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Multiple Legal battles over Ballots; The Numbers on a Harris Win; Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) is Interviewed about the Trump Campaign; Inflation Cooled in September; Triplets Becoming Less Common in U.S.; Wickedly Warm for Halloween Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired October 31, 2024 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:33:35]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Days before the election, a flurry of legal battles over ballots and voter registrations in swing state Pennsylvania. Any moment the U.S. Supreme Court could rule on a Republican-led fight over provisional ballot statewide. In Erie County, Pennsylvania, Democrats are suing over ballot delivery issues. And that's not all.

CNN's Paula Reid is with us now.

Paula, how will these fights actually - and will they directly affect voters in the state?

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Sara, of course we know that we're seeing this flurry of legal activity in Pennsylvania because it's such a key state in the Electoral College. I mean it's expected that that state could be the ballgame in terms of who wins the White House.

Now, let's go through a few of these challenges.

You mentioned Erie County. While we have seen over the past several months it's been mostly Republican aligned groups that have been involved with over 130 different lawsuits, this lawsuit in Erie County was actually filed by Democrats who were saying that the state is not doing enough to address a disruption in delivering mail-in ballots to up to 20,000 voters. They are asking the court to make sure that steps are taken to ensure those people who didn't get their mail-in ballots are able to vote.

Now, you also talked about York County. And this is one of two counties where they are investigating potential fraud related to voter registrations. Now, former President Trump, he has sort of gotten out ahead of the results of this investigation and suggested that there has been, quote, "cheating or fraud" found in this state of Pennsylvania.

[08:35:02] The state's governor has said that this is part of Trump's efforts to sow doubts about the outcome in Pennsylvania before this investigation is completed.

Sara, as you know, we continue to follow those investigations in both of those counties and will report out what they actually find.

But there's also another question about dates on ballots. An appellate court in Pennsylvania has said that the requirement that you put a handwritten date on your mail-in ballot, that that violates the state's constitution. It's unclear how that decision is going to apply to the 2024 presidential race in that case.

But overall, Sara, this is an issue that continues to come up in legal cases across multiple states because where you are required to put a date, I've learned from multiple sources that it's common for people to make mistakes, especially older people. I'm told they tend to maybe put their birthdate. I'm sure as a busy college student, when I sent in my mail-in ballot many years ago, I don't know if I put the right date, right? People are distracted. They're busy. And there's a lot of litigation about whether your ballot should be disqualified or if you could get a provisional ballot.

And, of course, this question of provisional ballots and being able to cure mistakes that you make with your mail-in ballot in the state of Pennsylvania, where the instructions are especially complicated. There's an envelope. There's secrecy envelope. That is something that the Supreme Court could weigh in on today or even tomorrow. Questions about what you do specifically in the state of Pennsylvania if you don't fill out and don't stuff the envelopes for your mail-in ballot in that critical state correctly.

Yesterday, we saw the Supreme Court weigh in on a different dispute in Virginia. It was interesting, one, to see that the Supreme Court was not reluctant to get involved in an election issue this close to Election Day. The decision was also along partisan lines. So we're, once again, watching the high court to see if they weigh in on this case in this critical state where I think we're just going to see more and more legal issues arising over the next week.

SIDNER: Yes, I think one thing we can all agree on, it doesn't matter what your party is, this is going to be a long, long ride.

Paula Reid, thank you so much.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Along that long, long ride, five days out, both candidates very clearly pushing to win. And if they win, why will they have won? That is a question that Harry Enten has been pondering. And so, we're bringing you the scenarios.

Yesterday, Harry, we talked to - we talked about the winning factors if Donald Trump would win the race.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Correct. BOLDUAN: Today, you're looking at Kamala Harris.

ENTEN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: So, what's the prevailing - what's the factors?

ENTEN: So, yesterday it was Donald Trump. Today, the case for Kamala Harris. The signs as clear as day.

And the number one sign is that Harris, simply put, is more popular than Donald Trump. Her net favorable rating is higher than Trump's. She's at minus two. Trump's at minus seven.

I went all the way back since 1956 and looked at the polls. Does the more popular candidate usually win. The answer is absolutely yes. Sixteen times, the more popular candidate has won. Only one time, the less popular candidate has won. I will note that was Donald Trump back in 2016. But of course, remember, Hillary Clinton was quite unpopular herself.

But the bottom line is this, Kamala Harris has been consistently more popular in the polls from Donald Trump, as she's consistently had a higher net favorable rating than Donald Trump. And normally, usually, the candidate who's more popular goes on to win on Election Day.

BOLDUAN: Democrats are fond of that saying, forget the polls, when we vote, we win.

ENTEN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: And you see something in that?

ENTEN: Absolutely. Let's take a look at the special elections, right? Democrats in special elections, their performances the last two years, what has happened? We're looking at state legislative, and federal special elections. On average, these Democrats have surpassed Joe Biden's 2020 margin by two points. By two points.

And remember, Joe Biden won. So the fact that these Democrats have been doing better than Joe Biden's been doing is a good sign. Historically speaking, there is correlation between how folks do in the special elections, especially in this polarized era, and how folks do eventually in the presidential election. It was actually one of the warning signs last time around in 2020, where Democrats really weren't doing that great in special elections despite the pulsing that Joe Biden was going to win rather easily. It suggested Trump would do better on Election Day.

This time around, the special elections are suggesting the opposite, that, in fact, Joe Biden, because Democrats have been exceeding Joe Biden's margin, that maybe Democrats will actually do better than the polls have been indicating.

BOLDUAN: But what about the fact - two factors.

ENTEN: Yes. BOLDUAN: One, the right track, wrong track. Country - so few people think the country is going on the right track right now.

ENTEN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: And also something you pointed out yesterday as a factor, which is Biden's bad approval rating.

ENTEN: Yes. So yesterday I pointed out that very few people think the country is going on the right track. Very few people approve of Joe Biden's approval rating. You could see it right here, in 2024, it's just 28 percent who say the country's on the right track, 40 percent approve of Joe Biden's job.

But remember, in 2022, these metrics look awfully, awfully similar. In fact, slightly less believe the country was on the right track. Slightly more approved of Joe Biden's job. But very similar numbers here. And remember, even though the top metrics were bad for Democrats in 2022, the White House party did historically well in that midterm.

[08:40:04]

So, the bottom line is, Kate, a lot of Democrats believe when voters vote they win. And with abortion being a much bigger issue this time around than historically speaking when it was in 2022, Democrats did historically well. Perhaps Democrats will surprise a lot of folks and do historically well come next Tuesday.

BOLDUAN: Very interesting.

Thank you, Harry.

ENTEN: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, with us now is Congressman Byron Donalds, a Republican from Florida.

Congressman, thank you so much for being with us.

I want to play a little bit of what Donald Trump said last night about protecting women.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I said, well, I'm going to do it whether the women like it or not. I've got to protect them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, why is Donald Trump telling women he will do things whether they like it or not?

REP. BYRON DONALDS (R-FL): John, that is grossly inaccurate what you just played. Play the full clip. Play it in its context. He was talking about the tragedy at our southern border that led to the death of Jocelyn Nungaray. Jocelyn's mother has come out and endorsed Donald Trump because she fully believes that if Donald Trump was president, her daughter would be alive.

And so, what he was talking about was, I'm going to protect women. I'm going to protect children. And then he was just telling a joke - a - really he was telling a joke about how some of the staff said -

BERMAN: Oh -

DONALDS: No, don't say you would protect women because they would take it out of context. Obviously what CNN is doing right now, taking it out of context.

BERMAN: No, no, no. No, no, no, you're actually - you've got - you - you have the exact right context. You have - you have the exact right context here, Congressman.

DONALDS: His point is protecting women and children in our country from illegal aliens, especially violent, illegal aliens -

BERMAN: Congressman - Congressman -

DONALDS: Criminals who have raped and who have murdered women in the United States.

BERMAN: Congressman, you -

DONALDS: That's what a president should do. That's what Kamala Harris is failing.

BERMAN: Congressman, you just explained the exact right context was with Donald Trump's story was telling people how people close to him, OK, his advisers were telling him not to use that type of language and say, I am going to be your protector.

DONALDS: John -

BERMAN: And that is the context in that speech.

DONALDS: John, you need to stop.

BERMAN: No, no, no, no, that was what he was doing. And then he said - and then he said - and then he said, I'm going to protect them, the women, whether they like it or not.

And - and I'm not the only one asking you about this language. Donald Trump, his advisers clearly knew it was an issue. And Nikki Haley has been talking about the language that Donald Trump -

DONALDS: John, you need to stop.

BERMAN: No, no, hang on, Congressman. Nikki Haley, this is what she said about the type of language that Trump and Trump supporters have been using. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I mean the - this bromance and this masculinity stuff, I mean it - it - it borders on edgy to the point that it's going to make women uncomfortable. You know, you've got affiliated PACs that are doing commercials about calling Kamala the c-word, or you had speakers at Madison Square Gardens, you know, referring to her and her pimps. That is not the way to win women.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So, you're telling me there's no concern from Nikki Haley, or, clearly as Donald Trump said, from people close to him and his campaign about the type of language he's using?

DONALDS: John, listen, I love this selective editing this morning. You guys are conflating two very separate things. Let's get to the core of the - of the message that you played at the beginning Donald Trump was talking about protecting women and children in our country from the ravages of illegal immigration. You see it now. We all know the headlines. Jocelyn Nungaray, Rachel Morin, Laken, Riley, these are women who were brutalized, killed, raped because (INAUDIBLE) border. And so Donald Trump is going to protect women in our country. He's going to protect women in our country.

BERMAN: Why say - why say whether they like it or not?

DONALDS: Under Kamala Harris, we have lost 350,000 children in the United States.

BERMAN: Why say - why say - why say whether the women -

DONALDS: We've lost them, John. Talk about that.

BERMAN: Why say - why say whether the women will like it or not? Why say why - whether the women will like it or not?

DONALDS: What I will tell you is, is that, once again, if you're going to tick - clip five seconds out of an hour speech and not provide context, this is why the American people, frankly, are frustrated with media because you guys play games, you take things out of context, you don't explain them clearly, and you want to get caught up in semantics.

The heart of what Donald Trump said very clearly is, he's going to protect the women of our country because Kamala Harris and Joe Biden have refused to protect the women of our country. And that's - a president should protect women and protect all Americans.

BERMAN: I just want to play - OK, Congressman - Congressman, here's a longer clip.

DONALDS: That's what he's going to do. BERMAN: Here's a longer clip of him, which leads up to him saying that he - despite what his advisers say, he's going to say he's going to protect the women whether they like it or not.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: For weeks ago I would say, no, I want to protect the people. I want to protect the women of our country. I want to protect the women. Sir, please don't say that. Why? They said, we think it's - we think it's very inappropriate for you to say. I said, why?

They said, sir, I just think it's inappropriate for you to say. I pay these guys a lot of money. Can you believe it? And I said, well, I'm going to do it whether the women like it or not. I've got to protect them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Congressman.

DONALDS: And you know what happened after that - that was made, the women in Green Bay, Wisconsin, they stood on their feet and they cheered loudly because they want a president of the United States who's going to follow the law, who's actually going to enforce our borders, that's going to make sure that we don't have 14,000 illegal aliens who have been convicted of murder in our country roaming free.

[08:45:19]

The stories have been happening in every city of America where women have been victimized. Let's talk about the young girls who are illegal - and who are illegal in our country right now who are trafficked to our southern border. Talk about those young women.

BERMAN: Congressman - Congressman, can I just - can I ask - can I ask, if you don't want to answer my question - if you don't want to answer my question address - can you address Nikki Haley's comments then the other day.

DONALDS: John, I just answered your question.

BERMAN: You didn't - you didn't address Nikki Haleys comments.

DONALDS: John, Nikki -

BERMAN: Nikki Haley says that there's a type of language that the country -

DONALDS: John, Nikki Haley's comments are irrelevant at this point.

BERMAN: Listen - listen, Congressman -

DONALDS: Do you - we - let me explain to you why Nikki Haley's comments are irrelevant right now.

BERMAN: OK, so you think Nikki Haley's comments are irrelevant? That's your answer - that's your answer to Nikki Haley then, that Nikki Haley's irrelevant?

DONALDS: No, John, it's not - John, the answer that matters five days before an election is this. You have young girls who are from other countries who are traffics to our southern border by the drug cartels. They are raped. They are sold into sex slavery.

BERMAN: Nikki Haley agrees with you on immigration, Congressman.

DONALDS: You have 350,000 children who have been lost by this administration.

BERMAN: Nikki Haley was talking about the language that Donald Trump was using.

DONALDS: So, you want me to talk about what Nikki Haley said about the lineup at Madison Square Garden? Come on, John.

BERMAN: My question to you - I want you to address, not he lineup at Madison Square Garden, the type of language that's being used by Donald Trump and others on the trail. She's saying it doesn't connect with women. What's your answer to what Nikki Haley is saying, Congressman?

DONALDS: John, I saw Nikki Haley's comments in their entirety. What she was talking about was the lineup of speakers at the Madison Square Garden rally. What Nikki Haley was saying is, well, how come there weren't more women? My response the other day was, well, Elise Stefanik is a woman. She spoke.

BERMAN: Congressman, once again -

DONALDS: Lara Trump, obviously, is a woman. She spoke.

BERMAN: Once again, you're actually change the context here.

DONALDS: What about -

BERMAN: She's talking about an ad -

DONALDS: Hold on. John, you want me to answer the question.

BERMAN: She's talking - she's talking - let me play an ad that she talked about specifically there that comes from a super PAC funded by Elon Musk, which is supportive of Donald Trump. That's some of the language in the ad.

Let's play it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kamala Harris is a c-word. You heard that right. A big old c-word. In fact, all of the other c-words think she's the biggest c-word of them all. That's right, she's a tax-hiking, regulation-loving, gun-grabbing, communist.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: That's what Nikki Haley is talking about, Congressman.

DONALDS: OK, and that's - Nikki's talking about that. That's not an ad from Donald Trump's campaign. That's from an outside group. You're assuming that Donald Trump can control what outside groups do. He cannot. That would be a violation of federal election law. You know this, John.

So, for Nikki Haley to try to put that on Donald Trump is not accurate. That's for outside groups to deal with. We could talk about the outside groups that are running ads against Donald Trump calling him a fascist, liking him to Hitler, knowing the fact that there's been two attempts on his life, but they do it anyway.

So, don't - don't try to just talk about what - what one super PAC did because you're trying to run this clip from last night in Green Bay, again taking the context away from our discussion today. The true context is, is that Donald Trump's going to do the job that a commander-in-chief should do, which is following the law, securing our borders and, yes, deporting a lot of illegal immigrants out of the country.

This is why Americans favored Donald Trump when it comes to securing our border and immigration by - in - by double digits over Kamala Harris, because she's been an abject failure. And those are the facts.

BERMAN: Congressman - Congressman Byron Donalds from Florida, the context is there's five days to go in this election, and the contact is, we like to show what the candidates are saying.

We appreciate you being with us.

Sara.

SIDNER: Thank you, John.

Just in, the Fed's favorite gauge of the inflation picture in the U.S. has been released and it's showing inflation cooled even more in September.

CNN business and political correspondent Vanessa Yurkevich here to break down the numbers for us.

This is, for all intents and purposes, good news.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: We like to hear cooling.

SIDNER: We like to hear it.

YURKEVICH: We like to hear that word. We are approaching the Fed's 2 percent target rate. That is what they want to see. We're at 2.1 percent year over year. We are slightly up on the month of September, up 0.2 percent. Nothing dramatic, but still worth noting.

And the Federal Reserve, though, likes this report in particular because it is wide ranging. It shows prices in urban communities, also in rural communities. And it looks at more specifics about exactly how much people are spending.

But the thing with the Fed is, they kind of felt like inflation was under control already, and so they probably won't look at this report and make any dramatic changes about what they're going to be doing in the next meeting, which is actually right after the election.

SIDNER: Right.

YURKEVICH: It's not before the election, so we won't see any moves on interest rates then. It's after the election.

But it's interesting because I was talking to voters yesterday out in New Jersey at a gas station asking them about gas prices.

SIDNER: Yes.

YURKEVICH: They have a better understanding about how nuanced the economy is right now. They look at gas prices, but they realize that's one measure. This is another measure. They look at cost of living, CPI reports, as another measure of where the economy is right now.

[08:50:02]

And what I saw from voters is, they have really evolved on what they think about the economy. They can say one thing is good. Something like this report is really good.

SIDNER: Right.

YURKEVICH: But they can also say that they're feeling strains in other ways in the economy. And so for voters that are going to be heading to the polls next week, they'll probably look at this report and say, OK, inflation is looking good, but there may be other things that they're concerned about. A lot of times we look at wages. Has that kept up with inflation? Yes, it has in many ways, but not for everyone. And so people are going to be taking a look at the economy as a whole, wondering, is it working for them when they head to the polls next week.

SIDNER: And for most people it's their personal economies -

YURKEVICH: Yes. Yes.

SIDNER: That really are - drive what they see happening in the country.

YURKEVICH: Absolutely.

SIDNER: Vanessa Yurkevich, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

YURKEVICH: Thank you. Thank you. SIDNER: John.

BERMAN: All right, quote, "it was like an apocalypse." This morning, nearly 100 dead so far and a frantic search underway for many more who are missing after severe flash flooding.

And this morning, it could be the hottest Halloween in history, not just because of my sexy pirate costume. New details on the record high temperatures.

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[08:55:15]

BOLDUAN: There's a new report from the CDC showing Americans are having fewer sets of triplets, quadruplets, and quintuplets in recent years.

CNN's Jacqueline Howard is looking into this and she joins us now.

Jacqueline, why is this happening?

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Kate, what's happening here, this decline appears to be associated with how we've seen stricter guidance around the number of embryos that should be transferred during fertility treatments like IVF. Of course, the higher the number of embryos that are transferred, the higher the likelihood of having a pregnancy with multiples. But when you look at the data from 1998 to last year, the birth rate for triplets and higher-order multiple births declined 62 percent here in the United States. That's a huge drop. And most of that decline happened after guidance was introduced in the early 2000s, recommending to limit the number of embryo transfers during fertility treatments.

So, that's what we're seeing play out here. We're seeing the evolution of guidance, as well as the advancement of technologies, which appears to be linked with this drop in the number of triplets or quadruplets or quintuplets that are born here in the United States, Kate.

BOLDUAN: When - what are the risks that can come with having triplets, quadruplets, and quintuplets?

HOWARD: Yes, because that's the reason why guidance was introduced to begin with is because the guidance was intended to reduce the risks of complications that come with having triplets or quadruplets. And those risks include an increased risk of preterm birth, preterm labor, high blood pressure, anemia, miscarriage. So, these complications can impact the health of the mother and baby. And that's why it is important for any person out there who is pregnant with multiples at the time, where you conceived spontaneously or whether you conceived with the help of fertility treatments, it's important to stay on top of your prenatal care and to be aware of these increased risks during your pregnancy.

BOLDUAN: Jacqueline Howard, thank you so much.

John.

HOWARD: Thank you.

BERMAN: As a twin parents, I can tell you, it's not easy.

All right, this morning, at least 95 people are dead and dozens more missing in Spain after historic flooding. In one city they had to turn a courthouse into a temporary morgue. High water swamped the southern and eastern parts of the country. Just look at some of that.

Russia just hit Google with a fine so unfathomable there are more than 30 zeroes on the number. Look at that. That's 20 decillion. I'm not even sure how to pronounce decillion, decillion, 20 decillion. Another way to think about it is 20 billion trillion, trillion. This is all about Google block pro-Russian channels on YouTube. A Russian lawyer says if the fine is not paid within nine months it starts to double every day. As for Google it says the ongoing legal matters will not hurt its earnings.

The Bidens celebrated Halloween at the White House. They call it Hallo-Read. By the way, that is the first lady in the panda suit there. They passed out candy and books to trick-or-treaters. There is one moment that's getting some mixed reaction online. The president pretended to take a bite out of a baby dressed as a chicken.

Sara.

SIDNER: Oh.

All right, it's going to get hot. You saw some of those costumes right there. Trick-or-treaters might be wearing the wrong thing tonight. With warmer temperatures in some places this Halloween, millions will see record high temperatures. CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam is in our Weather Center.

Derek, I'm just letting you know, and I know I've given you a hard time about the weather and you don't control it, but I don't - I don't like it. I like my fall being fall temperatures. And this is nuts.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Look, I understand. If you can transform your outfit tonight, maybe to, let's say, ghostbusters, I'm thinking, you know, like a fridge backpack to cool off your candy bars for maybe your kids, you know, that type of thing, you're in the clear then. But that's the name of the game because the heat is going to be a problem. Everybody's going to be sweating in their costumes tonight. There's no doubt about it. Especially if you're located across the northeast.

Record high temperatures being broken for many locations. Here's a couple examples. Eighty-one is the warmest Halloween in New York City's history. So, look at that, 80 degrees. And this could be the third warmest Halloween on record for Washington, D.C. But it's all going to come crashing down with this cold front that's cooling our temperatures just to the west. It's also bringing a few showers and thunderstorms that could be strong and could dampen your Halloween trick-or-treat forecast across Ark-La-Tex (ph) and into the central Ohio River Valley. It won't reach the East Coast, so we'll stay mild.

And, by the way, Sara, these dancing mummies and vampire there.

SIDNER: Impressed.

VAN DAM: That's the same dance my kids do when they find the home that passes out the full-size candy bars. Just saying.

SIDNER: Understood. But I think even the mummies are going to be hot there on the East Coast.

[09:00:02]

That's coo-coo bananas.

VAN DAM: Yes, definitely.

SIDNER: Derek Van Dam, thank you so much.

VAN DAM: You're welcome.

SIDNER: A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.