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CNN International: Harris to Deliver Address on Reproductive Freedom at Texas Rally; Palestinian Survivors say IDF used them as Human Shields; Georgia Election Could Determine its Future in Europe; 11 Days to Go: Harris, Trump both to Campaign in Texas; Los Angeles CO District Attorney to Recommend Resentencing for 1996 Murder Conviction for Killing Parents; Yankees Face Dodgers in World Series Starting Friday. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired October 25, 2024 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Fredricka Whitfield, and this is the CNN Newsroom. Just ahead, with only 11 days to go until Election Day, Kamala Harris brings in the star power. Last night, it was Bruce Springsteen and Barack Obama, and today, it's Beyonce.

Israel strikes Gaza with force, killing dozens of Palestinians in overnight strikes, while Lebanon accuses Israel of killing three journalists. And after more than 200 days in space, NASA's SpaceX Crew 8 makes a safe return to Earth.

All right, the sprint to the White House is speeding up. Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are both set to be back on the campaign trail in the coming hours, with just now 11 days to go in the race to be President of the United States. Harris will be joined at a rally in Houston on abortion rights.

And she'll be joined by Super Star and Houston Native Beyonce. And on Thursday night, there was more star power on display at a Harris rally in the battleground State of Georgia, including Rock Icon Bruce Springsteen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump is running to be an American tyrant. He does not understand this country, its history or what it means to be deeply American, and that's why November 5th I'm casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN U.S. National Politics Correspondent Eva McKend is watching the Harris campaign and joining us now live. Good morning to you, Eva. So, lots of star are there -- you know, joining the Harris campaign and the home stretch now and with polls so close, I don't know. Is it influential to have this kind of star power? Bruce Springsteen last night, Beyonce this evening? EVA MCKEND, CNN U.S. NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: That's the big question, Fred and time will tell. But certainly, Democrats historically have liked to lean into their celebrity surrogates in order to drop more attention to their campaigns, especially for folks who are not tuned into politics.

I want to talk about where the vice president is going to be today, though, because it is unusual for her to be going to Texas, which, of course, is not a battleground state, but the campaign having her travel there because they describe it as the epicentre of abortion bans.

The event will feature a Texas couple who led a lawsuit against the state's abortion bans after suffering life threatening pregnancy complications. Shanette Williams, she is the mother of Amber Nicole Thurman, who died in 2022 from a treatable infection due to delays to her medical care stemming from Georgia's restrictive abortion law. She's also going to be in attendance.

And that's what we're seeing Fred from the Harris campaign. They're leaning on women to tell their own stories, to illustrate the tragedies abortion restrictions have led to. Now take a listen to how the vice president talks about this issue on the campaign trail.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S., (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald Trump still refuses to even acknowledge the pain and the suffering he has caused. He insists that, quote, everybody wanted for Roe Versus Wade to be overturned, which is just a further example of how out of touch the man is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: And so, Vice President Harris, going to be joined in Texas by Beyonce, Willie Nelson, continuing to lean into that star power before she heads to Michigan tomorrow, where she will be with Former First Lady Michelle Obama Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yeah, lots of star power in a couple days. Really, it's been all week long too. So, Eva -- you know, back to Texas. So is it the goal of Harris to influence Texas voters, or is there a feeling, well, that's a long shot. It's just that Texas is the backdrop for an issue that is of concern, coast-to-coast reproductive rights.

MCKEND: Well, there's a Senate there that Democrats hope will be competitive. They believe they have a strong candidate in Colin Allred going up against incumbent Republican Senator Ted Cruz. But no, I have not heard from Democrats that they have national aspirations to win in terms of the presidential race there, but they think that Texas is a really important symbol for this issue.

[08:05:00]

They think that this issue doesn't fall neatly along party lines, that there are Republican women, conservative women that this resonates with, who may have previously been anti-abortion, but are now seeing the result of this in real time and have real concerns. And so that is why she wants to go to Texas.

WHITFIELD: All right. Eva McKend, thank you so much. All right, Former President Donald Trump will also be in Texas later on today, he will be with Senator Ted Cruz, before moving on to a rally in the swing State of Michigan. In Nevada on Thursday night, the Former President was asked about comments by his Former Chief of Staff, John Kelly, who says Trump admired the Nazi generals of the Third Reich. Trump answered quote, I never said that. I would never say that end quote.

CNN's U.S. National Correspondent Kristen Holmes is tracking all of this. She's joining us live now. So good morning to you. Trump, clearly denying John Kelly's claims. So, what is Trump trying to focus his campaign on in the meantime?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know that Donald Trump is really trying to maintain focus on three key issues, immigration, economy and inflation and crime. That being said, it is still Donald Trump. So, any conversation Fred around focus is often a loose one.

But when you hear Donald Trump speaks, particularly in these recent days, you can see just how dark his rhetoric is getting. I want to play for you just an example of what last night looked like.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She will obliterate our economy, kill millions of jobs, kill thousands of people too by the way. We're like it. We're like a garbage can for the world. That's what's happened. That's what's happened to -- we're like a garbage can. And we have a lot of towns that haven't yet been infected, but they're petrified that they will be, and they will be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And part of the strategy is one that Donald Trump sees as successful, at least in the past. He believes that his dark rhetoric, particularly around immigration, listen to those trash can of the world comments that helped propel him to the White House in 2016. He believes it could help him again in 2024.

Now, as for what Donald Trump is focusing on today, he will also be in Texas. He's going to be in Austin, Texas. He has arranged for a speaking event. He's just going to be talking to press, obviously, talking about immigration, tying it to the border. He's going to be in a border state.

But the real reason that he's in Austin, Texas to sit down with basically podcast king, and I say that because that's a moniker he's been dubbed Joe Rogan, who has more than 15 million followers on Spotify. This is really the crowning jewel of a strategy that Donald Trump's team has been trying to deploy, which is sitting him down for these podcasts that reach people who could be voters but don't generally vote, people who don't really engage with politics in a typical way.

And Joe Rogan, for them, is something they've been working on for months. They enlisted RFK, who Joe Rogan has a good relationship with, to help with this sit down. They are trying to bring those low propensity or voters that don't typically hit the polls to the poll in -- to the polls in November, and this is part of that strategy.

So will be interesting to see what these two men talk about, particularly because they don't necessarily have the rosiest past after Rogan said that all politicians were manipulative, except for RFK Jr., Donald Trump, obviously one to hit back. Did in fact, go after Joe Rogan after that. So, we'll see how this plays out when the two men sit down together today.

WHITFIELD: All right. Kristen Holmes, thank you so much. Keep us posted. All right, from Lebanon to Gaza. Israel, rather, is intensifying its operation on multiple fronts. In Northern Gaza health officials say the Israeli military fired on and entered a hospital for a second time. Some 170 patients and 200 doctors and workers are said to be inside the Kamal Adwan Hospital where communication has been cut off.

And disturbing video from Southern Gaza, emergency officials there say at least 26 Palestinians were killed in deadly overnight strikes in Khan Yunis, video from CNN shows a large number of bodies there. And in Lebanon, the health ministry says three journalists were killed in an Israeli air strike in a building known to house media workers.

A senior Lebanese official accuses Israel of carrying out a quote, deliberate assassination. This as U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, tries to revive a Gaza ceasefire hostage release deal. He met with a Lebanese Caretaker Prime Minister and other officials in London today. Earlier, he said talks will resume this weekend. CNN's Paula Hancocks is tracking the story from Abu Dhabi and joins us now. Paula a deadly night in Gaza and Lebanon bring us up to speed.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka starting off in Northern Gaza, we have seen one of the hospitals in Jabalia, Kamal Adwan Hospital being entered by the Israeli military.

[08:10:00]

Now this coming from the Ministry of Health, also from the Director of that hospital, who said that it has been surrounded for days now and has come under shelling, but now the Israeli military twice has entered the hospital this Friday, saying that on Friday morning they were separating the men from the women, also saying that the oxygen station has been damaged. And we did see video of that Director in the ICU, along with patients and medical staff huddled in the corner.

Now, from Israel's point of view, they say on Thursday night, they facilitated a World Health Organization convoy which took fuel to that hospital so that they could keep the generators going for another few days. They also say that they managed to evacuate some 49 patients and escorts to other hospitals. Now they say that they're operating in this area because Hamas is

regrouping, rebuilding in the area. This operation has been going for almost three weeks now. And they say that they have killed hundreds of militants and that they have evacuated about 45,000 civilians from Jabalia itself.

It is a very desperate situation, though we understand on the ground. The UN has warned that this is as bad as we have seen it over the past year in Gaza, which is remarkable when you consider that, and we know that there are many civilians still in that area, and there is very little aid getting through to them.

Now, just to mention Lebanon as well when it comes to the health facilities, we heard from the Ministry of Health that more than 100 of these health facilities have had to be shut down. That's about a third of what is in the country at this point because of Israeli air strikes. So that is a great concern at that point as well.

We know that there's still well over a million displaced and Israel says that those air strikes will continue, saying that it is giving warnings before it targets what it calls buildings and infrastructure, which is Hezbollah affiliated, Fredricka,

WHITFIELD: And then Paul Secretary Blinken, he's still on the road trying to push for renewed ceasefire talks. Any real potential for resolution before U.S. elections?

HANCOCKS: Even U.S. officials privately are not acknowledging that there's much chance of that. A breakthrough before the U.S. election appears unlikely at this point. I mean, one positive is the fact that they will be meeting on Sunday in Doha. You'll have the intelligence chiefs of the U.S. of Israel meeting with Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister.

And it's the first high level meeting really, we've seen of that in more than two months. These talks have been stalled. But we also understand from officials that it appears the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, wants to wait and see who he will be dealing with in the White House.

We heard from the Former U.S. President Donald Trump saying that in recent days, he's spoken multiple times to Mr. Netanyahu. And there is a general assumption that Netanyahu believes that Trump would be more positive and more sympathetic to his goals.

So, at this point, the overwhelming feeling is that even if you do get everybody in the room again, and they do start to talk about this possible cease fire hostage deal, it is unlikely that the Israeli side will want to commit to anything before it knows who it will be dealing with going forward Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Paul Hancockcs, thank you so much. All right. Meanwhile, back in Gaza, there are troubling new allegations that Israel is forcing Palestinians to act as human shields to avoid putting its troops in harm's way. CNN's Jeremy Diamond has this report. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They walked through the rubble at gunpoint, into potentially booby-trapped buildings and down darken tunnels. Some were teenagers, like 17-year- old Mohammed (ph). Others, like Abu Ali Yasin (ph) were grandparents.

These five Palestinians, all civilians say, the Israeli military detained them and used them as human shields in Gaza.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were forced to enter homes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Each time our lives were at risk. We're feared to death. We were afraid something might happen. They would ask us to do things like, move this carpet. Saying they were looking for tunnels.

[08:15:00]

DIAMOND (voice-over): Now for the first time on camera, an Israeli soldier is coming forward with his own account, describing how his infantry unit used two Palestinians as human shields.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We told them to enter the building before us. If there are any booby traps, they will explode and not us.

DIAMOND (voice-over): We've blurred his face and changed his voice because he risks reprisals for speaking out. Breaking the silence a watchdog group which verifies soldier's testimonials provided photographs and facilitated the interview. The soldier says, a 16- year-old boy and 20-year-old man were brought to his unit this spring.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Their hands were tied behind their back and they had a cloth over their eyes.

DIAMOND (voice-over): The instructions from the intelligence officer who delivered them were clear.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He told me to take them in the next attack used them as a human shield. He told me that they have a connection to Hamas.

DIAMOND (voice-over): For two days his unit followed those orders. This haunting photo captures the scene the silhouette of a Palestinian man flanked by two soldiers ordering him forward.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When we went to the attack, before they enter a building, we took the cloth up so they could see in my company, one of the soldiers knew Arabic. We just shouted in Arabic, open the door. Walk to this building or the other.

DIAMOND: You're using them because you think this building might be booby traps.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, my soldiers didn't like that at all, and they refused to do this anymore. DIAMOND (voice-over): The soldiers decided to take their concerns to their senior commander, telling him they believed they were violating international law.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The commander told this fellow, a simple soldier, doesn't need to think about international law.

DIAMOND: He didn't say, you guys shouldn't be doing this. This shouldn't be happening.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He said that we need to do this. He said that our lives are more important.

DIAMOND: So, he didn't just tell you, don't worry about it. He said, keep doing it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, yes.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Eventually, the commander relented, telling his soldiers they could release the two Palestinians.

DIAMOND: Suddenly you're allowed to release.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. It made it sure to us that they are not terrorists.

DIAMOND (voice-over): In a statement, the Israeli military said the IDF's directives and guidelines strictly prohibit the use of detained Gaza civilians for military operations. The relevant protocols and instructions are routinely clarified to soldiers in the field during the conflict.

But the Israeli military's use of human shields in Gaza appears to have been widespread, so common, it even had a name, mosquito protocol. Both Israeli and international law, ban the use of civilians in combat. Israel also accuses Hamas of using civilians as human shields. There is ample evidence for it, tunnels dug beneath homes and rockets fired from residential neighborhoods.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For me, it's more painful with my own army. Hamas is a terrorist organization. The IDF shouldn't use terrorist organization practices.

DIAMOND: And so, when you hear -- you know spokes people for the Israeli military, Israeli government officials, saying -- you know the Israeli military is the most moral army in the world.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's -- of course, I don't believe that.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Dr. Yahya Al Qayali (ph), who worked at Al Shifa Hospital, knows that all too well. Months after, he says, Israeli soldiers forced him to risk his life he cannot shake this terrifying experience.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Soldier asked me to come. He was talking me to English. Told me, I will kill you if you didn't enter there. I was thinking that I will be killed or die within minutes.

DIAMOND (voice-over): His brush with death and the day he feared he would never again see his family, Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And this command from Russia, mind your own business. That's Vladimir Putin's response to reports that North Korean soldiers are going to fight alongside Russian troops in Ukraine. The details after the break. And excitement is building for baseball fans, the sport's biggest global star is helping to boost interest and ticket prices to the World Series, a preview of the Dodgers Yankees face-off straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:20:00]

WHITFIELD: President Vladimir Putin says his country is quote, in contact with North Korea. But Putin refused to confirm or deny the presence of North Korean troops inside Russia, or whether they will fight in Ukraine. Russian soldiers have been heard raising concerns about the North Korean troops in leaked audio recently obtained by Ukrainian intelligence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's standing there talking to this mother -- about the K Battalion. He was just talking about the "K Battalion". I asked "who gets the weapon", the ammo for them? We did get -- rations. And from what I hear, the f -- brigade gets it". And he's like "why the f -- brigade? You receive everything".

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Marc Stewart joining us live to give us a reaction from both the Kremlin and Beijing Marc.

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Fredricka. Let's first talk about the timing and context of all of this. News of this North Korean deployment, this potential North Korean deployment into Ukraine, comes at the conclusion of the BRICS Summit in Russia, where many world leaders gathered from Russia, from China, many from the area known as the global south.

And one of the big takeaways was this push to create almost a new world order, an alternative to the United States and the relationships it has created with its allies, some of these alliances. And that is why this North Korean news at this moment is so attention getting.

As far as reaction is concerned, from the Kremlin and from Vladimir Putin, he has been very careful in what he says. His responses have been very murky when confronted about this North Korean question in front of reporters, let's take a listen to his response from Thursday, as this big conference in Russia was coming to its conclusion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT: As for our relations with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, as you know, our strategic partnership treaty was ratified only today. There is Article IV, and Russia never doubted that the DPRK is serious about Russian cooperation. But what we will do and how we will do it is our business.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEWART: This North Korea news is also getting attention here in China. North Korea and China have a relationship that involves a lot of diplomatic support, economic support. Xi Jinping, China's President, as well as North Korean Leader Kim Jong-Un also have a relationship.

During a news briefing that we see every day here in Beijing with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs question -- a question was raised about this North Korean action, this potential North Korean action, and the response simply was, we do not have information on that.

But this North Korean relationship with China is important because China wants to make sure that North Korea, perhaps, doesn't do anything that would make -- maintaining a world presence even more difficult than it already is. Fredricka, these different relationships between all of these different nations that we have been seeing emerging in recent months and recent years is getting not only the attention of the United States, but also from officials with NATO.

WHITFIELD: Certainly. Marc Stewart in Beijing thanks so much. All right, Russia's influence looms large over Saturday's parliamentary elections in the neighboring country of Georgia. Voters will determine whether Georgia moves closer to European Union membership or veers toward Moscow. critics at home and abroad have accused the ruling dream party of seeking to restore ties with Russia, which polls show most Georgians dislike, while deliberately tanking its chances of EU membership.

[08:25:00]

All right, still to come, getting down to the wire in the race to the White House, Kamala Harris shares the stage with celebrities as Donald Trump's team focuses on an army of election poll watchers. Details straight ahead. And new million-dollar winners have been announced in Elon Musk's sweeps stakes for registered voters after a warning from the U.S. Justice Department.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: 11 days and counting, Kamala Harris leans on some star power in her push for new support at a rally in the battleground State of Georgia, on Thursday, Harris was joined on stage by Former President Barack Obama for the first time on the campaign trail. The two were introduced by Rock Legend and American Icon, Bruce Springsteen, Also speaking before the crowd, thousands at that rally, Filmmaker

Taylor Perry, Actor Samuel Jackson and Director Producer Spike Lee. As both Democrats and Republicans push people to the polls for early voting, election security is at the forefront, but some measures are sparking concerns.

The Republican National Committee says it is rolling out tens of thousands of volunteer poll watchers across battleground states to make sure every vote is counted correctly they say. Election workers fear this tactic could lead to altercations and intimidation. For more on this, I want to bring in CNN's Sara Murray. Sara, what are you learning?

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think there's just some uncertainty about how this is going to play out when we've seen so much rising election skepticism from the Republican Party, and now we've seen this really coordinated effort, not just by the Republican National Committee, but other conservative groups, to essentially say to these folks who are skeptical of the 2020 results.

You should show up. You should be poll workers. You should be poll watchers. You should be attorneys who are working for us to monitor the vote. And you know, there was an incident over the summer in a town in Wisconsin where poll watchers got very aggressive. They had to be removed by police as we're looking ahead to again, Election Day, just coming up in November.

There are a handful of people on the statewide poll watchers list for the Republican Party in Georgia who are prominent election skeptics in some cases they were fake electors in 2020. And so, it does have voting rights groups, as well as some election officials, concerned that they could see disruptions, misinformation, that kind of thing at polling places and vote counting sites.

[08:30:00]

What I will say is these election officials are so much more prepared for things like this, even than they were in 2020 you know, we saw the protests. We saw the disruptions at vote counting sites in 2020 this year. There are de-escalation trainings if things go wrong at a polling place, there are much clearer lines of communication between election officials and local law enforcement if someone needs to step in.

And frankly, there's also some skepticism on the left who say Republicans always promise they're going to have these armies of people showing up at the polls, and those thousands of people never come to fruition. So, you know, this could be certainly a fundraising tactic on behalf of the RNC as well.

For election officials, the most important thing is people are not scared to show up at the polls. They still show up. They cast their vote. And election officials, they're going to do everything in their power to make sure that goes safely and smoothly for everyone.

WHITFIELD: And then Sarah will these volunteer poll watchers. Are they outside or inside the polling stations?

MURRAY: I mean, they can be both. But I think the concern, you know, is there are going to be these partisan poll watchers, again, from both parties, Republican and Democratic Party, that are inside the polling locations, that are inside the vote counting center. And this is the way elections are supposed to be set up.

It sort of adds transparency to the process that helps to monitor for, you know, things that might go wrong. Like, let's say a polling location opens a little bit later, and a party wants to go to a local judge and say, hey, this polling location didn't open on time. We wanted to stay open for another hour.

That's the kind of stuff we're used to seeing, traditionally in elections, what we don't want to see, what election officials don't want to see this time, is people being overly aggressive, trying to challenge voters.

WHITFIELD: Yeah confrontations.

MURRAY: Trying to claim witnessing some kind of fraud.

WHITFIELD: Right.

MURRAY: Yeah, they don't want to see confrontations.

WHITFIELD: Nobody wants to see that.

MURRAY: Yeah.

WHITFIELD: All right. Sara Murray, thanks so much. All right. Let's talk now with Washington Correspondent for the Atlanta Journal- Constitution Tia Mitchell. Good morning, Tia from Atlanta. So, we just heard, you know, Sara, talk about the concerns of election officials.

You know have about volunteers from the Republican National Committee potentially causing issues on Election Day. How likely a possibility, do you think that will be especially in the key battle ground states like Georgia, where you are? We have no audio. I'm not hearing you, Tia.

TIA MITCHELL, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT FOR THE ATLANTA JOURNAL- CONSTITUTION: -- can you hear me now?

WHITFIELD: Oh, that's better. I can hear you now. OK, continue.

MITCHELL: I was saying that it might be a possibility, but the question it's really what you guys just discussed.

WHITFIELD: Yeah.

MITCHELL: It's how these poll watchers interact with the election officials at the precinct.

WHITFIELD: Yeah. MITCHELL: How aggressive they'll be. It's one thing to watch, it's one thing to report. It's one thing to advocate. It's another thing to try to challenge votes right then and there and then what we saw in 2020 which became very problematic, is that so called poll watchers, or people who felt they were, you know, looking into activities at Georgia precinct, spread false information about the vote counting of ballots and false information about what they observe.

We all know about Rudy Giuliani talking about video showing, you know, ballot -- suitcases of ballots and passing of flash cards, and that just wasn't true or not in the way it was described and that's where it could be problematic, because these poll watchers don't always know exactly what's going on.

So, you can ask questions, you can seek information, you can advocate, but you don't want poll watchers becoming a hindrance to a free and fair election.

WHITFIELD: Right. I mean, is there training involved, or is it just hey, you volunteer, you show up? You say, I am. You know, here to be a poll watcher. But then, as you said, I mean, do they know what they're looking for? Do they know what you know the procedure is?

MITCHELL: Yeah, in the Republican Party, actually, both parties, quite frankly, have been training volunteers. So, there is training going on. Now the Trump campaign has also been training volunteers. So, there's like, an official apparatus, but also campaign training.

So again, we hope that training show tells volunteers what's the law, encourages restraint, encourages them to follow a chain of command if they do see something that they find concerning or questionable, but it's all in how that's applied on Election Day.

WHITFIELD: Got it. OK, so as people you know cast their ballots in Georgia, you know, and coast to coast, the economy is a driving concern, but so are women's reproductive rights. So, in Houston this evening, Kamala Harris, she's making that issue front and center.

[08:35:00]

Joining her on stage will be Beyonce, you know after, you know, a huge star stud event last night in Atlanta with Bruce Springsteen, Samuel Jackson, Former President Obama. So, appealing to women on reproductive rights, it's huge. This after Trump's, you know, daddy's home kind of thing by Tucker Carlson.

So, you know how important is tonight for the Harris-Walz campaign. Oh, lost your audio again. Hit that little button.

MITCHELL: I -- OK --

WHITFIELD: OK, there you are. We've got little gremlins going on. I guess we better talk --

MITCHELL: Yeah -- problem.

WHITFIELD: OK, go ahead.

MITCHELL: I was at the Trump campaign on Wednesday, and the Trump rally on Wednesday, the Harris rally on Thursday. And you do see that contrast between what celebrities are showing up for Trump and how they're advocating for Trump. We saw Tucker Carlson calling him daddy and talking about Trump coming to kind of right the wrongs and punish a wayward government.

But we also so saw Harris in her surrogates really talking about how she is the candidate that will uphold rule of law, uphold democracy, protect women's rights, and that's why they're encouraging people to vote for the Harris-Walz ticket. Now tonight, they're taking it to not a traditional battleground state, but a state where reproductive rights is front and center, and that's Texas, and quite frankly, bringing out one of her highest profile surrogates.

You got Harris has Beyonce and Taylor Swift, arguably the two biggest singers in the world right now. And one of them, we think is going to be there tonight. That's going to be, you know, a powerful message, because we know that Beyonce has young supporters. We know that she's just a cultural icon, and people pay attention when she talks.

WHITFIELD: Right. And she's from the Houston area. They will be in Harris County, which is Houston there, so that will be something. Meantime, you know, Trump is, you know, he knows Texas is important. He's got a lot of confidence and should really for, you know, Texas backing.

He will be there later on today, Senator Ted Cruz, you know, who is in a tight race of his own against Democrat Congressman Colin Allred. So, you know, you underscore that Texas has very strict abortion, you know, restrictions, perhaps one of the toughest in the country, banning the procedure at six weeks before many people even know that they're pregnant, with exceptions, only in the case of life endangerment for the mother.

That trigger law passed in 2021 but then it took effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the federal abortion rights in June 2022, so you know, Trump has owned that Supreme Court ruling, except now he's calling himself the father of IVF, for example. So, what kind of message might he be bringing to Texas, now?

MITCHELL: Interesting. Trump says he's coming to Texas to talk about border security, which we know is a vulnerability for Democrats. But at the end of the day, what Harris wants to talk about is reproductive rights, and we know that Trump has sent mixed messages on that topic. So, the question will be, does he address it at all this morning in his remarks from Austin.

WHITFIELD: Yeah.

MITCHELL: Because, on one hand, he does take credit for over helping the Supreme Court. You know, packing the Supreme Court was conservatives and leading to the overturning of Roe v. Wade. But then he also has said that he thinks some states have gone too far. And then, of course, he says he will protect IVF, although he hasn't specifically said what he would do about it. So, I don't know what his message could be on that, but the question is, will he address it at all this morning while he is in Texas.

WHITFIELD: Fascinating! All right. Tia Mitchell, glad we worked through the little gremlins in the computer system, we hear you loud and clear -- the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

MITCHELL: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Thanks so much this morning. Have a great weekend and day. All right. Elon Musk's super PAC has awarded two new prizes to registered voters. The million-dollar prizes were awarded in Michigan and Wisconsin. These winners come after an apparent pause on Wednesday.

It is the same day that we learned the Department of Justice sent a letter warning the group that the sweepstakes might violate federal election laws. The group has not given a reason for the one day pause. CNN's Marshall Cohen has been following the story for us. He is joining us right now.

Good morning to you. So, Elon Musk, clearly, he wasn't deterred by that warning, the money and the awards were given. So now what?

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER: Yeah, Fred, I think people at the Justice Department might be coming to the realization that it's hard to deter the wealthiest man in the entire world. So, we've got to stand off now.

[08:40:00]

On one side, the Justice Department warning Elon Musk's Super PAC that this daily sweepstakes might be illegal. On the other side, you have Elon Musk and his Super PAC moving full speed ahead. Remember how we got here, Fred? This was an announcement last weekend, Saturday, with Elon Musk campaigning in Pennsylvania in support of Donald Trump.

He said that his Super PAC would give away a million dollars a day to anyone who signs his petition in support of the Constitution. But if you looked at the fine print of that petition, only registered voters in battle ground states could sign up. That was the core of the legal issue, because it's against federal law to associate or to connect the act of registration with cash incentives or prizes.

It's illegal. You can't do it, and the Justice Department polices that every election cycle, and that's exactly what they did here. We reported on Wednesday that they got wind -- after getting wind of the sweepstakes, they sent a letter to Musk, his Super PAC, warning them that it could violate the law.

The group did not name any winners on Wednesday to their daily lottery, but they named two last night, registered voters in Wisconsin and Michigan got the cash prize of a million dollars each. So, it looks like they are moving ahead despite the potential legal scrutiny. WHITFIELD: Fascinating! All right. Marshall Cohen, thanks so much. All right. Still to come, NASA's SpaceX Crew-8 mission has splashed down. We look at what the crew accomplished in their more than seven months in space.

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WHITFIELD: After 232 days aboard the International Space Station NASA's SpaceX Crew-8 back on Earth. Now they splash down at 3:29 a.m. Eastern Time off the coast of Florida. Their Dragon spacecraft will return to the SpaceX facilities at Cape Canaveral. NASA says, the crew of three astronauts and one cosmonaut were taken to a local hospital for health checks out of an abundance of caution.

And during their time in space, they traveled over 100 million miles and completed more than 3700 orbits around Earth. Their research, including advanced human exploration in space. Right, 3 million people joined a live stream to secure a ticket on a Chinese rocket.

The two tickets were sold at 1,000,001 that's about $140,000. This is the first time a Chinese firm has sold tickets for space tourism, and the trip will be roughly 12 minutes to the edge of space. The Los Angeles County District Attorney says he will recommend resentencing for the Menendez brothers at a hearing in a few hours from now.

[08:45:00]

He says the move could make them eligible for immediate parole. The trial of Lyle and Erik Menendez gripped the U.S. in the 1990s. They're currently serving life sentences without parole for killing their parents in 1989. But recently, there has been new attention on the case CNN's Jean Casarez has more.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon is recommending a resentencing for Erik and Lyle Menendez. They, of course, are the brothers that were sentenced in 1996 for premeditated murder of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez in 1989.

At the time of the commission of their crimes, Erik was 18, Lyle was 21. The district attorney says they have served and been in custody about 35 years at this point, and because of their rehabilitation, which it appears he's going to focus in on, he believes that a resentencing is appropriate. Here are the exact words of the District Attorney of Los Angeles, George Gascon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE GASCON, LOS ANGELES COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: After very careful review of all the arguments that were made for people on both sides of this equation. I came to a place where I believe that under the law resentencing is appropriate, and I am going to recommend that to a court.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CASAREZ: The district attorney says that continuous rehabilitative efforts of the brothers during their incarceration is going to be front and center in this, but also of immense importance is he says, quote, our office has gained a deeper understanding of the complexities surrounding sexual violence.

The defense of these brothers was that their father sexually assaulted them for years, and they committed these killings because of the fear that they had inside of them. Now, the district attorney says that they have done a meticulous review of the filings, they have spoken with family members who are supportive of this.

They are really looking at the rehabilitation and that the focus has been that prison is where you serve out your sentence. That is your punishment. And this is according to California statute, and that the prison sentence itself that you have endured is rehabilitative. It is the rehabilitation.

Next step will be it will go before a judge. We'll see if anyone contests this. And the date for a hearing is as yet to be determined. Jean Casarez, CNN, New York.

WHITFIELD: Thanks so much, Jean. All right, the World Series starts today. Star teams with big power, giving the series even more international flair, all helping to push ticket prices to record highs, a preview next. Plus, would you like a shorter work week? Get paid the same too. One country tried it for two years, and was surprised by the result. Details straight ahead.

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WHITFIELD: Iceland's economy is outperforming most other European countries after the nationwide introduction of a shorter work week, between 2020 and 2022, more than half of workers in the country accepted the offer of shorter working hours, including a four-day week with no loss in pay.

[08:50:00]

And last year, Iceland logged faster economic growth than most European countries, and its unemployment rate is one of the lowest in Europe. Anna Stewart is following the story from London. I mean, that's great incentive people get a chance to be in those hot springs a little bit longer.

ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We -- why are we still here --

WHITFIELD: -- what are we doing? Let's get on board.

STEWART: Right -- Iceland had two big trials that they ran between 2015 and 2019 there were about 2500 employees involved. And they were told that they could reduce their working hours to 35, 36 hours a week, losing about half a day, but the pay would stay the same.

Now this is really different to other sort of trials around the world that be looking into four day working weeks, where effectively you squeeze the same number of hours into just four days. This is literally reducing the hours. And the results found that productivity stayed the same or even improved at most workplaces, and employee well-being sort of shot through the roof.

Everyone was much happier. So, it was following this that trade unions around the country started negotiating reduced working hours for many more people. So over half of Iceland's workforce, the half of the population are in the workforce, are now doing reduced hours, and the results seem to be pretty good.

The economy is growing at 5 percent, unemployment is low, but before everyone sort of ditches their stuff and runs out the office on a Friday. Ice's economy is fairly different to most. It's heavy on services and on tourism. With this work, for instance, with an economy based on factories where you need that sort of output, who knows? But the results certainly say that hasn't impacted the economy badly at all, let's go.

WHITFIELD: That's very good. Hey, people are happier. Happy people, happy economy.

STEWART: Right.

WHITFIELD: All right. Anna Stewart, thanks so much. All right, the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers are preparing for an epic showdown when the World Series kicks off later on Friday. Ticket sales have soared to record highs as fans scramble to see the two teams face off for the first time since 1981. CNN's Natasha Chen has more.

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NATASHA CHEN, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): East versus West. Shohei Ohtani versus Aaron Judge, it's the dream matchup 43 years in the making.

MIGUEL JIMENEZ, KADI PROMOTIONS: Because he's Yankees versus Tigers. You know, nobody wants to miss this name.

CHEN (voice-over): Miguel Jimenez is a ticket reseller in Los Angeles. With high rolling clients hoping to score seats.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What kind of ticket you're looking for?

JIMENEZ: In this case, I'm just looking for the best deal. Whatever the best deal is?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, you know the cheapest tickets, 1100.

CHEN (voice-over): Seats closer to the action, are going for thousands the most expensive tickets to a World Series ever. Jimenez says that's partly because prices in general have jumped since the pandemic, but also because of who's playing.

CHEN: The interest in this epic World Series matchup between an East and West Coast team from the two largest metro areas in the U.S. really extends beyond our borders to countries where fans may have historically rooted for the Yankees.

JIMENEZ: Just to let you know, in Mexico, 80 percent of the population go for Yankees. A lot of people the north side of Mexico, they go for diets.

CHEN (voice-over): Gary Lee, Founder of the Dodgers Nation fan site, says, similarly in Japan after World War Two. There had been a tradition of rooting for the Yankees, but now Shohei Ohtani is their nation superstar.

GARY LEE, FOUNDER OF DODGERS NATION: Shohei Ohtani turning into a Dodger right now and then having to face the Yankees, this is going to be some discussions between grandpa and his grandkids at the dinner table.

CHEN (voice-over): Fans from Japan poured into LA during the regular season to see Ohtani play, staying in LAs, Little Tokyo, where businesses have seen way more customers this season.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We thought we ordered enough, but then people got, you know, the word got out, and all of a sudden, they're here all the time. We hit the like, 50/50, we broke the record. Tons of people just swarm downtown, just to, like, celebrate.

CHEN (voice-over): Very different dynamic than the last Dodgers World Series appearance in 2020 when the pandemic prevented most fans from attending any of the games played in Texas, rather than at the team's home stadiums.

LEE: That feeling we didn't get a parade, nothing, you know, it was more of like a yay, we won. You know, stay home. You know, keep your mouth on.

CHEN (voice-over): This time the series starts in Los Angeles, and people are seizing the moment, even if many can't afford a seat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a classic clown face, you know, a little bit of pin strip. Bring car culture into it.

CHEN (voice-over): They're buying merchandise and treats with cultural touches the way only a melting pot of a city can do.

DEANNA DUCTOC, OWNER OF LOS ANGELITOS BAKERY: It's even more meaningful because we're bringing our culture and what we love and part of our city together.

CHEN (voice-over): Natasha Chen, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Oh, yum. That's the part I like the most. All right, and it's no virtuoso like the human Yo-Yo Ma, but a Cello-playing robot made its musical debut last week with the Malmo orchestra in Sweden.

[08:55:00]

Oh, now I see it OK. The Mechanical Maestro was created by combining industrial robotic arms and a 3d printed parts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACOB MUHLRAD, COMPOSER: Musical notation is basically like code. So, my musical notation actually became transcribed as code. So, the robotic cello was actually playing like instantly from the score, rather than, you know, the interpretation that a musician makes out of the score.

And that was really interesting to see, like, you know how -- you know, how code, you know, kind of was translated from musical score to a code to this robotic cello.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And while the robot is a sophisticated machine. It does not use artificial intelligence. All right. Thank you so much for joining me here in the CNN "Newsroom". I'm Fredricka Whitfield. "Connect the World" with Eleni Giokos is up next.

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