Resuming the Long Walk toward the U.S. Border; Countdown to Midterms
VAUSE: Terrifying moments there as an escalated malfunction suddenly accelerating, brightest which has gone unclear. Some on the neighboring escalator reached across trying to save them. With others who just left to tumble down to the bottom. All of this happened at a metro station in Rome on Tuesday. At least 20 people were once seriously. Mostly, was caught up in this accident were Russian football fans on the way a match. Officials are investigating this but so far, no word on what went wrong. The U.S. National Security Advisor went to Moscow, ready to give Vladimir Putin an earful about Russian election meddling and pulling out for nuclear arms deal. But the Russian president shot back. So, how is it that a second summit between President Putin, rather, and President Trump is now actually in the works? CNN's Fred Pleitgen has details.</s>FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A tense meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and National Security Advisor John Bolton, Putin immediately taking a swipe at the</s>U.S. VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA (through translator): The emblem of the U.S. depicts an eagle. In one claw, it holds 13 arrows. And in the other, an olive branch. A symbol of the peace-loving policy of the states together with 13 all this. Question, it looks as if your Eagle has eaten all the olives, and has only arrows left.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And what is left is only the arrows.</s>JOHN BOLTON, UNITED STATES NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: But I didn't bring any more olives.</s>PLEITGEN: Despite the thick air, the two sides decided on a new meeting between President Trump and the Russian leader on November 11th in Paris. The Russians still fuming after the Trump administration's decision to pull out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. CNN caught up with a national security advisor as he was laying a wreath for murdered opposition leader Boris Nemtsov between high- stakes meetings with top Russian leaders. Are the Russians been quite understanding for your reasoning and you explain it to them?</s>BOLTON: Well, I think their preferences, they've stated is that we not withdraw. But I think, we've given them reasons why we're going to do it, and I think they understand that reasons quite clearly. Some of which I think they fully appreciate from their own strategic perspective. I think the president could not have been clearer, not just on Saturday, but yesterday is for what his decision.</s>PLEITGEN: After a Russian woman was recently indicted for allegedly trying to meddle in the upcoming midterm elections, Bolton, said he warned Putin not to interfere.</s>BOLTON: It's a lesson I think, don't mess with American elections.</s>PLEITGEN: But the National Security Advisor didn't specify what the consequences would be if Russia was found to be meddling in America's democracy again. Saying only, the U.S. was keeping an eye on the situation. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Moscow.</s>VAUSE: Vladimir Putin is not the only Russian being warned about meddling in the U.S. midterm elections. The U.S. is also putting hackers themselves on notice for the new cyber operation aimed at trying to end their efforts. Details from CNN's Brian Todd.</s>BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A shot across the bow to Russian hackers trying to meddle in America's midterm elections. An administration official tells CNN, the U.S. military's Cyber Command has begun targeting those Russian operatives. Apparently overwhelming them with electronic messages and fake e-mails to try to make their meddling more difficult.</s>JASON HEALY, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CYBER OFFICIAL: It is very interesting to see this now being part of this U.S. cyber strategy. to go to these Russian operators, and saying don't influence the elections. We know who you are, we are tracking you, there are going to be consequences.</s>TODD: Word of the operation comes as President Trump's national security advisor is in Moscow, delivering the same message to the Russians in person.</s>BOLTON: Don't mess with American elections.</s>TODD: Just what are Russian trolls doing to try to disrupt the midterm vote? Experts say they often create false personas, pretending to be Americans. Then they either try to recruit real Americans to stage protests or other events. Sometimes even paying for the equipment, like this rally against Hillary Clinton, or they send divisive messages online.</s>LAURA ROSENBERGER, DIRECTOR, ALLIANCE FOR SECURING DEMOCRACY: So, whether that's around -- you know, a mass shooting, or whether that's around -- you know, questions about NFL protests, we see them seizing on these moments and often just amplifying existing material, but to make Americans think that we're more divided than we actually may be by, again, artificially manipulating that information space. They've purchased ads in the past.</s>TODD: On Friday, a U.S. criminal indictment said a Russian conspiracy of online trolls tried to stoke discord in the U.S. with posts like these, "Obama is tied to the Muslim Brotherhood. Illegal immigration is a taxpayer burden." U.S. officials say, a crony of Vladimir Putin's contributed $35 million to the operation. The woman charged with coordinating the campaign went on Russian T.V. to ridicule the charges.</s>ELENA KHUSYAYNOVA, ACCUSED OF MEDDLING IN 2018 MIDTERMS (through translator): I was shocked to hear that me, just a simple Russian accountant, elected a U.S. president, instead of Americans.</s>TODD: This new campaign against Russian trolls isn't the first time the U.S. has gone on the digital offensive against enemies.</s>HEALY: The U.S. has certainly been involved with some pretty severe disruptive attacks on adversaries, and this -- the Stuxnet attack on Iranian uranium enrichment is certainly a great example of that.</s>TODD: Some analysts believe that's what the U.S. should be doing to the Russian trolls to directly target their capabilities, rather than just sending them warning messages.</s>ROSENBERGER: Offensive cyber operations are an option. Essentially, you know, frying the servers.</s>TODD: The New York Times reports that the American effort to target those Russian cyber meddlers is somewhat measured limited in scope. Analysts say the Americans have to be a little bit careful not to trigger an escalation. And prompt the Russians or other adversaries in cyberspace to try to hack into the American power grid and other key infrastructure. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.</s>VAUSE: The son of journalist, Jamal Khashoggi has been summoned to the Saudi Royal Palace, what Riyadh says was a condolence call. But critics say, it was a force photo-op with the man who ordered his father's execution. More on that in a moment. And later this hour --</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We are an honorable people, we are workers.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would it call a group of kid's terrorists?</s>VAUSE: Still of the thousands making their way towards the US-Mexico border, responding to President Trump's accusations that they could be criminals or maybe even terrorist.