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Democrats Worry About GOP Win in Wisconsin Senate Race; How Democrats are Doing in Key Battleground States; New Tax Brackets Could Give U.S. Wallets a Break in 2023; Truss Government Struggling with Yet More Turmoil; Elnaz Rekabi Met with Iran's Sports Minister After Return; China Attempts to Silence Opposition to COVID Protocols. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired October 20, 2022 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster. If you're just joining us, let me bring you up to date with our top stories this hour.

According to a CNN exclusive report, sources say Donald Trump and his legal team are considering allowing federal agents to search Mar-a- Lago again under supervision. The move is an attempt to keep Trump from facing more legal troubles.

That comes as a federal judge says emails between Trump and his former attorney John Eastman must now be handed over to the January 6th committee as part of their investigation into Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 election. Much more on these stories in "EARLY START."

Now with midterm elections in the U.S. less than three weeks away, we're following a dramatic turn of events in the Wisconsin Senate race. Democrats were expecting to knock off unpopular Republican incumbent Senator Ron Johnson to seeing their party's nominee Mandela Barnes scrambling to catch up. CNN's Manu Raju reports from Milwaukee.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It wasn't too long ago that Democrats could hardly believe their luck, despite being saddled with controversy.

SEN. RON JOHNSON (R-WI): Guys, this is a complete non-story.

RAJU (voice-over): In unpopular in battleground Wisconsin, Ron Johnson decided to run for a third Senate term making him the most endangered GOP incumbent, but the terrain has shifted. And now Johnson has an edge against Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes.

RAJU: How's it so hard to beat him?

TOM NELSON, OUTAGAMIE COUNTY, WISCONSIN EXECUTIVE: People are just hitting their heads against the wall. How did we -- how do we let this happen? RAJU (voice-over): Johnson has benefited from a perfect storm first winning in the 2010 Tea Party wave and then during Donald Trump's 2016 stunner, and now buoyed by voter anger over inflation.

RAJU: What has happened in the last two months that has changed this race.

ANDY LODUHA, REPUBLICAN PARTY CHAIR, ONEIDA COUNTY, WISCONSIN: Well, I think inflation I mean, everybody's feeling in their pocketbook.

RAJU (voice-over): After Barnes won his party's nomination in August, a poll showed him up by seven points. Now the same pollster shows Johnson ahead of Barnes by six with likely voters. In the two months since the primary, Johnson and big GOP groups have outspent Democrats by millions on TV attacking Barnes on crime and immigration.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mandela Barnes doesn't have the judgment to keep our communities safe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mandela Barnes stands with defund the police.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mandela Barnes is a radical leftist.

RAJU (voice-over): Putting him on the defensive.

LT. GOV. MANDELA BARNES (D) WISCONSIN SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: Look, we knew the other side will make up lies about me to scare you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ron Johnson caught lying.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mandela, he's the real deal. Mandela doesn't want to defund the police.

RAJU (voice-over): Johnson supporters fear that is hardly enough.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, his campaign seems to be faltering.

RAJU: Are you concerned that those attacks may be working?

MARILYN NORDEN, WISCONSIN VOTER: They seem to be working? Yes, I'm very concerned.

RAJU (voice-over): One of Barnes's primary foes and current supporter blames national Democrats for an ineffective ad strategy after the primary.

NELSON: They have the national party come in and screw things up in the first month of the general election. In my book is unforgivable. The national party has totally failed us and so it's going to come down to Wisconsin Democrats.

RAJU (voice-over): Campaigning in the small towns of northern Wisconsin. Barnes told CNN he was not caught flat footed.

RAJU: Were you prepared for this onslaught of attacks?

BARNES: Well, the reality is we always expect that Ron Johnson to distort the truth and try to hide from his own record.

RAJU (voice-over): Barnes's ads have largely steered clear of some of Johnson's controversies, like his downplaying of the January 6 Capitol attack or sowing doubt on the COVID-19 vaccine. Instead accusing Johnson of enriching himself in office and for supporting a ban on abortion.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He wouldn't just ban abortions. Doctors could go to jail for it.

RAJU (voice-over): Barnes who would be the state's first black Senator slated to appear next week in Milwaukee with the nation's first black President Barack Obama, but no plans yet with the current president whose unpopularity remains a liability.

RAJU: Do you think Biden should run for reelection?

BARNES: We'll cross that bridge when we get there. We still got to get through November 8, 2022.

RAJU: Now Johnson has been behind closed doors this week with his campaign refusing to tell CNN and other media outlets exactly what he is doing, where he is campaigning. He did appear on Fox News asking for donations including an interview on Tuesday night.

Now on the Democratic side, they are still confident that they can emerge victorious. In part because that same Marquette poll that showed Barnes down by six points, showed this race in a dead heat. When they test a larger set of voters, testing registered voters rather than likely voters. That means that Democrats to be victorious need to get their voters out to the polls. Manu Raju, CNN, Milwaukee.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: How are Democrats doing in other battleground states? Well, Harry Enten crunched the numbers for CNN's Erin Burnett a little earlier on.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: I think we -- pretty much, most experts agree that the House is leaning Republicans. It's really the Senate where the ball game is at.

[04:35:03]

So, I think it's important to look at the Senate trend lines in four key swing states -- Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania. In three of those four states, what we see is still Democrat leads, but we also see in three of those four seats is that their momentum is with Republicans.

You can see that the Democratic margin in three of the four, Georgia being the one that is not the case. Not a big surprise, Herschel Walker being who he is. We have seen three or four point movements toward the Republican Party over the last month and a half. So, to me, it seems like even if Democrats and Republicans are sort of even the Senate, the momentum is on the Republican side.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Wall Street snapped this two day winning streak despite more strong corporate earnings. Proctor and Gamble beat estimates and United Airlines jumped 5 percent on strong quarterly results. But the Dow dropped 100 points or 1/3 of 1 percent on the day. The Nasdaq closed 92 points lower, nearly 1 percent. And the S&P 500 lost 25 points almost 3/4 of a percent.

Now whilst inflation is putting a strain on many Americans, relief may soon be coming from an unexpected source. And that's the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS announced changes to federal income tax brackets which could mean Uncle Sam might be taking less out of your paycheck starting next year. CNN's Max Egan explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Today inflation is so high that they have to make these sweeping changes. Let's start with the standard deduction, which is what most filers claim. That is going up by 7 percent. Some context, that is the most since the cost of living adjustments were introduced in 1985 under Ronald Reagan.

For individuals that means the standard deduction is going up to almost $14,000, that is a $900 increase. At the same time, we are seeing the rates, the income thresholds, that has also gone up by seven percent. For example, if you are a single filer, you made $90,000 in 2022, you're taxed at that 24 percent rate. If you still make $90,000 in 2023, you actually go down to the 22 percent rate. So, you're getting taxed at a smaller amount. Same story for joint filers.

Now a reminder, these changes do not take effect until 2023 so this won't help you on the tax returns you file this coming April. Still, this is a bit of a silver lining for inflation because it does mean less money going to Uncle Sam, more money staying in our pockets.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Well, the clock appears to be ticking on the tenure of British Prime Minister Liz Truss -- on this side of the water -- whose government has been engulfed in chaos on several fronts. A little while ago a member of her own Conservative Party told the BBC she has 12 hours to, quote, turn the ship around.

That's after her Home Secretary Suella Braverman abruptly quit on Wednesday over a minor infraction. But in her resignation letter there's a scathing rebuke of the Prime Minister. Braverman is the second high ranking official to exit the Truss inner circle since Friday. She's being replaced by Grant Shapps, who announced Everest to climb to remain in power.

Meanwhile, the opposition Labour Party is seizing on the antitrust momentum and its leader bluntly asked lawmakers, why is she still here?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIZ TRUSS, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Mr. Speaker, I have been very clear that I am -- Mr. Speaker, that I am sorry and that I have made mistakes.

Mr. Speaker, I am a fighter, not a quitter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: CNN's Scott Mclean following this live from 10 Downing Street. Absolute chaos in Parliament last night after that resignation, after a pretty good Prime Minister's questions. So, another eventful day ahead. And some MPs suggesting she won't last a day.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, how long she can last certainly is the question of the day. Perhaps it's been the question for the last few days. Frankly and yesterday, we thought that that Prime Minister's questions there would be the main event, the main test for Liz Truss. And then the drama just kept on coming.

First Suella Braverman, as you mentioned, it's not clear whether her resignation was by her own accord or whether she was asked to resign over this relatively minor infraction of sending an email -- a work- related email from her personal account. But on her way out she questioned the government's commitments to its own policies when it comes to things like immigration. And then she wrote this not so veiled, but pretty much not veiled at all swipe at Liz Truss.

Saying quote: The business of government relies upon people accepting responsibility for their mistakes. Pretending we haven't made mistakes , carried on as if everyone can see that we have made them, and hoping things will magically stop coming right is not serious politics. I have made a mistake. I accept responsibility. I resign.

[04:40:00]

As I mentioned, it didn't end there. You have the chaos in Parliament. Voting is country requires MPs actually go to separate lobbies physically in order to register their vote either for or against a piece of legislation. And yesterday it was opposition lawmakers who said that outside of the "no" lobby where Conservative MPs were voting against a piece of Labour legislation, there was chaos they said. They described shouting, they described bullying and in at least one case Conservative MPs being openly manhandled to get inside that lobby and register their vote.

And that is because the party had said that this was a confidence vote. Meaning any MPs who didn't vote with the government risked being booted out of the party. One conservative MP afterwards called it a disgrace. Something that Liz Truss could not surely come back from. But even today Liz Truss has her supporters, among them the transport secretary. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNE-MARIE TREVELYAN, U.K. TRANSPORT SECRETARY: Liz truss is our Prime Minister and she has the confidence of the cabinet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLEAN: So. there are now MPs from both the opposition Labour Party and in the Conservative Party. The transport secretary there included who are calling for an investigation into what happened. The British Press Association is also reporting, Max, that of the 33 Conservative MPs who didn't vote at all, they'll need to provide a good excuse or they risk disciplinary action from their own party.

FOSTER: OK, Scott, very busy day for you. Still ahead in Downing Street, thank you.

Still ahead, Iranian authorities meet with an female rock climber who competed in Seoul without a hijab. We'll have their reaction next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Iranian rock climber Elnaz Rekabi met with the country's sports minister on Wednesday after returning from a tournament in Seoul where she competed without her head scarf.

[04:45:00]

According to state media the minister expressed his support for Rekabi and encouraged her to continue her career.

CNN's Nada Bashir joins me now. It gets curiouser and curiouser.

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: It does, I mean, we have heard from the Iranian regime over the last few days pouring water over any reports that she might be facing repercussions in Iran over her not wearing a hijab while competing in South Korea.

FOSTER: Because she says it wasn't on purpose.

BASHIR: She said it was an accident, that she was called up to climb unexpectedly and that caused an issue with her getting her gear ready, ready to climb and wasn't able to wear her hijab. As she spoke actually with journalists from state media upon her arrival in Iran on Wednesday and she was asked about this. And she was also asked about the reports that we've seen in the media that she was held incommunicado for a time. This is what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELNAZ REKABI, IRANIAN ROCK CLIMBER (through translator): No, I am back to Iran in perfect health and peace of mind despite the overwhelming stress that I had. Thank God nothing happened.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): There were some news after 24 to 46 hours nobody knew what happened to you.

REKABI (through translator): No, nothing like that happened. Everything happened according to plan. We are back to Iran and even now everything is according to plan. (END VIDEOTAPE)

BASHIR: We've heard from the international Federation of sport climbing, it said it has received clear assurances that she wants suffer any consequences. That she'll be able to continue training and competing for Iran. But of course, there are still concerns that she might be under pressure, maybe speaking under duress from the Iranian regime. We've heard from human rights groups saying that she may be seen as sort of an example to other women in Iran. We've already seen posters circulating on social media of her image with the words women, life, freedom with that. That's the slogan that's been a rallying cry of these protests. And there are concerns now that she could still face repercussions in Iran.

FOSTER: OK, Nada, thank you. We'll continue to watch that story, of course.

Now the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou has been placed under lockdown meanwhile. The manufacturing hub is home to more than 12 million people now forced to say home as part of Beijing's strict zero-COVID policy. The unpopular measures are quickly becoming harder to enforce as the Chinese people fight back. CNN's Selina Wang has more on the effort to silence the opposition.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): He struggles to breathe and crawl. Sweating profusely, exhausted under the weight of his hazmat suits. He's wearing layers and layers of them. This is a demonstration from a Chinese citizen all the way in New York City's Times Square, a metaphor for the suffering zero-COVID policy many people feel in Xi Jinping's China. It's to mark the ongoing Communist Party Congress where Xi is expected to secure his unprecedented third term.

ZHISHENG WU, CHINESE ARTIST: There are so many repressive -- repressed emotions during these two or three years. I vent my emotion out.

WANG (voiceover): But in China, shows of defiance or swiftly censored. Just a week before Beijing, two big banners attacking Chinese supreme leader and its COVID policies were hung on a busy overpass. One of them reads, "say no to COVID tests, yes to food. No to lockdown, yes to freedom." The other banner reads, "remove dictator and national traitor Xi Jinping." People involved in the demonstration could be jailed, or even worse.

China's draconian zero-COVID policies have descended millions of lives into chaos. Fights with COVID enforcers, screams for freedom from locked in apartments. Protests for food and supplies. During the snap lockdown in an airport in southern China, security even held guns near travelers. Entire cities are still being locked down over a handful of COVID cases. This woman yelling out in frustration that she's been in isolation for six months already but the images of pain erased from Chinese internet.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's just a general inhumane policy where people are being first forced and hurting, and their dignity is being taken away.

WANG (voiceover): We are not revealing this resident's identity, because it fears of retribution for criticizing the government.

WANG: So, why is Xi Jinping sticking to zero-COVID?

STEVE TSANG, DIRECTOR, SOAS CHINA INSTITUTE: Because, Xi Jinping can never be seen to have made a mistake. Constantly we have the party propaganda machinery churning out narrative threat. In fact, the zero- COVID is protecting life in China.

WANG (voiceover): Beijing claims there would be a disastrous health care scenario, like the million plus COVID deaths in America if China didn't have its zero-COVID policy.

[04:50:00]

The pandemic is also Beijing's perfect chance to upgrade its surveillance technologies, including mandatory smartphone health apps that track the daily movements of virtually all 1.4 billion people.

Yet many in China have adapted to the new normal. With regular COVID tests and rolling lockdowns. But back in New York, this Chinese artist is doing what he can to remind the world that while they've moved on from COVID, millions in China are still suffering under the weight of lockdowns, and repression.

Selina Wang, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Now good news out of the pandemic. Economists from three universities in the U.S. say the country experienced a baby boom last year. Birth rates were more than 6 percent higher than pre-COVID levels largely due to some of the pandemic trends we've seen like more people working from home. One economists notes it's one of the rare times we've seen birth rates go up during a recession instead of down.

For the first time since the Miami Dolphins star quarterback suffered a concussion, he's speaking out about the injury and he'll return -- and when he'll return to competition as well. We'll have details on that after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:55:00]

FOSTER: The Miami Dolphins quarterback who suffered a concussion against the Cincinnati Bengals three weeks ago speaking out for the first time. Tua Tagovailoa says he doesn't remember what happened to him immediately after his head hit the turf.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TUA TAGOVAILOA, MIAMI DOLPHINS QUARTERBACK: I remember the entire night up to the point where I got tackled. But, yes, after I got tackled, I don't remember much from there. Getting carted off, I don't remember that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: That injury, his second in five days, pushed the NFL and players union to update the league's concussion protocol. Tagovailoa is expected to return to action on Sunday when the Dolphins take on the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The battle to compete in this year's World Series is in full swing. In the American League playoffs, the Houston Astros bested the New York Yankees 4-2 in their first game. They face off again tonight in the best of 7 series.

In the National League the San Diego Padres evened the series 1-1 against the Philadelphia Phillies. The Padres were down 4-0 in the second inning but rallied to finish 8-5. Game three is set for Friday night in Philadelphia.

Now Google is out with its list of the most searched for U.S. Halloween costumes in the U.S. This year it seems people are turning to the classics with a splash of pop culture. Right now, witch costumes top the trends list. Followed closely by Spiderman and characters from the hit show "Stranger Things." Coming in dead last is Dark Voyager From the Fortnight video game.

We bring you some breathtaking new images now captured by the James Webb space telescope. It just keeps giving, doesn't it. They revealed never before seen details in the iconic "pillars of creation," the towers of interstellar dust and gas are speckled with newly formed stars which inspired the areas name. It's part of the Eagle nebula which is about 6,500 light-years from Earth

Thank you for joining us here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster in London. "EARLY START" with Christine Romans is next.

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