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South Korean President Orders Speedy Identification Of Victims Of Deadly Halloween Incident; Biden Links Right-Wing Rhetoric To Attack On Nancy Pelosi's Husband; Interview With Rep. James Comer (R- KY) About Political Violence And The Midterms; Pelosi Attack Stokes Fear Of More Political Violence; Appeals Court Asked To Stop Ballot Box Activists; Cities Across U.S. Ramping Up Security Ahead Of Elections. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired October 29, 2022 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:58]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my gosh.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the nightclub district in Seoul. There was a Halloween party. It's being described in local media as a stampede. Just want to show people how narrow the streets is. This is the street where it happened.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: The husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi violently attacked with a hammer early Friday morning. He confronted Mr. Pelosi shouting, "Where is Nancy?"

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It reminds me of January 6th.

CAMPBELL: Mr. Pelosi was able to call 911 speaking in code.

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: It was the difference between probably life and death in this case.

REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R-IL): This is what happens when you convince a third of the country that the election was stolen and that the other side is an enemy.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Ten days do go before election day, candidates are bringing out some big-name surrogates.

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Every Republican politician seems obsessed with two things. Owning the libs and getting Donald Trump's approval.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've seen something of a momentum shift toward Dr. Oz. Trump is still very popular in Pennsylvania.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: I'm Pamela Brown in Washington. And you are live in the CNN NEWSROOM on this Saturday. Well, President Biden is offering his deepest condolences to the

United States ally South Korea after a terrible Halloween tragedy there. And I have to tell you, some of the images we're going to show you, they are very disturbing. Almost 150 people were killed while out partying in the capital Seoul. The crowd got out of control and many young people in costumes were apparently crushed and couldn't breathe. And we've just learned one American is among the injured.

Investigators are trying to figure out what set off this terrible turn of events. The South Korean president has ordered emergency workers to quickly identify the victims for the sake of those families waking up who still haven't heard from their loved ones.

Our Will Ripley has been covering this disaster all night in Seoul where it is now 8:00 a.m.

I mean, Will, these were just people who were out trying to have a good time for Halloween, dressed up in their costumes. And now this. I just mentioned many of the victims of this disaster still haven't been identified. So hard to imagine what those families are going through right now.

RIPLEY: You know, I think the hardest moment for me, Pamela, was when they were -- they put the bodies on stretchers and they were wheeling them right past our location. And there was one -- you know, all the bodies were covered with blue sheets, but there was one young woman, and she had a beautiful sparkling, colorful Halloween costume that you could see -- you know, on the skin. You could see it despite the fact that the sheets were there.

If I was her brother or, you know, for her mother, if she saw that, she would have known that it was her. And that was really when it hit me that these are young people, they were in their late teens, they were in their 20s. They were out here drinking and celebrating, and having a good time. And people were excited because it was the first Halloween in three years where there were not pandemic restrictions in place. Limits on crowd size. No mask requirement.

People were jampacked in here, wanting to have a good time. This whole street was full of people. And now it's full of 1700 emergency personnel who are, you know, rapidly trying to identify these people because, as you said, there are families that are waking up and their loved ones or their friends didn't come home last night. And they don't know if they're in the hospital because there's 150 people in the hospital, or are they one of the 149 people at least now confirmed dead.

A lot of media out here as you might imagine. But I just want kind of walk you through a couple of things that really were sticking out to me. We saw police combing this area and particularly looking down at the sidewalks here and through all of this, kind of this trash, because they're looking for people's IDs, their personal effects. You know, any pictures, anything that might have fallen out of their pockets that could be used to identify them.

And if I take you through here, I'm going to actually toss to some sound from one of the people who was packed inside this narrow alleyway which we're about to show you.

[19:05:07]

Charlie, just walk past this. Show people just how narrow this was. He describes what it was like to be stuck with thousands of people in this very narrow alley. The scary moments that he experienced when at one point he had a hard time even breathing and he couldn't move at all. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SONG SEHYUN, WITNESS: I saw the people, like, going to the left side. And I actually saw the person actually get into the opposite side. So actually the person in the middle they got jammed and they have, like, you know, no way to communicate. And they're like, you know, they cannot breathe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: And some of his friends who were with him are still missing at this hour. He has not been able to get ahold of them. So he is one of those people wondering if the people he was out celebrating with are going to make it home at all -- Pamela.

BROWN: Will Ripley, such a heartbreaking story. Thank you.

Well, tonight, President Biden said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband seems to be doing a lot better after an intruder attacked him with a hammer at their San Francisco home Friday. The president believes that based on the suspect allegedly asking, "where is Nancy?" the speaker herself was the true target. She was in Washington.

The president says you can't condemn the violence without condemning those spreading election lies, something the suspect did online.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The talk has to stop. That's the problem. That's the problem. You can't just say, I feel badly about the violence, we condemn it. Condemn what produces the violence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: The suspect, David DePape, is expected to be arraigned on Tuesday. He was not known to Capitol Police or on any federal tracking databases. But police say this was not a random act. Paul Pelosi is still in the hospital but should make a full recovery. And police continue to ask for the public's help in the investigation which now includes the FBI and U.S. Capitol Police.

And joining us now is CNN Washington correspondent Sunlen Serfaty and CNN national security analyst Juliette Kayyem.

Sunlen, first to you, what are you hearing from lawmakers about this attack? SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Certainly, Pam, we have

seen bipartisan condemnation of this attack. And initially from both Republicans and Democrats. We're hearing of course their sympathies to the Pelosi family as Paul Pelosi recovers in the hospital and outrage over the extent of the violence. But as people have had now about 24 hours since this happened plus, you know, they're taking a big-picture look and saying let's take a step back, take stock of this political moment, our political climate, what's going on.

And essentially saying, what does it mean for America that we are in this spot right now? And we heard that a lot today from candidates and lawmakers who are out stumping on the campaign trail. And I think that people noting that this sort of dangerous rhetoric, potentially, has a potential for even more harm going forward to people. I think Steny Hoyer, who's the House majority leader, said it really bluntly. He said, this is a dangerous time in America.

It's up to us to save America. Save us from the hate and division that's going on. And of course he made a point that we are going into midterm elections next week. So he encouraged people to vote with this sort of threat top of their mind.

BROWN: Yes. Everything feels heightened right now, Juliette. So far officials have not explicitly said that this was politically motivated, but given some of what we've seen on the suspect's social media, what CNN has heard from his relatives, it appears certainly possible at the very least. What evidence do officials need to firmly establish that link?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I think it begins with what is reported that he said. "Where's Nancy?" This was not targeted against Paul Pelosi, although he was the victim. Where's Nancy? Where is the second in line to the presidency? And so this is no fluke. And the police said that this was not some random robbery. So what he said in the room and who his intended victim was, and I think the gravity of this, we need to know how grave this is, that he was actually after Nancy Pelosi.

Then you go to his social media statements, what he's been posting, what he's been saying to people, and what his intentions were. It's clear what we're already reporting. We don't need to -- you know, you don't have to look hard. At this stage he's someone who may have had other issues. But he clearly got incited by the Stop the Steal effort that is being led by Mike Lindell, an ally of the former president, Donald Trump, someone who went into conspiracy theories on anti- vaccine, and other issues, and really did view -- people need to know this, really did view Nancy Pelosi as the enemy.

[19:10:01]

And if you're in the world that I follow, this sort of -- you know, the MAGA world online, Nancy Pelosi is a particular character for them. That she is -- much more so than President Biden or certainly Chuck Schumer. She is the focus of their attacks. He viewed that as a license to try to kill, and that's what we see right now. And so just picking up on this point, the -- this was both shocking

and absolutely inevitable. Given the amount of violence that is either condoned, nurtured, or ignored, in particular by the GOP. And being led by the person who may be their lead candidate. I am optimistic that this can be addressed by that party, but this was not a drill at this stage.

BROWN: Certainly not. Sunlen Serfaty, Juliette Kayyem, thank you.

So do Republicans have a duty to call out this violence and the violent rhetoric after the attack on Paul Pelosi? I'll ask Kentucky Republican Congressman James Comer that question coming up next.

Plus, the husband of the vice president on what it's like to be the first second gentleman. CNN's Dana Bash joins us with more on her special which airs right after this program.

And then later, a KFile investigation, Republican groups in two states are asking voters to mail in ballots and use drop boxes even as its candidates and officials rip the practice.

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BROWN: We're 10 days out now from midterm election day, and so far, election officials say more than 19 million early ballots have already been cast. President Biden is now one of them. He voted this afternoon in Wilmington, Delaware. And his granddaughter, Natalie, joined him for her first time voting. She just turned 18. Here they are as you see getting their stickers.

And the Democrats are rolling out their party's biggest names this weekend. Former President Barack Obama has been all over the Midwest today and Wisconsin and Michigan. Yesterday he was down in Georgia campaigning with Senator Raphael Warnock. Vice President Kamala Harris joined Maryland's nominee for governor Wes Moore in Baltimore. And the first lady, Dr. Jill Biden rallied in New Hampshire with the senator there, Maggie Hassan, who's in a tight race with Republican challenger Don Bolduc. New Hampshire's seat is critical to the Democrats' chances of holding control of the Senate.

Also tonight, House minority leader Kevin McCarthy speaking out today about the brutal attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband, Paul, calling it wrong. We're hearing from him about the incident for the first time. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): Let me be very clear. Violence or threats of violence has no place in our society. What happened to Paul Pelosi was wrong. I reached out to the speaker, I called her, I know she was on a plane coming back to California. But I was able to text with her to tell her about our prayers for Paul. Thankfully he's going to be OK. But thankfully the attacker -- he's a deranged individual, but thankfully he was arrested. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Republican Congressman James Comer of Kentucky joins us now from Louisville. He is the ranking member of the Oversight Committee and is poised to become chairman of the Oversight Committee if Republicans win the majority in the midterms.

Congressman, thanks for coming on the show. So, first off, do you join Kevin McCarthy in condemning the attack on Paul Pelosi? McCarthy, as you heard there, said what happened to him is flat-out wrong.

REP. JAMES COMER (R-KY): Of course. I mean, I condemn any attack of political violence from anyone of either party. It's wrong. I've said for several years now the rhetoric keeps getting worse and worse. And it's very difficult, the environment out there. You have a lot of people that get so fired up because of various political causes. It puts many politicians in a dangerous spot.

BROWN: I want to focus on this, though, in particular, because Nancy Pelosi has been demonized by the GOP for years. The attacker was shouting "where's Nancy?" which is exactly what we heard on January 6th from some rioters. The "Washington Post" is reporting Pelosi is the top member maligned in political ads ahead of the midterms according to AdImpact. Whataboutism aside, should your colleagues tone down the rhetoric here and also bat away some of these conspiracies that this attacker was apparently talking about online?

COMER: Well, I think that people in both parties should tone down the rhetoric. You know, you got an environment now --

BROWN: But I said whataboutism aside, let's talk about the GOP. And we just saw that the husband of House speaker being attacked with a hammer, and she is heavily maligned and demonized by the right. So go ahead.

COMER: Yes, no, and she's demonized, as is Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer. And I'm sure Kevin McCarthy, when he becomes speaker will be demonized. It's a terrible environment. And I believe people in both parties are guilty of intense rhetoric that really leads to, you know, feed into these people who are deranged and create violence. It's the same thing that happened with the shooter that shot at Steve Scalise and several of the Republican colleagues.

Violence is wrong. These people need to be put in jail for the rest of their life. And you know, we need to try to do better in both parties. Myself included.

BROWN: Well, that's big of you to include yourself in that. But I am just curious. I mean, just honestly here, why -- the other attacks, like Steve Scalise and Lee Zeldin, I mean, the White House did condemn that.

[19:20:03]

Why -- and other Democrats did, too, they were very quick to condemn that in those cases. Why in this case does there have to be, like, well, there's also, you know, an addendum, a qualifier? Why can't it be just be like, no, this is really bad, and we -- you know, we denounce this violence against Paul Pelosi, and yes, we should lower the rhetoric on our side? Like why do we have to bring in the other side on something like this?

COMER: I mean, I believe that the Republican leaders -- I know Scalise tweeted out early on, that's where I learned about it. I follow Scalise on Twitter. And then I got a message that McCarthy had sent out that he had tried to reach Nancy Pelosi and offered his prayers to her. I mean, I think that Republicans were quick to condemn the violence.

Look, we've got a -- you know, we're all concerned out there. You know, we all hit town halls a few years ago when the health care debate was raging and there was an effort to repeal health care. That was a very challenging time. That was my freshman year in Congress. And, you know, the town halls got out of hand. I had several get out of hand, even in my rural Kentucky district.

So, you know, this is -- this is a terrible thing. And our, you know, thoughts go out to the Pelosi family. And, you know, hopefully the attacker will be put in jail for a long time.

BROWN: All right, we could go on about this, but there's a lot of other topics to talk about, Congressman. I want to talk about the economy. Republicans, including you, have slammed Democrats for rising inflation. Americans are hard hit, no doubt about it. I was just in Kentucky, where you are now, talking to Kentuckians. And they all talked about the rising prices. But we're also seeing inflation in places like Great Britain and Europe. It is a global problem. So what is the specific Republican plan to improve the economy?

COMER: Well, the Republican plan to improve the economy is twofold. First of all, we want to stop unnecessary spending because I believe that's what's led to a lot of the inflation is, you know, we've had stimulus in the name of COVID. We've had extended unemployment. We had the PPP loan program, which I believe contributed to inflation. There's a lot of government spending with the Inflation Reduction Act, which I believe really increased inflation.

Just too much government spending. So the Republicans are going to have to get unnecessary spending under control. And secondly, we've got to reverse course on our energy policy. I believe that the Biden energy policy is kind of a model of what the Green New Deal would look like. It's, you know, turned a -- we frowned on drilling. We need to get out of the way. The government needs to get out of the way of our American energy industry.

We need to let the energy industry do what it does best, and that's produce energy. We can be energy independent in the United States. We shouldn't have to go to the OPEC and beg for more oil. We can produce the oil in the United States. And I believe right now the policies of this administration have led to higher gas prices, which contributes to inflation. Now we've got a potential shortage of diesel.

That could not only increase inflation, but also lead to more challenges with the supply chain shortages. So we've got a lot of challenges in our economy. And I think that it's going to take new leadership in Washington to reverse course on spending and our energy policy.

BROWN: And I did -- you said a lot there, and a lot of it is based on Democrats' policies that you disagree with. And you also mentioned the PPP, which was under the Trump administration. But I'm wondering, do Republicans feel --

COMER: Well, that's right.

BROWN: Feel like they don't need a plan because voters will just blame Democrats? Because a lot of what I hear from Republicans is about Democratic policies that they don't like, that they think is hurting Americans, though rising prices are seen all over the place in other countries. But is there a sense that, like, look, voters are going to vote for Republicans on the economy because they're going to blame the Democrats, we don't even need a plan to lay out?

COMER: Well, I think it's pretty clear, if the polling's right, that the voters are pretty frustrated with inflation. They're frustrated with crime. And when you look at who to blame, you have a Democrat White House, a Democrat Senate, and a Democrat House. So I believe the voters are going to take their frustration out on the Democrats. Then it will be the Republicans' opportunity to govern.

And we're going to have to govern, and we're going to have to fix some of these problems. We can't just talk about it. We're going to have to actually do something about it. And I think getting spending under control and trying to reverse our energy policies, obviously we want to secure the border. We think that's created a lot of problems with respect to crime and drugs in the United States.

So we have a pretty clear agenda with respect to reducing inflation, getting our energy industry back on its feet, and trying to reduce crime.

BROWN: So you mentioned all the different issues that are top of voters' minds. I didn't hear Hunter Biden in there. And that is something you have been very focused on. And you are poised to become the head of the Oversight Committee.

COMER: Right.

BROWN: You've said Hunter Biden is a national security risk and in your words, has compromised Joe Biden.

[19:25:06]

So if you become leader of the Oversight Committee, you know, with war dragging on in Ukraine and inflation sky high, do you really think this is a top priority for everyday Americans?

COMER: It's a top priority for the House Oversight Committee. And "Newsweek," which I think is a pretty middle-of-the-road publication, "Newsweek" just published a poll that said 52 percent of Americans believe that there should be investigations into Hunter Biden and the Biden family. So my job as chairman of the House Oversight Committee, we're going to look into Hunter Biden. We're going to look into Joe Biden's brothers. And we're going to see if, in fact, Joe Biden was compromised because of Hunter's shady business dealings.

I mean, if this had been one of the Trump kids that had received millions of dollars from unmarked accounts in China and Russia, I think there would be outrage from the left. So we're going to look into this. But, you know, with respect to the Oversight Committee, Pam, we're also going to try to play a huge role in reducing unnecessary spending. Our priority on the committee should be to reduce waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in the federal government.

So there are a lot of areas in the federal budget where we want to look at. A lot of programs, a lot of grant programs, a lot of agencies that we want to put under a microscope and see if, in fact, we can cut spending here or even better, even reduce or eliminate some of these unnecessary programs.

BROWN: OK, back to -- and I just want to -- I want to stick with the question was, and you mentioned, you know, the dealings with China, I mean, and Trump's kids, and the scrutiny they'd be under, well, they were -- they were. The three of them -- three of them, of his oldest kids, they did have business dealings in China. Of course, you mentioned unmarked bank accounts and so forth. But, you know, where is the proof linking President Biden to his son's business dealings?

As you know, President Biden said he has not received any money from business with his family. There's no evidence to date Joe Biden has received large sums of money from China or has otherwise gained wealth as a result of his son's business dealings abroad.

COMER: Well, if you look at the text messages and e-mails from the laptop, Hunter Biden sent many messages to other people complaining about having to keep his father up. He says, I have to keep my family up, no one appreciates what I do for my family, I have to pay my dad's bills. That's in some of the text messages and e-mails. So we're going to look into that. You know, he has 150 suspicious activity reports. Those are bank violations from various different banks, including JPMorgan as well as Wells Fargo.

I have two of those suspicious activity reports in hand now. And I can tell you, Pam, it's really bad. It's really bad. There are terrible violations of the law.

BROWN: I do want to make clear to our viewers who hear that. I want to hear that -- a suspicious activity report is not indicative of a violation of a law. There's a letter that you posted on your site from a Treasury official saying it's preliminary, it's just a tip, it's unverified. So I do want to let our viewers who are listening to this know that.

COMER: Yes. And I was a bank director for over a decade, so I'm very familiar with these suspicious activity reports. The banks don't file these unless it's an absolute last resort because when you do this, the bank examiners have to roll into the bank. And it's a lot of extra compliance for the banks. They have to freeze any account that that particular account has done a transaction with. And it creates a lot of problems for the bank. So they don't file these unless it's necessary.

And again, this was at the time the vice president of the United States's son. So the banks' pretty confident that Hunter Biden was committing a crime when they filed those. And it's 150 of these.

BROWN: Yes.

COMER: And, again, Pam, two of these -- and we're going to make public these in a press conference, they're pretty bad.

BROWN: Well, and we do want to say this has not been vetted. And, again, not evidence of a crime. And the IRS and FBI, they have been investigating Hunter Biden, we know, and that they've been looking at possible charges having to do with a gun violation and tax -- potential tax crimes. But nothing relating to Joe Biden. I want to make that clear.

COMER: That's right.

BROWN: Congressman James Comer, I appreciate your time tonight. We'd love to have you back some time.

COMER: Thanks for having me on, Pam. Have a great evening.

BROWN: Thanks. You, too.

Well, after the attack on Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband, political violence is in focus on the campaign trail today. Dana Bash will be here to discuss that. Plus, preview her interview with husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:33:38]

BROWN: Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are condemning yesterday's violent attack on Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband, with many calling for an end to the divisive sometimes violent rhetoric now infecting our politics.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): This is wrong. Violence should not go. You watch what happened to Steve Scalise and others. This has got to stop.

REP. RO KHANNA (D-CA): We have to come together as a country and turn down the temperature.

REP. STENY HOYER (D-MD): It is up to us to make sure that that America survives the hate and the division.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BROWN: CNN's chief political correspondent, Dana Bash joins us now.

So this story has become a huge topic in Washington obviously, and out on the campaign trail. And you saw, I just interviewed Republican Congressman James Comer who even said, look, I think we all need to lower the temperature and the rhetoric even myself. I mean, this is really become the talk in the politics world.

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR AND POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That was a really important interview for lots of reasons, including the fact that if the Republicans do take over, he is going to be the Oversight Chairman and he is going to have a lot of sway in kind of how the Republicans and how the House in general deals with issues that like this.

But the idea that you just played these soundbites from Kevin McCarthy, it took him a day to come out and say what he said publicly, but when he did come out, it was the right thing to say, from him, from Democrats, whether it is Steny Hoyer, who has known Nancy Pelosi for 50 years, or somebody who is more liberal.

[19:35:19]

BASH: This is the time that these leaders in a bipartisan, frankly, in a nonpartisan way, if that's even possible in today's day and age, to say that because it has gotten out of control, and as you said in the intro, we could be at a tipping point.

And maybe we've already sort of started to tip over when you have the husband of the Speaker of the House attacked with a hammer in the middle of the night because this deranged individual was looking for his wife.

BROWN: Yes. I mean, you think about January 6 and all of the people there saying, "Where is Nancy?" This deranged individual yelling, "Where is Nancy?" once he has once he is broken into the home.

BASH: There is no question. That's not an accident?

BROWN: That is not, absolutely not.

All right, so let's talk about the special interview that you have playing tonight. It's going to be with Doug Emhoff. The country's Second Gentleman.

As you know, the Second Gentleman is Jewish and he told you about his experience with antisemitism. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Have you been the victim of antisemitism?

DOUG EMHOFF, SECOND GENTLEMAN OF THE UNITED STATES: It is interesting. I have been around it when people don't realize I'm Jewish and a lot of times in the business -- in my business career, I'll be in a room and people are having their drinks and talking and someone will make an antisemitic remark, not realizing that I'm Jewish. BASH: What do you do?

EMHOFF: And sometimes I would say something, you know, sometimes I should have and I didn't, depending on the circumstance, and I look back now and I'm mad still. I wish -- there are a few moments that I wish I would have said something. But you're young, you're in the business world, and you just don't know how to react.

And you know, that's why I'm always going to speak out and live the way I'm living right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: What else did you take away from your conversation with him? That was so interesting.

BASH: Well, there are so many firsts, but both he and more importantly, the woman he is married to, the Vice President, are bringing to this job together. And he said to me, you know, I always -- I thought that once they got elected, that being the first man in the job would be the most important, he said, and it is but he called it 1A. Behind that is being Jewish, and I kind of didn't think about the importance of it until I got here.

And so he takes it seriously when it comes to cultural leadership -- leadership having to do with his faith, but most importantly, now because of the rise in antisemitism in America, you heard him talking about it, speaking out, and he did just for example, last week, he put out a statement after the Kanye West supporters unfurled a hateful banner over the 405, a freeway, in his adopted hometown in Los Angeles.

So it's actually, it's not unlike what we're seeing today and hearing today with Paul Pelosi, it's a different -- maybe a different flavor of hate, a different target, Jews versus politicians, but it is all the same notion of people being stirred up, people being angry, and people in many cases being lied to.

Antisemitism is the oldest conspiracy on the planet, and election denialism is a more modern conspiracy. People are being ginned up and it is turning violent.

BROWN: It is turning violent. It is spilling over into violence.

BASH: But this is a conversation where there are serious moments like that, but it is also really noteworthy because he has not done an extended interview and he talks about what it's like to take on this role, being the first man, and Pamela, you'll appreciate this as a strong woman, he talks about the importance of men, saying, you know what? we have to support our strong women, especially those who have big jobs, sometimes it means taking a step back and that's what he did in this role.

BROWN: Yes, I appreciate that a lot.

BASH: I know you do. BROWN: For sure, Dana Bash. I cannot wait to watch this. Thank you so

much. Thanks for coming into to talk about it.

BASH: Thanks, Pamela.

BROWN: Watch "Being: The Second Gentleman" coming up at the top of the hour right here on CNN.

And still ahead on the CNN NEWSROOM. Hypocrisy alert: In Arizona and Michigan, State Republican parties are urging people to vote by mail or drop box as many of their candidates slammed those methods as being susceptible to fraud.

CNN's K-File got a hold of the calls voters are getting, and Andrew Kaczynski is here with his new reporting, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:43:59]

BROWN: Voter groups are asking a US Appeals Court to stop activists, some of them armed from hanging around voter drop boxes in Arizona.

A Lower Court refused to grant them a stay even though they say some activists are recording voters dropping off their ballots. And in at least one case, police had to confront activists in the City of Mesa who showed up with guns and wearing masks and tactical gear.

Republican candidates in Arizona and Michigan are warning without evidence that voting through drop boxes or the mail encourages voter fraud.

But CNN's K-File has found that the Republican Parties in those States are sending a different message.

CNN senior K-File editor, Andrew Kaczynski joins us now. So Andrew, tell us what you found.

ANDREW KACZYNSKI, CNN SENIOR K-FILE EDITOR: Yes, so calls from the Arizona and Michigan Republican Party are going out to voter cell phones, urging them to vote by mail in Michigan to use drop boxes, and this is coming as their own nominees in both of those States for races like Secretary of State and Governor are spreading conspiracies, you know about using drop boxes, voting by mail.

[19:45:06]

KACZYNSKI: A review of the data that we obtained from an anti-robocall application showed that these calls on just one day combined went to more than 970,000 cell phones.

If you look at Arizona, you've got Kari Lake, their nominee, she voiced a call telling people to vote by mail. Earlier in the year, Lake endorsed this pretty nutty conspiracy that Democrats use mail-in voting as a way to rig elections. You know, of course, there's no evidence for that. The Arizona Republican Party, which did one of these calls, actually

sued over the summer to end no excuse mail-in voting, which is the most popular form of voting in that State.

BROWN: All right, and that's just Arizona. Tell us about Michigan.

KACZYNSKI: So in Michigan, it's a little bit similar. The local party or the State Party sent calls asking voters to vote by mail, to use drop boxes. Let's just take a listen to one of those calls from them.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

BROOKE: Hey, this is Brooke with the Michigan Republican Party calling to remind you to return your absentee ballot and to vote for our Republican slate. Please do not forget to complete your ballot and vote for conservative Supreme Court candidates Paul Hudson and Brian Zahra.

You can return your ballot in person at your local clerk's office or return through the Postal Service or deliver it to a drop box. The deadline to do so is by Election Day, Tuesday, November 8th.

Paid for by the Michigan Republican Party with regulated funds, not authorized by any candidate, 520 Seymour Ave, Lansing, Michigan 48933.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

KACZYNSKI: So Tudor Dixon, the gubernatorial nominee in that State, her platform on her website, they literally want to ban drop boxes. She doesn't want these things at all. If you remember, some of the 2020 conspiracies about the election drop boxes were a big part of that. Their Secretary of State nominee Kristina Karamo, she is part of this coalition and actually, that includes the Arizona Secretary of State nominee, and they want to end mail-in voting entirely. They want you know, just one day you go and you vote.

We reached out to the Arizona Republican Party, the Kari Lake campaign given their past statements, we didn't hear back from them. The Michigan Republican Party got back to us and they confirmed that this call is part of a program to try and get absentee voters out to the polls.

BROWN: Andrew Kaczynski, excellent reporting. Thanks so much.

We'll be right back.

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[19:52:10]

BROWN: With the US Midterm Elections fast approaching, cities all across the country are ramping up security including in New York, where law enforcement officials are urging the public to remain vigilant.

CNN's Brian Todd has the latest. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): An urgent warning from America's largest police force: More vigilance is needed for security for the upcoming Midterm Elections.

The New York Police Department issuing a new bulletin warning that "Malicious actors especially racially and ethnically motivated violent extremists and antigovernment, anti-authority extremists will continue to prioritize the targeting of political rallies, voting sites, poll workers and election officials."

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: You've got poll workers and Election Officials literally quitting their jobs because of the atmospherics. They are worried about what they are seeing and about what they are hearing.

TODD (voice over): The NYPD says there are currently no credible threats to New York City polling sites, but there have been threats elsewhere. We spoke with Scott McDonell, the clerk of Dane County, Wisconsin.

SCOTT MCDONELL, COUNTY CLERK, DANE COUNTY, WISCONSIN: We've gotten social media threats, I have, in fact, we've got someone wandering around all in camo in the April election, shaking on doors trying to get into places. By the time the police reacted to that, he was long gone.

TODD (voice over): Recently, armed individuals in tactical gear we're seen outside a ballot drop box in Mesa, Arizona. Officials in Texas have asked the Department of Justice to send monitors to Harris County, where Houston is where efforts to intimidate election workers had been reported, incidents that prompted this vow from the US Attorney General.

MERRICK GARLAND, US ATTORNEY GENERAL: The Justice Department has an obligation to prevent -- to guarantee a free and fair vote by everyone who is qualified to vote and will not permit voters to be intimidated.

TODD (voice over): Law enforcement officials and analysts say the threats are being fueled by extremists who still promote the falsehood that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump and that they will use all sorts of tactics to intimidate voters.

MARY MCCORD, FORMER ACTING ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR NATIONAL SECURITY: It can be things that suggest to a person that they are being watched, that maybe what they're doing is illegal, following voters to their cars, recording their license plate numbers, certainly asking them any questions about their eligibility to vote or any kind of thing like that.

MILLER: The online chatter is like nothing we have really seen before in terms of an election season. They're talking about attacking political meetings.

TODD (voice over): And a new CNN report says Federal funding for enhanced security measures that election offices and polling places often isn't getting to officials who would put those measures in place because of bureaucratic snafus or breakdowns in communication.

MCDONNEL: If there's money available at the national level, we don't know about it. There is no coordination and it is really deeply frustrating for us on the frontline.

TODD (on camera): As a result, Scott McDonnel says security at his election office in Dane County Wisconsin heading into the midterms is "a joke." Security analysts tell us they are worried that the threats and the holes in security at some election sites will prompt some voters to stay away from the polls this time, figuring it is simply not worth it.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:59:45]

BROWN: Finally tonight, we have baby news from a member of our NEWSROOM team. This is James Kent Stallings born this week, weighing in at five pounds 11 ounces.

Congrats you are associate producer, Kathleen and her husband Josh. Look how adorable.

Kathleen says baby James has a head full of blonde curly hair and looks just like his dad and we are told he was welcomed to the world with a little help from The Beatles. The song "Here Comes the Sun" playing the moment he was born.

What a beautiful family. We will them all the best as they enjoy precious time with their bundle of sunshine.

Thanks for being here with us. I am Pamela Brown. "Being: The Second Gentleman" with Dana Bash up next.

[20:00:28]