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Warnock And Walker Make Final Pitches Ahead Of Runoff Election; Team USA Loses To The Netherlands 3-1 Ending World Cup Run; Idaho Victim's Mother Speaks Out About Killing; New Dangers From Hawaii's Mauna Loa Volcanic Eruption; Georgia Sets New Records For Early Voting; Kanye West Suspended From Twitter After Swastika Post; China Signals Softening Of Some COVID Measures. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired December 03, 2022 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:01]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now that's worth the tip.

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN NEWSOURCE CORRESPONDENT: I'm Isabel Rosales, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: And the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

I'm Pamela Brown in Washington. The top stories for you tonight on this Saturday. Four weeks after the midterms, Georgia voters are in the last days of a state Senate race, a runoff for a seat in the sharply divided Senate.

Plus despite hundreds of interviews and more than a thousand tips, we still do not know who is responsible for the deaths of four University of Idaho students. But police now say a sixth person on the lease was not involved.

And molten lava from the world's largest active volcano inches towards a critical highway.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

It's the final weekend of campaigning in the last undecided race from the midterms. Georgia voters head to the polls on Tuesday for the Senate runoff between incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker. And both men are squeezing in campaign events in these last three days.

CNN's Dianne Gallagher joins us now. And what's notable here, Dianne, one man squeezing in more events than the other, right?

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Pamela. And look, I have to speak a little quietly here because author Min Jin Lee is speaking behind me about reproductive rights at an AAPI victory fund and Warnock campaign event. It's the third event of the day for Reverend Warnock. It's indicative of what his entire campaign has been like throughout this runoff period.

Much more aggressive schedule with much more -- many more get-out-the- vote events. Three of them today. Three of them at least tomorrow across the state. He spoke at an AFL-CIO event this morning. Again, we're at this tonight. We're going to see Senator Ossoff with him, Daniel Dae Kim, others. This is what we've seen, many events, many surrogates coming out and doing this in an aggressive manner.

On the contrary, today for his challenger Republican Herschel Walker there was a tailgate before the SEC championship game which of course pitted the LSU Tigers against Herschel Walker's University of Georgia Bulldogs. But it wasn't open necessarily to the press and it wasn't advertised as a public event. We once again trying to ask him questions. Many in the media did. We're not even allowed to get close to the candidate.

That has been the case at many of the events for the entire duration of this four-week runoff period. In fact he has one event so far on his public schedule tomorrow. And that's kind of what we've seen this entire time, this more relaxed pace from the Republican as he has one or two events. In fact he even took five days off of public events during again just this four-week period -- Pamela.

BROWN: All right. And Dianne, Georgians, they were also able to cast ballots during a weeklong early voting period. How was turnout?

GALLAGHER: So when we're talking about turnout, around more than 1.85 million Georgians have already cast their ballots. Now, look, they set a single-day record for early voting, more than 350,000 voters on Friday alone. And that record broke the one that was set on Monday and then on Tuesday. But I do want to caution that just because we're seeing those astronomical one-day totals we're still behind the 2021 runoff where both Senator Warnock and Senator Jon Ossoff, who's here tonight as well, were competing against their Republican counterparts.

Part of that was this shortened four-week period that only allowed for five days of mandatory voting. And of course, some of the fact that it wasn't after a presidential election, Pamela. Now they have to get those people who didn't vote in early voting to come out on Tuesday.

BROWN: All right. Dianne Gallagher, thanks so much.

And we should note we have more on the Georgia runoff race still coming up this hour. So be sure to stick around for that.

At the World Cup, the Dutch get the win and America gets the boot. The U.S. men's national team is eliminated from the tournament after falling to the Netherlands 3-1. The Dutch will now move on to the quarterfinal and the Americans, well, they will come home and now look forward to the next World Cup in 2026 when the U.S. is one of three countries hosting the tournament.

CNN's Patrick Snell joins us now. Certainly a heartbreaking loss, no doubt about it, Patrick, but at

least we have 2026 to look ahead to where they'll be older, more experienced. Maybe learned some lessons from this World Cup, right?

PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Absolutely. Pamela, you're spot on. Yes, the United States team is out. Hugely disappointing. I know that for a fact, many friends willing them to victory but they have so much to be proud of, big picture in my opinion, at this World Cup. Eliminated as well by a storied European nation, three-time finalist Holland. Great chance. This is so important what happened in the beginning of this game on Saturday.

[19:05:02]

Wonderful early chance for America. And Christian Pulisic fit again. Christian Pulisic very early on, wonderful chance to put his country ahead and he knows, the Chelsea man, that should be going into the back of the net. Sobering wakeup call really for America's national team, who concede after just 10 minutes of play to the Barcelona star Memphis Depay who breaks the deadlock. And then Daley Blind doubling Holland's advantage in first half stoppage time.

America with real hope, though when their young star Haji Wright somehow, and only he knows how, bungles that ball into the back of the net. Holland showing no mercy, though, as they put this game to bed. As Denzel Dumfries making sure with a third for his country, no marking at all there by the American defense, and the Inter Milan man taking full advantage, 3-1 Holland.

The U.S. team are very young. They have a great and promising future, though. Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WESTON MCKENNIE, UNITED STATES MIDFIELDER: You know, we had a mission from the beginning, you know, this four-year journey was changed the way the world views American soccer. And I think, you know, with this tournament the performances that we put in, I think we accomplished that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNELL: Yes. The U.S. team were the youngest remaining side in the tournament. And Pam, as you said, America, Canada and Mexico all co- hosting at the next Men's World Cup which is in 2026. And right here in Atlanta, as well. Excited to say we're going to be getting some games.

BROWN: Yes. That's right. But no such problems today for global icon Lionel Messi, right?

SNELL: Oh, was there ever any doubt, Pam. Making his one-thousandth career appearance. Messi doing Messi things, turning on the style, Argentina. The Albiceleste, they're beating Australia 2-1 to get through to the court. As Messi deciding enough was enough in this game. I think he took it personally when it was still goalless against the Socceroos in the round of 16, stunning team move and a wonderful finish from that man Messi.

Did you know, incredible this, his first ever goal in the knockout stages of a FIFA World Cup, that was his ninth overall for Argentia at a World Cup, surpassing the tally of the great Diego Armando Maradona? Julian Alvarez doubling Argentina's lead, taking advantage of a really bad mistake by the Aussie keeper Matthew Ryan, who's going to rue with that error for a long, long time to come.

These are the scenes that in Argentina's capital city on Saturday, Buenos Aires, football mad, Argentina, I should say, because they are obsessed with the beautiful game. They live and breathe it.

Pam, we're going to get Argentina, Netherlands in the quarterfinals on Friday. The South Americans won their third world title. Netherlands desperate to win it for the very first time.

Back to you.

BROWN: We'll have to see. Patrick, great to have you on. I always love your energy and enthusiasm. We appreciate it.

Well, the mother of one of victims of those brutal killings in Moscow, Idaho, is speaking out with new details of what happened just before the attack. And she says her husband actually changed a lock at the home the weekend before the killings.

CNN's Camila Bernal has the latest for us. So what else is she saying, Camila? Do we know why the lock was changed the weekend before?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: She wasn't very clear on all of the lock information, Pam. And she's also saying she's essentially in the dark, saying that police have not told her anything. She's learning about her daughter's death through the news and exactly what happened that night. So she's extremely frustrated, asking for more to be done, asking and begging for justice and asking authorities to clear some things up, because there has been a lot of confusion when it comes to this case.

There's been a lot of back and forth even by police. They continue to say that this was a targeted attack, but what they're now saying is that they're not clear. They have not concluded whether it was the students that were targeted or whether it was the house that was targeted. Now speaking to NewsNation, Xana Kernodle's mother saying this. She says, "I do not think it was the house that was targeted. I believe wholeheartedly that it was those kids who were targeted. They weren't just acquaintances. These kids were like best friends. They practically were family."

So again she was extremely emotional. She was asking for justice in this interview. And police essentially saying you still have to be careful because there's been a lot of speculation about this case. So that's why they've been trying to clear some things up. Among them, they're saying, yes, they know there was a sixth person on the lease of the house, but what they're not saying is they don't believe that person is involved in all of this. They say that person moved out of the house before the school year started. But again, still so many questions for authorities -- Pam.

BROWN: Yes. And police there, they are saying that they've received thousands? Is that right? Thousands of tips?

BERNAL: Yes. They're saying they received about 2500 e-mails, almost 3,000 calls and about a thousand digital media submissions. I want to get those numbers right. They also say they've already collected about 100 pieces of evidence at the scene.

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They've taken about 4,000 pictures. They've talked to so many people, but clearly there's still a lot of work to be done here. They do say there's a lot of work happening behind the scenes, but they're not ready to say a lot of those other things, a lot of the questions that we're still asking -- Pam.

BROWN: All right. Camila Bernal, thanks so much for bringing us the latest there.

And now let's bring in CNN law enforcement contributor Steve Moore. He's also a retired supervisory special agent for the FBI.

So, Steve, investigators are facing so many rumors, so much speculation online. How much of an impact does this have?

STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: Well, unfortunately it has quite a bit of a negative impact because what the investigators are trying to do is keep their head down and look at the case, look at the facts. And they're getting distracted by people saying we want to play along at home. And so they're having to refute allegations that are made in public. They're basically getting distracted.

There's always going to be in a high-profile case thousands of these tips. And those are important, but maybe one in a thousand, two in a thousand are important. So you have to wade through them. So all of this, while well-meaning, can be really a negative influence on the case.

BROWN: So you have all these tips coming in that they have to wade through. And we've seen a lot of flip-flopping from the police over the last few weeks. Are you concerned that this case might just be too big for local law enforcement?

MOORE: Well, I think no matter how competent the local law enforcement is, and I have no reason to believe they're not sharp, it's too big from a manpower point of view. You can't get through a thousand tips, 2,000 tips, 3,000 tips. You can't do it. You also don't have a robust profiler unit. You don't have enough people to do surveillances. So this is when the FBI can come in and become an assistant essentially to the local police.

They're not trying to take the case away, but they do have expertise, manpower and computer assets, that will help manage the case.

BROWN: Yes. Just help us -- let's hone in on that a little bit more. What exactly -- what else could the FBI do if they're brought in here to help assist, to help solve this case, right? Because we're so many weeks in and it seems like they're not any closer to solving this from what we know, the information that's been put out there?

MOORE: What we know, yes. Well, there are several things. Number one, the FBI has a very robust evidence collection and analysis group in Quantico. And the collection group is local throughout the United States. You could have San Francisco come up there and completely sweep the scene. You can have our profilers come in and assist the investigators themselves, the guys and gals who have their heads down looking at the evidence.

You have people who are not directly investigatively involved. When you have 3,000 leads, you can't just stack them in an in-basket. The FBI can computerize these so that if you have somebody say, hey, what's this about a house on the west side? Type in house on the west side, it's like a miniature Google or something within that case and all the references to that will come up. And these are the kind of things, plus manpower for surveillances that the FBI can bring.

BROWN: So then, I'm channeling and I can feel like people watching this segment right now are probably thinking, well, then, why isn't that happening if they can provide all this extra help?

MOORE: It is.

BROWN: OK. But, I mean --

MOORE: It is.

BROWN: On the tips and everything you're talking about. Go ahead.

MOORE: Well, it is happening right now. And one thing is the FBI doesn't talk. The FBI doesn't say what they're going to do, what they're doing. And I feel for the people at Moscow Police who have to field these things. I believe that there is a lot of evidence coming in. You're starting to get the forensic evidence in, things like if anybody fought back, were there skin cells under their fingernails? That might point right to someone.

So there is probably a lot of movement underneath the surface. You know, you don't see a submarine when it goes by, but it's purposeful and it's doing something. And I would say that this case is quite a bit like that.

BROWN: All right. Steve Moore, thanks so much.

MOORE: Thank you.

BROWN: And still ahead for you tonight, for the first time in more than 30 years, the Air Force has a new stealth bomber and they are showing it off. It's a machine that will cost nearly $700 million each.

Plus, it looks like the artist formerly known as Kanye West is too outrageous for Twitter under Elon Musk as things go from bad to worse for the rapper.

[19:15:09]

But next, the world's largest active volcano is becoming a huge tourist attraction, but it could also become a nightmare for another reason. That's ahead. Stay with us. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Look right here, live images of lava spewing from Hawaii's Mauna Loa Volcano. That lava is oozing directly towards the island's main highway. It's slowing, but it is still moving toward the road.

CNN's David Culver is there.

DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Pamela, officials here on the Big Island saying that there's been a significant slowdown of the lava, but it is still erupting. And now it's been concentrated to just one of the fissures that is spewing the lava and it's the one that we're closest to, it's about 2 1/2 miles from where I'm standing. And you can probably see a little bit out there, some of the rising narrow plumes.

[19:20:04]

Those are actually the acidic gasses that are emitted from that lava so they can be very toxic. And that's one of the worries here. It's called volcanic smog or vog. And they're warning folks, especially those with respiratory issues, not to get too close here. They're saying that if it becomes concentrated, they can become a wider issue. But for now, it's not posing any threat. Their real focus is on that lava that's moving this way, and that, too, again, about 2 1/2 miles away, moving at about 25 feet per hour.

So it has slowed significantly, but it will eventually, if it continues at all, go this direction. And this is the direction that is most concerning. You've got a side street here and then a little bit farther out, I'm just going to pass this side street, you'll see what is considered to be a major thoroughfare. And this is Saddle Road. It crosses from one end of the Big Island to the other. It's a major transportation route.

If that lava continues, that's what could be cut off and it would be a logistical nightmare. But we're not there yet. And for now people are just taking it in, and they're using the side street here to park along safely. It's now been turned into a one-way street and officials did that intentionally. They want people to be able to take this in to see it from a safe distance. And for them a couple of miles, that's safe for now.

And for those who are locals, it's about the spiritual aspect, too. There's a cultural significance. So they're coming here and they're bringing offerings. And Pamela, they're doing this at all hours. You come at 2:00 in the morning and you will see perhaps what is the most significant part of this. And that is the afterglow of this lava. It's just absolutely stunning, especially before the sun rises to be able to see that glow up against the clouds. It is something that you struggle to find words for, awe-inspiring, spectacular, stunning, a majesty, you name it. It is really worth taking in -- Pamela.

BROWN: And wonderment. That's my word. David Culver, thanks so much.

Well, Kanye West's antisemitism, it has gone too far, too far for Twitter under Elon Musk and too far for most people. And now there is real concern his rhetoric could have dangerous consequences.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONATHAN GREENBLATT, ANTIDEFAMATION LEAGUE CEO: Someone like that is popularizing antisemitism, we've all got a problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:26:45]

BROWN: And turning back now to our top story, the runoff election in Georgia. In addition to dominating local headlines, this neck-and-neck race is turning the candidates into household names along with other Georgia politicians.

Joining us now with more, Emma Hurt, politics reporter for Axios.

So, Emma, great to have you on. Senator Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, and Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, a Republican, they have both gotten national attention in this campaign. At a time when the parties may be looking for alternatives to Biden or Trump and DeSantis, is it too early to have this discussion or do these two politicians have presidential potential?

EMMA HURT, POLITICS REPORTER, AXIOS: Yes, it's really interesting to have this dynamic play out. I think, first off, a little bit of cold water, Governor Kemp just won his election in part by attacking his opponent for her national ambitions. So him cutting his term short to run for president feels like maybe a stretch but who knows. In politics we never know. And Warnock on his side has been campaigning for Senate for three years straight, so I think what he wants to do next is take a vacation.

But big picture, I think what's so interesting about this is to your point you have these two candidates who seem to be offering new avenues of victory. You have Kemp, who is Trump's public enemy number one, too, for months, who had a Trump-backed opponent and beat him by 50-plus points. Went on to defeat a well-funded Democrat by almost eight points.

Then you have Warnock, who, you know, came into politics after being pastor of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s church. He was something of an activist. And now he is the Democrat in Georgia who outperformed every other. He's the only one that got more votes than a Republican. And he's doing it in large part by campaigning to swing voters. So I think you're right, we have an interesting case study in both of these that the parties are looking at. There's a lot of national buzz about.

BROWN: And of course, we have a Senate election to get through on Tuesday. Warnock is out on the trail more than Walker doing more events. What do you make of that? What is the strategy here from the two campaigns?

HURT: Yes, it's true. I mean, Warnock has many more public events. He takes questions from journalists. And Walker really hasn't done that for the most part since early October. In fact there is a new rule at some -- we're at Walker events where journalists can't get too close in case they shout questions, which is what we've had to resort to in some cases. But at the same time, I mean, Warnock outspent Walker 3-1 in the general and he still only got 35,000 more votes than him.

And so Democrats are feeling cautiously optimistic here, but nobody feels like this is in the bag because turnout in a runoff is so unpredictable. And to the point before, I mean, Walker has caught up a little bit, it's now I think 2-1 Democrat per Republican right now, but still all bets are off. Kemp won by eight points in November.

BROWN: Yes. And, you know, and also you talk about how voting in a runoff is unpredictable. There are really long lines. I've just heard anecdotally of people not voting because of the long lines. I mean, there's all kinds of factors at play. But the bottom line is this is such a tight race. Warnock finished ahead of Walker with fewer than 40,000 votes. If he finishes ahead again in the runoff, what message does that send ahead of 2024?

[19:35:02]

HURT: I think that what we have here are two candidates who are very different. And we also have in Herschel Walker, a candidate who is inexperienced and has come with a lot of baggage, and that seems to be what, in conversations that I've had with these swing voters that we know were really pivotal in getting Warnock over the line towards the runoff in November.

What's really getting at that is domestic violence allegations. You know, now we have a challenge to his residency, that he took a homestead exemption in Texas. There are all of this scrutiny that's come on Walker, and people don't trust him and we see that in the polling that people have a more favorable impression of Warnock than Walker, and he just hasn't been able to convince some voters.

Now that being said, he's kind of like the Michael Jordan of Georgia, with his football career, and so that does go a long way. I mean, a lot of people who are diehard Herschel Walker fans forever, and they don't buy any of this, and they believe that he has made up for past wrongs and all of that.

So I think this race is really coming down to these two candidates, because Georgia voters know them both really well. Warnock has been on the airwaves for three-plus years and Walker is an icon here in Georgia.

And so voters get to know them, and they're making choices that might differ from, you know, a national headwind or a national narrative.

BROWN: We should note that the early voting in this race has set records, but data released by the Georgia Secretary of State Office, so this is super interesting. It showed that mail-in voting plunged by 81 percent from the level of the 2020 election, how much is the State's new voting law, the SB 2 a factor in that?

HURT: Yes, I mean, voting is very political here in Georgia, and so that kind of depends on who you ask. But it is very true that the laws absentee voting were changed and the window to apply and to submit a ballot was shortened in the General. You can no longer do it completely online, which was a pandemic-era portal.

But Republican officials take issue with that and say, look, it was the pandemic. We pushed everyone to absolutely to vote in the pandemic, and now, you know, the pandemic is still going, but it is not affecting our voting patterns as much anymore, and so Georgians are returning, Republicans argue to their previous voting patterns.

But Democrats really have been concerned about this for months and because of the new restrictions, it seem to have really shifted their strategy to push more early voting over absentee and we are seeing that play out as well. Both campaigns are really pushing early voting this time.

BROWN: All right, Emma Hurt, great to have you on. Thanks so much.

And don't forget, we're going to have full coverage of the Georgia Senate runoff race between Senator Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker. That's going to be Tuesday starting at 4:00 PM Eastern. I'll be on that night with a team on the Voting Desk.

And still ahead for you on this Saturday night, Kanye West fall from celebrated musician to a toxic voice spreading antisemitic rhetoric.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:37:07]

BROWN: I don't know if we've ever seen an American icon fall so far so fast as Kanye West. The hip-hop mogul once loved by millions is now hated by many and seen as a symbol of the troubling rise of antisemitism.

Brian Todd has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Kanye West's brazen antisemitism is rolling on, unabated, despite losing deals with Adidas, The GAP, "Vogue" and other corporations over his recent "death con 3" on Jews tweet, West appearing in an odd black mask on "Infowars," a show hosted by conspiracy theorist, Alex Jones praising Adolf Hitler.

KANYE WEST, RAPPER: I see good things about Hitler, also. I'm done with the classifications. Every human being has something of value that they brought to the table, especially Hitler.

There's a lot of things that I love about Hitler, a lot of things.

TODD (voice over): West has apparently jumped so far off the deep end that he is even too outrageous for Elon Musk's new Wild West Twitter. The rapper who now goes by the name Ye, has just had his account suspended by Twitter.

CNN could not confirm which specific tweet prompted the suspension, but just before it happened, West tweeted an image of a Star of David with a Swastika inside. Then Musk tweeted, "I tried my best. Despite that, he again violated a rule against incitement to violence."

JONATHAN GREENBLATT, CEO AND NATIONAL DIRECTOR, ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: While I want to see Twitter do more to address intolerance and incitement on the platform, I'm glad they've taken down Kanye's account.

TODD (voice over): Why should we care about the rants of an ostracized artists like West? Jonathan Greenblatt of the Anti-Defamation League points to West's 30-plus million followers on Twitter before his account was suspended?

GREENBLATT: The truth is, he still has a lot of cultural cachet. His name is still, you know, known around the world. So when someone like that is popularizing antisemitism, we've all got a problem.

TODD (voice over): But if you think Elon Musk has written in to save social media from the likes of Kanye West, think again. Despite Musk's recent declaration that hate speech had been reduced on Twitter since he took over, two new studies show the opposite.

The Anti-Defamation League and the Center for Countering Digital Hate both have new reports saying the volume of hate speech on Twitter has risen dramatically under Musk's leadership.

IMRAN AHMED, CENTER FOR COUNTERING DIGITAL HATE: Elon Musk took over a platform that was working okay and set and first of all, fired all the people whose job it was to clean these things up. And second, he put up the bat signal saying, you know what, we're open to business to racists, to homophobes, to transphobes, and to misogynists, too.

TODD (voice over): And Imran Ahmed warns there is genuine danger here beyond the keyboard anonymity of social media rants.

AHMED: Look at the rise in transphobic hatred on social media platforms and homophobic hatred and look at what happened in Colorado Springs.

TODD (on camera): Twitter has not responded to a request for comment on the two new studies showing a surge of hate speech on Twitter.

[19:40:10]

TODD: Meanwhile, President Biden has tweeted that the Holocaust happened, that Hitler was a demonic figure, that political leaders have to reject antisemitism, and that "silence is complicity."

BRIAN TODD, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Our thanks to Brian.

CNN's Chloe Melas joins us now. So Chloe, I think a lot of us feel like this Hitler and Nazi obsession Kanye West has been displaying lately kind of came out of nowhere. But according to your reporting, Chloe, this is hardly a surprise for people close to him. Tell us about that.

CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Look, you know, I reported just a few weeks ago, Pamela, that I spoke to people who worked for Kanye West, specifically an executive who told me that Kanye would openly for years, talk about his admiration for Adolf Hitler and Nazis openly in the workplace and that this was one of the things that ultimately led to a private settlement between Kanye and this former executive.

What we know is that Kanye has displayed this type of behavior behind the scenes in open conversation among his family, friends, as well as his colleagues in the workplace for years.

So for anybody out there that is saying, well, you know, Kanye, he came out previously and he has said he has mental health issues, and then, he has come back and he says, he is not bipolar. And then he says he is bipolar. He has wavered on that over the years.

This is not just an isolated few weeks of a breakdown, Pamela. This is behavior that has been happening for years behind the scenes. He is finally just so brazen with it all, perhaps because every single major corporation has dropped him, and he and his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian officially finalized their divorce just a few days ago, maybe he feels he has absolutely nothing else to lose.

So now, everything he's been saying behind the scenes, he's now saying publicly,

BROWN: I think that's such an important context, and especially as you look forward, Chloe, and you look at whether there's a path to redemption for Kanye West from here, I mean, a way to turn this around, or has he simply gone too far with this this time?

MELAS: Over the course of my career, one of the main things that I tend to cover are celebrities and their mea culpas and their path to redemption. But this? An apology tour? No, I don't think so.

He has gone way too far. Right? I mean, coming out on "Infowars," being spotted out with Nick Fuentes, a well-known White supremacist. This is not Mel Gibson, for those out there on social media that are comparing this to Mel Gibson being pulled over for his -- when he was pulled over for a DUI in 2006 and the terrible things he said about the Jewish people. Okay, that's in one bucket. But Kanye? This is a pattern for years. Will there be people, Pamela,

that will support Kanye? He still has millions of followers on social media. There will always be people who support extremist behavior or turn a blind eye because they love someone's music, right?

I mean, you can look at a lot of celebrities that have made headlines for bad things, whether it's Michael Jackson, or R. Kelly, and people stand by them, right, because they don't -- because they separate the artist from the person.

But in this particular case, coming back into mainstream Hollywood. No, not at all. It's not a typical road to redemption for Kanye. I don't see how an apology can fix this at all.

But I have spoken to people close to Kanye, even today, who do have faith that he'll be able to turn things around. But when you talk to everyday people, no one wants to give him another chance.

BROWN: Understandably. Chloe Melas, thank you.

Still ahead for you on this Saturday night, we have seen remarkable and rare images of protest over pandemic policies in China, but are they finally forcing the country's leaders to rethink their Zero-COVID Policy? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:48:46]

BROWN: In a stunning about-face, Chinese leaders may be ready to roll back some of their strict policies on COVID. They are citing high vaccination rates and the weakening of the omicron variant, but it also comes as many people, they are just simply fed up with their leaders' approach.

CNN's Selina Wang has more from Beijing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SELINA WANG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The video is extreme and troubling. A man in the port city of Hangzhou dragged off to quarantine by police officers. He tries to resist the hazmat- clad authorities with all his might, as they force him off the couch.

The man apparently trying to avoid being sent to one of the quarantine facilities set up around the country for COVID cases and close contacts. Many of them run down, dirty, and unsanitary.

It is not the first time authorities and COVID enforcers have been caught on camera taking extreme and sometimes violent measures, but this time, local authorities apologized and said it has suspended those responsible.

The incident only one in a series of extraordinary videos still emerging from China. In Guangzhou, residents destroyed COVID-testing booths. Police in riot

gear immediately swarm in, and years of pent up anger over Chinese draconian COVID lockdowns boiled over into unprecedented protests across the country.

(CROWD chanting in foreign language.)

[19:50:07]

WANG (voice over): Some even chanted for Xi Jinping to step down.

Authorities are cracking down on protesters, but it appears, they've heard their demands and for the first time, a clear shift in tone.

China's top official in charge of the country's COVID response said the country is now facing a new situation regarding the pandemic.

In recent days, some major cities across China have eased their rules around COVID.

In Beijing, public transportation will no longer reject passengers without a negative COVID test results taken within the last 48 hours. And in Guangzhou, authorities adjusted quarantine measures and scrapped a district-wide mass testing plan. The changes have been praised by the World Health Organization.

DR. MIKE RYAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION'S HEALTH EMERGENCIES PROGRAMME: We're pleased to learn that the Chinese authorities are adjusting their current strategies.

WANG (voice over): But despite the change in rhetoric, the Chinese government has still not said if it will transition away from Zero COVID.

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE chanting in foreign language.)

WANG (voice over): And many in China still sealed in, and people's daily lives still dictated by a web of COVID restrictions.

Selina Wang, CNN, Beijing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Well, you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Still ahead, if you are "highly motivated" and somewhat blood thirsty, New York City has the job for you.

We're going to explain, coming up.

Plus, an American killed on a cruise after the ship was hit by a so- called rogue wave, the science behind what happened, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:56:19] BROWN: So, here is an interesting job posting. Do you want to live in

New York City? Do you want to make a good salary? Do you hate rats? If so, then this is the job for you.

New York City is recruiting a new Director of Rodent Mitigation -- such a formal sounding name -- to find a way to rid the streets of its most notorious furry inhabitants, and there are some cheeky language. The so-called rat czar posting.

The city is seeking someone, "highly motivated and somewhat blood thirsty. And you'll need a swashbuckling attitude, crafty humor, and general aura of badassery." That isn't the job post.

An often repeated urban legend tells us that New York has more rats than people or over eight million, but in reality, it may only be around two million rats in the city.

Washington DC where I am now, it needs a rat czar. It must not be far behind New York City.

Well, Viking Cruises confirms a passenger on one of its ships was killed when it was hit by a "rogue wave." The wave hit the ship during a storm this week. Four more people on board were injured.

The wave broke several panes of glass on the cruise, and then fell onto and killed an American woman. CNN meteorologist Gene Norman joins us now.

Gene, help us understand this. What are rogue waves? And where do they come from?

GENE NORMAN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Pamela, good to join you.

Yes, that's a really good question, because scientists have been studying this for a while. Basically, a rogue wave is a wave that grows to be the height -- twice the height of the waves around it, in some cases, we've seen these get up to sixty, eighty and in some cases, 90 feet tall.

They come from unexpected directions, which is really challenging, and well, they occur faster than a lot of the ship's radars can detect.

Scientists believe there are two main reasons why these waves occur. One is constructive interference. This is basically where one or more waves combined to create that rogue wave. The second is primarily due to the weather, because we're talking about strong winds that interact with the waves that are out there already cause the waves to get taller and steeper building to those rogue waves.

And scientists had a pretty good idea about where these are more likely to occur, in the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic Ocean, and then in the Southern hemisphere around the tip of South America and also the tip of Africa.

So these are areas that we look for, and in fact, this ship that was having the problem over the week was coming from Ushuaia in Argentina and made its way all the way down across the Drake Passage to Northern Antarctica and that is where a big storm moved through. You see that big purple blob, that was a storm, it could have again caused these waves to get very intense.

Good news on the horizon is that scientists are trying to track these. A European Space Agency is keeping a catalogue and new research at MIT could lead to a forecast for these. We are still a ways off from being able to pinpoint exactly when they're going to occur.

BROWN: All right, Gene Norman, thanks so much. So interesting learning about that. Wow. I didn't even know there was such a thing as a rogue wave.

All right, well, imagine being the father of more than 100 children all around the world. That's the life of an online sperm donor.

Lisa Ling takes us inside that world on a new episode of "This is Life."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARI, COLLEGE MATH PROFESSOR: That's still going to be 34 percent.

LISA LING, CNN HOST, "THIS IS LIFE": For his day job, Ari is a college math professor.

ARI: And that is going to be two percent, okay?

LING; He makes a decent salary, $100,000.00 a year, but the expenses are draining his bank account.

ARI: More than half my salary is garnished from child support and unfortunately, it is part of the reason I struggle financially so much.

This one is for $467.00.

Two different women and one bill is for $467.00, one bill is $665.00, but I don't know whose bill is whose.

LING: It is an ongoing battle, expensive and time consuming.

ARI: The issue is that the mother is sending the kid to camp, she is going to hit me up for half of that. How long do I have to pay for 50 percent of the daycare?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're going to be paying tax until the day you die.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Two all-new episodes of "This is Life" with Lisa Ling air tomorrow night beginning at 9:00 PM only on CNN.

And the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

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