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Trump Attends Charity Dinner; Execution Halted for Texas Inmate; Skin Cancer Screenings for Firefighters; Musk Pushes Debunked Conspiracy Theories; Amber Ruffin is Interviewed about "Have I Got News for You." Aired 8:30-9a ET
Aired October 18, 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]
MAJOR DORON SPIELMAN, IDF SPOKESPERSON: And it's a mistake for the future. The future will look back at this time and realize that it was difficult. With enormous determination we saw this through. That is what will bring a better world.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hostage families are - some hostage families are worried that after his death their relatives are actually in more danger. Should the families of hostages be more relieved or more nervous now that Sinwar is gone?
SPIELMAN: Look, we are acting on whatever intel we have, and have been acting to try to rescue those hostages. It is a huge priority for Israel. Every one of us knows hostages. I myself know hostages. I - various - all Israelis are connected in some way or another. We are acting on our intel to bring them home as quickly as possible. There's no question that Sinwar's elimination destabilizes Hamas. And it depends how that's going to be leveraged. If we can leverage it to defeat Hamas, and the prime minister has already said that anyone who notifies and brings in a hostage will have immunity, if that is able to be moved forward, then that last remaining group can raise their hands, raise the white flag, and carry out three things, stop shelling Israel, returning our hostages and disbanding. This can end tomorrow. Trust me, Kate, I and most Israelis, the vast majority, are praying and hoping that's what happens.
BOLDUAN: Major Doron Spielman with the IDF, thank you very much for coming on.
SPIELMAN: Thank you for having me.
BOLDUAN: And Kamala Harris - coming up for us, the Kamala Harris campaign out with a new statement this morning. This after Donald Trump roasted her, mocked her, poked fun at her for not showing up in person to the charity dinner last night.
We'll be back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:36:10] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, something interesting happened just a few moments ago. Donald Trump was doing an interview this morning where he was talking about the Al Smith Charity Dinner that he spoke at last night. At the dinner, he complained about the fact that he wasn't allowed to use a teleprompter. But just a few moments ago, he also explained where he got help writing some of the jokes.
Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE DOOCY, FOX NEWS HOST: Your material was real funny. Who wrote it? Who helped you with it?
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I've had a lot of people helping. A lot of people. A couple of peoples from Fox. Actually, I shouldn't say that, but they wrote some jokes and, for the most part, I didn't like any of them, right? I -
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: A couple people from Fox helped me write the jokes.
With us now, former press secretary to then Vice President Joe Biden, Kendra Barkoff, and Republican strategist Doug Heye.
Kendra, you know, people from "Saturday Night Live," which is a comedy show, will occasionally help, I know, Democratic candidates write some jokes. But people from Fox, which is ostensively, at least they have the word news in their station, people from Fox News helping Donald Trump write jokes for dinner?
KENDRA BARKOFF, FORMER PRESS SECRETARY TO THEN VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Yes, I mean, it's inappropriate. Completely inappropriate I would just say as a whole.
But if you look at the dinner last night, I mean his jokes as a whole were crude, they were out of line. He took it way too far, I - I believe. Swearing in front of priest is not something and that I would advise. Talking about Doug and - and, you know, watch out for the nannies. I mean it's just - he took everything way too far.
And - and there's a reason I think why Kamala Harris chose to skip the dinner. It's - it is not something that I think will appeal to wide voters and - and will not help her to - to win the votes in - in the critical battleground states.
BERMAN: Doug, the Harris campaign put out a statement after Donald Trump's appearance. And as I said, he did complain about not having a teleprompter there. The statement said, "Donald Trump struggled to read scripted notes written by his handlers, repeatedly complaining that he couldn't use a teleprompter. He stumbled over his words and lashed out when the crowds wouldn't laugh with him. The rare moments he was off script, he went on long, incomprehensible rambles, reminding Americans how unstable he's become. And of course, he made it all about himself. He may refuse to release his medical records, but every day he makes it clear to the American people that he is not up to the job."
This is something the Harris campaign is saying in different ways, Doug, now almost every day.
DOUG HEYE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: It isn't. And look, I'd say two things to this.
One, I take issue with - with you saying that "Saturday Night Live" is a comedy show, because have you seen it lately?
Two, Donald Trump struggles when he's off teleprompter. We know that. Obviously, the Harris campaign is trying to use the same tactic that Republicans very successfully did about Joe Biden. He's erratic. He's not up to the task. The messaging is almost just a, you know, a mirror image of what Republicans were saying.
The challenge for the Harris campaign is, voters have, by and large, over - almost overwhelmingly made up their minds on Donald Trump. And so if he makes a crude joke at a Catholic dinner - I'm Catholic by the way - they factored that in. They know that's Donald Trump, who he is. They know that's what he's going to do. They still want to hear from Kamala Harris, what are you going to do as president?
So, in her interview with - with Bret Baier, there's been a whole lot of tweeting, you know, hashtag fierce, Kamala Harris took down Bret Baier. OK. She still didn't tell voters, here's what I'm going to do as president. And that's what the next 18 days need to be for Harris.
BERMAN: It is interesting, as you said, it seems that a lot of people have made up their minds about Donald Trump already. But when a campaign just leans into something so repeatedly, you think in some ways they're trying to lay the groundwork for something or maybe set a trap or set some kind of - the table so that if he says something else or some other news comes out it's already out there.
And, Kendra, to that point, "Politico" has a story out today.
[08:40:03]
Donald Trump has walked away from several mainstream media interviews that he had scheduled. CNBC, NBC, reportedly with my friend Christine Romans he bailed and also apparently a podcast called "The Shade Room." And I want to read this quote from "Politico." "In conversations earlier this week, when describing why an interview hadn't come together just yet, a Trump adviser told The Shade Room producers that Trump was exhausted and refusing some interviews, but that could change at any time, according to two people familiar with the conversations."
Now, the Trump campaign says the fact that he backed out because he was exhausted was unequivocally false. But again, this is the "Politico" reporting saying that - that Trump's tired.
BARKOFF: Well, he's - he is old. I mean that is - it is - it is a fact that he is old. And, you know, look, they're - they're both going and doing a lot of interviews across the board. I mean you're seeing Harris reach out to a whole new group of voters with her - the "Call Her Daddy" podcast, the Charlemagne interview. I mean she is really going out there. And talking to Bret Baier and talking to 7 million people who watched that interview.
And I do take issue with my - my dear friend Doug that she is not talking about her policies. She is talking about her policies. She's going out there and - and talking about the differences between them and the fact that she stands for democracy and - and women's rights and women's choice. I mean I keep going back to the same thing, which is Trump continued to speak to the same people, the same voters, over and over again.
But the fact remains is that he is old and I'm sure he is exhausted. Campaigning is hard.
BERMAN: Doug, importance of Michigan. What you think we'll see their today in 30 seconds or less.
HEYE: Look, you know, Michigan may be one of the states that is all the marbles. If we go back to 2016, it's the state where Debbie Dingell, the congresswoman, long time now congresswoman from Michigan said, do not lose focus, Clinton campaign, this state is important and you're in real trouble. She's sounding similar alarms right now. I'd listen to Debbie Dingell.
BERMAN: Doug Heye, Kendra Barkoff, thanks so much for being here. Appreciate it.
BARKOFF: Thank you.
BERMAN: Kate.
BOLDUAN: So, an emergency stay just minutes before a Texas man was supposed to be executed. And death row inmate Robert Roberson, his life spared, at least for the time being.
Now, Roberson was convicted of killing his two-year-old daughter in 2002. And he would have become the first person in the United States to be put to death for a conviction related to shaken baby syndrome. But a chorus of people have come forward to fight for him, saying he is innocent, including the lead investigator on his case who now says he got it wrong.
CNN's Ed Lavandera is following all this for us. He's got much more.
So, Ed, what are you hearing about what happens now?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's what we're trying to figure out, Kate, but it is impossible to overstate the drama of how all of this unfolded last night as Robert Roberson was in a cell, just feet away from the death chamber where he was supposed to have been executed at 6:00 p.m. yesterday. And then almost four hours later, as he sat there waiting, unaware of all of the legal fighting that was going on outside, the Texas Supreme Court stepped in and issued a stay.
And essentially what is going on is that Texas lawmakers had subpoenaed Roberson to appear before a committee investigating the medical evidence in his case next week, scheduled after the execution. So, those lawmakers were in a legal fight with the Texas attorney general's office. Ultimately, the Texas Supreme Court stepped in.
Outside were his family and supporters had been waiting to hear this news, they were ecstatic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENNIFER ROBERSON, ROBERT ROBERSON'S SISTER-IN-LAW: I'm just very excited. I mean, like I said, justice has finally been served here. We - he's been railroaded from the very beginning. It's taken almost 22 years for Texas to step up and do the right thing. And we're just really excited.
BRIAN WHARTON, SUPPORTER, FORMER DETECTIVE IN ROBERSON'S CASE: Finally, this evening, they did come to tell us that he got a stay. And his wife started crying and everybody else just kind of took a deep breath, because we all know he's innocent. We've been fighting this fight for a while and trying to get a fair hearing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: Kate, we're told that Robert Roberson is expected to testify in person next week before this Texas legislative committee. But exactly where all of this goes next is not clear. Ultimately, what his lawyers want is a chance to be able to introduce the new medical evidence they say that they have, that they believe proves his innocence.
Kate.
BOLDUAN: Ed Lavandera, wow. Thank you so much for going through it all, Ed. Really appreciate it.
John.
BERMAN: All right, new this morning, as firefighters put their lives on the line to battle flames, a Massachusetts doctor wants to protect them from another risk they face, cancer. After losing her brother, Dr. Christine Kannler took on a new mission, and CNN's Randi Kaye has her story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. CHRISTINE KANNLER, DERMATOLOGIST WHO LOST HER BROTHER TO CANCER: So, actually I've added a few more things.
[08:45:01]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh gosh, OK.
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Dr. Christine Kannler is a dermatologist in Massachusetts. But she doesn't just see patients that her office, she screens firefighters across the state for skin cancer.
KANNLER: By bringing these free cancer screenings to the firehouse, it's a wonderful win-win.
KAYE: Your brother really was the inspiration for what you're doing now.
KANNLER: Absolutely. All of a sudden my brother was dying and I couldn't do anything. Afterwards, I'm like, wow, I can really make a change and save some lives.
KAYE (voice over): Saving lives is exactly what Dr. Kannler has been doing since her brother, Peter Kannler, died of esophageal cancer in 2016. He'd been a firefighter in Massachusetts.
KANNLER: And he was a big teddy bear. And firefighting was his life. He loved it.
KAYE (voice over): When her brother got sick, Dr. Kannler had no idea about the increased cancer risk firefighters face.
KANNLER: Your skin on your ears, nice, soft, smooth.
KAYE (voice over): She now says firefighters are 9 percent more likely to get cancer of any kind, and 21 percent more likely to develop melanoma.
Firefighter Joanie Cullinan met Dr. Kannler at a free screening.
JOANIE CULLINAN, MASSACHUSETTS FIREFIGHTER: Dr. Kannler found a spot on my lower back, somewhere I would never see. Took a picture, told me to keep an eye on it and get a biopsy.
KAYE (voice over): Sure enough, Joanie was diagnosed with stage three melanoma. After chemotherapy and surgery, she's now cancer free.
CULLINAN: Dr. Kannler is an angel. She saved my life. She's saved so many other lives.
KAYE (voice over): Like firefighter Tom Scofield, Dr. Kannler found a spot on his back that was just removed a few months ago.
TOM SCHOFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS FIREFIGHTER: Assure you that there was no way that I was going to set up a dermatologist appointment on my own. Without Dr. Kannler offering that program and donating her time, I definitely would not have found that melanoma.
KAYE (voice over): And firefighter Phil Byrne, Dr. Kannler found melanoma on him too.
PHIL BYRNE: She found a spot on my elbow. She said, this is something you need to take care of.
KAYE: I mean there's a chance you might not be here today if she hadn't -
BYRNE: Absolutely. It's scary to think that - of that, but, yes.
KAYE: How do you feel when you hear somebody like Joanie say, you know, she saved my life, Dr. Kannler saved my life.
KANNLER: It brings me so much joy. I couldn't help my brother. It really brings me so much joy and happiness that I've made a difference.
KAYE (voice over): Dr. Kannler and other dermatologists who now volunteer alongside her have screened more than 7,000 firefighters statewide since 2018. Many of those she's met knew her brother and often share stories about him.
KANNLER: I just want one more story about what my brother did or what he said. For me, that is wonderful because it keeps his memory alive for me.
KAYE (voice over): Randi Kaye, CNN, Boston.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BOLDUAN: Randi, thank you so much for that.
Still ahead for us, Elon Musk headlining his first solo campaign event stumping for Donald Trump. A campaign event that requires some fact- checking as he pushed debunked conspiracies about the 2020 election.
And Butterball turkey says - Butterballs says it's got the solution for one of the biggest Thanksgiving annoyances. And it could actually mean you may finally start dinner on time.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:52:53]
BERMAN: All right, new this morning, people pouring over the words from Elon Musk, the richest person in the world, who seemed to promote election lies and other falsehoods while stumping for Donald Trump at a solo town hall in Pennsylvania.
CNN's Marshall Cohen here to explain.
Good morning, Marshall.
MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER: John, good morning to you.
Elon Musk, on his social media platform almost every single day, promotes election disinformation. But he took his show on the road last night for this first solo town hall on behalf of Trump, promoting Trump's campaign, where he brought up some of these 2020 conspiracy theories.
I'll play for you a clip of what he said, but do not believe everything you hear. We will fact check it after the clip.
Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELON MUSK, TECH BILLIONAIRE AND TRUMP MEGADONOR: When you have mail-in ballots and no - no sort of proof of citizenship, it becomes almost impossible to prove cheating is the issue. There are some very strange things that happen that - that are statistically incredibly unlikely. So, you know, there's always this sort of question of like say the Dominion voting machines. It is weird that the - you know, I think they're used in Philadelphia and in Maricopa County, but not in a lot of other places. Doesn't that seem like a heck of a coincidence?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COHEN: All right, so there's three things here that I want to break down for you.
Number one, he said with mail-in ballots it's almost impossible to find fraud. That's completely false. All the experts I speak to say that the systems are in place. There are plenty of safeguards. It's actually pretty easy to find fraud, and fraud is extremely rare. Of course, mail ballots are paper trails. There's barcodes. Everything there is verified.
Number two, he said Dominion machines were in Maricopa and Philadelphia. So, that's Phoenix and Philadelphia. Well, they were in Maricopa, but Dominion was not in Philadelphia, period. So, he just got that one wrong.
And number three, regardless of where there were Dominion machines, the results were accurate. Democratic and Republican officials from Phoenix and Philadelphia have both repeatedly said that the results were accurate. Everything was tabulated properly there.
[08:55:06]
You know, John, it is interesting that Elon Musk picked a fight with Dominion. Of course, they're famous for getting that $800 million settlement out of Fox News for promoting similar lies.
BERMAN: Yes, Dominion, not litigious at all. But then again, Elon Musk, he's got his own lawyers.
Marshall Cohen, thank you very much for that dose of reality.
Kate.
BOLDUAN: New details are being revealed this morning about the tragic death of musician Liam Payne. Officials in Argentina say that early indications suggest he was alone when he fell from that hotel balcony. Also saying that he was - this is their quote, "experiencing some kind of episode due to substance abuse." Former One Direction band bandmate Niall Horan reacted to Payne's death just this morning, saying that he is absolutely devastated and also that Liam's passing just does not feel real.
The man accused of attempting to kill former President Trump last month while Trump was playing golf at his Mar-a-Lago club is now asking the judge in his case to recuse herself. The judge is Aileen Cannon. That's the same judge who oversaw Trump's classified documents case and who dismissed Trump's classified documents case. Ryan Routh, his attorneys say that the reason he should get a new judge on this case is because Trump lavish praise of Judge Cannon and Trump as a, quote, "significant stake" in the outcome of this case. Routh has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges that he faces.
And forget about the dreaded thaw. Those horrible, horrible hours where you need to defrost your Thanksgiving turkey and you need it to defrost faster before you cook it. Butterball just introduced what it is calling a cook from frozen turkey. All you have to do is simply remove it from the freezer and pop it in the oven. Probably take the wrapping off first. The company - the company - to pull this off, the company created a specially made frozen turkey. I don't know the chemistry of the frozen turkey industry. We'll leave you to figure it out. The entire goal is to cut down on the stress and mess in the kitchen.
John.
BERMAN: CNN's new comedy quiz show, "Have I Got News for You," aims to find humor in the coverage of current events. The show features a weekly rotating cast of comedians, pundits, political figures, and celebrities for smart but silly conversations and games.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROY WOOD JR., COMEDIAN: Does anyone know what the media's biggest criticism of Vice President Harris' campaign strategy is?
ANDY RICHTER, COMEDIAN: That she's not talking to us enough. Why won't she talk to us?
AMBER RUFFIN, COMEDIAN: Andy. Andy, it's all right.
RICHTER: Oh.
RUFFIN: Andy -
RICHTER: But I wanted - I want to ask her questions and then say that she's wrong when she answers them.
RUFFIN: I know sweetheart, but she's very busy. She'll be with you soon.
RICHTER: All right.
RUFFIN: Never let her around Andy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: All right, with us now is comedian, and one of the stars of "Have I Got News for You," and I guess my CNN colleague, right?
AMBER RUFFIN, COMEDIAN: Oh, yay, we're colleagues. BERMAN: Amber Ruffin.
Great to see you.
RUFFIN: Never forget.
BERMAN: Right here.
RUFFIN: We're colleagues.
BERMAN: We're like kind of co-anchoring this moment right now here on CNN.
RUFFIN: Oh, yay!
BERMAN: So, for people who haven't yet seen it, first of all, a, they're making a big mistake.
RUFFIN: Yes.
BERMAN: But, b, how would you explain the show to them?
RUFFIN: Right. "Have I Got News for You" is a goofy time disguised as a quiz show. And what happens is our host, Roy Wood Jr., runs down all of the news events of the week and quizzes us on how much we know about them. It's hosted by Roy. And I'm a team captain and so is Michael Ian Black.
BERMAN: OK, so team captain. When I said you're one of the stars. In my mind, I mean, you are the star. Let's be honest.
RUFFIN: Thank you. (INAUDIBLE).
BERMAN: You know, let's just be honest. I mean you are the star.
RUFFIN: Yes.
BERMAN: You're a team captain. What does that mean?
RUFFIN: That means that every week we have a guest on our team. And we - my team is led to victory every week by me and how brilliant I am.
BERMAN: What's your favorite type of new story to deal with?
RUFFIN: My favorite - well, OK, I lied to you one second ago and I'm never as up on the news as everyone else. Like, I - I really do. I try. I try. But they are so deep in it.
So, my favorite news story is the one no one knows about so then we're on equal footing.
BERMAN: So you just throw that out there.
RUFFIN: Yes.
BERMAN: Has there been like a highlights so far? RUFFIN: I feel like the highlight of "Have I Got News for You" is
every day before the show starts and we're just goofing around backstage. Like that's our highlight. Although the show's not much different than that, right? It's three friends hanging out talking trash about the news. And that's what it - it happens before we roll, and while we roll, and after we roll.
BERMAN: Yes, sometimes that can be the most dangerous/awesome time. You're like, oh, I wish we had been filming.
RUFFIN: Yes.
[09:00:03]
BERMAN: On the other hand, had we been filming, it might have been the last time any of us are ever actually filmed.
RUFFIN: Thats 1,000 percent true.
