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Georgia's U.S. Senate Runoff; Trump Proposes Dismantling U.S. Constitution; Ukraine Reports New Russian Strikes In The South; Dems Propose Major Changes To Primaries Calendar; Mauna Loa's Lava About 2.5 Miles From Major Highway. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired December 04, 2022 - 05:00   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 (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and welcome to viewers from all around the world, the U.S. and Canada. I'm Kim Brunhuber.

Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.

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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Heartbreak for the U.S. after being knocked out of the World Cup. What to expect from today's matches.

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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Plus Democrats on the verge of changing how they pick a presidential nominee. Not just about Iowa and New Hampshire anymore.

And molten lava is creeping toward an important highway in Hawaii right now. A volcanologist will talk about the threat to the Big Island.

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BRUNHUBER: All right. We're now just two days away from the final vote of the 2022 midterms, the U.S. Senate runoff in Georgia. Tuesday is Election Day when voters will choose between Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker.

More than 1.8 million people have cast early ballots. Dianne Gallagher has been following it and 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: CNN's special coverage of the Georgia runoff election is expected to start at 4:00 pm Eastern next Tuesday.

Now even before the Georgia race is over, Democrats are already looking to overhaul their primary calendar for the next election. If approved, it could make South Carolina the first state to hold that crucial contest. Later this hour, we'll speak with a law professor about the proposed changes.

Meanwhile, the last of the U.S. House races has been called for Republican John Duarte in California after his Democratic challenger conceded. As it now stands, the GOP will hold a slim 222 House seat majority in January when Democrats are expected to have 213 seats. Former U.S. President Donald Trump is calling for nothing less than

the, quote, "termination" of the U.S. Constitution, so he can be reinstated into power. On his Truth Social platform, Trump accused Big Tech of getting together with Democrats.

Twitter employees in 2020 debated over whether to restrict a "New York Post" story about Hunter Biden and his laptop. Twitter thought it could be the result of a Russian hacking operation. But Trump had this take.

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

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BRUNHUBER: 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. You cannot only love America when you win."

Russian shells and rockets are raining down on Ukraine. We'll show you the latest video of the aftermath.

Plus Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is blasting a cap on Russian oil and why he blames major economic powers didn't go big enough.

And three weeks on, still no suspect or weapon in the killing of four college students in Idaho. Police are telling the pub to be patient with their investigation. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: We're getting reports of new strikes in southern Ukraine. Artillery and rocket fire hit areas near Dnipro and Zaporizhzhya overnight. The U.S. Defense Secretary is slamming Russia over attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine. He said on Saturday those attacks were clearly intentional.

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BRUNHUBER: Here he is.

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GEN. LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: With deliberate cruelty, Russia is putting civilians and civilian infrastructure in its gun sights. Russian forces have killed thousands of Ukrainian citizens even as millions more have fled. And Russian attacks have left children dead, schools shattered and hospitals smashed.

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BRUNHUBER: Meanwhile Russia says Vladimir Putin will visit an occupied part of Ukraine but it's still an open question as to when. He'll go to the Donbas region "in due course." Moscow declared the Luhansk and Donetsk regions that make up Donbas were annexed in October. But those annexations are illegal under international law. For more on all of this, Will Ripley joins us from Kyiv.

Will, let's start with this. Tell us more about those overnight strikes.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what's unfortunate, the unfortunate reality for people living in southern Ukraine, particularly in Zaporizhzhya and Dnipro, is this is a reality of daily life.

They have to live constantly with the possibility that Russian shells and rockets could come raining down at any moment. They've been happening almost every day for the better part of nine months, the entirety of this war.

The purpose, Ukrainians say, is to inflict terror on the population, to have them never feeling safe. If you look at the damage from overnight, because this was happening during the overnight hours, the time people should be sleeping, resting and preparing for the next day, the monumental task that is facing many parts of Ukraine, which is rebuilding the power grid and, you know, continuing on with life.

Yet these shells and rockets rain down, hitting homes and damaging them. Nobody was hurt or killed in this incident but, of course, there are many incidents where they're home, inside and injured and killed by these random attacks on innocent people.

These are not military installations being targeted. By and large, these are civilians. These are people trying to live their lives, trying to sleep through the night. But that is something that's in these areas under constant Russian attack.

There is growing concern here in Kyiv. The foreign minister telling CNN exclusively earlier this week that their attacks are not only going to continue but really escalate. They're expecting a major Russian onslaught like we saw last week on Wednesday, targeting the civilian infrastructure, particularly the power grid.

So they've been in the process of trying to rebuild as quickly as possible. The power stations that were damaged, trying to install new power lines and transformers, they have lots of equipment coming in. But they anticipate the Russians have been biding their time, waiting for the situation to stabilize.

Right now in Kyiv they're at 70 percent capacity. They have these rolling blackouts where power will be on for, you know, three or four hours. And then they'll be off for three or four hours. And that's kind of the way the people schedule their days here in the capital.

You get farther outside the capital, there are many in Ukraine that only have electricity for a few hours every day even as temperatures plummet lower and lower as winter sets in. So if this Russian attack comes to fruition like last week, where they shot 70 missiles and rockets, it could plunge much of this country back into darkness at a time they need electricity and defense systems, whether from the U.S. or other places like Germany.

A decision needs to be made very soon to protect the power grid so this winter is not a winter of struggle for millions of people in Ukraine, who are in the line of fire literally.

BRUNHUBER: Absolutely. Will Ripley, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the world powers didn't go far enough with their new cap on the price of Russian oil. He said Russia will still be making lots of money for its war chest and he criticized major powers for not setting the cap lower. Here he is.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The discussion of price caps, that is on limiting the export price 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 disarmament. It's a weak decision.

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BRUNHUBER: A new batch of Ukrainian grain is headed to some of the people who need it most.

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BRUNHUBER: The first cargo ship under the Grain for Ukraine program has docked in Djibouti with 25,000 tons of food bound for its neighbor, Ethiopia. They've raised more than $150 million to send the country's grain to Africa and the Middle East.

More than 60 ships are expected to follow. According to President Zelenskyy, they'll help more than 5 million people who are facing starvation.

Georgia voters will soon determine who will fill the last remaining seat in the U.S. Senate. But even before that race is decided, Democrats are looking to make major changes in the next election.

Plus, hunting for a killer three weeks after the murder of four college students in Idaho. The warning by police about potential misinformation in the case coming up. Please stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Thank you for watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

Voters in Georgia are just days away from determining the outcome of the last U.S. Senate seat when they go to the polls on Tuesday. But even before that race is decided, the Democratic National Committee on Friday approved a plan to dramatically reshape the party's 2024 presidential nominating calendar.

The new plan would bump up the Iowa caucus from the top spot in South Carolina, the first state to hold a primary. It would move Georgia's primary ahead of Super Tuesday. We get the details from CNN's 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: We're joined by Franita Tolson from Los Angeles. Thanks so much for being with us. Changing the order of the primaries,

Democrats have been talking about it for a long time.

So why now?

FRANITA TOLSON, USC GOULD SCHOOL OF LAW: Well, the calendar's changing because our politics have changed, the party has changed. I mean it's just a reflection of the reality that the base is more demographically diverse than ever.

And the party has evolved to really address a challenging time in our country's history and, frankly, there are new states that have been crucial to the party's electoral successes that the party probably feels like it has to respond to.

So Iowa and New Hampshire have been first and second for decades but they're honestly they're majority white states that don't really represent where the party is right now.

BRUNHUBER: You talk about crucial to success, Iowa played a huge part in Barack Obama's rise. I want to read you this. A member of the Iowa Democratic Party talked about the importance of small states.

Quote, "Democrats cannot forget about entire groups of voters in the heart of the Midwest without doing significant damage to the party for a generation."

So I want to ask you, is that overstating it, given the Democrats' electoral track record there or does he have a point?

TOLSON: Well, the thinking is a bit dated. It's absolutely true that President Obama was able to raise his national profile by winning the Iowa caucuses in 2008. But President Obama also ushered in an era where we rely on the internet and social media platforms to get the message out there.

Things have changed in the last decade. Whereas the Iowa caucuses used to be central for little known candidates to really get their name out there, for example, Jimmy Carter in 1976 won the Iowa caucus and that sort of cemented Iowa's status as the first caucus in the nation.

Little known candidates don't have to do that anymore. They can field their notoriety on the internet.

BRUNHUBER: How will this change the calculus for Democrats campaigning, the messaging and types of issues that they'll be focusing on then?

TOLSON: I think it will have a huge impact. Candidates will have to tailor their messages to reach a broader swath of the party. No longer do they have to focus on the issues that affect Iowa and New Hampshire. South Carolina is potentially going first.

New Hampshire is still in there, right?

Nevada, and so on. And so what that requires candidates to do is appeal to a broader piece of the electorate. And honestly, there are some upsides to this. So if a candidate during the primary stage develops a message that appeals to voters in those states, then during the general election it becomes easier for candidates to pivot and use that messaging in order to appeal to the country writ large.

So there are benefits to having a primary message that appeals to the entire country in some ways.

BRUNHUBER: All right. But some of these states, they may not go without a fight, you know. Here in Georgia, for example, the primary date is set by the secretary of state, a Republican, who may not be inclined to help out Democrats.

And New Hampshire has a law that says it has to be first. So you could be setting a standoff between the DNC and an important swing state here. So there are costs to consider here.

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TOLSON: Well, Kim, it won't be the first time parties have clashed with state officials. It's easy to forget that political parties are private organizations. I know they're heavily regulated by the state. The primary process is paid for by the state.

But they maintain important First Amendment rights that they can bring up in litigation should this become an issue. It's based on the willingness to move their primary date. The party is responsible for their primaries, they set their rules and procedures and states are somewhat limited in their ability to conflict with it.

It's just that because states are so heavily involved and most of our elected officials come from one of the major political parties that we forget that political parties are actually private organizations that have constitutional rights.

BRUNHUBER: All right. So I want to ask you this. When Biden was running in the primary in 2020, his win in South Carolina, that changed the momentum. And it's credited essentially with saving his campaign.

So should we read anything into this, that Biden moving South Carolina first, that he may be running again?

TOLSON: Maybe it's good politics, right?

We should read into the fact that he's trying to be responsive to the electorate that put him over the top. That's very important and I know our tendency is to think about it as maybe a bad thing, that he's trying to cater to specific constituencies.

But that's the meat of politics. If the party ignores the core base that elects their candidates, then the party does so at its own peril.

BRUNHUBER: All right. We'll have to see whether it comes to pass. I really appreciate your analysis of this. Franita Tolson, thanks so much. TOLSON: Thank you.

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BRUNHUBER: The investigation goes on in the killing of four University of Idaho students. Authorities say they've received thousands of tips from the public so far but they still haven't named the suspect three weeks after the murder. CNN's Camila Bernal has that.

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CAMILA BERNAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There's a lot of speculation on this case. Three weeks later, we still don't have a suspect, a motive or a weapon. People are very worried with how long it's taking. Authorities trying to clear some things up.

They say they're aware of a sixth roommate that was on the lease. They now say they've reached out to this roommate and don't believe there is any involvement there. That roommate moved out before the school year started.

The two who survived are not believed to be suspects, either. There were people that interacted with two of them. There was surveillance on a food truck, a driver who brought them home that night.

Police are saying those people are not suspects in the case. And there is another key thing in the case. Police have always said they believe this is a targeted attack. But what they're now saying is that they cannot conclude whether it was the house that was targeted or the students that were targeted. There's a lot of confusion about this.

In their latest statement, police saying this, "There is speculation without factual backing, stoking community fears and spreading false facts."

So essentially what authorities are now saying is wait. Wait for our investigation. They say they're making progress behind the scenes. But there is still a lot they're not saying and that's why many in this community are still in fear -- Camila Bernal, CNN, Los Angeles.

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BRUNHUBER: All right. Still ahead, tourists flocking to Hawaii as the world's largest active volcano erupts for the first time in nearly four decades. But there are new concerns. We'll have a report coming up. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): These are live pictures, just spectacular in Hawaii as the world's largest volcano continues to spew lava. As you can see, U.S. Geological Survey says molten rock from Mauna Loa has crept more than two miles toward a major highway, though the speed of the flow has slightly slowed down.

But the state's governor tells CNN, if the lava crosses the highway, it could be a, quote, "tremendous inconvenience."

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BRUNHUBER: Let's bring in Ken Rubin, a professor of volcanology and geochemistry at the University of Hawaii at Mauna Loa.

How close is it to being a threat to the infrastructure and to the people?

KEN RUBIN, PROFESSOR OF VOLCANOLOGY AND GEOCHEMISTRY, UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII/MAUNA LOA: Well, currently, Kim, the lava flow has come down off of a relatively steep slope on the northern flank of the Mauna Loa volcano in an area known as the saddle, which is relatively flat ground.

So this change in ground slope has caused a slow of the advanced rate of the lava flow. And rather than moving in a forward direction, it's still moving forward but also spreading. So it's difficult to predict whether it will reach the highway.

However, in the latest update that came yesterday morning from the U.S. Geological Survey, they thought that it might be as much as a week away.

BRUNHUBER: OK. So lava a week away and moving slowly. But the air and ash are potentially more dangerous. So take us through what makes that such a hazard for people.

RUBIN: So volcanoes emit materials in a variety of ways, three primary ways being volcanic gases, volcanic gas or particulates in the atmosphere as well as lava flows. And so of those three types of materials, the volcanic gas output from Mauna Loa volcano is rather substantial.

If you've seen any of the footage, the bluish white particulate in the atmosphere, it looks like smoke. It's actually sulfur dioxide. It's an acidic gas, a respiratory irritant. The Kilauea volcano, that's 30 kilometers away and actively erupting, has been produced near continuous output of high levels of sulfur.

And the additional output from Mauna Loa could Player of the Year put the air quality in the state -- or at least the Big Island -- into a rather dangerous zone. Of course, winds change quite dramatically from day to day during this time of the year.

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RUBIN: So depending on which way the winds are blowing, only one or another sector of the volcano may be impacted by the gases. The volcanic ash, a similar situation, the style of eruption that's occurring right now is producing a relatively coarse, tougher material that's distributing and falling on people's homes and cars and so forth near the coastline.

But rather limited compared to times in the past.

BRUNHUBER: So all of this, I mean, it's affecting tourism but, paradoxically, it's not keeping folks away. It's actually attracting tourists, who want to get up and close, you know, and personal to a volcano.

Given what you just said about the dangers of the gases, is that a good thing or potentially really dangerous for many people?

RUBIN: Well, I'm of the opinion that the more people can learn about and experience natural phenomena from a safe distance, such as an active volcano, the better. We want to have an educated populace. We want people to be able to experience the beauty of nature.

But I emphasize from a safe distance. So of the three kinds of hazards, the gases are the least easy to detect for people unless you're in a very high concentration zone. But you know, not being exposed to them for too long would be important.

Carrying a wet towel to put over your mouth to breathe through if you're going to visit the lava, most people experiencing the eruption and the tourism numbers have been very high that are normally off- season. They're experiencing it from a distance. They may see it from their hotel many tens of kilometers away on the coast.

Those who are venturing out at night are urged to take caution, to bring protective gear. A surgical mask won't protect you from the gases but something damp over the mouth will.

BRUNHUBER: So appreciate the beauty but stay far enough away. The volcano science community has been preparing a response to this. You knew it was going to be happening, this eruption, to make sure that you don't miss a crucial research opportunity here to sort of study this and measure this in real time.

So how do you go about studying a potentially dangerous eruption and what are you hoping to learn?

RUBIN: The approach that scientists take to studying active eruptions is very kind of multidimensional, very multidisciplinary. We're interested in all of the signals that the volcano is making, both in terms of its gas, how the ground is deforming, earthquakes and so forth.

But in addition to what the materials are being erupted are composed of, not just their bulk composition but their size and shapes of things they contain, such as crystals and gas bubbles known as vesicles, we look at how these vary in space and time during the ongoing eruption.

And we correlate them with the way the eruption is behaving to help understand how varying conditions in the subsurface, in the magma chamber feeding this eruption, in the days before the eruption and continuing through the eruption are affecting the progress of the eruption.

Each eruption is a little bit different. And when we're able to study them in great detail and, of course, the Hawaii volcanoes are among the best monitored, the more we're able to understand this phenomena and provide the information to people around the world living in and around volcanoes that might erupt.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. It's fascinating. Beautiful as we look at live pictures there. Let's hope it doesn't do any damage to people or property. I really appreciate your insights, Ken Rubin. Thanks so much.

RUBIN: Aloha.

BRUNHUBER: Aloha.

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BRUNHUBER: That wraps up this hour. I'm Kim Brunhuber. You can follow me on Twitter. "CNN THIS MORNING" is next. For the rest of the world, it's "CONNECTING AFRICA."