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Police Investigating Attack On House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Husband; Ukraine Fights To Keep The Lights On; Russia Completes Military Mobilization; Iran Calls For Rallies To Condemn Shrine Attack; Brazil's Runoff Election; U.S. Triple Threat RSV, COVID And Flu. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired October 29, 2022 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and welcome to all of you watching us in the United States, Canada and all around the world. I am Kim Brunhuber. Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM:
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CHIEF WILLIAM SCOTT, SAN FRANCISCO POLICE DEPARTMENT: We do know that this was intentional. It is not random. We know that. We know that.
BRUNHUBER (voice-over): We are learning more about the man accused of attacking the husband of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Details along with reaction from both sides of the political divide. Plus --
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): From gunfire to government buildings destroyed by fire, unrest in Iran is intensifying after yet another protester is laid to rest. We will have a live report.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): And pediatric emergency rooms are being flooded with cases of RSV. We will take you inside of a St. Louis hospital fighting the crisis.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: The husband of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is recovering from serious injuries this hour after being violently attacked at his San Francisco home. Police say that Paul Pelosi was struck with a hammer by a man who broke into the residence early Friday.
Authorities still have not yet determined a motive but a source says that the intruder was looking for the Speaker. Politicians from both sides have condemned the attack, President Joe Biden linking it to right wing extremism. Here he is.
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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Enough is enough is enough. Every person of good conscience needs to clearly and unambiguously stand up against the violence in our politics regardless of what your politics are.
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BRUNHUBER: Authorities in San Francisco are preparing to file felony charges, including attempted murder. They say the suspect is expected to be arraigned on Tuesday. CNN's Whitney Wild has more on the investigation.
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SCOTT: Our officers observed Mr. Pelosi and the suspect both holding a hammer. The suspect pulled the hammer away from Mr. Pelosi and violently assaulted him with it. Our officers immediately tackled the suspect.
WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's husband Paul Pelosi hospitalized after a violent attack with a hammer in the San Francisco home he shares with the Speaker. Sources telling CNN, the 82-year-old is recovering tonight after the man broken through the back of the home.
SCOTT: This is an active investigation.
WILD (voice-over): Sources tell CNN, the intruder shouted, "Where is Nancy?" when he confronted her husband.
The assailant tried to tie up Paul Pelosi until, quote, "Nancy got home."
Sources also tell CNN that when San Francisco Police arrived, the assailant said he was, quote, "waiting for Nancy."
Police looking at the alleged suspect on a list of crimes.
SCOTT: Attempted homicide, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, burglary and several other additional felonies. The suspect has been identified as 42-year-old David DePape.
WILD (voice-over): A review of the suspect's social media shows multiple posts about conspiracy theories such as links to videos produced by My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell, claiming the 2020 election was stolen. Speaker Pelosi was in Washington at the time of the attack and sources
say there was no protective detail at the home. Her security team is robust but doesn't protect family members when she's away.
A spokesman for the Speaker said Paul Pelosi is expected to make a full recovery. Now the FBI is on the ground at the Speaker's residence along with the United States Capitol Police and the San Francisco Police Department.
SCOTT: The motive for this attack is still being determined.
WILD (voice-over): Investigators also trying to determine how this crime unfolded. Sources tell CNN U.S. Capitol Police have a fleet of security cameras at the home and caught the attack on video. FBI Director Christopher Wray recently told CNN he sees a trend of people settling scores with violence. And that is becoming all too normal.
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CHRISTOPHER WRAY, FBI DIRECTOR: There are way, way too many people who are willing to take their ideological, social or political grievances, perhaps very earnestly felt, and manifest them through violence. And in our system, there is a right way and a wrong way to express when you're angry or upset about something.
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WILD (voice-over): Something we saw on January 6th when the rioters tried to hunt down Speaker Pelosi and trashed her office.
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WILD: Sources tell CNN that the man was not known to Capitol Police and was not in any federal databases that track threats -- Whitney Wild, CNN, Washington.
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BRUNHUBER: Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell tweeted his outrage over the attack, saying that he was,, quote, "horrified and disgusted," but grateful Pelosi would make a full recovery.
Former vice president Mike Pence, himself as a target during the Capitol riot, denounced violence against public officials and their families.
And current Vice President Kamala Harris called out political leaders who incite such acts with their reckless rhetoric.
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KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This was an act of extreme violence and I think we're looking at it at a time in our country where there is so much discourse that it's fueled by hate and division. And anyone who professes be a leader, I think, has to really
understand that the meaning and the impact of their words and their posture on things like this.
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BRUNHUBER: Last year, the U.S. Capitol Police says that they tracked over 9,000 threats against members of Congress and congressional property. Some lawmakers have sought additional security for their families back home. The sources say that they are often told that the agency does not have enough resources to fill those requests.
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BRUNHUBER: Senior political analyst Ron Brownstein joins me now from Los Angeles, he is also a senior editor at "The Atlantic."
Ron, thank you so much for being here with us. Listen, it is dangerous to extrapolate too much from one incident. We do not know about much about the suspect, his motive and so on.
But given the warnings that we are hearing about the perceptions of election fraud leading to heightened threats of violence, what struck you most about this attack?
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, that it was both extraordinary and somehow feels inevitable. This us a different country than it was a few years ago before, frankly, Donald Trump came down the escalator.
We've seen far more proliferation of threats of violence and actual violence against local public health officials, school board officials, obviously against election officials. We've seen all the resignations of election officials who have faced threats -- a kidnapping attempt against the governor of Michigan.
There have been some instances from the Left, for instance aimed at the Supreme Court justices. But by and large we are seeing what we saw today, which are individuals who are marinating in the kind of hermetically sealed world of right-wing conspiracy theories, who are taking those sentiments out of the cyber world and into the real world.
Like I say, it is both ominous but not entirely surprising, given the trajectory that we are on.
BRUNHUBER: What do you make about the Republican reaction to this?
I just want to play one example, the Virginia governor.
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GOV. GLENN YOUNGKIN (R-VA): Listen, Speaker Pelosi's husband, they had a break-in last night in their house and he was assaulted. There's no room for violence anywhere but we're going to send her back to be with him in California. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: So again, just one example; may be totally tone-deaf.
But has the condemnation been strong enough?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, certainly people have condemned this specific act but if you look at the long arc of what has happened, people who study this kind of domestic extremism, for example, Elizabeth Newman (ph), who was the assistant secretary of DHS under Trump, has said very clearly that the most important thing in trying to tamp down this kind of violence is for the leaders of the political side on which it is being waged, to send a clear, apolitical message that it is unacceptable.
And we have heard really anything but. We have seen so many Republican leaders, who have tried to normalize and minimize the January 6th attack. We've seen Kevin McCarthy, the Republican leader and likely next Speaker of the House, say -- defend the members of his caucus, like Marjorie Taylor Greene, who have used extremist and belligerent language.
And who in fact suggested in a video clip that Nancy Pelosi was guilty of treason. We are not seeing the unequivocal condemnation of this kind of extremism, which I believe is largely because they fear that would anger Trump.
And as a result, the barriers between the mainstream Republican Party and this far-right extremism are being eroded and the consequences of that are being seen in the kinds of events like today.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. The issue extends far beyond just lawmakers; poll workers as well say they are facing increasing threats and they say not. Enough is being done to protect them.
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BRUNHUBER: The experts say that extremists are changing tack from these national campaigns, these more local efforts to intimidate voters.
Before we talk about solutions, what effect do you think this might have on the midterms here?
BROWNSTEIN: I think that is going to -- I think it is already a significant issue and potentially even bigger in 2024. Today. We had a Trump appointed judge, a federal judge, rule that the armed vigilantes who are surveilling voters as they exercise their constitutional rights in Arizona vote by mail and deposit those ballots in drop boxes, that those vigilantes could continue to sit outside of the drop boxes in tactical gear, with weapons and so forth.
And that again this is -- we are seeing that the character of politics in America is changing. It is changing before our eyes. And we are seeing a low background hum of threats of violence and, in more cases, actual violence become woven into the fabric of our political life. And it is not clear at all -- I mean, it is the opposite. It is clear
that this is going to escalate unless there is a more forceful denunciation of it, both by Republican elected officials but also by law enforcement. And so far on both fronts I don't we are seeing nearly enough to have confidence that this is not going to get worse before it gets better.
BRUNHUBER: No easy solutions. We'll have to leave it on that depressing note. Ron Brownstein, thank you so much for your analysis.
BROWNSTEIN: Thank you..
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BRUNHUBER: With U.S. midterm elections just over a week away, Democrats are bringing up their heavy hitters to woo voters.
Former president Barack Obama is making five-state swing before Election Day. He's also going to Michigan, Wisconsin and Nevada, wrapping up joint appearances in Pennsylvania with his old partner, President Joe Biden, for the closing weekend of the campaign.
This weekend, Biden will campaign solo in Florida, New Mexico and Maryland. Obama kicked off his tour here in Georgia on Friday night, campaigning for Raphael Warnock against Herschel Walker. It's one of two races mentioned by Chuck Schumer in this hot mike moment, listen to this.
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SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), MAJORITY LEADER (from captions): It looks like the debate didn't hurt us too much in Pennsylvania, so that's good. The state where we're going downhill is Georgia. It's hard to believe that they will go for Herschel Walker.
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BRUNHUBER: On Friday, Biden and his vice president campaigned in Pennsylvania on behalf of the Democratic candidate, John Fetterman. Jessica Dean has more.
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JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris traveling here to Philadelphia here on Friday night to rally Democrats as we rapidly approach Election Day in the 2022 midterms. The Senate race here in Pennsylvania could not be more high stakes.
It is very likely to determine who controls power in the U.S. Senate and what Biden and his team and administration will be able to do in the last two years of his first term. So he is really trying to get the point across, talking about what they will be able to do if John Fetterman, the lieutenant governor, is sent to the U.S. Senate. Beyond that, President Biden also addressing the attack on House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband, Paul Pelosi, today, calling the attack despicable, tying it to right wing extremism and calling for an end for all political violence in the country.
Also tying it to January 6 as well, the insurrection at the Capitol. But again, coming back here to Pennsylvania, it is a place we've seen President Biden come to now 19 times in his time as president. It is the place he visits really the most. And it has a direct tie to his personal link here but also to his political fortunes -- Jessica Dean, CNN, Philadelphia.
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BRUNHUBER: Ukrainian troops pile on the pressure on Russian forces ahead of a looming battle for a key city.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Still ahead, a Ukrainian push on occupied Kherson, as Russian forces make it clear they're not going away without a fight.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Plus, civil unrest continues in Iran as another anti-government protest is met with violence. The details straight ahead. Please stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: More U.S. military aid will be headed Ukraine's way after a new announcement from the Pentagon. It's sending a new batch of military equipment worth $275 million, including ammunition for the HIMARS rocket launchers, which have played a key role in the war.
The Biden administration has now provided $18.5 billion in assistance. Canada is pitching in, earning a thank you from President Zelenskyy. He thanked Canada for announcing new government-backed bonds, designated to help fund the Ukrainian government.
And in Ukraine itself, a battle on multiple fronts is underway right now. One is to keep the lights on after weeks of Russian strikes on its power system. President Zelenskyy says electricity restrictions are in place for 4 million Ukrainians. And Kyiv's mayor said it will take up to three weeks to fix all the damage.
Meanwhile, Moscow says the power situation will improve if Kyiv recognizes Russia's claims that it has annexed four Ukrainian regions. Ukraine's energy minister compares what Russia's doing to genocide. This is what he told CNN's Becky Anderson Friday.
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GERMAN GALUSHCHENKO, UKRAINIAN ENERGY MINISTER: Of course, it's even impossible to discuss. And that's only give me an evidence that all these massive attacks on energy infrastructure was aimed to make terror to our people. And that is really an act of terror of Russian state.
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST: You've described it as energy genocide, sir.
GALUSHCHENKO: Yes, exactly.
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GALUSHCHENKO: That's the general -- I mean, the main goal of this destruction is, especially on the upcoming winter is to create problems for the civilians. That is not a challenge, which I would say, target to some military base and accidentally target the energy infrastructure.
So they aimed to destroy the energy infrastructure of the country before the winter.
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BRUNHUBER: Ukraine is turning up the pressure on Iran to stop its suspected drone sales to Moscow.
Ukrainian officials say Russia has been using Iranian drones to attack infrastructure across the country, including its power system. On Friday, Ukraine's foreign minister said he told his Iranian counterparts to end weapons sales to Russia.
Iran later repeated its denials that it's selling drones to Moscow. But Ukraine's military says it has shot down more than 300 Iranian drones in recent weeks. Meanwhile --
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Some Iranians in Kyiv protested against the suspected drone sales. They said those have been painful to watch.
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BRUNHUBER: In Moscow, Russia says it is ending its controversial military mobilization. It was announced late last month aiming to put 300,000 people in uniform. But it was beset by bureaucratic errors, protests and even attacks on recruitment offices and led to a massive exodus of Russians, who fled abroad to avoid having to fight in Ukraine.
But Russia's defense minister told Vladimir Putin on Friday that the campaign still accomplished what it was supposed to. Here he is.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The dispatch of citizens called for mobilization was completed today. Draft notification to citizens have been discontinued. The tasks set by you to mobilize 300,000 people have been fulfilled. No additional tasks are planned.
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BRUNHUBER: We're keeping an eye on several other developments in Ukraine at this hour. Kyiv says its forces are now practically in control of a major highway in the Luhansk region northeast of Lyman.
And in the south, Russia's claim it repelled a Ukrainian drone attack on Crimea. It's happening while Ukraine is preparing for a push to retake Kherson. Russia is reportedly pouring in reinforcements while shutting down hospitals and taking their equipment out of the city.
Our Nic Robertson is monitoring those developments from Kyiv. And he joins us live.
Nic, let's start there with what I said about Kherson. The situation very tense there with the influx of Russian soldiers.
What more can you tell us?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, what Ukrainian officials are saying is that the Russian authorities are taking out anything of value from Kherson. So, leaving, essentially, an empty shell when Ukrainian forces eventually take it.
The hospital there, bearing in mind that Kherson is the regional capital, so the hospital there is a significant provider of medical support for a very large community. So stripping down the hospital, taking out all of the important equipment from there.
And recognizing that Kherson has an oncology unit, sort of regional significance, Russia is essentially denying Ukrainian citizens of good medical care, downgrading the city, preparing, clearly, for a fight. They're pushing in reinforcements.
Their new conscripts that Ukrainian authorities expect to be sort of expended by the Russian forces to try to defend the city. But it will not be a hollow victory for Ukrainian authorities when they take the city.
But it's going to cost them money to rebuild and restructure. What they see as the medical facilities and the other facilities, fire services, all of the important facilities in the city being stolen by Russia, is something that they want to stop.
But the military, necessity of the military capability to take the city quickly, just cannot outpace the way that Russia is stripping out these civilian assets from the city. It's in the Ukraine sights but it's going to take some time to get there. BRUNHUBER: Now Nic, staying with Russia and Putin, he says that the
Russian military needs to make some adjustments, based on these experiences in Ukraine.
So how could that affect the Ukrainian military?
ROBERTSON: These are adjustments that, perhaps, reflect more Putin's message at home than a reality on the battlefield.
Ukrainian forces don't feel that the recruits that are coming now are prepared for battle or equipped for battle. And there's a lot of evidence to support that. The sort of structural changes that Putin might be alluding to here will take some time.
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ROBERTSON: The analysis is it will take some time to put into effect. The reality, it appears, in part, what Putin is doing, is trying to sort of not shoulder responsibility for the lack of the military's readiness to take on Ukrainian forces and their poor showing so far.
And this is sort of pushing on the military to, say you need to do a better job. The way that the military has been used by President Putin has been exceptionally costly in terms of men and materiel.
If there dissent within his military ranks about this type of criticism, we're not hearing about it. But the reflection from the population writ large, when Putin called for that conscription several weeks ago, was for several hundred thousand men of military age to literally leave the country.
There seems to be little confidence in Putin's ability to run the army and that he will get the sort of military that he wants. He's had decades to do it and had thought that he had done it. Many men in Russia today don't believe that to be the case.
BRUNHUBER: All right. Appreciate your analysis, Nic Robertson in Kyiv. Thanks so much.
And still ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM, much more on the attack against Nancy Pelosi's husband. We'll take a look at the charges the suspect is facing and the possible motive for the attack.
Plus, more unrest in Iran, as protests across the region are once again met with violence. We've got the details next. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world, I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
Returning now to our lead story, the husband of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has had successful surgery, after he was attacked by a home intruder. Officials say Paul Pelosi is expected to make a full recovery from his injuries, which include a skull fracture.
He was struck with a hammer on Friday by a man who broke into his San Francisco residence. Investigators are still looking into what motivated the attack. But a source says the intruder was looking for Speaker Pelosi. Listen to this.
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CHIEF WILLIAM SCOTT, SAN FRANCISCO POLICE DEPARTMENT: We also know, based on our investigation at this point, that this was not a random act. This was intentional. And it is wrong. 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. And everybody should be disgusted about what happened this morning.
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BRUNHUBER: Politicians from both parties have condemned the attack, with former vice president Mike Pence calling it an outrage. He's urging authorities to prosecute the attacker to the fullest extent of the law. The San Francisco district attorney says they're preparing felony charges, including attempted murder.
Well, right now, we know very little about Pelosi's alleged attacker or his possible motive. Sources say David DePape was not known to Capitol Police and wasn't in any federal database that tracks domestic threats.
Charges against him include attempted homicide, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse and burglary. And his postings on social media include condemnation of the congressional investigation into the Capitol riot and memes of bogus conspiracy theories promoted by the far right.
Former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe explains investigators will next want to know if he acted alone or if others were involved. Here he is.
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ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: They are really trying to drill down on what this individual's motives may have been to get as much specificity on that as they can.
But they are also very focused on trying to uncover whether there are other people who may have known what he was going to do, maybe like- minded individuals who could be planning similar sort of attacks.
That is always the first priority that law enforcement has after any sort of attack. They want to see if they can stop the next one, the second one, the follow-on attack.
They are going to do that by looking at this person's network in its entirety, so all the folks that he's been contacting, either on text message or telephone calls or e-mails, people that he interacts with over social media.
They, of course, want to look at his statements on social media and on any other electronic devices he might have. So there's a lot of work going on right now in the San Francisco Police Department and also in the FBI and the Capitol Police.
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BRUNHUBER: And the 42-year-old suspect is scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday.
Well, turning now to Iran. Another anti-government protest has been met with violence.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Videos posted to social media show protesters encountering gunfire and tear gas in the eastern city of Zahedan on Friday. A 12-year-old boy was shot. It's unclear who was doing the shooting.
State media claims civilians and security forces were wounded by, quote, "unknown people."
Large crowds of government supporters also marched in several Iranian cities in response to Wednesday's attacks in a shrine in the city of Shiraz. ISIS has claimed responsibility but Iran's government also blames the protesters. Nada Bashir joins us to give us the latest here.
Nada, not the first time we've seen this response to turmoil from Iran.
NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, for the last seven weeks, the Iranian regime has pointed the finger of blame at foreign actors, mainly the United States and Israel, accusing them of working with foreign agents and actors within the country to stoke unrest and instability.
They haven't acknowledged that these protests are, in fact, protests calling for regime change and protests calling for human rights to be upheld. They're characterized these demonstrations as riots and accuse foreign actors of taking advantage of the situation in Iran to take create an environment of instability.
And the violence we saw in the southern city of Shiraz. It's been claimed by the Islamic State. They've identified three assailants, who they say are foreign nationals and that is crucial for the narrative the regime is pushing forward --
[05:35:00] BASHIR: -- that this is in fact a concerted effort by foreign actors to create instability in the country. But of course, we have heard numerous reports from human rights organizations, as well as speaking to people directly on the ground. that this, of course, is not the case.
We've seen protests up and down the country every day now for six weeks. Protesters chanting "death to the regime," calling for change, chants of "Women, life, freedom." This was, of course, sparked by the call for women's rights but the violence that we're seeing by the regime is only intensifying.
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BASHIR (voice-over): The sound of gunfire and buildings in flames, scenes of chaos in the Kurdish city of Mahabad, as Iran's security forces intensifying an already brutal and deadly crackdown of protesters.
A human rights group based in Norway says that at least four people were killed on Thursday after security forces opened fire on around protesters.
Thousands gathered at a demonstration ignited by the killing of Esmail Moloudi, a protester who was shot dead by key security forces, according to Amnesty International. Now reports of so-called war weapons being used by special forces stationed on rooftops of local government buildings prompting an outcry from human rights groups.
Amnesty saying on Thursday, Iran's security authorities are unlawfully using firearms against thousands in Mahabad. Iran's authorities must immediately rein in the security forces.
The regime, however, says police forces have moved in when protesters targeted government buildings after this burial ceremony.
While state media has claimed without evidence that protesters were acting under instruction of the separatist terror organization. The incident follows an eight weeks-long campaign of state action violence against peaceful protesters, one which already claimed the lives of 240 people, according to the United Nations.
JAVAID REHMAN, U.N. SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON IRAN: I denounced the crackdown on protesters and I urge the authorities to immediately stop the use of lethal force in policing peaceful assemblies.
BASHIR: Mahabad is no stranger to unrest. The city has seen periodic riots and protests over the course of the last two decades. But now, the city has become the latest focal point on the protest movement which has been really galvanized. Their lives reportedly claimed by the brutality of the Iranian authorities. The Iranian officials describe responsibility.
And as protests continues to gain momentum, human rights groups are demanding tougher action by the international community, with Amnesty warning that global inaction has already come at a tragically high cost.
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BASHIR: We've heard from U.N. experts, calling for an independent international investigation into the use of excessive and lethal force as well as calls for a mechanism to hold the Iranian regime to account.
The concern now is that this violence that we're seeing could continue to intensify. We've already seen, in the last few days, live fire ammunition being used against protesters. And the worry now is, as demonstrations continue, we could continue to see the death toll rising.
BRUNHUBER: That's the fear. Thanks so much, Nada Bashir in London.
Thousands gathered in Prague Friday to demand that the current center right government step down.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): The demonstrations took place on the national holiday and were organized by far right political movements, various fringe groups and the Communist Party. Protesters were seen waving Czech flags and signs for to leave the E.U. and NATO.
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BRUNHUBER: Brazil's president Jair Bolsonaro said he will respect the runoff against rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The two presidential candidates in Brazil sparred in their final debate before voters go to the polls, with each accusing the other of lying.
The differences between them are stark as the country continues to suffer with high inflation, limited growth and rising poverty. Neither Bolsonaro nor da Silva won more than 50 percent of the votes earlier this month. During the debate, they blamed each other for rising crime rates.
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JAIR BOLSONARO, BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Violence decreased a lot during my government and increased in your government; from 2003 to 2006, homicides in Brazil increased by more than 30 percent.
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BOLSONARO (through translator): What did we do differently from what you did?
LULA DA SILVA, BRAZILIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (through translator): In my government, there will be no weapons. In my government, the weapons will have to be authorized by the armed forces and we will control them, because organized crime cannot be provided with guns and have an arsenal of weapons larger than that of the police.
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BRUNHUBER: The world's richest man is now in complete control of one of the world's loudest megaphones on social media. Elon Musk, founder of Tesla and SpaceX, officially took ownership of Twitter late Thursday after buying the company for $44 billion.
It's unclear what Musk does intend to do with the huge platform. But he did immediately fire the top executives. Musk said decisions to possibly reinstate some suspended accounts won't be made until the new content moderation council is established.
Sneezing, coughing and other symptoms of the flu and RSV are spiking in the U.S. Health experts say the situation won't get any better anytime soon. We'll have a report next. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: We're going to take a look at the triple threat of respiratory illnesses that are making Americans sick as we head into winter.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 1 in 5 adults in the U.S. don't plan to get the updated COVID-19 booster shot. It targets the original coronavirus strain as well as Omicron subvariants.
The CDC also reports the flu season in the U.S. is worse than usual for this time of year, with the highest number of people hospitalized with the flu in more than a decade.
Health officials estimate 360 deaths from the flu, with the first death of a child this week. And a spike in cases of the respiratory virus RSV is making children's hospitals so busy some are setting up tents to handle patient overflow.
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BRUNHUBER: The numbers bear out the surge. As of second week in October, there's more than 7,000 RSV cases, a 13 percent jump in seven days. Positivity rates in the U.S. have jumped 17 percent compared to last year. Many facilities are plagued by staffing shortages, reporting full capacity. CNN's Adrienne Broaddus has more on the story.
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ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hospital staffing has been a challenge and this level 1 trauma center is no exception but doctors here issue that doing their best to manage staffing. It just means when patients show up here, they will have to pack some patience. BROADDUS (voice-over): A visit to this emergency department might
leave you waiting hours.
DR. KIM QUAYLE, MEDICAL DIRECTOR, ST. LOUIS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: A few hours, unfortunately, we do our best to shorten that but just with the overall surge of patients that we're seeing at this time, it's very difficult to have people seen immediately when they get to an emergency department.
BROADDUS: Dr. Kim Quayle is the medical director of St. Louis Children's Hospital Emergency Department. She says the number of children treated here with RSV is concerning.
QUAYLE: If you compare volumes to last year, we're seeing about a 300 percent increase in RSV cases. It's just a very striking peak and we don't even know if we peaked yet.
BROADDUS: Respiratory syncytial virus or RSV is most serious in infants, young children, elderly people and those with weakened immune systems.
That cough led this California mother to seek treatment for her 2- month-old daughter.
CYNTHIA LAYTON, MOTHER OF RSV PEDIATRIC PATIENT: We noticed that she was coughing a lot and had a really runny nose. And so, we took her into the doctor and they tested her and true enough, she had RSV.
BROADDUS: In Missouri, weekly RSV case is more than doubled over the past month and are more than five times higher compared to last year, according to the CDC.
QUAYLE: We are at capacity on many days and it's one patient in, one patient out.
BROADDUS: Across the country, pediatric hospitals are filling up. 14 states plus D.C., more than 80 percent full. Four of those states more than 90 percent full: Rhode Island, Texas, Kentucky and Minnesota.
LAYTON: Looking back at pictures, you could see it in her eyes that they were just like puffy. I was in panic mode. It was just, it was terrifying night. We didn't even think to like go to a hospital that was in network. It was like let's just get to the closest hospital.
BROADDUS: On top of comforting parents, Dr. Quayle says she's dealing with staffing shortages accelerated by the pandemic.
QUAYLE: We're bringing and our nurse managers who usually do administrative tasks. They're now at the bedside helping to take care of patients.
BROADDUS: Dr. Marcus Schabacker, who runs a nonprofit organization focused on health care safety says this should be a warning.
DR. MARCUS SCHABACKER, PRESIDENT AND CEO, ECRI: We all should be alarmed because when nurse-patient ratio increases, meaning fewer nurses have to take care of more patients, patient safety is at risk.
BROADDUS: A problem that gives Quayle pause.
QUAYLE: I think everyone's a little bit nervous.
And part of the fear is unknown, Dr. Quayle says she has no idea what the influenza season will bring. She also said she believes the pandemic played a role in the surge we're seeing now -- Adrienne Broaddus, CNN, St. Louis, Missouri.
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BRUNHUBER: Well, game two of the World Series takes place tonight. But there's still plenty to talk about from the Phillies' incredible comeback in the opener. Just ahead, we'll go live to Texas, where Houston suddenly has a problem. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: He was the all American quarterback and she the beautiful Brazilian supermodel. Together, Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen made an international power couple. But on Friday they announced they had finalized their divorce after 13 years of marriage.
Brady retired from the NFL in February, only to return to the sport months later. Bundchen has publicly spoken out about concerns of him returning to the field and wanting him to spend more time with the family.
The couple said it was an amicable decision and they will continue to concentrate on parenting their two children.
All right. That wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. You can follow me at Twitter @Kim Brunhuber. For viewers in North America, "NEW DAY" is next. For the rest of the world it's ecosolutions.
