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The Lead with Jake Tapper
Trump Rallies In Colorado After Playing Up Aurora Gang Gears; 16 People Dead, 2+ Million Without Power After Hurricane Milton; Obama Knocks Black Men Who Are Hesitant To Support Harris; Concerns Grow Over Safety Of U.N. Peacekeepers In Lebanon. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired October 11, 2024 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:00]
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: I missed it. And honestly, after we saw the eclipse in that zone of totality, which is so cool, yeah, I become a little obsessed with some of earth's natural totally visual displays like this. And these two times recently that this has happened in D.C., I really wanted to see it, I might just have to get myself to Iceland.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Yeah, yeah. This is a lot cheaper than that.
THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER starts right now.
KEILAR: Yeah.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Donald Trump is going all in today on a single racially charged issue.
THE LEAD starts right now.
Twenty-five days until Election Day and Donald Trump is in Aurora, Colorado talking about Venezuelan gang members in that city. But what's the reality on the ground? How much of this is fact, how much fear-mongering?
We will lay it out for you.
And former President Barack Obama with a stern message to Black men who may be reluctant to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris. And he's getting some criticism for it from allies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But for him to single out Black men is wrong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Also ahead --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many people? One, two, three.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Sporadic water rescues still going on two days after Hurricane Milton hit. CNN is live on the ground and on the floodwaters in Florida.
(MUSIC)
TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.
Only 25 days until Election Day, both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are out west, making pitches to voters in this excruciatingly tight race. Trump right now is speaking at a rally in Aurora, Colorado, making immigration his number one issue, Trump, just last Sunday told the Wisconsin rally crowd that even though polls suggest that the economy is the number one issue for voters he disagrees, he thinks the number one issue is border security.
And today's rally location, Aurora, Colorado, is quite intentional. He's there to amplify the debunked internet rumor that claims violent Venezuelan migrant gangs have taken over the town of Aurora.
Now to get you up to speed on the reality, footage from August at an apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado showed men carrying guns, walking down hallways, followed by several women and small children. This image spread on social media with Trump supporters claiming it showed Venezuelan gangs taking over an entire apartment complex.
Now the buildings owner appeared to verify that then the city said that in fact, it was the substandard housing conditions maintained by that landlord that were to blame, not the migrants themselves. Local police in aurora have encountered gang activity tied to a Venezuelan gang, but they have rejected theories that gangs have taken over any city buildings, much less the entire city of Aurora.
Even the city's Republican mayor and former Congressman Mike Coffman says, quote, the overstated claims are simply not true. Coffman tells CNN that 10 men associated with this Venezuelan gang have been identified and all but one of them has been arrested separately. He says six armed men seen in a viral video have all been identified and one has been arrested.
We have asked the city to find out the immigration status of those individuals. We do not know as of now.
Trump, of course, has been leaning into other dark immigration rhetoric. This campaign, including the outrageous lies about Haitian migrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, which has been completely debunked by the governor the mayor, the member of congress, and many, many others in Springfield, Ohio.
CNN's Kristen Holmes is at the Trump rally in Aurora, Colorado, for us.
Kristen, what is Trump saying about all of this today? KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, you're saying exactly what we expected them to. This rally is all about the fact that he wants to shine light on Aurora, Colorado, and the fact that it has been a city that has been overtaken by Venezuelan gangs. Of course, as you mentioned, we've heard pushback from lawmakers, the governor, the mayor, all saying that this is a gross exaggeration of what happened.
But here's what Donald Trump said when he opened up his rally just a few moments ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In Aurora, multiple apartment complex flexes have been taken over by the savage Venezuela prison gang known as Tren de Aragua. Your law enforcement and law enforcement all over the world, they know them all over the world. They're savage gang. One of the worst in the world, and they're getting bigger all the time because of our stupidity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now, Jake, part of the mayors statement that you read that you didn't include was about the mayor's saying that maybe this visit to Aurora Colorado would disapprove Donald Trump's claim that aurora had been overwhelmed by Venezuelan gangs.
But I will tell you that if you are just coming to this rally, that would not happen.
[16:05:00]
That is an optimistic take. Next to Donald Trump, there are posters that have pictures of mug shot that say gang member, illegal immigrant, and then says the contrary that these people are robbed. They've played as slideshow earlier. They had one image that seemed to be hooded men looked to be A.I. holding guns that said your apartment complexes under a Kamala Harris presidency. The next slide said life was -- is better under President Donald Trump.
They are leaning into this fear-based messaging, I have to tell you, Jake, there have been a lot of questions as his rhetoric has gotten darker, will he pull back? Will he pull back from his rhetoric as we hear these lawmakers? Various state and local officials pushing back on the narratives, whether it's in Springfield or here at Aurora, that this is simply not true and the answer appears to be no.
And part of that reasoning is its what you mentioned when you were throwing to me that introduction to me earlier, which is those razor- thin margins, they believe that this fear-based messaging is helping Donald Trump and particularly when it comes to immigration. The former president himself believes that immigration was the issue that helped prepare propelled him to the White House in 2016. And he and his team both we that will help him again in November -- Jake.
TAPPER: All right. Kristen Holmes in Aurora, Colorado, thank you so much.
The panel is here to discuss.
Ashley, your reaction?
ASHLEY ALLISON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I'm not surprised. Donald Trump takes issues exaggerates, is dishonest and it's dangerous in his language.
Do we have an issue when but immigration in our country? Yes. Was there an opportunity to solve the problem? Yes. Who prevented the problem from being solved? Trump -- and yet he uses this to campaign.
So, not surprised that he's doing it. Not surprise -- this won't be the last time he does. He'll pick another city. I do want to point out where he's doing it though. He's not doing it in battleground states, though.
He does it in Ohio. He does it in Colorado. And that's strategic because he knows how much attention is being placed in battleground states and voters would push back on that, but presidential campaigns are not really have a large -- having a large footprint in Ohio or in Colorado. But there is a Senate race in Ohio that he's hoping will go against the Democrat.
So he is there team is very strategic on this, but it is a dishonest attempts.
TAPPER: So the truth of the matter is that there are people in Aurora, Colorado, who appear -- we don't know actually their immigration status, but presumably if they're part of a Venezuelan gang -- they're not here legally, but it is not that -- they're not taking, according to authorities there, they're not taking over complexes, they're not taking over the city.
Why not just do a speech about the truth of the issue?
MACHALAGH CARR, FORMER, CHIEF OF STAFF, SPEAKER MCCARTHY: Well, look, hyperbole works in campaigns, but here when were talking about the immigration problems in this country, you don't even need that much hyperbole. We have a massive problem that was completely ignored for three-and-a-half years by the Biden-Harris administration. And when they did ultimately decide to take action, they took action that was executive authority -- the exact executive authority that they denied they had any authority to use for the first three years.
So there is a need right now to remind the American people that the newly revealed rhetoric of the vice president, and how she's going to be tough on the border and tough on immigration is completely contradicted by her record on this issue.
TAPPER: So, Brian, Democratic Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado, wrote an op-ed in "The Denver Post" today, saying, quote, Trump's contempt for immigrants is so visceral and complete that he cannot possibly deliver that outcome solving the problem. He has lost sight of even the economic benefits of immigration, much less its cultural significance.
What do you think?
BRYAN LANZA, SENIOR ADVISER TO TRUMP 2024 CAMPAIGN: Listen, he's never lost sight of the advantages of legal immigration. Trump's complaint has always been about illegal immigration. You know, these gangs that were talking about a visit with Venezuela in Colorado, we would see and its written stories about them to going back to June where they talked about their dangerous Venezuelan gang.
TAPPER: Sure. This is Donald Trump saying this is a problem. He's not saying legal immigration is a problem that he's saying the policies of Kamala Harris, the policies of Joe Biden, which reversed 94 executive actions on the border when they came into office, is these are the results of those dangerous policies.
So when we call Kamala Harris dangerously liberal, were referring to her allowing these gangs to come in here. We're referring to her being a sanctuary city D.A., a sanctuary city attorney general, and ultimately once to become a sanctuary city, American.
CHUCK ROCHA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: This is not something new. This is the same thing that House members are doing to -- my firm is working in 20 House races and in every one of those, Republicans are leading with this because this is a tactic and the tactic is to scare, scare folks into saying there's something bad coming to get you.
I would remind everybody that four years ago, there were caravans coming from across the way to scare people again.
TAPPER: 2018, yeah.
ROCHA: Let me tried and true of what's going on out there, instead of talking about -- I think this is smart by the Kamala Harris campaign is when she's like there was a bill, it wasn't perfect. We were trying to get something done and Donald Trumps that we cant do that because we want to be exactly talking about this right now.
LANZA: We definitely want to talk about it for reason that bill didn't go forward is because it was amnesty. It allowed certain level of illegal immigration -- illegal immigrants to find a pathway to citizenship. Donald Trump said that is not the policy we want. That's not the policy that at this particular time we can get.
And now what we've learned later is that Kamala Harris almost agrees with those policies because they've talked about reversing the status for some of these refugees. They talk about putting more money on the border --
(CROSSTALK)
[16:10:01]
ROCHA: It's hard for me to believe that a conservative Republican from Oklahoma had an amnesty bill -- in Texas, that's hard for me to believe. CARR: Let's not rewrite history on that bill. The entire House of
Representatives, the Republicans in the House were not behind that bill. They held their --
ALLISON: Because of Trump.
CARR: Before Trump ever said anything, they had passed HR2. They had passed HR2 a year before. And while the Senate was working, the House was like, we're not saying anything because we don't like it. And long before Trump came out against it, all of the House or large portion of house Republicans and said, I'm very skeptical. Let's not rewrite history on that bill.
TAPPER: Do you accept the fact that anything that makes it through the Congress is going to have things that Republicans don't like. I mean, that really is the question because that's what compromise legislation is. You're never going to get unless Republicans takeover the House and 60 seats in the Senate, there's going to be stuff in there you don't like.
CARR: No, when the Republicans had the majority, they pass HR2 when that second --
TAPPER: In the House, I'm talking about the Senate.
CARR: In the House, right, but second bill, what the House Republicans viewed, which you would've need that the majority of to get it through, they viewed that as nothing good for house Republicans, nothing from HR2. Incredible well, positions on amnesty incredible leeway on the numbers that could come across the border and paid legal counsel for illegal immigrants. It was not popular.
ALLISON: You guys if you want to govern, you have to compromise. So you all didn't pass an immigration bill because you wouldn't compromise with Democrats. Now, were at the place where were in a Democratic White House. You have to a compromise if you actually want this solution.
Unless Donald Trump, like Jake says, wins the White House, the Senate and the House --
TAPPER: Sixty seats.
ALLISON: Sixty votes or -- or contradict yourself, gets rid of the filibuster, like you said you won't do.
LANZA: I'd say you don't have to compromise because remember --
ALLISON: They won't get a bill.
LANZA: When Donald Trump started this conversation about the border seven years -- seven years ago, eight years ago, he ran for president, everybody said he was crazy. And now where do we have the Democratic nominee for president? She's almost me tooing everything that Donald Trump wants. She wants stricter border, border control. She wants -- she wants --
she doesn't -- she's not no longer talk about amnesty. She's no longer talking about pathway. She wants a border.
So by the very nature of us having this conservative conversation, we've moved electric to our position.
TAPPER: I don't -- I don't think that that's untrue. What Bryan just said. I mean, it is true that Kamala Harris has moved to the right on this issue.
"The New York Times" noted that Kamala Harris yesterday in her Univision town hall, walked a fine line on this issue. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When I am elected president, I will bring back that border security bill and I will sign it into law and do the work of focusing on what we must do to have an orderly and humane pathway, to earn citizenship for hardworking people. I think it is a false choice for people who would say, you do one or the other. I believe we must do both.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROCHA: Yeah, I mean exactly right. You know, this is very personal for me and I know there's a lot of immigrants out there. The majority of the people that worked for me in Washington, D.C. come from an immigrant background, is to have the largest Latino farm in the country. We get to do a lot of work with these organizations that are fighting every day and they don't agree with everything in that bill either. And I didn't agree with everything in that bill.
But two weeks ago, my business partner was sworn in as a U.S. citizen at a courthouse here, and he came here as a DACA recipient. We talk about this issue every day, and even him says sure, we should secure the border, but we should have a fair and equitable place for people to come like he came, even though he was under DACA to be a part of this. And that's what people miss on the Latino vote parts.
TAPPER: One other thing I want to ask you about, Ashley, is Trump in Detroit yesterday, said something about the auto industry. He was talking to the Detroit Economic Club, but then he said this referencing Vice President Kamala Harris.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Our whole country will end up being like Detroit if she's your president. You're going to have a mess on your hands.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: So, today, the Harris campaign released a new ad slamming Trump for what he said about Detroit in that narrated by the actor Courtney Vance. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COURTNEY VANCE, ACTOR: What Donald Trump doesn't understand or care to learn is that when he said --
TRUMP: Our whole country will end being like Detroit, if she's your president.
VANCE: -- that he should be so goddamn lucky.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: What do you -- what do you think Donald Trump is saying when he says the whole country is going to end up like Detroit?
ALLISON: I said it last night, I'll say it again. He said that it's going to end up like Black urban, overrun, crime-ridden cities, which is not the narrative of Detroit. Crime is down. There is a new economic boom.
Has it come back to the days where the auto industry was thriving in Detroit? No. But with pro-labor, pro-Chips legislation like Joe Biden, Detroit is coming back.
And so he is saying like you don't want a city like this where a lot of minorities are in our country.
ROCHA: A black version of the immigration argument.
ALLISON: It is.
ROCHA: It is, exactly.
TAPPER: We got much more to talk about. We're going to have more panel coming up.
But first, this note, Kamala Harris, we are told, will participate in a CNN town hall with voters on October 23rd. Anderson Cooper will moderate.
We have also invited Donald Trump to participate in a similar town hall. That invitation has yet to be accepted or rejected. We are holding out hope Mr. Trump will join us.
This hour, we're also covering the aftermath of Hurricane Milton from water rescues still happening today to the unbelievable stories of survival.
[16:15:04]
Next, hear from a man who hid is why as a tornado slammed right into his house.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
TAPPER: We're back in our national lead. You're looking at images of some heroes there. First responders dramatic scene like this, rescue of a 91-year-old woman near Tampa, Florida today, nearly 48 hours after hurricane Milton made landfall, the storm killed at least 16 people that we know of and left many homeless, many without power.
There is flooding all over in some areas, flooding waters are still rising. Crews have rescued more than 1,000 people as others deal with massive destruction.
CNN's Brian Todd is in Fort Pierce, Florida, which was hit hard by the deadly tornadoes spawn by the storm.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As rescue efforts continue across Florida, survivors still reeling from the destruction left by powerful Hurricane Milton.
[16:20:01]
In hard-hit St. Lucie County, Shane Ostrander his wife Nicole and their dog, had to scramble into a closet when a tornado hit them near Fort Pierce on Wednesday. He describes when the twisters slammed into their house.
SHANE OSTRANDER, ST. LUCIE COUNTY RESIDENT, LOST HOME IN TORNADO: Heard two bombs, boom, boom, hears ringing, insulation everywhere. It felt to me about like ten seconds, probably longer.
TODD: Shane says when he opened his closet door, he realized he had lost everything.
OSTRANDER: I walked the dog this morning and that's when it hits me like when I see the neighbors with terrible damage, this whole neighborhood has been devastated and I haven't even left the street yet.
TODD: Robin Longtin lives in the Spanish Lakes country club village neighborhood where at least six people died. She hunkered down and held on as a tornado tore off the roof of her mobile home. Robin was able to save her cats and to parakeets, but its still coming to grips with the loss of her home.
ROBIN LONGTIN, SPANISH LAKES COUNTRY CLUB VILLAGE RESIDENT, LOST HOME IN TORNADO: Devastating, scary definitely life-changing. Others in the same senior community could not escape.
Sixty-six-year-old Alejandro Alonzo's grandson tells CNN that Alejandro and his girlfriend were killed. The grandson describes Alejandro as an amazing grandfather and a motorcycle lover.
CRYSTAL COLEMAN, ST. LUCIE COUNTY RESIDENT, HOME DAMAGED BY TORNADO: It was literally a tornado was in my house. TODD: For those who survived, it's still surreal. This woman hid in her bathroom as a tornado tore off her roof.
COLEMAN: It was very life-threatening. I feel like I was about to die.
TODD: Even the county sheriff's building was not spared.
SHERIFF KEITH PEARSON, ST. LUCIE COUNTY, FLORIDA: As you can see here, it destroyed this building, crumbled the red iron metal, destroyed lots of for vehicles.
TODD: St. Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson told us the focus now is on rescues.
PEARSON: We're not going to stop until we're able to, you know, rescue or recover as many people as we can.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where's everybody at?
TODD: East of Tampa, rescuers wade through knee-high waters to evacuate people inside homes in Dover, guiding them with a rope one- by-one to safety?
A 91-year-old woman carried out of floodwaters in Lithia. This 77- year-old rode out the hurricane in his mobile home in St. Petersburg.
JERALD GILCHRIST, ST. PETERSBURG RESIDENT, RODE OUT HURRICANE MILTON AT HOME: For a few years that I got left, I'd like to stay here.
TODD: And others slowly picking up the pieces.
RALPH GENITO, VALRICO RESIDENT: I mean, I know it's terrible things, but I got start all over again. Yeah. I just everything I had, there's no good.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD (on camera): Now, our CNN teams have spoken to several residents here on the east coast of Florida and on the west coast of Florida who tell us that they are really rethinking the idea of living in this state anymore because of the severity of the storms. I had to residents here tell me they're interested in coming back and rebuilding at their current locations, but only if they can do it with stronger building materials.
And, Jake, to illustrate the horribly fickle and temperamental nature of these tornadoes, take a look at the house behind me with everything pretty much gone. And over here to my left, to your right, look at that, about 50 feet away. You see some damage to the roof, but otherwise, that house pretty much structurally sound, 50 feet is the difference between having a house and no house -- Jake.
TAPPER: Yeah. Brian Todd, thank you so much.
And if you want to help the victims of Hurricane Milton and Helene, CNN has a list of organizations on the ground in Florida, and you can find that at CNN.com/impact, CNN.com/impact.
Coming up, the courting of Black men in 2024 race. Does Donald Trump have as much support from this group as he claims to? CNN is asking voters that question, as former President Barack Obama makes a new impassioned plea trying to influence this race.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:27:31]
TAPPER: In the 2024 lead, former President Barack Obama is trying to reach men specifically, Black men, who he says are reluctant to support Vice President Kamala Harris, maybe because she's at least a woman, because that is the reason they say.
Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Speaking to men directly, part of it makes me think that -- well, you just aren't feeling the idea of having a woman as president. And so, now, you're thinking about sitting out or supporting somebody who has a history of denigrating you? That's not exactly right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: In our latest installment of all over the map, CNN's John King heads back to Milwaukee in battleground Wisconsin to check back in with Black voters and canvassers about why Harris is struggling to connect with some Black men.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANGELA LANG, BLACK LEADER: The latest polling we've seen has been within a percentage point.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Angela Lang is the boss here at Black leaders organizing for communities. She knows the hard math of Hillary Clinton's narrow 2016 Wisconsin loss, and what it took to deliver Joe Biden's narrow 2020 win.
Cautiously optimistic now, she rallies her team and runs the 2024 canvassing numbers.
LANG: You can't win a statewide election here without going through the heart of Milwaukee. And in some cases, that runs through this office and the work that our team does. But also we're seeing folks in heavily red areas that are getting together with other women at coffee shops without their husbands knowing, for example, and starting to have those conversations.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We got the most to lose right now.
KING: Off the charts support among women is critical for Harris.
When these canvassers encounter a Trump supporter, it is almost always a Black man.
LANG: One of the things that we've heard is people are like, well, I think I had more money in my pocket when Trump was in office because of the stimulus checks during the pandemic.
BRIAN MCMUTUARY, WISCONSIN VOTER: It's kind of hard to children. That's all you got.
KING: Brian McMutuary was a lifelong Democrat, but he voted for Trump in 2020. He's undecided, but leaning Trump this year.
MCMUTUARY: The cost of living, you know, gas, food prices, you know, grant is hard. You try to keep up, and trying to, you know, stay away from credit cards.
So what do you do today?
KING: McMutuary has two children, manages a McDonalds, disagrees with Trump on immigration and abortion, but likes his take on cryptocurrency and remembers being better off when Trump was president.
MCMUTUARY: I would have to say that the biggest difference is I think having experience.
[16:30:04]
KING: Plus, he says he worries Russia's Putin and China's Xi, wouldn't see Harris as an equal.
MCMUTUARY: They look in a man has been, you know, a leader. So that's like somewhat of a troubling issue.
KING: Do you have any problem with a woman president?
MCMUTUARY: Nope, not at all. Like I say, it's about doing the right thing for the country.
ERIC JONES, WISCONSIN VOTER: How can you take bigotry over job?
KING: Eric Jones, hears it all, when he stops for coffee at the barbershop and in his real estate business.
JONES: If I was a gambling man, I would probably put my money on -- on Harris. Things are getting better. The numbers are better. The energy is different.
KING: But an earlier job sometimes hurts the vice president.
JONES: It is black man. Law enforcement has not been kind to Black people historically district attorneys have not been kind to Black people historically.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Jake, you see a bit of a problem for Harris there. That's Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Think about if that carries over to Detroit, Michigan, what if it carries over to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Charlotte, North Carolina, Atlanta, Georgia?
Harris needs overwhelming support in the Black community, and she needs Black men, not just Black women.
That's why you saw that finger point from Barack Obama, the former president. You played right before the piece there. That's why Harris will address this issue head on herself next week, they're also looking for other surrogates, Barack Obama, more of Obama. They say, maybe some professional athletes, Harris know she has a problem and she's only got three weeks to fix it.
TAPPER: John King, thanks so much. Appreciate it. Fascinating stuff.
So I want to bring in former South Carolina state representative -- pardon me, former State Representative and CNN political commentator, Bakari Sellers.
And, Bakari, you just heard from John King when canvassers in Milwaukee encounter a Trump supporter, it is almost always they say a black man. Why do you think that is?
BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, first, I want to level set and make sure that we recognize that the second highest demographic of individuals voting for Democrats since 1972 have been African-American men, and they voted overwhelmingly between 80 and 95 percent for Democrats. And I don't expect that to change much in this election.
The question is, can Kamala Harris maximize that?
And, yes, I mean, look Democrats and Black men in particular are kind of tired of being talked to or talked at and there has to be someone who listens to the issues, who listens to the pain that they feel who listens to the experiences they go through. And then it's able to meet those issues with policy and I expect Kamala Harris to be able to do that, but it is a challenge because many Black men have felt left out of the process for decades.
TAPPER: Former President Obama held his first rally for Kamala Harris last night in Pittsburgh. He said this two men who might be thinking of supporting Donald Trump.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I'm sorry, gentlemen. I've noticed this, especially with some men, who seem to think Trump's behavior, the bullying and the putting people down is a sign of strength. I am here to tell you that is not what real strength is you also heard Obama say he thinks some men just aren't feeling the idea of having a woman as president, unquote. What do you think about that message to male voters? Do you think that's going to help win them over?
SELLERS: I mean, I think that there are message to be had along those lines. And that message is simply that look for all of us, we've had praying grandmothers who get on their knees every night and pray for our success, we've had mothers who've been there for us and giving us everything when they didn't have anything. We've had sisters look out for us and have us when we got knocked down. We've had black women throughout our whole life be there for us.
And so there's no reason to believe that a Black woman could not lead this country. And yeah, I think that you have to disabuse some individuals of the notion that a President Xi or Vladimir Putin is going to be able to stare down Kamala Harris. But if anybody knows, like, I know, you anymore really when no arguments against an AKA from Howard, and I think that people, the more that she's out there, the more surrogate she has talking and meeting that policy directly affecting the lives of African-American men is important.
And, look, the fact is, Jake, and John illustrated, this -- this is going to be the first election that comes down two black men in a very long time, if not, history. And if black men come out in ways that they have in the past, in ways like they did for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris would be president of the United States.
TAPPER: I want to play something that a fellow Democrat of yours, former Ohio State Senator Nina Turner said to CNN last night about this.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NINA TURNER (D), FORMER OHIO STATE SENATOR: Why are Black men being belittled in ways that no other voting group? Now, lot of love for former President Obama, but for him to single out black men is wrong?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: What's your reaction to that?
SELLERS: I'm not about to sit up here and go at and Nina Turner. But what I will say is that -- yeah, I mean, there is some sentiment out there that for a long period of time, white men and college educated white women in particular let down Hillary Clinton. White men -- particularly white men from certain demographics, from certain socioeconomic levels are not voting within their own self-interest. I mean, who is talking to them in this manner of castigating them?
But I believe Barack Obama came from a place of trying to support Kamala Harris and trying to make sure that we knew that it was okay to support a woman to be president of the United States. This is a healthy discussion and I'm glad that were having it at the end of the day, I'm glad that people are actually listening to the plight of black men because we've been yelling and screaming in these warning lights have been on for a very long period of time.
TAPPER: Bakari Sellers, always good to have you on. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it.
We're going to go back to Florida next to top state official helping to lead the response is standing by to update us on his efforts. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:40:17]
TAPPER: Back with more in our national lead, an incredible scenes playing out across the Tampa, Florida area. Parts of Florida still very much in search and rescue mode after Hurricane Milton caused a tornado outbreak. Catastrophic flooding and more.
Many residents who evacuated are now heading back home and something in cases they have no power, no water, no gas.
Let's bring in Jimmy Patronis. He's the Florida state fire marshal and CFO. He's in Pasco County, just north of Tampa.
And, jimmy, you were telling me during the break that you were down in St. Lucie County yesterday, you say it was incredibly sad. Tell us why.
JIMMY PATRONIS, FLORIDA CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER: Yeah. So you think about our response as a state and just the whole nation watching Hurricane Milton bearing down on Tampa and 3 million people. So we get fixated as the people in the state of Florida get fixed on landfall. But it was the storm outside the --
TAPPER: He froze up there for a second.
Jimmy Patronis, let's see if we can get him back but if we cannot -- he is not coming back. So we are going to squeeze in another break. And when we come back, hopefully Jimmy will be with us. Obviously, the weather situation in Florida remains fraught.
A waiting game that has the world on edge. CNN's on the ground in Iran and Lebanon, and in Israel. That's another story we're going to get to, next.
Stay here.
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[16:46:07]
TAPPER: Back with our world lead, just like in Gaza, concern is growing for the safety of U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon, as the Israel Defense Forces seek to destroy Hezbollah in Lebanon. Hezbollah, which is considered a terrorist group by the United States.
Today, Israel admitted it had struck a U.N. peacekeeping base in southern Lebanon seriously injuring at least one worker, according to the U.N. group there. They also say Israeli troops injured two other U.N. workers there on Thursday.
Listen to President Biden this afternoon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Are you asking Israel to stop hitting U.N. peacekeepers?
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Absolutely, positively.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Let's get straight to CNN's Nic Robertson in Tel Aviv and Fred Pleitgen in Iran's capital Tehran.
And, Nic, deliberate attacks on peacekeepers are a violation of international law. I don't know if these were deliberate or not. What are Israeli officials saying?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah, the IDF is saying that they had given today at least they had given the U.N. at the place that they targeted instructions a couple of hours before -- before the attack to actually shelter in a safe place.
The troops say that they came under an immediate threat from the vicinity of the U.N. base or part of the U.N. base, and they targeted the threat.
Now, it turned out after examination that the threat was actually 50 meters away from the U.N. base that they hit, but the injuries were quite serious. One of the soldiers received serious stomach injuries from shrapnel, had to be taken to hospital. Two Indonesian peacekeepers were hurt yesterday as well when IDF tank fire hit a surveillance tower at the base, they ran, they weren't so badly injured, and early this morning as well IDF bulldozers knocked down some reinforcements around another UNIFIL base at the border. The U.N.'s quick reaction force had to come out and bring them back under cover and to safety.
So it appears to be an escalating number of strikes in this particular area of the border, right at the south end of Lebanon and it's causing concern. Irish officials, U.N. peacekeeping official, Spanish prime minister, even Lloyd Austin, U.S. secretary defense called his counterpart here in Israel, Yoav Gallant and emphasize the importance of not attacking U.N. bases.
How much traction that gets in the past, the IDF will go after Hezbollah if they're hiding around UNIFIL bases. And that appears to be what they implied by the earlier accounting today.
TAPPER: And, Fred, all of this comes as Iran is bracing for Israel to retaliate for the massive missile attack against Israel by Iran last week. And you talked to some Iranian hardliners today. What did they tell you? FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I certainly did. We went to the main Friday prayers here in Tehran would use does have a lot of hardliners attending there and really the prayers were transcended by chants of death to America and death to Israel, which really happened quite frequently while we were inside that prayer hall there.
The other thing that really came to our attention was that there was a gigantic poster of the killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who, of course, was killed in Israeli airstrike. And really within the sermons that we heard there, Israel's possible retaliation was definitely left, right, and the centers and the Iranian saying that there would be what they called a crushing blow on their part if the Israelis strike Iranian territory.
And we did speak to some people afterwards. Here's what they had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): They will see a very harsh response from the IRGC, the army, and the people of Iran be sure that this will happen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Israel has experienced this before. And if they repeat this experience, they will definitely be destroyed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): They are brutally overseeing the bloodshed of innocent children, which is taking place on both America and Israel have a share in this crime.
[16:50:03]
They should overthrow the leadership of their countries.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN: There are some folks that we spoke to today at Friday prayers in Tehran. At the same time, Iranian leaders continuing, can really only be called a diplomatic blitz here in the region. Today, Iran's new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, was in Turkmenistan where he met with one of the U.S.'s biggest adversaries, Vladimir Putin of Russia, both men there said that the cooperation between their two countries was expanding not just in the economic sphere and culture's sphere, but certainly also in the military technical sphere as Vladimir Putin has put it, so many times.
Obviously, the U.S. has in the past accused Iran of giving the Russians drones and now also ballistic missiles, which they appear to be using in Ukraine, even though the Iranians still deny that. Nevertheless, both countries are saying they want to deepen those ties.
At the same time, the Iranians coming out once again with a warning for Israel saying that there would be a crushing blow, depending on what the Israeli strike -- Jake.
TAPPER: Nic, what about to show our viewers a video that's hard to watch.
It's the aftermath of an Israeli strike on a school turned shelter in central Gaza yesterday. Local authorities there, which are obviously run by Hamas, killed -- say that the 28 people were killed. The Palestine Red Crescent Society says 28 people were killed as well.
In northern Gaza, the United Nations says no food has entered since the beginning of the month. Give us a sense of what it is like in Gaza right now.
ROBERTSON: Yeah, the north seems to be undergoing a renewed IDF offensive. About 400,000 people are under evacuation orders. Hospitals in the north say they're running out of fuel that they can't keep the life-support in the ICUs going in that people but will die when the generators cut out. There also say its not safe for them to evacuate from the hospitals as they have been told to do. It's a very bleak picture and bleak enough for us officials to warn Israeli counterparts that they need to abide by international humanitarian law.
And the aftermath of some of those strikes absolutely devastating inside a hospital there and girl 13-years-old asking the doctor if she was going to live the pictures that pretty horrific -- Jake.
TAPPER: All right. Nic Robertson in Tel Aviv, Fred Pleitgen in Tehran, thanks to both you.
In our national lead, the 23 people who were trapped underground in a Colorado tourist attraction or former gold mine. Some 1,000 feet underground are now safe and accounted for. Officials say one person did die in the incident.
CNN's Lucy Kafanov is on the ground in Cripple Creek.
And, Lucy, this was due to an elevator malfunction, I'm told. What have you learned?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jake, the small mountain community now grieving the loss of one of their own, the victim of last night's accident named as 46-year-old Patrick Weir, a tour guide worked at the mine, a father of a seven-year-old, a former airman.
Now the details of the cause of death, part of an ongoing investigation. We have been told that the incident occurred 500 feet from the surface. There was a, quote, some kind of an incident with the doors of the elevator and that that point something went wrong. The elevator the door we know was crushed.
The sheriff describing the victim as a hero.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SHERIFF: My feelings are is that he was attempting to make everybody safe. Now, I don't know what occurred though. I think our investigation will come out with that. But I do know that for us and what it looks like that he may have been a hero from the beginning.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAFANOV: Now, Jake, you can likely see that white structure behind me. That is the top of the thousand foot mine shaft. The only entry down as a cage like mine elevator, its a two-minute write down your packed very tightly inside. At the time of the incident, there was a group of 12 people at the bottom of the mine and a second group was inside that elevator. That second group included the victim, 11 others, including two children around 13 years of age.
They were rescued right away. Four people had minor injuries and then the authority scrambled to determine whether the elevator was safe enough to use to rescue the other group at the bottom of the mine.
That group was stuck for six hours. They had water. They had blankets, they had chairs. They were not told about the death in order to keep everyone calm, all they knew is that there was an elevator issue.
Now, authorities are looking at the possibility of a -- or were looking at the possibility of a rope rescue. But what the mine shaft nearly the height of the empire state building that obviously comes with its own risks.
Eventually, they determined that the elevator was safe to use. They were able to do the rescue, four people at a time. By 8:00 p.m. everyone was aboveground. They were above the surface. They asked for pizza that was waiting for them. As one official described at a happy ending to an otherwise tragic day -- Jake.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[16:55:04]
TAPPER: All right. Lucy Kafanov in Teller County, Colorado, thank you so much.
This is a big day in the 2024 presidential race. Both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are campaigning out west. There are messages to voters there 25 days out from Election Day.
Plus, the question asked repeatedly of Trumps running mate, Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio, that he repeatedly refused to give a straight answer to. We'll tell you what it is, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.
This hour, ongoing efforts to save lives two days after Hurricane Milton slammed into Florida. Ahead, why the waters are still rising? And FEMA's new plan to combat fraud and scams and get people to help they need.
Plus the movie, the Trump campaign calls election interference.
