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Political Heavyweights Campaign Ahead of Midterms; District Attorney: Pelosi Attack was Politically Motivated; South Korea Responds to North Korean Missile Strikes; Fed Eyes Another Interest Rate Hike to Tame Inflation; Supreme Court Rejects Bid by Graham to Block Subpoena; Israel Official Election Results Could Be Released in Coming Day. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired November 02, 2022 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world. I'm Bianca Nobilo

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Max Foster joining you live from London. Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This was a targeted attack. He specifically sought out their home. He sought out the Speaker.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does someone need to die before Republicans and Democrats can all come together on this issue?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got politicians who instead of wanting to bring people together, do their best to stir up division.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's a choice between two vastly different visions for Americans.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All eyes on the Federal Reserve as policy makers need to decide whether to raise interest rates.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I look at economic history and I see there are many times when the Fed didn't do enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo.

FOSTER: It's Wednesday, November 2, 8 a.m. here in London, 4 a.m. in Washington. American voters are just six days away from choosing who they want to lead their local and state governments and Congress. The stakes are high. Candidates on both sides of the aisle hope the final campaign push from the leaders of their parties will help tip votes in their favor in this year's critical midterms. Heavyweights like former Presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama are crisscrossing battleground states to rally with candidates. NOBILO: On Tuesday president Joe Biden was in Florida. His team views the state as perfect political backdrop to frame the election as a choice between extreme MAGA Republicans and Democrats and the choice between two vastly different visions for America. And former President Obama was in Las Vegas warning about the growing political divide in America.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've got politicians who instead of wanting to bring people together do their best to stir up division and make us angry and afraid of one another all for their own advantage. And all of this gets amped up. It gets hyped up 24/7 on social media because they find it more profitable to stir up controversy and conflict than to lift up the truth and facts. This increasing habit of demonizing political opponents creates a dangerous climate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: Speaking of the dangerous climate, San Francisco's district attorney has called Friday's brutal attack on Nancy Pelosi's husband politically motivated. And now we've learned that David DePape had plans to attack others. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROOKE JENKINS, SAN FRANCISCO DISTRICT ATTORNEY: There were other public officials that were apparently targets of his. And obviously, he showed up at the Speaker's house first. I think we've seen just like on January 6th that this inciteful commentary that has gone on, what has becomes I think accepting behavior of people encouraging violence, encouraging people to take these extreme standpoints and viewpoints is certainly laying a pathway to this type of conduct.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Meanwhile, a source says the Pelosi family is expected to be shown body cam video of the violent attack and hear audio from the 911 call before Pelosi placed to police.

NOBILO: While the investigation continues, the 42-year-old suspect was in court Tuesday for his initial appearance. He's charged with a number of crimes including attempted murder. CNN's Josh Campbell has more from San Francisco.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Forty-two- year-old David DePape making an appearance in a San Francisco court Tuesday with his arm in a sling, pleading not guilty to all state charges filed in Friday's politically motivated attack on Paul Pelosi.

ADAM LIPSON, SAN FRANCISCO DEPUTY PUBLIC DEFENDER: We're going to be doing a comprehensive investigation on what happened. We are going to be looking into Mr. DePape's mental state. CAMPBELL (voice-over): DePape waived his right to a hearing within ten days and is being held in a San Francisco County jail until his next court appearance on November 4. The judge signed a protective order for no contact with the Pelosi's.

DePape is facing charges that could lead to 13 years to life in prison if convicted.

[04:05:00]

Those charges include attempted murder, burglary, assault with a deadly weapon, false imprisonment, as well as threats to a public official and family.

BROOKE JENKINS, SAN FRANCISCO DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Mr. DePape specifically targeted the Pelosi home to confront Speaker Pelosi.

CAMPBELL (voice-over): DePape's attorney, Deputy Public Defender Adam Lipson, responding to questions Tuesday about motive.

LIPSON: There's also been a lot of speculation regarding Mr. DePape's vulnerability to misinformation. And that's certainly something that we're going to look into.

CAMPBELL (voice-over): Authorities are still rebutting conspiracy theories that Paul Pelosi and DePape knew each other.

SCOTT: There is absolutely no evidence that Mr. Pelosi knew this man.

CAMPBELL (voice-over): Paul Pelosi is still hospitalized after being struck on the head with the hammer, sustaining a skull fracture and other serious injuries. Parallel investigations into the attack by the FBI and San Francisco police are now underway, with new details emerging that DePape brought two hammers, zip ties, rope and a roll of tape to the Pelosi home.

DePape now also faces federal charges of assault and attempted kidnapping of a U.S. official stemming from the attack caught on police bodycam, which authorities said it would not be released until the case goes to trial.

Now, with the wave of recent threats to elected officials, the head of Capitol Police said Tuesday, his agency's mission has become increasingly urgent.

Writing in a statement: We believe that today's political climate calls for more resources to provide additional layers of physical security for members of Congress.

Chief Tom Manger adding: During this time of heightened political tension, we continue to monitor thousands of cases across the country in an effort to spot potential threats before they make headlines.

CAMPBELL: And as Mr. Pelosi remains in the hospital recovering from those very serious injuries, CNN is learning from our sources that the Pelosi family could get access to the 911 call from early Friday morning as well as the police body camera as officers responded to the scene. That could come as early as Wednesday.

Josh Campbell, CNN, San Francisco.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are escalating as both North and South Korea traded a volley of missiles earlier today.

NOBILO: South Korean officials say that the North fired off ten missiles early Wednesday, three of which were ballistic. Seoul responded launching three air surface missiles.

FOSTER: All of the missiles fired landed in the international waters off the coast of both nations. This latest provocation comes as the U.S. is conducting joint military drills with South Korea.

NOBILO: For more on these latest developments I'm joined now by CNN's Will Ripley who's in Seoul for us. Will, tell us how much of an escalation this really is and also the impact, this backdrop of South Korea and U.S. conducting huge military drills?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Bianca, hi, Max. Well, I'll tell you what, it's still escalating because just minutes ago the Japanese government reported that yet another missile has been launched by North Korea. So, we're now to at least 11 missiles launched today. The last time we saw anything close to this was back in June when they launched 8 and a single day.

South Korea's minister of national defense says they've been fired throughout the day from both the east and west coast of North Korea, including the coastal city of Wonsan -- a place I visited some five years ago, where Kim Jong-un happens to have a luxury residence right there within potential, you know, eyesight of the launches themselves.

These missiles according to the Japanese government, some of them followed an irregular trajectory imitating they might be hypersonic -- the kind that can turn midflight making them very difficult to shoot down. And for the first time since the Korean Peninsula was divided, one of the missiles from North Korea actually traveled south of what's known as the "Northern Limit Line." This is the de facto maritime border, its buffer zone on the sea drawn from the Peninsula between the North and the South.

So, it triggered air raid warnings in one of South Korea's islands off the coast. And that led to, as you mentioned, a response from South Korea using fighter jets firing air to surface missiles, three of them landing north of that de facto maritime border. In other words, it was a tit-for-tat kind of situation which shows really that the escalations are showing no signs of letting up from either side.

The joint chiefs of staff here in Seoul blames North Korea for this. They say they're fully responsible. That they're continuing to provoke despite warnings.

But the North has a very different perspective about this. They have been issuing warnings for days about operation "Vigilant Storm," which is a five day military exercise prescheduled between South Korea and the United States involving 240 war planes, thousands of service members from both South Korea and the U.S.

And North has basically these a dress rehearsal for an invasion. The kind of rhetoric that they say every time there are military drills that happen between South Korea and the U.S. Even though North Korea, as we know, continues to conduct regular military drills of their own.

Nonetheless, they've been warning that the United States and South Korea would pay a terrible price for any attack on North Korea territory. And North Korea's ministry of foreign affairs just on Tuesday vowing even more powerful follow-up measures if these military exercises continue. Which mean it could be a very few tense period of days here on the Korean Peninsula and in the region.

[04:10:00]

Especially considering that just last week, they had of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, he issued a warning that they believe North Korea is ready to conduct a seventh underground nuclear test at any time. It would be the first test of that kind in five years at Punggye-ri, the nuclear test site. And I visited back in 2018 when North Korea blew up the tunnel entrances and claimed that it was irreparably destroyed. While U.S. and South Korean intelligence believe that site is now back up and running, ready for action whenever Kim Jong-un wants to push the button.

So, when the U.S. and South Korea defense secretaries meet and the Pentagon tomorrow, Max and Bianca, they will certainly have quite a lot to talk about.

NOBILO: Will Ripley in Seoul, thank you so much for bringing us those updates in real time. Another missile, that's 11 for North Korea.

FOSTER: We'll keep a close eye on the U.S. stock markets too, right now. Here's a look at the futures as we wait for the markets to open. We'll no doubt see changes after an expected rate hike from the Federal Reserve they're expecting later today. All the markets are down. It could be a super high sell off everyone's expecting. Main U.S. indices took a beating yesterday after hearing the latest jobs report showing job openings actually increased in September. This is the close we're got actually here on the screen. Strong labor market means an interest rate hike is that much more likely.

Now on the flip side, Democrats are worried the Fed's actions could have a damaging effect on the job market. Lawmakers penned a letter to Fed Chair Jerome Powell warning him the groups tactics may be too aggressive. CNN's Rahel Solomon explains what's at stake.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: All eyes on the Federal Reserve as policymakers meet to decide whether to raise interest rates again and by how much. The broad expectation is that the U.S. central bank will raise its benchmark interest rate another 3/4 of 1 percent. If so, that would be the fourth in a row. Something we haven't seen in modern history.

To put this in perspective, before this summer the last time the Fed raised rates by that magnitude in a single meeting was 1994. But the Fed is also trying to tame consumer inflation that's currently hovering at 40-year highs. By raising rates, the Fed makes the borrowing cost more expensive which should slow demand and thus, cool prices. But the data hasn't shown a cooling of prices. Not yet at least and not in a significant way.

Also complicating the Fed's inflation fight, red hot labor market. New employment data released Tuesday showed that job openings actually picked up in the month of September. Meaning for every one person looking for a job, there are almost two jobs available. Good news for American job seekers, not so much for the Fed.

Chairman Jay Powell has said he would like to see better balance between job openings and job seekers because of concerns that this labor market could be driving up wages. Higher wages could then trickle into higher costs for goods and services. Will learn much more when we hear from Powell when he speaks Wednesday afternoon. Many investors and economists around the world will be hanging on to his every word.

Rahel Solomon, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: Inflation is one of the top issues for voters in U.S. midterms. Republicans are hoping that economic worries will be their ticket to Washington. And they're bringing out some of the big names like former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence who was in the key battleground state of Georgia, on Tuesday to stump for the incumbent governor, Republican Brian Kemp.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm supporting the whole ticket here in Georgia. But I'm here for Governor Brian Kemp today. Because I've had the privilege to know him from before he was governor and to work with him during our time as vice president. We probably had no greater partner for economic growth, for law and order or for our values than Governor Brian Kemp.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Outgoing Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney surprise many this week giving a boost across the aisle. She endorsed Congresswoman Alisa Slotkin a Democrat from Michigan seeking reelection.

NOBILO: A new study reveals a troubling and deadly statistic among adult drinkers in the United States and why it might be time to start cutting back.

FOSTER: Then an all too familiar face is the cusp of a political comeback in Israel. According to partial election results so far at least and the party faithful are already celebrating. NOBILO: And we'll look at the surprisingly warm temperatures being

reported in some parts of the United States.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Incredible warmth in place over the past 24 hours. Look at these observations in Kansas, South Dakota, North Dakota. We're talking 70s and 80s in places that should only be 50 degrees this time of year. And as many as 20 more records possible as we go into this afternoon. Details all coming up in a few minutes.

[04:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: The vice chair of the January 6th committee says the panel is now in discussions with attorneys for former U.S. President Donald Trump. This coming after the committee issued a subpoena seeking documents and testimony. CNN's Sara Murray has the details from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: The deadline is fast approaching for former President Trump to hand over documents and provide testimony to the January 6 select committee. And on Tuesday, Liz Cheney, the top Republican on the committee, said that the committee is in discussions with Trump's lawyers.

REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): Well, the committee's in discussions with President Trump's attorneys and he has an obligation to comply. And, you know, we treat this and take this very seriously. This is not a situation where, you know, the committee is going to put itself at the mercy of Donald Trump in terms of, you know, his efforts to create a circus.

MURRAY: Now Friday is the deadline for Trump to hand over documents. November 14th is the deadline for his testimony. Just because they're engaging behind the scenes does not mean that Trump will testify. If this is headed to court, both sides do need to show they have tried to engage. So, that may be what's going on here.

Now in a little bit of other Trump investigation news, we're getting new developments on the investigation into Trump and his allies playing out in Georgia.

[04:20:00]

The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it was not going to quash a subpoena for South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham to appear before the Georgia grand jury on November 17th. So, that's a loss for the Senator, a win for the district attorney in Georgia who wants to ask Graham about the calls he made to Georgia election officials around the 2020 election. But there is still some wiggle room. The court made clear that if Graham gets before that grand jury -- which is a secret process -- and is ask questions that he believes relate to his legislative activity, his work as a U.S. Senator, he can still litigate those questions. And Graham pointed to that in a statement his office put out

essentially still showing that there's an opportunity for him to get out of answering some questions, even if he's going before the grand jury which we expect to be earlier this month.

Sara Murray, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: Official results from the Israeli election could be released in the coming days with nearly 80 percent of the votes counted. The early results indicate that former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is going to pull off again yet another comeback thanks to a surge of support from the far right wing.

FOSTER: The former ruling party Likud is already celebrating his likely return to power and Netanyahu looming triumph is leading to major concerns about the Jewish power and the Zionist parties he's aligning himself with. Netanyahu may now be on track to lead Israel's most right wing government ever.

NOBILO: But the acting Prime Minister Yair Lapid who heads up the anti-Netanyahu alliance says that it's too soon to give up hope even though projections show that his bloc just doesn't have the votes.

CNN's Hadas Gold covering all of this live from Jerusalem. We don't know the final result but we do know that the far right stands incredibly well in this election.

HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Max. I mean, these results that we're getting so far, 80 percent of the vote counted are actually showing better results than the opinion polls were suggesting before election day. As it stands, Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies could have 65 seats in the parliament. Keep in mind all they need is 61 seats to have a ruling majority. So, it does seem as though so far if these numbers hold that Benjamin Netanyahu will once again become Prime Minister starting his 16th year as a Prime Minister. Already the longest serving Prime Minister and he would continue to do so.

But what's been the most notable change of this election compared to the last four elections is the rise of that far right party -- Religious Zionism/Jewish Party. These are two Jewish powers. These are two parties that came together and this is really the far right, what were once considered the extreme fringe of Israeli politics. These are the settlers. These are people -- one of their leaders is one convicted for inciting racism. People who just a year ago -- Benjamin Netanyahu himself said that they shouldn't be ministers and now just in the last few days he said, yes, of course they could have a ministerial position.

So, if they numbers hold -- and keep in mind there still potentially hundreds of thousands of votes out there that still need to be counted. But if these numbers hold, then the question will be, what kind of government will Benjamin Netanyahu lead? Will they be far- right government? Will these far right figures have ministerial positions? Benjamin Netanyahu addressed his supporters last night. Still a little bit cautious but take a listen to what he has to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, FORMER ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): One thing is already clear, our way, the Likud's way, has proven itself. I remind you that from 52 seats in the last election, we are now on the verge of a very big victory.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLD: Now what could change here is the fate of some of these smaller parties because in the Israeli parliamentary system, you have to reach a certain threshold of votes before you can even sit in the Parliament. And if some of the smaller parties, including left-wing parties and the Arab parties, if they do manage to pass the threshold, they could pull some of those votes away from Netanyahu's bloc.

However, as this bloc is getting the bigger numbers further away from 61, they seem to have a pretty comfortable margin. And all signs pointing to Benjamin Netanyahu coming back as Prime Minister -- Bianca, Max.

FOSTER: Back with you when we get confirmation or otherwise on all of that. I does in Jerusalem, thank you.

NOBILO: Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has finally broken his silence days after losing his re-election bid to leftist former leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Mr. Bolsonaro gave a speech from the presidential palace on Tuesday where he vowed to abide by the Constitution. He notably did not explicitly concede defeat but the far right leaders chief of staff said he's ready to work with the incoming government signaling Mr. Bolsonaro's cooperation with the transfer of power.

Brazil's Supreme Court says the outgoing president effectively acknowledged his loss. However, Mr. Bolsonaro's supporters remain defiant. Brazil's Attorney General says that all protests must remain peaceful.

[04:25:00]

This as a major worker's union demands an end to the hundreds of blockades on the roads throughout the country.

FOSTER: It's interesting, isn't it, because he hasn't conceded but he hasn't said he's going to challenge the result either. But he's effectively allowing the demonstrators to build this fault in the result.

NOBILO: Yes, well he said that this is the streets of them feeling a sense of injustice about the election results. And notably he hasn't called Luiz da Silva which is a real departure from tradition in Brazilian politics as well, to concede.

FOSTER: So, echoes of what happened after Trump but, you know, in a more diluted form in a way. NOBILO: Yes, there are definitely parallels.

FOSTER: OK, we'll talk about weather now. November is here. But you wouldn't think it was by looking at the temperatures in some parts of the U.S. CNN meteorologist Pedram Javaheri has the details.

JAVAHERI: Yes, good morning, Bianca and Max. You know, when you look at a map like this in the month of November almost looks like something wrong, right. Record warmth in place in areas where it's typically it is considerably cooler and 25 degrees cooler than what we're expecting over the coming few hours. As many as 20 records are possible across the northern reaches of the United States. And we're talking about record warmth, you've got to look at these temps. Because how about the 80s, that's what was observed across Topeka, Kansas on Tuesday, tying the record that's been standing since about 1990. And in Bismarck, North Dakota, the record of 74 degrees, best of previous records for that date that has been standing since 1887.

Now, again, look at these temperatures. In Minneapolis, the first average date for snowfall is this Friday. Temperatures on Wednesday, 76 degrees. In Las Vegas around 62. Much the same across much of the Southwest. Where parts of the northern U.S. is going to be warmer than parts of the southern U.S.

Chicago will climb up into the 70s and stays there for a few days. And then the bottom does try to drop out a little bit here especially in the overnight hours will get much cooler. But you'll notice, afternoon temps still staying above average.

Now parts of the West here, winter weather alerts have been prompted. A front that does eventually bring in the cool air is pumping in quite a bit of moisture here as the storm door remains wide open. And of course, gusty winds as we often expect with these fronts across the great basin as well. So, here comes the front, expect much cooler air as we go in from Wednesday to Thursday across these western plains. And then eventually across parts of the Midwest by Friday into Saturday.

So, have a look at these temperatures. In Rapid City, 74 to 37 up to 49. Fargo, 71 to 50 down to 40 and Minneapolis come the 70s, eventually by Friday, only 45 degrees.

But guys, here's what it looks like across the U.S. 76 in Omaha. 73 in Chicago and New York City, not a bad early November day, highs just shy of 70 degrees. Send it back to you.

FOSTER: Thank you to Pedram.

Now a new study shows people with high blood pressure showed their numbers shoot even higher during the first eight months of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new study. The U.S. National Institutes of Health partly funded research that found that blood pressure rose slightly in some patients.

NOBILO: It was enough to raise their risk of major cardiovascular events by 5 percent. Which is a startling figure given nearly half of all Americans have high blood pressure. The study's co-author said that the pandemic's effect on blood pressure could be greater than we know.

And another study reveals a deadly statistic about adults who drink in the U.S. According to the report that was published on Tuesday, an estimated 1 in 5 deaths of people between the age of 20 and 49 are due to excessive alcohol use.

FOSTER: Amazing numbers. Deaths studied ranged from vehicle accidents to alcohol poisoning and liver disease. Unsurprisingly, health experts recommend cutting back or quitting alcohol altogether.

Now a little girl who survived the Uvalde school shooting called the emergency 911 line when the gunman opened fire. But it took way too long for authorities to take action. First on CNN, her repeated pleas for help.

NOBILO: And we'll have the latest in the tragic crowd crush in Seoul over the weekend and why investigators want more information from local police.

[04:30:00]