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Harris Faces Undecided Voters in a CNN Town Hall; Blinken Heads to Qatar to Revive Ceasefire-Hostage Talks; Clarissa Ward and Her Team Held Captive By a Sudanese Militia but Eventually Released; Health Investigators Studies the Reason Behind the Deadly E. coli Outbreak Linked to McDonald's Quarter Pounder Burgers. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired October 24, 2024 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world and to everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church. Ahead this hour.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If the President of the United States, the Commander in Chief is saying to his generals, in essence, why can't you be more like Hitler's generals? I believe Donald Trump is a danger to the well-being and security of America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Kamala Harris faces undecided voters in Battleground, Pennsylvania and warns of another Trump presidency. We have the latest on the CNN Town Hall.
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Massive explosions rock Beirut suburbs, marking one of the most violent strikes in Lebanon since the war began.
And the U.S. confirms thousands of North Korean troops are in Russia. Our Will Ripley reports on what they may be doing there.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.
CHURCH: Good to have you with us. We are now 12 days away from election day in America and Kamala Harris wants to make sure voters are aware of what she sees as the dangers of another Donald Trump presidency. On the campaign trail, Harris has been pushing her message that Trump is unstable and unfit to serve. It's a theme she's stuck with during a town hall appearance on CNN just hours ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Imagine now, Donald Trump in the Oval Office, in the Situation Room, he who has openly admired dictators, said he would be a dictator on day one. The former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has said he is a fascist to the core.
ANDERSON COOPER, "ANDERSON COOPER 360" ANCHOR: You quoted General Milley calling Donald Trump a fascist. You yourself have not used that word to describe him. Let me ask you tonight. Do you think Donald Trump is a fascist?
HARRIS: Yes, I do. Yes I do. Donald Trump said, essentially, why aren't my generals like those of Hitler's?
COOPER: Do you believe Donald Trump is anti-Semitic?
HARRIS: I believe Donald Trump is a danger to the well-being and security of America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Harris took questions on a range of other topics, including immigration, abortion, border security, and the war in Gaza. She was asked how four years of a Harris presidency would differ from the past four years of a Harris vice presidency.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: My administration will not be a continuation of the Biden administration. I bring to this role my own ideas and my own experience. I represent a new generation of leadership on a number of issues and believe that we have to actually take new approaches.
COOPER: Some voters though might ask you've been in the White House for four years, your vice president not the president but why wasn't any of that done the last four years?
HARRIS: Well, there was a lot that was done, but there's more to do, Anderson. And I'm pointing out things that need to be done, that haven't been done, but need to be done. And I'm not going to shy away from saying, hey, these are still problems that we need to fix.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: The vice president also shared some personal stories, talking about the grief she feels over the death of her mother, going to church and praying at least once and sometimes twice a day.
The town hall was supposed to be a CNN presidential debate, but Donald Trump refused to participate, saying last month it was too late for more debates. Instead, he spent the day campaigning in the key swing state of Georgia. At a huge rally hosted by an ultra-conservative group, he launched more personal attacks at his rival and her running mate.
CNN's Alayna Treene was there. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, former President Donald Trump addressed a massive crowd at a rally in Duluth, Georgia, on Wednesday, where he significantly escalated his attacks, not only on his opponent, Kamala Harris, but on the vice presidential nominee, Tim Walz. He called him sick and argued that he didn't know who was worse, him or Harris. Take a listen to what he said.
DONALD TRUMP (R), U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And you can't even say, well, let's go to the vice president because he is really sick, right? Remember he called J.D. Vance and I, weird? We're not weird. We're very solid people. He's a weird dude. That guy is always pumping his heart, ha ha ha. You know, like he's got great heart. He's a sick guy.
[03:05:02]
TREENE: Now it is not unusual to hear Donald Trump attack both Harris and Walz, but normally he keeps those personal attacks very much focused on his running mate. So this was noteworthy, but look, this comes as Donald Trump over the last several days has really been escalating those personal attacks on his opponents and also increasing his dark rhetoric when it comes to the current picture of America.
He did all of that on Wednesday night. He focused heavily on immigration. The border specifically and what he argued were undocumented migrants coming over the southern border to commit crimes in the country.
He also talked about the economy, about energy, but one thing that was very notable was how big of an event this is. This was hosted by Turning Point Action as one of the biggest outside groups that has been really helping Donald Trump with his ground game strategy, not just here in the state of Georgia, but also in the other key battleground states.
Now, the founder of Turning Point Action, Charlie Kirk, as well as, have several other high-profile Republicans that includes people like Tucker Carlson, RFK Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, Dr. Ben Carson, as well as the country music star Jason Aldean. All of them spoke on Wednesday as well and it really did feel like the vibe in the room felt almost like a mini-Republican National Convention.
Now, I also just want to point out one thing we heard earlier in the night from Tucker Carlson because then it ended up playing a bigger role when argued that if Donald Trump were to win in November, it would be like dad was coming home. And he said, in response to criticizing the media as well as the Democratic Party overall, he said that Trump, like God, would treat everyone as his children, but also would recognize that they needed a spanking.
Later on, you heard the crowd chanting when Trump was on stage, daddy's home and daddy's home, so notable as I have not heard that yet before on the campaign trail.
Alayna Treene, CNN, Duluth, Georgia. (END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Joining me now from Long Beach in California, Faith Pinho is a national political reporter at the "Los Angeles Times". Good to have you with us.
FAITH PINHO, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, "LOS ANGELES TIMES": Hi, thanks for having me.
CHURCH: So during her live town hall on CNN Wednesday night, Kamala Harris took questions on a range of issues. With just 12 days to go to election day in America, how did Harris perform and did she say anything that would convince undecided voters to support her rather than Donald Trump?
PINHO: Harris came out really strong with her framework for her closing argument down here in the last few days of the election. She framed this really taking a page out of Joe Biden's playbook as a decision about democracy.
You know, she referenced January 6th, the certification of the election when Donald Trump was leaving office, as an example of the kind of leadership Donald Trump would bring. And she spared no punches. She called him a fascist on record. She uses her traditional terms of calling him unfit and a dictator and these sorts of things.
So she's had this incredible wave of a campaign in the last few months, but she's really coming home to this core argument here that democracy is on the line. And that seems to be one of the issues that undecided voters really care about, is Trump's character and whether another January 6th type event might happen.
CHURCH: And in two bombshell interviews in "The Atlantic Magazine" and the "New York Times", Donald Trump's former chief of staff, General John Kelly, said Trump fitted the definition of a fascist and quoted Trump as saying that he needed the kind of generals that Hitler had.
Now, as you point out, Harris said she agrees Trump is a fascist and that General Kelly was putting a 911 call out to the American people. She has also said Trump's comments are deeply troubling and that he is dangerous, unstable and unfit to serve. What did you think of her response to this issue and how might voters respond to all of this?
PINHO: Yeah, I mean, you know, she's clearly trying to drive home this point. And I think having John Kelly come out so close to the election with such strong language, you know, it's something that she's trying to keep alive and very much keep in the news cycle. You know, and like I said, I mean, this is an issue that is important to undecided voters. It does sway some of them.
However, you know, it's so hard to parse out what is going to be the tipping point for folks because Trump's own running mate at one point called him America's Hitler, and now he is running for vice president with him, J.D. Vance. So you know, people have said so many things over the years about Trump. It's hard to keep track. But it's clear that this is the message Harris wants to leave undecided voters with. [03:10:00]
And, you know, a lot of the rest of her speech during the town hall and a lot of the questions that voters posed to her were about sort of traditional campaigns, dumb speech type stuff like the economy, you know, caring for the elderly, immigration, things like this that she's used to. But this is the one point she kept coming back to, which really shows us where she's going to direct the next few days.
CHURCH: Yeah. As you point out, Harris did list some of her major policy plans including a tax increase on the wealthy and home health care for the elderly to be covered by Medicare. But she was pressed on immigration, wasn't she an issue Trump has used against her over and over again? How did she go explaining what she would do about problems at the southern border?
PINHO: Yeah, you know, Harris has come out very strong in support of this bipartisan immigration bill that was going to pass Congress before President Trump asked some of his allies, Republicans, to bulge the bill because he needed immigration as a campaign, as a campaign tenant.
And, you know, she immediately started the question with that, you know, pointing this back to Trump, because she knows that people are really fed up with the immigration system right now. She was tasked with, sort of, developing the root cause solutions to immigration from certain countries in Central America.
That was sort of her task as vice president and people have been, you know, fairly disappointed with how she's delivered. So she immediately takes this and turns it around on track.
And there was a question in there, I believe, Anderson Cooper sort of pressed her on, you know, would she support more funding for a border bill? And she got sort of squirrely about answering this, even though funding for the border bill was in that bipartisan bill that she supports. But the border bill is so closely aligned and tied to Donald Trump because that was his big campaign issue in 2016. But I think you could tell she was trying to keep it at an arm's length.
CHURCH: And Harris is of course particularly vulnerable when it comes to the issue of the economy, which most voters say is their top concern. Despite the Biden administration bringing inflation down from 9 percent to below 3 percent, most people are still feeling pain in the grocery store. So Harris says she will tackle price gouging, but did she say enough to convince Americans that she would fix this problem?
PINHO: Yeah, this is a major issue that she needs to develop trust with American voters. And, you know, I think you could hear her trying to do that by first acknowledging the pain, which is something that back when President Biden was running for president, a lot of people said he could have done better, which is just recognizing, hey, Americans are not happy with their where prices are right now.
And you could tell them, look, unemployment is lower and people are getting hired at unprecedented rates. But it doesn't matter if they're going to the grocery store and they're upset with how their bill is coming up.
So, you know, she starts with acknowledging it and then talks about price gouging, which, you know, studies have said is not necessarily the most important factor with the economy. But this is something that she is trying to develop a middle class economy, right? This is her pitch, is an opportunity economy for the middle class.
And so her other policy positions that she proposes for this is tax credits, you know, child tax credits, first time homebuyer credits, and things like this to give middle class taxpayers a boost.
CHURCH: Faith Pinho, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it.
PINHO: You're welcome, thank you.
CHURCH: Turkey has carried out retaliatory strikes following a deadly terror attack in Ankara on Wednesday. Turkey's defense ministry says it struck targets of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, in northern Iraq and Syria. Video from northern Syria shows a series of explosions overnight.
Kurdish officials say at least two people were killed and six others wounded in the shelling. The Turkish government says it believes the PKK is responsible for the terror attack in Ankara.
The strikes came hours after an explosion and gunfire ripped through the headquarters of the state-owned Turkish aerospace industries near Ankara. Officials say the attack killed at least five people and injured more than 20.
CNN's Salma Abdelaziz is following all the developments from London and has this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Turkey is reeling after an attack on an aerospace company just on the outskirts of Ankara, the capital. We do have social media video to show you of the moments of this attack. It's been geo-located and verified by CNN.
And in this video, you can see a huge explosion. You can hear the sound of it as well. And then you can see that plume of smoke going up in the air. And then an individual appears who is carrying or looks to be carrying a weapon. You can hear the sound of gunfire ringing out.
Now, images like this are absolutely going to send shock waves across Turkey. It is no stranger to terror attacks, but it hasn't seen one like this in recent years.
[03:15:01]
Authorities say that two assailants, two attackers, were killed, a man and a woman, and that a judicial investigation is underway to identify those who are behind this attack. Now the location is extremely significant. This aerospace firm is state-owned. It also provides military supplies, drones, airplanes to Turkey's military.
One analyst described it as the crown jewel of Turkey's defense industry. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has issued his condolences to those who were killed and said the attack targeted the survival of the country and the peace of our nation.
Salma Abdelaziz, CNN London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: 33,000 machinists at Boeing will remain on the picket line after union members rejected an offer from the company on Wednesday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON HOLDEN, IAM DISTRICT 751 PRESIDENT: We will push for the members' demands as quickly as we can and we remain on strike. Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: 64 percent of members voted against the offer, which would have given them an immediate raise and rising wages over the next four years, among other benefits. One of the major hold ups for the union was the elimination of traditional pensions a decade ago. Boeing's proposal still falls short of those benefits. It's estimated the strike cost the company $1 billion every month, in addition to other losses.
Well coming up next, airstrikes hit the southern suburbs of Beirut.
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Lebanon says Israel targeted the area with more than a dozen strikes, the latest from the Middle East. That's next.
And later, Elon Musk is giving away millions of dollars to encourage people to vote. Ahead, why the Justice Department says that could violate election laws. We'll take a look.
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CHURCH: Lebanon's health ministry says at least one person was killed and five others injured by Israeli airstrikes on a residential complex in a southern Beirut suburb. State media described the strikes Wednesday night as the most violent in the area since the conflict began. A spokesperson with the Israel Defense Forces had warned civilians to stay away from certain areas minutes before the strikes.
Meantime in northern Gaza, the IDF said on Thursday, quote, "a large number of Palestinians have been evacuated without providing a specific figure." Health care officials are continuing to sound the alarm over the dire situation in the enclave. There are again warning of severe shortages of medical supplies as Israel intensifies its offensive in the area.
[03:20:03]
Well right now, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is on his way to Qatar after discussing the war in Gaza during a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh on Wednesday. Blinken's visit to the Middle East is part of a renewed U.S. effort to bring the war in the enclave to an end and deter a broader conflict in the region.
CNN's Paula Hancocks is following developments and joined us now live from Abu Dhabi. Good to see you Paula. So what is the latest on Secretary Blinken's efforts in the Middle East to revive a ceasefire and hostage deal and end the war in Gaza?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, certainly that is his intention in this Middle East tour. He's heading to Qatar, as you say, this is one of the key mediators when it comes to these talks between Hamas and Israel, the indirect talks which have really been stalled for weeks now. And we have heard tempered expectations even from the White House itself as to whether or not they believe that this can be jumpstarted again.
But certainly, the Biden administration wants to try and take some kind of benefit from the assassination of the head of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, wanting to see if any kind of momentum can be put together. We will have to wait and see, but I should say expectations are fairly low in the region at this point.
Now I want to focus as well on what is happening in northern Gaza. Now we have been hearing from health officials saying that they are at breaking point at this point because there is no medicine, food or fuel or water getting into the area.
Now, almost three weeks ago Israel started a ground operation in this area saying that Hamas was trying to regroup in northern Gaza and we know there are still civilians there, although Israel says that about 200,000 have been evacuated from Jabalia itself, very difficult to independently verify those numbers though.
Now we are going to show you a report. I must warn you that some viewers may find some of the images disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HANCOCKS (voice-over): Hundreds stand in the midst of what looks like a post-apocalyptic world. Civilians being evacuated from Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza by the Israeli military after being trapped for days without food or water.
Perpetual expulsion of desperate civilians. The United Nations Human Rights Office warns the population in northern Gaza may be destroyed through quote, "death and displacement." U.N. teams on the ground claim forceful transfers of people. Israel says Hamas is regrouping and rebuilding in the area which it is fighting to prevent. The wasteland illustrates the intensity of the military force being used.
There was bombardment every minute, explosions every second, gunfire, this woman says. We never experienced such fear and horror. It was one of the darkest nights we ever lived through.
Remarkable that the hell civilians have lived through for more than a year could still get worse. The reality increasingly resembles the so- called general's plan: a proposal to force civilians out of northern Gaza and block aid going in. Sources say the Israeli cabinet declined to adopt the plan earlier this month. But U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken felt the need to ask Israel's prime minister about it this week.
Dr. Hossam Abu Sufiyah runs the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the north, which he says is now surrounded by the Israeli military and under constant shelling. He says they ran out of blood and medication on Monday, calling the constant stream of injured a massacre.
The medical staff are few, he says, and the volume of injuries high. We have had to implement a difficult triage system. We have to let some die so some can live.
He films the children's ICU himself to show the impossibility of evacuating despite IDF orders. This boy arrived with burns covering more than 70 percent of his body, he says.
Israel says 47 humanitarian aid trucks entered northern Gaza within a 24-hour period this week. Gaza's health ministry says no medical supplies or food have entered the area for 18 days, claiming aid is being diverted to central Gaza. U.N. aid workers cannot find food, water or medical care, according to the head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees. Adding, the smell of death is everywhere as bodies are left lying on the roads or under the rubble.
Gazan health officials say more than 770 have been killed in the more than two-week Israeli campaign. No breakdown of militants versus civilians.
[03:25:09]
But the innocent are among the hardest hit in this never-ending war.
This young boy, Adam, was pulled alive but injured from the rubble last week. The man who saved him says his greatest pain was when he heard his parents did not survive.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HANCOCKS: Now the U.N. agency UNRWA also says that two of its employees, in fact two brothers, were killed in central Gaza while they were driving a truck that was marked with U.N. marking. They were trying to distribute food aid. We have asked the IDF for comment. Rosemary?
CHURCH: Paula Hancocks, joining us live from Abu Dhabi. Many thanks for that report. Benjamin Radd is a political scientist and senior fellow at UCL's
Burkle Center for International Relations and he joins me now from Los Angeles. Appreciate you being with us.
BENJAMIN RADD, POLITICAL SCIENTIST AND SR. FELLOW, UCLA-BURKLE CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: Thank you.
CHURCH: So as the fighting in Gaza and Lebanon continues unabated, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is urging a diplomatic solution on what could be his last trip to the Middle East after his talks in Israel. He spent Wednesday in Saudi Arabia meeting with the Crown Prince. Do you see any sign the progress can be made to end these wars?
RADD: Well, that's a good question. And it's a last-ditch attempt by the secretary and the Biden administration to make this happen. The challenge is that the conflict is ongoing. We've seen remnants of Hamas' leadership indicate that they have no intention to yield or submit or to stop the resistance or their fighting on their end.
We've seen the Israelis continue their incursions and bombardment in Gaza, especially in the north, and now expanding into Lebanon as we've seen these last few weeks. So all signs indicate that the conflict is moving ahead and that both sides are still at quite a distance in terms of coming to any agreement as to how to bring an end to the fighting.
CHURCH: And Professor Raad, if Secretary Blinken can't end these wars through diplomacy, can he at least prevent a widening of the conflict in the region? Is that possible with the help, perhaps, of Saudi Arabia and others playing a role here?
RADD: Yeah, what makes it difficult is that there's little leverage that the United States has. And that's been increasingly obvious these last few weeks, and we've seen various attempts by President Biden and his team to exert pressure on Netanyahu, and really on both sides, but especially on the Israeli side, where the United States is perceived to have leverage.
And of course, none of this has been effective. We've seen Netanyahu continue to do what he feels he needs to do to maintain support in his cabinet for his position in his decisions in his leadership while trying to also address the domestic frustration with his leadership as well.
But so long as Netanyahu who is acting independent of any U.S. guidance or pressure it's unlikely that the U.S. will have any influence both in terms of these are immediate issues with regards to Gaza, Lebanon, and also a broader conflict.
CHURCH: So Professor, do you see any room for a ceasefire agreement that would bring potentially the hostages home and end the war in Gaza or are Israel and Hamas too far apart to come to any agreement on this?
RADD: Yeah I think if the ceasefires to be likely the pressure will have to come from other parties, other interlocutors in this discussion. The Egyptians, the Qataris, maybe the Saudis, maybe somebody who can bear influence and pressure on the Iranians who are the ones really instigating a lot of what's happening with its access of resistance it's support of these different proxy groups that have escalated the conflict.
And let's, you know, make a recall that Hezbollah was not party to the Israel-Hamas war and it started firing rockets into Israel on October 8th of last year in solidarity with Israel's attack and fight with Hamas.
So long as we have these third parties especially who are not really germane to the main conflict itself getting involved at the behest of the Iranian government, it makes it difficult. So for other countries to bring that pressure to bear, I think, would increase the likelihood of some deal coming. But absent their role, it's difficult to see what other outside party can influence matters.
CHURCH: And you mentioned Iran of course, as Israel continues to strike both Gaza and Lebanon and received return fire from Hamas and Hezbollah. Iran is bracing for retaliation from Israel for its recent missile attack. This comes after U.S. intel was leaked indicating how Israel might strike back. What are your thoughts on what comes next here?
RADD: Well there will be Israeli retaliation there from the Israeli perspective of has to be in order to maintain the balance of power and reestablished deterrence. The question is what will the targets be, what will the cost be and what will the consequences be?
[03:30:00]
In terms of targets it seems though might be put, you know, possibly energy infrastructure, possibly military sites, nothing super sensitive like oil refineries or nuclear facilities which the United States has told Israel should be off limits.
And then, what Israel intending to signal by doing so that it hasn't done already. It's already demonstrated it can reach Iran and reach not just its leaders, but also dignitaries, guests, for example, like Hamas' political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed there several months ago. So Israel's response has to be calculated in such a way to send an effective deterrent message without escalating further, and it's difficult to see what its options would be beyond that.
And it's something that, unfortunately, has to happen in the sense of restoring a balance between the two parties. But what happens beyond that then will be if the Iranians choose to counter retaliate.
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Benjamin Radd, thank you so much for joining us. I Appreciate it.
RADD: Thank you.
CHURCH: Just ahead on "CNN Newsroom", North Korean troops training in Russia. Why the U.S. is worried they could be heading to Ukraine. Back with that in just a moment.
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CHURCH: Welcome back to "CNN Newsroom". I'm Rosemary Church. Want to check today's top stories for you.
Turkey says it struck targets of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, in northern Iraq and Syria, following a deadly terror attack in the capital Ankara. Kurdish officials say at least two people were killed and six others wounded in the overnight shelling. The Turkish government says it believes the PKK is responsible for Wednesday's terror attack on a state-owned aerospace company that killed five people and injured 22 others.
12 days ahead of the election, Kamala Harris is warning of the perils of a second Trump presidency. At a CNN town hall, she described Trump as a danger to the well-being and security of America. Asked if she thinks Trump is a fascist, Harris replied, yes, I do.
Donald Trump lobbed his own attacks on Kamala Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, as he campaigned in Georgia on Wednesday. He also lashed out at his former chief of staff, calling General John Kelly a total degenerate, who made up false stories about him out of pure Trump derangement syndrome hatred.
The battleground state of Pennsylvania is key to reaching the total number of Electoral College votes needed to win the presidency, CNN's John King explains.
[03:35:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and you know this, all of us know this from past elections, but it's Jake's Tapper's birthplace, it matters the most. So where are we right now? Let's just tap down in here.
We're in Delaware County. Joe Biden won 63 percent of the vote here, right? These suburbs, when I started doing this, used to be Republican or Republican-leaning. They are safe blue territory now. But watch this number on election night, right? In the first election in the suburbs post the Dobbs decision, does Donald Trump improve his standing in the suburbs?
Let's say Donald Trump doesn't have to improve his standing in the suburbs a lot. Look at 2016, 37.2. You say, oh, John, that's just a point. That's just a point, yeah, but a point here and a point or two there makes a difference. Donald Trump needs to improve his standing in the suburbs to have a chance to win the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Vice President Harris, the flip side, if you're going to lose a little bit in urban areas, maybe black man goes down a little bit, maybe Latino man goes down a little bit, can you boost it in the suburbs in the first post-Roe election? This place and this race is a defining challenge. So where does that matter?
When you come out to this map, it all matters, because as we know, as we come to the race for 270 and we can get into this more throughout the night and the next 12 days, here's where they are right now. 226, safe, we believe, for Harris. 219, safe for Trump. Well, of all the yellow states, the battlegrounds, this Pennsylvania is the biggest prize. 19 electoral votes.
If Harris can do that, and that, Michigan, and that, Wisconsin, just hold the blue wall, she is most likely the next president of the United States. So this is the biggest prize. If Donald Trump gets this, it makes her math a lot more complicated, his math a lot more easy.
So Pennsylvania is the biggest prize, which is why she agreed to do the town hall here, which is why both campaigns are spending more money here than any other state. There's other ways to get there, but if you're trying to get to 270, getting that 19 is huge.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Sources tell CNN the US Justice Department has been in contact with Elon Musk about his $1 million a day giveaway to registered voters. The tech billionaire has awarded multiple rewards already, but officials warn the entire contest could directly violate election rules. CNN's Jason Carroll reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELON MUSK, TECH BILLIONAIRE: We are going to be awarding a million dollars to randomly to people who have signed the petition every day from now until the election.
JASON CARROLL, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): First it happened in Harrisburg on Saturday.
MUSK: By the way, John had no idea. So anyway, you're welcome.
CARROLL (voice-over): Then again just outside Pittsburgh on Sunday. Elon Musk made a promise to hand out $1 million each day until election day to registered voters in battleground states who signed his petition supporting the First and Second Amendments. So far four winners identified and according to publicly available records all previously registered Republican voters. Musk's signature on all the checks.
John Dreher at that event in Harrisburg followed by Christine Fischl, who took the stage outside Pittsburgh. Shannon Tomei announced in McKees Rock, Pennsylvania, and Andy Steinle named in Holly Springs, North Carolina. CNN could not reach any of the winners for comment. Musk's SuperPAC has not returned requests for comment as well.
In social media posts, the group says winners would be selected to earn $1 million as a spokesperson for America PAC. Some of them have already recorded videos for Musk's Political Action Committee. According to Musk's Super PAC website, only those registered to vote in swing states of Arizona, Michigan, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania or Wisconsin are eligible to win.
Sources tell CNN the Justice Department sent a letter to the Super PAC warning the daily $1 million giveaway to registered voters in swing states might violate federal laws, citing it's illegal to incentivize registration with cash or prizes.
DEREK MULLER, LAW PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME: I think for new voters who might register to vote and this being the inducement, like I can have an opportunity to get a million dollars, it certainly feels like that kind of exchange at the same time. The United States Supreme Court has been very narrow in how it's construed bribery statutes.
CARROLL (voice-over): Muller also warns that voters who signed the petition could potentially face legal trouble for accepting money in exchange for their vote. Though it should be noted the DOJ has not accused any winners or signers of the petition of any wrongdoing.
MULLER: I think what the Department of Justice is going to be weighing as it tries to figure out whether to prosecute and how aggressive it wants to be in its theory.
CARROLL (voice-over): If calculating from the day Musk first gave out that first honorary check, it would total 18 winners, $18 million. Perhaps a drop in the bucket for the world's richest billionaire who has already donated nearly $75 million to his pro-Trump Super PAC. The question is, will it have a ripple effect among registered voters in those swing states? Polling indicates the presidential race is still a toss-up.
[03:40:03]
ADAM BABETSKI, REPORTER, "PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE": There's some bad publicity that you've seen out there as people are upset alleging that he's essentially trying to buy an election. But then there are people who think it's good that he's stepping up and showing his support for Trump.
CARROLL: And another point, legal experts warn of a so-called slippery slope that if something like this, they say, goes unchecked. It could open the door, they say, to other kinds of offers to registered voters. Certainly doesn't have to be a million dollars. It could be something much less, $500, $200. $100. Their point is that if again unchecked, it could open a door that could legally lead to trouble in the future.
Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.
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CHURCH: Now to the BRICS Summit in southwestern Russia. Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for greater inclusion, development and cooperation among emerging economies and applauded the expansion of the alliance. The Russian president, who's hosting the event, is due to meet with the U.N. Secretary-General later today, who's expected to urge him to end the war in Ukraine. During his speech on Wednesday, Vladimir Putin pushed for the creation of a new world order. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): This is the essence of the Strategy of the BRICS course on the global arena, which meets the aspirations of the main part of the international community, the so-called global majority. And it is precisely this course that is especially in demand in the current conditions, when truly cardinal changes are taking place in the world, and the process of forming a multipolar world is underway.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH; Despite Western efforts to isolate President Putin over the war in Ukraine, more than a dozen world leaders are attending the summit and Russia appears to be strengthening ties with Asian powers. BRICS members now represent 45 percent of the global population.
The U.S. is publicly confirming a move by North Korea that has Western allies on edge. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says the U.S. is seeing evidence of North Korean troops in Russia but what they're doing remains unclear. A senior administration official tells CNN thousands of North Korean troops recently arrived in eastern Russia and are undergoing training. The move has fueled concerns they may take part in Russia's war in Ukraine.
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JOHN KIRBY, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COMMUNICATIONS ADVISER: If North Korean soldiers do enter into combat, this development would demonstrate Russia's growing desperation in its war against Ukraine. Russia is suffering extraordinary casualties on the battlefield every single day. But President Putin appears intent on continuing this war. If Russia is indeed forced to turn to North Korea for manpower, this would be a sign of weakness not strength on the part of the Kremlin.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: More now from CNN's senior international correspondent, Will Ripley.
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WILL RIPLEY, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At this remote Russian military base, a convoy of what appears to be North Korean troops training in a barren bleak stretch of wilderness deep in Russia's Far East. CNN geolocated this video.
Sergeevka training ground near China and North Korea, the front lines of Ukraine more than 4,000 miles away. Ukraine is where South Korean intelligence says these soldiers are going. 1,500 now, as many as 12,000 could be deployed, South Korean media says. Some seen here supposedly just days ago getting their Russian military uniforms.
The audio muffled, the language sounds like Korean. We can't independently verify this video provided to CNN by the Ukrainian government. They also shared this, a uniform sizing questionnaire dated last week, in both Korean and Russian, for hats, headgear, uniforms, and shoes.
RIPLEY: Why would Kim Jong-un be sending troops to Russia and to Ukraine?
DANIEL PINKSTON, LECTURER IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, TROY UNIVERSITY: So if Russia is successful, then the North Koreans could follow suit and it could be a very dangerous situation.
RIPLEY (voice-over): As Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin deepen their anti-U.S., anti-West military partnership, a terrifying scenario, says Ukraine's president.
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: We know about 10,000 soldiers of North Korea that they are preparing to send fight against us. And this is the first step to a world war.
RIPLEY (voice-over): At the United Nations, no comment from North Korea.
UNKNOWN: (inaudible) the stereotype rumors aimed at smearing the image of the DPRK.
RIPLEY (voice-over): They've been busy lately blowing up border roads with South Korea.
Just days after supposed South Korean drones dropped propaganda leaflets on Pyongyang, North Korea's capital, almost at Kim's doorstep.
UNKNOWN: His regime is very even beyond normal levels of paranoia right now.
[03:45:01]
RIPLEY (voice-over): This week Seoul summoned Russia's ambassador condemning what could be North Korea's largest ever overseas deployment. Bigger than the 1973 Yom Kippur War and Vietnam, says this retired South Korean Lieutenant General.
LT. GEN. CHUN IN-BUM (RET.), SOUTH KOREAN ARMY: So this could be a real serious problem for the entire world.
RIPLEY (voice-over): A problem compounded by a massive influx of North Korean weapons into Russia. Reports of 70 shipments of shells, missiles and anti-tank rockets since August 2023. Not to mention North Korean ballistic missiles, which Ukraine says have killed civilians, including children.
Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: An assignment in Sudan goes terribly wrong when a CNN crew is captured by a militia. Our chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward explains what happened and why they were released.
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CHURCH: Earlier this month, a CNN crew was held captive in the North Darfur region of war-torn Sudan. They arrived to report on the world's worst humanitarian crisis but wound up becoming part of the story. Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward's team was supposed to meet a group deemed a neutral party in Sudan's civil war but instead they were detained by a heavily armed militia for 48 hours. CNN's Richard Quest spoke to Ward about the conditions leading up to their terrifying ordeal and how they got through it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD QUEST, CNN ANCHOR: Thank God you and the team are safe. But it's a risk you all took because this is the forgotten war. I mean, God help me for saying in those terms, but you know what I mean. This is the forgotten war that is just getting worse.
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There's no question, Richard, that the conflict in Sudan has been overshadowed by Ukraine, by Gaza. But when you talk to the UN, when you talk to aid workers, they will say by the numbers alone, Sudan is the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
And Darfur in particular, all eyes are on it at the moment. There was a genocide that was perpetrated there between 2003, 2005. We have seen vicious war crimes taking place that are really heightening fears that you could see the worst being realized once again in Darfur.
On top of that, you have huge displacement, heavy fighting, the spread of disease, and in August a famine declared in the Zamzam displaced people's camp outside of the besieged city of El Fasher and Tawila, the town that we were trying to get to is just a few hours away from El Fasher from Tawila.
[03:50:00]
Almost no International journalists have been able to get in on the ground, the two main warring factions simply not giving permissions to journalists and so that has made it next to impossible to effectively report on this crisis, Richard.
QUEST: So you and the team are held for two days. I've heard your description, I've read your description of you under trees. You were not harmed, but the very fact of being detained is a horror in itself. How are you all?
WARD: We're all fine. It was absolutely a stressful ordeal. All of us, I think, were very much fixated on our families back home and how stressful this must be for them. And it weighs on you not having information, not knowing when you might be able to get out, when you might be able to cuddle your kids again.
As the only woman, I was very mindful of restricting my food and water intake because there was no private place where I could relieve myself. At the end of the day, we got out after two days, we came back home, we're safe, and we're with our families. And as journalists, it is so cringe-inducing, honestly, Richard, to become the story.
But we felt it was really important to share our experience because it does touch on the broader themes and challenges of covering this conflict, but also of the complexity of the situation in Darfur, the difficulty of getting aid in, the difficulty of human rights organizations getting in, and getting the stories out of the people of Darfur that deserve to be told and that the world needs to hear.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: The militia leaders eventually announced they were releasing our colleagues, claiming they thought they were spies. Ward said after hearing the news, there was a wave of relief. Then came smiles and handshakes. And this photo that she described as awkward posing on a mat that had been their makeshift prison. And you can read Clarissa Ward's entire report about being held captive in Sudan on cnn.com.
Is it safe to eat at McDonald's in the United States? American health officials raise concerns about an outbreak linked to the fast food chain.
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CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. A Norwegian tech firm is warning that ChatGPT can be tricked into telling people how to commit crimes. The software firm, Strys, ran experiments asking the artificial intelligence platform for tips on how to commit tech-based crimes. In one experiment, the chatbot produced advice on how to launder money across borders.
In another, ChatGPT was coached to create lists to help businesses evade certain types of sanctions. When asked about the experiments, an OpenAI spokesperson told CNN, they are constantly making chat GPT better at stopping deliberate attempts to trick it without losing its helpfulness or creativity.
Health investigators are learning more about what's behind the deadly E. coli outbreak linked to food at McDonald's restaurants here in the United States. And while its CEO says it's safe to eat at the fast food chain, officials warn this outbreak may get worse. CNN medical correspondent Meg Tirrell has details.
[03:55:06]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: The CDC is calling this a severe E. Coli outbreak and they're still working on pinning down all of the details. But what we know so far is that at least 49 people have become sick across 10 states, 10 people have been hospitalized, including a child, and one person has died.
Now most of the cases have been identified in Colorado and that is where the elderly person who died was. Now they are still trying to trace the exact ingredient that was contaminated here. They said that every person they interviewed had reported eating at a McDonald's and most particularly remembered eating a quarter pounder.
So far the investigations are homing in on the fresh slivered onions that are used on the quarter pounders, but they haven't yet ruled out the beef patties. So McDonald's says that it is pulling those ingredients from store menus in affected states as this investigation continues and they are trying to reassure folks that it is safe to eat at McDonald's right now. Here's what they're telling people.
JOE ERLINGER, MCDONALD'S USA PRESIDENT: It is important to note that the onset dates for this disease are between at this point, September 27th and October 11th. If there has been contaminated product within our supply chain, but it's very likely worked itself through that supply chain already. But certainly we'll be working with the CDC and cooperating with them on the investigation. And we'll take in more data and let the science continue to lead our action.
TIRRELL: Now as investigators are looking for the precise source of the E. coli, they need to also ensure that this hasn't been distributed beyond McDonald's. So they say they are still investigating whether this could affect potentially other stores or restaurants.
We are also potentially expecting there to be more cases identified as this investigation goes on and more illnesses are linked back to this particular strain of E. coli. Now symptoms of E. coli include things like severe stomach cramps, diarrhea that can sometimes vomiting, fever. These typically come on within three to four days of having consumed the bacteria, although the onset can be even out to as far as nine days.
Now typically most people get better on their own within about a week, but severe cases can require hospitalization. The CDC is telling folks that if they experience these symptoms, particularly if they have them over a number of days, they should seek health care and they should report back on what they ate.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
And thanks so much for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. Have a wonderful day. "CNN Newsroom" continues next with Max Foster and Christina Macfarlane.
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