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Democrats Make Gains in Arizona, Nevada Senate Races; Republicans Inch Toward House Control, Senate in Flux; Arizona Still Counting Thousands of Outstanding Votes; Government Data Suggest Fed Rate Hikes are Working; Biden Heads to U.N. Climate Conference in Egypt. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired November 11, 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]

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

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: 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 from London. Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here in Maricopa County, the tedious work of democracy continues counting the votes, hanging in the balance is control of the U.S. Senate.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you for fighting like the devil to make sure that we had a free and a fair election.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is actually a 9-month low for annual inflation and it is a big improvement from the 9 percent inflation we saw over the summer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is not enough money in any country in the world to actually solve this problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: It is Friday, November 11th, 9 a.m. here in London, 4 a.m. in Washington. Where control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives remains in limbo. The final outcome of the midterm elections undecided now three days later.

NOBILO: Votes are still being counted in two crucial states. Democratic Senator Mark Kelly is extending his lead over Republican Blake Masters in Arizona and the same goes for Democrat Katie Hobbs in the high stakes governor's race. Republican Kari Lake is a diehard election denier, is already challenging the results.

FOSTER: New numbers in Nevada showed Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto narrowing the gap with Republican Adam Laxalt. Now tens of thousands of ballots remain to be counted there.

NOBILO: Right now, Democrats hold 48 Senate seats. Republicans have 49. Just two short of the 51 seats that they need to take Senate control.

FOSTER: In the House Democrats have won 198 House seats so far. Republicans have 211, 9 short of a majority.

NOBILO: CNN is on the scene in both critical states out west. We'll hear from Gary Tuchman and Las Vegas, Nevada in just a bit. But we begin with Kyung Lah in Phoenix, Arizona.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here in Maricopa County, the tedious work of democracy continues counting the vote. Hanging in the balance is control of the U.S. Senate. Some 78,000 vote results were released this evening by Maricopa County. Didn't really change the races all that much percentage wise, but the Democrats who are currently on a razor lead, razor thin lead, they got just a bit more vote tat.

Now this is a slow process and it is a careful process. What we are hearing though on the edges are some of the Republicans on this ballot who are frustrated, have been talking about some of these election officials might be doing this on purpose, releasing this slowly on purpose and we got strong pushback by election officials here.

BILL GATES, CHAIRMAN, MARICOPA COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS: Quite frankly, it is offensive for Kari Lake to say that these people behind me are slow rolling this when they're working 14 to 18 hours. So, I really hope this is the end of that now. We can be patient and respect the results when they come out.

LAH: The count continues. The election is not over in Maricopa County. Election officials are looking to start to zoom in on some of those election day ballots.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Phoenix, Arizona.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here in the largest County in the state of Nevada, Clark County, at the Clark County election center we can tell you that the tabulators are done tabulating for the evening. They will resume on Friday. In these 17 counties in the state of Nevada the Democratic candidate for Senate who is an incumbent, the Democratic candidate for governor who is incumbent are making up ground with the counting of mail-in ballots. Tens of thousands of ballots still need to be counted in the state of Nevada. But right now, Catherine Cortez Masto, the Democratic Senator, has made up about 7,000 votes today and is now behind her Republican challenger by 8,000.

[04:05:00] We know Governor Steve Sisolak has made up about 7,000 votes and is behind by 27,000 votes. So, here in Clark County alone, the largest county in the state, there are at least 50,000 ballots still to count. These are not ballots that were done in person on election day, these are ballots that were mailed in or dropped in drop boxes on election day.

Now the ballots can come until Saturday. That's the rule here in Nevada. So, either way they would've been counting. They're not counting because it's close, they're counting because that's the law. As long as the ballots are postmarked by Tuesday, it could arrive by Saturday and be counted. So, this will continue until at least Saturday. The counting will continue to last until Saturday and we still don't know who the winners of the very high profile races will be.

This is Gary Tuchman, CNN, in Las Vegas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: Joining us is associate professor of political science at University College London, Thomas Gift. Thomas let's talk about former President Donald Trump and the backlash that we've seen against him. What impact do you think that these midterm elections have had on his future prospects and candidacy?

THOMAS GIFT, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON: Well, it's great to be with you. You know, I would say a couple things. First of all, I really do think that Donald Trump's position in the Republican Party remains very strong among a certain percentage of the population. 30 to 35 percent of Americans are going to back Trump no matter what.

But I do think among more establishment Republicans there's really even greater concern and consternation than there was before Tuesday. I think they really want to move past Donald Trump. They're trying to look forward to a different direction for the party. Finding a candidate that has broader electoral appeal and that is not simply focused on galvanizing the base but they can make some inroads with swing voters.

FOSTER: If you look at some of the tabloids, front pages in American daily news, New York Post, you've also got Fox News anchors coming out in support of DeSantis effectively. But that's also a negative for Trump. So, what you see happening there and why is that important?

GIFT: Ron DeSantis has really been the big story in an election in which Republicans underperformed nationally. I think a lot of conservatives are looking at Florida as a beacon saying it didn't have to be this way. Ron DeSantis was able to make such significant inroads into the Latino community, into swing voters. Actually, flipped a lot of previous Democratic strongholds.

You know, Fox News, I think that they are playing to where their audience is and to the extent that they are seeing where the trend lines are going, it's maybe not surprising and that's certainly good news for Ron DeSantis.

NOBILO: And so, if we consider Florida to be a bit of an anomaly in those respects, do you think that the story of the midterms is one of the Democrats doing better than expected? Because obviously, for an incumbent government's first term, this really isn't bad at all, or the Republicans underperforming?

GIFT: I really think that it is the Republicans. And the reason that I say that is typically in a midterm election the president in power in the majority party is not going to do as well. And you have just so many counter veiling pressures that looked like they were going against Democrats. Highest inflation in four decades.

NOBILO: Yes.

GIFT: You had a surge of immigration at the U.S./Mexico border. All of these kinds of problems. You would have thought Joe Biden would have had a really bad night. They didn't. And so, I really do think ultimately Republicans need to do some soul searching in this postmortem and figure out why they didn't do well. I really do think that it comes down to candidate quality. I think that Republicans just put too many candidates who were election deniers, who had fringe positions. They just did not appeal to moderate voters.

FOSTER: Does feel that way heading towards deadlock, doesn't it, if the Republicans do swing the House, then you've got the Democrat President. We don't know what's going to happen in the Senate but that system doesn't necessarily work in this situation, does it?

GIFT: Exactly. And I think gridlock is going to be the watch word on Capitol Hill for the next two years. And so, even though Democrats didn't do as poorly as they anticipated, it's still the case that if Republicans are able to control the House, they can do a lot of damage and stymie that agenda.

I think there are two areas that you want to look at. One is in terms of policy. And so, I think that Joe Biden's legislative agenda is really dead on arrival. But looking at investigations and just consuming time and winding down the clock. Republicans are going to lay it on Joe Biden and his associates focusing on everything from Hunter Biden's laptop to COVID-19, to charges of a politically motivated Justice Department to even withdrawal from Afghanistan. If so, I think that it still going to be very difficult for Joe Biden to navigate.

OK, Thomas Gift thank you for coming in.

GIFT: Thank you.

NOBILO: U.S. stocks posted their best day in over two years on Thursday after new government data showed that price increases eased last month.

[04:10:00]

FOSTER: Investors cheered the news which could mean the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes may finally be getting inflation under control.

NOBILO: The markets all closed well in positive territory. The Dow Jones was up almost 4 percent. The Nasdaq gained more than 7 percent and the S&P 500 closed at 5.5 percent.

FOSTER: Voters consistently named the economy as their top concern this election and while Thursday's inflation report was encouraging, experts warn it's just not enough. We'll get the latest now from CNN's Richard Quest in New York.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR AT LARGE: It is always dubious to take one month's numbers and extrapolate it into a trend, but that's what the market is doing today. The welcome news that inflation was down 7.7 percent, a long way lower than more than 9 percent in June, gave the market the view that perhaps the Fed would now slowdown in increasing rates. But the next meeting may be 50 basis points, possibly even 25 basis points instead of the 3/4 percent we've seen so far. That would be perhaps a step too far. Because economists one and all pretty much agree the Fed is not done yet. That inflation has not been calmed.

And what we're seeing with the exuberance of the market could well be washed away in a few days' time. For the moment everyone knows there's a wall of money waiting to come back in the market and the first sign of light that inflation may be turning is welcome news, indeed. But it's not over yet.

Richard Quest, CNN at the New York Stock Exchange.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: If you are planning to do your holiday shopping with credit cards, gift giving could cost you more than ever. The Fed's interest rate hikes have driven the average credit card APR up to 19.04 percent. The highest rate in 30 years. The number has risen by 2.74 percent, a point since January. The biggest single increase on record.

FOSTER: People looking to buy a home are also feeling the pinched in the Feds inflation fighting efforts with 30-year fixed rate mortgages are back above 7 percent. That's a dramatic increase from a year ago when the rates were something like 2.98 percent.

NOBILO: The 4 percent increase is severely compromised by the purchasing power by driving up monthly payments. A typical $500,000 home will cost you $1,000 more per month. That sent home sales dropping for eight straight months.

FOSTER: Now a U.S. federal judge has struck down President Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness program. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of to borrowers who didn't qualify for debt relief. The Justice Department says it'll appeal the ruling.

NOBILO: Nearly 26 million student loan forgiveness applications have been submitted but the Biden administration has been banned from canceling any debt due to a separate legal challenge. Payments on federal student loans have been paused since March 2020 due to a pandemic related benefit and they're set to resume in January.

President Biden arrives in Egypt in the coming hours for the COP27 Summit. But the climate envoy, John Kerry is already there and speaking with CNN and we've got a live report.

FOSTER: Hurricane Nicole takes a toll across parts of Florida destroying homes and leaving thousands without power and is not over yet. Hi, Derek.

Derek van Dam, CNN meteorologist: Yes, that's right, Max. The remnants of Nicole still churning across the southeast creating a tornado threat as well as a flash flood threat. I will highlight how this will impact your conditions and on the eastern seaboard of the U.S. coming up after the break. Stick around.

[04:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NOBILO: At least two people have died due to what was hurricane Nicole. The powerful storm made landfall early Thursday along Florida's east coast.

FOSTER: Dozens of beach front homes and hotels being declared unsafe in the wake of the storm. More than 52,000 homes and businesses across the state are still without power.

NOBILO: Nicole has now weakened to a tropical depression. But it's still producing significant rainfall as it moves north.

FOSTER: Let's get the latest from CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam. Hi, Derek, where is it moving to next then?

VAN DAM: Max, it's still churning across the southeastern United States. But I want to take you to Daytona Beach, Florida, where hurricane Maria -- excuse me, hurricane Nicole did what hurricane Ian did but just basically finishing the job. You remember hurricane Ian was from the end of September. It compromised so much of the coast line of the Florida Peninsula. But now all we needed was another category 1 hurricane to come in and erode some of the coast line away taking and threatening these businesses and these homes.

Can you imagine if this was your house falling into the water, sweeping away your priceless memories? Well, that's what residents have had to deal with. And it's all thanks to hurricane Nicole.

There are still coastal flood alerts and advisories in place for both the big bend of Florida and east coast of Florida. That extends into the coast line of Georgia as well.

Now here's the remnants of what was hurricane Nicole, now a tropical depression churning across central Georgia. And I want you to notice this as well. We still have our tornado watch that's in effect for much of South Carolina. In fact, there's a tornado warning currently for the Florence region

that'll expire here within the next 15 minutes. Very typical with these landfall and tropical systems to spin up these brief, weak tornadoes. And that is the threat that we have going forward today. Anywhere you see the shading of yellow, that includes the mid- Atlantic. A marginal risk for the nation's capital. This is all part of the remnants of Nicole going forward.

And believe it or not, would you believe it if I said that it's actually going to merge with a storm system that created a blizzard across the northern sections of the U.S. Bismarck, North Dakota has an impressive yesterday, several inches reported there. But now that energy is going to be absorbed into the remnants of Nicole and it's going to create a very wet, soggy weekend for much of the eastern third of the country. So, if you have travel plans this weekend double check your flight. D.C., New York, all the way to Syracuse, Pittsburgh, you have a potential for flight delays.

[04:20:00]

Certainly, some travel headaches on the roadways. This is basically Interstate 95 inland. We're talking about the potential for 2 to upwards of 4 inches of rain for some of these areas. As the system moves through, combines with what was a winter storm across the upper Midwest. Weather Prediction Center all over this. They have a slight risk of flash flooding for these locations including Pittsburgh, Charleston and Syracuse. So, the rain will pond up on the roadways quite quickly as the system moves through. We have lots of wind associated as well. So, look out for the potential of more power outages -- Max, Bianca.

FOSTER: Derek, thank you very much, indeed.

NOBILO: World leaders are working to address global warming at the United Nations COP27 climate conference in Egypt.

FOSTER: And U.S. President Joe Biden is on his way right there right now. Set to arrive in the coming hours. Mr. Biden will meet with Egypt's president and deliver remarks about the importance of continuing the fight against climate change.

CNN has reporters on the ground in Sharm el-Sheikh. Were joined now live by White House reporter Kevin Liptak, also senior international correspondent David McKenzie. Thank you to you both. Kevin, there's going to be, you know, all eyes really on the U.S. President because it's one of the biggest emitters, of course United States. He has committed billions of dollars to help countries develop clean energy. But is he going to be able to deliver that after the midterms?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, well, certainly President Biden feels like he's coming into this conference with a lot to talk about. And remember, it was only a year ago that the president arrived to last year's climate summit in Scotland just as his climate provisions were all falling apart in Congress. So, the difference a year has made is significant, the president has $370 billion included in a domestic spending bill that goes towards combatting climate change. That's the largest investment in American history.

And so, the president when he speaks later today will try and use that as leverage to try to convince other leaders to make similarly ambitious pledges to spend money in their countries to combat climate change. He'll talk about some new proposed rules about government contractors cutting carbon emissions, some new methane rules.

What the White House says is that the president will call on leaders to keep their eye on the ball, stay focused. But there is a dilemma here that a lot of other foreign leaders are focused on something else at this summit which is the issue of climate reparations. Essentially, they are calling on wealthy nations like the United States, one of the top emitters, to pay up on the damage that's being done in some of these low income countries when it comes to floods, fires, other extreme events that are due to climate change.

Now that is not really politically feasible even before the midterm elections. If Republicans do take control of one or more chambers of Congress, this is really the last major piece of climate legislation. We would expect that to happen in the next two years.

And we did see the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, she is also here in Sharm el-Sheikh. Speaking yesterday she said when that it comes to climate change, many Republicans still believe that it's a hoax. And we will hear more from her later today.

And so, that really is kind of the dilemma that the president is confronting as he embarks on this around-the-world trip. Of course, his message on all of these trips is that America is back. It's resuming its commitments. Certainly, the biggest threat to that is President Trump and it does appear to be politically weakened right now. But on the other hand, if Republicans take control of the Senate, much of the president's agenda would be installed. If so, that is kind of the dynamic. The president's aides say heading into the trip with the wind at his back. They say he feels confident heading into this around-the-world trip. But certainly, that dynamic will be at play while he's on ground here for a few hours in Egypt -- Max and Bianca.

NOBILO: And with President Biden set to touch down in the coming hours, David McKenzie, who is also at the summit for us, you've been getting insights into America's expectations and objectives at the summit.

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Bianca. And of course, you know, climate change isn't a hoax. It is a huge catastrophe for the planet and we are behind the curve. President Biden, as Kevin said, will try to show U.S. leadership. One way that the U.S. government has announced it's trying to help developing countries is to announce a carbon offset program. That has come under some level of criticism. Because people say that if companies can offset their carbon, then they won't make the tough choices to reduce emissions themselves. I put the question to the chief climate envoy of the U.S., Secretary John Kerry, here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOHN KERRY, U.S. CLIMATE ENVOY: Once the rules get fully worked out and everybody is in a comfort place, hopefully this will be implemented because we desperately need the money.

[04:25:00]

There is not enough money in any country in the world to actually solve this problem. It takes trillions and no government that I know of is ready to put trillions in this on an annual basis. That's what the scientists and the U.N. finance reports say we must do. 2.5 to 4.5 trillion every year for the next 30 years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKENZIE: Well, here's the problem, Max and Bianca, climate change won't be solved at the margins. It will be solved with big sweeping dynamic changes to the way that we run industry, the way governments do business in every aspect of every country all over the planet. Right now, the evidence is such that that isn't happening at these climate meetings despite the calls from scientists and activists.

Whether the talk can move to action, I'm skeptical that will happen in the short term but we will see if President Biden can help show U.S. leadership at least on this issue and whether the tough choices will actually be made by leaders in the coming months -- Bianca, Max.

NOBILO: We shall see. David McKenzie and Kevin Liptak thank you both so much.

FOSTER: Now after leaving the COP27 in Egypt, President Biden heads to the Cambodia for the ASEAN Summit conference and then onto the G20 in Bali where he set to meet with China's Xi Jinping for the first time since taking the White House. We'll go live to Beijing for a preview coming up in about 20 minutes from now.

NOBILO: A new study estimates that a virus called RSV is responsible for 1 in 50 deaths among children under the age of 5 worldwide. The virus is common around the world and is currently surging in the United States. It's especially dangerous for premature and medically fragile babies. It can cause problems for otherwise healthy children too. Globally RSV is the second leading cause of death during the first year of a child's life after malaria.

FOSTER: Now many key races have yet to be called in the U.S. midterm elections. But it's already an historic election really for the Biden administration. We'll speak about it with a presidential historian when we return.

NOBILO: Plus, Ukraine's first couple speak exclusively with CNN about finding the motivation to keep on fighting.

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