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Polls Set to Open in Georgia Runoff; FBI Joins Prob Into North Carolina Power Outage; Republicans Address Trump's Comments on the Constitution; Brazil Dazzles in Match Against South Korea; Indonesia Bans Sex Outside of Marriage. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired December 06, 2022 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:00]
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our views joining us in the United States and all around the world. I'm Bianca Nobilo.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Max Foster joining you live from London. Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Georgia Senate runoff in its final hours.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are on the verge of victory.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can know you got a champion in Herschel Walker.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The White House is monitoring -- has been monitoring the situation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Attacks on two power substations in a central North Carolina county.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just a horrible, horrible terrorist, in my opinion, act.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's Brazilian football at its best.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo.
FOSTER: It is Tuesday, December 6th, 9 a.m. in London, 4 a.m. in the U.S. state of Georgia where just three hours from now polls will open for high stakes runoff election that'll decide the final seat in the U.S. Senate. Incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock and his Republican challenger Herschel Walker spent Monday making their closing pitches to voters as the to gear up for the final showdown of the 2022 midterm elections.
NOBILO: Already more than 1.8 billion people across Georgia cast their ballot during the early voting period and now the candidates are calling for those who haven't to get out and vote. U.S. President Joe Biden's also urging voters to cast their ballot as Democrats hope for a Warnock win to solidify their Senate majority.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It really is critical because, look, all the things that Reverend Warnock has supported are things that the people of Georgia care a great deal about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump is calling on Georgia residents to cast their ballots for Walker. That push coming as Trump held a brief tele-rally ahead of today's runoff election.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A vote for Raphael Warnock is a vote to give Chuck Schumer and the unhinged far left Democrats total control of the United States Senate. We can't let this happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: CNN's Eva McKend has been following all of the developments from Atlanta.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EVA MCKEND, CNN U.S. POLITICS REPORTER (voice-over): With the Georgia Senate runoff in its final hours --
SEN. RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D-GA): Hello, Georgia tech!
HERSCHEL WALKER (R), GEORGIA SENATE CANDIDATE: Tomorrow is a big day.
MCKEND (voice-over): The candidates rallying their core supporters to vote for them once again.
WARNOCK: Don't y'all have exams?
MCKEND (voice-over): Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock focusing Monday on turning out younger voters campaigning with Gen-Z Congressman-elect Maxwell Frost.
REP.-ELECT MAXWELL FROST (D-FL): We know that young people don't make up the biggest voting bloc right now. But we are the bloc that matters.
MCKEND: Senator Warnock, why this emphasis on young voters in these final crucial hours?
WARNOCK: Young people have little tolerance for inauthenticity. Because they keep me inspired. They keep me on my toes. And I'm proud of the ways in which young people all over Georgia are showing up.
MCKEND (voice-over): Republican Challenger Herschel Walker hitting five campaign stops with a focus on deep red North Georgia.
WALKER: You can know you've got a champion in Herschel Walker. You will always have a champion in me because I love y'all, and we're going to win this election and get Georgia back together.
MCKEND (voice-over): Tuesday's fiercely contested runoff coming after neither candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote during November's general election.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's a sense of accomplishment to come in and get it done early.
MCKEND (voice-over): Both campaigns now laser-focused on turning voters out Tuesday, after early voting ended with over 1.8 million ballots being cast, including a one-day record of more than 350,000 last Friday.
WARNOCK: Are you ready to do this one more time?
MCKEND (voice-over): As the candidates make their closing arguments, both campaigns up with new TV ads, making a final push to get out the vote. Warnock touting his work ethic and dedication to serving Georgians, arguing, the race is primarily about competence and character.
GOV. BRIAN KEMP (R), GEORGIA: Who's more motivated? Is it them or us?
MCKEND (voice-over): While Walker enlist the help of recently reelected Georgia Governor Brian Kemp to make the case for his campaign. The former football star argues, he would be a necessary check on President Joe Biden.
[04:05:00]
Democrats have more than doubled Republican ad spending for the runoff, 55.1 million to 25.8 million, as the parties square off for one final Senate showdown of the 2022 midterm election.
WALKER: So, who all has voted already? And who all has got to vote tomorrow?
WARNOCK: Call Lottie, Dotty and everybody. Tell them it's time to vote.
MCKEND: Senator Warnock ending his campaign in Atlanta. Herschel Walker's final event in Kennesaw. Walker telling his supporters to get out and vote one more time. Senator Warnock cautioning his supporters against getting too over confident. Reminding them that just because the early vote numbers look good for Democrats doesn't mean that Herschel Walker doesn't have a path to victory. A real recognition that this race is going to be incredibly close.
Eva McKend, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE) NOBILO: Georgia's current lieutenant governor, a Republican, has made it clear he does not support Herschel Walker. Geoff Duncan even said that he tried to cast a ballot but he walked out because he couldn't back either candidate. Duncan spoke with CNN's Anderson Cooper about what he believes needs to happen moving forward with the Republican party.
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LT. GOV. GEOFF DUNCAN (R-GA): We're just trying to break this vicious cycle of addiction to Donald Trump as Republicans. And that's really what it is, right.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: What are you talking about when you say a healing in these instances?
DUNCAN: Yes, look, this is a vicious cycle of addiction that started when they told us to swallow it and take him as our nominee, then deal with his, you know, trashing everybody on Twitter, and then dealing with the postelection fallout and the conspiracy theories and then Herschel Walker. And you know, it is time to break this vicious cycle. It's time to heal up, it's time to go figure out who's the real leaders, and you know, everybody talks about, Geoff, you need to be a team player.
We need team leaders right now as Republicans. We just got trounced when it should have been one of the biggest, easiest layups we've made in years and decades. But unfortunately, we put the wrong candidates in place all over the country. I'm sure the folks in Arizona wish they could have somebody other than Blake Masters and Kari Lake. I'm sure the folks and the Republicans in Pennsylvania wish they had somebody other than Dr. Oz. Hindsight is 20/20, and I think unfortunately, we're going to wake up on Wednesday and realize that we wish we had somebody other than Herschel Walker representing us.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: This is the final race of the 2022 midterm season. CNN's special coverage begins at 4 p.m. Eastern.
FOSTER: It could take a while for the results. It's because I think it's pretty tight.
NOBILO: They could trickle in.
FOSTER: The fallout from Donald Trump's call to terminate the U.S. Constitution is becoming more evident as some Republicans openly disagree with yet another Trump controversy. It was just last week when the former U.S. president posted disproven lies about the 2020 election online.
NOBILO: Trump said the matter warranted doing away with all rules and regulations, even the founding document of the United States. His former vice president and running mate Mike Pence was quick to distance himself from the issue.
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MIKE PENCE, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: I must tell you that I think everyone that serves in public office, everyone that aspires to serve or to serve again should make clear that we will support and defend the Constitution of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: But many other Republicans are dodging the issue possibly not wanting to ruffle the former president's feathers as he attempts to go at the White House again. CNN's Jessica Dean has more from Capitol Hill.
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JESSICA DEAN, CNN U.S. CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Congressional Republicans are responding and, in some cases, staying noticeably silent on former President Donald Trump's comments on terminating the Constitution. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell promising to address those comments on Tuesday during his regularly scheduled press conference.
His number two in the Senate John Thune saying that he couldn't disagree more with former President Donald Trump's comments. Also, Senator Mitt Romney saying similar things, and were getting tweets from Senators Lisa Murkowski, Mike Rounds, really speaking out forcefully against those comments.
That's one side of the Senate GOP. Others in the Senate GOP like Senator Roger Marshall, he said that he hadn't seen it. When I pressed back on him and told him what those comments were, he said that maybe they'd been taken out of context, that we the media should be talking about something else. Other Senators like Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott -- of course both from South Carolina -- refused to answer any questions about it at all.
We did hear of course, from former Vice President Mike Pence who really said that this was not -- he did not support this, that of course you must support the Constitution if you are going to run for and hold public office.
One person that we have notably not heard from so far is House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. He has stayed very silent on all of this. The there's a sweet from several weeks ago in which he promised to read the entire Constitution on the floor of the House when Republicans take over during the next Congress. But that was before former President Trump made these comments. And again, nothing yet from McCarthy.
Jessica Dean, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Later today a New York jury will resume deliberations in the Trump Organization's criminal tax fraud trial.
[04:10:00]
Two Trump Organization entities are charged with falsifying business records in what prosecutors say was a 15-year scheme to defraud authorities.
NOBILO: On Monday jurors sent a note to the judge requesting clarification on a conspiracy charge. The judge has stressed that the former U.S. president and his family are not on trial and the jury must set aside any biases towards the Trumps.
FOSTER: Fox chairman Rupert Murdoch is set to be deposed next week in Dominion voting systems $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit. A court filing shows it will happen by video conference on Monday.
NOBILO: Dominion claims the network defamed the company by spreading lies about fraud in the 2020 election that hurt its business. Some of the biggest stars at Fox News have already been deposed in the case.
The FBI is joining the investigation, also into power outages in North Carolina County. It's believed that the outages were caused by targeted attacks on substations leaving thousands without power.
FOSTER: While it's unclear what motivated the alleged vandalism, the sheriff is addressing rumors the attack was an attempt to thwart a local drag show. CNN's Whitney Wild reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Moore County, North Carolina, will again plunge into darkness tonight two days after the sheriff says someone opened fire on two power substations a few miles apart in Carthage and West End, North Carolina.
MIKE CAMERON, ASSISTANT TOWN MANAGER, SOUTHERN PINES, NORTH CAROLINA: Our medical calls have increased due to people being on oxygen or having other medical devices that require power. We've had an increase in fire alarms. We've had an increase in traffic accidents.
WILD (voice-over): Police are working to find the person or people responsible for what they say was an intentional criminal act. So far, they are releasing little information, saying only the attack happened Saturday night and a gate at one of the substations was removed from its hinges.
Power went down around 7:00 p.m., the same time a drag show was set to take place in the area. Social media buzzed with rumors over the weekend that the attacks were some kind of effort to stop the drag show but police say so far, they have found no evidence connecting the two.
RONNIE FIELDS, SHERIFF, MOORE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA: No motivation, nobody's -- no group has stepped up to acknowledge or accept it, the ones that done it.
WILD (voice-over): The attack is the type of incident law enforcement and homeland security officials have warned about as recently as last week. The Department of Homeland Security updated its national threat assessment bulletin November 30th, sounding the alarm about the potential for attacks on critical infrastructure.
The outages have left the community here scrambling, leaving 40,000 homes and businesses without power and forcing hospitals to run off backup generators. Officials are saying power isn't likely to be fully restored until Thursday.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Got no way to heat because we don't have a fireplace and then we don't have no gas grill or anything like that, so we're just stranded.
WILD (voice-over): At McNeill Oil and Propane in Aberdeen, Davis Clark says they are the only fuel provider for about 20 miles. First responders and public works employees lined up throughout the morning.
DAVIS CLARK, OWNER, MCNEILL OIL & PROPANE COMPANY: As soon as the power went out, we started getting calls. We've figured out a way to rig up a truck so that we could fuel emergency services, the police, fire, EMS, and that's where we started that. It was a long night, Saturday night, and we've been going ever since.
WILD (voice-over): Clark is a third generation owner of the family business, and this is the first time they opened it up for drive- through service.
CLARK: I've never seen anything like it. Keep Moore County in your thoughts and prayers. I hope they find who did this because it's senseless.
WILD: The Department of Homeland Security issued a memo earlier this year saying that since 2020 domestic violent extremists have called attacks on the electrical grid extremely attractive. So, certainly something the Department of Homeland Security has been monitoring for some time. Meanwhile here in Moore County, schools are closed again Tuesday and a curfew goes into effect overnight.
Whitney Wild, CNN, North Carolina.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: It is going to be a cold day across much of the Western U.S. with winter weather alerts in parts of at least eight states I think it is now. And that could be good news for water starved California. There and in parts of Oregon and Nevada, snowpack is around 200 percent above average for this time of year.
NOBILO: And it's going to be another wet day in the south and east flooding is possible in parts of Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee.
FOSTER: CNN meteorologist Britley Ritz joins us now from the CNN Weather Center in Atlanta. Good morning, Britley.
BRITLEY RITZ, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Max. Yes, absolutely we have been dealing with the snow across the Western part of the country and heavy rains that began yesterday and will continue on through the rest of this week through the southeast up through the Ohio Valley and eventually up into New England.
We have already picked up two feet of snow for parts of the Sierras and into the Rockies. Mammoth Mountain 2 feet, 24 inches and to the Rockies, the central Rockies picking up 20 inches of snow just within the last 24 hours -- just as Max and Bianca mentioned. Winter weather alerts in effect. Winter weather advisories in effect for still parts of the Sierras, up into the central Rockies and the northern Rockies or an additional up to a foot possible in the higher elevations.
[04:15:00]
Now here's the snowfall showing you the pinks across the northern Rockies and the central Rockies indicating roughly another 12 to 18 inches. Isolated higher amounts are possible. And as the system tracks farther east, that moisture gets picked up alongside the boundary and pushes right across the Central Plains and into the southeast rolling up into parts of the Ohio Valley. So, it stalls out and then we wind up with flooding potential. And that's what's happening.
I mean, we've already picked up 2 to 4 inches across northern Alabama and northern Georgia just within the last 24 hours. And again, this moisture gets pushed in and will continue on through the Carolinas, up into New England here in the upcoming days with the flash flood threat because the grounds are so dry. So, then we wind up with picking up another 1, 2, possibly 3 inches of rain which is good because 95 percent of Tennessee is under some sort of drought. Isolated higher amounts up to 5 inches possible just within the next five days' time -- Bianca, Max.
FOSTER: Britley, thank you very much, indeed.
NOBILO: Ahead on CNN, Indonesians who have sex outside of marriage could be thrown in prison. We'll have the live report on the country's parts new morality laws.
FOSTER: And can a website designer refuse to take same-sex couples as clients. The U.S. Supreme Court will decide on that soon.
NOBILO: And in Monday's World Cup action top ranked Brazil put on a dominating performance reminding everyone they are --
FOSTER: What an incredible game.
NOBILO: Not my favorite match of yesterday.
FOSTER: We'll wait to see what that is.
NOBILO: We shall.
AMANDA DAVIES, CNN WORLD SPORT: Yes, that was certainly Brazil laying down a marker, wasn't it? If expectations were high before, they are now through the roof as they book their place in the quarterfinals. Six teams through, two to go. I'll be in Doha live with all the latest in just a couple of minutes. Don't go anywhere. [04:20:00]
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FOSTER: In Monday's World Cup action it came down to a high stakes penalty shootout between 2018 Croatia and Japan. Bianca was amongst them, Croatia backers who were ecstatic when their team won the penalty shootout 3-1, is that correct?
NOBILO: That is correct.
FOSTER: With Croatia's goalkeeper really the hero of the day, blocking three out of Japan's four penalty kicks.
NOBILO: Meanwhile, the Japanese team and their fans were understandably disappointed. They beat former world champions Germany and Spain during the group stage. So, they had high expectations heading into the match.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YUKI WATANABE, JAPAN FAN: We were hoping that, you know, we were going to win and go onto the round of eight, I think. So, honestly, it's sad. I'm sad. But like, they didn't give up until the last penalty.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: And Brazil fans showed why they're second to none at celebrating victories after their team routed South Korea 4-1.
FOSTER: Your viewing guide for today's action. The final matches will be played for the round of 16 -- it's getting serious. First Group F champions Morocco face off against Spain and later Portugal take on Switzerland. That will be Isa Soares's moment.
NOBILO: It will.
FOSTER: For the latest developments at the World Cup, I'm joined by Amanda Davies who is at the scene in Doha. What are you excited about today, Amanda?
DAVIES: Oh, it's got some match-up to what we saw yesterday, Max and Bianca. If expectations were high around Brazil before that match last night, they really are absolutely through the roof. And you now suspect that they're poised ready to sew that sixth star on to those Brazilian shirts. They got the star of course every time they've won the World Cup. And people talking about the prospect of number 6 now very, very real for that side.
Pele has sent a message from his hospital in Brazil to Tite, the head of the match saying he was going to be watching on from hospital hoping to inspire the side to victory and that he certainly did. It definitely worked. I mean, it sounds cliche to say it, but at times their performance was the stuff pf poetry. And you really saw the togetherness, the team collective spirit, particularly with some of those goal celebrations even with 61-year-old coach getting Tite getting involved. Even though, you know, they said this is what our team spirit is like even if some of the other teams see it as being a little bit dismissive.
Perhaps not in keeping with gamesmanship and sportsmanship that they want to see here at the tournament. But it is Brazil now preparing for that quarterfinal against Croatia. After Croatia knocked out Japan on penalties. Incidentally, it was Brazil who emerged victorious when these two sides met in 2014 at the World Cup.
But you wonder what the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal will have thought of that performance last night. Whether they'll have been watching in the buildup to their last 16 encounter against Switzerland. So much of the buildup to that match once again dominated by talk of Ronaldo. Suggestions about his unhappiness being substituted off against South Korea. All the speculation about potential a big money move to Saudi Arabia. There was a real sense of frustration from their coach Fernando Santos in the press conference ahead of that one. Saying, we are simply focused on this World Cup. This is what it's about.
And they need to be focused because they're up against a Swiss side who beat them in June just a couple of months ago in the Nation's League. That, though, you suspect from a crowd perspective will be over shadowed by the big one as far as this region is concerned. And that is Morocco against Spain.
Thousands, tens of thousands of Moroccan fans have descended here on Doha. They are the team being seen as the ones waving the flag, flying the flag now for the Arab region at this World Cup looking for a place in the quarterfinal against Spain.
[04:25:00]
Walid Regragui saying this is the biggest match of their footballing history.
FOSTER: Quarterfinals coming up already, it's gone so quickly. Amanda in Doha, thank you so much.
Now you are looking at live pictures from Hawaii where the Mauna Loa volcano continues to spew red hot lava. The state's National Guard has been activated as the lava inches closer to a major highway.
NOBILO: The U.S. Geological Survey says that although the advanced rate has slowed over the past several days the lava flow remains active with continuous supply from the fissure. Mauna Loa is the world's largest active volcano and it's erupting after 38 years.
FOSTER: Thousands of people were evacuated after an Indonesia volcano erupted on Saturday, blanketing homes and roads and volcanic ash. So far, the volcano hasn't disrupted flights in the area. And there are no reports of any deaths or injuries incredibly. But the Indonesian government is handing out masks to mitigate the risks of volcanic ash. And neighboring Singapore is advising its citizens to defer nonessential travel to Indonesia.
NOBILO: And Indonesians could face one year in prison if they're found guilty having sex outside of marriage.
FOSTER: It's part of a sweeping change to the criminal code passed by Parliament earlier today. The law will also apply to foreigners visiting the country. In addition, cohabitation before marriage could result in jail time and blasphemy already outlawed, now carries a possible five-year prison term.
NOBILO: For more on this let's bring in Anna Coran in Hong Kong. Anna how will this new outlawing of sex outside of marriage be monitored and policed. And what's the reaction from the public to this.
ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Bianna, and Max, really good question. We just don't know how this is going to be enacted or enforced. We know that the Indonesian Parliament that made these sweeping changes to its criminal code which critics fear could harm democratic freedoms and police morality in the world's third-largest democracy.
Offenses that will be criminalized, you know, include sex outside of marriage as you mentioned. This law won't just apply to Indonesian citizens but foreigners living in the country as well as tourists found guilty could face a year in prison. Other jailable offenses under this new penal code, co-habitation among unmarried and LGBTQ couples, blasphemy, apostasy, as well as criticizing the president, the government or other state institutions.
Now human rights groups are very, very concerned about the direction that Indonesia is heading. They say it's because of this rise in ultra-conservative Islam in the nation's politics as it adopts what they say are a sharia inspired laws. And they fear minority groups will be targeted, tourism groups. They say that these laws are troublesome and counterproductive especially on the tourist island of Bali that as we know, heavily relies on Western tourists for its economy.
Now, as I said, we don't know how this will be enforced but we heard from the justice minister earlier today. He said there will be intensive outreach to police, prosecutors, lawyers and advocates. So, it would certainly indicate they want to move ahead. This law, however, will not come into place until three years' time -- Max and Bianca.
NOBILO: Anna Coran, thank you.
FOSTER: The U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments from the case that looks at whether certain business owners can refuse to work with gay couples.
NOBILO: Plus, at least three people are dead after drone strikes at Russian air fields. What Ukraine is saying about the attacks next on CNN NEWSROOM.
[04:30:00]
