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Michelle Obama Joins Harris In MI For Get-Out-The-Vote Rally Today; Harris Brings Out The Starpower In The Final Stretch Of Campaign; Trump Speaks At Campaign Rally In Battleground Michigan; Harris Focuses On Reproductive Rights At Houston Rally Friday Night; Israel Strikes Iran In High-Stakes Retaliation; Israel Strikes Iran In High-Stakes Retaliation; Resentencing Request Makes Parole Possible For Menendez Brothers; Harris Speaks To Reporters In Michigan. Aired 1-2p ET

Aired October 26, 2024 - 13:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:00:39]

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN HOST: Hello and thanks for joining me. I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York in this weekend for Fredricka Whitfield.

Jim Sciutto is in Jerusalem following that breaking news out of the Middle East. We're going to get to him in just a moment. But, first, it's the top of the hour and we begin with the race for the White House. Today, both candidates are holding rallies in Battleground Michigan. It's a state that is critical to their path to the White House.

And any moment now, former President Donald Trump will speak to a crowd in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan. This is his second campaign rally in the state in the past two days. It's a big day in that critical swing state. Right now, voters are heading to the polls for the very first day of statewide early voting.

And nationwide, more than 30 million people have already voted. New CNN polling released Friday shows that the two candidates are tied, with each getting support from 47 percent of likely voters.

Let's go to CNN's Alayna Treene who joins us now from that Trump campaign rally in Michigan. So, Alayna, give us a sense of the timing, how soon before we see the former president, and what can we expect to hear from him today?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, Rahel, I expect that he's going to be taking the stage any moment now maybe before I even get off this interview with you. But, look, you mentioned early voting. That is something I have to say that the Trump campaign is leaning very heavily into to now -- into now.

And I expect you're going to hear Donald Trump today talk about that as well. Already we've heard some of his advisers, including Dan Scavino, Stephen Miller, encourage people in the crowd here to vote early. And I bring that up because it is notable. Donald Trump for years has been very skeptical of early voting. I'd argue he's still skeptical and has criticized it in the past. But when I talked to his senior advisers, they say we need every single tool in the toolbox to get people out to vote. So that's going to be a key message, I think, here today.

But also, really, what this final 10 days is for the Trump campaign is him delivering closing arguments. Trump's advisers say that tomorrow, when he is in New York at Madison Square Garden for that very large rally, that will be kind of a culmination of what he wants that closing argument to be.

So that's what you'll hear some of today as well. He's going to talk about the economy. He's going to talk about the border. He's going to continue leaning in to those personal attacks against Harris. All things we've really heard him been doing and kind of escalating in recent weeks.

But Rahel, I also just want to bring your attention to that Joe Rogan podcast that he had been interviewed for yesterday, that he recorded yesterday. They're bringing him on right now. I told you this would happen.

So -- but to get back to the Rogan interview, he recorded a podcast with Joe Rogan for about three hours yesterday, a very long time. Donald Trump actually remarked last night in Michigan that it was the longest interview he thinks he has ever done.

Now, part of the reason that is so important is one, of course, Rogan is very popular. He has more than 14 million followers on Spotify, more than 17 billion on YouTube, and this has been something that the Trump campaign has been working hard toward for several months.

They really viewed that as kind of the cherry on top of their overall strategy, this cycle, to really try and reach male voters, specifically young male voters, as well as low propensity voters, voters who are not typically political.

Now, listening through it, it wasn't very much of like a hard interview. We didn't hear Rogan really pin him down on anything that we haven't heard before. But I do think it was really an opportunity for Donald Trump to have a conversation with him and potentially reach audience members that perhaps didn't think of voting for him or didn't think of voting before. Rahel?

SOLOMON: All right. Alayna, as we watch the president head to the podium, we're going to monitor the president and bring you those lines for our audience watching at home. And Alayna, we know that you want to actually hear what the president has to say, so we will let you go. We'll see you shortly.

Thank you, Alayna.

And any moment now, Vice President Kamala Harris is also set to arrive in Michigan, where in a few hours, she's going to hold a get-out-the- vote rally in Kalamazoo. She will be joined by former First Lady Michelle Obama. Harris held the rally in Texas last night alongside superstar Beyonce, where they both focused on the importance of reproductive rights.

Let's get now to CNN's Eva McKend who joins us now from Kalamazoo. Eva, what more can you share with us about this Michigan visit?

[13:05:00]

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rahel, new this hour, we're learning that before this big rally here in Kalamazoo, the vice (technical difficulty) it was a big vote focus --

SOLOMON: OK, we'll get back to Eva McKend just as soon as we can get her shot re-established. Eva, thank you.

But in the meantime, let me bring in my next guest who is here to talk more about the race for the White House. His name is Justin Carter. He's a podcast host and also an investigative reporter for The Shade Room, that's a website that focuses on celebrity, politics and trending news and predominantly focused on the African American community.

Justin, great to have you. Thanks for joining us today.

You know, the Vice President has been really leaning in as you know on star power in recent weeks, Beyonce. Willie Nelson joined her last night in Texas. Bruce Springsteen campaigned with her a few days ago in Georgia, obviously, Obama.

Justin, how much do you think these celebrities really matter to voters? What are you hearing?

JUSTIN CARTER, HOST & INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, "THE SHADE ROOM" PODCAST: Yes. And Rahel, thank you so much for having me. I've been following you since your Philly days. I'm from Philly myself. So it's so good to hear your voice.

Yes, yes, yes. The million dollar question is, will the celebrity, the star power move the needle forward? And I think it definitely gets people's ears perked up, especially those younger voters. You know, Beyonce and Kelly, hello, I mean, star power, talk about star power last night.

So does it move the needle forward? I don't necessarily think it moves the needle forward. I think a lot of young people, a lot of people know who they're going to vote for as we're so close to Election Day. But I think what it does do is it gets people excited to get to the polls, whether they voted already or not voted at all or maybe they're waiting for Election Day and maybe for those last minute voter who decide to register late.

You know, there's some states that allow you to register super late. So, you know, maybe this is an opportunity, you know, bringing these stars. There's so many of them coming out the woodwork now, super excited to register and to get out there to the polls. You have to physically get people to the polls. SOLOMON: Yes. It's an interesting point. My guests in the last hour said that this could really come down to who has the better turn out the vote machine. And to that point, Harris is holding a get-out-the- vote rally in Michigan with former first lady, Michelle Obama.

And as we talked about former President Obama was on the campaign trail with her and has been for the last few days. Talk to me a little bit specifically, Justin, about the Obamas specifically, I mean, how impactful are they?

CARTER: Yes, you know, I was just reading some numbers, Rahel. I mean, Michelle Obama, for example, you know, she's heading out now for the first time, you know, again, with days left until Election Day to generate that excitement. And I think that is a key strategy with the Harris campaign right now is, you know, any excitement that they can garner from any demographic they're going to do.

And Michelle Obama is a huge figure, huge, huge figure amongst everyone, black and white, every demographic, Hispanic. So, I mean, I just read that she has like a 61 percent favorability percentage. And so that goes a long way. And she's also known for going viral.

You know, you hear the terms, you know, they go low, we go high. You know, that was trending years ago in the election. So, I think using the Obamas to their advantage could help move the needle as well. You know, again, they were very, very popular, especially amongst that black voters. And I think that that's a key strategy moving forward with Kamala Harris --

SOLOMON: Yes.

CARTER: -- the Vice President.

SOLOMON: Yes, super interesting. Justin, we're going to have to unfortunately cut our time short, but it was great seeing you. Great to see another Philadelphia native as always. And we'll talk to you soon for sure.

CARTER: Yes.

SOLOMON: I want to take our audience back now to Michigan where the former president is speaking and know by Michigan. He started the rally by asking those listening and attendance, are they better now in terms of the economy than they were four years ago? Let's listen together.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Just so you know, this is it because we're not going to be able to save it much -- this is it. We've gone as low as we're going to go. We have to be able to save it. Any longer, you're not going to be able to save it. It's going to be gone. And we're not going to let that happen to this country.

I'm asking you to be excited about the future of our country. I'm asking you to dream big again for you and your family, your children. This is going to be America's new golden age. You watch. We're going to bring that. We're going to bring back those car companies to Michigan. They're going to come into Detroit.

I've been hearing about promises for 40 years on Detroit. We're going to make the promise. You're going to have those car companies come roaring back through intelligent uses of tariffs, taxes, and incentives are all coming back.

[13:10:00]

They don't come back. They're not going to be selling any cars in this country. Let me tell you right now. And I just did -- I have to tell you -- I just did something very big for Detroit and for Michigan, in particular, in particular. I killed the massive plants that were going to be built in Mexico. They're dead. They're all dead.

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: And they were going to drive out all your damn business. They were going to take every one of yours. They were building the biggest plants in the world in Mexico. They were all -- and you know who owned them? China. And they were going to flood our country with cars from just across the border and I killed them.

You know why I killed them? Because I said we're not going to have it. I'm going to win and I'm going to put tariffs on those cars and those cars will never be able to pay the tariff because it would be too high. And they gave up on the project.

They're not going to build the project. How good is that? And I'm not even an office. How about that? But we will be soon. So if I can do that out of office, think about what the hell I can do in office, right?

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: And I'll tell you what. These are the biggest plants in the world. One of them is the biggest plant in the world by far. I think there's more business than your whole state would do with the autos. It's one of those things. And what I did is I said, there's no car coming in because they were going to just flood the whole nation.

It would affect other states too, but I think of Michigan and I think of Detroit, it was going to end it. You've already lost 70 percent probably from the heyday. It's dead. And we're going to now build it up. You're going to be bigger and better with the industry than you've ever been, even in your heyday.

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: I got a lot of friends here. I know half the people here.

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: Your future senator, I hope. Mike, you got to win this thing. He's going to win. He's going to win. Every problem facing us can be solved, but now the fate of our nation is truly in your hands, Michigan. You have to stand up and you have to tell Kamala Harris, the worst Vice President in the history of our country.

He's the worst President. And she's the worst Vice President. They stole the election from this guy. They stole it. They said, you're out, Joe. You're out.

Crazy Nancy, Schumer, all of them, they went in. You're out of here, Joe. No, I won. I won 14 million votes. You know, he got 14 million votes. Kamala got no votes and she took over. That's a threat to democracy, right, you know, to use that term.

(CHEERING)

SOLOMON: All right, we've just been listening to the former President Donald Trump speaking there at a rally in Novi, Michigan. It's the second time in Michigan in as many days. He just started speaking. He started initially with comments on the economy. He talked about bringing jobs back. He talked about bringing factory level jobs back, and business back to the region with the use of, in his words, intelligent uses of tariffs and incentives.

Let me bring Alayna Treene back who was also at that rally. Alayna, at least from what I could hear, a message, at least initially, very focused to that region in terms of Detroit being the heart of the U.S. automotive industry and the issues that matter to the voters there. It seemed like he was taking a turn as we kind of got away from him, but what else are you hearing?

TREENE: No, that's exactly right. The start of this speech has really been focused on connecting with voters in this area, which is of course a suburb of Detroit, which is really the heart of the automotive industry in this country. And so he's really touting what he had done well in office, but also he's saying what he had done now, even before being elected, his words, I should say.

He said that he had stopped some big car plans from being made and Mexico is unclear what -- which exactly he was firing (ph) to and said that he would continue to do that. We know a big part of Donald Trump's plans, if he were to be re-elected, would be to really focus on having domestic made manufacturing, giving tax breaks and different other kind of, you know, tax cuts, I should say to people who are making goods in the United States.

And that's definitely true I know as it relates to the auto industry. One moment that I just want to tell you that I found notable, Rahel, is that much or if you could have picked this up while you're playing his remarks.

[13:15:05]

But there is one protester in the crowd here today who has been screaming while Donald Trump is speaking, screaming, you lost 2020 and also saying you fascist. Now, of course, that is relating to some of the remarks we have heard this week where John Kelly, Donald Trump's former White House Chief of Staff said that he believed that Donald Trump met the definition of a fascist. He said that in the -- in comments to the New York Times. And then, of course, in a town hall this week with CNN, Anderson Cooper asked Kamala Harris, do you think that Donald Trump is a fascist? And she said, yes. Actually, he's just repeating that now.

This man has not been escorted out. I saw officers talking to him, but he's saying that he's expressing his right to free speech, so he has remained here. So, I'll keep you posted on what else we hear from the former president. But he's really leaning into Detroit in the auto industry right now.

SOLOMON: Yes. OK. Alayna, we'll check back with you soon. Alayna, thank you.

Let's get back now to Eva McKend who is in Kalamazoo following the Harris campaign. Eva, we lost your shot there a short time ago, but you were getting to some news that had just sort of been released this hour, that we've just learned this hour. So bring us that news if you might.

MCKEND: Rahel, new this hour, we're learning that the Vice President before this big rally in Kalamazoo is going to make a stop in Portage, Michigan, where she will visit a doctor's office to meet with healthcare providers and medical students. And this comes at a time where reproductive rights is featured so prominently in her campaign.

She, of course, had that event talking about abortion rights last night in Texas with Beyonce. It was a focus here in Kalamazoo several months ago before she even actually became the nominee, where she was joined by a former Trump administration official in an appeal to conservative and Republican women about reproductive rights.

It's just that this time she'll be joined on stage in Kalamazoo with former First Lady Michelle Obama. And when we heard Obama last address Democrats in a big way, it was at the DNC, where she essentially leaned on Democratic voters to get off of the sidelines, to not be delicate if in this truncated campaign you didn't hear from the campaign directly that this election is just too urgent.

But take a listen to how Vice President Harris is framing this issue of reproductive rights.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: One in three American women lives in a state with a Trump abortion ban. Many of these bans are causing care to be denied until a woman is at death's door. And let us agree, one does not have to abandon their faith, or deeply held beliefs to agree the government should not be telling her what to do with her body.

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEOCLIP)

MCKEND: And Rahel, here in Kalamazoo County, President Biden won by about 20 points in 2020. Vice President Harris trying to build a coalition here to replicate that success. Rahel?

SOLOMON: OK. Eva, thank you. We'll check back with you soon.

In the meantime, we continue to follow that breaking news out of Israel. Jim Sciutto back with us from the Middle East with the latest developments after this short break. We'll be right back.

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[13:23:01]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: ?I'm Jim Sciutto live in East Jerusalem. The region now has seen an attack. It had been anticipating for some time Israel's retaliatory attack on Iran following Iran's ballistic missile barrage some three weeks ago, and now the region waiting to see what comes next.

A short time ago, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris joined a call with their national security staff regarding the Israeli strike and what might follow. Prior to that, President Joe Biden had said that he hopes this is the end of this cycle of retaliation we've seen over recent weeks.

Iranian officials and Iranian state media are calling the effects of this attack limited. Israel is communicating that it has now completed its military action against Iran, at least for now.

I'm joined now by Arlette Saenz at the White House, Matthew Chance here with me in East Jerusalem. I wonder if I could go to you first, Arlette, to describe how the White House is receiving the news of this strike overnight. President Biden said the U.S. did get advance warning. This was coming.

Is it your view that they are breathing something of a sigh of relief now that this strike was not as large, perhaps as provocative as they had worried in recent weeks, including the possibility of strikes on Iran's nuclear infrastructure? Are they seeing this as perhaps potentially, as the President said, the end of this current cycle?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, that is something President Biden certainly expressed some hope about earlier today. And it's something that a senior administration official last night also stressed in the hours after Israel launched this attack against Iran, saying that this is now the time for the two sides to stop the fighting and end this cycle of violence.

But really what the White House has been doing is putting the onus on Iran, saying it is them that needs to stop their attacks against Israel at this time.

[13:25:02]

Now, President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris did convene a meeting of a phone call with their national security team to review the aftermath of this response. And this was the assessment that President Biden offered to reporters a bit earlier today. (BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I was on with the intelligence community for the last half hour, next half hour. It looks like they didn't hit anything other than military targets. My hope is this is the end.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

SAENZ: Now, President Biden there noted that it appears that the Israelis simply targeted military sites. That is something that the White House really had been pushing for over the past few weeks. Officials across the government had been in touch with their Israeli counterparts really trying to ensure that there would be a measured response after Iran had fired that barrage of missiles at Israel back at the beginning of the month.

President Biden had specifically laid out that he did not believe that Israel should target any nuclear facilities or oil reserves with the fear that that could potentially lead to a wider scale war. A senior administration official last night said that these risk -- actions by Israel overnight were very much done in self defense and were proportionate to what they had been discussing before.

But all of this comes even as of right now, there seems to be the fact that they've avoided an all-out war in this moment. This does come at a very delicate and challenging time in the political landscape back in the U.S. as there are still many Americans frustrated with the Biden administration's response to the conflict in the Middle East, specifically the way that they've been dealing with Israel.

And it's an issue that could be a liability for Vice President Kamala Harris heading into the election and just over a week, especially in a critical battleground state like Michigan, which has a large population of young voters and Arab American voters who are very frustrated with the way that the administration's handled all of this.

SCIUTTO: And part of the political concern was that a wider war in the Middle East less than two weeks before the election might impact it as well. Matthew Chance here with me in Jerusalem. And I wonder, Matthew, how Israeli officials are responding to this? Because certainly in the wake of the Iranian missile barrage some three weeks ago, there was quite a constituency, it seemed, in this country for an extremely aggressive response by Israel. Are you hearing any disappointment from Israeli officials about the extent of this?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: I mean, a little bit. I mean, look, first of all, we've got one of the main opposition leaders in the country, Yair Lapid, saying that this strike did not go far enough. And so, you know, that's coming from a quarter you wouldn't -- especially, you know, expect to see that kind of hardline criticism.

But, yes, you've got the security minister in Israel Itamar Ben-Gvir, who's one of the most influential figures in the Netanyahu coalition.

SCIUTTO: Very hardliner.

CHANCE: Very hardline. He's welcomed the action. You know, he's praised the military for doing this, but he said it is a -- an opening blow to what he described in a statement to CNN as the steps towards destroying the Iranian threat. And so, you know, he sees it very much as, yes, OK, we did this.

We took out these military targets. We targeted their aerial capabilities, their missile production capabilities, but that's just the first step. And this should continue whether it will or not in the immediate future, I think, is still up in the air.

SCIUTTO: Well, it may be that part of the intention of this militarily was to take out, for instance, surface to air missile installations, which Israel could then take advantage of if it were to decide to carry out further strikes inside Iran.

One measure of Israel's current level of concern regarding potential Iranian retaliation is that there has been no increase in security for the population of Israel. How do you read that?

CHANCE: Yes. It's interesting, isn't it? Because actually both sides, both the Israelis and the Iranians have been playing down the significance of this latest attack. You know, the Israelis, they've not issued any special instructions to the general public which implies that, you know, they don't expect any kind of Iranian response anytime soon.

Same time on the other end of this, in Iran, the Iranian authorities have also been playing down the significance --

SCIUTTO: Yes.

CHANCE: -- you know, talking about it as being not particularly significant. The sports minister has come out and said that all sports games that are planned for this weekend can go ahead. Children can go back to school. And so, you know, both sides are stepping back from the brink, it seems, at the moment to say, look, this wasn't anything particularly significant. And it may mean they don't think that it needs to continue.

SCIUTTO: Yes, it's -- anytime the morning after an Israeli military strike on Iran is led with news of traffic in the morning commute on Iranian state media, it seems that there might be a deliberate public messaging there.

Matthew Chance here in Jerusalem, Arlette Saenz at the White House, thanks so much to both of you. We'll be right back after a short break with more news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Matthew Chance, here in Jerusalem, Arlette Saenz, at the White House, thanks so much to both of you.

We'll be right back after a short break with more news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: I'm Jim Sciutto live in east Jerusalem where we continue to cover the fallout from Israel's military strikes on Iran overnight.

President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have just had a phone call with their national security officials discussing the aftermath of this attack.

Joining me now is Ian Bremmer. He's the president of the Eurasia Group.

Ian, good to have you back on.

IAN BREMMER, PRESIDENT, EURASIA GROUP: Hey, Jim. Good to see you.

SCIUTTO: You know, Ian, it's easy, in the wake of something like this, when the extent of a strike like this may not have been as big as some had feared or some have even been lobbying for.

[13:35:07]

But -- but still we have in the span of a number of weeks and months, Israel and Iran exchanging repeated blows going back to, of course, Iran's first missile attack on Israel in April, the one that fight followed, again, three weeks ago.

In the midst of that, a major assassination by Israel carried out in Iran. And of course, now these strikes on Iran as well.

In your view, has the worst past, or do we still stand in this cycle at a very perilous moment?

BREMMER: No, the worst is absolutely past. And frankly, I would've said that several weeks ago. That Iranian strike against Israel, the 180 ballistic missiles, which the Iranians told the Americans in advance was coming.

So in other words, you know, you had several hours to prepare. You had no Israeli deaths. You did have one Palestinian that was killed in the West Bank. They don't have air defense for the Palestinians in the West Bank. That was it.

And that was on the back of not only Israel assassinating Hamas' leader in Tehran on the date of the inauguration of the president.

But also on the back of Israel repeatedly blowing up the capabilities and the leadership of Hezbollah in Lebanon, which is, by far, Iran's most capable proxy and it's essential deterrence against Israel.

So what we are seeing here is that the Iranians have very little capability to respond to Israel. And that means they're very concerned about what might lead to a war. That's why they showed restraint for the second time in the last

several months when we've had Israel versus Iran trading blows. Certainly, the Israelis are the ones that are then determining what kind of escalation they'll be.

And the fact that this was delayed by several weeks, the fact that the Americans, in advance, remember, promised to provide THAD missile defense systems, which we're immediately set up on the ground in Israel.

And also, that the Americans put sanctions on ships that had shut down their transponders, and that we're helping to illegally get Iranian crude exported for hardcover currency out of the country.

So Israel was able to get a little leverage on the United States. They delayed and this is it for this tit for tat. That's the backdrop that I think is important to recognize here, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Well, let me ask you, I mean, devil's advocate, I was here for that second Iranian missile barrage and it was significant, even though most were shot down. One of -- one of those missiles fell just a few hundred yards from the headquarters of Mossad.

And I get that there was -- there seemed to be some signaling in advance, but I wonder if this is more about a -- an imbalance in capabilities than it is about communications or an intent to de- escalate.

Are we seeing -- I mean, listen, Israel was able to carry out on its own, without U.S. help, strikes on multiple military targets inside Iran overnight. And years ago, we might have said they couldn't do that without U.S. help.

BREMMER: Yes.

SCIUTTO: But is part of the headline here that Israel's capabilities exceed those of Iran so much and we've seen that play out.

BREMMER: And it's capabilities exceed those of Hezbollah so much.

I mean, for most of the last year --

SCIUTTO: Yes.

BREMMER: -- people were saying, if the Israelis open up a northern front. This is going to be very different for Israel because Hezbollah is so much more capable than Hamas.

And that's true, but so much less capable than the Israelis in terms of their intelligence, in terms of their espionage, in terms of their military offensive and defensive capabilities.

That's the headline with Israel, vis-a-vis, Iran as well. So, yes, Israel has escalation dominance in this war against all of its adversaries that encircle it but aren't existential threats to Israel. They can't be because Israel is so strong militarily. I mean, if someone had -- had done this to the United States --

imagine Trump wins the presidency. He invites the Israeli prime minister to the inauguration, and then the Iranians assassin tonight him on inauguration day in Blair House across from the White House.

Do you think the Americans would wait for four weeks and then and then warned the Iranians that advanced. Here's what's coming and then no Iranians died? No, there'd be regime change efforts from the United States almost immediately.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

[13:40:00]

BREMMER: So I do think, in context, the fact that the Iranians have so little capacity to do anything against Israel makes you think that the Iranians have to completely rethink their strategy going forward.

In other words, I think, if you were Iran today, you were their leadership, you're thinking about two very different sorts of options in order to rebuild deterrence.

First, you're thinking, can I normalize my relations fully with the gulf states? Can I normalize relations with the United States of America?

And in other words, give myself a chance to actually rebuild in the region and more broadly, geopolitically, or, do I need nuclear weapons? Because there's nothing else that's going to stop the Israelis from attacking me and my allies with impunity.

And if you're Iran, you're certainly considering both of those things going forward.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Listen -- and then, of course, you have to worry about who follows, who might follow if Iran were to take the path of building a bomb.

BREMMER: Right.

SCIUTTO: Before we go, I'm curious what your read is of U.S. influence, the Biden administration's influence on Israel's decision- making here.

Because, as you know, there was discussion, there was quite public discussion in this country and Israel of far more extensive retaliatory strikes, including ones targeting Iran's nuclear program, oil refineries, et cetera.

The U.S. didn't want that. The administration pushed back. As you mentioned, they send a quite capable missile defense system in the THAD here, perhaps to help ward off another Iranian attack.

Do you see a case in this instance of U.S. influence working, where you and I have watched U.S. influence fail on so many --

BREMMER: Yes.

SCIUTTO: -- so many other fronts in this region.

BREMMER: I think it's a good point, Jim. And that's a good point precisely because U.S. influence has been so marginal on Israeli decision-making all the way through in terms of the ceasefire that has been much lauded and anticipated.

And, you know, many, many occasions from Biden, from Blinken, from others and it's nowhere to be seen, on the efforts to get humanitarian aid into the Palestinians, across Gaza, nowhere to be seen. I mean, the Israelis just not really responding there.

But in this specific instance, I do think a level of greater Israeli restraint, if we can call it that, against Iran is because of America can efforts, both carrots and sticks, mostly carrots in this case, as you mentioned, with Israel over the last month.

I think that, in this case, the U.S. deserves some credit for helping to mitigate what would otherwise likely have been more significant Israeli strikes against Iran, perhaps against some of their leadership.

Certainly, I think they were prepared to make attacks against oil capabilities that the Iranians have. And we've seen none of that from Israel with these last strikes over the past 24 hours.

SCIUTTO: Yes, of course, the administration quite concerned about what the political impact of such strikes might be so close to the election.

(CROSSTALK)

SCIUTTO: Ian Bremmer, Eurasia Group, thanks so much for joining us.

BREMMER: Sure, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Please stay with us. We continue to follow the fallout from the Israeli attacks on Iran overnight. And of course, lots of political news back in the U.S.

[13:43:21]

Well, be right back after a short break.

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[13:48:11]

SOLOMON: Well, Lyle and Erik Menendez will face a parole board. And this is after Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon filed a petition requesting a new sentence for the brothers.

Now in their 50s, the brothers have spent most of their adulthood in prison, sentenced to life without parole for killing their parents. But Erik and Lyle Menendez contend that they were driven to murder

after years of what they describe as sexual abuse by their father. Much of the evidence about the alleged abuse was excluded at their last trial and they were found guilty.

Gascon say that they've paid their debt to society, and deserve the opportunity to be free evaluated.

Here to discuss is former federal prosecutor, Neama Rahmani.

So this -- this seems to have happened really quickly, within a few months. You had the documentary, you had the Netflix series, now, this petition. What are your thoughts on how this has all played out?

NEAMA RAHMANI, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Well, Rahel, we're talking about the perfect storm of P.R. and politics. Obviously, the Netflix series "Monsters" had a lot to do with this.

But we're also week-and-a-half away from a highly contested election for district attorney here in Los Angeles. And releasing the Menendez brothers makes for good politics for District Attorney George Gascon.

SOLOMON: So family and supporters of the Menendez brothers have said that they want the brothers released and they want them released by Thanksgiving. Walk us through the reality of that legally.

RAHMANI: That's not going. So Gascon could have recommended a resentencing to time served, but he didn't. Instead, he's recommending 50 to life.

Because it's a range, now Judge William Ryan is going to have to first determine whether the brothers pose a threat to the public. If so, you can reject the request and the parties can appeal. But question is, will Gascon even be in office or will there be a new district attorney?

[13:50:01]

But even if Judge Ryan approves the resentencing request, it has to go before the parole board. And they can determine whether to grant it or not. And even if they do, California Governor Gavin Newsom can still reject the request.

SOLOMON: So what would you say is a more realistic timeline of when this sort of makes its way through the legal process in terms of the parole board and et cetera?

RAHMANI: Well, now that the resentencing request is in, the judge should hold a hearing within 30 days. And then after that hearing, weeks later, the brothers will go before the parole board.

Now the parole board usually only grants these requests less than 50 percent of the time. But I do think Lyle and Erik have a good shot because of how they've behaved in prison. And then, it's really up to Governor Gavin Newsom. But we may look at

the brothers being released, not by Thanksgiving, but by the end of the year.

SOLOMON: OK, Rahmani, we're going to have to leave it here because my understanding is that we actually have the -- the current vice president, future -- well, she hopes president -- speaking in Battle Creek Michigan.

Let's listen together.

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- we must see de- escalation in the region going forward and that will be our focus.

In terms of Texas, it was a very good trip. As I said, the reason for being there, there were many. Most importantly, that there are a lot of people in Texas who have been suffering under what I call draconian laws as it relates to how they've been trading women and their right to reproductive freedom.

It was also and is ground zero in terms of one of the most draconian laws in the whole country that have come about because of Donald Trump and what he did to select three members of the United States in court with the intention that they would undo the protections of Roe v. Wade.

And I'm here now in Kalamazoo in Michigan to talk with the folks here about their priorities around ensuring that this election produces a president of the United States who honors and protects a woman's right to make decisions about our own body.

I'm about to go and meet with some of the physicians who are on the frontlines of this issue for addressing the harm that has resulted from these Trump abortion bans.

But also going the work in terms of advocacy with a great deal of courage to highlight to the American people what I think for some are really unintended consequences as a result of the undoing of Roe v. Wade.

Happy to take your questions.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: When it comes to abortion rights, in talking with the providers today, what can we expect from those conversations? And will we hear more of that in your speech tonight with former first lady, Michelle Obama?

HARRIS: Yes. Well, like I said, even last night, what -- and I've been meeting with health care providers for last few years since the Dobbs decision came down.

They are a combination of doing their work in fear of being jailed. We are seeing that, for example, medical students are now more reluctant than ever to go into reproductive health care fields for fears that they could be criminalized. We are seeing the impact of these laws causing clinics, health care

clinics to shut down. Those clinics that, yes, provide abortion care, but also paps, breast cancer screening, HIV testing.

And so the physicians that I've been talking with are concerned about this myriad of issues that have highlighted the fact that because of Trump and what he did with the Supreme Court, we are looking at a health care crisis an America, which is affecting people of every background and gender.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: On Iran, on the Middle East, there reports from the U.N. that about one in five Lebanese people are now displaced because of the ongoing war. You said de-escalation is the goal.

Why are -- why is the U.S. and Israel not aligned in that goal in terms of the conflict in the region?

HARRIS: Well, we've been very clear with everyone in the region -- and, in fact, that's why Tony Blinken was there for several days this week -- that we want to work towards ending this war.

This war must end. We must get the hostages out and work toward a two- state solution. And we do who believe strongly that, as it relates to Lebanon and the region, that part of the strength of our work is the diplomatic work we will do to reach that end.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Ma'am, can I follow up on the --

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What is the administration hearing from Arab allies about the Israeli strikes? And can you say whether the strikes made it less likely that Iran will be able to attack Israel again in the future?

HARRIS: What I can say is that it is a consensus among leaders in the region and certainly it is the strong prospective of the United States that there must be de-escalation and not an escalation of activity in that region.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Now, Ma'am, what is your message to Iran, specifically as they consider a potential retaliation?

[13:55:02]

HARRIS: Listen, we -- I feel very strongly, we, as the United States, feel very strongly that Iran must stop what it is doing in terms of the threat that it presents to the region.

And we will always defend Israel against any attacks by Iran in that way.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK -

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: OK, Ma'am --

(CROSSTALK)

SOLOMON: All right, we've just been listening to Vice President Kamala Harris there speaking in Battle Creek, Michigan, as she prepares to speak in a few hours in Kalamazoo with former first lady, Michelle Obama.

She spoke on a few issues there when addressing reporters on the tarmac. She spoke about reproductive rights. Obviously, the focus of her -- her Houston event last night. She spoke about the breaking news overnight, Israel responding to Iran's attack from earlier in October.

We're going to take a quick break. We're going to be covering this and much more in just a few minutes. Stay with us.

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