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Biden To Stump For Dems In Florida Days Before Election; Interview With Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) About Latest Polling Ahead Of The Midterms And His New Book; Documents Seized At Mar-a-Lago Had Secrets On China, Iran; New York Officials Announce Plans To Address Subway Crime; Bodycam Video Captures Arrests For Alleged Voter Fraud In Florida; Online Threats Of Political Violence Ahead Of Midterms. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired October 23, 2022 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:39]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington. It's the final days before the midterm elections, today is down to 16 if you are counting. And President Joe Biden is planning a rare stop to stump for Democrats in Florida. The president has kept a relatively low profile on the campaign trail this season as his party fights to win a few crucial races in several swing states.

A prominent senator was on CNN earlier this morning warning that Democrats need a messaging shift.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): Is the abortion issue important? Yes. But we have also got to focus on the struggles of working people to put food on their table. I am worried about the level of voter turnout among young people and working people who will be voting Democratic. And I think, again, what Democrats have got to do is contrast their economic plan with the Republicans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And CNN's Joe Johns joins me now from Delaware where the president is spending his weekend.

Joe, you've covered these stretches many times before, we are in the final stretch before these midterms. What are the president's campaign plans look like?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, he's going this Friday back to Philadelphia again and we also know that from something that came out just last night that the president is heading down to South Florida one week from election day, Jim, November 1st, to participate in what we believe to be a rally for the Democratic National Committee.

They had already reported that the president was going to attend a private reception for Charlie Crist, the Democratic candidate for governor in Florida, on that same day. So this is kind of what we've been seeing from the president. A lot of private receptions, not so many big rallies with Democratic candidates running for office and the reasons for that pretty obvious, the candidates and their campaigns are looking at the situation, and they're kind of doing a cost benefit analysis, whether it's a good idea to appear with the president given the fact that he's got the low approval ratings, the high inflation, the concerns about recessions and so on.

The White House chief of staff appeared on Jake Tapper's primetime show last week and essentially was asked why the president isn't going to so many big rallies, and what he pointed out is this isn't the only president who's had trouble with the midterm elections. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RON KLAIN, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Both President Obama -- I was here, I'll share responsibility for it -- and President Trump got walloped in the midterms. So I don't think it should surprise anyone that we're not using the strategy that failed in 2010 and the strategy that failed in 2018. Instead what you're seeing is the president is traveling the country with Democrat, elected officials with Democratic candidates, and he is talking about the issues that really impact people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: And that is what we've been seeing, a lot of issues-based appearances, the president's infrastructure program, the president was here in Delaware talking about his loan forgiveness program for college students just on Friday, and that's kind of what you do, Jim, when you are facing headwinds in the midterms.

ACOSTA: All right. Joe Johns, thank you very much.

I'm joined now by Democratic Senator Sheldon White House of Rhode Island. He is the author of a new book called "The Scheme: How the Right Wing Used Dark Money to Capture the Supreme Court." A very important topic.

And Senator, thanks very much for your time. I do want to talk about the book in just a moment but first let me just -- to dovetail off of what Joe Johns was talking about a few moments ago, you know, Democrats they had this advantage in the Senate. It is so narrow, as you know, you work there, and Republicans need just a net gain of one seat to flip the chamber and you have all these Trump-friendly candidates like Herschel Walker in Georgia, Ron Johnson in Wisconsin, Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania, who are polling better in these final days, this final stretch, despite some baggage weighing down their campaigns.

Did you expect this and how worried are you?

SEN. SHELDON WHITEHOUSE (D-RI): Some baggage, my god, they've got a whole baggage train. But with overcoming that I think, Jim, is that, as NPR just reported, the Republicans are about to hit $1 billion in dark money spending more their candidates just in the Senate. Just in the Senate. So when you have that kind of an advantage, when close to 90 percent of their spending is from these big anonymous special interests, you're going to have a very powerful footprint in the media.

And I think that dark money pressure in literally a billion dollars is making a big difference. As the article said, Democrats will be swamping them on the airwaves if it weren't for this billionaire, big corporation, dark money tsunami that is washing through.

ACOSTA: Well, and it's true, our campaign finance system it's a wild west and we're going to talk about that, but I do want to ask you there is this new NBC poll that finds roughly 80 percent of Democrats and Republicans believe the political opposition poses a threat that if not stopped will destroy America as we know it.

And take a look at this, Senator. Armed individuals, we were showing this in our last hour, we want to show it to you and get your response to it. Armed individuals in tactical gear standing outside of a ballot drop box in Mesa, Arizona. The Justice Department has already received some several complaints of voter intimidation, but when you see armed individuals outside of ballot boxes looking sinister like what we're seeing in these images, how dangerous of a time are we in right now? And how is it that we've not been able to prevent this from developing and continuing?

WHITEHOUSE: That stuff has to stop and I think, you know, other people may disagree, but I see the rationale for that kind of rage and that kind of anger as being, first, a Congress that doesn't listen to people because it is completely dominated by big special interests and this huge dark money political apparatus, and second, that apparatus feeds a narrative that cranks people up and tries to get them as agitated as possible so that it can put them to work and gain political advantage from people's angers and resentments.

And I think if we could dial back some of the improper funding in our politics a lot of this pressure would come off and people would calm down a lot more and we'd look a little bit more like we used to before we unleashed unlimited dark money into elections.

ACOSTA: But I guess my question is, when you look at these images, I have to wonder whether, Senator, you are concerned that we're just going to see a lot of this, that the American people should prepare themselves, that they may see this perhaps in a community near them and what has been unleashed by January 6th is just going to stay with us and we're going to have to deal with this sort of thing.

WHITEHOUSE: You know, there is a long and unfortunate history of propaganda being used to create popular agitation and ultimately violence through blame, through resentment, through a whole lot of propaganda techniques. And I'm afraid that is what is happening in our country. I think that behind a lot of this violence, a lot of this anger, a lot of this resentment, a lot of this dissatisfaction is the fact that we're operating in a country that for the first time in anybody's lifetime is really driven by people who are pulling strings behind the scenes, writing checks for $50 million, $60 million, $70 million, while hiding who they are.

That's not democracy. People can see it. They're getting increasingly fed up and I think we've got to focus on that problem.

ACOSTA: And let's talk about what happened to the Supreme Court and the overturning of Roe versus Wade. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, she's pushing back on criticism that Democrats have focused too much on abortion leading up to the midterms. Here is what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): Nobody said we're doing abortion rather than the economy. But it's about both. And I can tell you that that issue is very, very provocative and encouraging people to vote across the country having just been there, not sitting in Washington, but while going around the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: In our recent CNN Poll of Polls found that in the most competitive congressional districts the economy was the top issue followed by inflation, voting, guns, immigration and then abortion. Are you surprised by that given what has taken place at the United States Supreme Court?

WHITEHOUSE: Well, I think the abortion decision of the Supreme Court really galvanized women across the country, you saw that in Kansas and in other places as well, but it is one very flagrant decision in a pattern of decisions that have been in favor of polluters and against regulators, that have been against the minority voting, that have been in favor of unlimited and dark money intruding into our politics, protecting gerrymanderers.

We've seen this pattern of Supreme Court decisions literally by the dozens and it's directly related to who has been put on the Supreme Court.

[16:10:05]

It is a partisan set of decisions and it's driven by the donors who helped put these justices on the court. It's as simple as that.

ACOSTA: And Senator, let's get to your book about the role that dark money plays in controlling the Supreme Court. You've been talking about dark money and its influence on a variety of subjects but the Supreme Court, I mean, that's kind of -- that's been sort of the whole ball game for the far right for generation. I mean, since -- basically since I've been alive, but it's -- but the issue of dark money has really sort of spiraled out of control in this country. What did you uncover?

WHITEHOUSE: Well, there's an enormous amount of money that is behind this. There's current calculations that it's more than half a billion dollars that was spent on the effort to stop Judge Garland from getting on the court and then to put Judge Gorsuch and then Judge Kavanaugh and then Judge Barrett on to the court as justices.

You can see the outlines of it in the way the "Federalist Society" became the forum for these big spenders to pick -- literally pick Supreme Court justices, and right down the hall, same building next to them, is the Judicial Crisis Network which was getting $15 million, $17 million checks to pay for the advertising campaigns for these justices. And then you see a whole array of phony front groups come in also funded anonymously to tell the justices what to do as what are called amicus curiae, friends of the court, who just come in to file a brief but aren't proper parties.

And that whole array of influence aligns perfectly with the outcomes that we've seen at the court. Again, multiple dozens of decisions that perfectly align with big Republican donor interests.

ACOSTA: And you connect some of this dark money and these dark money groups to the January 6th insurrection, specifically the Rule of Law Defense Fund which started to run war games in September of 2020, is that right, to be ready in case Trump lost the election? Can you tell us about that?

WHITEHOUSE: And of all things that is the political arm of the Republican Attorneys General Association. Talk about an irony that attorneys general who are supposed to represent and defend the law had their political arm using dark money, probably mostly fossil fuel dark money, pumping up the January 6th rally and doing the preparation for whatever was to ensue.

ACOSTA: But how does that get fixed? If the Supreme Court essentially unleashed a lot of this dark money influence on our politics and the Supreme Court is dominated 6-3 by pretty hard right conservative majority, how does it get fixed?

WHITEHOUSE: Well, they left a big opening which was in the Citizens United decision they actually agreed 8-1 that dark money was corrupting and they wrote their decision in such a way that they presumed that there would be no dark money, that all this big spending would be transparent and of course it hasn't worked out that way. But they left a big legal opening for Congress to require proper adequate disclosure so that American citizens can know who is behind the masks and the megaphones.

We try to do that, the Republicans blocked us from doing it. The last time we did it, it was every single Democrat voting for it. Every single Republican voting to support this dark money apparatus. And if you go back to where we began and you see the billion dollars that came in to support Republican Senate candidates, you can see that this is a vicious cycle.

ACOSTA: All right. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a very important topic, it's crucial to our democracy. Thanks so much for your time, we appreciate it.

Again, he is the author of the book "The Scheme: How the Right Wing Used Dark Money to Capture the Supreme Court." Be sure to check that out.

And this just into CNN in the last several minutes author Salman Rushdie has lost sight in one eye and the use of one hand after he was stabbed -- remember this -- after he was stabbed in a violent attack two months ago. That's according to his agent who says the nerves to Rushdie's hands were severed. The 75-year-old Rushdie had three serious wounds to his neck and another 15 injuries to his chest and torso. His agent declined to say whether Rushdie is still hospitalized. A New Jersey resident has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and assault in that attack.

Coming up next, some of the classified documents the FBI recovered from Mar-a-Lago included highly sensitive intelligence regarding Iran and China. Former CIA director and secretary of defense Leon Panetta, there he is, always a lively discussion, always an important discussion when he comes on, we have him next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:19:15]

ACOSTA: More disturbing details are coming out about the documents the FBI recovered from Mar-a-Lago. The "Washington Post" is reporting that some of the classified documents included highly sensitive intelligence regarding Iran and China. And at least one document seized described Iran's missile program.

With me now is former Secretary of Defense, former CIA director, former White House chief of staff Leon Panetta.

Secretary Panetta, I can imagine you being back in the White House or at the CIA or at the Pentagon, and something like this occurring, and your hair literally catching fire. I mean, given your background in all of those areas, how damaging could this be to national security and just how frustrated would you be if you were in the situation learning all of this?

LEON PANETTA, DEFENSE SECRETARY UNDER PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, it's extremely concerning to have that kind of classified information being treated the way it is, and I'll tell you why, Jim, because lives are at stake.

[16:20:14]

It's that simple. This information doesn't fall from the sky. It takes spies who are well-located in key positions. It takes very sensitive operations to be able to discover this kind of information and if you're careless with the information, the danger is that it's going to jeopardize the lives of those who are seeking that kind of intelligence. So this is -- this is incredibly reckless to allow classified material like that to be treated the way the former president treated it.

ACOSTA: I mean, what -- I guess what is the solution to all of this, Secretary Panetta? I mean, at the end of the day do you think Trump has to be prosecuted for this?

PANETTA: Well, there is no question that he has violated security laws and the Espionage Act, and he should be held accountable. You know, people are held accountable. Snowden, who revealed classified information, is hiding in Russia because if he came to the United States he would be held accountable for revealing classified information. So the only way to basically secure classified information is to enforce the laws that are in place that require that you handle classified documents in a specific process and procedure.

I mean, if you are in the White House, when I was in the White House, other presidents that I worked with, there were strict procedures about handling classified information. You had to basically log those classified documents in and you had to make sure that even if the president had access to those documents that they were returned. None of that seems to have taken place in the Trump administration and for that reason security laws have without question been violated.

ACOSTA: And let's talk about the midterms and how that might affect national security and what's happening on the world stage, what's happening in Ukraine right now. I mean, here is a reason why the U.S., its allies around the world, why they're going to be watching what takes place in these midterm elections.

Here is what's at stake according to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. This is what he told "Punchbowl News." "I think people are going to be sitting in a recession and they're not going to write a blank check to Ukraine. They just won't do it. It's not a free blank check. And then there are the things the Biden administration is not doing domestically, not doing the border and people begin to weigh that. Ukraine is important," he went on to say. "But at the same time it can't be the only thing they do and it can't be a blank check."

What's your response to the minority leader?

PANETTA: I'm very disappointed in his comments because what has to be placed first and foremost is our national security in this country, and Republicans very frankly have always felt very strongly about our national security and about taking on Russia and particularly taking on Putin.

And for Kevin McCarthy to indicate that somehow he might not provide the funds necessary to Ukraine, which is a country that now is fighting Putin because Putin has invaded a sovereign democracy, the failure to do that sends a message to Putin and it sends a message to the world that the United States is not 100 percent behind Ukraine. That's damaging our national security. That's damaging our national security.

And I think it's very important considering what Putin is doing today as we speak, he's doubling down on Ukraine, he's killing innocent men, women and children, and destroying that country, for the United States when our allies not to stand unified in supporting Ukraine basically would undermine our own national security in protecting democracies not only here but abroad as well.

ACOSTA: And staying on Ukraine the White House says Iranian military members have visited Crimea to help with Russian operations targeting civilian infrastructure in Ukraine using drones. Iran is denying this but how does this fuel the fears that this work can spiral out of control and beyond the borders of Ukraine? And what does it say -- what should the U.S. do in response to the Iranians helping out the Russians here?

[16:25:07]

PANETTA: With Putin basically doubling and tripling and quadrupling down the way he is with the use of these drones, and with the attacks that have been made these last few days, I mean, first of all, it obviously reflects that the tide of war has changed in Ukraine and that Putin is failing. He is failing. He's having to resort to these kinds of tactics. I think it is very important for the United States and our allies to double and triple down as well and provide the weapon systems that are absolutely essential to Ukraine to be able to defend itself. What it needs is a comprehensive air defense system similar to frankly what Israel has in the Iron Dome system.

Israel's defense system can take down over 90 percent of the missiles that Hamas directs towards Israel. We ought to develop the exactly the same kind of system in Ukraine to be able to protect Ukraine from drones and from missiles and from the kind of attacks that Putin is waging against Ukraine.

ACOSTA: All right. Very interesting. That certainly would help the Ukrainians. All right. Secretary Leon Panetta, always great having you on. We always appreciate it. Thanks so much for joining us. We appreciate it.

PANETTA: Good to be with you, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. Good to see you.

And just into CNN some very big news over in the U.K. The U.K.'s Boris Johnson says he will not run again for prime minister. Johnson said he had the support needed, but reportedly said this would simply not be the right thing to do. The former prime minister had been calling people to gain support for his leadership bid to replace the outgoing prime minister Liz Truss. She abruptly resigned after just six weeks in power this morning.

Former finance minister Rishi Sunak announced that he is officially running but this just in the last several minutes, Boris Johnson will not run for British prime minister. So we'll keep our eyes on the turmoil in British politics as that develops.

Coming up, body cam footage showing Florida officers almost apologetic while arresting visibly confused convicted felons for allegedly illegally voting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I voted. You saw that. I voted but I didn't commit no fraud.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, so that's the thing, I don't know exactly what happened with it, but you do have a warrant and that's what it's for.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ACOSTA: Also, take a look at this. Shocking new video from New York of a man pushing a commuter on to the subway tracks. Just terrifying stuff. That video coming as officials are rolling out a new plan to try to tackle crime on the subway.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:31:53]

ACOSTA: Police are releasing new details about the suspect in Saturday's deadly shooting at a Dallas hospital. They say Nestor Hernandez was out on parole for aggravated robbery and had an active ankle monitor when he opened fire killing two hospital employees. A police officer shot and wounded Hernandez. He's in custody charged with capital murder. The Dallas police chief tweeted that he is outraged at the lack of accountability and the travesty of the fact that under this broken system we give violent criminals more chances than our victims. The motive for the attack is under investigation.

In New York City police released a shocking security video. Watch the man in the yellow hood here. This is in a subway station in Brooklyn. He suddenly pushes another man on to the tracks then runs away. Thankfully the victim was not hit by a train but he was injured. Just a horrific attack of seemingly random violence. This happened Friday and officials have announced plans to crack down on crime in the New York subway system.

Gloria Pazmino joins me now with the details.

Gloria, you just spoke with the mayor of New York, Eric Adams, and people are demanding that he get to business, down to business, cracking down on crime in the city. What did he tell you about these plans?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right, Jim. And the mayor certainly seemed on a mission this weekend to appear as if he is responding to this issue of public safety. He held a summit with high level officials over the weekend at Gracie Mansion trying to bring everybody together to talk about ideas, to talk about suggestions about what the administration should do to respond to the rise in violence, specifically in the subway system you were speaking about.

That video of that subway push that happened last Friday, and as you mentioned that person thankfully was only injured but that is just any commuter's worst nightmare when you're trying to get to wherever you're going, someone comes out of nowhere and attacks you. We asked the mayor about that video. What does he say to New Yorkers who are looking at that and wondering if they're going to be next.

He has been battling this question of, is it reality? Is it perception? He says it's both. He says as long as New Yorkers are not feeling safe his administration isn't do their job and he wants to make sure that they are responding. Listen to what he has to say. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ERIC ADAMS (D), NEW YORK CITY: When I talk to New Yorkers, they say, yes, eric, I have never been a victim of a crime on the subway system. I have never been attacked. I use it every day. I'm one of the 3.5 million riders on the subway system, and I have never been attacked. I feel unsafe because of what I see, what I read, what I hear. So now I have to address that fear. So what are we doing? We have been a large amount of omnipresence of police officers.

Nothing dissipates violence feeling more than having a police officer in that blue uniform, they're doing an actual patrol, we're going to have them on the train, and then we're going to not be passive in dealing with those who have real mental health issues on our subway system. As soon as came in from the January 6th on, we got rid of the encampments.

[16:35:05]

We've got over 2,000 people off our system that were living on our system that couldn't take care of themselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: So that last part is a key part of the plan here addressing the issue of mental and the mayor joint forces with the governor over the weekend to announce a plan to increase psychiatric beds here in the city so that people who are suffering from mental illness can be connected to resources. But, Jim, it is a lot easier said than done. There is a lot of challenges when it comes to people who may be suffering from mental illness, and the city being able to compel them to get services or certainly to take them into custody so that they can get the help that they need. It's not an easy solution to all of these problems -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. Gloria Pazmino, great job getting that interview with the mayor. Thanks so much for your time. We appreciate it.

And you can hear more with New York City Mayor Eric Adams on "WHO IS TALKING TO CHRIS WALLACE?" That's tonight at 7:00.

Police body cam videos out of Florida captured the confusion of convicted felons arrested for alleged voter fraud when they say they didn't know they had done anything wrong. The arrests were the first public demonstration of Florida's new election security force as it's described established when Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill back in April.

CNN's Leyla Santiago reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ma'am, we have a warrant for your arrest.

ROMONA OLIVER, VOTER: For what?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For voter fraud. You're a felon, right?

LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Newly obtained police body camera video shows Tampa police officers arresting Romona Oliver for allegedly voting illegally in the 2020 election.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. So I know you're caught off guard, but unfortunately that's how this stuff works, OK?

OLIVER: I'm like, what the hell?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know, ma'am, I know.

OLIVER: OK. I'm like, voter fraud? I voted, but I ain't commit no fraud.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, so that's the thing. I don't know exactly what happened with it, but you do have a warrant, and that's what it's for.

SANTIAGO: The videos, first reported by "The Tampa Bay Times," provide a fresh glimpse into a far-reaching state operation in August to crack down on supposed voter fraud.

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R), FLORIDA: The state of Florida has charged and is in the process of arresting 20 individuals across the state for voter fraud. These folks voted illegally in this case, and there's going to be other grounds for other prosecutions in the future. They are disqualified from voting because they've been convicted of either murder or sexual assault.

SANTIAGO: Oliver is a convicted felon. She served 20 years in state prison for second-degree murder, according to her attorney Mark Rankin. Her attorney told CNN Oliver was approached at a bus stop one day on the way to work by someone registering voters, and she told them she was a felon. Rankin says the person then told Oliver that she could fill out the form and if she was eligible she would get a voter registration card. He says Oliver later received a voter registration card in the mail and, therefore, thought she was eligible to vote.

OLIVER: I got out, but the guy told me that I was free and clear to go vote or whatever because I had done my time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

OLIVER: I was free. I ain't owe nobody nothing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Yes, like I said, I don't -- I don't know what happened, all right? All I know is that you have a warrant, and all it does is say you have a warrant, and I got to go arrest you.

SANTIAGO: Her attorney says, quote, "She served her time and got out, and she got out around the time that Amendment 4 was passed, which affected the rights of felons to vote. Her understanding was that felons had their rights restored." Oliver pleaded not guilty to the illegal voting charge and has a trial set for December. These were the first arrests by Governor Ron DeSantis' newly formed

Florida Office of Election Crimes and Security, which was an agency created to probe alleged voting irregularities. Almost immediately, after the charges were filed, questions surfaced about whether the individual knew they were violating the law by voting. CNN affiliate WPLG spoke to one of the individuals arrested, Ronald Miller.

RONALD MILLER, MIAMI RESIDENT, ACCUSED OF VIOLATING FLORIDA'S VOTING LAWS: I got it out the mailbox thinking that my rights were restored as the guy told me when I had filled the paper out. So I was happy.

SANTIAGO: Miller, a convicted felon who served time for murder, also says he received a voter ID card in the mail and was arrested in August for allegedly violating the state's voting laws.

MILLER: And all over like this, had the door open with assault rifles. U.S. Marshal is like this. My house surrounded.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: And thanks to Leyla Santiago for that excellent report.

On Friday a judge dismissed the case against one of the more than a dozen people arrested in August in that crackdown.

Coming up, online threats of political violence ahead of the midterms. Even calls for civil wars. CNN's Donie O'Sullivan talks to an expert about that threat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I mean, how seriously should we be taking this? How worried if some random person on the internet is posting this? Should we really be that concerned by it?

GREG EHRIE, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT: I think we have to. This is speaking to people throughout the United States who are saying, OK, it's acceptable to call for the death of an American official.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:44:28]

ACOSTA: As we noted earlier in the show a new NBC News poll finds that roughly 80 percent of Democrats and Republicans believe the political opposition in this country poses a threat that if not stopped will destroy the United States of America as we know it. And that's not all. In the weeks since the FBI's search of Mar-a-Lago experts say online threats of civil war have spiked.

Now with the midterms looming CNN's Donie O'Sullivan compiled some of the more disturbing posts and showed them to a former FBI special agent to get his analysis and here is what he thought.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Mitch McConnell is a disgrace.

[16:45:02]

O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): When Donald Trump posted that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had a death wish, some of his followers saw it as a message.

(On camera): This is an anonymous account on Truth Social responding to a story about Trump mentioning that Mitch McConnell has a death wish and then this person writes, "Let's move him to the front of the line of traitors." I mean, how seriously should we be taking this? How worried if some random person on the internet is posting this? Should we really be that concerned by it?

EHRIE: I think we have to. This is speaking to people throughout the United States who are saying, OK, it's acceptable to call for the death of an American official. What kind of country is that?

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): Experts who track extremism online say in recent months, there has been an uptick in violent threats, even talk of civil war, and Trump is at the center of it. A major flashpoint, the FBI's search of Mar-a-Lago.

BENJAMIN T. DECKER, CEO, MEMETICA: Every time he puts out a new statement, it leads to a dramatic uptick in violent rhetoric across fringe platforms.

O'SULLIVAN: "Lock and load" read one response to the FBI's search on a pro-Trump forum. Another user replied, "Are we not in a cold civil war at this point?" That poster, bananaguard62 turned out to be a Washington stateman, who's pleaded guilty to unlawfully entering the Capitol on January 6th. His account identified by the group, Advance Democracy.

Posts like this on right-wing forums, a cause for concern, but it's not just anonymous online trolls beating the civil war drum.

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): Democrats want Republicans dead, and they've already started the killings.

CHANEL RION, CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, ONE AMERICA NEWS: We are the closest to civil war two we've ever been.

ALEX JONES, INFOWARS HOST: They plan on having a civil war that brings down America.

O'SULLIVAN (on camera): Take a seat.

(Voice over): Greg Ehrie, a former FBI special agent, read through some of the violent rhetoric that came after the Mar-a-Lago search.

(On-camera): "Every FBI agent who doesn't quit in the next few weeks is an enemy of the republic." "The FBI is now and forever known as the Gestapo. Treat them like you would treat a Nazi or a Marxist agent coming for your kids."

EHRIE: This makes me angry, obviously, personally, as a former FBI agent, to compare them to the Gestapo, to call them Nazis and Marxists, to say that they should be treated as such is an offense to everyone who works in law enforcement.

O'SULLIVAN: I think some people watching this will say there has been talk of civil war in this country since the civil war ended. What makes this moment different?

EHRIE: It feels different during this period, in this election. It seems like the country is really radicalized to an extent where they are more receptive. They're hearing these messages and we're breaking off into different factions, like we've never seen our citizenry do before.

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): Calls for civil war intensified around January 6th, and had been simmering ever since. Here is what one couple had to say outside a Trump rally two days before the Capitol attack.

(On camera): Will you accept Joe Biden as president?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, he'll never be my president.

O'SULLIVAN: OK. But you know -- you accept that he's going to be inaugurated?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I don't.

O'SULLIVAN: I mean, how could that change at this point?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it could be civil war. You never know.

O'SULLIVAN: You don't actually want a civil war, do you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't. Show us the voting machines. Show us the ballots. Show us that this was a fair election or we'll never accept another vote again, ever.

O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): And it's that belief in the lie of a stolen election that helps fuel talk of a second civil war.

BARBARA WALTER, PROFESSOR, UC SAN DIEGO: They see themselves as true patriots, the defenders of American identity, and they see themselves justified in using whatever means necessary to safeguard America's identity.

O'SULLIVAN: Barbara Walter has studied civil conflicts around the world.

(On-camera): Would you say that by even having a conversation about the prospect of a civil war in the United States that we're being alarmist just even talking about this?

WALTER: I wish that were the case, I wish if I stopped talking about this, if everybody else stopped talking about it, this problem would go away. But the reality is, there are violent extremists who want to overturn the current system.

When you go and you talk to people who've lived through civil wars, and I've talked to a lot of them, places like Sarajevo and Baghdad and Belfast, and you ask them, if they start coming, they all say the same thing. They all say, no, we had no idea.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: All right. Thanks to Donie for that report.

Coming up next, with Halloween about a week away here is a costume suggestion for you if you can find it in the stores, I bet you can't. We'll explain next.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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[16:53:43]

ACOSTA: Another messy protest over the climate crisis. This was at a museum in Germany where climate protesters threw mashed potatoes on Claude Monet's "Grain Stacks" painting. The protesters then appeared to glue themselves to the wall. The artwork was not damaged, as it's protected by glass, thank goodness.

This is the latest in a string of climate protests targeting works of art, including one earlier this month where demonstrators threw tomato soup on a Van Gogh painting at a London Museum. Maybe their parents should take their allowance away so they can't buy mashed potatoes and tomato soup. Just a thought there.

This next image we're about to show you is not an outtake from a horror movie. Take a look at this. This is an award-winning close-up photo of an ant. Yes, that's an ant. Unbelievable. The eye-popping photo is one of 57 images of distinction in an icon competition. The portrait was taken by a Lithuanian photographer. He used reflected light to capture the ant's face in every detail.

Looks like a scene out of Sigourney Weaver's "Aliens" movie or something like that. Just unbelievable stuff.

And now here's this week's CNN Hero.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TYRIQUE GLASGOW, 2022 CNN HERO: When you run a block, like, you are the face. You're the one who that community of people know. It's a dangerous life, but it's a normal life.

Going to jail really woke me up, if our community was going to follow me for some of the negative stuff, I just said, let me see if they're going to follow me for something positive.

[16:55:03]

You can grab what you want.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Make yourself at home.

GLASGOW: In 2019, we opened up our community engagement center which used to be the community drug house. But now, it's a safe place for our children.

How many people here got kids?

We provide clothing, food, vegetables. I mean, hot meals on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Shrimp? Want chicken? Giving people what they need not only helps it, it consistently stays safer here.

The shootings are down and the hope is up.

That's what she's here for.

My relationship with the Philadelphia Police Department is cool. Seeing the officers in a different light, it builds trust and it builds confidence. They need to see that all cops aren't bad.

It's really about your heart and what you want to do.

We're trying to create a safe haven in an environment for the whole neighborhood.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And to find out more, go to CNNheroes.com.

That's the news. Reporting from Washington, I'm Jim Acosta. I'm still thinking about that ant. If you come to my house dressed as that ant on Halloween, you're not getting any candy.

I'll see you back here next Saturday at 3:00 p.m. Eastern. Pamela Brown takes over the CNN NEWSROOM live after a quick break. Good night, everybody.

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