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Erin Burnett Outfront
Trump Praises Hitler's Generals; Giuliani's Big Loss; Can You Spot The Deepfake? Aired 7-8p ET
Aired October 22, 2024 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:41]
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:
Breaking news, an 11th hour report from "The Atlantic" reporting, Trump said, quote, I need the kind of generals Hitler had, and complaining about picking up the tab to bury a U.S. soldier, one he, reportedly, calls a F-ing Mexican.
Plus, Giuliani losing big time tonight. A judge ruling he must turn over his most prized possessions, including his New York City apartment, to the two Georgia election workers he defamed. Their attorney is with us live. So what are they going to do with Giuliani's possessions?
And can you spot the deepfake here? New warnings about the lengths that some are going to trick voters and why its becoming nearly possible to tell what's fake or what's real without using A.I. yourself.
Let's go OUTFRONT.
And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
OUTFRONT tonight, the breaking news, the kind of generals Hitler had, an 11th hour bombshell report from "The Atlantic's" Jeffrey Goldberg, quoting Trump, touting the loyalty of Hitler's generals and reporting that Trump complained about picking up the tab for a fallen U.S. soldier's funeral, calling her an F-ing Mexican.
Let's start with Hitler's generals. Goldberg reporting that Trump asked former or that he asked Trump's former chief of staff, John Kelly, about claims that Trump once asked him, quote, why can't you be like the German generals?
So, Goldberg, then rights, well, he told me that when Trump raised the subject of German generals, Kelly responded by asking, do you mean Bismarck's generals? He went on, I mean, I knew he didn't know Bismarck was or about the Franco-Prussian War. I said, do you mean the kaiser's generals? Surely, you cannot mean Hitler's generals. And he said, yeah, yeah, Hitler's generals.
And "The Atlantic" goes on to cite than two more sources who were at the Trump White House, they claimed that they heard Trump say, quote, I need the kind of generals that Hitler had, people who were totally loyal to him that follow orders.
Now, tonight, a Trump's spokesman shutting down that reporting, telling us -- insisting that Trump never said this, but there's more in this "Atlantic" reporting from Jeffrey Goldberg, who also says tonight the Trump was outraged after learning the cost of a fallen U.S. soldiers funeral, which he had offered to pay for personally.
Army Private Vanessa Guillen was murdered by a fellow soldier at Fort Hood in April 2020. Now, according to "The Atlantic", months later, in December, Trump reportedly asked his advisers in a meeting, quote, did they bill us for the funeral? Because he had offered to pay for it.
And then he continues according to the reporting saying, what did it cost? Now according to attendees and to contemporaneous notes of a meeting taken by a participant, an aide answered, yes, we received a bill. The funeral costs $60,000. Trump became angry. It doesn't cost 60,000 bucks to bury an F-ing Mexican. Now again, I'm reading here, the entire part from "The Atlantic".
The Trump campaign denies Trump said this entire exchange and it is important to note that the sister of Vanessa Guillen tonight fighting back against "The Atlantic's" reporting. She said to the publication, wow, I don't appreciate how you're exploiting my sister's death for politics, hurtful and disrespectful to the important changes she made for service members. President Donald Trump did nothing but show respect to my family and Vanessa, in fact, I voted for President Trump today.
Jeff Zeleny is OUTFRONT live in Detroit where President Obama is set to take the stage at a Harris rally shortly.
But, Jeff, you know, obviously a report like this, you know, it's coming out now. It is coming out right before the election. That is what those involved to share during the information clearly wanted, is the Trump campaign worried about this new reporting from "The Atlantic" coming at this 11th hour.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erin, as former President Donald Trump is taking the stage in North Carolina tonight, his advisors, of course, are looking at this very carefully, but they are pushing back against this report. They're saying it is false. He never said it and as we take a step back and look at the bigger picture here, it is hard to imagine any single report, any single anecdote, any bit of information about what Donald Trump said in office would change many or any minds in this election.
We are two weeks before Election Day and minds are hardened. Views are settled. However, there are still those voters on the margins that the Harris campaign is trying to reach out to, voters that Liz Cheney was talking to yesterday here in Michigan, trying to reach out to them to sort of disqualify the president.
[19:05:03]
Some people who may not be sold on Vice President Harris or they may not prefer her as the top candidate, but they are still at the middle of this. I am told that former president Barack Obama is not likely to bring this up here tonight. Why? Because he wants to fire up the Democratic base. He wants to encourage them to vote early for Vice President Kamala Harris.
We've got a preview of what he was saying earlier tonight just a couple hours ago in Wisconsin, early voting started there and he said, look, for anyone who has any nostalgia about the Trump economy. That was my economy. He went on to say that Trump inherited a very strong economy and then really just a deliberate, a litany of belittling and mocking descriptions of the former president.
But as it comes to comments about Hitler generals or the military, I do not believe that will be front and center in this conversation tonight. This is all about firing up the base. This is a base election.
It's why Eminem, the rapper, who's making a very rare appearance from his hometown of Detroit, he'll be introducing former President Obama. But, Erin, it's just one more reminder, even though we have two weeks before the election, 16 million people have voted, there are still new pieces of information and on the margins that certainly can matter.
But don't look for the Harris campaign, at least tonight, to lean to it too strongly -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Well, thank you very much, Jeff Zeleny.
It's such important context. Let's start here with our panel.
But, Margaret, let me start with you. Trump's supportive comments on Hitler and interesting, you know, Jeff's view, right? That in firing up the base and in people's minds being hardened, what impact does something like this have?
But the campaign is nonetheless pushing back. They don't want this to be something that takes out there saying is absolutely false. So you end up in a story here where it appears it's John Kelly versus Trump.
MARGARET HOOVER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yeah. Look if you have followed every twist and turn of the things that are reported to have been said in the White House, two Trump's top advisers over many years. This is -- this new report is simultaneously chilling, outlandish and totally believable because it tracks with what we have come to know about Donald Trump as somebody who authority and has become this sort of demagogic figure that adores dictators and authoritarians and complete yes-men and yet never really achieved that.
The adoration for Putin, the adoration for Orban, the adoration for every dictator who he -- or authoritarian who he met and sometimes really kowtowed to, it seems believable on the other hand. The people that we need to win now, if you're Kamala Harris, and I say we as somebody who is a Republican, who is for Harris, are low propensity voters low information voters, where these twists and turns or not what they are going to vote over. This is about the couch, right? It's about the term is are getting trying to get voters off the couch. If you are not voting and you're only tuning in and it is two weeks from today, a comment that Trump made off the record or in private about Hitler isn't going to get you to the voting booth.
BURNETT: Right. So the question is, what does it do to well, perhaps Republicans like yourself, who have not fully decided what to do, right? I mean, I guess that's the question mark is something like this, not like the matter I mean, you decide, if people who are like you in the sense that they the Republicans are --
HOOVER: Sort of Nikki Haley voters having to say, yeah, yes.
BURNETT: Right, yes.
So, Marc Lotter, let me ask you about them and I'll read some of what Jeffrey Goldberg writes in his article about this conversation with John Kelly and just elaborate a little bit more. So this is -- this is Kelly talking. He told me that when Trump raised the subject of German generals, Kelly responded by asking, do you mean Bismarck's generals?
He went on, I mean, I know he didn't know Bismarck was or about the Franco-Prussian war. I said, do you mean the kaiser's generals? Surely, you can't mean Hitler's generals. And he said, yeah, yeah, Hitler's generals.
Now, our Jim Sciutto, Marc, you may remember in his book when he spoke to John Kelly and John Kelly has shared other comments like this from Trump's. So this is, this is coming now two weeks before flexion, but in his book, Jim Sciutto reported that Kelly told him Trump privately said Hitler, quote, did some good things.
So the question is, Marc, do you think something like this with some of these people in the middle who may be the Nikki Haley voters is as Margaret just said, perhaps that this could be damaging for Trump at this 11th hour?
MARC LOTTER, FORMER TRUMP 2020 DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS: I don't really. I mean, obviously, John Kelly has said a lot of things about President Trump over the years. A lot of those have been disproven and pushed back on by a number of different people who were in the room. A lot of the things that are coming out in their story tonight are being pushed back on from the chief of staff at the White House to the Pentagon chief of staff, and as you pointed out earlier, the victim's daughter, I'm sorry, sister, who pushed back against this reporting.
So I think it falls into just more clutter two weeks from an election.
[19:10:03]
If you're still undecided in this election right now, and if that's 3, 4, 5 percent, I think it's because you wanted Kamala Harris to give you a reason to vote for her. She can't do it. She's not going to tell you how she's going to lower the gas and grocery prices that she caused to go up or seal the immigration at the border, that she opened up. All of these things, she hasn't answered the question, which is why you're undecided and you know, you get the opposite with Trump.
BURNETT: All right. So, Fred, let me ask you because, you know, look, Hitler's in the headline that "The Atlantic" tried to put their, but, I know we're living in sort of an odd world, but we've heard Trump talk about Hitler before. Jim Sciutto's reporting, right? We haven't heard anything for is what he said allegedly in this reporting about this soldier.
So let me just give the background here. This is a 20-year-old army private, Fred. She was bludgeoned to death by a fellow soldier. She was the daughter of Mexican immigrants. She grew up in Houston, Texas.
Trump had told the family that the military would be paying for the funeral and then he said if you need help, I'll help you out. So, a few months later when he's in this meeting with staff, this is where the reporting comes in, according to Goldberg, Trump asked, did they bill us for the funeral? What did it cost?
According to attendees and contemporaneous notes of the meeting taken by a participant in aide answers, yes, we received a bill, the funeral costs $60,000. Trump became angry. It doesn't cost 60,000 bucks to bury a fucking Mexican, excuse my language there. I just read it. But that's what he said.
So, Fred, let me ask you in the family comes to Trump's defense, which they are her sister, and said she voted for Trump and that this is not true, Trump denies it. Do you think something like this matters, Fred?
FRED HICKS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST & POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think both the previous report and this report matters, and here's why. The one place where we agree is that if someone's undecided at this point, it is because they know what they think about Donald Trump and they're looking for a reason to vote for Kamala Harris or just a vote at all. And so, when you have reporters like Hitler and you have this report about, about the soldier, these are things that just solidify people who are undecided because they don't like Donald Trump.
And it creates an opening for Kamala Harris to over the next week, at seven, 10 days to move them into her column, and a race can be won or lost on the margins, something like this can make a big difference.
And listen, when you think about the story, about the private, it reminds me of what happened just a few weeks ago at Arlington National Cemetery, and all the other things where you have so many generals who served under Trump, who is supporting Kamala Harris -- all of this thing, all of this goes to a very strong closing argument for -- for the vice president and buttress our argument that in many ways is the enemy from within.
BURNETT: Marc, let me -- it's interesting what Fred saying and he does think this could move the needle. It's also important to say that obviously the private sister is coming to Trump's defense, but to Fred's point, Trump has said comments that are not inconsistent with this, right? He's been very open. Maybe it doesn't drop F-bombs in public all the time. But his point of view has been said before.
Here's just some examples.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There's never been anything like this happening to our country. They're changing the fabric of our country. They're destroying our country.
Nevada is being turned into a dumping ground and you are the whole country is being turned into an absolute dumping ground.
The illegal immigrants are turning and then turning at a level that nobody's ever seen before. They're fighting. Our families.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: I mean, Marc, you've heard all that before, and you know, there's a lot more where that came from. Do you find it hard to believe that he would in the context that Goldberg reports say F-ing Mexican?
LOTTER: Well, I know that there were two people who are in the room and say that did not happen and to the larger point, I mean, he's talking obviously about the illegal immigration crisis. He's talking about the crime that we're seeing. Obviously, how fentanyl is poisoning so many people in our communities and taking young people from us.
And so, I think in the broader context, and when I see, say, the polling that shows immigration now is among the top two issues along with the economy in this election, I think it's because people see what's going on. They don't like it.
BURNETT: All right. Margaret, I want to get one other thing here if I can, and that is something Joe Biden just said about Trump. He's talking about Trump going to prison. Here's what he just said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I know this sounds bizarre. It sounds like, I said this five years ago, you'd lock me up. We've got to lock him up, politically lock him up.
Lock him out. That's what we have to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: All right. So he said lock him up. He did that any sort of fixed it? Wait, I mean, politically, I mean, lock him out. Do you think that's okay?
HOOVER: No, of course, it's not okay. But like, let's not hold Joe Biden go higher standard than we hold Donald Trump, who literally ran his entire 2016 campaign on locking Hillary Clinton up. [19:15:04]
I mean, it's almost become a meme. So, of course, we don't -- but look, also, those words mean something more now because of where we are five years, eight years later.
BURNETT: Right.
HOOVER: So --
BURNETT: Well, because Trump literally may be locked up.
HOOVER: But I -- but I do believe that all of us should hold ourselves to a higher standard than we hold Donald Trump. But we should not then hold, you know, Joe Biden who shouldn't have said that -- maybe misspoke, you know, often misspeaks, probably misspeaks more than any politician in public.
And Donald Trump when he says stuff like that, isn't misspeaking. He's doing intentionally. But, look, we should all do better. All of us should do better, you know? And we know that Trump's not going to try but everybody else should do better.
BURNETT: All right. All of you please stay with me because we do have some breaking news. Vice President Kamala Harris talking Elon Musk in a brand new interview just coming out and you're going to hear what she has to say next.
Plus, Rudy Giuliani just ordered a fork over his luxury New York apartment and his most prized possessions to the two election workers in Georgia he defamed so what are they going to do with his assets -- his apartment, his World Series rings. Their attorney joins me live.
And a former Democratic congressman now pounding the pavement in Pennsylvania but it's not for who you might think.
(BEGIN VIDEOI CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm in Pennsylvania until November 6th --
DANA BASH, CNN HOST: To get Donald Trump elected?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- to get Donald Trump elected.
BASH: As a Democrat?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As a Democrat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:20:53]
BURNETT: Breaking news, Kamala Harris in a new interview tonight trying to make the case that Donald Trump doesn't care about the American people. So she sat down tonight with NBC. She had two interviews today, and this is obviously two weeks to the day before the election. The race is neck and neck, according to the polls. And here is what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We all deserve to have a president who is focused on solutions and not just fanning the flames of division and hate. That's part of why people are exhausted with Donald Trump and his approach because it's all about himself and his personal grievances and not about the American people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: All right. Everyone's back with me.
So, Fred, that message, you know, she's really pounding the table on that, is that going to move the needle right now with base voters or with voters who may -- may end up you know deciding this election in those crucial states?
HICKS: Well, I think so because for really for two reasons. Number one, so many people including the Trump folks said that she was not doing enough interviews and people needed to hear from her and so, she's doing that and so this format is great for that. But then secondly, she's making the case I think in a very cogent and calm and strong way that -- that Donald Trump is a threat and that America needs to look forward.
Listen, the American electorate is inherently a positive forward thinking electorate and I think she's tapping into that as opposed to the -- the desire to be negative and to go back in time which is what Donald Trump is selling.
BURNETT: Optimism, I mean, look, a country known for optimism and Margaret there's another exchange in the interview about where she's asked about her defense of Joe Biden after his debate in June and, you know, why she stood by him.
And you know, were you honest with the American public about his -- his state of mind and if she was upfront with Americans about what she saw? Here's that exchange.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HALLIE JACKSON, NBC NEWS HOST: Can you say that you were honest with the American people about what you saw in those moments with President Biden as you were with him again and again repeatedly in that time?
HARRIS: Of course. Joe Biden is an extremely accomplished, experienced and -- and capable in every way that anyone would want if they're president.
JACKSON: You never saw anything like what happened at the debate night behind closed doors with him? HARRIS: It was a bad debate. People have bad debates.
JACKSON: Should --
HARRIS: He is absolutely --
JACKSON: But that's the reason why you're here and he's not running for the top of the ticket.
HARRIS: Well, you'd have to ask him if that's the only reason why. What do you think?
I am running for president United States. Joe Biden is not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Is that -- does she need a better answer than that?
HOOVER: I -- that that is a little confusing actually to me. I mean, I find it a little bit confusing that, you know, people presume you're the vice president. Your hall is right down the office from the -- the hall from the -- your office is right down the hall from the oval office you have lunch with the president once a week.
Yeah, she could have a she could have better answer for that.
BURNETT: Fred, were you -- do you agree?
HICKS: I mean, I think she said what she said. She's the vice president. She's extremely loyal to him and I think the point that she made is accurate, that he had a bad debate. People have bad debates. Obama had a bad debate in 2012, that didn't make him a bad president.
BURNETT: No, no, I mean, it did change the course of history though. One way or the other, it did.
Marc, you know, Harris was also asked about Elon Musk going all in to help Trump win, right? We know we've got these hundred -- I'm sorry hundred million dollars. I don't think there'll be that many of them. Obviously, it's one a day. So, $1 million a day to a registered voter in the battleground states.
So, here's what Harris had to say about must tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACKSON: Do you worry that it could be effective, his support for former President Trump in that key battleground?
HARRIS: Listen, I'm not about doing it gimmicks and all of that. I think that what we have to do and what I'm going to continue to do is to be out in communities.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Marc, do you think this is a gimmick? Do you think Elon's actually moving the needle?
LOTTER: Well, if it gets people to register to vote I think I think it's encouraging people to participate in democracy. I -- the one thing I do find hilarious is that when Mark Zuckerberg puts hundreds of millions of dollars into the 2020 election and into actual election offices, Democrats love it. But when there's a conservative or someone who's supporting conservatives, they hate it.
I mean, it's a double standard. We've got a -- we've got the richest man in the world. They've got one of the top three or probably the rest of the top five.
HOOVER: It's a complete false equivalency though. I mean, what Elon is doing is paying people to register and it's also a campaign finance violation, so he's actually got a legal suit on his --
(CROSSTALK)
LOTTER: They were paying people to count votes.
HOOVER: And, no, no, no, you and I both know -- no, no, no, you and I both know billionaires on both sides are flushing huge amounts of money into C4 shadow operations in order to try to influence this election. So it is not like there's only one on one side and there's a zillion on the other that is just not true.
BURNETT: All right. Fred, there was one other thing in that she did two interviews today as I said. No rallies, no public events. You know you were celebrating her for doing interviews but the reason I put the context around it that she did the interviews and no cont no rallies or public events is because Trump has seized on that and talked about her schedule today he just said this, Fred.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I was going to hit her really hard on the trail today but now I don't have to because she's off, she's off. No, I can't get over it. Who the hell takes off? You have 14 days left and she'll take a couple of more days off, too. You know why? She's lazy as hell and she's got that reputation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Fred?
HICKS: So there are two things about this. First, it's good to see Donald Trump after all of the interviews he canceled last week. He doesn't want to talk about that. But just want to remind America, he canceled "60 Minutes" and several other interviews.
The second thing I want to say is shame on Donald Trump for continuing to peddle racist tropes by talking about a woman and a person of color using racist terms like she's lazy and that she's not out here working. Listen, he complained that she wasn't doing interviews, she's doing that. He complained that she wasn't doing enough rallies, she did that. She was here in Atlanta all weekend long, going across the metropolitan area, going to church services, attending rally. She's back again this week.
The fact that she paused today to do two interviews and reach millions of Americans I think is smart and I appreciate the fact that she, unlike Donald Trump, didn't cancel them or stage an event at a closed McDonald's to try to get a little attention.
BURNETT: Racist tropes, Marc?
LOTTER: I mean, that's just the standard defense if you ever attack her. You're racist. You're misogynist.
It has nothing to do with that. We're 14 days away. She took the day off to prepare for two interviews which she shouldn't have needed to do. You could have done a couple of rallies have the reporters go out there on the campaign trail interview you backstage, we did that 2016. We do it in 2020.
I question it. She needs to be in the battleground states with two weeks to go, especially when she's performing five to six percent behind where Joe Biden was in 2020.
BURNETT: Well, we'll see. I mean these polls, I mean, gosh, nobody seems to really know, all right?
I appreciate all of you very much. Thank you. And we do have Joe Rogan and Trump sitting down so that's going to be interesting.
Next, meantime, Rudy Giuliani is being forced to move out of his New York City apartment and hand it over along with his most prized possessions like a signed Joe DiMaggio jersey, two Georgia election workers that he defamed. So what are they going to do with it? Their attorneys next.
Plus, can you spot the deepfake? New concerns tonight that A.I.- generated images and videos could have a major effect on the upcoming vote and these images are actually not hard to make.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:32:50]
BURNETT: Tonight, Rudy Giuliani Donald Trump's former lawyer ordered to surrender his New York City apartment in just seven days, and you can see it here thanks to realtor.com -- wood panel library, intricate ceilings, wood burning fireplace. These are things that New Yorkers know are really, really hard to get and find.
Giuliani also has to turn over all the valuables inside his ritzy apartment including TVs, furniture, jewelry and a sign Joe DiMaggio jersey, which is actually hanging above the fireplace as you see from realtor.com.
Now, all of this now is about to belong to Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, the election workers at Trump Giuliani falsely accused, I'm sorry, of tampering with ballots, which led to threats like this.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
CALLER: Eat (EXPLETIVE DELETED) and die, you (EXPLETIVE DELETED) racist (EXPLETIVE DELETED). You are (EXPLETIVE DELETED) done, you (EXPLETIVE DELETED) whore.
CALLER: We're going to burn your store down.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BURNETT: A jury rule Giuliani owes them around $ million for spreading lies about them after the election, said he didn't have the money. So, now, it's these assets.
So let's go straight to Katelyn Polantz. She's live outside of the apartment Giuliani is now being forced to vacate.
And, Katelyn, you've done extensive reporting on Giuliani's financial problems. So as you're standing outside that apartment building right now, that apartment I understand is worth an estimated $6 million. And Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss are going to be handed the keys in just days.
So what then happens?
KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Yeah. Erin, they're going to get control of this but it's not the real estate that they're after here even though this would be quite a nice place to live and had been in the past for the former mayor of New York. It is the money that they're after, Erin. There is $150 million that is owed to these two women by Rudy Giuliani because he defamed them after the 2020 election.
And so what is happening here is this apartment on one of the high floors in this building behind me, it's going to be handed over to the control of Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss so they can sell it and take whatever they make from it in the millions, very likely and then in addition to that, they're also going to be getting control of a whole host of luxury items that Rudy Giuliani owns -- things like a Mercedes once owned by Lauren Bacall, a Joe DiMaggio signed jersey, many, many watches, more than two dozen luxury washes including one it was a Rolex one that was given to Giuliani by the French president after 9/11 for his services here in this city as mayor.
[19:35:25]
All of that is going to be given to them so they can sell it off and collect the money to begin to collect on the debt that Giuliani pays them. It is an order with some finality here in the federal court in New York because Giuliani hasn't done that much in court to fight this legally and has run out of a lot of appeal options to try and hold off them from getting this property. It took them about a year to get to this point.
In seven days, he's going to be turning over the property itself as well as all of the luxury items to them. But then there's more at stake. The judge is still going to have to decide about a condo in palm beach as well as World Series rings from the Yankees that Giuliani has, four of them.
BURNETT: Right, oh, it's, it's really -- I mean, it's an incredible moment to think about it again, the former mayor of New York.
All right. Katelyn Polantz, thank you so much. I want to go now to Michael Gottlieb, the attorney for Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss.
So, Michael, what is your reaction. I mean, so -- all your clients have won this now. In seven days, they're going to have the keys to this apartment and they've been awarded these other items as well.
What do your clients think?
MICHAEL GOTTLIEB, ATTORNEY FOR RUBY FREEMAN AND SHAYE MOSS: I mean, I think we're all thrilled by this ruling. This is a necessary step in achieving accountability for Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss. A jury of Rudy Giuliani's peers found him liable for $146 million in damages for defaming our clients and terrorizing them in the aftermath of the 2020 election and this is what accountability for that looks like.
This is a necessary and key step in our client's ability to start to recover some of what has been taken away from them by being appointed receivers of this property.
BURNETT: So, so let me just talk about some of these assets. The Mercedes once owned by Lauren Bacall that Katelyn Polantz was just reporting on, signed Joe DiMaggio Yankees jersey, collection of luxury watches, 26 of them, one given by the president of France after September 11th.
So what do Ruby and Shaye plan to do with all these assets?
GOTTLIEB: Well, I don't think they'll be wearing all the watches at the same time. They're going to sell this property. This the property is they've been appointed as receivers by the court a receiver is a person that the appoints to take charge and custody of property in order to sell it and maximize the value of those assets.
BURNETT: Sort of like an auction to see if they -- can how much they can get? I mean, it's --
GOTTLIEB: Yes, they're vested with power to auction the property to sell it privately, uh to use their discretion in order to make to turn this property into money to satisfy the 164-plus million dollar that Rudy Giuliani owes to them.
BURNETT: All right so some of the assets are in dispute now. Rudy Giuliani is a lifelong die hard Yankees fan, right? So you've got the Joe DiMaggio signed jersey. But the World Series victories he has four World Series rings and over the years and obviously those are -- those could be worth -- who knows what they're worth. To the right person, certainly priceless, so that's incredible amount of money potentially.
His son Andrew Giuliani though claims there's a photo that he's put out this photo right here where he is with his father, he says this proof that his father gave the rings to him because he's s standing there holding some of the rings.
So how -- how much are you going to fight this for that specific asset or will you let that go? I mean, what are you going to do here?
GOTTLIEB: We're going to fight for every dollar for our clients to satisfy this judgment and we'll -- we'll have an opportunity to test the claim that those rings were gifted to Mr. Giuliani's son. We'll have an opportunity to take discovery on that and the court will have an opportunity to make its decision based on what the evidence shows about it.
You know, for all of this, what we're trying to do is use the legal process that's available to Ruby and Shaye in the Southern District of New York to hold the former chief law enforcement officer for the Southern District New York accountable for this debt that he owes to them.
BURNETT: So earlier this month, you know, you talk about how so many families have gone through such sadness as a result of the political environment in this country and Rudy Giuliani's family is among them. His daughter Caroline, I was speaking with her, she said that she was going to vote for Kamala Harris because she believed that Trump took her father from her. And I talked to her actually about Ruby and Shaye, and here's an exchange that I had with her about them.
[19:40:01]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAROLINE ROSE GIULIANI, DAUGHTER OF RUDY GIULIANI: Right now, the biggest threat to our country is Trump. So I think it's important to look at the culture that he has created and the pe -- the way in which he has refused to accept that he lost the election and get everybody to compromise their values, do anything just to keep him in power and attack citizens like Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, like he's willing to hurt his own people just to have power and Kamala Harris would never do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: What do your clients think about -- I don't know if they even know that that Caroline said this and that she's voting for Harris. But, you know, how does something like that impact them? I mean, they have gone through obviously, you know, incredible horror, we played some of the calls and the threats that they have received.
But yet, there's a sadness here, too. Other families and so many have been -- have been broken apart by this.
GOTTLIEB: Yeah. I don't know if they know about that particular quote. I -- what I'd say is that, you know, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss are heroes. They made a courageous decision to stand up for themselves to fight really the most powerful men in this country and in the world in order to achieve accountability for the harm that was done to them, but also to send a message to civil servants, to election workers, to citizens who are participating in our democracy without whom our democracy could not function, that the justice system will hold bullies accountable for -- for pulling people like this into these kinds of conspiracy theories and trying to scapegoat them for political gain.
And today's ruling I think is -- is a -- is an example of how the justice system, even though it may take some time and even though it may take resolve and the courage of people like Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss will hold powerful people to account for these kinds of wrongs.
BURNETT: Well, Michael, I appreciate your time. Thank you very much.
GOTTLIEB: Thanks for having me.
BURNETT: All right. And next, the Trump and Harris campaigns have spent a lot of money to win over Jewish voters in a battleground state.
But as our Dana Bash found out, both campaigns still have a lot of work to do. Wait until you see this report.
Plus, a special report tonight on the deepfake videos that are now being used to confuse Americans about when where and how to actually vote.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:46:37]
BURNETT: You're looking at live pictures out of Greensboro, North Carolina, where former President Trump is speaking at a campaign rally. Now, a win for Trump and North Carolina is pretty -- it's as close to a must-win as it gets for his path to 270, and both campaigns tonight are focusing their efforts on turning out every single vote not just there, but across the battlegrounds.
And in Pennsylvania who wins or loses may come down to this key group of voters and Dana Bash is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: This is an app that you have that tells you where the homes of the Jewish Pennsylvania voters.
(voice-over): This leafy Philly suburb of Bala Cynwyd has a sizable Jewish population, one that usually votes big for Democrats. The Trump campaign is trying to chip away at that.
You are walking the streets, knocking on doors.
PETER DEUTSCH, FORMER DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSMAN: I'm in Pennsylvania until November 6th --
BASH: To get Donald Trump elected?
DEUTSCH: -- to get Donald Trump elected.
BASH: As a Democrat?
DEUTSCH: As a Democrat.
BASH: Not just any Democrat. Peter Deutsche is a former Democratic congressman from Florida.
DEUTSCH: And I think the Donald Trump has and the Republican Party have done things that the Democrats have not done, being a aggressive against the outrageous, almost insane level of antisemitism on college campuses.
BASH: The deep pocketed Republican Jewish coalition has a data-driven strategy to find Jewish voters open to Donald Trump like Claude Schoenberg and make sure they vote.
CLAUDE SCHOENBERG, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: I thought Donald Trump did magnificent things, right, starting with moving the embassy to Jerusalem.
BASH: Only a block down the road at this exact moment, Jews for Kamala Harris gather and a sukkah, a structure used during the week-long Jewish festival of Sukkot.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And now it is time to knock doors.
STACEY NEWMAN, HARRIS-WALZ CAMPAIGN VOLUNTEER: The women, particularly Jewish women we're talking to, it -- abortion rights is number one, right up there with Israel.
BASH: The Jewish population in America is small, little more than 2 percent. In swing states, likely to be decided on the margins, all demographics matter and Pennsylvania is the battleground with the highest concentration of Jewish voters, about 300,000 according to data by Brandies University.
HALIE SOIFER, CEO, JEWISH DEMOCRATIC COUNCIL OF AMERICA: The election is extremely close and the Jewish vote is an essential part of a winning Democratic coalition.
BASH: Since the brutal October 7th terror attack in Israel and spike in antisemitism, many Jews in America feel unsettled and the Republican Jewish Coalition is spending an unprecedented $15 million this cycle with ads like this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What about Kamala?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Busy defending the squad.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I -- you know, Trump, I never cared for but at least he'll keep us safe.
MATT BROOKS, CEO, REPUBLICAN JEWISH COALITION: You don't have to like Donald Trump but Donald Trump will keep the Jewish community safe.
BASH: You don't have to like Donald Trump, that's -- that's quite a message. BROOKS: Look, I think -- I mean, that's the reality, right?
BASH: Halie Soifer with the Jewish Democratic Coalition calls that cynical and misleading.
SOIFER: He's emboldened and incited and align with and dined with antisemites. He also scapegoated the Jewish people.
BASH: She's referring to this.
[19:50:02]
TRUMP: If I don't win this election and the Jewish people would really have a lot to do with that.
BROOKS: I don't think he was scapegoating. I think he said it a little differently than I would have said it.
BASH: Are you telling me right now that if Donald Trump loses, he will not blame the Jews?
BROOKS: I don't think it's going to be an issue because I think we're going to significantly increase the share of the Jewish vote.
BASH: Jewish Democrats are up with this ad.
AD NARRATOR: But we do have a champion, a partner and a defender of our community, our freedom and our values in Kamala Harris.
BASH: Trying to sway voters like Jill and Harry Willner.
JILL WILLNER, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: If she was here right now, we were having a cup of coffee, I would say Kamala. What -- what's going to be? The -- especially the antisemitism, it's scaring the heck out of me.
HARRY WILLNER, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: I am totally undecided.
BASH: Why are you so undecided?
H. WILLNER: I don't trust either candidate. I am very concerned of course, Israel's number one on my list. He is a horrible individual. I can't -- he doesn't shut up. Kamala, I'm not sure what she's going to do.
I don't know what lever I'm going to pull when I go to the booth. I joke about it. I'm going to sign my own name, or we're going to move to Greenland, one or the other.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: Dana, just fascinating -- all these different conversations that you had. When you actually look at the numbers and you look at a state like Pennsylvania, could the Jewish vote determine the election there? BASH: It really could, Erin. If you go back to the piece, I mentioned that there are about 300,000 Jewish voters believed to be in Pennsylvania. If you think about the margins, back in 2016, Donald Trump won by about 44,000. In 2020, Joe Biden won by about 82,000.
So if you think about the Jewish vote in Pennsylvania, it -- and knowing that it largely has gone for Democrats historically really for decades, not just in Pennsylvania, but nationwide, it is one of the key parts of the Democratic coalition that if they lose some, it could really make a difference.
BURNETT: Yeah. I mean, wow, you just -- you don't -- you don't as you said you only need some on the margin there some votes to make a huge difference.
All right. Thank you so much, Dana. Just incredible. You look at these voter slices in these states and realize, wow, what a razor thin election will mean. And next, a new warning that deepfake calls like this one which urge people not to vote in a primary are creating chaos across the country for voters.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
DEEPFAKE: Your vote makes a difference in November, not this Tuesday.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BURNETT: That wasn't Joe Biden.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: All right. These are live pictures, you're looking at Detroit. That is where former President Barack Obama will be soon taking the stage for a Harris rally with the Detroit native rapper Eminem. It comes as CNN is learning a viral fake video smearing Tim Walz, was created by Russian operatives.
This is according to a new assessment released by U.S. intelligence agencies and it feels growing concerns about deepfakes including some A.I. deepfakes that could be used to create chaos even on Election Day.
Hadas Gold is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Is this actually Chris Rock, Amy Schumer, Rosario Dawson?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A fake message saying --
GOLD: Not all of celebrities are who they seem to be.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because this election, bad actors are going to use A.I. to trick you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Into not voting.
GOLD: With just two weeks left until the election, fears are growing over the influence of artificially generated content.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We already know what they're going to do.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They'll use fake phone calls --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Videos or messages to try to change when how or where you vote.
GOLD: Warnings like this from the nonpartisan Anti-Corruption Group represent us trying to urge voters to think twice.
JOSHUA GRAHAM LYNN, CEO, REPRESENTUS: The risk here is if they trick enough people in, say, one target district in one swing state in a state that really matters to this election, they can throw the whole election.
GOLD: Deepfakes have been keeping campaigns and government officials on their toes. Now, having to fight a new front in the battle against disinformation, like this fake robocall back in January with a voice resembling President Joe Biden urging voters not to go to the polls during the New Hampshire primary.
DEEPFAKE VOICE: Voting this Tuesday only enables the Republicans in their quest to re-elect Donald Trump again. Your vote makes a difference in November, not this Tuesday.
GOLD: The FCC fined the political consultant behind the fake call $6 million. He is facing 26 criminal charges in New Hampshire. He's pleaded not guilty.
But not all deepfakes are as targeted manipulated images are all over the Internet. Some showing celebrity endorsements that aren't always true, like these images former President Donald Trump shared on Truth Social, making it appear he has the support of pop superstar Taylor Swift, despite a clear marking on one photo labeling it as satire.
Swift actually endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in an Instagram post after the Democratic National Convention.
Many experts aren't as concerned about fake celebrity endorsements. They're worried that manipulated content online will confuse voters or in some way keep them from going to their polling stations and it's incredibly easy to make manipulated images. I'm going to use a program called Adobe Access to manipulate a real photo into showing something that didn't actually happen.
So I'll take this photo I'm going to say, show me a car crash. And here we go what could be taken several options of what could be a real car crash between two vehicles.
Now experts are worried that somebody might take an image like this and share it online and say something along the lines of the polling station is closed because of this severe car crash that took place and that might not actually be true, but that could keep people home.
So this election be aware, and always double check what you see online with your state's election officials.
(END VIDEOTAPE0
GOLD (on camera): So if we pull up the image the original image and then the one I created you can see the fake car crash. And if you look closely, Erin, you might be able to see some of those visual distortions that are a marker of A.I.
But a real important tip, if you're worried that something was manipulated by artificial intelligence and you're looking at it and it's related especially to your polling place, the number one tip is get off the site that you're seeing this on and go directly to a reliable source like your state official election website.
BURNETT: Wow. It is amazing though because just look at --
GOLD: That took me less than a minute.
BURNETT: Less than a minute.
GOLD: One step.
BURNETT: I mean, and people you could see people wouldn't turn out for something like that.
All right. Hadas, thank you very much.
And thanks so much to all of you as always for being with us.
"AC360" starts now.
