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12 Days to U.S. Midterm Elections; Democrats Worried After Fetterman's Debate in Pennsylvania; Trump's Legal Team Served with Congressional Subpoena; Body of American Killed in Ukraine Returning to U.S.; Iowa Woman Claims Father was Prolific Serial Killer; U.S. Imposes New Sanctions on Tehran Over Crackdowns. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired October 27, 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 FEMALE: After listening with him against Fetterman, it's definitely Oz.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Doing that debate wasn't exactly easy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Conservative voters are rallying behind him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trump is not saying whether he is actually going to comply.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It doesn't get any more important than Mark Meadows when it comes to witnesses.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She says very cleverly that she saw these bodies being disposed of. We have yet to find those elusive bodies.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to finish this one way or another. We're going to get the answers to this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Live from London. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster.
FOSTER: It's Thursday, October the 27th, 9 a.m. in London, 4 a.m. on the U.S. East Coast.
We are now just 12 days away from election day in America and the stakes couldn't be higher. That fact isn't lost on millions of voters who've already taken part in early voting or mailed in their ballots ahead of the critical midterm elections. A huge turnout is being seen in several key states including Florida and Georgia where all eyes on a tight Senate race. Candidates now have less than two weeks to go to make their pitches and sway any still undecided voters. Democrats are worried about their chances of picking up a Senate seat
in the critical state of Pennsylvania after their nominee's shaky showing in Tuesday's debate. John Fetterman is recovering from a stroke and it times dropped thoughts and stumbled over his words and repeated phrases. Fetterman appeared at a campaign stop with music star Dave Mathews the next day and acknowledged the tough time that he's been having.
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JOHN FETTERMAN, PENNSYLVANIA DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE FOR U.S. SENATE: Doing that debate wasn't exactly easy, you know. Knew it wasn't going to be easy after, you know, having a stroke after five months. In fact -- in fact, I don't think that's ever been done before in American political history before, actually. You know, after that stroke I got knocked down but I got back up.
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FOSTER: After four debates polls show Fetterman with only a slim lead over celebrity Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Republican nominee. Oz returned to the campaign trail on Wednesday and told Fox News, voters can now see that Fetterman just isn't fit for the job.
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MEHMET OZ, PENNSYLVANIA REPUBLICAN NOMINEE FOR U.S. SENATE: Their game plan was to run the clock out. And I had been chasing down John Fetterman since the general election started. To date he has never answered a question from a voter on the campaign trail. Hasn't answered a press gaggle, a group of reporters on the campaign trail. He never obviously talked to me before. I met him for the first time last night. And all I wanted to do was have him defend what I think are these eccentric and extremist ideas that would hurt Pennsylvanians. They're certainly out of touch with Pennsylvania values. And he has not been able to defend his dangerous policies. So, last night I just put them out there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: CNN's Jeff Zeleny spoke with some voters in Pennsylvania and asked what they thought of the vote.
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JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Do you think he's healthy enough to be a --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my, yes. He gets healthier every day. You see that just by watching him on television. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was embarrassed to think that anybody with that
present situation health and the way he thinks in his mind and his -- what he wants for Pennsylvania would actually be running.
After listening with him against Fetterman, it's definitely Oz. ZELENY: What I was picking up here today was the sense of
disappointment among some of Fetterman's supporters. That he was not able to prosecute his case against Dr. Oz. As well as his social media accounts have throughout the summer and early fall. They've been going after him about his residency, the number of homes he's owned, et cetera. That was not something that Fetterman was able to do with much success.
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FOSTER: Well meanwhile, police in Phoenix are investigating a break-in at the campaign headquarters of Arizona's Democratic candidate for governor. Katie Hobbs is the current Secretary of State. She's in a close battle with former TV news anchor and Republican Carrie Lake. A surveillance video shows the alleged suspect.
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Hobbs campaign say it's not clear exactly what was taken but Hobbs and her staff have received hundreds of death threats and threats of violence over the course of the campaign.
In Georgia a second woman is accusing Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker of pressurizing her into having an abortion. The woman is being referred to as Jane Doe to protect her identity. And said she was in a years' long relationship with Walker. She's calling walker a hypocrite for campaigning against abortion access. And she says, quote, he's not fit to be a U.S. Senator. But Walker is calling her allegations a lie.
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HERSCHEL WALKER, GEORGIA REPUBLICAN SENATE NOMINEE: They would do and say anything for power and they don't realize that they messing with the wrong George right here. This seat is too important for me to stand by -- or to step down, so now they going to have to come through me to get to anyone else. Because if they can do it to me, they going to come after you next.
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FOSTER: A new claim comes -- the new claim comes as polling shows Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock who is running for a full six-year term, has a modest lead over Walker with less than two weeks until election day.
The miss U.S.A. Pageant is under investigation after allegations that this year's pageant was rigged. The programs president Crystal Stewart has been suspended whilst a third party looks into the matter. Contestants took to social media to accuse program of favoritism in selecting this year's winner. They also called into question a TikTok video the winner filmed at a luxury spa owned by a major pageant sponsor.
Stewart denies the allegations telling CNN, quote: The last thing I would ever want to do is discredit or deny a contestant an equal opportunity for fair competition. I would never jeopardize my dream of running an organization that empowers these young women.
Now to the January 6th investigation, lawyers for former president Donald Trump still haven't formally responded to a Congressional subpoena for documents and testimony related to the attack on the U.S. Capitol. CNN's Sara Murray has our story.
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SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: The latest update in the Donald Trump subpoena. The former president's lawyers have officially received the subpoena from the January 6th House Select Committee. Remember, the committee wants testimony as well as a wide variety of documents from the former president as far as their investigation into the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
They've asked for Trump's team to respond by November 4th for the documents they've requested and to show up for a deposition that can potentially last multiple days starting on November 14th.
Now we still don't know how Trump's team plans to respond. We asked them about the receipt of the subpoena today. They did not respond to our requests for comments. But previously when the committee decided to subpoena the former president, lawyers for the former president said that they were going to review this, they were going to analyze it and then determine how to respond. So, we still wait to see how the Trump team grapples with his subpoena.
Sara Murray, CNN, Washington.
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FOSTER: Lawyers for former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows says he'll appeal a judge's ruling that orders him to testify in another 2020 election meddling case in Georgia. CNN's Evan Perez explains winning an appeal will be very difficult.
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EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR U.S. JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Mark Meadows is an important witness because he was part of that phone call. As you remember, he was on the call where Trump was pressuring Brad Raffensperger in Georgia to find the exact number of votes that he needed to be able to win the state, which he of course did not.
He also went down to Georgia to look at one of the audits that was happening there. So, this is why Fani Willis and the D.A. down in Fulton County wants his testimony. He says -- his legal team says that they're studying the judge's order in South Carolina that he has to comply. But you know, keep in mind, the fact that Meadows and the Trump allies were presenting these fraud claims has already gotten a judge -- a federal judge to say that they provided these statements in federal court as well as state court in Georgia knowing that they were false. So, this is one reason why even if he appeals it looks like he's got a tough road ahead because the grand jury is now expecting his testimony and this judge at least in South Carolina says that he has to give it. (END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: The body of an American man killed in east Ukraine will be returning to the U.S. soon. Russian forces handed over the remains of Joshua Jones to Ukrainian authorities on Wednesday. CNN's Clarissa Ward has this exclusive report.
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CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the front lines in Ukraine, he was known to his fellow fighters, as "Tactical Jesus," on account of his long hair, and deep knowledge of the Bible. To his mom, he was simply Joshi.
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Tennessee native Joshua Jones was just 24-years-old, when he was killed fighting in eastern Ukraine back in August. His passport and Ukrainian Military ID showed up on Russian social media channels soon after. But his body was never recovered.
Since then, Ukrainian lawmakers, Oleksandr Trukhin, and Oleksandr Kovalyov, have worked tirelessly, to get his body back. And today, it is finally happening.
WARD: Why is it important to you to recover the body of Joshua Jones?
OLEKSANDR TRUKHIN, UKRAINIAN MP: He's the same one, hero for me, like our soldiers. So, we should make everything possible, to give his body back, to his family.
WARD (voice-over): We are driving to the front line, in Zaporizhzhia. We stop along the way to link up with Military intelligence. In another car a Russian soldier sits slumped over. He is being released today, as part of a larger swap in which 10 Ukrainians were already freed.
The lawmakers talk with the officers to go over the plan once more. A makeshift white flag is put together for the moment of transfer. And we're off again. This time to no man's land. A rare two-hour ceasefire has been agreed by both sides and time is of the essence.
WARD: So, we've just arrived at the meeting point. They're waiting now for the Russians to arrive with the body.
WARD (voice-over): A team of forensic investigators get ready for the task ahead. This is as far as we are allowed to go. Actual handover will happen just beyond the hill. Waiting for their return it is eerily quiet. Only the bravest dare come out in these parts.
One of the transfer team captures the moment Joshua Jones' body is brought back into Ukrainian territory as Russian forces look on.
For Kovalyov and Trukhin, it's the moment they have been waiting for. Jones is now one step closer to being returned to his family.
Back in the car they show us his personal effects.
TRUKHIN: This is his personal body cross, which he was wearing. He was very religious guy.
WARD: What's your feeling in this moment? You've been working towards this for a long time to try to get Joshua Jones back to his family.
TRUKHIN: Our feeling we are proud of our country of our team. We are proud of president. And we are proud that we are saving lives. Because you know when even somebody is dying, his family continue to live. And they cannot live normally if they know that they don't have a place where to come for their son.
WARD (voice-over): Thanks to their efforts Joshua's mother, Misty Gossett, in Tennessee, will soon have the chance to say goodbye to her son.
MISTY GOSSETT, MOTHER OF AMERICAN KILLED IN UKRAINE: Joshua was -- he was a soldier. He was a born soldier. He was named after the battle of Jericho. And he proved he lived up to his name so valiantly. And I feel like the weight of the world has been lifted off of me.
WARD (voice-over): A name and a life that will be remembered even half a world away.
Clarissa Ward, CNN, Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: And Jake tapper spoke with Jones's mother in her first interview since learning her son's body would be returned to the U.S. She talked about his decision to fight in Ukraine.
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GOSSETT: He said that he had to. Of course, as his mom I said, no you don't adamantly. And he said he had to. He said, no one else is helping and I'm good at (BLEEP), mom. I'm going to do it. It's not what you do in public, it's what you do in private. I mean, his actions showed who he was. As parents, his dad and I, you know, we were hard on him and -- but we raised him to be who he was, who he is and he was strong. He was resilient. He was hilarious.
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FOSTER: Gossett says she last spoke with her son just a few days before he was killed.
Crowds gather outside a St. Louis high school on Wednesday night for a candle lit vigil to honor the two victims of Monday's school shooting. Their families were among the hundreds to pay tribute and take part in a balloon release for the teacher Jean Kuczka and 15-year-old student Alexandria Bell were shot and killed when a 19-year-old gunman returned to his former high school and opened fire.
[04:15:00] The gunmen identified as Orlando Harris was shot and killed by police. The St. Louis police Commissioner says Harris's family were taking steps to get him mental health treatment and have his gun taken away. But we've now learned the weapon that was removed is the same weapon used in the attack.
Authorities in Iowa say they're actively investigating a rural area where a woman claimed her father dumped the bodies of people, he killed decades ago. The search comes after a "Newsweek" article quoted of Lucy Studey who said her dad killed 50 to 70 people. One of the reporters who broke the story says he believes her but some things are working against the case. CNN's Anderson Cooper spoke with him earlier.
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NAVEED JAMALI, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, NEWSWEEK: For 45 years she has been telling the same story consistently. And we found this in evidence in some of the earlier records that we've obtained. And it's something that the sheriff who has was leading this investigation has told us as well. So, why it hasn't happened is really I think, it's an important question. And I think in Lucy's case she had sort of four things working against her. One, when this allegedly happened, she was a child. Two, she was poor. And three, as she told later on, you know, she was a woman. And we understand how law enforcement in many cases just dismisses the claims of women. And of course, the fourth thing, which is we have yet to find a body or name associated with this. Even though she says very cleverly that she saw these bodies being disposed of. You know, we have yet to those elusive bodies.
COOPER: And explain what you've uncovered about Don Studey, Lucy's father.
JAMALI: So, Don Studey is, you know, if this were 2022 Anderson, it's hard to imagine that he would have gotten away with the myriad of things that he did. I mean, we were able to establish that, in fact, he was, you know, a gambler, and that he lived a life of crime. And while those things don't necessarily point to him being a murderer, let alone a serial killer. Speaking to people, you know, there is this pattern of both violence. And another interesting thing, a pattern that says that he may have been connected to a criminal ring and potentially organized crime.
One investigator described it to me that if you were to bury a body, this would be the place to do it. I mean, you go down there, there's no sound, there's no one passing through there. So, you have -- you have unfettered sort of access and undisturbed ability to really do what you will there. And one could imagine that a body buried there would, you know, likely go undisturbed.
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FOSTER: Well, the county sheriff says he'll continue to investigate. But Lucy Studey's attorneys says a lack of resources could slow down the investigation. A Wisconsin man faces a mandatory life sentence for plowing his car into a Christmas parade last November. On Wednesday Darrell Brooks was found guilty of six counts of first degree intentional homicide along with dozens of other charges. Prosecutors said he intentionally drove his SUV into the parade at Waukesha. He struck more than 60 people killing 6 of them. But less than two weeks earlier Brooks was released on bail in a case where he was accused of running over a woman who claimed he had had a child with him.
Still to come, a day at a Missouri theme park turned into a nightmare for a number of people when this train ran off the tracks. The latest on the injuries just ahead.
Plus, the White House says Russia may be advising Iran on how to crack down on protestors as thousands went to Mahsa Amini's burial site to mark 40 days since her death in police custody.
We'll also get the latest forecast for the U.S. Why umbrellas are highly recommended in the coming days.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And dry weather has been a big concern across large areas of the United States. But on a flip of the switch, here portions of the U.S., namely across the central region and south central region of the U.S. seeing some wet weather in the coming several days. A lot of this is beneficial. We'll break down exactly what to expect coming up in a couple minutes.
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KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We are concerned that Moscow may be advising Tehran on best practices to manage protests during Russia's extensive experience in suppressing open demonstrations. Iran and Russia are growing closer the more isolated they become. Our message to Iran is very, very clear, stop killing your people and stop sending weapons to Russia to kill Ukrainians.
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FOSTER: The White House press secretary saying Russia may be advising Tehran on how to crack down on protesters. This comes as thousands of people gathered at Mahsa Amini's grave to mark 40 days since her death in the custody of Iran's morality police. Her death has sparked protests and anti-government chants across the country resulting in a brutal crackdown by the regime. And the U.S. is imposing a slew of new sanctions against Iranian officials involved. CNN's Melissa Bell joins us from Paris with more on those sanctions and whether they'll work.
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Perhaps it won't make much of a difference in terms of the regime. If you look at the people who've been targeted, very much about these recent protests and the crackdown on them. But it is an important signal that the United States is sending. Antony Blinken, the American Secretary of State, Max, speaking to the fact that it is 14 individuals, three different entities that have been targeted in this latest round of sanctions. They're not the first since the death of Mahsa Amini but certainly the most -- the broadest array of sanctions.
And they're really targeting people responsible -- according to Washington -- for the repression that we've seen over the course of the now more than 40 days since her death. They include police chiefs, people responsible for some of the most notorious prisons in Iran, notorious for human rights abuses and an array of different officials. And the message is a clear one, that the United States wants these protests to be able to continue peacefully.
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We saw again -- you're showing images there of some of the protests we saw not just in Tehran but of course, in the town in the Iranian Kurdistan where the grave is and around which the protesters gathered, also across universities. And what we saw with those protests, once again met with clashes, with tear gas and that is exactly what the United States is trying to take on with the very day that it announced its latest round of sanctions. That message from the White House about the possible cooperation not just that we're seeing in Ukraine on the ground between Tehran and Moscow, but possibly also says the White House on the ground in Tehran with the claims, the tactics used and refined in Russia now being used and passed on to Iranian authorities to try and stamp down on their own protests -- Max.
FOSTER: OK, Melissa, thank you.
Some much needed rain will fall across parts of the U.S. suffering from drought conditions but it may be more than they expected. Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri has the latest forecast for you from Atlanta.
JAVAHERI: Good morning, Max. Yes, the conditions across areas of Texas. They've needed the rainfall. They're finally getting it. And we're going to expect additional rounds of it. There is a disturbance locked in pushing in over this region in the coming hours. And beyond this, generally quiet conditions. Across the southern and southeastern U.S. getting into slightly warmer temperature trends. But notice when it comes to rainfall here, some of these thunderstorms could produce quite a bit of heavy rainfall from Dallas southward into Houston, eventually skirted over towards New Orleans, Louisiana into later this weekend going to see some decent amounts of rainfall here.
And of course, we've touched on just how dry this landscape has been. So, whatever we get here we'll take. And notice over the next five days, pockets of heavy rainfall scattered about one of the dryer regions of the U.S.
The other driver region has been the Pacific Northwest, the storm door is now wide open here, Max, with significant threat for rainfall, high elevation snow showers. All of it beginning in the next couple of days. And in fact, looking ahead to the first week of November the Western U.S. expected to remain above average in the wet department while the eastern U.S. above average in the dry department. So, the temps also going to remain warm here across portions of the
Eastern U.S. So, look at this run of temps in Minneapolis. The average this time of year around 52, 57, 62, the middle 60s and stay there into the first and second of November as we go into next week. Pretty much a mild, pleasant setup for some over the next coming several days.
Across the Caribbean, November 30th is the end of hurricane season. A couple of areas of disturbances worth monitoring right now, one north of Venezuela, another north of Puerto Rico. No immediate threat for a significant event to land here. Just some thunderstorm in the next couple of days but worth monitoring as the weekend approaches. And also watching the U.S., temps in Portland 63 degrees, Los Angeles, 75, New Orleans aiming for about 74 degrees -- Max.
FOSTER: Thank you to Pedram.
Now the vanishing water from Lake Mead in Nevada has led to the discovery of more human remains on the lake bottom. They found earlier this month by a diver who runs a private business in the lakes recreation area, is the sixth time skeletal remains have been found in the lake this year which has been losing water due to severe drought. Investigators say some of the recovered remains are incomplete. And they can't be sure exactly how many victims have been found.
Seven people were taken to the hospital after a train derailment at the Silver Dollar City Theme Park in Missouri. Video recorded by passengers shows a number of cars toppled over into the ground -- or onto the ground and several sets of wheels are still on the tracks. Park officials say six guests and one employee have mild to moderate injuries. Missouri's Division of Fire Safety is investigating the crash.
Still ahead this hour, the latest reports on U.S. unemployment and economic growth are due out today. We'll see what the analysts are predicting there.
Plus, U.S. President Joe Biden meets with his defense leaders and tries to get a read on Russian President Vladimir Putin and his intentions. That's just ahead.
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