Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
U.K. Government in Chaos as Race for Next Prime Minister Begins; Americans Look to Reshape Congress on November 8; Trump Weighs Another FBI Search of Mar-a-Lago; Jury Finds Kevin Spacey Not Liable in Sexual Misconduct Trial. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired October 21, 2022 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:00]
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world. I'm max foster in London. Just ahead --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we need is for Liz Truss or whoever Conservative members choose to be the next leader, to give the British public the opportunity of voting for a fresh start.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're building a better America together, even in districts or Congress who voted against us, they're going to get the money.
TOM BRADY, AMERICAN FOOTBALL PLAYER: Earlier this week I made a statement about playing football in the military and it was a very poor choice of words.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: It's Friday October the 31st, 9 a.m. here in London where the race is on to replace Liz Truss as the British Prime Minister. She announced her resignation on her 45th day in office making her the shortest serving Prime Minister in British history. And believe it or not sources say her predecessor Boris Johnson who stepped down just a few months ago amid a crush of scandals may try to get his old job back.
Truss will stay on until Tory MPs successor which could be as soon as Monday. In the meantime, Britain's allies and neighbors say they are hoping for a smooth transition.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL MARTIN, IRISH PRIME MINISTER: I think what is important as Britain's nearest neighbor, we have significant economic relationship and many other relationships with the United Kingdom. I think stability is very important.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MACFARLANE: CNN's Scott McLean is live outside 10 Downing Street for us, let's start on the news of the morning, Scott, Boris Johnson potentially making a comeback. Scott McLean, CNN correspondent How does that work?
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Max, he like any British MP needs the support of 100 other MPs in order to get on the ballot, and potentially there may only be one person who actually reaches that threshold. Because the last time British MPs voted or the Conservative Party voted for their new leader nobody reached the threshold of 100 -- early in the first round of voting. It wasn't until the second round where Rishi Sunak reach that threshold and then not until several rounds later that Liz Truss and then later Penny Mordaunt joined with 100 MPs.
And so, over the weekend, it is very likely that we will see some horse trading behind the scenes. We will see a lot of people gauging whether they can even declare their support in the first place. And perhaps, the contenders won't actually declare themself in the race until they actually know for certainly can reach that threshold of 100 MPs of support.
All of this seems pretty shocking considering just how short a time Liz Truss was in office, and in the particular British tradition and showing newspapers on TV, I will do the same. And this one seems to say, "Gone In Just 44 days." Anna Stewart was talking about the lettuce, the life of the lettuce. This is another one comparing Liz Truss's time in office to the life of a head of lettuce. Again, a lot of talk about Boris Johnson potentially getting in the race. " He Couldn't Could He ... Will Bounce Back to Number 10." "Bojo: I'll be Back!"
But of course, there's plenty of people in this country and especially in the Labour Party who would like to see a general election now and that includes the Labour mayor of London who said this yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SADIQ KHAN, LONDON MAYOR: What we don't want is yet another internal Conservative leadership contest with another Conservative leader becoming the U.K. Prime Minister, more continually, austerity policies. What we need is for Liz Truss or whoever Conservative members choose to be the next leader to give the British public the opportunity of voting for a fresh start.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCLEAN: So, Max, if you consult the odds makers in this country, the odds on favorite right now is Rishi Sunak, but not too far behind is Boris Johnson if you can believe that. And it's also important to keep in mind that there is a parliamentary investigation into whether Boris Johnson lied to MPs over the "party gate" scandal that still hasn't even started yet.
[04:05:00] And so, potentially, we could have Boris Johnson back in office before that even starts, and of course depending on what that investigation actually finds, that may bring up a whole new round of scandal. But there are signs that Boris Johnson does have some level of support. The "Telegraph" newspaper for instance has been tracking the declarations of MPs. Rishi Sunak has 29 they say at this point, Boris Johnson 24 and Penny Mordaunt just 11 -- Max.
FOSTER: This exposes, doesn't it, the issue that we've had throughout this process, that the Conservative Party is split in two and you can define them now pretty much as Boris Johnson and one side and Rishi Sunak on the other. But why the public seems pretty disengaged in this whole process, dissolution in the chaos in British politics which is confusing and they have got their own issues to worry about right now.
MCLEAN: Yes, and I think that reflects poorly, frankly, on the entire system, not just necessarily the Conservative Party but the entire political establishment when you have cost of living crisis and all of the attention of the media and politicians is not on that cost of living crisis, but on who is actually going to occupy this house behind me, number 10 Downing Street.
Yesterday I was at the senior center in south London talking to people who were living off of their state pensions which are pretty meager, frankly, and many people there said that look, they used to be able to go to the grocery store and buy pretty much whatever they wanted within reason without thinking too much about what the final cost was going to be. Now they are having to account for every single pound, every single pence every month in order to make their budgets work.
And a lot of people there told me that, look, they seem just disillusioned with the political system more broadly there, that not just the Conservatives but even the Labour Party does not necessarily live in reality. Because very likely the MPs in office are not having to do the kind of monthly budgeting that they are having to do. They said that look, if they talk to pensioners, people who are drawing a state pension, more often than they might have more of an understanding of about how the actions of number 10 and Westminster really do directly impact the lives of people all across this country.
FOSTER: Scott Mclean on Downing Street, thank you very much.
Now the all-important U.S. midterm elections a little over two weeks away, early voting is already underway in some states. At stake is the balance of power in Congress which will likely determine what president Biden will be able to do on his legislative agenda.
CNN's latest polling found likely voters, evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. In other words, there's no obvious preference for one party over the other. We get more on some of the key races to watch now from CNN's Eva McKend
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER (voice over): Democratic Senate Nominee John Fetterman getting a boost. BIDEN: John, thank you very much for running.
MCKEND (voice-over): President Biden visiting battleground Pennsylvania, appearing alongside the state's lieutenant governor to tout the administration's signature infrastructure law.
BIDEN: This law is about more than rebuilding our infrastructures. It's about rebuilding the middle class, something John knows a lot about and talks a lot about.
MCKEND (voice-over): And to fundraise for the Democrat who is running in one of the most competitive races in the country against Republican Mehmet Oz.
With the clock ticking toward Election Day, some campaigns taking a sharper approach, like in Georgia.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For you, Herschel Walker wants to ban abortion. But for himself?
MCKEND (voice-over): After weeks of avoiding the abortion allegations dogging Republican Senator Candidate Herschel Walker's campaign, Senator Raphael Warnock releasing an ad Thursday characterizing the former football star as a hypocrite.
MCKEND: Why now this attack ad?
SEN. RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D-GA): I think that the women of this state deserve to know the choice between the two people in front of them and about my commitment to a woman's right to choose.
MCKEND (voice-over): Walker has denied the allegation and his campaign said in a statement the ad is a sign of desperation. A spokesperson telling CNN everything points to Herschel having the momentum on his side. Herschel is focused on the issues that Georgians care about, like the economy and crime.
Voting is already underway in the state. In the governor's race, Democratic Candidate Stacey Abrams cast her ballot in person.
STACEY ABRAMS, DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE FOR GEORGIA GOVERNOR: Today, I voted early and I am encouraging everyone to show up early and cast your vote.
MCKEND (voice-over): Many Americans voting early. Nearly 5 million ballots have been cast across 36 states so far. The most votes have been in Florida followed by Michigan and California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Well voter apathy is a perennial concern during all midterm elections, which often suffer from low turnout. Democrat Stacey Abrams who is running for governor in Georgia spoke about that with celebrity TV host Oprah Winfrey.
[04:10:02] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OPRAH WINFREY, TV HOST AND ENTREPRENEUR: There is this lethargy around voting. Is there a political hope possible these days?
ABRAMS: Absolutely, I think that lethargy is part of it. But is also distrust and despair.
WINFREY: Yes.
ABRAMS: And you spent so many years not seeing change. It's hard to believe anybody is telling you the truth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Winfrey campaigned for Abrams in the 2018 governor's race, which Abrams lost to Republican Brian Kemp.
U.S. student loan forgiveness is back on track. To begin as early as Sunday, after the Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett rejected a challenge to the Biden administration's debt relief program. Which will provide up to $20,000 to each eligible borrower but declined to send an appeal by a Wisconsin taxpayer group to the full Supreme Court.
The order is a victory for President Biden, but there are other legal challenges to the program making their way up to the high court.
Now former Trump advisor Steve Bannon due to be sentenced today, for his contempt of Congress conviction. And the Department of Justice is opposing a request from Bannon that he be allowed to hold off serving any sentence. The judge hands down until his appeal of the conviction plays out. Prosecutors have recommend the balance of six months in prison and say he should be held accountable like any other citizen found guilty of a federal crime.
We're learning that former Trump national security official Kash Patel, appeared for several hours before the grand jury in the Mar-a- Lago classified documents case. Patel a Trump loyalist who's publicly defended the former president. This comes as Mr. Trump waits for the January 6th committee's subpoena to drop. And considers inviting federal investigators back to Mar-a-Lago. CNN Sara Murray has those details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Weighed down by legal woes --
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: They broke into my house.
MURRAY (voice-over): Former President Donald Trump's lawyers now considering whether to allow federal investigators to return to Mar-a- Lago for his supervised search despite Trump's adversarial approach towards the Justice Department.
TRUMP: It's not a crime. And they should give me immediately back everything that they've taken from me because it's mine. It's mine.
MURRAY (voice-over): Sources say Trump's team is considering a more accommodating approach with investigators looking into the handling of sensitive government documents stored at Mar-a-Lago. Trump's team aiming to reduce his legal risk as DOJ insists it believes Trump has sensitive government documents in his possession that he must return.
Nothing though is finalized and plenty are skeptical of the idea, with one person close to Trump telling CNN, it's a risk to invite a DOJ lawyer to lunch, let alone back to Mar-a-Lago.
Trump still awaiting a subpoena from the House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): We all felt that our obligation is to seek his testimony, that the American people deserve to hear directly from him, that it has to be under oath.
MURRAY (voice-over): And in another blow to the former president, a judge ruling former Trump election attorney John Eastman must turn over more of his emails to the January 6th committee. The judge saying Trump likely committed a crime when he tried to upend the 2020 election.
TRUMP: We fight. We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore.
MURRAY (voice-over): The judge writing some of the Eastman emails are sufficiently related to and in furtherance of a conspiracy to defraud the United States.
In one particular set of emails, the judge noting Trump signed a court filing with numbers about alleged voter fraud in Georgia that Trump knew were false. The emails showed that President Trump knew that the specific numbers were wrong but continued to tout those numbers both in court and to the public, according to the judge.
Trump slamming the judge on social media today saying he shouldn't be making statements about me until he understands the facts, which he doesn't.
MURRAY: And we're still waiting, of course, on the January 6th committee to actually issue their subpoena to former president Trump but we are learning the case has two lawyers, Harmeet Dhillon and Jim Trusty to be the pointed people for when that subpoena actually arrives. Of course, the former president has been very critical of the committee's work. But this is an indication that he knows and his attorneys actually engage with the committee, engage in some negotiations and respond in some way to this subpoena.
Sara Murray, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Georgia prosecutors have a green light to question senior Republican Senator -- a senior Republican senator about his role in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election. On Thursday, a federal appeals court rejected a request from Sen. Lindsey Graham to stop his subpoena to testify before a grand jury in Atlanta. Prosecutors indicated that they want to grill the Senator about his phone calls with state officials whilst former president Trump and his allies were trying to reverse his defeat in the state.
[04:15:04]
Graham's attorneys aren't saying yet whether he'll take his case to the Supreme Court.
U.S. health workers are seen a rise in what's called RSV. The common cold virus that can make kids and some older adults very sick. Cases in children have skyrocketed in recent months and health officials say it is putting a strain on hospitals. Usually, the symptoms are mild but for some that they can be severe.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. NIPUNIE RAJAPAKSE, PEDIATRIC INFECTIOUS DISEASE, MAYO CLINIC: Where we really worry about it is young children, especially those under a year of age. RSV is the leading cause of hospitalization in this age group and the most common cause of pneumonia and bronchitis. If your child looks blue around their mouth or lips or the fingernails. That's a really serious sign and you should seek medical care right way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Well, symptoms include fever, coughing or wheezing, changes an appetite, fatigue and difficulty breathing. Parents can reduce the risk of illness by keeping toys clean, and making sure children wash their hands often.
Now the COVID vaccine could be added to the list of recommended immunizations -- emphasis on could. Because an advisory committee to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention both giving favor of adding the COVID vaccine to the immunization schedule for children and adults. They recommend that children six months and older, as well as adults, get the COVID vaccine plus boosters when they're eligible.
Now the recommendation is just that. It's a suggestion, not a requirement and states and local jurisdictions make their made their own rules about which vaccines are required for school attendance. 20 states have banned COVID shots from being required.
Still ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, the verdict is in for actor Kevin Spacey, we'll hear what jurors had to say in his U.S. trial for battery straight ahead.
Plus, authorities find the body of a missing Princeton University student. What they're saying about her mysterious disappearance and death.
And later, Vladimir Putin's day out. The Russian president meets with soldiers preparing for the war in Ukraine. Do stay with us. [04:20:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: A legal win for actor Kevin Spacey in one of the sexual misconduct lawsuits that derailed his career. A New York jury found the Oscar winner not liable for claims that he molested fellow actor Anthony Rapp nearly 40 years or go. Spacey's lawyers had this to say to the verdict.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENNIFER KELLER, ATTORNEY FOR KEVIN SPACEY: We're very grateful to the jury for seeing through these false allegations.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very pleased to think justice was done today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: CNN's Jean Casarez was there outside the courtroom in New York and breaks down the case for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kevin Spacey's attorneys say they were very grateful to this jury. Anthony Rapp was asking for $40 million in the civil case. The one count went to the jury of battery, the jury found Kevin Spacey not liable, therefore there are no monetary damages at all. The cases over.
And it truly hinged on this party that Anthony Rapp said that Kevin Spacey had in 1986, 35, 36 years ago right here in New York City. He said that he had gotten an invite from Kevin Spacey, that his Broadway show was just ending. He was 14 years old. But he wanted to go because he wanted to talk to producers and whoever might be there in the Broadway circles.
He said when he got there, that there were people there, and it was a very noisy so he went into the bedroom shut the door and actually watched television. And that's when he suddenly realized everybody was gone, Kevin Spacey came in very drunk to the bedroom, picked him up like a groom would pick up his bride, threw him on the bed, then placed his body -- Kevin Spacey's -- right on top of Anthony Rapp.
Well in the clothing arguments, the defense absolutely picked apart that party. They said number one, you said there was so many people at that party, nobody could be found that attended that party ever. You said you went into the bedroom and shut the door, well here's the floor plan of the apartment, it was a studio apartment there was no door at all.
And what the defense painted him to be was someone who was very jealous of Kevin Spacey. Someone that wanted the fame that Kevin Spacey kept achieving through the years after he won an Academy Award, he went to the "Advocate," Anthony Rapp did to try to get a story out of Kevin Spacey being gay. The "Advocate" would not do it. In the end, the jury believed Kevin Spacey's account, there was no party, there was no touching, and there was no civil case here at all.
Jean Casarez, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: The wife of a U.S. diplomat is pleaded guilty to causing the death of a British teenager by careless driving. Harry Dunn what struck and killed in a 2019 coalition. It happened when Anne Sacoolas drove on the wrong side of the road. Prosecutors say they will not pursue more serious charges against her, the careless driving charge could be punished by up to five years in prison. But Sacoolas remains in the U.S. and any sentence will likely be unenforceable anyway.
American chess master Hans Niemann is making his next move in an ongoing cheating scandal, fighting a 100 million dollar defamation lawsuit against world champion Magnus Carlsen, and others. Niemann claims that Carlsen along with online platform chess.com and another popular stream have egregiously defamed him and colluded to blacklist him. The lawsuit stems from a September match in which Carlsen accused Niemann of cheating.
Opening statements in a sexual assault trial against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein is set to begin on Monday. Nine men and three women have been chosen to serve as jurors in the case.
[04:25:00]
Weinstein who is 70 is charged with 11 counts including forceable rape and sexual battery involving five accusers. He's currently serving a 23 year sentence after being convicted of rape and criminal sexual acts of New York back in 2020. That investigation ultimately sparked the wider me-too movement.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has launched an in vaccination into the Jackson, Mississippi water crisis. It's in response to complaints filed by the civil rights group the NAACP and the residents of the city of Jackson. The EPA is looking into whether the Mississippi department of health and other government agencies discriminated against a majority black population in Jackson because of their race by not providing funds for water infrastructure and treatment programs. The water crisis left residents without clean drinking water for nearly two months this past summer.
Drought conditions have forced officials to take drastic action to raise water levels on the Mississippi River. They are releasing a consistent flow of water from two dams to shore up the dangerously low water levels. Below normal rainfall has caused the river to reach its lowest level in more than 120 years. Let's bring in CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam for more on the drought and a meteor shower expected in the coming hours -- Derek.
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, more on that in a second. But talking about the drought, it just continues to expand. And some of the areas hit hardest is not we want to see it expand and get larger, right. We have this area across the Midwest that has been hit particularly hard within the past week. Get this, over 60,000 square miles expansion in drought conditions. That's roughly the same size as the state of Georgia and you can see clearly where that is taking place -- Nebraska into Oklahoma. In fact, 49.7 percent of continental United States under drought conditions as we speak. That is 134 million Americans, that is the highest population impacted by drought conditions since 2016.
And look what it's doing to some of the river beds this is one of the tributaries of the Mississippi River Basin. This is the Platte River in Nebraska and you can see these overpasses which would normally be moving across the flowing water, of course the dry river beds.
Unfortunately, it is set to continue that shading of brown across the Midwest in the Plains showing the drought persisting through at least January. And we have our winter seasonal outlook that's been released yesterday by the Climate Prediction Center calling for below average rainfall for many of these locations. Typical of a La Nina -- yes, we've said La Nina -- this has to do with the cooling waters across the Pacific. This is the third season in a row, the third winter in a row. They're calling it a triple dip La Nina and it unfortunately coincides with dryer conditions across those areas hits hard by the recent expanding drought.
Now there's some good news. There is some temporary relief, but not enough to put a dent in the drought. So, we have some rain, but it won't be enough to quell the ongoing drought conditions there.
All right, changing subjects, quickly talking about the meteor shower. If you're in the northern hemisphere, it is dark outside. If you're in the United States, you happen to tune in right now, you need to step outside because you have an opportunity to see 10 to 20 meteors per hour if you look about 30 degrees above the horizon in a southerly direction, just outside of the Orion constellation. It is known as the Orion Meteor Shower, and it is peaking as we speak. You can see the clear skies on satellite imagery across much of the southeastern U.S., even the eastern seaboard away from the city lights -- Max.
FOSTER: OK, Derek, thank you very much indeed. Looking forward to that.
Now the large forest fires in the U.S. Pacific Northwest have given Seattle, Washington the world's worst air quality even worse than Beijing or Delhi would you believe. For the past two days, heavy fog combined with thick smoke from wildfires have obscured buildings and for some schools to cancel classes. The air quality in Seattle so bad right now it's considered unhealthy for all age groups.
You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from London, Liz Truss is out as British Prime Minister and how Tory lawmakers are thinking about a return to Boris Johnson. Stay tuned.
