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New Supreme Court Term; Tennessee Company Under Investigation Following Storm Deaths; Interview With Fmr. Rep. Scott Taylor (R-VA); New Jobs Numbers Shatter Expectations; Barack Obama Hits Trail For Kamala Harris. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired October 04, 2024 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:55]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Hoping for a Barack bump. Vice President Kamala Harris getting an assist, former President Barack Obama hitting the trail for a critical battleground blitz.

Meantime, there will be a Republican reunion of sorts, former President Donald Trump and Georgia Governor Brian Kemp appearing together for the first time in four years, despite some previous disagreements.

Plus, new jobs numbers shattering expectations, and, speaking of jobs, tens of thousands of port workers back on the job after a tentative deal is reached to end their strike. What this means for you and the presidential race now just 32 days away.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: And that Tennessee plastics company now pushing back on claims from employees who say they were forced to work as Hurricane Helene was bearing down, 11 workers swept away in the flooding. Only five were rescued. Ahead, what we're hearing from the company and the victims' families.

We're also following these developments, all these stories and many more, all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SANCHEZ: There's just a shade over a month until Election Day. And as the two presidential candidates try to gain the edge in a razor-thin race, both are touting some key endorsements.

Former President Barack Obama will join the campaign sprint for Vice President Kamala Harris, kicking off a 27-day battleground blitz with a rally in Pittsburgh next week. Billionaire tycoon Elon Musk, meantime, also hitting the trail. He is set to join Donald Trump tomorrow when the former president returns to Butler, Pennsylvania, the site where he survived an assassination attempt.

This afternoon, we are tracking both campaigns. In a couple of hours, Trump will stand side by side with Georgia Governor Brian Kemp as that state reels from the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, these two apparently letting bygones be bygones after Trump's repeated attacks and his backing of a Republican rival in a primary after Kemp refused to lie about the results of the 2020 election.

As for Vice President Harris, she is set to speak this hour in Detroit.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is covering her campaign for us.

Priscilla, obviously, this news about Obama now hitting the trail as well is a big deal. What should we expect from this event tonight and what's coming up with the former president?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly, the Harris campaign will take all the help they can get when we're just shy of Election Day here in November.

Now, the former president will make his first public campaign appearance since the Democratic National Convention next week at that rally in Pittsburgh. And that's not going to be the last of it. It's going to be multiple rallies in battleground states. He's also expected to record ads and lend his name to e-mail solicitations for campaign cash because this isn't just about the presidential race.

It's also about the downballot races, so the former President Barack Obama, helping there across the board, because, aides say, this is a -- quote -- "all-hands-on-deck moment."

Now, for the vice president's part, she, as you mentioned, is in Michigan, where she is going to have a rally later today. But I am now being told by sources that she's also going to meet with a small group of Arab American leaders and Muslim American leaders.

Recall that this has been a community that the administration has had some conflict with because of the devastation in Gaza and concerns about the way that the Biden administration is handling the Israel- Hamas war.

Now, the vice president's office has been engaged with these leaders, but this will be her sitting down with them in Michigan later this afternoon, again, that according to sources that I have spoken with. One of the groups that will be part of this is a group that has already endorsed her, while also acknowledging that they didn't fully approve of the way the administration is handling this war.

So, certainly an interesting moment, but it also is indicative of how the vice president and her campaign are trying to shore up as many votes as they can, especially in these communities and among these community members that still hold doubts and concerns about this administration and their policies -- Boris.

[13:05:15]

SANCHEZ: That will be a significant moment later tonight in Flint. We will, of course, bring you that as it happens.

Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much for that report.

Turning now to the Trump campaign, CNN's Alayna Treene joins us with the latest.

Alayna, really a surprising moment, Brian Kemp and Donald Trump side by side for the first time in four years after so much weirdness between them.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes, I don't think there's any love lost between them, Boris.

I mean, this is pretty remarkable. As someone who has covered Donald Trump for several years as well, as was on the Hill during the House January 6 Committee hearings, this is pretty remarkable to see the two of them coming back together, particularly after all of the demeaning comments that Donald Trump has had for Brian Kemp over the last four years.

And, remember, not even just that. He also had recruited someone else, another Republican, former Senator David Perdue, to run against Brian Kemp after the 2020 election because Brian Kemp refused to overturn the election results in Georgia.

And so there's a lot of history there, a very fraught history, I should say. But, look, this is politics. And what we have seen is Donald Trump and his campaign recognize that not only, of course, is Georgia such a crucial state as we look ahead to November and they're looking at all the pathways to get to 270 electoral votes. But also, Brian Kemp is a very popular Republican governor and they need his help in that state.

So that's part of this. And, also, just to go back to some of the criticism, I will note how unusual this is, is that, as recently as August, Donald Trump was criticizing Brian Kemp, saying that he wasn't a great governor, attacking his wife, saying he wasn't a true Republican.

So, I mean, some of this fraught history goes back to as recent as August. But, as of now, it looks like unlikely allies that will be there on the ground today. Now, Boris, one thing that I am watching for is how the two really respond to what they will be talking to how the Biden administration is handling the recovery efforts after Hurricane Helene.

Remember, earlier this week, Donald Trump was on the ground in Georgia. He actually had said that Brian Kemp was saying that Biden had never called him, although we heard from Kemp himself, who said he did talk to Biden. He appreciated his efforts. He kind of praised what he has done for the state of Georgia following the hurricane, as well as the efforts of FEMA.

So, some differing opinions there. I'm really interested to see how this ends up looking in just a couple hours, when they both appear in Georgia -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Yes, it'll be fascinating to watch. Important to have a short memory in politics, I guess.

Alayna Treene, thank you so much -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Boris, now to the huge jobs report out today showing a solid and growing job market. The U.S. economy created 254,000 new jobs last month, greatly

exceeding expectations. Unemployment ticked down and all of this sparked a stock market rally. It's also one of the last major snapshots of the economy we will get before Election Day.

So let's bring in CNN business anchor Julia Chatterley.

Julia, great to see you.

What does this report tell us about the economy?

JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR: The not-so-technical term on this is wow, I think. It is just one data point, Alisyn, but I think it argues for what's known as a soft landing, which is lower inflation and without causing a recession.

Quite frankly, this data point is as good as it gets for the White House and the Harris campaign one month out from a presidential election, whether or not they get the credit for it. As you said, it was a whopping 254,000 jobs added net in September.

That was way beyond expectations. I immediately got all sorts of skeptical texts from people, saying, hang on a second, is this going to be revised lower next month? And I think that's a fair question, but we did get revisions to both July and August too, and they added a further 72,000 jobs overall.

So, if you add all of this together, it looks like a mini- acceleration, and you can see that in the bar chart there. This is not what we were expecting, let's be clear, and it's really good news. And, of course, this comes actually before the real impact of that half-a-percentage point rate cut from the Fed that we just got.

It argues for a quarter-of-a-percentage point rate cut in November, but that's still to kick in. It's good news.

CAMEROTA: Julia, I understand that the strongest hiring was at bars and restaurants, 69,000 new jobs. That's five times stronger than it had been all year. What's going on at bars?

CHATTERLEY: I blame politics, quite frankly. I think it's driving us all to drink, Alisyn.

(LAUGHTER)

CHATTERLEY: But, in all seriousness, it is quite surprising. One in four jobs that were added in September were in bars and restaurants.

I think what it suggests and signals is an improvement in business conditions at the back end of the summer, even if consumer confidence took a bit of a dip, perhaps also plays into some of the price adjustments lowering food prices that we saw.

[13:10:09]

Look, ultimately we hope that consumer confidence can sort of rise to meet the business conditions that we're seeing, and that's hopefully what the impact of rates cuts will do. But, overall, cheers to this number, Alisyn, because it's a good one.

CAMEROTA: I like that. Cheers to you as well.

Julia Chatterley, thank you very much.

Joining us now to discuss all of these issues is former Republican congressman for Virginia, Scott Taylor.

Congressman, great to see you.

So, let's start with the jobs report. It was better than expected by 100,000 jobs. So does that weaken former President Trump's message that the economy is in a shambles?

FMR. REP. SCOTT TAYLOR (R-VA): Look, let me first say that I'm rooting for America, right? I hope that it's correct, and I hope that we continue to have that trajectory.

But I think, as your last guest said, it's rightful to be skeptical because it's just a data point. There was a data point before in the Biden and Harris administration that got revised down 800-and-some- thousand jobs.

So I think -- I hope so. I hope it's correct. I hope America is on that path, for sure. But I'm certainly skeptical, because it's coming out right before the election. It's their data point. And I think it's important to understand that information leads to reason, emotion leads to action.

And the reality is, a lot of Americans are hurting out there. And they don't care about a data point that comes out, when they can't -- when they're struggling to pay for grocery bills and gas and stuff like that. So I hope so. I mean, I'm team America. I'm rooting for us.

And I hope that's -- I hope it's true.

CAMEROTA: Yes, understood.

It does -- polls do suggest that Americans' feelings about the economy are ticking up in a positive way of late.

TAYLOR: I haven't seen those. I think there's probably polls on both sides. And I talk to a lot of people, and a lot of people don't feel that way. And so we will see.

Like I said, I mean, like, I hope it's true. I hope that we do have a soft landing for everyone in America.

CAMEROTA: Yes. That was a CBS News poll from two weeks ago, in case you want to check it.

Meanwhile, let's talk about what's happening this afternoon. So we're going to see Governor Kemp of Georgia and Donald Trump together for the first time in a long time. This is to survey the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

Donald Trump continued, as you know, to make these false claims about the Biden administration's response to the hurricane, which Governor Kemp was forced to debunk. How does false info during a natural disaster help people?

TAYLOR: Well, I mean, that's an interesting way to frame the question, Alisyn, but I don't -- I take a little bit of -- I don't think you should ask that question in that way.

And I don't know that his statements were all false. I do know that Brian Kemp, he did say he communicated with him, but he also said -- he also criticized the slowness of the response. He criticized the fact that they only designated 11 counties initially.

And I think probably the most egregious thing out of this -- and I know people who are on the ground helping folks right now. And what I'm hearing from them is that the Biden administration is not allowing them to fly drones to help with people. They just came -- they went to put people in a hotel and there were federal employees there and security kicking them out.

These are people who just came from the disaster area. I think the federal employees could probably be in a tent and get those people to help out. But I think the biggest point here, and, in my opinion, the worst point and the worst data point for the Biden administration and Harris administration is the fact that they spent over a billion dollars out of FEMA's budget for natural disaster, when, three months ago, Secretary Mayorkas said that they're absolutely prepared for hurricane season.

And now they're saying that they're broke. I don't think he should have a job, quite frankly, because, when Americans, everyday Americans are out there -- and I'm from Virginia, obviously, and, in Virginia, in Tennessee, in North Carolina and Georgia, they're watching billions of dollars go overseas.

They're hearing FEMA's broke. And there are still bodies being found and people still getting rescue -- in search-and-rescue operations that are out there. Rebuilding hasn't even come close to being started yet. So I think this is a big problem for the Harris and Biden administration because everyday people, they're seeing that.

CAMEROTA: I mean, what I was referring to is President Trump saying that the federal government's not being responsive. He said they're having a hard time getting the president on the phone. And that was the part.

(CROSSTALK)

TAYLOR: I don't think that's entirely false. I think that it's being responsive to a point. But I think that they're hamstrung, because they're out of money right now, which is pretty incredible, quite frankly, and certainly a mark on Secretary Mayorkas' time there.

But I don't think it's entirely false to say that. There are heroic people out there doing work, of course, and we commend them.

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: I mean, I'm just going to by what -- I hear you. I'm just going by what Governor Kemp was forced to say, which is, we got what we need.

He offered -- he was saying, Trump -- on the president, he offered other things we need just to call him directly. So I'm...

(CROSSTALK)

TAYLOR: But, Alisyn, with all due respect, you're speaking about one state. And Georgia was hard-hit, of course. But look at North Carolina.

I was just in Virginia yesterday, in Southwest Virginia, in Tennessee. But North Carolina is -- that's really a state that could use a lot faster response, could use a lot more money right now. And when you're hearing that FEMA's broke, and when you're hearing that it wasn't as fast as it needed to be, that's a big problem.

[13:15:08]

CAMEROTA: Yes.

TAYLOR: So, I mean, people can say President Trump was saying something false, but I don't think that's true.

CAMEROTA: And Governor Youngkin praised him as well. I mean, I hear what you're saying, that they're -- we have to -- we're looking at it state by state. And you have made those points.

On a lighter note, Bruce Springsteen, just endorsed Kamala Harris for president. Bruce, as you know, is a cultural icon. Do you think that he, on a serious note, influences some swing state men?

TAYLOR: No.

I mean, yes, look -- look, I like Bruce. I love his music. I mean, he was a working-class poet way back in the day. I just don't like his politics. And I don't think that he's -- I don't really think he has much of a effect on this vote. I think that the cake is baked for most people, and then the folks that are -- that slice that are going to be motivated, I don't think that Bruce Springsteen supporting Kamala Harris is going to motivate them in any way.

But I do like his music.

CAMEROTA: I had you pegged for a Springsteen fan. I just instinctively knew that. I knew that.

Former Congressman Scott Taylor, thanks for your time.

TAYLOR: Thanks for having me. CAMEROTA: Still ahead, a Tennessee company under investigation after

claims that they forced employees to work during the deadly storm. Eleven workers were swept away in the flood. How the company is now responding.

Plus, Iran's supreme leader issuing a new warning towards Israel, as Israeli forces continue to pound Lebanon's capital, Beirut. We will take you live to the region.

And the Supreme Court begins a new term in just a few days. We will get our first look at some of the hot-button issues they will decide on.

Those details next on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:21:08]

CAMEROTA: The death toll from Hurricane Helene continues to rise, at least 213 people killed across six states, making Helene the deadliest storm to hit the U.S. mainland since Katrina in 2005.

Eleven of the victims died in Tennessee, and some of those deaths are now the subject of two state probes. Investigators are looking into what happened at the Impact Plastics factory in Erwin. The company denies allegations that it kept workers on the site as floodwaters rose; 11 employees were swept away in those waters. Two died. Four are still missing.

Just look at how submerged that plant got. One worker described what happened when he tried to leave.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT JARVIS, IMPACT PLASTICS EMPLOYEE: I said: "Can we leave?"

And the woman said: "No, not until I speak with Gerry."

About 10 minutes later, she came back and said: "You all can leave."

It was too late. Why did you make us work that day? Why? We shouldn't have worked. We shouldn't have been there. None of us should have been there. And that's what I should said to him. Why did you make us work, when you knew you were taking -- statement you were monitoring it?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: CNN's Gustavo Valdes is in Erwin, Tennessee.

So, Gustavo, what is the company saying to this?

GUSTAVO VALDES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The company, Alisyn, last night released -- the CEO released a video in which he explains the investigation, the internal review of the procedures that were followed that day. And he says that the information they have contradicts what the

workers are saying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GERALD O'CONNOR, CEO, IMPACT PLASTICS: That employees were told to leave the plant at least 45 minutes before the gigantic force of the flood hit the industrial park. There was time to escape.

Employees were not told at any time that they would be fired if they left the plant.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALDES: The company also released a timeline of events as they have it registered.

It starts around 10:35 a.m. They said that's when the water started to pool in the parking lot. Four minutes later, the power outage occurred. That's when the power -- the plant lost power. And that's a moment that many workers have told us is when they wanted to leave and they couldn't.

At 10:40, the warnings went off on cell phones. At 10:50, they were directed to live in English and Spanish. And by 11:35, senior management leaves after a walk-through of the area. Now, I just spoke with the mayor and the city manager.

They tell me that since 8:00 in the morning, they already knew that the river was growing and that was coming this way. By 10:30, they were already responding to an emergency at the hospital that is upriver and they were doing evacuations there. They cannot speak as to what the procedures the plant has for these kind of situations.

But they said, by 10:30, they knew that the situation was dangerous. So that -- they didn't want to comment directly on what the company is saying. They are just saying they're going to cooperate with both investigations that are going on.

CAMEROTA: So, Gustavo, now what are family members saying in response to this?

VALDES: So a few of them already have lawyers and they are trying to get answers that way. There are some that are frustrated because they said that they haven't been able to join the search of the loved ones, those four people missing.

But the authorities say it's very dangerous for them to join. So there's a little bit of frustration, and this pain that they're feeling for the loss of the loved ones.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

[13:25:02]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GUILLERMO MENDOZA, SON OF STORM VICTIM: I'm broken. My heart is broken. I lost my mother, my grandmother of my children. My father lost his wife of 38 years.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Married.

MENDOZA: Of marriage. We are not OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALDES: Last night, there was a beautiful candlelight vigil. We saw the unity of the town.

The mayor says that Erwin, Tennessee, is an example of what America can do together.

CAMEROTA: Gustavo Valdes, we pray that they get some answers and some resolution. Thank you -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: The new Supreme Court term starts on Monday

And, today, we got our first look at some of the major cases the justices will be reviewing. They do involve some of the biggest issues of our time, border crime, job discrimination, and more.

CNN chief Supreme Court analyst Joan Biskupic is with us for the details.

So, Joan, what's on tap for the justices?

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN SENIOR SUPREME COURT ANALYST: Well we're just three days away from the first Monday in October, the traditional opening of the new term that we will run through next summer.

And they have about 40 cases on tap and they just took 13 new ones today. And let me tell you about three of the 13 that are important. One is Smith & Wesson Brands v. Mexico. And in this case, it tests whether Mexico can sue American gun manufacturers for aiding and abetting unlawful firearms sales to Mexican drug cartels.

Federal law generally prohibits these kinds of lawsuits, protects the gun manufacturers, but Mexico is saying there's an exemption in the law when a manufacturer might be aiding and abetting the criminal activity. So that's number one.

Another one, Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services has kind of counterfactual situation here, where the case was brought by a straight woman who's claiming she was denied a promotion by her gay boss in favor of another gay employee, and whether, as a member of a majority group, the plaintiff in a majority group here, not a minority group, actually has to prove a bit more under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act that prohibits sex discrimination, whether she has to show some additional pattern of bias or other background circumstances.

And, finally, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission v. Texas. And this tests the NRC's plan to actually take spent nuclear fuel and allow it to be stored in Texas' Permian Basin. This is a test of regulatory power that has been a theme of the Roberts court, as the Roberts court has in many ways restricted the hand of the federal government.

SANCHEZ: And to that point, Joan, just as we were about to go on, we get an alert that the Supreme Court actually sided with the EPA on a specific...

(CROSSTALK)

BISKUPIC: Right. Right. This is an ongoing case involving another EPA regulation for certain kinds of emissions where it was challenged.

And instead of putting the EPA program on hold, as the court has done many, many times for EPA and other environmental safeguards, it said, no, we're not going to intervene at that point. So that was a rare win for the Environmental Agency in that case.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

So when Monday comes around and the justices sit in court for the first time since July, what are you anticipating we will see?

BISKUPIC: I cannot wait until they enter through those curtains. And they do enter through curtains, three sets of curtains.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

BISKUPIC: And I want to see what they -- whether they seem happy to be with each other, whether the bitterness from last July 1, when the Trump immunity case came down, whether that is still on their faces, if they look like they're in the mood to engage with each other, how they treat the advocates at the lectern.

We don't get to see these nine justices much. And this is the first time they will be there on their elevated bench for all of us to see, so just watching the give-and-take between them. And starting right away next week, Boris, we have those -- we have a lot of major cases coming right away.

And I think we talked -- you and I talked about them last Monday, beginning on Tuesday with a ghost guns challenge.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

BISKUPIC: That's to the government regulation of gun kits that right now some of the manufacturers say should not have to fall under federal regulation for registration and serial numbers and all that.

SANCHEZ: Yes, a lot of important cases. It'll be fascinating to hear your report about the interpersonal dynamics, especially given the acrimony that you kind of felt in that decision on Trump's immunity.

BISKUPIC: That's right.

SANCHEZ: Joan Biskupic, thanks so much for the update. Look forward to Monday.

BISKUPIC: Thank you.

Still to come, a war of words ramping up between Israel and Iran, as both consider retaliating against each other again. What Iran's supreme leader is saying his country is prepared to do.

Plus, the L.A. district attorney's office says it's looking at new evidence and the murder case of the Menendez brothers -- ahead, why their sentences potentially could get reduced.

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