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Clark County In Nevada To Release Results From 22,000 Remaining Ballots Tonight; Maricopa County, Arizona, Counting Mail Ballots Dropped Off On Election Day; Twenty-Foot Piece Of Challenger Space Shuttle Found Deep In Ocean; Trump Family Gathers In Florida For Tiffany Trump Wedding; Ivanka Trump & Jared Kushner Won't Return To White House; Pence's New Book Out In Three Days, Likely To Intensify Trump Feud. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired November 12, 2022 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:05]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.

We begin this hour in election overtime, with all eyes on Nevada, which could decide the balance of power in the Senate. Right now, fewer than 900 votes separating incumbent Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto and Trump-backed Republican challenger Adam Laxalt. The race is too early to call. But Democrats of course need just one more seat in the Senate to keep control.

In Arizona right now CNN is now projecting that incumbent Democrat Senator Mark Kelly will hold on to his seat, fending off Republican Blake Masters, who has not yet called Kelly to concede.

Here's where the balance of power stands in the Senate right now. 49 Democrats and 49 Republicans. So if Democrats pick up one more seat, Vice President Kamala Harris would be the ultimate tiebreaker, giving Democrats control of the Senate chamber. And on the House side, Republicans are inching closer to taking control, but that too is still being decided vote-by-vote and race-by-race.

Let's begin in Nevada where thousands of ballots are still being counted. CNN's Rosa Flores joins us from North Las Vegas.

Rosa, what's latest on your end?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, we've got an updated statement from the Adam Laxalt campaign. Jim, as we were reporting and talking about last hour, a Nevada Republican strategist telling my colleague Dan Merica that there was a shift in the mood in the Adam Laxalt campaign, that they felt, quote, "awful and depressed." Well, we got a response from Adam Laxalt's campaign, saying, quote, "Our campaign team remains confident and hopeful, and any reporting to the contrary is inaccurate and poorly sourced."

Now I reached out to the Catherine Cortez Masto campaign as well. And they said, quote, "We remain confident." Now here's a state of play in the state of Nevada. There are more than

50,000 ballots yet to be counted. Here's a quick breakdown, more than 1,000 are in the Republican stronghold of Douglas County. There's more than 12,000 in the swing county of Washoe. And the majority of them, more than 23,000 mail-in and also election day drop-off ballots are right here in Clark County.

Now Clark County officials telling us that they plan to stay here through the day, through the evening, until the very last ballot is counted. They say that they feel that the eyes of the nation are right here in Clark County. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE GLORIA, CLARK COUNTY, NEVADA REGISTRAR OF VOTERS: We're still moving forward as quickly as we can. Look, we know that this is a serious count. There are people nationwide who are looking to see these results. We're not taking that lightly. There's nothing that we've stopped here. I've mentioned every single day. We're using every piece of equipment that's available to us and we're fully staffed on everything that we've got to use for counting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: Now Clark County plans to post their next tally later this evening. Now depending on how sharp that margin is, the next ballots that will be the focus are the ballots that need to be cured. And Jim, this is really important because I'm going to get into details here but they are very important. According to Clark County officials, more than 14,000 ballots were eligible to be cured. So far, more than 7,000 of those have already been cured.

Now that's important because a lot of those cured ballots could trend in the Democrats' favor. We just don't know how many of those 7,000 have already been tallied and how many could be tallied or could be part of the results tonight. So we'll be watching that -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, Rosa Flores, thank you very much.

Let's go down to Arizona with CNN's Kyung Lah.

Kyung, you've seen some protesters start to gather outside where the ballots are still being counted. What's happening there?

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's about two hours in and this crowd does appear to be thinning just a little bit. A little bit of context, I'm inside the election center. You can see the count happening behind me. There's still the governor's race, which is outstanding. That's the biggest race that is still too close to call. But the camera that we have outside, the live CNN camera, you can see that there's a crowd.

It's about two hours into this protest right now. This is a right-wing protest. It was called last night. This is being billed as a vigil. And, you know, we can hear it from inside here in the lobby, especially when the door is open. And it's a lot of conspiracies that are being thrown around because of the pace of this count.

The count is still continuing. You know, I've covered this county multiple times for CNN. And this is about the pace. The unusual part this year is that there were so many mail-in ballots that were dropped off on election day. Now that is where there is going to be the focus on it this evening.

[16:05:01]

But the Maricopa County supervisor, the head, did really address this crowd outside and what is happening here in Maricopa County today in Phoenix. And here's what Bill Gates told us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL GATES (R), CHAIR, MARICOPA COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS: Folks here in the building, they are aware of what's going on outside. There is a crowd that is peaceful out there right now. We have every reason to believe that they will continue to be peaceful. And look, the people who are here, who are counting the votes, they believe in democracy. They believe in the First Amendment. And they acknowledge the right of those people to be out there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH: And, you know, it's a little more tense here but I have to tell you that the work here is continuing. They do not seem distracted by what is happening outside.

And let me lay the groundwork a little bit, Jim, just looking ahead to the evening. At about 10:00 Eastern Time, we are anticipating that there will be more ballots released. A little bit more information, a little bit closer to knowing what the results of the governor's race might be. About 75,000 to 80,000, the bulk of which will be those mail-in ballots dropped off on election day -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. Kyung Lah, thank you very much.

Let's bring in some CNN political commentators, S.E. Cupp and former Clinton White House press secretary Joe Lockhart.

Joe, every single vote trickling in here matters. Rest in peace to all of those folks out there who thought their vote doesn't matter. I mean, that claim just doesn't hold up anymore. We're down to potentially single digits maybe in some of these races outstanding. How are Democrats feeling at the moment right now, that they have got in Arizona, and potentially closing the gap here in Nevada? What do you think?

JOE LOCKHART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think Democrats are feeling pretty confident right now, Jim. As we talked about leading up to the election, this was an impossible election to model. We didn't know who was going to turn out. And that's why a lot of the narrative I think was wrong about predicting this red wave.

The reason Democrats are confident is the voters it seems have taken the longer-term protecting my rights, protecting democracy, protecting the right to abortion, versus the shorter term economic issues like inflation. And as you look forward, that is very good news for Democrats and bad news for Republicans because these issues are going to remain. The Supreme Court has ruled in the Dobbs decision. And as long as Trump is around, we're going to be having conversations about democracy.

So that's good news right now, today, as they count the votes. It is trending well for Democrats. But I think even more important, long term it's good news for Democrats.

ACOSTA: And S.E., I mean, what do you think of that? And also, I mean, let me ask you, there's this new CNN reporting that according to Republican sources talking to CNN, former president Trump is calling up allies in the Senate suggesting that Mitch McConnell, the minority leader, is to blame for the Republicans' midterm performance. I was talking to Trump advisers earlier this week about this. I have one adviser saying he was livid and he was -- you know, he was screaming at everybody. And that's been backed up by other folks reporting basically the same thing. He's been on a real sort of tantrum all week long. I mean, what do you think is going on?

S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think he is fuming because he knows he is responsible for a lot of the losses. And he doesn't like to be attached to failure and losses. And he is. And I think he thought it was going to go a lot better. And he wants to place blame elsewhere because, you know, as we know on Tuesday, he wants to announce, he might be running for president. And he doesn't want the stink sort of fuming up the room. But the stink isn't washing off. You know, he owns these midterm failure and he knows it.

ACOSTA: Yes, Joe, I mean, do you think that help? I mean, Democrats, we were covering the final hours, the final days of the midterm race, these races across the country, last weekend, and there was Donald Trump out on the campaign trail and talking to various folks and he was talking more about himself than the candidates he was out there, supposedly supporting.

And I just wonder at the end of all of this, if folks look at that and said, you know what, no, I don't want the country to go in that direction? Been there, done that, it didn't work out.

LOCKHART: Yes, well, there's no doubt that Trump being on television, Trump being in some of the state energizes Democrats. Look, you know, the question in this race was, how much did it energize Republicans as far as turning out? And I think you're seeing in places that the energy it provided for Democrats outweighed any benefit that Trump provided. But I would say as a note of caution on Trump, that Republicans oppose him and ignore him at their own peril.

We have had Trump as down so many times and when he goes one-on-one with his fellow Republicans, he always wins. And I think he always wins because there is a Trump voter out there that's not a Republican vote. And one of the really interest questions, and again I don't know if we have any data on it yet, is how many people stayed home because Trump wasn't on the ballot, as opposed to Trump injecting himself into the campaign.

[16:10:08]

So I think this, you know, overnight narrative that, you know, Trump is going to lose the party, I think it's way too soon and premature to come to that conclusion.

ACOSTA: S.E.?

CUPP: Yes, I mean, I totally agree. You know, yes, there's been some consternation, some hand-wringing, some distancing themselves from Trump. Give that about five more minutes and then you will see the Republican Party move steadily back to Trump. And that's because they have so intentionally identified themselves with him. It's not as easy as quitting Trump. You have to be willing to quit all of his voters. And a good number of his voters are QAnon, Proud Boys, anti-Semites, you know, racists.

Not all his voters, but a chunk of them are really some, you know, terrible strains of hate and bigotry. And Republicans have been all- too willing to let those folks creep into the party because they were voting Republican. If you're not willing to say we don't want your votes, we disavow you and we don't want you in Congress either, then you're just going to keep getting Trumpism on repeat.

It might be packaged a little differently, it might look a little different, but Trumpism isn't gone and I don't see it going away anytime soon.

ACOSTA: And Joe, let me ask you about -- I mean, let's not talk about the former president. I mean, let's talk about what Democrats in your view did right. Gen Z showed up. Women voters showed up, outraged over the Dobbs decision. People showed up because they were worried about democracy. I mean, I talked to voters who said they were worried about the future of American democracy. Voters of color. There was quite a broad coalition that the Democrats put together.

LOCKHART: Yes. I think so. As I said before, this really was a forward-looking election and a result, as opposed to a snapshot of where we are right now. And I think that turned out young people. That turned out women. That turned out minority communities because these rights are so important to them and they see rights that are being taken away from them. And that's much more important.

And I think there was a lot of back and forth on whether President Biden's speeches about democracy were helpful to Democrats and I think there was some skepticism. I think we now see that it helped frame this election. It helped make the Dobbs decision more relevant. It helped make the election denialism more relevant. And again, these are all things moving forward that worked to the Democrats' favor.

ACOSTA: S.E., do you think Kevin McCarthy is going to be the next speaker of the House? I mean, we have to get through the rest of these races. Votes have to be counted.

CUPP: Right. ACOSTA: The Republicans having the best path forward in terms of

landing the majority. But is Kevin McCarthy going to be the next speaker or do you buy into these stories that it's uncertain for him?

CUPP: I think he's going to be speaker. But I think he's going to be speaker for a very short time. You know, the Republican House is a messy place. And all it takes is a minority, you know, a slim minority to come against him. And he has got nowhere to go.

You know, I went through this, you know -- I didn't personally, but I covered when John Boehner went through this and the elements and his party came after him, and Paul Ryan, too. And that was like in the good old days, right. So I think Kevin McCarthy might be careful what he wishes for with this Republican House.

ACOSTA: Yes. We've seen this movie before with John Boehner and Paul Ryan.

CUPP: That's right.

ACOSTA: And, Joe, let me ask you about President Biden. This past week has been a good week for democracy, decency and dark Brandon, I think. Forgive me if that reference is going over your head. Maybe we're too old to get some of these things from the young kids, speaking of the younger voters. But the speculation about whether or not the president will run again in 2024, I suppose that's going to continue. But -- and he keeps giving the same answer about this. Let play that and let me get your comment on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Look, my intention, as I said in the beginning, is that I would run again. But it's just an intention. I have not made a formal decision. But it's my intention. My intention to run again. My intention is I will run again. But I'm a great respecter of fate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: What do you think, Joe? He's routinely underestimated and now can boast one of the best performances during midterms that a Democrat has seen in a very long time.

LOCKHART: Yes, Jim. Without reference to my age or his age, this was a very good week for President Biden.

ACOSTA: I'm sorry. I should not have said it that way.

LOCKHART: Yes, so much of I think the resistance he was getting was this narrative that he was underperforming and couldn't deliver when in fact he delivered some very big things. And I think, you know, politics is often about headwinds versus tailwinds.

[16:15:01]

And he now has some wind behind his back. I mean, you know, I hope the Democrats are willing to take advantage of that, even in the lame duck and beyond that. But it does. And I think you're right. He is underestimated at every turn and he tends to overdeliver on that. And, you know, overdelivering and under promising is a formula in politics that's gold.

ACOSTA: S.E., I can just see the memes of Joe Lockhart right now with the laser beams coming out of his eyes.

CUPP: I love it. Dark Joe.

ACOSTA: Dark Joe.

CUPP: Dark Lockhart.

ACOSTA: Dark Lochart.

CUPP: Listen, I think Biden --

ACOSTA: Yes, what do you think?

CUPP: Biden should run if he wants. He has every right, although I think he was always going to be a transitional president, not a transformational one. He did the job. He got Trump out. It would be fine if Democrats wanted to move on. The problem is, Joe Biden cannot wait much longer because every day that passes is another opportunity for folks like you to go to Capitol Hill and interview a Democrat and say, do you think Joe Biden should run and they'll say, well, I don't know. Maybe not.

That's bad. That's bad for Joe. It's bad for Democrats. I would get there. Make the announcement, whether you're running or not. And if you're not, let Democrats put their bench up, and get folks used to that.

ACOSTA: All right. S.E. Cupp, Joe Lockhart, we're waiting for the memes now. Dark Joe Lockhart. All right, thanks so much, guys. Appreciate it.

LOCKHART: Thanks so much, Jim.

ACOSTA: Thanks for the time.

Coming up, a stunning discovery in the deep. How a film crew happened upon remnants of the space shuttle Challenger, lost since it tragically exploded in 1986. Incredible images there.

Plus planning for life on Mars. NASA's new experiment that could one day help put humans on the red planet. Former astronaut Scott Kelly joins us live on all of that. Oh, yes, by the way, I think his brother may have won a big race in Arizona. We might get into that, too. We'll talk next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:20:53] ACOSTA: You're looking live at Maricopa County, Arizona, where we're expecting election officials to give an update on counting the vote as well as election security in just a few minutes. There's been some protesters outside the building today. We'll bring that to you live when it happens.

In the meantime, a search team looking for a World War II airplane lost at sea got quite the surprise when they found something else on the bottom of the Atlantic. Remnants of an American tragedy, a piece of debris from the space shuttle Challenger that exploded 73 second after takeoff in 1986, killing the entire crew.

CNN's Kristin Fisher has more.

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, it was the space shuttle's very distinctive heat shield tiles which gave this documentary crew their first clue that they may have in fact stumbled upon a piece of space shuttle Challenger. So they found it while they were filming this series, "The Bermuda Triangle: Into Cursed Waters." This piece however not found inside what's known as the Bermuda Triangle.

It was actually found just outside, in the Atlantic Ocean. So they brought this footage to a former NASA astronaut, who looked at it and said, I think you need to bring it to NASA. They brought it to NASA and just this week, Jim, NASA confirmed that this is indeed a piece of the space shuttle Challenger. And the heat shield tiles, what they would have done, those white squares, is they would have protected space shuttle Challenger from the very high temperatures that it would have encountered when it reentered the earth's atmosphere.

But of course, it never made it that far. Space shuttle Challenger, you know, blew up very shortly after liftoff back in January of 1986. And so now the big question becomes, you know, what does NASA do with this because by law any piece of a space shuttle, be it Columbia or Challenger or any other space shuttle, it belongs to the U.S. government and is still U.S. property. So now NASA says that they are trying to figure out what they want to do with it.

But whatever they do, they want to do something that honors the life and the legacy of the seven astronauts that were killed on that day, including, of course, Christa McAuliffe, who would have become the very first teacher in space -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, thank you very much.

Joining me now, retired NASA astronaut Scott Kelly.

Great to see you as always. Best live backdrop in all of television. I know I tell you that every time but it's so true. There's the space suit behind you, so great.

Scott, so much to talk about. And not just about the Challenger discovery, which is just incredible, but also your work for Ukraine. I have to ask you, though, about last night. Your brother projected as the winner of the Arizona Senate race. How is the Kelly family feeling about all of this? I'm sure it's a huge relief to everybody in the family.

SCOTT KELLY, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: Yes, so, Jim, we are of course very, very proud but very happy and excited that he's going to have six years in the Senate because I do think he is probably the most qualified and capable person that we have out there to address all the very, very tough, challenging problems we have, and do it in a very, very objective, you know, fact and data-based way.

So I think, you know, not only is this election, not only was it a win for Arizona, I think it's a win for the entire country because he is, you know, the type of person that looks at things very objectively, with a science mind. And that's what we need to solve some really, really serious problems that we have.

ACOSTA: Are you bothered at all that Blake Masters has not called to concede?

KELLY: You know, that's up to him, I guess. It doesn't really bother me. I think it's pretty clear that he has won the race and that's what's important.

ACOSTA: All right. Let's get back to this incredible discovery deep in the Atlantic. I'm wondering what you thought when you saw this. A piece of the shuttle Discovery -- shuttle Challenger, excuse me. How do you think NASA should have handled this and how should they handle this in terms of honoring the memory of the crew that was lost?

[16:25:07]

KELLY: You know, a lot of the Challenger is actually buried in this sarcophagus, some of the pieces that they got. Same thing with Columbia, I believe and -- but there are pieces I think that they have used to educate the public and put on display. So, you know, I don't know what their plans are. But, you know, it's pretty clear to me when I saw the video that it was a piece of Challenger. And, you know, hopefully they can find a good use for that, that will honor the crew, and the families that lost their loved ones.

ACOSTA: And I have to think it must be an emotional moment for the family members.

KELLY: Well, of course. I think, you know, anytime that they are reminded of, you know, this horrible tragedy, you know, both Challenger and Columbia, and the, you know, Apollo 1 fire in the space program, it is an emotional time that lets us reflect on, you know, this incredible loss we had. But you know, I hope that they're able to look forward, and you know, maybe use this, you know, hardware in some way to educate the public and honor their sacrifice.

ACOSTA: And let me ask you about your work in Ukraine. I want to talk to you about that cause that you've been working on. It's very important to you, very special to you. That's raising money for Ukraine, specifically money for drones that can be used on the front lines against Russia. Ambulances, too, I think, may be part of this. Tell us more. KELLY: Yes, so President Zelenskyy asked me to work with him on

raising funds for humanitarian aid, basically to buy ambulances for Ukraine. This is a very important issue to me. I have Ukrainian family members, Ukrainian friends. But I think it should be an important issue for, you know, people that believe in freedom and democracy around the world. So I'm going to try to do everything I can to raise money to replace the 10 ambulances a week that Russia destroys and -- because these are helping save the lives of innocent people.

I actually put some of my own money behind it. I believe in leading by example. So I hope others will find a way to donate anything they can. We would be very, very grateful.

ACOSTA: And I have to ask you, as I know you watch a lot of news. I'm sure you saw what took place in Kherson, these images of Ukrainian troops retaking that key city. We're showing some of those images to our viewers right now, raising the flag, the Ukrainian flag up again, hoisting soldiers up into the air and so on. It's just remarkable, the spirit of the Ukrainian people.

KELLY: Yes. I tweeted one of those videos today and I said let freedom ring. And just to see their spirit and enthusiasm they have for being free, you know, despite all the hardship they have suffered for such a long time, was, you know, really made me happy. And it was a really great day for them. So I'm so happy that those people are liberated and hopefully soon, you know, the rest of occupied Ukraine will follow.

ACOSTA: All right. Very good. Former astronaut Scott Kelly, great the see you as always. Let's show the live shot one more time. I have to see the wide shot one more -- this is just the best live backdrop anybody has ever had on television. It got us through the pandemic, too.

So, Scott Kelly, great to talk to you as always. Thanks so much for your time, as always. We appreciate it.

KELLY: Thank you, Jim.

ACOSTA: Coming up -- thank you.

Coming up, there were protesters outside while they continue to count the vote in Arizona. We're standing by for a press conference on some of this from election officials in that key county, Maricopa County, Arizona. We'll bring you all of that as soon as we have it in just a few moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:33:18]

ACOSTA: There are protesters outside while they continue to count the vote in Arizona in Maricopa County. We're standing by for a press conference from election officials in that county.

They're supposed to give us an update on both the count and election security. We'll bring that to you live when it happens.

In the meantime, down at Mar-a-Lago, wedding bells are ringing at the former president's estate today. The entire Trump family has gathered to celebrate the marriage of Tiffany Trump.

But it won't' be a wedding without some family drama. Sources tell us, as the former president's eyes return to the White House, some of the family are tapping out.

CNN's Kate Bennett has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATE BENNETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Jim. The Trump family is gathered at Mar-a-Lago today for the wedding of Tiffany Trump.

But there's a little drama behind the scenes. CNN has learned that Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner will not be participating in any potential second run of the White House by former President Donald Trump. They have no interest in returning to Washington or the White House.

Of course, this is interesting because Jared Kushner was the gatekeeper for Donald Trump in the West Wing during his administration. He worked on everything from the Middle East peace talks to COVID-19 response.

And Ivanka Trump, obviously, a very close adviser in the White House, in addition to being his daughter.

So, the couple has no interest in either campaigning for a second time, nor coming back to Washington and working in the White House, should former President Trump get a second go at it.

I will say this. Don Jr, Donald Trump Jr and his girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, and Eric Trump and his wife Lara Trump, are onboard with President Trump, should he want to run again for a second run at the White House.

[16:35:01]

So he can expect their support on the campaign trail, for sure. But Jared and Ivanka are definitely out, as the family gathers for Tiffany's wedding.

Back to you, Jim.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: In the meantime, Trump's relationship with his former Vice President Mike Pence is also strained. Pence, who has hinted at his own potential White House run, is detailing their final days in the White House in his book out next week.

According to an excerpt in "The Wall Street Journal," Trump told Pence he was, quote, "Too honest, and would go down as a wimp."

CNN's Brian Todd reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(CHEERING)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The former vice president's new accounts depict a convenient political partnership deteriorating in a matter of a few short weeks

MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We forged a close, personal relationship. But in the end, came on difficult times.

TODD: As he rolls out his book, "So Help Me, God," excerpt by "The Wall Street Journal," Mike Pence, for the first time, reveals specific quotes from then-President Trump as Trump tried to persuade, cajole, and arm twist Pence to reject the elections results on January 6th.

In the weeks leading up to January 6th, Pence writes, he "tried to convince Trump that he didn't have the authority to decide which electoral votes should count."

Pence says Trump told him, quote, "You're too honest, hundreds of thousands are going to hate your guts, people are going to think you're stupid."

SUSAN GLASSER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: This is a classic Trump interaction. It's all about him. He has no interest in principal.

TODD: On the morning of January 6th, Pence writes he got a call from the president. Pence said, he reiterated, he didn't have the power to decide which votes could count.

Quote, "The president laid into me. You'll go down as a wimp, he said. If you do that, I made a big mistake five years ago.

MICHAEL D'ANTONIO, AUTHOR: Trump always tries to eviscerate people that he deems to be disloyal, especially at key moments. It's no surprise that he went after Mike Pence.

(SHOUTING)

TODD: In the excerpts, Pence gives new detail on the harrowing moments when rioters inside the capitol and outside were looking for him.

(CHANTING)

TODD: "The Secret Service," Pence writes, "wanted to get him out of the building."

Pence says he argued with his lead agent.

Quote, "I pointed my finger at his chest and said, you're not hearing me. I'm not leaving. I'm not giving those people the sight of a 16-car motorcade speeding away from the capitol." They agreed to move the vice president to a more secure spot at the

capitol loading dock.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were doing it in the blind. They didn't realize what was going on outside because the incident command structure had fallen apart at the capitol.

TODD: Pence's new book could be the opening salvo in a duel between the former allies for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. For months, they have been sparring from a distance.

TRUMP: Mike, and I say it sadly, because I like him. But Mike didn't have the courage to act.

TODD: How Donald Trump weighed what will likely be a very personality battle?

D'ANTONIO: He will use every private conversation the two of them ever had. He will use the accusation of disloyalty. He will do whatever he can to both shame Pence and out him as something other than what he claims to be.

TODD (on camera): CNN has reached out to Donald Trump's camp for a response to the new excerpts from Mike Pence's book. We have not heard back.

But Trump, just a few days ago, again criticized Pence for not sending the 2020 electoral votes back to the states.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: Make sure to join CNN's Jake Tapper on Wednesday for a live CNN town hall with former Vice President Mike Pence. That starts at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.

Coming up, crypto collapse. The stunning downfall of the TFX exchange and why industry insiders are now asking if this is another Lehman moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:42:56]

ACOSTA: Let's get you to Maricopa County, Arizona, for a press conference with election officials there. This started just moments ago. Let's listen in.

PAUL PENZONE, SHERIFF, MARICOPA COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: -- because we're in this space we get a chance to see everything inside- out.

And folks can get emotional. There's a lot at stake. They can sometimes actually irresponsibly. There are a lot of folks who are very comfortable in saying things that are unkind, and often times volatile or disrespectful.

But it's important for people to be adults in the room when some are acting like children.

And I don't mean to cast disparaging words individually but we know there's some people that get overzealous and do things that give us cause for concern. Otherwise, the sheriff wouldn't be here talking to you.

But somebody, who I think has done an exceptional job being the adult in the room, being very thoughtful with the process.

Sharing information on a regular basis, and making sure that, as across the nation, a lot of folks are saying, why is it taking so long in Arizona, that you have someone that is taking the lead to help you understand to help you understand why.

And that's Chairman Bill Gates. I won't to commend him. He's done an exceptional job to make sure everything that can be shared is shared in a timely manner. That you can understand why there are challenges and complications.

But ultimately, there's a commitment to one thing that is most important, that every legal vote is counted and that the results are 100 percent accurate.

And Steven Limpricher works in that space with him. But I'm not a person who believes in political lines. I believe in people. And I think he has done an exceptional job. So I just want to begin by saying that, because it mad our job easier also.

As far as today, it's the first day that we've seen really a crowd gathering outside. You've been here since the beginning, when I made the commitment to how invested we would be with resources and equipment to ensure the safety of people in this building and every ballot is protected.

Today, we saw a group come out. And, you know, I professed, leadership means being thoughtful with your words and recognizing the consequences or what your words can provoke others to.

[16:45:02]

And we saw yesterday, there were tweets going out from at least one elected official, summoning folks to come here today and to be heard. And it gave me some cause for concern for some pause.

Because you may be well-intended. That doesn't mean that everyone in your calling has the same intentions. It can empower them into a space where bad things can happen.

So we were very concerned. We made sure that we once again dedicated additional resources because we want to see a safe environment, at the cost of other needs around the county for law enforcement, the cost of taxpayer dollars, deputies in addition to those we had stationed here, came to the facility and made everything safe. As for the crowd outside, they were peaceful. They had an objective.

They stayed within that scope and they left in a reasonable amount of time.

I did have some safety concerns, which there were folks marching in the street. And we want to make sure that area is safe.

Fortunately, for us, we had faith in the police department that showed up and addressed things to make sure that no one was in harm's way and no one was not abiding by the law.

Aside from that, there was one other item I want to point out. There was one person who had some heat exhaustion or something to that extent. Our deputies cared from them. We called paramedics and my understanding is that person is fine.

Ultimately, we're getting closer to the end of this process. And my hope is that all of the answers come to rise to the top, every election is counted, and ends in the next few days without any need for recounts. We'll stay here through the duration.

But thus far into it, I want to say thank you. I think the community has responded in a positive way. I think those folks that came out today were law abiding and had a chance to express the First Amendment. We respected that.

And this is an odd one. I am going to give a shoutout to somebody, I guess, a young man named Charlie Kirk, who is part of an organization that I don't have a lot of familiarity with it.

But he sent out a message and say, eye, be law-abiding and please don't gather around the county facilities and let folks do their job, or something to that extent.

It sems his words resonated. He is viewed as a leader in some factions and some groups and they responded to it. That's helpful for law enforcement. We really care about this building, this vote, these people and this law enforcement community. Help us get our job done. And those types of things are helpful.

So that sums it up for me. If you have questions, I am happy to answer those. If you want to do that now or the end.

OK, I apologize.

I'll turn it over to Supervisor Gates now.

But thank you.

BILL GATES, (R), CHAIRMAN, MARICOPA COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS: Hi. Good to see everyone again.

Thank you very much, Sheriff Pensone, for the find word kind words. Thank you for your leadership of this community, Maricopa County and helping everyone to feel secure through this process. As I said before, it's really sad that we have to think about these

things in the context of an election, in a Democratic republic. But we do. We know that because of what happened right outside of this building in 2020.

But again, Sheriff Pensone has been an incredible partner of the Board of Supervisors, Recorder Richer, and along with our local other local law enforcement, city of Phoenix and others, and our federal partners.

This is -- this didn't just materialize here in the last few days. This is a project that Sheriff Pensone has been working on in collaboration with many for months.

Again, I thank you, I thank your team. And I speak on behalf of everyone in this building, that we're all so grateful for what you've done.

So, first of all, I wanted to say thank you, again, to our folks who are working so hard back behind us here and throughout the building.

And we continue to process through the ballots and tabulate the ballots and report new numbers. And we're going to continue to do that in a way that is moving along very efficiently. And also ensuring that all these votes --

ACOSTA: There's election official, Bill Gates. We spoke to him in our previous hour. He's holding a press conference right now with the sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona.

You just heard the sheriff make it clear that he and his law enforcement team, they're keeping an eye on the situation there.

Making sure the election workers are going to be safe and able to continue to do their job in counting the votes, those crucial votes in Maricopa County, which are outstanding right now.

We want to take a quick break. We'll be back on the other side with more news and more on the developing story there in Maricopa County.

And in Nevada, as election officials count the votes and try to get some final tallies in these midterms.

[16:49:53]

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: Christmas is still six weeks away, but one big sign of the holiday season has arrived in New York City. This year's Rockefeller Center Christmas tree arrived in the city earlier today.

The Norway spruce stands 82 feet tall and weighs in at 14 tons. The massive tree will be decorated before the famous lighting ceremony on November 30th.

After the holidays, it will be taken down and donated to Habitat for Humanity, where it's wood will be used to build houses.

Disneyland's legendary, "It's a Small World Ride," just got a little bit bigger. Two dolls and wheelchairs have been added to the ride.

It's the first time in the resorts 67-year history that characters in wheelchairs have been used in an attraction.

[16:55:00]

Disneyland says the change is part of an ongoing effort to look at the resort with a magnifying glass to find opportunities for inclusion.

Coming up, the balance of power in the House and Senate still undecided days after the election. A closer look at the key races it will all come down to, including that nail-biter Senate choice in Nevada. More on that, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:00:07]

ACOSTA: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I am Jim Acosta in Washington.