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At Least 59 People Dead And 150 Injured In Crush At Halloween Event In Seoul, South Korea; Former President Obama Holds Campaign Rally In Detroit, Michigan; Man Who Attacked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Husband Paul Pelosi Arrested; Former Washington D.C. Police Officer Michael Fanone, Who Was Injured During January 6th Insurrection, Interviewed On Recent Increase In Number Of Treats Against Lawmakers; Armed Men In Tactical Gear Watching Over Ballot Drop Box In Mesa, Arizona, Confronted By Local Grandmother; Russia Pulls Out Of Deal Brokered By U.N. To Allow For Release Of Grain From Ukraine For World Markets; NFL Quarterback Tom Brady And Supermodel Gisele Bundchen Announce Divorce. Aired 2-3p ET.

Aired October 29, 2022 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:32]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: You are live in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.

We begin with breaking news right now in South Korea. That's at least where 59 people are dead and at least 150 others are hurt. That is in Seoul, the capital. And it happened at a Halloween festival. I want to show you some of the scene, but we have to warn you this video is graphic.

It is an incredibly chaotic scene. Take a look at what's right here. You can see people performing CPR on some of the victims on the scene there. It's unclear what exactly caused people to suddenly collapse in these kinds of numbers. CNN's Will Ripley is there at the scene. Will, you're right there. This is just unbelievable what's occurred. What more can you tell us?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I have to say, Jim, when we arrived here, people were on the phone. They were sobbing. They were calling their loved ones and letting them know they were OK. But that sense of chaos has now settled into this really stunned sense of shock here in the Itaewon which is the iconic nightclub district of Seoul where thousands of people come, tens of thousands of people come to celebrate Halloween.

They were packed so tightly into some of the side streets. In fact, the party that was happening was at a hotel just behind me. And to the side of the hotel, there's a very narrow street the police have completely blocked off.

We are still putting together the details, but it seems as if this Halloween party, this even, was on this very narrow street, people packed in there so tightly that they couldn't breathe. There were more than 80 calls to emergency services, people saying that they just couldn't breathe.

And now we know that many of the 59 people, at least 59 who died, died of cardiac arrest, another 150 injured. The president of South Korea has ordered hospital beds throughout the capital city here to be made available for potential survives.

And Jim, we initially thought that all of these stretchers lined up here, and it's a line, really, that goes as far as you can see all the way back there, all the way up here, we thought these stretchers were for potential survivors. A

nd we have now realized in the last few minutes, they are for the bodies. All of these stretchers are for the bodies that they are bringing out one by one. They are rolling many of them right past our location here.

And these are people who are covered up with a sheet, but they are wearing their Halloween costumes. They're wearing their Halloween costumes. They came out here to celebrate. And they're not coming home tonight. And a lot of the family members probably don't even know if their loved ones who were out here are OK yet because it is still such a chaotic scene.

And we know they are still in the process of identifying, so we are trying to be really careful what we show here because some of the costumes are pretty recognizable. As you might imagine, people do a lot of planning when they go out for a celebration like this. And Itaewon is famous for this sort of thing.

So you have seen these emergency crews walking by here. You have close to 900 police, firefighters. There are paramedics out here. This is a national level disaster. The mayor of Seoul, who was out of the country, is on a flight to head back. The president of South Korea convened an emergency meeting. A

nd he actually has a disaster management team and a medical disaster team out here to handle this. Just absolutely horrific. And to be here, to know that earlier -- go ahead, Jim.

ACOSTA: I was going to say, Will, do you know if this started inside one of those nightclubs that, you said you are in the nightclub district of Seoul. Did it start in there and come outside, or did this all happen out on the street?

RIPLEY: So let me show you, Jim. We're going walk over here to this area that police blocked off. And this is where a lot of the bodies have been coming out from. So this is the hotel to the right here. But we believe that the party was primarily outside.

That said, we're still piecing together details, and details are still limited as we talk with fire officials. But around the corner is this hotel here is a very narrow street. And a lot of the bars and a lot of the celebrations are on these very narrow streets. And you can see, the police have completely blocked off this area, particularly as you go back that way. So whether it was inside. We know that some people fell down, and

there were either injuries or fatalities from people who were possibly crushed. Local media describing this as a stampede. We like to call it a crush when a lot of people get together in a very tightly packed area, because stampede implies that these people are not human, and they are very much human.

[14:05:08]

They are human beings who were out here celebrating, and they were literally crushed to the point that they couldn't breathe. It is really, really quite something just to see this line, Jim, of all these stretchers that we had thought were for people who might have survived. But now they are just waiting to take bodies out one by one.

ACOSTA: My goodness, Will, what a scene there. Will Ripley just doing everything possible to piece together the details of what's occurred there in the South Korean capital. Will, we'll get back to you just as soon as we can. Thanks so much. We appreciate it.

Now, we want to go to Barack Obama who is out on the campaign trail. He's talking about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband, Paul Pelosi. He is in Michigan right now, in Detroit. Let's got to Barack Obama.

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: If our rhetoric about each other gets that mean, when we don't just disagree with people, but we start demonizing them, making wild, crazy allegations about them, that creates a dangerous climate.

And if elected officials don't do something more to explicitly reject that kind of rhetoric, if may tacitly support it or encourage their supporters to stand outside voting places armed with guns and dressed in tactical gear. More people can get hurt. And we're going to be violating the basic spirit of this country.

(INAUDIBLE)

OBAMA: Sir, sir, come on. But this is what I mean. This is what I mean. We're having a conversation.

CROWD: Obama! Obama! Obama!

OBAMA: Hold on. Come on. Sir, sir, this is what I'm saying. Look, we've got -- there is a process that we set up in our democracy. Right now, I'm talking. You'll have a chance to talk sometime soon.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: We don't have to interrupt each other. We don't have to shout each other down. That's not a good way to do business. You wouldn't do that at a workplace. You wouldn't just interrupt people in the middle of a conversation. It's not how we do things. And this is part of the point I want to make. Just basic civility and courtesy works. And that's what we want to try to encourage.

(SHOUTING) OBAMA: So listen. It's OK. No, no, no. Wait, wait, wait. Quiet down. Quiet down. Look -- listen, hey. Hold up, hold up. Hold up. Hold up. Hold on a minute. Hold on a minute.

(SHOUTING)

OBAMA: This is -- listen, everybody. Hey. You all up there, pay attention.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: Here's what happens. Listen. No, no. Don't -- I mean, this is part of -- not only is this an example of what I'm talking about, but it's also an example how we get distracted.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: Suddenly we're all, we're -- ever see that movie "Up"? That Disney movie? Remember that dog and the dog is talking. Squirrel! And they turn. That's us with politics. We get distracted instead of focusing on what's important.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: So, look, I get why people are anxious. I understand why people are anxious. I understand why you might be worried about the courses of the country. I understand why sometimes it's tempting just to tune out, watch football, watch "Dancing with the Stars." But I'm here to tell you that tuning out is not an option. Moping is not an option. I didn't mope as a kid mostly, but sometimes all kids start getting whiney or mopey.

[14:10:04]

My mother who be like, you know what would make you feel better? Go clean your room.

(LAUGHTER)

OBAMA: Do something useful. And I said, actually, that won't make me better. And she said, all right, but it will make me feel better.

(LAUGHTER)

OBAMA: We don't have time to mope. The only way to make this economy fair is if we fight for it, all of us. The only way to save your democracy is if we together work for it, all of us. And that starts with electing people who know you and who see you and who care about you, who understand what you're going through day in, day out. You did that two years ago when you sent Joe Biden to the White House. He is fighting for you every day.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: He's got your back. He's doing everything he can to put more money in your pockets, to make your streets safer, to bring back even more good paying jobs here to Michigan.

ACOSTA: And that was former president Barack Obama speaking about the attack on Nancy Pelosi's husband and addressing the need for civility in American politics. As you saw there during Obama's speech, somebody in the crowd interrupted him, and Obama used that as an opportunity to talk about how we as Americans have to try, as best as we can remain civil in how we talk about politics. The former president will be keeping an eye on him as he's out on the campaign trail throughout the afternoon.

In the meantime, Paul Pelosi remains in the hospital today after an intruder attacked him with a hammer inside the couple's San Francisco home. CNN has now obtained the driver's license picture of the suspect, David DePape. The San Francisco police chief said this was not a random attack and became emotional while describing what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM SCOTT, SAN FRANCISCO POLICE CHIEF: Our elected officials are here to do the business of their cities, their counties, their states, and this nation. Their families don't sign up for this, to be harmed. And it is wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: CNN's Josh Campbell joins me now. Josh, first, are there any updates to Paul Pelosi's condition? What can you tell us?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim, we know that he continues to recover in the hospital at this hour. He sustained very serious injuries, including a fractured skull. Thankfully the Speaker's office says that he is expected to make a full recovery.

Here's what we know about the man who is accused of assaulting Mr. Pelosi. He has been identified as 42-year-old David DePape. He was taken into custody by authorities after an altercation at the residence behind me. What we're hearing from our reporting is that the assailant actually entered through the rear of the house, engaged in a confrontation with Mr. Pelosi.

Our colleague Jamie Gangel has been reporting that that suspect was actually intending to target Speaker Nancy Pelosi, allegedly saying "Where's Nancy, where's Nancy," which of course is so reminiscent of the video we saw during the Capitol insurrection, people trying to hunt down the House Speaker.

Thankfully, this suspect was taken into custody by police who responded and tackled him. Of course, Mr. Pelosi sustaining very serious injuries.

Finally, Jim, it's worth pointing out, as we look into this person's background, his social media footprint, this appears to be a very troubled individual who presumably believed in a host of conspiracy theories, according to his social media profiles. Those include conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, about COVID vaccines, about the January 6th insurrection.

He also had reposted videos from Mike Lindell, the election denying pillow salesman. And so it shows that this is the kind of person who law enforcement has been warning about, as their worst nightmare, not someone who is just receiving all of this vitriol and these conspiracy theories, but Jim, someone who appeared to be predisposed to act on them with violence.

ACOSTA: All right, Josh, yes, the rhetoric does not come without consequences. Josh Campbell, thank you very much.

Across the political spectrum, members of Congress has been expressing outrage at the attack on the Speaker's husband. CNN's Sunlen Serfaty joins me know. Sunlen, what are lawmakers telling you?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Certainly Jim, there is bipartisan outrage about this attack, really across the board condemning the violence that was seen against Paul Pelosi and expressing, of course, sympathy for the Pelosi family. But what we have really seen in the responses from lawmakers and politicians hitting the campaign trail today is a shift to focus more on what this means for America, what this means for the political climate right now and political discourse.

And I think you saw a little smattering of that from former president Barack Obama talking about the political rhetoric. And we heard similar from Steny Hoyer, the House Majority Leader. He was campaigning out in Maryland just a few hours ago, and he said point- blank, this is a dangerous time in America.

[14:15:00]

And he said it's up the Americans to make sure that we survive this hate and this division. And likening that to the importance of someone's vote in the upcoming midterm elections. And certainly, the undertone here of a lot of the responses from lawmakers is that this is essentially a culmination of a moment that they have been fearing.

There has been many high-profile incidents in recent years, not the least of which January 6th, where it's not only threatened lawmakers but members of their family. The statistics are really staggering. Capitol police tracked roughly 9,600 threats against lawmakers and their family last year alone, and that was increased significantly.

So certainly, Jim, in the wake of this attack, Capitol police will be looking at ways not only to protect lawmakers more, but they're also assessing whether they need to provide security potentially to lawmakers, families of those lawmakers that are in leadership.

ACOSTA: Yes, Sunlen, absolutely. I'm sure there is going to be a whole top-to-bottom review of how they provide security for these members of country, their families, especially in this extremely volatile time. Sunlen Serfaty, thank you very much.

Coming up, we'll be talking to somebody who is, unfortunately, an expert of political violence, former Washington D.C. police officer Michael Fanone. There he is right there. We'll talk to him in just a few minutes about what the husband, or the attack on the husband of Nancy Pelosi says about what's happening in this country right now. Michael Fanone coming up in just a few moments.

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[14:20:48]

ACOSTA: And we're back with the developing news out of California. Paul Pelosi still in the hospital after being attacked by an intruder with a hammer. With us now is CNN law enforcement analyst Michael Fanone, a former D.C. police officer. Fanone was beaten and tased by rioters in the January 6th attempted coup.

He suffered a heart attack during the assault. He is now the co-author on the "New York Times" bestselling book, "Hold the Line, The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul." Mike, great to see you.

I want to show our viewers a pretty staggering number. U.S. Capitol police say they've tracked some 9,600 threats against the people in places it protects just last year. What is your reaction to that? Is there enough security to protect the people who lead this country like the speaker of the house and her family?

MICHAEL FANONE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, I mean, that's a dramatic increase from years past. It's actually about 10 times the yearly average in most recent years.

That being said, listen, there's 535 members of Congress. And there are about 1,800 members of the United States Capitol police. Those officers are the ones responsible for protecting the Capitol Complex and also for the individual members' security. There are, within that department, only about 200 special agents who are assigned to the dignitary protection details.

Only leadership members, like Nancy Pelosi, receive a full-time detail, which consists of about four to eight special agents. And any other member seeking protective details have to apply, and it's dealt out on a case-by-case basis.

In contrast, just so you understand, the Secret Service employs about 3,200 special agents. In addition to that, they have 1,300 uniform division officers. So you are talking more than 4,000 members who are charged with protecting the White House and the president, vice president, and also visiting dignitaries.

They receive on average about 3,000 threats per year. So you can see the difference there in resources available.

ACOSTA: Yes, there is a big difference there. Which leads me to my next question. The Pelosi home has seen plenty of protests over the years. This is not a big surprise to folks in the law enforcement community. Just last year, vandals painted graffiti, left a severed pig's head with red paint at their garage. What do you think, Michael, do you think there has to be some sort of basic law enforcement presence at her home 24/7 even if she's not in California?

FANONE: I mean, listen, I'm not a member of the United States Capitol police. But I see the amount of threats that she receives. They're reported on quite frequently, and how she has been demonized by members of the opposing party.

Clearly, she is a target. Her family is a target. Her residence is a target. And also that combined with the current climate in which we see individuals who feel inspired and able to commit acts of political violence.

ACOSTA: And the suspect, David DePape, was not known to capitol police, not in any federal databases tracking threats, as far as we know at this point. But he is not exactly the only person out there posting these insane conspiracy theories which have been attributed to him so far in this investigation. How much worse can this get, do you think?

FANONE: To me, this is about as bad as -- or is as bad as I have ever seen it certainly in my lifetime.

[14:24:54]

Listen, I never thought for one minute that me responding to the Capitol on January 6th and then speaking out about the results of what happened to me would result in death threats, threats against members of my family. But that, that's the climate that we are in today.

ACOSTA: And has enough been done in your view, Michael, to punish the people at the top who were involved in trying to overturn the election leading up to January 6th? And does that, do you think, have anything to do with why we still have this climate of fear for our political leaders in this country? Is there a connection there? And what do you think has to be done to address that?

FANONE: I think it's two parts. To answer the first question, no, nothing has been done about addressing the individuals who orchestrated the events that led to the attack on the Capitol. Donald Trump is still a free man. Many of his allies that are criminally culpable for that scheme and the violence that day are still walking free.

And it -- what I would say to other leaders, political leaders, is that it's not enough to denounce the violence. They need to be out there actively denouncing the lies and the individuals that are inspiring the violence, even if they have to be members of your own party.

ACOSTA: And why hasn't that happened?

FANONE: I don't know. I think in the immediate aftermath of January 6th there was a feeling that we need to lower the temperature in the country, and we can do that by setting a good example. I think that was Joe Biden's thought process, was if I behave well, if I model good behavior, then people will behave well. We're way past that in this country. The only thing that is going to

lower the temperature is accountability. People need to be held accountable for their actions, whether it's the violence itself or whether it's the lies and rhetoric that inspire the violence.

ACOSTA: All right, Michael Fanone, always great to talk to you. Really appreciate the time, thanks so much. And make sure to check out Mike's book, "Hold the Line, The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul," very important reading. Maybe dive into it this weekend. Highly recommend it.

Coming up, reports of alleged voter intimidation in Arizona including two armed individuals spotted at a ballot drop box. More on that next.

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[10:32:05]

ACOSTA: Arizona secretary of state Katie Hobbs, who is also running for governor, has now referred six alleged voter intimidation incidents to the authorities in that state. This as a top Homeland Security official warns of a, quote, incredibly heightened threat assessment ahead of the midterm elections. Our Kyung Lah reports now on a grandmother's confrontation with armed poll watchers in Arizona.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Outside an early ballot drop box in Mesa, Arizona, two men armed, wearing tactical gear, watching voters, a vigil taking place over multiple nights.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, guys.

LAH: One woman, a Phoenix area grandmother, decided to confront them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey!

LAH: Why did you decide to go out there?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm standing up and pushing back against those people and standing up for everybody's right to vote.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You don't mind if I sit over here, do you?

Without fer of retaliation or any kind of intimidation.

Hi. How are you?

LAH: She asked we not show her face because she did this, went right up in the armed man's face.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, I don't talk. I take care of business. I go out there and I do what I have to do.

Nice to meet you.

I push back against these kinds of people, people who are intimidating voters.

He's putting that in my face. I'm sitting down. He's with a gun standing over top of me.

And I'm standing up and pushing back against those people and standing up for everybody's right to vote without fear of retaliation or any kind of intimidation.

I'm just sitting here. I'm not even communicating with them. I'm sitting right here.

Seeing that, you would think you were in some autocratic nation and not the United States in America.

LAH: Two outdoor ballot drop boxes in Maricopa County have become an election flashpoint. Around the clock so-called ballot watchers are camped out. Late Sunday night we saw this group of women at the same drop box. They didn't want to talk. At another drop box in downtown Phoenix, they're photographing voters.

And already these actions are impacting how voters feel. According to complaints filed and referred to the Department of Justice last week, one voter complained he was called a mule. That's a reference to a conspiracy movie that spread lies about the 2020 election.

BILL GATES, CHAIRMAN, MARICOPA COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS: I'm talking about people who have spread lies.

LAH: To Maricopa County Board Supervisor Bill Gates, a Republican who has defended the election process, two years of lies has come to this.

GATES: Why are you are in camouflage? How is that keep people from seeing you? You're in a parking lot. We are really losing rationality and logic here.

LAH: Arizona has lived through the discredited partisan review of Maricopa County's 2020 ballots.

[14:35:02]

and now Republicans on the midterm ballot, like gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake, are raising doubts about this November's election before a single vote has even been counted.

KARI LAKE, (R) ARIZONA GUBERNATORIAL NOMINEE: I'm afraid that it probably is not going to be completely fair. I wish I could sit here and say I have complete faith in the system. I don't have faith in the system.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We begin to look at defining fence.

LAH: Republican secretary of state nomination Mark Finchem urged followers on social media to watch all drop boxes, and made a conspiracy reference to Democratic donor George Soros.

GATES: This is why we have elections, to avoid these sorts of confrontations. It's been normalized in some way over the past few years. But we are not going to normalize it here in Maricopa County. I encourage people, let's take the temperature down.

LAH: The Maricopa County Sheriff has weighed in on this. He says the law enforcement view, at least at the local level, is that this does not violate any local laws. The sheriff did ad that the department is working with the Department of Justice to see if any of this is a violation of any federal statute.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Mesa, Arizona.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

ACOSTA: Adrian Fontes is the Democratic candidate for secretary of state of Arizona, and he joins me now. I want to note for our viewers that we did reach out to your opponent Mark Finchem to come on the show. We did not hear back. But Mr. Fontes, Adrian, thanks so much for joining us.

We just watched that disturbing report from my colleague Kyung Lah about a grandmother who confronted some of these armed men apparently staking out an Arizona ballot box. What's your reaction to this? You have helped to supervise elections there in Arizona. What's going on there? It almost, it feels like a powder keg in that state.

ADRIAN FONTES, (D) ARIZONA, SECRETARY OF STATE CANDIDATE: Well, listen, first, thanks for having me on. Second, she has got the kind of guts that I think a lot more people need to express against these domestic terrorists, because that's what they are. The definition of "terrorism" is the intimidation or use of force against civilians for the purpose of a political end. That's exactly what's happening here.

And unfortunately, we've had so many people not really hold these people to account. The media has let them go. A lot of folks -- I think the Department of Justice has been just a little too slow in pushing forward with some of these prosecutions.

We are in a powder keg right now, and it has to do with the fact that justice has not been swift, and we haven't dealt with these people with the strong fist that they need to be dealt with.

Our democracy is at stake. We are seeing the results of both-siderism. They are wrong. The lie is a lie, and we haven't been forceful enough in fighting against it. And we need to start doing that, just like that grandmother did.

ACOSTA: What more needs to be done? You can't have grandmothers going to ballot boxes across the state of Arizona. What can be done?

FONTES: Jim, what can be done is law enforcement can step up and enforce the law. This is domestic terrorism. We've got judges who are not granting those restraining orders, which is what we saw recently here in Arizona. Several lawsuits have been filed.

But the other thing is, we he don't hear enough of that kind of plain talk from folks respectfully, Jim, like you. This is domestic terrorism. It is just not a simple incident. We are devolving as a nation. Our democracy is under threat.

We are not being civil enough anymore, and that's because regular civil society is not pushing back hard enough against this. We are pretending like both-siderism makes sense. We're legitimizing the lie by just covering it and saying, well, we've got these questions, we've got these questions.

No, we don't have questions. There was nothing wrong with the 2020 election. That's been proven multiple times. There's never been any real evidence of widespread fraud. And yet here we are.

So I think we are all responsible to fight a little bit harder. And I'm hoping that folks will be able to join the fight, like my fight for Arizona secretary of state, to put these folks down. We're not going to do it with bullets. We're going to do it with ballots.

ACOSTA: And Mr. Fontes, you're getting some help from Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney. She has a new half-million dollar ad buy urging Arizona voters to reject the Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake and the GOP secretary of state nominee, your opponent, Mark Finchem. Cheney said electing them puts our democracy at risk. Let's watch a little bit of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. LIZ CHENEY, (R-WY): I don't know that I have ever voted for a Democrat. But if I lived in Arizona, I absolutely would. You have a candidate for governor, Kari Lake, you have a candidate for secretary of state, Mark Fincham, both of whom have said that they will only honor the results of an election if they agree with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AVLON: Now, Lake responded in a tweet Friday thanking Cheney for her, quote, generous in-kind contribution. That's the response there from Kari Lake. We should add that we have reached out to both the Lake and the Finchem campaigns. They are both welcome to come on this show at any time. But Mr. Fontes, did you realize that Liz Cheney would be lending here support?

[14:40:05]

FONTES: Well, we have had a lot of support from a lot of representatives. Representative Adam Kinzinger has openly endorsed our campaign. We have got a sitting legislator here in Arizona who has endorsed. We've got several former elected Republicans, business leaders, independents across the political spectrum are supporting us.

Let's not forget, my opponent Mark Finchem only got 41 percent of the vote in the primary. That means 59 percent of Republicans in Arizona voted against him. This is not a majority of Republicans that are going with the big lie. It is actually much small than the majority. Only in Arizona we had several candidates in the Republican primaries. So the math worked in their favor.

But at the end of the day, where we are right now is the inflection point for all of America. And candidates like me, candidates like the rest of the Democratic slate are getting a lot of support from Republicans and independents who are not satisfied with the direction that we are moving in vis-a-vis these folks who are making these threats and making it harder just to have our democracy.

We've got to stop being namby-pamby about this. They are encouraging domestic terrorism. And if we've got to lionize anybody, it has got to be that grandmother out there who is willing to confront these folks, because that's what we've got to do. We've all got to stand up. We've all got to vote. And if you're in Arizona, please vote early. Avoid this nonsense. Mail your ballot as soon as you can and let's make sure together we can promote our democracy.

ACOSTA: Let me ask you this. I'm assuming that if you lose this election, you will honor the election results. What do you suppose is going to happen if your opponent Mark Finchem ends up on the losing end of this and does not honor the election results? What if Kari Lake loses the election and does not honor the election results? What then?

FONTES: They don't need to honor it. It doesn't say anywhere that they have to accept or concede the truth. They clearly haven't accepted or conceded the truth when it comes to 2020, so who really cares if they concede. The bottom line is the voters get to decide, not Kari Lake, not Mark Finchem, and not anybody else. The voters are the people with the power in this democracy, that's what I'm fighting to protect.

Our elections are safe, secure, and free. We know this. It has been proven over and over again. I ran the 2020 election. And I narrowly lost my own re-election bid in that. And I conceded a very narrow loss because that's what American leaders do. This is a fair game. They're trying to cheat. They're trying to inject doubt.

And it's not just doubt in our systems. It's doubt that we have in one another as Americans. That is destructive to the nature of our society, and it's perfect fertile ground for a totalitarian strongman to move in. That's what they want. They don't believe in our democracy. They need to be put down using the democracy that they would be willing to destroy.

ACOSTA: Adrian Fontes, thank you very much for your time. We appreciate it. And again, we want to note that we have invited your opponent, Mark Finchem, on the program, and we're waiting to find out if that is going to happen. Adrian Fontes, thank you very much.

Coming up, in a stunning move, Russia is no longer following a U.N. brokered grain deal as it continues to pound Ukraine's power system. A live report from Ukraine, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:47:52]

ACOSTA: Russian officials now say they will pull out a U.N.-brokered grain export deal with Ukraine because of drone attacks on Crimea that Moscow blames on Kyiv. Russia and Ukraine agreed to grain deal back in July. It was considered a major diplomatic breakthrough that helped ease a global food crisis.

Our Nic Robertson joins me now from Kyiv with more. Nic, this sounds like a very big deal. A lot of people around the world who need this grain are going to feel the pinch from this.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: They are. Russia has pulled out for what they describe as an indefinite period. The U.N. worked really hard to get this deal down. It was a parallel deal, one deal with Russia, one deal with Ukraine, because that was the only way to make this work. It was anticipated when the first ships began sailing back the beginning of August that about 20 million tons of grain would be shipped out of the country.

Well, three months later it's only been 9.1 million tons of grain, and the Ukrainians have been blaming that slow output on the Russians over this period. The Russians have been saying, hold up, this gain was supposed to go to the third world and most of it is ending up actually going to the first world. That doesn't seem to be borne out by the statistics, but that's been the narrative in the past couple of weeks.

So it has already looked like Russia was going to pull out and not resign and re-up this deal. They are blaming it, though, on an overnight attack. They say they were attacked, their ships in Sebastopol, in Crimea, which they are occupying, by the way, they say were targeted by Ukrainian military led by British specialists.

The Ukrainians have denied it. The British have denied it. But the U.N. is left with a situation now that the deal is off. They have asked the Russians to hold fire.

But I think it's worth remembering here that the whole reason that this grain situation had arisen was because Russia invaded Ukraine, made the Black Sea too dangerous and Ukrainian ports too dangerous for grain ships to sail in and out of. No one would insure the ships to send them in to get the grain. And the only way that the U.N. got Russia to agree to the deal was to give it some sanctions relief.

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So Russia was effectively given incentive to get in the deal. Now they are pulling out. This is going to cost Ukraine. They won't get their revenues for the grain. And most of all, it's going to hard hit some of those developing nations like Lebanon, where the economy is already bad, like Yemen, like Syria as well, countries that have come to depend on Ukrainian grain. The prices can only now be expected to go up, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, something a lot of people around the world can relate to. Nic Robertson, thanks so much for that report. Very important development there, we appreciate it.

Coming up next, after 13 years of marriage, Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen are divorcing. Details are what the couple are saying about all this next.

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ACOSTA: After 13 years of marriage, Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen announced they are divorcing. The star NFL quarterback and the supermodel both released statements saying they arrived at the decision amicably and have gratitude for the time they spent together. A source told CNN the two had hired divorce attorneys and had been living separately. The couple say their three children will continue to be their priority.

A quick programming note, a new morning show is coming your way. Starting Tuesday, Join Don, Poppy, and Kaitlan for "CNN THIS MORNING" every weekday at 6:00. Make sure you tune in for that.

And we'll be right back.

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