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Trump To Rally In Battleground State Of Pennsylvania; Harris Heading To Atlanta For Rally Featuring Musician Usher; Sources Leaked Documents Show U.S. Intel On Israel Plans To Attack Iran; Israeli PM's Residence Targeted In Drone Attack; Interview With Father Of Israeli- American Held Hostage By Hamas Jonathan Dekel-Chen; Impact Of Hamas Leader's Death On Hostage Deal Unclear; Governor J.B. Pritzker (D-IL) Discusses Presidential Election, Early Voting In Battleground States, Abortion Measures; Former MTV VJ Ananda Lewis & CNN's Sara Sidner Get Real About Breast Cancer. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired October 19, 2024 - 17:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:00:46]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. And I'm Jessica Dean in Washington.

We are 17 days out from election day. Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are targeting key battleground states as this campaign enters its final stretch. Trump will rally tonight in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. That's outside the Pittsburgh suburb.

Though he criticized early believe voting in the past, he has urged Detroit supporters in Michigan to cast their ballots early.

Tonight, Harris is headed to a rally in Atlanta where she's going to be joined on stage by superstar musician Usher. And later tonight in Las Vegas, former President Barack Obama will stump for Harris as Nevada kicks off its first day of early voting.

So far more than 11 million people across the country have already cast their ballots with record-breaking early voting turnout reported in some areas.

Joining us now to discuss the latest in the race for the White House is Democratic strategist Julie Roginsky and CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings. Good to have you both here with us.

We are in it now, early voting underway in multiple swing states. Julie, were starting to get some data, but what we do know for sure is that it is record breaking in some places.

I'm looking at Georgia specifically, but people are voting in big, big numbers. What does this say to you?

JULIE ROGINSKY, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, if you look at some of the data, if you really dive into it, there's a huge gender gap going on, especially with young women. You see young women just outperforming both what they did in 2020 and

certainly what they are expected to have done this year.

And I think that's the overhang from the last two years, especially after the -- after the abolition of Roe versus Wade, that you see that demographic, which really stopped the alleged red wave that was supposed to take place two years ago.

They haven't forgotten and they're coming out very strongly. That's not spin, that's data that you see in places like Pennsylvania and places like Michigan and Georgia as well. And you certainly see that gender gap happening, especially young -- among young voters, which I think bodes very well for the Democratic Party at the moment.

DEAN: And Scott, we remember former President Trump really attacking early voting, mail-in voting in 2020.

But he and the GOP have really made a U-turn on that messaging. Why is that?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, we need votes. I mean, Republicans want to put more votes in the bank. And I think he wants to win the election.

By the way, I'm shocked to hear you say that people are voting like crazy in Georgia. I was told by Democrats that nobody could vote in Georgia. That they've tightened all the laws and nobody could find their polling places and everyone was going to die of thirst. So oh my gosh, I just can't believe the news about people can actually vote in Georgia.

Look, it's never been easier to vote in America and I think it's a good thing that people are casting their ballots and exercising their franchise. I think the data is a bit of a witch's cauldron but Republicans right now in a few states are pretty excited about what they're seeing in terms of what you just said, Republicans grasping onto voting early, voting by mail.

DEAN: And here we are as early voting is underway, people are actually casting ballots. The candidates are trying to pitch their closing messages to these voters.

And Julie, the Harris campaign ads. And there are a lot of them, but a lot of them are focused on her claims that her policies would help working and middle-class families, blasting Trump for using tax policy to help the rich, to help corporations.

She's zeroing in on the economy. Is that the right move for her?

ROGINSKY: Well, it is, but let me just say something, Scott, about what he said about Georgia. Scott, the reason people are able to vote in Georgia is because the judge stepped in and got rid of all the horrible draconian laws that prevented especially Democrats from voting in Georgia the last several years.

But going back to your policy, yes. I mean, look, she's closing with an economic message --

(CROSSTALK)

JENNINGS: Wait, are you saying there were laws -- that specifically prevented Democrats from voting.

(CROSSTALK)

ROGINSKY: I am saying, I am saying that there are laws that were very -- Scott I'm saying there are laws that, you know, full-well were very much skewed towards preventing a certain demographic for voting, which tends to vote Democrat. So and a judge agreed.

(CROSSTALK)

ROGINSKY: But I will say yes, she's closing with an economic message. He's closing and -- listen, I spent a weekend in Pennsylvania. That's where I am and I will tell you that what I see on TV from her as a populist economic message, what I see from him is something about transgender attacks as always.

[17:04:50]

ROGINSKY: And I will say to you that if you're comparing those two closing messages, I'd much rather be Democrat at the moment than Republican. They're playing the culture war because they have no economic leg to stand on.

She's closing on a much more empowering message that affects both Democrats and Republicans, which is why you have people like Republican Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania coming out for her, which is why you have Republicans who have (INAUDIBLE) like Liz Cheney and others who traditionally espouse the conservative economic message, supporting her and not somebody who is so fixated on the culture wars that he's forgotten about the fact that we wants to do something to help the American people and their pocketbooks.

DEAN: And Scott, I do want to ask you about those closing ads because that is what you see at any of these swing states. They are heavily focused on taxpayer funded transgender surgeries for prisoners, for migrants. Is that the way to close this message for Trump?

JENNINGS: Well, it is for some voters because it makes Kamala Harris seem like a crazy person. I mean, she took these positions and I think Donald Trump is right to focus on it because people are very unhappy about the state of the country under Biden and Harris.

They're very unhappy about the state of the economy. They don't like the fact that somebody, a politician would suggest that we would take your hard-earned tax dollars and use them on transgender surgery for people who are in jail, came into the country illegally, whatever.

I mean, it's legitimately a crazy position and why it calls into question your judgment on everything else. And so yes, I think it's perfectly fine to be running on this right now because, hey, its Kamala Harris who put it into the election. I mean, if she didn't want this to be part of the election, she shouldn't have taken this position in the first place.

DEAN: And I do want to ask you too, I haven't spoken to you since the Bret Baier interview because he asked her about this. And she said she was following the law and that the Trump administration had had to follow the law as well.

I wanted to see what your thoughts were on that.

JENNINGS: Look, I think her thoughts on it are pretty clear because she said out loud when she ran for president in 2019, that she absolutely would like to take your taxpayer dollars and spend it on transgender surgeries for people in jail and for people who've come into the country illegally.

Those are her words, those or not Donald Trump's words. They're not Bret Baier's words. They're not my words. Those are her words.

And so I think it's a values question. It's a judgment question. And a vast majority of the country would look at that and say, well, if you'd spend my tax dollars on that, what else crazy thing would you do.

And so that's why I think it's smart to put it in the election.

DEAN: Julie, do you want to respond to that?

ROGINSKY: Yes, you know, I don't even know Scott while you're a Republican because to be honest with you, you used to be Republican with George Bush who you strongly supported a free trade economy --

JENNINGS: Because I want to save the country, that's why I'm a Republican.

ROGINSKY: -- you supported -- you supported a muscular foreign policy. You supported all the things that Donald Trump has taken and flushed the toilet and all that is left are these cultural battles which appeal to a small sliver of MAGA voters, but to nobody else.

I can promise you that my neighbors in Pennsylvania do not sit around wondering if their child is going to be able to get taxpayer funded surgery.

They are wondering why their Apple phone may cost thousands of dollars more if these trade policies that Donald Trump is espousing go into effect.

They are wondering why is his own Director of National Intelligence suspected he might be blackmailed by the president of Russia, something that is anathema to the Reagan Party from which you come.

I don't understand for the life of me why Republicans who support Trump still call themselves Republicans if they ever voted for Ronald Reagan or order George Bush or worked for Mitch McConnell or any of the kinds of things that Republicans used to stand for.

There's no room for people like that in the Republican Party anymore which is the only reason why you're still talking about transgender surgery because there's nothing more left to you and to the Republican Party anymore.

Every other thing that you believed in is out the window with this president -- this former president, excuse me.

DEAN: Scott, I see -- do you want to say some there. You're moving your head. I cannot tell.

JENNINGS: Yes. Look I mean, look, I'll be glad to explain why I'm a Republican. Number one, I want lower taxes. Number two, I want conservative judges on the court --

ROGINSKY: Not with Trump.

JENNINGS: Number three, I want I want a better economy for Americans workers. Number four, I want a president who cares what's going on in Middle America, which the Democratic Party has completely and totally abandoned.

Yes. Are there Republicans right now? Is there a push-and-pull on foreign policy in the party? Absolutely. That's true all the time for every political Party. You don't have total unanimity on every issue. And I do prefer a muscular foreign policy and maybe Donald Trump, like every other politician I've ever voted for, won't do everything that I like all of the time.

But I'll tell you this Kamala Harris and Joe Biden have run this country into the ground. I want a center right government. And most of the time they're going to do what I want to do. And all of the time, she's not.

And that's why I'm a Republican today.

DEAN: And Julie, I'll give you a final thought. I was going to get to a clip of Harris starting to go even more sharply at Trump, but we ran out of time for it, but I'll give you -- I'll give you a shot (ph) and anything you have on kind of where she's going with her attacks as she closes this out.

[17:09:46]

ROGINSKY: Sure, the only thing I will say, you don't (ph) want to look close, the man at Univision town hall, who asked Donald Trump who's going to pick those gross -- who's going to pick that fruit? Who's going to make sure that our food prices stay low when he deports 15 million people from this country? Who is going to pay you?

(CROSSTALK)

ROGINSKY: -- who is going to pay -- who is going to pay for the goods that you're getting at fraction of the cost now, when his trade policy goes into effect, Scott. And you're not going to be able to buy any of the goods you have for any of the (INAUDIBLE) you're paying for now.

That is not my belief. That is Republican -- that is Republican economists saying that. Who is going to take care of this economy when Donald Trump engages in his crazy protectionist policies that are going to run this economy to the ground.

Again, not something that Democrats believe, something that even Republican economists believe. So from that perspective, if you believe in a center right government, this guy isn't it.

All he is, is whatever whims come into his head and you all jump behind him. If he said the sky's purple tomorrow, you'd say the sky's purple tomorrow.

There's no there's nothing left in the Republican Party anymore that is based in any kind of ideology. You don't even have a party platform anymore. It is based on the whims of one man and you're all falling in line.

And I think that's really sad for a party that used to stand for something. I didn't agree with what a lot of it stood for, but at least it had a coherent message and a coherent policy.

Now it is literally a cult in thrall to one man. And if he says something else tomorrow, Scott, you'd agree with him. And I don't understand for the life of me why you as a Republican who's worked for the Republican Party your whole life decided to throw out whatever you believed and follow this guy who's pied piper down. I just don't understand it.

DEAN: Scott, I'll let you have the last word. We're almost -- we really are out of time, but please go ahead quickly.

JENNINGS: Sure. Look well, for 200 years, Democrats have been saying, who will pick, insert agricultural crop? I don't understand why you say those things out loud. It makes you sound incredibly crazy to me.

But look, it's not a cult. I don't always agree with Donald Trump. I don't agree -- there's virtually no politician alive that I or I think any other American voter agrees with all the time and it's my right to agree and disagree and it's also my right to vote for a direction for the government that's basically in line with where I want to be.

(CROSSTALK)

ROGINSKY: What direction?

JENNINGS: There's two people running, Trump and Harris. Harris, none of the time is going to do what I want and Trump most of the time is going to do what I want. And millions of Republicans are going to make that choice whether they come from the Romney, Bush, McConnell, Reagan, whatever wing of the Republican Party. Millions of Republicans are making that calculation today.

And the reason you're upset is because Harris is struggling, Trump is surging and you know your party in trouble.

(CROSSTALK)

DEAN: Ok. We have to leave it there.

All right. Julie and Scott, thank you for that robust discussion. We do appreciate it.

We're going to be right back.

[17:12:35]

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DEAN: Breaking news tonight. Sources telling CNN leaked documents posted online show U.S. intelligence on Israels plan to attack Iran.

CNN's Natasha Bertrand is in Rome. She's traveling with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

And Natasha, tell us more about what we know about this leak.

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jessica, the U.S. is investigating a leak of these highly-classified documents that do appear to show the U.S.' intelligence that it has on Israel's preparations for a possible strike against Iran.

And these documents, according to their markings, they are highly- classified. Their marked "Top Secret", and they also have markings indicating that they are only meant to be shown to the U.S. and of course, its Five Eyes allies, which are an intelligence sharing partnership that the U.S. has with some of its closest allies and partners.

Now, the documents began circulating online on Friday. Just yesterday, they showed up on a Telegram account and the U.S. now is not confirming the authenticity of these documents, but we are told by a source that they are indeed real.

And one of them, which is sourced to the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, suggests that Israel has been moving munitions around.

Another document that says that Israel has been conducting exercises with its air force in preparation for a possible strike on Iran and that is sourced to the National Security Agency.

So these are very sensitive documents coming at a very obviously, very delicate moment in the Middle East right now, when Israel has been preparing for this massive potentially retaliation against Iran for its missile barrage on October 1.

And of course, the U.S.-Israeli relationship could be strained by this, given that this is very highly sensitive information that was put out in a leak apparently. Now, the U.S. says that it is, you know, the officials we spoke to say they are investigating this, they are not confirming the authenticity of the documents.

(AUDIO GAP) CNN is not going to quote from those documents or share them directly, Jessica. All right. Natasha Bertrand with the latest reporting. Thank you so

much for that.

Also tonight, huge crowds of protesters are gathering across Israel, demanding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu make a deal to bring home the hostages that are still being held in Gaza over a year after October 7.

Today, an airstrike in central Gaza reportedly killed 11 members of the same family there and not too far away Gaza's civil defense officials say an Israeli strike targeted a school where displaced people were sheltering.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu is vowing that a drone attack on his home was a quote, "bitter mistake". He was not home. No one was injured.

We have CNN chief global affairs correspondent Matthew Chance, who is joining us now live from Tel Aviv.

Matthew, what more are we learning about this drone attack.

[17:19:54]

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, according to Israeli military, Jessica, it was fired from Lebanon and it struck an area near, it's not clear whether it was inside the grounds of, but it was near the home of Benjamin Netanyahu and his family in the town of Caesarea, which is in central Israel.

Nobody at the house was injured. The Israeli prime minister and his wife were not there. Nor were any of his family it seems and so that's something.

But as you can imagine, its provoked an angry reaction from the Israeli prime minister himself. He's has issued a statement calling it an assassination attempt. He's blamed what he calls the agents of Iran inside Lebanon, by which of course he means the Shia militia, Hezbollah.

And he's vowed that it will not stop him or Israel from carrying out what it calls his war of revival in the region and in Lebanon. Of course, Israel has been engaged in carrying out strikes against Hezbollah inside southern Lebanon and in Beirut as well over the course of the past extended period of time, past several weeks at the very three -- at the very least.

It's -- I suppose an indication not for the first time that despite Israel's very complex and sophisticated air defenses, it is possible for drones like this low-tech fired from Lebanon to penetrate through and potentially cause some damage.

They didn't on this occasion. But, you know, it I think sent a powerful message.

DEAN: And Matthew, I also want to ask you about this new video released by the IDF that the IDF says shows Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar just hours before the October 7 massacre.

Walk us through the significance of this video and its release.

CHANCE: Yes. It's Israeli video. It shows Yahya Sinwar and his children, and possibly other family members as well are walking through a tunnel, obviously in Gaza.

The Israeli military says it's in Khan Younis in the hours before the October 7th attacks. And, you know, what the Israeli military are saying is that basically this is an example of how Sinwar prioritized himself and his family, whereas other people in Gaza were not able to take shelter in the tunnels, for instance.

So I mean, of course in the past year, there's been a ferocious barrage of the Gaza Strip in which more than 40,000 people, according to Hamas-controlled health ministry officials inside Gaza have been killed.

But, you know, for much of that, Sinwar and his family as the implication were, were hiding in these tunnels. Now, we know that Yahya Sinwar, just on Wednesday, was stumbled upon by an Israeli patrol. He was killed in that encounter and Hamas has been reeling from that killing.

And it's not clear yet who's going to take over. But, you know, in last few minutes, Hamas has issued a statement as well basically rejecting the idea that Sinwar hid from Israeli bombs in these tunnels and said instead he has been moving from area to area inside Gaza and sort of leading from the front in what they say is the resistance against Israel, Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Matthew Chance for us, live in Tel Aviv. Thank you so much for that reporting.

Still ahead, we're going to talk to the father of one Israeli American captured on October 7 who's still being held hostage. How he's reacting to the death of the Hamas leader.

[17:23:29]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: Earlier today, Kamala Harris said she believes the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, quote, "creates an opening" to end the Israel-Hamas war and to reach a hostage deal.

One of the 101 people still being held hostage by Hamas is Sagui Dekel-Chen, a 35-year-old Israeli-American who was captured on October 7. And joining us now is Sagui's father, Jonathan Dekel-Chen.

Jonathan, thank you so much for being here with us.

I know the last year and several days have been absolute agony for you. and I want to just thank you for talking with us.

JONATHAN DEKEL-CHEN, FATHER OF HAMAS HOSTAGE SAGUI DEKEL-CHEN: Thank you for having me.

DEAN: First I just want to ask you about, Yahya Sinwar's death. U.S. officials certainly are very concerned -- are very hopeful that this could be the end, that this could be the moment where a deal could be struck.

What do you think?

DEKEL-CHEN: Well, I absolutely agree with the U.S. administration that this is a moment that needs to be seen. The world is a different place. Certainly the Middle East is a different place now, two days after the death of Yahya Sinwar, the undisputed leader of a terrorist organization, but undisputed nonetheless.

It allows for, at least we hope, some kind of progress that was not possible before in terms of a negotiated agreement.

But alongside those -- that optimism, there's enormous fear amongst the hostage families that because of the chaos within Hamas that the actual captors -- you know, mid mid-level Hamas terrorists and it's very possible that out of panic, confusion, self-interest will take matters into their own hands and take revenge or simply execute the hostages.

[17:29:54]

DEKEL-CHEN: So if things were incredibly urgent before the death of Sinwar, no matter how you look at it, it's even more urgent now that some kind of arrangement be made, whether it's through a negotiated process and pressure now, full bore, from the intermediaries or through some other arrangements with the people who are holding our loved ones.

DEAN: And I also want to ask you about the videos that the IDF has been releasing around Sinwar's death. the hours leading up to them, the drone videos.

Do you agree with their decision to release those videos? I know some family members have been concerned in the line of what you're talking about, that it puts the hostages at further risk, at the risk of inflaming their captors. I want to know what your thoughts are.

DEKEL-CHEN: Well, I've seen the videos. I once trusted, before they were released by the IDF, thought very hard about this question.

I'm -- it's beyond me to get into the head of savage terrorists that massacred 13,000, 1,400 people on October 7th, conducted mass rape, destroyed civilian communities and took hundreds of hostages.

I can't say. I honestly don't know how to respond. I think what those what -- those films certainly seemed to show is how premeditated this attack was on October 7th.

And the fact that from the very beginning, if Sinwar and the rest of the senior Hamas commanders in Gaza, and knew in advance that they we're going to protect themselves however they needed to. And allow the people of Gaza to suffer from what was about to happen and that seems absolutely clear.

DEAN: And before I let you go, I just I want you to tell me a little about Sagui and I want you to, just to anyone that's watching, as his father, as someone who is pressing and doing everything humanly possible to get his child home, what do you want people to know?

If any lawmaker is watching, if anyone that's part of that, the administration, what's your message to them?

DEKEL-CHEN: Well, small correction. In the beginning, you said that he was 35. He actually -- we marked his 36th birthday a couple of months ago now.

Look, Sagui is a father of three little girls, his youngest 10-months- old, he's never met for -- her name is Shahhat (ph), which means "dawn" in Hebrew.

He's, you know, a picture on a wall, and no more than that. He is one of 29 hostages being held from my kibbutz, my small community alone, which was completely destroyed on October 7th, 2023.

These are all human beings. These are fathers, sons, grandparents husbands. There are also two women and two very little boys, the Bebas (ph) boys, who are my neighbors.

This always was and continues to be a human problem. We've been blessed with the cooperation of support of the Biden administration since the very first days of this crisis.

We have implored all members of Congress not to allow the hostage issue -- whatever one's opinions are about the conduct of the war between Israel and Hamas, not to allow the hostage -- the hostages to become a kind of political football in very contentious elections that are coming up.

And I would continue you to ask all Americans to remember that. And for those Americans who consider themselves pro-Palestinian, which is completely legitimate. It's also legitimate for anyone to criticize this or that action of the Israeli government.

But if one is truly pro-Palestinian, what they need to do right now, at least as much as criticizing Israel, is to do everything in their power at this moment, two days after the death of Yahya Sinwar, to pressure Hamas to end the madness.

The only way a ceasefire can possibly begin is by return of the hostages, all 101, those that may still be alive, and those that have already been murdered.

DEAN: Yes, well, we hope that your son is home with you and his family very, very soon.

Jonathan Dekel-Chen, thank you so much for being with us.

DEKEL-CHEN: Thank you for having me.

DEAN: Still ahead, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker says think vague, America. He's going to join us live next to talk about protecting abortion rights and what he's doing to get out the vote for Kamala Harris.

[17:34:55]

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: The presidential election will likely come down to a handful of swing states, including Nevada, where early voting got underway today.

People in Nevada also deciding on a ballot initiative to safeguard abortion rights by enshrining them in their state's constitution.

DEAN: Harris campaign surrogate, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, spoke last hour in Las Vegas at a block party hosted by Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom. He's also the founder of Think Big, America. It's an advocacy group working to expand abortion right protections.

[17:40:07]

Governor, thanks so much for being here with us.

GOV. J.B. PRITZKER (D-IL): Glad to be here with you, Jessica. Thank you.

DEAN: And I know you've said in the past, no one is a single-issue voter. But that being said, I know your focus very clearly on reproductive rights. What is your message to undecided voters out there today?

PRITZKER): Well, first, you know, on the ballot here in Nevada is a reproductive rights amendment to their constitution. So we want to make sure that that gets passed on November 5th.

But it also means that they're going to be people coming to the polls that really care about this issue. And if you're pro reproductive rights, if you care about women's rights, you're probably going a vote for the candidate that stands for those rights, and that's commonly Harris and Tim Walz.

So I'm pleased to say that we had a lot of people who came out to rally today for reproductive rights.

And also, I went to rallies among members of labor unions and the Democratic Party more broadly, just to make sure that everybody is launched and they're canvassing, knocking on doors, making phone calls to get voters out.

So it's really -- there's a lot of excitement on the ground here in Nevada, but it's going to be tight. DEAN: And you founded Think Big, America to support more abortion rights ballot measures in the country like the one that Nevadans will be voting on and are voting on now.

When it comes to a possible Donald Trump presidency, he said he would not support a nationwide ban on abortion. Why are you concerned? What about that concerns you? And do you believe it?

PRITZKER: Yes. First of all, Donald Trump is a known liar. And frankly, it's like the whim of the day, whatever position he takes on something. We know that he's the one who appointed the members of the Supreme Court that overturned Roe v. Wade.

So for him to say that he's not opposed to abortion is just ludicrous. The fact is that he wants to end a woman's right to choose. He wants to end IVF. He's OK with states limiting or eliminating people's right to contraception.

And that's just a position that's untenable for women across America, for men, too, the idea that we're going to take away their right, as a family member, as a husband, to -- you know, to have a say over whether they're going to be able to have children.

I know a lot of people who've gone in and had IVF in order to have children or are going through it now. Donald Trump and the Republicans would take that away.

So we're fighting hard on that issue, and not just here in Nevada, all across the country.

And I think you know that we won in Kansas on the issue of reproductive rights. We won in Ohio on the issue of reproductive rights. But it's on the ballot at the same time as the presidential election in Nevada, in Arizona, in Florida, in Missouri, and all over the country.

Eight states, and many of them are very important to the outcome of the presidential election.

DEAN: And listen, if -- Kamala Harris is to win the White House, you and I both -- are both very aware that that just a president can't do anything to bring back, to enshrine what was Roe v. Wade, to bring back those protections federally, at the federal level.

You're going to need majorities in Congress to do that. Do you think that's a realistic possibility?

PRITZKER: Oh, I do. I think that, in the Congress, in the House of Representatives, I think the Democrats are going to retake the majority.

Democrats already have the majority in the Senate. And it looks like they may be able to -- we may be able to maintain that majority.

So if we elect Kamala Harris, we win over the House and keep the Senate, we can protect reproductive rights. Now can we do everything that we want to do? No. Because the Senate requires a filibuster-proof majority in order to get a lot done.

But one thing that's important is that you can protect reproductive rights from being diminished if we win the House, the Senate and the presidency. And Kamala Harris is going to do everything that she can to protect those rights.

DEAN: Right. Because that 60-vote filibuster certainly can kill a lot of legislation and has, in the past.

I want to ask you about, just broadly, the race with 17 days to go. Look, in the last week, two weeks, there's been a lot of handwringing by a lot of Democrats, both publicly and very much on the record and on background, they're very anxious. They're very nervous.

Are they nervous for a good reason? Are you -- how do you feel?

PRITZKER: I think Republicans, too, are nervous. Look, this is a razor-thin margin in every state. I -- literally, if you look down the poll list, you'll see that, in all the battleground states, it's a one-point margin.

It's all -- it's crazy. I've never seen it quite like this. But it means that if you have enthusiasm on the ground, if you have organizing on the ground and phone banking and knocking on doors, that's the winning formula.

And everywhere that we are, right, in all those battleground states, the Republicans have less than the Democrats in terms of the organizing on the ground.

[17:44:59]

And I can see it here in Nevada was in Arizona and Wisconsin, Michigan, where the enthusiasm was very high.

And we're going into Republican areas where people really are disgusted with Donald Trump. There's a portion of America that's decided they're not voting for Donald Trump. They just don't know whether they're going to show up at the polls and vote, or if they're going to show up and vote for Kamala Harris.

And that's, I think, why you're seeing Vice President Harris and Tim Walz going to places that are really Republican and trying to convince them, country first.

You saw Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney with her. You saw her campaigning in areas that -- western Michigan, they're traditionally Republican. So I'm enthusiastic about the idea that this is really going to be almost a bipartisan victory for her because we are winning Republicans over.

DEAN: And you say, about, you've never seen something this close. We are just in historically tight race where just these margins of voters in a handful of states, including the one you're in right now, could tip it one way or another.

Governor, how do you close that deal if you're Kamala Harris?

PRITZKER: Well, she's doing it. Look at how many places she's going every single day. And it's all in the battleground states.

If you think back to 2016, you know, one of the criticisms that was made of Hillary Clinton was that she didn't go to those states in the final couple of weeks and she should have and we lost those states as a result.

Kamala Harris is not making that mistake. She's going to the battleground states.

She's going to the areas where there may be the undecided voter, or the voter who has not currently decided they're going to vote, and try to convince people, you've got to come out and vote.

We've got to make sure that we're putting Donald Trump away, finally, beating him at the ballot box and moving the country forward. We have to bring people together and Donald Trump's not going to do that. Kamala Harris and Tim Walz will.

DEAN: All right. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, thanks so much for your time. We appreciate it.

PRITZKER: Thanks, Jessica,

DEAN: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:51:45]

DEAN: One out of every eight women in the U.S. will develop breast cancer in their lifetime. That is according to the American Cancer Society.

And when our colleague, Sara Sidner, was diagnosed, she shared her courageous journey battling the disease.

CNN's Stephanie Elam shares the story of how two of her closest friends faced their diagnosis.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANANDA LEWIS, CONTENT CREATOR & FORMER 90S MTV VJ: I'm sorry. Yours was your left, right?

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

LEWIS: Mine was the right.

SIDNER: OK.

LEWIS: Little bit different.

(CROSSTALK) LEWIS: We can mirror each other.

(LAUGHTER)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was crazy that we're joking about it.

So, what about mammograms?

I'll start with you, Ananda. Were you good about getting your mammograms?

LEWIS: No, I wasn't.

ELAM (voice-over): This is Ananda Lewis, and she has breast cancer. She is a content creator who is known for her time hosting BET's Teen Summit in the 90s, being a VJ for MTV and hosting her own talk show in the early 2000s.

She is one of my best friends, as is CNN anchor, Sara Sidner. She too has breast cancer, stage three. Both of them found their lumps on their own. Sara's discovery was just months after a mammogram.

SIDNER: The American Cancer Society does not recommend self-exams anymore. But, to me, if you can tell, you know your body, you have to advocate for yourself so much. And I am terrible at advocating for myself. I will advocate for you. I will advocate --

(CROSSTALK)

ELAM (on camera): You're actually having to do it for everybody else.

SIDNER: I will. I will fight someone. Like, I am a ride or die bee. So, this has been a real lesson for me to self-advocate.

ELAM (voice-over): Sara had a double mastectomy. Ananda took a different approach. By the time she found a lump in her breast, her cancer had progressed to stage three, and doctors recommended a double mastectomy. But she went against the recommendation.

LEWIS: My plan at first was to get out excessive toxins in my body. I felt like my body is intelligent. I know that to be true. Our bodies are brilliantly made.

I decided to keep my tumor and try to work it out of my body a different way. Looking back on that, I go, you know what? Maybe I shouldn't.

ELAM (voice-over): Ananda completely overhauled her diet, improved her sleep, pursued aggressive homeopathic therapies, along with traditional medicine and radiation. She improved for a long time.

She says removing the toxins, physical and emotional, from her body has been beneficial. But, last year, she found out her cancer had metastasized into stage four, which means the cancer spread to other areas. LEWIS: My lymph system really flared up. And so, all through my

abdomen, all those lymphs were very flared up my collarbone, and it was the first time I ever had a conversation with death.

Because I felt like this is how it ends. I was like, OK. So, I don't get afraid of things. I was just like, fudge, man, I really thought I had this. I was frustrated. I was a little angry at myself.

I was -- and I said, man, listen, I know you're coming for me at some point, but I don't want it to be now. And if you could just wait, I promise when you do come, I'm going to make it fun for you.

ELAM: What's interesting me is that you both are saying, is it to appreciate life more now that you're going through this, or is it joy?

SIDNER: Mine is joy. And I didn't realize how little joy I had in my life. Like, I didn't realize that that was not a priority in my life.

LEWIS: My quality of life was very important to me. We've had that conversation before.

[17:55:02]

Like, I -- there is certain things I know I'm not going to be OK with, and I know myself. I want to -- want to be here. And so, I had to do it a certain way, for me.

SIDNER: The fact that you, like, I want to want to be here, I've had times when I didn't want to be here.

LEWIS: Me, too.

SIDNER: Right? And so --

ELAM: You mean in life.

SIDNER: In life, yes. I didn't want to be here. I didn't want to go through all this --

LEWIS: Because of this, during this --

SIDNER: Before this.

And then this journey came along, and it's so weird that it was cancer that was like, I want to be here. I insist on being here. And I insist on thriving, not just being alive, not just existing. I want to thrive in a way that I have never felt before.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: A great conversation there.

Stephanie Elam, thanks so much for that.

We're going to be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)