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Mark Peake is Interviewed about Virginia Elections; Defense Rests in the Classroom Shooting Trial; Bob McEwen is Interviewed about Cheney. Aired 9:30-10a ET
Aired November 04, 2025 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:30:00]
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks for talking to us.
So, there you have it, guys. The polls close at 7:00 p.m. tonight. Lots of people coming in and out of this polling place in Loudoun County.
One interesting thing to tell you guys is that this is kind of an example of the growth of Loudoun County. Ruth -- excuse me, Judy Brown, who's the director of elections in Loudoun County, started her job about 40 years ago. There were 30 precincts in this county, 30 voting precincts. Now there are 107. Loudoun is huge. It is growing. It has trended Democratic for the last couple of elections. We're going to see if the Republicans can turn that tide here in Loudoun, which is going to be a crucial county when the vote count comes in later.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Brian, thank you so much for walking us through all of that. Really appreciate it.
John.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, with us now is Virginia state senator and chair of the Republican Party of Virginia, Mark Peake.
Sir, great to see you this morning.
If I can ask you about a development that happened overnight. The president of the United States, who is a Republican, Donald Trump, endorsed the former Democratic mayor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York, to be mayor of New York City. So, he endorsed Andrew Cuomo, but he hasn't endorsed Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, the Republican candidate of Virginia, to be governor there. How do you feel about that?
MARK PEAKE (R), VIRGINIA STATE SENATOR: Well, I don't think that's entirely accurate. He held a tele town hall last night with over half a million people on the call, and he clearly stated numerous times, get out and support the Republican ticket. Winsome Earle-Sears is at the top of the ticket. John Reid, our lieutenant governor candidate, and Jason Miyares, our attorney general candidate. If he didn't want our ticket to win, he wouldn't have held the tele town hall last night, the night before the election, that had a huge call in number on it. And he said, told everybody, go vote for the Republicans. To me, that's a strong endorsement of Winsome Earle-Sears for governor.
BERMAN: Maybe not as strong as if he mentioned her by name, but I take your point there, Senator.
How important has the government shutdown been? I didn't -- I didn't hear what you -- I'm just saying, wasn't --
PEAKE: Yes, I don't think it has been that big a deal.
BERMAN: Go ahead.
PEAKE: I'm sorry. Yes, I don't think it's been that big a deal. Our unemployment in Virginia has barely ticked up. I think the numbers were maybe 6,000 people at one point possibly laid off during this whole six months. And northern Virginia doesn't vote for us anyway. So, we're not that concerned about it as far as voter turnout goes. I think we're going to win this election. We've got people -- we've had a great early turnout. So, I don't think the government shutdown has affected the Republican vote at all. And I don't think it has increased the Democrat turnout.
BERMAN: All right, so you don't think the shutdown is a very big deal in this election.
What do you think about the economy in general? Because one of the things we hear all around the country is issues of affordability.
PEAKE: Yes. And I think most people are blaming the Democrats for the shutdown. So, I think it's actually hurting them.
Then, as far as the economy, I think the cost of energy is a huge factor all across Virginia. They know that the Democrat's green new deal for Virginia has driven their energy costs up. That was a major factor last year in the red portion of the state, our southwest Virginia. Republicans got together and did something to bring energy costs down. They know if the Democrats win, we're going to be joined in regi (ph) again. They're going to be following California's electric vehicle mandates. And it's going to be mandated that we only use solar and wind. And they know that's going to drive energy prices up.
So, I think you're right, energy costs are a huge factor in this election. And that all plays into Republican hands.
BERMAN: All right, give me one county to watch tonight in Virginia.
PEAKE: Well, I would go with Washington County. It's in southwest Virginia. Let's see what the turnout is. If we've got a 60 percent turnout in Washington County, we're going to win this, because it's 80/20 red. And then if you go to Norfolk City, see what their turnout is. If they're 50 percent, hovering around that, we're going to win. And I think it's -- so it's all what the turnout is in those counties.
BERMAN: All right, Virginia State Senator Mark Peake, great to see you today. Good luck.
Kate.
BOLDUAN: Also ahead, on to closing arguments now in a huge lawsuit. A former teacher in Virginia suing an assistant principal for $40 million after being shot by a six-year-old student.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:38:58]
BERMAN: All right, tomorrow, closing arguments in the $40 million lawsuit filed by a Virginia teacher who was shot by a six-year-old student in her classroom. Abby Zwerner is suing the school's former assistant principal, Ebony Parker. Zwerner says Parker failed to act despite being warned that the child had a gun in school, and she alleges the boy had a history of concerning behavior even before the shooting, including choking a different teacher.
CNN's Jean Casarez has been following every twist and turn in this case. You can follow her on CNN All Access doing so.
The defense finished -- rested its case yesterday.
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
BERMAN: What was their sort of end game?
CASAREZ: Well, it was very interesting because, you know, the overall reaching aspect of this is, do we allow school officials to face civil charges, even criminal charges, if warranted, when you have a school shooting? Because that's sort of a new area right now. Parents are being held accountable. But what about school officials? And so, this was an important witness for the defense. It was their education expert. And what she said was that there was no violation of any duty at all by the assistant principal.
[09:40:05]
In fact, there was no credible threat. She says there was no credible threat, even though parents, teachers were going in to the office saying to the assistant principal, children are seeing a gun. Guidance counselor, can I search the backpack? Two teachers, can we search his person? But she said, if this was a middle school or a high school, it would be a credible threat because we would believe, yes, maybe there is a gun. But this was an elementary school. Kindergarten through fifth. It would be a toy gun. It would -- it would be a water gun. So, there was no credible threat.
Second, specificity. Teacher comes in and says, two students in Abby's room are saying they saw a gun. But that teacher didn't know the names. And so, there was no specificity here.
And third, there was no foreseeability at all. So then on cross- examination, plaintiffs attorney said, why didn't you just get out of the chair, and the vice principal, go down the hall to the room? Well, the vice principal did get out of the chair, she responded. There was a fight between a couple students, so she had that to deal with that day. There was another behavioral issue. But this was not warranted to get involved.
BERMAN: Remind us, this is a civil trial. So, what's the standard going to be here?
CASAREZ: Preponderance of the evidence. More likely than not she is liable for the injuries that Abby sustained through her hand, into her chest. The bullet's still there.
BERMAN: Again, closing arguments set for tomorrow. And you can follow Jean covering this story, all the twists and turns, including a live feed of it on CNN All Access.
Jean, great to see you.
CASAREZ: Thank you.
BERMAN: Thank you so much.
Sara.
SIDNER: All right, straight ahead, so far the president has not commented on the passing of Vice President Dick Cheney. We'll have more on that breaking news ahead.
Plus, a boat erupting into flames off the coast of Florida. How the men on board were actually rescued. Look at those pictures.
And stocks, let's take a look at where they are right now. This is the very latest. Stocks down all across the board, but just by a touch.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:46:37]
SIDNER: We head back to our breaking news where former Vice President Dick Cheney has died at the age of 84. The announcement came early this morning. So far, no response from the president or the White House. But former President Bush has weighed in, praising his former vice president. Cheney's family says he died from complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease.
Joining us now is former Congressman Bob McEwen, who served with Cheney on the House Intelligence Committee.
Thank you so much for being here with us.
I do want to just first ask you, we have not heard from President Trump yet, or haven't seen a statement coming out of the White House and it's been several hours since the announcement was made that the former vice president had passed away. What are your thoughts on that? What do you think of that? BOB MCEWEN (R), FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: Well, Dick was certainly a complicated man. I like to remember him as a -- as a patriot. There were four of us appointed to the Intelligence Committee. And, as you know there, you cannot take notes. You cannot have staff. You have to spend time together. He and I were faithful in attending and got very, very close. And I believe that his leadership as chief of staff and as secretary of defense and vice president were dedicated.
In recent years, he went a new tack, a different tack, with the CIA and Brennan and others. And so he'll have detractors on both sides. But we'll see, as you know. We've seen the success that's taken place in the Middle East and in Europe -- in the Pacific just this past week. And he was opposed to Mr. Trump being the president. So, I can see it's going to be complicated.
SIDNER: Yes, I mean, were you surprised to see just how strongly, I mean he did a video that he put out for the country to see his thoughts on the president. He really went after him. And, obviously, his daughter did the same thing, was in the same vein, was on the January 6th Committee. What are your thoughts on that and how he was really ostracized by his party after that?
MCEWEN: And I really think that that's going -- that's going to be the focus, that's the reason. And that's why I said, I'd like to focus on his lifetime of dedicated patriotic service to his country. But as we're discovering what's happening with that January 6th Committee, the corruption that took place in 20 percent of the Republicans in the Senate. They were able to get their private correspondence, their telephones and communications and all these things that's now bubbling to the surface. And then, of course, as you know, the -- Biden gave pardons, not only to members of Congress on the committee, but staffers on that committee because of the corruption that took place. And, of course, Liz Cheney was in the middle of that.
And so I -- he wanted -- I think he was more loyal to his daughter than the party at that point. And I like to think that he will not be remembered for his final days, but for his lifetime of service. We'll see.
SIDNER: Yes, his daughter is hoping he's remembered for his final days. We've heard from Liz Cheney through one of our correspondents here, Jamie Gangel, who is hoping that that is how the country does remember him, because they dispute this idea that there was corruption and that he really was concerned about the president and his role in January 6th and beyond.
But I do want to ask you what your lasting memory, what your lasting memory has been of working alongside him.
MCEWEN: Well, as you know, he was a major player in the 100 year -- 100 hour war of Desert Storm.
[09:50:04]
And where -- he -- there's a thing called the presidential daily brief, the PDB, and one called the NID, national intelligence daily. And that's the most sensitive intelligence that we have. And it has to be transported under guard. No one can read it separately. You cannot take notes. There's only about a couple hundred people in the world that are -- have access to it. On the Intelligence Committee we did. And so, I would go there and faithfully read it. And we would have to sign in. The only other person that faithfully followed that was Dick Cheney. It was -- I would see his signature there repeatedly. He had a deep love for his country. He served it in so many different capacities across the board. He was a steady man. And that was --many people, whenever others were losing their head. He was always faithful and loyal.
And I considered him a friend. I admire him a great deal. I think that what's happening in the world today is to the benefit of the United States. And I believe that we're going to see that there was a serious breach on January 6th that you and I will have different opinions on, but I think we're going to see that in that case what happened there is not what we want to -- our country to be remembered for.
SIDNER: A lot of people are remembering what happened there for sure on January 6th, the attack on the Capitol that sent Congress people, senators, running for their lives. That is certainly going to be in the memory of a lot of Americans.
Former Congressman Bob McEwen, thank you so much. Do appreciate it.
Kate.
BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, the couple saves a young girl's life after her seatbelt malfunctions on a roller coaster that hits speeds of 75 miles per hour.
And a first for "People's" sexiest man alive.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:55:10]
BOLDUAN: Some terrifying moments on an amusement park roller coaster caught on camera. A couple, take a look at this, a couple from Kansas City, Chris and Cassie Evans, they managed to hold -- help hold a young girl to her seat after her seatbelt popped open mid ride.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CASSIE EVANS, HELPED SAVE GIRL ON ROLLER COASTER: First drop, halfway through the hill -- I'm sorry, this is really emotional, because this little girl -- the scream that she screamed, I have never heard anything like that before in my entire life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: Oh, my gosh, I can imagine. It happened on the Mamba coaster, which, according to the park's website, is the tallest ride that they have. The coaster -- roller coaster has a 205 foot drop and accelerates to 75 miles per hour. The couple says that they were able to hold her down until the end of the ride. Park officials said the roller coaster was inspected and is now reopened.
In Florida, investigators are looking for the cause of a really huge boat fire off of Hollywood Beach. Fire crews say, we're going to show you at some point, the 22 foot boat was engulfed in flames when they got to the scene. One man on board was rescued by another boat that was nearby. Another person was pulled from the water, then by the Coast Guard. They are both expected to be OK.
"People" magazine is crowning its newest --
SIDNER: John Berman --
BOLDUAN: Sexiest man alive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dancing through life, swaying and sweeping.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: Berman was a close second.
BERMAN: Oh.
BOLDUAN: The title, though, goes to "Wicked" and "Bridgerton" star Jonathan Bailey, the first openly gay man to earn the honor. The 37- year-old England -- Brit did a fill in the blank lightning round for his "People" interview. His irrational fear, snakes. At a party he can't wait to, leave.
SIDNER: It is John Berman.
BOLDUAN: Every guy should, have a gay friend. People are always surprised when he, does a backflip really badly.
BERMAN: Never happens here.
SIDNER: Like what happened on his show.
BOLDUAN: And it -- geez I didn't even think about it when I read that at first. And his game plan for getting older, to embrace it all.
SIDNER: John is genuinely disappointed. But you were up there, it's just you didn't --
BOLDUAN: I said close second.
SIDNER: Yes.
BERMAN: I would say, at least I still have the Nobel.
BOLDUAN: You didn't -- you needed to cast one vote.
What did you say?
BERMAN: At least I still have the Nobel to look forward to. BOLDUAN: We pronounce it Nobel here. It's very fancy. Want to go?
SIDNER: Oh, it's time for --
BERMAN: Thank you all so much for joining us. This has been CNN NEWS CENTRAL. "THE SITUATION ROOM" is up next.
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