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Musk in "Regular" Contact with Putin; Some RNC 2024 Poll Watchers are 2020 Election Deniers; Estimated $53B in Hurricane Damage in NC; Vance Falsely Says Harris Will Force Americans to Buy EVs; Deadline for U.S. Army to Release Record on Trump Arlington National Cemetery Visit; Harris Heads to Texas. Aired 10:30-11a ET
Aired October 25, 2024 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:30:00]
JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning, Elon Musk has been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin since 2022. This according to new reporting from The Wall Street Journal. Talks between the billionaire and Russia's leader were confirmed by several current and former U.S., European, and Russian officials.
And Gordon Lubold with The Wall Street Journal joins us now. He's a foreign policy and national security reporter and contributed to this latest reporting. Gordon, what can you tell us about these discussions?
GORDON LUBOLD, WALL STREET JOURNAL FOREIGN POLICY AND NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, thanks. You know, what we learned through our reporting was that there have been a number of regular conversations between Elon Musk and Russian Vladimir Putin, and other Russian officials over the course of the last couple of years. And, you know, the conversations are about a number of different things to include kind of geopolitical situation, a topic that Elon Musk seems more and more interested in.
ACOSTA: And the Journal obtained several statements on this story, apparently from the Kremlin. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the only communication the Kremlin has had with Elon Musk over the years was over one telephone call in which he and Putin discuss space as well as current and future technologies. Apart from that, he said neither Putin nor Kremlin officials were holding regular conversations with Musk.
We can also show this from the Pentagon. A spokesman said, we do not comment on any individual security clearance, review or status, or about personnel security policy matters in the context of reports about any individual's actions.
Musk did not respond to requests for comments. But Gordon, I mean, obviously, you guys aren't going to put a story in The Wall Street Journal about this sort of thing. It was just one conversation.
LUBOLD: Yes. And there was -- that one conversation is publicly known. Obviously, we're just reporting about a number of other conversations. You know, the implications or whatever are that, you know, Elon Musk, obviously very heavily involved in Trump's campaign. To be clear, you know, we have no evidence that Trump is asking Elon Musk to do his bidding with Vladimir Putin, but we know that Trump is very interested in cutting a deal to end the war in Ukraine.
And so, you know, it would stand to reason that there's some discussions along those lines, even though we were not suggesting that Trump is asking to do that. And then there's all of Elon Musk's business interests in the region, including a Starlink system over Ukraine.
ACOSTA: Well, and I was just going to ask about that. You and your colleagues also report that Putin asked must not to activate his Starlink satellite internet service over Taiwan as a favor of Chinese leader Xi Jinping. What can you tell us about that? That is fascinating.
LUBOLD: Right. So, you know, the interesting thing about Musk's, you know, Starlink system, which is owned by his company -- as part of his company SpaceX, is how uniquely capable it is to do these -- you know, provide these kinds of internet services.
And so, what it -- the idea that he would ask Musk to do him a favor for on behalf of President Xi to turn the system off over Taiwan, which, you know, China has some interest in potentially re-annexing is, you know, obviously concerning if, you know, this one billionaire businessman has that much kind of control over these kinds of capabilities that are so crucial to like, essentially world stability.
ACOSTA: All right. Well, Gordon Lubold, thank you very much for your time. Thanks for the reporting as always. We appreciate it.
LUBOLD: Thanks for having me.
ACOSTA: You can read about that in The Wall Street Journal. Coming up, a new reporting from CNN that some of the poll watchers the Republican National Committee wants to deploy are actually election deniers. That's coming up.
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[10:35:00]
ACOSTA: Now, to some new CNN reporting some of the tens of thousands of poll watchers The Republican National Committee is vowing to deploy in battleground states are in fact election deniers. Let's bring in CNN Sara Murray who has some new reporting on this. Sara tell us about some of these election observers.
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim I mean conservative groups including the Republican National Committee have made this big push to get people who were very skeptical about the 2020 election results more involved in the process is election observers. And there's reason there's, you know, been some consternation about that for election officials.
Over the summer in Wisconsin, there were some poll watchers who got aggressive and had to be removed by police looking ahead to Election Day in Georgia. The statewide Republican poll watcher list includes two fake electors as well as another prominent election skeptic. So, there's worries from voting rights groups and election officials about are these people really here to help facilitate voting, are they there to spread misinformation, could they cause disturbances at the poll?
And again, you know, Michael Whatley, who's the chair of the Republican National Committee has been going all over conservative media to basically say we need to be aggressive in our election monitoring this cycle. Take a listen to what he said on one conservative podcast.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL WHATLEY, CHAIRMAN, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: We are going to be aggressive. If you see things that are out there, send them to us, flag them, we're going to track them down. We're not going to wait until after the election is certified when it's too late to be able to go in and challenge these things.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MURRAY: Jim, I think the good news is election officials are so much more prepared this year than they were in 2020 for any possible disturbance. I mean, they have clearer lines of communication with law enforcement, they have panic buttons if they need them, they've taken de-escalation training.
[10:40:00]
So, they say, look, if some problem arises at a polling site or a vote counting center, we are prepared to deal with that. And the message they want to get out to people is, don't be afraid to show up and vote. They are going to do everything they can to make sure it goes smoothly for anyone who wants to cast a ballot early or on Election Day.
ACOSTA: All right. Sara Murray, thank you very much. Very important reporting. We appreciate it.
It has been a month since Hurricane Helene slammed into the southeast, causing devastation and destruction in Western North Carolina. The state's governor, Roy Cooper, estimates Helene will cost the state $53 billion in damage. Here's CNN's Meena Duerson on the ground in Boone, North Carolina.
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JOHN COUNCIL (PH): They actually got flooded out the Wednesday.
MEENA DUERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's been a month since Hurricane Helene hit.
COUNCIL (PH): If it's dry and it's warm, he's probably got no choice but to stay there right now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There we go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. There we go.
DUERSON (voice-over): And here in the mountains of Western North Carolina, volunteers are still working to help their neighbors recover.
COUNCIL (PH): The last few nights have been below freezing. They got hit pretty hard.
DUERSON (voice-over): John Council (ph) has been organizing relief and making home visits since the storm.
COUNCIL (PH): It takes a certain type of person to carve out an existence here.
DUERSON (voice-over): Council (ph) is checking on people like Ruthie Baker, whose mobile home was parked by the riverbank the night of the floods.
RUTHIE BAKER, NORTH CAROLINA STORM VICTIM: We moved when we saw campers, tiny homes, and cars floating away. It did tear up the bottom of the camper. So, right now, it's largely fixed the insulation in the bottom so that we can try to stay warm. I'm really worried about winter. Everybody's kind of on the same lane of we don't know what's going to happen, but we're scared.
DUERSON (voice-over): Staying warm is the challenge on everyone's minds. Immediate recovery efforts were focused on getting power and water back and clearing the roads.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you find everything else you need?
DUERSON (voice-over): But last week, the area got its first snow and temperatures below freezing.
ASHLEY GALLEHER, OWNER, ZIONVILLE RAMP COMPANY: These are incredible right now.
DUERSON: What are you hearing from people at the resource desk when they come in?
GALLEHER: Heat is a big one because it got cold really early this year.
DUERSON (voice-over): Ashley Gallaher turned her skate shop into this massive relief operation.
DUERSON: We heard just while we were there, two people come in looking for heaters.
GALLEHER: Yes, it gets really cold. We've had frost the last couple mornings.
DUERSON: How are you seeing this fit together with like federal relief efforts?
GALLEHER: That's been a challenge. I'll say social media and misinformation, lack of trust.
DUERSON (voice-over): That lack of trust has led some of the neediest to lean on local efforts, while deeply skeptical of FEMA.
GALLEHER: We had over 300 people visit our site, and they had nine people visit their site.
DUERSON: Nine?
GALLEHER: Yes.
DUERSON: And you built this barn?
RONALD WISE: I built this barn.
DUERSON (voice-over): Ronald Wise is 96 years old.
DUERSON: And I'm guessing it didn't always look like this.
WISE: No, it never did look like that.
DUERSON (voice-over): And has lived here for almost 80 years, in a house heated by a wood stove. The storm unleashed mudslides that destroyed his barn, wood splitter, and firewood he's been stockpiling for the last decade.
DUERSON: You had enough wood to last you until you were over 100?
WISE: Yes.
DUERSON: And now, what do you have?
WISE: I have one winter, maybe.
DUERSON (voice-over): This area was already squeezed by a housing crisis. Many who were flooded can't find or afford other options, and are living with mold or sleeping in tents.
DUERSON: What are you most concerned about?
SHERRYE TRICE, VOLUNTEER: We have people in unlivable homes. The biggest needs this winter are honestly going to be surviving it.
DUERSON (voice-over): For volunteers like Sherrye Trice, the first frost of the year was a warning sign of the danger to her community as the storm slips out of the headlines.
TRICE: People need heat, people need money, and people need our nation to pay attention and not forget about Appalachia.
DUERSON (voice-over): Meena Duerson, CNN, Boone, North Carolina.
(END VIDEOTAPE) ACOSTA: Coming up, Republicans are claiming that Vice President Kamala Harris will force Americans to buy electric vehicles. A fact check on that with our Daniel Dale. That's next.
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[10:45:00]
ACOSTA: Republican Vice Presidential Candidate J. D. Vance is accusing Kamala Harris of trying to destroy Michigan's auto industry. Here's what Vance told a crowd of rally goers during a visit to the battleground state just yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JD VANCE (R-OH), REPUBLICAN VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: It's not just that she wants to destroy the Michigan auto industry, it's that she wants to tax all of us so that we can buy electric vehicles made in China. Her electric vehicle mandate, basically trying to force every American to buy electric vehicles. And again, most of them are made in China. What that would do is that would put 117,000 auto workers out of a job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: All right. CNN's Daniel Dale joins us now with a fact check. Daniel, what are the facts?
DANIEL DALE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Jim, the fact is the Biden-Harris administration has not forced and is not forcing Americans to buy electric vehicles, and Vice President Harris is not proposing to force them to buy electric vehicles. Nobody is taking away your gas-powered car or taking those cars off the lots.
What the administration did do is introduce strict new tailpipe rules to require car companies to reduce emissions from the new vehicles they make. The companies will have to build more EVs for sure to meet these new pollution limits.
But here's the key, they won't have to solely build EVs. They can build hybrids, they can make gas powered cars more efficient. The new rules aim to have electric vehicles make up 35 percent to 56 percent of new vehicles sold in the U.S. in 2032.
35 to 56 would, of course, be a big jump from today. It's about -- it's under 10 percent today. But 56 percent is not 100 percent, and the rule also doesn't affect the gas-powered cars people already own, it doesn't affect used cars. In short, Vance, Trump, and the campaign, you might have seen many ads talking about an EV mandate, they're all consistently exaggerating what the Biden-Harris administration is actually doing.
[10:50:00]
ACOSTA: And, Daniel, I also want to place something that Former President Obama said on the campaign trail with Kamala Harris in Georgia yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Some folks would be like, well, Donald Trump sent me a check during the pandemic. No, no, no. You all know -- because I've heard this. I know you all -- some of you heard that. Hey, let me make sure you all understand this. Joe Biden sent you a check during the pandemic, just like I gave people relief during the Great Recession. The thing is, we didn't put our name on it because it wasn't about feeding our egos, it wasn't about advancing our politics, it was about helping people. That's the difference.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Daniel, what's the fact check on this?
DALE: I think this whole we didn't put our name on it thing is at least a little bit misleading. It is true that Joe Biden, unlike Donald Trump, did not have his own name put on the actual COVID relief checks that were sent out to people, but exactly like Trump, Biden did put his name on and have a signature added to the letters that were sent out to people who received these payments. And he described these payments as a fulfillment of his own promises.
I have one of these letters in front of me, it said, a key part of the American rescue plan is direct payments of $1,400 per person for most American households, it went on to say, this fulfills a promise I made to you and will help get millions of Americans through this crisis. At the bottom, you'll see President Joseph R. Biden Jr. with the signature. So, this narrative that, oh, you know, Trump put his name on it for ego and Biden just let this be about service, I don't think that narrative quite holds.
ACOSTA: All right. Daniel Dale, we always appreciate those fact checks. Keep them coming. Thanks so much.
DALE: Thank you.
ACOSTA: The clock is ticking for the U.S. Army to comply with a court order to release records related to Donald Trump's controversial visit to Arlington National Cemetery. A federal judge ordered the records to be released by today following a lawsuit brought by a nonpartisan watchdog. Trump's visit to the historic military cemetery back in August drew criticism after a physical and verbal altercation allegedly occurred between a Trump team member and a cemetery official. Joining us now is CNN's Natasha Bertrand. Natasha, what more can you tell us?
NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim. So, almost two months to the day after Trump made this very controversial visit to Arlington National Cemetery. We are expecting to see new records released from the army about just what happened that day, including what ideally and possibly the police report that was filed regarding the incident.
Now, just taking you back to that day on August 26, Donald Trump, he visited Arlington National Cemetery at the invitation, he says, of some Gold Star families whose loved ones were killed at the Abbey Gate bombing in Kabul in 2021. But during that visit, according to a report that was filed and according to statements from The Time, there was an altercation with an Arlington National Cemetery employee who tried to prevent him from entering a certain part of the cemetery because of the ban that the U.S. Army and Arlington National Cemetery have on political activities at that cemetery.
Now, shortly after that incident, Trump did release a video on TikTok where he started talking about how disastrous the withdrawal from Afghanistan was under the Biden administration. And in the background of that video, you can actually see some gravestones of people other than the Gold Star families loved ones who were buried there. And of course, according to veterans, according to people we have spoken to, that was problematic because, of course, they did not give their permission to be used in a video that appeared to be more of a political ad than anything else.
And so, what we're expecting to see today from the Army is a police -- a statement of the police report, the victim statement of this Arlington National Cemetery employee who was allegedly pushed aside forcibly by the Trump campaign. And it could shed a little bit more light on what happened here. That incident, we should note, also prompting a very rare Army statement rebuking the entire incident, saying that an ANC employee who attempted to ensure adherence to these rules was abruptly pushed aside and calling Trump's visit there clearly political. Jim.
ACOSTA: Natasha Bertrand, thank you very much. We appreciate it.
Coming up, what we're learning about Vice President Kamala Harris' trip to deep red Texas later today.
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[10:55:00]
ACOSTA: Both campaigns heading to Texas today for dueling campaign events highlighting obviously very different issues. Former President Donald Trump is talking immigration in Austin. He'll record a podcast interview, we're told, with Joe Rogan. Vice President Kamala Harris leaning into reproductive rights in Houston. A couple Texas native. Beyonce and Willie Nelson will also rally with her.
Good morning. You are live in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.
All right. Let's get straight to it. Democratic Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett of Texas joins me now. Congresswoman --
[11:00:00]
