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North Korea Fires 23 Missiles, One Lands Close To South Korean Waters; U.S. Accuses N. Korea Of Supplying Russia With Artillery Shells; Pence: I Was Always Loyal To Trump, But In The End, Came On Difficult Times; Kari Lake Makes Joke About Paul Pelosi Attack At Campaign Event; Day Two Of Parkland Gunman Sentencing Hearing Underway. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired November 02, 2022 - 14:30   ET

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

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[14:32:16]

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST: A major escalation by North Korea. The country launching at least 23 short-range missiles into the waters off the east and west coast of the Korean Peninsula, the most it has fired in a single day, for the first time since the peninsula was divided in 1945.

One of the missiles landed close to South Korean waters, less than 40 miles, we're told.

CNN's Kylie Atwood joins us now.

Kylie, there's been a response for the State Department to this. What have they said?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: We're waiting for the State Department briefing right flow. But NSC John Kirby said earlier today, these are provocative launches, and saying the threat in the region is palpable as a result of these launches.

As you noted, this is the highest number of missiles that North Korea has launched in a single day. And one of those missiles landed close to the South Korean territorial waters, according to the South Korean government.

So we're watching to see exactly how the U.S. responds, if they feel that they need to do anything to show U.S. support and its support for its allies in the region, particularly, as you have the South Korean president calling for a firm response -- Bianna?

GOLODRYGA: This is the country's 28th weapons test so far this year.

Also, Kylie, new reporting, first on CNN, that the U.S. is accusing North Korea of secretly supplying Russia with artillery shells to use in the Ukraine war. Officials also say the North is trying to hide these shipments.

What more are we learning? And it really does tell us the state of Russia's arsenal, it's depleting arsenal as well.

ATWOOD: Yes, that's right. When you have Russia already going to Iran for these attack drones that we have seen, used to deadly effect in the war in Ukraine, also expected to be receiving missiles from Iran. And now moving ahead with trying to get this ammunition, artillery shells from North Korea.

It does demonstrate -- U.S. officials are very clear in pointing this out -- they were running into challenges, shortages, in terms of their own supply to fuel this continued war.

We should note that the Biden administration declassified this new intelligence today about North Korea, essentially trying to hide the fact that it was sending these ammunition shells to Russia by diverting them first to go to the Middle East and North African countries.

And NSC John Kirby saying the administration is still watching, monitoring to see if these are received by Russia. So we don't know definitively if they make their way to Russia.

We'll be watching to see when and if they make it to the battlefield in Ukraine.

Experts point out that North Korean artillery has had some challenges in the past. It's not necessarily the best. But when Russia is facing a dearth of its own artillery, it could boost them on the battlefield -- Bianna?

[14:35:10]

GOLODRYGA: And Russia just mobilized over 100,000 troops. So we'll be watching this closely.

Kylie Atwood, thank you.

Former Vice President Mike Pence opens up about the deep rift between himself and his former boss, President Trump. Hear him, in his own words, straight ahead.

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[14:40:04]

GOLODRYGA: Former President Trump just gave a last-minute boost to MAGA Republicans and directed nearly $3 million in ad spending for Senate candidates in Pennsylvania, Arizona and Georgia.

That comes ahead of the president's trip to Florida, where he and Governor DeSantis will hold dueling campaign events. The Republican governor is widely seen as Trump's biggest competition for the 2024 GOP nomination.

Joining us now is former Trump White House communications director, Alyssa Farah Griffin, and former Pence advisor, Olivia Troye.

Olivia, let's start with you.

Because we talk about this potential fight between Trump and DeSantis in Florida.

But it's interesting that your former boss, former Vice President Pence, also posted this on to his Instagram account, talking about the latest division, I guess, and rifts between him and his former boss.

Let's play it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (voice-over): I was always loyal to President Trump. He was my president and he was my friend.

And throughout our four years together, we worked closely together. We forged a close personal relationship. But in the end, came on difficult times.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: "In the end, came difficult times." That is part of his book promotion.

But I'm curious, Olivia, that this is part of something bigger, perhaps an announcement that he, himself, will be running.

OLIVIA TROYE, FORMER ADVISER TO V.P. MIKE PENCE: I can't predict the future, but I certainly believe he does intend to run. I think he's trying to remind the voters that he's still here, he's still in the running. And he can tout the Trump administration accomplishments and everything that they did.

But at the end of the day, there's something that separated them, and that was democracy. That's the one thing that Mike Pence did. He stood up for our democracy and he had the courage to actually do the right thing that day.

So we have DeSantis and Trump and Mike Pence, I think. between the three of them, Mike Pence is the differentiate of them.

GOLODRYGA: Alyssa, this comes as we speak about preserving democracy. As the president himself is giving a primetime address on this tonight.

And you can't overstate the divide between not only these two parties, but these two-party leaders. Donald Trump continues to be the leader of the Republican Party, where he is supporting these MAGA Republicans, and a lot of them election deniers, like himself.

And you have President Biden speaking to the need to preserve democracy. What does President Biden need to say tonight? And who directly does he need to be addressing?

ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I hope it's an inclusive message. I hope it's an inclusive message. I hope it's a message that's aimed at bringing in Republicans who are not among the 30 percent of Republicans who are hard and fast about the election.

There are plenty of people on the margins who will go oat to vote next Tuesday, who may not be voting for Democrats, but they're concerned about election denialism. They're concerned about the conspiracy theories that have taking hold in my party.

My one caution is this, I don't expect to hear it in remarks, but Democrats made a strategic error when they put about $50 million behind election deniers in primary election, which was to boost candidates they thought would be easier for Democrats to beat.

However, in some cases, some of those may win, like Bolduc in New Hampshire, for example, John Gibbs in Michigan.

I would love to see Biden condemn that. I don't expect to see that. But that gives more credence to his push for we all have a stake in this democracy and a role to play in it.

GOLODRYGA: And, Olivia, we all expect to hear the president point out the results of next week's elections results could take days to be finalized.

And that is something we've seen in the past. But of course, given the election deniers, given these conspiracy theories, that opens the opportunity and the floodgates to say these were not fair.

Is that enough of a pre-warning, I guess, from the president tonight? What more can the president do and can sensible Republicans do to remind Americans this is just how the process works, and we may not see the results right away?

TROYE: Well, I think it's important for him to talk about it and stress the fact that this is an election that could take days to figure out the results here.

I think it's important, because that doesn't give air play to the conspiracy theorists out there, should it not go the way they want it to go.

And I hope it's important -- I hope he talks about the need to really tamp down political violence, and how critical that is.

I think Republicans are actually messengers for that talking point. They're the ones that need to be out there saying, this could take time, don't come out of the gate the next morning saying, oh, they stole the election from me.

Which is what I expect that some of these election-denying candidates will likely do. They've already sort of started circulating and saying that.

And quite frankly, I worry for election officials that will be doing the counts on these. I worry for the poll workers. And I worry for some of these other candidates that are funning that may be on the receiving end of the threats that will come.

GOLODRYGA: And, Alyssia, in light of the attacks on Speaker Pelosi's husband, we did see Glenn Youngkin come out initially and give a really an off-color remark and downplay the scope of the attack and saying that Pelosi comes home to her husband now.

[14:45:09]

And he has walked that back and potentially apologized for it in an interview with "Punch Bowl News."

Kari Lake has not done that. And she was speaking at an event where she joked about it. And not only joke about it, but you saw the audience react laughing in response.

She has doubled down on that and said, just roll the tape, that's not what happened. So let's roll the tape.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARI LAKE, (R), ARIZONA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: I was talking about our children, and why they don't have better security, I said our politicians have security, and we need to have security for our children.

Go back and look at the tape. Don't do any creative editing like the fake media attempts to do, and you'll see what I'm saying.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you plan it in your budget to increase school safety. And how so?

LAKE: I lead with the last budget. It was about $50 million put into increasing school safety, with school -- school resource officers, armed officers to make sure we're protecting our kids.

It is not impossible to protect our kids at school. They act like it is.

Nancy Pelosi, well, she's got protection when she's in D.C. Apparently, her house doesn't have a lot of protection.

(LAUGHTER)

LAKE: But if all lawmakers have protection, if our lawmakers can have protection, if our politicians can have protection, if our athletes, certainly the most important people in our lives, our children, should have protection.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: I don't know what she found funny there. I don't know what the audience found funny about it. But will voters support her for comments like that?

GRIFFIN: I think she's going to win. And I think that's partly due to indicate Katie Hobbs not running a particularly strong campaign against her and refusing to debate here.

Buit there is no more irresponsible politician I can think of running in in -- in these midterm elections than Kari Lake.

She has espoused nonsense election conspiracy theories. She's someone who I believe knows better.

She's a longtime journalist in Phoenix, a credible person until she started, not only auditioning for the governor's race, but I think she's really angling to be a nom in 2024.

So I think everything she's doing is to achieve that goal and may the fact be damned.

GOLODRYGA: A sad of our politics today.

Olivia Troye, Alyssa Farah Griffin, thank you so much.

The man who killed 17 people at Marjorie Stoner Douglas High School will soon be formally sentenced in court. We're live outside the courthouse with an update for you.

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[14:51:46]

GOLODRYGA: A powerful second day in sentencing hear for Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz, underway right now.

Parents and victims and survivors are looking to convict the killer in the eye and reading statements. The judge is expected to formally sentence him to life in prison once all of the statements are all read.

It comes after yet another heated exchange between the judge and Cruz' defense. His attorneys essentially asking her to direct the families to tone down their statements.

CNN's Carlos Suarez joins me from Broward County, Florida.

Quite brazen for the defense attorneys even suggesting that. What's happening in the courtroom now?

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bianna, it's been another emotional and very difficult day out here for the family members of the victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas massacre.

Earlier this afternoon, some of the victim impact statements got underway. We're, at this hour, hearing from the last group of speakers before the judge formally sentences Nikolas Cruz to life in prison without parole.

Among the speakers that we've already heard from today was Samantha Fuentes. She is a student, was a student at MSD. And she told Nikolas Cruz, she described the pain, the agony her life has been since the shooting happened back in 2018. She told Cruz she often thinks about killing herself. And she worries

that someone out there's going to try to finish the job that she says Cruz started.

We also heard from the family of Alyssa Alhadeff. Her mother and father both addressed Nikolas Cruz in court.

Her mother was quite distraught. She says she hopes that Nikolas Cruz spends the rest of his life just miserable in jail in a prison cell.

Her father, he deplored the judge to make some changes with respect to the type of security that Cruz will get once he is sentenced.

Here now are the Alhadeff parents.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LORI ALHADEFF, MOTHER OF PARKLAND VICTIM ALYSSA ALHADEFF: To the killer of Alicia Miriam Alhadeff, my hope is you are miserable for the rest of your pathetic life. My hope for you is that the pain of what you did to my family burns and traumatizes you every day.

ILAN ALHADEFF, FATHER OF PARKLAND VICTIM ALYSSA ALHADEFF: Put this creature in general population, where he's afforded no additional protections, and issue punishment like no other.

Forbid TV, Internet, mail, phone calls, visitation and education. Let this creature be erased from society, never to be heard from again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SUAREZ: Of course, a final decision on the type of security that Nikolas Cruz will get once he's in prison will be made by the Florida Department of Corrections.

Bianna, one final note there. The parents of Jamie Guttenberg, the ones speaking right now, they were not supposed to be out here. They said they were not going to come.

But because of the some of the testy exchange yesterday in court between the defense and the judge, they felt the need to come out here and have a few words for Cruz and the defense attorneys.

GOLODRYGA: Such strong families.

[14:55:00]

Carlos Suarez, thank you.

Another historic rate hike from the Federal Reserve, all in an effort to bring down inflation. What this means for you. We'll tell you straight ahead.

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[14:59:54] GOLODRYGA: The union representing United Airlines pilots says its members rejected a tentative contract with 94 percent of pilots voting against the proposed deal.

The union says pilots deserve better now that the airline is profitable once again.

That's not the only labor issue for United these days.