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Mayor: "Huge Message Of Peace" If Trump Doesn't Visit Springfield; DeWine: Claims About Haitian Immigrants Eating Pets "Need To Stop"; Schumer Takes Steps To Prevent Government Shutdown; Trump Calls For Government Shutdown If Lawmakers Don't Pass SAVE Act; Kamala Harris Historic Candidacy Fuels Activism Among Black Women; Families Of American Hostages In Gaza Plead For Their Return. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired September 20, 2024 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: -- J.D. Vance. You saw Donald Trump repeat them on a debate stage, which was seen by some 67 million people. What were you thinking when you saw that?

MAYOR ROB RUE, SPRINGFIELD, OHIO: Well, it was startling. I mean, you know, I chuckled just in like, I'm, we're all tired, but I -- it was difficult to see. It was difficult to hear at that level. We knew it would bring a lot of criticism into the community and at what level we didn't know, but we've all seen in the last two weeks what it's done.

BERMAN: What difference would it make if either Senator Vance or former President Trump came out and repudiated the things that they'd said and said, you know what? We were wrong. Sorry.

RUE: You know, I don't know what that would do. I mean, like I said, the real issue is what's being around the -- this being said around the rhetoric is the immigration reform, is the poorest border that we need to just talk about, that there needs to be reform. And I've heard both sides of the aisle say things like that throughout the last several months.

That's what we need to be talking about --

BERMAN: Sure.

RUE: -- not defending our community from a false claims.

BERMAN: What do you want people to know about Springfield?

RUE: Springfield is a wonderful place to be at. We are coming together even now within this difficult circumstance to work together. I do believe that, you know, what I've been hearing from community, we were a year ago, the city commission was put into a situation that we've never faced before and people were coming out and explained to us their concerns.

We were listening and I know there's been frustration that's built through the -- build up throughout the last year, but I think the citizen needs to know we are listening and we are trying to figure out how we can come together and work through this influx concern.

BERMAN: Mayor Rob Rue, I know this has been an unbelievably challenging time. Thank you so much for being with us this morning and being willing to talk about it.

Kate?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: So what is the plan now? That is the question in the hands and before the House Speaker Mike Johnson, after the Republican government funding bill that they put on the House floor, it failed. Where is this all headed? And does it feel like deja vu when it comes to a possible government shutdown?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:36:46]

BERMAN: We just spoke with the mayor of Springfield, Ohio, caught in the center of this dangerous lie from people connected to the Trump campaign. The former president now says he is planning a visit there, but the mayor just explained to us that he wants real discussion over immigration reform, not more rhetoric.

With me now is Congressman Warren Davidson, a Republican from Ohio. Congressman, thank you so much for being with us. I think you might have just heard Mayor Rue from Springfield. who said that if the former president is going to repeat the same things he has been, he really doesn't want him coming to Springfield. Your reaction?

REP. WARREN DAVIDSON (R), OHIO: Well, look, Springfield is a phenomenal town. I used to represent it before we were redrawn with redistricting and unfortunately Ohio lost one member of Congress in that and the lines shifted. But it's a great community. They've really been vibrant. They've done well. They've had massive investments.

And the workforce has been the challenge to sustaining the growth rate. So, look, I think the people of Springfield would welcome Donald Trump and J.D. Vance anytime. I saw Vivek Ramaswamy went there and had dialogue with the community. And I think that's the thing. People want to know that they're being heard. And I think that's part of what this has been elevated to.

Look, some of the cat memes were hilarious. People got a laugh out of them. But I think the part that's being dismissed is there really are serious concerns. And earlier, going back over a year ago, the City Commission and the County Commission have said together everything isn't fine.

We do need help. And that help is finally coming more abundantly from the state but the federal government's still basically like, yes, never mind, everything's fine. It isn't, and that's what the community's frustrated about. They're not being heard.

BERMAN: Yes, I get it. I will say that Governor Mike DeWine, the Republican governor, wrote in an op ed that the verbal attacks against the Haitians in Springfield, who are legally president in the U.S., dilute and cloud what should be a winning argument at the border.

And then he goes on to write, "The Springfield I know is not the one you hear about in social media rumors. It's a city made up of good, decent, welcoming people. They are hard workers -- both those who were born here in this country and those who settled here because back in their birthplace, Haiti, innocent people can be killed just for cheering on the wrong team in a soccer match."

DAVIDSON: Well, look, initially, when the community brought people in, they brought legal refugees into the town. who came there to work. And so the right kind of people with the values and work ethic that is needed and frankly fits with the community, and really where did it escalate was really chain migration.

So you saw any one person could bring six people. I'm not saying there's -- none of those people have the exact same values, but that's where it went from something that was manageable to just blowing up. And then there are federal policies that are dysfunctional like, you know, they're being told to use Google Translate to try to teach math, high school math to kids who can't even get directions in English, how to find the bathroom down the hall. So, it really isn't workable and people have been slow to listen.

BERMAN: No, I get it. They need federal resources, state and federal resources to help teach and educate the legal residents who are now there. This -- many of them who are this Haitian population that are there. You said the cat memes were hilarious. Are they hilarious if they're hurting these people who are there legally who fled?

[08:40:02]

I know you're a person of deep faith. I mean, the place they fled is Haiti where there's a lot of missionary work trying to help those people living horrible lives. Do you think cat memes are funny to them?

DAVIDSON: I think some of them probably looked at it. I talked to somebody who said, look, we're getting money for food $600 to $1,600 a month, depending on family size. We don't need to eat cats, you know, so they're being supported in that way. And I think that's one of the things that people should understand what is going to refugees, why it's going there.

BERMAN: Yes.

DAVIDSON: Obviously, there are people from Haiti who are legitimate refugees, but the thing that's being done here willfully is to dismiss everything that the Biden administration has done, not just with the refugee program, where they're flooding the country with refugees, deeming everyone legal and skipping a lot of the process to adjudicate that.

And not putting any caps on the number of people and you're overwhelming communities. Springfield, Ohio isn't the only place that's being overwhelmed with an influx of migrants, whether legal or illegal.

BERMAN: I want to shift gears to federal funding and the budget and the possibility of a three month, you know, stopgap measure here. Now, you voted for, Speaker Johnson, I think, if I'm not mistaken, the last plan that failed, which would have included the SAVE Act and funded the government. How do you plan to vote if he puts on the floor a three-month stopgap measure that does not have the SAVE Act?

DAVIDSON: Yes, I mean, I'm against the status quo. You know, members of Congress spend most of August in their districts. As I was out Nevada, I found no one that said, gosh, keep everything the way it is. Everything's fine. Just keep the status quo going.

So, look, the SAVE Act was pretty modest bit of reform, but I'll take some level of reform. But I'm not going to take no reform. It's also particularly bad to put -- kick this into December. It's a lame duck where there's maximum level of unaccountability for elected officials.

And so if there's any excuse to ever miss a deadline, September 30th is the actual deadline. You would see in a presidential election year, where there are wildly different promises from Kamala Harris and her team between you know, President Trump and his team, in terms of which direction we're going to go.

So if you got that under the first 100 days of the next administration, I think that would be a reasonable compromise. I think it's a terrible idea to go to December.

BERMAN: President -- former President Trump says if you don't get the SAVE Act, basically, if you pass the measure that seems to be the one, or present it, that seems to be the one to put on the floor, he says Republicans should not agree to a continuing resolution in any way, shape, or form, basically suggesting shut down the government, you know, as soon as next week. How do you feel about that?

DAVIDSON: Well, of course, we just put a measure on the floor that says we would like to fund the government. But, you know, the idea that just because you won't go along with whatever Chuck Schumer says means you want to shut down the government. No, they're the ones saying, no, we'd rather shut down the government than allow citizens to be limited to voting to make sure that states like Arizona, which just got caught with 97,000 people that didn't follow the state law that you have to show you're a citizen to be registered to vote.

So this is happening. And yes, it is technically illegal to vote, but they don't have a mechanism to catch it or prevent it. And so that's what the SAVE Act is important for. And right now, one of the biggest things I heard in my district, across party lines, was we need to have trust in our election and we need to have election integrity.

BERMAN: All right, Congressman Warren Davidson from Ohio, we appreciate seeing you this morning. Thank you so much for your time.

All right, breaking overnight, the IDF claims it hit about 100 Hezbollah rocket launchers in Lebanon. We've got new reporting on what the escalating tensions could mean for the hostages still inside Gaza. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:48:06]

BOLDUAN: Today, Kamala Harris is headed to Georgia and Wisconsin. Polls since the presidential debate have shown her gaining momentum and tightening the race in key battleground states. All shown in the polling, friends. But if past elections have shown us anything, it is that sometimes polling can be off, or at the least, not tell the full story.

Those questions linger this year, and that's why Harry Enten is here. How close is the race right now?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Yes. How --

BOLDUAN: Let's start there.

ENTEN: Let's start just sort of where the race is right now. My goodness gracious, could the race be any tighter in these battleground states? Look, in the Great Lakes, you got Harris by two, in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, well within the margin of error.

How about in the Sun Belt, though? It's even tighter. You got a one- point race in Nevada, favoring Kamala Harris. You got a less than one point race in North Carolina. Trump ahead, but we're talking about, like, 0.2 percentage points. Arizona, a one-point advantage. Georgia, a one-point advantage for Donald Trump. The race, very, very close.

Now let's just say the polls were exactly right. What does that mean for the electoral map? What would mean a really tight race? Look at this. Kamala Harris getting 276 electoral votes to Donald Trump's 262, mostly on the basis of winning these Great Lake battleground states, despite the fact that Trump carries three of the four Sun Belt battleground states.

But the bottom line is, Kate Bolduan and dear audience, this race is tight, tight, tight.

BOLDUAN: Now, in the realm of playing the hypotheticals.

ENTEN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: So, let's do that.

ENTEN: Yes, I love those.

BOLDUAN: Comparing how -- if the polling is off, if the polling is off like it was in 2020, what would that do to the electoral map?

ENTEN: So look at Donald Trump's electoral vote total right now if the polls are exactly right, 262. But let's say the polls are off like they were back in 2020. Look where he goes. He goes to 312. Why is that? Because the polls underestimated Donald Trump in 2020.

So the bottom line is instead of losing those great lake battleground states, he wins all of them. He obviously holds on to North Carolina, Georgia, and Arizona, and he gains Nevada.

[08:50:06]

So, if the polls are as good as they were in 2020, despite the fact that at this particular hour Donald Trump trails in enough states to give Kamala Harris, the victory -- the polls were off like they were in 2020, Donald Trump would actually win the election.

BOLDUAN: There are big elections since 2020 that involved 2022 midterms. What if it was off then now compare it to the polling off age of 2022?

ENTEN: Look, I think a lot of people are focusing on the 2020 polling air (ph) believing, oh, the polls always underestimate Republicans. Not always, because look at what happens if the polls are off like they were in 2022.

Well, Kamala Harris goes from losing that election to winning it with 319 electoral votes. Why? Because the polls underestimated Democrats in 2022. So Kamala Harris gets back all of these Great Lake Battleground states. But she adds to her column North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada.

So the bottom line is, this race is way too close to call, and the past elections show us it's way too close to call, because polls are a tool. They are not Nostradamus.

BOLDUAN: It is interesting to look at it in this way, though. Just reminding us all. In summary, just stand by to stand by.

ENTEN: Stand by to stand by. Voters make the difference, not the polls.

BOLDUAN: Good to see you.

ENTEN: Nice to see you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: John?

BERMAN: Harry makes all the difference.

All right, this morning, just 45 days until the election. And one of the big things the Harris campaign is focused on is harnessing the energy of black women in some of these key battleground states.

CNN's Rene Marsh explores this grassroots movement.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kamala Harris's historic candidacy has ignited a surge of activism among black women.

JOTAKA EADDY, FOUNDER, WIN WITH BLACK WOMEN: We often talk about this idea of black girl magic and or the secret sauce. It's the work. It's the work that black women have put in. MARSH (voice-over): Jotaka Eaddy, founder of Win With Black Women, organized the Zoom call that she says netted 90,000 black women in support of Harris in the hours after President Joe Biden exited the race in July. She also organized Thursday's virtual rally with the Vice President hosted by Oprah.

EADDY: There have been over 140 Zooms for Kamala that have raised collectively over $20 million that many of them have said that they were inspired by our call.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are here in these states --

MARSH (voice-over): Black women are crisscrossing battleground states to mobilize voters in places like North Carolina where Donald Trump won by a little more than a point in 2020.

JANICE ROBINSON, NC DIRECTOR, RED WINE & BLUE: Good morning.

MARSH (voice-over): At this political house party south of Charlotte, Janice Robinson is training a kitchen full of suburban women how to boost voter turnout and flip the state blue.

ROBINSON: We call them troublemakers. We're training them how to talk to their friends, family and acquaintances about the issues that are important in North Carolina. When it comes to convincing people to vote and become consistent voters, people will listen to the people that they trust.

MARSH (voice-over): After Trump's 2016 victory, the occupational therapist turned political activist made it a mission to prevent his reelection.

ROBINSON: I pulled those lists of Democrats and Independents who lean Democrats and we went knocking on doors, making phone call.

MARSH (voice-over): She flipped her historically Republican precinct blue and hopes to replicate the strategy statewide. In 2020, black women were key to Joe Biden winning the presidency, backing him over Donald Trump by roughly 80 points.

Harris is counting on their support in November. And while she has not leaned into the history making aspect of her candidacy, she has embraced her ties to black sororities, including her own, Alpha Kappa Alpha, which is one of nine historically black fraternities and sororities that boast 2.5 million members.

The sorority recently launched its own political action committee, allowing it to support candidates. The driving force for these black women are the issues.

MARSH: Why is this so important for you to do this work?

ROBINSON: I went through one of those back-alley abortions at 15. I'm lucky to be alive today. That's personal to me.

EADDY: Not only is it historic, but there are pivotal issues that are on the ballot that black women are paying very close attention.

MARSH (voice-over): Paying attention, but also clear eyed about the challenge ahead this fall.

ROBINSON: We're going to work our asses off to make sure this election turns out the way that we want it to turn out. And if it doesn't, then it won't be because we did not do everything we could.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

MARSH (on-camera): And these black female political organizers who I spoke with, they are targeting often overlooked voters in rural black communities in places like North Carolina and Georgia, leaving no votes on the table in this very close race.

And as you saw in the piece, they're going beyond communities of color, hoping to expand the electorate in this race of margins. John?

BERMAN: That made so much of a difference for Democrats in 2020 and 2022. We'll see the impact in 2024.

Rene Marsh, great report. Thank you very much. Kate?

MARSH (on-camera): Thank you.

[08:55:07]

BOLDUAN: This morning, Israel appears to be preparing for a potential further escalation with Hezbollah. Overnight, Israel destroyed 100 rocket launchers in Lebanon. The IDF says also that 130 rockets were fired from southern Lebanon into Israel.

All this coming in the days after that sophisticated and coordinated pager and walkie talkie attack targeting the Iran backed terror group in Lebanon. People fearing that this is opening a new front of the war for Israel, and the Wall Street Journal is reporting exclusively now this about the war against Hamas.

"After months of saying a ceasefire and a hostage release deal was close at hand, senior U.S. officials are now privately acknowledging they don't expect Israel and Hamas to reach an agreement before the end of President Biden's term."

Joining me right now is Adi Alexander, the father of Israeli American hostage Edan Alexander. Adi, thank you so much for coming in. I saw this reporting in the Wall Street Journal and my stomach just dropped. I mean, if that is the U.S. view now, how do you react to that?

ADI ALEXANDER, FATHER OF ISRAELI HOSTAGE: The optimism, it's no longer in our vocabulary, but we have to stay hopeful. I don't think the U.S. government will stop trying and with approaching Hamas and to get kind of yellow light from them to get back to the Israelis. I know that this is something that in the process right now, and we have to remain hopeful.

BOLDUAN: Look, when we spoke back in July, I mean, you had been hopeful then that Netanyahu would be announcing a ceasefire deal in a matter of days. I was looking back to our conversation and, you know, that was in July and now we're here.

I mean, what would you -- you've met with President Biden multiple times in advocating to try to get your son released. What would you like to say to President Biden now, in this moment, in light of this -- it's just really sad reporting about their view and their lack of hope, if you will?

ALEXANDER: I think we need more decisive actions. We kind of stuck in the midst of the U.S. elections and the limbo of the Israeli politics, but we have to put it aside. And by the end of the day, as Director Burns stated a couple of weeks ago in London, we can only put so many words in a blue ink and a black ink on a piece of paper.

But at the end of the day, both parties, they need political willingness to say, yes, let's go. And this is not happening.

BOLDUAN: I want to make sure as to -- we're showing pictures, I want to make sure we are showing pictures of Edan to not forget, he is still in the hands of Hamas today. I mean, you said it's -- optimism is tough, but you have to hold on to hope, but is hope getting hard to hold on to?

ALEXANDER: Yes, it's really -- it's has been too long. Let's not forget we have 23 nationalities, among them seven Americans being held for almost a year. A 100 hostages, 60 among them are alive. And those precious lives, they need to be bring back home as soon as possible.

BOLDUAN: Add into all of this now, this escalation with Hezbollah to the north now, the device attacks targeting Hezbollah members, then the promised retaliation. When you started seeing this happening, I mean, what do you think the impacts that all of that -- how all of that impacts the chances of getting your son home?

ALEXANDER: I think the -- you know, Sinwar is actually is waiting for that. For the global escalation, I don't think it's helpful, but this is something that had happened. And I guess we'll have to deal with that, but this cycle of violence needs to stop immediately.

BOLDUAN: Yes, I mean, you're getting to what a lot of the fears are, that if this goes further, the fears are increasing, that, you know, 11 months of exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah, then becomes all-out war. I mean, if that happens, what does that mean for your family and all of the families of hostages still being held by Hamas?

ALEXANDER: We hope that the hostage issue which is humanitarian issue will state front and center and not being shifted to another front, to another conflict, which is far away from the south. And we have to hope for a decisive mediation from the U.S. government to just calm down the whole area and to de-escalate all the activities and just get this deal done.

BOLDUAN: Adi, thank you for coming in. We think of --

ALEXANDER: Thank you so much.

BOLDUAN: -- Edan and we remember him still being held now almost a year in Gaza at the hands of Hamas.

Adi Alexander, thank you so much.

New hour of CNN News Central starts now.