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Israel and Hezbollah Escalate Cross-Border Strikes; Harris Agrees to CNN Debate; Trump Says It's "Too Late"; President Overhead Discussing China in "Hot Mic Moment." Aired 5-6 am ET

Aired September 22, 2024 - 05:00   ET

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

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[05:00:40]

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to all you watching us here in the United States, Canada, and all around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN Newsroom.

Americans are urged to leave Lebanon as Israel and Hezbollah ramp up cross-border strikes, the latest on the precarious situation in the Middle East. We'll have a live report from Lebanon.

And authorities in Alabama are asking for the public's help following a deadly mass shooting while police are saying about the attack.

And the debate over another debate is back on. Former U.S. President Donald Trump is rejecting for now his democratic rivals challenge.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN Newsroom with Kim Brunhuber.

BRUNHUBER: The U.S. is urging its citizens to leave Lebanon as soon as they can as fighting between Israel and Hezbollah only seems to go from bad to worse. Israel says it's been conducting new strikes against the Iran-backed group in Lebanon today. That's after Hezbollah launched more than 100 projectiles into Israel overnight, according to the IDF, like this one.

Well, that was the moment an explosion rattled a town in northern Israel earlier. Israel says some of Hezbollah's projectiles were shot down, but there was at least one direct hit, and falling debris caused fires and injured at least four people.

The IDF has announced new restrictions on public activities in northern Israel and parts of the occupied Golan Heights. And an Israeli official says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is delaying his trip to the U.N. General Assembly until Friday for now.

For more, we're joined by Ben Wedeman from Beirut. So, Ben, the escalation seems to be only worsening. What's the latest there?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kim, well, shortly after midnight, Hezbollah launched the first of three salvos of rockets, it appears medium-range rockets, towards targets in Israel. It said this was in response to repeated strikes that have led to the deaths of many Lebanese civilians.

What we're seeing is that they are reaching further into Israel than any Hezbollah rockets have reached since the 2006 war, certainly since October of last year.

Now, according to statements from Hezbollah, the targets of their strikes included the Ramat David Airbase, as well as the Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, which is in the northern Israeli city of Haifa.

Now, what we're seeing from the Israeli side is that there have been direct hits in areas perhaps as deep as 50 kilometers within Israel. No word on fatalities, however. There does seem to be some physical damage to cars and homes and whatnot.

This definitely does represent a major escalation, yet another step in this escalatory process that began last Tuesday with those Pager and then Walkie-Talkie attacks, and then Friday's Israeli strike on Beirut, which the death toll to that has now reached 45, 16 of which were members of Hezbollah. The rest, we assume, were civilians, including women and children.

Kim?

BRUNHUBER: Ben, so far, Hezbollah has shown at least some restraint trying to avoid an all-out escalation with Israel. Are we at a tipping point here? Are there fears that this could escalate into something much wider?

WEDEMAN: Oh, yes, very much so. In fact, we heard the U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon putting out a statement that says that the region is on the brink of imminent catastrophe, and that she said no military solution will make either side safer.

Now, in terms of Hezbollah's tactics, for much of this war going back to October, both sides have, by and large, observed what's been known as the rules of engagement, whereby they would both limit their strikes to the area along the border, avoid civilian casualties, and basically focus on military targets.

[05:05:09]

The rules of engagement at this point, I think it's fair to say, have simply gone out the window. Now, you're seeing both sides striking deeper and harder than we've seen so far, and there doesn't seem to be anybody pressing the brakes. The United States, which has spent some efforts trying to diplomatically resolve the crisis by convincing Hezbollah through intermediaries here in Lebanon to pull its forces back from the border to north of the Litani River, in exchange perhaps for some territorial compromises between Israel and Lebanon.

But the United States, it appears at this point, has simply given up, not only trying to resolve the situation between Lebanon and Israel, also in Gaza as well. It just has not used the leverage it does have, particularly over Israel, to try to bring about some sort of restraint.

Hezbollah is really in a corner. They have received heavy blows with the Pager attacks, the walkie-talkie attacks, the strike on Beirut Friday, and they're really in a position where to restore deterrence, if that's even possible at this point, they had to strike back at Israel. Hezbollah has made it clear it's not interested in a full- scale war. It doesn't have the capability, nor does Lebanon, to sustain the sort of damage, destruction and death that full-scale war would bring.

But it appears the Israelis have taken the decision to escalate, to push this really to, as the U.N. special coordinator said, you know, the brink of a regional catastrophe.

BRUNHUBER: All right, really appreciate that. Ben Wedeman in Beirut, thanks so much.

Developing now, a mass shooting in Birmingham, Alabama. Police say at least four people were killed and dozens more were injured Saturday night in a popular entertainment area. Two men and a woman were pronounced dead at the scene. Another died in a hospital.

The University of Alabama Birmingham Hospital says it's treating 11 victims. Police say multiple shooters fired numerous shots.

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TRUMAN FITZGERALD, BIRMINGHAM POLICE OFFICER: We were told that all of the victims were out in the open on either a sidewalk or the street. So, these group of shooters fired upon these victims when they were out in the open.

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BRUNHUBER: Detectives are working to determine whether the shooters walked up to the victims or drove by in a vehicle. This time, they don't know what motivated the violence, nor do they have any suspects in custody.

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FITZGERALD: Rest assured, we are going to do everything we possibly can to make sure that we uncover, identify, and hunt down who was ever responsible for preying on our people this morning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been more than 400 mass shootings in the U.S. this year. It defines a mass shooting as an incident with at least four victims shot, excluding the shooter. And we will continue to update the story as developments come in.

Only 44 days to go until the U.S. presidential election, and there's still a question of whether we will get another debate between the candidates. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris has accepted CNN's invitation for another showdown with a Republican opponent on October 23. But Donald Trump says he isn't interested. He says Harris wants another debate so close to the election because she's losing badly, even though polls suggest otherwise. The former president says he doesn't want another debate because of timing. Here he is.

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DONALD TRUMP, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: A lot of people say, oh, it's great entertainment. I've already done two. The problem with another debate is that it's just too late. Voting has already started. She's done one debate. I've done two. It's too late to do another. I'd love to in many ways, but it's too late. The voting is cast. The voters are out there immediately.

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BRUNHUBER: So will Trump actually let the vice presidential event between J.D. Vance and Tim Walz in October be the last debate before election night? Well, here's some analysis from CNN's Brian Stelter.

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BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: I think a lot can happen in the next few weeks. So I think we should view this as still a very live possibility, because we don't know what the polls are going to show between now and October 2030. But we do know there's only one debate currently scheduled, and that's the vice presidential debate.

I've had several sources today say to me, are we really going to end up here with the final debate being the running mates, being the VPs? I mean, no disrespect to Tim Walz and J.D. Vance. I think it's going to be a fascinating matchup.

[05:10:06]

But normally, in a normal presidential year, you have that VP debate in between presidential face-offs. That's always how it's worked before. We'll see if Trump ultimately comes around and agrees to meet Harris in October.

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BRUNHUBER: The former president dismissed his rival's challenge on Saturday while at a campaign rally in North Carolina. This swing state event comes amid a fresh cloud of controversy as the candidate Trump endorsed to be the state's governor is battling a scandal. Mark Robinson has refused to exit the governor's race after CNN reported he'd made a number of inflammatory comments on a pornographic website.

Robinson has expressed supporting the return of slavery, among other things. Now, Trump didn't mention the embattled lieutenant governor's name at the rally, but he did continue his anti-immigrant rhetoric. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: Today, I'm announcing a new plan to end all sanctuary cities in North Carolina and all across our country. No more sanctuary cities. As soon as I take office, we will immediately surge federal law enforcement to every city that is failing, which is a lot of them, to turn over criminal aliens, and we will hunt down, capture every single gang member, drug dealer, rapist, murderer, and migrant criminal that is being illegally harbored.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Now, Donald Trump has a slim lead in North Carolina, just one of several battleground states that could decide this election. Here's CNN's Harry Enten breaking down the latest polling in this very close race.

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HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: This is Harris versus Trump margin in the Great Lakes battleground states and in the Sun Belt, right? Look, in the Great Lakes, it's a very close race. I think Kamala Harris has a slight edge in each of these battlegrounds, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania.

She's up by two in all of them, but that's way too close to call. You look at the Sun Belt battleground states, you thought these races were close. Look how close these are, my goodness gracious.

It's Harris by just one in Nevada. In North Carolina, we spoke about that less than one-point lead for Donald Trump. And in Arizona and Georgia, what we see is just a one-point lead for Donald Trump in both of these states. The bottom line here is this is a race that is very, very tight.

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BRUNHUBER: Last hour, I spoke with Natasha Lindsten, Professor of government at the University of Essex, and I asked her about Trump's refusal to debate Harris on CNN, whether it's a risky move to let the vice presidential debate be the last candidate face-off before Election Day. Here she is.

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NATASHA LINDSTAEDT, PROFESSOR OF GOVERNMENT, UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX: I'm sure Trump's team would want him to debate again if he could remain disciplined. But because he can't do that, this could make things worse for him. He could say things that sound even crazier.

And people who are watching the debate also commented that there were questions about his mental fitness, where he seemed very sharp and on top of things compared to the debate he had with Biden. Once he had to debate Harris, he really seemed out of his depth. So it may make things worse for him if he were to debate again. But of course, there's a lot of pressure on Vance. And Vance has had a very troubled start to joining Donald Trump's ticket. He's been accused of all different kinds of things. Everything he says seems to really irk people more than draw people in. So that will really end up being the last debate that people see. And I don't think that's particularly great for Republicans.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah. All right. So Donald Trump was in North Carolina. So on the Mark Robinson controversy, maybe not surprising that Trump didn't address it or mention him. Do you think he should have with the Harris campaign now airing ads in the state linking the two of them together?

LINDSTAEDT: So I don't know if there's any way that Trump could address the Mark Robinson scandal and be able to look good doing so. He would just be attracting attention to the fact that in March, he had forcefully endorsed Robinson and called him Martin Luther King on steroids. So he's going to want to distance himself from this because it could affect the outcome.

The way I think it will affect the outcome is it might just depress Republican voter turnout to that state. It won't affect the Senate election because there's no Senate race. It probably won't affect the House races because they're so heavily gerrymandered.

But it will affect those state-level races. And Trump only won the state by just over a point four years ago. So it was tight then. It's incredibly tight now. And Harris' team has capitalized on this, putting together ads about how close Trump and Robinson's views really are. And what that's going to do, as I mentioned, is probably going to depress Republican turnout. And that's critical in a state that is so hotly contested.

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BRUNHUBER: President Biden held a Quad Alliance summit Saturday and was overheard on a hot mic talking about China. We'll have details after the break.

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Plus, sensitive data could be locked away on the superyacht that sank off Sicily's coast. But officials are doing to protect it from prying eyes. That's ahead. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Comments by President Biden caught on a live microphone could make the next round of talks with China a little more awkward. Now, it came when he was hosting a summit of the Quad alliance in his hometown Saturday. Biden invited the leaders of Australia, India and Japan to Wilmington, Delaware to discuss pressing international security issues for the Indo-Pacific region as he looks to firm up his diplomatic legacy.

CNN's Hanako Montgomery joins us live from Tokyo. So Hanako, before we get to the substance of the summit, the hot mic moment, take us through what Biden said and what repercussions it might have.

[05:20:02]

HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Kim, you can tell with this hot mic moment that even though the White House has emphasized that this Quad summit is not directed at any one country in particular, that China was featured very heavily during these meetings held over the weekend.

Now during this hot mic moment, you can hear U.S. President Joe Biden saying that he believes Chinese President Xi Jinping is looking to buy himself some diplomatic space. Biden is heard saying, quote, "We believe Xi Jinping is looking to focus on domestic economic challenges and minimize the turbulence in China diplomatic relationships. And he's also looking to buy himself some diplomatic space, in my view, to aggressively pursue China's interests.

Now, the White House has declined to comment any further about this specific moment. But if you take a look at the joint statement released on Saturday, Kim, you can tell that China's grownly assertiveness in the South China Sea is a cause for concern for all four countries and their leaders.

In their joint statement, they also condemn North Korea's ballistic missile launches, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. But again, no other country is featured as prominently as China.

Now, looking back at past Quad summits, Kim, you can tell that a common and reoccurring theme is how these four countries can improve their maritime security alliance in the face of an increasingly aggressive China. But what's new and different about this specific summit is how these four countries for the very first time ever announced a joint Coast Guard exercise. Here's what Biden had to say about that exercise.

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JOE BIDEN, (D) U.S. PRESIDENT: We're announcing a series of initiatives to deliver real positive impact for the Indo-Pacific. That includes providing new maritime technologies to our regional partners so they know what's happening in their waters. Launching cooperation between Coast Guards for the first time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MONTGOMERY: Now they also announced agreements in the healthcare, climate, and cyber security technology sector. But in addition to these initiatives, Kim, what's important to note about this last summit, the last ever summit to be held between these specific leaders, is how they really look to emphasize and re-establish this Quad as the cornerstone to foreign policy, even as some of these leaders look to end their terms very soon. The Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will be leading office later this week. We'll get a new Prime Minister. And as we know, U.S. President Joe Biden will not be running for re-election.

So again, with this last summit, you can tell these four leaders, and especially Biden, are really looking to make one last diplomatic push to counter China, even as they hand off to a new administration.

Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Interesting. All right. Thanks so much, Hanako Montgomery in Tokyo. Appreciate that.

Ukraine said Saturday that it hit two ammunition depots in drone attacks inside Russia. Officials said one of the facilities was a major storage base and a key part of Russia's logistics system.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit the U.S. starting today. He's hoping to get the help he needs to reverse Russia's advances. Long-range weapons and permission to use them inside Russian territory are at the top of his wish list.

In the coming hours, he will tour a Pennsylvania factory that makes ammunition used in Ukraine. This week, he will attend the U.N. General Assembly in New York. He will also meet at the White House with President Biden. Zelenskyy is expected to make the case that assistance from allies is the key to Ukrainian victory.

Here he is.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): If we could direct all our precision towards defending our state, if there were enough missiles and permissions that partners could provide for this, the overall situation in the war would be much better for our security, for the security of Ukraine and everyone in the world who does not want to exist under conditions of such aggressions as this Russian one.

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BRUNHUBER: Extra security and underwater surveillance are in place around the superyacht that sank off Sicily's coast last month. Sources say the boat may contain sensitive intelligence data that foreign governments might want to get their hands on. CNN's Barbie Nadeau has the details.

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BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Divers working off the coast of Sicily to recover the wreckage of a luxury superyacht that went down in bad weather on August 19 are concerned about keeping the yacht's cargo safe.

British tech titan Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter and five others died when the yacht sank quickly after a storm hit. Fifteen people, including Lynch's wife and the ship's captain, survived.

Italian prosecutors are investigating the captain and two other crew members on multiple counts of manslaughter and negligence. An official involved in the salvage operation says the vessel is believed to contain watertight safes containing super-encrypted hard drives that hold highly classified information. Survivors or prosecutors at Lynch always kept these drives in a secure compartment of the yacht when he used it.

[05:25:08]

The data may be tied to intelligence work he did for Western Intelligence Services that could now be in the sights of foreign governments, four sources told CNN. Lynch, who was cleared in June in a U.S.-based criminal fraud trial, was hosting friends and associates to celebrate his acquittal when the vessel went down. His co-defendant died the same day after being hit by a car in the U.K. A source close to the investigation told CNN that security has been beefed up both above and below the water to protect the wreckage until it can be raised sometime in the coming weeks. Barbie Latza Nadeau, CNN, Rome.

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BRUNHUBER: The ongoing war in Gaza could prove to be a make-or-break election issue for an often overlooked but key voting bloc. After the break, how U.S. foreign policy could influence the Muslim outcome in battleground states. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada, and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN Newsroom.

Kamala Harris is looking for a debate rematch with Donald Trump, but the GOP nominee says it's too late because people have already begun voting in some states. He's still criticizing moderators from the last showdown over perceived unfairness from "ABC News," and he's now calling for an investigation.

On Saturday, Trump held a rally in North Carolina while the candidate he endorsed to be the state's governor battles fallout over lewd comments.

Now, Trump didn't mention Mark Robinson's name at the event, and the lieutenant governor was notably absent.

[05:30:06]

A new survey by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding shows the top-of-mind issues for American Muslim voters, a minority voting bloc that has continued to grow in significance since helping Biden secure narrow victories across three states in 2020.

The war in Gaza is the number one issue for the majority of Muslim voters in Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, three swing states crucial to winning the White House in November. U.S. foreign policy is also a key issue among this demographic, with nearly a quarter of Muslim voters saying their second priority is keeping the U.S. out of foreign wars.

Biden's handling of the Israel-Gaza war has caused protests, like this one in the must-win state of Michigan, and a shift within the bloc. But those voters aren't necessarily crossing the aisle to Trump's camp. Instead, as the report suggests, they could be looking to vote third party or they're undecided.

Now, for more on this, I'm joined now by Tuqa Nusairat. She's the Executive Director at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding.

Thank you so much for joining us here. So first, just I should say off the top, you know, the Muslim community obviously isn't a monolithic community, but it isn't one we often talk about as a voting bloc. So how big is it and which way do they tend to vote?

TUQA NUSAIRAT, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL POLICY AND UNDERSTANDING: Absolutely. Thank you for having me. Well, it's really important to note that in the key swing states, the Muslim vote is critical. The number of Muslims, for example, in Michigan are larger than the number of votes that helped President Biden win the election in many of the key swing states in 2020.

And so our data shows that many of these voters are so far either not planning to vote for the Democratic Party, undecided or planning to vote third party. As you mentioned, the key finding from our recent poll was that the top concern for them is the Gaza war. And that's how they will decide on which candidate to support, whether in the presidential election or the congressional ballot questions as well.

BRUNHUBER: All right. OK. So we've heard from many Muslims who are angry with the Biden administration's unwavering support for Israel, with more than 40,000 people in Gaza killed in the war.

Now, Harris has tried to distance herself a little bit from Biden and single signal more support for Palestinians. Is that registering, do you think?

NUSAIRAT: Well, look, Muslim voters tend to not be as partisan as the general public, and they are really more policy focused voters. And so, yes, there was some, you know, increase in support for the Democratic nominee now that it is changed from President Biden to Vice President Kamala Harris. And you saw some initial excitement at that announcement because of how much discontent there was with President Biden's, you know, stalwart support for Israel.

But unfortunately, after the DNC and the lack of representation for a Palestinian voice, even the lack of acknowledgement of the anguish and the suffering that Palestinian Americans are experiencing, and that the U.S. is directly contributing through financial support and diplomatic cover in the ongoing crisis in Gaza and Israel, has really -- not really, in Kamala's words, for many people are just a change in rhetoric and not necessarily a change in policy.

BRUNHUBER: OK, but, you know, Donald Trump's support for Israel is, if anything, even stronger. So where does that leave Muslim voters? Any sense that they're more open to supporting Trump despite that? Or would their disaffection with Democrats just mean that they might not turn up at the polls at all? NUSAIRAT: Great question. Well, you know, according to our poll, we haven't seen a huge jump for President Trump from when Muslims voted, about 18% of them in 2020 for him. Our recent poll shows a very marginal increase in four percentage points for Donald Trump.

So the majority of voters that the Democratic Party is losing are going to what we call swing voters. These are ones that are planning to vote for third candidates, third-party candidates who are still undecided or plan to sit it out. But the majority are not planning to sit it out. And this is where we think is really critical. We've seen that actually in times of crisis, Muslims are more engaged in the political system. So there's still an opportunity for these voters to be gained by any party, but they're not moving towards the Trump.

BRUNHUBER: OK, so there's an opportunity to gain these voters. First of all, have you seen much outreach to the Muslim community in these swing states? And secondly, if you can sort of table the Gaza issue, what other issues do you think would be specific to those communities that might convince them to vote for either party?

[05:35:20]

NUSAIRAT: Absolutely. We have seen outreach from the Democratic Party and the Green Party, a little bit from the Trump campaign, but not as much interest as in courting the Muslim vote as the first two that I mentioned. The other issues that we saw are staying out of foreign wars. So, you know, not supporting, not sending our money, our arms for foreign conflicts.

Typically, the Muslim vote has been really aligned and Muslim voter preferences with the general public. So they generally care about the economy, about health care and about social justice issues. And so it's very surprising that this year, this is such a point of coalition among Muslim voters to prioritize the issue of Gaza and to really use that as the only -- as the top issue by which they will judge a candidate in November. And they're looking, like I said, for policy shift.

BRUNHUBER: Fascinating. I really appreciate having you on to talk about this. Tuqa Nusairat, thank you so much.

NUSAIRAT: Thank you.

BRUNHUBER: Both the Democratic and Republican vice presidential nominees campaigned in Pennsylvania on Saturday. Tim Walz toured a car museum in Allentown before delivering remarks in Bethlehem. Walz previewed some lines of attack he may use in the upcoming vice presidential debate on October 1st, slamming J.D. Vance for repeating election lies.

Vance stopped at a grocery store in Reading ahead of his campaign event, but he focused on Kamala Harris during his remarks in Leesport, making a series of false claims about her policies. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) J.D. VANCE (R-OH) VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are not going to let Kamala Harris forget that she opened the border, that she went to war with the police, that she tried to ban fracking, and she is fired on November the 5th.

GOV. TIM WALZ, U.S. DEMOCRATIC VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: They know if they tell the truth, they don't get votes. So they spread the lies. We have an opportunity to turn the page and choose a new generation of leadership, a new way forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: We'll be right back.

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[05:40:37]

BRUNHUBER: Many young voters who tuned out of the presidential race are paying attention now that Kamala Harris is the Democratic presidential nominee. As Danny Freeman reports from Pittsburgh, she still has her work cut out for her and Republicans are fighting for those votes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 22-year-old Eian Anderson was dreading coming back to campus this fall.

EIAN ANDERSON, PRESIDENT, UPJ DEMOCRATS: I was thinking how could I convince some 18-year-old fresh out of high school hey come spend the whole day talking to people you don't know over the phone for Joe Biden. Hard sell.

FREEMAN (voice-over): But the head of the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown's College Democrats got new life once President Joe Biden dropped out and Vice President Kamala Harris became the nominee.

ANDERSON: There wasn't a lot of passion going around.

FREEMAN: And you feel that's changed?

ANDERSON: It's definitely changed.

FREEMAN: How you feeling today?

MARIAM BANGURAH, SECRETARY, UPJ DEMOCRATS: I'm feeling a lot more comfortable like definitely.

FREEMAN: UPJ Senior Mariam Bangura says Harris' background in particular has energized younger voters but she knows the election won't be that simple.

BANGURAH: I'm 22 years old and I've lived my entire life not seeing many people who look like me or have a similar background as me who want to do my -- who like have done the job that I want to do. We are like doing well but like we really need to like keep that energy and that's what I'm worried about.

FREEMAN: In 2020 younger voters overwhelmingly supported Biden over former President Donald Trump. But before Biden dropped out some polls showed Trump making gains with this key demographic. Now with Harris at the top of the Democratic ticket there are signs younger voters are swinging back in her direction.

ELECTRA JANIS, VICE CHAIR, WASHINGTON COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS: I think she is helping young voters get out and for that I'm grateful, you know, regardless of who you are voting for.

FREEMAN (voice-over): Electra Janis is the Vice Chair of the Washington County Board of Commissioners. She's a Republican voting for Trump and the 28-year-old thinks the former President can keep the gains he made with younger voters if he stays focused on issues like the economy.

JANIS: In this particular case I can I will say when I'm voting for President Trump I'm not voting for a person, I'm voting for his policies. Their volunteer base has grown in Pennsylvania significantly and I think what they need to do is get the young passionate motivated individuals out there seeking other young individuals to do the same.

FREEMAN (voice-over): For that the Trump campaign is turning to people like Steven Kail.

(On camera): Did you ever expect to be working on a political campaign?

STEVEN KAIL, TRUMP CAMPAIGN VOLUNTEER: I did not.

FREEMAN (voice-over): The 33-year-old service technician from outside Pittsburgh was motivated to knock doors after he witnessed the former President get shot at his Butler rally in July.

KAIL: Before that I wasn't doing much volunteer work at all. After what I saw at Butler that like changed my whole -- I just -- I've -- what I saw that day, yeah, I just wanted to help out.

FREEMAN (voice-over): For Kail that means out working Harris volunteers and staying on message with younger voters as much as possible.

KAIL: I start off by talking about the economy, their cost of living especially if they're in college, paying higher prices for gas, utilities, groceries.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you want a Kamala Harris sticker?

FREEMAN (voice-over): But on the University of Pittsburgh's main campus young supporters of both candidates are now readying closing arguments to their peers.

JOSH MINSKY, PRESIDENT, UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH COLLEGE REPUBLICANS: I don't know if that's necessarily doable to get people extremely excited about Trump from afar my age but I do think it's possible to get people to understand that you don't have to like someone to vote for them. And I think a lot of people fall into that category.

SARA PODNAR, CO-PRESIDENT, UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH COLLEGE DEMOCRATS: So you're out, basically doing things every single day. In about an hour or two, I'm going to be tabling on campus doing voter registration. We have events, we have canvases, as I mentioned we knocked a thousand doors last weekend. We're just working on building student power and on transforming a lot of that enthusiasm into actual actionable things.

FREEMAN (voice-over): Danny Freeman, CNN, Pittsburgh.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: And Ohio City is still on edge after Donald Trump's false claims during the first presidential debate that Haitians were eating pets in Springfield. Now the unwelcome spotlight has stoked threats and violence against the city's residents. CNN's Rafael Romo has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As of Friday the city of Springfield had received more than 35 threats of violence including bomb threats stemming from false statements made by former President Donald Trump during the September 10 debate. This is according to Springfield Mayor Rob Rue. Those threats have prompted evacuations of elementary school and supermarkets, lockdowns of hospitals, and transition to remote learning at several local colleges.

[05:45:07]

Now two of those colleges have announced they plan to resume in-person learning this coming Monday after classes were held remotely as law enforcement investigated threats to their campuses.

Clark State College closed its campuses and moved to virtual learning last week. Wittenberg University canceled in-person classes since Monday after receiving two emails last weekend including one containing a bomb threat. As you can imagine the levels of fear and anxiety are very high especially in the Haitian immigrant community as one of its leaders told us on Saturday.

VILES DORSAINVIL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, HAITIAN COMMUNITY HELP AND SUPPORT CENTER: People are still concerned for their life and try to make sure that they control where they are going and still trying to know what will be for the next days.

ROMO: Meanwhile Springfield Mayor Rob Rue is trying everything he can to keep his city moving forward. On Friday he visited Springfield High School to offer support and encouragement to students, teachers, and staff as he prepares for what could be a visit from former President Donald Trump in the near future.

ROB RUE, MAYOR OF SPRINGFIELD, OHIO: If a presidential candidate was going to come and -- and bring a message of coming together, trying to work through problems, talk about the real concerns that why we're in the middle of this debate immigration concerns and immigration reform that would be great. We would just would like to see those words from any presidential candidate that came to our town.

And so my concern is what we've seen on the national stage I really wouldn't want that repeated from our community, from -- in our community.

ROMO: Meanwhile, the cat at the center of this crisis is alive and well. A CNN producer took these pictures of Miss Sassy Friday in Springfield. The cat's owner Anna Kilgore gained national attention earlier this week following a "Wall Street Journal" story saying Kilgore had filed a police report in August stating that her pet might have been taken by her Haitian neighbors. The cat was discovered safe and sound a few days later. Rafael Romo, CNN Atlanta.

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BRUNHUBER: Demonstrators took to the streets of Paris on Saturday afternoon to protest against the appointment of Michel Barnier as prime minister. He was selected by President Emmanuel Macron earlier this month and is disliked by both ends of the political spectrum in France. Barnier is a member of the country's traditional right. His party, the Republicans trailed the far right and the left-wing coalition in recent parliamentary elections.

All right after the break, an incredible play inspires Colorado football fans to storm the field. Carolyn Manno has that and the other sports highlights coming up. Stay with us.

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[05:51:42]

BRUNHUBER: All right, look at sports now. A heavyweight title once given has now been earned inside a packed Wembley Stadium Saturday night. Daniel Dubois punished Anthony Joshua proving the belt belongs to him.

CNN Sports Correspondent Carolyn Manno joins me out live from New York. So, Carolyn, walk us through this.

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, this was an explosive contest, that's for sure. Unfortunately for Anthony Joshua, who's a global superstar, all of the fireworks came from the fists of his opponent while also casting doubt on the 30-year-old's professional future.

Let's start, Kim, with the incredible scene in London. 96,000 on hand to watch this bout of the bridge. Joshua from just north in Watford, and Dubois, the interim champ, from just south of Greenwich, which is about 10 miles from Wembley.

Joshua certainly had the support of the crowd behind him to start, not Dubois, but he silenced those fans very quickly. The 27-year-old Dubois taking everybody by surprise, dismantling Joshua, dropping him multiple times over the span of five rounds. The final blow coming by way of a right hook to the jaw that secured

the biggest win of Dubois' career by knockout. And for Anthony Joshua, this is a devastating result as he not only lost his bid to become a three-time heavyweight champ, but he also picks up another loss on the world stage against an opponent who looked far younger and far faster. Afterwards, Joshua did maintain that he will continue in the sport.

Elsewhere, an overtime win for the ages in college football. Colorado with one last shot in regulation against new Big 12 foe Baylor. A 43- yard Hail Mary from Buffalo's quarterback Shedeur Sanders to LaJohntay Wester sealing the deal. Sanders finding him in one of the tightest openings that you will see for a play like that.

Colorado went on to win by seven in overtime and the most dramatic finish to date for second-year head coach Deion Sanders. If you're a fan -- excuse me, hello, a fan of the pro game and you know who Deion Sanders is, you might have heard the name Manning as well. Archie, Peyton, Eli perhaps, but the famous football's family's next generation led by Texas redshirt freshman Arch, who is the son of Cooper Manning and he delivered last night big time.

His highly anticipated debut as a starter took a few hits, wasn't rattled, finished with 258 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions and a 51-3 blowout over Louisiana Monroe in front of more than 100,000 fans.

We are officially on see what Shohei Ohtani does every night watch and after a stretch of four home runs and four steals over the previous three games to become Major League Baseball's first ever 50-50 player, the Dodgers superstar cooling off just a little bit on Saturday night managed to swipe his 53rd base of the season in the ninth inning of the 6-3 loss to the Rockies, but he went just one for three at the plate with a single no home run. So that puts him at 52 long balls on the year with eight games left. He is certainly no slouch.

Lastly, the WNBA playoffs are going to tip off Sunday, a full day of action, four games with plenty of eyes on star rookie Caitlin Clark leaving the fever back to the postseason for the first time in eight years. Indiana is going to play the Connecticut Sun who beat them the first three times they met.

Although Indiana won the last matchup, they have had a much better second half to the season than the way that things started out. Clark says they are fired up. They are ready to build on that momentum. They will not let the pressure of the playoffs get to them.

[05:55:06]

Caitlin Clark: I mean, you can't get too tight, like that's not going to let you play good basketball. I think that's what's brought us a lot of success here in the second half of the season, is the fun and energy that we play with and a light mood. So I think it's good that you see everybody with that. But at the same time, you know, I feel like everybody's approaching this as, you know, this is the playoffs. This is very important to every single person on this team. And obviously, we don't have ton of playoff experience in our 35 is

our everybody's first, you know, playoff game. So that's a different dynamic as well. But, maybe that's a good thing. You don't get overwhelmed by the moment, and you just approach it as, you know, it's another game, and you prepare the exact same way and go out there and compete.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: They are a young squad, but they are certainly finding some momentum at the right time. The Las Vegas Aces, Kim, are trying to become the first team to win three straight titles since the Houston Comets won four straight at the league's inception.

But it's been fun to watch the rookie superstar, the Phenom, who has set league records in terms of attendance and finding a little bit of rhythm here at the right time as they march towards the playoffs.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah, let's see if she can deliver Carolyn Manno, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

Well, the world record holder for the fastest 25-meter pole climb has won his fourth World Championship title. Yeah, that's the thing, I guess, held in a southern English market town Saturday, climbers raced up a 25 m or 82 ft pole using the spikes on their shoes and safety equipment.

Elite competitors can do it in just 9 to 10 seconds. 27-year-old Dan Whelan, whose best time is 8.8 seconds, won this year's men's final clocking 9.9 seconds.

All right, that wraps this hour of CNN Newsroom. I'm Kim Brunhuber. For viewers in North America, CNN This Morning is next, for the rest of the world, it's Decoded.

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