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CNN This Morning
Georgia Voters Head to Polls in Critical Senate Runoff; Warnock, Walker Spend Combined $81M on Ads in Final Pitch; FBI Warned of Threats to Power Grid by Racist Extremists; Ukraine Strikes Back in Brazen Attacks Inside Russia. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired December 06, 2022 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KIRSTIE ALLEY, ACTRESS: I'm ready to -- oh -- a bunch of little plumbers. We're going to have a whole bunch of little plumbers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[06:00:3]
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, good morning, everyone. I remember --
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: So well.
LEMON: So well, right, when that was live on network television. We are remembering Kirstie Alley today, star of "Cheers," "Look Who's Talking" and much, much more.
Good morning. How are you? Welcome back.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
LEMON: Did you miss us?
COLLINS: A day in Washington. I'm back.
HARLOW: We missed you.
LEMON: Yes.
HARLOW: I said yesterday we were -- it was like we were missing an appendage.
COLLINS: That's me, watching the show.
But we got some good interviews.
HARLOW: Can't wait to see them.
LEMON: We'll air them a little later. And we're going to talk more, much, much more about Kirstie Alley and her legacy what she meant to Hollywood and her life.
And in about an hour, voters in Georgia set to decide the final Senate contest in the country. It is Warnock versus Walker. Can Democrats turn Georgia into an undisputed battleground?
HARLOW: Plus, tens of thousands still in the dark this morning in North Carolina. Authorities still trying to figure out what the motive was behind these targeted attacks on powered substations. Ahead, the governor of North Carolina will join us.
COLLINS: Also overnight, a drone hitting a Russian oil facility one day after Ukraine targeted two military bases that are hundreds of miles inside Russia. We'll tell you how Russia is retaliating, ahead.
LEMON: But we're going to begin with election day. It's election day, of course. Take two, as a matter of fact, in Georgia. The polls open in one hour.
Voters will decide the winner of the Senate runoff between Democratic incumbent -- Democrat [SIC] incumbent, I should say, Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker. Nearly two million Georgians have cast their early ballots in this race.
While the two candidates were getting in their last word on Monday, President Joe Biden joined in, calling an Atlanta radio station with a message for listeners.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (via phone): 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)
LEMON: Straight now to Atlanta, there you go, at a polling place, outside a polling place. CNN's Jeff Zeleny.
Jeff, good morning to you. The candidates making their final pitch to voters last night. Who has the edge as the polls open in just under an hour there?
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Don, good morning.
There's no doubt that Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock has an edge. Certainly, you could hear that as he was exuding confidence campaigning yesterday, but also warning against complacency.
His confidence comes from 1.8 million Georgians have already voted early, as you said, but Republican challenger Herschel Walker is pinning his hopes on high turnout today on election day. Both men delivered these final pitches last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HERSCHEL WALKER (R), GEORGIA SENATORIAL NOMINEE: The best thing I've ever done, including the Heisman trophy, the Horatio Alger Ward, all those things, best thing I've ever done is run for office right here. A vote for my opponent is a vote for Joe Biden --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God!
WALKER: -- and a vote for Chuck Schumer.
SEN. RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D-GA): As a matter of fact, call your father, and your mother, your sister and your brother. Call Lottie, Dottie and everybody. Tell them it's time to vote. Tell them that a vote is a kind of prayer for the world we desire for ourselves and for our children.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: In fact, it was Senator Warnock who also went on to say that Herschel Walker can still win this contest. So he was trying to get the word out that Democrats still need to vote in this race.
So Georgia voters have the last word on this race as this poll here and others across the state open in just one hour.
LEMON: Lottie, Dottie and everybody. I haven't heard that since I was --
HARLOW: Don's like, Do you remember that?
LEMON: It's always a -- my parents and my grandparents used to say that. They would say, Call or tell Lottie, Dottie and everybody.
HARLOW: OK. Now, I won't be able to get it out of my head.
Wait, Jeff, before you go. Are you still there? Zeleny.
ZELENY: Yes, sure.
HARLOW: We've heard a lot of the biggest-named surrogates for Warnock come out, especially in the last few days, and say 50 is not the same as 51; we need 51, right, even though Democrats already control the Senate. Can you explain what's at stake?
ZELENY: Sure. It is a huge deal, Poppy, and this is why. Every committee in the Senate is now evenly split. So half Democrats, half Republicans. The resources, the money on the committee is split. So it really has gummed up the works in the eyes of Democrats over the last two years.
If Senator Warnock wins this contest, that means Democrats have an outright majority on every single committee. They have more staff. They can move nominations through much faster. They can issue subpoenas.
And the biggest thing in the eyes of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is they can be a check, if you will, on the Republican- controlled House.
So even though it's only one seat, it's actually a very big deal in terms of the makeup of those Senate committees -- Poppy.
HARLOW: Jeff Zeleny, thank you. Thus, the call for Lottie, Dottie, everybody.
LEMON: Everybody.
HARLOW: Kaitlan.
COLLINS: All right. Democrats in this race have more than doubled the Republican ad spending that we have seen in Georgia during this crucial runoff.
So let's talk about these numbers and break them down with CNN's senior data reporter, Harry Enten.
A lot of money from Democrats in this state since November 9. What are we seeing and what's with the disparity between these two?
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a lot of money is being spent right now.
So take a look here. Democrats -- Democrats, including outside groups, $55 million. Republicans, just $26 million. That's for a total of $81 million in ad spending.
Boy, my goodness. To be a voter in the state of Georgia, seeing all those ads.
Remember, there's -- there's a bit of deja vu going on here. Because remember, it was just last year, in the 2021 Georgia runoff spending. Remember, there were two races that year, and the runoff period was two months. But that year, over $450 million being spent.
So over the last two years, you couldn't turn on a television in Georgia or listen to the radio without hearing one of these ads.
COLLINS: Yes. It's been a shorter runoff period. Just because it's been these four weeks. How does this compare -- this is Georgia, but how does it compare to these top Senate races overall that we've seen and the efforts that you're seeing from both parties?
ENTEN: Yes, so you know, if you essentially look at the spending, right, the ad spending in the top five Senate races since Labor Day, again, Democrats outspending Republicans: $406 million, to the Republicans, $319 million.
But look at this, this total: $725 million. A lot of money being spent on politics these days.
And when you look at the data, right, and you say, do voters actually like this? Satisfied with campaign finance laws, just 23 percent overall. Republicans actually, are more satisfied than Democrats, despite the fact that, of course, Republicans are now being outspent. But the fact is nobody likes this. I think voters are ready to move on and maybe think about Christmas for a change. COLLINS: Yes, they're getting calls. They're getting mailers. Every
time they turn on their TV, there's a commercial. I know Georgia voters, especially.
ENTEN: Yes.
COLLINS: Feel like they've been voting constantly.
Harry, thank you.
ENTEN: Thank you.
COLLINS: All right. CNN's special coverage of this runoff election today between Senator Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker, it's going to start at 4 p.m. Eastern here on CNN.
LEMON: This morning, a manhunt is underway in North Carolina. Police are looking for suspects after gunfire attacks on two electoral [SIC] -- electrical, I should say, substations that left tens of thousands in the dark and curfews in place.
Two weeks ago, the FBI warned of increased threats to the power grid from racially-motivated violent extremists.
Let's go to CNN's Whitney Wild, live for us in Moore County, North Carolina this morning.
Good morning to you, Whitney. What is the latest on the investigation?
WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENTCORRESPONDENT: Well, law enforcement is racing against time to figure out who did this and why.
That FBI bulletin follows a pattern from law enforcement that's been going on for some time. The Department of Homeland Security had warned earlier this year that, since 2020, domestic violent extremists thought the electrical grid represented a particularly attractive target. And just recently, on November 30, the Department of Homeland Security updated it's National Threat Assessment bulletin, saying that the electrical grid remains an attractive target.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILD (voice-over): Electrical crews trying to restore power to more than 30,000 customers in Moore County, North Carolina.
JEFF BROOKS, DUKE ENERGY SPOKESMAN: Understand, though, that it's not as simple as changing a light bulb, as it were.
WILD (voice-over): This weekend's attacks on two electrical substations may result in power outages that last several days and cost millions of dollars.
MAYOR CAROL HANEY, SOUTHERN PINES, NORTH CAROLINA: It is a selfish act. It is cruel. There's so many people that are hurting.
WILD (voice-over): While the investigation progresses, Moore County has opened a shelter to help people get by.
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.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're just still smarting from COVID, and now this is -- just economically, people are going to be really set back.
WILD (voice-over): The FBI is on the ground, assisting the investigation, as authorities tell the public there is no clear motive for the attack.
There were early reports the attack may have been motivated by a local drag show. Law enforcement says no group has taken responsibility.
ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: Early evidence suggests that it was deliberate, and the investigation is under way.
WILD (voice-over): This targeted damage heightens fear of domestic terrorism and highlights the vulnerability of the country's electrical grid.
Two weeks prior to this attack, the FBI said in a bulletin to private industry obtained by CNN that there was an increase in reported threats to electrical infrastructure by individuals supporting "racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist ideology," meaning to "create civil disorder and inspire further violence."
GOV. ROY COOPER (D), NORTH CAROLINA: We want to find who did it. We want to find the motive. But certainly, we need to be diligent and vigilant, knowing that our electric grid can be this vulnerable.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WILD (on camera): According to Duke Energy, there are still around 37,000 customers without power. The estimated time that they'll get their power back, Thursday at 11:45 in the morning.
[06:10:06]
Back to you.
LEMON: Oh, boy. Thank you very much for that, Whitney Wild.
And you just saw the North Carolina governor, Roy Cooper, in Whitney's piece right there. He's going to join us live in just a little bit. We have more about -- learning more about these targeted attacks, what's going on, what's the possible motivation here, and the hunt for who's behind it all -- Poppy.
HARLOW: All right. Well, this morning Ukraine is on offense, Russia blaming Ukraine for a drone attack that hit an oil tanker near one of its airfields. This happened overnight. And it happened in the Kursk region. That is near Ukraine's Northeastern border.
This comes just a day after strikes on two military bases deep inside of Russia. So let's talk to U.S. Army Major -- retired Army Major Mike Lyons.
Good morning to you.
MAJ. MIKE LYONS (RET.), U.S. ARMY: Hi, Poppy.
HARLOW: What I find interesting about your analysis of this is that you say this is Ukraine trying to send a message without explicitly claiming responsibility?
LYONS: Yes. I think it's strategic. It's got very strategic implications. The fact that they have this capability and they're showing it right now, is very important, No. 1.
And then No. 2, the fact that these drones got through Russian air defense platforms. That's just unheard of. We thought back during the NATO cold war days it just wasn't possible.
And lastly, psychologically, the fact that Ukraine can take these drones, 1970s technology, strip out the cameras and strip out all that stuff, put in ordnance and put in the capability, it's hard. It's hard to hit a target, from 700 kilometers away. So very -- very much advantage Ukraine in this.
HARLOW: Can you explain to us where this is happening --
LYONS: Sure.
HARLOW: -- and what the attacks over the weekend and then these overnight show us?
LYONS: Yes. These two air bases here are the targets where strategic bombers go. Now, these are the strategic bombers, not going in Ukraine, because they don't control the airspace. Russia doesn't control it there.
So they've been attacked this way, in this direction here.
But the fact is, 700 or so kilometers here; 600 or so to this side here. And now Moscow is theoretically threatened now. These are two military targets. Let's be clear. They're legal military targets.
HARLOW: Yes.
LYONS: This is where they're coming from. This is where the bombers are coming from that are attacking Ukraine.
But again, the bottom line is it's really hard to send a missile 700 kilometers and hit an airfield like they did.
HARLOW: Is this something new that Ukraine is showing that it can carry out? And if it is, do you believe this is new training from the West?
LYONS: Well, I think a lot of it has to do with the technology that we brought, and I think some of it --
HARLOW: The "we" the U.S., you're saying?
LYONS: The United States, and let's call it the West. But it also, likely, there's somebody on the ground there, painting that target.
When you look at the plane damage, for example. This is a TU-22M3 Backfire bomber, an old NATO. This is, you know --
HARLOW: This is a Russian plane?
LYONS: Russian-made plane. You can tell by this tail light here. This is the kind of damage. The fact that they would target it this closely, to me says someone's blazing that. It was very precise.
Again, it's really hard to come that distance and hit something in that airfield here.
Now, going forward, Russia's got to think about military targets that are closer to the Ukraine border, like we saw this morning in Kursk.
HARLOW: Yes.
LYONS: The oil fields. Those kinds of targets now are going to be up for grabs. The Russians are going to have to re-invent their military to defend them.
HARLOW: Can they reinvent their military in the middle of this?
LYONS: Well, they're going to -- they're likely going to have to redeploy forces back to protect the motherland here at this point, knowing full well that Ukraine has this capability.
HARLOW: Thank you. Major Mike Lyons, we appreciate it. Thanks.
Kaitlan.
COLLINS: All right. Sad news from the entertainment world this morning as the actress Kirstie Alley has died after a brief battle with cancer, according to her family.
Her friends, her former co-stars paying tribute to her this morning, people like Tim Allen, Kristin Chenoweth, Valerie Bertinelli.
Alley cultivated [SIC] to fame with her Emmy Award-winning role as Rebecca Howe on the beloved sitcom "Cheers." Her longtime co-star Ted Danson recalled an episode that he said stuck out to him because it showcased her talent.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEY: Don't you stop loving me! I married a plumber.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: On the big -- big screen Kirstie Alley starred along John Travolta in the hit film trilogy, "Look Who's Talking."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC)
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COLLINS: At the height of her career, Alley landed her own TV sitcom, "Veronica's Closet."
Her children said in a statement that, as iconic as she was on-screen, she was even a more amazing mother and as a grandmother. Kirstie Alley was 71 years old.
LEMON: She did something that is very tough any actor or actress to do.
HARLOW: What.
LEMON: She took over the role in "Cheers" --
HARLOW: Oh, yes.
LEMON: -- from Shelley Long, who was very popular, right, and brought the show to success. And she not only, you know, kept it high in ratings but elevated it. And so, you know, that is definitely a tribute to her acting abilities.
HARLOW: "Look Who's Talking."
LEMON: Yes.
HARLOW: Like, one of my favorite movies ever.
LEMON: Really?
HARLOW: Ever. I know. I know. I know I'm a dork.
LEMON: You know what's interesting about her is that also, is that she was -- look, whether you love her, or some people didn't towards the end, because she became political, but she spoke out about things. She talked about weight. I think didn't she do "Fat Actress"? Wasn't that her who did? I think she did "Fat Actress" on --
[06:15:08]
HARLOW: Weight Watchers stuff?
LEMON: No. She did a show, I think, called "Fat Actress." It was like on HBO, where she talked about her struggles with weight. She was very open about it. And you know, the last couple of decades, she was also very open and candid about her politics. And she didn't -- a devil may care attitude.
So you know, she's an amazing woman who's going to be missed.
HARLOW: Thanks for all the laughs. Right?
LEMON: Absolutely.
HARLOW: Well, a big Supreme Court case, as we told you about yesterday morning, was argued between the high court, but there were some really awkward moments, with Justice Alito making reference to black Santa and kids in KKK outfits.
We will tell you why this all came during these arguments involving a website designer and same-sex marriages.
Also this --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Constitution can't be suspended.
SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): When President Trump says he wants to suspend the Constitution, he goes from being MAGA to being RINO.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, Senate Republicans slowly pushing back on Donald Trump's call to terminate the Constitution.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARLOW: So we now have an idea this morning of how a major Supreme Court case may turn out, conservative justices seeming sympathetic to arguments yesterday from a graphic designer who does not want to create wedding websites for same-sex couples.
And some moments during these oral arguments just turned bizarre. Listen to what -- listen to this when conservative Justice Samuel Alito raised questions about how this case could impact different challenges down the road.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUSTICE SAMUEL ALITO, U.S. SUPREME COURT: If there's a black Santa at the other end of the mall, and he doesn't want to have his picture taken with a child who's dressed up in a Ku Klux Klan outfit, that black Santa has to do that?
ERIC OLSON, COLORADO'S SOLICITOR GENERAL: No, because Ku Klux Klan outfits are not protected characteristics under public accommodation laws.
JUSTICE ELENA KAGAN, U.S. SUPREME COURT: And presumably that would be the same Ku Klux Klan outfit, regardless whether the child was black, or white, or any other characteristic?
ALITO: You do see a lot of black children inn Ku Klux Klan outfits all the -- all the time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: A joke that did not land there from the justice. There was also this exchange between Alito and Justice Elena Kagan
about how the case could impact Jewish people. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALITO: An unmarried Jewish person asks a Jewish photographer to take a photograph for his J-date dating profile. It's a dating service, I gather, for Jewish people?
KAGAN: It is.
ALITO: All right. Maybe Justice Kagan will also be familiar with the next website I'm going to mention. So next the Jewish person asks a Jewish photographer to take a photograph for this Ashley Madison dot com dating profile. I'm not suggesting -- I mean, she knows a lot of things. I'm not suggesting. OK. Does he have to do it?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Joining us now, CNN senior Supreme Court analyst Joan Biskupic.
I don't -- I don't think I've ever heard jokes like that or laughter like that in an oral argument, but -- but we'll get to that in a moment.
The big headline out of this case, Joan, is, it seems like the court here very well may rule in a way that would change the game in terms of what private businesses are allowed to do in not serving certain people?
JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN SENIOR SUPREME COURT ANALYST: That's absolutely right, Poppy. And I have to say that what Justice Alito was doing there was bringing up hypotheticals meant to diminish --
HARLOW: Yes.
BISKUPIC: -- the worst-case scenarios that the liberals were bringing to the table, because before he invoked a scenario with a black Santa and the kid in a costume, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson had talked about if -- if the Supreme Court rules for this website designer, who doesn't want to serve same-sex couples, could it down the road allow racial discrimination for someone who wants to photograph a white Santa only with white children?
So that white Santa/black Santa scenario was on the table. But Justice Alito was using his hypothetical to try to diminish these other scenarios to say, if we rule for the first time, and if they side with this website designer, Lorie Smith, who says that her Christian beliefs preclude her from serving same-sex couples, if they rule for her, it would be the first time they're saying that a business that serves the public can -- and that engages in some expression -- can shut out certain people based on religion, based on race, based on sex.
COLLINS: And Joan, we actually heard from Lorie Smith, who is the petitioner in this case, this graphic designer. And she talked to CNN about what her position is. Because all this is preemptive, which I think is a critical part of this. This is what she told CNN last night about her position here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LORIE SMITH, WOULD-BE WEBSITE DESIGNER: I want to design for weddings, and I want to design in a way that's consistent with my faith. But Colorado is censoring and compelling my speech and forcing me to create custom artwork, custom expression that goes against the core of who I am and what I believe.
And the state of Colorado is saying, You must set aside your beliefs to communicate a message that goes against what you believe. That should be frightening to all of us. Nobody should be forced to communicate a message that goes against the core of who they are.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: But Joan, the frustration here, it seemed, for some of the justices like Justice Kagan is that she hasn't actually turned away any customers yet. She hasn't actually faced any punishment. So how are they expected to rule on this?
[06:25:06]
BISKUPIC: And that's exactly right, Kaitlan. And that -- that clip brings up two factors.
One is the justices do do not have a complete set of facts before them. They really struggled on just how this would play out, simply because we don't know, and the justices don't know, you know, just what the state of Colorado would do to enforce its anti-discrimination law against her.
And the other thing that I want to make clear is, I think she -- she made a good argument for how this -- her website is essentially her expressive speech.
But the justices said, you know, really, whose speech is it? Isn't it the -- isn't it the couples who are going to be married? You know, you're not -- so there's -- there's a lot of questions about just whose expression would be at issue here, and just how far the discrimination could go, Kaitlan.
COLLINS: Yes. We'll wait to see. Joan --
LEMON: It's interesting, though, for me, because where do you -- where does it end? Right?
Joan -- Joan, I heard you say yesterday, it seems like the conservative justices were doing everything they could to try to rule for her. And the more liberal justices were wondering where does this end? Is it someone who may have a disability, if you don't believe in that? Is it someone who doesn't have blonde hair? It's like where does it end if you rule for this? Joan, I don't like
your earrings, so I'm not going to do business. Do you understand what I'm saying?
HARLOW: I like -- I like Joan's earrings, but he makes a great point.
BISKUPIC: Well, that's it and just to say about, you know, both sides came with ammunition. But I have to remind everybody, the side that has the most votes going right into it --
LEMON: Yes.
BISKUPIC: -- is the six-justice conservative supermajority, and I didn't see any dents in that side.
LEMON: Yes.
COLLINS: They seem sympathetic to her argument. Joan, thanks so much for breaking it down for us.
BISKUPIC: Thanks.
LEMON: So they defended the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, and today those officers are getting a very high honor. One of the recipients, Harry Dunn, joins us next. There he is.
Plus this --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JIM CLYBURN (D-SC): These guys should be calling out the -- our former president for asking to set aside the Constitution of the United States and reinstall him as our -- how do you do that? There's nothing, no process for that. And why can't you speak out against that kind of foolishness?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: That is Congressman Jim Clyburn, calling out Donald Trump for his "terminate the Constitution" remarks, and by the way, Republicans in Congress for not immediately condemning it. We'll have Kaitlan's one-on-one sit-down interview with him, ahead.
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[06:30:00]
