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CNN Projection: Democrats Keep Control Of Senate; Arizona Governor's Race Remains Too Early To Call; Midterm Results Complicate GOP Leadership Elections In Congress; Deadly Explosion Rocks Central Istanbul; Two WWII Ear Planes Collided At Dallas Airshow; Stunning Collapse Of FTX Rocks Cryptocurrency Industry; Biden To Hold First Face-To-Face Meeting With Xi As President; French Firm Investigated Over Alleged Labor Abuses In Qatar World Cup. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired November 13, 2022 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:28]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

All right. We begin this hour with Democrats celebrating a Senate majority. Republicans frustrated and the House still up for grabs.

CNN now projecting that Democrats will maintain control of the U.S. Senate following a close but pivotal victory in Nevada. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto projected to narrowly win re-election beating her Republican challenger Adam Laxalt. She spoke about that victory earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO (D-NV): We've known this was going to be a tough campaign, but, like all of you, I'm a Nevadan and I know what it takes to deliver for my home state. So when the national pundits said I couldn't win, I knew Nevada would prove them wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: But Republicans are still holding out hope to eke out a razor-thin majority in the House. Several key races still yet to be decided, 20, as ballot counting continues and that includes Arizona where the governor's race is still too early to call and right now Katie Hobbs holds a slight lead over Republican Kari Lake.

CNN's Kyung Lah is in Maricopa County where the vote counting continues for that gubernatorial race and others. Kyung, what's the latest?

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Still here, Fredricka. 34,000 votes separating the Republican and the Democrat. Those you just saw up there on our map.

And what I can tell you is happening here is what has been happening since Election Day, the vote count is continuing. That's happening in this room right behind me. It's the same people we've seen working 12, 14 hours a day, sometimes 18 hours a day, really just trying to get through the rest of what they have to count, the bulk of which, we are told, are those mail-in ballots that were dropped off in person on election day.

We are expecting more data, more election results tonight. This is what the Republican, Kari Lake believes is her possible path, the campaign has made very clear, this is where they believe the Republican voters are. They are counting on this to go their way.

Despite that -- despite knowing how important that is, we're still hearing Lake, who has been an election denier, trying to disparage this process, raise questions about this process simply because of the pace of all of this. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARI LAKE (R), ARIZONA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: We're waiting for the vote to be counted. You know, I consider someone's vote their voice. I think of it as a sacred vote. And it's being trampled the way we run our elections in Arizona.

I've been sounding the alarm for two years. Nothing got done, very little got done last legislative session. And we need to get in there and restore faith in our elections. We can't be the laughing stock of elections anymore here in Arizona. And when I'm governor, I will not allow it. I just won't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH: A reminder that the Republican state legislature here in the state of Arizona does set the rules for how all of this is counted. Kari Lake is a Republican. We have seen the Republicans who run the board of supervisors, who are in charge of this process, push back strongly saying that there is no evidence for what some of these nominees on the ballot are saying, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Closely watched, Kyung Lah, I'm glad you're still there. I guess you have a cot right there in the building because you've been there a really long time.

Right to the side -- got you.

All right. We'll check back with you. Thanks so much.

All right. So while control of the U.S. Senate is sealed now, the fate of the House remains a question mark after falling short of expectations in the midterms. Kevin McCarthy's path to become House speaker has become more complicated and some Republican senators are also calling for a delay in the leadership vote before committing to Mitch McConnell as minority leader.

For more let's bring in Capitol Hill reporter Melanie Zanona. Melanie, good to see you again. So Mitch McConnell, you know, was hoping to become the majority leader after the midterms. Now he's facing new dissension within the ranks as he maneuvers to try to hold on to the minority leadership role.

MELANIE ZANONA, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER: Yes, that's right. I mean let me start by saying House and Senate Republicans are bracing for some really tense meetings this week as they return to Washington for the first time since the disappointing election results last Tuesday.

[14:04:59]

ZANONA: And they're going to be grappling with what went wrong and who do we need to elect as our future leaders.

Now in the Senate, based on our reporting, Mitch McConnell does have the support to become his leader again of his party. He only needs to get a simple majority.

But you are right to point out he is facing dissension in his ranks. There is a small but vocal group of lawmakers who are pushing to delay the internal leadership elections this week. There's also at least one Republican, Josh Hawley who has publicly said he's going to oppose Mitch McConnell for GOP leader.

And what's playing out behind the scenes so far is a blame game. You are seeing some try to point the blame at Mitch McConnell and the head of the GOP campaign arm. There's also attempts to blame Donald Trump because a number of his hand-picked candidates ultimately failed in some of these key Senate races that determined control of the Senate.

And so we're going to expect all that to play out even more behind closed doors this week when they return to Washington.

WHITFIELD: And then, Melanie, how about the House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, who wants to become, you know, the House speaker? How are things looking for him, his path?

ZANONA: Well, I would say for Kevin McCarthy he is in a much more vulnerable position than Mitch McConnell and that's because he has dozens of hard line members who are threatening to vote against him if he does not give in to some of their demands. And normally those voices would not matter.

If they had won the majority and done it with a large margin it wouldn't matter what type of leverage they were seeking or what type of demands they were seeking because they wouldn't have any leverage.

But if Republicans do win it's probably going to be with a very, very thin margin. And so in that case they do have power. So Kevin McCarthy is going to have to wheel and deal with these members and he's going to have to hope that there is enough of a margin to get him over the finish line. But it is going to be an uphill battle for him.

And our Dana Bash asked Speaker Nancy Pelosi whether she thinks McCarthy has it to get speakership. Here is what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Now, why would I make a judgment about something that may or may not ever happen? No, I don't think he has it, but that's up to his own people to make a decision as to how they want to be led or otherwise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZANONA: So McCarthy, no doubt, facing a rocky road to the speakership. They are so far confident that they will be able to get there. But first they have to win the majority, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yes, 20 seats still undecided. We'll see what happens. All right. Melanie Zanona, thanks so much.

All right. Let's talk more about this and other things. David Swerdlick is with us right now. He's a CNN political commentator and a senior staff editor for the "New York Times" opinion. David, good to see you.

DAVID SWERDLICK, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Hi, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Ok. So I mean this has been pretty extraordinary, hasn't it? I mean while the economy and women's reproductive rights were indeed drivers of voters going to the polls, so was the fate of democracy. So how will this outcome of a Democratic Senate majority and now still undecided House shape the direction potentially and focus for each of the main parties?

SWERDLICK: Yes, Fred. So I think in the very short term just what you were talking about there with Melanie, the race for speaker, if Republicans can eke out a House majority, will it be Congressman McCarthy or will an upstart like Congressman Jim Jordan or Congresswoman Elise Stefanik step into the breach?

Either way I think that's a sort of thankless job on the Republican side right now. If you don't believe me ask former speaker Paul Ryan, former speaker John Boehner. But I think McCarthy at least is in the pole position because it's for someone else to unseat him.

And then as Speaker Pelosi said, we don't even know yet if this is going to be an eventuality.

Bigger picture down the road, I think Democrats are cheering this victory. If Democrats had experienced a red wave, you would have started to hear cries for President Biden to think about stepping aside in 2024. I think you'll still hear some of those cries. I think you'll still hear some of those cries but I think you won't hear them right away. I think you'll hear fewer of them. And even if you do hear them, I think it will be tougher to convince the Biden/Harris administration that they shouldn't go for a second term.

WHITFIELD: Yes, still quite the horse race, seven Republican seats are needed in the House --

SWERDLICK: Right. WHITFIELD: -- and 14 Democratic seats in the House in terms of trying to determine who has the majority.

SWERDLICK: Right.

WHITFIELD: All right. So meantime, the blame game is on. I mean some in the Republican Party say the losses are Donald Trump's fault and now they want the party to move on from him.

But in just two days Trump will make a special announcement and according to Trump adviser Jason Miller, the former president will be announcing that he is going to run for president.

Larry Hogan, the Republican governor of Maryland, outgoing governor of Maryland, was on the "STATE OF THE UNION" today and said he worries that Trump's special announcement and possible involvement in the Georgia Senate run-off could cost the GOP the Georgia race and beyond. Take a listen.

[14:09:55]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. LARRY HOGAN (R-MD): There's no question he's still the 800-pound gorilla and it's still a battle that's going to continue for the next two years.

I would just say that we're two years out from the next election and we're just trying to -- you know, the dust is settling from this one.

I think it would be a mistake. As I mentioned, Trump's cost us the last three elections. And I don't want to see it happen a fourth time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. But David, is Trump listening to anyone especially within the Republican Party?

SWERDLICK: Fred, I'm sure he's listening but we've learned about former President Trump that he's looking out for number one at all times. It probably would make sense given the Georgia runoff for him to hold off about an announcement.

Others have said, hey, you didn't get the results you wanted on the midterm election night so maybe wait rather than come out this week as he was going to when he thought Republicans were going to be especially triumphant. And the only Republican who really was triumphant is former President Trump's number one rival, Governor Ron DeSantis in Florida.

Here's the challenge though, if you are President Trump, why would you wait? Unless there's some chance you are not going to run at all, you may as well pull the shrink wrap off, get the ball rolling, declare your candidacy so that everyone else is challenging you.

If you wait for someone like DeSantis to throw his hat in the ring first, now Trump, who is no longer in office, becomes the challenger. And I just don't think he wants to take that chance even though he's not going to have the tour de force that he thought he was going to have coming out of these midterms.

WHITFIELD: So in the more immediate then as for the Georgia run-off, Herschel Walker, you know, was a Trump pick. And, you know, the former president is not going to take the direction or the encouragement from within the Republican Party especially if many are turning their back on, you know, supporting him now, I feel like he's going to, you know, kind of move to his own drumbeat.

I mean do you see that he would find his way into Georgia anyway and try to stump for Herschel Walker or might he not?

SWERDLICK: I think if the Walker campaign wants him to come in, I could see him doing that. On the other hand you could imagine a scenario where the Trump camp thinks if we go in, have a rally for Walker and then Walker loses, that compounds the problem we already came up with when we didn't get the desired red wave this past week on election day. That would make Trump sort of a two-time loser just in one cycle.

So I would say the odds are that they will stay away unless there's a massive push from the Walker people to get him in there.

What's different about this time versus the run-off that we had in 2020 is that this is a very compressed cycle, it's a four-week cycle. It's going to happen basically before the holidays. There's no time for either side to waste.

It's razor thin and the question is will Republicans who supported Governor Kemp come back and support Herschel Walker or will Democrats knowing that they have a 50/50 split in the Senate and a tie-breaker with Vice President Harris' vote go for the gusto and try to get that 51st vote by re-electing Senator Warnock which would not only give them the slim majority that they had in the past congress but also give them a bigger margin on committees, a bigger advantage in terms of some of the Senate rules, the ability to discharge bills from committee to a floor vote.

Those are the kind of things that are hard to translate into a bumper sticker or campaign slogan but Democrats are going to impress on their voters as they go to the polls in these coming weeks in Georgia.

WHITFIELD: They are big added prizes.

So another Trump-backed candidate for governor in Arizona is Kari Lake and that race still being counted. What will her win or loss mean for Trump's viability of influence?

SWERDLICK: Well, I think at this point even if Lake wins and becomes the governor, the effect of that is dampened by the overall Republican underperformance last week. That's number one.

Number two is, is that I think now that puts the pressure on her to say, hey, I was an election denier. I've been complaining just this past week about the process in Maricopa County and elsewhere in terms of the slow vote counting in Arizona but is she now going to say that that result if she wins is illegitimate?

That remains to be seen. There's a built-in hypocrisy there that someone like her has yet to be forced to grapple with saying elections are rigged but then saying oh but my election wasn't if she, in fact, wins.

WHITFIELD: Right.

SWERDLICK: She's made the big time either way. Cecily Strong, you know, played her on the Cold Open on "Saturday Night Live" last night. She's become a fixture. She's a former TV anchor who is very telegenic, very on brand and on message for the Trump message.

[14:14:59]

SWERDLICK: I'm not going to predict that she will have something to do with a Trump presidential run, might be on his ticket but I'm not going to rule it out either. I think anything is possible at this point for Kari Lake from not winning this gubernatorial race to being on a 2024 ticket. I think it just remains to be seen.

WHITFIELD: Right. But if anything, if you're on SNL right or someone plays you -- you've made it.

SWERDLICK: Who wouldn't want to be played by Cecily Strong.

WHITFIELD: Right. All right. David Swerdlick, thank you so much.

SWERDLICK: Thanks, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Straight ahead this hour, we're following breaking news out of Istanbul where an explosion has killed six people and injured dozens. Turkey's vice president calling it a terror attack.

Plus, a terrifying scene at an airshow in Texas as two planes collide mid-air. What CNN is learning about the victims.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:19:51]

WHITFIELD: This breaking news. A deadly explosion rocks a popular tourist area of central Istanbul. The blast captured in this video posted to social media terrified people on the busy street immediately fleeing trying to get out of the way. The governor of Istanbul says at least 6 people are dead, 81 injured. The Turkish vice president calls the explosion a terrorist act.

Let's get right to CNN's Scott McLean, who is following the latest developments. What are you learning?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This was an otherwise perfect afternoon in Istanbul. The weather was gorgeous. There were people out on Istiklal Street late on a Sunday afternoon.

There were families. There were young people sitting at the bars and cafes that line this pedestrianized street. That is really the beating heart of Istanbul when all of a sudden this explosion went off.

A Lebanese freelance journalist was in a store nearby. And he spoke to CNN, described his experience. He was inside that store maybe 10, 15 yards away from where the blast actually went off and when he came out he described to us what he saw. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TARQ KEBLAOUI, LEBANESE FREELANCE JOURNALIST: There was a fire on the ground and scattered beside it were a few dead bodies, missing ligaments, one man missing a leg. It was a gruesome sight as everyone around me was totally scattered and panicked.

And several people injured, bleeding from the ears, bleeding from their legs and several people crying all around.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLEAN: that witness, by the way, Tarq Keblaoui, he was also there for the Beirut blast a few years ago. He says that he feels like these kinds instances, he just can't seem to escape them.

As you mentioned officials say now six people confirmed dead, more than 80 injured, two of them in critical condition.

The President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says that those responsible will be identified and will be punished. The vice president, as you said, said that this was an act of terror because whoever was responsible detonated a bomb. And he also said that they believe at this point that the person responsible for this was a woman, though he did not give any details on why or how they think that this person was, in fact, female.

Quickly, Fredricka, I should point out as well that Istanbul is no stranger to terrorist attacks, though in the last five years they've been pretty few and far between.

2016 is a year though that people in Turkey don't want to go back to. This is a year of the attempted coup inside the country and some notable terror attacks that took place at some pretty famous sites. One taking place just outside the famous Blue Mosque, for instance, at a nightclub on New Year's Eve. Another one at the airport.

Back in 2010 there was another blast that took place in Taksim Square (ph) not far from Istiklal Street where this happened today. So there's an election coming up next year. Right now the economy is top of mind for most people in Turkey but perhaps given this that may change. And people will be thinking a lot more about terrorism and their own security, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Yes. All righ.t Scott McLean, thanks so much.

We are also learning new information about a midair crash at a Dallas airshow and the victims. The latest details next.

[14:23:19]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: CNN is just learning the official death toll from that deadly midair collision at a Dallas airshow on Saturday. The medical examiner's office is now saying six people were killed when two World War II-era military planes crashed into each other.

Video captures the moment when the planes collided. We have to warn you. The images are disturbing.

An NTSB go-team is investigating the crash. CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean joining us now. Pete, I mean, this is horrible. What are you learning?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: It's horrific to see, Fredricka. We are learning that the NTSB will hold a briefing at 3:00 p.m. Central time, 4:00 p.m. on the East Coast. That is when we expect to learn a lot more details about how this accident took place.

They have their work cut out for them, the investigators who just arrived on the scene today from Washington, D.C.

What is so critical is how large this scene is. As you mentioned not just one airplane but two airplanes involved here. Both of them from World War II. You've seen the B-17 flying fortress in television and films for decades. This one in famous (INAUDIBLE) of the 8th Air Force, they like bombing raids over Europe during World War II in the scheme of the Texas Raiders airplane.

That airplane was based out of Houston. A four-engine plane typically carries 10 people on board. We do not know exactly how many people were onboard that bomber when it crashed.

The other airplane involved in this midair collision a P-63. That was a pursuit airplane used during World War II, a single seater. Big questions here about how exactly this took place.

One thing in the advantage of investigators is that there is so much video popping up online from those who were in the crowd and also witnesses around the scene. They will be able to tell from that video especially given the fact that there are multiple angles. In 2022 video and cameras are everywhere and that will especially aid them in this investigation.

[14:29:48]

MUNTEAN: They will also want to hear the radio traffic, why those airplanes were so close together at that point. They will also want to know witness accounts and accounts from other pilots who were in the air at the time.

A lot of work to take place here, Fredricka. But it's important to note that this air show, Wings Over Dallas, has

an impeccable history record and air shows in the United States have a pretty good history record. Nobody on the ground hurt or killed in this incident and no one on the ground has been hurt and air shows in the United States and air shows in the United States have a pretty good history record. Nobody on the ground hurt or killed in this incident and no one on the ground has been hurt in an air show in more than 50 years. So those are relatively safe although we have to mention that there is risk like this.

It is not something that is perfectly safe and the pilots hang their welfare and lives on the line to show off this living history, these World War II airplanes, most of them are relegated to museums if they exist at all anymore. Only eight B-17s left flying, three, even fewer, P-63s left flying worldwide. It's like one of those World War II veterans. Once they're gone, the stories die with them.

Many veterans were in the crowd when this incident happened. You can only imagine the terror. The air show was trying to get World War II veterans out to see this. This is on veterans day weekend, a really heartbreaking situation, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Oh, heartbreaking indeed.

Pete Muntean, thanks so much. Come back when you hear more.

All right. The stunning collapse of a leading cryptocurrency exchange is being called one of history's greatest ever destructions of wealth. FTX filed for bankruptcy Friday as its CEO, 30-year-old Sam Bankman- Fried, resigned. His $16 billion fortune evaporating in less than a week and now, the company says it's investigating whether $473 million in crypto assets were stolen.

CNN's Brian Todd explains how the crypto empire unraveled.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It wasn't long ago that Sam Bankman-Fried was called the Mark Zuckerberg of crypto, a modern day JPMorgan.

But in the span of a week, the 30-year-old wunderkind founder and CEO of FTX, the mega powerful crypto currency exchange, has resigned, has lost his fortune, his firm's in bankruptcy. And by Thursday, in a Twitter thread to investors and customers, he was saying, quote, I'm sorry. I f'd up, and should have done better.

RANA FOROOHAR, GLOBAL BUSINESS COLUMNIST AND ASSOCIATE EDITOR, FINANCIAL TIMES: In some says, this collapse in FTX is the Lehman Brother's moment of the crypto world. It is a classic financial crisis.

TODD: At its peak, FTX was worth $32 billion. It had backers like NFL super star quarterback Tom Brady, his soon-to-be ex-wife supermodel Gisele Bundchen, and tennis star Naomi Osaka. But its value has now plummeted. Bankman-Fried's net worth, once over $15 billion cratered to under $1

billion in a single day, according to the Bloomberg billionaire index. The NBA's Miami Heat had its venue renamed as FTX Arena just last year. But now, that name is coming off the building.

The meteoric collapse of FTX was triggered last week when serious questions were raised about the health of its finances, those questions ignited a run on the bank like crisis.

ANGUS BERWICK, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, REUTERS: Clients suddenly rushed to withdraw several billion dollars worth of cryptocurrency from the exchange that then put FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried in a position whereby he effectively, his company ran out of money.

TODD: Back in July, when he did an interview with CNN business, Sam Bankman-Fried discussed the danger of Ponzi schemes in the crypto world.

SAM BANKMAN-FRIED, FOUNDER & CEO, FTX: Because I think when you have basically an empty product, which I think is true of some places, some assets in crypto, you know, that is something where there's certainly real crash potential.

TODD: FTX's fall has more than a hint of irony. Comedian Larry David an ad for FTX during this year's Super Bowl, portraying a buffoon who missed the boat on big inventions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I call it the wheel.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think so. What does it do?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It grows.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So does a bagel.

TODD: At the end of the spot, David is presented with an offer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's FTX, a safe and easy way to get into crypto.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think so. And I'm never wrong about this stuff. Never.

TODD: Now analysts are warning about the real future of the cryptocurrency market.

FOROOHAR: I think that the private crypto market meaning digital coin that is not backed by a central bank is going to be in for a major correction. You've already seen that. I think regulators have a great case now to say nobody should be trading this stuff. We need a lot more rules.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (on camera): And now, according to "The Wall Street Journal", both the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating FTX, and the man who FTX has appointed as its new CEO is John Ray III who helped manage the notorious energy firm Enron after its collapse in an accounting fraud scandal in 2001.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

WHITFIELD: The Iranian refugee whose story inspired a Steven Spielberg film has died. Merhan Nasseri was traveling to England via Belgium and France in 1988. He lost his papers while at Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport. He couldn't board a flight or leave the airport. He lived there for some 18 years until 2006. And then years later he would return to living at the airport as a homeless person. Well, Saturday, Nasseri was found dead at that same airport of Charles de Gaulle.

His story was memorialized by Tom Hanks in the 2004 film "The Terminal." An airport spokesperson says Nasseri was an iconic character with the whole airport community looking after him.

All right. Straight ahead, President Biden meeting with the leaders of Japan and South Korea on the eve of his sit-down with China's President Xi Jinping. What CNN has learned about this high-stakes meeting.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:40:08]

WHITFIELD: President Biden has now arrived in Bali, Indonesia, for the G20 summit and a high stakes meeting with President Xi Jinping of China. The two leaders will meet on the sidelines of the summit on Monday. It will be their first face-to-face meeting since President Biden took office and is taking place as tensions between the U.S. and China are high.

CNN's Phil Mattingly is traveling with the president in Bali.

Phil, given us a sense what's on the agenda and all that's at stake.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You know, Fred, this is a relationship that started more than a decade ago when both men were number twos inside their respective countries' political operations, and yet it comes at a point right now as you've noted where the relationship between the two countries, the two most powerful countries in the world at this point could not be at a lower point. As you noted, this will be the first face-to-face sit-down after five separate video calls and telephone calls over the course of the last two years.

But that is something that is very critical to President Biden. His advisers have made clear he's been very frustrated by the fact that so many meetings have been virtual, not just with President Xi because of the pandemic. He believes face-to-face diplomacy is the most critical element of a president trying to operate in such a tense period of time geopolitically.

The president making clear earlier today how he views the importance of this meeting. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I know Xi Jinping. I spent more time with him than any other world leader. I know him well. He knows me.

There's no -- we have very little misunderstanding. We have to figure out where the red lines are and what we -- what's most important to each of us over the next two years. And his circumstance has changed, to state the obvious, at home. And so, we're going to have -- we're going to have, I think -- I've always had straightforward discussions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTTINGLY: Fredricka, there's really two pieces of what the president just said, and I think there are important to pull out here. First is the last one, the fact that it's going to be a straightforward, and according to officials, direct conversation. That is the way the president operates in these types of meetings. It's certainly the strategy they'll be taking into this.

And that parlays to some degree into another element that he mentioned there during the statement which is there aren't a lot of misunderstandings between the two sides. That's not necessarily the case. The president pointing out that they need to identify red lines, that they need to sharpen the sense of each side's priorities, really gets at the fact that over the course of the last two years because of the pandemic, because of the direction, the relationship of the two countries, there is not a great sense inside the United States and inside President Biden's team of exactly just where red lines could be.

That is such a crucial element of this, not some large reconciliation or some big diplomatic deliverable. But instead, a better understanding of where each side stands, where those red lines are, where, perhaps, their priorities overlap and they can actually work together. If they can achieve that, officials believe like it will be a good step forward. If not, obviously, there's no secret where this relationship stands at this moment -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Perhaps this is the starting point.

All right. Phil Mattingly, thank you so much.

Coming up, just one week until the 2022 World Cup, but this year's tournament is flooded with controversy over alleged human rights abuses by the host nation. We'll discuss next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Today marks one week until kickoff of the 2022 World Cup. The soccer tournament is a worldwide phenomenon. FIFA, the international governing body of the sport, expects the matches to draw a total of over 5 billion viewers. But the tournament is also being marred by controversy. There are allegations of corruption and human rights abuses against the host nation of Qatar.

Some are now calling for a boycott of the matches. Joining us right now, former National Security Council spokesperson

under President Obama, Tommy Vietor. He is also the host of the "World Corrupt" podcast, and co-host of "Pod Save America".

Tommy, so good to see you.

TOMMY VIETOR, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL SPOKESPERSON: Thank you for having me, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Wonderful.

So you co-authored an opinion piece for CNN.com saying Qatar World Cup needs to be called out for what it really is. You said, I'm quoting now, in Qatar, journalists are thrown in jail for investigating migrant worker conditions, LGBTQ plus people are treated as criminals. Women need to ask men permission to marry, travel, and study abroad in many cases.

Well, the show will go on, though, right? So, what, if anything, can be done?

VIETOR: Yeah. I mean, listen, so Roger Bennett is my co-host on the show. He is one of the biggest soccer fans on the planet, and we wanted to talk about how it feels when the things we love, the sports we love, are corrupted by money and big governments. And in this instance, it's the World Cup getting awarded to Qatar and "The Guardian" newspaper estimates that 6,500 migrant workers at least have died since the cup was awarded to Qatar because they had to build out the infrastructure associated with it.

So, what some of the leading human rights groups are asking people to do is support something called a pay up FIFA campaign where you demand that FIFA and hopefully Qatar as well set aside $440 million, which is the total prize money for the game that will be awarded to teams and players, and give that money to workers and their families as compensation for the harm done.

WHITFIELD: Has there been a response on that kind of request?

VIETOR: You are seeing some individuals take stands, some players, some coaches.

[14:50:02]

But there really hasn't been a unified response from the soccer community. In fact, you are seeing reactions from FIFA, basically saying, hey, now is not the time to protest. Let's make it about the soccer, and let's not distract from the other things that are going on on the field. So, it's a disappointing response so far.

WHITFIELD: And on top of the allegations that you just spelled out, a prosecutor's office in France is also investigating alleged labor abuses for migrant workers hired by a French construction firm to build facilities and stadiums for the tournament. "The Guardian" newspaper publication reports that at least 6,500 workers have died since the world cup was awarded to Qatar in 2010. So in any way do investigations like that or should they influence how

a country is chosen to host?

VIETOR: Yes. I mean, listen, I think that people now recognize that FIFA is corrupt from top to bottom. FIFA is the global body that governs international soccer. And in 2020, the World Cup tournaments were awarded to Russia and Qatar. Now, I don't think I need to explain to your listeners why -- our viewers, why they may not want to go to an international tournament in Russia right now, but Qatar at the time just kind of came out of nowhere. They had tons of oil and gas money to throw at the problem.

But, you know, what became clear is that the only way they award this tournament was through corruption and hopefully some of these international investigations will, you know, slow down corrupt autocrats in the future, but also pressure on FIFA will help insure that they take human rights considerations into mind before awarding future world cups.

WHITFIELD: And FIFA is responding in part by saying the teams need to focus on football, but Amnesty International fired back saying if the president of FIFA wants the world to focus on the football, there is a simple solution. FIFA could finally start tackling the serious human rights issues rather than brushing them under the carpet. So what in your view has this done to the credibility of FIFA?

VIETOR: Oh, I think FIFA has very little credibility, if any at all. The former president of FIFA, Sepp Blatter, who was the guy in charge when all of this wept down and when Russia and Qatar got the World Cup, even he now admits it was a mistake. What I'm watching for is the 2030 World Cup is being bid on by Saudi Arabia and Egypt. And if FIFA wants us to believe that they're actually taking into account human rights considerations, that bid should be completely off the table. Now, I haven't heard them say that yet, but that's something that I would definitely watch.

WHITIFLED: All right. Tommy Vietor, thank you so much. The article is really fascinating to read.

VIETOR: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

WHITFIELD: Still ahead, winter is coming. Feels like winter is here in some parts. Temperatures are dropping dramatically this week across the country as well. The latest forecast next.

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WHITFIELD: Well, looks like and feels like winter is here. More than 200 million people across the Lower 48 will feel temperatures drop sharply this week to freezing or just below. Thermostats will read 10 to 20 degrees below normal coast to coast.

Let's bring in meteorologist Tom Sater in the weather center. And freeze warnings and watches have been issued from the Deep South

to the Northeast and you can definitely feel the chill in the air. Pull up the parkas.

TOM SATER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's a shock to the system, really.

WHITFIELD: It is.

SATER: Fredricka, last week, three consecutive days we were shattering records, from the mid-70s to the 80s, to the northern plains and mid- Atlantic. So, we're not used to this. Over 100 high temperature records were broken last week.

This cold front off the east coast is what brought an end to all that. Sent from Canada with love, of course, coldest air of the season. Notice the temperature change. D.C., down 22 degrees from yesterday. Charlotte is down 20. Atlanta, 18. Tallahassee down 19 degrees. This is just the beginning.

So, here are the freeze warnings. Typically this time of year. Birmingham, Montgomery, over to Atlantic. But the mid-Atlantic, too, Fred, as you mentioned. So, again Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, there is a freeze watch for long island.

Now, any one of these can be changed like this watch could go to a warning and could also be expanded later on in the day. When you look at the overnight low temperatures we're not going to get better. We're looking at temperatures in Dallas actually fall the next three days. St. Louis, Kansas City, Memphis, some highs only in the 30s. Then we toss snow into the situation as well, the first snowfall of the year in the Plains. St. Louis, Chicago, all getting in on the snow.

The problem is temperatures are not going to rebound. When you look at this map, and this is what's frightening. This goes through next Tuesday, Fredricka. Much below average. You have to get down into southern Florida.

One exception, one state is well above average. And that is Alaska. So if you want to get a warm-up, temperatures are actually going to be warmer in Alaska than some of the lower 48. We're not going to see a lot of precip with this, again, kind of a drier week, but again, thank the Canadians, they sent it to us.

Listen, we're well behind in these winter temperatures so why not.

WHITFIELD: I like that line, if you want a warm-up, go to Alaska, of all places?

SATER: That's right.

WHITFIELD: That's so funny.

All right. Tom Sater, appreciate it. Thank you so much.

And a little birthday note, big birthday note. We want to wish a very special birthday to the oldest person in the United States. On Monday, Bessie Hendricks celebrated her 115th birthday. Is that not remarkable or what?

She was born in 1907. Her life has spanned 21 U.S. presidents, two world wars, and the sinking of the Titanic. Hendricks celebrated in her hometown of Lake City, Iowa, alongside her three children, one of whom celebrated her 90th birthday the day before her mom's. So happy birthday to Bessie and to one of her daughters.