Igor Novikov, thank you.

Maj. John Spencer is a retired U.S. Army officer and co-author of the book Understanding Urban Warfare. Good to have you. So I've got two different voices here on hitting these energy facilities.

[15:10:04]

We heard from Igor Novikov there that said that this is a play to encourage negotiation that there is a strategy here. I had Gen. Hertling last hour that says there's no strategy from Russia. They're just - this is what they have left. They're running out of resources. They're running out of men on the ground. Where do you see the value for Russia of hitting these energy facilities?

MAJOR JOHN SPENCER, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Yes, Victor. I actually think that those of voices are rights. I used to teach military strategy at West Point. Putin is going to go down as the worst military strategist of the modern era. So this is clearly terrorism, right? He's trying to scare Ukrainians into peace negotiations or something like that. But it's literally the opposite, right?

And other guests have said this, all he did was galvanized Ukrainians, all he did was galvanize people like the U.S. to rush air defense systems and half of his missiles, although every one of those a hundred plus missiles were a war crime, so he should be held accountable for that. But all he did was galvanized the world around Ukraine, the Ukrainians themselves to fight harder.

BLACKWELL: The Ukrainians are asking for these advanced air defense systems, they want a shield whether or not they get that, that may force Russian troops back onto the ground, back at the territories, are they equipped, trained for urban warfare?

SPENCER: The Ukrainians?

BLACKWELL: The Russians.

SPENCER: Oh, absolutely not. And the Russians' military, I think some of this is also to bring attention away from the Russian military that was - that is broken. They're absolutely not trained. They're rushing 10s of thousands of draftees to the frontlines who get five to two weeks training if that - they're absolutely not trained and they're going to be severely hit by this weather that's coming.

BLACKWELL: Do you think that there is a possible air shield that can happen for Ukraine, if not the entire country for some of these population centers?

SPENCER: So I absolutely agree that it's not a shield that he's asking for. He's just asking for increased air defense capabilities, which are a wider range of everything from S-300s that he already has to newer American-made defense systems or individual air defense systems that will increase the security of - especially the cities, right, you can't put a shield over the entire hundreds of miles.

But you can protect the civilians with more - he shot down half of them, Victor. So clearly these systems work and if we can rush more than that, we'll have a huge help to take Russia's ability to create terrorism away.

BLACKWELL: All right. Maj. John Spencer.

SPENCER: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: And tonight, President Biden talks exclusively with Jake Tapper. Don't miss it at 9 pm Eastern on Jake's new primetime show CNN TONIGHT with Jake Tapper.

The city councilmember whose son was the target of racist commentary by the former city council president just spoke out after a crowd of protesters delayed the start of the Los Angeles City Council meeting. We've got details next.

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BLACKWELL: Just getting this into CNN, we're hearing from Los Angeles City Councilmember, Mike Bonin. Now, his son was the target of the racist remarks by his colleagues. Bonin addressed a crowd of protesters who delayed the start of today's regular city council meeting.

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BLACKWELL: CNN's Nick Watt is following this one for us. What is he saying?

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor, let's first get to why he is saying this. So what happened is some audio leaked of a meeting between three Latino Democratic city councilmembers and a labor leader. On that tape, the president of the city council is heard describing Bonin son who was apparently behaving badly at a parade, describing him as like a little monkey, saying that he needed a beat down, that she was prepared to give him that beat down.

And later, she was joking about Mike Bonin who is white treating his black son as an accessory, so that's the background. Now listen to what Mike Bonin had to say today.

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MIKE BONIN, LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCILMEMBER: These words, they cut and they stun. I know that I can never really know or comprehend or feel the weight of the daily relentless racism, anti-black racism that my son is going to face, but man I know the fire that you feel when someone tries to destroy Black Boy Joy. Man, it's a rage.

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WATT: Now, there were a lot of people in that council chamber today to listen to what Mike Bonin had to say, but Nury Martinez was not amongst them. She has resigned as president of the city council and is now - she says taking leave of absence. She was not there. Gil Cedillo and Kevin de Leon, the other two councilmembers, well, they left chambers before Mike Bonin started speaking.

[15:20:03]

A lot of anger there, as you can see, in those pictures. There were people wearing T-shirts saying 'I'm with the Blacks' that is in reference to another comment that Nury Martinez made about the DA here in Los Angeles. She said, "Eff that guy, he's with the blacks."

A lot of people also from the indigenous community, Oaxacan Mexicans, they were absolutely outraged at what Nury Martinez said about them. She called them ugly and called them funny little people. This is exposing great divisions, racial divisions here in Los Angeles. This story is going to roll on, Victor.

BLACKWELL: Nick Watt, thank you.

This morning, Baltimore prosecutors dropped all charges against Adnan Syed, the subject of the landmark podcast Serial. The judge last month vacated the conviction and freed Syed. He walked out of the courthouse. Cheers and applause from supporters. Syed spent more than two decades in prison for the 1999 killing of his ex-girlfriend.

The midterms are exactly four weeks away and two Republican senators are in Georgia today campaigning for Herschel Walker, despite reports that the Senate candidate asked a woman to get two abortions.

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BLACKWELL: Just moments ago, Republican senators Rick Scott and Tom Cotton rallied around Georgia Senate nominee Herschel Walker after reports that he asked a woman to terminate two pregnancies. With just four weeks until the midterm election, this move highlights just how critical this state's race is with a 50-50 split in the Senate. CNN's Eva McKend is live from that rally in Carrollton, Georgia. So what did they do? How did they make the case for Walker?

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER: Well, Victor, I actually just left the scrum where Walker got on the bus, didn't take any questions. I asked him if he had any proof to refute the allegations against him. Soon after these allegations emerged, he said he was going to file a lawsuit. That still hasn't happened yet. But he just blew right past us and went on the bus.

As for national Republicans today really served their purpose, they wanted to come into Georgia today and boost their candidate. Sen. Rick Scott, the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas really saying that they believe that this is a winning seat, that Georgia is conservative enough for Walker to pull off a victory and that they believe the voters here will tune out the noise and support Walker based on his position on public safety, the economy and a host of other local issues.

BLACKWELL: Eva McKend for us there in Carrollton, thank you.

Alyssa Farah Griffin is a former Trump White House Communications Director and a CNN political Commentator, Kirsten Powers is a CNN Senior Political Analyst and a USA Today columnist. Thank you both.

Alyssa, let me start with you. Cotton and Scott, do you think they're moving votes at all? What's the value of this visit today?

ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It's significant. Look, it's the chair of the NRSC showing that the party is fully behind Herschel Walker despite these allegations. But I would just remind Republican voters, my fellow Republicans, there were paths to getting the Senate majority that is not required winning this Georgia seat.

So if you're uncomfortable with the rank hypocrisy displayed by Herschel Walker, there are other races, there are other seats that can win where you don't have to kind of vote for a candidate that you're not comfortable with. Listen, the party is squarely behind him. I think it's a mistake. Part of the reason, by the way, that we have Herschel Walker is because the former President Donald Trump heavily played a hand in recruiting him for that seat as opposed to somebody who frankly would have had fewer vulnerabilities and fared better in a general election.

BLACKWELL: Kirsten, do you think this reporting about - from The Daily Beast about encouraging a woman to have two abortions loses any support for Herschel Walker that any - we've heard from some national Republican saying, I don't care if he aborted baby eagles, I want control of the Senate. But does he lose any support, do you think, because of that reporting?

KIRSTEN POWERS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I don't think so, because I think that Republican voters have shown that they are really not that different from these Republican leaders who are interested in power, right? They're interested in controlling the Senate and they're willing to overlook just about anything. We saw that with Donald Trump.

And so there is this deniability factor. He's doing exactly what Donald Trump sort of created the playbook on which is just to deny things, say they didn't happen even if it seems like it did happen. And even if - honestly, I think even if he was caught on video writing a check to Planned Parenthood and he said he didn't do it, the voters would say, well, he said he didn't do it.

That's what we've kind of come to is that people are just looking for anything that they can point to, to say, well, it's okay for me to support this person so that we can have control of the Senate and the ends justify the means.

BLACKWELL: This is a tight race in Georgia. Abortion, obviously, one of the issues at the forefront.

[15:29:59]

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