Return to Transcripts main page
New Day
Sham Voting Underway in Russian-Occupied Ukraine; Catastrophic Fiona Could Be Canada's Strongest-Ever Storm; Tensions, Tempers, Emotions Flare at Alex Jones Hoax Trial; Special Master Demands Trump Prove Baseless Conspiracies; Companies: No Productivity Lost in 4-Day Workweek in Trial Run; PA Senate Race: Can Dr. Oz Win Over Skeptical Republicans? Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired September 23, 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)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Fifty- five thousand Russians soldiers died in this war in six months. Tens of thousands wounded, maimed. Do you want more? No? Then protest, fight, run away or surrender to Ukrainian captivity. These are the options for you to survive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[05:59:51]
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: That is the president of Ukraine, calling on Russians to revolt as Vladimir Putin faces an uprising from some of his own people this morning. I'm Brianna Keilar with John Berman.
Hours after Putin shocked his people by announcing a draft, the Russian leader continues to face major turmoil at home. His order sparking angry protests across the country and leading to more than 1,300 arrests. The move is now causing some Russians just to leave.
Here you see emotional farewells as this mobilization, as Putin is calling it, gets underway. Russian men leaving behind their families to board buses for military service.
In this video, long lines of traffic are seen building up at some of Russia's border crossings into Kazakhstan, Georgia and Mongolia as men try to escape the war.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The demand for flights out of Moscow is up dramatically. As of this hour, tickets to countries where Russians are not required to have visas, they're said to be sold out.
On Google trends, the term "leaving Russia" saw a sharp spike in searches over the last 24 hours. And according to a ticket aggregator, one-way tickets out of Moscow to Istanbul are starting at more than $2,000 per ticket. Before the announcement from Putin, the tickets cost about $350. So a huge increase there.
All right. Happening now. Look at this map. These are the areas where, at this point, these regions are holding these staged, what the U.S. considers sham referenda. These breakaway provinces -- you can see the rough lines here of parts of them -- now voting to leave Ukraine and join Russia.
Again, these are staged elections. Most of the world does not consider them legitimate in any way. I want to bring in Nick Paton Walsh in eastern Ukraine. What's the latest on this, Nick?
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Yes, look, this voting -- I shouldn't even call it that -- gets under way. But it's not even in person initially. And in fact, sometimes they'll be bringing ballot boxes to people's homes.
Imagine that. Simply having a part of the occupying force coming to your home and saying, Do you want to be part of Russia or not?
It reminds me of the Soviets saying it doesn't matter who votes. It's who counts the votes. We may not even see many people even vote in this.
But it's all part of Russian being able to say, in the middle of next week, that they have some kind of faked mandate for these occupied areas, where military force is in play, joining Russia and how that may change Russia's calculus and what it thinks it can do to defend them.
The big issue, though, right now on the Kremlin's plate is probably the most significant or dangerous decision Putin has made in his 22 years in power. And that is this partial mobilization.
The categories that he seemed to say, reservists, veterans, those with specialized skills doesn't seem they're being that particularly well observed, and that is causing those extraordinary scenes of people fleeing the country.
The important thing to know here is that, for the last six months, if you're an ordinary Russian, your life hasn't really changed because of the war. It's something you've seen on television, with garish propaganda telling you how Ukraine is a Nazi state that has to be put in its place, force obviously.
But now you're likely to know somebody who is called up to fight in this war. And in the weeks to come, you may know somebody who's been killed in this war, because we're going to see these tens, by the Kremlin's plan, hundreds of thousands of men, soldiers when they get to the front line, possibly dying because they don't have the equipment, or the training or the supplying that, for the last six months, we've seen blight Russia's regular army on the front lines here.
This is a make-or-break moment for Vladimir Putin. Certainly, we will never know how real and widespread dissent is because of how pervasive state propaganda is inside of Russia and their security forces are so good at repressing dissent.
But he's never tried anything like this before. And that's why we're hearing from Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, this message to people being sent to the front line. Don't go, run, desert, give yourselves up to be taken prisoner.
Look, this is unlikely, frankly, given the climate inside of Russia to change too many minds. They're not going to listen to the man they've been told is the enemy, but he also, in the same breath, reminded Russians that their silence has caused this war to be able to go ahead.
He's certainly popping out a message there of the need for change in Russia. People have tried that in the past who weren't at war with it, who've been inside the country. It simply hasn't worked.
But I have to tell you now with this enormous change of people being put on airstrips, bussed away to a front line where they had a pretty high chance of losing their lives or being injured, who have never seen the Kremlin try something like this before, and it's a very key time for Putin.
BERMAN: You bring up a great point, Nick Paton Walsh. We don't know for sure how strong this dissent is, because it's hard for us to get a read in the West. But the stories we are beginning to hear, unlike anything we've seen to this point.
Nick Paton Walsh in Eastern Ukraine, stay safe. Thank you.
KEILAR: Happening right now, the U.S. mainland is under threat of another monster storm that's brewing in the Atlantic. Meantime, Hurricane Fiona is hitting Bermuda, with winds of more than 90 miles per hour as it heads North, while Canada braces for a once-in-a- generation storm.
So let's get to meteorologist Chad Myers to see what you're looking at there, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Brianna, this Fiona is still a 125- mile-per-hour storm. Luckily for Bermuda at least, the eye wall did not hit there. But Atlantic Canada will not be that lucky.
[06:05:11]
This storm is traveling to the North up toward Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, and it will make impact there. Some of the people that we talked to in Canada yesterday, from the weather service departments there, said that this could be Canada's Sandy.
Because this is going to begin a turn, push all of this water into North of Halifax, into Nova Scotia and, of course, hurricane warnings are in effect. Look at the winds. Now, no one really lives on Sable Island, but that's 127-mile-per-hour forecast.
This too happened overnight. Tropical depression No. 9 will turn into Hurricane Hermine over the weekend. A pretty good flare-up of satellite activity in the overnight.
But here's where it is going. Into the Caribbean, up through possibly over Cuba and into South Florida. Remember, as I zoom this in, only two-thirds of the storm stay in the cone. That's what they want. They want the third to miss. They want to keep the cone as small as possible.
The storm could still be well into the Gulf or completely offshore. But for now, well, take a look. This is still five days out. There is a potential for something getting into Florida.
And the models today agree. Remember yesterday, these models were from here to here. They were 700 miles apart. Last night they started to agree -- Brianna.
KEILAR: Yesterday was a hot mess, if I do say so looking at that.
Myers: Yes.
KEILAR: But we can see they really converged here. Chad, thank you so much for that.
MYERS: You're welcome.
BERMAN: This morning disorder in the court. Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones will be on the witness stand at his Sandy Hook defamation trial. In court yesterday, the judge admonished Jones after he got into an argument with the attorney for Sandy Hook families as the trial really went off the rails.
CNN's Jean Casarez joins us now with this. Good morning, Jean.
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, the judge continually has given parameters to the attorneys and Alex Jones, exactly what the answers and the questions should include. And she says, no politics, nothing about elections, not the First Amendment, not the Second Amendment.
At the end of the day, though, she said, OK, watch out. Next step, contempt of court.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CASAREZ (voice-over): A contentious day of testimony from conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, kicking off with Jones saying the judge in the case was acting like a tyrant.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This picture right here, that's Judge Bellis, correct?
ALEX JONES, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lasers coming out of her eyes, correct?
JONES: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's who you've been referring to as a tyrant to your audience. Correct?
JONES: Yes.
CASAREZ (voice-over): Jones took the stand Thursday in the damages trial to determine how much money he must pay victims' families after perpetrating the lie the Sandy Hook school massacre was a hoax.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You called Robbie Parker that many times, didn't you?
JONES: No, I said it looked like he was acting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You said it looked like he was acting?
JONES: The Internet was a huge thing.
CASAREZ (voice-over): Jones was questioned repeatedly on whether he believed the victims' families were actors.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Robbie Parker is sitting right here. He's real, isn't he?
JONES: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And for years, you put a target on his back, didn't you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Objection to the form of that, Judge.
JUDGE BARBARA BELLIS, PRESIDING OVER CASE: Overruled.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Didn't you?
JONES: Well, I mean, I said his name. It's true. I said everybody's name, no matter who they are.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You put a target on his back, just like you did every single parent and loved one.
JONES: No, I didn't.
CASAREZ (voice-over): Jones became combative, railing against liberals and likening the line of questioning to, quote, "ambulance chasing."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have families in this courtroom here that lost children, sisters, wives, moms.
JONES: Is this a trial session? Are we in China? I've already apologized to the parents over and over again. I'm not apologizing to you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you know --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Objection, objection, objection, Judge.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're going to do it again.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Objection. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Aren't you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Objection. Objection, argumentative.
JONES: No, I'm not. I don't apologize to you.
BELLIS: It's hard for me to get a word in edgewise.
CASAREZ (voice-over): Despite repeated warnings not to politically grandstand during his testimony, Jones repeatedly referenced politics in his defense.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You would never want to be maligned or lied about about those things that are important to you, correct?
JONES: Yes, but I have been plenty.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have been. And that's been hurtful, hasn't it?
JONES: The world isn't an easy place. When people become political figures, they get in the ring (ph).
BELLIS: And as I told the jury, and I know you're probably sick of hearing it for me, but this case is not about politics.
CASAREZ (voice-over): The plaintiff's attorney, Christopher Mattei, also questioned Jones about content on his InfoWars website.
CHRISTOPHER MATTEI, LAWYER FOR PLAINTIFF: And you're asking your audience that comes to your page to take a survey, aren't you? Correct?
JONES: Yes I didn't write the survey. But --
MATTEI: And the survey is --
JONES: Your questions?
MATTEI: -- what will be the most likely deep state false flag ahead of the midterms, right?
JONES: Yes.
MATTEI: And what's the first option?
JONES: A mass shooting. But I didn't write the poll.
[06:10:02]
MATTEI: Excuse me, sir, mass shooting?
JONES: Yes.
MATTEI: And so when the next mass shooting comes, you're already conditioning your audience to believe that it's a fake, staged event, aren't you? JONES: False flag doesn't mean staged. It means they let it happen.
MATTEI: So Mr. Jones, whenever the next mass shooting strikes, we can be pretty sure what you're going to do, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Objection, speculative.
MATTEI: Yes and no?
JONES: I didn't write that poll, but I stand behind it.
CASAREZ (voice-over): Jones' testimony was interrupted by numerous objections from his attorneys and admonishments from the judge.
BELLIS: Just look at me. Just yes or no.
JONES: Yes.
BELLIS: A lot of media in the room. This is not a press conference. This is clearly not your show. And you need to respect the process.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CASAREZ (on camera): Now prior to this trial, Jones did admit that it wasn't a hoax, Sandy Hook was real and they were not actors, the family members.
But according to documentation, that occurred after the lawsuits were filed. Jones says he's been apologizing for six years, but he also said in a 2019 deposition that the reason he said all that, it was a form of psychosis.
So next on tap, cross-examination. And let's see if they bring up his defense, the mental state that he had at the time, the years that he was saying this. Because they want to mitigate damages.
BERMAN: What a scene. What a scene to see all of it like that.
CASAREZ: And there's a jury that's watching.
BERMAN: And there's a -- the family of victims there.
CASAREZ: The family, yes.
BERMAN: That's what I keep thinking.
CASAREZ: Yes.
BERMAN: Jean Casarez, terrific reporting. Thank you so much.
CASAREZ: Thank you.
KEILAR: Put up or shut up. The special master in the Mar-a-Lago search case is ordering former President Trump's legal team to prove claims that he and they have made out of court that the FBI planted evidence during the search. Judge Raymond Dearie, who Trump's team recommend for the special
master role says the lawyers must submit a sworn declaration, and that, of course, means under oath.
In it, they have to say if they believe the Justice Department has included any materials on their evidence list that -- that were not actually seized during that search from Mar-a-Lago, and itemized them outside of court.
Trump and his legal team haven't faced any consequences for making these baseless and even false claims. They've said with no proof that the FBI could have planted evidence.
Just days after the raid, Trump ranted about it on social media, and he and his lawyers took it to television, as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALINA HABBA, TRUMP ATTORNEY: And quite honestly, I'm concerned that they may have planted something. You know, at this point, who knows? I don't trust the government. And that's a very frightening thing as an American.
CHRISTINA BOBB, TRUMP ATTORNEY: I don't think that there was actually anything there there that's worthwhile. We'll see what they come up with. You know, if they did, it'll be interesting, especially since they precluded me from actually watching what they did.
But -- but at this point, I don't necessarily think that they would even go to the extent of trying to plant information. I think they just make stuff up and, you know, come up with whatever they want.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The problem that you have is they go into rooms. They won't let anybody near -- they wouldn't let them in the same building. Did they drop anything into those piles or did they do it later? There's no chain of custody here with them.
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: Wouldn't that be on videotape, potentially?
TRUMP: No, I don't think so. They're in a room.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: So that's what they've said publicly. Will they say it under oath, though?
Joining me now to talk more about this is former federal prosecutor Joseph Moreno. This really appears, Joe, to be the special master calling Trump's bluff. So what are the moves here that his lawyers can make?
JOSEPH MORENO, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Brianna, as I'm watching this, I don't know, as having served on the defense side, my heart is palpitating. Because this is every defense lawyer's nightmare, that their client just goes out there and says things.
And you realize at some point you've actually got to be, you know, called to the carpet, and the judge might say, all right. You've said all these things on social media. You've said them in maybe even public statements, even court filings.
What do you actually got? And it sounds like, I mean, probably not much. So I mean, this is reminiscent of all those times in the post- 2020 election when the Trump team made these outlandish, you know, arguments in public about all these voting irregularities and things. But then every single time they were unable to bring any actual evidence in court.
So yes, they better really watch themselves now. This Judge Dearie is not having it. And they've better really, you know, kind of put up or shut up, as you said.
KEILAR: Do you think this whole process, the special master process, has actually maybe backfired for Trump?
MORENO: If the goal of the Trump team was to buy itself some time, I guess it's done that. The special master is in place and has till November 30th to do his job.
If the goal was to get any kind of strategic advantage or to keep any of these documents seized from Mar-a-Lago out of evidence, then no, it's not going well at all. And if anything, it's kind of showing the hypocrisies of the team.
So right now, per the 11th Circuit, all of the documents marked classified are now out of the special master's hands back to the DOJ. Executive privilege will be a huge uphill climb. And Judge Dearie has already said, I'm pretty skeptical that you had executive privilege claim here.
[06:15:04]
So really, all that's left is probably a small subset of documents.
So at the end of the day, it's not going to change, whether Donald Trump has any more culpability here. Maybe he just bought himself a little extra time on the calendar.
KEILAR: But also a little humiliation. Right?
MORENO: That doesn't usually seem to stop him. I think he kind of sees that as a badge of honor. But frankly, it would horrify me, if it was my client.
KEILAR: Yes. Maybe for the lawyers it's not something they want to go through. Joe, really appreciate your analysis. Thank you.
In Pennsylvania, the stakes are high, and the Senate race there is close. Can Mehmet Oz win over Republicans who wish someone else was their party's nominee? Plus, a political argument leads to a man running a teenager over with his car and killing him.
BERMAN: And we can dream of a four-day work week, but what if there was prove it made us all more productive?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:20:05]
BERMAN: This morning results of a new study which shows that, when it comes to work, less is more. Or might be. So in the United Kingdom, companies participating in an experimental four-day work week pilot program said they saw no loss in productivity.
Almost half the companies saw some signs of improvement. With me now, very hard worker, CNN's chief business correspondent, Christine Romans.
You've been doing a lot on this.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I have. I've been interviewing CEOs for a couple weeks now about this trend, and there are a couple different pilot programs happening.
This one in the U.K. really fascinating. And so this is a group of companies that are working with an advocacy group, trying to see if this -- if this works out.
Look at this productivity. Forty-six percent of companies said that people maintained around the same level of productivity. And look at that: 34 percent improved slightly, 15 percent improved significantly.
So that is -- This pilot program is not done. They're about halfway through. I was talking with CEOs who are in a U.S. pilot program that's really similar. And these CEOs were actually dumbfounded by how well it was working.
Turns out if your workforce is well-rested and have very telegraphed personal time to manage their life, they actually are good workers. They don't quit. They don't go to your competitor. And it's good for the bottom line.
So it's been really interesting to see this develop, and it's a small but growing cohort of companies that are trying this four-day work week, trying to work out the kinks.
BERMAN: A, I don't know what it's like to work well-rested. B, we're not talking about working from home on a Friday. We're talking about not working. We're talking about being off for three full days.
And part of this has to do with being willing to work maybe a longer day, maybe than the traditional eight hours.
ROMANS: Guess what? In some of these pilot programs, it's not 40 hours in four days. It's 32 hours in four days. In those 32 hours, they're doing the same amount of work as the 40 hours.
I'm not kidding. They have shorter meetings. They've figured out the bosses, the managers have figured out how to schedule the time so it works.
Some of these companies are now fooling around -- I talked to a CEO last week whose company is fully remote Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Everybody has Friday off. Some of the top managers have a conference call on Friday, but people have Friday off.
I spoke to a CEO in the U.K. They have to cover their clients five days a week, so some people have Friday off. Some people have Monday off. And they've learned how to pass the baton and get the work done.
There are other companies that it won't work, right? I mean, when you have to have manpower seven days a week. For example, restaurants have struggled a little bit to figure out how to do this.
And there's also the worry about, in an economy where you can't find workers, you know, you need more workers, not fewer hours for some of these workers. We'll see how it goes.
There's -- in the U.S., they're almost through a big pilot program in the U.S. So we'll have more data by the end of the year.
BERMAN: You had me at shorter meetings. Like, this is intriguing. I can't wait to hear more about this. Christine Romans, thank you very much.
So he's in a tight race for Senate in Pennsylvania. Can Mehmet Oz win over Republicans who were skeptical of him as their party's nominee?
KEILAR: And a dangerously close call, a little girl narrowly misses being hit by a speeding SUV. Heart-stopping moment captured on video.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:27:31]
KEILAR: Less than 50 days now until the crucial midterm elections, one of the most closely watched races is for the Senate in Pennsylvania. And it pits Democrat John Fetterman against Republican Mehmet Oz.
The biggest challenge for the Trump-endorsed Republican is that voters wish someone else had won their party's nomination. CNN's Jessica Dean is on the trail for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JESSICA DEAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John, Brianna, here in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Mehmet Oz is working hard to win the support of rural conservative voters.
So we traveled to two of the most conservative counties within the commonwealth to see what voters there think of Oz. DEAN (voice-over): Bedford, Pennsylvania is home to an historic
downtown, scenic landscape and some of the commonwealth's most conservative voters. Former President Donald Trump won this county with more than 83 percent of the vote in 2020.
Every week a group of retired veterans meets at the Route 220 Diner to drink coffee and talk politics.
CLAY BUCKINGHAM, BEDFORD COUNTY VOTER: These are people that are running businesses and saying, Let us run our own show. And we're -- We may not have all the education that you do, and we may not know all of the -- all of the intricate things about economics, but we know how to balance a checkbook.
DEAN (voice-over): This is the same diner Republican Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz visited back in February.
Oz eked out a primary victory after a recount, winning by just 951 votes, and faced the immediate challenge of consolidating the support of a somewhat skeptical Pennsylvania GOP base.
NED FREAR, BEDFORD COUNTY VOTER: Oz was Trump's candidate. He's not our candidate. People in Bedford County are probably going to hold their noses and vote for them, because Fetterman is a dead loss as a candidate.
BUCKINGHAM: That's my feeling about Oz. I have -- I'm sorry that I shall have to vote for him. But I'd rather see him as a senator than see Fetterman.
DEAN (voice-over): A recent CBS News poll showed just 36 percent of Oz's supporters are say they are, quote, "very enthusiastic" about voting for him. Sixty percent of Republican voters in Pennsylvania said they wished someone else had been nominated.
Still, in Bedford and neighboring Somerset County, where Trump won with more than 77 percent of the vote, most Republican voters we spoke with are ready to cast their ballot for Oz. More than anything, eager to deny his opponent, Democratic Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman, a win.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The big prize is control the Senate.
DEAN (voice-over): Guy Berkebile is the chairman of the Somerset County Republican Party, and he acknowledges that some local voters had doubts about the television doctor.
