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High-Stakes Michigan Race May Determine Senate Control; At Lese One Dead in Heavy Floods Across Northeast Italy; Ferry Dock Collapse Kills Seven on Sapelo Island; Liam Payne Fans from Around the World Pay Tribute to Late Singer. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired October 21, 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: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster. If you are just joining us, here are some of today's top stories.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is in Kyiv right now to discuss Ukraine's weapons needs amid Russia's invasion. His visit comes less than two weeks before the U.S. presidential election, with Donald Trump declining to say last month whether he wants Ukraine to win the war.
Secretary Austin also says the U.S. missile defense system sent to Israel is ready for operation. Israel is preparing to retaliate against Iran's recent missile attack. The missile defense system could help Israel against a counter response from Iran and its proxies.
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have had a busy week. They've got another one ahead as well on the campaign trail as they make their final pitch to voters ahead of Election Day. Harris spoke at two churches in Georgia on Sunday, whilst Trump rallied in another battleground state, Pennsylvania.
Pressure continues to build in the state of Michigan, where both presidential nominees visited last week. The battleground state could decide not only the White House, but also the House and Senate. CNN's Manu Raju has more details over the race for Michigan's open Senate seat.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was less than four years ago when Republican Mike Rogers said this about Donald Trump.
MIKE ROGERS, U.S. SENATE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE: I think yesterday broke the spell that so many people had about Donald Trump. Clearly, his actions led to that. There's no great way to describe what happened yesterday, sedition.
RAJU (voice-over): That was right after the January 6 attack, as Rogers said of the outgoing president.
ROGERS: Well, you're damn right you had responsibility for this.
RAJU (voice-over): But now the former congressman is in a battle against Democratic Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin for a prized Senate seat in Michigan that could determine control of the chamber.
ROGERS: How many are fired up for another four years of Donald Trump?
RAJU (voice-over): And as Trump maintains his tight grip over the GOP, the two have developed a deep alliance, as Rogers' fate appears tied to the former president in one of the nation's most important battlegrounds.
RAJU: You even said that he was clearly responsible for the acts of January 6. Do you stand by any of that?
ROGERS: Well, I didn't say he was clearly responsible, but here's the thing.
RAJU: But do you stand by your criticism that you had?
ROGERS: Listen, even Donald Trump said I was tough, but fair. I'll take that all day long. 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.
RAJU (voice-over): Rogers is now trying to tie Vice President Kamala Harris to Slotkin.
ROGERS: She voted 100 percent with the Biden-Harris agenda.
RAJU (voice-over): Michigan is ground zero in the fight for control of the House and Senate, as Slotkin and Rogers are in a dead heat. And in Macomb County, the birthplace of conservative Reagan Democrats, Slotkin is trying to make inroads.
REP. ELISSA SLOTKIN (D-MI): It's always been a hotbed, and it continues to be a hotbed.
RAJU: But it's a message that's been not connecting with those voters?
SLOTKIN: I think it's on us to reach out and to earn people's votes. And I think, you know, Democrats pass a lot of really important legislation. But we also got to get that message out. And we haven't always been great at that. That's on us.
RAJU (voice-over): On the airwaves, Slotkin attacking Rogers over abortion.
SLOTKIN: 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, an outside group linked to Mitch McConnell dropping a staggering $27 million in the final six weeks alone, with GOP groups spending $96 million on the airwaves, outpacing Democrats' $88 million.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Slotkin voted to allow states to ban gasoline- powered vehicles. That would crush Michigan's economy.
RAJU (voice-over): As she's fielded relentless criticism for her vote to allow state limits on gas-powered vehicles, she's had to cut ads like this.
SLOTKIN: I live on a dirt road, nowhere near a charging station, so I don't own an electric car.
RAJU (voice-over): Another challenge? The war in Gaza that has frayed the Democratic coalition, as an Arab American group now urging the state's sizable Arab population to not support the GOP or Democratic candidates for president and Senate all over Israel.
OSAMA SIBLANI, ARAB AMERICAN POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE SPOKESMAN: Slotkin has a history. We're judging people by their history in here. And we're not going to take a chance by voting for someone, putting them in office, and then regretting later.
RAJU (voice-over): And now a GOP group seeking to dampen Democratic support by targeting Arab Americans, with ads touting Harris' and Slotkin's support for Israel. But even as Slotkin has backed the Biden-Harris agenda and campaigned with the VP --
SLOTKIN: When the vice president comes, you go.
RAJU (voice-over): -- she has tried to show some separation.
SLOTKIN: Some of the proposals that are coming out, I want to look at them. I'm not immediately saying, rah, rah, I'm on board.
[04:35:00]
But the truth is, I can have those conversations with Kamala Harris when we disagree. Mike Rogers can't disagree with Donald Trump.
RAJU: As Trump was in Detroit earlier this month, he leveled this insult.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Our whole country will end up being like Detroit if she's your president.
RAJU: Were you OK with what he said?
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 of state.
RAJU: He sort of said that the rest of the country would look like Detroit.
ROGERS: Now, what he was talking about is there are 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): Slotkin says it's part of a pattern.
SLOTKIN: Everyone who used to be thoughtful and independent just either has to get with Trump and salute and do anything he says, or they can't be in politics. And it's sad to see. It's like watching the last buffalo die. It is sad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Now, the husband of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris says he finds it so vexing that any Jewish voters would support Donald Trump. Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish himself, is putting the focus on past anti-Semitic remarks made by the former president. Here's the second gentleman stumping for Harris in Michigan on Sunday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOUG EMHOFF, U.S. SECOND GENTLEMAN: It really is shocking that a Jew would look at this man who has said so many anti-Semitic things, dined with anti-Semites, and literally went to an event purporting to fight anti-Semitism in D.C. a few weeks ago and said that if he loses, he's going to blame the Jews. He has repeatedly said Jews who don't vote for him should have their head examined.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Emhoff also made reference to how Trump called him a, quote, crappy Jew in a radio interview earlier this year.
There's now double trouble for Cuba. The wrath of tropical storm Oscar and yet another power grid collapse. The slow-moving storm has brought heavy rainfall and life-threatening flash flooding to eastern Cuba. The National Hurricane Center warns that up to 18 inches of rain could fall in the region through Wednesday morning. The storm is worsening living conditions for millions already facing days without power due to Cuba's aging energy grid.
Havana residents have taken to the streets with pots and pans to protest the government's response to the nationwide outage. An official says the storm will likely hamper efforts to restore power. Multiple attempts have failed since Friday.
At least two people have died after extreme overnight rainfall caused flash flooding in New Mexico. Officials in the city of Roswell say hundreds of others have been rescued with dozens taken to hospital. The severe floods left motorists stranded and swept cars away on Sunday. You can see this truck submerged in the water. Roswell saw a record 5.78 inches of rainfall on Saturday. That's according to the National Weather Service and the flood watch for eastern New Mexico has been extended to 6 a.m. Eastern time. At least one person is dead in northeast Italy after heavy rain caused extensive overnight flooding across that region. The victim was reportedly driving when his car was swept away by the water. The area is still recovering from devastating flooding brought on by storm Boris just a month ago.
CNN's Barbie Nadeau joins us now from Rome. Obviously this, you know, everything's waterlogged already and this is just adding to the flooding.
BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN REPORTER: Yes, you know, it really is devastating that victim is a 20 year old young man we understand and we're just hearing report after report of these harrowing rescues including late last night a three-year-old little girl rescued by helicopter with her parents. You know we've seen all manner of rescues of domestic pets, dogs, cats, things like that that are stuck in these homes.
You know the ground is saturated from Boris but also, you know, a lot of the infrastructure is not back online from devastating floods in this area last year.
So it's a very complicated situation and it's going to continue raining we understand. You know, they're under flood watch until at least Tuesday. The forecast isn't very good, you know, schools are closed, they've got some issues with roads out and things like that.
You know, Bologna especially has been hit. Now this is a city that has a lot of canals and when these streams and rivers broke their banks upstream it really inundated the city of Bologna. This is a university town so of course there are a lot of people there right now. They've had to close schools and all sorts of things.
It's still raining, it's still difficult and it's still very, very dangerous because under that flood water people, you know, aren't necessarily sure the conditions of the roads and the sidewalks and things like that. So they're really looking at it.
But it's not just in central Italy.
[04:40:02]
You know, we've seen all sorts of flooding as well in Sicily. In the city of Catania there were some dramatic rescues people on their motorcycles being swept away off of streets, and you know, they're not as prepared for that kind of flooding in Sicily. But the rain continues and it's very concerning for the authorities here -- Max.
FOSTER: Yes absolutely. Barbie keep us updated, thank you.
A wooden boat carrying 231 migrants including 14 women and three children was intercepted off Spain's Canary Islands on Sunday. It's the largest number of people to be rescued from a single boat off the island this year. More than 30,000 migrants have made the boat journey from West Africa to the Spanish islands since January. That's an increase of nearly 40 percent from the same period last year. Authorities in Georgia investigating the cause of a deadly ferry dock collapse. We'll have the latest in a report just ahead.
Plus, heartbroken fans from all over the world pay their respects to the late singer and One Direction member, Liam Payne, as investigators try to reconstruct his final moments. Do you stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: A helicopter slammed into a communications tower in Houston, Texas killing multiple people including a child. The crash caused an explosion and fire and toppled the structure. Some homes near the crash site lost power.
Officials worried that a nearby propane tank could explode but in the end the fire was extinguished leaving the mangled tower lying in a clearing behind a row of homes. The Federal Aviation Administration will investigate the incident.
At least seven people are dead and several others have been critically injured after part of a ferry dock collapse on Sapelo Island in Georgia. That was on Saturday. Authorities are urgently investigating the cause of that tragedy. CNN's Rafael Romo has the report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[04:45:00]
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's still very early in the investigation but there are several things officials are focusing on including why the gangway had a catastrophic failure, whether the increased number of people might have been a factor and the age of the gangway itself.
CNN has obtained video of the dock leading to the gangway that shows how the whole structure collapsed. You see the ferry in the background, the same one guests were trying to get to when the tragic collapse happened.
We later see people by the shore trying to rescue those who had fallen into the water. What we know is that there were collapsed shortly before four in the afternoon on Saturday as crowds gathered on Sapelo Island for a celebration of the Gullah Geechee community of Black slave descendants. According to Walter Raven, the commissioner of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, the gangway that led from the dock to the ferry collapsed when about 40 people were on it.
Commissioner Raven said there was a significant increase in the number of people visiting on Saturday although he doesn't yet know if that was a factor in the gangway's collapse.
WALTER RAVEN, COMMISSIONER, GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES: Typically less than a hundred. Yesterday I'm told that we had around 700 people on the island that resulted in us offering additional ferry runs with both of our ferries the Katie Underwood and Anne Marie. ROMO: At least 20 people ended up in the water and tragically seven died including Charles Houston who served as a chaplain for the DNR, a City of Plains volunteer firefighter and also worked with the Georgia Bureau of Investigations. Officials also said there are three other people in critical condition.
President Biden also reacted to the news saying that he and the first lady are heartbroken to learn about the ferry dock walkway collapse on Georgia's Sapelo Island. What should have been a joyous celebration of Gullah Geechee culture and history instead turned into tragedy and devastation the president said.
Sapelo Island is a barrier island off the coast of Georgia accessible only by boat. It's home to about 70 full-time residents and most of them are descendants from slaves who worked on plantations.
Rafael Romo CNN Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Musician Sean Diddy Combs has been named in at least six new lawsuits including one from an accuser who claims she was just 13 years old when she was allegedly drugged and assaulted. The new lawsuits include allegations of rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment, battery or false imprisonment. They joined six other lawsuits filed against Combs last week by a Texas attorney claiming to represent at least 120 alleged victims of Combs.
Meanwhile in his federal cases over child -- over charges related to racketeering, sex trafficking and prostitution, lawyers for Combs have asked the judge to stop potential witnesses from talking about the allegations which he's denied. Prosecutors have opposed that request.
Now fans from across the world are paying tribute to the late singer songwriter and former One Direction member Liam Payne. In Indonesia hundreds of mourners held a prayer vigil in Jakarta on Sunday. And in Spain, dozens of heartbroken fans gathered in central Madrid to honor the late singer's impact and legacy. Payne was just 31 years old when he died after falling from his hotel room balcony in Buenos Aires on Wednesday. Our Camila Bernal has the very latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAMILA BERNAL, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Even though Liam Payne's father has been in Buenos Aires since Friday sources telling CNN that the body has not been released to the family. We are being told that they will release that body to the family as soon as they complete the last clinical test needed. We were being told by sources that the father was able to see the body at the morgue but what he wasn't able to do was go into the room where his son was staying.
They allowed him to go into a similar room on another floor because of this ongoing investigation. While there the father also going outside and speaking to the fans thanking them for their support.
Fans have been gathering not just in Buenos Aires but also all over the world including in London, in Japan, in Australia and here in the U.S. A lot of these fans bringing letters and photos and flowers and candles. A lot of them singing together, singing One Direction songs and expressing how meaningful the band has been for them as they've grown up with them.
We've also seen an outpouring of support on social media including from Liam Payne's sister who expressed the fact that he was her best friend. Saying she is in disbelief and of course also expressing her love for her brother.
We also learned that one of the other former members of One Direction, Zayn Malik, announcing that he's postponing his U.S. portion of the tour and of course thanking his fans for understanding.
Camila Bernal, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: And we'll be right back.
[04:50:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: The Los Angeles Dodgers eliminated the New York Mets on Sunday night to win the National League pennant and advance to the World Series against the Yankees.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two.
In the air to center field. Taylor coming on. Can't get there. And the ball kicks away from him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: The Dodgers won game six against the Mets, 10-5. The clash against the Yankees will feature two superstar sluggers, LA's Shohei Ohtani and New York's Aaron Judge. Game one is Friday night in Los Angeles.
Celebrations in New York after game five of the WNBA championship.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The original franchise passed its very first title.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: The New York Liberty became the WNBA champions after defeating the Minnesota Lynx 67 to 62 in an overtime nail-biter. Breanna Stewart made sure the trophy would remain in New York City after hammering two free throws with just over 10 seconds left in the extra period. The win comes after five previous shots at the title and about 28 years after playing in the league. [04:55:00]
And the stories in the spotlight this hour. King Charles and Queen Camilla are in the Australian capital Canberra. They visited the Hall of Memory at the Australia's National War Memorial and paid their respects at the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier.
The British monarch, though, was greeted in a variety of ways. First by a friendly alpaca before going on to meet with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. And during a ceremony inside Parliament, he was heckled. That's what's getting the headlines today -- by an Australian senator, Lidia Thorpe, who shouted, you are not my king, as she was escorted away by security.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LIDIA THORPE, AUSTRALIAN SENATOR: Give us our land back. Give us what you stole from us. Our bones, our skulls, our babies ...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Well, the king will travel back to Sydney on Tuesday before heading to Samoa for a Commonwealth Leaders Summit.
The ugliest dog in Britain could soon earn another accolade, and that is a film award.
You might recognize Peggy, the five-year-old pug and Chinese-crested mix from her breakout role as Dogpool in this summer's blockbuster hit Deadpool and Wolverine. She's been nominated for a Fido Award created specifically to honor dogs in films. Peggy could walk away with a winner if what her owner says is true.
Take a listen to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LUKE MIDDLETON, PEGGY'S OWNER: People responded really well to her, and, you know, we love her. You know, we don't think she's ugly. We think she's absolutely beautiful, and thankfully everyone else seems to think the same as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: And don't worry, Peggy's owner also says the fame hasn't changed her. She still loves to meet people and have a cuddle on the sofa.
Thanks for joining me here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster in London. CNN "THIS MORNING" is up after a short break.
