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Republicans Prepare For Next Presidential Debate; Ivanka Trump Set to Testify; Israel Claims It Targeted Tunnels in Gaza; Election Day. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired November 07, 2023 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:50]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: Polls are open, the key races, the key issues on the ballot, and the key signs this Election Day could offer Republicans and Democrats as we race into 2024.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: Moments ago, the families of some of the 241 hostages still missing in Gaza spoke on Capitol Hill, their calls for action as Israeli troops encircle Gaza City.

BOLDUAN: Gun rights and the Supreme Court, the case that the justices are hearing today and what it has to do with domestic abuse.

I'm Kate Bolduan with John Berman. Sara is off.

CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.

The polls are open, my friends, across the United States for the last major Election Day, if you will, until the start of the presidential primaries in January. Just getting even more exciting. Just a few key races may provide some pretty crucial insight into the political climate that we are in today and the issues that Americans care about the most.

Abortion rights have been a winning issue from Democrat -- for Democrats since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. But does that hold still today? Today, Ohio will decide whether to enshrine abortion access in the state's constitution, abortion rights also a campaign issue in Virginia, though not on the ballot, where every seat in the state's General Assembly is in play.

Democrats are hoping reproductive rights help them there. But the Republican governor hopes that his approach on the issue can serve as a model for Republicans in Virginia and far beyond.

Let's go there.

CNN's Jessica Dean standing by for us in Richmond, Virginia.

Jessica, what are you seeing there today?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, we're starting to see people coming to this polling location here behind us and all throughout the state, where, as you mentioned, every single seat in the state legislature is up for grabs.

And so people are going to the polls all across the Commonwealth of Virginia. And, look, this is an interesting proxy battle as we look ahead to 2024. Oftentimes, what happens here in Virginia in these off- year elections correlates with what we see and the trends that we see in the following year when we see these federal elections.

And so, to that point here, Governor Glenn Youngkin, who is not on the ballot himself, he's in the middle of his term, but he is pushing ahead. He wants Republicans to have complete control of the state legislature here.

To give everyone the current state of play, Democrats currently hold the Senate, while Republicans hold the House. And Youngkin has tried to push forward with his agenda, which includes -- you mentioned reproductive rights. It includes a 15-week ban on abortion. Currently, in Virginia, the law is 26 weeks. That was stopped by Senate Democrats.

And it's things like that he says he wants to be able to move forward with if Republicans had full control of the legislature. So, you can see how this is a bit of a proxy battle that's playing out here.

Here's Governor Youngkin just a little bit ago at one of his final stops as he's going across the state trying to get out of the vote.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GLENN YOUNGKIN (R-VA): And I have listened to Virginians all over the commonwealth. And I hear over and over again, the number one issue they're concerned about is the impact that the Biden economy is having on their lives, where it's cost them $700 more a month to buy the exact same things that they were buying two years ago, groceries and clothing for their children.

This is what's the top issue in people's minds. And this is why I think that Virginians can trust us, can trust us to continue to deliver, to do the job. I promise to get it done. Just send me folks into Richmond who will work with me and not against me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, guys.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: And the governor has really, on the stump, especially, stayed away from talking about abortion as a key issue and really focused on what you just heard him talking about, Kate, more along the lines of taxes, schools, public school system, things like that, law enforcement.

This is -- these are kind of the issues that he continues to talk to voters about. And, again, it will be interesting to see kind of how this all shakes out tonight and what it can mean going into 2024.

[11:05:04] Glenn Youngkin himself, a rising star in the Republican Party, worth noting that he kind of has a particular take on the Republican -- on his Republican brand of politics, which is certainly conservative, but not full MAGA. So, if he is able to win here in Virginia, where there are so many suburban voters or swing voters, Kate, what does that mean going into 2024?

That's what we're keeping an eye on -- Kate and John.

BOLDUAN: Jessica Dean, great to see you -- John.

BERMAN: Another one of the key races we are watching today, Kate, is the governor's race in Kentucky, where the Democratic incumbent, Andy Beshear, is the one trying to hold off the Republican attorney general, Daniel Cameron. Cameron would be the first African-American elected governor in the country if he wins.

Kentucky is a very red state. How red? In 2020, you can see Donald Trump trounced Joe Biden. Biden only won two counties, Jefferson County, which includes Louisville, and Fayette County, which includes Lexington. So, Andy Beshear, when he first ran for governor and won in 2019, you can see it was a very close race.

Beshear won by just 5,000 votes, but look how many blue counties there were here. He was able to win a lot of these coal counties, some of the college towns like Bowling Green, up around Cincinnati, you can see here in Kenton County, here which is just outside Cincinnati, Ohio, yes, very close.

But this is a result that Beshear will need to replicate. He will have to overperform severely what Joe Biden did, who only won these two counties. That's what to watch for tonight. It is tough for a Democrat there, but the Beshear family has done very well.

Eva McKend is in Louisville, Kentucky, for us today.

Eva, what are you seeing from the candidates today?

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER: Well, John, Daniel Cameron voted here with his family earlier this morning.

Actually, Governor Beshear spending time with his family. He voted early, the campaign telling me that the family is spending time with the family dog, Winnie, which evidently that dog has become popular here in this state with the first family there.

But, listen, Cameron told us this morning when he was here that he was satisfied with the strategy that he has employed. And that is tying Governor Beshear to President Biden. He also has knocked Governor Beshear for his pandemic response, arguing that you really need someone in Frankfort, in the state capital, to work in concert with the Republican-controlled legislature on this issue of learning loss.

Let's listen to his final argument.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DANIEL CAMERON (R), KENTUCKY GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: If you want leadership in this state that is going to reflect your values, going to eliminate Kentucky's income tax, going to get violent crime under control, make sure we never shut down our schools, our small businesses or our churches again, I hope you will vote Daniel Cameron today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: So this is a strategy that has been tough for Cameron, because what we have seen here is that Governor Beshear is widely popular. We even speak to some Trump supporters in this ruby-red state that support him -- John.

BERMAN: Yes, people watching this election very, very closely.

Eva McKend in Louisville, thank you very much for that.

And, again, just to point out here, these are the two counties that Democrats generally win around Louisville and Lexington. Andy Beshear wants to replicate the map from four years ago, when he's able to pick up counties outside that area. We will be watching that very closely -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: It has been one month since the Hamas terror attack on Israel. More than 240 hostages are still being held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

We saw some of their families just a short time ago with House Republicans in Washington today pleading for help. In Israel, the Israeli army claims -- says today that they have destroyed several tunnels in a residential area in the Northeastern part of Gaza.

The IDF released video showing what it says is its soldiers hitting tunnels in that area. CNN has not been able to independently confirm the location of that video.

Let's go there right now. Jim Sciutto standing by to join us once again from Tel Aviv.

Jim, Prime Minister Netanyahu, he's speaking out now. Tell us more about what he is saying and how it's being received.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, he's saying that Israel will maintain at least security responsibility for Gaza for some time even after, it seems, the cessation of the current military operations there. That's a change.

Israeli officials, at least in the days after the October 7 attacks, still said that would be unlikely to be the case. But Netanyahu's argument is that that's the only way to keep Israel safe. The question then becomes, how long? Is that days, weeks? Is it years?

If you look at a few indicators, one, the pace of the Israeli military operation, it's methodical. It looks to be lasting some time. If you look at the goal, eliminating Hamas, to eliminate a militant group, a terrorist group with perhaps 20,000, 30,000 members in Gaza, that takes time as well.

[11:10:09]

And then the final point, I would say, Kate, is that when you speak to Israelis about the political support in this country for those ongoing military operations, it is strong. And this is a country that was quite divided on a number of issues prior to October 7, including on Bibi Netanyahu's leadership.

But on the issue of getting rid of Hamas, making sure that October 7 never happens again, there is unity in this country. So it seems that the Israeli security presence, at least, in Gaza will be lasting.

BOLDUAN: And, Jim, you have spent time -- since being over there, you have spent time in the northern part of Israel at the border with Lebanon.

What is the latest from there, the threat, the risk, the exchange of fire with Hezbollah. What are you hearing?

SCIUTTO: The exchange of fire, it is daily in both directions.

Just today, the IDF says that there was a group of militants in Southern Lebanon attempted to fire anti-tank missiles south. The IDF says they successfully targeted them. And you do, though, have virtually every day some of that fire getting through. You also have Israel firing back, and, sometimes, it appears not striking their target.

Lebanese officials say that it has rarely target in the last -- or Israeli strike, rather, in the last several days hit a vehicle that had three children and an older woman in it. I believe we have pictures of that.

So you have what I would describe as a slow-burn conflict on the northern border. It has not broken out into open war, which has been the concern and remains a concern that, at some point, Hezbollah might order its forces into Northern Israel or attempt to cross into Northern Israel or attack in numbers or fire more missiles, not just into Northern Israel, but here in Tel Aviv.

They have many thousands of missiles with a range that could hit Tel Aviv. That hasn't happened yet, but I will tell you this as well, Kate, that when you look forward to whenever Israeli military operations either tail off or stop in Gaza, there is also broad support in this country among Israelis for military action in Southern Lebanon to follow.

You speak to Israelis, they don't feel safe in the south or in the north, and many will say, we have to solve that problem as a country, push Hezbollah further back. And that, of course, would require another military operation, perhaps a lengthy one, a costly one. And there's an enormous amount of support in this country for that.

BOLDUAN: Yes. It's great to see you, Jim. Thank you for your reporting -- John. BERMAN: All right, Ivanka Trump set to take the witness stand after

her father's contentious testimony in his civil fraud trial. What we can expect to hear from her.

Donald Trump is skipping tomorrow's Republican presidential debate, but we have a new sense of what the candidates who will be there have planned. One just released a zinger of a statement that brings up her opponent's footwear.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:17:38]

BERMAN: So, Ivanka Trump, who we have really heard very little from over the last several years, is set to take the witness stand in a civil fraud trial against her father.

Donald Trump, of course, testified for hours. It was contentious and at times revealing for a few of the things he did admit.

BOLDUAN: Joining us now, CNN's Kara Scannell, who's been inside that courtroom oh so much, and CNN legal analyst Jennifer Rodgers.

It's great to see you guys. Great to have you even here in the studio.

You were in the courtroom yesterday. You have been in the courtroom multiple days. So what do you expect to see from Ivanka Trump, from -- what do you -- how do you think this is going to play out?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, so she is the last witness, witness number 25, for the New York attorney general's team.

And as I have seen over the course of these six weeks, they're really focusing in on these financial statements and what people knew about them. Her brother Donald Trump Jr. had testified that he had didn't prepare them. Eric Trump had testified he wasn't aware of them until this investigation, and then he was confronted with some e-mails that showed that he was aware of them.

So, for Ivanka Trump, very much, she was involved in a couple of these development deals, the old post office building. She helped introduce the Trump Organization to Deutsche Bank, their lender on this, which came through Jared Kushner, her husband. So she is going to be asked a lot of questions about the deals, but also the financial statements.

And I obtained a copy of an excerpt from her video deposition last year, where she's asked questions about that. Here's how she handled those questions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Do you have any recollection of your father having personal financial statements?

IVANKA TRUMP, DAUGHTER OF DONALD TRUMP: Not specifically.

QUESTION: What about generally?

I. TRUMP: Well, see, I combine them all in my mind, like the statements of the company. And so, I -- no, I mean, not like specific to him.

I have -- look, I have my own. I have never prepared one. I don't know. I have never made one. I'm not an accountant.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCANNELL: So that's a common theme that we have heard from the Trumps, that they weren't involved in the preparation and that they have relied on others, the accountants, to handle that.

So I think we're going to see a lot more of that play out tomorrow, and they're saying this testimony could continue into Thursday.

BERMAN: So, obviously, the state has already put Donald Trump on the stand. Tomorrow, they're putting Ivanka Trump on the stand. What do you think they want from her as their final witness?

JENNIFER RODGERS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, I think that they want to talk about her involvement in some of these properties that are central to the financial statements.

[11:20:01]

So she won't be able to say much about the financial statements, or she won't say much about the financial statements. And unlike Don Jr. and Eric, she didn't sign any of them, and Donald Trump, of course, so they can't really get her on the hook for that.

But she was intimately involved with some of these deals, with the Doral club and the post office. So she can talk about those valuations. And, of course, those valuations are the key here, the inaccuracy and inflation of those valuations. So I think that that's what they will be asking her about. How are these valued? Why are these numbers so vastly different than the real numbers?

BOLDUAN: So it was also suggested yesterday that this whole thing, this whole trial could wrap up, I think it was described as a week earlier than expected. Are people reading into that? What does that mean and why?

SCANNELL: So, the state will rest its case when Ivanka Trump finishes, which is expected to be Thursday, and then Trump will begin his defense.

So his lawyers are saying that they may call back the sons to testify to answer questions, because, on direct, you can pose your questions differently. They're not limited to just what the prosecutors had asked. And they also have hinted that they're going to call some experts.

They're going to call some of the banks that received -- that were involved in these loans, because they have testimony from them to say that it wasn't material to them, these financial statements. That wasn't the main decision that they -- main factor in the decision when they decide to loan their money.

So they're going to go on the offensive. And now they're saying it will wrap by December 15. The judge was giving them until the 22nd. That may be a sign that they have been streamlined in their case as they have heard this testimony come in. But it's still -- we're looking at three more weeks of potential testimony in this case.

And then it will be up to the judge, not a jury, to make the ultimate decision.

BERMAN: To that point, did anything Donald Trump testify to yesterday, any of the statements, leave a mark that his lawyers will need to clean up when they put on their defense?

RODGERS: Well, he did admit having involvement in the statements themselves, the creation of them, and also the valuations that went into the statements.

So I don't know what they will be able to do to clean that up, other than maybe suggest it wasn't really specific or the details, he didn't really know the details, because I think they would want to keep him as far away from those statements as possible.

They have all been blaming the accountants. So, whether they will try to clean that up, I don't know. But those are some of the admissions that they got as he was rambling on, complaining and ranting during his testimony. And that's the danger of not having a disciplined witness who just answers the questions asked.

BOLDUAN: Jennifer, Kara, great to see you. Thanks so much for coming in.

Coming up for us, a place Donald Trump will not be picking a fight, tomorrow's Republican presidential debate. What to expect in his absence, what we're already seeing even before they take the stage.

Today, the Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in a case -- in a key Second Amendment case, this having to do with gun rights, and also what it has to do with domestic abuse.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:27:33]

BOLDUAN: The stage is set.

Five Republican presidential hopefuls are now preparing to face off in Miami, the biggest night of their lives, maybe a slight overstatement.

(LAUGHTER)

BOLDUAN: Still, this is the third Republican debate of the presidential primary and also the third time Donald Trump is thumbing his nose at the other candidates by not showing up.

Instead, he's holding his own event, a rally not so far away in South Florida.

Let's get to Miami.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny is standing by.

Jeff, what's going to happen this time?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: OK, it may not be the biggest event of their lives, but, of their presidential campaigns, it almost certainly is.

Time is running out. I mean, there are 69 days, by my count, until the Iowa caucuses open the campaign on January 15. So this is a key moment for some candidates to make their move. Now, the debates have changed the sort of structure of this race, at least below the Trump level, if you will.

The first debate had eight candidates. The second one had seven. Tomorrow's has five candidates. And Nikki Haley, without question, has benefited from this -- these debates more than any other candidate. So she is coming into this debate tomorrow night here with the momentum, but also more of a target on her back.

The highest stakes, without a doubt, are for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. He will be flying here later today from Iowa, where he picked up that key endorsement from Iowa's Republican Governor Kim Reynolds. She will also be traveling to Iowa with him. But the question is, how does he stand up on that debate stage?

Of course, Chris Christie also on stage, as is South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, as is Ohio entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. So, these five candidates clearly are campaigning, but the question is, will they be going after Donald Trump or will they be going after one another?

There is no doubt that Trump's decision to not attend these debates has been validated. He will be holding a rally in Hialeah, not far from here, skipping all of it. So, time is running out, there is no doubt. There's one more debate before the end of the year. That's in December.

The question, of course, by that point, who will still be standing on stage, Kate?

BOLDUAN: It's great to see you, Jeff. Thank you -- John.

BERMAN: All right, with us now, CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings.

Scott, one of the questions I have is how these five candidates on the stage are going to treat each other. And we just got an answer a few minutes ago in the form of a video press release from the campaign of Nikki Haley. And it's an attack on Governor Ron DeSantis.

She says: "DeSantis debate preview. These boots are made for lying."

That's the nature of this campaign video. And she says that Ron DeSantis is going to lie about his record at the debate.

[11:30:00]