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Georgia's U.S. Senate Runoff; Trump Proposes Dismantling U.S. Constitution; Ukraine Reports New Russian Strikes In The South; Moscow Moves To Toughen "LGBT Propaganda" Ban; Dems Propose Major Changes To Primaries Calendar; South African President Refuses To Resign In Wake Of Scandal; Yevgeny Prigozhin Denies Wagner Behind Bloody Packages And Letter Bombs; Mauna Loa's Lava About 2.5 Miles From Major Highway. Aired 4-5a ET

Aired December 04, 2022 - 04:00   ET

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

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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and all around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber.

Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, a final push in the Peach State. With just two days to go until Georgia's U.S. Senate runoff, the candidates are pulling out all the stops to win over voters.

The agony of defeat: the U.S. men's team is out of the World Cup after a disappointing loss to the Netherlands. We'll have details and a look at who has the pitch in the hours ahead.

Plus, the world's largest active volcano has become a big tourist attraction but it could become a nightmare for another reason.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.

BRUNHUBER: Well, it's been a long final stretch but now we're just two days away from the last vote of the 2022 midterms. Tuesday is Election Day in Georgia's U.S. Senate runoff. Nearly 2 million voters have already cast early ballots. The rest will choose on Tuesday between Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker.

A recent poll gave Warnock a narrow edge over Walker, just larger than the margin of error. A Warnock victory would grant Democrats a majority in the Senate, giving a legislative boost and making the president's future judicial nominees easier. Dianne Gallagher has this report.

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DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are approaching the end of overtime here in the Georgia Senate runoff election, as both candidates are making their final pitches to voters.

Senator Raphael Warnock with a busy Saturday, which is pretty much in line with the way his schedule has remained throughout this four-week runoff period. He spent the morning talking to unions. He did another rally in a different part of the state.

Then returned to Atlanta for an AAPI victory fund event, full of surrogates, politicians, entertainers and his fellow Georgia senator, Jon Ossoff, who he was elected originally back in January 2021 in yet another runoff race.

Now look, Warnock has a busy schedule on Sunday as well. His opponent, challenger Republican Herschel Walker, had a much more relaxed Saturday, which is also in line with his campaign strategy during the runoff period. He didn't hold any public events per se or anything open to the press.

But he did have a tailgate before the SEC championship game. Walker, of course, a star on the football field for the University of Georgia. He won the Heisman trophy and national championship back in the '80s.

He took plenty of selfies and shook hands with supporters there at that tailgate before the game. But he didn't talk to the media. And that's something that's pretty much been a trend for him throughout his campaign on this runoff period.

Again, much more relaxed schedule. He has one event scheduled on Sunday. Both candidates trying to reach those voters that did not cast some of the 1.85 million ballots during the early voting period. They note that there are still voters out there and they need to convince them to come out on Tuesday -- Dianne Gallagher, CNN. Back to you.

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BRUNHUBER: And Georgia's runoff between Democratic senator Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker is now two days away. And CNN's coverage is expected to start at 4:00 pm Eastern on Tuesday.

Former president Donald Trump is calling for nothing less than the, quote, "termination" of the American Constitution so he can be reinstated into power. On his Truth Social platform, Trump accused Big Tech of working closely with Democrats.

Posts came after an email showed how Twitter employees debated whether to restrict an article about Hunter Biden. Twitter worried that the story could have been the result of a Russian hacking operation.

But Trump had this take, boasting, quote, "A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations and articles, even those found in the Constitution."

Well, the White House responded swiftly, saying, quote, "Attacking the Constitution and attacking all that it stands for is anathema to the soul of our nation and should be universally condemned.

[04:05:00] BRUNHUBER: "You cannot only love America when you win."

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BRUNHUBER: President Zelenskyy is blasting a price cap on Russian oil. Why he thinks major powers didn't go big enough.

And Moscow is stepping up its battle against the West. That means a crackdown on LGBTQ rights in Russia. We'll have an update.

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BRUNHUBER: We're getting reports of new Russian strikes in southern Ukraine. Artillery and rocket fire hit areas near Zaporizhzhya and Dnipro overnight. Homes and power lines were damaged but we haven't heard of reports of casualties.

Meanwhile President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his troops are holding the line in the face of Russia's attacks in the east.

Social video suggests Russians have made some progress earlier this week but also took heavy casualties. Ukrainians are also expected to see a lull in fighting across the board during the winter. That's an assessment of the U.S. intelligence agencies.

DNI Avril Haines say when Ukraine gets warmer, they may have some advantage. Here she is.

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AVRIL HAINES, DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: Once you get past the winter, the sort of question is, what will the counteroffensive look like potentially in the spring in March and in that area?

And we expect that, frankly, both militaries are going to be in a situation where they're going to be looking to try to refit, resupply, in a sense reconstitute, so that they're kind of prepared for that counter offensive. But we actually have a fair amount of skepticism whether or not the Russians will be, in fact, prepared to do that.

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BRUNHUBER: Volodymyr Zelenskyy said world powers didn't go far enough in the cap on Russian oil. Zelenskyy said Russia will still be making a lot of money for its war chest and criticized them for not making it lower. Here he is. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The discussion on price caps, that is on limiting the price of the export of Russian oil, has ended in the world.

Unfortunately, without big decisions as you wouldn't call it a big decision to set such a limit for Russian prices, which is quite comfortable for the budget of a terrorist state. Russia has already caused huge losses to all countries of the world by deliberately destabilizing the energy market and the world cannot dare its real energy to disarmament. It's a weak position.

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BRUNHUBER: For more Will Ripley joins us from Kyiv.

First, Will, what can you tell us about these overnight strikes?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, unfortunately, this is just a reality of daily life for people living in this part of southern Ukraine. You have the constant barrage of Russian artillery and rockets raining down at all hours of the day. So, in this case, it happened during the overnight hours.

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RIPLEY: Here in Ukraine, they believe this is terrorism. They think the Russians are trying to frighten people and basically have those who have chosen to stay in their homes, feeling that there is no place or time where they will be safe.

And so as evidenced by these pictures of the new damage overnight, these are not military installations that are being targeted by these Russian attacks. These are homes that are being hit. People's lives torn apart by hearing the sound of an incoming artillery.

You know, the air raid sirens go off and people have become so accustomed to this over the last nine months of this war, it's a question of whether or not they always immediately run to the shelter as they're supposed to do every time there's an attack.

In this case, as bad as the damage was, we're told nobody was hurt, nobody was killed. But that's a different outcome if people happen to be inside these structures that are hit. It's very -- it's very random. People have no idea if shelling happens nearby.

It's luck of the draw, if you will, whether they're going to be hit. There's no way to know for sure where the rockets or artillery shells will land. People essentially have to constantly live in a state of, if not fear, certainly uncertainty about whether or not they're going to be hit, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: And a frequent target of Russian strikes has been the power infrastructure. Bring us up to speed on the latest there. RIPLEY: The biggest concern in Kyiv is the Russians are kind of

biding their time, preparing for another massive attack, like the one we saw last week on Wednesday, when the Russians fired more than 70 rockets and missiles.

Even though Ukraine shot down some of them, they hit 20 targets. They're in the process of trying to get the power grid back online. But the expectation is, once they've rebuilt a bit more, the power comes on a bit more, the Russians will launch another major attack, perhaps bigger than before.

Ukrainians are vowing that's not going to happen. They have missile defenses in place. They've been asking the United States and even Germany to help send in more missile defense systems to defend against the onslaught from Russia.

In the meantime, people are learning how to live with less power. Just last night, we were walking around Kyiv. There was one side the lights were off, the other side the lights were on. The businesses with the lights off were just as busy as always. They flip on a small generator, bring out candles.

And people go on with their life as if they're not noticing what's happening around them. Of course, they are noticing but they're doing their best to put it aside and continue to live life as normal here.

In other places, it's much more difficult. Here in Kyiv, it's about 70 percent of their normal electrical capacity right now. People are without power for several hours per day. But others outside the capital are living with just three or four hours a day.

Winter temperatures continue to drop and are expected to plunge even lower in the weeks ahead. That's why Ukrainians are hoping for a decision soon. We're talking days or weeks, not months, on the Patriot missile decisions from the U.S. and other countries as well.

BRUNHUBER: The challenge worsens, as you say. Will Ripley, thank you so much.

Russia says Vladimir Putin will visit an occupied part of Ukraine but still an open question as to when. State media report the Kremlin saying he'll go to the Donbas region.

Moscow declared the Luhansk and Donetsk regions annexed but they're illegal under international law.

Meanwhile Russia is boosting its military ties with Belarus. The two countries are also discussing joint military training. Belarus allowed its territory to be used by Russian troops at the start of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

And Russia is one step away from formally expanding its ban on what the government calls LGBT propaganda. The upper house of parliament passed the bill on Wednesday. Now it just needs Vladimir Putin's signature. As Fred Pleitgen reports, the Kremlin is framing the move as part of a larger battle with the West. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): For years, being gay has been extremely tough in Russia. Now it's about to get even harder after Russian parliament passed what it calls the LGBT propaganda law, claiming in part it's a defense against U.S. influence.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I cannot put it any other way. The United States of America has become the global center of this sodomy. Let them live there. Do not touch us.

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PLEITGEN (voice-over): Anti-gay tirades are often covered in what Russia calls its special military operation in Ukraine on state TV, making the war out to be part of a larger battle of Russia against the West and its alleged moral decay. A gay rights activist in Moscow says he feels singled out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): This is the information noise that we're becoming victims of. We're being used as scapegoats to distract attention and redirect the hatred of the electorate that supports Putin and the war.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): Russian president Vladimir Putin often portrays himself as the savior of traditional family values, even comparing LGBTQ freedoms to devil worshipping.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA (through translator): Such a total denial of a human being, a rejection of faith and traditional values, suppression of freedom begins to look like a perverted religion, outright Satanism.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): The new law bans praise of what the government considers non-traditional sexual relationships or otherwise suggesting those relationships are, quote, "normal."

But a LGBTQ activist who has fled the country says the law will essentially make it illegal to be openly gay in Russia.

RENAT DAVIEGLIDEEV, LGBTQ ACTIVIST AND JOURNALIST (through translator): The only text I can now show publicly, according to the law in social in Russia in my social network, on the street, in a newspaper or in a movie, is gays are outlawed, gays are bad and lesbians should be in jail.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): Not a single Russian legislator voted against the bill. Punishment includes fines of up to thousands of dollars for individuals. Foreigners could be jailed for up to 15 days and be deported. Vladimir Komov heads an organization providing legal aid to the LGBTQ

community and he fears the lawyers might soon be targeted as well, with significant fines per legal entities.

VLADIMIR KOMOV, DELO LGBT (through translator): There are fears among lawyers that if they defend political case at rallies or allegedly propaganda, this may be turned against them in the future.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): But activists and lawyers fear that even more of Russia's LGBTQ community will come to conclusion that their only way to live openly will be to flee the country -- Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Moscow.

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BRUNHUBER: All right. Still ahead, the political scandal in South Africa ramps up as the president refuses to step down. We'll have a live report from Johannesburg. Please stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all you watching in the United States, around the world and in Canada. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

Republican John Duarte is the winner in California's 13th congressional district. Democrat Adam Gray conceded on Friday night. This gives Republicans a slim House majority with 222 seats. Democrats will start the new Congress with one fewer seat.

Now the last undecided Senate race should be resolved in the coming days. Georgia voters will go to the polls Tuesday in the runoff election. Raphael Warnock faces challenger Herschel Walker.

Both candidates are making their final pitches to voters. Nearly 2 million people in Georgia have already cast ballots. Not surprisingly, both parties are already looking ahead to 2024. Now Democrats are proposing major changes with their nomination calendar. We've got details from Arlette Saenz at the White House.

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ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Biden has proposed upending the calendar Democrats use to nominate their presidential candidates, removing Iowa from the top spot and replacing it with South Carolina.

The rules panel at the Democratic National Committee approved the president's proposal, which now needs to be voted on by the broader committee early next year. President Biden's argument for making these changes is he wants to see a more diverse slate of states have an early say in the nominating contest.

Iowa and New Hampshire are the two that have typically gone first and they have more predominantly white populations. But now President Biden wants to see South Carolina move to the very start of the calendar.

It would then be followed by Nevada and New Hampshire on the same day and then add in Georgia, which has become a battleground state in recent years, followed by Michigan to represent the Midwest.

Now there are some steep challenges to actually getting these dates enacted. Each state sets their own primary dates and has their own process for doing so. Iowa and New Hampshire have it enshrined in their law that they go first in these nominating contests.

There's also a challenge in that Republicans plan on holding their contests in the same order. But President Biden is hoping the Democratic National Committee will be able to push through these changes heading into 2024 -- Arlette Saenz, CNN, the White House.

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BRUNHUBER: After days of speculation, South Africa's president won't resign. That's according to his spokesperson. He's been under intense pressure to quit. We go to David McKenzie, who joins us live from Johannesburg.

David, bring us up to speed on how we got here.

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Cyril Ramaphosa's being accused by this independent panel of working against the constitution. It's a bizarre scandal where there was a robbery at his private wildlife farm, where several hundred thousand dollars in cash was stolen.

That money was stuffed inside a leather sofa, sort of an unusual place to put that large amount of money.

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MCKENZIE: The panel say Ramaphosa could face impeachment proceedings. But he's going to resist calls to resign. He's going to try to set that report aside in court, saying it's deeply flawed. Kim?

BRUNHUBER: What will the president do next?

MCKENZIE: Well, the one option is as I said divide it in the courts. They will take it to see whether they can persuade a judge to set aside those findings from an independent panel. That might be tricky.

What might be easier or at least more winnable for Ramaphosa is to go the political route. There are a series of meetings in the coming hours and days of the ANC, African National Congress. He has support from the ANC.

He will hope that the parliament doesn't take up impeachment proceedings. That's happening on Tuesday. But it certainly isn't over yet. Ramaphosa, who came into office touting anticorruption, will certainly be somewhat overshadowed by these allegations. He says he's completely innocent. Kim.

BRUNHUBER: All right. We'll keep an eye on that story as it develops. CNN's David McKenzie, thank you so much.

This business tycoon, who admits to meddling in the U.S. elections and appears to be gaining influence in Russian politics, we'll have a closer look at Yevgeny Prigozhin next. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: A Kremlin allied oligarch denies Russia's Wagner Group was behind the bloody packages that were sent to Ukrainian embassies. The packages were either letter bombs, fake letter bombs or parcels containing animal parts like cow or pig eyes.

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BRUNHUBER: Yevgeny Prigozhin said Wager, quote, "would never engage in such stupid tactics."

Meanwhile the Biden administration is considering them as a foreign terrorist organization. They're often described as Russian president Vladimir Putin's off the books troops. Ukraine's defense minister said mercenaries had a key role in Russia's victories in Mariupol and Kherson.

They've been accused of war crimes not only in Ukraine but in parts of Africa and Syria. Yevgeny Prigozhin admitted to founding the group. He's so close to the Kremlin he's known as Putin's chef. As the conflict in Ukraine drags on, back there are signs he's gaining influence in Moscow.

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BRUNHUBER: Senior fellow and chair at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Andrei Kolesnikov, joins me now from Moscow.

Thanks so much for being here with us.

I want to ask you how influential was Yevgeny Prigozhin before the war in Ukraine?

ANDREI KOLESNIKOV, SENIOR FELLOW AND CHAIR, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: He wasn't so influential. He was kind of an outsourcer for Putin. And he was a very useful figure.

But Putin always rejected any chance that Prigozhin could participate in a political process. This is a person who's working on his private projects and even when he's trolling somebody, this is a private initiative, not more.

BRUNHUBER: How has that changed since the war?

KOLESNIKOV: It looks like Prigozhin is a man of war. And Putin is in great need of him. He's right now a very useful figure. Generally speaking, he's kind of a supplier of the court of His Majesty autocrats of cannon fodder (ph). He's very efficient in that very sense.

But here is one more important (INAUDIBLE), Putin needs him to scare systemic leads, to keep them tuned. And everyone understands this just as everyone understands that Putin needs these types of people right now.

So in that sense the question is whether Prigozhin could be a real political figure in the future, whether he can establish his own, let's say, movement or party. Whether he will have this part of -- right of monolith on violence (ph) from the state's side.

But I think that for the moment Putin can't stop him. He can't control him and Prigozhin himself is not an idiot. He's testing red lines all the time but he understands that there are some red lines for Putin.

BRUNHUBER: But you've written he is behaving like a parallel government.

What do you mean by that?

KOLESNIKOV: It means he contributes something for -- from -- for coping with this war. Again, he's very useful for Putin in that sense. He's creating his own army, which is recruited by Putin.

And he criticizes freely different bodies, governmental bodies. And nobody is answering him. He's in a conflict with a very influential figure, the men of Putin, the governor of St. Petersburg and Putin is still mute on this. So in that sense he appears frequently in the public sphere. He can be a public fear (ph), which was atypical recently.

But again, I think that there are some borders, some red lines for him in the future.

BRUNHUBER: So you wouldn't say he's become a rival for Putin yet, is that right?

KOLESNIKOV: No. He can be. He can disappear in that case. You know, there are different figures who appeared during this war just lack extreme also above the arrow koligs for an hour (ph). They can disappear overnight.

Prigozhin is a more permanent fear.

BRUNHUBER: I want to ask you finally, his influence extends beyond Russia, beyond the battlefield.

[04:45:00] BRUNHUBER: He also reportedly operates three companies that have been accused of election interference here in the U.S. And when he was asked about that, I want to quote him here.

He said, "Gentlemen, we interfered, we interfere and we will interfere carefully, precisely, surgically and in our own way, as we know how."

So how big of a threat is he to the U.S.?

KOLESNIKOV: I think he's a threat. The problem is that Russians are his Russian political class. Russian governmental bodies putting himself. They lost the shape. Because of that, Prigozhin has an opportunity to be a public figure. And he can say something like this.

It wasn't allowable even a year ago. Now it is kind of a normal -- near normal, let's say. So he can work in this field, his -- one of his fields. I mean, private armies somewhere in Africa and Ukraine.

But he also has his fabric of trolls and it is more or less efficient. In that sense, it could be a threat to the United States. But I don't -- I can't say that we must exaggerate this influence.

BRUNHUBER: All right. Certainly a fascinating figure, this growing influence in stature. Really appreciate your insights into all of this, Andrei Kolesnikov. Thanks so much.

KOLESNIKOV: Thanks.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Still ahead, there are new concerns as hundreds continue to flock to Hawaii to watch eruptions from the world's largest volcano. I'll have the details coming up. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Look at these tremendous pictures here. There are new concerns as the volcano in Hawaii continues to spew lava. Molten rock has crept a little over to two miles to a major highway but the speed of the flow has slowed down.

The governor says if the lava crosses the highway, it could be a, quote, "tremendous inconvenience."

Meanwhile the spectacle of the glowing superheated lava is so captivating, it's an irresistible draw for many people on the Big Island, as CNN's David Culver reports.

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DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: About 2.5 miles from where we're standing, you can barely see, just under the cloud cover that's moved in, the edge of the lava flow. You'll see going up into the air those are some of the plumes, not of smoke but of acidic gases.

So that's part of the concern with this, is what's going into the air, what's called vog or volcanic smog. It can be very toxic. Officials have been advising folks, particularly those with respiratory issues, to be mindful of that.

Still, they want people to enjoy what is a spectacular sight, one that is rare. It's been 38 years since Mauna Loa erupted. For them to be able to come out to what is the largest volcano, the world's largest active one at that, and to take it in, it's spectacular.

But it's also one they want folks to keep a safe distance from. They're monitoring closely the flow of that lava because it's going now at a much slower pace than it was initially, about 25 feet per hour, according to the governor here.

It's making its way this direction. Here's another really concerning part and that is what's on the other side of this side street, a main highway that cuts from one end of the Big Island to the other.

You cut that off, transportation-wise you're going to have a lot of issues. So they don't want that logistical nightmare to fall into place. Until that point, they're saying, come on out.

They're letting people park along this side street here that's been turned into a one-way roadway so that people can safely pull over. You can see folks there parked just to take in the sights, some bringing offerings, especially locals, who see this as a very culturally significant and spiritual event.

They're bringing leis, flowers; one woman, rosemary. While some are taking pictures, especially in the middle of the night, where it is stunning and you have that glow into the sky, people are also just wanting to be here and listen to the stillness of it all.

There's a mutual respect you feel as well. People will say, do you mind turning off your car lights?

Take it in perhaps together in a more impactful way. And people are doing that collectively, enjoying it. Overall, it's still a potentially dangerous situation, potentially very destructive. They saw that here in 2018. So it's one that they're monitoring closely and updating daily -- David Culver, CNN, Hawaii.

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BRUNHUBER: That wraps up this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. I'll be back in just a moment with more news.