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Filmmaker Michael Moore on State of the 2024 Race; Milton Strengthens into a Category 5 Hurricane; Russian Court Sentences U.S. Citizen to Nearly 7 Years in Prison. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired October 07, 2024 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

MICHAEL MOORE, FILMMAKER: That's the law of the land now. And anybody who thinks that women are going to stay home, that women are going to tolerate this, do you not know any women? Do you not live with a woman?

Is there a next door neighbor? Is there somebody you could just go ask them? So what do you think about my gender here, my gender?

Nobody can tell me what to do with my body. And maybe some people should. I'm just saying, but seriously.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: But Michael, let me ask you about that. Because I mean, yes, a lot of people obviously, they live with women. They hear the opinions.

They see what women are saying in polls, but they also see what other groups are saying in polls. And Kamala Harris isn't doing as well with some voting blocs as, say, Joe Biden did before if she wants to be comfortable, right? This appears to be very tied up.

So when you look at the polls, when you look at what you're seeing in these all important states, including Michigan, which you talk a lot about, do you feel -- do you not put credence in those polls that show what is a dead heat here?

MOORE: No, I don't think it's a dead heat. And I'm not saying I don't put credence in them, but I'll just go back to the morning of Election Day 2016, on the front page of the New York Times, where according to their latest poll, said that Hillary, quote, has an 85 percent chance of winning today's election. Trump only has a 15 percent chance.

That was the morning of the election. All right. No, I don't think people should be running their lives based on these polls.

I think polls that are polling people on the issues are probably more accurate. But on the candidate itself, I think -- what I'm concerned, I'll give you an example, because you mentioned, you know, there are those Democrats trying to get her, you know, to tone it down, you know. That's something women have been told for decades, you know.

Now, you better tone that down. You know, the reason she's so progressive, because she believes in a woman's right to choose. She believes that 14-year-olds should not be able to take an AR-15 into a school, and she's going to ban these assault rifles that used to be banned, that Republicans actually used to vote in favor of the assault weapons ban 30 years ago.

Now, you go down all of her positions and they line up exactly with where the majority of Americans are at. The majority of Americans believe climate change is real. The majority of Americans believe the minimum wage is too low. The majority of Americans -- just go down the list.

But I want to give you one example that's not covered much on the news. So you have these Democrats, millionaire and billionaire Democrats, who have made contributions to the Harris campaign. And they have made it very clear that they expect her to fire Lina Kahn, who is -- who Joe Biden put in as the head of the Federal Trade Commission. Now, I don't want to get in the weeds. I know we're going to lose people as soon as you say Federal Trade Commission.

But Lina Kahn is the person who's trying to fight all these mergers, acquisitions, trying to limit competition so that prices go up when you don't have a competitive economy. And they want her out of there because she is anti-merger. She is fighting for the people and they want her gone.

And they've publicly come on, even on CNN, and said, you know, this isn't good for business. She's not good. Biden put the wrong person in there. And they expect Kamala Harris to remove her once she's president. That's not going to happen. That's not who we're voting for.

The majority of Americans want regulation. They want people to be making sure that when you have a hurricane and only 1 percent of the people have flood insurance, that's not the country I live in. That's not the country I'm going to live in, where people now are suffering because of this.

And that's why the Biden administration has said, we're sending everything in, we're sending the army in, we're sending all the money in. And the way, and look, CNN, you've done a great job pointing out when Trump goes up there and says, you're only going to get $750. You know, I mean, I, we just laugh him off, but.

KEILAR: Well, I hear you, but you know, there's some people who may not. I do want to ask you because the time.

MOORE: What do you mean some people? Who are these people?

KEILAR: I want to ask you about something else, Michael, which is the timing of your warning. Cause you're, you're saying do not shift to be moderate.

[15:35:00]

I will say the -- the biggest majority in America might include some moderates in addition to people who are liberal, right?

MOORE: No.

KEILAR: OK, but look --

MOORE: No, the majority of American are not moderate. The majority of Americans are pro-choice. The majority of Americans are for gun control.

KEILAR: I hear what you're saying, but they might have some on immigration or economics, economic issues, there may be some overlap with some of the things you're talking about when it comes to abortion and that kind of thing. I wonder though, what you think though, Harris -- Harris has been embracing this -- you've seen it here recently, this, the Republicans for Harris. She had Liz Cheney campaigning with her last week. She's got this upcoming event with former Trump administration women.

I mean, do you see value in that or no?

MOORE: Absolutely. Of course you're a politician. You want everybody's vote. You don't turn down anybody's vote. It doesn't mean she's going to, because Republicans are going to vote for her, that she's not going to go ahead trying to get an assault weapons ban. She's going to do that.

You're not going to be paid $7.25 an hour now as your minimum wage. It's going to go up to a living wage. You know, there's going to be child and family leave where you are covered. You don't lose your job because somebody gets sick in the family.

One after another, the American people support the platform of Kamala Harris. And, and, and it would be stunning to me.

I mean, I watched Trump's rally boy, those big screens behind him, no tax on social security, no, no tax on overtime, no, no tax, no tax. And he's just lying. All the things he promised before that he never did. He's not going to do this either.

But he's hoping that people will do it because it sounds -- I mean, they cut the faces there and you're on CNN in the rally and people almost were tearing up to think, oh my God, I work two jobs and no, no tax on overtime. That's not going to happen. That's not going to happen.

I know it sounds good and it feels good. I wish somebody would walk in this room right now and tell me they love me. That would sound really nice, but that's, that's not going to -- that's not going to get me love. It's not going get me a better life.

And I think the American people are smart enough. And look at Georgia today. You know, Georgia, this is the last, by the way, if you're in Georgia, this is the last day to register. This is it. You don't -- if you're not registered, if you haven't checked your registration to make sure you're registered, this is it today in Georgia and Arizona. Today is it.

If you're watching, you still have time. Go to vote.org and register to vote.

KEILAR: Yes. It's a very good call to action there for folks in Georgia.

MOORE: Florida and Ohio and Texas and Arkansas and Indiana. This is the last day.

KEILAR: Michael, it is always interesting to speak with you. Thank you so much for taking time for us today.

MOORE: Thank you for having me on in the daytime. I'm so awake.

KEILAR: That's how it works. It's nice, isn't it? Michael Moore, we appreciate it.

MOORE: I appreciate the good job that you're doing to keep people informed. Thank you very much.

KEILAR: All right. Thank you, sir.

So still ahead, Milton, and we are keeping a close eye on things here because look at this. It is a category five right now. It's on track to slam into some of the same areas impacted by Hurricane Helene just 10 days ago.

Next, how the U.S. military is preparing for the storm.

[15:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: We are continuing to monitor the rapidly intensifying Hurricane Milton, now a massive Category 5 storm. That is extremely powerful. It has sustained winds of up to 175 miles an hour, and it's expected to make landfall Wednesday night along the Florida Gulf Coast.

We have some traffic cameras to show you about how some people are taking these evacuation orders seriously. On the right side of your screen, that's I-4 just outside of Tampa. Folks heading out. This is 15 minutes after a mandatory evacuation order went into effect for residents less than an hour ago.

In the meantime, we're joined now by Pentagon Press Secretary Major General Patrick Ryder. General, thank you so much for being with us.

First, I want to ask about the news that we got that the U.S. military is moving some assets in light of Hurricane Milton. What can you tell us about that?

MAJ. GEN. PATRICK RYDER, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: Yes, well, first of all, Boris, thanks so much for having me, and thanks very much for providing important information about this pending storm. As you know, any time that we have a significant weather event like a hurricane, the U.S. military will do due diligence to ensure that we can relocate assets to places where they'll be safe. Think about fighter jets, naval vessels, things like that.

So that's all standard. But in the meantime, what we're doing is leaning very far forward, working with FEMA and other federal, state, and local agencies to be sure that we're ready and prepared once this storm, this massive storm, hits landfall.

SANCHEZ: I'm wondering what you think is the biggest concern for folks in that region, given that they just dealt with Hurricane Helene fewer than two weeks ago, and there's a potential for a storm surge that would shatter records.

RYDER: Yes, well, as you highlight, I mean, storm surge is always, you know, and high, deep levels of water is always something to be very concerned about.

[15:45:00]

I think in this particular case, you know, we just had Helene go through, you have debris, you have damage that's still being assessed. And so, you know, sustained winds, storm surge, all that combines to create a very volatile mix. And so it's very, very important for people to take the warnings seriously, take action now.

And the DOD, again, will continue to work very closely with FEMA under their leadership, as well as state and local agencies to make sure that we're prepared to help.

SANCHEZ: General, I do want to ask you about the ongoing response to Hurricane Helene. We know that President Biden deployed more than 1,500 troops to North Carolina to help with ongoing recovery efforts. That's in addition to some 6,000 guardsmen.

What role is the military playing in the recovery there?

RYDER: Yes, we are very well integrated now with the federal, state, and local authorities, you know, at the request of FEMA and the North Carolina governor doing things like helping to deliver food, water, route clearance, you know, imagine getting trees and debris off of roads so that important logistics and emergency capabilities can get in, as well as providing airlift support, you know, helicopter support. You got C-17s that are helping to deliver pallets and food and water to places.

So, again, we're going to continue to work very, very closely with FEMA and others to make sure that folks are getting the support they need.

SANCHEZ: So, General, I want to ask you to respond to Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance, who on Saturday said that the 82nd Airborne only has half the troops they want supporting recovery efforts. He added that there's, quote, no command and control. Is that accurate?

RYDER: Well, you know, as I'm sure you can appreciate, I won't get into making comments about, you know, from political candidates and getting involved in politics. What I will say is that we do have very tried and true command and control processes. U.S. Northern Command working very closely with FEMA and, again, local and state authorities, you know, the governor's office to make sure that as we support these efforts, we're doing it in a synchronized, integrated way to make sure that we're helping people and not creating additional problems, you know, by rushing stuff in that's not connected to the broader overall effort.

And so we are going to continue to stay after this. We have troops on the ground right now in North Carolina that are helping with this effort and will continue to stay closely synced with FEMA and other agencies to make sure that we're additive to this effort and helping our fellow Americans.

SANCHEZ: General, I respect your desire to stay away from the politics of all of this, but there are a lot of folks out there that have been hearing messages from Vance and former President Trump who actually think that Republican led areas are being abandoned, in the words of Trump, by a Democratic administration. I wonder what you would say to those folks.

RYDER: Well, you know, look, Boris, you have a lot of very smart people who can talk about the political aspects of this. I'm a uniformed Department of Defense officer, Air Force officer. I'm going to focus on the facts and the facts are those are Americans on the ground in North Carolina, and we're going to help our fellow Americans who are in this time of need.

And so again, we'll continue to work very closely with FEMA. We'll continue to work very closely with the governor's office and state and local leadership to make sure that we are helping with this effort going forward.

SANCHEZ: Major General Patrick Ryder, we appreciate you bringing us the facts. Thanks for joining us.

RYDER: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: When we come back, an American citizen is sentenced to prison in Russia after being accused of fighting for Ukraine. We have the latest.

[15:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: New today, a Russian court has sentenced a U.S. citizen to nearly seven years in prison for allegedly fighting as a mercenary for Ukraine. That's according to Russian state-run media.

KEILAR: Stephen Hubbard's trial and sentencing took place behind closed doors in a Moscow court. Video showing him handcuffed inside of a glass cell with his head shaved. CNN's Jennifer Hansler is with us now from the State Department on this.

Jennifer, what are officials there saying? JENNIFER HANSLER, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT REPORTER: Well, Boris and Brianna, the State Department says they have limited information on Stephen Hubbard's case. However, they did point out that he was not even arrested in Russian territory. He was arrested in Ukraine in a part of the country that was occupied by Russian forces during the war, and he has spent more than two years behind bars in Russia.

Part of why they have such limited information is because the Russian government has not allowed any officials from the U.S. Embassy to go and visit Stephen during his imprisonment. The spokesperson, Matthew Miller, said today they are going to continue to press for the Russians to allow access to Stephen in prison there. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW MILLER, SPOKESPERSON, STATE DEPARTMENT: Russia should grant consular access to him for the United States, as they should any time they detain an American citizen.

We're disappointed, as we often are, when they refuse to grant consular access. They have an obligation to provide it, and we're going to continue to press for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANSLER: This is something that the Russians are quite notorious about. They will consistently block the U.S. officials from getting to visit detained Americans for months, if not years, when they are imprisoned there in Russia.

And one thing I want to note here, guys, is his sister said that he is a pacifist. He has never held a gun, and he was just teaching English there in Ukraine, guys.

KEILAR: Oh, that's interesting. Jennifer Hansler, thank you so much for that report from the State Department.

SANCHEZ: Next, Halloween coming early for some college students in Arizona, and not in a good way. Why hundreds had to relocate thanks to some spooky new roommates.

[15:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Now to a not so fun Halloween themed story. Students at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff had to evacuate their dorm rooms because of bats. Several of the unwelcome creatures have found their way inside the dorm building.

KEILAR: Yes, fun facts, that a large group of bats is called a colony, or you can call it a cauldron, and I guess that's what they found. Hundreds of bats, in fact. Students first noticed the bats last month. One bat even tested positive for rabies. That's bad news. And a few students were given rabies shots as a precaution.

The university tried all kinds of different ways to get rid of them, chicken wire foam, but the problem only got worse.

SANCHEZ: Students say the bats were seen on the roof and hanging out in the dorm lobby. After the discovery, the entire building got shut down. Roughly 550 students packed up and moved out for the rest of the year, relocated to nearby apartments.

I don't know. If you ever look at a bat up close, they're kind of cute. And also, they're clearly just trying to learn. They're moving into a dorm. They're like going to class.

[16:00:00]

KEILAR: No, they put the rat in. They sound, you know, like rat bats. They look like rats with wings.

SANCHEZ: Google bat up close.

KEILAR: They're not cute.

SANCHEZ: What are you doing for Halloween?

KEILAR: They put the rat in. They sound like rat bats. They look like rats with wings.

SANCHEZ: Google bat up close.

KEILAR: No.

SANCHEZ: What are you doing for Halloween? What are you making for Halloween?

KEILAR: Like for my costume?

SANCHEZ: Yes.

KEILAR: I've ordered one. You want to know what I'm going to be? I'm going to be a Raygun.

SANCHEZ: The dancer?

KEILAR: Yes.

SANCHEZ: Now that is a tease. Are you going to bring that live here for CNN New Central?

KEILAR: We'll have to see. I'll think about it. Oh, but you know what?

"THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper right now.

SANCHEZ: A performance live on the air. Stay tuned.

END