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Harris to Hold First Rally With Obama in Key Battleground Georgia; Flynn Testifies No Evidence to Support Election Fraud Claims; Harris in CNN Town Hall Says, Time to Invest in Good-Paying Jobs. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired October 24, 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]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Kamala Harris headed to battleground Georgia today, the first time that Harris will be campaigning alongside former President Barack Obama and fresh off the big scene in town hall event last night.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A new warning from the Justice Department. Officials tell Elon Musk -- hey, it's me talking and Sara on the screen. Officials tell Elon Musk that $1 million sweepstakes for registered voters may violate federal law here, Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN NACHOR: All right. And U.S. intelligence revealing thousands of North Korean troops training at a Russian military base were freshly dug trenches now mirror the layout of Russian trenches in Ukraine.

I'm Sara Sidner with Kate Bolduan and John Berman. This is me. That was him. This is CNN News Central.

BOLDUAN: One week and four days, that is what is left in the presidential race. Hitting the campaign trail in Georgia today, Kamala Harris joining forces with a force in Democratic politics tonight, the first joint appearance with former President Barack Obama, Kamala Harris and Barack Obama on stage together.

That is just after Harris was before undecided voters on a solo stage for 80 minutes and made her case against Donald Trump over and over again, returning to call him unstable and unfit, and for the first time agreeing that she believes he is the definition of fascist.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR : Do you think Donald Trump is a fascist?

KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Yes, I do. Yes, I do.

They also care about our democracy and not having a president of the United States who admires dictators and as a fascist.

He's going to sit there unstable, unhinged, plotting his revenge, plotting his retribution, creating an enemies list. I'm going to tell you, my list will be a list of how I address and continue to address the issues that you all are raising this afternoon and evening. It will be a to-do list.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: All right. Let's get right to CNN's Eva McKend in Aston, Pennsylvania, where the town hall was last night. Okay, so a few hours before the town hall, Eva, we learned that Kamala Harris plans to deliver her final closing argument, if you will, at The Ellipse, the site of Donald Trump's January 6th rally. That says a lot about where they want to finish up this campaign and their final pitch. What is the strategy coming out of the town hall last night?

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: You know, Kate, the campaign is under no illusion that they can capture voters firmly in the former president's camp, but they are confident in the strength of this argument that the former president is exhibiting behavior and has a track record that is just too extreme, especially in these appeals to independent voters and moderate voters.

And she's also talking about her policy vision as well, like expanding Medicare to provide for seniors who wanted to stay in their homes. And if you are a voter waking up this morning asking yourself, still asking yourself, just who is Kamala Harris, she's talking about her faith walk as well in an effort to appeal to undecided voters. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: I do pray every day, sometimes twice a day. You know, I grew up -- so we grew up a little neighborhood church in Oakland, 23rd Avenue Church of God. And I was raised to believe in a loving God. to believe that your faith is a verb.

Your work in your life's work should be to think about how you can serve in a way that is uplifting other people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: And, Kate, we know that the closing argument will also be trained on reproductive rights as well. The vice president going to join the former president, Barack Obama, in this star-studded event in Georgia with Spike Lee, Samuel L. Jackson, all in an effort to appeal to the base of the party as well, wake up those voters who are not paying attention with just less than two weeks to go.

[07:05:08]

Kate?

BOLDUAN: Eva, great to see you. Thank you. John?

BERMAN: All right. So overnight, Donald Trump responded to the town hall posting on social media that Vice President Harris called him Hitler. She did not. What she did do is agree with General John Kelly that Trump, as he says, is a fascist. Trump also lashed out at Kelly, calling him a total degenerate and claiming he's making stories up. You can see the picture of the two of them there. Kelly was Trump's longest serving chief of staff.

Today, Trump heads to Arizona, then Nevada. CNN's Alayna Treene is with us with today's plan. Alayna?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Yes. Well, good morning, John. Donald Trump is headed to the West Coast. And, look, a lot of what he's going to be talking about both in Arizona, but also in Las Vegas, is kind of what we saw him do earlier this week, where he's really been trying to make inroads with not only Latino voters, but specifically Latino men.

When I talked to Donald Trump's senior advisers, they say that's going to be a big part of his rhetoric with these stops, really trying to make inroads with that key demographic. And, of course, part of that is because they recognize how incredibly close this election is going to be and that it could be won on the margins.

And so any voters they feel like they can siphon away from Harris, they do think she is not doing as well with Latino voters as she could be. Any voters they can pull away from her or even try to turn out who maybe are low propensity voters will benefit them.

But I do want to talk about some of his language last night and what we heard, because actually following the town hall, a lot of what we saw Donald Trump's top allies, advisers, people like his son, Donald Trump Jr., as well as Stephen Miller, one of his top aides.

They really focused on one key answer from Harris, which was when Anderson Cooper asked her, what would you do differently about the last four years? Even before the town hall started, and I know, obviously, Donald Trump was on stage during some of this, so he didn't get to watch all of it. Trump made the same argument on stage. Take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: After all the catastrophes she has caused, Kamala Harris can't say one thing that she'd do differently. You saw that? What would you do differently? I can't think of anything.

I'm asking you to be excited about the future of our country again. This will be America's new golden age.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So, John, as you could hear there attacking Kamala Harris's answer in the passing, you know, that maybe she couldn't think of anything. I mean, they've actually been playing a lot of those clips. That was an answer she gave to The View and had said in one interview, they'd been playing that interview at a lot of his rallies. But I did actually find as well him saying, I want you to be excited about the future, and we're going to deliver a new a new golden age to America. That's actually kind of different language. We've heard Don Trump say that over the weekend as well. But normally at these rallies in recent days, he's really been painting a much darker picture of America. That was one moment when he was saying, you know, kind of had an optimistic message, saying I want you to be excited about the future. So, I found that pretty interesting.

BERMAN: All right. Alayna Treene for us this morning, Alayna, thank you very much. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. President Trump's former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, has basically built a business around falsely claiming the 2020 election was stolen, but we have new CNN reporting this morning that shows he's been telling a different story in court. That is next.

And the DOJ sending a stark warning to Elon Musk over his million dollar election giveaway. And after that warning, so far this morning, Musk has yet to announce the latest winner.

And if you thought taking your family to Disney was expensive before, wait until you see the new price tag for an annual pass.

Those stories and more, ahead.

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[07:10:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: January 6th where you have the president of the United States defying the will of the people in a free and fair election and unleashing a violent mob.

The American people deserve to have a president who encourages healthy debate, works across the aisle, not afraid of good ideas wherever they come from, but also maintains certain standards about how we think about the role and the responsibility, and certainly not comparing oneself in a clearly admiring way to Hitler.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Vice President Kamala Harris at last night's CNN town hall drawing a clear line between herself and former President Donald Trump.

And this morning, we're learning that Trump's former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, has spent years, of course, making money off of pushing the false notion that the 2020 election was stolen. But guess what? What he has said in court is a completely different thing.

CNN National Security Reporter Zach Cohen joins us now live. Zach, Flynn's deposition was back in April. Tell us what happened and why that's significant now. ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Sara. Michael Flynn has spent much of the last three years claiming the 2020 election was stolen, but also forecasting that the 2024 election will also be stolen from Donald Trump despite presenting no evidence to prove either of those points.

And this deposition reveals for the first time Michael Flynn under oath, on the record, admitting that a key claim that was at the center of one conspiracy around the 2020 election that he had seen no credible evidence of that despite attempting to use that conspiracy to overturn the legitimate election results in 2020.

[07:15:01]

Take a listen to what Michael Flynn said during a deposition in a lawsuit related to Eric Coomer. Eric Coomer is a former executive of Dominion Voting Machines and he's somebody who became a target of the MAGA right after the 2020 election. But listen to what Flynn said when asked point blank, had he seen any evidence that Eric Coomer or Dominion Voting Machines rigged the 2020 election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you seen any evidence that you would consider credible, Mr. Flynn, that Eric Coomer played a role in rigging the 2020 presidential election? Yes or no?

MICHAEL FLYNN, FORMER TRUMP NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: I have not. No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you believe that Eric Coomer rigged the 2020 presidential election?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Objection to foundation.

FLYNN: I have no idea.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you seen any evidence that makes you suspect that he rigged the 2020 presidential election?

FLYNN: No idea.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: That hasn't stopped Flynn from continuing to broadly claim that there was widespread fraud and that there was evidence of fraud in the 2020 election and, again, there will be fraud in the 2024 election. He's raised money off these claims.

And he's continued to carve out that unique place in Trump's universe. Trump himself from the rally stage has even said that he wants to bring Michael Flynn back if he retakes the White House in 2024. So, this is really a window into what Michael Flynn thinks privately when he is forced to answer a question under oath and what he's been saying publicly as he tries to drum up support for Donald Trump and also fuel these election lies that are at the center of Trump's own campaign. SIDNER: When you are forced to tell the truth under oath, a very different Michael Flynn we are seeing Zachary Cohen. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Kate?

BOLDUAN: 11 days out from the election and already more than 24 million people have cast their ballots. This morning, the new data on who those voters are.

And the Miami Dolphins star quarterback returning to the field after his latest concussion, just as a college football quarterback abruptly ends his career after his own head injury.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: We've got to get past this era of politics and partisan politics, slowing down what we need to do in terms of progress in our country. Actually invest in a substantial way in the industries of the future, in American based manufacturing, in American based industries where American workers and union workers have those jobs in a way that is good paying jobs that gives people the dignity they deserve.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Vice President Harris talking about jobs and the economy during CNN's town hall event, just after announcing for the first time her support for hiking the federal minimum wage to at least $15. But with current minimum wage at around $7, what would it mean to effectively double that?

CNN's Matt Egan is looking into it for us. He's here with us now. What are you finding, Matt?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Kate, listen, the minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 an hour for 15 years. Now, it used to be that Congress would bump it up every few years. In the 90s, there were at least three or four minimum wage increases, but we've had none since 2009, which is kind of crazy when you think about it, right, most of the Obama years, all of the Trump administration, the pandemic, the inflation crisis, it's still been stuck there more than 5,000 days since an increase. That's actually the longest stretch since the minimum wage was actually established back in 1938 under FDR.

Now, Harris is calling for $15 an hour. She says that the current level is poverty wages. She's actually wants to double it and she's even suggested maybe higher because she told NBC at least that level. This is an important issue for a lot of people, especially younger people who tend to make up the bulk of the minimum wage workers, minimum wage workers also tend to be more female, less education. They work in the service sector.

But, look, Kate, as you know, it's far from clear whether or not this would actually happen if Harris gets elected. Congress has been deadlocked. A lot of people, a lot of Republicans, a lot of people in the business community are worried that if you raise the minimum wage too high, it could kill jobs. It could spike prices. I mean, to some extent, that's true. But, of course, we could debate how high it should be.

BOLDUAN: Yes, what is too high.

EGAN: Exactly. And, obviously, all this stands in stark contrast to what Trump has said here, right? He was at McDonald's in Pennsylvania the other day. He was asked directly whether he wants the minimum wage to go up, and he didn't really answer. He said that the McDonald's workers are they work hard and they're great, but he really has not come out yet and said whether he wants it to go up and how high.

BOLDUAN: And people know many states have increased their state minimum wage. They've increased it themselves. Where is it's still $7.25.

EGAN: Right. So, a lot of states, New York, New Jersey, California, a lot of them have moved it up. But there's still 20 states that only require that $725 an hour, includes a lot of Midwestern states, Iowa, Indiana, also Texas, some of the battleground states as well, which is interesting, Wisconsin, North Carolina and even Pennsylvania, where Trump was speaking at that McDonald's.

Now, when you look at the overall numbers, only about 1 percent of hourly workers nationally make $7.25 or less. That has come down in recent years. It's come down dramatically from the peak in the late 1970s of north of 13 percent. Still though, a lot of people only make a little bit more than that $7.25 an hour, and obviously, Kate, the big problem here is virtually nowhere in the country is anywhere like $7.25 an hour a livable wage? But whether or not it actually goes up is going to be decided in part by who wins the White House, and maybe even more importantly, the composition of Congress.

[07:25:04]

BOLDUAN: Yes, and that's one of the things you can take away from that map that you showed. A lot of this Pennsylvania, that's a divided legislature. So, you know, that's what you're also seeing in the states in terms of what direction and where the number is.

It's good to see you, Matt.

EGAN: Thank you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Thank you. John?

BERMAN: All right. We do have new reaction this morning to the CNN town hall with Kamala Harris from some of the country's few remaining undecided voters.

And, seriously, what is wrong with us? Crocs for dogs sell out in a single day. Beam me up, Scotty. I'm done here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [07:30:00]