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U.S. Boosts Weapon Support for Israel Following Iran's Recent Attacks; Kamala Harris, Donald Trump and Barack Obama Campaigning in Major Swing States; Possible Threat of Election Day Insurrection; FEMA Threatened During Storm Cleanup. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired October 14, 2024 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Welcome back. The U.S. boosting weapon support for Israel following Iran's ballistic missile attacks against the country earlier this month. The Pentagon expected to send an advanced missile defense system to Israel along with 100 U.S. troops to operate it. It's specifically designed to intercept long range ballistic missiles like the ones fired by Iran two weeks ago.

The announcement comes as Israel deals with fallout from a deadly Hezbollah drone attack that killed four IDF soldiers and injured 60 others at a base near the Lebanon-Israeli border. Israel now investigating how the drone made it deep into its airspace without being detected.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(UNKNOWN): We will learn from and investigate the incident how a UAV entered without an alert at the base. The threat of UAVs is a threat we are dealing with since the beginning of the war. We need an improvement to our defense.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNT: Joining us now with more from Jerusalem is CNN international correspondent Jeremy Diamond. Jeremy, good morning to you. What is the latest on the deployment of this defense system?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kasie, the U.S. is set to deploy this THAAD, high, very sophisticated defense system to Israel with about 100 U.S. troops. The United States says that it is to supplement Israel's air defenses following Iran's ballistic missile attack against Israel. And of course, it comes at a critical time as the United States and Israel have been consulting closely over the planning for Israel's retaliation against Iran, which we have been told is indeed going to come.

It is merely a question of what the scope of that response actually is. Now, as all of this is happening, the United States, as it is sending the THAAD system, appears to have reached somewhat of an understanding with Israel concerning continued strikes against the Lebanese capital of Beirut. We haven't seen any Israeli strikes in Beirut since Thursday, when we saw that very deadly strike that killed at least 22 people in the Lebanese capital.

One source familiar with the matter telling us that indeed the deployment of that system is part of this understanding that appears to want to stop or at least limit Israeli strikes in the Lebanese capital. But something major did happen overnight that may change that calculus for the Israeli government. And that is one of the deadliest attacks on Israeli soil since the beginning of this war.

Carried out by Hezbollah using a drone that struck an Israeli military training base near the Israeli town of Binyamina, some 40 miles away from the Lebanese border. Four Israeli soldiers were killed. At least 60 other soldiers were injured in this attack, including eight of them with serious injuries. The Israeli military says that it is investigating this incident because, notably, while Israeli air defenses do tend to intercept rockets and drones, although drones less so perhaps than rockets, in this case, there were not even any warning sirens for that drone that appears to have struck this training base.

Hezbollah, for its part, said that it was able to evade Israeli air defenses by firing rockets at the same time as it fired several drones, at least one of which struck this training base in Binyamina. We've seen a host of Israeli -- top Israelis officials, including the Chief of Staff of the Israeli military, visiting that training base today. A sign of just how significant this event is, and one, of course, that could have repercussions for the Israeli campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon .

HUNT: Indeed. All right, Jeremy Diamond for us in Jerusalem. Jeremy, thank you very much for that report. All right, we're going to turn back now to the 2024 campaign. Kamala Harris is warning voters about a new phrase Donald Trump has been using to describe some of his fellow Americans.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's the enemy from within. All the scum that we have to deal with that hate our country, that's a bigger enemy than China and Russia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNT: The enemy within. Trump used the phrase again in an interview with Fox News yesterday when he was asked whether he expects chaos on Election Day from outside agitators.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: I think the bigger problem is the enemy from within. Not even the people that have come in and destroying our country, by the way, totally destroying our country.

[06:35]

The towns, the villages, they're being inundated, but I don't think they are the problem in terms of Election Day. I think the bigger problem are the people from within. We have some very bad people. We have some sick people, radical left lunatics. It should be very easily handled by, if necessary by National Guard or if really necessary by the military.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNT: All right, our panel is back. Matt Gorman, he's saying that these people should be handled by the National Guard or the military. What, I mean, I think we've learned a lot about whether or not we should believe Trump when he says things, which is to say, he is to be -- he is to be believed. We're at the point where he's saying, I'm going to use the National Guard and the military to take my political enemies out of the country?

MATT GORMAN, FORMER TIM SCOTT PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER: I didn't take it like that because I watched the clip. And they also referenced Biden's comments about Biden worrying it not being a peaceful transfer of power. And earlier in the clip, Trump referenced that, too. The way I took it was that obviously, as we know, there were riots in the wake of 2020.

There was also riots on Inauguration Day. Small. This is much smaller scale in D.C. in 2017. I took it as National Guard and military, putting those down and controlling those, which I've -- which I am totally fine with. I wish that would have been happened on January 6. That's how I took it, because the clip was a little broader in terms of post Election Day and referencing Biden's comments on that.

HUNT: Is that how you took it?

MEGHAN HAYS, FORMER BIDEN WHITE HOUSE DIRECTOR OF MESSAGE PLANNI: No, and I think that it's funny to watch to Trump surrogates twist themselves into pretzels. I'm not talking about you specifically, but we're going to watch them all twist themselves and say a version of what you're saying. I think people know what his character is, and this is to be expected. I don't think he's saying anything that he doesn't believe to be true and that he wouldn't actually do if he could do it.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think here the, Kasie, the facts are that Donald Trump and his, one of his closest advisors, Stephen Miller, have made clear over the course of months, if not this entire year. They have said that whenever Donald Trump sees fit, he will invoke the Insurrection Act and use National Guard and use military to go into American cities, not just to potentially round up migrants, but to crack down on American citizens.

And there is no -- The Insurrection Act, I've talked to legal experts and military experts about this. The President can use it at his own discretion, his or her own discretion. They can decide when a situation they think warrants it. And so, there's no real safeguard or accountability for the President to be able to use that power. Which is why there's a big concern.

I think, when we also talk about what Donald Trump is saying in terms of how he would use this presidential power, we should also think about what Mark Milley recently was found to be saying in Bob Woodward's book, which is that he considers the former President a fascist who has authoritarian leanings, who is someone that will totally disregard the rule of law when it comes to using the military or the National Guard against American citizens or migrants.

HUNT: Well, I will say, Alex, when you look at what the Harris campaign is doing lately, if you watch, and again, it's always important to pay attention to what a campaign is actually spending money behind. They're doing negative ads on this.

ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Absolutely. And that's a big shift from what they were doing in August, which was really biographical, pro Kamala Harris ads. They are now actually back to where the Joe Biden campaign was back in June, which is very much focusing on Donald Trump's conduct, on just making this election a referendum on Trump.

One extra thing I will add is I can tell you people on the Harris campaign, inside the Biden White House do actually have legitimate private fears of a Trump Justice Department going after them. If Trump were to win, there is a feeling that even if no charges come, that a lot of people are looking at their bank accounts being like, can I afford a big lawyer?

BARRON-LOPEZ: There are some Republicans who also are afraid of that, by the way, like Republicans who have now endorsed terrorists that are worried that if Trump were to win, he would potentially go after them. HUNT: Yes, J.D. Vance was out on the Sunday shows kind of trying to explain all of this. I mean, as he has found himself in this position. But here's what he tried to say about whether or not Donald Trump would prosecute his political opponents if he's reelected. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTHA RADDATZ, ABC NEWS CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Would Donald Trump go after his political opponents? He suggested that in the past.

J.D. VANCE, REPUBLICAN VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Martha, he was President for four years, and he didn't go after his political opponents. You know who did go after her political opponents? Kamala Harris, who has tried to arrest everything from pro life activists to her political opponents.

RADDATZ: He said, those people who cheated will be prosecuted.

VANCE: And use the Department of Justice as a weapon against people. Well, he said that people who violated our election laws will be prosecuted. I think that's the administration of law. He didn't say people are going to go to jail because they disagree with me. That has, in fact, been the administration and the policy of Kamala Harris, Martha.

(END VIDEOTAPE) HUNT: So, of course, he said there, Alex, that Trump was president for four years. He didn't go after his political opponents. The reporting that we know now from these books is that while it wasn't for lack of trying, it was because there were people in his government who said, you can't do that.

[06:40]

THOMPSON: That's absolutely right. And it's completely ahistorical, what he is saying. There's been tremendous amounts of reporting, not just in books. The New York Times had a piece also very recently that really went through. Also, you can just look at his Twitter feed from back then when he was calling on Jeff Sessions to prosecute x person, y person, et cetera. So, it just is not -- I understand he's trying to do a political answer, but it's just not historically right.

HUNT: OK, there we have to it. All right. When it comes to Harris and Donald Trump Trump, it's men versus women in more ways than one.

Up next, we're going to look at how this widening gender gap is going to impact the presidential race. Plus, the federal government forced to pause some of its storm recovery operations due to reports that an armed militia was threatening aid workers. We'll dig into the latest details on that when we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:45]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAYA RUDOLPH, SNL COMEDIAN: My campaign has raised a billion dollars.

KENAN THOMPSON, SNL COMEDIAN: Oh, my lord. How are you not winning by a landslide?

RUDOLPH: (LAUGHING) That's a question I scream into my pillow every morning.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNT: Kamala Harris still hoping to shake things up in the waning weeks of this election. Her latest strategy is releasing details from her medical history in an attempt to bring renewed scrutiny to the health of her opponent. Harris' physician in a letter this weekend says Harris, who is 59 years old, is in, quote, excellent health, only suffering from mild seasonal allergies and slight nearsightedness.

I mean, who among us? Harris also levying an attack against Trump, now the oldest presidential nominee in American history at 78 years old, that just three months ago he himself may have used against Joe Biden.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's (ph) only focused on himself. And he's not -- But here's the thing, North Carolina. And he's not being transparent with the voters. He's not being transparent. So, check this out. He refuses to release his medical records.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNT: And joining us now, former adviser to George W. Bush and John McCain, Mark McKinnon. He is also the creator of Paramount's The Circus. Mark, if it's Monday, you're here with us. I'm so grateful to have you. Let's talk about this strategy from Harris to try to refocus on this. I mean, you've heard people like Chris Christie, for example, has been out there saying Donald Trump is not as strong of a candidate and in strong of a place now as he was in 2016. But will it work? Does it matter?

MARK MCKINNON, FORMER ADVISER TO GWB & JOHN MCCAIN: Well, good morning, Kasie. Yes, it does matter. I mean, that was Biden's problem, obviously. You can't be 66 in America and be a park ranger or a pilot, but you can run for President. And it's good for Harris to remind the health records is a good reminder that Donald Trump is basically the same age as Biden was. And people were really concerned about Biden.

So, they have reason to be concerned about Trump as well. So, I think it's a good strategy. And by the way, I think that while panic may not be justified, panic is a good thing. I want my voters to be panicked in the last days of an election. I don't want them to be overconfident. You want them freaked out, and that's a good thing.

HUNT: Mark, speaking of panic, among Democrats, I mean, the polling out over the weekend shows the race tightening. Right? Both ABC and NBC showed movement from their September surveys that pulls these two closer together. I certainly am hearing from both Democrats and Republicans, people seem to think that Trump has the edge right now. I'm interested to know what you're hearing on that score and why you think the race is where it is right now?

MCKINNON: Always thought it'd be tight. Always thought it'd be close. And I'd still rather be her than him. Listen, Kamala Harris still has more upside. Trump has a ceiling. Even though he's bumping up against that ceiling, it's still a ceiling. She has more voters to get. And here's a number that I really focus on, Kasie, and that is that when it was Trump v. Biden, Trump was winning new voters by plus ten. Harris is now winning new voters by plus 13.

And I continue to say that this race is not so much about undecideds as it is about unregistered and new voters and getting her base out. And I just think at the end of the day, that she's got more upside on new voters and she's got more upside on animated and enthusiastic Democratic voters. Yes, there's a gender gap, but who's going to be more excited?

Women who feel a threat because of their reproductive rights or men because of Trump? And I always go back to George W. Bush. You know, this whole dystopic thing that you played off the top today is, I mean, that's dark, dark stuff, Kasie. And you know, Bush used to say, nobody's going to say things are going to hell. Follow me. At the end, you've got to have a little bit of shining (ph) city (ph) on the hill (ph) in your message.

HUNT: Right. And clearly, he is taking the darker turn. I mean, I guess my question just remains, I mean, why are people turning back toward him in this way at this point, if all of what you say is true?

MCKINNON: It's just a tightening of the base I think, Kasie. And I just, again, I always think it was going to be close, and he's just bumping up against the ceiling. And you know, that base is a very dedicated base to Trump. So, I think the base is just tightening and hardening, and that's it. But I still think there's a ceiling, and I still think there's more upside for Harris. So, again, I think that I don't think panic is justified, but it's a good thing to motivate your voters.

HUNT: So, speaking of motivating voters, Mark, the Times has this front page story today about the ground game in the final weeks and how Harris and Trump are using different strategies to get folks out. And they write this: Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Donald Trump staking their chances on two radically different theories of how to win.

[06:50]

One tried and true, the other untested. Miss Harris' team running an expansive version of the type of field operation that's dominated politics for decades, deploying paid staff to organize and turn out every vote they can find. Mr. Trump's campaign is going after a smaller universe of less frequent voters while relying on well funded but inexperienced outside groups to reach a broader swathe of voters.

I mean, one of the interesting things here to me, Mark, is that Trump's team seems to think that people that have never voted before are going to go with him, right? And in past cycles, Democrats have always been able to bank on that. They've been able to bank on, well, we get more people out, most of those people are going to go for us. How do you think that group is breaking this time?

MCKINNON: Well, I think that if they weren't already for Trump that they're not likely to be. And listen, I think at the end of the day, in any enterprise, what would you rather have, paid workers or volunteers? Paid workers are always better, they're always more motivated, and they're always going to do harder work and better work. So, I think the paid strategy is, you know, works because it's worked before and why not go with something that's worked? So, using volunteers to go after voters who've never voted before, I think it's just fishing in a very small pool where there aren't very many fish with fishing rods that don't have bait on it.

HUNT: Mark, before I let you go, what are you looking at here in the final days that you think people aren't paying close enough attention to?

MCKINNON: Well, I tell you the one thing that I think people are paying a lot of attention to that may not be a factor, which is just this, you know, the obsession with the October surprise. And -- And I just think that this may be the election with the surprises, that there's no surprise.

It's interesting that there's, you know, usually there'd be one last big debate to kind of, like, you know, focus people and push things over the edge one way or the other, or an explosion in the Middle East worse than it already is, or another storm that's worse than the two we've already had.

Those may not happen, and so it may just simply come down to the mechanics that you're talking about right now. Like the voter turnout, it all comes out. Turnout is the most cliched phrase ever in politics, but in this case, it's an election. It may be the one that's really true.

HUNT: I mean, is it possible, Mark, that we're just now incapable of being surprised anymore?

MCKINNON: Well, that's true. Listen, after eight years of doing the circus every week, it's just like, oh, my God. I can't believe it. One more thing. They would have thrown us out of the room if we pitched that as fiction. So, yes, you're right.

HUNT: I mean, we already got a new top of the ticket.

MCKINNON: I think we're out of surprises. We can't be surprised anymore.

HUNT: That's kind of where I am.

MCKINNON: No more surprises.

HUNT: Mark McKinnon, always grateful to have you, sir. Thank you so much for being here.

MCKINNON: Thanks, Kasie. Kick (ph) it (ph).

HUNT: All right, 52 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup. Police in California arresting an armed man near a Trump rally. Authorities say the man allegedly had a shotgun, a handgun, a high capacity magazine, and multiple passports with him in his car. Two federal officials tell CNN there's no evidence the man was attempting to assassinate the former President.

Michigan's Democratic Governor, Gretchen Whitmer, is apologizing for this now viral video. In it, Whitmer, wearing that Harris-Walz camo hat, feeds a Dorito to a podcaster. This is a recreation of a TikTok trend. The Governor said it was meant to promote the bipartisan CHIPS Act, which provides funding for microchip manufacturing in the U.S. But a group representing Catholic bishops claimed it mocked the sacrament of communion. In a statement, Whitmer said that was not her intention. Let me just leave TikTok for the kids, y'all.

All right, FEMA forced to pause its aid operations in some areas of North Carolina over the weekend due to reports of threats against its workers. The Washington Post reports that National Guard troops saw members of an armed militia threatening female workers in North Carolina. It is not known yet whether the reported threats were credible. We have been reporting this out here at CNN.

Laura, I know you're planning a trip to North Carolina. This is an example of what happens when online conspiracy theories explode into the real world. We now have government workers trying to help Americans who can't do their jobs because they have come under threat.

BARRON-LOPEZ: Yes. Not just online conspiracy theories, but conspiracy theories promoted by the Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, and other leading Republicans.

I was just talking last night, texting some North Carolina sources on the ground, one who is a resident who said that their FEMA inspection was canceled. And they were told by FEMA that it was because of the fact that the FEMA inspectors had to go back to their hotel, had to retreat from the field because of these potential, you know, threats from militia.

And then I was told by another source in a different county that is they were hearing that militia was also in that county slightly confronting law enforcement. So, there is this fear there on the ground right now, and it's also impeding the ability of these impacted Helene survivors to get any of the federal assistance.

[06:55]

THOMPSON: I mean, the fake news has been so much that the Republican Congressman from North Carolina, Chuck Edwards, he had to put out a fact check. This is the first fact check he had to do. It says, Hurricane Helene was not geoengineered by the government to seize and access lithium deposits and chimney rock. That's the sort of rumors that they're having to confront right now.

HUNT: Yes. And I mean, that press release is just a remarkable modern document in that it kind of lays out, point by point by point, all of these things, and there are many more, many more than them, and says, look, this is -- none of this is true. And now, of course, we're here.

All right, let's turn now back to the campaign. Tonight, Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz participating in a Hunters and Anglers for Harris-Walz organizing call. It's the latest effort by the campaign to try to leverage Walz's folksy football coach and hunter persona to appeal to male voters. This push is coming after poll after poll tells the same story. Women are backing Harris by a 14 point margin in this survey. Men supporting Trump by 16 points.

That divide, of course, part of the reason former President Obama gave this message to Black male voters when he made his campaign trail debut last week.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARACK OBAMA, 44TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Speaking to men directly, part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren't feeling the idea of having a woman as President and you're coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that. These aren't ordinary times and these are not ordinary elections. You're lucky Michelle's not here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNT: The Trump ticket acknowledging the widening gender gap over the weekend, making this pitch to female voters.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

VANCE: I'm aware of the gender gap. I see the polling that everybody else does. I also think there's some evidence that we've made some progress in the last few weeks. I think two issues in particular where I just make my pitch directly to women voters, Shannon, is number one on public safety. Don't we want our communities to not have these criminal gangs like we see in Aurora, Colorado, running rampage?

The final point I'd make, Shannon, is that inflation often hits young women and women harder than other groups. We know that women sometimes are the ones who see the effects of these higher rents, higher grocery prices, higher electric and utility bills, because they're the ones who are often, you know, administering things.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNT: Our panel's back. Matt Gorman, we've been having a really interesting conversation about this, honestly, all morning. We started kind of the show on this. I want to play this Harris ad that is basically titled man enough. Let's watch it. We'll talk about it.

GORMAN: I'm excited.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(UNKNOWN): I'm a man.

(UNKNOWN): I'm a man.

(UNKNOWN): I'm a man, man.

(UNKNOWN): And I'm man enough.

(UNKNOWN): I'm man enough to enjoy a barrel proof bourbon.

(UNKNOWN): Meat.

(UNKNOWN): Man enough to cook my steak rare.

(UNKNOWN): I ain't afraid of bears.

(UNKNOWN): That's what bear hugs are for.

(UNKNOWN): I'll tell you another thing I sure as shit I'm not afraid of: women.

(UNKNOWN): I'm not afraid of women.

(UNKNOWN): I'm not afraid of women. (UNKNOWN): They want to control their bodies. I say, go for it.

(UNKNOWN): And I'm sick of so-called men domineering, belittling, and controlling women just so they can feel more powerful.

(UNKNOWN): That's not how my momma raised me.

(UNKNOWN): I love women.

(UNKNOWN): I love women who support their families.

(UNKNOWN): Women who decide not to have families.

(UNKNOWN): Women who take charge.

(UNKNOWN): And I'm man enough to help them win.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORMAN: I thought it was a fake until Jacob Reed (ph), who did that ad, was interviewed on CNN. I'm like, oh, wow, this guy's real. Because if you wanted to make an ad trolling, it's no better one than that. This is the problem. We've talked a lot about our issues with women as a party and struggles to win them over the last couple years. They have a -- Democrats have a serious problem with men.

And if you notice, too, when they're trying to appeal to men, they're doing it in the context of women. It's like, I'm not afraid of a woman. It's like, that is not a message to men. And I think that is what they are struggling with. They just simply don't have a real message and no authenticity to which to do it.

HAYS: The message is condescending. Right? And I know it's my party. It just comes across as condescending. And kind of like, that ad seemed like a joke to me as well, but it just -- it's not the way that you would, I mean, if a man talked to me like that, women would be up in arms. They would --

GORMAN: Guys (ph) sitting (ph) like this.

HAYS: Yes. Like, they would just be up in arms. It's just the message is just so condescending. And I think that the authenticity point is a really good one, that if Democrats really wanted to go after men, they need to figure out a better way to talk to them, and they need to figure out a better way that's more genuine to who they are in their message.

THOMPSON: Yes, it's really a Mars versus Venus sort of election.

HUNT: There we go. We nailed it. You heard it here first.

THOMPSON: And the fact is that it already was that election even before you had Kamala Harris the top of the ticket because to Matt's point, Democrats were struggling with men. This gender gap existed well before you had Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket.

HUNT: Well, and the Republican National Convention. I mean, this was before Harris was at the top of the ticket, was a testosterone fist.

THOMPSON: Yes.

HUNT: Right?

THOMPSON: Hulk Hogan tearing his shirt off. I mean, Tucker Carlson, every person that spoke right before Donald Trump was sort of presented themselves at least as a hyper masculine dude. --

[07:00]