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Trump Insults Harris At Catholic Charity Dinner As She Campaigns In WI; Harris Crisscrosses Michigan As Part Of Battleground Blitz; Biden On Hamas Leader's Death: "Opportunity To Seek A Path To Peace". Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired October 18, 2024 - 11:00   ET

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

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[11:00:18]

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Closing in on the top of the hour here, good morning. Thanks for joining me live in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Erica Hill in New York. Eighteen days now until the election, and this race couldn't be any tighter. New this morning, former President Trump making a rare in person appearance on "Fox and Friends," he was asked whether he would recruit his wife Melania Trump, or former GOP rival Nikki Haley to help him as he continues to try to appeal to female voters on the campaign trail, here's his response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I think I do very well with women. And I think it's all nonsense. I see the polls and we do well.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What about the --

TRUMP: You have one issue. You have the issue of abortion. Without abortion, the women love me now. They like me anyway, because what I've done is so good. I've taken this issue out of the federal government and put it back to the states where they're voting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: He was pressed a little further on that Nikki Haley question a little bit later in that interview, Alayna Treene, joining me now. So Alayna, in terms of this focus, it is fascinating to see that he showed up, not on the phone, but actually sitting on that couch this morning. And the fact that he was he was -- he was pressed. They came back to and said, but what about Nikki Haley? Will you call her in? He begrudgingly answered, eventually.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: That's right, he did. And he said he likes Haley. He'll do what he has to do. That is what he told "Fox and Friends" this morning. Look, I think there's no question that Donald Trump and his campaign recognizes that they need to make inroads with women voters, particularly as they acknowledge that widening gender gap with Vice President Kamala Harris.

Earlier this week, of course, he did a "Fox News" town hall with an all women audience. So this is really where some of that is coming from. And I think to take a step back, it's very clear that both campaigns are trying to really, no, gain support from some of these core demographics, not just women voters, but also black men, Hispanic voters.

They recognize that this race, this election, is going to be incredibly close, and really this could be one on the margin. So that's where a lot of this rhetoric is coming from. I do want to note that we actually have some new reporting that the Trump campaign and Nikki Haley are in talks to potentially meet, or, excuse me, appear together on the campaign trail. Nothing has been finalized, I'm told. But they are in discussions to do that. So I keep an eye out for that.

But I also, Erica, want to turn your attention to some of what we heard Donald Trump say last night at the Al Smith dinner. Of course, kind of a political or a moment for a lot of political presidential candidates to appear at this dinner, Donald Trump spoke, he tried to land a number of political jokes to a lot of laughs, I should say, from what seemed like a pretty friendly crowd.

But he also spent a lot of time airing his grievances, complaining about what he said was him being persecuted in the months after he had left the White House, or the years, I should say, since he had left the White House. And also he lobbed a series of personal attacks against Kamala Harris. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Tradition halls that I'm supposed to tell a few self- deprecating jokes this evening. So here it goes. Nope, I've got nothing. I've got nothing. There's nothing to say. I guess I just don't see the point of taking shots at myself when other people have been shooting at me for a hell of a long time. We have someone in the White House who can barely talk, barely put together two coherent sentences. He's a person that has nothing going, no intelligence whatsoever but enough about Kamala Harris. Let's get on to something. But unfortunately, Governor Walz isn't here himself. But don't worry, he'll say that he was. He's going to say he was.

The only piece of advice I would have for her and the event that she wins would be not to let her husband, Doug, anywhere near the nannies. Chuck Schumer is here looking very glum. But look on the bright side, Chuck, considering how woke your party has become, if Kamala loses, you still have a chance to become the first woman president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So clearly, Erica a lot of attacks on his political foes. And I will note that this is kind of typical of what we seen of Donald Trump in recent weeks. He has really been ramping up his rhetoric going after Harris and Walz in the final days of this election cycle. But I do also just want to give you a sense of where I am today. I'm currently in Detroit. We know that Donald Trump, but also Kamala Harris are both going to be in this key battleground state of Michigan. I will note that they have 15 electoral votes. It's really the center of the so called Blue Wall. And Donald Trump was also here just last week. He spoke at the Detroit Economic Club. And during those remarks, he had actually kind of insulted Detroit. While in Detroit, he called it a developing country. He said it was more developing than countries like China. So I'll be watching today to see what he says regarding Detroit today and -- and how the audience responds to that. Erica?

[11:05:20]

HILL: Yes. A lot of people wondering what those comments will in fact be this week. Alayna, appreciate it. Thank you.

Well, Vice President Harris did not attend the Al Smith dinner in person, but did send in a video message for attendees with an assist from a well-known "SNL" character.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Is there anything that you think that maybe I shouldn't bring up tonight?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, don't lie. Thou shalt not bear false witness to thy neighbor.

HARRIS: Indeed, especially thy neighbor's election results.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just so you know, there will be a fact checker there tonight.

HARRIS: Oh, that's great. Who?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jesus. And maybe don't say anything negative about Catholics.

HARRIS: I would never do that, no matter where I was. That would be like criticizing Detroit in Detroit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: CNN's Eva McKend joining me now, some funny moments there. I was told it fell a little -- may have fallen a little flat in the room being taped, but she sent it in. The Detroit dig is something given the fact that, as Alayna was pointing out, they are both in Michigan today, a real blitz for her in the state today, and a real push, too, to reach more voters. Eva, what's the plan?

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, more Latino voters, in particular, Erica. We have seen this outreach take place in a variety of forms, but their latest push includes an ad featuring mega entertainer, Marc Anthony, in which he essentially ticks through the former president's history arguing the former president has a legacy of demonizing Latinos.

And this comes at a time when there is concern widespread in the Democratic Party about the erosion among Latino and Black men, the interest that this constituency is showing in Republican voters. Well, Marc Anthony tells voters, this is not about political parties. This is about selecting someone, in his view, who is going to unite the country. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARC ANTHONY, SINGER, SONGWRITER: This is Marc Anthony, even though some have forgotten. I remember what it was like when Trump was president. I remember after Hurricane Maria devastated our island, Trump blocked billions in relief while thousands died. I remember when our families lacked clean water and electricity, Trump threw paper towels in cold Puerto Rico, dirty and poor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: So clearly they are hoping that this resonates with Latino voters. It's part of a $370 million television and digital ad buy. But listen, I've been on the campaign trail with the Vice President, Erica. They are leaving no stone unturned here. They are in every battleground state. She was in Wisconsin yesterday, Michigan today, later she'll be here in Georgia. And she's leaning on voters if they can in their states to vote early. Turn those absentee ballots in. Make a plan to vote is what you'll often hear.

Or in the states where it same day voting is available, take advantage of that. Get -- get in the game. Get involved in the process. Really, what you're seeing from the campaign is them lean on every conceivable constituency. We know that the message in Michigan today is really going to be pushing on union workers to Morgan -- mobilize, organize and turn out the vote. Erica?

HILL: And we'll see how those messages land. Eva, good to see as always. Thank you.

This morning, it's the First Amendment, stupid. That is the message a federal judge has for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. The judge granting a temporary restraining order against Florida Surgeon General after the State Health Department threatened to bring criminal charges against T.V. stations airing a pro-abortion rights ad. Hadas Gold joining me now with more on this. So Hadas, first of all, can you walk us through the back story here of how we got to this rather unusual dispute?

HADAS GOLD, CNN MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so there was a group that aired this pro-choice ad, which featured a brain cancer survivor saying that she needed to receive a lifesaving abortion when she was diagnosed with brain cancer, and that Florida's six-week abortion law, which bans most abortions after six weeks, which is when most women find out they are even pregnant, that that would have prevented her from getting her life saving abortion.

Now the Florida Department of Health, part of the Florida government, tried to claim that this was false and dangerous, that the information they were -- they were showing was false and dangerous. They claim that under the law there would -- there are exceptions for the health of the mother. And they sent a cease and desist letter to some of the stations that were airing this ad.

And that was enough for some of the stations to be fearful, you know, worried about criminal charges possibly, and they pulled the ad. So the group behind the ad then issue -- tried to get a restraining order from a judge that would allow them to keep airing the ad, that would allow the stations to keep airing the ad without really fear of some sort of prosecution.

[11:09:58]

And pretty quickly and pretty clearly, this judge, it was essentially a slam dunk for them. As you noted, he said, to make it clear for the state of Florida, or sorry, to keep it simple for the state of Florida, it's the First Amendment, stupid. He also said the government cannot excuse its indirect censorship, he said, of political speech simply by declaring the disfavored speech is false.

But then this gets even more interesting, because the lawyer who helped pen that cease and desist letter to those stations, he actually resigned just about a week ago. And listen to what he said in his resignation letter. This is according to "The Miami Herald" and "The Tampa Bay Times" that obtained this letter. He says a man is nothing without his conscience. And he said that, it has become clear in recent days that I cannot join you on the road that lies before the agency.

So that leads one to believe that he resigned partly because of what he was asked to do, which was to send a cease and desist letter to these stations on what was very, very clear First Amendment grounds. And I should note, this is part of a broader strategy by Ron DeSantis' administration. They are putting a lot of the state government's power behind trying to prevent this amendment that's going to be on the ballot that would allow abortion until fetal viability, which is right around 24 weeks. They're trying to prevent that from passing. They're putting a lot of, you know, state power behind that's raising a lot of eyebrows.

HILL: It's also just fascinating, you know, the judge coming back to this is, you know, at the end of the day, the First Amendment, it is -- it is quite a story. Hadas, really appreciate it. Thank you.

Still ahead here, new video shows an Israeli tank firing on the building where Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar, was hiding. As we learn new details this morning about the moment leading up to his death. You're in the CNN Newsroom.

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HILL: This morning gripping new details and videos in the death of Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar. This is actually -- these are some of his final -- final moments. You can see here there's in the video, there's an Israeli tank which fires around into the building where we later learn is where Sinwar was hiding. DNA testing would confirm later on that the body found was in fact his. It marked an end to Israel's year-long manhunt for Sinwar. The final clash had begun moments earlier when he and two other militants shot at Israeli forces. When Sinwar were treated into a building Israel's military sent in this drone. You see the video that it captured, capturing Sinwar, who at that point had not yet been identified, but clearly wounded, sitting amid the rubble alone in a chair.

He's holding a piece of wood, at one point, throws it at the drone. Sinwar's death, of course, has massive implications across the Middle East and for Israel's war in Gaza. President Biden this morning is calling for a return to diplomacy. CNN national security correspondent, Kylie Atwood, joining me now from the State Department. So Kylie, the President calling for this. We're hearing from Antony Blinken. How is the administration intending to use this to perhaps pressure the Israeli Prime Minister to, in fact, pursue a ceasefire?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's a great question, Erica. And right now, in terms of the public comments that we're hearing from across the board, from Biden administration officials, as you said, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the National Security Adviser, even President Biden himself, all saying that the major obstacle to securing an end to the Israeli- Hamas war is now gone with Yahya Sinwar's death.

And they believe this is a massive opportunity to try and forth -- drive -- to try and drive forth an end to this conflict. We know that is what they're saying publicly. We also know that that has been privately conveyed to Israeli officials. During the phone call yesterday that President Biden had with Prime Minister Netanyahu, he made that abundantly clear in his conversation. Listen to how he described his message to the Israeli Prime Minister.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The death of leader Hamas represents a moment of justice. He had the blood of Americans and Israelis, Palestinians and Germans and so many others on his hands. I told the Prime Minister of Israel yesterday, let's also make this moment an opportunity to seek a path to peace, a better future in Gaza without Hamas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ATWOOD: Now we have to watch and see what U.S. officials are saying even more in their private conversations with Israeli officials, what more pressure can they put on the Israeli side to come to an agreement that they also view this as the moment to drive forth an end to the conflict. We know Netanyahu said yesterday, this is a moment to secure, of course, the release of the hostages that are still in Israel. But he also said that the task before us is not complete. So it's not clear if Netanyahu is yet or if he will be on the same page as the Biden administration here.

This is why the next two days here are incredibly critical. Biden said that he would be sending Secretary of State, Antony Blinken to Israel, so we'll be watching those conversations incredibly closely. Erica? HILL: Yes. Absolutely. Kylie, appreciate it. Thank you.

Let's continue the conversation now with CNN global affairs analyst, Mark Esper, who, of course, served as Defense Secretary under President Trump. It's good to have you with us today. You know, as Kylie noted, look, there are a lot of questions today. There are questions about the leadership that will emerge for Hamas and who will. But just in your view this morning, is Hamas weaker today?

MARK ESPER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, good morning. And yes, the answer is, they -- they certainly are weaker today, with Yahya Sinwar gone. He was the military leader in Gaza on the ground. As of a few months ago, once Israel had killed Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, he became the political leader also. So you now have an organization without either a military or a political leader.

[11:20:09]

And I think who they pick next to be the political head of -- of Hamas, and -- and likely somebody outside of Gaza will determine how -- what type of opening is there for some type of negotiated settlement. Now, I think at this point in time, a -- a ceasefire leading to some settlement is -- is -- will be different than what looked like two, three months ago, weeks ago, because Sinwar is now gone. And I think obviously Israel has the upper hand.

And, you know, it's important to point out, this is where I think it gets really tricky. Is what President Biden said was, we want to see a future of -- of Gaza without Hamas. So how do you strike a deal with Hamas that is consistent with what President Biden just said when they'd have to write themselves out of Gaza once and for all.

That to me, that's very unclear. What also is unclear, what we need soon now is a statement from Bibi Netanyahu of what does the future of Gaza look like? And there's a lot of competing tides and currents there as well within Israel.

HILL: They either certainly are. You know, there's so much talk to this morning about from -- from officials across the board, that this is a -- a window of opportunity. We keep hearing the word opportunity in terms of coming to some sort of agreement for the return of the hostages, for a potential ceasefire. The words are out there, who and what will you be watching though in the coming days, to see if there is actually some movement, some momentum, some action behind that?

ESPER: Well, I think it's important to begin with the Palestinian people in Gaza, right, there are at least a majority supported Hamas some time ago. There have been reports in polling that maybe that -- that their support has fallen as -- as Sinwar has taken them deeper into the conflict, has been unyielding in terms of striking some type of deal. So I would look to see what's happening there with the people.

Next will be is who does Hamas pick to lead them militarily and political -- politically. I think folks think that Sinwar's brother, Mohammad, who is in Gaza, might lead them on the military side within Gaza. But importantly, more importantly, maybe, is who will lead them politically. And they think it'll be more of a moderate who is based in Qatar, who might be willing to come -- come -- strike some type of deal with the Netanyahu government.

So to me, that is really the most important. Next step is who will lead Hamas. And then we need to see, will Bibi Netanyahu set out his vision of the future? Is it a -- a -- a Gaza controlled by Israel, which some on the far right want a reoccupation? Is it something where the Arab states come in and provide governance and security and what not? Or is there some other technical out there?

HILL: The fact that this -- this was really a chance encounter, it was not a targeted operation. Does that reveal anything to you about both Israel's efforts in Gaza and even the intel that it may or may not have on Hamas?

ESPER: I think that's the nature of war. So much of war is luck and chance, good luck, bad luck. You -- you know, the question is, what was he doing outside of the underground tunnel network? Maybe he was trying to escape. A tunnel had collapsed. And he was trying to move to another location, unknown. But it's just remarkable and how it came about, and the footage that you're showing with regard to the drone that spotted him is just another indication of what the future of warfare looks like, not just in Israel, but we're seeing the same type of scenes play out in Ukraine as well. So it's quite dramatic.

HILL: I also want to just get your take really quickly. This morning, we learned Israel is actually calling up an additional reserve brigade to Northern Israel for combat operation against Hezbollah. Do you see any impact in -- in Sinwar's death on those efforts?

ESPER: Well, it's interesting. Hezbollah, I think, in the last 24 hours has doubled down saying that despite Sinwar's -- the killing of Sinwar, they're going to continue the fight, the struggle. Even though a week ago we could -- there were some murmurs that -- that Hezbollah was going to delink from any type of agreement. So I -- I think at this point, Hezbollah, of course, is another Iranian proxy group that's been decapitated and on its heels. I think Israel is going to go in. They're going to try and push back Hezbollah out of southern Lebanon.

And my sense would be an outcome would be a restoration of U.N. resolution 1701, which says Hezbollah has to go back to the Litani River, 18 miles north. There have to be some type of peacekeeping in there that keeps them out of there once and for all. But they may have greater ambitions. Israel may have greater ambitions now that -- now that what's happening with -- in Hamas -- with Hamas, Hezbollah in Iran, we should see that attack happen -- counter attack with Iran happen I think in the next few days. So all these things are connected. They're related.

HILL: Yes.

ESPER: Because, in my view, it's always going back to Tehran.

HILL: Secretary Mark Esper, good to have you here this morning. Thank you.

ESPER: Thank you.

HILL: This just into CNN, Special Counsel Jack Smith just releasing a massive trove of heavily redacted documents in his 2020, election subversion criminal case against former President Trump. CNN senior justice correspondent, Evan Perez, joining me now. So Evan, there's a lot to go through, thousands of pages as I understand it. What are we learning?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, these are about 2,000 pages, Erica, that have been released by Judge Tanya Chutkan. She released -- she rejected Donald Trump's request for this to be continued to be sealed while the election is going on, and she had this release now by the court this morning.

[11:25:11]

Now we're looking again at about 2,000 pages that really are like the underpinning, the evidence that Jack Smith has collected to support these four counts that he has charged the former president with. This is the January 6th related case. And what we're seeing a lot of documents that are actually redacted -- completely redacted. We can't see what they say. But there's a few pieces of evidence that are in here.

One of them is a number of tweets that, some of which were sent by Donald Trump on January 6th. There's one, for instance, where he tweets at Mike Pence saying, quote, that Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done, which would have been to, of course, not certify the election results back on January 6th of 2021.

The -- there's another document that is essentially the memo from John Eastman, who is a lawyer representing Donald Trump at the time. And his memo really outlined this plan for -- for the Vice President to not certify the election results. Again, this is all part of the evidence that Jack Smith has collected as part of this investigation and this prosecution that they're trying to move forward with, despite what the Supreme Court ruled last summer.

Now, one thing that we should note is that the former president has argued that by releasing these documents, we're about 18 days away from the election, that this is election interference. And judge -- Judge Tanya Chutkan actually address that in allowing this out. I'll read you what she said in her ruling. She says if the court withheld information that the public otherwise had a right to access solely because of the potential political consequences of releasing it, that -- that withholding itself constitute what or appear to be election interference. She's saying, essentially, if I don't release this, it would be interpreted as interfering in the election, Erica.

HILL: It is really something. All right, I know you need some time to comb through all of that. Appreciate the headlines. We know there's more to come. Evan, thank you. Stay with us. We'll be right back.

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