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Biden Campaigns in Illinois and Pennsylvania; Many U.S. Races Neck-and-Neck; U.S. Announces $400 Million in New Military Aid for Ukraine; Ukrainians Increase Military Crowdfunding; U.S. Midterms; Oath Keepers Leader Takes the Stand. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired November 05, 2022 - 04:00 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 (voice-over): Welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber.
This is the final weekend before the critical midterm elections in the U.S. We'll tell you where big names are focused and whose message seems to be resonating with voters.
Tornadoes are wreaking havoc in south central U.S. At least nine touched down in Texas. We'll have more in a few minutes.
And a crowd sourcing campaign like you've never seen before. How ordinary people around the world are helping Ukraine in its war with Russia.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: The January 6 investigation, the U.S. President's domestic agenda, abortion rights, voting rights are all on the line as Americans prepare to vote Tuesday in the midterm elections.
Candidates across the board are pulling out all the stops in the final week of campaigning. President Joe Biden will be in Illinois with a message on lowering prescription prices and shoring up Medicare. And then he'll head to Pennsylvania. The president sounded optimistic. Here he is.
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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I know you always ask me how are we doing. We're going to win this time around. I feel really good about our chances.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BRUNHUBER: Now Biden isn't the only political star hitting the
campaign trail this week. In the hours ahead, he will rally with former president Barack Obama in Pennsylvania for the Democrats' Senate nominee.
And later Donald Trump will hold his own event for the state's Republican nominee.
And over the next few days we'll see more rallies from Florida to Illinois, where Vice President Kamala Harris is also set to speak. According to forecasting models from 538 and "The Economist," the Senate races in Georgia, Nevada and Pennsylvania, they're so close they're considered toss-ups.
It's important to remember these models are predictions. Vote tallies, are, of course, what counts. Here's CNN's reporter Harry Enten.
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HARRY ENTEN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Let's start in Arizona. Mark Kelly barely ahead of Blake Masters. No clear leader there.
Go to Georgia with the latest Marist College poll has a dead even race, 49-49. Georgia, there's a special rule there. You need a majority of the vote. If no candidate gets the majority of the votes, that means a runoff in December.
Finally in Pennsylvania where John Fetterman is taking on Mehmet Oz, we have two different polls, one that shows Fetterman up by six and the other that has them tied, so who really knows.
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BRUNHUBER: Both of those Senate candidates may have been taken by surprise after an influential celebrity made an unexpected endorsement. CNN's Jessica Dean has more.
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JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're now in the final days before the 2022 midterms. And this is the most expensive, most watched Senate race in the country here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
And candidates, the Democrat, John Fetterman, the Republican Mehmet Oz both looking for an edge in a very tight race in Pennsylvania.
For John Fetterman, that came with an endorsement from Oprah Winfrey. A lot of times celebrity endorsements don't move the needle. But the fact that she would endorse Fetterman over Oz said a lot.
She made Oz a household name and certainly had him on her show many time, backed his show. For his part, Dr. Oz in his campaign saying he respects Oprah. And then pivoting to this message of being really a moderate, of trying to weed out extremism in Washington.
We're just outside where Oz had a rally here in Wexford, Pennsylvania, and that was part of his pitch to voters tonight. They need to be talking to their Democratic friends, independent friends and bring them to his side.
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DEAN: We're going to get star power over the weekend as former president Trump rallies for the Republican candidates and former president Barack Obama rallying for the Democratic candidates -- Jessica Dean, CNN, Wexford, Pennsylvania.
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BRUNHUBER: With us from London is political science professor Thomas Gift, the director of the Centre on U.S. Politics at University College London.
Let's start with the big picture.
What led to this point with the Democrats in trouble, the Republicans looking ascendant?
First it was red wave and then things seemed to change. Polls suggested Democrats were surging, I guess, doing better than expected. The red wave talks were sort of overblown. But now it seems as though regular election gravity has reasserted itself.
So what happened between that hopeful interlude for Democrats and now?
THOMAS GIFT, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON: Well, I think, Kim, it's all the economy. It sort of started out the economy. Then some other issues percolated and it's back to the economy again.
That's really the story of the election and I think it's what's going to dominate. While I don't think inflation by itself is going to sink Democrats, it's really a problem they haven't been able to solve.
First Biden said inflation was going to be transitory. Now he's trying to blame other culprits -- COVID-19, price gouging, the war in Ukraine. There may be some merit to all of those justifications. But polls show voters are upset.
All of this, I think, was exacerbated to some extent by the policies that the Democrats pushed or at the very least some policies they put forward, like the Inflation Reduction Act.
It's true unemployment remains low, around 3.5 percent; consumer confidence is still fairly high. So there are some countervailing pressures on the economy. But inflation hits everyone and the majority party is going to get scapegoated and I think that's what this election is going to be about.
BRUNHUBER: Absolutely. One of the dynamics, I imagine, is that Democratic voters don't seem to want to reward the Biden administration and the party for what they have done but the very same victories are motivating Republicans to the polls.
Is that right?
GIFT: I think that's certainly true to an extent. It seems like there's a progressive wing within the Democratic Party that never really seems satisfied with Biden. Joe Biden has a Senate that's split 50-50. So any legislation he's going to get through is going to need a compromise. We saw that with some other policies the administration has put forward. But despite that, there's some on the Left that just always want more and they think, well, Democrats hold the Senate, they hold the House of Representatives.
We should be able to get through what we want. That's really not the reality. At the same token, some of these big spending items, some of the focus of the administration has certainly angered and, in many cases, outraged Republicans.
So they're certainly united against this administration and so, for Biden, that's reflected in relatively low poll numbers and about the 40 percent, 41 percent range. And it's just a real drag on the party as a whole.
BRUNHUBER: You wrote a piece about five ways the conventional wisdom the midterms is wrong. And one of the statements you make is, "Abortion will be a game-changer."
Why has that proven to be false?
GIFT: I think at the outset, Democrats really thought they had a galvanizing issue. There was a lot of momentum in the wake of the Dobbs decision. Ultimately I think some of these issues don't rank highly in the priority lists of Democrats or Republicans.
So it's relatively low salience. This is sort of part of a broader point. Democrats tend to have tunnel vision around certain issues -- abortion, voting rights, January 6. I think that's a strategic error.
My perception of the Democratic Party is some leaders try to tell voters what they should care about. In this case one of those is abortion. Typically the priorities are those of only strong progressives. They don't represent the views of most Americans.
The Republicans seem to be much better at finding out what voters think is salient -- inflation, immigration, crime, et cetera. And that's largely why the tide has turned in their favor.
BRUNHUBER: One of the tides has been the huge swing among specifically white suburban women, which is usually a huge influential demographic. The swing has been from Democrats to Republicans.
Is that just the women who abandoned the GOP because of Trump or something else?
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GIFT: I think that's plausible. You might think some of those voters would be ones prioritizing the abortion issue. But that doesn't seem to be the case.
I think in many respects, these female voters are reflecting a broader trend. Again, to try to go back to this issue of the economy and inflation. It's hitting everyone, in rural areas, suburban, urban areas and I think that's going to dominate and, to a large extent, I would attribute that trend to inflation.
BRUNHUBER: It's going be fascinating to watch. I appreciate your analysis. Thomas Gift in London.
GIFT: Thanks, Kim.
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BRUNHUBER: Remember to join us Tuesday for the special in-depth coverage of the elections which will determine control of Congress. That starts at 4:00 pm Eastern time, 9:00 in the evening in London.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Well, have a look here, a frightening sight for people in a number of states. More than a dozen tornadoes were reported late Friday across Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas. And that number could increase in the coming hours.
Officials in Oklahoma say at least one person died in the storm and they're searching for possible missing people. At least 10 people were injured in Lamar County, Texas, after a tornado touched down there.
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BRUNHUBER: Officials say the tornadoes left widespread damage. We're getting new video into CNN.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): This is in eastern Texas. You can see some houses were demolished, roofs blown off, people's belongings, broken furniture strewn about. At least 50 homes were damaged in Lamar County. People are grateful to be alive. Listen to this.
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CRAIG HOLCOMB, TORNADO VICTIM: As soon as it happened, I started going to the houses, looking for people, making sure nobody's in them and stuff. So I've talked to all of our neighbors. Everyone that was home is safe. That's the main thing.
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BRUNHUBER: And, of course, after they take stock of the damage, then the tough task of cleaning up begins. Russian president Vladimir Putin went to a Moscow landmark to talk
about the main flashpoint in Ukraine. Still ahead, what he said about the situation in Kherson and why he chose to speak at the Red Square.
And the fight with Russia one tap on a cellphone at a time. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Another $400 million worth of U.S. military aid will soon be headed to Ukraine. National security adviser Jake Sullivan announced the package on Friday. It includes dozens of refurbished tanks, drones and surface-to-air missiles. The Pentagon is also sending refurbished HAWK air defense systems.
It's all been made clear, Ukraine can count on more U.S. help and not just with weapons. Here he is.
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JAKE SULLIVAN, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: We laid out how we are thinking about making sure that the resources are there for continued security assistance, continued assistance to help power Ukraine's economy, continued assistance to help repair its energy grid, help for refugees and other humanitarian needs here.
And we fully intend to ensure that the resources are there as necessary and that we will get votes from both sides of the aisle to make that happen.
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BRUNHUBER: In the south, a top pro-Russian official is describing the situation in Kherson as calm before a possible storm. He said Ukraine may be preparing for a push toward the city after regaining ground.
But he says the city itself is calm, with Russian forces still in control. Russian president Vladimir Putin went to an iconic place in Moscow to talk about forced evacuations of civilians in the occupied areas.
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BRUNHUBER: Salma Abdelaziz is with us.
What's the latest?
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are indications that both sides are gearing up for this very strategic region of Kherson. I want to start by explaining there are tough reporting restrictions on the ground.
We're gleaning information really here from the reports that we've received in the last 24 hours, which are essentially -- I'm going to pull up that map to show you the battleground as I talk through the updates.
You see the Dnipro River cutting right through it, all of that area Russian-occupied. Ukrainian officials say Russian-backed forces on the ground are forcing evacuations. They're destroying any water crossing equipment. They're burning any boats that they find. They're basically shooting at anything along that river to gain full control of it.
We also saw social media video that shows an airfield on fire, north of the city of Kherson. As well, Ukraine for its part says that these are forced evictions and Russian forces are taking the homes of people along that area and using them as bases as they prepare for that fight.
President Zelenskyy, for his part, has promised to win back the lands for Ukrainians, no matter the cost. Very interestingly, Kim, President Putin himself commented on the battle for Kherson yesterday in Red Square. Listen to what he said.
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VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Now, of course, those who live in Kherson should be removed from zones of dangerous fighting, because the civilian population should not suffer from shelling, from any offensive, counteroffensive or other measures related to the military operations.
Guys like you are doing everything to get people to the safe zone. Thank you very much.
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ABDELAZIZ: It's very rare, Kim, to hear President Putin kind of get into the details, if you will, about battles. That is significant, that sound you heard there. He was going to Red Square to lay flowers for national unity day.
Here's the thing. Nothing is going to change overnight, Kim. This is going to be an extremely difficult battle. President Putin is not going to back down and he believes that part of Ukraine belongs to Russia. Kim.
BRUNHUBER: All right. Salma Abdelaziz, thank you so much.
During World War II, war bonds and victory gardens helped fund the arsenal of democracy to defeat tyranny. Now Ukrainians are trying to crowdfund their military's way to triumph.
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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): Amidst tumbling leaves, Lesya Kamauh takes her kids out to play. Hard to imagine three weeks ago, a Russian cruise missile slammed into this park.
CNN's Fred Pleitgen was there, reporting on a massive new barrage of attacks. Lesya worked nearby, remembers it clearly. A colleague was injured. It motivates her to do what she's doing more and more of lately: donating to military crowd funding.
LESYA KAMAUH, UKRAINIAN CROWDFUNDER: (INAUDIBLE) push us to do it quicker and more and more.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): In her family, they've been donating for months.
KAMAUH: All my family, even my mother and even my daughter from her savings, we sent money. And we didn't tell each other.
ROBERTSON: It turns out they're not alone. Putin's recent assault on Kyiv has drawn instant outrage and a backlash his troops may regret.
SLAVA BANIK, UKRAINIAN MINISTRY OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION: (INAUDIBLE) Ukrainian pretty much were (INAUDIBLE) that week.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Slava Banik helps run a government app, simplifying donations. More than 18 million users so far.
BANIK: So for example, I make selections and then the next step, I can pay this by Apple Pay.
ROBERTSON: And you've now given $2 more or less to the army of drones, to buy drones.
BANIK: Yes.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): The stats the day of the big attack shows Putin miscalculated in thinking Ukrainians would not fight back.
BANIK: (INAUDIBLE) of October (INAUDIBLE) began being bigger, maybe four or five times more than the day before.
ROBERTSON: So the attacks made people give money.
BANIK: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) with your help, we can put drones in the sky at the same time. It would look like this.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Crowdfunding began with the war is really taking off now, drone donations particularly popular recently.
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ROBERTSON (voice-over): Some military units actively promoting the impact of donations. In this case, a drone that drops a bomb on Russian troops.
MYKOLA KIELIESKOV, COMEBACKALIVE: Here was the main place where we collect all the technique equipments, the walkie-talkies, drones and all the other stuff.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): At crowdfunding NGO ComeBackAlive, their warehouse, an Aladdin's cave.
KIELIESKOV: Huge. It's like screens from the common post.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Donations buying much more than just drones, the shelves filling off the back of Putin's attack spikes.
KIELIESKOV: And we collected about $130 million since the beginning --
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ROBERTSON: That's a massive amount of money.
KIELIESKOV: For Ukraine, it's a massive amount of money.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Big money: government officials estimate many hundreds of millions of dollars across all crowd-funding platforms.
ROBERTSON: Do you mind that the money goes -- that it might kill Russian soldiers?
KAMAUH: You know, they occupied my country. They went here to kill my children.
Why I should care about that?
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Winter and more airstrikes are coming but so, too, a Ukrainian windfall Putin's troops will reap -- Nic Robertson, CNN, Kyiv, Ukraine.
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BRUNHUBER: Former president Donald Trump gets more time to submit documents after failing to comply with an initial request from the January 6th committee. We'll have that story straight ahead.
And the leader of the Oath Keepers militia group is expected to be back on the stand on Monday. We'll have the sometimes bizarre details of his testimony in the seditious conspiracy case. 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.
The upcoming elections in the U.S. will determine control of Congress. Command of the Senate will likely come down to four races, Arizona, Nevada, Georgia and Pennsylvania.
In Arizona, Mark Kelly is fighting against Blake Masters. Kelly has led in all publicly released polls and the outcome says it tilts toward Democrats.
In Nevada, Senator Catherine Masto is defending her seat, tied with Republican challenger Adam Laxalt.
And in Georgia, senator Raphael Warnock is in a tight race with Republican Herschel Walker.
In Pennsylvania, the battle between Democrat John Fetterman and Republican Mehmet Oz is considered a toss-up.
A U.S. House committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol has extended the deadline for Trump to provide documents. They acknowledged his failure to honor its initial subpoenaed. The panel said it "received correspondence" connected with the subpoena from Trump's legal team but didn't explain what that correspondence was.
The new deadlines for documents is no later than next week and the former president remains under subpoena to provide testimony beginning November 14th.
Earlier I spoke with Jessica Levinson, host of the "Passing Judgment" podcast about the new deadline for the documents. And I asked her if she was surprised by the committee giving Trump an extension, because it basically allows him to run out the clock on the Democratic majority in the House. Here she is.
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JESSICA LEVINSON, LOYOLA UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL: I think they're looking at the electoral clock. And they understand this committee is going to be dissolved in December.
So to the extent they can get anything from the former president, I think they're seeing that as a win. They didn't give him limitless time. They gave him basically a few more days.
I think they're hoping they can get some useful information. And they also want to show good faith, that they're trying to agree to allow him to comply as much as he's willing to and then they still can consider legal options.
BRUNHUBER: Do you think they actually will get anything from him?
It seems doubtful, no?
LEVINSON: That's the big question, as to whether or not they get anything. The fact that he's talking at all, the fact that he's interacting with them at all is a sign that maybe they will get something. My guess is it will be a small sliver of what is actually responsive to the subpoena.
At this point we're talking about documents but there is also that November 4th deadline for testimony. And the former president has not ruled that out. But it's difficult to imagine that he actually would appear and answer questions.
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BRUNHUBER: You can see more of our conversation coming up next hour.
Former Trump aide Steve Bannon has filed a notice of appeal, challenging his conviction for contempt of Congress. He was sentenced to four months in prison for failing to show up for the January 6th committee. He failed to turn over documents. Bannon is currently free, awaiting the results of his appeal.
The Yale educated lawyer who runs the Oath Keepers is expected back on the stand on Monday in his seditious conspiracy trial. Stewart Rhodes says his militia group brought weapons to the Washington, D.C., area, in case an Antifa mob tried to drag Trump out of the White House and Trump asked for help.
Sara Sidner said his testimony was emotional but a bit surreal.
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SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Elmer Stewart Rhodes III took the stand and seemed to be his own character witness at the very beginning. He was clearly trying to impart to the jury his kinder, softer, gentler side after the weeks of this jury hearing the opposite: often violent, angry political rhetoric from Rhodes.
Whether it was in text messages or signal messages or only some sort of app, also they heard secret recordings of him talking about all manner of things in a violent way. They saw some of the words he used, talking about a civil war coming and bloody battles might have to ensue to stop president-elect Biden from being able to take office.
At the time in the lead-up to the January 6th Capitol attack and even after the attack but Rhodes on the stand put on a big show of emotion initially. He choked up at least three times while talking about his life and his beliefs.
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SIDNER: He billed himself as a non-violent person, a lover of America, a believer in the Constitution, a fighter for what's right, talked about protecting Black businesses in Ferguson during the uprising that was sometimes violent there, about giving LGBTQ members of that group, giving them the ability to protect themselves.
He choked up, talking about the death of his mother, talking about a ceremony that was held after he formed the Oath Keepers in 2009. There seemed to be a real strategy here that the defense is trying to show his gentler side, when the jury has seen quite the opposite throughout the prosecution's case.
Remember, this is the second person to testify in the defense's case. We also heard a new wrinkle from Rhodes about his thoughts on the 2020 election. Prosecutors showed the jury early on this open letter he wrote to president Trump, that anyone could have read at the time before the January 6th attack on the Capitol.
In that open letter, he asked president Trump, he basically demanded or begged president Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act and not to concede to president-elect Joe Biden.
But when Mr. Rhodes testified on the stand in his own defense, he explained it differently. He said that he did not believe that Donald Trump nor Joe Biden won the election in 2020 because, in his mind, he said, the presidential election itself was unconstitutional.
And he made clear to the jury, in some ways, some people believe he was a constitutional law expert, that he was a Yale trained lawyer at one point. Those points were made to the jury.
What was not said is that Rhodes was disbarred in 2015 for conduct violating the Montana rules of professional conduct. That has not yet come in. But Rhodes has not finished testifying. He will continue testifying on Monday -- Sara Sidner, CNN, Washington.
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BRUNHUBER: San Francisco's district attorney says the police and FBI have a, quote, "successful interview" with Paul Pelosi, the husband of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi shortly after he was attacked last Friday in his home.
They said Pelosi had good recall of the events that night and was able to convey those details to the investigators. He's back home after being in the hospital, being treated for a skull fracture and other injuries.
On camera for the first time since the attack, Nancy Pelosi spoke. Here she is.
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REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: Thank you, thank you, thank you for your kind words, your prayers and your good wishes for Paul. It's going to be a long haul but he will be well. And it's just so tragic how it happened.
But, nonetheless, we have to be optimistic. He's surrounded by family, so that's a wonderful thing.
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BRUNHUBER: Pelosi's alleged attacker waived his appearance in court on Friday. A status hearing is set for later this month, with a preliminary hearing in mid-December. He's pleaded not guilty to all state charges, including attempted murder.
Twitter's new owner, Elon Musk, has carried out his pledge of sweeping job cuts at the social media giant. He laid off about 3,700 staffers, about half of the workforce. He tweeted, quote, "Unfortunately, there's no choice when the company
is losing over $4 million a day. I think everyone who exited was offered three months of severance."
The company locked its doors, cut access to internal systems and informed employees by email. An employee who was let go spoke about his experience.
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SIMON BALMAIN, FORMER TWITTER MANAGER: It's been really a journey since April, since he first made that offer and spent most of the summer trying to get out of it. Even today, he's at a conference that he tried to get out of it, which we all knew and publicly attacked the company and the work the company was doing the whole time.
And ultimately, you know, he had to complete this deal or face the court case. I think when it finally happened, it wasn't so much him coming in that day or anything like that but it was the immediate firing of the whole executive team, I think, that really hit a lot of people.
Because these are people, managers or managers' managers, people who have very strong connections and relationships and communications with a lot of senior executives, who were very good, some very incredible people.
That was definitely a big shock to have that whole sort of layer cut out and no communication from the new management at all in that time was -- yes, it was weird and difficult to deal with, for sure. It's frustrating, of course.
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BALMAIN: The sort of waves of annoyance and frustration and all that stuff are absolutely mitigated by the extreme solidarity we've seen from people in the company, people in the same position, people that left the company in years gone by. It's like a giant support network, which has been absolutely amazing.
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BRUNHUBER: A class action lawsuit was filed by employees, who argued the layoffs violate the 60-day advance notice required by federal and California law.
A day after surviving an attack, Pakistan's former leader accuses his rivals of plotting his demise. How some of those officials are responding to his claims ahead. Please stay with us.
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(MUSIC PLAYING) BRUNHUBER: Former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan is doubling down
on claims that three senior officials plotted Thursday's shooting against him. A day after surviving the attack, he alleged without proof that the prime minister, interior minister and an intelligence officer were behind it.
Sophia Saifi joins us now.
Tensions are still running high there.
What's the latest?
SOPHIA SAIFI, CNN PRODUCER: Hi, Kim. He's made strong accusations and he hasn't given any evidence. He's blamed the prime minister, the interior minister as well as the senior intelligence official. And he said he's calling all of his supporters to come out and protest at 5:00 pm across Pakistan until these three very, very powerful men resign.
There has been pushback from the army itself. They've released a statement, calling this completely irresponsible. They've also said -- they've asked the government of Pakistan to initiate defamation charges against any individual who criticizes the institution and the officials in such a way.
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SAIFI: The Pakistan interior minister has said this is a grievous accusation. Again, irresponsible and Pakistan's information minister says Khan is trying to sow anarchy.
Pakistanis increasingly are polarized; they have strong political opinions and they're clashing against each other. A lot of it you see on social media. There was a pushback from the security forces against a protest but they didn't get extremely violent.
And we just have to wait and see what happens in the hours to come here in Pakistan and whether that politically charged atmosphere is (INAUDIBLE) by some other thing that might happen. It's been a busy week. We have to wait and see and hope for some semblance of calm.
BRUNHUBER: We'll keep monitoring that, Sophia Saifi, thank you so much.
Just in to CNN, South Korea says there have been four short-range ballistic missiles fired from North Korea. By CNN's count, it's the 31st time this year Pyongyang has testfired a wide array of missiles. South Korea says they landed in the ocean off the west coast of the Korean Peninsula.
More trouble for Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving. Another sponsor suspends its deal with him after he failed to apologize for an offensive tweet until it was too late. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): So you're looking at pictures from earlier of Pope Francis, holding mass in Bahrain's national stadium. The pope made a historic visit to Abu Dhabi in 2019, the first by any pope to the Arabian Peninsula.
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BRUNHUBER: Nike is suspending its ties with basketball star Kyrie Irving after he controversially tweeted a link to a movie that's criticized as anti-Semitic. He apologized but only after his team, the Brooklyn Nets, suspended him for failing to make amends promptly. Brian Todd reports.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): NBA superstar Kyrie Irving at the center of growing controversy tonight.
Irving's team, the Brooklyn Nets, suspending him for at least five games without pay after he was asked at a news conference if he has anti-Semitic beliefs.
KYRIE IRVING, NBA PLAYER: I respect all walks of life and embrace all walks of life.
TODD: Then when pressed for a yes-or-no answer --
IRVING: I cannot be anti-Semitic if I know where I come from.
TODD: The Nets issuing a statement saying, quote, "We were dismayed that Kyrie refused to unequivocally say he has no anti-Semitic beliefs. We were of the view that he is currently unfit to be associated with the Brooklyn Nets."
CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: This is a mess. It's a total mess. Why the NBA and the Nets didn't handle this immediately and suspend him right away is beyond me.
TODD: Shortly after the suspension was announced Thursday night, the Anti- Defamation League said it's no longer interested in accepting Irving's money, $500,000 Irving had pledged, along with another $500,000 from the Nets, to work with the ADL to educate people on anti-Semitism.
The ADL's leader saying in a tweet, quote, "After watching the press conference, it's clear that Kyrie feels no accountability for his actions."
It was only hours later that Irving finally said this to the Jewish community on Instagram, quote, "I am deeply sorry to have caused you pain and I apologize. I want to clarify any confusion on where I stand fighting against anti-Semitism by apologizing."
BRENNAN: I don't believe the apology goes far enough. He's only apologizing after he's suspended and called unfit by the Nets. He did not apologize for days when this was exploding.
TODD: The controversy was sparked more than a week ago when Irving tweeted a link to the film "Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up, Black America," which civil rights groups say is anti-Semitic.
JONATHAN GREENBLATT, ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: At a time in America when we are literally seeing the highest levels of anti-Semitic incidents that we've tracked the ADL in almost 45 years, was incredibly stunning.
TODD: Pressed for days on that tweet, Kyrie Irving would only double down. The anti-vax Flat Earther saying this in that Thursday news conference before the Nets suspended him.
IRVING: I didn't mean to cause any harm. I'm not the one who made the documentary.
BOB COSTAS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: If you or I or any of us provided a link to "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" or to "Mein Kampf" and then said, oh, I didn't write it. I'm just hoping to illuminate something. Shut the hell up.
TODD: Speaking of shutting up or at least staying silent, some of the NBA's biggest-named superstars, players who speak out often on issues of social justice, have remained conspicuously quiet about Irving's tweet on that anti-Semitic film.
One star player, Irving's teammate, Kevin Durant, told reporters he thought the Nets' organization should've remained quiet about all this. Durant later sought to clarify, tweeting that he doesn't condone anti-Semitism or hate speech -- Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
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BRUNHUBER: According to FIFA, the world's top football tournament is open to everyone. That's ahead of the World Cup in Qatar that takes place in 15 days. They've been pummeled over its harsh laws over the LGBTQ community and its treatment of migrant workers.
But FIFA's top leader says Qatar will welcome everyone, no exception.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FATMA SAMOURA, FIFA SECRETARY-GENERAL: No matter your race, your religion, your social and sexual orientation, you are most welcome. And Qatar is ready to receive you with the best hospitality that you can imagine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[04:55:00]
BRUNHUBER: FIFA also says Qatar has taken steps to protect migrant workers but Human Rights Watch calls them too little, too late.
The top prize in the Powerball is drawing $1.6 billion. That's right. 1.6 billion with a B. So if you haven't done it already, you might head down to your neighborhood convenience store and pick up a ticket.
If you hit the jackpot and choose to take the lump sum payment before taxes, that's a hefty $782.4 million. But now for a dose of reality, your odds of winning is 1 in 292 million. But it may be you. Who knows?
In less than 24 hours from now, millions living in the U.S. will face the annual ritual of setting their clocks back one hour and Daylight Saving Time ends. The official moment is 2:00 am Sunday. Most digital devices will update automatically.
Those living in Arizona and Hawaii don't observe Daylight Saving Time, so it won't affect them.
That wraps up this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. We'll be back with more. Please do stay with us.
