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Jennifer Lopez Campaigns with Kamala Harris in Nevada; Trump Campaigning in New Mexico; Deadliest Flooding Hit Spain; Typhoon Kong- rey Devastates Taiwan; Elon Musk to Move Case to Federal Court. our Days And Counting In The Race For the White House; Israel Launches New Strikes In Several Parts of Lebanon; U.S.: North Korean Troops Gearing Up To Fight Ukrainians. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired November 01, 2024 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[02:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN HOST: Welcome to all of you watching us around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is "CNN Newsroom."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENNIFER LOPEZ, ARTIST: It is my deep honor to introduce a woman who has the opportunity.
(CROWD CHEERING)
In just a few days to make history. The next president of the United States, Kamala Harris.
(CROWD CHEERING)
UNKNOWN: We Will Win! We Will Win!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Now in the final stretch, Kamala Harris begins in another mega celebrity to rally voters in battleground Nevada not too far away. Donald Trump trying to seize the momentum in the same swing states as the race for the White House is still razor thin.
And destruction from Spain after being hit by the deadliest floods in decades.
With four days to go before Election Day, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris is eliciting more star power to get her message out to voters. Last hour, Harris wrapped up a rally in Las Vegas where she was joined by actress and singer Jennifer Lopez. Earlier in the day, the vice president spoke to an enthusiastic crowd in Reno, Nevada. In both speeches, Harris warned about what she called the dangers of another Donald Trump presidency.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KAMALA HARRIS, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: If he were re-elected on day one, Donald Trump would walk into that office with an enemies list. When I am elected, I will walk in with a to-do list on behalf of you.
And this is someone who is increasingly unstable, obsessed with revenge, consumed with grievance, and he's out for unchecked power.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Jennifer Lopez's campaign appearance with Harris came just days after a comedian at a Trump rally sparked outrage by describing Puerto Rico as a floating island of garbage. The Puerto Rican superstar referenced the offensive joke when speaking to the crowd as she encouraged people to vote for Kamala Harris.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LOPEZ: It's about us, all of us.
(CRWOD CHEERING)
No matter what we look like, who we love or who we worship or where we're from. Her opponent, on the other hand, doesn't see it that way. He has consistently worked to divide us. At Madison Square Garden, he reminded us who he really is and how he really feels. It wasn't just Puerto Ricans that were offended that day, okay. It was every Latino in this country. It was humanity and anyone of decent character. I am an American woman. I am the daughter of Guadalupe Rodriguez and David Lopez, a proud daughter and son of Puerto Rico.
(CROWD CHEERING)
I am Puerto Rican (FOREIGN LANGUAGE). And yes, I was born here. And we are Americans.
(CROWD CHEERING)
I am a mother. I am mother. I am sister. I am an actor and an entertainer and I like Hollywood endings. I like when the good guy, or in this case the good girl wins.
(CROWD CHEERING)
And with an understanding of our past and a faith in our future, I will be casting my ballot for Kamala Harris, for President of the United States proudly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Donald Trump hit three battleground states on Thursday, including stops in New Mexico and Nevada. He also campaigned in Arizona, where the former president made remarks at right-wing personality Tucker Carlson's live tour event. Now, on the campaign trail earlier, Trump spent much of his time on stage attacking Kamala Harris and making untrue claims about the state of U.S. cities, but he did urge Hispanic and Latino voters to turn out for him. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Don't make me waste a whole damn half a day here, okay? Look, I came here. You know, we can be nice to each other or we can talk turkey. Let's talk turkey, okay? First of all, Hispanics love Trump. I'm here for one simple reason. I like you very much, and it's good for my credentials with the Hispanic or Latino community.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[02:05:06]
BRUNHUBER: Now, Trump falsely claimed that he actually won New Mexico in the 2016 and 2020 elections. In fact, he lost by wide margins to Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden. That was just one of many lies the Republican presidential candidate told throughout his day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: And now, of course, what's happening is you go to towns and cities all over the country. You can't have a hospital anyway, because the migrants have literally taken over the beds. They've taken over the schools. They've taken over -- your son has a seat in school and he no longer has it because a migrant is giving -- they're giving him, actually -- they're saying, you go first. The migrants go first. Migrants go first. Look at what's happening. Look at what's happening. All over the country. The schools are bursting at the seams, the hospitals are a disaster. You go to the hospital, you have a problem, you can't get in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Four days out, the polls continue to show that it's anyone's race. The latest numbers out of two key southern swing states put Donald Trump and Kamala Harris within a hair's breadth of one another. The survey of likely voters in Georgia shows Trump leading by 1 percent, Harris doing the same in North Carolina. In both cases, the results are within the margin of error, suggesting no clear leader in either contest.
All right, joining us now from Colchester, England is Natasha Lindstaedt, a professor of government at the University of Essex. Good to see you again. I want to start there with the latest polls. So what we're seeing in those swing states so close as it's been throughout the race, what are you seeing?
NATASHA LINDSTAEDT, PROFESSOR OF GOVERNMENT, UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX: Exactly. The polls are not great for Harris. If you think about the way the polls were in 2016 and 2020, how they underestimated Trump. But we know that pollsters are trying to address that, that some of these Trump voters, which tend to be unlikely voters, weren't accounted for in the previous election cycles, and now pollsters have tried to adjust for that. The other thing is that the polls don't really capture voter
enthusiasm, and they don't capture what's going on the ground. I mean, that's at least what's being reported. That it's a pretty thin operation for Donald Trump. I think he assumes that people that vote for him are gonna vote for him no matter what. They're very motivated to vote for him. But the Democrats have a much more sophisticated and extensive campaign and they're knocking on doors and they're trying to get the vote out.
And really at this point, the polls don't matter much. They haven't changed much. They have been pretty much the same for the last six weeks, eight weeks even. But what really matters is the drive to get voters to vote, and we've already seen record levels of early voting. So there's a lot of enthusiasm, particularly on the Democrat side. Sure, Trump is incredibly confident because the polls look so good for him. But in some ways, some of his last messages, he almost sounds desperate, like don't make me waste a day being here. You need to vote for me. An interesting way to close a campaign.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, absolutely. You referenced the early voting numbers. I want to get back to that in a second. But you talked about enthusiasm and for that, Democrats are recruiting so many huge stars. We saw LeBron coming out for Harris, JLo on stage there for Harris. Talk about that floating island of garbage comments. So, between that and then Joe Biden's retort, which sounded like he was calling Trump supporters garbage, we have these sort of dueling gaffes by proxy. So which do you think will be more harmful now in the closing days?
LINDSTAEDT: Well, by far what happened at Madison Square Garden and what this comedian did calling Puerto Rico an island of trash, I mean, that really hit a nerve. It resonated not with just Puerto Ricans and, of course, in the important, vital state of Pennsylvania. You have 470,000 Puerto Ricans that could really tip things in Harris's direction. There were already some Puerto Ricans that were notable Puerto Ricans that said, I was going to vote for Trump, but I'm not going to anymore. And so that was a lot more damaging than Joe Biden's gaffe because he's not really running and he's already apologized about that.
And we've seen that the Harris team has seized upon this, that Trump doesn't really care about Hispanics. It's all transactional. He just wants them to vote for him, but he doesn't really explain why they should vote for him. And regarding this whole outpouring of celebrities and there are celebrities on both sides, but this really doesn't change people's minds that already made their mind up. The celebrity elements just drums up enthusiasm, gets people excited. It draws a lot of energy to the campaign. It makes people feel good but it's not probably going to change people's minds.
[02:10:00]
BRUNHUBER: No but what might change people's minds perhaps Donald Trump's comments about protecting women whether they like it or not. Certainly Harris has seized on that. Do you think that might help Democrats in terms of reaching more Republican women who might be on the fence? LINDSTAEDT: So there's been a lot of questions about what Republican
women are going to do, what white women are going to do, and Trump has hemorrhaged support from this particular group. He was leading by seven, eight points in the last election, and some polls showed that with white women, he's maybe leading by a point or instead even.
These types of comments don't help that he's gonna protect you whether you like it or not. I mean, this is coming from someone who was convicted of sexual assault described on tape that he's going to assault women by the privates and grab them by their privates.
All this stuff doesn't play well with women and I can't imagine that's what he wants to close on because women vote more than men do. They vote more than men by three or four points. And we're seeing that this is the trend I would be looking at the most. If the female voter turnout is really high, this is not gonna be good for Trump and we'll have to look at it in comparison to what male turnout is.
That's his base, it's mostly white males. And part of his base is not the type of voter that tends to vote all the time. So that's why he's trying to get enthusiasm with that whole Madison Square Garden Macho Fest. He's hoping that that's going to bring out his supporters, but at the same time he's really turning of female voters.
BRUNHUBER: All right. So you had mentioned the early voting only -- I want to get that now. We're getting some numbers back. On one hand, the polls suggest Harris has a big lead in terms of the number of early votes, but on the other, early voting among Republicans seems to be up. Are we able to read anything from the early voting numbers that would give either side cause for concern?
LINDSTAEDT: So I think both sides are probably enthusiastic about what they're seeing. I know that Trump thinks that this is great, that there's all this early voting, but you have to remember in 2020, he told people not to vote early and now they are telling Republicans and Trump supporters, vote early, vote early. So some of these people are listening, they're voting early. The Democrats usually have an advantage with early voting because Democrats tend to prefer to vote early, but these record numbers are good for Harris.
The bigger the turnout from Harris's perspective, the better chances that she has of doing well because that's where you see the enthusiasm, all that effort in getting people out to vote. That's where that really matters. And so I think both teams are probably claiming victory with that. But for Harris's team, you've got to be optimistic looking at some of these numbers.
BRUNHUBER: All right, we shall see what it means. Natasha Lindstaedt, we'll leave it there. Thank you so much. Really appreciate it.
LINDSTAEDT: Thank you for having me.
BRUNHUBER: And in the coming hours, rapper Cardi B will be stumping for Harris in Wisconsin and Trump too is set to visit the battleground state later today. CNN's Jeff Zeleny was there earlier and here's what he's learning from voters with the election only days away. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVE FLANNERY, WISCONSIN VOTER: I'm ready for it to be over.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dave Flannery is exhausted by the election.
FLANERY: It's getting more and more difficult to listen to all the vitriol and that sort of thing.
ZELENY (voice-over): From his apple orchard in battleground Wisconsin, he's at a front row seat to the caustic campaign. When we met earlier this year, Flannery was fed up with the political division and dysfunction.
FLANNERY: What else can you think about it? It's a mess.
ZELENY (on camera): How does it get fixed?
FLANNERY: I wish I knew.
ZELENY (voice-over): With the election days away, we paid another visit. He said he's voting for Kamala Harris.
(On camera): Is it a vote for Vice President Harris or against Donald Trump?
FLANNERY: For Harris. No, let me rephrase that. Both. Both. Yeah.
ZELENY: It's a vote against Trump and for Harris.
FLANNERY: Yes.
ZELENY (voice-over): The fight is on for Wisconsin.
HARRIS: Are we ready to win?
ZELENY (voice-over): With Harris and Trump set to make dueling visits Friday.
TRUMP: We're winning. We're winning.
ZELENY (voice-over): For the second time in three days.
CAROLINE QUINLAN, WISCONSIN VOTER: I don't want to make any predictions because I think it's that close.
ZELENY (voice-over): Caroline Quinlan does not see a perfect option on either ticket. When we spoke this summer, her frustrations were clear.
QUINLAN: Both parties have their extreme side and no one's in the middle.
ZELENY (voice-over): From her vantage point in the critical suburbs of Milwaukee, no longer dominated by Republicans alone, she said issues are driving her decision.
QUINLAN: I'm going to vote for Trump. You know, when he talks in the big arena, sometimes I'm like, I wish he would tone down his rhetoric and everything. But at the end of the day, I'm one of the persons that's going to fix the economy, border, and then national security.
[02:14:59]
ZELENY (voice-over): A year-long conversation with voters paints a more nuanced picture of the electorate. For one, the gender gap is hardly absolute.
BRUCE NEAD, WISCONSIN VOTER FOR HARRIS: January 6th was a direct threat against our democracy, trying to overthrow it. Legal election. That was it for me.
ZELENY (voice-over): To win, the Harris coalition depends upon people like Bruce Nead, raised in a Republican family whose front yard makes his disdain for the former president clear. And Tiffany Koehler, a Republican who's casting a rare vote for the Democratic presidential candidate.
TIFFANY KOEHLER, WISCONSIN REPUBLICAN VOTER FOR HARRIS: We used to be the party of women to government. We used to be the party of fiscal responsibility. I know there's a lot of Republicans voting for the vice president because we really want to close this chapter in history.
ZELENY (voice-over): For Trump, the path to victory not only depends on strength in deep red rural areas, but whether he diminishes Democratic margins in the suburbs outside Madison. Brandon Maly leads the Republican Party in fast-growing Dane County.
BRANDON MALY, CHAIR, DANE COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY: People think of Madison as such a traditional liberal bastion. But you get outside of Madison, Dane County is the second most populated county. If he does not get at least 23 percent of the vote in Dane County, he will not win Wisconsin. If he gets 25 percent or above, he wins, guaranteed.
ZELENY (voice-over): The campaign draws to a close with many wild cards, including third-party candidates like Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose name remains on the ballot.
ROBERT F. KENNEDY, JR., FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't want your vote. I want you to vote for Donald Trump.
ZELENY (voice-over): Back at the Apple Holler Orchard, Flannery sees a hopeful light at the end of a dark campaign.
FLANNERY: More than about politics, the future of the country is more important than whether you're a Republican or Democrat.
ZELENY (on camera): Wisconsin is more important than its 10 electoral votes may suggest. It is a critical part of the so-called Blue Wall along with Michigan and Pennsylvania. For Donald Trump, he won in 2016 that helped him defeat Hillary Clinton. He lost all three in 2020. That, of course, allowed Joe Biden to go to the White House. This time around, more than one million Wisconsin voters have already cast the ballots. There is no doubt this is at the center of the race, both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris coming back to Wisconsin on Friday. Jeff Zeleny, CNN Milwaukee.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Spain is hit with one of its worst weather disasters in decades. Still to come, an update from Valencia on the deadly and unprecedented floods.
Plus, hospitals under assault in Gaza. What the U.N. says was lost in the latest bombardment. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: More than 150 people are now confirmed dead in Spain from heavy rains and flash flooding. That's after a year's worth of rain came down in just a matter of hours earlier this week, causing rivers to overflow and coursing through entire towns and doing immense damage.
[02:20:02]
Emergency workers are working to rescue those still trapped while operations are underway to recover bodies and clear enormous amounts of debris. Atika Schubert reports from the worst hit region.
ATIKA SHUBERT, JOURNALIST (voice-over): A dramatic rescue in Spain's Valencia region, a young baby hoisted to safety from the flood waters below. With the country still reeling from the worst flooding in decades, emergency services are still battling to find survivors. As the water subsides, the scale of the damage here is only starting to be revealed. The littered vehicles piled up like garbage, an indication of the ferocity of the floodwater that tore through these streets.
A massive cleanup operation now underway as many remain without power or water. Many roads are totally blocked, hampering relief efforts. As residents pick their way through what is left of their towns, now slick with mud, one question remains. How could this happen? So much water, so fast, with seemingly very little warning from authorities.
(On camera): Now this area, La Torre, is actually very close to Valencia City and it is also very close to the river. The water is just swept right through here. And many people here in Fulga (inaudible) didn't get the alert until it was too late.
ADAN, RESIDENT OF LA TORRE (through translation): The problem is the alarm on the phone came really late at night. I saw on the TV the cars floating on a nearby street and I thought the water must be coming my way. I went out onto the balcony and I saw the wave coming.
SHUBERT (voice-over): The death toll here is expected to rise as recovery teams scour for bodies. Many like this woman searching the streets for their loved ones. The Spanish prime minister visiting the region Thursday warned the threat from the storm was not over yet.
PEDRO SANCHEZ, PRIME MINISTER OF SPAIN (through translation): To the citizens who live in the provinces of Valencia and also Castellon, please, the damage continues and please stay home.
SHUBERT (voice-over): The severity of the flood seemed to catch everyone out, with a year's worth of rain falling in just a few hours in some places, according to Spain's Meteorological Office. But many still asking why in a developed and advanced country like this one couldn't more people be saved. Atika Schubert, CNN, at La Torre, Valencia, Spain.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Now, the deadly flooding was so intense that satellite imagery now shows parts of Valencia almost disappearing into the sea. CNN meteorologist Chad Myers looks at how it happened, what's next, and also tells us about a monster typhoon that just hit Taiwan.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely devastating pictures there out of Spain. Some spots in Spain picked up more rainfall in one day than they usually get in a year. It was a cut-off low, a low pressure system that just sat over Spain and did not move. And if we had a desert over here instead of the Mediterranean Sea, that would not have been a problem. This happens all the time in California, but we don't have a warm Mediterranean ocean, Mediterranean sea, to move all of that moisture from the water onto the land.
And boy, was there moisture. Almost 500 millimeters in just eight hours. So a half of a meter, 18 to 19 inches of rainfall in eight hours, the before and the after. Closer to the cities here, you'll see what is normally a dry river was certainly not a dry river. This was where the water was just pouring out of the mountains. Closer in here, you can see the grass. Sometimes there's not any water in it at all. But then, boy, there was just a couple of days ago, this water came roaring down.
And here you've seen the roads with the cars that have been clogged. Here's the road here, a little bit farther to the north is where all those cars were parked. And the river finally going down a little bit, but all of that mud where those people were stranded. Now we will get a little bit of rain. We're still going to get 50 to 100 millimeters more of rain, maybe an inch and a half. Some spots may be up to two to three, but not really centered on where the flooding was down here, a little bit farther to the north, maybe closer to Barcelona.
Little bit to the east of there, all the way around the globe as we go to Taiwan. Here's Kong-rey, a 200 kilometer per hour wind event that slammed into the east coast of Taiwan during the day. The rainfall came down, the eye came right over, the wind speeds were somewhere around 200 kph. Now the thing is dying off. As it hit the land, obviously we've lost a lot of humidity, lost a lot of moisture, and a lot of spin. When we talk about 500 millimeters in Spain, 1.2 meters already reported from this storm in parts of Taiwan.
Now, it will move away from Taiwan. It'll even give a little bit of rain to Shanghai, maybe even some more rain on up toward Kyushu and toward -- I would even say Tokyo could pick up a couple hundred millimeters.
[02:25:00]
Mainly on the west side of Japan, but certainly not out of the question of more rainfall to come. Even if the wind is only tropical storm force, maybe even 50 kilometers per hour, it'll still be a rain event.
BRUNHUBER: Trump supporter Elon Musk hopes to move his million-dollar voter sweepstakes case to a federal court. That's after a district attorney of Philadelphia filed suit Monday against the tech billionaire and Trump ally. The prosecutor called the Musk super PAC's one million-dollar giveaway to swing state voters an illegal lottery by trying to move the case to federal court.
Musk averted his required court appearance on Thursday in Pennsylvania. Musk's lawyer says the Tesla CEO is too busy to show up anywhere on short notice. The D.A.'s representative called Musk's absence of the hearing cowardly and irresponsible. The D.A. has called for an emergency hearing into the matter.
A federal grand jury is meeting to investigate criminal charges against music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs, that's according to three sources. On Thursday, jurors were expected to hear from a witness who claims to have videos that show Combs potentially victimizing celebrities. Combs has pleaded not guilty to federal charges of sex trafficking, racketeering and transporting to engage in prostitution. He denies all wrongdoing including accusations in more than two dozen civil cases.
The rapper Young Thug has been released from custody and won't serve time in jail following his racketeering trial here in Atlanta, Georgia. As part of a plea deal, he was sentenced to time served on Thursday. He pleaded guilty to some charges and no contest to others. Prosecutors accused Young Thug, real name Jeffrey Williams, of leading a violent street gang which could have put him behind bars for the rest of his life. In the end, he served more than 900 days behind bars and will be on probation for 15 years.
All right, so to come, no ballots have been counted yet in the U.S. election of course, but some of Donald Trump's supporters are already preparing to undermine the results if he doesn't win.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNKNONW: I just don't think that Trump's gonna lose.
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: You think he won last time?
UNKNOWN: Oh, definitely.
O'SULLIVAN: What happens if he loses?
UNKNOWN: If he loses, we're all going down -- January 6th --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: And now I'm being accused of being Hitler by these lunatics out there that have lost control of our country.
[02:29:58]
Our country is a -- we're riddled with crime. Every city, you take a look at it, it's falling apart.
HARRIS: We all know we have an opportunity in this election to turn the page on a decade of Donald Trump trying to keep us divided and afraid of each other. We're done with that. We're done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Both U.S. presidential nominees are hitting the campaign trail hard, with only four days left until the election. On Thursday, Vice President Kamala Harris wrapped up a Las Vegas rally with superstar Jennifer Lopez as early voting ends in Nevada. While former President Donald Trump sprinted through the Southwest, some of his supporters are already pushing false claims of voter fraud and promoting lies about a rigged election.
CNN's Donie O'Sullivan has more now on the multi-front plan they have to contest the election.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like how much theft can they get away with in order to prevent Trump from winning?
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Do you think he's going to win?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we have a fair election, yes.
O'SULLIVAN: There's no way he can lose fairly?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fairly, there's no way.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): MAGA world is preparing its followers for a stolen election.
GREG STENSTROM, AUTHOR: They're just going to announce Harris as the winner. They're going to go, we win again. And not try to stop us again. And what's stood for this time is we're going to be able to stop them.
MARK BURNS, PASTOR: Is there anybody here in North Carolina ready to take this nation back by any means necessary, say, yes, yes, yes. O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): They're laying out step-by-step plans to overturn a potential Harris victory. These are not random Trump supporters. These are influential figures in the MAGA movement.
IVAN RAIKLIN, MAGA ACTIVIST: It's all going to depend on what they end up doing and a plan and strategy for every single component of it. And then January 6th is going to be pretty fun.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Many of them, like Ivan Raiklin and Michael Flynn, have huge audiences online and are involved in election-denying groups that have spent millions of dollars furthering election conspiracy theories.
MICHAEL FLYNN, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: And we should know by Tuesday night by about 9:00 or 10:00 at night that one party won.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Election officials across the country have explained that we likely won't know the full results on election night. To conspiracy theorists, however, that is a sign of fraud.
FLYNN: In this case, I strongly believe that Donald Trump, if this thing is a fair election, he'll win all 50 states.
RAIKLIN: Now, if it's legit, we don't have to worry, right? But who thinks it's going to be legit? You think they're just going to give it to you? No, this is going to be a fight.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Raiklin has encouraged people to pressure their state representatives not to certify election results if they suspect fraud.
RAIKLIN: We try to play it fair. They steal it. Our state legislatures are our final stop to guarantee a checkmate.
Be prepared on January 1st to apply the maximum motivation to your state reps, state senators.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): In North Carolina, he and another right-wing activist are going as far to say there should be no election because of the destruction after Hurricane Helene. They say the Republican- controlled state legislature should decide which presidential candidates get their Electoral College votes.
NOEL FRITSCH, NATIONAL FILE: We don't have to do this popular vote in the state stuff for this federal election. We don't have to do it.
RAIKLIN: You got 120 House reps. How many of those are Republican? The majority. How about a significant majority? So then how is the House body going to likely vote with your motivation for the Republican nominee? What about the Senate? Majority.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): The idea is fringe and it is extreme, but a Republican congressman endorsed the idea at an event with Raiklin.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, it's heck him up. You've got this enfranchised in 25 counties. You know what that vote probably would have been, which -- which should be, if I were in the legislature, not to go, yes, we'd have to be in the legislature. We can't --
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Before eventually walking it back. The idea that the only way Harris can win is if the election is stolen is being pushed across hundreds of MAGA media outlets and from the former president himself.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Because they cheat. That's the only way we're going to lose, because they cheat.
O'SULLIVAN: And it's convincing his base.
What if the results show that Harris won? Do you think Trump will accept that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think anybody will accept that because we know it's going to be a lie. But -- but -- but if that's what it is, it's what it is. We'll -- we'll go from there. We'll see what happens.
O'SULLIVAN: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So I just don't think that Trump's going to lose.
O'SULLIVAN: You think he won last time?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, definitely.
O'SULLIVAN: What happens if he loses?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If he loses, we're all going down January 6th.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'SULLIVAN (on camera): And you know, I think if we heard this rhetoric a few years ago, we would have said it is just that its only rhetoric. Its only talk and nothing might come of it. These people might not be serious, but of course, we know now what happened in January 6th, 2021, that these words can lead to very drastic actions.
[02:35:07]
Back to you.
BRUNHUBER: Well, the poop emoji has a new home on top of a desk in Americas capitol. Have a look. This temporary display of the symbol of, call it waste matter aims to remind people of the U.S. Capitol riots in 2021. A plaque reads this memorial honors the brave men and women who broke into the United States Capitol on January 6th, 2021, to loot, urinate and defecate throughout those hallowed halls in order to overturn an election. It identifies the desk as Nancy Pelosi's to mark the rider who put his feet up on the former speaker's desk that day.
D.C. residents are weighing in on the satirical stunt. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS LIESE, WASHINGTON, D.C. RESIDENT: It needs to be a day that nobody should quickly forget about, right? Because there was an insurrection, and, you know there was a lot of harm that -- and a lot of violence that came to our city here.
JOANNE TUCKER, WASHINGTON, D.C. RESIDENT: I think -- I think I like it because it reminds people of what happened four years ago. And it was really awful and if it takes a pile of poop to remind people, then that's what it takes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: American relations with China have a significant impact on the world. Trade wars and tariffs involving the two largest global economies have disrupted supply chains and hit businesses in both countries and the tough talk shows no signs of letting up.
For more on this, I want to bring in CNN's Marc Stewart in Beijing.
So, Marc, how do ordinary Chinese people and the government as well view the coming U.S. presidential election?
MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Kim.
Well, I can tell you, as someone who lives in China and works in China, there are certainly a lot of curiosity about the election. People ask me all the time who's going to win, who am I supporting for, for president?
Yet there are other issues facing the Chinese people including the economy. Their health, the well-being of people's children. Yet it does come up in conversation.
Let me share with you some of the reactions we've recently heard on the streets here in Beijing.
(BEGIN VDIEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know about it, but I don't pay too much attention to it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think it will have any impact on our life here. To us, ordinary Chinese people, whoever becomes the president whether its candidate A or candidate B, it's all the same.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEWART: It's all the same, said that man.
One area where we do see some pretty pointed reaction to the election is on Chinese social media, which is typically censored. Let me share with you some of the responses we've seen recently. One person saying the U.S. is about to split.
Another person said, it doesn't matter who it is, their containment of China will not ease, won't ease. Another response saying there's no perfect system, but at least they allow people to question them. As far as what the Chinese government has to say, it's taking a very neutral approach. It makes it very clear whenever there are questions, that this is a us specific matter, and arguments could be made for both candidates perhaps Beijing likes the anti-alliance feel of Donald Trump or a potential Trump presidency.
Yet at the same time perhaps appreciating some of the diplomacy and the regular communication that we have seen in the Democratic administration with Biden and possibly going back to Harris, if she indeed wins.
Nonetheless the U.S. relationship, Kim, will be complicated because this issue of tariffs on EVs and everyday products is something that is likely to continue and could have certainly a direct impact on the Chinese economy.
BRUNHUBER: Interesting. All right. Appreciate that. Look, Marc Stewart live in Beijing.
Large crowds marched through Ecuador's capital on Thursday, blaming the country's president for a growing energy crisis. People have been dealing with widespread power outages that reportedly last up to 14 hours daily. Ecuador relies heavily on hydropower and is struggling through a terrible drought that's putting a strain on the power grid.
One protester said that people are fed up and are standing up for their rights.
Thousands of North Korean troops are in Russia, apparently to fight against Ukraine. Now the U.S. is giving a time frame for when the North Koreans could go head to head against Ukrainian forces. That's coming up.
Stay with us.
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[02:41:45]
BRUNHUBER: Israel is launching a series of new strikes against Lebanon. According to Lebanese state media, the Israeli military targeted the southern suburbs of Beirut overnight for the first time in more than a week. The assaults reportedly caused massive destruction, with dozens of buildings leveled to the ground.
On Thursday, Israeli strikes near the eastern city of Baalbek for a second straight day and also in southern Lebanon. The Lebanese caretaker prime minister says a deal to end the cross-border violence between Israel and Hezbollah could be in the final stages. The top U.S. diplomat also pointed to signs of progress. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONY BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE: I can tell you that based on my recent trip to the region, the work that's ongoing right now, we have made good progress on those understandings. We still have more work to do, but that's what's necessary to get us to a diplomatic resolution including through a ceasefire.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: This week, U.S. officials have been making a big diplomatic push to halt the regional violence. The CIA director has been attending peace talks in Cairo, where it's believed they're discussing a new proposal that calls for a month long ceasefire in Gaza in exchange for the release of some hostages. But sources say the U.S. doubts there will be any pause in fighting in Gaza before Tuesday's election as Israel waits to see who the next president will be.
According to hospital staff, at least 13 people were killed Thursday and dozens more injured after an Israeli strike near a refugee camp in central Gaza. Meanwhile, we're learning desperately needed medical supplies were destroyed by a bombing at a hospital in northern Gaza. The U.N. says the critical supplies from the world health organization had only arrived five days ago. A spokesperson warned that, quote, hospitals are under assault and rescue teams are unable to work. The Israeli military says it's unaware of a strike on the hospital but is reviewing the incident.
Saudi Arabia says it won't normalize ties with Israel until a Palestinian state is established. That's what the Saudi foreign minister told CNN's Becky Anderson in Riyadh on Thursday. He also warned that if Israel doesn't start respecting the rights of Palestinians in Gaza and beyond the whole Middle East region is at risk. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: My conversation with Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud explored a whole host of issues as the kingdom increasingly builds its influence here in the region and around the world, in tandem with its ambitious efforts to build its economy into a global powerhouse.
Now top of mind here continues to be the regional instability, not least the situation in Gaza that has resulted in more than a year of intense bombardment and unimaginable human suffering, a form of genocide. Those were the foreign ministers words. If that is the reality, as he sees it. Here is how he says that reality will impact any future relationship that the Saudis might have with Israel.
FAISAL BIN FARHAN AL SAUD, SAUDI FOREIGN MINISTER: I would say certainly normalization with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is not just at risk. It is off the table until we have a resolution to Palestinian statehood. But I would say more than that. I would say that it is not just the issue of normalization with the kingdom that is at risk.
I would say that the security of the region as a whole is at risk if we do not address the rights of the Palestinians, if we do not find our way to a pathway that leads us to a Palestinian state, because that's the only way we can ensure that we can focus on the future, that we can focus on cooperation, that we focus on integration.
[02:45:19]
So, I would hope that the leadership of Israel sees that it is not just the right thing to do, it is not just the moral thing to do. Is not just the just thing to do to give the Palestinians their rights and their state. It is also in the security and strategic interest of Israel to do so, and that's, I think, up to them to decide.
ANDERSON: Well, of course, much discussion here at this future investment conference about how to navigate these uncertain, unsettling times as well as an ever present elephant in the room. What happens just days from now in the U.S. elections?
Well, I asked the Saudi foreign minister if the kingdom favors either candidate. And spoiler alert here he doesn't. But also whether a bilateral deal between Saudi and the U.S. is dependent on what happens with a two state solution in this region.
AL SAUD: There is one element of the bilateral agreements that were working on that is very much tied to normalization. And we've made very clear the crown prince, in his speech to the Shura Council, made very clear what would be required for the kingdom to establish diplomatic relations with Israel and with absent that, we are quite happy to wait until the situation is amenable.
The other work streams are not that connected. And, you know, some of them are progressing quite quickly, and we hope to see moving forward.
ANDERSON: Just days to go before the U.S. election. I mean, literally just hours to go now, is it clear to you which candidate would be the best for the Middle East, in general, in particular for solving the Israel-Palestine conflict and do you have a candidate that better understands the opportunities afforded by Saudi vision 2030, and who would Saudi prepare to work with?
AL SAUD: We are quite prepared to work with either administration or either candidate, should they gain the trust of the American people. It's really up to the American people to decide.
ANDERSON: Becky Anderson, CNN, Riyadh, in Saudi Arabia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: And we just have to add that Israel strenuously denies any accusations of genocide.
North Korean troops are headed for the fight against Ukrainians, probably in just a matter of days. That's from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken who spoke alongside U.S. and South Korean officials on Thursday.
As Oren Liebermann reports, the U.S. says its seeing clear signs that North Koreans are gearing up for battle.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: In a meeting between the U.S. secretaries of state and defense and their South Korean counterparts, the U.S. went further than it's ever gone before in talking about North Korean troops and their involvement, not only with Russia, but in the war in Ukraine.
In a matter of days here, the U.S. went from saying there were 3,000 North Korean troops training in Russia, to saying there are 10,000, including 8,000 of those of whom are near or in the Kursk region of Russia, where the Ukrainians have conducted a successful offensive and seized some Russian territory there.
Now, Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying it is only a matter of days. Quote, in the coming days that we expect to see North Korean troops involved in the fighting and the war in Ukraine. He also went further than that to talk about the type of training they have received, and that makes it very clear they are becoming part of Russia's war machine.
BLINKEN: Russia has been training DPRK soldiers in artillery, UAVs, basic infantry operations, including trench clearing, indicating that they fully intend to use these forces in front line operations.
LIEBERMANN: With the South Korean ministers of defense and foreign affairs here, North Korea making their displeasure obvious with a launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile. The longest flight time we have seen nearly 90 minutes from North Korea. Here, it's about a year since they last tested and fired off an ICBM here, so it appears they may be showing one of their more advanced missiles and advanced missile launchers here.
The U.S. and South Korea are watching this very closely and making it clear there will be some form of response and a deep intelligence sharing and cooperation on that front as well. The U.S. and South Korea carrying out a large scale aerial exercise following that launch, more than 100 advanced fighter jets from the U.S. from South Korea. So making it clear there will be military cooperation when North Korea carries out these sorts of tests.
With South Korean officials here, both the U.S. and South Korea here say they'd like to see more engagement from the Chinese on trying to get the North Koreans to step back. But so far, all South Korea is saying is that China is waiting and watching.
[02:50:03]
Oren Liebermann, CNN in the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Russia is fining Google an amount of money so outrageous you can't really pronounce it let alone pay it. The tech firm apparently owes two undecillion rubles that's a two, followed by 36 zeros, or about 20,000,000,000 trillion, trillion dollars.
Google has allegedly been blocking pro-Russian channels on YouTube, but a Russian court ordered the channels restored, or penalties would double every week. Google hasn't commented specifically, but referred to ongoing legal matters in Russia. A Kremlin spokesperson says the fine was filled with symbolism.
A global pop icon is turning 50. Just ahead, say hello to this kitty. The cute face behind a multi-billion dollar global franchise.
We'll have that after the break. Stay with us.
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[02:52:34]
BRUNHUBER: A pop icon is turning 50 today, and the superstar is still as cute as the day she was born.
Hello Kitty ushered in a half century of Kawaii culture, which is Japanese for cute.
CNN's Hanako Montgomery has more from Tokyo.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In this sea of Hello Kittys, it's hard for superfan Asako Kanda to pick her favorite her.
Like many fans before her, Kanda was drawn to Hello Kitty as a child. Her collection has grown a bit since then.
So this Hello Kitty is a special Hello Kitty that's celebrating her 50th birthday, and she's wearing a tartan because Hello Kitty herself is actually British.
She loves them all like family. Getting rid of any is out of the question.
ASAKO KANDA, HELLO KITTY SUPERFAN: She's the one constant in my life. My love for Hello Kitty has never wavered.
MONTGOMERY: With her iconic red bow and mouthless charm, Hello Kitty has captivated generations of fans. In her 50 years, she's been a United Nations ambassador, met global stars, and even picked up some sports all while taking Japan's Kawaii or cute culture from niche to worldwide.
And her hard work has paid off worth US$80 billion. Hello kitty is the second highest grossing franchise in the world, according to Titlemax. Not bad for a little girl yes, you heard that right that only weighs three apples and is five apples tall.
But Hello Kitty hasn't always been this popular. After her 1974 debut on a small coin purse, Hello Kitty merchandise sales slumped until parent company Sanrio hired designer Yuko Yamaguchi six years later, who turned to fans for help. YUKO YAMAGUCHI, HELLO KITTY DESIGNER: They told me it was always the same stuff and that she wasn't stylish anymore, so I added new trends and made her more like everyone else and gradually sales started to improve.
MONTGOMERY: Since then, she's expanded Hello Kitty's world, giving the character new clothes, skills and broadening her fan base to adults.
After decades together, Yamaguchi says her bond with Kitty has evolved from friend to alter ego to talent she manages.
YAMAGUCHI: Now I feel like the two of us are working together to bring happiness to others.
[02:55:01]
It's our way of giving back to all the fans who love and support Kitty.
MONTGOMERY: As for their striking resemblance, Yamaguchi says Kitty is the copycat.
YAMAGUCHI: Because I was born before her.
MONTGOMERY: Hello Kitty may be small, but her impact on the world is anything but.
Hanako Montgomery, CNN, Tokyo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: James Bond movies are full of cars that played starring roles, right along with the actors, like this Rolls-Royce Phantom from Goldfinger. Have a look.
(MOVIE CLIP PLAYS)
BRUNHUBER: If you think that's remarkable, check out this new Rolls- Royce Phantom called Goldfinger. The company created the one of a kind modern vehicle to honor the classic movies 60th anniversary. It took three years to complete for an anonymous client. The car is full of bond worthy gadgets, most of them of course, in gold. No word if you can get your hands on one or how much gold that would set you back.
Well, a scary creature visited the Nasdaq stock exchange after the market closed yesterday, fittingly for Halloween, it came straight from the horror flick "Terrifier 3". Have a look
(MOVIE CLIP PLAYS)
BRUNHUBER: Art the Clown as the movie characters called rang the closing bell on Thursday. Along with actress Lauren LaVera and movie promoters. The promoters say they were invited to the Nasdaq to celebrate the movies box office success. It raked in more than $50 million since its release in October, becoming the highest grossing unrated movie to hit theaters.
Well, Hindus across India are celebrating Diwali today, the festival of lights, that sets cities aglow with color. The celebrations began Thursday. It's marked by lighting, oil lamps sparklers, firecrackers and fireworks. The vibrant holiday symbolizes the triumph of good over evil and the welcoming of the Hindu god, Lord Ram, after he defeated the powerful King Ravana, lighting earthen lamps signifies welcoming Lord Ram to the Indian city of Ayodhya after his 14-year exile.
All right. Thanks so much for joining me here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. I'll be back in just a moment. Please do stay with us.
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