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Harris: Won't "Be A Continuation Of The Biden Administration"; Georgia Fends Off Hacking Attempt Against Absentee Ballot Website; Southwestern Pennsylvania In Spotlight During Final Stretch Of Election. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired October 24, 2024 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:30:00]

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: All right, 5:29 here on the East Coast. This is a live look at the Sphere in Las Vegas. I am so intrigued by this thing actually. People seem to have differing opinions on whether it's a success or a failure but, man, it is like a 'can't look away' thing.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.

Vice President Kamala Harris once again trying to draw a distinction between herself and President Joe Biden. During her CNN town hall in Pennsylvania she was asked how her presidency would be different from the previous four years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My administration will not be a continuation of the Biden administration. I bring to this role my own ideas and my own experience. I represent a new generation of leadership on a number of issues and believe that we have to actually take new approaches.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR, "ANDERSON COOPER 360": Some voters though might ask you've been in the White House for four years -- you were vice president and not the president, but why wasn't any of that done over the last for years?

HARRIS: Well, there was a lot that was done but there's more to do, Anderson, and I'm pointing out things that need to be done -- that haven't been done but need to be done. And I'm not going to shy away from saying hey, these are still problems that we need to fix.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: While Harris tries to separate herself from Biden in some ways, her opponents say her message from the start of the campaign is quickly changing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), U.S. VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The first month of their campaign was that they were the joyful campaign -- and, my friends, the joy is gone. The joy is gone.

She was kind of scolding people. She was -- she was -- she was scolding people for thinking that Donald Trump is funny. I mean, she really was. She was like how can you -- how can you dare have a sense of humor about American politics? It's one of the things I love about my running is he does have a sense of humor. You can fix the country but have a good time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right, joining us now, Sabrina Rodriguez, national political reporter for The Washington Post. Sabrina, good morning. Thank you so much for being here.

SABRINA RODRIGUEZ, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Thank you.

HUNT: I don't think there's any question that the Harris campaign has oriented itself differently here in the final weeks. What was focused on joy -- they were ebullient when she first ascended to the top of the ticket has now turned to presenting all of the reasons why -- and Democrats have been talking about this for years -- why President -- former President Trump presents a danger to the country.

What have -- I know you've been out on the trail quite a bit with Trump actually but what do you see in this messaging shift, and how is the Trump team taking it in?

RODRIGUEZ: I mean, I think for Harris we're at this point where there's -- you know, she's trying to get this sliver of voters that consider themselves -- that are undecided to this point while also trying to turn out the base. I mean, we're at this point -- we're two weeks out. There are very strong opinions about both of them, but it doesn't matter if you don't actually go and vote.

So I think she's at this point of OK, what is the message that's actually going to make sure that people go and cast that ballot. And what they're banking on is that it is a message about you being scared of who Donald Trump is as a person. Forget necessarily his economic proposals or what he talks about on immigration or anything, but just who he is as an actual person. And that's where we've seen her leaning in on these last days.

I think it's key though to hear her talking about the difference between her and Joe Biden. That is something that she has struggled to answer, and that's something I hear. I've heard voters bring up frequently is this feeling of oh, I heard this clip of her on "THE VIEW" saying that there was no difference between her and Biden. So then why should I go vote for her? And I think them honing in that message as well in these final days is key.

But there you see the Trump administration saying oh, well, she's leaning in so much into this negativity after -- you know, as we heard J.D. Vance saying after all the joy that was in those first days. They're trying to frame that as if oh, they feel the momentum is on their side and as if they're winning. And that's something we've seen as well where Republicans are kind of projecting this image of winning while we're hearing Democrats saying you know, they're fearful that they're the underdog.

HUNT: Right. Well, and -- so to that point there is a new Wall Street Journal poll out this morning. It's a national survey but it does give Donald Trump a two-point edge, 47-45 percent, compared with a Harris lead of two points in the Journal's August survey of the same. That number seems to track certainly with what I'm hearing from sources, and some are texting me this morning pointing to this as further evidence that Donald Trump is in a stronger place even perhaps than Harris.

Now, of course, it's the battlegrounds that really matter and we're also getting some concrete data. You know, the closer we get to Election Day the more early vote numbers that we have the more that we really know about what's actually going on.

But what do you make of this, and does it track with what you're hearing from your sources as you cover this campaign on the ground?

RODRIGUEZ: Absolutely. I mean, I think it tracks with what I'm hearing from strategists as well as just what you hear on the ground talking to voters and sort of where that momentum is and where that energy is. I think you're hearing more and more voters feel like um, the vibes are shifting towards Trump or um, I'm feeling a little more concerned about this than I was a few weeks ago. So that energy is clearly there.

[05:35:10]

I think for Trump, right now, he wants to ride that momentum into a victory, but it's just unclear. Like, even just looking at early vote numbers I think we can slice and dice the data right now where it's oh, well, this looks promising for Harris or depending on how you look at it this looks promising for Trump.

All these polls at the end of the day just underscore just how tight of an election this is going to be, and especially in these key battleground states where oh, one week we're seeing Harris up .5 and then Trump's up .5. So it's how --

HUNT: It's all within the margin of error.

RODRIGUEZ: All within the margin of error.

HUNT: Well within the margin of error.

RODRIGUEZ: All within the margin of error. And really it just comes down to that's sort of the point of like, OK, and this is why people have to actually turn out to vote because it's going to be so close.

HUNT: All right, Sabrina Rodriguez for us this morning. Sabrina, so grateful to have you. Thank you.

RODRIGUEZ: Thank you.

HUNT: Good luck in the final weeks.

All right. Foreign actors apparently trying to interfere with or hack into election systems in the U.S. Microsoft reports Iranian government hackers are targeting election-related websites in multiple swing states. A U.S. official tells CNN a federal investigation is underway.

In Georgia, election officials successfully fended off a cyberattack last month -- this month, excuse me. They suspect a foreign country was trying to knock the state's absentee ballot website offline. Despite the attempt officials assure the state's machines are safe now and in the past.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GABRIEL STERLING, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, GEORGIA SECRETARY OF STATE: There is literally zero -- and I'm saying this to certain congresspeople in the state -- zero evidence of machines flipping votes. And I claim it was a lie in 2020 and it's a lie now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Let's bring in CNN senior national security analyst Juliette Kayyem. Juliette, good morning. Always good to see you.

Georgia is interesting because these officials who are trying to assure voters that the systems are safe --

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST, FORMER ASSISTANT SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, HARVARD PROFESSOR (via Webex by Cisco): Yeah.

HUNT: -- are Republicans. And, of course, there are other people who are aligned with Trump who have been raising some questions about this.

But let's talk about what we know about this attack. The fact that this was fended off. Are you confident the systems are secure? And this is obviously state-by-state, right? It's hard to really know.

KAYYEM: Yes.

HUNT: So are there -- are there weak spots that we need to be worried about?

KAYYEM: There are inevitably going to be weak spots just because of the sort of distributed nature of how we run elections. You have states, you have counties, you have all sorts of subdivisions. So the bad news is that creates vulnerabilities that we're clearly seeing enemy states states try to take advantage of.

And I want to say to you Microsoft coming on this strong about what's happening is really important because then it sort of triggers lots of people to make sure that either the Russians, Iranians, or the Chinese -- that they are protected. The good news on this front, at least, is that it is hard to bring the

whole system down. In fact, it would be impossible -- our election system. There's not what we call a single point of failure. So it's the very fact that there's all these different factions that actually makes people more confident in our system.

But finally, that doesn't go to the perception that -- you know, put by various political operatives, including Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, in terms of was the election secure. That doesn't -- that's really not a cybersecurity issue. That's a -- that's a disinformation issue.

HUNT: Yeah.

So let's hear a little bit more from Gabe Sterling in how he talks --

KAYYEM: Yeah.

HUNT: -- about the multiple layers of security around their system.

KAYYEM: Yes.

HUNT: Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STERLING: We have multiple layers of security around several systems. And it's a misunderstanding that is one of the reason disinformation can take root so easily is people think oh, hackers are doing something to the voting system. The only thing that's ever online is the voter registration system. Several layers of security around that.

The actual voting machines themselves all across the country are not on the internet. They aren't really hackable at a distance. And people have never understood that, but that lack of understanding has been exploited by those who want to undermine people's confidence in our systems.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: So again, this seems like a key point also. The voting machines obviously --

KAYYEM: Yes.

HUNT: -- became a huge issue in the 2020 -- or rather, I should just say it didn't become a huge issue; Republicans in many states --

KAYYEM: Yes.

HUNT: -- made them an issue. Obviously, there was the --

KAYYEM: Yes.

HUNT: -- question about Dominion Voting Systems, et cetera. He's careful to make this point that look, these machines are not connected to the internet, and we do not have to worry about these things -- no.

KAYYEM: Right.

HUNT: Right?

KAYYEM: That's exactly right.

So he was talking in sort of what we call sort of layer defenses. So you -- even if there is sort of penetration sort of into oh, you can see the voter rolls, you have to get -- you'd have to be successful in so many different ways without being detected, which happened in this case. And it makes it difficult.

[05:40:05]

The most important thing though is that our -- you know, as we learned in the Dominion lawsuit that Fox News had to pay a lot of money is those systems are essentially offline. It's why it sort of takes a while for us to get the voting. You want to take them off of the system because you just want to reduce the possibility that a nefarious actor would come in.

Once again, though, this does not address the disinformation that is -- that is as likely as sort of a cybersecurity hack as we head into the next two weeks. Disinformation from both domestic sources and, of course, what we're seeing in foreign sources.

HUNT: All right, Juliette Kayyem. Very grateful to have you this morning. Thank you so much for that.

KAYYEM: Thanks.

HUNT: See you soon.

All right --

KAYYEM: Thank you.

HUNT: -- ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, it has been six weeks since the Miami Dolphins quarterback suffered his latest concussion, but yesterday at practice he returned to the field for the first time. We're going to have in Bleacher Report.

Plus, a battleground beat. It takes us to Pennsylvania, and Donald Trump's plan to put cracks -- or attempt to put cracks into the blue wall.

(COMMERCIAL)

[05:44:35]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MICHAEL SULLIVAN, RETAIL MANAGER, OAKMONT BAKERY, OAKMONT, PENNSYLVANIA: Here we have the Trump cookies, and then over here we have the Harris cookies. And then just to sort of keep it fun and light and loose, we have a third party this year, which is just the Paczkis.

TONY SERRAE, GENERAL MANAGER, OAKMONT BAKERY, OAKMONT, PENNSYLVANIA: Donald Trump's leading at 21,000 cookies -- individual cookies. Kamala Harris is at 6,200.

SULLIVAN: I think a lot of people -- a lot of people are getting the candidate they're supporting. But then there are some people that are just like oh, I'm going to get this candidate just so I can chomp into them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right, we're going to be on pastry polling in our battleground beat this morning.

Southwestern Pennsylvania is home to some of the most influential counties this election cycle and the area represents an opportunity for Donald Trump to knock Pennsylvania out of the Democrats' so-called blue wall. And it's a must-win, Pennsylvania, for Kamala Harris to secure the White House.

Our next guest recently spent some time in a small southwestern Pennsylvania mill town, Charleroi, where he saw firsthand the dynamics shaping next month's election.

And The Atlantic's George Packer writes this. "The convergence of working-class decline, corporate greed, and nativist anger will shape next month's election in places like Charleroi and throughout the Rust Belt."

Joining us now is George Packer, staff writer for The Atlantic. George, I'm so grateful to have you on the show. I'm a longtime reader and a big fan of your work.

And you did what I always find to be some of the most textured and interesting reporting, especially in the final days of a race -- spent time on the ground talking to voters. And you write that there are really three factors that you found that you think are going to decide this election. We took a little bit of a look at it there.

Can you explain more about what you saw when you went and reported out this piece?

GEORGE PACKER, STAFF WRITER, THE ATLANTIC (via Skype): Charleroi is a town that has made glass, including Pyrex, ever since like the late 19th century. And like so much of the Rust Belt it's been on a steady decline for about half a century now. So its population has dropped by two-thirds down to about 4,000. Its Democratic Party has gotten weak, union membership has declined, and it's become a Republican stronghold. And yet, in the last few years the population has swelled again with

about 2,000 immigrants, mostly Haitians, who have come legally in search of work -- mostly finding work and causing both a lot of resurgence of economic life and of simply people out on the street of a town that had become a ghost town, as one person said to me, but also a lot of resentment and tensions.

And so all that was roiling in this little tiny place on the Monongahela River, and so two things have happened in the last few weeks that made it I'd say even a little bit explosive.

One is that the Pyrex factory announced it was going to close and move to Ohio, costing more than 300 union jobs. A huge blow to the community.

And the second was that Donald Trump discovered Charleroi and started including it in a couple of his speeches saying do you like your beautiful town? It's not so beautiful anymore, is it? These illegals are coming. Crime is skyrocketing. There's gangs. There's terrible problems. You're going bankrupt.

Almost all of that was untrue but that didn't matter because Trump did his damage and moved on. And now the streets are rather empty again because a lot of the immigrants have stopped going out. They're scared. Some of them are talking about leaving.

So it's just -- it's a very fragile place that begun to put itself back together in a way that did cause tensions and now it's caught up in the gears of the American election and seems to have all the sort of cross-currents and countervailing winds that are affecting the election all in this one small place.

HUNT: Yeah, really fascinating, George. I mean, it does seem like this is another example of Donald Trump's words have a material impact on real people and their own safety. Their ability to live their lives.

[05:50:00]

PACKER: I think when a figure like that starts calling out whole groups and using vitriolic language and repeating falsehoods about them, it's incredibly dangerous and it's going to have an effect on individuals. It's going to have an effect on the minds of people who may already be disposed to resent them. And let's hope it doesn't lead to actual acts of violence.

But it just creates massive social tensions in a place that was already tense and it's going to have long-term effects. That -- you can't just use that kind of rhetoric and then move on and expect things to return to normal.

I think it's going to create long-term tensions and anxieties and resentments in these communities that have been declining for years and then saw both an economic resurgence but also a big cultural change with new immigrants. And those two things work against each other and sometimes lead to more division than unity. HUNT: Yeah, for real. I mean, you write at one point in your piece passing drives were emboldened to shout at Haitians, Trump is coming, which I think says a lot about the state of things.

George Packer, I am so grateful to have you. I do hope you'll come back at some point with more of your reporting when you have it. Thank you.

PACKER: Thank you.

HUNT: All right, time now for sports. The L.A. Clippers opened their new $2 billion home with a hard-fought loss to the Suns in overtime.

Andy Scholes has this morning's Bleacher Report. Andy, good morning.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yeah, good morning, Kasie.

So Clippers own Steve Ballmer -- you know, he built this arena for the fans. He wants everything seamless. He wants everyone in their seats cheering. And that's why the Intuit Dome has more than 1,400 toilets. Never a line for the bathroom, which is great. I can definitely get behind that.

Now, the Suns' Kevin Durant -- he called the new arena the best he's ever been in. And that scoreboard inside -- I mean, look at that. It's just amazing.

Now, the fans got treated to a thrilling first game. Phoenix was down two with under 30 seconds left and K.D., the tough fadeaway there to tie the game. We would go to overtime and with three seconds left the Clippers needed a three, but Grayson Allen steals the inbound pass there.

The Suns win 116-113.

Ja Morant, meanwhile, back for the Grizzlies after playing only nine games last season due to a suspension and injury. And well, hey, the Ja highlights are back. Look at that -- behind the back, hangs in the air, and gets the lay-in to go. Ja had 22 points and 10 assists.

The Grizzlies beat the Jazz last night 126-124.

A big doubleheader coming up on our sister channel TNT tonight. You've got Victor Wembanyama making his season debut as the Spurs take on the Mavericks at 7:30 Eastern. That's followed by the Nuggets hosting the Thunder.

All right. For the first time in more than a month, Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa returning to the practice field. Tua missing the team's past four games after suffering his third diagnosed concussion in week two against the Bills. Miami -- they went 1-3 without Tua on the field.

And Dolphins' wide receiver Tyreek Hill said he was so happy that Tua was back running the offense it almost made him cry.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TYREEK HILL, WIDE RECEIVER, MIAMI DOLPHINS: He's the franchise, though. And anybody that doesn't see that or doesn't believe it, like, go to another team. I could care less right now, man. But like I said, I missed -- I missed Tua, bro. This whole team misses him, bro. We love him. From brother to brother we love him. Like, he's a huge part of this team.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Now, Tua is expected to start against the Cardinals this Sunday.

Now, in college football, NC State quarterback Grayson McCall has decided to retire from football following his latest head injury that he suffered earlier this month. On Instagram McCall said, "Brain specialists, my family, and I have come to the conclusion that it is in my best interest to hang the cleats up."

McCall, who has a history of concussions, was carted off the field after a hit to the head against Wake Forest on October 5. He also suffered a head injury last season while playing for Coastal Carolina.

McCall says he hopes to get into coaching now that his playing career is over.

All right. And finally, Kennesaw State pulling off one of the biggest upsets of the college football season last night. The Owls, who just became an FBS team this year, taking down undefeated Liberty. They were 27 1/2-point underdogs in this one and this was their first-ever FBS win. All of the fans there in Kennesaw rushing the field to celebrate.

So happy times for them there, Kasie, and lots of rushing the field this season in college football. I love it.

HUNT: There is.

SCHOLES: One of the best part of sports, right?

HUNT: Some people have conducted themselves with higher standards than others, I will say, but when they do it right it's a blast.

SCHOLES: Yeah.

HUNT: Andy, thank you. I really appreciate it.

All right, next hour on CNN THIS MORNING it is the battle of the sexes across the Rust Belt. We're going to break down new polling on the gender gap in critical swing states.

Plus, Kamala Harris not holding back against Donald Trump at her CNN town hall last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) HARRIS: Frankly, I think of it as he's just putting out a 911 call to the American people. Understand what could happen if Donald Trump were back in the White House.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL)

[05:59:20]

HUNT: It's Thursday, October 24. Right now on CNN THIS MORNING --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Do you think Donald Trump is a fascist?

HARRIS: Yes, I do. Yes, I do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Loud and clear, Kamala Harris denouncing Donald Trump in the final days of the 2024 race.

Plus --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VANCE: They were the joyful campaign and, my friends, the joy is gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: The Trump ticket calling out Harris for going heavy in the last days of this high-stakes race.

Also --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What weaknesses do you bring to the table, and how do you plan to overcome them while you're in office?

HARRIS: That's a great question.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: A simple question and often a tough interview question at the CNN town hall. Harris' answer, not so much.

And our battleground beat. We look at two vital blue wall states with Michigan Democratic Congressman Dan Kildee and Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Austin Davis.