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Trump, Harris Fight to Clinch Crucial Votes Two Weeks from Election Day; Blinken to Meet Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu Amid Stalled Ceasefire Talks; Trump's McDonald's Visit Highlights a Problem for Workers. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired October 22, 2024 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Gird your loins. This is the final fortnight. Two weeks left in this historic election. And breaking this morning, word of a surprise appearance on the campaign trail. Here's a hint, mom's spaghetti.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Secretary of State Tony Blinken just now landing in Israel about to meet with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. How close, any closer are they to a diplomatic breakthrough on a ceasefire deal?

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Back from his fourth concussion, Tagovailoa says he loves football, quote, to the death of me. Will he return to the field Sunday.

I'm Sara Sidner with Kate Bolduan and John Berman, CNN News Central starts right now.

BERMAN: Happening now, CNN's flagship morning news show brought to you by the number 14. 14 days to go. More than 14 million pre election votes cast. Seven key battleground states times two candidates. That makes 14. Math is a mystical thing.

Today, Kamala Harris sits down for two interviews, her running mate Tim Walz holds a big rally with former President Barack Obama in one of the most important counties for that campaign in America. Obama is clearly the Harris campaign's top Democratic surrogate. Its top Republican surrogate, Liz Cheney says she believes millions of Republicans will vote for Harris on November 5th and not tell a soul.

And breaking just moments ago, we learned that Eminem, who rarely makes public appearances these days, let alone political endorsements, will introduce Barack Obama in Detroit tonight. It's what you do when you have one chance, one opportunity. This is the final fortnight.

CNN's Eva McKend is tracking the Harris campaign today. Good morning to you, Eva.

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, John. Love the Eminem references. Yes, we are learning that he is going to join former President Barack Obama, introducing him at a campaign event in Detroit, our Jeff Zeleny learning about this rare appearance. And clearly there is a pattern here from the campaign to leverage celebrities in order to get their message out there. Some people may be not paying attention to politics, but Eminem fans, Usher fans, Lizzo fans will start to tune into this contest is the hope.

And also clear core of the strategy here is using the former president's own words and actions against him and to get under Trump's skin in a way that the vice president can steer this contest back to the issues where she is most strong. It's a mix of this and doing these big events aim to get attention, the CNN town hall tomorrow, talking about reproductive rights on the campaign trail, as well as trying to reach disaffected Republicans through these country over party events with Liz Cheney. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FMR. REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): I want my children to know that there is someone sitting in the Oval Office that they can look up to. You can vote your conscience and not ever have to say a word to anybody. And there will be millions of Republicans who do that on November 5th.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: So, Cheney lending a permission structure there for Republicans who may want to support the vice president, even saying that you don't have to tell anyone about your vote, that you can keep that to yourself, but ultimately vote your conscience.

We're also going to be seeing Obama campaigning in Wisconsin in as well as Michigan today, John.

BERMAN: All right, even they can for us again, that news about Eminem coming from Jeff Zeleny working his impeccable Eminem sources. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, John. This morning, Donald Trump is hosting Latino leaders at his golf club in Miami, looking to make inroads with the Latino community. The former president will then head back to North Carolina for the second time in two days to talk about the economy, a much different message from his campaign stops yesterday when he pushed more lies about FEMA and the dark narrative to Christian voters.

CNN's Steve Contorno is live in Miami for us. Steve, Donald Trump rallied Christian voters overnight. Abortion was not a part of that message, but there was another one.

[07:05:02]

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: No, it wasn't part of his message and he did not talk about the issue that has caused somewhat of a rift between him and Christian conservatives in these final weeks of this race. Instead, his message was more to Christian voters that they needed to get out and vote.

He often laments at his rallies that Christians don't show up in strong, as strong of numbers as he hopes they would. And he made a case of what would happen to that community in very dark terms if they don't show up this election. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: But at Trump rallies, we don't tell Christians to get lost. We tell Christians to get out and vote.

You don't have the choice of sitting out this election, because if Kamala Harris gets four more years, the radical left is not going to leave Christians alone. It's going to get worse and worse. You're going to suffer greatly. They will come after Christians all over the country. Kamala Harris has vowed to abolish the filibuster, letting her pack the Supreme Court, and I even heard as many as 25 justices.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONTORNO: Now, there clearly is no plan to put 25 Supreme Court justices on the courts. However, he obviously trying to seize on a topic and an issue that helped him convince Christian conservatives to back him in 2016, when many of them were skeptical. He made the Supreme Court a big part of his push to them, and he's doing that once again.

SIDNER: Trump is returning to North Carolina again today. What is the strategy there?

CONTORNO: Well, candidates schedule at this point often either suggest they are going where they see opportunity or where they're protecting their flank. And, clearly, in North Carolina, Donald Trump is protecting his flank. You know, several months ago, they thought this state was going to be strongly in the back for them, and now they realize that in the closing weeks, and they're watching all these early voters show up, that they need to do more in that state to ensure that it's not an alternate path for Vice President Harris to find the votes she needs to get to 270.

And then today, he's going to be in South Florida as well, where he is holding an event with Hispanic voters and Hispanic business leaders. He's in a part of the state of Florida where he was successfully able to convince many Latino voters to back him four years ago in Florida. Obviously he didn't win the national election, but he was able to win in Florida. He's trying to outsource that strategy nationwide, building off of that outside of his golf club in South Florida.

SIDNER: All right. Steve Contorno, thank you so much for your reporting this morning. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Any minute now, Secretary of State Tony Blinken set to meet with the Israeli prime minister as Hezbollah is firing new rockets into Israel and the IDF is carrying out a deadly attack outside Lebanon's largest hospital. What if any influence will the United States have now?

Plus, Donald Trump worked the fry station at McDonald's. You will remember that video and those pictures, still not committing though to raising the minimum wage. And Kamala Harris is jumping on that. And new video also of a violent hit and run. One man left in critical condition, four suspects still on the run.

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[07:10:00]

BOLDUAN: New this morning, President Biden's top diplomat, Secretary of State Tony Blinken, is in Israel set to sit down with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, very soon this morning. This is Blinken's 11th trip to the region since the October 7th Hamas terror attack on Israel. And this one comes at a critical and very uncertain time. Ceasefire talks have been on ice for weeks now between Israel and Hamas, Israel is intensifying its military operations against Hezbollah to the north, and also, as everyone is waiting to see, how Israel plans to hit back at Iran after its unprecedented missile attack.

CNN's Matthew Chance is tracking all of this from Jerusalem for us. Matthew, what are you hearing about this meeting between Blinken and Netanyahu this time and what could actually come from it?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean, Kate, we're hearing it hasn't started yet, for a start. It was meant to begin about 35, 40 minutes ago, and it hasn't yet. But it's going to be taking place here in Jerusalem, between Tony Blinken and Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister.

I think the meeting was arranged in the aftermath. of the killing of Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader, when there was all that talk in Israel, in the United States, among the allies of Israel as well, about how there could be a window of opportunity for a ceasefire, how hostages, there are 101 of them still being held inside Gaza, remember, how hostages could be released in this kind of, you know, confusion and in this new era following the killing of the Hamas leader.

That has not happened. In fact, the situation seems to have deteriorated. Hamas itself, the militant group, is in a degree of, you know, flux. It hasn't got a leader yet. When there is a leader appointed by that group, it's not clear what their negotiating position would be. Meanwhile, the Netanyahu government has doubled down on its campaign of military action inside the Gaza Strip. There were 27 people killed there over the course of this morning as Tony Blinken arrived in the country, that's according to Hamas health officials. There's been an expansion of military operations in Lebanon and the country is poised to strike against Iran as well.

And so it seems at this point this diplomatic mission from the U.S. secretary of state is going to have to focus on something other than a ceasefire.

[07:15:09]

There's zero appetite, it seems, amongst any of the sides at the moment to stop the fighting. But there are issues to be discussed. There are things like getting aid access into the Gaza Strip. The United Nations is warning that starvation is setting in among some areas inside the Gaza Strip because of a lack of basic supplies, and, of course, proposals to look at what happens in Gaza and elsewhere once the war is eventually brought to a conclusion.

And so there are lots of things to discuss. But, of course, you know, it's a strange time. It's all taking place against the backdrop of that very bitter, closely fought election in the United States. And so, you know, perhaps some of the criticism that the Biden administration would like to direct towards what Benjamin Netanyahu is doing, what Israel is doing, is being kept very private at the moment in case there are political consequences for that criticism in the U.S. election.

BOLDUAN: Yes. Matthew, great reporting, as always, it's really good to see you, thank you. John?

BERMAN: All right. Breaking overnight, sources say that Harvey Weinstein has been diagnosed with cancer and is undergoing treatment in jail.

And a woman trapped for seven hours between two rocks, what she was trying to reach when she got stuck.

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[07:20:00]

SIDNER: Breaking overnight, disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein has been diagnosed with bone cancer. A source telling CNN he is being treated for chronic myeloid leukemia, a rare type of cancer which forms in the bone marrow before spilling into the blood.

This is a latest in a slew of health related issues Weinstein has faced this year, including an emergency heart surgery last month. Weinstein is receiving cancer treatment at Rikers Island as he awaits a retrial after an appeals court overturned his 2020 conviction earlier this year. The retrial is set to begin November 12th. John?

BERMAN: All right. This morning, the fight over the minimum wage highlighted by Donald Trump's stop at McDonald's, Vice President Harris is seizing on the issue, arguing that $7.25 an hour, which is the federal minimum wage, is, quote, poverty wages.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: There is a big difference between Donald Trump and me on a number of issues, including this, where I absolutely believe we must raise minimum wage, and that hardworking Americans, whether they're working at McDonald's or anywhere else, should have at least the ability to be able to take care of their family and take care of themselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BERMAN: All right. CNN's Matt Egan is with us now on this issue, which comes up every four years, Matt.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Yes, it does. Listen, it's been a really, really long time since the minimum wage went up. The last time Congress voted to increase the minimum wage, Patrick Mahomes was just 11 years old, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, they still existed, and Kamala Harris was the D.A. in San Francisco.

So, that was in 2000 and seven and that lifted the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour eventually up to $7.25 in 2000, and it has stayed there ever since. Now, remember that equates to about $15,000 a year.

Now, some states they have raised their minimum wage, but a lot of them, they're still only requiring that $7.25. Now, that includes some of the more rural states that you might expect, like Idaho and Wyoming, North Dakota, but also some battleground states, like North Carolina, Wisconsin, and even Pennsylvania, where Trump was at the McDonald.

During that trip, during that cameo McDonald's, he was asked whether he supports lifting the minimum wage. Take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Well, I think this, I think these people work hard. They're great. And I just saw something, a process that's beautiful. It's a beautiful thing to see. These are great franchises.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

EGAN: So, not much of an answer there, John.

BERMAN: That wasn't an answer to the question of the minimum wage.

EGAN: So, I asked the Trump campaign directly, does the former president support lifting the minimum wage? And they referred me to an RNC spokesperson who blamed Vice President Harris for inflation and promised that Trump would make the economy booming again and he would help workers by limiting taxes on tips, overtime pay, and standing up to China.

BERMAN: That's still not an answer.

EGAN: That's still not an answer.

BERMAN: On raising the minimum wage, which again is $7.25 an hour, which I have to believe in 2024 is hard to live on.

EGAN: Yes, John, I think it's probably impossible to live on. There's researchers at MIT. They developed a calculator that tries to come up what a living wage is in various parts of the country. And they define that as what a full-time worker must earn to meet their basic needs while remaining self-sufficient. And they found that even in Alabama, right, a lower cost state and a state that does not have a minimum wage, the living wage for one adult with no minimum wage kids is just over $20 an hour, so almost triple the federal minimum.

And given how high child care is, how expensive it is, they found that if you're talking about one adult with one child, the living wage spikes to above $33 an hour. So, that means a single mom with a kid who's making that minimum wage making less than a quarter of what it actually takes to get by in Alabama, it's stunning.

Now, thankfully, less than 1 percent of hourly workers nationally make $725 or less. And a lot of states, they have moved unilaterally, right, including some of the more obvious progressive states, like New York, New Jersey, California, but also some other more purple states like Florida, Arizona and even some of the redder states, they've lifted their minimum wage, like Ohio, Arkansas and West Virginia.

[07:25:00]

So, when we think about what the federal minimum should be, there's this balance, right, because you don't want it to be so high that it potentially kills jobs or causes inflation. What's interesting is that California recently raised their minimum wage for workers at large fast food chains all the way up to $20 an hour. And there were fears that this would kill some jobs, cause inflation. But a recent study by Berkeley Professor Michael Wright found that this move in California caused wages to go up remarkably fast, but did not kill jobs and did not cause massive spike in inflation.

BERMAN: All right. Important studies there, important information, Matt Egan, as always, great to see you. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Two weeks to Election Day and more than 14 million people have already voted. Now, bring in the lawsuits, friends. New CNN reporting about the lawsuits brought by Republicans in two key states already trying to challenge some votes and what the judges have to say about it.

It sounded like a bomb went off. That is how one man described that, a violent hit and run in Pennsylvania that left one person in critical condition and police are now searching for four suspects still on the run.

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[07:30:00]