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Final Day Of G20; Biden To Meet Turkish President At G20; Dems Bullish On Biden Agenda; Virginia Governor's Race; Baldwin Calls Fatal Incident "One In A Trillion" Event; United States Air Force Over 96 Percent Vaccinated; Facebook Rebrand. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired October 31, 2021 - 05:00   ET

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

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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and happy Halloween. It's Sunday, October 31st. Grateful to have you with us. Welcome to your "NEW DAY." I'm Boris Sanchez.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: You beat me to it. Happy Halloween.

Good morning, I'm Amara Walker in for Christi Paul. Our CNN's Wolf Blitzer is in Rome for the G20 summit, the second and final day.

A lot to get to, Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Good morning, Boris and Amara. Good to be with you. A very important day for President Biden and world leaders on the final day of the G20 summit. Combating climate change will certainly top the agenda.

We expect the President of the United States to arrive momentarily. He's actually scheduled to meet with the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Relations between the two NATO allies have been severely strained over the last few years. We'll bring you details of that meeting. That's coming up. We might even have live coverage of that.

Later today President Biden will lead a discussion on the supply chain issues affecting the United States and other world economies. He'll focus in on short-term efforts to try to relieve bottlenecks in the system as well as long-term solutions.

As the summit wraps up later today, the president is actually scheduled to hold a news conference. He'll face questions from reporters, not just about this summit here in Rome but also the fate of his domestic agenda back in Washington. Lots of questions coming up.

President Biden's meeting with the Turkish president is up first on his schedule. Today climate change is also a major focus before the president heads to what's called the COP26 climate change meeting in Scotland.

I'll be heading over to Scotland to cover that as well. Our chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins is going with us as well.

It will be a bit different there than in Rome.

What do we anticipate happening today?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Today you'll see President Biden meet with the Turkish president, which is a significant meeting in and of itself.

And the differences in terms of how the administrations have handled Turkey and how they responded to President Erdogan, of course. This is someone who the Trump administration turned a blind eye as he cozied up to Russia, committed human rights abuses.

And we saw this drift toward authoritarianism. Recently in the news, there's been a threat from the Turkish president to expel the U.S. ambassador to Turkey and several others, I believe the French and German envoys as well, over their calls to release a jailed philanthropist in Turkey.

It's created a little bit of tension in the last several weeks ahead of this meeting, going into this meeting. We'll see how this goes.

Of course, lots to talk about, not just Syria and Lebanon but Turkey's desire to buy some F-16 fighter jets. Of course, that comes after the drama a few years ago, when they wanted to buy F-35 fighters from the United States but that conflicted with their purchase of a Russian missile defense system.

So a lot of things in the background of this meeting. So it will be interesting to see President Biden meeting in front of Erdogan with the cameras and what that is going to look like.

BLITZER: That's supposed to come up in the next couple of minutes. It's pretty significant that Turkey, the NATO ally, declared the U.S. ambassador to Turkey and other NATO allies, ambassadors to Turkey, persona non grata and wanted them expelled and then backed off in the uproar that developed.

COLLINS: He did back off. I think Turkey is in an interesting position as how they approach the United States. They had a very difficult time during the coronavirus pandemic and are kind of emerging in this way, where you've seen Erdogan dial back some of his most aggressive policies and most aggressive tactics.

But then, of course, that change in recent weeks and what he said about the U.S. envoy there, threatening to expel him but not ultimately following through with it.

This is an administration that treats things like that very differently than what you saw with the Trump administration. So it's interesting to see how the president handles that. We are told by U.S. officials that essentially Biden wants to warn him against any kind of precipitous talks or moves like threatening to expel the U.S. envoy.

BLITZER: The last time the two presidents met was back in June in Brussels at the NATO meeting then. And President Biden emerged, saying it was very positive and constructive.

I want to get more perspective on the G20 summit and what's likely to come out of it.

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BLITZER: Our CNN international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson, and CNN national security analyst, Juliette Kayyem, joins us as well.

What's the significance of this day on national security before they make the turn to climate change?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: I think it is significant because part of it is focused on climate change and sustainable development.

So it's what do these G20 nations say and commit to in terms of climate efforts to sort of rein in climate change, which is going to be the springboard for COP26 coming up in Glasgow?

And I think significant to that, Prince Charles has flown in from London to give a speech to the G20 leaders. That in itself is quite unusual. He'll talk about sustainable development and he'll talk about how important it is to win over the public.

He'll talk about small -- he'll talk about how 60 percent of the world's GDP essentially is driven by people, meaning if people don't want to buy products that have an adverse effect on the climate, this is going to be the significant driver for businesses.

And he'll be joined by business men through part of his visit here. So I think that will be the -- we'll see it today in part for as a springboard for COP26.

BLITZER: That will be significant, as the president wraps up his news conference and then what happens in Scotland as well.

Juliette, how do you see it unfolding right now?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I think there will be a couple issues that will be finalized or will be the takeaway for the Biden White House.

I think this global minimum tax that relates exactly to what Nic was saying.

What kind of commitments can we get from the G20, which represents 80 percent of the world's GDP?

This is the powerhouse right now in terms of elevating a sort of supply chain around green energy. So that's going to be I think a huge one.

The second I think it's just very interesting the extent to which COVID is receding. We know there's lots of global problems. We know there's lots of countries that don't have access to the vaccine. And the group sort of pivoting toward what does this post-COVID world look like, with its focus on climate change.

So those are the two key areas that will be the key takeaways, the pivot away from COVID and then this focus, focus, focus on supply chain, green energy and what the globe looks like in the decades to come with climate change.

BLITZER: Yes, we're showing some tape of what was going on here in Rome.

You know, Kaitlan, as we await what's going to happen substantively today, as they say, the president will wrap up his visit here in Rome with this news conference. It's been quite a while since he's had a formal news conference.

Sometimes he answers reporters' quick questions but a real significant press conference has not taken place for several months.

COLLINS: The White House often points to well, he does take questions regularly. But this is a different setting. It's a different way to ask a question when there is a formal news conference. You're able to ask him a lot of different things that are up for debate and for the president to answer, including his domestic agenda back home.

We did see the president on the Hill briefly right before he left to come here, and we saw him at the White House giving remarks on essentially the state of his domestic agenda. As we now know, Democrats are teeing up to potentially vote on those two bills this coming week.

But the president did not take formal questions on that and there's a lot of those based on what his thinking is and how he felt coming into the summit and what his main takeaways have been in the summit.

Often you see the meetings where he's meeting with Erdogan and he meets with other world leaders and there's other moments and private exchanges with other world leaders. So it's good to get his take on how he feels the summit has gone and what he has accomplished.

BLITZER: His failure to reach a deal with his fellow Democrats, all of his fellow Democrats, on his domestic issues, critically important issues -- the infrastructure bill, the broader social economic policy deal -- he's hoping to get that done in the next several days.

But how has that impacted what's going on here at the G20?

Because they were really concerned he would arrive here in Rome and Scotland weakened because he couldn't get his domestic deal done.

ROBERTSON: I think any weakness in the U.S. political structure points to or highlights the concerns of allies, European allies, in the Asia- Pacific region.

Why?

There's the inconsistency witnessed now by the world between different U.S. presidents, president Trump being so disruptive, pulling out of so many sort of international agreements, where the United States has been the standard bearer. So there is a real look to try to understand from President Biden.

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ROBERTSON: What's the level of continuity that's going to come?

Is there going to be a Republican president?

Are you so weakened by your own party that you can't even push through your own agenda?

Do we need to reassess our own national security interests in relation to the United States?

And I think this meeting with President Erdogan is sort of typical of those analyzed by allies and partners.

What level of pressure can you bring on President Erdogan to rein in his anti-democratic practices?

That's the standard President Biden wants to hold his allies and partners to. So in that regard, he can reset the thinking on the United States. You know, we live in a society that's so image-driven, so today's message driven, that any weakness at any minute makes you look weak at that moment.

If you can recover significantly from that moment, that helps you. So all the meetings he's had here with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, now with Erdogan, they are all significant and important.

But -- but those underlying concerns are going to exist. But if there's going to be continuity, most of these leaders here have to be reelected. It's their relationship with this president on which they are going to be judged in the next elections, Emmanuel Macron being one of them. Erdogan not so much.

So there are immediate concerns for these nations. But there are the longer term ones that you're speaking about.

BLITZER: Juliette, I've spoken with U.S. officials who are deeply concerned that the chaotic, deadly U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan has undermined the U.S. credibility with some of the European NATO allies, certainly the rift that developed with France and France recalling its ambassador back to Paris for, quote, consultations.

That's undermined, weakened the credibility of the U.S.

How do you see that right now?

Because it's a source of concern that they are trying desperately to repair.

KAYYEM: Yes, and I think the difference with this White House, rather than what the countries had to deal with Trump, is long-term reliability. There are going to be blips. The France-U.S. relationship is not going to dissipate over a single deal.

Even the sort of legacy of the Afghanistan withdrawal is not a huge focus going on right now. And I think what you're seeing is there are going to be continuing disagreements about priorities, around not just Afghanistan or a submarine deal, but also remember Iran, which it looks like we'll have to get some agreement around sanctions if the United States is not going to rejoin a sort of unified effort.

And so those rifts are understandable, given different priorities but I think the long-term ease and calmness of this G20 cannot be underestimated. Remember, two or three years ago, each of these ended up being, you know, like the Real Housewives of the G20. It's like all we would focus on was personalities.

And what we're now focusing on is at least substance. And I think that is -- that means a lot to these other countries, that are, as you said, have their own domestic agendas that they have to satisfy, including the legacy of the Afghan withdrawal.

BLITZER: Yes. That Afghan withdrawal, Kaitlan, obviously caused some pain with many of the NATO allies, also deeply involved in Afghanistan over the last 20 years.

COLLINS: And the reason it caused, that is essentially the thinking goes if the United States is going to withdraw, so do these other nations, not as large of a presence and essentially it wasn't sustainable for them to stay without the United States.

It's not like this was a secret this was going to happen because President Biden made clear long before he took office and said he was going to stick by the commitment made by former president Trump, that he wanted to get troops out of Afghanistan.

It's the thinking he had had since he was vice president. I think the concern that you heard from allies, time and time again in that month of August, as you were watching this deadly withdrawal, was the concern over how it was being conducted and the way that it was going on.

But we were told during the meeting with the French president -- and this is by a U.S. official -- that Afghanistan did not come up and the question of whether or not it's been an overarching topic or one that's happened behind the scenes it's not totally clear to us yet. But it does make them question going forward, their commitment levels with U.S. troops in other places.

BLITZER: We're standing by momentarily. We're told the President of the United States and the president of Turkey will be meeting. Cameras will be in there, at least at the start of the meeting. We'll see what both of these men have to say.

You're based in London, Nic.

How is the U.S.-British relationship unfolding right now, the relationship specifically between the President of the United States and prime minister Boris Johnson? ROBERTSON: It seems to be in a decent place. When Biden came into

power, Boris Johnson and his party, the Conservative Party, had not really made strong connections with the Democratic Party.

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ROBERTSON: They were very much seen as a -- Boris Johnson was seen as a mini-me of Donald Trump, as a populist, as different, as not playing by the normal set of rules. So I think Boris Johnson, in the perception of the British has, overcome what was expected to be a bumpy relationship.

And this is a dynamic that speaks, I think, to joint national security interests. And I think for the British and particularly for this prime minister being part of that Australia-U.S. nuclear submarine deal that pushed France aside on its diesel-powered submarine deal with Australia, it was a big plus.

That was Boris Johnson, if you will, clearly in the eyes of the British people, back in favor with Washington. Here was France, an old adversary over Brexit, being pushed aside for a deal with the U.K.

So I think in those terms, the relationship is in a better place and you see -- you know, the British committed in Asia-Pacific their brand new state of the art aircraft carrier. It had done nothing else except go on training exercises.

Its first overseas exercise was to support the United States in the seas off the coast of China. And on board were I believe eight U.S. F- 35 aircraft. So that alliance in terms of military, in terms of diplomacy, in terms of the importance of the United States in the Asia-Pacific region in China, the U.K. is right there, shoulder to shoulder with the United States.

So I think, you know, whatever issues Boris Johnson had in perception of his closeness to Donald Trump, that's gone.

BLITZER: We're waiting for the start of this meeting between the president of Turkey and the President of United States. We'll take a quick break. Much more of our special coverage coming up from the G20 summit here in Rome right after this.

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BLITZER: President Biden and President Erdogan of Turkey, they have just met. We're just getting in the video from the start of the meeting. Let's show it to our viewers, reporters shouting questions.

QUESTION: Mr. President, will you raise human rights?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Great. Thank you so much.

QUESTION: Is Turkey too close to Russia?

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QUESTION: Is Turkey getting too close to Russia?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, guys, thank you.

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Down, down, down.

BLITZER: All right, Kaitlan, it happens all the time, that little photo op. Reporters, as their job is -- and I was a White House correspondent -- we always shout the questions, they can answer or they don't have to answer. It's a free country.

And neither president decided to answer any of the questions.

COLLINS: It's their prerogative but we do try and oftentimes Biden does answer those questions and sometimes it can be deeply revealing of what it's going to be like when the two of them are in the room, because often we get a bit of a sanitized and diplomatic readout about what they said, phrases like strengthening their relationship.

I think President Biden often chooses to bring up the tougher issues with President Erdogan behind closed doors. They got off to a bit of a rough start when biden took office because he was the first U.S. president to recognize the armenian genocide.

BLITZER: And he used he word "genocide."

COLLINS: It was the first time to describe the massacre of Armenians. That was something that other presidents had been pushed to do. Back in April and President Biden did tell President Erdogan that he intended to do so.

But that was how the relationship started. And Erdogan had a much more muted response to that than many people expected that he would. But it does set the scene for this relationship and what they are focused on going forward and how Turkey does want to talk to President Biden in this meeting about buying F-35s.

So the question of how that proceeds, what that defense relationship looks like, that's a big question and it could be a big part of Biden's legacy.

BLITZER: Very quickly, what clearly irritated the U.S. and other NATO allies, Turkey, a NATO ally, wanted to go ahead and purchase this air defense system from Russia, which U.S. military officials thought could compromise the U.S. military capability.

ROBERTSON: Yes. The S-400 air defense system is a sophisticated -- as sophisticated Russia sells outside of its own country, that Turkey has, that would essentially allow this missile system to take down allied aircraft.

So if you sell a country like Turkey, they can back-engineer and take this aircraft down. It's hugely a potentially damaging blow to the United States to have Turkey own both these technologies.

BLITZER: And it's a NATO ally. You're not supposed to be doing that if you're a NATO ally, purchasing sophisticated air defense systems from Russia, which is an adversary, of course.

Stand by. We're not going anywhere, we're staying on top of what's going on here in Rome as President Biden continues to meet with world leaders. His agenda remains clearly stalled back at home. For more on that, lets go back to Boris and Amara for all the late-breaking developments.

SANCHEZ: We'll get back to you throughout hour as we watch what unfolds at the G20.

Democrats in Congress are still racing to work out a deal this morning on the bipartisan infrastructure bill as well as President Biden's larger spending plan. Sources say progressive lawmakers are meeting later today ahead of a potential vote on Tuesday on both bills.

WALKER: Key word being potential, right, potential vote on Tuesday. Democratic leadership remains optimistic. While campaigning for Terry McAuliffe in Virginia Saturday, House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn expects both bills to become law.

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REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D-SC), MAJORITY WHIP: We're going to pass those two bills that you hear about. We're going to pass them. The vote's been called for Tuesday. We're going to take this vote and we're going to pass them.

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WALKER: CNN congressional reporter Daniella Diaz joins us this morning.

Where do things stand?

DANIELLA DIAZ, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's exactly as y'all said, Amara, Boris, House Democrat leaders are eyeing Tuesday as the day they will have a vote on both of these bills that are a major priority for the Biden administration.

On the one hand, it's the bipartisan infrastructure bill that's already passed the Senate, had Republican support and only needs to pass the House before it goes to President Biden's desk for signature.

And, on the other hand, this economic bill, this massive $1.75 trillion bill that has been negotiated for months and months between progressives and moderates on what's in the bill, that is finally -- has a framework and is being written.

And it looked like there will finally be a vote in the House as soon as Tuesday. We've been told before there would be a vote in the House for the bipartisan infrastructure bill and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has pulled the vote three times.

One thing about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi doesn't put a bill on the floor to fail. But it does seem now that Democratic leaders are saying it could happen as soon as Tuesday. A source told me yesterday that progressives are meeting today virtually to discuss this new development about the House vote on Tuesday.

But it's really the progressives that held up the bill last week and multiple times before that because they wanted the bipartisan infrastructure bill voted in tandem with the economic bill.

And now that the economic bill is finalized, it's looking like that vote will happen Tuesday. But once it passes the House, the Senate is another question. Some progressives have said they wanted assurances from two moderate Democratic senators who are holdouts, Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

They're the ones that brought down the price tag from $3.5 trillion to $1.75 trillion. They're still question marks for support but we're told that Kyrsten Sinema is likely to endorse the economic bill but who knows what happens on Tuesday.

WALKER: Watching it closely. Daniella Diaz, appreciate it.

SANCHEZ: There is going to be plenty to watch on Tuesday. Virginia is set to elect its next governor that day. And both candidates are feeling the pressure, making their final stops and last-minute pitches to voters.

WALKER: Yes. CNN's Arlette Saenz has been on the ground for Democrat Terry McAuliffe, who hopes win back the governor's mansion and bring home a big off-year win for his party.

Arlette, what are you seeing?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Terry McAuliffe spent the final day campaigning in southeastern Virginia as he's looking to eke out a win in this incredibly tight race.

McAuliffe talked a lot about his record as governor but he also, at his final events in Williamsburg, tied the GOP candidate directly to president Trump.

TERRY MCAULIFFE, (D-VA), GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: This is the future of our country. Everybody is looking at Virginia. We're on this bus and we got TV ads. This election is on and the choice is, do we go forward in a positive way?

Or do we get down in the muck that we've seen under Donald Trump for the last four years?

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SAENZ: Now the early voting period ended on Saturday. More than a million Virginians cast their ballots early. And the McAuliffe campaign is hoping many of those will go their way.

On Sunday the campaign's focus is to turn out and energize their voters. He'll be campaigning up north in Manassas before heding to richmond and ending the day at a Halloween parade in Leesburg. Amara and Boris.

WALKER: Thanks for that.

While Terry McAuliffe tries to tie his opponent to former president Donald Trump, Republican Glenn Youngkin is taking a different approach, carefully distancing himself from the party leader.

SANCHEZ: CNN's Eva McKend is in Virginia, where youngkin has been drawing large crowds.

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Glenn Youngkin is continuing to make his way across Virginia on a bus tour. At every stop along the tour we've seen large crowds and that's based around the campaign's messaging around education.

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GLENN YOUNGKIN (R-VA), GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: This is no longer a campaign. It is a movement being led by Virginia's parents. We are going to send a shockwave across this country.

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YOUNGKIN: And there's not going to be a Democrat in any seat anywhere in this nation who is going to think that his or her seat is safe.

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MCKEND: A million votes have already been cast during the early vote period. And Youngkin has kept his message general enough to appeal to a broad spectrum of Republicans and even some disaffected Democrats -- Amara, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Eva, thank you for that report.

Let's dig into the final days of the Virginia's governor race with CNN political analyst Julian Zelizer, he's also a historian and a professor at Princeton University and the author of a book on a rabbi and social justice leader Abraham Joshua Heschel, "A Life of Radical Amazement."

Julian, congratulations on the book and thanks for waking up early with us this morning. Let's talk about this Trump tightrope that Glenn Youngkin is walking. He told our colleague Dana Bash that he won't participate in a tele-town hall that Trump is holding for the Virginia governor's race tomorrow. Voters say they like him because at least on policy he lines up well with Donald Trump. He's brought this race now to a tossup. So I'm wondering if you think other Republicans might follow this playbook moving forward.

JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. I think what he's trying to do is bring in a lot of the issues of Trumpism and, in this case, education and classroom issues, without directly tying himself to the former president and the controversies that he brings.

And so far I think he's been able to walk the tightrope. He's tightened the race and it's now very competitive. I don't know if all Republicans can do this but I think that has been the core of his strategy.

SANCHEZ: Focusing on Democrat Terry McAuliffe, Virginia senator Tim Kaine told CNN he's unhappy that some of his Senate colleagues dragged out negotiations over President Biden's sweeping bills, believing that those bills not passing could hurt McAuliffe's chances.

Yesterday, the former governor told reporters that ultimately he doesn't see it as a missed opportunity for him.

How much do national politics and the stalled Biden agenda play into this race, in your mind?

ZELIZER: I think it matters. I think some of the struggle has been McAuliffe himself. But when you have the president being of the same party, you want to energize the voters through what the party is doing.

And had he had the deliverable of the big infrastructure plan and showing that Biden could do bipartisanship, I think he could have run with that. So instead it's about division and disarray. And I think that's hurt in terms of voter enthusiasm among Democrats.

SANCHEZ: He has spent a lot of time talking about Donald Trump and not so much day-to-day issues for everyday Virginians and their concerns. So I'm curious to get your perspective on whether you think this race might be a potential guide for what we might see in next year's midterms.

Historically are these off-year elections good indicators of what's to come?

ZELIZER: They are really not. I mean, off-year elections don't tell us where national elections are. They sometimes are indicative. But other times they are way off.

But the way they matter is that the party and the media will read them that way. And they have become something that the parties react to and shape their strategy to.

But the actual results, the actual data that we're going to get from Virginia after this election, I think, have limited value in terms of predicting the midterms or the next presidential election. SANCHEZ: Julian, quickly, your thoughts on Biden at the G20, how would

you rate his performance there so far?

ZELIZER: I think he's doing well. I think he's bringing some of the kind of cooperation and international engagement that has been lacking for four years and this was the promise of the Biden presidency, to bring back America's relationship and role in the world.

And at least in the first few days, we're seeing some progress, negotiation and actual outcomes on issues, from taxation to the pandemic and vaccines to climate change.

SANCHEZ: All right. We've got to leave the conversation there. Thank you so much.

ZELIZER: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

Be sure to join CNN on Tuesday night for "Election Night in America." Special live coverage starts Tuesday at 6:00 pm Eastern right here on CNN.

WALKER: In other news, actor Alec Baldwin speaks out about the deadly shooting on the set of his latest film. We'll tell you what he said and what he wants the public to know.

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SANCHEZ: For the first time since a tragic shooting that left a cinematographer dead and director injured, actor Alec Baldwin is speaking publicly about what happened on his movie set and what he says are changes that need to happen in Hollywood.

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ALEC BALDWIN, ACTOR: What has to happen now is we have to realize that when it does go wrong and it's this horrible catastrophic thing, some new measures have to take place. Rubber guns. Plastic guns. No live -- no real (INAUDIBLE). That's not for me to decide. It's urgent. It's urgent that you understand. I'm not an expert in this field.

So whatever other people decide is the best way to go in terms of protecting people's safety on film sets. I'm all in favor of it. I will walk with them with that in any way that I can.

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WALKER: This comes after the film's armorer released a statement, saying she has no idea how this happened. CNN's Natasha Chen has that. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This happened on Saturday. Baldwin and his family were followed by cameras. Baldwin actually got out of the car to talk to paparazzi. He was careful not to answer anything about the ongoing investigation. He said that he was friends with Halyna Hutchins and he's in touch with her husband, who is in overwhelming grief.

BALDWIN: She was my friend. The day I arrived in Santa Fe to start shooting, I took her to dinner, with Joel, the director. There are incidental accidents on film sets from time to time. But nothing like this. This is a one in a trillion tragedy.

It's a one in a trillion death and so he is in shock. He has a 9-year- old son. And we are in constant contact with him because we are very worried about his family and his kid. And as I said, we're eagerly awaiting for the sheriff's department to tell us what their investigation has yielded.

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CHEN: Baldwin said it's unlikely any filming will resume. He said he'd be in support of any new measures in the future to make sets safer, using fake guns or no live ammunition.

Meantime, the sheriff in New Mexico said he would like followup interview with the armorer and the assistant director. Hannah Gutierrez Reed released a statement, saying she has no idea how a live round got on set and that safety is her top priority. The sheriff would like to do follow-up interviews to clarify some of those statements.

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WALKER: A major test for the U.S. Air Force as the service closes in on the deadline for a vaccine mandate. What it means for thousands of service members who haven't gotten their shots.

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SANCHEZ: There are promising signs this morning, as more Americans get vaccinated against COVID-19. According to the CDC, nearly 58 percent of the U.S. population is now fully vaccinated. Almost 18 million people have received a third dose or a booster shot since mid-August.

And the good news comes as the FDA on Friday issued emergency use authorization for Pfizer's COVID vaccine for children ages 5 to 11. On Tuesday, the CDC's vaccine advisers will meet to weigh in with their recommendations. WALKER: The U.S. Air Force has the earliest vaccination deadline among

the military services, which means they will be the first to deal with thousands of holdouts. Roughly 12,000 active duty airmen risk being disciplined or dismissed If they don't get at least one dose of the shot by Tuesday.

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WALKER: Now a spokesman telling CNN they are working through these requests for vaccine exemptions, including religious or medical requests. So far over 96 percent of its force has complied with the mandate and counseling is being offered to those who are still hesitant.

Joining me to discuss all of this is retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton.

Good to see you, sir. It's interesting to me because you have the Navy and Marine Corps with a different deadline to get vaccinated from the Air Force and also these lopsided vaccination rates across the military, with tens of thousands refusing to get the COVID vaccines.

The military is supposed to be non-partisan and cohesive and that's not what we're seeing.

I mean, how does this impact morale?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, good morning, Amara. It impacts quite a bit, depending on which unit you're in. For example, U.S. Special Operations Command is reporting about 98 percent vaccine compliance.

So 98 percent of its force, folks like Delta Force and other members of Joint Special Operations Command, the Rangers, Air Force Special Tactics Units, Navy SEALs, all of those elements plus administrative support staff have gotten vaccinated.

So that tip of the spear type of force is in pretty good shape when it comes to the vaccination rates. Now when it comes to the Air Force, we have about 3.6 percent in the Air Force who still need to get their shots, their COVID-19 vaccinations.

And when you have a force like the Air Force, that is really quite small compared to its historic force strength, that really shows that we're depending on every single individual to do their part.

So those that don't do their part, that don't get the vaccination, they risk undermining unit cohesion and unit morale and mission effectiveness.

And that becomes a real serious issue potentially for very critical units that the United States depends on.

WALKER: That's concerning when you talk about this impacting mission effectiveness. And you also have the Reserve of the National Guard with different vaccination deadlines. They don't have to be vaccinated until June of 2022.

You think that's a mistake.

LEIGHTON: That's right. I think it's a big mistake because the National Guard, especially the Army National Guard, is really something that -- a unit that we depend on, a bunch of units that we depend on, to handle natural disasters or efforts like recently in Afghanistan or in Iraq.

These units have been critical to our war-fighting capability. Now there is a caveat to that deadline and that is, if you are deployed as a National Guard member under federal orders after your services deadline, in other words, for the Army after December 15th, then you must be vaccinated in order to deploy under those federal orders.

So there is a bit of an asterisk there but June 2022 is a very long way away.

WALKER: It is.

LEIGHTON: And there's a lot of risk that can occur at that point.

WALKER: Yes, absolutely. I do want to mention the G20 because we know that impacts military planning. There are global national security implications that could fuel instability.

And we saw just this summer how water shortages and droughts in places like Iran and Iraq, around the Middle East, those led to protests.

Are these potential situations that the military has to plan for?

LEIGHTON: Absolutely, Amara. In fact, climate change has been at the forefront of military planning efforts for over a decade now. So people who think that the military shouldn't concern itself with climate change are absolutely wrong about that.

We need to worry about not only our deployments or potential deployments to hot spots that, you know, like the Middle East, where there are water shortages that continue for a long period of time, where there's a possibility of famine, all of those things are critical elements in national security.

And quite frankly, when it comes to basing at home, bases like the Navy bases around Norfolk, Virginia, are very susceptible to rising sea levels. So that affects not only military planning for military operations but it also affects our readiness posture and, frankly, where we put our people and our missions. And that's going to be a huge issue.

WALKER: Colonel Cedric Leighton, appreciate your time this morning. Thank you.

LEIGHTON: Absolutely, Amara. Any time.

SANCHEZ: For weeks, Facebook has been caught up in controversy after controversy, following a trove of damaging documents being leaked by a whistleblower. Now the social media giant is unveiling a new name, a rebrand -- after a quick break.

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WALKER: Well, Facebook has changed its company name to Meta as it shifts its focus to the virtual reality metaverse. But the change comes as they face scrutiny over hundreds of internal documents leaked by a whistleblower.

SANCHEZ: Some say the rebranding could be part of an effort to change the topic and overhaul Facebook's reputation, after a series of scandals and PR nightmares. CNN's Paula Newton takes us into the metaverse.

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PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In a corporate event that seemed to have the vibe of a budget sci-fi flick..

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, perfect.

NEWTON: -- Mark Zuckerberg, founder and head of all things Facebook, introduced the metaverse.

MARK ZUCKERBERG, CEO, FACEBOOK: Together, we can finally put people at the center of our technology and deliver an experience where we are present with each other.

NEWTON: What is it?

Put simply, an immersive way to connect online for both business and pleasure using virtual and augmented reality. And Zuckerberg is all in, rebranding Facebook's corporate name to Meta. It's from the Greek word "beyond," he says.

ZUCKERBERG: Your devices won't be the focal point of your attention anymore.

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NEWTON: If Meta is the future, in the present, the Facebook brand on the site and the app won't change. What Zuckerberg is trying to pull off is more profound of that.

SHEERA FRENKEL, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": He is trying to take control of what he thinks is the big next wave of technology.

And the question is going to be whether the world accepts that, whether people, in spite of all the controversy, in spite of all of the crises that have hit Facebook in the last month, are going to want to put their trust in Facebook. NEWTON: Despite accusations of a toxic business model and dangerous fallout to match, Zuckerberg's strategy of plowing ahead with ambitious market domination has worked.

ZUCKERBERG: Our mission remains the same.

NEWTON: And in rebranding, Zuckerberg has nothing substantive to say how Facebook can become a safer social media space, especially for teenagers and young people.

ZUCKERBERG: I know that some people will say this isn't a time to focus on the future. And I want to acknowledge that there are important issues to work on in the present. There always will be.

NEWTON: In recent months, former Facebook employees have provided evidence that Facebook was aware of its role in disseminating the misinformation that breeds and spreads on its social media platforms.

In a statement, Zuckerberg said the documents released were cherry- picked to present a misleading narrative about the company. Frances Haugen says she fears the same problems will occur in Facebook's new metaverse.

FRANCES HAUGEN, FORMER FACEBOOK PROJECT MANAGER: I was shocked to hear recently that Facebook wants to double down on the metaverse and that they're going to hire 10,000 engineers in Europe to work on the metaverse.

I think there is a view inside the company that safety is a cost, a cost center, it's not a growth center, which I think is very short term in thinking.

NEWTON: What is not short term, the insidious effects of Facebook's social media platforms worldwide. Regulators have so far failed to create and enforce laws that prevent the worst abuses online, those powered by algorithms and AI, that can efficiently disperse misinformation and hate.

To that, Zuckerberg has added a new challenge, the potentially even more invasive metaverse -- Paula Newton, CNN.

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WALKER: President Biden's foreign agenda takes center stage on the final day of the G20 summit. We will take you next live to Rome.