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Fears Grow For Iranian Athlete; Russia Targets Ukraine's Power Grid; President Biden Touts Proposed Abortion Rights Law. Aired 1- 1:30p ET

Aired October 18, 2022 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:01]

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: The president of the United States trying to change the trajectory that, in the last several days, last week or so, has trended back toward the Republicans.

But we will watch it out. That's why we cover these elections. They're fascinating as we go state by state.

Appreciate your time today on INSIDE POLITICS throughout the breaking news. We will see you back here tomorrow.

Ana Cabrera picks up our coverage right now.

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Hello. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. Thanks for being with us.

Three weeks until the midterm elections, and President Biden is seizing on abortion rights to rally Democrats. But it is still the economy that tops voters' list of priorities by a long shot. And on that front, a new forecast today says a recession is coming and that it will look a lot like the one that turned the phrase, it's the economy, stupid, into political gospel.

Let's discuss all of this.

CNN's M.J. Lee is live at the White House, Abby Phillip is in Washington, and Matt Egan is here in New York.

M.J., we know the economy blows away all others as the top issue going into midterms. So why is this, abortion rights, the focus for the president today?

M.J. LEE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ana, I think this White House would certainly argue that this isn't the president focusing on abortion issues over the economy.

I think they would say that they have been very focused on both issues, but that, yes, today was the day when he wanted to take the opportunity to make a big political speech to talk about this issue that is certainly very divisive, but that they also know has been very politically salient.

It is no surprise, of course -- we have been reporting on this -- just how much the White House and Democrats in Washington have really seized on this issue ever since the Supreme Court earlier this year overturned Roe v. Wade.

And now that we are just three weeks out from the midterms, yes, this is an issue that they feel confident will hopefully help them galvanize and mobilize their base and their supporters.

But I do think a healthy dose of a reality check is really important here on one of the things that we heard the president make a promise on, and that was that he would try to codify Roe v. Wade in the new Congress.

And there are just so many caveats that go into this, right, for Democrats? One, they would need to keep the House. That is going to be a very challenging thing to do. They will need to expand their majority in the Senate. That's also an uphill battle.

And then they would need to change the filibuster rules and make sure that there is a majority in the Senate that actually supports and votes to codify Roe v. Wade. So all of these things are actually going to be pretty challenging in the big picture.

But, again, I think that this White House is cognizant that this can be an issue that can rally the base. But, at the same time, I think what you laid out about the economy being the top, number one issue for voters right now, the White House is certainly aware of that reality as well, Ana.

CABRERA: And, Abby, we did hear the president touch on a few other issues, climate. He hit the marijuana pardons that he -- recently just took place, and, of course, this promise on abortion rights.

What do you make of that late-game promise? Is it even realistic?

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is really a base turnout strategy at this point.

We are three weeks until the election. A lot of Americans already have the opportunity to vote. And President Biden's job right now is to bring up the level of enthusiasm among Democrats by talking about an issue that is particularly salient to Democratic-leaning voters.

And so that's about half of the strategy in a midterm cycle is to get your base as high as they possibly can be in terms of turnout, while also dealing on the persuasion side of things. And when it comes to the economy, I think that's where the persuasion piece is a little bit more salient. In order to get independent voters out to vote, they're going to have to address concerns that they have about the economy, and, frankly, about Biden's own leadership during this economic period of time, and what Democrats have done with power in Washington.

But it doesn't surprise me at all that, at this particular moment, what Biden is doing is talking to the true believers and telling them that, if they come out to vote, if they cast a ballot, that he will continue to fulfill the promises, frankly, that he has made to them when he ran in 2020 and also as president. CABRERA: Republicans clearly see the economy as an opening. Here's what we heard from them in some battleground debates last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE (R), OHIO SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: I really wished Tim Ryan had stood up to his party on this vote, because it might have made the inflation crisis we have been seeing over the last few months a lot better if he hadn't done what he always does, which is vote with Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden 100 percent of the time.

GOV. BRIAN KEMP (R-GA): Georgians should know that my desire is to continue to help them fight through 40-year high inflation and high gas prices and other things that our Georgia families are facing right now, quite honestly, because of bad policies in Washington, D.C., from President Biden and the Democrats that have complete control.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Abby, how could Democrats go toe to toe on this issue?

[13:05:04]

PHILLIP: Well, you have heard President Biden saying that his administration's policies are putting basically money back into people's pocketbooks.

On the campaign trail, what you're hearing Democrats, whether they're running for governor or for Senate or for the House, talking about are prescription drug prices. They're talking about transportation investments. They're talking about the Inflation Reduction Act, which, while it doesn't have a huge effect on inflation in the moment, down the road, some of those provisions could impact inflation in the long term.

But you're hearing them talk about those very discrete issues, not really talking about this sort of, like, macro picture of inflation being, as you heard the Republicans say, at 40-year highs.

But Republicans have an easier task here. They don't really have to present a plan to combat inflation. They can just say that Democrats' policies have created this problem. And voters will have to sort out whether that is a good enough contrast for them, the choice between what Democrats are saying and what Republicans -- Republicans are playing the blame game, not really presenting much in the way of actual policies in the future.

CABRERA: Matt, talk to us about this latest economic forecast. Some 1990-style recession could be coming?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Yes, that's right.

Fitch Ratings is out with this new report warning that the U.S. economy will likely slip into a recession this coming spring because of high inflation and because of the Federal Reserve's war on inflation, which means that they are slamming the brakes on the economy.

The silver lining, though, is that they are not projecting an economic meltdown. They're forecasting a mild recession, like the one that began in the summer of 1990. And there are some similarities between today and 1990. Just like then, the Fed is raising rates rapidly. There's a war-fueled oil shock and consumer confidence is low.

There's also some key differences, though. Unemployment is very low today, at -- tied for the lowest level since 1969. The U.S. economy is, of course, still recovering from COVID. And, if anything, the Federal Reserve is even more aggressive today, raising interest rates very rapidly.

And I think it's that last point, Ana, that has everyone's so nervous. We just don't know how this is going to play out when the Fed is so focused on inflation.

CABRERA: M.J., that 1990 recession is what spawned the political philosophy of it's the economy, stupid, which ultimately doomed George H.W. Bush to just a one-term presidency.

We're learning today more about what the Biden administration is doing to try to drive down prices and avoid that same fate. Fill us in.

LEE: Yes, for so much of this presidency, this White House has had to contend with ongoing warnings about the possibility of a recession. And for the most part, White House officials here, including the president, of course, has said we don't think that it's going to happen.

Last week, interestingly, we of course, saw the president open the door just a little bit to that possibility. He said that, even if there was a recession, it would only be a slight recession and that, again, he doesn't predict that that is going to happen.

Ana, I think that the White House right now is in a bit of a tricky position, because even just until a few weeks ago, we saw them feeling pretty confident about what kind of economic message they could give to the American people. They had a number of big legislative accomplishments. They were seeing gas prices consistently falling.

And now gas prices are no longer consistently falling. We have a number of economic reports that indicate that inflation remains such a stubborn problem for people across the country. And so we are seeing this White House really try to juggle and showcase some of their big accomplishments on the economic front, but also really acknowledged that this is an issue that they have to deal with, whether it's gas prices or just high prices overall.

And as my colleague Phil Mattingly reported today, this is a part of the reason why we are expecting to see the president announce another 14 million barrels of oil released from the Strategic Reserve. This is something that the White House and this administration has tapped before, and they are hoping that it could make the difference.

But as you know very well, these things take a lot of time. CABRERA: Yes, Matt, what kind of impact could that new release of oil

have? Can the U.S. also keep dipping into that reserve?

EGAN: Well, this should help. On the margins. We're actually already seeing an impact in the oil market, oil prices down sharply on this news about the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, trading back to levels where oil prices were before OPEC cut production.

But there's two points here. One, this is just the latest chunk of emergency sales that the president announced back in late March. They said they would release 180 million barrels of oil. They were undershooting that target a bit. This new reporting indicates that they plan to hit that target.

It's just going to take a little bit longer. But the other point is what you mentioned about the level of oil left in the SPR. President Biden has aggressively drained oil from this emergency reserve. It's actually at the lowest level since 1984. Energy experts that I talk to, they say that this strategy has been effective at keeping a lid on gas prices.

[13:10:19]

But the SPR is not a bottomless pit of oil. It is a rainy day fund. And every time you release oil from this reserve, it leaves you with a little bit less ammo for the next crisis.

CABRERA: We know Election Day is just a couple weeks away, Abby, but the voting has already begun.

Georgia saw record turnout, we have learned, in its first day of early voting yesterday. And that's a state where voting rights, of course, are a key issue. What does that voter turnout tell you?

PHILLIP: Look, Georgians know that they are still the center of the political universe.

This is something that we saw even back in 2020. There was a lot of attention being paid to the voting rules in Georgia, voting rights, whether people were being disenfranchised, whether they would face obstacles to voting. And every time that I spoke to activists down there, voters down in Georgia, people were incredibly determined to get out to vote, no matter what.

And I think that is what we are seeing here. People understand how important the gubernatorial race is, the Senate race especially is for the balance of power in Washington. They also probably understand that that is a race that might not end on Election Day. There is a run-off process in Georgia.

So I think Georgia voters, they have now been in the eye of the storm. This is their second cycle. And I think that they understand their role in the process, and they're showing up to vote.

I think it really says more about the voters than it does about anything as it pertains to the rules related to voting. It just shows that, when voters are ready to show up and vote, they will overcome whatever is in front of them in order to do that. And they will do it early too.

I think Americans, by and large, have shown they want to be able to vote early and on their time. And that's what's happening in Georgia.

CABRERA: Abby, Matt, M.J. thank you all for that discussion.

A possible act of defiance is now sparking fears for an Iranian athlete's safety. What she did and the statement that followed that has human rights groups very concerned.

Plus, any radioactive waste at school is probably bad, right? But one school in Missouri just discovered levels 22 times above what is considered normal.

And a gruesome murder mystery, four men found dismembered in Oklahoma. What police are saying about this.

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[13:16:56]

CABRERA: Russia once again targeting Ukraine's power grid as winter gets closer, knocking out critical infrastructure facilities all across the country.

Ukrainian government officials say more than 1,100 cities and towns are without power. A power facility in Kyiv was among the latest sites hit. At least three people were killed in that attack. The mayor is now urging people to conserve electricity and water.

And the president's office is warning of blackouts. President Zelenskyy says Russia has destroyed 30 percent of the country's power stations just in the last eight days.

CNN's Nic Robertson is in Kyiv.

And, Nic, with winter soon arriving there in Ukraine, this seems a deliberate strategy by Russia to make people just as miserable as possible.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, it really feels like Russia is mounting a war of attrition Ukraine's ability to make electricity.

We often think in terms of military wars that it's a war of attrition at the front lines. As men -- as many men and soldiers and service men and women as can be thrown at the fight, they will slug it out in the battlefield. Well, Putin's losing them.

So he is turning this war of attrition to the electricity supply, as you say, at a critical time, just coming up to winter. And he is using different tactics. He's using these Iranian-made drones. Russian says they're not Iranian-made, but there's -- Ukraine certainly believes they are. The United States certainly believes there are, these Ukrainian-made -- Iranian-made drones to target cities around the country.

Kyiv yesterday, 28 drones, 24 of them shot down. But, today, Putin mixed it up over Kyiv. He used missiles to hit the power-producing facilities here. So you have parts of the city here tonight without electricity, without water. That's replicated, as you were saying, big numbers across the country.

The power -- the guys who sort of repair and fix the power grid reckon that the damage that's been caused, most cases, they can repair it within about 48 hours. But Russia knows really well how the power- generating facilities here work. They're Soviet-made. They're cut-and- paste, the same system, the same factory layouts as they have in mainland Russia here in Ukraine.

So Russia knows just how to target them, so absolutely a war of attrition, but some help may be at hand. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has just announced in the last few hours that NATO is going to send hundreds, hundreds of drone jammers to Ukraine in the next couple of days, and that could give some respite to some cities.

But it seems that Putin is set on this course of targeting the power.

CABRERA: Yes, and what is important to people just to be able to go on living in Ukraine.

The death toll, I'm hearing, has gone up following yesterday's fighter jet crash in Southern Russia. What are you learning about this today, Nic?

ROBERTSON: Yes, it was on a training mission. Apparently, an engine caught on fire. It slammed into a building.

[13:20:00]

You could hear in the video a lot of ammunition that was on board the plane, which makes you wonder how much of a training mission it was on. And it was Russia that said that the engine caught on fire.

But, anyway, it hit the building. And now another person has died as a result of that crash. Among those casualties, the 14 dead now, some of them are children. Russia says it's going to investigate this. But,, for those people who were living in Russia relatively close to the border with Ukraine, this is an overspill effect of the war, that that fighter jet was practicing, as they say, in that area, and the result, a crash, devastatingly killing so many people.

For the Russians living there, it clearly brought home just how close the war actually is to them.

CABRERA: Nic Robertson in Ukraine, thank you for that report.

Staying with Ukraine, Elon Musk says his SpaceX company is now dropping its request for the Pentagon to pick up the tab for the Starlink Internet service there in Ukraine. What is extra interesting here, two sources tell CNN the Pentagon had already agreed to the request. Starlink has provided critical Internet access for thousands of

Ukrainians during this war. Musk initially said his company was losing too much money to keep that service going.

WNBA star Brittney Griner is acknowledging her supporters back home as she spends her 32nd birthday in a Russian prison. In a statement, Griner says: "Thank you everyone for fighting so hard to get me home. All the love and support are definitely helping me."

Her family and friends also using this moment to step up the campaign to free her, and they released this video. Griner's wife, Cherelle, also making a fresh appeal and saying she has felt every minute of the grueling seven months without Brittney. Griner has a hearing next week to appeal the nine-year prison sentence she received after pleading guilty to drug charges.

Fears are growing over the fate of an Iranian climber after she competed at an event in South Korea without wearing a hijab. Right now, Elnaz Rekabi is reportedly on a flight back to Iran. Before she left, she said she was unexpectedly called on to compete, and she had problems with her head covering.

Now, some originally saw her appearance here with that headband and the ponytail as a symbol of solidarity with the women's rights protests happening across her country, Iran.

CNN's Jomana Karadsheh is following the story and joins us from Istanbul.

Jomana, Rekabi is on her way back to Iran now, where there are claims she could be arrested?

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Ana, there's a lot of concern for the safety of Elnaz Rekabi tonight.

As you mentioned, we saw this video come out on Sunday, when she was taking part in this international competition in Seoul, a video that showed her without her headscarf on the climbing wall with a headband on, her hair up in a ponytail.

Now, of course, it's mandatory for all Iranian female athletes to wear the headscarf when they're competing outside Iran. And a lot of people took this to mean that she was taking part in the protest back in the country, because we're not only seeing women leading protests, taking part in these demonstrations, Ana.

What we're seeing is a lot of women with these individual acts of defiance in Iran, walking on the streets without their headscarves, standing up to the morality police. So a lot of people thought that that's what she was doing. And then a lot of reports started circulating that she might be in trouble.

IranWire, that's a new site based outside of Iran that is very critical of the Iranian regime. They allege, according to their sources, that she was going to be transferred to prison as soon as she arrives in Iran. We can't confirm this information. The Iranian Embassy in Seoul put out a statement on their Twitter

account, basically denying this, saying that she was on her way back to Iran with the rest of her teammates. And they say -- quote -- "They strongly deny all fake, false news and disinformation."

We also saw this Instagram Story posted on Elnaz Rekabi's account. We don't know the circumstances under which that was posted. But, in it, she says that she was unexpectedly called to climb the wall. And she says: "I inadvertently created a problem with my head covering."

And she apologized for the concern that she created. And she said that her return back to Iran was part of a predetermined schedule. This is doing very little to reassure people who are very concerned about her safety.

And I can tell you, Ana, all eyes right now are on Tehran, where she's expected to land in the coming hours to see what happens after she gets back home.

CABRERA: We will be watching.

Jomana Karadsheh, thank you very much.

A scary discovery at a Missouri elementary school, radioactive material at -- quote -- "unacceptable levels" where kindergartners played. Could that be linked to deaths in that area?

[13:25:10]

And it saves money, but could cost lives. A new study finds one in five adults with diabetes are rationing their insulin.

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