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Police: Teen Suspect In Custody After Deadly N.C. Mass Shooting; GA Sen. Warnock, Herschel Walker Face Off In Crucial Debate Tonight; Musk: SpaceX Can No Longer Fund Ukraine's Starlink SAT System; Prosecutors Demand Probe Into Threat Against Parkland Juror; Health Officials Warn Of Flu Season Gaining Momentum. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired October 14, 2022 - 10:30   ET

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

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[10:32:11]

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, authorities identify the five victims shot dead in North Carolina Thursday by a teenager. Five people were killed Thursday after a long standoff in Raleigh including an off-duty police officer and a 16-year-old. Two others were injured, one of whom remains in critical condition. Authorities praise a community's strength in the wake of the deadly gun violence.

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CHIEF ESTELLA D. PATTERSON, RALEIGH POLICE: It is with overwhelming sadness that I address you today. My heart is heavy, because we don't have answers as to why this tragedy occurred. But what I can tell you is that the Raleigh Police Department and the Raleigh community is resilient and we stand strong and we will heal and we will be stronger as a result of what has occurred.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: Official said the crime scene extended over 2 miles. No motive or additional details were provided about the 15-year-old white male suspect.

Well, turning now to tonight's Georgia's Democratic, Senator Raphael Warnock will face his Republican challenger Herschel Walker in the first and potentially only debate of the campaign. A new poll shows Warnock with a small lead over the former football player, 52 percent support among likely voters compared to 45 percent for Walker. It is a crucial moment for both campaigns as the candidates tried to sway the small number of undecided voters in the state.

Joining me now to discuss are Patricia Murphy, Political Reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and Bill Nigut, Senior Executive Producer, GPB Media. Welcome both of you. So, Patricia, a lot at stake tonight and the one and only debate between these two. What will you be watching for? PATRICIA MURPHY, POLITICAL REPORTER, ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: So, first of all, I'll be watching just to see how Herschel Walker is performing. This is his first debate ever. He never debated in the GOP primary running up to this. He's been working with a debate coach. He's also been having fellow senators and policy experts fly into his office for policy time to really bone up on the issues.

It's an incredibly difficult time to come out of the gate and just start debating a fellow -- a senator right away. So we'll be seeing how he just clears that bar in terms of basic ability to get through this debate. I will also certainly be looking to see if at all and how Raphael Warnock goes into Herschel Walker's background. You know, he's made a point of saying Herschel Walker is not ready to be a senator. We're also going to see if he questions his credibility or brings up his past.

GOLODRYGA: And Bill, we know that Senator Warnock is an experienced, talented debater and it's interesting because it appears that the strategy for Herschel Walker, he, himself, has been setting the bar pretty low by saying that he's just a country boy, that he's not that smart. So is that a wise strategy in your part, given that he very well may feed that threshold tonight and impress people in ways that he's not set the standard for quite yet?

[10:35:07]

BILL NIGUT, SENIOR EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, GPB MEDIA: Yes. I think the fact that the Walker campaign and Walker himself, as you point out, have tried to lower expectations really does work, potentially, to their advantage. It's fascinating, isn't it? How often have you heard a candidate for the United States Senate say, I'm not that smart?

GOLODRYGA: Sure.

NIGUT: But Walker, by setting the expectations low, can, if he just survives this debate without making a major gaffe or getting something in terms of a policy that's being dealt with in, you know, in Congress wrong (ph), he can come out fairly unscathed.

GOLODRYGA: Patricia, is there any risk that Senator Warnock faces tonight given that he's been rather muted over these past few weeks as these allegations continue to unfold in Herschel Walker's personal life, really choosing to just focus on his views on abortion? And not the headlines in these allegations? If we do hear him address it now, well, it seem too late and perhaps even a little too canned (ph) at this point?

MURPHY: Well, I think he wants to really focus on his own record. He wants to focus on what he says he's done for Georgia. We know that Raphael Warnock is going to be talking about Georgia. Herschel Walker is going to be talking about Washington trying to tie Senator Warnock to Washington and Joe Biden, who has a 36 percent approval rating here in Georgia.

So, there are risks, though, for Raphael Warnock. Because of so much attention on Herschel Walker, people have not really been paying as much attention to Raphael Warnock. Herschel Walker is incredibly aggressive on the stump against Raphael Warnock, brings up Raphael Warnock's past divorce, brings up his past child custody battles with his ex-wife. So there's a lot in his background that Herschel Walker has talked about on the stump. Will he bring it up in this debate? This is his opportunity to do that as well.

GOLODRYGA: And Bill, if the ultimate goal is to grab the undecided voters that are left in this race, what do we know about how many there actually are?

NIGUT: According to a poll that AGC, Georgia Public Broadcasting and a number of other news organizations just released this week, there's about 6 percent of voters who are undecided in the Senate race. That's certainly enough to make a difference in this race, which most polls show is about a three-point race, although I know there's one that chose Warnock over 50 percent.

But there's also a libertarian candidate in this race. And it is very possible that neither Warnock nor Walker will get 50 percent plus one, which means this race would go to a runoff.

GOLODRYGA: Got a runoff. Yes. Wow. Well, it would be continuing and the interest in this race will continue as well. That's for sure. Must see television tonight.

Patricia Murphy, Bill Nigut, thank you. We appreciate your time.

NIGUT: Thanks.

GOLODRYGA: Well, in a CNN exclusive, Elon Musk says SpaceX can no longer pay for the Starlink satellite internet terminals used by Ukraine's military and he's asking the Pentagon to pick up the tab. The tweet that caused all of this, up next.

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[10:42:54]

GOLODRYGA: New this morning, documents obtained exclusively by CNN revealed that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has asked the Pentagon to begin funding Starlink satellites in Ukraine, with officials for the company saying costs have gotten too high and quickly approaching $100 million. Musk now wants the U.S. government to foot the bill for the services, which Ukraine fighters depend on in the battlefield.

CNN Senior National Security Correspondent Alex Marquardt has been following this for us.

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ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): In Ukraine's fight to push out Russian invaders, one of the most critical pieces of technology doesn't fire rockets or bullets. It's small, easy to use satellite internet terminals called Starlink, made by SpaceX, the rocket and satellite company founded by Elon Musk. According to SpaceX, there are around 20,000 Starlink terminals in Ukraine. And they've been vital for soldiers' communication, flying drones and artillery targeting.

SETH JONES, SENIOR ADVISER, INTERNATIONAL SECURITY PROGRAM, CSIS: The Starlink is the glue really between the forward deployed drone and the artillery that's conducting the strike against Russian positions.

MARQUARDT (voice-over): Starlink arrived in Ukraine as the war started, earning Musk global praise and thanks. CNN has now exclusively obtained documents showing not only that SpaceX is just one part of a large international effort getting Starlink to Ukraine's front lines. But now, seven months into the war, SpaceX is warning the Pentagon, it is facing the difficult choice of reducing or stopping service.

JONES: Why at this moment Starlink is raising this issue? It just -- it's a bit -- it's really bad timing.

MARQUARDT (voice-over): The company says it has spent almost $100 million and, quote, "We are not in a position to further donate terminals to Ukraine or fund the existing terminals for an indefinite period of time." SpaceX has now requested the Pentagon pick up much of the tab $124 million for the rest of 2022, a rate that would translate to close to $400 million for the next year.

DMITRI ALPEROVITCH, CHAIRMAN SILVERADO POLICY ACCELERATOR: SpaceX is not a charity of course, and they're losing a lot of money right now as a business, so I'm sure they're trying to recoup some of their costs.

[10:45:03]

MARQUARDT (voice-over): SpaceX's request came after Ukraine's Commanding General Valerii Zalushnyi wrote in July directly to Musk. The letter obtained exclusively by CNN. Starlink units provide exceptional utility, the general wrote. Then asked Musk for almost 8,000 More terminals. Instead, SpaceX said they told Ukraine to send a request to the Pentagon, adding, "We have now exceeded our original agreement with Ukraine."

Without Starlink, Ukraine says, it can't fight. Last week, reports emerged of widespread sudden Starlink outages on the front line as troops fought to take back territory.

ALPEROVITCH: They are puzzled about why that's going on. Is that something that's SpaceX is doing intentionally? Is that coming from Elon? No one is quite sure.

MARQUARDT (voice-over): The outages and news of the funding request to the Pentagon come as Musk support of Ukraine is also questioned after he proposed a peace deal, suggesting that Ukraine relinquished Crimea to Russia and hold U.N.-backed referenda for parts of eastern Ukraine.

He told a private audience that Ukraine doesn't want to talk about peace negotiations while he says, Russia would accept those terms. (END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUARDT: And Bianna, that proposed peace plan angered Ukrainians so much that a Ukrainian diplomat responded saying that Elon should just f-off. Now, when someone highlighted those comments by the diplomat today, as well as my reporting, Elon responded -- Elon Musk responded on Twitter saying, "We are just following his recommendation," i.e. the recommendation to leave Ukraine.

So confirmation there of our reporting. Elon Musk also tweeting that they're spending around $20 million a month on Starlink in Ukraine.

I should note, Bianna, however, I can't see those tweets anymore. Elon Musk has blocked me on Twitter. So this crusader of free speech on Twitter, the potential next owner of Twitter has now blocked me for reporting that he is not contesting himself. Bianna?

GOLODRYGA: Yes, I saw that you were blocked there on Twitter. Clearly your reporting has hit a nerve. Alex Marquardt, we appreciate your time and your great reporting as always.

MARQUARDT: Thanks.

GOLODRYGA: Well, no death penalty. That is what a Florida jury recommends in the case against Nikolas Cruz, who killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018. This morning, prosecutors are calling for an investigation after a juror in the trial said they felt threatened by another juror during deliberations. Now all of this comes after heartbroken family members listened as the jury recommended the shooters life be spared.

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LORI ALHADEFF, MOTHER OF ALYSSA ALHADEFF, VICTIM OF PARKLAND SHOOTING: I thought that deliberations actually happened very quickly. I thought that decision when it came yesterday morning, that it was going to be life in prison. I just don't understand how quickly they came to this decision.

They had time and they really should have gone through the evidence. It almost makes me feel like that there was somebody that already had this notion that they were going to have life in prison, that they were never going to give the death penalty.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: These poor families. The motion is the latest indication of behind-the-scenes tension among the jury. It's not clear yet whether the judge, in this case, will comply with the state's request.

And still ahead, in the San Diego school district, get this, nearly half of the 2,600 students were absent this week. The culprit? A flu outbreak. Why health officials are warning that the U.S. could be in for a very substantial flu season. That's up next.

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GOLODRYGA: Well, as flu season ramps up, there are signs the virus is spreading earlier than usual. Public health officials in San Diego are investigating after approximately 1,000 students at one high school were reported absent Wednesday with possible flu cases. Officials are also bracing for possible surges and other respiratory viruses like COVID-19 and RSV.

CNN's Jacqueline Howard joins me now with the details. So Jacqueline, do we know what may be behind the surge?

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Bianna, two factors here. Number one, we're giving the flu virus more opportunity to spread as we roll back COVID measures like masking and social distancing. Those measures also help with preventing flu spreads. So that's one factor.

And then number two, the past two flu seasons, Bianna, were very mild. And so, some think that as a community, we might have low immunity against the flu virus right now. I pulled these numbers on the past most recent flu seasons. Now these are their percentages of specimens taken from people who showed up at the doctor, sick with flu-like symptoms. This is the percentage of how many of those specimens actually did test positive for flu.

Now before COVID in 2019, you see here that percentage was 3.1 percent. It dropped to 0.2 percent in 2020, dropped to 0.1 percent in 2021. And now this month, it's back at 2.5 percent. And when you also look at pre-COVID flu levels in 2019, there were some school closures due to flu right now. We haven't heard of any school closures quite yet, but those numbers suggest we could be returning to pre-COVID levels.

[10:55:05]

And over in San Diego County where officials are investigating possible cases in some high schools, officials say this, quote, "We are coordinating with local school districts and are checking with other school campuses to try and figure out why so many students have been affected so suddenly. Unfortunately, we anticipated this would be a rough flu, influenza season, and alongside COVID-19, other respiratory viruses are also making a rapid comeback."

So, Bianna, we see here that officials in San Diego and really across the county are bracing for what could be a rough flu, COVID and common cold season as well. Bianna?

GOLODRYGA: Yes. Still surprising to see that 1,000 --

HOWARD: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: -- students call out sick. I'm taking my kids to get their shots or vaccines next week.

HOWARD: That's great.

GOLODRYGA: Jacqueline Howard, thank you so much.

And thank you all for watching us today. I'm Bianna Golodryga. At This Hour with Erica Hill starts after a quick break. Have a great weekend.

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