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Harris To Visit Battleground North Carolina This Weekend; Harris Releases Medical Info: Doctor Says VP In "Excellent Health"; Trump Makes Blue-State Detour This Weekend In California; FL Gov.: 1,000 Rescues From Hurricane Hazards Since Milton's Landfall; Study: Ultra-Warm Water In Gulf Supercharged Helene. Obama Tells Black Male Voters "Not Acceptable" To Sit Out Election; CNN Heads To Wisconsin To Check With Black Voters About Support For Harris; Iran Warns U.S. It Will Retaliate Against Any Future Israeli Strike; Iran Engaging In Urgent Diplomacy With Middle East Countries; One Dead, 12 Hurt In Shooting At Halloween Party In Oklahoma. Aired 1-2p ET

Aired October 12, 2024 - 13:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:00:32]

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you so much for joining us, I'm Alex Marquardt.

We have lots of news, we begin this hour with the race for the White House. We are now just over three weeks, only three weeks away from the election. And there is brand new polling out today in two key battleground states, which is giving us new insight into where the race stands in these critical swing states right now.

The new polling is from the New York Times and Siena College. It shows a very close race in two of those key swing states, Pennsylvania and Arizona. The new polling showing that Kamala Harris has a slight lead in Pennsylvania, you can see it right there, while former President Donald Trump has a similar size lead in Arizona.

Both candidates are on the campaign trail today, traveling to battleground states on opposite sides of the country. Trump is campaigning out west, meanwhile, Harris is traveling to battleground North Carolina today, where she will stay overnight.

The Vice President also releasing her medical information. Just a short time ago, her doctor released a letter detailing the 59-year-old VP's medical history, along with a health report.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez, who has been covering the Harris campaign, joins us live now from Washington. So, Priscilla, what do we learn in this released medical report by the Vice President?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Alex, this is the first time that the Vice President's office has released records with this level of detail about Vice President Kamala Harris' health. Now, there are some new details included in this nearly two-page letter. It says that she has, for example, seasonal allergies, hives, she is nearsighted.

But it also says that her routine blood work at her April physical exam show no cause for alarm. That is really the resounding message from her doctor in this letter, which is that she does have a clean bill of health. And he says the following, quote, "She possesses the physical and mental resiliency required to successfully execute the duties of the presidency, to include those as chief executive, head of state, and commander-in-chief." That a quote from the letter.

Now, the campaign is trying as well to draw a stark contrast with former President Donald Trump. Remember, not long ago, there were concerns about age for both candidates. That was with President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, who is 78.

So this is in part an effort to quell any concerns about the Vice President, at least when it comes to her health. But all the same, her advisers are facing much of what you discussed there at the top, which is that polls remain very close. It has certainly fueled some anxiety among the sources that I have spoken with who are close to the campaign. Because, again, despite being a few months into her candidacy at this point, the polls are just not really moving very much.

Now, she is, as you mentioned, going to go to North Carolina later today. This is a swing where she's going to be doubling down on black voter outreach. This has been a bit of a weak spot for the campaign and something that there was focus on earlier this week with former President Barack Obama in Pennsylvania, because there is waning enthusiasm among this part of the electorate.

So, today, she will be going to a local restaurant where she'll be talking to local black elected officials, as well as community leaders. She's also going to be delivering remarks at a church tomorrow in Greenville, North Carolina, and also speaking with black farmers before she has her campaign rally there.

So there is certainly an extension of that campaign outreach happening with the Vice President's trip to North Carolina today and tomorrow. I will also note that while she's in North Carolina, she will be helping some volunteers who are part of a hurricane relief effort, given that there are so many still on the ground in North Carolina feeling the impact from Hurricane Helene.

But again, Alex, getting back to the top on those medical records, the doctor overwhelmingly saying in this letter that she has a clean bill of health, again, only weeks from Election Day.

MARQUARDT: Yes. North Carolina, a state that Trump won in the last two elections, but again, is just neck and neck in this one.

Priscilla Alvarez here in Washington, thanks very much.

And for more on the Vice President's just released medical report, let's bring in Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent who has been digging into this health summary and what it means. DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: What we were provided with is about a page and a half letter which is pretty standard for presidential candidates and presidents when it comes to their health history. The headline is the Vice President is a 59-year- old healthy woman who is able to fulfill the demands and the office of the presidency.

[13:05:02]

This particular letter is signed by Joshua Simmons who is her doctor and a colonel in the U.S. Army. Just a couple of notable highlights. Again keeping in mind that these are minor things that she is healthy. She has allergies. She has hives associated with those allergies. She wears contact lenses.

Most notably is that she has a family history of colon cancer. Her mother died around age 70 of colon cancer. And they make note of this, saying that she is getting preventive care recommendations including colonoscopies and annual mammograms.

I think they also spent a lot of time in this letter talking about what the Vice President does not have. She does not have a history of diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, lung disease, neurological disorders or cancer. They give a lot of the numbers of a recent physical exam which was done in April of 2024.

They talk about things like her blood pressure but also any medications that she may be taking. She is taking things like vitamin B12, vitamin D which they find all those to be in the normal range. So this is a pretty standard letter. There are no particular concerns when you see a letter like this and again coming from her doctor talking about her most recent physical exam.

The headline being that she is in excellent health and possesses a physical and mental resiliency, they say here, required to execute the duties of the presidency. Back to you.

MARQUARDT: Our thanks to Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

And we do want to highlight that that report says that Harris has no history of a variety of things, including cancer.

In a few hours from now, former President Donald Trump will be holding a roundtable campaign event near Las Vegas in Battleground, Nevada. And later tonight, he'll be holding a rare campaign rally in California, which, of course, is a deep blue state that he lost by more than 5 million votes in the last presidential election.

On Friday, he was in yet another blue state, Colorado, where he doubled down on his dark rhetoric and false claims about Venezuelan gangs overtaking the Colorado city of Aurora. In the meantime, his running mate, Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio, is once again trying to clarify and defend those controversial remarks he made about childless cat ladies.

CNN's Kristen Holmes joins us now from Coachella, California, where Trump is going to be holding that rally later tonight. So, Kristen, there were some very notable lines in this new J.D. Vance interview. Tell us more about what he said.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. I mean, look, this is a time where Donald Trump and his team are really trying to court women voters. You were reading those polls earlier. Some of them have Kamala Harris ahead in various states. Some have Donald Trump ahead in various states.

But one thing is clear. This decision, this election is going to be decided in the margins. And every single vote counts. And one thing that Donald Trump and his team have fallen short on is women voters. It is just not in the cards for them right now. Donald Trump, we know, is a polarizing figure, particularly among women.

That's perhaps why you heard J.D. Vance trying to once again clarify these remarks that have plagued him since July, since he was named as the vice presidential nominee, when he -- this old interview from 2021 surfaced. And he said that he had called women or people, who won their country and women in particular, childless cat ladies. This has come up again and again.

This time, he went a little bit further, saying that those were dumb remarks. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Well, as I said when I made those comments, look, they were dumb comments and I said it a couple of times in a couple of interviews. And, look, yes, I mean, I certainly wish that I had said it differently.

I mean, what I was trying to get at is that, look, I'm not talking about people who it just didn't work out, right, for medical reasons, for social reasons, like, set that to the side, we're not talking about folks like that. What I was definitely trying to illustrate and, you know, ultimately a very inarticulate way is that I do think that our country has become almost pathologically anti-child.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

HOLMES: Now, as J.D. Vance was cleaning up those past remarks, Donald Trump, as you mentioned, was in Aurora, Colorado, doubling down on this dark rhetoric around immigration. There's been a lot of questions as to whether or not he is going to loosen up any of that language.

But, again, I take you back to that polling, which shows a race that is neck and neck. And if you talk to people who are close to the former president, they believe, and he, in particular, believes that when it comes to immigration and a dark rhetoric or fear-based rhetoric, that that helped propel him to the White House in 2016 and could help to propel him to the White House again in November.

Now, of course, the question is why, if these polls are so close in these battleground states, which will determine the election, is he in California. But I spoke to a number of his advisers who said, one, he has wanted to do a rally in California for a very long time.

We know he does have supporters in Southern California, but there is no misconception that he's going to win the state or swing this state. He is going to lose and lose by a large margin. But he wanted to do something, and this is what I'm told by a senior adviser, for those people who support him.

[13:10:04]

And in terms of media coverage, I was also told, the part of the reason that they don't think it matters that much is that when he puts on these kind of events, they get a lot of media coverage. They get clipped for social media. They get put out on the Internet and they might reach more people than even a swing state rally would reach. So they believe this is still reaching voters, regardless of the fact that it is in a deep blue state.

Alex?

MARQUARDT: Yes, we do live in a world of social media. After all, it does raise real questions about retail, local politics.

Kristen Holmes in California for that Trump rally. Thanks very much.

Still ahead this hour, Milton's wrath leaves Florida reeling and one sheriff pleading, quote, "Get out now. The water is not going down." Rescue is still taking place today in a number of areas.

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[13:15:27]

MARQUARDT: It has been several days since the winds and rains of Hurricane Milton battered central Florida. But a new round of evacuations are still happening today. Dangerous floodwaters are continuing to rise, forcing people from their homes yet again. Here is Florida Governor Ron DeSantis just a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R), FLORIDA: As of this morning, over 1,000 individuals have been rescued from floodwaters or other hazards. We still have massive amounts of resources available and we were able to successfully help over 400 health care facilities evacuate.

Please continue to exercise caution as you recover from the storm. Ladder safety, generator safety. If you need help with things like clearing debris off your property, we have organizations that are in Florida that can help you with that.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

MARQUARDT: Hundreds have been rescued in Hillsborough County since Milton made landfall. Residents around three rivers are being warned it will get worse before it gets better.

Joining us now is CNN's Brian Abel, who is coming up live from hard- hit Valrico, Florida. So, Brian, what have you been seeing there?

BRIAN ABEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alex, we have the good news first, seeing some significant droppage of the water levels here in the last handful of hours. I do want to show you something here. You see this canoe that is next to me.

There's been a couple of boats in this area. And this is to get people back and forth to their homes because, as you see down the way, there is a lot of water still. Some 48 hours, more than that, since landfall of Hurricane Milton.

I also want to show you over here this home that has this tree that was cut because at one point it was all the way across the road. So you can see some of the damage as well as the water levels up to the porch and the stairs. And then let me show you one more thing.

You see that bus way down there. I talked with a resident that has lived here for more than 50 years that says this was the worst that she has ever experienced and that the water was to the top of the white on the top of that bus. That's how high the water was at one point.

We did get to see up close and personal ourselves on a ride with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office on one of their airboats this morning. And it was quite the sight being able to see not only that bus up close, but how high the water still are close to street signs. And you could see the mailboxes that were mostly submerged still.

The yards, you couldn't see many of them. And we also saw some livestock as well, some chickens and roosters trying to just get by waiting for this water to go down. So it was quite the scene. Even now, a post a handful of days after this hurricane has hit. We are, if I didn't mention in the Bloomingdale Acres area, we're about a half a mile away from the Alafia River where much of this water spilled out from.

Earlier today, the sheriff telling us a couple of things. One, that his office alone has been really busy with rescues. 300 of the 1,000 rescues across the state were done by his department. So, the sheriff's deputies not getting much sleep in the last handful of days and sometimes sleeping in facilities of the sheriff's department, instead of going home to families and having to deal with their own mess in order to be here instead.

Also, a significant improvement in the power here for so many people. It went from nearly 1 million customers in this county without power to now less than half that, 426,000. So a big improvement there. And then lastly, fuel is an issue as well. The fuel tanks they are getting -- the tankers now getting transported by police escort to the people that need it most.

Take a listen to what comes next, though.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

SHERIFF CHAD CHRONISTER, HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FLORIDA: My fear is this is a big county that has sustained over 16 inches of rain. And mother nature does a phenomenal job of getting rid of that water but it all goes to the river that has to go out into the bay and unfortunately has to pass through a lot of areas that hasn't seen over 25 feet of flooding.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

ABEL: And so that really is the next painful chapter in this hurricane is not only where does this water go next, but then how do people recover? Because now they have to file claims with FEMA for not one, but potentially two hurricanes with Helene just weeks ago. And they have to do it separately, according to the Florida state.

Alex, back to you.

[13:20:07]

MARQUARDT: Yes. Things getting better, but still very tough and dangerous. And as you say, a long road to recovery for so many of those residents there.

ABEL: Yes.

MARQUARDT: Brian Abel, thanks very much.

The southeast is in storm recovery mode after two deadly hurricanes that Brian just mentioned, just two weeks. A new study shows that ultra-warm water in the Gulf of Mexico supercharged Hurricane Helene and human-caused climate change likely heated that water.

Joining me now to discuss is Professor Michael Mann of the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Mann, thank you so much for being with us. I want to note you are the author of, "Our Fragile Moment: How Lessons from Earth's Past Can Help Us Survive the Climate Crisis."

Let's talk about how climate change is fueling these storms. What role do you think climate change played in these two back-to-back hurricanes that we've seen in Florida and other states, I should note, in the past few weeks?

MICHAEL E. MANN, CLIMATE SCIENTIST: Yes, thanks, Alex. It's good to be with you. And it's pretty clear. As I like to say, this isn't rocket science. It's actually very basic physics that tells us that when you heat up the oceans and you evaporate more moisture into the atmosphere, it's actually that evaporated moisture that provides the energy to intensify these storms.

It's also that evaporated moisture that provides the moisture that's turned into record rainfall and flooding. And there are estimates that we see a roughly 12 percent increase in the maximum sustained wind speeds with these storms for each degree Celsius of warming, nearly 2 degrees Fahrenheit warming. And that's about as much as the Atlantic has warmed up this century.

So that's a 12 percent increase in the maximum wind speeds. But it turns out that the destructive potential, what we call power dissipation, how much damage a storm can do, actually is proportional to the third power of those wind speeds. So that 12 percent turns into a 40 percent, a 40 percent increase in the destructive potential of these storms with regard to wind damage.

And we're seeing that. And, in fact, it was an estimate that with Helene, the rainfall, the flooding that killed hundreds of people in the southeastern U.S. was increased by 50 percent by human caused warming. So that's not just a subtle impact.

There is a profound impact that human caused warming from burning fossil fuels and the production of carbon pollution. There is a major impact that that is having in terms of the damage and deadliness of these storms.

MARQUARDT: Professor, when you look at the pace, the frequency of these storms, is there enough data from recent years to say whether there is sort of steady growth fueled by climate change of the number of these storms, or is it more exponential? How much are these storms being fueled by climate change growing in terms of frequency?

MANN: Yes, I mean, again, when you look at the strongest storms, the sort of cat 4, cat 5 monster storms, we see a steady increase and steady is bad enough. As I like to say, the truth is bad enough. It's not exponential, but it's steady, which means that every additional degree that we warm the planet leads to a steady increase, you know, in the intensity of these storms, the damage that's done.

Here's the good news. The warming stops when we bring our carbon emissions to zero. So if we can rapidly decarbonize our infrastructure, get away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy, we can stop the warming of the planet, the warming of the oceans that is driving these ever dangerous and ever damaging storms.

MARQUARDT: And we know what a tall task that is. And in the meantime, one of the more disturbing reactions to what we've been seeing are these reports of meteorologists getting death threats as they try to bat down and push back against conspiracy theories. What's your reaction to that?

MANN: Yes, it's really disturbing. It's part of a trend. You know, as a climate scientist decades ago, I was attacked, my colleagues were attacked when we presented evidence that was a threat to powerful vested interests, the fossil fuel industry, the politicians, mostly one of the two parties, really the Republican Party that has supported their agenda.

I was attacked by them decades ago because of my work establishing the significance of human caused warming. And today we have seen a metastasization of that bad faith extend to all matters of public discourse. And even, you know, weather presenters are being threatened and emergency managers, FEMA employees are being threatened simply because the facts that they are presenting might be inconvenient.

Again, to some of those powerful vested interests, one of the two parties, the Republican Party, has taken, you know, almost as gospel that climate change is a hoax and they have attacked scientists who are talking about the threat of climate change and their plan, Project 2025, would actually eliminate NOAA because they don't like the climate messaging coming out of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.

[13:25:09]

But NOAA is also the agency that supports those hurricane hunters, hurricane hunters that fly into storms --

MARQUARDT: Right.

MANN: -- collecting data so that we can make more accurate forecasts of the path and the destruction of these storms.

MARQUARDT: Yes. People who should know better, public officials included, really helping fuel a lot of this disinformation.

Professor Michael Mann of the University of Pennsylvania, thanks very much for your time today.

MANN: Thank you.

MARQUARDT: Former President Obama, with a blunt warning to black men, they need to come out and support Kamala Harris on Election Day. We'll ask our analysts about growing concerns about that message could backfire. You're in the CNN Newsroom.

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[13:30:13]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Speaking to men directly, part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren't feeling the idea of having a woman as president.

And so now you're thinking about sitting out or even supporting somebody who has a history of denigrating you? That's not acceptable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN HOST: That was former President Barack Obama speaking to supporters in Pittsburgh this week. He was addressing real concerns that support may be soft for Vice President Kamala Harris among black men.

In the latest installment of "ALL OVER THE MAP," CNN's John King heads back to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to check back in with black voters and canvassers about why Harris is struggling to connect with black men.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(KNOCKING)

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Door to door, north side Milwaukee.

(KNOCKING)

KING: If Kamala Harris is to win Wisconsin, the path starts right here.

DEVONTA JOHNSON, CANVASSER, BLACK LEADERS ORGANIZING FOR COMMUNITIES: How do you feel about Kamala Harris?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, Kamala Harris, I think she's great.

JOHNSON: She's great. How do you feel about Trump?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not so great.

KING: A phone number to keep in touch --

JOHNSON: I appreciate you, ma'am. Have a good day, blessed day.

KING: -- to make sure support translates into voting.

JOHNSON: He was pretty excited about Kamala.

KING: Devonta Johnson now shares that excitement. When we met a year ago, he was undecided between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

JOHNSON: At the time, I was like kind of iffy, feeling like everybody else like undecided and not confused, but it's like, I don't know for sure going to vote for him.

But now that Kamala got the ball and she is rolling with it, I feel like, oh yes.

KING: Johnson and his colleagues walk these streets year-round, building trust for right now.

The leaves are falling. Halloween is at hand. It's turnout time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just want to remind you that early voting starts on October 22nd.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My wife and I, we already absentee ballot.

KING: This look under the hood was positive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just want your opinion.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Trump is trying to take us back to days that we don't want to be in.

KING: But there are cracks in the Democratic foundation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know I don't want him, but then I feel like I question her a little bit, too.

KING: The canvassers share notes every workday. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What are people saying?

KING: No question Harris is stronger in the black neighborhoods now than Joe Biden was when we first visited a year ago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a sense of hope in the air.

KING: But there are warning signs.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is people out here saying that they don't want to vote. They still saying that.

KING: Often the conversation at those doors turns to higher rents and food prices.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We got to pick and choose between what we can and what we can't buy. And ain't nobody talking about it. But you all just vote, vote, vote, get out and vote. You all want us to vote.

KING: Angela Lang is the boss here at Black Leaders Organizing for Communities. She knows the hard math of Hillary Clinton's narrow 2016 Wisconsin loss and what it took to deliver Joe Biden's narrow 2020 win.

Cautiously optimistic now as she rallies her team and runs the 2024 canvassing numbers.

ANGELA LANG, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, BLACK LEADERS ORGANIZING FOR COMMUNITIES: You can't win a statewide election here without going through the heart of Milwaukee and in some cases that runs through this office and the work that our team does.

But also we're seeing folks in heavily red areas that are getting together with other women at coffee shops without their husbands knowing, for example, and starting to have those conversations.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We got the most to lose right now.

KING: Off-the-chart support among women is critical for Harris. When these canvassers encounter a Trump supporter, it is almost always a black man.

LANG: One of the things that we've heard is people are like, well, I think I had more money in my pocket when Trump was in office because of the stimulus checks during the pandemic.

BRIAN MCMUTUARY, WISCONSIN VOTER: It's kind of hard to choose when that's all you got.

KING: Brian McMutuary was a lifelong Democrat, but he voted for Trump in 2020. He's undecided but leaning Trump this year.

MCMUTUARY: The cost of living, you know, gas, food prices, you know, rent, it's hard. You try to, you know, keep up and trying, you know, stay away from the credit cards.

So what'd you do today?

KING: McMutuary has two children, manages a McDonald's, disagrees with Trump on immigration and abortion, but likes his take on cryptocurrency and remembers being better off when Trump was president.

MCMUTUARY: I would have to say that the biggest difference is I didn't have any experience.

KING: Plus, he says he worries Russia's Putin and China's Xi wouldn't see Harris as an equal.

MCMUTUARY: They look at a man as being, you know, a leader. So that's like somewhat of a troubling issue.

KING (on camera): Do you have any problem with a woman president?

MCMUTUARY: Nope, not at all. Like I say, it's about doing the right thing for the country.

ERIC JONES, WISCONSIN VOTER: How can you take bigotry over a job?

KING (voice-over): Eric Jones hears it all when he stops for coffee at the barber shop and in his real estate business.

JONES: If I was a gambling man, I would probably put my money on Harris. Things are getting better. The numbers are better. The energy is different.

KING: But an earlier job sometimes hurts the Vice President.

[13:35:02]

JONES: As a black man, law enforcement has not been kind to black people historically. District attorneys have not been kind to black people historically.

KING: Plus, Jones says abortion and transgender rights sometimes come up in his barbershop debates.

JONES: The good old party feels that they have a monopoly over the Christian vote. The Democratic Party feels they have a monopoly over the black vote.

The problem is there are a lot of blacks that are Christians and the black church is one of the strongest institutions in the community. So you have this tug of war in a city that I'm pretty sure the black vote will decide who wins that city and more than likely the presidency.

KING: Yes, turnout time in a community that matters big time.

John King, CNN, Milwaukee.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUARDT: Our thanks to John King for that report. And joining us now is Zolan Kanno-Youngs. He's a CNN political analyst and White House correspondent for "The New York Times".

Zolan, thanks so much for joining us today.

There's a lot going on. A lot was made over those Obama comments after the rally in Pittsburgh. And some of the headlines that came out we're using words like "scolds" and "admonished," "admonishes" and "shames."

Do you think that those comments to that group of young, mostly black men came off as -- as scolding to them and to some? Do you think that that effort by Obama could -- could backfire?

ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Based off my reporting, there is a risk of that, yes. And some people did digest it that way. Some black leaders did -- did process it that way.

Look, for some, the former president was, in many ways, as a former president, as also a trusted messenger in the black community, the ideal person to almost say the quiet part out loud.

And by that, what I mean is the quiet part out loud being something that has been discussed in private conversations with black leaders and Democrats.

And that's whether a small -- I'm not talking about all black voters, not a mono -- not a monolith -- but a small all slice of the electorate would come to support a black woman in the way that black women have come to support black men in leadership positions for decades. And that's what the former president was getting at.

But the risk here as well is that, for other Democrats, President Obama's comments also rick scapegoating one of the more reliable supporters of the Democratic Party for decades going back.

In total, black men have been only second to black women of a more reliable basis for Democrats. And for some black leaders, I talked to, they said it's a healthy conversation if black men and are trying to interrogate the party.

And for some black voters I've spoken to, they feel as if their vote has at times been taken for granted as well.

They have economic frustrations. They feel as if government has neglected them. And they want the administration to come out and earn their vote.

So it definitely was a calculated risk, that speech just earlier this week.

MARQUARDT: Zolan, there are some interesting new numbers probably worrying for the Harris campaign in your newspaper, "The New York Times" this morning.

A "Times"/Sienna College poll finding that black voters who are younger than 30 split almost evenly over the party that keeps its promises, 43 percent saying Democrats versus 40 percent the Republicans.

But older black voters overwhelmingly choosing Democrats there, 82 percent of Democrats, 11 percent Republicans among black voters aged 65 and older.

So, Zolan, with 24 days left, do you think that there's any progress that Harris can make? Can she make up that gap with those younger voters?

KANNO-YOUNGS: That's certainly what the campaign is focused on.

Look, this has been a concern. The numbers that you just ran out, including that sort of age disparity there, that has been a concern for this White House for the last couple of years, even before she was at the top of the ticket.

I remember reporting that the vice president was having sort of private meetings with black leaders, black businessman, black entrepreneurs as well to get at that age divide and those younger black voters and sort of energize them as well. So it's been on their mind for a while.

Look, she does have that interview next week with Charlamagne tha God as well, so that you can tell -- I believe if that's in Detroit. You can tell that's going to be focused as well on appealing to black voters, black men specifically.

They, right now, are trying to get that small but significant slice of the electorate that is considering staying home and trying to make the case that her administration can deliver for them.

But again, for many voters, they have the same concerns that they had with the Biden administration now for Harris.

MARQUARDT: We only have a couple of moments left. But when you look at male, black male voters, specifically, what appeal do you think Donald Trump has for them over job, over Kamala Harris?

[13:40:03]

KANNO-YOUNGS: Yes, I think for black men, in many ways, it's just -- based off the reporting and the interviews that I'm doing, it's what many Americans have across the country, the economy, a sense that the cost of living was lower during the Trump years.

There -- and again, I talked about that quiet part out -- out loud, the elephant in the room. Even before the former president, I reported on the call that 40,000 black men attended. It was organized by black leaders.

And they were kind of addressing that elephant in the room as well, trying to say, look, leadership does not need to be associated with masculinity. And actually, leadership can be standing behind a black woman.

That's also a sort of sensitive and very fraught topic that -- that I know Democrats are worried is playing a factor here.

And I guess just to close this, to go back to those numbers as well, as well in that new poll, I believe it showed that Harris right now has about 80 percent of support of the black vote.

I mean, that's still lower than the 90 percent President Biden commanded in 2020, right? So this is still a concern as we approach the final weeks.

MARQUARDT: Yes, that's what I meant at the top by those worrying numbers. I mean, she's got a fairly significant deficit when compared to Joe Biden in 2020.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs, we've got to leave it there. Thank you so much for your thoughts and I appreciate you coming on with us.

KANNO-YOUNGS: Appreciate you, Alex.

MARQUARDT: And up next, a deadly shooting at a Halloween party in Oklahoma. What we're learning about what led up to that altercation. That's ahead.

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[13:46:09]

MARQUARDT: Today, significant and growing fears of escalation in the variety of conflicts in the Middle East, with Iran now telling the United States and other Middle Eastern countries that it will retaliate against any new Israeli attack.

It follows days of urgent diplomacy by Tehran and others to gauge whether it can reduce the scale of Israel's response to that Iranian missile barrage earlier this month.

Also at this hour, Israel is almost done marking Yom Kippur. And it's the first time that the Jewish state has been at war on its holiest day since 1973.

CNN's Nic Robertson is in Tel Aviv.

So, Nic, an Israeli retaliation for that recent ballistic missile attack by Iran with 180 ballistic missiles, that could come at any time really. And at least from what we're hearing from Iran and Iranian officials, they do sound ready to further escalate beyond that.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, and they're threatening and trying to frighten their neighbors in the region to adding and putting pressure on the United States to put pressure on Israel.

You know, the Israeli cabinet met a couple of nights ago to discuss its response, didn't come to a conclusion. Officials on the sidelines are saying that it does seem the U.S. and Israeli position is getting closer. The United States wants to a proportional response that should tame

any desires in Iran for retaliation. But Iran is very clearly going on the offensive here and using bluster, if you will.

It's not quite clear if it really would follow through with some of its reported statements that it would, in fact, attack oil facilities in the gulf of countries like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and others.

Which would obviously wreck the globe -- the price of global oil, send it skyrocketing right before the U.S. elections. Not a thing the Biden White House wants at the moment.

And that's a very clear way to put more pressure on the United States. And we know that Iran has got foreman hitting the oil production facilities through proxies of its neighbors.

In 2019, took out two oil facilities September that year inside Saudi Arabia in a complex drone attack at the time. A very complex -- something that really hadn't been witnessed before.

So these threats, if you will, are being taken seriously. A senior Iranian official was in Lebanon today meeting with the prime minister there. Also met with the U.S. mediator, Amos Hochstein, as well.

But it's really not clear what traction the Iranians are getting from the gulf states. It's not clear what traction the United States is getting with the Israeli government.

I suppose each day that goes by allows for further contemplation. But I don't think anyone here underestimates Israel's desire to hit back in as maximalist a way as it possibly it can, perhaps without trying to alienate the United States too much.

MARQUARDT: Yes, lots of dangerous dynamics on multiple fronts.

Nic Robertson, in Tel Aviv.

[13:49:18]

And to all of you out there, stay with us. CNN NEWSROOM continues in just a moment.

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MARQUARDT: A Halloween party turns deadly in Oklahoma City after one person was killed and a dozen others were injured.

I want to bring in CNN's Camila Bernal, who has been following this developing story.

Camila, what do we know at this point?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Alex. So while police say that they have not made any arrests, we do know that they detained multiple people. And this is as they're trying to piece everything together. They're

trying to talk to witnesses. And they're asking questions and watching videos.

Because they want to know who's responsible for killing one person and they want to know who, whether it's one person or multiple people, are responsible for injuring 12 others.

Here's what we know. This happened Saturday morning at around 12:30 in the morning. And this was a party at an event center. And authorities say that two groups got into a verbal fight.

At some point, this fight escalates and this group or these two groups spills over into the parking lot. That's where the shooting begins. But then they go back inside of the events center and the shooting continues inside.

[13:54:59]

The one person that was killed was pronounced dead at the scene. The 12 others that were injured, according to authorities, just showed up to local hospitals.

And we do not have ages. We do not have identities or even the condition of these injured. But police do say that they are trying to figure this out and say that this was not something that was targeted.

They say it was isolated, so people are safe in this community -- Alex?

MARQUARDT: All right. Lots more questions.

Camila Bernal, thank you so much for that report.

Vice President Kamala Harris has just released her health report. We'll tell you what's in it. That's next. Stay with us.

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