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Harris, Trump Make Final Pitches Ahead of Election Day; 75 Million Plus People Have Cast Their Votes Before Election Day; Crowd Boo, Throw Eggs at Royals During Valencia Visit; Israel Officially Cancels Agreement with UNRWA. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired November 04, 2024 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: And we have momentum, it is on our side, can you feel it?

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Kamala, you're fired, get out, get out, you're fired.

HARRIS: I don't believe people who disagree with me are the enemy.

TRUMP: The image of our country is terrible, it's terrible, it's a failed country, that's what it is.

HARRIS: The true measure of a leader is not based on who you beat down, it is based on who you lift up.

TRUMP: I'm like the father, I consider myself to be the father of fertilization, remember?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Christina Macfarlane.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, a warm welcome to our viewers joining us from around the world, I'm Max Foster.

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Christina Macfarlane. It's Monday, November 4th, one day until Election Day in the United States. And it's 9 a.m. here in London, 4 a.m. in Pennsylvania, where Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris is set to spend the day making her final pitch to voters in the crucial battleground state.

FOSTER: Harris will be making a number of stops across the state in her final push to get more people to the polls and try to build on recent momentum.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Ready in one of the most consequential elections of our lifetime, and we have momentum, it is on our side, can you feel it?

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well, Republican nominee Donald Trump will also be campaigning in Pennsylvania in the hours ahead. It's one of three battleground states he's set to visit today, including North Carolina and Michigan. On Sunday night, he ended his day with a rally in Georgia, where he stayed more on message, repeating his talking points about the economy and immigration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: With your vote on Tuesday, I will end inflation. I will stop the invasion of criminals coming into our country. And I will bring back the American dream. We're going to bring back the American dream. We're just two days away from what will be the most important political event in the history of our country. I believe that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, with one day to election day, the latest CNN Poll of Polls shows there's still no clear leader. And whilst the outcome of the race is anything but certain, Harris is describing what kind of president that she'll be if she wins.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: I pledge to listen to people who disagree with me. I don't believe people who disagree with me are the enemy. In fact I'll give them a seat at the table. Because that's what strong leaders do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well, Donald Trump continues to lash out over a recent poll suggesting Kamala Harris has gained momentum in the state of Iowa. The Des Moines Register and Mediacom found 47 percent of likely voters support Harris, while 44 percent support Trump.

FOSTER: That's within the poll's margin of error, meaning there's no clear leader. But Trump has still angrily claimed the results are inaccurate and heavily skewed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I got a poll, I'm 10 points up in Iowa. One of my enemies just puts out a poll, I'm three down. Why do they announce a poll that's highly skewed toward Democrats and liberals? Why do they do that? When you read it, they interviewed far more Democrats than they did Republicans. Why do they do that? Why do they do that?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well, Anne Selzer, who spurned conducted the poll, says the same methodology was used to conduct polls in both previous elections, showing Trump could win Iowa. She spoke earlier to CNN about how that data is gathered.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANN SELZER, POLLSTER: We align things with a known population, and we extract from a larger group, the people who meet our definition of likely voters. And that is people who've already voted, and people who say they will definitely vote. So when former President Trump says we interviewed more Democrats, well, that's what came out of our data.

I will note that our previous polls this year, in February and in June, Trump led with independents. So what happened between June and September? Biden left the ticket. Kamala Harris joined it. There was a surge of enthusiasm. We saw it.

[04:05:00]

There was a surge in the proportion of people we talked to who said they would definitely vote. That was our criterion in June. And now we have an additional criterion. If you've already voted. And especially among older people, it's over 90 percent incidence of people that we talk to in that age group who say they're going to vote, and they tend to vote for Kamala Harris. And women in that age group specifically and strikingly.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Well, Kamala Harris didn't mention Trump as she made her final appeal to voters in the crucial state of Michigan on Sunday.

MACFARLANE: But she did make clear her campaign is about a new way forward. CNN's Jeff Zeleny has the details from East Lansing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Vice President Kamala Harris closing her campaign with a note of optimism saying it's time to turn the page. At a speech on Sunday night on the campus of Michigan State University in East Lansing, the vice president implored her supporters to take the final hours of this campaign to do all they can to make sure she defeats Donald Trump.

HARRIS: From the very start our campaign has not been about being against something. It is about being for something.

(CHEERING)

HARRIS: A fight for a future with freedom, opportunity and dignity for all Americans. And so in these final hours, let us remember that there is power in knowing that we are together. And let us remember that your vote is your voice and your voice is your power.

ZELENY: These campaigns are closing in remarkably different ways as former President Donald Trump is already questioning the results of Tuesday's election. Vice President Harris is urging her supporters to stay hopeful and optimistic, even as she tries to fight to win Michigan and these other blue wall states. It is no coincidence that she's closing her campaign in Michigan before spending the entire day before the election in Pennsylvania.

It is the critical blue wall states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin that she believes offer her best path to the White House. There is no doubt this race is still a margin of error race. Every single battleground state is a coin toss.

But the Harris campaign and the vice president herself believe momentum is on her side in the closing hours of the race.

Jeff Zeleny, CNN, East Lansing, Michigan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Well, Donald Trump is also focusing on key battleground states in the final hours of the campaign.

FOSTER: But his message is far different as his rhetoric on the trail has become increasingly darker. CNN's Kristen Holmes has more from Georgia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Allies of former President Trump told me that they were exasperated after they heard his remarks in Pennsylvania earlier today. The former president spent the day at three different battleground states, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and then Georgia. But it was the remarks in Pennsylvania that really stole the show.

He spent a majority of the time talking about the 2024 elections, sowing seeds of doubt. He ranted bitterly about a number of recent polls that showed him trailing behind Kamala Harris. And then he said this about his two assassination attempts and firing guns into the press or through the press. Take a listen.

TRUMP: I have a piece of glass over here. And I don't have a piece of glass there. And I have this piece of glass here. But all we have really over here is the fake news, right. And to get me, somebody would have to shoot through the fake news. And I don't mind that so much. I don't mind.

HOLMES: Now, the campaign sought to clean up those remarks, issuing a statement from the spokesperson, Steven Cheung, that said President Trump was stating that the media was in danger, that they were and that they were protecting him and therefore were in great danger themselves and should have had a glass protective shield.

Also, there can be no other interpretation of what he said. So, again, our viewers can listen to him say what he said in that clip we just played. This is the Trump kind of clarifying statement about it. But when I talk to a number of his allies, they were frustrated. They at one point, one of them said, how hard is it to get up there on stage and just say Kamala broke it? I'm going to fix it. They are eager for him to stay on message.

They do believe that he can still pull off this race, that he can win the race. But in order to do so, he's got to stop talking or at least stay focused on things that these Republicans believe matter, particularly the economy, inflation, immigration and crime.

Kristen Holmes, CNN, Macon, Georgia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[04:10:00]

FOSTER: Well, across the U.S., police departments are increasing security for Election Day.

MACFARLANE: In Washington, D.C., police are adding new security measures outside the official residence of Vice President Kamala Harris. And outside the White House, workers put up additional fencing to create a wider enclosed perimeter.

Well, the early voting numbers in this race have been staggering, with more than 75 million Americans already having cast their ballots.

It's giving Democrats some encouragement as early voting usually trends in their favor. Donald Trump, though, has encouraged his supporters to get out and vote early, even as he continues to rail against the process.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They're talking about extending hours and stuff. What? Who ever heard of this stuff? We should have one day voting and paper ballots.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: With us now from Richmond, Virginia, is Elliott Fullmer. He's a political science professor at Randolph-Macon College and the author of Tuesday's Gone, America's Early Voting Revolution.

It is interesting, isn't it, that early vote? What does it say to you?

ELLIOTT FULLMER, POLITICAL SCIENCE PROFESSOR, RANDOLPH-MACON COLLEGE: Well, it says to me that early voting has expanded dramatically in most U.S. states, and it's gotten easier and easier to get your ballots early in by mail and in person, and that Americans like it. You know, ever since early voting really came on board in the late 1980s, early 1990s, it's just continued to expand because it's convenient. And especially with Election Day being a Tuesday, people want to get their ballots in early.

And there's a lot of enthusiasm on both sides in this election, and we're seeing that with the early voting numbers.

MACFARLANE: And I guess the big irony of Donald Trump railing against early voting is that his campaign have actively been pushing for early voting this year, and we're seeing that it has been changing Republican voting behavior in this election. How do you see that playing out on Election Day itself? And do you think that makes it less likely for us to see something like the red mirage, which is, of course, what we saw in 2020?

FULLMER: Potentially, for sure. I think by some estimates, Republicans only comprise about 30 percent of the early vote in 2020. That number looks to be closer to 45 percent, at least in the states that have voter registration that we can track.

So there's a good chance, I think, that when those early numbers come in on Tuesday night, you're not going to see that massive early lead. But of course, this varies. This varies by state. It varies by early voting policy. So in general, I think you're right. But you have to look at it state by state as well.

FOSTER: We've seen Kamala Harris speak to unity in these last few days, really looking to the idea that if she becomes president, she'll represent all Americans. Donald Trump is going in a different direction, isn't he? A lot of his language is very provocative, very divisive, very much speaking to his base.

What do you think his strategy is there?

FULLMER: Well, I think he's never been a conventional candidate in terms of how he conducts himself during the campaign and especially the way he's closing. Normally, this is a point where you would think a candidate would want to win those final votes in the middle, would want to have your main rival in the primaries, Nikki Haley, out campaigning with you to try to get those weary Republicans on board in the key states.

But that's never been his brand. And I don't think we should be surprised that that's how he's conducting himself at the end of this campaign, his third now. He's trying to mobilize his base. And you know, there's good evidence that they are pretty energized. The question is, is that enough? Is that enough in the key states? And we'll just have to wait and see.

MACFARLANE: I think the big shock of the last 24 hours has been the Iowa poll. And we were hearing a little bit earlier that this poll showed a big turnout for Harris among women, specifically older women who are politically independent. What is your feeling as to whether that is a trend we may see play out elsewhere at this stage?

FULLMER: Well, this is a poll that's very well regarded. It's been very accurate the last few election cycles. And therefore, I take it very seriously. With that said, it's one survey and there are many, many polls coming out every day. And we always have to recognize that they have margins of error. And we shouldn't glean too much from any one survey.

With that said, if this poll is an indication of broader voting behavior and intentions in the Midwest generally, then it could be great news for Vice President Harris, even if she ultimately can't win a state like Iowa, which really has trended Republican the last decade.

[04:15:00]

If that tells us something about the electorate in neighboring states like Wisconsin, Michigan, that might be good news for her.

But again, I would be very cautious about any one survey and its predictive capability at this stage in the election.

MACFARLANE: I know, we still have to be cautious, don't we, in the next 24 hours?

FOSTER: Polls have been wrong.

MACFARLANE: We want to read and glean something from it, don't we? Elliott, I appreciate your thoughts at this stage. Thanks very much.

FULLMER: Absolutely.

FOSTER: Now here in Europe, Spain's king and queen paid a visit to Valencia, an area ravaged by some of the worst flooding in Europe in decades, but they didn't receive a royal treatment. Have a look at those images. We'll go live to the region for the latest.

MACFARLANE: Plus, Israel announces it's officially ending an agreement with a major refugee agency, a move that could have devastating consequences for millions of Palestinians.

FOSTER: And one of the music industry's most distinguished and beloved figures has passed. Later this hour, a look back at the life and the legacy of Quincy Jones.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Spain is bracing for more rainfall, would you believe, in areas already ravaged by historic flooding. Parts of the east coast are under orange and yellow warnings for heavy rain and storms. Forecasters say some places could see about 50 millimeters of rain per hour on Monday.

MACFARLANE: Meanwhile, clean-up efforts were hampered Sunday in Valencia, which saw more rainfall just days after the region experienced the country's worst flash flooding in modern history. And earlier in the day, an angry crowd outraged over the government's response to the flooding could be heard chanting "killer" during the King and Queen's visits to one of the hardest hit areas of Valencia. The King, I believe, in amongst that crowd, that image as we can see there.

Let's go live to Atika Shubert in Valencia. And I guess, Atika, the depth and strength of feeling is very much on display there with the king and queen who were touring the area yesterday. It's just how much people feel they have been abandoned by the authorities.

ATIKA SHUBERT, JOURNALIST: Absolutely. And remember, it wasn't just the King and Queen who went to Falla Porta. It was also Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and the regional governor, Carlos Mazon.

And I think that's important because a lot of the people I've been speaking to lay the blame with those two politicians before they do the royal family. It didn't help to have the King and Queen there, clearly. It was an extremely tense situation.

People are very angry that it's taken so long to get the help they need. You can probably see behind me, this is a lot of the debris that's been dumped here. And that giant earth mover behind me, this is one of the few that we've seen in this area.

[04:20:03]

And you can tell by the skyscraper, this is not some rural remote area. This is very close to an urban center. I cycled here in less than 30 minutes.

So people here are asking, why did it take so long to get the help that we need? In particular, the specialized equipment to really clear the streets and help people get back to try and dig their way out of this.

Today, for the first time, I've seen a lot of these heavy moving vehicles coming through, but it's still very difficult. There's a lot of traffic out there. And so what the government is asking people to do, especially with the rain warning at the moment, is to stay at home, stay off the streets. Let's get back to these emergency services as soon as possible.

FOSTER: It's easy to sympathize, isn't it, with the people, I mean, throwing mud and shouting those words at the King. He represents them. He hasn't said much about it. It feels like a late effort. Of course, he couldn't go too early, because he wouldn't want to interfere with all of the work that was being done there in the emergency services. But arriving there, he should have been, you know, he should have been more in tune with how people felt. And the security team should have been more aware of that as well. And then you have news that the prime minister evacuated, which is also pretty insulting.

SHUBERT: Yes, the whole thing was really just such a mess. And they arrived, they posed for a photo op, and then they started to move out. And it's when they started to move out, that you saw this anger couldn't be held back anymore. They started throwing mud, insults, eggs, anything they could find. And they started calling them murderers.

You're right, the prime minister, Sanchez, was whisked away by his security team. The regional governor, Carlos Mazon, he stayed, although it was very difficult to see him. He was sort of behind the King. The King and Queen, to their credit, did move forward into the crowd and tried to listen and talk to people. In fact, they showed some videos of people collapsing into tears in the King's arms.

But overall, it was just the sense of incredible frustration and anger, not just at the politicians for failing to act quickly enough, but also to the royal family for not advocating for the people, for not saying, hey, what is going on here? Why aren't these decisions being made? Why aren't we getting help to the people that need it much sooner?

FOSTER: OK, Atika, thank you so much. I mean it was a misjudgment for all the leaders there. A misjudgment,

perhaps, that they didn't get the equipment there quickly enough, but also a misjudgment on how people would receive them.

MACFARLANE: Yes, and why it took four days to get on the ground? I appreciate there are operations ongoing, but it's the optics of advocating for the people, as Atika was talking for there, and just being there in solidarity that I don't quite understand. But clearly, it didn't work.

FOSTER: And as Atika said, it was perceived as a photo op when they arrived, which was pretty insulting to the people that were there.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris vowed she will do everything in her power to end the war in Gaza. She made the promise at a rally in Michigan on Sunday, whilst also promising to work towards peace and security for Israel and the Palestinians.

MACFARLANE: But as CNN's Matthew Chance reports, many Israelis already have a preferred candidate.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Here in Israel, the U.S. presidential election is being closely watched. The outcome being seen as having a direct impact on this country too, which is, of course, fighting in Gaza and Lebanon and engaged in a spiraling confrontation with Iran.

One recent opinion poll here suggests a clear majority of Israelis favor Trump over Harris to become the leader of Israel's most important ally.

Trump is remembered for a series of pro-Israel moves when he was president, including moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, recognizing Israeli annexation of the Golan Heights and taking a tougher stance on Iran.

While the Biden administration, including Vice President Harris, is seen by many here as having sought to restrain Israel's tough military response in a year since the October the 7th attacks.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Well, Israel formally notified the United Nations today that it is cutting ties with UNRWA. It comes days after Israel's parliament banned the Palestinian Refugee Agency, which has operated in areas under Israel's control since 1967.

FOSTER: Several organizations and countries, including the U.S., have raised concerns that it'll worsen the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza and the West Bank. Israel has tried to link some of the agency's employees to Hamas, which UNRWA has repeatedly denied.

CNN's Paula Hancocks joins us now from Abu Dhabi. Are we getting a sense right now how much this will disrupt the aid effort in Gaza, Paula?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Max, when we hear politicians around the world and also humanitarian aid groups describe UNRWA, they use the word irreplaceable.

[04:25:04]

Even the U.S. State Department said that the role they're playing, it means they are irreplaceable right now in Gaza. So of course, the timing for this could not be worse for Palestinians on the ground. Humanitarian aid groups say that the infrastructure that UNRWA has means that no one can step in if they find it too difficult to operate.

Now, what this means, these two bills that were passed, and it'll come into effect in about three months from now, is that even though UNRWA is able to continue to operate in Gaza and also in the occupied West Bank, they're not able to operate inside Israel. No Israeli authority is able to communicate with anybody from the U.N. agency, which really does make it almost impossible for them to operate in the way that they are operating at this point.

Now, there has been criticism from a number of fronts, but from Israel's point of view, this is something that the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has spoken about for years.

It is clear that they have wanted this agency to be dismantled or at least to not be able to function as it is. And the reason for that is that they allege that some members and some employees have affiliations to Hamas, something that UNRWA says is simply not true. Israel has also alleged that a small number of employees were involved in the October 7th attacks.

A U.N. investigation found that nine employees may have had connections to that, and they have been -- they are no longer working at the U.N. group. But what we're hearing from the U.N. itself is that at this point, there is no one else that can carry out the work that UNRWA is trying to do to a very desperate population of Gaza. It comes as well just last week when a group of 15 heads of U.N. agencies said that the entire population of northern Gaza is at imminent risk of dying from disease, famine and violence.

And so there are grave concerns. We are hearing from a number of different countries. There's been a statement from seven foreign ministers as well. Grave concerns that this will have a very negative impact on Palestinians on the ground in Gaza -- Max, Christina.

MACFARLANE: All right, Paula Hancock's there in Abu Dhabi. Thanks, Paula.

All right, so to come, countries around the world are actually awaiting the results of the U.S. election. Ahead, how international relations could change depending on who wins the White House.

FOSTER: And later, an upcoming documentary profiles Queen Camilla's longtime work with a cause near and dear to her heart. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM.