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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Trump Holds Latino Roundtable In Miami; Charlamagne Laughs At Lara Trump Claiming Fmr. Pres. Isn't Racist; Sanders To Join Livestream In Push To Reach Young Male Voters; Walz Defends Cheneys' Support To Jon Stewart; Rep. Maxwell Frost, (D-FL), Is Interviewed About Latino Voters, Black Voters; Harris, Trump Ramp Up Outreach To Latino Voters; Brand New Interview With Kamala Harris; U.N. Staff In Northern Gaza Say The "Smell Of Death Is Everywhere"; Judge Orders Giuliani To Surrender Luxury Items, Penthouse; Former CEO Of Abercrombie & Fitch Indicted. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired October 22, 2024 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: And leading this hour, we're only 14 days. That's right, two weeks from Election Day, and today, both candidates are making their pitch to undecided Latino voters. Let's go straight to Detroit, Michigan. We're seeing as Jeff Zeleny is ahead of Obama's second rally of the day for Harris.

Jeff, is Vice President Harris, not on the campaign trail at all today?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Jake, she is doing interviews today back in Washington at the Naval Observatory, the vice president's residence, but she has a parade of surrogates leading with former President Barack Obama. He just finished his speech in Wisconsin, where early voting is underway starting today, one more state where Election Day is every day, some 16 million people have voted across the country. Election Day also underway in Michigan here, but the former president will be making his way here. There's already a very large crowd gathering here in Detroit, but he made the case just a short time ago about why this election matters more than others.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, 44TH U.S. PRESIDENT: And elections really do matter. Who you vote for matters. So whether this election is making you feel excited or scared or hopeful or frustrated or anything in between, do not sit back and hope for the best.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So the former president will actually be on the campaign trail for the first time tomorrow in Georgia with Vice President Kamala Harris. They will be joined by Bruce Springsteen. Tonight, I'm told he will be introduced by Eminem, of course, Detroit's own, and he has had some very strong words to say about Donald Trump over the years. We will see what he says today. But Jake, two weeks before Election Day, yes. That's before the end of the votes, but it is already Election Day here in Michigan and in so many states across the country.

TAPPER: Jeff, before heading back to North Carolina for a second straight day of campaigning, Trump was in Miami today holding a round table courting Latino supporters. How is Trump trying to appeal to that critical voting block?

ZELENY: Jake, once again, the former president is really, you know, repeating much of that dark rhetoric about immigration, talking about, you know, the dangers and the ills that immigrants do to this country, again, trying to make this close of this campaign as one about fear, trying to instill fear about immigration and immigrants. This is what he said at that event in Miami.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I really think that the biggest problem this country has is what they've allowed to happen to us on the border. They've allowed our country to be destroyed. They're allowing 1000s of murderers and drug dealers and terrorists and people from mental institutions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So Jake, of course, that is hardly the full picture of immigration, but it was the former president who urged Republicans in Congress to not go forward with any type of immigration measures during this Congress. But he believes it's a winning issue electorally speaking, even when he's trying to court Latino voters.

Jake, in the closing stretch of this campaign, there is no doubt Latino voters, African-American voters, are at the center of both campaigns pitches. Clearly that has won a thing here in Detroit. The Black vote is absolutely critical to Harris' candidacy. Not just whether she win it, of course she will, but the strength in which she does.

But the former president going back to North Carolina tonight, Jake, that's very interesting. That is the state of course he won four years ago. It's his second day in a row campaigning in North Carolina. Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Jeff Zeleny in Detroit, Michigan, thanks so much. My panel joins me now.

Margie, let me just ask you about this as appeal to Latino voters, why are they so up to grabs -- up for grabs. And what do you think about Mr. Trump, President Trump using language like that at an event for Latino voters. Is there a risk of offending them? Or do a lot of Latino voters who came here legally agree?

MARGIE OMERO, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, it would certainly seem inauthentic if all of a sudden he didn't talk like that, because that's the language he's been using all this time. If he is defined by any issue, it's the way he talks about immigration and specifically about Latinos. I think it's important, Latino voters have not been a monolith, and they are not this election cycle. And there are gender differences, educational differences, differences by country of origin, whether your parents were born here. And when you look at the polls of Latinos, they are all over the place.

There are polls where Trump is up. There are polls like the one done by voter Latino a couple days ago where Harris is up. So it really varies. And is the survey offer an version in Spanish, like, how are they reaching, how are they identifying Latinos when they try to over sample? Is there a large enough sample?

So, there's a lot of bouncing around when it comes to how we survey Latinos. But when you ask specifically about how Trump talks, there was something in the times when Trump talks about immigration, is he talking about you? And for Latinos who were born in the United States, they say he's not talking about me. But for Latinos who were born outside the United States, they're divided. Half of them say, yes, I think he might be talking about me.

So, it really varies on the audience, but at least. I guess if you could give him something, he's using the same kind of language he uses everywhere.

[17:05:03]

TAPPER: So it's authentic, at the very least. What's your take?

BRYAN LANZA, SENIOR ADVISER, TRUMP 2024 CAMPAIGN: Listen, I come from California. I remember Pete Wilson talking about Proposition 187 where the Democratic Party at that point were able to blur the lines and say Republicans were talking about all immigrants. Donald Trump's pretty clear in his message. He's clearly talking about illegal immigrants, regardless of what the media tries to say, and legal immigrants, my family who come here, we want safe borders. You know --

TAPPER: Where did your family come from?

LANZA: Mexico and Bolivia.

TAPPER: OK.

LANZA: And so they want safe borders. And they're from California, we -- I'm sure we have some people in my family that are of questionable status over the years, but at the end of the day, they're falling in simple places like, we want order, we want structure, and we want a normal process to come in, and we just haven't seen that last 25 years. And Donald Trump is actually speaking to a process that just doesn't open the borders, and that's appealing to Democrats and Republicans.

TAPPER: We've talked about how both candidates Harris and Trump and their vice presidential candidates are going wherever, going where the votes are, podcasts, YouTube channels, et cetera. And to be clear, I have no problem with that.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, BLOOMBERG POLITICAL & POLICY COLUMNIST: Right. TAPPER: People think that old mainstream anchors care about that. No, great, go where the voters are. Lara Trump -- their surrogates are doing it too. Lara Trump, the president's daughter in law, former president's daughter in law, was on with Charlamagne tha God yesterday, and it got a little contentious. Let me run a little bit of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARA TRUMP, RNC CO-CHAIR: Donald Trump really was very beneficial to the Black community when he was in the White House. I will say I've never seen this man say a racist thing. I think the attacks are fairly -- why is that funny, Charlamagne?

CHARLAMAGNA THE GOD, AMERICAN RADIO HOST: I'm just -- it's hysterical. But I mean --

L. TRUMP: But, no Charlamagne --

CHARLAMAGNA THE GOD: -- that like the people act like there's no such thing as Google or we don't have T.V., radio.

L. TRUMP: Well, is it that you think that he said?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: He's obviously said things that lot of African Americans found racist.

HENDERSON: Yes, it wasn't a lot of white Americans found racist as well. Listen, I think Charlamagne tha God has done a great job during this cycle. He obviously interviewed Kamala Harris, I'll ask round he's interviewing Lara Trump. It is a good question in terms of how much of the Black vote will show up, and what percentage of the Black vote in places like Detroit and Philly and Milwaukee will turn out for Kamala Harris, she is overwhelmingly going to get Black men. She's going to get Black women as well. But we have seen Donald Trump has been able to eat into some of that support.

News flash, there are Black people who are Republicans, right?

TAPPER: Right.

HENDERSON: There have always been Black people who have been Republicans, and those folks will turn out for Donald Trump. I think that the question is margins. I don't think Lara Trump is probably the best surrogate to be speaking --

TAPPER: To Charlamagne the God?

HENDERSON: -- to Charlamagne tha God about what Donald Trump, daddy Donald Trump, has done for the Black community. So that probably was a bit of a misfire in terms of who they sent out there. Byron Donalds is probably somebody better. Tim Scott probably somebody better as well. But there she was.

It was contentious, and she was disingenuous about some of the things that Donald Trump has said about Black folks.

TAPPER: We had Dan Pfeiffer on earlier, I don't know if you heard him, but he was talking about how every day Donald Trump sits down with a YouTuber, and that's a really good way to get at that demographic of young men, millennial men, Gen Z man. I live with a Gen Z man, my 15- year-old boy, Jack, and I don't know that any Democrats have any access to him at all, through any of the ways that that he, you know, games or whatever. I just don't think they're even coming in. Bernie Sanders is participating in a live stream tonight, I think, on Discord with two incredibly popular YouTube streamers, Pokimane and Valkyrae, which obviously I've heard of neither of them, but I'm sure they're both much more popular than me in a million different ways. Is that smart?

OMERO: Yes, it's not just for young men, for young voters overall.

TAPPER: Yes.

OMERO: Because, I mean, think of the platforms. I mean, people are consuming things on all kinds of different platforms. And you can't do a traditional ad on Tiktok where a lot of younger folks are so you have to find other ways. They're really attuned to whether or not you're being genuine and authentic. I actually, I'm dressed up today because I spoke to a seventh grade class about politics --

TAPPER: Oh, I thought it was for the show.

OMERO: No, it was my daughter's class. And so, she -- they what they're doing, videos about getting people to vote. I'm like, what are you doing? They're like, well, we're doing a viral dance, we're doing a rap, we're doing a skit, we're doing a song. Like, that's how they get across their message to their friends.

TAPPER: So another way is of Governor Tim Walz, Kamala Harris' running mate, went on Jon Stewart last night. Let's play a little bit of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JON STEWART, HOST, "THE DAILY SHOW": The Cheney thing, do we really have to do that?

GOV. TIM WALZ, (D-MN) VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The Constitutional piece --

STEWART: Yes.

WALZ: -- there are a lot of people out there. I think Liz Cheney and Dick Cheney give permission to those folks who want to find a reason to do the right thing. It doesn't mean they agree with this. We're not going to take their foreign policy decisions and discussions, you know, and implement those.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: What do you think? LANZA: I think the more outlets, the better. I think the reality is, is if you're watching cable television, you probably decided who you're going to vote for. So you need those audiences. You need those mass audiences of undecided voters. And they very much are the podcast space.

They reach so many people. There's a lot of undecided voters. We've polled them. We focus with them over the years. That's the people you need be talking to the closer you get to election, especially if you're trying to turn out low propensity, you know, young male voters under 20, under 35, it's going to be the podcast way, because cable television, everybody's made up their mind when they watch T.V. already.

[17:10:11]

TAPPER: But also, by the way, just as an observation, Jon Stewart there is giving voice to something that I've been waiting for --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

TAPPER: -- a progressive or a Democrat to say --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To seek a deal.

TAPPER: -- ever since Liz Cheney came out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

TAPPER: And there he is. Good on him for doing it. Good on Tim Walz for giving the answer. But then again, Tim Walz hasn't done the show in quite some time.

Thanks to all of you.

Don't miss CNN's town hall with Vice President Harris. That's tomorrow night. It's going to be moderated by Anderson Cooper at 9:00 p.m. Eastern in Delco, one of the four collar counties around my beloved Philadelphia. I'll be here to help lead analysis before and after the town hall. That's tomorrow night right here on CNN.

Coming up next, the CNN investigation into deceptive political fundraising targeting seniors, at times, duping them out of 1000s of dollars, sometimes their life savings. Plus, a judge orders Rudy Giuliani to turn over all his valuable possessions to the two women he defamed. What that includes, what it does not include, and what comes next for the man once known as America's mayor.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:15:10]

TAPPER: And we're back with our 2024 lead and more on the outreach from both the Harris and Trump campaign to Latino voters. We talked earlier about what Donald Trump told the Latino roundtable today. But Vice President Kamala Harris also with major outreach today, including new economic proposals targeting Latino men, with a plan that includes creating training programs for career advancement, getting rid of college degree requirements for some federal jobs, providing forgivable loans for business owners, increasing home ownership.

To give us a perspective into the Harris campaign strategy, I want to bring in Democratic Congressman Maxwell Frost of Florida, the youngest member of Congress. You're still the youngest member of Congress, right, Congressman, like, I'm not sure if that's changed in the last year or so.

REP. MAXWELL FROST (D-FL): Yes, still the youngest member.

TAPPER: OK.

FROST: Hopefully that changes a few years.

TAPPER: So you have Latino heritage. What do you think about her plan? And do you think it's a little late? Two weeks until Election Day, she releases an economic plan for Latino men.

FROST: Absolutely not. My number one, I think it's never too late to step out and say, look, to a specific constituency I hear you, and here's a plan how we're going to specifically help you and help your families as well. Because what people need to realize is that when the vice president puts out a platform to help Latino men, it's not just a platform that's helping Latino men, but Latino families across the entire country.

And the thing I love about this platform is it doesn't view our struggles through one lens. They've used it through multiple whether you want to start a business, whether you are working in the trades, whether you're looking at the cost of housing and making sure that we can buy a home, because that shows stability. She's really seen it across the spectrum, and that really shows the difference between a leader who wants to talk at people and a leader that wants to listen. And they literally got information from door knocking, from round tables, from experts all around the country to put this together. And so, I think it's a great proposal.

I think it's going to go a long way, especially as you have a group of undecided Latino men voters who are going to be on the internet searching what Donald Trump has to say about you, vis a vis, you know, poisoning the blood of this nation, versus someone like Kamala Harris, who actually has a plan to help you and help your family.

TAPPER: So former President Obama is out on the campaign trail for Harris. We ran some of his rally in Madison, Wisconsin, live. The Trump campaign and the Black Men for Trump Advisory Board held a call ahead of President Obama's remarks in Wisconsin and Michigan. Take a listen to what was said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KWAME KILPATRICK, FORMER MAYOR OF DETROIT: Kamala Harris is asking for our vote, and we say Barack Obama's can't talk us into that. ANTON DANIELS, ENTREPRENEUR: We look at him as a sim. We look at him as a panderer. We don't look at him and endear ourselves to him as much as the older generation does.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So there's two African American men saying that they're not really enamored with President Obama. What are your -- what's your response?

FROST: Well, I mean, I mean, it's a Trump call, so obviously they're going to find anything they can to make fun of, poke fun at the president, or any surrogates that are out there for the vice president. And all you got to do is, number one, the overwhelming majority of Black men are going to end up voting for Kamala Harris, not because we expect it, not because we're taking them for granted, but because she's the only one actually putting together an agenda for them.

My question to those gentlemen and anyone who was on that call is, where's Trump's plan for Black men? Where's Trump's plan? Because the thing with this guy is he doesn't have any plans for our country. His entire campaign is about saying no to the things Kamala Harris is talking about. And for me, for Black men, for people in this country, everybody, this has to be more than just opposing somebody or opposing an idea as to be, what are you for, not what are you against?

And so, they can poke fun at Obama all they want. He's on the trail because he wants to get something done and make sure that we let Kamala Harris. My question to them is, what does Trump have to show for Black men? What's his plan for our family? What's his plan for this country?

Because I've heard nothing.

TAPPER: Congressman Maxwell Frost of Florida, thank you so much. Appreciate your time. Good to see you again.

I want to bring back the panel, because we have the very first clip from Kamala Harris's interview with NBC News. Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HALLIE JACKSON, NBC NEWS ANCHOR: What is your plan if he does that again in two weeks?

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, let me say this, we've got two weeks to go, and I'm very much grounded in the present, in terms of the task at hand, and we will deal with election night and the days after as they come, and we have the resources and the expertise and the focus on that as well.

JACKSON: So you want teams ready to go. Is that what you're saying? Are you thinking about that as a possibility?

HARRIS: Of course. This is a person, Donald Trump, who tried to undo the -- a free and fair election, who still denies the will of the people, who incited a violent mob to attack the United States Capitol and 140 law enforcement officers were attacked. Some were killed. This is a serious matter. The American people are at this point, two weeks out being presented with a very, very serious decision about what will be the future of our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[17:20:09]

TAPPER: So that's Hallie Jackson from NBC asking Vice President Kamala Harris, what's her plan if President Trump comes out on election night and as he did in 2020, just declares victory when, obviously, votes are still being counted as in -- as is anticipated, the votes will still be counted.

HENDERSON: Yes, you know it's a likelihood. I mean, Donald Trump is already sowing doubts in this -- in the outcome of this election. He's been doing that for many, many months, and you can anticipate some mischief, I think, on election night, as the votes are being counted, him declaring victory, even though he isn't the winner, and even if he loses, I'm sure he will say that he was the real winner. This is a real scary, I think, prospect for a lot of Americans to have sort of a repeat of what happened in 2020 not only on January 6, but just violence in the street because Donald Trump, he is chumming the waters with all of this talk of illegal voting and the idea that this is going to be still one from him again.

TAPPER: All right, thanks to one and all for being here. Voters across the U.S. say they're getting sick of the constant text messages from candidates asking them to donate to their political campaigns. The messages come at an excessive, even alarming pace and make it seem as though the need for money is urgent, but a new CNN analysis of campaign finance data found that hundreds of elderly Americans, some of them with dementia and other cognitive impairments, have been deceived by political fundraisers giving away far more money than they ever intended. Kyung Lah has been investigating the story for us.

And Kyung these people were essentially manipulated into giving away, in some cases, their life savings.

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is what our analysis found, Jake. Our investigative team reviewed more than 1000 public reports and complaints. And we found deceptive political fundraising by Republicans and Democrats has victimized hundreds of elderly Americans, misleading them into donating far more than they attended through the online platforms called WinRed and ActBlue and all of this adds up very quickly. We were able to sample just 52 elderly donors, many suffer from dementia or cognitive decline, and that group gave away more than $6 million of their life savings, the majority to Donald Trump and other Republican candidates. I want you to meet one of the families we spoke with, the Benjamins (ph) and 81- year-old Richard Benjamin, who has dementia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MICHELLE GOLDNER, FATHER LOST LIFE SAVINGS THROUGH POLITICAL DONATIONS: He had essentially put himself $50,000 in debt after he had given them his life savings.

JASON BENJAMIN, FATHER LOST LIFE SAVINGS THROUGH POLITICAL DONATIONS: So he made more than 100 donations in one day.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My gosh.

BENJAMIN: So Dad, do you remember giving all these donations?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: WinRed, boy, there was a lot of them. WinRed ones.

BENJAMIN: When we looked at his phone, his phone told the whole story, because he would get --

GOLDNER: Dozens.

BENJAMIN: -- dozens of text messages a day.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was dealing with President Trump, and so it came up that when I -- when they wanted to find out what I was doing, that's what I put in.

BENJAMIN: He really, in his heart, believed that Donald Trump and Donald Trump Jr. and other politicians were personally reaching out to him.

GOLDNER: He just didn't have the capacity to understand what it was that he was actually doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH: Ultimately, Mr. Benjamin gave away more than $80,000 of his life savings in political donations. WinRed did not reply to our request for Congress comment, but the Trump campaign did, saying that it notifies donors before processing recurring donations and has staff on hand to help with refunds and cancelations. As far as ActBlue, they did send us a statement saying it has a service team to help donors and accommodates as many refunds as possible beyond a 90-day refund window if there are signs of cognitive decline.

And Jake, we do have our full investigation on cnn.com. It includes how you can quickly check if someone you love has been donating on these platforms, Jake.

TAPPER: May they give that money back to that man. That's just wrong. Kyung Lah, thanks so much.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Israel today meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Are they any closer to reaching a plan for a cease fire in Gaza and the return of those innocent hostages? Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:28:53]

TAPPER: Our world lead starts in northern Gaza today where, quote, "The smell of death is everywhere," unquote, according to United Nations staff. There are two weeks of relentless Israeli air strikes against the terrorist group Hezbollah have left severe aid and food shortages in Lebanon as Israel continues its effort to wipe out Hamas. I'm sorry Hamas, not Hezbollah, in response to the October 7 terrorist attack. While in southern Gaza, CNN is learning that a three year old boy was killed by air dropped aid over the weekend according to his family. The United Arab Emirates flag was stamped on the crates dropped that day.

CNN's Jeremy diamond is in Tel Aviv tonight.

Jeremy, did U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, bring up this horrific humanitarian situation in Gaza today during his meeting with Netanyahu?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: He certainly did, Jake. Secretary Blinken was focused on a range of issues during this meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu, which lasted over two and a half hours. Of course, there was the topic of seizing this opportunity in the wake of the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar to end the war in Gaza and bring the hostages home. Netanyahu offering some lip service to that idea in a statement released after the meeting, but certainly didn't seem quite as enthusiastic about the possibility as U.S. officials do. But there's no doubt that the humanitarian situation in Gaza was a prominent focus of that meeting of between the Israeli Prime Minister and Secretary Blinken.

[17:30:18]

As U.S. Officials including Blinken urged Netanyahu to take more steps to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Making clear that while they have seen some progress from Israeli officials that much more still remains to be done. And that's because over the course of this last month, as we have seen Israel mount this renewed offensive in Northern Gaza, almost no aid has actually made it into the Gaza Strip.

Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of the few remaining functioning hospitals in Northern Gaza is now reporting that they are running out of basic medical supplies, blood units as well. And water is also now not getting into Jabalia, which has been the focus of Israeli military activity over the course of the last couple of weeks.

Interestingly, U.S. officials also raised this island plan with Israeli officials. This is the plan that supposedly Israeli officials had considered but which they claim not to have adopted. That would call for some of the steps that we're seeing happen right now, laying siege to Northern Gaza. Effectively urging the civilian population to empty out and then trying to kind of suck Hamas dry through -- through this siege tactics.

But according to a senior U.S. official, Israeli officials including the Israeli Prime Minister actually denied that they were carrying out this island plan. U.S. officials urge them to publicly deny it but we have yet -- not yet to see Israeli officials take that step.

TAPPER: Jeremy in Beirut in Lebanon, north of Israel, an Israeli strike outside Lebanon's largest public hospital killed at least 18 people, according to Lebanon -- Lebanon's Health Ministry, incording -- including four children. Israel says that this was Hezbollah terrorist site. What are you hearing?

DIAMOND: Yes. That's right. I -- I mean we are just watching as the Israeli strikes in Beirut are continuing to ramp up. And we are seeing the range of targets beginning to expand as well from the Israeli military stand point. Yesterday was financial institutions that they said were linked to Hezbollah. Today a strike very close to a hospital across the street with shrapnel actually hit -- striking that hospital itself.

And this was in an area that was not listed as an evacuation zone by the Israeli military. Eighteen people were killed including four children who one eye witness said had been playing in a courtyard just moments before this strike occurred and this eye witness described seeing these bodies of these children torn to pieces. We also saw a two -- a -- a multi-storey buildings that were flattened in an Israeli strike in Southern Beirut. That strike -- there was an evacuation warning but it came just a half hour before those bombs actually hit those buildings.

The Israeli military clearly is pursuing a strategy of not only just degrading Hezbollah military but also very much trying to shake the bonds that Hezbollah has with the Shia community in Lebanon. And also just with Lebanese society at large, trying to bring Lebanese societal and political pressure to bear on Hezbollah in the hopes that that leads Hezbollah to more concessions in this ceasefire negotiations.

We know that Amos Hochstein, President Biden's special envoy on this issue has been in Beirut pressing for a tougher enforcement conditions for Resolution 1701 which was the resolution implemented after the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel, remains to be seen if those steps or things that Hezbollah will agree to. Jake?

TAPPER: All right. CNN's Jeremy Diamond in Tel Aviv, thanks so much.

[17:33:49]

The former CEO of Abercrombie, indicted on sex trafficking and international prostitution charges. How prosecutors say he took advantage of young aspiring -- aspiring models who wanted to work for the company. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Our Law and Justice Lead now, Rudy Giuliani getting hit where it hurts a federal judge ordering the former Trump attorney hand over his Manhattan penthouse and his luxury possessions, some of which are a huge deal to him. The soon to be owners of those items, the two Georgia election workers whom he defamed. All of this part of a $150 million judgment against Rudy Giuliani for spreading false election claims against those two innocent women. CNN's senior crime and justice report Katelyn Polantz has more details. Katelyn how does this transfer of goods even work?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, Jake, it's under the court order that Rudy Giuliani just has to turn over this stuff to Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss and their lawyers. It's going to go into what's called a receivership where they're going to be able to take all of these items and sell them off. So, there's that co-op penthouse apartment on the upper eastside of Manhattan. That's going to go into the receivership so they can sell it for a couple million dollars. He had it listed earlier this year for $6.5 million -- $6 million for selling it.

And then, there's a lot of other expensive things that Rudy Giuliani has, 26 luxury watches, a Mercedes Benz sports car once owned by Lauren Bacall, SIGNED baseball gear like a Joe DiMaggio jersey. That's going to get to be sold at auction houses. And then Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss will be able to get that money. Another one here that they're going to be able collect on or try to collect, is $2 million that Rudy Giuliani says he was never paid by Donald Trump and his 2020 campaign for putting out the election disinformation that ultimately led to this judgment against him.

So Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss are going to try and get those attorney fees that Giuliani says he is still owed. Not everything is figured out here yet though, Jake. There is still a condo in Palm Beach that Giuliani is trying to hold onto that's worth a couple million. And four Yankees World Series rings that he says he gave to his son. There's going to be a court hearing next Monday. But he's got seven days to get all of the rest of the items that I just walked through over to Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss. Their attorney says it is a powerful message to send for the price to pay for people who spread disinformation.

[17:40:27]

TAPPER: Yes. Those Yankees World Series rings, hard earned from his days as a southpaw. Katelyn Polantz thanks so much. Appreciate it.

Also in our Law and Justice Lead today, the former CEO of Abercrombie and Fitch has been arrested on charges related to sex trafficking. The allegations against Mike Jeffries and two of his associates date from 2008 to 2015 when allegedly they would recruit men who wanted to be models and then forced them to participate in so called sex events as part of their try outs for the jobs. CNN's Brynn Gingras is digging into the indictment.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Oozing sex and style and their edgy and sometimes criticized advertising, Abercrombie & Fitch soared in popularity in the early 2000s. Michael Jeffries who led the company at that time, now federally charged in a sex trafficking and prostitution scheme. Prosecutors accusing the former CEO of targeting men, some aspiring models who wanted to work for the brand. BREON PEACE, U.S. ATTORNEY, EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: The potential of an opportunity at Abercrombie to be in a ad or things like that were one of some of the carrots that I think people perceived as what they would achieve by participating in this activity.

GINGRAS (voice-over): The 16-count indictment alleges 80-year-old Jeffries, his romantic partner, Matthew Smith, and a third man, James Jacobson, worked together to recruit dozens of men in the U.S. and abroad, often paying them to attend sex events.

PEACE: Jeffries, Smith and Jacobson used force, fraud and coercion to traffic those men for their own sexual gratification.

GINGRAS (voice-over): The victims were physically groomed, forced to sign non-disclosure agreements and then pressured to drink, take drugs like muscle relaxers and Viagra before performing sexual acts on Jeffries and Smith, the indictment reads.

PEACE: We think we have a lot of evidence that corroborates the charges in this case.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was viewed as a form -- of genius.

GINGRAS (voice-over): Allegations like those detailed in the charges begin bubbling a year ago, following the release of the BBC documentary, "The Dark Side of Cool."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened to me changed my life and not for the better.

GINGRAS (voice-over): What soon followed, a civil lawsuit filed by dozens of men who said they were preyed upon by Jeffries and an investigation which led to the new charges. At the time, Abercrombie & Fitch under new leadership called the claims appalling and disgusting and were already dealing with another scandal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Abercrombie & Fitch said we go after the cool kids.

GINGRAS (voice-over): After this Netflix documentary, accused the brand of rampant racism and discrimination in its hiring process, also while Jeffries was at the helm. In a statement to CNN, Jeffries and Smith's attorneys saying they will respond to the new allegations in the court room.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GINGRAS (on camera): And Jeffries was released on $10 million bond, Jake, after he was arrested in Florida this morning. He and his two co-defendants are going to appear in court, here in New York on Friday. Jake?

TAPPER: All right, Brynn Gingras thanks so much. Appreciate it.

[17:43:28] It's that time of the year. Fall allergy season, and for so many of us including yours truly, that means sneezing and coughing and itchy watery eyes. Coming up next, the doctor is in. Sanjay Gupta to break down everything you need to know. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: In our Health Lead, the leaves are changing, the nights are cooling. And even though it's about 80 degrees here in D.C. this afternoon, in general, it's safe to say that autumn is in the air. But so are a lot of other things and as too many of us know fall allergies are something to sneeze at. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta's on call for us right now. Sanjay, do you have any advice that might help our viewers which in -- and also your -- your friendly neighborhood anchorman, Jake Tapper, here sneeze less. I'm sneezing a lot.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, you know, I mean there's -- there's lots of options for this. But I -- I will tell you first of all, it is interesting if you think it's getting a little bit worse, it probably is. It -- it's interesting as the weather has sort of warmed, I think the headline is that frost, the -- the initial frost that we have every year has been delayed and that's led to a lot more ragweed in particular but other pollens as well.

The plants just have longer to basically grow and -- and spread that pollen. The allergy season starts earlier. It ends later. And take -- take a look at this map, Jake. This is really interesting because these are places where you're seeing an increase in the length overall of fall allergy season. Which has always been a thing but it's usually a defined period. It's now really starting to extend. In Reno for example, it's almost three months longer now.

At some point the entire year will essentially be allergy season if things continue the way that they are. The prediction is within the next 75 years, by the end of the century roughly there's going to be about 200 percent more pollen in the air. So, you know, again, fall allergy season's always been a thing but it's getting longer and stronger overtime, Jake.

TAPPER: How can somebody tell the difference between allergies and a cold?

GUPTA: Let -- let -- let me -- I get this question a lot and -- and -- and let me try to make this as simple as possible. I put together this graphic for you to sort of take a look at. There's a lot of overlap of symptoms. But when you look at this, everything in the left hand of the screen can appear both with allergies and with a viral infection, a cold or a flu or something like that.

[17:50:11]

What is different though is -- the things that happen pretty exclusively with the viral infection and a fever in particular. So, you know, get out the thermometer. If someone has a fever you may have a low grade sometimes with the allergies but when it starts to get to be a higher fever, over a 100 degrees for example. That is a more -- more likely going to be some sort of viral infection. That's the -- probably the best way to tell. There are other ways to tell but that one is a pretty -- pretty clear cut one.

TAPPER: Is there a difference between having allergies like when you're a kid and you can't eat peanuts or -- or whatever and these kinds of allergies because I never had allergies --

GUPTA: Yes.

TAPPER: -- and then all of a sudden, 10, 15 years ago pollen season comes in D.C. and I'm sneezing, you know, like old faithful.

GUPTA: Yes. Well, first of all, there -- there is a difference between allergies to things like peanuts and seasonal allergies. What you're typically do to pollen that's released at certain times of the year. It is interesting, Jake, we're on the same age. As you get older, people do often tend to develop -- they can develop more severe allergies overtime. That is something that is become clear. But again, keep in mind, allergy season in of it itself is getting worse at the same time as well.

TAPPER: So it's a nice confluence of -- of everything bad. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

GUPTA: You got it.

TAPPER: There is a danger facing the brave men and women who served the U.S. in Iraq and Afghanistan. And a new film wants to shed light on that deadly threat that continues even if they're home state side. The director will explain, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:55:59]

TAPPER: In our Buried Lead, that's what we call stories that we feel are not getting enough attention, we enter the final push of election season and take a look at the real-world impacts of whom voters choose and how that will shape their lives. And that's where filmmaker, Lucian Read, steps in. Lucian has spent more than a decade documenting the harsh realities of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

And a key focus of his is the devastating consequences of burn pits. Those are the open-air waste disposal sites that exposed U.S. military personnel stationed outside of the United States to toxic fumes leading to severe long term health issues and in some cases, death. His latest project, "Continue the Mission," follows the heart- wrenching story of Danielle Robinson, the widow of sergeant first class, Heath Robinson. Heath died as a result of health complications from exposure to burn pits.

Danielle took up his fight to protect others like him. Her determination paid off in August 2022. President Biden signed the sergeant first class, Heath Robinson, honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxins or PACT Act into law. It represents the most significant expansion of benefits and services for toxicity exposed veterans in more than 30 years. But in Lucian's film, Danielle issues a desperate plead that those hard-won protections could very well vanish.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANIELLE ROBINSON, WIDOW OF SERGEANT FIRST CLASS HEATH ROBINSON: As someone who's lost somebody to a burn pit illness, I'm terrified that if President Trump gets in, that everything we accomplished it's going to go away. This election is life or death for veterans and I want to see Vice President Harris get elected.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Joining us now, Filmmaker and Director of "Continue the Mission," Lucian Read. Lucian thanks for joining us. So, Danielle sets the stakes right there. First of all, how credible is it that -- that President Trump would take away the benefits from the PACT Act? And -- and is this why you decided to step into the political conversation here?

LUCIAN READ, FILMMAKER: You know, my sense from talking to advocates, Danielle Robinson and others, you know, the -- the benefits that were won in the PACT Act were so hard fought and were not supported by the Trump administration that, you know, they had four years of advocating before the White -- Trump White House and nothing happened. And they're afraid that, you know, in the kind of move to -- to, you know, re -- reform the government, reform -- reform the veterans administration, you know, cut spending all of those things that the benefits and the PACT Act will be diminished or the very least not expanded because, you know, there's only a certain number of conditions that are covered by the PACT Act.

And many, you know, advocates really hope that that list will be expanded in the years to come. And so, they're afraid either those benefits will be rolled back or that the people who are still waiting to get their benefits will never see them.

TAPPER: I know that President Trump says Project 2025 is not his 100 percent his plans for her -- his next administration but it does say in Project 2025 that they will erode those -- those benefits. How do you hope your film will impact viewers particularly when it comes to understanding what is on the line for veterans and their families?

READ: I mean primarily, I hope that what people understand is that, you know, veterans and veteran's issues should still be, you know, should still be on the list of things that we care. I mean as the -- we sort of received from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is sort of getting harder and harder to get people to pay attention to -- to the things that veterans need and their families need.

And so, what I hope is this, you know, this film remind people that they, you know, that there is still -- there has been hard work that has been done to -- to help Iraq and Afghanistan veterans particularly and that there is still more work to be done, you know. As -- as people get out of the ballot, they should -- they should be aware that, you know, that there are, you know, thousands -- tens of thousands of veterans and their families out there who can, you know, who need more help. That the PACT Act was just a first start.

And that if you really care about veterans and veterans issues that, you know, in my mind the -- the choice is -- is pretty clear like, you know, who is really shown up and who hasn't, you know, in the last eight years.

[18:00:12]

TAPPER: Lucian Read, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

READ: My pleasure.

TAPPER: And the news continues now in CNN with Wolf Blitzer in The Situation Room. I'll see you tomorrow live from Delaware County, Pennsylvania, site of the Kamala Harris Town Hall.