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Soon: Harris To Visit North Carolina To Survey Helene Damage; Trump To Campaign Today At Site Of First Assassination Attempt; Smoke Seen Rising After New Attacks Near Beirut; Young Voters In Battleground Michigan On The Harris-Trump Matchup; Hurricane Relief Efforts Underway Across Southeast; Concerns Of Possible IV Fluid Shortages After Plant Shutdown. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired October 05, 2024 - 14:00   ET

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

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[14:01:18]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: Good afternoon. Thanks for joining me. I'm Jim Acosta in for Fredricka Whitfield. We are heading into the home stretch in the race for the White House. The election is now just a month away. And both candidates are out in full force, hitting the campaign trailhead for those last minute undecided voters in critical battleground states.

And with voting already underway in several states, polls look at this, showing the race is still neck and neck. Both Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Donald Trump are campaigning as some very big and important news stories are having the potential to shape -- shape this race and reshape it time and again, the war in the Middle East, devastating aftermath of Helene and a surprisingly strong jobs report that just came out yesterday.

Any minute now, Vice President Harris will depart Washington and fly to North Carolina to survey the aftermath of Helene and that important state. She is set to arrive in Charlotte in the next hour where she will get an on the ground briefing on the state's recovery efforts. The western part of North Carolina, of course, suffered catastrophic damage when Helene swept through last weekend.

CNN's Sunlen Serfaty joins us now. Sunlen, we're getting pretty close to the Vice President taking off and -- and heading to North Carolina. She's going to be getting a lot of information when she gets on the ground there.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: That's absolutely right, Jim. And certainly, Vice President Kamala Harris really eager here to show her leadership, show competency in the face of a natural disaster, something that a future president, should she win the White House, would have to take on.

Now, she is going to be leaving Washington in the next hour, traveling to Charlotte, North Carolina. She'll receive an on the ground breeding -- briefing. She'll see some aid being distributed. She'll learn about the recovery efforts taking place there on the ground. And also importantly, brief about the upcoming federal response and the continued federal response.

Now, notably, this trip today is taking place right in smack dab in the middle of the campaign trail season, just over 30 days to go to Election Day. So while the Vice President, of course, is traveling in her capacity, official trip as Vice President, this should also be viewed through the lens of the political season.

She has traveled in the last week to two battleground states, Georgia and now North Carolina, that, of course, have been devastated by the hurricane. And so certainly notable that she's taking part of those recovery efforts and being seen in front of ca -- cameras talking about the federal government's response.

And it comes as former President Donald Trump, her opponent here, is also doing similar. He traveled to Georgia earlier in the week to talk about the devastation of the hurricane and pointed a figure at the administration blasting them for the amount of aid they're spending, saying on claims, saying that they were withholding help from some specific area.

So, Jim, the Vice President's trip today, at least optically speaking, can see -- be seen as a response to former President Trump's assertions about what the administration is doing, trying to show that they are continuing to send aid to those in need. Jim?

ACOSTA: Yes. And we'll see if there's an opportunity for Vice President Harris to speak to the cameras. Maybe there will be a reporter who will ask about what Trump has been saying out on the campaign trail. Maybe we'll hear a response from the Vice President in these hours to come. A busy afternoon. Sunlen Serfaty, thank you very much over at the White House.

And while Kamala Harris is in North Carolina, former President Donald Trump is set to return to the site of his first assassination attempt for a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, later on today. Trump narrowly survived an attempt on his life on July 13th at that location when a gunman opened fire and a bullet grazed Trump's ear.

[14:05:02]

One attendee at that rally died. Two others were injured. And CNN's Alayna Treene joins us now live from Butler, Pennsylvania. Alayna, set the scene for us. What can we expect at today's rally? It won't be just Trump speaking out there. Is that right?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: That's right. And actually, the pre- programming has actually just kicked off. We just heard from a pastor who was giving and dedicating his prayers to the family of Corey Comperatore, the man who was killed at that first rally in Butler on July 13th.

But to your point, Jim, we are not going to just hear from Donald Trump today when he gets on stage. We're going to hear from Elon Musk, who actually just shared on social media that he is planning to not only attend this rally, but he's going to speak here.

We're going to hear from Donald Trump's running mate, J.D. Vance. We know that some of Trump's family, his son, Eric -- Eric Trump, his daughter in law, Lara Trump, all of them will be here as well. They're also going to be bringing up some of the other victims who were injured during that first rally.

But look, one quick key question a lot of people had about this rally today is, what would security look like? I know there's a lot of people kind of anxious about whether potentially there could be a copycat. But what I can say is Secret Service and local law enforcement have significantly increased their preparations for this rally today.

One big difference, they're going to have one command center. That is a change from what they had back in July. They have a better drone control system. You can see some of the drones, well, you can't. But I can see some of these drones flying around up in the sky right now. They've also have added more agents to the ground. You can actually see a lot of that presence here -- here in Butler right now. So that's a big change.

Now, I did speak with many rally attendees today, some of whom were here on July 13th, some of who weren't. And I asked them about this. How concerned are you about your safety? Most of them, I would argue, actually said they're not concerned at all and that they're excited to be back here and to support the president and are happy that he came and returned to this site. I want you to take a listen to what they told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD HEIN, BUTLER RESIDENT ATTENDED FIRST RALLY: I was at the first rally. It's quite a day, but I'm back. Mr. Trump is back. He is the great white buffalo. There's no way of staying away. No, I'm not worried. Not worried at all. Good security, good people. I feel very secure.

JERRY BIZER, ATTENDING TRUMP RALLY IN BUTLER, PA: I felt totally confident in everything. There was a lot of balls dropped from the CIA and everything that went down through if you actually looked into it. So this is something to where that it shouldn't happen in the first place.

SHERRY O'DONNELL, ATTENDING TRUMP RALLY IN BUTLER, PA: Probably got their act together after what happened the last time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So as you could hear there, Jim, they're not that concerned and hopefully, you know, they do their job here today as well. Jim?

ACOSTA: Alayna Treene, thank you very much.

Let's get to developments in the Middle East right now. And new today we're learning that a top leader of Hamas's military wing was killed in a rare Israeli airstrike in northern Lebanon near Tripoli. The city has not been targeted by Israel in almost 20 years. And you can see CNN's cameras capturing smoke rising from Israel's attacks on Beirut suburbs earlier today as well.

Hezbollah has also been launching rockets into northern Israel where Israeli officials say some homes were damaged. And CNN's Jomana Karadsheh is in Lebanon for us. Jomana, what can you tell us about these attacks across Lebanon's border today? It has been pretty active today.

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it has been, as has been every day of this past 10 days, Jim. Hezbollah claiming that it has carried out 14 attacks targeting Israeli troops, they say, in Israeli territory, as well as those trying to advance into southern Lebanon as well, that in 14 statements from Hezbollah as questions are being raised about their capabilities right now after the severe blows that they have faced in recent weeks.

But clearly from these statements, they say that they are still active and they're still carrying out these attacks. Now, elsewhere in the country, here in Beirut, in the southern suburbs, we have seen strike after strike. Earlier this afternoon, our team saw what appeared to be an Israeli strike really close to Beirut's international airport.

This is one of many strikes that happened during the day. And we have to mention these happened with no prior warning. Yes, it is targeting the southern suburbs where Hezbollah is known to have a strong presence, where its leadership has been attacked and killed in recent weeks. But this also is a densely populated part of the city.

There are civilians who still live there. There are civilians that we've spoken to who go back and try and grab their belongings from their homes from which they were displaced in the past few days. And the situation in southern Lebanon, Jim, is so dire. We're seeing an intensification in Israeli strikes there. You have the Israeli military ordering the evacuation of more than a hundred villages in recent days.

[14:10:11]

And this is just adding to Lebanon's largest ever internal displacement crisis with 1.2 million people who have been displaced from their homes in a matter of days. And then you've got the situation absolutely catastrophic when it comes to the healthcare, the facilities, the hospitals there.

According to the World Health Organization, on Thursday, at least 37 hospitals are out of service, out of commission. And as we're speaking, Jim, we can hear another strike in the distance coming from the southern suburbs of Beirut. And this really has become a daily occurrence. And we have seen these strikes intensify over the past couple of days.

And while the people of Beirut have gotten used to this, again, the situation in southern Lebanon is absolutely dire. Hospitals are needed more than ever right now to deal with the thousands of casualties they've had to deal with. Yet they say the World Health Organization says health care is under attack. The Lebanese government is accusing Israel of the Israeli military of deliberately targeting its healthcare facilities.

But the Israeli military is accusing Hezbollah of using these facilities and using ambulances to transport weapons and fighters. And when you speak to Lebanese officials about this, they tell you we've heard this all before in Gaza, Jim.

ACOSTA: Yes. We have heard that before. You're absolutely right about that. All right, Jomana Karadsheh in Lebanon, thank you very much. Please stay safe. We appreciate the reporting, as always.

Let's bring in Suzanne Maloney. She's the vice president and director of the foreign policy program at the Brooking Institutions Center for Middle East Policy. And I guess a lot -- a lot of places where we can start, Suzanne. But I mean, your impression of what Jomana was just saying a few moments ago and these attacks that are going back and forth between Israel and Hezbollah, it just seems as though this is not winding down by any stretch.

SUZANNE MALONEY, VP & DIRECTOR OF FOREIGN POLICY PROGRAM, THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: No, Jim, I think you're exactly right. The war is expanding and it's intensifying in ways that I think are quite dangerous. Israel has scored some very impressive victories in Lebanon by taking out not just Hassan Nasrallah, the longtime leader of Hezbollah, a terrorist group which has threatened Israel and -- and conducted attacks against Israelis and Americans and other citizens for 40 years, but really has also taken out the entire upper echelon of the leadership of Hezbollah.

But that doesn't mean that this group can't continue to mount attacks on Israel. It also has a fairly sizable arsenal of missiles and rockets that can do significant damage. And I think we're nowhere near a resolution to the conflict, either unless Lebanon or in Gaza.

ACOSTA: Well, and that leads me to this, Suzanne, because, I mean, Israel's response to Hamas and Gaza exceeded expectations in terms of intensity and civilian casualties. It's -- it's happening again in Lebanon, it seems. And now we're waiting to see what Israel does in terms of mounting a major retaliation against Iran. Should we see, should -- might we see the same thing play out in this retaliation against Iran?

MALONEY: Well, I think we'll see something very different with respect to Israel's retaliation against Iran. We don't quite know what that will look like at this point. I think there are different types of operations they might undertake. They could do something along the lines of what they did in April, the first and last time that Iran had fired off hundreds of missiles and at that time, drones as well at Israel.

They took out the air defense system at a key nuclear installation. It was subtle. It was sophisticated. It avoided any escalatory pressures that the Iranians didn't feel compelled to respond. I think the Israelis are likely to do something bigger and bolder this time around. They could do a bigger and bolder version of that attack. Take out the entire air defense system of the -- of other installations as well.

But I think there's going to be a temptation to hit something harder, whether it's Iran's oil and gas infrastructure or even elements of the nuclear program itself, that either one of those options could be -- could provoke another retaliation from the Iranians. And that would put us in an entirely different situation. A huge escalation from the current bloody state of conflict in Gaza and the intensifying war in Lebanon. In Iran, Israel war would be of epic proportions, and it would draw the United States military in -- in a very immediate way.

ACOSTA: Yes, all those things could certainly play out. And obviously, this is getting injected into the election cycle, the election season here back in the U.S. And Trump this week suggested something you just said, that Israel go after Iran's nuclear program. How would that play out? How might that play out?

[14:15:03]

MALONEY: Well, the difficulty is that the Israelis themselves wouldn't have the capability to take out the entirety of Iran's very longstanding, diverse and sophisticated nuclear program. There are installations throughout the country, including very close to heavily populated centers of -- of cities.

And so, you know, the -- the size and scope of really setting back the Iran nuclear program would require the involvement of the United States. President Biden has said he's not inclined to support that kind of a strike.

ACOSTA: Right.

MALONEY: The danger would be if Prime Minister Netanyahu decides to do it anyway.

ACOSTA: All right, Suzanne Maloney, thank you very much for your time. We appreciate it.

MALONEY: Thank you.

ACOSTA: Very precarious situation.

All right. Still to come, a new tropical storm has just been named and its path is Florida's Gulf coast. Please pay attention to this forecast coming up in just a few moments.

And later, a look at the ongoing rescue operations in the Carolina mountains right now and how misinformation, disinformation, false rumors, conspiracy theories could hinder those recovery efforts. We're following all of that. Stay with us. You're in the CNN Newsroom.

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[14:20:50] ACOSTA: Just days after Helene devastated parts of the southeast, Tropical Storm Milton has now formed in the Gulf of Mexico. The storm is forecast to strengthen and bring life threatening storm surges to the Florida Gulf Coast. Here to tell us more is CNN meteorologist Elisa Raffa. Elisa, say it ain't so.

ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, I mean, escalating quickly --

ACOSTA: Yes.

RAFFA: -- and what's been a very active hurricane season. It is now a Tropical Storm Milton. That is the 13th name storm of the season. It's got 40 miles per hour wind sitting in its center, sitting about 200 miles northeast of Veracruz, Mexico, continuing to gain strength here. And it will sit in meander in this area in the Gulf of Mexico and then head across it.

The first thing I want to point out is where it will go. And at least some welcome news for those communities devastated in the mountains of the Carolinas, you have a front, an area of high pressure that looks like will shield Milton from making that turn to the north. So it does cut across the Florida peninsula.

The bad news is we have incredibly warm ocean temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico. Still with the sea surface temperatures in the middle and upper 80s, which is fuel for rapid intensification. So this will become hurricane as we go into Monday and could rapidly intensify to maybe an upper end category two or near that major hurricane strength as it heads towards the west coast of Florida.

So here's a look at that track. Again, a little bit slow to start, but then it starts to work its way across these very warm waters, eating up all the fuel as it gets towards Florida. And we're looking at it again, maybe a category two, possibly category three hurricane. Look at the cone, too, how it stretches from Gainesville to Miami. So a lot of fine tuning on where the exact eye will go.

But again, remember, a hurricane is not a point. So we will find these outer bands lashing the entire peninsula as we go into Tuesday and Wednesday. So again, looking at timing, it's a little bit slow at first, then it cuts across the gulf as we go into Monday. Then we're looking at impacts already by late Tuesday into Wednesday morning is when we would find that center of that storm making landfall.

But again, notice how the rain is pretty far reaching. I mean, most of the peninsula here, looking at some four to six inches of rain possible, even some isolated totals up to 10 inches possible. Not what these communities need as they're really recovering from a lot of the devastating storm surge that just happened with Helene.

And look at how active it's been. We've had so many landfilling hurricanes in the Gulf already so far this season. And all of these, and really most of them have all rapidly intensified. And that's something that Helene, I'm sorry, Milton, could do as we go through the next couple of days. Jim? ACOSTA: Yes. And Elisa, I mean, looking at that map you were just showing a few moments ago, I mean, I -- I remember covering the hurricane devastation in the Fort Myers area within just the last couple of years. I mean, this -- this whole region is just getting hit over and over and over again. And -- and Milton, sounds like it could be a very serious storm.

RAFFA: Yes.

ACOSTA: Yes.

RAFFA: De -- definitely need to keep your eyes out on this one.

ACOSTA: Absolutely. All right, Elisa Raffa, thank you very much.

[14:23:46]

Just ahead, Arab American leaders in Michigan urging Vice President Kamala Harris to break away from President Biden's policies on Israel and the Middle East. What she told them, next.

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ACOSTA: With just one month until the election and Election Day, the race for the White House is coming down once again to some key battleground states. Today, Vice President Kamala Harris will land shortly in North Carolina for a briefing on that state's recovery efforts from Helene.

Meantime, former President Donald Trump is set to hold a rally in the next few hours at the site of his first assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. Joining me now to discuss these developments is Sabrina Siddiqui. She's a national politics reporter for the Wall Street Journal. Hey, Sabrina, great to see you. Let's talk about this Trump rally that's going to get started pretty soon. And, I mean, if we have it, we can put it up on screen.

There's going to be one special guest there, the former president, Elon Musk, the owner of X, posted a message within the last hour or two saying he's going to be speaking at this rally. And, I mean, what do you make of all this?

SABRINA SIDDIQUI, NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Well, Elon Musk has been a vocal supporter of former President Trump's reelection campaign. He has also donated a significant amount of money not just toward helping Trump's reelection efforts, but also helping elect other Republicans down ballots.

So it's not much of a surprise. I think, more notably former President Trump is going back, as you noted, to the site of the first assassination attempt. And -- and, you know, I think what we'll see is, you know, an effort to kind of galvanize his supporters as he did in the wake of that shooting --

ACOSTA: Right. SIDDIQUI: -- over the summer. But just so much has changed since then. When you think about the dynamics, President Biden was still in the race at that time. Now it's no longer a 2020 rematch. He's facing Vice President Kamala Harris in a much closer race that will ultimately come down to a handful of these key battleground states, one of which Pennsylvania.

[14:30:07]

ACOSTA: Yes, I mean, Sabrina, I'm -- I'm kind of interested to see what Elon Musk has to say because, you know, he is, as you said, a very important supporter of -- of Donald Trump right now. And he runs X. I mean, X is his -- his site now. And it has become a -- a very big propaganda arm for the former president. And you mentioned Kamala Harris. She is set to arrive in North Carolina in the next hour or so to survey the damage from Helene, get a briefing on recovery efforts there.

But over the last several days, Sabrina, as you know, Trump has made these false claims about the Biden administration's response to Helene. And I have to think over the course of the next few hours that Vice President Harris may respond to some of that.

SIDDIQUI: Absolutely. You know, I think what Vice President Harris is doing here is, you know, visiting the site of the damage that's been caused by this catastrophic hurricane. And it's something that we've seen President Biden do more so in his role where he's often had to go to the sites of these disaster, you know, stricken areas and offer condolences.

And, you know, empathy was obviously a key part of his persona. This is now Vice President Harris stepping into that same role, kind of giving a sense of how she would approach these situations as commander-in-chief. And as you note, these events now very quickly become politicized. And former President Trump has been spreading these false claims about the federal government's response to recovery efforts.

You know, just a few days ago, he was falsely claiming that Georgia Governor Brian Kemp was unable to get in touch with President Biden, which was also, as we know, untrue. I don't know how much Harris, though, will delve into the politics. I think the goal for her is to look presidential, to focus on the people, focus on the devastation, and really highlight what the federal government, what the Biden administration is doing to respond and actually try and take the politics out of the situation and focus more on the suffering and the people at hand.

ACOSTA: Right. And -- and I do want to ask you about this. Vice President Harris was in Michigan yesterday where she met with Arab American and Muslim leaders in that state who want her to distance herself from President Biden's policy on the Middle East. Earlier today, one of those leaders spoke to CNN about his takeaway from that meeting with Kamala Harris. Let's listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) WA'EL ALZAYAT, EMGAGE ACTION CEO, MET WITH VP HARRIS: I truly believe the vice president when she said that not only does she care, but that she will do whatever she can once she is in office to bring this war to an end. We do believe her. We have no option but to believe her and push her to fulfill that promise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Yes, I mean, Sabrina, there's a lot riding on this because, I mean, she, I mean, we've talked about Pennsylvania so much and how much Kamala Harris needs to win Pennsylvania. But if she can't lock down Michigan, then -- then her campaign is in really serious jeopardy.

SIDDIQUI: There's no question about that. And there is, of course, a significant Arab American population in Michigan that very much has the potential to swing a state that could come down to tens of thousands of votes, as we've seen in some prior elections.

You know, I think there's still a very clear split within the Arab and Muslim American community when it comes to how to approach Vice President Harris. Some of those leaders who met with her have endorsed her. They do feel like she's more empathetic. They feel like she would maybe have more of an open ear than President Biden did on the U.S. government's approach to the Middle East and policy in the region.

But then there are others who are still very angry. You talk to a lot of voters. I've certainly spoken to them as well as other Arab American leaders in Michigan and beyond who say that they want to see more from her. They want to see her actually shift gears and make policy commitments like an arms embargo, you know, that would essentially halt U.S. weapons to Israel. That's something that Vice President Harris has said she opposes.

You know, what else is the administration doing to rein in a broader regional war? That was part of Harris's message to the leaders she met with. But we're seeing the limitations certainly of the -- of this administration's approach to Is -- Israel, given it's quite clear that -- that there -- that any efforts they've had to try and mitigate a regional -- a broader regional war don't look to be coming to fruition.

So I think there's a lot of pressure riding on Harris, and it -- and -- and there's still a real sense of anger and frustration that she has not broken with President Biden in a more meaningful way on policy. But of course, I do think that there are also people within the community who say that they know she's the vice president. She's not ultimately managing the -- the Middle East policy, that it is President Biden's policy, not hers.

ACOSTA: Yes.

SIDDIQUI: So how much that split factors into how people cast their ballots in November, that remains to be seen, but absolutely a very influential community that could make a lot of a difference. ACOSTA: And as she has said to members of that community, even at, I think one of her rallies, she said, well, consider who she's running against and what that might be like if he's back in the White House. All right. Sabrina Siddiqui, thank you so much. Great to see you as always. Appreciate it.

[14:35:05]

SIDDIQUI: Thank you.

ACOSTA: All right. As we heard in Michigan, the ongoing war in Gaza is a top issue for some voters, including young people. CNN's John King traveled to the Wolverine state to see how voters are feeling right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fall on campus means football. In Ann Arbor, that means Go Blue, whatever your politics. Fall on campus also means election crunch time. And here, the push to vote and vote early is just about everywhere you look.

JADE GRAY, MICHIGAN VOTER: You are not getting to the White House unless you get Michigan. And you're certainly not getting to the White House unless you get Gen Z.

KING (voice-over): Jade Gray and Anushka Jalisatgi are former presidents of the College Democrats. Jalisatgi is now a first year law student, born in Missouri, but this time voting in Michigan.

ANUSHKA JALISATGI, MICHIGAN VOTER: A lot of my out of state friends are switching their registration to Michigan because they know it's a battleground state.

KING (voice-over): The University Art Museum doubles as a voting hub. Outside this registration desk stands out as does this school day concert.

That very spot on our last visit in May, was home to a student encampment protesting Israel's response to the Hamas terrorist attack and Biden administration weapons shipments to Israel.

The university won't allow another encampment, so it's harder to judge the depth of student anger. Gray now works in digital organizing and sees a dramatic shift.

GRAY: Huge is an understatement. I think there's a drastic difference in support amongst young people for Vice President Harris versus President Biden.

KING (voice-over): Attendance at College Democrats meetings is strong. This night spent phone banking.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm calling with the Michigan Democratic Party.

KING (voice-over): After a little pep talk from Michigan's Democratic governor.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let's go and get it done.

KING (voice-over): But resentment lingers. The October 7th anniversary is at hand, the election just a month away now.

This is a meeting of the Syrian Students Association at Wayne State in Detroit.

KING: How many are hesitant having a hard time voting for Harris because of these policies? That's just about everybody.

KING (voice-over): Trouble for Harris is also easy to find in majority Arab-American, Dearborn. Wahbeh Nuseibeh is Palestinian, a 26-year-old Wayne State student who voted for Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden.

WAHBEH NUSEIBEH, MICHIGAN VOTER: I'm not voting for Kamala Harris. Not in good conscience, I cannot vote for someone that uses my hard earned tax dollars to kill my friends and families overseas.

KING (voice-over): Nuseibeh plans to vote third party.

NUSEIBEH: Donald Trump is a threat to our democracy and threat to our society.

KING (voice-over): The campus divide goes well beyond picking a president at both Ann Arbor and Wayne State anger at school officials for how protests have been handled and among students a divide over how we got here.

NUSEIBEH: Yes, there were atrocities on October 7th, but again, these people are fighting for their land and for their families.

KING: On October 7th they weren't fighting on their land. They crossed into Israel.

NUSEIBEH: Yes. So even though, again, we go back to this didn't start on October 7th, it really didn't.

KING (voice-over): Maya Siegmann is a Wayne State Junior active in the campus Hillel chapter, just back from a summer in Israel.

MAYA SIEGMANN, MICHIGAN VOTER: The propaganda war, the social media war, the news war that Hamas and Israel are fighting. Hamas is winning. It is hard, because when people talk about being on the right side of history, and then they don't educate themselves enough to figure out which one is the right side. It's a bandwagon effect.

KING (voice-over): Siegmann will vote Harris, though she wishes the Vice President would give more details.

SIEGMANN: The debate was hard because she didn't directly answer most of the questions, and when the topic of the Israel-Hamas war came up, then there wasn't really a solid response as to how she would solve it. KING (voice-over): There are a few signs of Trump support on either campus, his green light to Israel isn't what most students want to hear.

KING: So if you in a perfect world, wanted to recruit some of those disaffected Democrats, he's not helping you.

MAX SCHESKE, MICHIGAN VOTER: No, probably not.

KING (voice-over): Max Scheske is a member of the Michigan College Republicans. He will vote for Trump, but he is hardly a fan.

SCHESKE: He's a bit of a great there, you know, if you can kind of get them to say or believe anything, as long as you think that's where the votes fly.

KING (voice-over): Scheske says GOP energy is up a bit as the election draws near, but that many students planning to vote Trump just can't wait to move on.

SCHESKE: We certainly do kind of have kind of our, you know, Trump is, you know, Trump is basically Jesus wing of -- wing of the club. But we also -- we do actually have a very sizable, you know, very critical of Trump.

KING (voice-over): There's no doubt Harris is running strong here. Strong enough is the question.

GRAY: If she comes up short in Michigan, I don't think it's because of young voters. I think it's probably because we waited too long to make a switch. I sure hope she doesn't come up short in Michigan because I don't really want to be talking to people about how young people should have done more when I feel like we're doing a lot.

[14:40:12]

KING (voice-over): Game time in a state Harris needs to keep blue.

John King, CNN, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:44:59]

ACOSTA: A week after Hurricane Helene devastated the southeast, the death toll continues to climb in that part of the country, and over 500,000 are still without power. Recovery has, of course, become a nationwide effort at this point. Joining us to tell us more about this is CNN correspondent Rafael Romo. Rafael, what's the latest?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Jim, earlier today, the Federal Emergency Management Administration released the latest information regarding their response to this unprecedented disaster in the Southeast. According to FEMA, the federal government has already provided more than $110 million in assistance for the affected states.\

FEMA also says that 6,400 personnel from across the federal workforce are deployed and that 13.2 million meals and 13.4 million liters of water have been distributed in the aftermath of Helene.

There are also teams from across the nation there, including the New York Fire Department and of course, the North Carolina National Guard. Maryann Tierney, the FEMA official in charge of the response in North Carolina, said search and rescue efforts are still ongoing. Meanwhile, FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell wanted to make sure people know there's assistance available from the federal government. She was apparently responding to misinformation that has been circulating, especially in this politically charged environment. This is what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEANNE CRISWELL, FEMA ADMINISTRATOR: One, there's a lot of misinformation about the fact that we are not going to have enough money because it's being redirected elsewhere. Just plain false. We have everything you need, Governor, everybody here in North Carolina, and we are going to be able to continue to provide that assistance as long as you need it.

And the second part I want to say is that we have resources for individuals. We want them to apply for assistance. This level of misinformation creates the scenario where they won't even come to us, they won't even register. And I need people to register so they can get what they're eligible for through our programs.

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ROMO: All right. That's at the federal level, Jim. But the North Carolina Emergency Management Agency is also warning that this has become a problem. In a post published this morning, the agency says that there are numerous false reports and misleading information circulating about hurricane Helene on social media. Be cautious, it warns people. AI generated images and claims may not accurately reflect real conditions.

In the post, they also ask people to get their facts from an online page managed by the North Carolina Department of Public Safety. So there seems to be a lot of concern about what kind of information people are getting. And -- and the other thing, Jim, is that this may prevent someone from actually asking for help. And that's a big problem, as you can imagine.

ACOSTA: Absolutely. And I -- I noticed, Rafael, that local newspapers across North Carolina are also trying to get the word out about being careful about falling victim to misinformation, disinformation. There's -- there's a whole lot of it out there right now, swirling. Rafael Romo, thank you very much for that information. We appreciate it.

In the meantime, singer and songwriter Dolly Parton says she will donate $1 million for recovery efforts from Hurricane Helene. The storm impacted her home state of Tennessee. Of course, on top of giving her time and money to her community, she also used her legendary vocals to cheer up people during an event last hour. Take a listen.

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[14:48:17]

DOLLY PARTON, LEGENDARY SINGER AND SONGWRITER: And I'm sure a lot of you wondered where I been. Everybody say, where's Dolly? Well, I've been like everybody else, trying to absorb everything going on, trying to figure out all the best ways to do this, because then we had that crazy old Helene, Helene, Helene, Helene. You came in here and broke us all apart. Helene, Helene, Helene, Helene. But we're all here to mend these broken hearts, and that's what I'm doing here, so.

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ACOSTA: A major supplier of IV fluids and dialysis solutions has shut down after Hurricane Helene tore through its plan in North Carolina. Now there are growing concerns about a possible nationwide shortage. And CNN's Meg Tirrell has more.

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, a major healthcare company, Baxter International, says it has its largest manufacturing facility in North Cove, North Carolina. That's about 50 miles from Asheville. They say that this is the largest manufacturer in the United States of sterile IV bags and solutions used for dialysis.

Now, this was affected by Hurricane Helene, by flooding, and has temporarily been closed as they assess the damage to this facility. But this is quite concerning for supply, potentially for hospitals and dialysis providers. I've been hearing from drug shortage experts that a significant number of hospitals across the U.S. depend on Baxter for their supply of these materials.

Right now, Baxter is still assessing the damage and how long potentially it could take to get this plant back up and running. But they are limiting how much customers can order of these supplies as they sort of sort through that.

They did say that a bridge had been damaged in accessing the facility, and they put a temporary bridge in place. So they're trying to get in there and both assess the damage and assess how much supply is usable that they tried to put in a safe spot before the hurricane struck.

But we know from seeing previous natural disasters that this can have widespread impacts across the healthcare supply chain. And it can last, unfortunately, for a long period of time. In 2017, there was Hurricane Maria that struck Puerto Rico, a Baxter facility, the same company there was hit, and that exacerbated a shortage of IV saline bags. And that lasted several months.

[14:55:18] I was talking with Erin Fox at the University of Utah, who's a drug shortages and pharmacy expert. And she said previous experience suggests natural disasters can mean, it can take about a year, sometimes for plants to come back online. So right now, hospitals are in a position where they're being asked to try to conserve these solutions when they can.

And essentially wait to see how widespread the supply shortages could be and how long they could persist. But quite a worrying situation we're hearing from healthcare providers right now.

ACOSTA: All right. Meg Tirrell, thanks so much. We'll be right back.

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