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Navy Trainee Death Investigation; January 6 Committee Set For Another Hearing; DOJ Files Supreme Court Response in Mar-a-Lago Case; Voters Motivated For Midterms; Ukraine Regains Ground. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired October 12, 2022 - 13:00   ET

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

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DWAYNE "THE ROCK" JOHNSON, ACTOR: Just really grounded and humbled by the interest on both sides, but the number one job and my number one title that I love right now is daddy.

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JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Thanks for your time today INSIDE POLITICS. We will see you for our special January 6 coverage tomorrow.

Ana Cabrera picks up our coverage right now.

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Hello, and thank you so much for joining us. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York.

Today, Ukraine regaining ground, as Russia's brutal assault from the sky intensifies. On the front lines, Ukrainian forces claim five villages in the key Kherson region have now been liberated. No response from Russia on this.

But it's what's happening in the air that has Ukraine on high alert, fighter jets today patrolling Kyiv after news of more Russian missile strikes at a market, suburbs near a nuclear plant, both among Putin's latest targets.

Also today, reports of arrests now being made after Putin's prized bridge to Crimea was severely damaged a few days ago.

Matthew Chance is with us now and has more on all of this.

Tell us about these arrests. What are you learning, Matthew?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Ana. That's right.

This is a new development that's come to us within the past few hours out of Russia, where the Russian Federal Security Service, the FSB, who are investigating this attack on the bridge linking the Russian mainland with Crimea, say they have made eight arrests of people they believe may be responsible and connected with the devastating explosion that effectively severed parts of that crucial strategic bridge between the Crimean Peninsula and the Russian mainland.

Five of those people arrested are said to be Russian nationals. The others are Ukrainians and an Armenian. But they haven't said how many of each one. The FSB also saying that they believe the explosives that caused the devastation were packed into roles of polyethylene film on the back of a truck that originally started the journey in the Ukrainian port city of Odessa.

They made their way through a very circuitous route, across the water to Bulgaria, then by truck through Bulgaria, Georgia, Armenia, and into Russia across that bridge, where they were detonated. The Ukrainians, for their part, it's the Ukrainian secret services who the Russians say carried out this and masterminded this attack.

The Ukrainians have rejected that. They have called this FSB investigation nonsense. And, at the same time, they have not acknowledged any kind of responsibility for this. But, clearly, it was a devastating blow for the Russians and a particular blow for Vladimir Putin, who personally opened this bridge in 2018, four years after the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula by Russia.

And, of course, it's set to cause enormous further logistical problems for the Russian military as well inside Crimea.

CABRERA: OK, Matthew Chance, thank you so much for your reporting live from Moscow for us.

So, as the world waits for Putin's next move, it's his continued threat of nuclear war that has President Biden doubling down on a chilling warning in an exclusive interview with CNN.

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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He in fact, cannot continue with impunity, to talk about the use of a tactical nuclear weapon, as if that's a rational thing to do.

The mistakes get made and the miscalculation could occur. No one can be sure what would happen, and it could end in Armageddon.

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CABRERA: But the president also stressed he still doesn't think Putin will actually resort to nukes, despite his losses and desperation.

CNN's Kaitlan Collins is at the White House with more on this.

Kaitlan, a clear and carefully worded message here from the president.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, he seems to be really clarifying what he was saying in that closed-door fund- raiser last week, when he first was talking about the idea of Armageddon here and saying that he believes basically the world is on the closest brink of nuclear war that it has been since the 1960s, when the Cuban Missile Crisis happened, really trying to clarify what he was saying there. And also talking about what he thinks about Putin overall, saying he does believe he is still a rational actor that, despite what you have heard from some other world leaders and intelligence experts and what they have speculated about Putin's mind-set here, but what President Biden said to Jake Tapper was that he does believe he is a rational actor who made a decision that was not rational.

By sending his troops into Ukraine, he says he believes he basically misjudged the situation and thought what he was going into was going to look a lot different than it does. Here's what he told Jake Tapper.

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BIDEN: I think he is a rational actor who's miscalculated significantly.

He thought he was going to be welcomed with open arms, that this was -- this has been the home of mother Russia in Kyiv, and, therefore, he was going to be welcomed.

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And I think he just totally miscalculated it.

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COLLINS: And, today, as President Biden was leaving the White House, following that interview he did yesterday, he said that he believes the latest Russian attacks on civilian targets are brutal, that they are beyond the pale.

He was also asked about a comment he made yesterday where he said he didn't -- doesn't see himself sitting down to meet with Putin about Ukraine overall. But he said, maybe if there is a situation, like at the G20 summit, with world leaders gathering in Bali in November, and it was to talk about Brittney Griner or one of those detained Americans, that is something he could see being feasible.

But, today, when he was asked if there's been any movement in that space, he said -- quote -- "not with Putin."

CABRERA: Kaitlan Collins, thank you very much live at the White House.

And this just in, news on the other American detained in Russia, Paul Whelan. In a statement just released to the media, Whelan's brother says Paul was able to call his parents today for only the second time in the last month. Paul Whelan says he was moved to a prison hospital in mid-September, but told his family it's not clear why he's there.

Whelan has been detained now for nearly four years. He is serving a 16-year sentence on espionage charges. The U.S. says he is wrongfully detained and has called his trial unfair.

If this midterm season feels especially intense, it's not an illusion. New polling backs that up. Nearly half of voters are more motivated than usual to cast a ballot this November, according to the latest Kaiser Family Foundation survey.

Clearly, many Americans think the stakes are very high. We also have some fresh CNN polling on where voters stand on President Biden's job performance and which issues they care about.

Let's bring in CNN's David Chalian to break it down for us.

David, how are our viewers and -- voters, I should say, feeling about President Biden right now? The top issue, the economy heading into the midterms. Where do things stand?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes, well, Biden heading out for this Western political swing right now does so with a little bit of a rebound in his step.

According to our brand-new CNN poll conducted by SSRS, Biden's overall approval rating now, Ana, is at 44 percent; 56 percent disapprove. This is a slight uptick from his 38 percent low in our early summer polling, so heading in the right direction, though still a warning sign for his party that he's not in positive territory, meaning more people approve than disapprove.

On the issues, coronavirus seems to be his best issue. But, of course, that issue is not top of mind for most voters anymore. Look down here, the economy, inflation, 36 percent approval on the economy, 32 percent on inflation. They are some of his worst issues that are tested, Ana, and yet they are issue number one for voters, these combination of the economy and inflation.

This too is a modest improvement from what we saw in the summer, when he was as low point, but still obviously even lower than his overall approval rating. And when we ask folks, what do you make of the current economic conditions in the United States, look at this. Somewhat poor, very poor, add that together here, that's 78 percent.

Nearly eight in 10 Americans are telling us they think the economy is either somewhat or very poor, Ana. That's not good news for the president or the incumbent party, the Democrats in Congress, that have the majorities right now.

CABRERA: Another issue we're tracking, of course, is the abortion issue following the role reversal by the Supreme Court. And there is some new polling today, I understand, showing how this is also a major motivator in this election cycle?

CHALIAN: Yes, you mentioned this Kaiser Family Foundation poll.

So 50 percent of folks in this poll say that this reversal, the Dobbs decision, overturning Roe, makes them more motivated to vote in November. And you see that has been steadily increasing over the year. When you look at this by party, it's clearly juicing Democrats' motivation; 69 percent of Democrats say so.

But look at Republicans here. It's not as huge motivator for them as you might expect; 49 percent of independents say it is a motivator. But this does not mean that the economy or election integrity or immigration are not also motivators. This is just looking at the issue of abortion rights and if that court reversal makes people more motivated.

Certainly, on the Democratic side, it does.

CABRERA: What about the gender breakdown? Because women obviously are a huge voting bloc. How motivated are female voters by the Roe reversal?

CHALIAN: You could call women the biggest voting bloc in America, I suppose; 53 percent of women say the Dobbs decision and the reversal of Roe makes them more motivated to vote in November. That compares to 46 percent of men.

But look at it. Black voters, 62 percent say they are more motivated because of the Dobbs decision. So, again, the Democrats see something here. They tend to have advantages with female voters, with black voters. That's a part of the Democratic base. And this issue is motivating Democrats.

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The big question is, is it motivating them enough to sort of buck historic trends and buck that sour economic mood we were showing you a bit earlier?

CABRERA: Right. Is this post-Roe effect enough to suggest November's forecast and what happens in the election won't be as simple as, it's the economy stupid.

CHALIAN: Right.

It's a complicated midterm picture. And we have just got a little less than four weeks to go before the votes are counted.

CABRERA: OK, David Chalian, we will check back as we get more information, getting closer and closer to the election itself.

Let's stick to the economy. Now for just a moment. The president is shrugging off the darker predictions of many economists. He's saying a recession is unlikely, but he also added this.

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TAPPER: Should the American people prepare for a recession?

BIDEN: No. Look, they've been saying this now how -- every six months, they say this. Every six months, they look down the next six months, and say what's going to happen.

It hadn't happened yet. It hadn't been -- there has -- there is no -- there's no guarantee that there's going to be a recession. I don't think there will be a recession. If it is, it'll be a very slight recession.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CABRERA: CNN's Richard Quest is joining us now.

OK, a very slight recession, what is that? What does that even mean?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR AT LARGE: It means that the economy contracts, but not by that much.

It will still feel pretty awful. And that's where I think the president is parsing his words a little bit, because whether or not you get a technical recession, which is two quarters of negative -- two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth...

CABRERA: Which we have had, right?

QUEST: We have had. So we have had a technical, but have -- we have had -- we have already had that.

But whether we get that again, which would be more serious, because, this time, the economy really is slowing down as a result of much higher interest rates, and rates are going higher still. So let's not fool ourselves on that one.

So -- but I think we can hang ourselves a bit much on this definition of a recession. The reality is, Americans are going to feel the effects of the slowdown.

CABRERA: And how would we feel it? That's the next question.

QUEST: You will feel it -- right, one of three or four ways.

Number one, people are going to lose jobs. Unemployment is going to rise. We're not going back to 10 percent that we had during the pandemic, but the labor market is hot. And interest rates are designed to cool it down. And that, therefore, means there will be an increase in unemployment.

Won't be huge, but it will be there. Secondly, inflation. We're going to find inflation takes longer to come down. So, all next year -- I mean, the prices are going to be higher for the foreseeable future. And, finally, interest rates are not going back to zero.

So those people who are looking at it and thinking, well, rates will go to 4.5 percent, but they will come back down 1 percent, no. Rates are going to go back to a neutral, which will be about 3 percent. Get used to this new environment.

CABRERA: OK, important information. Richard Quest, thank you.

Twenty-four hours from now, the January 6 Committee goes public with the latest in its investigation. The key focus? Hammering home that former President Trump is a clear and present danger to democracy. We will have more on the new details we're learning.

And it is called Hell Week for a reason. Five days of grueling training and little sleep, and Navy SEAL candidate Kyle Mullen had just completed it, only to die hours later. We just found out how he died.

Plus, what's 12 million years old and at the bottom of Lake Mead? The water crisis just led to a major discovery.

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CABRERA: Stay out of it. That's what the Justice Department is asking the Supreme Court to do in the fight over classified Mar-a-Lago documents.

Right now, those 100-plus highly sensitive documents recovered from Donald Trump's estate are in the DOJ's hands, but Trump's lawyers argue a special master should still review them, which could open the door to Trump's team seeing them.

The DOJ is urging the Supreme Court to reject that request.

CNN's Kara Scannell is here with more.

Where do things stand right now? How quickly could this dispute be resolved?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, so last night, the Department of Justice filed their response to this. They say that these documents aren't the former presidents, he has no right to them, and he won't be harmed from having these documents kept out of the review.

And that is those 100 documents that are marked as classified, Trump's team arguing that they want them to be included in review. If that happened, that would allow them to see them, which could inform their strategy and possibly their defense in how all of this is going to play out.

Now, it's before the Supreme Court. It would take five of the justices to say that they want to take this up for them to actually hear arguments on it. And also keep in mind the Department of Justice is also appealing the legality of the entire special master appointment in this instance, and their briefs on this expedited appeal are due on Friday.

CABRERA: And so could the Supreme Court's handling of some of the Trump election lawsuits in 2020 be any indicator of how they might handle this?

SCANNELL: Well, it's interesting, because Trump has now appointed a number of the justices to the bench. And the question has been -- it's a more conservative bench -- would they be more in his favor?

Now, what we did see from a number of those election claims, the justices did not take up those cases, and they also ruled against the former president when he was trying to block some documents getting turned over to the House committee investigating January 6. So it hasn't gone in his favor so far. Remains to be seen what will happen with this. A number of legal watchers say that this is a tough hill for the Trump side to climb. But I think we can guess that, no matter which way this goes or that other appeal I was talking about, it could come back to the Supreme Court at some point.

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CABRERA: Any idea, real quickly, on when they may rule one way or another?

SCANNELL: Well, I mean, they have other briefings. They could move pretty quickly on this.

But it's really up to them to dictate the course, but we could see something in the next couple of days.

CABRERA: OK, we will be watching. Thanks, Kara.

Tomorrow, the January 6 Select Committee will return with its last public hearing before the midterm elections. Now, sources tell CNN it's framed to be a closing argument of sorts to show why former President Trump is still a clear and present danger to the U.S. democracy, their words.

Since we last heard from the panel in July, they have interviewed several former Trump officials, like Mike Pompeo and Steve Mnuchin. And they got millions of Secret Service communications.

Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren is on the panel. She tells CNN the public could see some of that new material.

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REP. ZOE LOFGREN (D-CA): We're going to be going through really some of what we have already found, but augmenting with new material that we discovered through our work throughout this summer, what the president's intentions were, what he knew, what he did.

There's some new material that I found, as we got into it, pretty surprising.

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CABRERA: We're joined now by former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti.

So, Renato, any potential criminal case could hinge on Trump's intent. So is this a smart strategy by the committee to zoom in on that angle again?

RENATO MARIOTTI, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: I think so, Ana.

And I think they are going to try to, I think, establish that by inference, right? They don't have an interview with Trump. He -- obviously, he was not going to be willing to cooperate with this effort. So, you mentioned a moment ago all the communications that they have, for example, with the Secret Service.

I think that they're going to try to show through the words of others that they have interviewed, through those communications and analysis of those, Trump's intent through what prosecutors call inference, in other words, by trying to draw a connection between different pieces of evidence.

CABRERA: So, how important is it, then, for the committee to not only have the witness testimony about what Trump was doing or saying on that day, but actually present hard evidence, like video surveillance or these communications perhaps among Secret Service members?

MARIOTTI: I think that hard evidence is really important, Ana.

I really believe that, if I had to say, what is the missing piece, what are we really waiting to see from the January 6 Committee, I think we are waiting to see some sort of connection between the individuals who are close to Trump, not just Trump himself, but let's say people like Giuliani or others, and the folks who were storming the Capitol and organizing that effort, the Oath Keepers, who are on trial, and so forth, seeing the coordination, seeing the planning.

And then perhaps, let's say, communications with the Secret Service showing what the president was telling Secret Service members and others regarding what he wanted to do that day and how he wanted to be involved in that effort. I really think that the committee obviously set the bar very high with some of their prior appearances, but that's what I think we're all waiting to see in this final hearing.

CABRERA: Committee members are still undecided on sending a criminal referral to the Justice Department. Will that ultimately matter? Will it affect the DOJ's approach, do you think?

MARIOTTI: I don't think so.

I actually think, in this case, it may be a mistake. I mean, a criminal referral makes a lot of sense when the Justice Department is not aware of criminal activity. If one of their constituents is defrauded, and they want to put that into the radar screen at the Justice Department, that makes sense.

But, here, the Justice Department is very aware of all of this. They have brought a lot of cases relating to January 6. They said they're watching the hearings. I don't really see the point here, other than perhaps a political one.

CABRERA: OK, everybody, tune in this time tomorrow, when that hearing will be broadcast live, as we will take it.

Thank you so much, Renato Mariotti.

From fist bump to facing consequences. President Biden says the U.S. will take action after Saudi Arabia cut oil production. We have the latest on the growing tensions next.

And he died just hours after getting through Navy SEAL Hell Week. Now we have just found out his cause of death.

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CABRERA: He went through Hell Week and died. New details today about the death of 24-year-old Navy SEAL candidate Kyle Mullen.

Mullen died just hours after completing what is known as Hell Week back in February. Now, Hell Week is considered the pinnacle of training for Navy SEALs and consists of five days where trainees are constantly cold, hungry, sleep-deprived, and wet.

CNN's Barbara Starr joins us from the Pentagon.

Barbara, you're learning more about how Mullen died and changes now being implemented. What can you tell us?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, today, the Navy releasing a 300-page investigatory report about the death of this 24- year-old seaman, Kyle Mullen, who so much wanted to become a Navy SEAL and died trying back in February.

They found that he died technically of bacterial pneumonia, but the fundamental question is, what kind of medical care he was given by the Navy once he fell so grievously ill.

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