Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Harris Sits for Interviews; Trump Meets with Latino Leaders; Harris Slams Trump on Minimum Wage; Blinken Meets with Netanyahu. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired October 22, 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]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Fourteen days and off we go. The candidates, right now, battling for every vote before Election Day. The Harris campaign bringing a big name on the trail, the star who's going to own the moment when he hits the stage tonight in Detroit.

And, a new study reveals the role shifting policies are playing on abortion access in post-Roe America.

Plus, the NBA season tips off tonight. The father-son duo set to make history when they play together on the same team.

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

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, what do you do with a boatload of cash and two weeks on the clock to win over undecided voters and motivate your supporters? We're about to find out. Election Day is two weeks out, and Kamala Harris, today, sits down for two major interviews. Donald Trump will soon be meeting with Latino leaders in Florida and then heading back to North Carolina. Tim Walz is about to take his Harris campaign pitch to Wisconsin with a big deal Democrat by his side, former President Barack Obama. And knew this morning, CNN has learned that Eminem, not someone who does much of any public events lately, will be out in public introducing Obama later tonight in Detroit at a rally to support Vice President Harris.

CNN's Eva McKend is tracking the Harris campaign.

Two weeks on the clock, where are they focusing today?

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Two weeks to go, Kate. You know, they are certainly trying to leverage celebrity with these big events. We rarely see Eminem, the real slim shady. So that will be a space to watch with former President Barack Obama in Detroit for sure.

And new this morning, the vice president unveiling economic proposals targeting Latino men in a push to grow support among this key voting bloc. The plan aims to lower costs, increase homeownership and expand job opportunities. So, this is similar to Harris' proposal for black men where she intends to increase startup funding by providing one million loans, fully forgivable, up to $20,000 to Latino entrepreneurs and others to start a business.

And then she's going to sit today with NBC and the Spanish language network Telemundo. We've got more of the policy proposals there. It includes building 3 million new affordable homes and increasing annual first-time Latino homebuyers to nearly 600,000. So, some ambitious policy proposals there.

BOLDUAN: Eva, the Kamala Harris, Liz Cheney kind of get out the vote tour that we saw, what is your big takeaway from all of their events together in battle - in the battleground states?

MCKEND: So, Kate, this is about country over party, they maintain. And it is really a play to these disaffected Republicans that may not agree with Harris on every policy matter but may be more concerned about the health of our democracy. They are banking that there is a universe of voters that they can appeal to in this space.

And the former congresswoman speaking in an interesting way about this issue of abortion. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIZ CHENEY (R), FORMER U.S. CONGRESSMAN: You know, I am - I'm pro- life. And I have been very troubled, deeply troubled by what I have watched happen in so many states since Dobbs.

You have women who, as the vice president said, in some cases have died.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: And, Kate, the campaign always maintaining that they don't believe that this is a base only election. They believe that they have to appeal to those moderate Republicans as well, and that they will be a key part of the coalition in the battleground states.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Eva, thank you so much. A busy day ahead for the Harris campaign and a busy day ahead for the Trump campaign.

Let's go to Florida now. Steve Contorno is standing by. He's tracking the Trump campaign as Donald Trump will be in Miami speaking with Latino leaders very soon.

Steve, what are you expecting to see?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Kate, Donald Trump returning to a part of Florida where he performed better than many expected four years ago, largely in part because of the support he received from the Latino community. He had a lot of Cuban American supporters. He had a lot of in the Venezuela community, or Puerto Rican. And now he is trying to build off of that momentum going into the 2024 election.

Now, Florida isn't necessarily in play. However, there is a large Latino population in Nevada, in Arizona that he's trying to reach. And in Pennsylvania as well. So, today, in a couple hours, he will be hosting a roundtable right behind me where he will be speaking with leaders in the Latino business community talking about their priorities going into these next four years and why a Trump administration will be better for them than a Harris administration.

[09:05:08]

And he will be trying to have that message broadcast to all those swing states and all those Latino voters who care about this issue greatly in those really, really key parts of the country.

BOLDUAN: And, Steve, what's the - what is the strategy with sending - with Donald Trump heading back to North Carolina again today. Clearly a very strong focus on that battleground state.

CONTORNO: Yes, absolutely. I think six months ago his campaign would have been surprised to know that they would be spending so much time in North Carolina in the closing weeks of this race. However, if you look at how this race has changed, ever since Vice President Harris took over for President Biden, North Carolina is one of those states that has become far more competitive.

And we are seeing Donald Trump respond. You know, normally candidates show their hand a little bit in these closing weeks of the election. Either they are going where they see an opportunity, or where they have to protect their flank. And North Carolina, one of those states that Trump barely won in 2020, one of the closest battlegrounds that he actually won. This is a state that he needs to win again, and he is showing up there, trying to ensure that it is not taken from him this go around.

BOLDUAN: Steve, thank you so much. Much more to come from Donald Trump this morning.

Let's dig more into exactly those numbers in those exact battleground states, John Berman.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: To the point that Steve Contorno was just making, I want to talk about Donald Trump going to North Carolina. And to do that I'm going to use the 2020 election map. Remember, an election that President Biden won.

But in North Carolina, North Carolina was the state that Donald Trump did win, but the one he won with the smallest margin, about 1.3 percent. Not very much at all. So, he's making his fourth trip there in two days, which is an awful lot. They're clearly trying to guard his flank.

And where he's going, he's going to Greensboro, which is in Guilford County. Now you're going to look at this and say, wait a minute, he's going to a blue county. Why is he campaigning in Democratic territory? Sometimes it's about the margins there. You can see, President Biden won this county, but he won it by about 23 percent.

Now, I'm going to keep this number there for a second and pull out to talk about the margins because it's in the same election were Donald Trump won North Carolina, a Republican. The governor's race was won by Democrat Roy Cooper. Roy Cooper won across the state.

Let's push back in to Guilford County here, and you can see in Gilford County, Cooper, who won the state, won by 29 percent in Guilford County. So, you can see that Donald Trump was able to keep it much closer in this county that in the governor's race there. And those margins certainly helped him.

And sometimes when you talk about where you're going, it's not just the county itself. We can pull up here and look at Randolph County, which is by - right by. North Carolina has some population centers and then just outside the population centers some more rural counties where, if you talk about the presidential race, you know, Donald Trump just crushed Joe Biden here. Look, 77 percent to 21 percent here.

And there are thousands of votes there. Randolph County is, of course, where Richard Petty is from. Richard Petty often shows up at campaign events there. And again, when you look at the margins here, Trump at 77 percent. Just, if you look at the governor's race there that year, the Republicans only got 72 percent. So, Donald Trump trying to stretch the margins in these Republican counties, if I can get back to the presidential race, stretch the margins there and to the Democratic counties trying to keep it much closer.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, I want to bring in CNN political commentator and former Trump campaign adviser David Urban, and CNN senior political commentator and former senior Obama adviser, David Axelrod.

We have the battle of the Davids. Do David.

All right, McDonald's has become a political football. Shocking. Both candidates concerned about - or minimum wage - asked about minimum wage. Here are what the two candidates said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: 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.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Should minimum wage be raised?

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: 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)

SIDNER: All right, so he didn't answer the question. Trump won't commit there to increasing minimum wage. Harris will.

David Axelrod, how much might this issue matter to voters? I know there's probably - I think it's around 1.3 million people who make at or below minimum wage according to the - the Bureau of Statistics. How much does this matter?

DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: But, of course, you raise minimum wage and other wages rise as well.

Listen, this is a matter of concern to - and support for people across the country. There is broad support for raising the minimum wage, but it goes to the larger battle here about the economy.

[09:10:06]

Donald Trump would like to run on the issue of the economy, and he has some advantages on the issue of the economy. But what Kamala Harris is trying to do strategically is ask the question, who's going to fight for you in the economy. And it's very much geared at working - working class people and people who are aspiring to become middle class. And so the minimum wage becomes a very, very important issue.

And it was interesting that Trump didn't answer. He really more appropriately belongs at Burger King because of the whoppers man. He tells them often.

DAVID URBAN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Axe has been holding that. He's been saving that.

SIDNER: That's a good one.

David - David Urban, you know, Trump -

AXELROD: But, anyway, I should also add, let me say to my friend -

SIDNER: You digress.

AXELROD: You said at the beginning that we came to battle. My - I only discuss with Dave Urban. I don't battle with Dave.

So, go ahead, Dave.

SIDNER: It is a wonderful thing. It is a wonderful thing.

David, Trump's not answering this question. Very simple question. So why go to McDonald's in the first place? Because, obviously, the economy is the issue here.

URBAN: Well, a little - a little bit of it was to troll, right, Kamala Harris, obviously, I think, and it was, you know, dominated the news cycle. But, listen, Sara, and Axe, during the Trump administration, right, during the Trump presidency, real wages grew at the bottom of that socio-economic level tremendously. And so, guess what happened? People - they didn't have to raise the minimum wage. The government didn't have to mandate it. Minimum wages - wages went up in those - in that bottom part, right, because people had to pay more because there weren't - the labor pool was shrinking. There weren't - there weren't that many people to work. So, wages increased for that bottom group of that socioeconomic spectrum more so than any other group. And so a booming economy is the best thing you can do for minimum wage.

And, plus, the people at McDonald's, I think McDonald's, the average wage of a McDonald's employee is someplace between $15 and $19 an hour. So, they're getting - they're getting - I'm not saying you're - you know, you're living a lavish life, but they're not getting minimum wage and McDonald's has great benefits and, you know, you get promoted, you get college - college, you know, college opportunities and other things. It's a great place to start your career.

So, I think Trump went there for a variety of reasons. Look, he looked natural there behind the -- behind the - doing the fries, right? I mean the guy - they guy can -

SIDNER: Did he? Did he look natural though?

URBAN: Listen, he consumes a lot of fries. He did. He looked - he was in there. He was talking about, you know, food sanitation. The guy knows his stuff. There's a - there's a great clip from "The Apprentice," it's on the internet, where you can see him doing room service at the Trump Hotel in Chicago. And Axe may remember that point (ph) he was on walking a dog, doing room service, people - helping make room. So, he gets the service industry.

SIDNER: All right, I do want to ask you about something that Trump -

AXELROD: I - I thought, by the way, I thought it was weird -

SIDNER: Go ahead, David.

AXELROD: I thought it was - I thought it was weird that he was offering people supersized Arnold Palmers.

But anyway, go ahead, Sara, what did you want to say?

SIDNER: You took the words right out of my mouth, David. No, you didn't.

All right, let me ask you about what we heard Donald Trump say. He got pretty dark here when he started talking about Christians and telling Christians to go vote.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She's very destructive to religion. She's very destructive to Christianity and very destructive to Evangelicals and to the Catholic church.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: All right, so you heard him there talking about Harris and saying that there's an attack on Christians. There isn't.

URBAN: Yes, I'm not sure there's an attack per say. I think that there may be what - what the former president may be talking about is the kind of perceived disrespect from this campaign towards people of the Catholic faith specifically, I know you had Gretchen Whitmer in this failed attempt of being funny, looked like she was offering communion to some person on TikTok, and then the snub at the Al Smith Dinner. And, you know, it goes back to when she was on the Judiciary Committee kind of doing battle with some judges who were members of the Knights of Columbus, kind of demonizing the Knights of Columbus of all things who were hosting, you know, pancake breakfast at your local church.

And so, I think that there's a perception, rightly or wrongly, that Kamala Harris is as anti-Catholic and she is - and -

SIDNER: She's serving, though, under a Catholic president.

URBAN: I - I understand that. But there's a perception, right, that she's anti-Catholic and it's, you know, and it - that's a - it's not going to help her in states like Michigan and Pennsylvania, places with large Catholic populations.

SIDNER: David, is there a perception or is it one that's being pushed by the Republicans?

AXELROD: Yes, that's like Trump, I mean he was on with Howard Kurtz on Sunday on Fox News, and he was asked about the cats and dogs story. And he said, well, I just - that's - that's what I heard. That's what I heard. And so that's how you promote these kinds of memes.

[09:14:55]

Listen, my - I'm not - I'm - I'm Jewish, but my understanding of Christian values goes to compassion and concern for those who need help and a whole - honesty and a whole range of values, none of which the former president is modeling right now or has. And dividing people and trying to turn people against each other doesn't strike me as a value in any religious traditions.

So, I think one of the things that's on the ballot here is, do we - are we one American community with all our differences, but are we one American community where we respect each other and we can talk to each other and work our differences through, or are we going to be divided against ourselves for a particular candidate or party's political benefit? I think there's a majority of Americans who would like to be in the first category. And if that's the case, then Kamala Harris will win this election.

URBAN: Axe is masterful. As my former boss, Arlen Specter, would say, that's a very good answer to a completely different question. Two Catholics feel that there's a perception that they're not liked by this current, you know, Harris Trump - Harris-Walz campaign. I think the answer is yes.

SIDNER: We'd have to - we've have to look at the polling.

I do want to quickly ask you both to respond to a couple of things. There are a lot of suits that are flying now with a whole bunch of people who have really, obviously, engaged in this election because there's a lot of people early voting. Republicans sued in two states to stop certain American citizens living overseas from being able to vote. And two judges, both in North Carolina and Michigan, lambasted their attempts. One saying there's absolutely no evidence of fraud, that they are trying to say they're trying to stop. And in Michigan, the judge said there's an 11th hour attempt here by Republicans to disenfranchise some eligible voters.

David, why would you want to stop members of the military and other American citizens overseas from voting?

URBAN: Yes, I don't want to, right. When I was in the military, when I was an Army officer, I was the voting assistance officer in my unit, right. So, I helped people get absentee ballots and vote and get their things in. And so you don't. You don't want to encourage everybody to participate in the electoral process. And so that's - that's obviously, you know, not what I think is the goal here. The goal here I think was to make sure that people were doing it correctly and that things were being filed correctly.

Look, And it's everybody's right to kind of petition the court system and try.

SIDNER: Sure.

URBAN: And if they lose, go move on. And I think that should be the end of it. You know, you lose your case. I don't want to hear a lot of bellyaching and whining after the case, like, oh, look, here's what happened, that judicial system through this election. Nope, that's not what happened here.

SIDNER: There is the issue of the six of 15 GOP electors in Michigan that are now going to be part of this election cycle.

I'm going to have to leave it there.

David Axelrod, David Urban, the Davids are with us today, and that's a good thing.

John Berman.

URBAN: Thank you, Sara.

BERMAN: All right, breaking overnight, sources say Harvey Weinstein has been diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer. We've got new details on his treatment behind bars.

And how attached are you to your cell phone? New photos of a woman trapped upside down between two boulders after she risked her life to save her phone.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:22:41]

BERMAN: All right, new video just in of a building collapse in a neighborhood of Beirut that apparently followed an Israeli airstrike. No information at this point on why that building was targeted, though. The IDF has says it was - it has been striking at Hezbollah financial sources of late.

New this morning, Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel for a meeting with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, trying to reignite stalled ceasefire and hostage talks in Gaza.

CNN's Kylie Atwood joins us now.

What does he want to get specifically out of these meetings, Kylie?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, the U.S. actually isn't making any promises about this meeting. On the way over, a senior State Department official traveling with the secretary of state told reporters that the United States really doesn't know what the next two weeks will look like for Gaza. And one of the main things that they're trying to capitalize on is what they say is an opportunity after the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar to actually bring about an end to the conflict in Gaza.

But simultaneously they are now saying, which we heard in the hours after Sinwar's death, that his death actually complicates things as well. U.S. officials don't know when there'll be able to get back to negotiations. They don't know who is going to be actually making the calls for Hamas within Gaza. They also - the senior State Department official said that Qatar doesn't know that, and Egypt doesn't know that.

So, this is the pivotal trip for the secretary of state to have conversations with Israel to try and push forth an end to the conflict. But it's not entirely clear that that is going to be possible at this time.

And you have to understand the backdrop here. You guys were just showing the video footage of that new Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon. There is no abatement to the back-and-forth between Hezbollah and Israel along that northern border. And then you also look at the humanitarian situation in Gaza. That's something that the U.S. is focused on. They had made demands that Israel needs to do better with allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza over the next few weeks.

But we just heard this morning from the head of the U.N. agency for humanitarian assistance inside Gaza who said quote, that there have been non-stop bombardments from Israeli forces.

[09:25:03]

He talked about the smell of death in Gaza. So clearly, things aren't getting better overnight. That's something that the secretary of state will be keenly focused on during this visit.

BERMAN: Yes, an arduous process to say the least.

Kylie Atwood, thank you very much.

Kate, BOLDUAN: Well, a new look on how infant mortality rates rose in the months after abortion bans took effect in some states.

And we also have new video of the tragic moments for a deadly gangway collapsed on an island off the coast of Georgia.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:30:04]

SIDNER: This is new for you this morning. The changing landscape of abortion care.