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At Least 20 Tornadoes Reported in South, Threat Continues Today; U.S. Beats Iran, Advances to Next Stage of World Cup; Oath Keepers Founder Guilty of Sedition in January 6th Attack. Aired 7- 7:30a ET

Aired November 30, 2022 - 07:00   ET

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

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[07:00:00]

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: That was fans like celebrating watching our show today?

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, you wish.

LEMON: Is that what it was? Good morning. They're so excited. I mean, that's how people at home react to us. No?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Beers in their hands as they're watching.

LEMON: Fans across the U.S. screaming at the top of their lungs celebrating, this is honestly what happened, the goal and the win against Iran. But will the star player be ready for the knockout rounds? We're going to talk about that. We're going to speak with the head coach of the U.S. Men's National Soccer Team.

HARLOW: Also tornados, at least 20 of them tearing through the south overnight. Millions of Americans warned not to let their guard down this morning.

COLLINS: And also this morning, New York's mayor is making a major new push, authorizing first responders to potentially commit those who are suffering a mental health crisis maybe without their consent. We debate or not that is the right approach and what's driving this decision.

But first this morning, several southern states are on high alert after 20 tornados swept through the region overnight. In my own state of Alabama, powerful winds pushing debris into the air just west of Huntsville, four people were injured, multiple animals have been found dead. In Louisiana's Caldwell Parish, heavy rains and Mississippi's Monroe County left a bridge was washed out, a vehicle stuck in a creek.

CNN's Ryan Young is joining us live this morning from Lowndes County, Mississippi. Ryan, I see that church behind you, the steeple has been blown off, just a sign of the destruction that happened. What other damage have you seen as the sun is starting to come up there?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kaitlan. We're an hour behind you, so we're still waiting for that first light to kind of pop up here. We've been driving all throughout the night, and I can tell you we've seen little pockets of trees being down. This is the largest structure that we've seen so far, that church steeple that's been knocked off in Lowndes County, which is near the Alabama line.

After our last live shot, we actually drove around to see what else was going on, and we ran into some state troopers who were blocking roads, saying power lines were down. But, of course, the big assessment will be coming in the next few hours.

When you see a steeple like this one, one of the things you have to know is that the path of the storm came through this area. So, we tracked it all the way back through here, went that direction and saw several trees down in neighborhoods back that direction and what looked like more power lines. We've also been told a firehouse may have been damaged in the area.

But as you know, that first light is going to be so very important with the storm happening late in the season, on that last night people were being warned about the potential storms. 20 of them, they believe, tornadoes have dropped down in several different locations. So, we expect more damage assessments being done throughout the day. But right now, we're just waiting to see how bad it really is.

COLLINS: Yes. If you live in the south, you expect these kinds of storms, Ryan. It's just the worse when they happen overnight when people are sleeping. That's when it's the hardest to deal with, as you know.

YOUNG: Absolutely.

COLLINS: Ryan Young, we'll check back in with you as the sun is coming up. Thank you.

LEMON: So, it was an epic win for the U.S. Men's Soccer Team at the World Cup. Christian Pulisic sacrificing his body to score the winning goal in the Team USA's heart-stopping over Iran. The U.S. Team moving onto the knockout round, but they may have to do it without their 24- year-old leader. So, we're going to speak live with the U.S. Men's coach in just a moment for an exclusive interview.

But, first, Amanda Davies reports from Doha, Qatar.

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AMANDA DAVIES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR (voice over): In an all or nothing show down between the United States and Iran, Christian Pulisic secured Team USA's victory with the lone goal of the match at the 38- minute mark. But it cost him the rest of the game, suffering a pelvic injury after colliding with Iran's goalie, only able to watch the second half after being taken to the hospital as a precaution.

[07:05:00] So, who is Christian Pulisic, the man known to soccer fans around the world as Captain America, who led Team USA to the round of 16. Pulisic made his USA Team debut in 2016 at just 17 years old, becoming the youngest U.S. player to appear in a World Cup qualifying match.

However, Christian Pulisic and the U.S. Men's Team suffered heartbreak in 2018 after failing to secure a spot at the World Cup.

CHRISTIAN PULISIC, U.S. MEN'S NATIONAL SOCCER TEAM: I was obviously so upset, so emotional. But, you know, looking back on it, that motivated me that much more.

DAVIES: Now, the 24-year-old is considered one of the most talented American soccer players of all time. He was born in Hershey, Pennsylvania, playing for the U.S. Soccer Development Academy before moving overseas as a teenager. His first stop, Germany, starring football (INAUDIBLE), then to England in a blockbuster transfer to Chelsea, a move that cost the Premier League giant $73 million, making him the most expensive soccer player to-date from the U.S.

Pulisic went on to win the Champions League title with Chelsea in 2021, the second U.S. soccer player to do so. But now, his World Cup fate is up in the air. The U.S. Men's Soccer Team announcing, quote, Christian Pulisic has been diagnosed with a pelvic contusion and his status is day-to-day.

But a pumped up Pulisic had different thoughts, apparently posting from the hospital, so proud of my guys, I'll be ready for Saturday.

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DAVIES (on camera): So a huge congratulations to Team USA, what a difference in mood to that tense political build up to that game. A huge opportunity is how U.S. Men's Captain Tyler Adams is putting it.

And speaking of opportunity, a fantastic one for French Referee Stephanie Frappart coming up, she will lead the first all-female officiating team at a men's World Cup taking charge of Germany against Costa Rica on Thursday.

For the little exchanges I've had with Stephanie over the years, she will not want the excitement, the hype and the buildup, she will just want to get on with the job in hand.

LEMON: I'm surprised Amanda Davies still has her voice, reporting from Doha. Thank you, Amanda. I appreciate it.

HARLOW: Well, President Biden even stopped doing what he was doing yesterday to celebrate Team USA's big win, this during a visit to a manufacturing facility in Michigan.

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JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: The United States beat Iran 1-0. U.S. 1, Iran 0. It's over. Hey, hey, hey.

USA. USA. That's a big game, man.

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COLLINS: Hyping up the manufacturing facility.

HARLOW: Exactly. The U.S. Men's team head coach, Gregg Berhalter, joins us now from Qatar. It's great to have you. Congratulations. So well-deserved. Don has been screaming goal all morning.

Let's start with Christian Pulisic. What does he mean to the team, how is he doing? Can you confirm he'll be on the field Saturday?

GREGG BERHALTER, HEAD COACH, U.S. MEN'S NATIONAL SOCCER TEAM: He seems to be doing good. I just spoke with him a couple of minutes ago. And we're going to see what he can do on the training field tomorrow. And, hopefully, he'll be ready for the game against Netherlands.

But in terms of his contribution to the group, I've said all along, when one of your most talented players is one of your hardest workers, you know you're in a good spot. And that defines Christian.

LEMON: Well, how are you feeling right now?

BERHALTER: I feel good. You know, I think it's just about focus. We're not done. It's nice to get to the next round but we want to keep going. We had two tournaments that we're looking at, the group stage tournament and knockout tournament. And now we're here in the knockout. I just want to keep this thing rolling.

COLLINS: And, Coach, the job was simple yesterday. You wanted to get in there, you wanted to win, this team pulled it off. You just talked about the role Christian played in that obviously in his condition. What are you telling the team privately? What did you say to them as they came off the field after that huge victory?

BERHALTER: You know, it's just that, enjoy the moment. It was a big moment. I think it was complicated by the fact that Iran just needed a tie. So, that made it challenging. But --

LEMON: Uh-oh, Coach Gregg Berhalter? We lost -- he froze. We're going to get him back, so we give it a second? What do we do? We're just going to be very transparent. He froze. And we've been trying to talk to him. We wanted to talk to him.

COLLINS: We'll try to get him back, because this is so crucial to see what they're going to do next, to everyone who is watching. And, obviously, that's team mentality, you don't focus too much on the win, you quickly move on and look to what's ahead.

[07:10:02]

They were playing the Netherlands, obviously.

HARLOW: And so this is interest. He played -- coach, he played for the Netherlands for six seasons.

LEMON: Yes.

COLLINS: Right. And he's one of the first veterans to be a coach, I believe. And so this is what makes the victory so amazing, as everyone was watching.

LEMON: What's interesting to me is like even after all of this, as we saw all the players, they put so much into this, even when they lose, there's still the camaraderie that they have that we sometimes don't see.

HARLOW: You mean the comforting at the end?

LEMON: Yes, the comforting at the end, because they know, even the members of the opposing team know how hard this is. And especially they knew how hard it was from Iranian team, who's, quite frankly, going to go back home and they don't know what they're going to face with their families, the possibility of even imprisonment and being punished. And this one is just amazing.

COLLINS: And that's a big aspect of this is also something to ask coach as we're trying to get him back here, is how, as a coach, do you handle both of those things, because those are huge. You want to focus on the task at hand, which is they went there to win, this is big for them. But also how do you talk to your team about handling these really sensitive geopolitical issues and what that looks like, because with Iran, that's such a massive aspect of this.

LEMON: Well, apparently we're not going to get him back. So, we're very happy for the U.S. Team. We hope that the Iranian team, all the members farewell there, and we'll try to get the coach back, if we can. If we can't, then congratulations to them and --

COLLINS: And we're rooting for Christian. Hopefully, he makes a recovery and he gets to come back to the Netherlands game.

Also, though, today, we'll tell you about something -- this was major, what happened in a D.C. courtroom yesterday. It was landmark verdict for the Justice Department in this D.C. courtroom, the founder, there you see on the left, of the Oath Keepers, one of his top associates on the right, they were both found guilty of seditious conspiracy for plotting to keep former President Trump in office. Obviously, that culminated in what happened on January 6th.

The jury found three other defendants in the case not guilty of sedition. They acquitted Rhodes of two separate conspiracy charges. All five were that you see there were found guilty of obstructing an official proceeding.

And the reason this matters, there has been so many developments in this, it's almost hard to keep up with it, but this is the first of three seditious conspiracy cases that we are going to hear. It was seen as a huge test for the Justice Department and their ability to hold these Capitol rioters accountable.

So, joining us to talk about this is John Avlon, CNN's Senior Political Analyst author of Wing Nuts, Extremism in the Age of Obama, the perfect person to talk about this. What was your reaction as that verdict came down?

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: This is a huge verdict. It's a verdict for the United States, for accountability, for January 6th, because, frankly, if what happened on January 6th, and particularly Stewart Rhodes' and the Oath Keepers' role isn't seditious conspiracy, what is? And yet that charge is incredibly difficult for the DOJ to land. It has only been successfully used twice in the last 100 years. This is a law put in place after the civil war. And it has been against right-wing militia groups in 2010, a group from Michigan, another in the late '80s, a group in the 1940s, all unsuccessfully. So, this is a high bar and the DOJ met it.

LEMON: They call it a dusty law that they thought would not -- that he would not be convicted on because, as you said, it's been rarely -- people have been rarely convicted of it and it fits along.

AVLON: And yet the conviction came down. And that's because these laws that were put in place after the civil war were designed to actually be future-oriented as well as to ensure accountability in the wake of the civil war for the confederacy.

LEMON: The question is why then this time.

AVLON: Why this time? Because you had an armed conspiracy to try to overthrow the government, to stop much more than an official proceeding, the peaceful transfer of power. And to-date, most of the folks who invaded January 6th, the Capitol that day, have been charged with obstruction of an official proceeding. That's the lowest bar. This isn't a post office rename. This isn't bingo night. This is designed to stop the certification of the election, and that was clearly their intent.

HARLOW: We just told folks about your book, Wing Nuts in the Age of Obama, this is when the Oath Keepers was started during that time to, in their words to resist a tyrannical president, talking about President Obama, in their view. There's an irony here.

AVLON: There's a massive irony. So, I began covering the Oath Keepers months after they were founded in the spring of 2009, and a lot of my reporting came in that book, Wing Nuts, which itself is a decade old, but it's all about extremism in American politics. And to see the group go from that initial impulse, which was allegedly about getting members of law enforcement, a former military, to defend the republic against the actions of a tyrannical president, which was Barack Obama, and to see all the militia groups that sprung up in the early years of the Obama administration, not coincidentally the first black president, because a lot of militia movement is about resisting multiracial democracy.

LEMON: Yes. Why was he a tyrant?

AVLON: He won. But this was the fears that were stoked, and that the irony was the arc history, 12 years later they're defending a president who is trying to overthrow the peaceful transfer of power. And I think that just speaks to the arc of this group and the dangers of this militia movement, which has a lot of members. [07:15:04]

So, accountability key. If you look back in American history, accountability for the top of militia organizations like this is key.

The rank and file, many cases, are being misled. But it's the leadership that needs to be accountable. And this will send a cascading sign going forward for these folks. It's a big deal.

LEMON: All right. John Avlon, thank you very much.

HARLOW: Okay. Voters in Georgia are coming out day after day in record numbers to vote early ahead of next week's Senate runoff between Senator Raphael Warnock and his Republican challenger, Herschel Walker. Roughly 800,000 voters have already cast those early ballots, including a record-breaking 309,000 just yesterday. Compared to 2016, 2018, the single previous single-day records have been smashed.

Joining us now Georgia's Secretary of State Chief Operating Officer Gabe Sterling. Gabe, it's good to have you. Thanks very for taking the time this morning.

GABRIEL STERLING, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER FOR GEORGIA SECRETARY OF STATE: Glad to be here.

HARLOW: Initially, so, a lot of this early voting happened on the Saturday that wasn't allowed previously, that Republicans were fighting against, then the Supreme Court in Georgia said, no, that you can vote that day. You opposed that, allowing voting on that day, you thought it was antithetical to the law. What do you think now?

STERLING: Well, it was antithetical to the law. The law literally said you can't have voting on a Saturday after a Thursday for the reasons that were problematic to begin with. It was the Saturday after Thanksgiving and counties had a hard time getting people to open up because they couldn't find poll workers because most people were with their families. It was passed in 2016 for that specific purpose. It was passed with 80 percent of Democrats and 90 percent of Republicans. There was nothing weird about it.

Now, as an election administrator, I always want to have as much voting as possible but we also have to follow the law, follow the law in 2020 (INAUDIBLE) following 2022. But once the court said you vote on Saturday, we worked with the counties to provide as many resources we could to make sure that people could vote.

HARLOW: Could you help us understand -- I want our viewers and you to listen to something that Senator Warnock said about this push to not allow voting on that day, and I just want your response on the other side. Here he was a few days ago.

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SEN. RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D-GA): We filed a lawsuit so you could vote on Saturday. They filed a petition asking for emergency relief. What you ought to ask yourself is what do they want relief from? You want relief from people voting?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: What do you make of that?

STERLING: Well, he's trying to stoke up his crowd to come out and vote and say they're being suppressed. The reality was -- I'm not getting into my Republican side of this. The Republicans said the only counties that are going to open up are going to be Democrat counties and it's not fair, because it was going to be the rich Democrat counties, like Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb that would have been opening and it ended up those were the ones that did.

So, I understand the political motivations by the people doing that, because you were not going to have the Republican counties of (INAUDIBLE), Columbia and either Rabun opening up, because they didn't have the money or the resources to do it. So, I think they were trying to keep the polls even and fair.

Now, everybody this week is mandated to have early voting in every single county (INAUDIBLE).

LEMON: So, Gabe, let me just ask you, that you say that you believe that it was wrong, but the courts did not decide that. So, I'm wondering what the disconnect is. Obviously it is, you know, they decided that it should open after, you know, the Thursday. So what is the disconnect here? You don't support the action even though the courts decided that?

STERLING: Well, no. I supported the action because the court said it. The reality was there was two interpretations of the law. Our interpretation, I think, was the best for the overall law. You had one Fulton County judge who wanted elections to be open in Fulton County, who said I'm going with this other interpretation law, that, from our view, was a big stretch. But they did it and the courts spoke and then we interpreted the law as the courts interpreted it.

Now, I still think their interpretation is wrong and we can always have arguments around that. This was not done for anything other than following the law as written and passed by a majority of Democrats and Republicans alike. They didn't like the outcome of what they did, which is probably not intentional, but that's the law. We don't get a choice in our office to decide whether or not to enforce the law or not. We always have to enforce it. That's the situation. But once the court spoke, we said, fine, open Saturday.

Now, Republicans, we stopped the appeals after the appeals court and said, you know what, we're creating too much confusion, let's just go forward and let these people vote on Saturday because that's what the Supreme Court said. Now, the Republican Party, when they head took it all to the Supreme Court, which we didn't, because we said it's going to cause too much confusion at this late date.

COLLINS: Gabe, I've got two questions for you. I was there on the ground in Georgia on Monday, a lot of people out there casting their votes. What do you think is driving this record early turnout? STERLING: Well, the condensed timeline is going to be part of it, no question.

[07:20:03]

But, historically, in Georgia, we've always had four-week runoffs. My boss, Secretary Raffensperger, won a four-week runoff just four years ago, in 2018. And the second thing is we're the only game in town, we're the bell of the ball. Every political dollar in America is coming here right now, both on the left and the right. So, we had people going knocking on doors this weekend on Saturday during the iron bowl and the Georgia-Georgia Tech, which showed they weren't from around here, didn't know better, but not to do that, but they're going to go. They're trying to pull every person out to these things.

COLLINS: And I got another question about what Georgia Democrats want investigated, and this is on some CNN reporting that Herschel Walker, the Republican, in this race, is getting a tax break in Texas, saying it's his primary residence there. There have been questions about whether he is running afoul of Georgia rules when it comes to establishing residency for not just voting for running for office. What is your sense of whether or not he is within the margins of what's right or if he is breaking some kind of rules here with this?

STERLING: It's not really our office's thing to investigate that. I know the attorney general's office has an official complaint, but there are ways to challenge residency inside the law. It's kind of funny they're doing it at this late hour, but I'm pretty sure there's a lot of opposition researchers out there who had this for a while.

But, again, he's on the ballot, people are casting votes right now. It's up to a court to decide whether he's qualified to meet it or not.

The one thing I will say about residency, it's really squishy. It's kind of like what is your state of mind. If you intend to be here as a resident, best we treat you as a resident. But this happens in other jurisdictional cases sometimes to see if people are allowed to run for office in our state.

LEMON: Yes. I mean, as recently as last 2021, he used it as a rental property and he and his spouse were receiving money for it.

Can I ask you about -- one thing real quickly. Do you think what happened on Saturday with the voting, do you think it might change the outcome of the election? Do you think it actually helps one side over the other?

STERLING: No, not necessarily. I think it probably was a little more Democrat. That's the counties that were open. But I think now that we have it open, it'll even out. It helps election administration some because it takes pressure off these five days in Election Day.

LEMON: And, finally, have you been watching Arizona to see what is going on there? What do you make of what happened with the legislature and certifying the vote and the sort of nuttiness that went on around it? STERLING: Out of a morbid curiosity, yes. I think the Cochise County, those two (INAUDIBLE) very serious problems because they have a law that basically says you have to certify or you're committing a felony. And they can't find any lawyers to represent them on this because I think it's just nut ball crazy town that they're questioning a different county (ph) that's why they're not going to certify their own election.

HARLOW: Quote of the morning there.

LEMON: Nut ball. What was it? Nut ball, crazy town.

HARLOW: Nut ball, crazy town.

COLLINS: Speaking of his next five days ahead of him.

HARLOW: Yes. Good luck with everything. Go ahead.

STERLING: One more big thing.

LEMON: Go ahead.

STERLING: Go Dogs. We're going to win the championship again this year, guys.

HARLOW: Do not do that to Kaitlan.

COLLINS: Come on.

LEMON: Hey. I'm an LSU Tiger and I'm with you, go Dogs. That's the only time you'll ever hear me say that.

COLLINS: I'm sick. Thanks, Gabe.

LEMON: Thank you. We couldn't hear what he said, sorry, but something about dogs, Georgia Bulldogs.

COLLINS: All right. Enough College Football talk, even more.

Next, we have got a giant leap for China, this is in the race to space. Three of their astronauts, as you see here, lifting off to a trip to their new space station.

LEMON: Plus, New York City's mayor empowering first responders to potentially commit those suffering from mental health crises. He wants to commit them involuntarily. We're going to talk about that.

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[07:25:00]

COLLINS: In a major achievement for China's space program, three astronauts lifted off to China's newly completed, nearly completed space station on Tuesday. They docked at the station named the Heavenly Palace about seven hours later. This marks the beginning a long-term space presence for China, also ending the International Space Station's role as the sole venue for human occupancy in the Earth's orbit.

So, joining us now to talk more about this is CNN's Space and Defense Correspondent Kristin Fisher. Kristin, what does all of this mean?

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: Kaitlan, it is tremendously complicated to keep people in space alive and working continuously, meaning that there is someone up there at a space station nonstop.

Up until now, only the United States and its partners have been able to do that up at the International Space Station and they have done it successfully for more than two decades. But what you're seeing there on your screen, that all changed yesterday with that moment right there, China launching this rocket with three astronauts, or Chinese taikonauts, as they're called, I love that name. And then that crew, when they got to China's new space station, they're going to switch out with the crew that's been up there.

And so, Kaitlan, what this really means is it really just solidifies China's stance as a major space power, one that truly rivals the United States.

COLLINS: That's the question I think essentially where the international space system, what that looks like compared to this. So, if you're someone who's well versed in this, are there any key differences here?

FISHER: So, China's space station is a little bit smaller. It's only designed to house about three taikonauts, whereas on a really busy day, the International Space Station can be home to about ten astronauts from the United States, Russia, and around the world.

But the fundamental design is fundamentally the same. There are various modules that are then assembled together in orbit. And what they're intended to do, Kaitlan, that's really what's important here.

[07:30:01]

Because, one, it's going to allow China to conduct all sorts of experiments in micro gravity.