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Trump, Harris Give Final Pitches With Nine Days Left In Race; Israeli Officials: One Killed, 30-Plus Injured In Truck-Ramming Attack; Early Voting Underway In California. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired October 27, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:34]

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN HOST: Hello and thanks for joining me.

I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York, in this weekend for Fredricka Whitfield.

We begin this hour with crunch time on the campaign trail. There are only nine days left before Election Day. And today, the candidates are blitzing the campaign trail, making their final pitches and targeting key voters. This comes as CNN's new -- brand new National Poll of Polls shows the race deadlocked as we enter this critical home stretch.

So far more than 40 million Americans have already cast their votes. The campaigns are now focused on rallying the rest of their base to head to the polls and also trying to win over the few remaining undecided voters.

Tonight, Vice President Kamala Harris is in battleground, Pennsylvania where she spoke this morning at a church service. She is also making several stops in some of Phillies Black and Latino neighborhoods.

Meantime, her political rival, former President Donald Trump is skipping the swing states for today for a homecoming in deep blue New York. In a couple of hours, Trump will host a rally in New York City's iconic Madison Square Garden.

Let's begin this hour with Priscilla Alvarez at the Harris campaign in Pennsylvania. So Priscilla, talk to us a little bit about what the Vice President's closing message has been so far. We've seen her a few times today in Philly, what has she said so far?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, she is in Philadelphia because Pennsylvania is so crucial to their strategy to this to 270 electoral votes. Of course, her and her team are trying to lock down the blue wall states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan, so she is spending today making multiple stops in the Philadelphia area, stressing how important Philadelphia is and saying that it is the path to victory.

Now, as you mentioned there earlier, she attended church service. She is also behind to a barbershop, a bookstore, and a Puerto Rican restaurant. She is trying to court Black and Latino voters as her campaign tries to lock in their coalition as well, particularly in a state as important as this one.

And over the course of these stops, we are getting a glimpse into what her closing argument, one of them being about bringing in a new generation of leadership.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to thank you all for what you're doing, but I also want to share with you that the work that we are doing is yes, it is about this campaign, but it is so much greater and I really believe that we are all part of a new generation of leadership for our country, that is optimistic and ambitious.

Obviously, the goal is to win, but the goal also for me and I know for all of us is in this process to build community, right, to build coalitions, to remind people that we are all in this together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now, her campaign is trying to tap into what they call the good vibes from when the vice president kicked off her candidacy, of course, after President Joe Biden stepped down. So that is part of that message, it is bringing in new leadership and trying to express optimism on the path forward, but in addition to that, the vice president is going to be drawing a stark contrast with former President Donald Trump in these closing days.

One of those messages according to sources I have spoken with is trying to hone in on this messaging of the former president stewing and plotting revenge what the vice president calls his enemies list and while she is focused on her to-do list, so that is one of the comparisons they are going to keep trying to draw over the course of the next few days and of course, that also boils down to looking at the issues.

The vice president has been a key voice on reproductive freedom since the beginning of the year when she was not atop of the party's ticket, and that is going to run through over the next several days as well. We saw that in Houston, Texas on Friday and sources telling me she anticipates that is going to be feature prominently over the next several days as well.

SOLOMON: Yes, in Houston, Texas; we saw yesterday in Michigan and in Michigan we saw former First Lady Michelle Obama speaking at Harris' rally.

Talk to us a little bit, Priscilla, about her message.

ALVAREZ: Well, on this issue of reproductive freedom, Michelle Obama spoke extensively trying to reach especially men and trying to can convey that women's health is also important to them. Remember that the vice president, her campaign has struggled in some areas with capturing the male vote, so that was part of the First Lady's -- the former First Lady's message, but she also talked about some of the criticisms that the vice president has faced, that people don't know her well enough on what has been a quite truncated campaign or even over the course of her time as vice president.

And here is what she had to say about it.

[15:05:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: Do not buy into the lie that we do not know who Kamala is or what she stands for. This is someone who understands you, all of you, someone from a middle class family raised mostly by her mom, like so many of us, leaning on her neighbors, like we all do. That is what you want in a president, someone who gets you, and will have your back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now, the vice president's team has increased exposure of her. We are getting nearly daily gaggles now with the vice president, but the team is also tapping into the star power and the celebrities to come on to the campaign trail, to amplify their message, but also to get out the vote because that is what this really boils down to, Rahel, the vice president and her team now trying their best to get people to the polls through early voting, but also encouraging that on Election Day.

SOLOMON: Priscilla Alvarez, thank you.

I want to actually get to a live event taking place, as we said, Kamala Harris in Philadelphia, I believe she is at a basketball center now. We've seen her so far today in this trip, visit a barbershop. She has visited a restaurant, a bookstore as she makes this pitch to the city's all-important voting blocs, including men of color, Hispanic men, Black men in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania. So we will keep an eye on this as she continues her visit there in Philadelphia.

But in the meantime, former President Trump taking a different approach today in terms of the battlegrounds. Instead of campaigning in a swing state, he is kicking off the final full week of this campaign with a rally at Madison Square Garden, in his hometown of New York City and that is where we find CNN's Kristen Holmes.

So Kristen, this seems less about the Trump campaign thinking that they can win New York necessarily, so what is the strategy tonight?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is something the former president has wanted to do for years, they've certainly been trying to get this -- hold a rally at Madison Square Garden for months, there was a lot of concern that it would never happen given the time, and also given the politics of New York. Even after they had the signed the deal with Madison Square Garden, there were a lot of hesitation from Trump's advisers actually, because they thought it would give an opportunity to shut down this from actually happening.

Donald Trump, for him, it is somewhat of a homecoming. He has always, again, wanted to do this and I will tell you, there are thousands of people here, and talk about winning New York, we asked any of the senior advisers, they do not believe that Donald Trump is going to win New York.

But Donald Trump, himself, has publicly and privately floated the idea that he could win New York, something that he has said he believes is possible, but again, talk to Republican operatives and anyone around this, they do not see that happening.

One thing they are hoping is that such enthusiasm in New York around the former president and around this event might help some of these vulnerable House members in New York, but notably, none of them are actually slated to speak here tonight.

Instead, this is much more like a carnival atmosphere. We've seen a comedian speak. We know that later, someone is going to have a live painting, likely of Donald Trump up on stage. They are going to have people singing, they have a number of different celebrities, particularly people we saw perform already at the RNC.

So, they are really treating this more like a kickoff to the final week of campaigning before the election rather an actual campaign event.

And one other piece of this is the money. They are raising a lot of money today. They have been selling fund-raising packages to some of their biggest donors from across the country, that include sitting down with Donald Trump, a roundtable, a pre-event photo opportunity.

So they will get at least that out of this. Whether or not they believe it is going to give them any movement in New York, we will wait and see.

SOLOMON: All right, Kristen Holmes, thank you. We will check back with you soon.

All right, joining me now to talk more about the race for the White House, here with me as Erin Doherty, she is a political reporter for AXIOS.

Erin, good to have you.

ERIN DOHERTY, POLITICAL REPORTER, AXIOS: Thank you so much.

SOLOMON: So Trump tends to run unconventional campaigns, but with less than 10 days until the election, what do you make of this decision to hold this rally in New York at Madison Square Garden instead of campaigning in a swing state?

DOHERTY: Yes, so this sort of trend of having rallies for the former president in non-swing states is not necessarily new for him this cycle. We saw him do a campaign rally in Coachella, California earlier this month. And of course, California is a Democratic stronghold on the presidential level as well. So it is unlikely that he is doing that rally took to flip California, and the same could be said about New York. And so I think what this really signals about his strategy going into the final stretch is that he wants to continue to sort of generate buzz and sort of invoke this message of confidence and being very sure of his positioning in this final stretch.

Of course, the final -- the best test of this strategy will come on November 5th, when the voters head to -- when the last day of voting occurs and voters cast their ballot.

[15:10:01]

But I think, this one is the latest sign that former President Trump is leaning into sort of these glitzy events to try to sort of spur his base and his base of supporters who are already committed to him. But the big question is, how this plays with a relatively small number of voters who have not yet that made up their mind and whether this sort of glitzy approach does appeal to them.

SOLOMON: The Harris campaign seems to be taking a page out of the Trump playbook with a series of new ads aimed at swaying male voters in cities like Philly, where she is today. Let's take a listen to one of those ads.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- politician, you better be able to get --

VOICE OVER: Feeling tough is different --

They insult us --

TRUMP: Bad things happen in Philadelphia, bad things.

VOICE OVER They don't like us, we don't care, because there is the thing that people like Donald Trump don't understand with Philly. (Bleep) Philly, and when you fight us, we fight back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: Now on the one hand, Erin, I am from Philly, so I am going to say this, that's a very Philly sort of message, the tone of that ad is clearly speaking a very Philly language, at least I think so, but this isn't the typical Harris ad. This isn't the good vibes that we've been seeing a lot during this campaign.

But do you think this type of messaging this late in the campaign can pull, can be effective to pull some Trump or undecided male voters over to Harris's side?

DOHERTY: Yes, what we've seen from the Harris campaign is that she has really, in the last few weeks and continue -- and will continue here this week, its ramp up her very targeted outreach to groups that she sees as key to her coalition on November 5th. This comes as she is in Philadelphia today, with a lot of sort of smaller events, especially when you look at former President Trump's Madison Square Garden rally. So, she in this final stretch is really trying to convince voters who may be skeptical about her approach, and this comes, you know, she has had media engagements with sort of podcast host and radio host who have sort of a strong viewership among these sort of key groups, and this comes as polling shows that former President Trump appears to be making sort of modest inroads with this sort of diverse coalition of voters that were key to President Biden's victory in 2020.

So the big question of course, is how much -- whether sort of the polling margins are representative in eventual results, but Vice President Kamala Harris is sort of doing these sort of smaller events and ads that are directly trying to persuade these key voters who she sees as key heading into November 5th.

SOLOMON: On Tuesday, we know that she is going to make her closing argument of this campaign on the Ellipse in Washington, DC, that's obviously the same location that former President Donald Trump spoke on January 6th before a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol.

What message, Erin, do think her team is trying to send with this campaign event?

DOHERTY: Yes. The Harris campaign is betting that by being in this symbolic location of where former President Trump spoke in 2021, just before a violent mob stormed the US Capitol on January 6th, the Harris campaign is betting that by being in that symbolic location and having sort of -- delivering her closing argument speech, highlighting what they say as the threat to democracy that former President Trump poses, that this would sort of remind voters of some of the chaos and divisiveness that former President Trump had during his four years in office.

And so this is a clear -- the clearest sign yet from the Harris campaign that they are really leaning in to this message of sort of casting former President Trump as a fundamental threat to the republic, and by delivering her closing arguments in this really symbolic location, they are sort of saying to these undecided voters, or at least she will try to, to say to these small number of undecided voters that she is -- will turn the page as she likes to say, on sort of the chaos of the Trump era.

SOLOMON: Erin Doherty, good to have you today. Thanks for the insights.

DOHERTY: Thank you.

SOLOMON: And still to come, we are learning some Israeli warplanes breached Iranian airspace, during Israel's retaliatory attack on Iran. Plus hostage and ceasefire talks for Gaza resume in Qatar, we are live in the region with the very latest after this short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:18:44]

JIM SCIUTTO CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Welcome back. I'm Jim Sciutto live in Jerusalem. We are continuing to track major developments in the Middle East in the wake of Israel's retaliatory strikes on Iran overnight on Friday.

Israeli investigators are now looking into what they call a deliberate attack here in Israel, this, near Tel Aviv, a truck ran into a group of people near a military base at a bus stop there, killing one and injuring more than 30 others. The IDF says, there was also an attempted stabbing attack on Israeli soldiers near Jerusalem today.

All of this after Israel launched those strikes overnight on Friday into Saturday morning. Sources tell me that some Israeli warplanes, more than a hundred that participated in those strikes breached Iranian airspace during the operation.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke about it earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Iran attacked Israel with hundreds of ballistic missiles, this attack failed.

We promised back then that we would respond and then in the early hours of Saturday morning, we kept our promise.

The Air Force attacked across Iran. We harshly harmed the defense ability of Iran and its ability to manufacture missiles directed at us.

Two days ago, we hit the head of the opportunist, the Iranian regime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:20:10]

SCIUTTO: This continues to be a war, in fact, on many fronts.

In Gaza, Israeli operations continue, also in Lebanon, a punishing air campaign against Hezbollah there by Israel, a strike in one of Lebanon's largest cities killed at least eight people today, this according to Lebanon's Health Ministry.

Worry continues here of a wider war. High-level officials, however, are meeting in Qatar to attempt to revive ceasefire and hostage release talks in Gaza. Those talks have been stop and start for weeks and months now, not clear if they will be able to move forward.

Joining me now CNN military analyst, retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton to discuss the broader military dimensions to this conflict.

Thanks so much for joining this afternoon.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: It is good to be with you, Jim.

SCIUTTO: First to these strikes on Friday. We already knew that dozens of Israeli warplanes took part, perhaps a hundred. This involved great distances, refueling in the air, striking air defense systems, not just inside Iran, but also in Iraq and Syria to, in effect clear the pathway for those fighters.

And now, we are learning that some of them were able to breach Iranian airspace. I just wonder what that shows you about Israel's capability to strike Iran, not just in this instance, but in possible future attacks.

LEIGHTON: Yes, Jim, that's actually a hallmark of Israel's efforts to suppress enemy air defenses. And in fact, there is qa term that we use within the Air Force to describe what the Israelis did. Basically what you do in an air campaign like this is you go in and use suppress the radars that are associated with their defense missiles and that is exactly what they did in Syria, potentially in Iraq, and definitely in Iran and that is what the Israelis used in order to, in essence, like you said, clear that path for them to go and hit those targets in Iran.

SCIUTTO: I want to ask now about one of those targets in particular. This at Parchin and what is significant about this site is in the past, it has been identified by some nuclear analysts as having a potential role in an Iranian nuclear program, that there is a chamber there that has been identified by some analysts as an explosive chamber, which could be used to test some of the components of a nuclear weapon, if Iran were to choose you go down that path.

I spoke in the last hour to Jonathan Conricus, a former spokesperson for the IDF, who described that target as a nuclear site. And I wonder if you would agree because of course, the framing had been that these were purely military sites and that US pressure to keep Israel from striking either oil targets or nuclear targets have been successful, but is it correct to see this as a target connected at least to a potential Iranian nuclear program?

LEIGHTON: Well potentially connected, however, here is the key things to keep in mind, Jim, Parchin is actually a multi-use facility. There all aspects of the Iranian nuclear program that are most likely located there, but the target that the Israelis probably had to do with their ballistic missile program. Now some people will say, okay, what is the difference?

Well, basically the ballistic missile program is designed to provide the same types of -- really, the same types of missiles that they have already used against Israel on October the 1st. They potentially can be fitted with a nuclear warhead, but in the case of the October attack, none of them had a nuclear warhead. And as far as we know right now, Iran has not fitted any of their missiles with nuclear warheads.

So what it all probability happened was the Israelis struck facilities that were associated with their missile program, basically with the fueling aspect is what I am hearing and what I am seeing, so it has to do with the solid rocket fuel that is used for these ballistic missiles and it may have damaged their capability to produce that fuel. And if that is the case, that of course does provide even more of a pathway for the Israelis to conduct and continue to conduct operations, as well as secure their own airspace.

SCIUTTO: Yes. And to your point, I wanted to be clear, there is no public intelligence that Iran has taken that step or made a decision to take that step. The question really related to whether this could be conceived as part of allowing that step to be taken at some point.

I do want to ask, given what was struck here, in addition to ballistic missile facilities, those air defenses, if you are Iran right now and Israel launched an operation that was able to take out what seems to be a fairly significant number of air defenses, would you be thinking that they could come back and that, I, Iran could not be so confident that I would see them coming or be able to fire upon those warplanes if they, if Israel were to order a second or third wave of attacks?

LEIGHTON: I think that would be an absolute concern on the part of the Iranians. So if I were in their shoes, I would definitely want to re- establish those air defenses.

The probable targets were like Jonathan mentioned in the previous hour, is 300 sites. Iran was purported to have somewhere around 40, 42 or S-3 air defense missile systems that were provided by Russia. Those would have to be replaced. So let's say half of them, that would be a significant degradation of Iranian air defense capabilities.

And given that fact, it would definitely lead to the conclusion that Iran's air defenses have been significantly weakened by the Israeli attack, if all of this turns out to be true.

SCIUTTO: That is a good point, right, to point again to yet another piece of Iranian-Russian cooperation. Iran of course, sending those drones that Russia has used to attack, including civilian targets in Ukraine and Russia providing surface-to-air missile systems, as well as help with its ballistic missile program, that those powers increasingly close and that has enormous effects and dangerous.

Cedric Leighton, thanks so much as always.

LEIGHTON: You bet, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Of course, we will continue to keep a close watch on events here in the Middle East, in the wake of those Israeli strikes. But of course, a lot of political news back in the US as we get to justice nine, ten days away from the presidential election.

Please do stay with us. We will be back right after a short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:31:20]

SOLOMON: Welcome back, with nine days to go until November 5th, more than 40 million ballots have already been cast nationwide. On the West Coast, vote centers opened Saturday in California for early in-person voting across 29 counties. People there are casting their pick for president, plus a replacement for the seat of the late Senator Dianne Feinstein.

Let's get to CNN's Julia Vargas Jones, who joins me live from a polling station in Orange County. So Julia, what have you heard from voters so far on this day two?

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rahel, we've seen voters coming in and out here yesterday, about 300 voters came out to Cyprus Community Center to vote.

You know, in California we have 21 million registered voters, 1.8 million of those voters here in Orange County that is split pretty closely between Democrats and Republicans. So Independent voters and non-registered voters will have a very important role to play here, particularly in the 45th district, where we are.

This is where an incumbent Republican, Michelle Steel is trying to defend her seat against a democrat, Derek Tran.

Now this is an area that was redistricted in 2020, making this 40 percent Asian American, the population here and also about 30 percent Latino. So that's a majority minority district.

We had Bill Clinton here yesterday trying to get out the vote for Tran, and we spoke to one of these Latino voters earlier. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANSELMO FELICIANO, RETIRED TEACHER: Every vote counts all over the country, and I am particularly worried about the Senate and the House.

Orange County has changed over the years, and for a while, actually Cyprus was tied in with LA County and Long Beach and that came back into Orange County again.

So yes, that is a big deal here now. Every vote counts in this one, I think. I think it is going to be close.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: And as you can see, Rahel, voters here are keenly aware of the importance of their local race for the national outcome.

SOLOMON: Okay, Julia Vargas Jones in California.

Julia, thank you.

And with the presidential race in a dead heat as we just heard from that voter there, it might be really close, many are dealing with a lot of stress related to the election.

So how can we manage the anxiety and the uncertainty in the meantime? Joining me now to discuss is stress management expert, Dr. Cynthia Ackrill with the American Institute of Stress. Doctor, so good to have you.

I think a lot of folks sort of perked up at the topic of this segment because a lot of people may be struggling with how to cope right now. What advice and recommendations do you have for those people?

DR. CYNTHIA ACKRILL, AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF STRESS: To first of all, know that you're not alone.

The American Psychological Association in their annual stress report say that 77 percent of our country is worried about the future of our country. So you're not alone. It is normal to feel some stress.

And there are a lot of things we can do. First of all, recognize that what we feel, the actual feeling of stress is different for different people, how it is expressed. But it is your brain trying to keep you safe.

And with so much uncertainty and months of divisive conversations and maybe some outright lies or unrealistic promises set in a background of political unrest, we are not just worried about this election, it is on top of other worries.

For example, I live in Asheville. There is a lot of other worry going on after the hurricane. So just recognize that it is okay not to feel okay.

Thank your brain for doing its job.

SOLOMON: No, go on.

ACKRILL: Go ahead.

SOLOMON: No, I want you to go on.

[15:35:10]

ACKRILL: Thank your brain for doing its job to try and keep you safe, but begin to recognize when it is really affecting you. What are you actually feeling and make that -- get curious about it. Make that something you have some power in.

You can actually use your body over your mind, because contrary to how we walk around thinking we are a bunch of talking heads. This is all really connected mind to body. In fact, there are more nerves going from your body up that you can use to counteract that stress system that is making new jittery or revved up to answer to danger. That is what your brain is doing.

So there are simple ways, just deep breathing, moving, taking a walk. Because when we have a stress reaction, we are geared up to move. That is our physiology.

SOLOMON: There are --

ACKRILL: There are -- go ahead. SOLOMON: I am sorry, we are having audio issues. I didn't mean to jump your mic there. I guess I was just wondering at what point do you think it is important to seek professional help, whether it is a mental health professional, whether it is going to see your doctor? At what point do you think, Doctor, you know, folks should realize that maybe they need a little help?

ACKRILL: Is this more than stress? Is this really anxiety kicking in? Stress is usually very situational. When the situation is over, you gain back control. That said, stress can also make you sick if it is interfering with your everyday functions.

If it is interfering with your relationships, your ability to sleep, your ability to function at your job, all of those things matter and that is the time to either talk it out with somebody, seek professional help. It can be triggering for a lot of people and we've had a lot of trauma going on. It can be re-triggering of trauma.

SOLOMON: Yes, all very important insights some things for all of us to think about.

Dr. Cynthia Ackrill, so good to have you today. Thank you.

ACKRILL: Oh, my pleasure.

SOLOMON: All right, well, coming up, an exclusive CNN Investigation. How elderly dementia patients, unwittingly gave millions of dollars to political campaigns, mostly Republican. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:41:59]

SOLOMON: Welcome back.

CNN's investigative team has discovered hundreds of elderly Americans were misled by political fundraising ads and nearly drained of their life savings.

CNN investigative correspondent, Kyung Lah explains how this happened.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON BENJAMIN, FATHER LOST LIFE SAVINGS THROUGH POLITICAL DONATIONS: So you made more than a hundred donations in one day.

RICHARD BENJAMIN, ELDERLY WITH DEMENTIA, LOST LIFE SAVINGS THROUGH POLITICAL DONATIONS: My gosh.

KYUNG LAH, SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The Benjamin family has had this conversation before, 81-year-old Richard Benjamin, just doesn't remember.

J. BENJAMIN: So between these two months, it's over $60,000.00.

LAH (voice over): Richard Benjamin has dementia. R. BENJAMIN: WINRED. Boy, there was a lot of them WINRED alone.

LAH (voice over): Ultimately, he gave away more than $80,000.00 in political donations. All going through a fundraising platform called WINRED. Republican campaigns rely on it to solicit donations, often using misleading ads through e-mail and text messages like "we tried to warn you, but you kept ignoring us. President Trump personally tapped you this is not a drill."

J. BENJAMIN: When we looked at his phone his phone told the whole story because he would get --

MICHELLE GOLDNER, FATHER LOST LIFE SAVINGS THROUGH POLITICAL DONATIONS: Dozens.

J. BENJAMIN: -- dozens of text messages a day referring to him as a patriot and thank you for helping to save America.

R. BENJAMIN: I was dealing with President Trump and so it came up that when I -- when they want to find out what I was doing, that's what I put in.

J. BENJAMIN: He really in his heart, believed that Donald Trump and Donald Trump, Jr. and other politicians were personally reaching out to him.

GOLDNER: He had essentially put himself $50,000.00 in debt after he had given them his life savings.

LAH (on camera): And this is all from $10.00 and $25.00 donations.

J. BENJAMIN: It's really outrageous.

LAH (voice over): CNN's investigative team reviewed more than a thousand public reports and complaints and found deceptive political fundraising by Republicans and Democrats has victimized hundreds of elderly Americans misleading them into donating far more than they intended and it adds up.

A sample of just 52 elderly donors, many who suffer from dementia or cognitive decline gave away more than $6 million of their life savings, the majority to Donald Trump and other Republican candidates.

KAREN, MOTHER LOST LIFE SAVINGS THROUGH POLITICAL DONATIONS: She basically drained all the accounts, everything, but $250.00.

LAH (voice over): Karen's mothers Jolene, gave, Republicans nearly $200,000.00. She died earlier this summer from Stage 4 cancer amid cognitive decline.

We met Karen at her mother's home in California. It's empty as she prepares it for the rental market. Karen asked, we not use their last name, fearing retaliation.

KAREN: I have this pit in my stomach, it makes me feel like throwing up thinking that the last months of her life were about her being swindled. It's just -- it's incomprehensible. It really is. It's unconscionable, what they've done.

[15:45:17]

LAH (voice over): As Karen reviewed her mother's bank records and the text messages on her phone. It became clear how that money disappeared so quickly.

LAH (on camera): She just got another text.

KAREN: Yes, it's endless.

LAH (on camera): This is while we've been here.

KAREN: It's 9:36, 9:44, 9:48, 9:51, 9:53, 9:55, 9:56, 10:01, 10:04, 10:06, 10:07, 10:10, 10:14, 10:16 --

LAH (on camera): I mean it's every few minutes.

KAREN: It's every few minutes.

LAH (on camera): And what does this say.

KAREN: Make this monthly recurring donation.

LAH (on camera): And it's checked already.

KAREN: Yes.

LAH (voice over): The box is pre-checked, meaning the campaign can automatically withdraw recurring donations monthly, even weekly.

We tried to reach WINRED by phone.

PHONE: Your call has been forwarded to voicemail.

LAH (voice over): Text and e-mail.

LAH(on camera): All right, 4250.

LAH (voice over): And then went to the address that WINRED lists as its headquarters in Virginia.

LAH (on camera): Hi, I'm Kyung Lah from CNN. Could I speak with somebody from WINRED.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're not located in the building on site.

LAH (on camera): WINRED list this address officially with the state of Virginia, but they don't actually have anyone here.

LAH (voice over): Though CNN found nearly seven times more complaints from Republican donors, families of Democratic donors have also unwittingly given away their money.

Matt and Dave Weisbart's mother in cognitive decline, donated more than $200,000.00 to Democratic campaigns through ACTBLUE. DAVE WEISBART, MOTHER LOST LIFE SAVINGS THROUGH POLITICAL DONATIONS: It's theft, it's elder abuse. There's no doubt about it.

LAH (voice over): By talking publicly, they hope one thing might work to get ACTBLUE to return some of their mother's life savings, shame.

MATT WEISBART, MOTHER LOST LIFE SAVINGS THROUGH POLITICAL DONATIONS: The right thing to do, the moral thing to do is to return that money to her. You don't have to. It's not illegal what they did, but it's morally wrong.

LAH (on camera): WINRED did not reply to our request for comment, but the Trump campaign did, saying that it notifies donors before processing recurring donations and has staff on hand to help with cancelations and refunds.

ACTBLUE did send us a statement saying that it has a surface team to help donors and accommodates as many refunds as possible beyond a 90- day refund window if there are signs of cognitive decline.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOLOMON: All right, we are going to take a quick break, but when we come back, the Dodgers clinched the game two win, but did it cause them their star player? It is coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:52:31]

SOLOMON: Welcome back.

This rendition of the Fall Classic truly living up to the hype.

The LA Dodgers coming through once again to take a huge two-oh lead in the World Series against New York Yankees.

Now, Dodgers MVP candidate, Shohei Ohtani suffered an injury, but the team now says he is expected to play in game three.

CNN's Coy Wire has more from Los Angeles.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Hi, Rahel.

Dodgers superstar, Shohei Ohtani left the game with an injury, we will get to that in a minute, but first let's check out how it all went down in LA last night.

Bottom of the third inning, game tied at one, and Teoscar Hernandez hits a homer, a two-run shot, the penultimate at bat before some Dodgers history.

Next batter, Freddie Freeman, hero of game one when he became the first player to hit a walk-off grand slam in a World Series. He is raking again, his fourth straight World Series game with a homer. Dodgers hit back-to-back homeruns in a World Series for the first time in 43 years.

Their stars are shining, but a different story for New York's biggest star, Aaron Judge, major slump. You went oh for four in this game, struck out three times, but in the last inning, Yankees still have a shot.

Jose Trevino, bases loaded, but the flies out. Tommy Edman, who went two for four with a homerun in this game, ends it. But the win was overshadowed by the health of their superstar, the team saying Shohei Ohtani has suffered a minor dislocation is his left shoulder while he was trying to steal second there in the seventh inning.

Afterwards though, manager, Dave Roberts did seem a bit optimistic, listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVE ROBERTS, LOS ANGELES DODGERS MANAGER: Obviously, when you get any one of your players that goes down, it is concerning, but after kind of the range of motion, the strength test, I felt much better about it.

REPORTER: If you have to play the rest of the World Series without Shohei Ohtani, how equipped are you to do that?

ROBERTS: I' not there, Jason. I am expecting to be there, so I am expecting to be in the lineup.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Now, Rahel, it doesn't hurt that the Dodgers have a day off. They travel to New York, game three, isn't until Monday. Still those Dodgers with or without Ohtani are up two-oh and teams that have done that in the World Series have gone on to win it all 82 percent of the time.

SOLOMON: Interesting statistic there. Coy Wire, thank you.

All right, nine days away from Election Day and the candidates making their final pitches to voters. Vice President Kamala Harris campaigning in battleground, Pennsylvania today. She is going to hold a rally there in just a few hours.

Former President Donald Trump preparing to take the stage at his New York rally at Madison Square Garden.

[15:55:01]

We will go live to the campaign trail coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOLOMON: Hello, and thanks for joining me. I am Rahel Solomon in New York, in this weekend for Fredricka Whitfield. It is top of the hour and we are about to enter the final full week of the 2024 presidential campaign. Just nine days until the election, CNN's brand new Poll of Polls shows the race for the White House remains a virtual tie.

Today, both candidates are pulling out all of the stops to pull in voters.

[16:00:13]