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CNN This Morning
Tonight: Harris Appears On CNN Town Hall; NYT: Kelly Says Trump "Met The Definition Of A Fascist"; Trump Campaign Files Complaint Against UK Labour Party; Millions of Americans Experiencing Dry October. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired October 23, 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 Wednesday, October 23rd.
Right now on CNN THIS MORNING:
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DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She's lazy as hell.
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HUNT: Thirteen days to go, Donald Trump hammering Kamala Harris as lazy as hell for taking time off the trail.
And --
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GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald Trump said I need the kind of generals that Hitler had.
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HUNT: Team Harris hitting back, getting help from Trump's former chief of staff. He says the Republican candidate fits the definition of a fascist.
Plus, Democrats preparing for if and when the former president claims he won the election before all the votes are counted.
(MUSIC)
HUNT: All right, 5:00 a.m. here in the East Coast. A live look at Capitol Hill on this Wednesday morning.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.
We are now 13 days out from November 5th.
Tonight, Kamala Harris joins our Anderson Cooper for a live CNN town hall held in must-win Pennsylvania.
Her Republican opponent, Donald Trump, will be focusing on faith in Georgia this afternoon following a tirade from him yesterday against the vice president. Harris's typical campaign travel schedule was replaced yesterday by a series of interviews.
In a sit-down with Telemundo, she worked to appeal to Latino men while also expressing concerns about the possibility of post-election violence during an interview with NBC News.
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KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Of course, this is a person Donald Trump who tried to undo a free and fair election, who still denies the will of the people, who incited a violent mob to attack the United States Capitol, and 140 law enforcement officers were attacked, some were killed. This is a serious matter.
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HUNT: The former president joined a roundtable with Latinos in the Miami area and held a rally in North Carolina. As he baselessly suggested that Harris has a drinking or a drug problem while criticizing her for not being out on the trail on Tuesday.
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TRUMP: She's sleeping right now. She couldn't go on the trail. You know, you think when you have 14 days left, you wouldn't be sleeping. She's not doing anything today.
She's lazy as hell, and she's got that reputation. She's a radical left lunatic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: As Election Day nears, we also have new reporting on Donald Trump around his fitness for office. There's a new story in "The Atlantic" and it cites two stories, who heard the former president say that he needed the kind of generals that Hitler had during private White House conversations.
And "The New York Times" quoting former Trump chief of staff John Kelly on the record, who says Trump, quote, met the definition of a fascist, would govern like a dictator if allowed. And had no understanding of the constitution or the concept of the rule of law.
Let's bring in Julia Manchester. She's national political reporter for "The Hill".
Julia, good morning. Always wonderful to have you.
JULIA MANCHESTER, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, THE HILL: Good morning. HUNT: We, of course, have seen Donald Trump here in the final days. Tell lewd stories about Arnold Palmer. Go that sling French fries at a McDonald's at kind of do some of these lighter things.
But as that's been going on, he also has continued to double down on comments that he made about the enemy within America. He calls -- he refers to them as quote-unquote left-wing lunatics he mentioned Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi, and that's why the times explains in this story up overnight that John Kelly decided he wanted to go on the record at this point in the campaign because he was concerned about those comments.
This is obviously something that we have talked about with regards to Trump at for years now when he was in the in the holding the office and in the campaign, since the question, big picture question is, will this matter to voters in the final days, especially as frankly everyone I'm talking to feels like Trump has the upper hand in the campaign right now.
MANCHESTER: Yeah. And it seems when you look at polling averages, polls in the individual swings states, for example, he seems to be closing the gap. And as sometimes at some points, maybe a little bit ahead of Harris -- look, I think this is obviously in the margin of error.
Talking to Democrats, they say, look, this doesn't help him in swing states, but I think there is a lot of nervousness from Democrats. Maybe some political PTSD in many ways go going back to 2016 when Donald Trump also made controversial comments, the access Hollywood tape that was leaked -- leaked, the comments about John McCain.
[05:05:11]
It seems that Donald Trump is in a way able to get away with these comments with voters because it seems that his supporters in particular, maybe even some swing states, are able to almost compartmentalize this stuff. They don't let -- they may not like Trump, particularly swing voters. They may not like his personality, but they like his policies. They liked how things were during his administration terms of the economy, for example.
So they're able to separate those two things.
HUNT: Let's look, lets look at Kamala Harris's vice presidential nominee, Tim Walz, who was on the trail talking about this new reporting from "The Atlantic". Let's watch what he had to say.
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GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Today, it's been reported that Donald Trump said, I need the kind of generals that Hitler had. Don't be the frog in a boiling water and think this is okay. As a 24-year veteran of our military, that makes me sick as hell, and it should make you sick.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HUNT: Now, it's important that we underscore that Trump's team says that these comments, they deny that these comments were made. Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor in chief of "The Atlantic", is the byline on the story. He cites two sources who say that they were in the room when Trump said this. But again, Trump says he didn't.
I -- interesting that -- to me that, you know, Walz is putting it that way on the trail. You heard the crowd's reaction there. But again, when he says, I'm a 20-year veteran of the military, this makes me sick. There are also a number of repeated examples of Trump denigrating the service of members in the military -- in the military as well.
MANCHESTER: Right, but we've seen what once again, going back to 2015 when he was running, this doesn't seem to necessarily hurt his chances. I mean, I'm sure it turns off some voters, but it certainly doesn't turn off his base.
And once again, those independent voters, you know, may not -- we'll see what they do in this election. One thing I will say that could hurt Trump with these comments is that it allows people like Tim Walz, his opponents to talk about that.
But I think a lot of Trump supporters are -- those around him would like it -- like him to talk more about policy instead of these distractions really, because it just comes up again in again. The question is, will it make a difference with voters? We'll have to see.
HUNT: Yeah, indeed, we will.
All right, Julie Manchester for us this morning, Julia, so grateful to have you.
MANCHESTER: Thank you.
HUNT: Thank you very much for being here.
All right. Tonight, we've got a CNN special event, Vice President Harris facing voters taking their most pressing questions live. Anderson Cooper moderates a CNN presidential town with Kamala Harris tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. It's only here on CNN or streaming on Max.
All right, coming up here on CNN this morning, the British are coming. Donald Trump protesting a parade of Brits were heading across the pond to campaign for Kamala Harris.
Plus, yes, he's back. Barack Obama hitting the trail for Harris, likening Donald Trump to a loony grandpa.
And the former President Trump still refusing to say whether he'll accept the outcome of the election.
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JIMMY FALLON, COMEDIAN: Election day is almost here and there are two possible outcomes. Trump wins and Harris concedes or Harris wins and Trump claims that people in Ohio ate the votes. They're eating the votes, they're eating the (INAUDIBLE).
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[05:12:48]
HUNT: All right. Welcome back.
Donald Trump's campaign trying to raise red flags after dozens of British political staffers reportedly traveled to battleground states in the U.S. to campaign for Kamala Harris. The Trump campaign filing a complaint with the Federal Election Commission accusing the U.K.'s Labour Party of foreign election interference, and illegal foreign campaign contributions. The social media posts that the Trump campaign included in its complaint says nearly 100 activists were headed across the pond to stump for Harris.
"Reuters" reporting British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said they were doing it in their spare time as volunteers. Still, Trump's campaign requesting a formal investigation. A lawyer from the campaign writing, quote, those searching for foreign interference in our elections need to look no further than Ms. Patel's LinkedIn post, the interference is occurring in plain sight.
Joining us now CNN international anchor, Max Foster.
Max, good morning.
You are course in London, very familiar with the labor party in your country. I'm curious what you hear from your side of the pond. Is this something that's happened before?
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Yeah. There's a long tradition. That's effectively what Keir Starmer saying, volunteers will quite often go from the Labour Party to support the Democrats as conservatives are sometimes done with the Republicans as well. You've also got take into account that Niger Farage, who's now an MP here in the U.K., has had a huge part in Donald Trump's campaign. Liz Truss, a former conservative prime minister, has also come out and said that she supports Donald Trump.
So it does happen on both sides. Does that make it forgivable? Well, you know, if you didn't know that this was happening than perhaps you would see it as a British government taking sides.
The Labour Party is in power. They meant to remain impartial. And already, there are lots of people in Labour very worried that Donald Trump is going to come into power anyway. So they are doing nothing to help themselves really are they by showing how much support they have for Kamala Harris before the result comes out.
HUNT: Well, yeah, of course, and that's always the knife's edge that a government has to balance on, right? I mean, it's interesting because there's also a formal -- I mean, I remember when -- when I was on the plane with Mitt Romney, we were frequently joined by someone from the British foreign office who was there to build relationships with the campaign aides, with the candidate in the event that they would win.
[05:15:09]
Now this of course, was something that they were doing fairly with both sides because again, it was the official government, it wasn't kind of political situation, but the Farage question is really interesting to me because of the kind of figure he cuts.
I mean, he is Trumpian in so many ways. The two of them have spoken to each other and it does seem if they are going to be frustrated with these activists who were coming over here and doing this that your point about -- well, he's getting help from this foreigner. It seems relevant.
FOSTER: Well, I think that's probably the argument that people in the Labour Party are saying, that they have been doing this for a very long time and they just feel like they're being now is not being addressed.
I mean, the bigger problem here really is that if Donald Trump does win, it's question about the British special relationship. How, how special is it when you've got labor leader who clearly would favor Kamala Harris, I think he hasn't come out and said that, but most of his party believe that's what he wants but also, you know, Donald Trump doesn't have the queen here in the UK, which has always his fascination with the UK in the past, he's got King Charles as well. So that the two figureheads aren't natural Trumpians.
HUNT: Indeed. All right. Max Foster for us this morning, Max, always great to have you. Thank you so much for being here.
All right. Still ahead here on CNN this morning, McDonalds quarter pounders linked to a dozen cases of E. coli. The states impacted by the now deadly outbreak, how the fast-food chain is working to stop the spread.
Plus, how election officials are already being forced to push back against claims sowing doubt in the upcoming election.
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[05:21:19]
HUNT: All right. Twenty minutes past the hour.
Here's your morning roundup. The former CEO of Abercrombie and Fitch indicted on 16 federal counts of sex trafficking and international prostitution. Mike Jeffries and two associates are accused of recruiting men to take part in sex acts while he was CEO. The indictment alleges the enticement with job offers. Jeffries is now out on a $10 million bond. McDonald's quarter pounders linked to an E. coli outbreak. It's affecting at least 49 people 10 states, killing one person. The CDC reporting that slivered onions may be the cause and they've pulled from McDonald's in several states along with the quarter patties. The company says other burgers are not affected.
Georgia Supreme Court upholding a ruling blocking controversial election rules passed in the state after being pioneered by Donald Trump's allies. They included ballots being hand-counted at all polling places on Election Day. Something critics argued would cause chaos while tallying up results.
All right. Time now for weather, it's been a dry October for many across the eastern U.S., so dry it's on track to break a record. Several cities have seen no rain this month and it's impacting the fall foliage that we all love.
Let's get to our meteorologist, our weatherman, Derek Van Dam, who is here, live in person.
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Live in person. I do exist.
HUNT: Derek, it's wonderful to have you. You don't just live in a box.
VAN DAM: That's right.
HUNT: Somewhere else.
VAN DAM: I am a real person and it's awesome to be in D.C.
It's just really wild to see what's happening. Are you are you a leaf paper? Do you like the fall foliage?
HUNT: I mean, who doesn't?
VAN DAM: Right?
HUNT: Maybe Darth Vader doesn't like leaf --
(CROSSTALK)
VAN DAM: There's a multibillion dollar -- yeah, I heard that story.
There's a multi-billion-dollar industry that's all associated with Joe just looking at fall foliage. And so people pay close attention to this, including yours truly.
And look, it's been dry. So we've got Atlanta, New York City, Philadelphia, yeah. You may go down for the entire month of October without seeing a drop of rain in this impacts, of course, the fall foliage.
And hey, right now, if you're looking for the best colors, the maples are bright, they're off the hook right along the coastline of main stretching down south into Connecticut and just a little secret, if you didn't know this, all leaves, deciduous leaves are actually yellow and orange in nature. It's actually the chlorophyll that gives them their green color once we get into the autumn months, we turn off kind of sunshine hours and then we lose the chlorophyll and we see the changes in the colors of the leaves and then eventually the winds take off those leaves and they fall to the ground.
Now, this is what's happening across the mid Atlantic, including Pennsylvania, where Philadelphia, where our own Kasie Hunt is originally from, the peak is approaching very quickly. But when we've had 23 consecutive days, 25 days in Atlanta without a drop of rain, 23 actually in ATL, this does impact the vibrancy, at least of the fall foliage.
And we do believe that they will come with a peak and then quickly drop off the believes very fast as well. But look at these high temperatures for the day today, still record highs. Maybe you can get out that Corvette later this afternoon, Kasie.
HUNT: You know, it's like I actually need it to be a little bit cooler. I was going to take it out yesterday its like with the convertible, its like too hot. So --
VAN DAM: I thought that was enough air conditioning, but with the top-down, I don't know.
HUNT: But anyway, yes, this is peak Corvette season. So fingers crossed, well get some better -- some better weather.
Derek Van Dam for us this morning, Derek, so glad to have you in studio.
VAN DAM: Great to be here.
HUNT: And we'll see you next hour.
All right. Still coming up after the break, former President Barack Obama stumping for Kamala Harris as her campaign looks to their top Democratic surrogate to try to persuade male voters in the final weeks.
Plus, after the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol, one group launching a new initiative today a, to try to prevent it from happening again.
[05:25:08]
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TRUMP: Let's see what happens because it all does it matter because, you know, bad things happen, some very, very bad things happen last time. That's going to be a lot harder for them to do bad things. So we're going to see.
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HUNT: All right, 5:29 here on the East Coast. A live look at Detroit, Michigan, where it's also 5:29. Michigan remains on Eastern Time.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful.
