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Trump's Closing Pitch; Cheney Hits Campaign Trail with Harris; Harris and Trump's Final Pitches to Voters; John Bolton is Interviewed about Ukraine. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired October 21, 2024 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Legal team and his advocates. Roberson's lawyers have been saying for months now that they believe they have medical evidence that proves his innocence, but so far they have not been able to get that evidence in front of a court that can either call for a new trial or provide his exoneration. That fight continues. They have some more time, though, that because of this subpoena, the next - the next execution date that could be set wouldn't happen until sometime next year. So, Roberson's lawyers will continue to work on that front while this subpoena issue continues to work itself out today.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: For sure.

All right, let's see what happens in the - in the next couple hours. Thank you so much, Ed. It's great to see you. Thank you for following all this.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Kamala Harris says Donald Trump demeans the presidency after his expletive laden phallic obsessive meandering campaign rallies.

And also some breaking news, Jill Biden, moments ago, with revealing comments about her husband's decision to drop out of the race.

We've got explosive new details in seven new civil lawsuits against Sean Combs. This time other celebrities are also accused of taking part in the alleged sex crimes.

And a hearing today for the veteran charged with killing a homeless Michael Jackson impersonator on the subway.

I'm John Berman, with Kate Bolduan and Sarah Sidner. This is CNN NEW CENTRAL.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Two weeks and a day. That's it. That's all there is until one of the most consequential elections of our lifetime. This morning, the battle over battleground states is getting more intense. Very soon, Kamala Harris heading to not one but three so-called blue wall states with conservative Republican ally Liz Cheney. And Donald Trump, today, makes three stops of his own in storm-ravaged North Carolina. With more than 13 million pre-election votes already now cast, both candidates this morning are now vying for critical, on the fence voters who still somehow have not made up their minds.

As for the pitch to win them over, the candidates choices and closing remarks feel more apart than ever.

CNN's Alayna Treene is closely following team Trump.

Alayna, Trump's comments over the last 48 hours have been vulgar, lewd, filled with dark rhetoric. Can we expect more of that today?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think you can, Sara. And this isn't just the last 48 hours. I've really noticed over the last couple weeks now that Donald Trump has been escalating this rhetoric. He's escalating the personal attacks on Harris. He's escalating that dark imagery that he is painting of America, particularly when it comes to undocumented immigrants in this country. And as you mentioned, he is - you know, his speeches are becoming more profane and more vulgar. We heard him issue a number of curse words over the weekend while in Pennsylvania. And it's really interesting because this weekend in particular, when he was giving some of these, you know, odd anecdotes, including the one about Arnold Palmer and his genitals, I mean that came just after a top senior Trump adviser had told reporters that this was going to be the start - this weekend of him campaigning all over Pennsylvania was going to be the start of him delivering his closing arguments in this final stretch before November 5th.

And I will say, in the middle of some of that, you know, his, like I said, his remarks were kind of all over the place. But in the middle of it, we did get glimpses of what that closing message would be. At one point he said that with your support we will bring back our nation's strength, dominance, prosperity, and pride. He said that he would deliver the golden age back to America. That is what I know that that closing message is supposed to be. But, of course, I do think it's getting lost in some of the broader rhetoric that Donald Trump is using.

Now, I do also want to talk about that stop he did yesterday at McDonald's because it was very clear that it was a moment where he was trying to troll the Harris campaign. But he is doing more of these kinds of stops in the leadup to November 5th. And I'm told it's because they think this is when Donald Trump is his best, when he looks a little bit more relatable, when he's talking one-on-one with people. We saw him do that last week as well. When he was in New York, he visited a barbershop in the Bronx.

We actually just got new sound from that. I want you to take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: To get the criminals, the murderers, you've got to get them out. You've got to get them out fast before they prey on our people. And we're going to do two things. Interest rates are going down. It's

going to be brought down. It's going to be brought down fast. But much more importantly and quicker, we're going to drill, baby, drill. You've heard that, right? Drill, baby, drill.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So, a lot of comments there. He's talking about the border, about the economy, about energy. Clearly the top issues that his campaign really believes that he is doing better on as compared to Kamala Harris.

But similar, like I said, similar to that McDonald's stop over the weekend. I'll remind you that when he was in the Bronx last week at this barbershop, he told people in the room, you know, I'm just like you.

[09:05:02]

We're actually very similar. I also grew up in New York. I grew up in Queens. This is them trying to make Donald Trump seem more relatable and more down to earth. Is it working? Unclear. But that's what these stops are looking like.

Now, as for North Carolina today, you mentioned three stops there. I mean it is very clear how hard Donald Trump's team is aggressively running after North Carolina. He won it in 2016. He also won it in 2020. They are very much hoping that this is something they can continue to be victorious in, in just, you know, 15 days now.

But it is interesting as well, I do want to just quick point out, Sara, that in North Carolina we have actually seen an incredible number of early voting. That will be some of Donald Trump's message to continue voting early, to vote by mail, even as we know his rhetoric in the past has not been encouraging, I would argue, Republicans to do so. But clearly they need to use all the tools they can right now to turn out their voters.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, Alayna Treene, thank you so much for all that reporting for us this morning.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: And today, Kamala Harris is heading to battleground states as well and getting an assist from an unlikely ally. The vice president is making stops in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, and joined by former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney. A bipartisan show of force they hope convinces undecided voters and strengthens blue wall support.

These stops come as the Harris campaign is reporting a massive fundraising numbers. Starting October with $346 million compared to Donald Trump's $285 million. CNN's Danny Freeman is in Chester County, Pennsylvania. That is where

Vice President Harris will be headed today. At least one of the stops. What are you expecting to see?

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, Kate, it's going to be an incredibly busy day for Vice President Kamala Harris. And that's following an already very busy weekend.

But while the weekend was really focused on rallying black voters, she was in Detroit and Atlanta with Lizzo and Usher, even Stevie Wonder singing her happy birthday yesterday. Today, the campaign is back in the suburbs, as you noted, of some of these rust belt states. And the focus here is really trying to appeal to more conservative and moderate, particularly women, out here.

Now, right now, we're in Chester County, Kate, as you noted. It's one of the all-important suburban collar counties in Philadelphia. Make no mistake, this is a blue county. But back in 2012 it was actually the only collar county of the Philadelphia suburbs that voted for Mitt Romney. It is affluent. It is highly educated. And, interestingly enough, it had the highest percentage of Nikki Haley voters back in the Republican primary of the Philadelphia suburban counties. So, this is why we're expecting to see Vice President Harris joined by former Congresswoman Liz Cheney here in just a matter of hours.

And, Kate, I think you can also expect then to see, or rather hear, the vice president continue some of these attacks, addressing some of the vulgarity that we heard from former President Donald Trump back on the weekend on the other side of the state in western Pennsylvania.

Here's a little bit of what Vice President Harris said addressing some of those vulgar comments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And what you see in my opponent, a former president of the United States, really is - it demeans the office. And - and I have said, and I'm very clear about this, Donald Trump should never again stand behind the seal of the president of the United States. He has not earned the right. He has not earned the right. And that's why he's going to lose.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: Now, Kate, after this event that will happen around noon, the vice president will head to the suburbs of Detroit and then finish her day out in Milwaukee. Again, a very busy day here in these rust belt states.

And I'll note, Kate, Vice President Harris will be back in the Philadelphia suburbs on Wednesday for a town hall with CNN.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: They definitely know where this election is very - potentially going to be decided. Just follow the travel plans over these - over these last two weeks.

Great to see you, Danny. Thank you very much.

John.

BERMAN: All right, with us now, CNN, political commentator Karen Finney and former public policy director for Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign, Lanhee Chen.

I want to start, Lanhee, with the importance of a closing message. Alayna Treene was saying that the Trump campaign was saying, look at this weekend, it will be Trump's closing message. So, what is the importance of a closing message and what happens when it gets muddled with vulgarity and Arnold Palmer's junk?

LANHEE CHEN, FORMER PUBLIC POLICY DIRECTOR, ROMNEY 2012 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: Look, there are clearly a significant number of voters who remain undecided in the swing states. And that is going to be decisive. If you look at what's happening in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, you know, the states we talk about all the time. And particularly as you know how focused voters are on the economy and on the border, I think, those are two issues for Trump that are potential strengths for him if he's able to land that closing message. So, this is going to be absolutely critical that the - that the key message has to be delivered by the key messenger, who is the candidate. And so the degree to which that candidate is not delivering that message, that - there's a problem there.

[09:10:04]

And so this is going to be the key issue, I think, for the Trump campaign down here in the close.

The one thing I will say is that it's very clear they are going entirely directly after this white working class demographic. They're looking to drive up the number of male voters given the gender gap. And so, everything that you're seeing, from the dialogue that the former president's engaged in, to the language he's using, is, in some ways, designed to motivate that base. And, in fact, he may have found something that will actually capture their attention. Going to McDonald's, speaking with these vulgarities, that might be something that ends up working to his advantage with that population particularly.

BERMAN: And, Karen, the Harris campaign's closing argument seems to be, look at Donald Trump.

KAREN FINNEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think it's a little more than that. It's, here's why I'm - I'm the person who's in this race for you. I'm focused on the middle class. I'm focused on bringing down your costs. He's focused on himself. He's focused on grievance. And I guess he's focused on Arnold Palmer's situation.

And I'll tell you, it was interesting, John, I spent the day yesterday in Pennsylvania actually knocking on doors. And some of - when they heard, and these are white, blue collar voters, and they raised concerns that even having voted for him previously, this time - they said this time his focus seems to be just on grievance and he's just angry and I don't - I don't know what he's going to do for us. We're not sure. And they're worried about Social Security and Medicare.

I raise that to say, the problem that Trump has is voters aren't hearing much about themselves in this closing argument. And if he can't be trusted to deliver a closing argument, I think voters are asking themselves, well, how can we trust him to look out for us?

And so what Harris needs to keep doing is talking about what she will deliver for voters and keep them front and center in the conversation.

BERMAN: Karen, I - very quickly, we just had this new sound come in of Jill Biden, the first lady. She was in the White House with "Good Morning America." And she talked about Joe Biden's decision to drop out.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JILL BIDEN, FIRST LADY: It - so, it will be tough to maybe step away from it, but we're - we're starting a new chapter of our lives, a new journey.

DEBORAH ROBERTS, ABC NEWS "GOOD MORNING AMERICA": The notion that maybe he might have gone for re-election, do you regret it that you won't have yet another chance to be here for another four years?

BIDEN: We've been in politics over 50 years. I think it's - we're ready for the new journey.

ROBERTS: Was it the right call?

BIDEN: It was the right call.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The right call, Karen? Any doubts when you're knocking on doors in rural Pennsylvania, which was Biden country?

FINNEY: Yes. No, actually, because, again, the energy and enthusiasm that we've seen - I mean, look, Vice President Harris, remember in that first month, she moved 15 points among base demographics where President Biden just was not - we had not seen those numbers budge for months. And I would rather be us today than the Trump campaign because we have more voters that we could potentially get in these last few days then I think they do.

BERMAN: Lanhee, I've saved this for you because I want to put us both back in the time machine back to when I was covering Mitt Romney in '08 and '12. And a headline that I think I would have called and asked you about and it would have been a big deal on the campaign trail. "The Washington Post" talking about the Committee for Responsible Budget came out with a - with a study today that found that the Donald Trump's proposals would deplete basically the Social Security trust fund in six years.

Now, again, when I had less gray hair, this would have been a giant deal in a campaign, wouldn't it? I mean wouldn't - as something saying that, you know, that a policy thing on Social Security, what used to be the third rail of politics, won't that be something that campaigns would focus on?

CHEN: Well, we - we both had a lot less gray hair then and I - and I think somehow the politics of the last few years has accelerated this graying.

But there's no question that there was a time and an age when all of these policy contrast mattered. I mean you recall in 2012 there was a huge debate over Mitt Romney's tax plan and what the implications of that plan would be for middle income Americans and all of the analyses that were done by the think tanks.

You know, now it really feels like a lot of this is noise. But these are very, very important points that are being made about both candidates policy proposals in terms of what the impact will be on the fiscal ledger for the United States.

And it is something I hope voters look at and they pay attention to because ultimately programs like Social Security as an example, these programs are headed for trouble, fiscal trouble, unless policymakers do something about it. So, yes, John, the environment's changed completely. We've gone from an environment that was arguably policy light to one that's policy free. And, obviously, that's regretful when I look at it for sure.

BERMAN: As a policy guy, as someone who ran policy for a policy-driven candidate, I can see why that might bug you, Lanhee.

Lanhee Chen, Karen Finney, thanks to both of you. I appreciate it.

Sara.

[09:15:00]

SIDNER: All right, for the first time ever, other celebrities are also being accused of taking part in alleged assault in some of the cases against Sean "Diddy" Combs. This morning, there are seven new lawsuits against Combs and some pictures that have been released. The details ahead.

Plus, a horrific crash in Texas with a fiery ending. What happened that left four people dead, including a child.

And Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin making a surprise stop in Ukraine where he made a surprise announcement about military aid to Ukraine.

Those stories ahead.

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[09:20:08] BOLDUAN: Breaking news this morning. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has made a surprise visit to Ukraine, where he's also announced a new $400 million aid package for the country's war efforts against Russia's invasion. Austin is meeting with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy while he's there, and is expected to wrap up this visit with a major speech on why Ukraine matters to U.S. national security.

The timing of this can't be missed. This visit likely his last before the election. An election where future and continued U.S. support for Ukraine hanging squarely in the balance.

Joining us right now is John Bolton, the former national security advisor under Donald Trump, and former U.S. ambassador to the U.N.

Ambassador, thank you for coming in.

So, Austin trying to make the case here why supporting Ukraine matters. And the fate of future American military aid is seriously in question right now. What do you think, just looking at the rhetoric you have heard, especially on the campaign trail, and where things stand, what do you think that future looks like come January?

JOHN BOLTON, FORMER TRUMP NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER AND FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: Well, I think if Harris is elected, the odds are the policy will largely remain the same, which is unfortunate because at that point, when she takes the oath, and just almost exactly three years after Russia's invasion, it's - it's reached gridlock. And in a war of attrition, which is what it's turned into, the bigger country usually beats the smaller country, because the Biden administration failed to adopt a more strategic approach, deliver the aid in a strategic approach, and really do more to counter the Russian aggression.

If Trump is elected, I think Ukraine's in a difficult, nearly impossible spot. Based on what Trump has said, what his vice presidential candidate has said, I think we're near the end of U.S. military assistance to Ukraine. And I think if, at some point, Putin made a move to have a diplomatic resolution, it would end up with a Trump administration support. Very worrisome for the outcome.

BOLDUAN: I want to play something that we heard from Donald Trump late last week, speaking about President Zelenskyy specifically. Listen to this, Ambassador.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think Zelenskyy is one of the greatest salesman I've ever seen. Every time he comes in, we give him a hundred billion dollars. Who else got that kind of money in history? There's never been. And that doesn't mean I don't want to help him, because I feel very badly for those people. But he should never have let that war start.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: His view on this war says what to you? BOLTON: Well, that he understand it any better today than he did in 2018 and 2019 when - when I - when I served in the White House. And that should be disturbing too.

Look, his vice president has said that a settlement the U.S. could accept, which is basically a ceasefire along existing lines with a new de-facto border, allowing Russia to have doubled its control over Ukraine territory in this war of a demilitarized zone and a Ukrainian commitment not to join NATO. In the Kremlin, they're saying, well, that sounds great. We've made a mistake. We should have asked for more. We would have gotten it. That - that's - that's the future I'm worried about for Ukraine in a Trump administration.

BOLDUAN: You've been one of the former Trump advisers - officials in his administration that have been featured prominently in Harris campaign ads, in - its - they're trying to show the country that Donald Trump is dangerous. He still has an edge with voters on the question of handling national security.

If your warnings about Donald Trump are falling on deaf ears somewhat when you see the polling like that, what do you take from that, Ambassador?

BOLTON: Well, to be clear, I'm not going to vote for either Harris or Trump because I don't think either one of them are fit to be president.

I think the problem is not that people are not listening to the likes of me. I think many Republicans, including a lot I talk to who don't like Trump's character, or lack thereof, don't like his positions on national security, don't - don't like much about him, are worried about Harris and her failure to prove that she's not, in Jeane Kirkpatrick's famous phrase, a San Francisco Democrat.

I think that's the real problem. People - a lot of people voted for Joe Biden in 2020 - not me, that's for sure, but a lot of people did because they thought he would be a safe pair of hands. We'd leave the turmoil of the Trump years and he'd be a centrist. And he didn't turn out to be a centrist. So, I think they're skeptical of Harris' latest comments on policy, and I just think she's failed to make the persuasive arguments to convince people to vote for her rather than Trump.

BOLDUAN: I also want to ask you about Israel because we have - the United States now says it's investigating a leak of highly classified U.S. intelligence about Israel's plans for retaliation against Iran.

[09:25:05]

The documents are marked top secret. They describe preparations Israel appears to be making for that strike against Iran.

When it comes - do you think this leak could impact how Israel decides to retaliate?

BOLTON: Well, I think it already is. I mean to the extent that news reports are accurate, and that's all I have to go on, it's - these are reports from the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, which implies they're overhead pictures of Israeli deployments, not so much targets in Iran, but what Israel is currently doing. And that kind of information, whether it's in pictures or words, could tell Iran a lot about what Israel may be thinking.

I don't think we know at this point whether it's a leak or a hack, but I will tell you, for over a year now, more like a year-and-a-half, a lot of people have been very worried about whether Iran and Iranian sympathizers have penetrated this administration. Their chief negotiator to go back into the Iran nuclear deal has been suspended from his job for over a year because of problems with safeguarding classified information. They've - the administration has stonewalled Congress.

I don't know what this is. This could be a leak. It could be a hack. But I tell you, when you add up all the things that have appeared about America's Iran policy or what - what Israel is up to in the past, it's very disturbing. And I think the administration really should come clean on this and make it clear that - that they're concerned about Iran's efforts, whether to hack in or the - to use leakers and others to provide them information.

BOLDUAN: Yes, that - which is exactly what the point of the investigation is, is to, right now, is to get to the bottom of exactly how this happened and the motivation behind it.

Ambassador Bolton, thank you.

John.

BERMAN: All right, the breaking news, Sean Combs name in seven new lawsuits overnight, including two from accusers who say they were minors when they were allegedly drugged and assaulted.

And jury selection begins in the manslaughter trial for the man accused of putting a homeless man into a deadly chokehold on a subway.

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