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Suspect in Pelosi Attack to be Charged; Klobuchar Pushes for Security; Musk Tweets Conspiracy Theory; Two Americans Killed in Crowd Surge in Seoul; Lula Elected Brazil's Next President; Supreme Court Hears Affirmative Action Case; Opening Statements in Trump Organization Trial; January 6th Committee Obtains Trump Emails. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired October 31, 2022 - 09:00   ET

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

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[09:00:29]

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Good Monday morning. I'm Erica Hill.

It is a very busy start to the week today. We are following a number of major stories this hour.

A violent assault. The man accused of attacking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband expected to be charged with multiple felonies today. CNN has learned he had zip ties, duct tape and a hammer during that attack. We are live in San Francisco.

Plus, deadly crush. More than 150 people killed after being caught in a suffocating crowd at a Halloween festival in Seoul, South Korea. What we're now learning about the two Americans who are among the dead.

And next hour the Supreme Court set to hear arguments in two cases that could upend how college admissions are decided by eliminating or restricting race-conscious programs.

Let's begin this hour with the latest on that investigation, though, into the violent attack on Paul Pelosi.

CNN correspondent Veronica Miracle is in San Francisco. Melanie Zanona is on Capitol Hill.

Veronica, let's begin with you.

The suspect set to be charged today. What more are we learning about what happened in those early hours at the Pelosi residence?

VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Erica.

The details that we're learning this morning are very disturbing. We're told by the San Francisco district attorney's office that the suspect, David DePape, went upstairs into the bedroom where Paul Pelosi was sleeping before the attack. We understand that he tried to tie him up and was yelling, where is Nancy? That's according to sources close to the investigation.

We're also told that he brought zip ties, duct tape and a hammer that was used in the attack. Sources have told us that Paul Pelosi is expected to make a full recovery, but he is dealing with very serious injuries, recovering from a skull fracture, injuries to his arm and his hands after being attacked by a hammer. And in addition to that, later today, the suspect, David DePape, is expected to be charged with multiple felonies. We understand that he is going to be facing attempted homicide, elder abuse, as well as assault with a deadly weapon.

And federal officials are in discussions of possibly charging DePape with a federal crime. We understand that is specifically related to the -- to -- excuse me -- the assault, kidnapping or murder of a family member of certain federal officials. And that decision could come as early as this week according to a law enforcement source.

Now, we briefly saw Speaker Pelosi leave her house yesterday. She came out of her garage quickly, got into her motorcade and took off. But she has sent a letter to her colleagues in the House of Representatives just explaining how difficult this has been for her and for her family.

Erica.

HILL: Thank you, Veronica.

Meantime, lawmakers, as we know, Melanie, have been calling for some time for increased security. This is really increasing some of those calls. What are they asking for?

MELANIE ZANONA, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER: Well, the concern right now is that the security protocols have just not kept up with the level of threats and the toxic political environment. And lawmakers are particularly vulnerable when they are back home or on the campaign trail, as opposed to here in the secure Capitol where there's just police everywhere.

Now, of course, the threat of political violence is not new. There was a shooting in 2017 on a GOP baseball practice. But the level of threats have spiked significantly since January 6th. And the environment has just certainly gotten uglier since then.

But the Capitol Police Department is dealing with really limited resources. And it is just not realistic to give every single member a security detail. But Congress did provide $10,000 for each office to secure their homes and the United States Capitol Police sent out an email over the weekend reminding lawmakers what resources are available to them. And that includes residential security assessments, coordinating with local law enforcement, security briefings and patrols of members' homes. But some lawmakers say that isn't enough.

Listen to Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN): There has to be a different level of threat that allow members to get protection. Maybe it's local police. Maybe it's more funding for the marshals.

I have a bipartisan amendment that will allow members to take their private information off of the Internet. There is a similar provision that has been put forth for judges. And this is part of the National Defense Reauthorization Act.

So, I'm very hopeful that finally I'll be able to get the support to get this done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZANONA: Now, we did hear from a number of top Republicans over the weekend condemning the attack, but some of them tried to portray it as a broader crime issue, while others refused to acknowledge the idea that some of their own political rhetoric or embrace of conspiracy theories have contributed to the toxic political environment that we are seeing.

[09:05:14]

But one key Republican name we haven't heard from, former President Donald Trump. He has yet to weigh in. But we did hear from his son, Don Jr., who tweeted just a crude and salacious tweet about the Paul Pelosi attack.

Erica.

HILL: Melanie Zanona, Veronica Miracle, thank you both.

Well, Twitter's new boss, Elon Musk, inserting himself into this story after giving credence to a fringe conspiracy theory about the violent attack on Paul Pelosi. Musk tweeting only to an article full of baseless claims about Pelosi and the attack. He later deleted that post but not before it garnered thousands of likes and retweets.

CNN's senior media reporter Oliver Darcy following this angle for us.

So, of course, this just adds to the questions that people have about what will and won't be seen as acceptable on the new Twitter under Elon Musk.

OLIVER DARCY, CNN SENIOR MEDIA REPORTER: Yes, and this is just a disturbing conspiracy theory to begin with. And, frankly, one would think that if they were to have promoted it and they realized that it wasn't true, that they would be a little bit more remorseful.

Elon Musk, he deleted this tweet yesterday afternoon and he hasn't really address it outside of attacking "The New York Times" for promoting it. So, I'll read you his tweet. He's kind of just dismissing this as a joke. He says, this is fake. I did not tweet out a link to "The New York Times" when "The Times" reported that he had linked to a site known to promote false news and conspiracy theories. Erica, I think larger -- more largely this really just points to how

broken our information environment is where just a couple days after this brutal attack on the speaker's husband you have someone like Elon Musk tweeting this conspiracy theory.

And it's not just him. It's being pushed by a lot of prominent right wing media personalities. Frankly, though, someone like Elon Musk, who is in control of Twitter and does play a key role in this information environment should be working to clean it up, not really contaminating it himself.

HILL: But, again, it just comes back to even the statement that he put out last week talks about the hell scape. His hell scape may not be what other people see to be a hell scape, right?

DARCY: Yes. Yes. He's fostering the hell scape.

HILL: I mean, when you're throwing flames like that, yes. Yes.

DARCY: Yes.

HILL: Oliver, appreciate it. Thank you.

DARCY: Thank you.

HILL: Well, right now, families in Seoul, South Korea, and around the world are in mourning. One hundred and fifty-four people killed in a crowd surge during a Halloween festival there. Among the victims, 26 foreign nationals, including two American studies.

Steve Blesi was a junior studying international business at Kennesaw State University in Georgia. His father says Blesi had always been an adventurer.

We also learned of Anne Gieske, who was a junior year nursing student from northern Kentucky. Her dad called her a bright light and said she was loved by all.

CNN's senior international correspondent Ivan Watson is joining me now live from Seoul with more.

A lot of questions about what happened and how it seems like this did get out of hand.

What was the planning? What do we know about what happened?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, the Korean authorities say that this was unprecedented. That they didn't have a manual or a guide book for how to handle crowds of this size that had come for a gathering that didn't have a single organizer behind it, like, say, a music concert or a sports event.

Instead, in the alleys around the corner from where I'm standing, you have bars and clubs side-by-side. And thousands and thousands of young people who gathered for a Saturday night out in their Halloween costumes, out to have some drinks and to have some fun, and here's the end result of what spun out of control. A makeshift memorial to the mostly young 154-year-old (ph) victims of this deadly crowd surge.

Some of the people that I've spoken to, survivors, say that they were laughing at first at how they were stuck kind of cheek to jowl in the alleyway drinking and next to other people who were partying. And then it started to get increasingly scary.

Take a listen to what this French exchange student told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNE-LOU CHEVALIER, SURVIVED CRUSH: There were like so many people who were like pushing us and like we cannot breathe. I told (ph) for a moment.

ALICE SANNIER, SURVIVED CRUSH: At some point I had no air and we were so crushed to other people that I couldn't breathe at all, so I just passed out.

WATSON: Unconscious?

SANNIER: Yes, unconscious.

WATSON: Did you know that people were dying near where you were standing?

SANNIER: No. No, no, no, no.

CHEVALIER: No. There was no -- no.

Like we were just there and we were just trying to save our life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: So those young women, they say they barely survived and they're lucky to be alive right now.

Now, just to give you a sense of the location here. From that little memorial by the entrance to the subway station, this is the alley over here, Erica, where this more than 100 people died, this 154 people.

[09:10:10]

There's a hill there. It's probably 12 feet wide at best. And just the mass of humanity started falling on each other. And there are videos of emergency workers trying to pull victims out from under the crowd, unable to because the mass -- the weight of the humanity on top of them and it led to this incredible loss of life.

The youngest victims, five high school students and one middle school student. Most of the casualties, all people in their 20s. It's just terrible, Erica.

HILL: Yes, it really is just horrific.

Ivan, appreciate the reporting. Thank you. New this morning, leftist candidate Lula da Silva elected the next

president of Brazil. A stunning comeback here in a tight runoff race. Now, though, the far-right incumbent president, Jair Bolsonaro, has yet to concede defeat, which is, of course, raising concerns about the transition of power in Latin America's largest country.

CNN's Paula Newton is live this morning in Sao Paulo.

So, Paula, what is the latest at this point?

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, it's been 12 hours now since electoral officials declared Lula the winner, and still this country has not seen its president. Think about it, Erica. Nothing. No speech. No phone calls. Nothing. Everyone here is waiting to see whether or not Bolsonaro will, in fact, concede. Others say that perhaps he is plotting how, in fact, to look at these results and say that they are fraudulent or in some way challenge them.

In the meantime, right, you talked about it, that comeback. This is a man, Lula da Silva, 77 years old. He was previously, for two terms, Brazil's president. He was in prison, Erica, less than three years ago, and now he becomes president of the country again. His declaration, Brazil is back. He is vowing to have a completely different agenda here. He said himself this was a political resurrection, although he inherits now a very divided country.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LULA DA SILVA, BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT-ELECT (through translator): My friends, from January 1, 2023, I will govern for 215 million Brazilians, and not just for those that voted for me. There are not two Brazils. We are one country, one people, one great nation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Now, Bolsonaro's supporters already disagreeing with him on that. Some of them want to see this election contested. Again, very tense in the coming hours here as we await to see Bolsonaro.

We should say, Joe Biden and the White House saying, look, these elections in their view were credible and fair. They congratulated Lula and saying they are ready to work with him.

Erica.

HILL: Paula Newton with the latest for us. Paula, thank you.

Just minutes from now opening statements begin in the criminal tax fraud trial against the Trump Organization. We're live at the courthouse with details on the key witnesses there for the prosecution.

Plus, the big takeaways from Georgia after the candidates for governor went after each other again on the economy, abortion and guns in their final debate.

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STACEY ABRAMS (D), GEORGIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: It is so terrible in Georgia when it comes to the weakened gun laws in this state that we were the subject of an episode of FBI Most Wanted.

GOV. BRIAN KEMP (R-GA): Ms. Abrams is trying to scare you at home about the constitutional carry legislation that was simply to let you abide by your Second Amendment rights.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Also ahead, Russia launching a barrage of new attacks on power and water supplies inside Ukraine. We're live in Kyiv.

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[09:17:48]

HILL: The Supreme Court right now preparing to hear oral arguments in cases that could have major implications on the future of affirmative action in higher education.

So, the two separate cases will consider if Harvard and the University of North Carolina are violating student rights by using race as a factor in admissions. Hanging in the balance here, the future of admissions policies for hundreds of schools, in addition to higher education opportunities for many black and Hispanic students.

CNN justice correspondent Jessica Schneider is live outside the Supreme Court this morning.

So, the big question, of course, is what happens if the courts rule against these universities to sort of reverse, say, a nearly 50-year precedent. Give us a little more on what they're actually arguing today.

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, high stakes in this case, Erica, because if the justices upend nearly five decades of precedent, that would mean that affirmative action would be banned across the country. And because of that, all eyes and ears here will really be on the conservative justices because it is largely expected that they will, in fact, upend that precedent and ban affirmative action, ban universities from considering race as one factor in the admissions decision.

You know, Chief Justice John Roberts has repeatedly been outspoken about the role that race plays in society. And he's even said in previously cases that the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race. So, it is quite likely that he will not be the middle ground here as he previously has been in other cases, including Roe. He could likely side with the other five conservative justices if, in fact, they move forward to ban affirmative action. Now, the court has upheld affirmative action since 1978, but for the

past several years cases, two cases in particular against UNC and Harvard, they've been winding their way through the lower courts here. It's by a group called Students for Fair Admissions. They've largely been arguing that affirmative action discriminates against Asian American and white students by favoring instead black and Hispanic students.

Now, this group has actually lost repeatedly at the lower courts, but they have been able to bring this case up to the Supreme Court here. So there are high stakes for this argument that begins at 10:00 a.m.

There are two separate cases. So the UNC case will be heard first and then the Harvard case will be heard. But for that case there will only be eight justices, and that's because the newest justice, Ketanji Brown Jackson, she actually recused herself from the Harvard case because she did previously serve on the Harvard Board of Overseers.

[09:20:12]

So, it will be just eight justices for that case.

But, Erica, a lot at stake here. You know, many of the universities, there are actually nine states that do, in fact, ban affirmative action. And the University of California and the University of Michigan are in two of those states. They have argued to the court that, look, in the years that we have not been able to consider affirmative action, the racial diversity of our campuses have been negatively impacted here. They're saying they need affirmative action. So, we'll see how much of a count the court takes that into effect here. But big arguments today. They should be rather lengthy all beginning at 10:00 a.m.

Erica.

HILL: Yes, a lot of focus on this. Jessica, appreciate it. Thank you.

Just about ten minutes from now, opening statements set to begin in the criminal tax fraud trial against the Trump Organization. Former President Trump, important to remember, isn't the defendant in this New York case. He's not expected to be implicated in any wrongdoing. The outcome, though, could have an impact on his real estate business. The charges, nine counts of tax fraud, grand larceny and falsifying business records are the closest any prosecutor has actually gotten here.

CNN's Kara Scannell is outside court here in Manhattan. So, what more are we expecting today, Kara?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Erica.

Opening statements are about to get underway. First we'll hear from the Manhattan district attorney's office, the prosecutors on this case. They're expected to tell the jury that the Trump Organization had failed to report and pay payroll taxes on certain compensation and benefits that they gave to top Trump Organization officials. One of those executives, the former chief financial officer, Allen

Weisselberg, pleaded guilty. He's expected to testify in this case for the prosecution. And he's going to tell the jury that he received cars, he received an apartment in Manhattan and he received private school tuition for his grandchildren that he never paid taxes on.

Now, next up will be the defense. And there are two Trump entities that are indicted in this case. So that means there will be two opening statements. Two efforts for them to tell their story to the jury. We expect that they are going to say that Weisselberg was a rogue employee who made these deals and these arrangements in order to enrich himself but not to benefit the Trump Organization.

Now, after that, the prosecution will call their first witness. We're expecting that to be a current member of the Trump Organization, the current controller, Jeffrey McConney. Now, he testified under an immunity deal with the Manhattan district attorney's office, but they say that he is a co-conspirator in this alleged scheme. He will provide some insight of the company, details and information to walk the jury through this.

But the judge has told the jury to expect that this trial will last six weeks. It will be heard by eight men and four women.

Erica.

HILL: Kara Scannell, live outside court for us, thank you.

We are also following some new developments this morning in the January 6th investigation. The House select committee has now obtained eight emails from 2020 which detail what one judge determined is a plan by former President Trump and his lawyers to defraud the courts and to obstruct Congress' vote on the presidency.

CNN's Paula Reid joining us now live with these developments.

So, what more is in these emails, Paula?

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Erica.

The committee has been fighting for months to get these emails because they believe they can help prove that former President Trump knew his claims of voter fraud were false, even as he touted those numbers in public and as his lawyers, of course, were touting them in court.

Now, these documents, from late 2020, were handed over to lawmakers on Friday after a federal judge ordered them to be released, and they include four communications between Trump attorneys that appear to show that they knew the details they submitted to courts in their challenges to the elections were false.

Now, the other four emails show lawyers discussing filing lawsuits as a strategy to hold off the congressional certification of Trump's loss. Now, one email even lays out the concerns that lawyers had about

submitting a declaration signed by Trump personally affirming the election fraud allegations that it presented to the court were true, even after the former president had been made aware that some of those allegations were indeed not true.

Now, the judge in this case, as you noted, has suggested that these emails could be evidence of a conspiracy to defraud the United States, which is why they're being released. Now, the judge said that these materials fit what is called the crime fraud exception, which allows the disclosure of otherwise privileged materials if those communications were related to the furtherance of a crime.

Now, Eastman is appealing. He wants a federal appeals court to tell the House to return or destroy these eight emails. Now, the Ninth Circuit is moving fast on that long shot request. But, again, these emails are already now, Erica, in the possession of the House select committee.

HILL: Paula Reid, appreciate the update. Thank you.

Still to come here, anti-Semitic messages projected on buildings across Jacksonville, Florida. How did that happen? The Jewish community concerned now. Silence from some officials is what actually is resonating the loudest.

[09:25:00]

We're there for you live, next.

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HILL: With eight days to go until Election Day, more than 20 million people have actually already cast early ballots. The state of Georgia on pace to break a midterm early voting record. Already more than 1.6 million people. All this coming, of course, as the candidates for governor, incumbent Republican Brian Kemp, Democrat Stacey Abrams, are still hoping to get more votes.

[09:30:05]

They held their final debate last night.

CNN's Eva McKend is in Georgia live for us this morning.