Return to Transcripts main page
CNN This Morning
Harris And Cheney Bash Trump In Blue Wall Tour; Trump Doubles Down On False FEMA Claims; Soon: Blinken Meets With Netanyahu In Jerusalem; Warm Temperatures Expected For Eastern U.S. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired October 22, 2024 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:31]
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Tuesday, October 22nd.
Right now on CNN THIS MORNING:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Kamala Harris can't say one thing that she'd do differently from sleepy Joe Biden.
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald Trump is an unserious man.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Two weeks to go, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump blitz battleground states with two different closing arguments.
Plus, a high-stakes visit. Secretary of State Blinken will meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu as pressure for a ceasefire breakthrough looms.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: She is very destructive to Christianity, very destructive to evangelicals.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: According to the Christian vote, the Trump campaign tells evangelicals their faith is under threat.
(MUSIC)
HUNT: All right, 5:00 a.m. in the East Coast. A live look at Capitol Hill on this Tuesday morning.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us. Election Day is exactly two weeks from today. For Kamala Harris and
Donald Trump, it's a cliche, but it is true. It will all come down to turnout. So far, more than 14 million early votes cast across the country.
In these closing days, Harris trying to convince Republicans, especially women, to support her. She was in key suburbs in three different blue wall states yesterday, campaigning with former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: There are things that he says that will be the subject of skits and laughter and jokes. But words have meaning coming from someone who aspires to stand behind the seal of the president of the United States.
FORMER REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): That cruelty is the same cruelty that we see when he lies about the federal government's disaster response, when he puts peoples lives at risk because he won't tell the truth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: The man Cheney was talking about there, Donald Trump, who yesterday was visiting the storm-torn western North Carolina. There, he revived his false claims about FEMA spending and the federal response to Hurricane Helene.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: She didn't get the proper support from this administration. They spent their money on illegal migrants. But look, a lot of the money has gone and they don't have any money.
They have to have -- they have to have a meeting in Washington, a special meeting in Washington to get money. It's all done. They've spent it on illegal migrants.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Joining us now to talk about all this, Catherine Lucey, White House reporter for "The Wall Street Journal".
Catherine, good morning.
CATHERINE LUCEY, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Good morning.
HUNT: Wonderful to see you.
We're also waking up this morning to a new round of battleground state polls. They seem to tell us what we know, which is that this is an incredibly close election, but it is kind of interesting to see the -- either -- you're not seeing a lot of movement away from just how close this race is. And again, you're seeing -- I mean, Donald Trump's support, incredibly consistent, 47 percent across the board. The challenge for Harris figuring out how to top that in an interview
with our Isaac Dovere, David Plouffe, who's the kind of guru (ph) on Harris, he'll say, okay, we've got to figure out how to fit our target, hit our target, whether its 50 percent in the state, 49.5 percent in the state. Bottom line, it's incredibly close.
What does what Harris did yesterday, what she's doing today, say to you about her strategy here in the final weeks?
LUCEY: Yeah. I mean, we saw her out in all three blue wall states yesterday, right, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and what they're trying to do is speak very directly to this slice of independent moderate, Republican-leaning voters who aren't thrilled with Donald Trump and maybe are persuadable.
And, of course, when it's this close and has been this close, as you know, pretty much the whole time --
HUNT: Well, since -- since Harris took over at the top of the ticket.
LUCEY: She stabilized -- stable, you know, she improved on Biden's numbers, but it's been very stable since you took the race. And there just aren't that many persuadable voters. And so they are really micro-targeting on both sides, which groups are talking to.
And they are trying to reach moderate people, moderate women in particular, you saw that yesterday with Liz Cheney, made a very specific message on abortion. Even if you are conservative abortion, it is okay to vote for Harris. They -- she had pretty specific pitch about how this women's health is at risk, trying to --
HUNT: Yeah, you know what? Let's watch that.
LUCEY: Yeah.
HUNT: Because I think that was a really interesting moment.
[05:05:02]
I think it's sharp to point that out. So this was -- obviously, Kamala Harris has been very clear where she stands on abortion. Liz Cheney, very conservative Republican. Here's how Cheney talked about post-Roe Dobbs America.
Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHENEY: I think there are many of us around the country who have been pro-life but who have watched what's going on in our states, since the Dobbs decision and have watched state legislatures put in place laws that are resulting in women not getting the care they need.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: She went on to talk about Texas specifically referenced an attempt by the attorney general there to look at medical records for some pregnant women and then she said that's just not sustainable.
It was really interesting to hear her make this distinction.
LUCEY: No, I think this really builds on an argument that you've been hearing from -- from Harris and from the Democrats for some time, which is they've really tried to highlight the stories of women who say they couldn't get care, when they had miscarriages, when they had traumatic pregnancy and sees when they had health issues that they needed health care for and they've really, you know, you've seen these women in ads.
They've been at the convention. And I think those appeals and I've been out in the campaign trail with some of those women. Really do resonate with people who are less liberal on abortion. Do think it's okay to have some restrictions, but are very uncomfortable with the idea that women can't get health care procedures.
HUNT: Right. A big difference between people who have concerns about what they viewed to be elective decisions about abortion and women who, you know, oftentimes are trying very, very hard to have a child and face these -- these health challenges.
Let's talk briefly about Trump as well, because his appearance in North Carolina that obviously tells you that they are trying to shore up what has been a Republican state previously. So his decision to go there in these last two weeks, interesting to me on that level, but also repeating these claims about what the federal government isn't doing with FEMA money.
LUCEY: Yeah, they're clearly trying to message to people who are frustrated about storm response or trying to create frustration about the storm response and to your point, yes, this is a state where shouldn't be having too many problems, but Democrats have been pretty bullish or hopeful about North Carolina for some time and does certainly suggests that its still in play, but it's still competitive.
HUNT: All right. Catherine Lucey for us this morning. Catherine, always grateful to have you. Thank you so much. Good luck for the last two weeks. Get you back soon.
All right. Coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, another push for peace in the Middle East, the U.S. secretary of state about to meet face-to- face with the prime minister of Israel.
Plus, the wrongfully convicted Central Park Five are suing Donald Trump for something he said on the debate stage. We'll explain.
And religion and politics, candidates appealing to a higher power for your vote.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: My earliest memories of those teachings are about a loving God.
TRUMP: We love Christians, we welcome believers and we embrace followers of Jesus.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:12:34]
HUNT: All right. Welcome back.
In just moments, Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, trying to reach or get closer to an agreement on a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza and an end to the fighting in Lebanon. Blinken touching down in Tel Aviv just a few hours ago.
He's on a multi-state visit to the region, making a diplomatic push for peace after Israel's killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Now, it is clear to everyone what he needs real and into world why we insisted on not ending the warm, why we did insist in the face of all the pressures to enter Rafah, to fortified stronghold of Hamas, where Sinwar and many of the murderers hid.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: The Israeli military refusing to let up on the attacks against Hezbollah targets in Beirut, 13 people, including a child killed overnight in an airstrike near the main government hospital in southern Beirut.
Let's go live to London where we find CNN's Max Foster for us.
Max, good morning. Always wonderful to see you.
Let's talk for a second about Benjamin Netanyahu, Tony Blinken, the secretary of state, and, of course, President Biden. They do not seem to be on the same page. There was this hope that after the death of Sinwar, there might be its opening that they could seize on to try to move toward -- toward peace. It's obviously been stuck in a place where that's not on the table at the moment.
What is going on here and is the prime minister just waiting to see how the U.S. election turns out?
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, this was a meeting sort of rush together really after the death of Sinwar, in that moment that you described where the U.S. certainly saw it as an opportunity to restart potentially some peace talks after the death of the leader of Hamas. But the chip has gone ahead and it's been pretty clear that Benjamin Netanyahu is continuing attacks on Gaza, also Lebanon. So, it hasn't slowed down that war in any way. Wait to see what comes out of that meeting. The other big issue, of course, Kasie, is that they don't have anyone
to negotiate with because Sinwar was the leader of Hamas. We're not even clear whether we'll be told if there is a new leader because they may choose to keep him secret, to make him less of a target. So, an issue that they don't know who they're negotiating with when it comes to Hamas, also whether on now is the right time for Netanyahu to go hard into any negotiations at the moment, the peace deal looks pretty non-existent.
[05:15:00]
HUNT: Well, there's also this question, Max, of retaliation against Iran for that round of missile attacks that we saw. What is the latest there, especially considering there was a classified document leaked over the weekend a couple of classified documents leaked purporting to show Israel's plans, some of the tactical things at hand that they were planning in the context of that retaliation?
FOSTER: Yes. So some debates still about whether it was leaked or indeed it was hacked. Hacking would be just as worrying wouldn't it for highly a secret documents. These documents didn't give exact targets, but they did have some sort of a plan in them and they do see more authentic because no ones denying them, and we've got this investigation taking place.
Where that leak or hack came from isn't clear because from what we know, the documents, they -- this was a U.S. assessment of Israeli intelligence, but it was shared amongst the Five Eyes group, which includes Australia and New Zealand, Canada, the U.K. They share intelligence. So finding out exactly how it got out is going to be quite complex process.
And obviously, the Israelis are going to adjust their plans now that this plan was out. So I don't think it sheds much light on anything apart from these things shouldn't be getting out and they did indeed.
HUNT: All right. Max Foster for us this morning, Max, always grateful to have you. Thank you so much.
All right. Coming up here on CNN THIS MORNING, we are exactly two weeks from Election Day. Both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are talking about religion and faith, albeit but it very different ways.
Plus, why the Central Park Five are filing a new lawsuit against former President Trump. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:21:16]
HUNT: All right. Twenty minutes past the hour. Here's your morning round up.
Diddy's lawyers say they have, quote, significant new grounds to argue for his release while he waits for his trial. They include, quote, constitutional concerns, end quote from the conditions of his confinement this comes as seven new civil suits are filed against the artists, including from two accusers who say they were minors when Diddy allegedly sexually assaulted them.
A Buenos Aires police official confirms to CNN that the Liam Payne toxicology report is now in the hands of the local prosecutor. According to ABC News, preliminary information shows Payne had multiple drugs in his system at the time of his deadly fall from a hotel balcony, including pink cocaine. That can be a mix of methamphetamine, ketamine, and MDMA.
This morning, NASA and SpaceX will hold a briefing to see if weather conditions for improved enough for the Dragon spacecraft to undock from the ISS, the International Space Station. It's been pushed back several times over the last week because of weather. The crew has been completing a seven-month mission.
All right. Time now for weather. The Northeast U.S. expected to see record warmth today after we saw cooler than average fall temperatures last week.
Let's get to our meteorologist, the weatherman, Derek Van Dam.
Derek, what are we looking at this morning?
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning.
Tis the season. Kasie, I kid you not on my drive to work. I saw Christmas lights this morning. I said, hold on, hold on. People, let's not put the cart before the horse here will still have to get through Halloween. Come on.
Give the kids their holidays, right? And it's feeling more like summer, not like autumn or winter. That's for sure. And we're going to set some major record high temperatures over the eastern and central parts of the country.
About 70 locations throughout the eastern U.S. through the end of the week, we'll experience those record high temperatures, including D.C., which flirted with record-breaking territory yesterday. We'll have another day of potential record warmth near our nation's capital and some of the areas across the mid-Atlantic as well.
Lots of warmth across the Deep South. I want you to notice this, 80 in Atlanta, 83 for D.C., 77 for Detroit, Burlington, New York, all the way to 80 degrees. So, all of these temperatures are roughly above 70 degrees.
So we did a bit of math and we're talking about 93 percent of the U.S. population that will see temperatures above of 70 degrees. That's more typical of early September type weather. So that puts it into context.
Yes, there is some cooler weather coming. You have to wait towards the second half of the week to feel more normal and to D.C., places like Atlanta and New York, you'll get it on some of the cooler weather as well, but it will take its time to get here. Here's the seven-day forecast for Atlanta. And this is the front that
will actually bring our reprieve from the abnormally high temperatures. But all of this is going to do is cool the temperatures down to near normal and then we get back into that mid-October groove -- Kasie.
HUNT: All right. I -- I will look forward to that, Derek Van Dam, thank you very much for that. See you next hour.
VAN DAM: All right.
HUNT: All right. Coming up after the break here, Donald Trump going after Kamala Harris for a recent encounter she had with a heckler. Why he says the vice president will be, quote, destructive to religion.
Plus, the Central Park Five suing Donald Trump over comments he made presidential debate stage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Well, a lot of people, including Mayor Bloomberg agreed with me on the Central Park Five. They admitted -- they said -- they pled guilty.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:29:26]
HUNT: All right, 5:28 a.m. on the East Coast, a live look at Philadelphia, the epicenter that in its surrounding suburban areas absolutely critical for the election, which is two weeks from today.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt.
It's wonderful to have you with us. Donald Trump on the trail making this claim about Kamala Harris at an event with faith leaders in the battleground state of North Carolina yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: She's very destructive to religion. She's very destructive to Christianity, very destructive to evangelicals and to the Catholic Church.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: The former president criticizing his Democratic opponent over an incident that took place at one of her campaign.
