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Harris & Trump Campaign In Battleground MI With 18 Days To Election; Trump To Hold Rally In Detroit In Latest Visit To Battleground MI; Hamas Says Hostages Won't Return Until The Gaza War Ends, Israel Withdraws, And Palestinian Prisoners Are Released. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired October 18, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

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[15:00:52]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Rebuilding the blue wall, Vice President Harris hitting the campaign trail in the key states that once were the foundation of Democratic presidential hopes, but former President Trump won those states eight years ago and hopes that he can again this election.

And new evidence in the election interference case against Trump, documents released today shed light on key moments, including what he was allegedly doing as he watched the January 6 insurrection unfold on television.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN HOST: And a new calculus in the Middle East. U.S. officials are hoping that the killing of the Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar could speed up the end of the war in Gaza, but Israel and Hamas for now, refusing to back down.

We are following all these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KEILAR: Michigan bound as early voting gets underway tomorrow in the pivotal battlegrounds, largest city of Detroit, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump are ramping up campaign events in the state, both of them making multiple stops today.

Just moments ago, Harris spoke at an event in Grand Rapids. She will leave soon to talk with union workers in Lansing.

MARQUARDT: And then later on, Trump will rally in Detroit just a week after comparing it to a, quote, "developing nation." We are covering the 2024 race's final stretch the way that only CNN can. Let's start with CNN's Alayna Treene on Trump's return to the Motor City.

So Alayna, what more do we know about the Trump campaign's goals there?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: I mean, I think there's no question, Alex and Brianna, that this state is crucial to both campaigns really in their pathway to trying to find 270 election electoral votes in November. Now, Michigan itself has 15 electoral votes, and it's really the center of the so called blue wall states. And I'll tell you, you know, from my conversations with Trump senior advisers, that out of all three of them, that includes not just Michigan, but also Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, that they actually feel the most confident about Michigan, and that's why you're seeing him spend so much time in this state, really trying to shore up that support here.

Now you did mention but he was also in this state just a week ago. I was here as well, covering him his remarks at the Detroit Economic Club. And it was really interesting, because at one point during those remarks, he actually insulted Detroit while being in Detroit. He talked about, you know, reinvigorating the U.S. auto industry. He said he wanted to renegotiate a trade deal that he had first negotiated, actually, with Mexico and Canada, but then he started to criticize Detroit, saying it was a once great city, saying that it's more of a developing city than places like China. And so he got a lot of backlash for that. I'm curious to see whether or not he tries to clean up some of those remarks when he's back here tonight.

But before he comes to Detroit, Alex and Brianna, he's actually going to be in Oakland County. That's where you're going to see that split screen of Harris and Donald Trump both in the same county that I note that it's actually just north of Detroit. It is in the suburbs, and it's been very clear that the suburbs is really an area that Donald Trump's team has been targeting, particularly suburban women. And so I think that's going to be a key part of what he talks about when he's there just later this afternoon,

KEILAR: All right. And we're just looking there at former President Trump taking some questions, so we'll be monitoring that if - actually, can we listen into this? Let's listen in.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He can make it easier.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you going to talk to Prime Minister Netanyahu about it?

TRUMP: He's called me. Yes, he's called me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) ...

TRUMP: He's called me. I have not spoken to him. I'm going to speak to him probably now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What are you going to tell him?

TRUMP: Well, look, he's doing a good job. Biden is trying to hold him back. Just so you understand, Biden is far superior to the VP. He's trying to hold them back and they probably should be doing the opposite, actually.

[15:05:05]

I'm glad that Bibi decided to do what he had to do, but it's - he's moving along pretty good. Everything's moving along. Yes, you have ...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) ...

TRUMP: You mean deranged Jack Smith. He's a deranged lunatic who lost Florida. Look, he's losing everything he's doing. He should have never been put in charge of this case. There is no case. I did absolutely nothing wrong. He's a deranged person. You know what it is? It's called election hunting. That's all they're doing, election hunting. It's the weaponization of the justice system and the people are wire to know it, nothing was released. There's nothing released.

In Florida, he said the same thing and he lost the case soundly and he'll keep losing the case. He's got no case. All they're trying to do is anything they can do to help them with the election, because they're losing very badly, and the American public is totally aware of what's happening.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) that millions of undocumented immigrants are here in the swing state to vote for them, what do you think?

TRUMP: Yes, Kamala has allowed 21 million people, at least, probably more than that, to enter our country, many of them are murderers. They're drug dealers. They're people we don't want. They're terrorists alike. We have the largest number of terrorists in our country right now than we've ever had, according to the records. All allowed by the worst border security in history and that's Kamala. She was the border czar.

I watched her make a fool out of herself with Bret Baier. She was the border czar. She doesn't know what she's doing. This is a woman that doesn't have a clue. Frankly, I think they should put back Biden. And now, based on the numbers, I think I'm doing better against her than I am against Biden. So maybe Biden will go back. They'll do it a third time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wanted to (INAUDIBLE) on how the Democratic Muslim mayor endorsing here in Michigan?

TRUMP: Well, it's an honor. I mean, frankly, it's an honor. I've got a lot of endorsements Arab-Americans, with a lot of people, so that's a great honor.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think it will move the needle for Arab- Americans?

TRUMP: Well, I don't think they're going to be voting for her, because she doesn't know what she's doing, so I don't see him voting for her. I don't see a lot of people voting for her, she's not a smart person.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President. Mr. President, will you release your health records?

TRUMP: Yes. My health records, I've done five exams over the last four years. You've got them all.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don't have them all.

TRUMP: Obviously, I'm in the middle of a very big and very contentious fight, we're leading. I've given my health exams. I've also done cognitive tests twice, and I've aced them, meaning a perfect score. I want to see her do a cognitive test because she couldn't ace, because she wasn't born smart. Thank you, everybody.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: All right. Kristen, I want to bring you to that.

Listen, he may have some qualms with Kamala Harris. She is clearly smart. I just ...

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is very ...

KEILAR: ... fact check that. He called Jack Smith deranged. She said that Bibi's actually called him. He hasn't spoken to him yet. He's probably going to now and then he said that he's done all kinds of exams and that the media has them all for his health.

HOLMES: Right? So I think the question about Bibi was about Sinwar and that - because this is the first time that we've actually heard him respond to that, saying Bibi did what he had to do, and saying he hadn't actually spoken to him yet. There have been some confusion about what kind of conversations that he has been having with Netanyahu.

We know that at one point Israeli media was saying they were having conversation, Trump's team was saying it wasn't happening. There have been reports of that, but he's saying now that he hadn't talked to him. Obviously, Jack Smith stuff, there's nothing new there. That is just how he has continued to rail against all of these legal cases, essentially saying that they're all political.

In terms of the health exams, I believe he's including some of the post shooting in Butler assassination attempt letters that we saw from Ronny Jackson, who is not his physician, but is - was - when he was in the White House. Again, he has not released any sort of comprehensive medical records here. And to be clear, in August of last - of this year, he said he was going to release more medical records, and then went on to not do that. Now he's saying he's already released enough. But again, that was in August, and he said he was going to. So clearly, there's been a disconnect in between there.

MARQUARDT: Do you think he feels a need to clean up what he said last week in Detroit, where he was essentially - he was saying that if Harris wins then all cities will become like Detroit, which is pretty insulting.

HOLMES: It is insulting, but I heard him say it again shortly while later, when he was, I believe, in Chicago, talking to that economic club saying that Detroit, again, was a developing nation or essentially saying that they needed to clean up and that the entire country could become like that. I don't think he's going to change anything that he's saying there in terms of that messaging. Obviously, Michigan is a critical state, and one thing that Alayna said that we're hearing from his team is that they're feeling very good about Michigan.

And one thing to keep in mind right now, everywhere that Donald Trump goes from here into Election Day is targeted.

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They are no longer going to places that they think they're going to win. They're going to places that they think they need to reach voters. One of the places they need to reach voters is those suburbs of Detroit. They feel confident about it, but that doesn't mean they think they have it in the bank. So you're going to see him in Michigan every week until Election Day. We have three weeks to go.

They want Michigan. They believe they can win Michigan. And if they win Michigan, they believe they can win the election.

MARQUARDT: Which you might have expected sooner. Last weekend, you and I were talking about how he was just in California and Colorado.

HOLMES: Right.

MARQUARDT: You were out in Colorado.

Kristen Holmes, thanks very much.

I want to bring in CNN Priscilla Alvarez. She is in Waterford Township - that's in Michigan - where Vice President Kamala Harris is going to be rallying with voters later today. So Priscilla, what's the Vice President doing today?

ALVAREZ: Well, the Vice President is targeting counties that President Biden had won in 2020, Kent County, for example, had gone for former President Donald Trump in 2016, then President Biden won it in 2020 and two of the other counties. President Biden won them by wider margins, and that is what the Harris campaign wants to emulate and build on.

So they're doing that today with a message on labor. Shortly ago, we heard the Vice President in Grand Rapids, where she talked about manufacturing and labor. She is trying to make inroads with union voters, knowing that some rank and file members have been leaning toward former President Donald Trump. So her remarks today in Michigan have been centered on that.

But also, when talking to campaign officials, they tell me that where they see opportunities is also in the suburbs. This is an area that both Trump and Harris are competing for, but what the Harris campaign sees is that they have potentially an opportunity with the white college educated voters. In other words, perhaps, Republicans who are tired of Trump and may be willing to vote for the Vice President.

Now the way they're trying to capitalize on this as well is with early voting. This is the first presidential election in Michigan where there will be early voting in person. And so that is something that the Harris campaign is very focused on. In fact, she will stay in Michigan until tomorrow. She'll be in Detroit for a "Get Out the Vote" event where they're bringing in some star power. Lizzo will be with her for that. And later, she'll be in Georgia with Usher where early voting has already begun.

So you can see this strategy is starting to come to fruition, where they are trying to fortify their coalition, bring in those voters, perhaps those disaffected Republicans, that is an area they've been keenly focused on. While also bring those folks to the polls early and take advantage of the early voting where they can. But certainly Michigan a key part of the Harris campaign strategy as well.

KEILAR: All right. Priscilla Alvarez, thank you.

Let's get to CNN, National Politics Correspondent, Eva McKend who is in Atlanta. The VP having a busy and visible week. Eva, what's on the horizon for Harris?

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: So Alex and Brianna I beat the Vice President here to Georgia, but when she makes her way here to Atlanta, there are going to be three spaces to watch. She's going to have this big rally Saturday night featuring Usher and it's all aimed at getting voters to make a plan to vote early, if they can.

After that, she is going to appear at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church as well as the Souls to the Polls event. That, of course, are events targeted at black voters, the faith-based community. And the message to those voters is that this is not a performative exercise for her, that she grew up in the black faith tradition, and that it informs her values and her leadership style.

But listen, the campaign thinks that they have a lot of voters to reach in this state, not only black voters, Asian and Latino voters, the diverse parts of the Democratic coalition, but also conservative voters in this state as well. We have seen in past election cycles, in the midterms that there are a sizable number of Republicans in this state, non-Trump Republican split ticket voters. And so the campaign is doing all that they can to appeal to that part of the coalition as well. Alex? Brianna?

KEILAR: Eva, thank you very much. And with us now is CNN Political Director, David Chalian.

And David, let's talk about the big picture here. Michigan, obviously so important, but explain to us how it fits into the picture and what the latest polling shows.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes. First, let's talk about how close it is. I mean, look at our latest poll of polls in the state of Michigan. It is basically a tie. It's a one point race. You see between Harris and Trump, 48 percent Harris, 47 percent Trump. This is of likely voters. This is an average of the five most recent reputable polls in Michigan, which is one way to look at this.

That is so razor thin, neither campaign can tell you with confidence now how Michigan will fall here at the end of the day. It's critical. You heard Alayna say this before, it's got 15 electoral votes, so it's sizable. So when you're talking about these seven battleground states, it ranks fourth on that list in terms of its electoral prize.

So it opens up paths if you have it in your corner and walls off some paths for your opponent, if they don't.

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So that's its critical nature and it also just has so much going on in the state, whether it is labor or white working class voters or the battle for the suburbs or the issue of Israel in Gaza with Arab- American voters. It's got so much of what's going on in the campaign at play.

MARQUARDT: So when you look at how Michigan may vote this year, how does it compare to last elections?

CHALIAN: So let's take a look at how Michigan went in 2016 when it was Clinton versus Trump. You remember Donald Trump won Michigan. This was him busting through the blue wall to win the presidency. He won it by just over 10,000 votes. There you see 47.6 percent to 47.4, that's how close Clinton came. But if you then look at what Joe Biden did in 2020, he completely over performed what Hillary Clinton did. He won the state by more than 154,000 votes.

We have not seen Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin not vote together since 1988 you heard Kristen talking about how they - the Trump team believes they can pick off Michigan. If they are able to just pick one that would also just be breaking out of that - the notion that these three states perform together.

KEILAR: And of all the counties in all the battleground states in America, you have Harris and Trump crossing paths in the same one, Oakland County.

CHALIAN: Yes. They're going to be a couple of hours apart, their events, but their events are literally a 20-minute drive from each other in Oakland County, suburban Detroit. And this is what is so critical, Oakland County is not what we would call a swing County. It hasn't voted Republicans since 1992 but this is - when we - you hear us say all the time, margins matter. This is what we mean.

So look at the results in Oakland County when Hillary Clinton, who won the county but lost the state overall in 2016 was running against Trump. She won Oakland County by 53,000 votes, eight percentage points, okay? And that was not enough in a Democratic performing county. That was not enough of a margin to help her win the state.

Look at what Joe Biden did four years later in Oakland County. He won it by 14 percentage points. He wanted by 108,000. In fact, 70 percent of his statewide margin that we showed before comes from his victory margin here in Oakland County. So this is precisely why are we seeing both candidates there, because this is precisely the kind of place where Harris needs to perform at Biden levels in the suburbs, right, and where Trump says, I'm coming back to narrow those margins, because that's how I won this state in 2016 that's why we see them both in Oakland County today.

MARQUARDT: Before we let you go, David, do you think that there's been a shift in tone, in Harris's tone, specifically, there was a lot of hope and joy and good times when she launched her campaign, and it's been targeting Trump's rhetoric a fair bit more.

CHALIAN: Yes. I just noticed when you were showing clips of her in Grand Rapids, Michigan earlier today, the leaves were different colors. Some had fallen on the stage.

MARQUARDT: Right.

CHALIAN: So too, as we get closer to Election Day, does the strategy change. And there is no doubt, and David Plouffe was on our air earlier today, a senior adviser to the Harris campaign talking about this. There is no doubt they see in these final 18 days, they've done a lot of work of laying out some of her agenda pieces. They introduced her. They introduced Walz. They had the joy. They have (INAUDIBLE). They see in these final 18 days, it has to be contrast with Trump every hour, because whoever voters are left deciding between these two candidates, they need to take it to Trump every day, which is why they seize on whatever sort of controversial thing he says in the morning, you'll hear Kamala Harris reference it now in the afternoon and try to draw the contrast every single stop.

KEILAR: Yes, going straight to the cameras to do it.

CHALIAN: Yes.

MARQUARDT: Still hasn't sunk in personally, it's only 18 days away. Clearly, the campaigns have realized it based on what they're doing. David Chalian, thank you so much.

CHALIAN: Thanks, guys.

MARQUARDT: And still ahead, Hamas defiant after its leader has been killed by Israel. The militant group says that Israeli hostages, however, will not be returned until the war ends in Gaza, and Israeli troops pull out of Gaza.

KEILAR: Plus, just a huge document dump, nearly 2,000 pages of court filings former President Trump fought to keep secret are now public, a lot of it though redacted. So what we're learning about this trove of documents?

And then later, a former Olympic snowboarder is now a fugitive. We'll tell you why.

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MARQUARDT: President Joe Biden hopes that the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar on Wednesday will now open a new path, perhaps towards peace in the Israel-Hamas war after more than a year of fighting. But Hamas, for now, and for its part, is remaining defiant today, doubling down on demands for the release of hostages. These Hamas demands include an end to the strikes and the war in Gaza, what they call Israel's aggression. Also Israel's full withdrawal militarily from the Gaza Strip, and then, of course, the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israel in exchange for those Israeli hostages, who also include, I should say, hostages from other countries.

Joining me now is CNN Military Analyst, retired Army Major General James "Spider" Marks.

General, thank you so much for joining us.

You are, of course, the head of geopolitical strategy at Academy securities. We also heard from Prime Minister Netanyahu yesterday after the killing of Sinwar. And when you listen to it, it doesn't really sound like he's ready to end this war in Gaza just yet. Do you general agree with the Biden administration that there's little more Israel can gain militarily, and that instead, it would be diplomacy that now ends this war.

MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, certainly the desired outcome is some political condition that allows Gaza to move down a path that looks entirely different from what it's been on. I mean, clearly what we're seeing is a military operation that's driving towards some currently undefined political outcome.

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So, of course, we would all be hopeful that there could be a movement in that direction.

But one of the conditions that you've already described is totally unacceptable for Israel, and it should be for everybody who's kind of been engaged in this, is the release of an undisclosed number of Palestinian prisoners that Israel has, and I must assume that numbers in the hundreds, if not 1000s, for the release of the hostages, and also a precondition for all of that, is a complete ceasefire and the removal of Israel from Gaza.

Netanyahu and the IDF have said all along, that's a nonstarter. If they were to do that, there was absolutely zero guarantee, based on what they've seen, and that this very troubled relationship that exists, that the hostages would, in fact, be released, and what is the condition of those hostages right now? I mean, it's terribly tragic across the board.

But Alex, what it really tells you is Israel has stripped away this capability, that deterrence that Tehran has in the form of the attrition of the Hezbollah as well as Hamas.

MARQUARDT: Right.

MARKS: I mean, it's quite amazing, intelligence capabilities and strike capabilities. I mean, that - it's kind of where we are right now, so I don't think Israel's in any hurry to say, let's stop what we're doing. There's still a ton of work to get done. MARQUARDT: Yes. Meanwhile, the administration is saying that the war can end, and in fact, that Hamas could not carry out another October 7th.

General, I want to ask you about this edited drone video that the IDF put out of what appears to be the final moments of Yahya Sinwar life. You can see the drone going into this bombed out building. They've - there - right there, he's highlighted, he's hunched over in an armchair, and then we believe that either moments or a little bit after this video, he was then shot and killed. In fact, a pathologist in Israel said today that it was a bullet to the head that killed him.

When you look at this drone video, very dramatic, are you surprised that the Israeli military put it out?

MARKS: Well, you know, not at all. There are several ways to look at this. First of all, the IDF has been publishing on a routine basis, multiple times during the day, footage of what they are doing. In other words, not only do they have a narrative, here's proof of what we're doing. They are opening themselves up to the world for evaluation and criticism as it comes after him, but they - the key thing here, I think, you could flip this and say, look, is this gloating? Are we, in fact, trying to put a focus on this incredibly bad guy? And we terminated him as quickly as we could, and you saw him suffering, you know, sitting down in this chair, in this rubble, and this is what, this is what your leader is all about. That's another way to look at it.

And the comparison with what happened with Osama bin Laden and very quietly, the United States dumped him in the ocean before anybody could really celebrate him, is, I think, a false narrative at this point. Israel has been incredibly open about what they're doing and allowing others to evaluate it.

MARQUARDT: Yes, you could certainly see why they would put that out for domestic consumption, but how it could backfire elsewhere in the region.

General Spider Marks, thanks so much for joining us today.

MARKS: Alex, thank you.

MARQUARDT: And coming up, nearly 2,000 pages of documents were just unsealed in Special Counsel Jack Smith's election subversion case against former President Donald Trump, and they include new details about what Trump was doing as the Capitol riot unfolded.

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