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Pelosi Family Expected to Hear 911 Call; Security for Lawmakers; Republicans Hold Narrow Advantage Ahead of Midterms; Record Numbers of Early Voting in Multiple States; Fed Poised to Hike Interest Rates; 911 Call During Uvalde Shooting. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired November 02, 2022 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:34]

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour here in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Erica Hill. Good to have you with us on this very busy Wednesday morning.

Countdown is really on at this point. Six days left now until the midterm elections. This morning, a new CNN poll shows Republican voters are more enthusiastic than Democrats heading into Election Day. The economy remains a top concern as people cast their votes. CNN is on the trail around the country.

Also watching today, the Federal Reserve, set to hike interest rates again. That is sparking major concerns that the Fed's attempts to cool inflation could send the economy into a recession.

Plus, new details about the attack on Paul Pelosi. Today, the family is expected to see body camera footage of that violent attack, hear the 911 call made by Speaker Pelosi's husband. This just one day after the suspect pleaded not guilty to multiple state charges.

CNN's Veronica Miracle is live in San Francisco. She begins things for us this morning.

So, Veronica, in terms of that 911 call and the body camera footage, there's also some information about a live feed of cameras that the U.S. Capitol Police was able to watch.

Walk us through what we know that's new this morning.

VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right, Erica, so much to go over.

A source tells CNN that the U.S. Capitol Police first learned about this incident about ten minutes after it happened. An officer was able to see lights and sirens on a live camera feed at the U.S. Capitol Police command center in Washington, D.C. Now, in terms of that body worn camera, we understand that the attack was caught on camera and that the Pelosis will be able to see it. And the San Francisco police chief here is crediting the dispatcher on the other end of that 911 call with saving Paul Pelosi's life.

Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF WILLIAM SCOTT, SAN FRANCISCO POLICE: The dispatcher trying to really figure out and decode what was being said on that call. And so she attempted to keep him on the phone in order to do that.

I say again, I think, you know, her being able to figure that out, along with Mr. Pelosi's keeping his wits about him, he was heroic, and the dispatcher figuring out that there was something more was also heroic. And I think that those actions saved his life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MIRACLE: Now, we've looked through that motion to detain. It was filed by the district attorney. And it argues why DePape should not be released from custody. It states that DePape had intentions to target other politicians. He's also quoted as saying to the medics and officers on the scene that this was a suicide mission. I'm not going to stand here and do nothing, even if it costs me my life. He also told officers, according to the motion to detain, that hurting Paul Pelosi was not his intention, but if Paul Pelosi escalated things he would go through him if he had to.

Now, in court, the suspect, David DePape, he was arraigned on numerous felony charges. He entered not guilty pleas to all of those charges.

The Pelosi family was not in attendance. They were trying to watch through a Zoom link but that did not work and so they were not there. But the prosecutor did tell the judge that the family is asking for privacy during this very difficult time. The judge also signed a protective order that says David DePape cannot contact Paul or Nancy Pelosi in any way.

When he came into court, the suspect did have a sling on his arm. And I learned from the public defender it's because he dislocated his shoulder during the arrest.

Erica.

HILL: Veronica Miracle with all the new details for us this morning. Thank you.

Well, fears about the safety of lawmakers has understandably increased in the aftermath of the attack on Paul Pelosi. The U.S. Capitol Police chief now warning in this political climate more resources are needed to protect members of Congress.

It's a warning that comes as CNN has learned that the suspect, as Veronica was just talking about, had planned to target other prominent politicians and their families.

CNN law enforcement correspondent Whitney Wild joining us now with more on this part of the story.

So, in terms of the Capitol Police, the chief now speaking out. Part of the issue here, right, there's a desire among many people for more protection but there is certainly a resource issue. Can they meet that demand?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, with the resources they have now, the simple answer to that is, no, Erica. When you look at how many members of Congress they're trying to cover, in addition to their spouses, in addition to their district offices, for example, the amount of work it would take to put details on all of those spaces and all of those people is mind-boggling and they simply do not have the bodies to do it.

[09:05:06]

Ultimately, this comes down to a manpower issue and a money issue. And that is what Capitol Police is trying to make very clear, that they are going to need help with both.

Capitol Police saying point-blank, this political climate is untenable and they need the resources to match what is becoming a heightened and more dangerous political climate. Capitol Police saying this in a statement, we believe today's political climate calls for more resources to provide additional layers of physical security for members of Congress. This plan would include an emphasis on adding redundancies to the measures that are already in place for congressional leadership.

Some examples of that, Erica, that they had mentioned are -- include physical security, redundancies, for example. Here are some of the things that they can already do, though. They do residential security assessments. They do law enforcement coordination, which means that they're working with other police departments around the country when they need help picking up the slack in places where they can't put bodies on these members. Further, they do security awareness briefings and they request directed patrols of residences, which is basically when they go to a police department and say, can you just -- can you basically patrol the area that, you know, of this protectee.

It's very difficult, Erica, the logistics of security protection when you're talking about adding details are truly mind-boggling. This is a very difficult situation for Capitol Police and it's going to take a lot of money and it's going to take a lot of coordination with local police.

HILL: Yes, it really will. It is a massive undertaking and also incredibly important in this climate as we've been hearing.

Whitney Wild, appreciate the reporting. Thank you.

Turning now to the 2022 midterms. New CNN polls out this morning show Republicans seemingly more enthusiastic about voting this time around than Democrats. The economy is a driving factor, as we know.

CNN congressional correspondent Jessica Dean is on the trail in Philadelphia this morning.

Pennsylvania a key battleground here in the midterms. So, six days out, what are we seeing? Is there enthusiasm? Is there a shift in message?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erica, it's a great question six days out. And I think let's talk about this new polling first to kind of paint the picture and then I'm going to give you a concrete example of what we saw at a rally last night.

So, looking into some of this new CNN polling, it's really kind of giving us a lot of data points on where voters are now less than a week out from Election Day. And one key figure is, if the election were held today, would you vote Democrat or Republican? And if you look at the numbers back from October 5th compared to the numbers from October 31st, you see that Republicans have gained a clear advantage there. And Republicans, if you talk to them, Republicans in Washington, also Republicans I'm talking to here in Pennsylvania feel like they really have the wind at their back here. They feel like they are going into these last six days with a lot of momentum and history on their side and they feel very good about that.

The -- we also asked people, do you believe the economy is in a recession? And an overwhelming amount, 75 percent of respondents saying yes. Again, giving you a snapshot of where people think the economy is.

And then, finally, are you satisfied with your personal economic situation? You take a look at those numbers and 55 percent dissatisfied there. So that's kind of what we're seeing across the country, right?

Let's zoom in on Pennsylvania. This open Senate seat that Democrats are hoping to flip. Republicans want to hold on to.

We went to a rally just outside of Philadelphia in what's known as the collar (ph) counties, these are the suburban counties that surround Philadelphia. They are full of independent, swing voters. So they are rich for both campaigns to go to.

And we went to a rally with Dr. Oz last night, Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Republican candidate. The room was full of real base voters. A lot of Trump paraphernalia. Clearly, hard core Republican voters. And his message to them was not trying to swing them or get their support or whip them up, it was really to have them go and find their conservative Democratic friends and their independent friends and sell them on Oz's candidacy.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEHMET OZ (R), PENNSYLVANIA SENATE CANDIDATE: So your job is to highlight, what are the three things, the economy, crime and the border, right? Three things. Don't talk about other stuff than that. You don't need to. Those are the three issues they -- kitchen table issues that everyone's worried about. Talk about what concerns voters and they'll come over to us.

(END VIDEO CLIP) DEAN: And, Erica, pay attention to that. If that's what Oz's closing message is and that's where he is right now, that should give us a good signal as to where the campaign believes that they are heading into the six days out from Election Day. We're going to see Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman, the Democratic nominee, also campaigning in those so-called collar counties, talking to those independent voters in the next couple of days. So they are really zeroing in on this.

And we're going to see President Biden, former President Barack Obama and former President Donald Trump all coming here to Pennsylvania over the weekend.

HILL: It will be interesting to see as they all zero in on those important areas whether they have similar messages as they try to bring those voters over to their side.

DEAN: Right.

HILL: Jessica, appreciate it. Thank you.

Taking a look at Georgia now. The secretary of state's office reporting record breaking early voting numbers.

[09:10:02]

More than 1.9 million ballots cast so far.

CNN national correspondent Dianne Gallagher is on the trail in Atlanta.

Those are some pretty impressive numbers, Dianne.

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Impressive indeed. In fact, the secretary of state's office saying that they do expect to surpass that 2 million vote mark by lunchtime today. The Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, speaking to CNN this morning, saying that he believes that this state will easily surpass those 2018 midterm totals.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRAD RAFFENSPERGER (R), GEORGIA SECRETARY OF STATE: We have record turnout. It's never been easier to register. we have record registrations. We have 6.9 million registered voters -- active registered voters and it looks like to me we will probably be pushing well over 4 million, which is what we had in 2018. We won't hit the presidential number of 5 million, but, still, we're showing that it's here as the proper guardrails and accessibility and we believe that we're the model for election integrity, but also election access.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Now, obviously, there are plenty of people who disagree with the secretary's assessment there, including his opponent, Democrat State Representative Bee Nguyen. But, look, there's only a couple days left of early voting here in Georgia. And like the secretary said, there are likely still millions of ballots that have yet to be cast.

And so the candidates here in this state are out on their bus tours, especially those at the top of the ticket, the much watched Senate and governor's races. Essentially going from small city to small town, rural communities, and going and making sure that they talk to those voters so they can get that turnout out.

Democrats out on the trail today. Of course, Senator Raphael Warnock and Democrat Stacey Abrams. And then as far as Republicans go, we've seen Governor Brian Kemp, who appeared with Vice President Mike Pence yesterday, and Herschel Walker, sort of hitting those more friendly, smaller, rural communities on his bus tour. Again, just a couple days left, Erica, of early voting for them to try and get those votes out.

HILL: All right, Dianne, live for us in Atlanta this morning. Busy days ahead. Appreciate it. Thank you.

The White House, meantime, is bracing for yet another big interest rate hike today. This, of course, coming with the midterm elections just six days away. The Fed still trying to cool off the overheated economy as consumers try to keep up with historic inflation.

And all of this is happening as President Biden tries to highlight his efforts to combat those rising prices with legislation and executive orders.

CNN's Matt Egan is live in Washington outside the Federal Reserve.

So, there is a lot of concern about not just what the announcement could do for some people, but also the political implications.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Yes, that's right, Erica, I am standing outside the -- one of the most powerful institutions on the planet, the Federal Reserve. And in just a few hours, the Fed is going to, once again, try to chip away at this historic inflation that is crushing families and businesses.

Now, the Fed's main tool to fight inflation are these interest rate hikes. The Fed has basically been taking a sledgehammer to inflation with these jumbo-sized interest rate hikes. We are expecting another 75 basis points today. That is big and that would be the fourth in a row.

You know, that's something that we never saw under Janet Yellen or Ben Bernanke or Allen Greenspan. You actually have to go all the way back to the early '80s under Paul Volker since the Fed has had to do anything like this. I think that shows just how high inflation is right now but also how stubborn it's been. I mean it's basically been stuck at these 41-year highs.

Now, Feds warn inflation is sending shock waves through the economy. Mortgage rates are above 7 percent for the first time in 20 years. The stock market is having its worst year since 2008. Credit card rates, they're near record highs, and recession risks are elevated.

Now, history shows that the Fed is often late to attacking inflation. And then when it does attack inflation, they end up going too far. Often, but not always, we see recessions following these inflation- fighting campaigns.

So, Erica, you know, the Fed has to get this just right. Put out the inflation fire without wrecking the economy. And that's not going to be easy.

HILL: Yes, it is not. I'm glad it's not my job. We'll just be following it.

Matt, appreciate it. Thank you.

Still to come here, a CNN exclusive. The haunting 911 call made by a 10-year-old girl. You will hear her begging for help during the Uvalde school massacre. And also it will give you evidence of yet another failure of law enforcement that day.

Plus, air raid alarms in South Korea today as North Korea launches nearly two dozen missiles. What we know about this escalation.

And, a new study finds excessive drinking is responsible for some 20 percent of deaths in adults between the ages of 20 and 49.

[09:15:03]

We're going to dig into that data.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: This morning, chilling audio obtained exclusively by CNN reveals the terror a 10-year-old girl felt as she was trapped inside a classman in Uvalde with the gunman and she was waiting for police to help. For the first time since that horrific day, we are hearing parts of her heartbreaking pleas in that 911 call. Nineteen children and two teachers were killed that day. At least one adult and one child, though, we've learned, did not die immediately.

CNN's Shimon Prokupecz has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DISPATCHER: Just advising we do have a child on the line.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This was the moment everything at the scene in Uvalde should have changed. At 12:10 p.m. on May 24th, fourth grader Khloie Torres, who survived the shooting, was inside room 112 at Robb Elementary and spoke to 911.

[09:20:05]

Police, just a few feet away in the hallway, were just minutes later made aware the worst-case scenario was unfolding. Khloie, along with her classmates and teachers, some dead or dying, were alone, trapped with an active shooter.

It's the phone call that should have made the difference. Instead, it would be another 40 minutes until police finally entered the room and killed the gunman.

CNN has obtained the call, never made public until now. A warning to our viewers, it's painful to hear.

We're choose to play portions of the audio with the approval of Khloie's parents. And because it is crucial to understanding the full scope of the law enforcement failure that day.

CHILD: Hello?

DISPATCHER: I'm calling with the police department. Are you OK?

CHILD: No, there's a school shooting.

DISPATCHER: OK, yes, ma'am. I have multiple units there. Are you with officers or are you barricaded somewhere?

CHILD: I'm in classroom - what's the classroom number? 112.

DISPATCHER: 112 (INAUDIBLE)?

CHILD: 112, 112, yes, ma'am.

DISPATCHER: What's your name, ma'am?

CHILD: Khloie Torres. Please hurry. There's a lot of dead bodies.

DISPATCHER: Stay on the line, OK? You just said you're in room 112?

CHILD: Yes, ma'am. Please send help.

PROKUPECZ: You can hear injured people in the room crying out in pain. The dispatcher asks Khloie to tell her classmates to stay quiet. She does her best.

DISPATCHER: You need to tell them that they need to be quiet.

CHILD: I am. I am. I'm telling everybody to be quite and now nobody is listening to me. I know how to handle these situations. My dad taught me when I was a little girl. Send help. Some of my teachers are still alive but they're shot.

PROKUPECZ: Less than two minutes into the call at 12:12 p.m., the Uvalde dispatcher sends an urgent message to police on the scene.

OFFICER: 3-20. Go ahead with that child's information. Relay it.

DISPATCHER: (INAUDIBLE) child is advising he is in the room full of victims, full of victims at this moment.

OFFICER: 10-4, Uvalde. Can you confirm to see if that shooter is still standing? Or has he shot himself?

PROKUPECZ: If active shooter protocol had been followed, this dispatch should have triggered police to spring into action and breach the classroom. Instead, 38 minutes were allowed to go by as more officers arrive on scene, with more equipment, until something is done. Nearly 400 officers responded in Uvalde. Khloie wanted to know where they were.

CHILD: How far are y'all away?

DISPATCHER: They're inside of the building, OK? You need to stay quite, OK?

CHILD: They're inside the building. We just need to stay quite.

PROKUPECZ: On the other side of the door, the law enforcement response was disorganized and chaotic. Official reports detail the catastrophic mistake that was made. Police on scene thought the shooter was a barricaded subject and not an active shooter. Khloie's call makes it clear, an active shooter situation is unfolding.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They think there's kids in there. Supposedly one kid called in and he was in there with him.

PROKUPECZ: Body camera footage from local and state police departments, obtained by CNN, shows the officers on scene knew about the phone call and that there were children inside the room hurt and in desperate need of medical attention.

DPS JOSHUA BRODOVSKY BODYCAM - UNKNOWN MALE: We don't know if he has anyone in the room with him, do we?

DPS JOSHUA BRODOVSKY BODYCAM - UNKNOWN MALE: I think he does.

DPS JOSHUA BRODOVSKY BODYCAM - UNKNOWN MALE: He does.

DPS JOSHUA BRODOVSKY BODYCAM - UNKNOWN MALE: Eight or nine children.

BORDER PATROL EMS: I thought he said victims, room 12.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, we hadn't heard that. No. we're in the 4s, right? This is - this is building 4?

BORDER PATROL EMS: Anybody hurt?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, not here. No, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, there are.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

BORDER PATROL EMS: EMS in there already?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no sire. We have an active shooter in there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, the shooter's still in there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Active shooter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

BORDER PATROL EMS: He's in here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's in here.

BORDER PATROL EMS: He's in here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

BORDER PATROL EMS: OK, I'll stand here and be ready.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The last contact - hold on. The last contact we had was one of our school PD officers. His wife is a teacher. She called him and said she's dying.

MARINO BORDER PATROL EMS: They just had a number of kids in room 12. A kid in room 12. Most of the victims in room 12.

BORDER PATROL EMS: (EXPLETIVE DELETED) we're taking too long.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PROKUPECZ: Yes.

HILL: I mean, what do you say to that? I don't -- you know, when you said there, if protocol had been followed, I would hate to count the number of times that that phrase has been uttered in the last several months since all of this happened. And the strength, how calm Khloie is. My dad taught me what to do when I was little. She's ten.

PROKUPECZ: Yes, her dad is a former Marine. And we talked about that. And, sadly, this is part of, you know, his life. He kind of taught his kid how to survive in these situations because dad saw some combat and so he had his own issues and certainly is dealing with a lot and that family is dealing with so much right now.

But what you don't - you know, there's so much of this that we can't air and show because it is so brutal, and it is so terrifying.

[09:25:03]

The sounds in the background. You know, those always get you. The cell phones ringing. Other kids in the room that are asking for help. You know, we hear a child saying, officer, help us. They could hear the police officers outside. They could hear the activity. They could hear the helicopter.

And we get a glimpse of maybe 40 minutes or so of this. But this is going on for 77 minutes, these kids are in that room. And they get to a moment where this gunman is not tormenting them anymore and they're able to call the police, trying to get help. They don't even realize he's still in the classroom. And the police, obviously, don't come. And she's just consistently begging and begging for help and no one comes.

And then another student gets on the phone and she's begging for help and still nobody comes. And these cops are outside the door, like, clueless, as if they don't know what's going on. But we know they knew because we have those radio dispatch and we have other information. And it's all going to come out, which is going to paint a very ugly picture for police officers.

HILL: The picture is already ugly and damning.

PROKUPECZ: Yes.

HILL: And a lot of that is thanks to your hard work, you and your team, in digging on this.

I know we're tight on time, but just -

PROKUPECZ: Yes.

HILL: How is Khloie doing? What did her parents tell you?

PROKUPECZ: So, it's been tough. You know, they - they're -- the reason why they wanted to come forward was because they really wanted to tell her story and for her to have a moment to show what she did. So that's why they agreed to do this. And so - but, nonetheless, it's a tough time for them.

HILL: Absolutely.

Shimon, really appreciate it.

PROKUPECZ: Yes. Thank you.

HILL: Still to come here, new reporting this morning on what the U.S. was calculating and weighed who in Russia was potentially discussing nuclear weapons. "The New York Times" is reporting it wasn't Vladimir Putin.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:30:00]