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Tight U.S. Senate Race Heats Up in Battleground Michigan; New Law in Italy Makes It Illegal to Have Baby by Surrogate Abroad; Relatives Urge Review of Menendez Brothers Case Amid New Evidence; Global River Flows Hit All-Time Lows in 2023. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired October 17, 2024 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Kamala Harris is putting some distance between herself and U.S. President Joe Biden during her first sit-down interview with the right-wing network Fox News. The Democratic presidential nominee pushed back against suggestions that she's just more of the same.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS HOST: So, you're not Joe Biden, you're not Donald Trump, but nothing comes to mind that you would do differently?
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let me be very clear. My presidency will not be a continuation of Joe Biden's presidency and like every new president that comes into office I will bring my life experiences, my professional experiences and fresh and new ideas. I represent a new generation of leadership.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: The vice president added that Americans are frankly exhausted by nearly a decade of Donald Trump's extreme rhetoric.
Republican vice presidential hopeful J.D. Vance is finally answering a question he's danced around since his nomination.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), U.S. VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: On the election of 2020, I've answered this question directly a million times. No, I think there are serious problems in 2020. So did Donald Trump lose the election? Not by the words that I would use, OK?
What the media will do, they'll focus on the court cases or they'll focus on some crazy conspiracy theory. What I know, what verifiably I know happened is that in 2020 large technology companies censored Americans from talking about things like the Hunter Biden laptop story and that had a major, major consequence on the election.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: Well Vance says he would rather focus on issues facing voters today and not quote, the BS from four years ago. Of course the issue is important in this election because Donald Trump has repeatedly refused to say whether he will accept the results. The former president has a campaign event in New York today while Vance campaigns in Pennsylvania.
FOSTER: With his dog.
In the battleground state of Georgia a judge has struck down several controversial new election rules that were passed by the state election board controlled by Trump allies.
MACFARLANE: One rule would have required county election officials to conduct a so-called reasonable inquiry into election results before certifying them. Another would have allowed election officials to examine all election related documents prior to certifying the results. And a third rule would have required officials to hand count the number of ballots cast at each polling place.
Well the judge declared the results illegal, unconstitutional and void. Democrats have challenged the rule saying they would have injected chaos into the election process.
FOSTER: A huge fundraising haul is powering Democrats hopes for retaking the U.S. House in this year's election. Vice President Kamala Harris raised a stunning billion dollars just three months boosting efforts for down ballot races in pivotal swing states.
MACFARLANE: But Republicans hope they can make inroads where Democrats have previously fallen short and that's leading to an increasingly competitive final few weeks of campaigning in tight races. CNN's Manu Raju has the latest from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELISSA SLOTKIN, DEMOCRATIC U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE: I'm concerned about all of us running.
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Democrats in Michigan are running the gauntlet. As the GOP woos blue- collar voters, the war in Gaza splits the Democratic coalition and the economy drives voter anxiety.
RAJU: How nervous are you about November?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm very nervous.
RAJU (voice-over): So as she battles former GOP Congressman Mike Rogers for a key Senate seat, Congresswoman Alyssa Slotkin is sounding the alarm.
SLOTKIN: Michigan we know what happened in 2016 when Democrats took Michigan for granted and we went the wrong direction.
RAJU (voice-over): Michigan could determine control of the House and Senate as Slotkin and Rogers are in a dead heat.
MIKE ROGERS, REPUBLICAN U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE: Let's elect Donald J. Trump.
RAJU (voice-over): Even as both candidates align themselves at the top of their tickets.
SLOTKIN: When the vice president comes you go.
RAJU (voice-over): Slotkin is trying to show some separation despite backing the Biden-Harris agenda.
SLOTKIN: I'm not immediately saying rah-rah I'm on board. I can have those conversations with Kamala Harris when we disagree. Mike Rogers can't disagree with Donald Trump.
RAJU (voice-over): Rogers who served in the House for 15 years had been a Trump critic particularly after the 2020 election and January 6th.
ROGERS: I think we lost the Georgia to Republican Senate seats because of Donald Trump and his chaotic leadership style. I think yesterday broke the spell that so many people had about Donald Trump. Clearly his actions led to that --
ROGERS: Well you're damn right he had responsibility for this.
RAJU: You even said that he was clearly responsible for the acts of January 6th. Do you stand by any of those?
ROGERS: Well I didn't say he was clearly responsible but here's the thing.
RAJU: But do you stand by the criticism that you had?
ROGERS: Even Donald Trump said I was tough but fair. I'll take that all day long. We're going to have differences amongst our party members all the time.
All my criticism is out there and I'm not walking away from anything. What I am telling you is now we have choices.
RAJU: I guess the criticism you'd get is that you evolved on Trump for political expediency to align yourself because you need to win this state.
ROGERS: I think that's nonsense. Look at the issues. I wouldn't line up with Kamala Harris on anything. Nothing.
RAJU (voice-over): But as Trump said this last week --
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Our whole country will end up being like Detroit if she's your president.
RAJU (voice-over): Rogers had no complaints.
RAJU: Were you OK with what he said?
[04:35:00]
ROGERS: You know what this is interesting. I spent a lot of time in Detroit and here's what the people of Detroit have been telling me. They are frustrated that they are not making improvements. $38,000 in median wage in Detroit, $68,000 out state.
RAJU: He said that the rest of the country would look like Detroit.
ROGERS: Now what he was talking about is there schools that are failing and the Democrats every year keep saying I'm going to help you and their schools have deteriorated.
RAJU (voice-over): Democrats seizing on those remarks.
SLOTKIN: What do I think of someone who comes to Detroit and then dumps on Detroit? It's the dumbest thing I've ever seen.
RAJU: Rogers didn't break.
SLOTKIN: He didn't say -- he didn't say a word.
RAJU (voice-over): On the airwaves Rogers facing Democratic attacks over abortion.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm scared that Mike Rogers will continue to take away my rights.
RAJU (voice-over): But it's Slotkin who has been on the defensive.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Slotkin voted to allow states to ban gasoline- powered vehicles. That would crush Michigan's economy.
RAJU (voice-over): She's fielded relentless criticism for her votes to allow state limits on gas-powered vehicles, prompting her to cut ads like this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I live on a dirt road nowhere near a charging station so I don't own an electric car.
RAJU (voice-over): Another challenge, an Arab American group is now urging the state's sizable Arab population to sit out of the presidential and Senate races over Israel.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The voters in our community are very angry.
RAJU (voice-over): All as a GOP group seeks to dampen Democratic support by targeting Arab Americans with ads saying Harris and Slotkin will always have Israel's back.
RAJU: And Rogers is benefiting from a late infusion of cash from Republican leader Mitch McConnell's aligned super PAC. In fact, 27 million dollars are going to be -- are going to be spent by that group across the airwaves in just the final six weeks of the campaign. And at the moment that means Republicans are surpassing Democrats for the amount of money spent for this entire election cycle in the state of Michigan and that Senate race. $96 million Republican groups will have spent by the end of this election cycle compared to $88 million for Democrats as these attacks are flooding the airwaves in this critical battleground state.
Manu Raju, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MACFARLANE: Now as reproductive rights remain a key issue in the U.S. election as well, three conservative states are kicking off a new fight over access to the abortion drug Mifepristone. Missouri, Kansas and Idaho have now filed an amended lawsuit in a federal court in Texas asking a U.S. district judge to roll back efforts by the FDA to ease access to the pill. The states argue the drugs are dangerous and are sending women to the emergency room.
The claim that Mifepristone is unsafe has been widely refuted by medical organizations.
FOSTER: Still to come, a victory for Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's conservative social agenda as Parliament approves a new law banning surrogacy abroad. We'll have a live report from Rome.
MACFARLANE: Plus, French soccer star Kylian Mbappe and his representative are speaking out against, quote, false claims after allegations of rape were reported in the Swedish press.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:40:00]
MACFARLANE: It is now illegal for couples in Italy to go abroad to have a baby using a surrogate mother. The bill was voted into law on Wednesday. It was proposed by Conservative Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's party, Brothers of Italy.
FOSTER: Meloni has called surrogacy an inhuman practice that treats children as supermarket products. Activists say the bill was meant to target same-sex partners and make it harder for them to become legal parents.
MACFARLANE: CNN's Barbie Latza Nadeau is joining us live from Rome. Barbie, this bill is being called homophobic, extreme. Talk us through exactly what this will mean for couples seeking surrogacy and what the reaction has been there.
BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN REPORTER: Yes, you know, it is a very, very controversial law and, you know, this has been something that the Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has really wanted to push forward. She's very much in lockstep with Pope Francis and the Catholic Church here. But she's also got political allies like Elon Musk, with whom she's very close, who's had children by surrogacy. So it's going to remain to be seen just what her motive is here to push this so much. You know, I want to read you what she tweeted about it in some strong language. She said yesterday: With today's final approval in the Senate, the bill that makes surrogate motherhood a universal crime is finally law. A commonsense rule against the commodification of the female body and children. Human life has no price and is not a commodity.
But the big question here, of course, is what happens to those couples who have surrogate pregnancies in progress. Can you imagine if you had a surrogate in Canada or the United States and that now you're about to deliver that baby and you can't bring that child back to Italy if you're Italian and register them here for the health care or for, you know, their schooling or anything like that, without facing fines up to a million euro and jail terms up to two years? You know, really, really difficult situation for some of those parents.
What's, you know, some of the LGBTQ community who say this is aimed at them actually point to a statistic that 90 percent of surrogacies here in Italy by Italians here in Italy are actually with heterosexual couples. So, you know, there's a lot to be -- to be, you know, dissected here, I think, definitely.
FOSTER: OK, Barbie in Rome. Thank you.
Now, after more than 30 years in prison, relatives of the Menendez brothers are calling for their release following new evidence in their parents' murders. The brothers were sentenced to life without parole in 1996.
MACFARLANE: They have long claimed they had suffered years of physical and sexual abuse from their father. In a newly released undated letter shared by the LA County District Attorney Eric Menendez, he writes, his, quote, Been trying to avoid dad and adds, I never know when it's going to happen. And it's driving me crazy.
More on the case from CNN's Jean Cazarez.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LYLE MENENDEZ, CHARGED WITH FIRST-DEGREE MURDER: Hello, is this emergency?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, police.
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lyle Menendez made the original 911 call.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's the problem?
L. MENENDEZ: I'm trying to kill my parents.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pardon me?
L. MENENDEZ: I'm trying to kill my parents.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Were they shot? L. MENENDEZ: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They were shot?
L. MENENDEZ: Yes.
CASAREZ (voice-over): A wealthy Beverly Hills couple dead in their home. It was 1989.
Their sons, Lyle and Eric Menendez, were 21 and 18 at the time. Law enforcement was working to track down who committed this horrific crime. When Eric's therapist mistress said she knew the truth, she overheard Eric confessed to the crime and all of it was on tape.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I planned the perfect murder. I carried out the perfect murder. Do you remember telling Diane Sawyer that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
CASAREZ (voice-over): Law enforcement got the recorded therapy sessions. And in March 1990, Erik and Lyle were taken into custody. Three years later, it went to trial.
LESLIE ABRAMSON, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I want to see him walk down a street not in chains, not in shackles, and not with a deputy sheriff standing next to him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are human beings and they had the right to live.
CASAREZ (voice-over): The brothers admitted they killed their wealthy parents with shotguns, one night, as they were watching television at home.
L. MENENDEZ: I ran around and shot my mom.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where did you shoot her?
L. MENENDEZ: I reached over. I shot her close.
CASAREZ (voice-over): But they alleged it was after years of physical and sexual abuse at the hands of their father.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now, do you recall the first time that he wasn't nice during the sex?
L. MENENDEZ: Yes. Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And you were 11?
L. MENENDEZ: I was 11.
CASAREZ (voice-over): The jury deadlock during deliberations, a mistrial was declared.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are still unable to reach unanimous decisions. [04:45:00]
CASAREZ (voice-over): The retrial began in 1995. Lyle chose to not testify this time, but Erik did, saying the brothers had been repeatedly raped by their father for years. But Erik and Lyle were both convicted.
DOMINICK DUNNE, JOURNALIST: Both brothers are guilty of murder in the first-degree. There was no weeping that was at all visible or audible.
CASAREZ (voice-over): They each got two life sentences without the possibility of parole and so far have served more than 30 years.
DAVID CONN, PROSECUTOR: We felt all along that it was a strong case, and eventually they would be convicted of first-degree murder. I felt satisfied that they were sentenced to life prison for the rest of their lives.
CASAREZ (voice-over): Appeals have gone nowhere. But now the defense asked that this verdict be looked at with a fresh set of eyes.
MARK GERAGOS, MENENDEZ ATTORNEY: I think we're at a point now where any reasonable person taking a look at this case believes they should be out.
CASARES (voice-over): Jean Casares, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Today's execution of a Texas inmate may be on hold after he was subpoenaed by a state House committee to testify about his conviction. Calls have been growing to spare the life of Robert Roberson.
MACFARLANE: He's accused of murdering his two-year-old daughter. His attorneys claim the girl did not die of abuse, but rather medication that hindered her ability to breathe. Additionally, she had fallen off a bed.
FOSTER: The House committee hearing is scheduled for Monday. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice says it's consulting with the state attorney general on the appropriate next steps.
MACFARLANE: The man who once led Mexico's fight against drug cartels is going to prison for being on their payroll. Genaro Garcia Luna, Mexico's former public security chief, had been sentenced to more than 38 years in the U.S. Prosecutors say he received millions of dollars in bribes from the powerful Sinaloa cartel in return for protecting it.
He did that while serving as Mexico's cabinet member more than 12 years ago when the U.S. hailed him as an ally in the war on drug trafficking. Luna was convicted last year. Prosecutors also say his actions led to thousands of deaths in the U.S. and Mexico.
FOSTER: The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to pay nearly $900 million to victims of clergy sexual abuse dating back decades. Lawyers say it's the largest single settlement ever by Catholic diocese.
MACFARLANE: Attorneys for more than 1,300 people who said they were sexually abused as children by clergy members reportedly reached the settlement after months of negotiations. The Los Angeles archdiocese is the largest in the U.S. and in a statement following, Archbishop Jose Gomez said he was sorry for every one of the incidents and hopes this will now provide some measure of healing.
FOSTER: A representative for Kylian Mbappe is calling for a rape allegation against the French soccer star, quote, totally false and irresponsible, days after the claim was reported in the Swedish press.
MACFARLANE: CNN's Melissa Bell has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The entourage of France's football star, Kylian Mbappe, forcefully pushing back against allegations that appeared earlier this week in the Swedish press in which the star is accused in Sweden of rape. We've now heard that Swedish prosecutors have opened a case against an unnamed individual on the understanding that there are reasonable grounds that that individual could be guilty of rape.
What we understand, according to the Swedish press, is that Kylian Mbappe is accused as a result of an evening spent in a Swedish nightclub and hotel in Stockholm last week.
His lawyer forcefully pushing back on the allegations and suggesting that they themselves are considering taking legal action to clear his name.
MARIE-ALIX CANU-BERNARD, KYLIAN MBAPPE'S LAWYER (through translator): He's very calm because he knows what he didn't do. He's keeping an eye on this media frenzy, but from a distance, even if he's somewhat protected from it. Naturally, it's going to have an impact.
As I said, he's 25. An allegation of this nature, even if we don't know if it's aimed at him, it hasn't stopped the media from saying he's the target. From that moment on, it's certainly complicated to live with, even if I'm not in his head.
BELL: Mbappe's lawyer saying that they'll consider defamation proceedings if the allegations continue. For the time being, very little is known about exactly what went on in the hotel and who may be accusing the French football star of rape. But it is a story that's gained so much attention, partly because of the squeaky clean image that Kylian Mbappe has enjoyed so far, despite being front and center of French and international football for as many years as he has.
Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MACFARLANE: Ahead, new reports are raising the alarm about the consequences of the global water crisis to economies, food production, and lives. We'll have the details.
[04:50:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MACFARLANE: Welcome back. Cool weather is making parts of the U.S. feel more like late November than mid-October. About 80 million people from the southeast to northeast are under freeze alerts this morning, and some of those warnings are expected to be extended until Friday morning.
The National Weather Service is warning that freeze, frost, and freeze conditions could kill sensitive crops.
FOSTER: It's a tongue twister.
Meanwhile, out in the central Atlantic Ocean, a disorganized area of showers and storms could become a tropical depression as it gets closer to the Leeward and Virgin Islands later this week. It's too early to tell if it will impact the U.S. mainland or not.
MACFARLANE: We hope not, of course.
The new report is shining a light on the deepening global weather crisis -- sorry, water crisis. The Global Commission on the Economics of Water says decades of destructive land use and water mismanagement have collided with the climate crisis to put unprecedented stress on the global water cycle, which it says is off balance for the first time in human history.
The crisis threatens economies and more than 50 percent of global food production, and this isn't the only data raising alarm. Here's CNN's Allison Chinchar.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): This river no longer looks like it once did. River flows worldwide hit all-time lows in 2023, and rivers like this one in Brazil are drying up.
TOME CRUZ, KAMBEBA INDIGENOUS LEADER (through translator): The world needs to listen to nature, not just listen to human beings, but listen to nature and understand what it is showing us today. It's asking for help, and we're ignoring it.
CHINCHAR (voice-over): In several parts of the Western Hemisphere, droughts caused river flows to decline in 2023. According to a new U.N. report, the Mississippi and Amazon River basins hit record low water levels last year. These satellite images show the water level changes in the Manacapuru River in Brazil over the past few years.
Worldwide, a growing demand for water coincides with higher temperatures that contribute to droughts.
STEFAN UHLENBROOK, WMO DIRECTOR OF HYDROLOGY: The temperature records are breathtaking. Yet another month was a record global temperature. CHINCHAR (voice-over): The report found that more than 50 percent of areas where water is collected and flows into rivers were in abnormal conditions.
CELESTE SAULO, WMO SECRETARY-GENERAL: 2023 was the driest year for global rivers in 33 years. Second, glaciers around the world lost most water in 50 years, in the last 50 years. Third, the water cycle is becoming more erratic.
CHINCHAR (voice-over): Due to the record heat last year, glaciers lost more than 600 gigatons of water, the report says. The U.N. experts said the Earth's water cycles are becoming more irregular due to climate change and warned that bold action is needed.
SAULO: Water is becoming the most telling indicator of our climate's distress. And yet, as a global society, we are not taking bold action to protect this resource.
CHINCHAR (voice-over): And the water crisis just got a price tag. A new report from the Global Commission on the Economics of Water says the out-of-balance water cycle could cause an 8 percent loss of GDP in countries around the world, on average, by 2050.
Allison Chinchar, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[04:55:49]
FOSTER: Hundreds of protesters took to the streets in Western Serbia on Wednesday to say no to a proposed lithium mine near their town. They temporarily blocked two roads, urging the government to shut down the project.
The protest came after Serbia's ruling party rejected a proposed ban on lithium exploitation. The proposed project could meet 90 percent of Europe's current lithium needs, but environmentalists and opposition leaders say it would pollute the water and the land, which would affect farming.
MACFARLANE: And now two stories in the spotlight. Airbus plans to slash up to 2,500 jobs in its defense and space division. That amounts to nearly 2 percent of the global workforce. The European aerospace giant pointed to what it calls a complex business environment, including rising costs, disrupted supply chains and quote, rapid changes in warfare.
The cuts are part of a larger restructuring, the company says. It plans to complete the layoffs by the middle of 2026.
FOSTER: When NASA flies astronauts to the moon, the astronauts will be wearing Prada.
MACFARLANE: Nice.
FOSTER: A collaboration between the Axiom commercial space company and the Italian fashion house has produced a new, highly functional and stylish space suit. Is it stylish, Chrissie? You're the judge.
MACFARLANE: I'm not well versed in space suits, I've got to say.
FOSTER: Well, I can tell you it's mostly white. It's gender neutral. It features a cropped torso.
MACFARLANE: It kind of looks like any space suit I've seen.
FOSTER: Stone grey patches across the elbows. You're missing all of this. And the knees. And a portable life system backpack. I mean, I think you need to work on your --
MACFARLANE: Specially engineered boots --
FOSTER: -- air space analysis.
MACFARLANE: -- to allow the astronauts to do a space walk for at least eight hours a day. That's obviously the critical part.
FOSTER: I think those actually -- yes. As well as we can do.
MACFARLANE: Yes.
And finally, this hour, we are back to pandas, because a pair of them have been making themselves comfortable in their new home in the United States. Three-year-old Bao Li and Qing Bao arrived at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington this week. They're spending 30 days in quarantine. Looks pretty happy. We're veteran -- I can't say it.
FOSTER: Vets.
MACFARLANE: Vets will make sure they're settling in well and getting used to being the center of attention. The bears are on loan from China, part of a renewed panda diplomacy with the U.S. Zoo visitors will be allowed to see them in January.
FOSTER: They haven't attacked anyone yet, either, apparently.
MACFARLANE: I don't know where you got the idea that pandas are vicious.
FOSTER: I read that they could be very vicious.
MACFARLANE: Have you met a panda in the street? No. Anyway, if pandas are vicious, let us know. I personally don't think they are. Let's wrap up the show there. Thank you for joining us on CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Christina Macfarlane.
FOSTER: I'm Max Foster. CNN "THIS MORNING" is up next.
[05:00:00]
