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Harris and Trump Hit Pennsylvania; Trump Threatens to Withhold Disaster Aid; U.S. Sending 100 Troops to Israel; At Least 23 People Dead in Florida After Milton; Can FEMA Handle Another Major Storm?. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired October 14, 2024 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: Later today, both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will hit the battleground State of Pennsylvania as polls continue to show a dead heat between the presidential candidates. In CNN's most recent poll of polls, this is an average of recent polls, Kamala Harris has a 50 to 47 edge over Donald Trump among likely voters, but there's still no clear leader.

Let's bring in CNN political commentator and Republican strategist Shermichael Singleton and Democratic strategist Julie Roginsky. Julie, let me start with you. Why is this race so close? I asked John Fetterman about this earlier on in the program and he just said, you know, Donald Trump just has this ability to hang in there and in places like Pennsylvania, it is just going to be extremely close.

JULIE ROGINSKY, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST AND CO-FOUNDER, LIFT OUR VOICES: Look, ultimately, I think Donald Trump was absolutely right that he could do no wrong in the eyes of his supporters. He could actually shoot somebody in 5th Avenue or for that matter and cite a riot on January 6th and they will support him to the end.

And so, when you have a base like that, it just means that he's got a very, very, very high ceiling, but he's also -- sorry floor, but he's also got, you know, a ceiling that can't go much above what he's got now. And so, as I've said from the beginning, this is a turnout election. It's not so much a persuasion election anymore, or really ever has been. He has persuaded his candidates and his supporters.

Now, she has to -- Kamala Harris has to persuade and turn out the people who are opposed to Trump. I believe there are more of those people than people who support Trump, but it's a question of getting them to the polls, and that is all that she needs to worry about right now.

ACOSTA: Yes. And, Shermichael, we talked about this in the tease going to the break. According to Bob Woodward's new book, Trump's former chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Mark Milley, says the former president is a, quote, "fascist to the core and the most dangerous person to this country." I mean, when you hear things like that from Mark Milley, if the quotes in Bob Woodward's book are accurate, he hasn't come out and said, I didn't say this, how seriously should voters take that? I mean, that sounds -- I mean, that is -- that's as serious as it gets.

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR AND REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I mean, you know, Jim, I think it depends on one's perspective in terms of how they're looking at this race. I think if you're a Republican and you're an arm supporter of the former president, you're going to dismiss it and say, this is just political jargon because they dislike him. Even if you're a Trump skeptic, but you're looking at Harris and you're saying, you know what, I don't like the guy, but I think he's better on a set of issues. I will still vote for him anyway. I'm not convinced that this will change the needle.

And I think to Julie's point about this being a close race, I think the question, if you're Democrats and you're looking at some of the deficits there, how do you improve if you're Vice President Harris with some consequential groups? And if you're Republicans and you're advising Former President Trump, then the question becomes, in a state like Pennsylvania, not only must you turn out your voters, but what about some of those low propensity voters that our data suggests the former president is doing well with, can you move enough of them to get a victory?

And so, I'm looking at two different dynamics here, Jim, and assessing this from both perspectives and there's still some work to be done by both camps.

ACOSTA: But when you hear the former president, he said this in that interview with Maria Bartiromo, we played it earlier on in the newscast, talking about suggesting using the military to go after what he calls the enemy within. That's dangerous, is it not?

SINGLETON: I mean, I think he's talking about immigration, and when you look at the --

ACOSTA: No, no, he was talking about what he called radical left people in this country. It's only American -- political opponents.

SINGLETON: Look, the former president is known for his hyperbolic rhetoric. We've talked about it. You've covered it. You were at the White House for a couple of years.

ACOSTA: Yes.

SINGLETON: You've experienced firsthand. I mean, again, look, that goes to your original point, does it matter -- you know, maybe historians will write about the importance of this, right, from a presidential candidate who may become president again. But in terms of electoral politics --

ACOSTA: Is this working for him?

SINGLETON: Jim, I have just -- I have personally not seen anything in the, data top line or below, that would cause me to believe that this is going to make a definitive difference. I just haven't seen that.

ACOSTA: Julie, I mean, this weekend, the former president was holding this rally out in Coachella and he said he would withhold a federal firefighting aid if Governor Gavin Newsom doesn't do what he says. Let's listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to take care of your water situation and we'll force it down his throat and we'll say, Gavin, if you don't do it, we're not giving you any of that fire money that we send you all the time for all the fire forest fires that you have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[10:35:00]

ACOSTA: Yes. I mean, Julie, Trump has been falsely accusing the by the administration of not helping Republican areas hit hard by recent hurricanes. And yet, he goes out in California and says this. I just want to ask you the same question I was asking Shermichael, why hasn't this rhetoric done much to the numbers when he talks about the enemy within, when, you know, he's talking about withholding aid from a state for political reasons? Why is that affecting?

ROGINSKY: You know, people in memory hold a lot of things about Donald Trump. So, let me just say something right now. This is not hyperbolic rhetoric. He has done this before. There are anecdotes about the fact that he wanted to withhold federal aid as president to Northern California during their horrible wildfires a few years ago and it had to be shown that those areas actually had Trump voters before he released that aid.

This is not something that's hyperbolic. It's here. He's done it before. And now, he's not going to have anybody around him. I just want to be clear about this. He's not going to have anybody around him to show him federal data to say, wait a second, President, maybe you should reassess. And I want people to understand that. Because I think the answer to your question, Jim, is that people have forgotten what he did as president before, and they need to be reminded over and over again.

This is not Donald Trump saying crazy stuff. This is not hyperbolic. He has done this before. There were people around him to stop the worst impulses, including general Milley. They're not going to be there this time around.

ACOSTA: But I guess, Julie --

ROGINSKY: So, take this seriously.

ACOSTA: Yes, but when he's -- I mean, he is airing his authoritarian impulses is what he is saying. He's just putting it out there and he's basically letting the voters know that, you know, this is what you're voting for. And I guess my question is, why has the vice president not done enough to call it out? To go after it? Does -- do the Democrats need to do more and calling it out? ROGINSKY: I'm going to be honest with you, Jim, I think the media has not done enough to call this out. I mean, where is the front page, New York Times stories and other newspapers? Over and over again, they ran stories about how Joe Biden was too old. He had to get out. Over and over and over again. It's saturated the mass media market to the extent that everybody knew that Joe Biden was really, really old.

But here you have a fascist. And General Millie is right, because all the markers of a fascist exist in Donald Trump. And yet, our news media has not done enough by any stretch of the imagination to call this out. You know, Kamala Harris can call this out every day, but if it's not covered, if people keep asking on 60 Minutes, something like, why did the vice presidential candidate, Tim Walz, not -- why did he say he was in Tiananmen Square anywhere in Hong Kong during Tiananmen Square, over and over again, as opposed to actually asking questions that matter to the voters. And this is something that really matters to the voters.

ACOSTA: Yes.

ROGINSKY: I got to put the onus on the media as well.

ACOSTA: Shermichael, you want -- quick last words?

SINGLETON: I mean, we've covered this a lot. I can pull up right now on my smartphone, Google Donald Trump and some of his rhetoric and you'll see it there. Vice President Harris has talked about it. Joe Biden attempted to run his campaign when he was running. And it didn't move the needle because the average American person, I would argue, based on focus group data, based on polls, they're looking at the economy, they're looking at immigration and they're saying, Jim, that they believe --

ACOSTA: We do cover it. I mean --

SINGLETON: No, we do cover it. They would say --

ACOSTA: I was going to say, to Julie's point, I mean, we do cover it. Yes.

SINGLETON: -- there are more important things that they're worried about. They know who Donald Trump is. And a lot of people say, you know what, I would rather deal with someone who I know, who I believe is more competent on the issues that are most important. Some people may not like that, but to say that we haven't covered it, I just wouldn't -- I wouldn't agree with that. We have covered it. I just think there are far more consequential issues that impact people day to day lives and that's what they're voting on.

ROGINSKY: Take a look at the ratio with all -- take a look at the ratio. You haven't cut -- I'm not talking about your show, Jim. Actually, you've been doing a very good job on this, but I would say the media at large, the ratio just does not exist.

ACOSTA: I think you could do a segment.

ROGINSKY: This is an existential problem --

ACOSTA: -- what if Biden said it, you know, WIBSI, you know, What if Biden Said it, you know. If Biden were out there saying the enemy within --

SINGLETON: I mean, but, Jim, I just --

ACOSTA: I mean, when you say, Shermichael, wouldn't -- there would be howls coming from --

SINGLETON: I mean, but, Jim, I just think in many ways that's we're scapegoating here, right. And so, I feel if the vice president doesn't win November, then Democrats would say, oh, well, the media didn't cover, they allowed Donald Trump. That's nonsense. We have covered this. People are just more concerned about other issues and I just -- I don't buy into that and I think it's very dangerous to blame the media.

And look, there's a lot we can criticize the media on, but I think a lot of great reporters out there are doing a darn good job to cover this election as fairly as they possibly can. And so, if Dems don't win this thing, you can't just blame it on the media for saying that our candidate and our side didn't do enough.

ACOSTA: All right. We'll talk about this. Shermichael, Julie, great conversation. And, Julie, great point. I think we should talk about this further. Thanks very much. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:40:00]

ACOSTA: We have a significant new development this morning in the escalating tensions in the Middle East. The Biden administration is sending about 100 U.S. troops to Israel, along with an anti-missile system that's advanced. The troops will be operating this air defense system, which can strike down ballistic missiles. And it comes as Israel is expected to retaliate for Iran's missile attack earlier this month. CNN's Oren Liebermann joins us now from the Pentagon. Oren, how significant is this? It's significant.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Very much so. The U.S. doesn't have a large number of THAAD missile batteries, as they're known. So, when one is moved or deployed, it is a significant statement about where the U.S. sees the threat and where the Pentagon sees it as worth deploying one of its most advanced anti-ballistic missile systems.

The THAAD system, which stands for Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, can intercept short, medium, or long-range ballistic missiles at about 100 or more miles out. It can detect them much farther than that, more than 10 times that far out. And it can work with and interact with the Navy destroyers that are operating in the region to detect and intercept missiles.

Crucially, it adds to Israel's already capable missile defense system. It has the short-range Iron Dome, the Israelis that is, the medium- range David Sling, and the long-range Arrow 3.

[10:45:00]

But it's not just a question of quality, as we saw on both October 1st and April 13th, during those Iranian missile barrages, and in the case of April 13th, drones as well, it is also a question of quantity, and that's also what the THAAD brings to Israel, because we have seen the force with which Iran can attack. The U.S. and Israel have been in close contact over Israel's anticipated response to that Iranian barrage earlier this month, And Iran has promised to respond to that.

So, Jim, the U.S. is watching this all very closely and has shipped one of its THAAD batteries or is in the process of shipping one of its THAAD batteries to Israel to add to Israel's air defenses.

ACOSTA: All right. Very important development. Oren Liebermann, thank you very much. We appreciate it. Coming up first, it was Helene, then days later, Milton. Can FEMA take another major storm? I'll discuss with my next guest who led recovery efforts after Hurricane Katrina, General Honore coming up in just a few moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:50:00]

ACOSTA: Back to one of our top stories, the Florida death toll from Hurricane Milton now stands at 23, nearly 4,000 -- 400,000 people I should say, still don't have power at this point. And filling up your tank still requires a lot of patience in some areas.

President Biden says more help though is on the way. He's pledging more than $600 million dollars of federal assistance after visiting Florida this weekend and retired U.S. Army -- Lieutenant General Russel Honore joins us now. He led the recovery efforts after Hurricane Katrina. General Honore, great to see you as always.

I do want to talk about Florida a moment, but I need to ask you about this. I don't know if you saw this headline, but aid operations in two North Carolina counties were suspended after threats against FEMA workers. In an urgent e-mails of federal agencies obtained by The Washington Post, some National Guard troops had come across trucks of armed militia saying they were out hunting FEMA. How concerned are you about that?

LT. GENERAL RUSSEL L. HONORE (RET.), LED HURRICANE KATRINA RECOVERY EFFORTS AND U.S. ARMY (RET.): Well, I am concerned because it disrupted FEMA's operation to serve those communities, particularly those isolated areas up in the North Carolina mountains, that's a tough place to get to. And we need the troops in there, both National Guard and active troops and the FEMA teams to be able to provide aid to the people. So, this is disruptive. It shows what happened when rhetoric get out of hand just like it did on 1/6. And people go out and do things.

You know, since Katrina, Jim, we saw all the troops in Katrina carrying guns. And one of the great things we've improved since Katrina is when we go out to hurricanes now, troops don't carry guns. I've always had a philosophy. You can allow more MREs without guns than with guns. You all don't see any troops with guns. Now, we're getting back to a threatening situation. That's sad.

ACOSTA: And what does that tell you about the level of disinformation that is out there in some of these hard-hit areas and what it's doing to people in those communities? And how do you contrast that versus what we saw after Katrina? I covered Katrina, and sure, there was misinformation out there, but it wasn't like this.

HONORE: No, and (INAUDIBLE) you know, Twitter, Facebook, all that was in its infancy. Text was popular. We had stories like they're blowing the levees, which was a lie. We had to immediately get on TV. We got stories about there was snipers on the street. We had to get on TV and fix that. But this is total disinformation that is in the political season. And that rhetoric is causing people to not trust the government. That's the exact thing we don't want to have.

The government is there to help people regardless of what others say and it's a process, and these people need help. And it's a crying damn shame that we've reached that level of discourse in American politics.

ACOSTA: And do you see the recovery moving as quickly, recovery efforts moving as quickly as they should be right now?

HONORE: Jim, to the person who lost their home, we're never there on time and we never get it done. Recovery is a living hell when you've got to scrape out your house, find your belongings, put your stuff on the street, deal with the insurance companies, which is getting harder and harder to do. If you have -- you can afford insurance. And then to put the paperwork in to get the recovery from FEMA. Recovery is a living hell. I wish there's a better way to do it.

And right now, FEMA is dealing with 110 major disasters and 17 emergency disasters. Much of that attributed to the extreme weather and -- that's associated with global warming. This is the issue we're dealing with, and we've increased FEMA capacity after Katrina, almost double it. And at this rate, we're going to have to probably look at increasing the strength of FEMA to deal with all these disasters.

ACOSTA: Yes, I was going to say, I mean, can Florida -- can some of these parts of the Gulf Coast take another hit like this?

HONORE: It's -- they better be ready to take another hit because it's hurricane season, it's still about a third of it left to go, another 45 days or so. So, they're going to have to be ready. Unfortunately, the people are trying to get back in their homes. My heart go out to them. The volunteers are there. The government is there. FEMA have the disaster teams in -- four of them in Florida where people can go in and see people. They need to go in and make sure they apply for FEMA. And they -- if they don't get the answers they want on the internet, go in and see the disaster recovery teams.

ACOSTA: But we have learned the lessons from Katrina. I mean, that is one thing that has occurred, correct? HONORE: We have come a long way, Jim. We are 180 degrees out from where we were at Katrina, where FEMA had half the staff it has now. It did not have the Reserve Corps. They've come a long way. And the collaboration between the state, the federal government, and the local governments and Florida has a well-tuned emergency management system at the county and the state level that is going to make this quick work. Not quick work because recovery is a living hell, but the paperwork will be done properly.

ACOSTA: Yes. As quick as possible, but not fast enough. If that makes any sense. But, General Honore, as always, thank you so much for your time. We appreciate it. All right. And for --

[10:55:00]

HONORE: And (INAUDIBLE) information.

ACOSTA: Yes, sir. All right. Thank you. And for those looking to get help after Helene and Milton, you can apply for federal disaster assistance a few different ways. You can go online by going to disasterassistance.gov. You can call 1-800-621-3362 or by downloading the FEMA app. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: Thanks everybody for joining me this morning. Bring in my good friend Pamela Brown. Pam, I mean, one of the things that has just been shocking to me, coming out of the weekend is this report, FEMA forced to pause aid operations in North Carolina because of these threats. It's just unbelievable. It just doesn't stop.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: It does not stop and --

[11:00:00]