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Trump Launches Third WH Bid Amid Ongoing Investigations. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired November 16, 2022 - 09:30   ET

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

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one, booster ignition, and lift off of Artemis 1.

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ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: A successful lift off in the wee hours of this morning marking the beginning of NASA's Artemis one mission to return to the moon.

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The unmanned spacecraft now on a 25-and-a-half-day journey around the moon.

SCIUTTO: An exciting moment. So exciting. That got this reaction from our own Kristin Fisher. She was there for the launch early this morning, and I'm so jealous, Kristin, because it is exciting. I mean, listen, I know we've been sending stuff into space for a few years. But when you see it happen, particularly rocket of that size, it's exciting. Tell us tell us what it was like, and what it took to get here.

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: You know, Jim, NASA has not had its own rocket for its astronauts to ride on since the retirement of the space shuttle fleet back in 2011. And in that moment, I just could not believe that this rocket was finally launching after all of those delays, the technical delays, two hurricanes. And don't forget it was hit by one of those hurricanes just five days ago.

So for it to finally be launching, I couldn't believe it. And you could see there, it just lit up the whole night sky, it almost looked like daylight. And what was also so amazing was the fact that this was a very clean countdown up until the end. And then we had two real nail biters. One of them was the fact that we had another hydrogen leak. And so this time, they were able to send out some people called the Red crew to the launch pad to try to fix it.

This is basically like the bomb squad because, you know, a fully fueled rocket is essentially a bomb and they had to go out into the danger blast zone to literally tighten some nuts and bolts, they were able to fix it. Listen to how one member of that red crew described the moment.

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TRENT ANNIS, ARTEMIS RED CREW TEAM MEMBER: We're very focused on what was happening up there. Just making sure we knew what was happening. Because the rockets you know, it's alive. It's creaking. It's making venting noises. It's, it's pretty scary. So on zero deck, my heart was pumping. My nerves were going, but, yes, we showed up today. I think as soon as we walked up the stairs, we were ready to rock and roll.

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FISHER: So that team there literally saved the day and one of those crew members had actually been on the red crew for 37 years. But this was the first time he had ever been called in to do something like this within the danger blast zone during a launch countdown, he was incredibly excited about it.

And then there was also a faulty Ethernet connector but they were able to fix that too. And guys launch a flawless launch. This Orion spacecraft now bound for the moon, should be there in about five or six days.

SCIUTTO: Wow, listen space as hard as they say it's also dangerous. So hats off to the courage of that team that went in there. In those final moments. Kristin Fisher - Fisher, thanks so much. Commit or quit. That is the ultimatum from the new owner of Twitter, Elon Musk, to his employees.

CNN obtained an internal email sent by the billionaire telling employees they have until tomorrow evening to commit to quote, "extremely hard core work. Or go."

HILL: CNN Chief Business Correspondent, Christine Romans here with the details. I mean, I have to say every day I see something, I think it can't get work worse for the poor staff at Twitter. And then it does.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It's messy. It's chaotic. It's playing out in public. And this is Elon Musk, how he is remaking Twitter here. This email that went out to all of his employees, it was called a fork in the road. And essentially it said you will work longer hours, at high intensity, you will need to be extremely hardcore, exceptional performance is what's needed for a passing grade. You have until 5 pm tomorrow to either sign on or get out, you'll be paid three months severance, and you'll be out of here.

He's already fired half the staff and then had to go in and handpick some people to come back because he still needed them. Right? And he's having public feuds with public figures with people who work for him. It's a very, very messy process over there at Twitter. And by the way, he runs another country - company too. He runs Tesla. And he also has SpaceX. So this is a guy with a lot on his plate in this very messy transition at Twitter is very, very public. SCIUTTO: Public feuds with sitting U.S. Senator Ed Markey, one of them I spoke to him yesterday. One Twitter engineer, he was supposedly fired by tweet after a disagreement with Musk. How did that happen? And what are the implications now that he runs this place.

ROMANS: To watch this is so fascinating. So it's an engineer disputing something that Musk said on Twitter, the engineer posts this long Twitter thread about delay times in some countries, trying to explain to Elon Musk what his six years of research at Twitter shows. Elon Musk says you're fired. Then the engineer posted a picture of him trying to log on to his Twitter computer. And he's locked out.

I mean, this is happening in full public view here. And then we're past the midterms, but I will remind everybody, this is a platform that a lot of people use to talk about the news.

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To talk about you know what's happening in the public sphere. It is it is sort of that global public square, if you will. And you're just seeing all kinds of chaos surrounding it. He also, Elon Musk has said he's going to delay that $8 a month, you know, blue check program to raise revenue until later in November to make sure that it is rock solid, he said. Because some early attempts to try new things have pretty much fallen flat.

HILL: Rock solid or maybe figure out what the heck it is first. Yes, standby for tomorrow's update. My heart goes out to everybody at Twitter because that is not a healthy work environment, what they're going through. Christine, thank you.

Still to come here, why the incumbent and Democratic candidate in Georgia Senate runoff is now suing the state of early voting. What a state holiday that one's honored a Confederate General has to do with all of it.

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SCIUTTO: There's a runoff coming up and as Georgia's Democratic senator Raphael Warnock fights for votes in that race with Republican Herschel Walker. He is now also fighting in court.

HILL: Warnock is suing Georgia challenging the decision by state officials not to allow early voting on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, CNN's Nick Valencia joining us now live from Atlanta. So what's his - what's his argument here? Why isn't there voting allowed on that day?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jim and Erica. Well, it has to do with a holiday that is tied to a former Confederate General Robert E. Lee in a state law that dates back to 2016 that says that there's no voting on a Saturday following a state holidays on Thursday or Friday. So that week, we have Thanksgiving and also a holiday that formally commemorates the birthday of Robert E. Lee, who is a Confederate General.

So they're saying that they can't vote on this day, Warnock and the Democratic Party of Georgia arguing in their lawsuit that they're at a serious disadvantage if this day is taking away from early voting, arguing that it's Democrats who would use that day to vote.

Warnock and the Democratic Party pointed this last year to comments made by Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger and his Chief Operating Officer Gabe Sterling in the immediate aftermath of the midterms in which they said that early voting could be as early as November 26. We reported that in fact, here on CNN.

However, since those comments were made, Secretary of State, Raffensperger has issued a memo to counties saying that that 2016 law now prohibits them from voting on Saturday. Warnock is saying that that state law only applies to primaries and general elections, not to run offs.

And here's what they're saying in part of their lawsuit saying here quote, "Without temporary injunctive relief, plaintiffs members and constituents will be deprived of the right to vote during the advanced voting period permitted by Georgia law, immediate and effective relief is essential to protect against that irreparable harm."

So this lawsuit is asking a judge to block Raffensperger and other state officials from prohibiting counties to allow early voting as early as November 26. And what this really underscores, guys, is the controversy surrounding the Senate bill that was passed in 2021, which cut the amount of time from run offs here in the state of Georgia from nine weeks to four weeks.

The result is now that we have this controversy over this date on November 26. A controversy that's now going to be fought in court. Jim, Erica.

HILL: Keeping you busy there in Atlanta, my friend, Nick, appreciate it. Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Still ahead just an alarming story, a sad one. There is still scarce details about the brutal slayings of four University of Idaho students. Officials are saying however, this was a targeted attack. We're going to have the latest on this investigation. You see pictures of the victims there. That's coming up.

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SCIUTTO: An update now, just a sad, alarming story. We're expecting autopsies today in the gruesome killings of four students at the University of Idaho. The county coroner has already said the four deaths are homicides.

HILL: Police are looking for the killer with the help of the FBI. They say though there is no threat to the public because they believe this was a targeted attack. CNN's Lucy Kafanov is live in Denver with more on the investigations. So they believe it was targeted. Are they offering any more detail about evidence or even perhaps motive, Lucy?

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, it's such a tragic story and so many unanswered questions. Police say they believe there's no imminent threat to the university or the community which may be cold comfort for some there as no suspect has been taken into custody yet.

Police say a quote, "edged weapon" like a knife was used in what they are calling homicides as you point out, but no weapons have been located. The hope is these autopsies that you mentioned might help pin down the exact cause of death. Take a listen to the coroner.

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CATHY MABBUTT, LATAH COUNTY CORONER: Could be some, you know some evidence of the suspect that we get during the autopsies which would be helpful. There's quite a bit of blood in the apartment and you know, it's a pretty traumatic scene to find four dead college students in a residence.

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KAFANOV: Yes, a gruesome scene. Investigators are working on a timeline of what unfolded in the hours leading up to the deaths of these students. They have been identified, four young women, one young man. They are Ethan Chapin, a 20-year-old freshman who was majoring in Recreation, Sport and Tourism Management. He was a fraternity member.

Another 20-year-old victim, Xena Kernodle was a Junior Majoring in Marketing. Madison Mogen, 21 was a Senior Majoring in Marketing. And finally, there's Kaylee Goncalves, 21 a Senior Majoring in General Studies. All three women were also sorority members, guys.

SCIUTTO: Just so sad that - We understand that the sister of one of the victims is making a promise. So, what did she say?

KAFANOV: Yes, I mean look to have something this brutal take place with a potential killer on the loose is terrifying to folks and family members like Kelly's sister, Olivia Goncalves, she made that point to the Idaho statesman saying of the victims, they were smart, they were vigilant, they were careful. And this all still happened.

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No one is in custody and that means no one is safe. To whomever is responsible, we will find you. We will never stop. The pain you caused has fueled our hatred and sealed your fate. Justice will be served. And I will add one professor even tweeting about his shock over the murder saying that until police release more info or confirm the suspect, he can't in conscious - in good conscience hold class, Jim.

HILL: Lucy Kafanov, appreciate it. Thank you. Still to come here, we are live on the ground in Poland where a fallen missile killed two people leading to an emergency NATO session and investigation. What Ukraine, U.S. and NATO are saying about all of it this morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HILL: Good Wednesday morning. Top of the hour here. I'm Erica Hill.

SCIUTTO: And I'm Jim Sciutto. We are following several major stories this morning.

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