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U.S. Treasury Secretary: I Don't See Signs of Recession; Head of Texas Department of Safety Rejects Call to Resign; Hospitals Seeing an Uptick of Flu and RSV Cases in Children; Iranian Regime Calls for Rallies to Condemn Shrine Attack; Rare Protest in Tibet Over COVID Lockdown Measures. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired October 28, 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: Incumbent Jair Bolsonaro. Neither candidate received more than 50 percent in a first round vote earlier this month. The election comes with Brazil's economy is struggling with high inflation, limited growth and rising poverty.

Both U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will be at a dinner tonight in Philadelphia supporting Pennsylvania's Democratic ticket. The president has been touting recent economic growth on the campaign trail ahead of the midterm elections.

A quick look at the U.S. futures market. Right now, all down across the board particularly the Nasdaq. Loads of pressure on the tech which closed mixed on Thursday with big technology companies caught in that big selloff. One bright spot Gross Domestic Product in the U.S. grew 2.6 percent in the third quarter after two quarters of declines. While it suggests the U.S. may not be on the verge of recession, it is still worrying as affected to this more rate hikes to battle inflation.

That bright spot of good economic news comes less than two weeks before midterm elections but it may not be enough to offset voter concerns over rising prices. CNN's Phil Mattingly sat down with U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to get her perspective in this exclusive interview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As Democrats scramble to coalesce around an economic message to hang on to their congressional majorities --

JANET YELLEN, SECRETARY OF TREASURY: I don't see signs of a recession in this economy at this point.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): -- Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen sitting down with CNN to deliver her own.

YELLEN: We have unemployment at a 50-year low. There are two job vacancies for every American who is looking for work. We have solid household finances, business finances, banks that are well capitalized. And we've been creating average 300,000 jobs a month.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): It's an economic scorecard the hardly tracks with an exceedingly unsettled electorate.

MATTINGLY: The discontent seems to be real. The feelings about the direction of the economy seem to be largely negative. Why?

YELLEN: Inflation is very high. It's unacceptably high. And Americans feel that every day.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Hello, Syracuse!

MATTINGLY (voice-over): The split screen that has weighed down Democrats for months. On the day the U.S. economy delivered a bounce back quarter of growth, Republican campaign ads continue to hammer inflation that remains near a four-decade high. Soaring costs driving the economy to the top of voter concerns, a reality with no near-term solution that has clouded not just Democrats' midterm prospects --

MATTINGLY: I understand what you're saying in terms of the time horizon. Yours is not very helpful when there's midterm elections in 12 days. I know you don't come from a political background here, but how much does that weigh into the policy process that you guys pursue?

YELLEN: Well, as I said, we're doing everything that we can to supplement what the Fed is doing to bring inflation down. And medium term, we have an historic investment in the strength of our economy, the passage of three very important bills.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): But also, what officials view as a historically rapid recovery.

YELLEN: These are problems we don't have because of what the Biden administration has done. So, often one doesn't get credit for problems that don't exist.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): All as Biden's legislative wins have driven tens of billions of dollars in private sector investment to manufacturing across the country.

MATTINGLY: Is the kind of message at this point, to some degree, we've done the work, be patient, it's coming?

YELLEN: Yes, but we're beginning to see repaired bridges come on line, not in every community. Pretty soon, many communities are going to see roads improved, bridges repaired that have been falling apart. We're seeing money flow into research and development, which is really an important source of long-term strength to the American economy. And America's strength is going to increase, and we're going to become a more competitive economy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Phil Mattingly there with an exclusive interview with U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. Now five months after the school massacre in Uvalde, Texas, they had

of the Texas Department of Public Safety is rejecting the call for his resignation. Families of the victims say Steve McCraw and his department are partly responsible for the deaths of 19 children and two teachers in May. He rejects this claim.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE MCCRAW, DIRECTOR, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY: It is an institution and the failed the families, failed the school or failed to protect the community of Uvalde, then absolutely, I need to go. But I can tell you this right now, DPS as an institution, OK, right now is -- did not fail the community, plain and simple.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[04:35:00]

FOSTER: Nearly 400 police officers respond the to the scene of the shooting. But law enforcement still waited 77 minutes before breaching the classroom and killing the 18-year-old gunman. Many parents feel that delay cost their children their lives.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRETT CROSS, PARENT OF SLAIN STUDENT: If you can talk in circles and during all that mess and everything. Listen, you can get irritated all you want. I lost my damn son. Your anger is not going to out match mine there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Thursday's meeting was McCraw's first public testimony about the shooting since June. At that time, he appeared before a state senate committee and described the response as, quote, an abject failure.

People of color, especially blacks and Hispanics were less likely to receive a Paxlovid and other COVID-19 treatments during the pandemic. That's according to a new study published Thursday by the CDC. They found black patients were more than 1/3 less likely than white patients to be treated with Paxlovid. And Hispanics were 30 percent less likely than non-Hispanics to receive the antiviral pill. Similar trends were reported for Asian-Americans and American Indians too. Throughout the pandemic people of color have been about two times likely than white people to be hospitalized or die from COVID-19.

A new surge in pediatric respiratory viruses has ICU beds across the United States running at near capacity. And some experts warning things may get worse before they get better. CNN's Amara Walker has the latest on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Children's hospitals across America right now are overwhelmed. In fact, more than 75 percent of pediatric hospital beds are in use right now nationwide. And we're seeing a very similar scene here in Atlanta. The wait time at the emergency room at Children's Health Care of Atlanta which has three locations, we are at the location just north of the city of Atlanta, the wait time is more than 3 hours and it has been that case for the last several weeks.

So, what officials have done, they've erected an overflow tent here at this location to deal with the surge of respiratory illnesses that they have been seeing in children. There are no beds inside this tent. There are eight bays that the staffed with doctors and nurses. They're only seeing people with minor and mild illnesses and injuries. So, those who have much more serious illnesses are being seen inside the hospital.

What's been really noted here in Atlanta is the significant shift we have been seeing. So, the majority of respiratory admissions have been children who are testing positive for the flu. That is the case right now this week. Compare that to last week where 75 percent of respiratory admissions were for RSV. So, what we're seeing here is an early RSV season, and earlier than expected flu season. And one pediatrician that CNN spoke with here in Atlanta says that this trend is likely to move north.

DR. ANDI SHANE, CHILDREN'S HEALTHCARE OF ATLANTA: So oftentimes especially with RSV it starts in the southeast and then sort of moves upwards in the United States. And so, what we do probably predict will happen is that some of the northern states will start to see more children with influenza after they see more children with RSV.

WALKER: The confluence of three viruses RSV, the flu and COVID-19, is really creating a perfect storm. And a lot of concerns for what they had in the winter months. Keep in mind there is no vaccine for RSV, although there is a vaccine for the flu and for COVID-19. So, doctors are urging everyone, parents and children alike, to get vaccinated.

Amara Walker, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Severe storms are heading towards parts of Texas. It's good news for the state which has been experiencing heavy levels of drought. But there is a possibility of dangerous tornadoes now. Meteorologist Derek Van Dam is tracking the storm and joins me now from the World Whether Center in Atlanta. Are these storms going to help Texas?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, you know, it's a double edged sword, right. We're going to get a bit of relief from the drought but we also have the potential for tornadoes as you mentioned. So, you can look at it both directions, right. You can only get better from here really.

So much of the state of Texas under drought conditions. Look at this, Oklahoma, the state under drought conditions right now. Arkansas in a similar situation. But I want to show you the rainfall forecast over the next five days and you'll see how this is going to pile up across the region. We have widespread 2 to 4 inches of rain across Houston, into Corpus Christie as well, San Antonio perhaps locally higher amounts. Up to half a foot of rain through the next five days.

But the problem here is those isolated showers and storms that could cause severe weather. So, we are going to keep an eye to the sky. Especially within this highlighted area, especially near this shading of yellow. That is a slight risk From the Storm Prediction Center -- damaging winds, large hail, a couple of tornadoes. Notice that's just outside of Houston, near in a marginal and so is San Antonio, so is Waco.

[04:40:00]

But there's a little thing happening tonight. If you follow baseball, you may understand that we've got the first game of the World Series taking place in Houston. And they do have the ability to close off the stadium. That's the good news. But of course, fans exiting and entering the stadium going to have to deal with potentially some rough weather as it moves in. We'll time it out for you. Because the first pitch is at 7:03 p.m. Central Standard Time, that's 8:03 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

And if you pay attention to the legend in the top portion of my screen, that's right about when the showers and thunderstorms will move through. So, we'll see if that impacts the performance there or impacts the 10 Ds of the game.

I should say that the official forecast looks like this. Rainfall right up to about that first pitch and then we'll start to clear things out by the time people exit the stadium.

The long-term forecast for the next seven days or so shows the above- average precipitation over the western half of the country and the dryer air over the east, and so does the warmth as well. So, looking above average for much of the eastern seaboard.

We're also keeping an eye on the tropics. 60 percent chance of tropical development across the Caribbean this weekend. So, we'll monitor that very closely.

A quick look at the temperatures here. 60 degrees for the nation's capital. 73 degrees for Houston. And by the way, Max, a lot of people celebrating Halloween here in the United States. Looks wet on Monday for many of these coast cities.

OK, Derek, thank you very much, indeed.

Ahead, a rare protest in Tibet where people have been under COVID lockdown for months. They're pretty fed up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Amnesty international is urging the UN to call a special session in response to Iran's deadly crackdown on antigovernment demonstrators. The rights group accuses security forces for killing at least eight people in less than 24 hours in four provinces. Meanwhile, the Iranian regime is calling for nationwide rallies today to condemn the deadly attacks on a Shia shrine.

[04:45:02]

ISIS is said to have claimed responsibility. But authorities now says protesters are also to blame releasing this video of what he claims are the alleged assailants. With me now is Nada Bashir who is covering all of this. It's so difficult to cover from outside the country but we made what sense of it that we can.

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, and a lot of the information, of course, that we are hearing and seeing are coming from state media which is following a very specific narrative and has been for the last six weeks. And as you just mentioned there, we are expecting this pro government rallies to take place in just over an hour or so after Friday's prayers. They've called for people to take to the streets against what they've describing as the terrorist attack that we saw on Wednesday evening at that shrine in the southern city of Shiraz. They've identified those three assailants as being foreign nationals. Of course, they have said that the Islamic state has claimed responsibility. But the idea that these three individuals are foreign nationals really does play into the narrative that the regime has been pushing forward --

FOSTER: There agitators, agitating these demos.

BASHIR: Exactly, and they're accuse the United States, they've accused Israel of having foreign actors within the country attempting to stoke and facilitate unrest and chaos in the country. And of course, they're now essentially connecting with protesters taking to the streets with this attack. The Iranian Armed Forces --

FOSTER: They're connecting the U.S. with ISIS, which is bizarre.

BASHIR: Well, that's the question here. I mean, this is a narrative that the regime is pushing forward. That these protests taking place -- these protesters taking to the streets are in fact complicit in the violence that we're seeing. But of course, we have seen that crackdown of course by the Iranian regime intensify. The concern now is that this could essentially set the pretexts for the regime to frame any future protests as a direct threat to state security.

FOSTER: Terrorism, yes.

BASHIR: Exactly, allowing them to really double down on what has already been a violent and deadly crackdown on those demonstrations.

FOSTER: We've talked about how 40 days is the period of mourning, isn't it, for someone typically in Iran. That's the tradition. Also heard the argument that each time they kill a protesters they're sort of defeating their own object in a way. Because they are then extending the mourning period for that person for 40 days. And again, you're going to expect more demonstrations at the 40 day point every time someone dies.

BASHIR: Absolutely and each one of these victims in the hand of Iranian Security Forces has become a symbol of this protest movement. It is pushing forward those calls for changes. Really exemplifying really, the cause here. They are fighting for their fundamental human rights to be upheld and respected by the regime.

FOSTER: Are you concerned that there could be a much wider crackdown at some point?

BASHIR: That is the certainly the primary concern right now. We've already seen several deaths, more than 200 according to one human rights group, at the hands of the security forces. The concern now is it that this allows the regime to really intensify the crackdown beyond what we've already seen.

FOSTER: OK, Nada, thank you very much indeed.

Chinese state media say the COVID situation in those parts of Tibet has improved and that more areas are getting back to normal now. That's after people and Lhasa held a rare protest against lockdowns measures that have been in place for more than 70 days. Meaning residents aren't allowed to leave their homes unless absolutely necessary. Lhasa is one of the nearly 100 Chinese cities under full or partial lockdown. On Wednesday, Lhasa's health department reported eight new COVID cases.

Uganda has recorded a dozen new Ebola cases raising the number of confirmed cases to over 120. The Ugandan health ministry says health care workers are amongst those getting sick and that hopefully more treatments for the virus are on the way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANE RUTH ACENG, UGANDAN HEALTH MINISTER: There is no known treatment for Sudan Ebola virus. Currently the number of promising treatment options that the ministry of health is using and a trial. Including monoclonal antibodies and proper drugs like remdesivir donated by the U.S. government. However, the doses available are still very few.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: The government says they are now working to set up treatment centers across the country.

Now for years ago, Kanye West dropped a new album self-titled with his new name Ye. But he reportedly wanted to name it after Adolph Hitler. Details ahead.

[04:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Been a costly few weeks for Kanye West. The rapper and designer lost several key sponsorships and collaborations over some antisemitic and other hateful comments. But this reportedly isn't the first time Kanye West has made shocking comments regarding the Jews -- regarding Jews and the man who tried to exterminate them as a people even. CNN entertainment reporter Chloe Melas has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: In an exclusive report by CNN published on Thursday, I spoke to four individuals who worked with Kanye on his 2018 album Ye. These individuals told me that while working on the album Kanye wanted to call it Hitler. And we're not sure exactly why he didn't name it that ultimately. But we did reach out to Kanye for comment. We haven't heard back.

We also reached out to Def Jam which was the record label at the time and put out that album along with Kanye's music. And they pointed us to a statement earlier this week in which they denounced antisemitisms but they did not have a comment on this story.

Now I also want to point out to you that one of those four individuals that I spoke with was a high-level executive who worked for Kanye for several years. And they had a settlement with Kanye over harassment and a toxic, hospital work environment. And one the issues in the settlement that we have reviewed at CNN, stated that Kanye would allegedly openly praise Hitler in the workplace and talk about the good that he did and boast about reading Hitler's autobiography Mein Kampf. Again, we've reached out to Kanye for comment and we have not heard back. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[04:55:00]

FOSTER: A news agency reports Spanish football player Pablo Mari is undergoing surgery today after being stabbed at an Italian supermarket along with several other people, one of whom died. Mari is expected to be OK. He's on loan from Arsenal and has been playing for playing for Italian Monza. The stamping attack happened in a town near Milan.

A supermarket employee was killed and four others were wounded. Police have detained a suspect, a 46-year-old Italian. The motive still unclear.

Now baseball's marquee match-up starts tonight as the Philadelphia Phillies takes on the Houston Astros in the World Series. Justin Verlander will take the mound for the Astros in game one and the future hall-of-famer has never won a world series start. The Phillies are the underdogs going into the best of seven series. Pitcher Aaron Nola will start the game -- game one. The Phillies haven't won a World Series since 2008. The Astros were world champions in 2017. They lost last year to the Atlanta Braves.

Now before we go, heartwarming news from a war zone. Four lion cubs and a black leopard cub who survived drone attacks and bombing in Ukraine are now safe and staying temporarily in a zoo in western Poland. Officials at a wildlife rescue program say about 200 lions live in private homes in Ukraine and they face uncertain futures as the war rages on. The rescued cubs were bred in captivity so they can't be released into the wild. Animal sanctuaries in the U.S. and Europe will care for them.

Thanks for joining me here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster in London. "EARLY START" with Christine romans next here on CNN.

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