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Fight for Final Votes with Three Days Left in 2024 Presidential Race; Harris Rallies Wisconsin with Cardi B; Trump Doubles Down on Cheney Attacks; Floods Claim 205 in Spain's Deadliest Disaster in Decades; Storms, Strikes Impact U.S. Job Creation in October; Former Kentucky Police Officer Convicted in Death of Breonna Taylor; Presidential Election Affects Middle East's Future; Dodgers Celebrate Eighth Title. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired November 02, 2024 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:00]

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to all of you watching here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

Kamala Harris campaigns in Wisconsin and makes a pledge to the American people. We'll discuss the significance of the battleground state and how voters there are feeling about the candidates.

Donald Trump holds a dueling rally just a few miles away. And while he slams his Democratic rival, he also digs in on attacking a woman who isn't on the ballot at all.

And a jarring U.S. jobs report ahead of Election Day. We'll go behind the numbers and also look at which candidate stands to benefit most from the current state of the economy.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from Atlanta this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.

BRUNHUBER: Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are sprinting through the final weekend of campaigning, with only three days left in the race for the White House. More than 68 million Americans have already cast their ballots in early voting.

In the coming days, Trump is set to stop in North Carolina and Virginia, while Harris is expected to hit North Carolina and Georgia.

On Friday, both candidates held dueling rallies in battleground Wisconsin, though, as we already know, polling is extremely tight in the election battlegrounds, including those crucial Rust Belt states of the Democrats' blue wall.

New Marist polling shows Harris with slim leads in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan. But those figures are all within the margin of error. Now in those same states, Marist finds Trump pulling ahead with men while Harris leads with women by even wider margins. Some pollsters say the race now comes down to turnout.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANK LUNTZ, POLLSTER AND COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGIST: I'm not looking as much at the polling anymore because that's determined.

I don't believe there are any more undecideds. There are still non- committeds. There are still persuadables. But if you're undecided, you reject both candidates. You don't like them. You're not going to be voting for them.

To me, I'm trying to figure out what the turnout is going to be. And the group that I'm watching more than any other are young women. If they come out in significant numbers, if they make a bigger percentage of the overall voter pool, then that is great news for Harris. That may propel her.

The other group that I'm watching are Latinos. Some of that has been muddied over what happened in Madison Square Garden earlier this week. But the Latino population is voting in good numbers in the Western states. And that's critical in Arizona and Nevada. What they do could also be decisive.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, REPUBLICAN POLLSTER: We know that women make up a majority of voters. But after the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe versus Wade, we know that women turned out in even bigger than expected numbers for a midterm, especially those younger women that Frank talked about.

If that materializes, that could be a problem for Trump, which is in part why he's made reaching young men such a big part of his strategy. Young voters, both male and female, have not really been into Republicans over the last decade.

Trump is trying to turn that around, knowing that he's probably not going to do well with young women but can he try to run up the score with young men.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Well, it was a busy day on the campaign trail for Harris on Friday. The U.S. vice president enlisted more star power to boost her support in these final days of the race.

Celebrities like rapper Cardi B appeared at her Milwaukee rally. And earlier in the day, Harris drew a contrast with her rival's zero tolerance for his critics. Harris said she would seek common ground and common sense solutions and she said she'd listen. Here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: I pledge to listen to those who will be impacted by the decisions I make.

I will listen to experts. I will listen to the people who disagree with me because, you see, unlike Donald Trump, I don't believe that people who disagree with me are the enemy. He wants to put them in jail. I'll give them a seat at the table.

BRUNHUBER (voice-over): The crowd there is chanting "Madam President."

Now Harris also received a warm welcome during one union visit while courting the Wisconsin labor vote.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Here in Janesville and across our nation, union members have helped lead the fight for fair pay, better benefits, safer working conditions and every person in America benefits from your work.

I tell people everywhere I go, thank a union member.

Thank you, union member.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[05:05:00]

BRUNHUBER: Meanwhile, Donald Trump addressed global warming at one of his rallies and made false claims about climate change. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: So I will terminate the green new scam, one of the great scams in history. It used to be global warming and that wasn't working because we're actually cooling. So we have that.

But you know, the biggest warming problem we have is nuclear warming.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: In other news, Trump is doubling down on his contempt for the former congresswoman, Liz Cheney. Here's CNN's Kristen Holmes with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Former president Donald Trump spending Friday in two critical battleground states, Michigan and Wisconsin, as his team seeks to drive out any single vote they can.

Now in between his attempts to try and stick to his closing message, which they believe the campaign should be focused on the economy, immigration, crime, he spent a lot of the day trying to clarify those comments that he made about Liz Cheney the night before in Nevada.

First, he posted on Truth Social. Then during multiple stops throughout the day, he brought up those comments or they were -- he was asked about those comments. And here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I think that Liz Cheney is a disaster. All she wants to do is blow people up. She's a war hawk and a dumb one at that. And if you ever put her into the field of battle, she'd be the first one to chicken out. She wouldn't fight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now it's rare to hear Donald Trump trying to clarify anything that he says. Generally, if he says something and there's an enormous amount of backlash, he allows his campaign or his surrogates to try and clean it up.

But there is clearly something about these remarks, particularly so close to the election, that either he or his campaign thought it was important for him to continue to try and clarify what exactly he was saying during that rally in Nevada.

Now at his last stop in Milwaukee, very clearly, this was his second time in the state in just a week. They were trying to come here to try to drive out early voters to take some of the pressure off of that November 5th Election Day of, get those votes out.

Both sides that I have spoken to have said there's a little bit of a lack of transparency in the state, particularly of Wisconsin, where they're not sure what's going to happen. It was so close the last time around.

They are both working as fast as they can and as hard as they can to try and drive out voters, because, as we have repeatedly reported, this election is going to be determined in the margins and they need every single vote they can get -- Kristen Holmes, CNN, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Arizona's attorney general says her office is investigating whether comments that Trump made about Liz Cheney could be considered a death threat under state law. Here's what Trump said in Glendale, Arizona, on Thursday night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: She's a radical war hawk. Let's put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her OK. Let's see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Well, Cheney reacted on X, writing, quote, "This is how dictators destroy free nations. They threaten those who speak against them with death."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BRUNHUBER: All right. I want to bring in Leslie Vinjamuri, who heads the U.S. and the America's Programme at Chatham House and she joins us now from London.

Thank you so much for being here with us again. So I want to go back and start with Trump's comments about Liz Cheney.

Now Republicans, of course, are trying to downplay them. I don't imagine they're helpful for his campaign. But then again, he's been saying things like this since the beginning. They really haven't hurt him that much.

Will this be any different do you think?

LESLIE VINJAMURI, CHATHAM HOUSE: Yes, I think what Donald Trump has been doing with that comment and over the last several rallies has really been very much about enthusing his base, that sort of 40 percent of voters, really getting them passion -- passionate about him, whipping them up and ensuring that they turn out and vote.

This is clearly a set of remarks that will damage how people beyond that base feel about him. I think it's very likely to generate some more silent Kamala Harris voters, even in those very red areas of those swing states.

That's a number that that everybody's very curious about. It's very hard to predict exactly what it will look like but it's a new thing. You know, we used to talk about silent Trump voters, people who didn't want to confess to their communities that they were supporting Donald Trump.

Now it's on the Harris side. And part of it is about a concern by women that, you know, that this is a presidential candidate, the former president, who stokes violence, division, who's very macho, very, you know, much of the language is racist and sexist.

And so there's -- I think that is not helping. But again, he is focused on those swing states, on the non-college educated white men and women who have supported him.

[05:10:03]

And with this language, there's a real question of what happens.

And we are seeing that the white women who didn't go to university, didn't go to college, that, even though they have supported Trump in the past, some of that support seems to be dropping.

But again, it's -- at this point, do people turn out?

Do they turn out in the states where it matters?

Registrations are largely over, so it really is about the president's language, about Kamala Harris' ability to enthuse people. And it's very much about, you know, what we hear of the ground game. And Pennsylvania has become a real focus and, you know, the word on

the street is that the ground game for the Democrats is at just -- at a purely operational day to day level proving to be much stronger. But we know how tight that race is.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely.

(CROSSTALK)

VINJAMURI: -- matters a huge amount. But across -- but across the state.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. Let's drill into that. New polling on the blue wall states gives Harris a slight edge in several of them.

What do you make of the latest numbers and sort of where things stand overall?

VINJAMURI: You know, at this point, the polls aren't telling us very much because they've continued to tell us for quite some time that this is an incredibly close race.

Nate Silver said -- and I think it's a very interesting comment -- that the one thing about the polls is that they're so close in so many states that it's highly unlikely that we won't see any surprises coming out of the swing states in this election.

In other words, it isn't just going to be about the polls. It's going to be about what voters do. And that might differ. You know, it's hard to get to all these people in the polls. Some people perhaps don't tell pollsters what they're actually going to do.

So there are a lot of, you know, unknowns, known unknowns about this election. The biggest one is who turns out to vote. And this is, you know, as we know, it's a very practical thing. We're hearing about people standing in lines for hours.

For others, it's quite, quite a lot easier. We hear about all manner of difficulties and certain, you know, just the process of voting. But people are working the state. They're working all the swing states. And so it's -- and it may take some time but we're going to have to wait and see.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. And on that, I mean, we likely won't know who wins, you know, on Election Night. But regardless of the results, many people expect Donald Trump to declare victory early.

We don't have a lot of time. Maybe a minute. But if you could lay out what impact you think that might have in terms of stoking claims of fraud, of another steal, for example.

VINJAMURI: Look, there -- if this election is close, there will undoubtedly be calls for recounts, probably on either side.

But we expect that the Harris campaign, to do this, if its very close, you know, through legal mechanisms, through the courts, through standard procedures.

The concern on the Trump side, given the level of violent rhetoric that already kind of sowing division and seeding doubt about the veracity, the credibility, the fairness of the election in ways that are not grounded in evidence, it foments the ability, that it stokes the possibility for violence.

People know that the possibility of electoral related violence is real. And what we're hoping is that there is preparation for that at the local level and that we see -- saw in 2022 was we didn't see the violence that many people anticipated. We have to hope that that's the case. But the rhetoric is very, very unstabilizing (sic).

BRUNHUBER: Yes, certainly it is. We'll have to leave it there. Leslie Vinjamuri, thank you so much for being here with us again. Appreciate it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: The devastation of Hurricane Helene is still being felt more than a month after the storm tore through the southeastern U.S.

On Friday, Tennessee rescue workers said they recovered the final person still missing after a flood brought on by Helene hit a plastics factory in the small town of Irwin. Rosa Andrade, age 29, was one of six employees who were swept away and killed after being unable to escape the rising waters around the factory.

Surviving workers said they weren't allowed to leave until the plant's parking lot flooded. Relatives of some of the deceased have since sued the factory and its owner.

The death toll from the devastating flash floods in southeastern Spain has surpassed 200 people and authorities warn that number is likely to rise. Meanwhile, rescue operations are ongoing. Spanish armed forces have already rescued more than 4,000 people, according to one official.

But by some reports there are at least 1,300 people still unaccounted for.

[05:15:00]

Authorities say collapsed roads and impeding search and rescue efforts and train tracks in the area are so badly damaged that service isn't likely to resume for weeks. That's according to Spain's rail authority.

Here in the U.S., job growth took a hit in October. Expected gains were held back by storms and labor disputes. We'll have that story when we come back.

Then later, the U.S. Supreme Court issues a new ruling that could impact thousands of votes in battleground Pennsylvania. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: The final jobs report before the U.S. election is out and growth was less than expected, with just 12,000 jobs added. Now the report is a mixed bag that shows a cooling trend. And it wasn't entirely unexpected.

Inflation is approaching the Fed's 2 percent target, encouraging expectations of a further interest rate cut next week. And overall compensation rose slightly less than last quarter but still managed to outpace inflation. CNN's Julia Chatterley gives her take on the situation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN ANCHOR: It was certainly a jarring jobs report. Strikes, storms and some degree of slowing in the jobs market. The challenge we've got is it's tough to pinpoint precisely how much of each.

[05:20:00]

And that was the forefront of what the Bureau of Labor Statistics told us Friday and that was, look, we know there was a severe impact of the storms. We couldn't quantify quite how much.

And that leaves us just looking at the numbers. So as you said, just 12,000 jobs added for the month of October, just a fraction of what was expected.

And even if we add back what was estimated to be deducted as a result of those challenges, which was somewhere between 60,000 and 100,000 jobs, it still looks like it's a slowing jobs market. It's a weaker than anticipated number.

Now come the revisions. We also saw 112,000 jobs less added for the months of August and September. So again, we're building this picture of a cooling, not collapsing -- and I'll be very clear about that -- jobs market.

What's interesting to me, too, is the unemployment rate, 4.1 percent. Exactly what we got in September. So perhaps that's the number that you need to look at to read through some of the noise that we got this month.

Just a quick flavor of the sectors, too. As you would expect, manufacturing took a hit this month. Temporary help and services also took a hit. On the plus side, we saw job gains in the government sector, in health care, too.

Where does this leave us three days out now from a presidential election?

Well, it leaves us plenty of room to politicize. The Trump campaign called this catastrophic. It's not but it is a curve ball. Of course, for the White House, they would have preferred a less messy and a stronger number heading into the presidential election.

Take a step back. This is a solid economy. We're still adding jobs. Prices have been painful. The silver lining here is that the expectation is the Federal Reserve will cut rates next week by a quarter of a percentage point. So borrowers, fingers crossed, something to look forward to there. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: All right.

We're joined now by Ryan Patel. He's a senior fellow at the Drucker School of Management of Claremont Graduate University.

Good to see you again, my friend. So let's just build on what we just heard there.

Clearly, for Democrats, the headline on the jobs numbers, they're not great but plenty of asterisks.

RYAN PATEL, GLOBAL BUSINESS EXECUTIVE: Yes.

I mean, the asterisks were, it could have been worse. Right?

We think about the hurricanes and you think about that. I also think some of the numbers that came out of it for the Democrats, which I didn't hear too much, the positive news was that wages continue to grow faster than inflation from the past year.

What does that mean?

That means there's still real buying power for consumers that has been increasing. So they've been resilient even as hiring softens. Right? And I think that is a strong positive note.

And when you think of the job market -- and that's what, you know, former president Trump continues to focus on for against the Democrats in this race -- that it's still not as strong as it used to be and should be right now.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. It's interesting when the jobs numbers come out. When they're positive, then the Republicans say they're made up and, when they're bad, then they're keen to trumpet them.

But anyway, the bottom line, it seems as though the economy is fairly solid, which should be good news for Harris. But in polls, Trump outperforms Harris on the economy. The gap has closed on that issue throughout the campaign here.

Inflation has cooled, the cost of gas has gone down.

But are people still pessimistic about the economy now, as they had a couple of days to the polls?

PATEL: So I mean, I've seen the recent polls.

I think CNN poll had Harris kind of closing the gap on Trump but still not enough to where obviously Trump leans to the economy more and his promises on the campaign is that growth will be higher, prices will be lower.

And I think for Harris, she's just recently came out and made a message to the business community and to the leaders, that you need more structure, you need more, you know, not say the word sanity but obviously more of a legal aspect to it so that people can actually build their businesses to it.

So it's going to get, Kim, it's going to get a little bit dirty here the next couple of days because the economy is top of mind when people are voting. And they're voting not just with what the potential growth is right now but for the future and with their wallet.

So you know, I have a feeling this conversation is not going away in the next two days. And we're going to see a lot more going on in people's plans and policies.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely. And economy top of mind, I'll tell you specifically, according to a recent Gallup poll, economic issues are more important for voters than in any presidential election since the Great Recession.

So Republicans arguing it's a mess. The general perception is that people were better off during the Trump presidency.

So economically is that actually true?

PATEL: Well, I mean if you look at it from an overall perspective, we have evolved and we've gotten better.

I think where this contention occurs, Kim, is this focus on, right now with both parties, taxes, you know, about where Harris wants to raise the taxes on big businesses, changing that number.

[05:25:02]

And, you know, she's broken some of the Biden and Biden's over capital gains tax, where Trump's on the other side, talking about higher growth and more tariffs on imports, which then obviously then leads to, you know, cheaper prices, more growth.

And that's where it leads to inflation. And also Trump's policy and Harris' policy on the argument around what they're going to do when it comes to tariffs on China and other places and imports. So not to go too much in that detail. But I have a feeling this is going to come up more.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely. And on the -- on the tariffs, you know we're looking at the difference between sort of the Trump's strength on the economy, as perceived by voters. And then it contrasts with what so many experts say we saw last week, nearly 2 dozen Nobel prize winning economists say Harris will be better for the economy.

So many others that have come out against Trump's plan on tariffs. So economically speaking, there seems to be a huge schism between the public perception of Trump and what the experts say.

PATEL: No, I think this is important. This is a global community as well. So I think countries that are dealing with the U.S. want stability, want to know what that percentage looks like so they can plan accordingly.

That includes the companies. The Biden-Harris administration has important (INAUDIBLE) imposed some tariffs on some of the Chinese imports like electric vehicles and some other minerals, where Trump's -- I mean, Trump's been really clear about his vowing to impose another 10 percent tariff on all goods imported.

You know, corporate rate tax of 15 percent for companies who make their goods in the U.S.. So he's actually laid out what he's going to do, which then cause, you know, what is the trickle down effect, should that occur?

What does that mean for the rest of the U.S. economy and the rest of the world, should the rest of the world not play ball with Trump's policies?

BRUNHUBER: So much on the line. Always great to speak with you. Ryan Patel, thank you so much for joining us. Really appreciate it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: All right.

Still ahead, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump hold dueling rallies in Wisconsin. We'll get a live report from the crucial battleground state and see how both candidates are being received. That's coming up. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

We are only three days away from the U.S. election with Kamala Harris and Donald Trump hitting the trail in battleground states. On Friday, Wisconsin was the center of attention, with both candidates holding dueling rallies there.

Polling shows, as it has for weeks now, no clear leader in the blue wall state, according to CNN's Poll of Polls for Wisconsin. Harris is holding on to a slim 3-point lead over Trump with likely voters. Here's how both candidates made their cases to voters in Wisconsin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Wisconsin, truly, we need everyone to vote here. You, Wisconsin, are going to make the difference in this election. You are going to make the difference.

TRUMP: We don't want your money. I don't want your money. I want your damn vote.

OK?

We want that vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Laura Schulte is a reporter with the "Milwaukee Journal Sentinel" and she joins us now from Madison, Wisconsin.

Thank you so much for being here with us. So both candidates held rallies a few miles apart.

What is the mood there in Wisconsin for both campaigns?

LAURA SCHULTE, "MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL": Hi.

Yes, thank you so much for having me. Yes, so both candidates held rallies in Milwaukee, as you said, a few miles apart. What they're really trying to do is get the attention of Wisconsin voters. Milwaukee is our most populous city here in Wisconsin and they're really trying to make their case in the final days of the campaign.

BRUNHUBER: All right. So to make their case, Trump was hammering Harris on the economy. Harris was, among other things, pointing out the loss of manufacturing jobs under Trump.

So what are the issues that are resonating there the most?

SCHULTE: Yes, right now, we're seeing our voters really paying attention to the economy.

There's -- there are a lot of conversation about tariffs, about taxes. And immigration is a really big issue here for us in Wisconsin.

You know, despite being so far from the southern border, people are really paying attention to that issue in particular in regards to the dairy industry, which is one of our largest industries here in Wisconsin, which have a lot of migrant workers.

So people are paying really close attention and listening to the candidates on those.

BRUNHUBER: Interesting. Yes, I was wondering why that would specifically be such a concern there. But in terms of the migrant workers, are people concerned that there

be too much of a crackdown if Trump were to get the White House and wouldn't allow workers in?

Or what are the concerns there?

SCHULTE: When it comes to the dairy industry, it's really a concern about not having enough workers.

We've had a lot of reporting over the last few years about the struggles the dairy industry have faced regarding, you know, milk prices and things like that.

And they're really concerned about not having enough workers.

BRUNHUBER: All right. So when it comes to the Democrats, I'm wondering if, 2016, you know, there's a big shadow over them this year, the fact that Hillary Clinton didn't spend any time in the state in 2016. I mean, that must be at the forefront of Democrats' minds this time around.

Right?

SCHULTE: It certainly seems so.

Both candidates have spent a lot of time in the state. We've been seeing, you know, at least one visit a week from the candidates themselves and a lot of visits from their surrogates. So they're definitely, you know, turned their attention to Wisconsin and are really making their case to voters across the state.

BRUNHUBER: Yes.

So across the state, I mean, is it is it quite as simple as, you know, urban blue, rural red?

Is there, you know, that clear divide?

Or have any of the candidates made sort of any inroads into bridging into nontraditional voting areas?

SCHULTE: You know, we've seen quite a few rallies here in Madison from Republicans.

Trump himself has come here several times and several of his surrogates, RFK and Tulsi Gabbard, were here earlier this week.

And, you know, I really think that both campaigns have kind of been targeting areas that they wouldn't have typically won. So they're trying to make inroads with voters, make their case in places. Republicans are campaigning in, you know, deep blue places.

And the Democrats are as well. And the Democrats are also, you know, reaching out in the -- in the suburbs of Milwaukee and trying to make inroads there.

[05:35:02]

BRUNHUBER: You brought up RFK. You know, Trump has been talking about what role RFK Jr. might play in his administration. Trump says he agrees with many of his views.

And Harris has slammed what input a vaccine skeptic might have on health care. Here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: He has indicated that the person who would be in charge of health care for the American people is someone who has routinely promoted junk science and crazy conspiracy theories, who once expressed support for a national abortion ban.

And who is the exact last person in America who should be setting health care policy for America's families and children.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Now RFK Jr. is still on the ballot in Wisconsin.

So what effect might that have?

I mean, it could be a relatively small effect but, in a close election, which candidate do you think could be hurt by this the most?

SCHULTE: And I think, you know, both candidates stand to be to be harmed by that, by, you know, third party votes. Right now third party candidates on the ballot are polling at about 9 percent. And among likely voters, you know, Harris is about 50 percent and Trump is about 49 percent.

So you know, those third party voters could make the difference here in Wisconsin.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. Listen, it's great to get your on the ground perspective there in Wisconsin. Laura Schulte, thank you so much for joining us. Really appreciate it.

SCHULTE: Yes.

Thank you so much for having me today.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: In a blow to Republicans, the U.S. Supreme Court says it will allow Pennsylvania to count backup votes if mail-in ballots are rejected. That leaves a state court ruling in place that helps voters who made a technical mistake when sending in their mail-in ballots.

Republicans had filed an emergency appeal this week, trying to get that ruling blocked. Not every county in Pennsylvania notifies voters if their ballots are defective. So it's not clear how many people this will impact. But both sides in the appeal indicated it could affect thousands of votes at a minimum.

Well, what happens next in the Middle East could depend on who wins Tuesday's U.S. presidential election. Ahead, what the result could mean for Israel, Gaza and the region.

This is CNN NEWSROOM.

And we'll have more on the verdict here from the -- hear about the fate of a former Kentucky police officer involved in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor. We'll have details on that ahead. Please stay with us.

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[05:40:00]

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BRUNHUBER: A former police officer in Kentucky has been convicted in the high profile shooting death of a Black woman in 2020; 26 year old Breonna Taylor was killed during a botched drug raid at her home in Louisville.

Her death sparked nationwide protests against racial injustice. On Friday, a jury found Brett Hankinson guilty of using excessive force on Taylor. He fired 10 shots into her home. Although the bullets didn't hit anyone, prosecutors argued he was reckless since he couldn't see the target and that violated a basic rule of using deadly force.

He faces up to life in prison. Two other officers who shot Taylor have not been charged in her death. Prosecutors say they were justified in the shooting since Taylor's boyfriend fired at them first.

Liam Payne's family still hasn't been able to bring his body home. On Friday, the musician's remains were transferred out of a mortuary in Buenos Aires. The former One Direction member died there after falling from a hotel balcony on October 16th.

A source told CNN that his body will be preserved at another facility and held until paperwork is finalized. At that point, his family will be able to receive his body in England. It remains unclear if Payne fell or jumped from his hotel room. Early toxicology reports showed he had cocaine in his system at the time.

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BRUNHUBER: Officials in Israel say at least 19 people were injured by three projectiles fired from Lebanon. Have a look.

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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): This is a look at some of the damage in the city of Tira. The Arab majority town is about 15 miles northeast of Tel Aviv in northern Gaza. The United Nations says the situation is apocalyptic. The U.N. says virtually all incoming supplies and humanitarian services have stopped.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization says it plans to resume polio vaccines in northern Gaza on Saturday. The vaccinations were suspended last month because of security concerns.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is said to be waiting for the results of the U.S. election before considering any ceasefire proposals. Netanyahu met with a pair of White House officials this week but one U.S. official tells CNN they didn't reach any resolutions on Gaza and Lebanon.

Last hour I spoke with Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House. And I asked her about the differences between Harris and Trump when it comes to the Middle East. Here she is.

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SANAM VAKIL, DIRECTOR, MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA PROGRAMME, CHATHAM HOUSE: The reality is that this window before the election also leaves the Biden administration with perhaps not enough leverage or the ability to pressure both sides because of the sensitivities around the wars in the Middle East.

The continued U.S. unilateral commitment to Israel as a long standing U.S. priority. So I would imagine that if Vice President Kamala Harris wins, there will be much more of a double down on calling time on the war in Lebanon but also the war in Gaza.

Donald Trump's approach is a bit more ambiguous. He is not someone that is generally supportive of war. But he and his team could see this as a historic opportunity to continue to degrade these terrorists and Iran backed groups around the region.

But at the same time, there could be a longer tail and blowback for the United States through those efforts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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BRUNHUBER: I want to bring in Gideon Levy, who's a columnist for "Ha'aretz" newspaper and was an adviser to former Israeli prime minister Shimon Peres. And he joins us now from Tel Aviv.

Thank you so much for being here with us. I want to pick up from what we heard there on the implications of the U.S. election on a cease- fire deal.

Do you think the likelihood of a deal depends on who wins the White House?

GIDEON LEVY, COLUMNIST, "HA'ARETZ": It depends much. I mean, first of all, it depends on one other person, namely Benjamin Netanyahu. But it depends much on the next president, because the United States

is the only one who has the leverage, which they didn't use until now unfortunately. So they have the leverage to bring a cease-fire. And it depends if the next elected president will want to use the leverage or he will refuse to do it, like President Biden did.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, yes, he or she. Looking at the election overall.

[05:45:02]

So what are Israelis making of the U.S. election so far?

And do you have a sense of which candidate most Israelis would prefer to see in the White House?

LEVY: It's not a question of sense. It's a question of fact. There were polls showing that Israelis may be the only state in the world where Donald Trump has a very clear majority in support. You see billboards now on one of the highways in Tel Aviv, saying that Israel votes Donald Trump.

And it's very clear that most of the Israelis would prefer Trump over Kamala Harris, the same way that they prefer Netanyahu. The similarities between Netanyahu and Donald Trump are really, really unbelievable.

Not that they are similar in everything. But there are so many similar lines in those two personalities.

And Israelis find Donald Trump the twin brother of Benjamin Netanyahu, whom they adore.

BRUNHUBER: We were talking about a cease-fire deal moments ago. You know, so much in all of this and the regional stability as well depends on a more stable solution for Palestinians.

Now Trump offered Palestinians a so-called deal of the century, which was quite one-sided in Israel's favor.

Should Palestinians hope for a Trump victory because perhaps he would have more of a relationship with Netanyahu?

Or hope for a Harris victory because she might be more likely to support their cause?

Or do you think both sides would be equally disengaged when it comes to a -- to a more permanent solution?

LEVY: Unfortunately -- and I say it in a lot of sorrow and pain -- the Palestinians right now have no hope, neither from her nor from him.

Both of them will not solve the Palestinian problem like no other president in the history did. Both of them will support Israel one way or the other. It depends how much will they support. But none of them is really going to solve it once and for all, namely,

to give the Palestinians their rights and solve the problem. I don't see it coming from Donald Trump. Human rights is the last thing that interests him on Earth.

I don't see it from Kamala Harris. I'm not sure she's courageous enough because it will be a very painful process and you need a lot of courage to lead it. I'm not sure she is the person.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, it's harder to know because obviously we have a track record with Donald Trump. We don't with Harris.

I mean, do you have any indications, at least so far, that she would do much different from her predecessor if she were to win?

LEVY: If to judge according to all her interviews, speeches, writings, I don't see a sign for it.

You know, in many times, leaders are revealed after they are elected and all of a sudden you see something you didn't expect.

But according to the expectations, I don't see any sign that she is going to be the one who will really solve this problem. If Barack Obama didn't -- and Barack Obama had really a nice record of understanding and his heart was in the right place.

And he did nothing except of supporting Israel with more arms and more money. If this was the case, Kamala Harris, it will be a huge surprise.

And you know what?

Let's cross our fingers.

BRUNHUBER: All right. Well, we'll leave it on that partially hopeful note, I guess. Gideon Levy in Tel Aviv, thank you so much for speaking with us. Appreciate it.

LEVY: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: A new batch of U.S. military aid will soon be on its way to Ukraine. Officials say it's worth more than $400 million. It will include air defenses, ammunition and armored vehicles supplied directly from U.S. military inventories.

But in Ukraine, two missiles tore through a police station in Kharkiv Friday night, killing one officer and leaving 30 other people wounded. Most of them were police officers as well. The city was hit at least two other times this week, including an attack that damaged an iconic building constructed in the 1920s.

We'll be right back with more news. Please stay with us here at CNN NEWSROOM.

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[05:50:00]

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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Look there. It was a massive street party in Los Angeles on Friday, as Dodgers fans jammed downtown to celebrate their team's eighth World Series win. L.A. beat the New York Yankees on Wednesday to secure the title in one of the greatest comeback games in baseball history.

The Dodger Stadium fans heard from their hero, L.A. superstar slugger Shohei Ohtani.

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SHOHEI OHTANI, DODGERS SLUGGER: This is so special for (INAUDIBLE). I'm so honored to be here and to be part of a team. Congratulations, Los Angeles. Thank you, fans.

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BRUNHUBER: CNN's Natasha Chen has more.

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NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Mookie Betts and the other Dodgers World Series champion players are addressing the crowd right now at this home stadium party that all of these fans, close to 50,000 of them, have been waiting for.

Now some of them were prepared to possibly have to buy a ticket to game six, which would have been played here on the same night. But they didn't have to do that. They wrapped up the series in New York.

And these fans are so just overjoyed. We met so many families, multiple generations of Dodgers fans, telling me why they are so connected to this team. Here's one man who says he's been coming every Friday and Saturday for years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ART ORTIZ, LIFELONG DODGERS FAN: I've actually gone to the World Series. I was at the Houston one, game six-seven and I went to the last championship when we won it in Texas against the Rays.

[05:55:00]

I was there for the final game. And I had tickets for tonight but we're here instead. It's OK because it's a party. We're still celebrating.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN: This is the stadium celebration after the parade ended in downtown Los Angeles, a really special event because, the last time the Dodgers won a World Series was 2020. And they did not get to gather like this. They did not get to cheer with each other. Everyone was stuck at home.

And so everyone is really feeling the spirit of getting to be in this moment together in person -- Natasha Chen, CNN, Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): The highflying action of Lucha Libre or Mexican masked wrestling has landed in London for the first of two nights of action. It was complete with body slams and trick acrobatic moves that got the crowd cheering.

And among those in the ring was El Hijo del Santo, who, at 61, is competing with his son on his retirement tour. The spectacle coincides with Mexico's Day of the Dead celebrations, which commemorates people's ancestors.

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BRUNHUBER: The hovercraft of the future is taking flight in Stockholm.

Have a look at this.

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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): This is the world's first electric hydrofoil ferry. The vessel glides above the water, creating just a small wake, allowing it to exceed speed limits on the waterways.

The battery powered ferry is set to reduce energy consumption by up to 80 percent. And it's pretty roomy. It can hold up to 25 passengers, a wheelchair and a few bikes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Very cool.

That wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber for viewers in North America, "CNN THIS MORNING" is next for the rest of the world it's "AFRICAN VOICES: CHANGEMAKERS."