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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Trump And Harris Campaign In Key Battleground States Today; Soon: Former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney To Campaign For Harris in Wisconsin; CNN Exclusive: 4 Prominent GOP Women Who Used To Support Trump Will Make The Case Against Him Next Week In Pennsylvania. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired October 03, 2024 - 16:00   ET

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

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: -- tempura, chicken patties, with usual special sauce, lettuce cheese, pickles, no onions, it's interesting, on a sesame seed bun.

[15:00:07]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: You can get the new Chicken Mac in the U.S. starting next week when it goes on sale, October 10th, for a limited time. A lot of fast-food on this afternoon that we've talked about. I'd go for it.

KEILAR: Yeah, with Taco Bell.

SANCHEZ: Throw some bacon on there?

KEILAR: Throw some bacon. There's a reason why bacon isn't offered on there because it -- I don't know, Boris.

SANCHEZ: You get the chicken club for bacon on it.

KEILAR: I'm going to stick with my Taco Bell.

SANCHEZ: Let's ask Jake Tapper.

THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER starts right now.

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Two crucial battlegrounds in focus, 33 days out from Election Day.

THE LEAD starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hello, Michigan. I love to be in Michigan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Donald Trump moments ago in battleground Michigan as he tries to break down the so-called blue wall. Meanwhile, Kamala Harris is wheels down in Wisconsin and bringing along some high profile Republican help. She'll be joined by Liz Cheney as other conservative women who once worked for Trump announced they're also siding with Harris.

Plus, the recorded message from Melania Trump that undercuts one of her husband's top campaign issues.

(MUSIC)

BROWN: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Pamela Brown, in for Jake Tapper.

Less than five weeks until Election Day, and both presidential candidates are in the ground, on the ground in battleground states. Former President Donald Trump right now speaking at a rally in Michigan and this afternoon, Vice President Kamala Harris will campaign in Wisconsin with a major Republican ally by her side, former Congresswoman Liz Cheney.

Now, polls in that state show a neck and neck race. And this is Cheney's latest effort to move undecided voters away from Trump after her hard break with him over the January 6 attack.

The Cheney-Harris alliance at this Wisconsin campaign event coincides with new exclusive reporting from our very own Jake Tapper, that Cheney and three prominent Republican women who used to support Trump will make the case against him next week and a fireside chat in Pennsylvania. They are former Trump White House aides, Alyssa Farah Griffin, Sarah Matthews, and Cassidy Hutchinson. Hutchinson yesterday officially endorsed Harris.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CASSIDY HUTCHINSON, FORMER AIDE TO TRUMP WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF MARK MEADOWS: I am really, really proud as a conservative to have the opportunity to vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in this election. Policy is important. It's very important to me, and there may be few issues that Kamala Harris and I would see eye to eye on.

But Donald Trump and J.D. Vance cannot be trusted with the Constitution. They cannot be trusted to uphold our rule of law. And they can't be trusted to enact responsible policy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And let's begin in Ripon, Wisconsin, with CNN's Eva McKend, ahead of this Harris campaign event featuring former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney.

So, Eva, what do we expect to hear from Cheney today?

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pam, this is a message grounded in country over party. What you're going to hear from Liz Cheney and the vice president is that ultimately this election, in their view, is about upholding the rule of law, democracy, and that those issues are more important than the policy disagreements that conservatives and independents may have with the vice president.

They are hoping that that message resonates here in battleground Wisconsin. Ripon in particular is known as the birthplace of the Republican Party. They don't get many presidential candidates visiting here. And so, it's a big deal for this community.

We spoke to a college student. Here's how she thinks about this message.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: What do you think about Cheney's message specifically of country over party?

MCKENZIE BESTOR, COLLEGE STUDENT: I think -- I think that's a great way to put it. I think just as even within our college classmates, there's lots of divide between us but we all go to college together, like we're all living the same life and I just think it's really important that we all just like stand together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: And so, that message resonates with that young woman here studying to become a teacher. They are hoping they capture other Wisconsin voters as well. They're investing in Republicans for Harris. Over the next four days, Pam, you're going to have Republican surrogates in battleground states across the country. They're up on the air as well with a new ad, with a voter that supported the former president in 2016 and 2020, and is now supporting Harris.

And so this is particularly interesting because the former president is not employing a similar strategy. Yes, he has Democratic surrogates out for him on the campaign trail, Kennedy, Tulsi Gabbard, but there isn't the same sort of organized effort. Democrats, some of them, they're not crazy about this plan. They think that the campaign should in instead be investing more heavily in Black voters, Latino voters, Asian voters.

But the Harris campaign believes that this is the right strategy and that they are talking to the voters that they need to be speaking with.

[16:05:03]

Wisconsin Democrats, they agree with them. They tell me this is the right strategy -- Pam.

BROWN: All right. Eva McKend, thank you so much.

And CNN's Jamie Gangel is here with us with more inside into this Harris-Cheney alliance.

Jamie, you have sources close to Cheney and you can report a little bit out about the why now and why Wisconsin.

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: So I think it's fair to say we know one thing about Liz Cheney. She doesn't do anything by accident.

This has been in the planning for a long time. She wanted to do it in the fall for maximum impact while voters are paying attention. She wanted to do it in a swing state and let's just think about it for a moment, she is going to be side by side with Kamala Harris.

The picture, the moment Liz Cheney doesn't get any more conservative than that, she is hoping that by doing it at this time in October, that what do we keep talking about? Swing states and getting out the vote. And she hopes that summer Republicans who don't like Donald Trump, who might have stayed home will be inspired, influenced to come out and vote for Harris.

BROWN: I mean, it really is a remarkable turn of events when you look back four years ago and she, as you point, a conservative supported Trump was very critical of Harris and now, she's side-by-side with her campaigning today in Wisconsin. The question now is as were still close to election day, how much can she influence those undecided voters and Republicans?

GANGEL: So I think it's -- we're going to wait and see what happens. I am not sure personally how many undecided voters they're really on out there. Everybody knows who Donald Trump is. Everyone knows who Kamala Harris is.

I think the question is, can someone like Liz Cheney, her father, Dick Cheney, former vice president, who has also endorsed Harris, will they make a difference with getting people to the polls, will they give people cover that? These are Republicans and then there are those Nikki Haley voters that we saw on the primary?

Well, Liz Cheney, Dick Cheney, others coming out say, okay, were going to vote for Kamala Harris, people who had never voted for a Democrat before.

BROWN: That's very important insight. I want to bring in the rest of our political panel to talk about this.

I want to hear what your thoughts on what Jamie said and those voters who might see themselves in Liz Cheney, right and her dad, Dick Cheney. And whether her support and the support of these other former Trump employees who worked in the White House who are now doing a fireside chat to, to talk about why you shouldn't vote for him, if that will help galvanize those voters to get to vote.

PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think -- well, I think Jamie's right when she says cover, right? It's a permission structure. It's not going to absolutely drive them, but it creates a scene where they can comfortably move.

Harris has to reach out to them. She's doing that, having Liz Cheney. We saw Caroline Rose Giuliani, the daughter of the former mayor of New York, very close Trump aide, endorsed Harris. Alyssa Farah Griffin of this network has done that. She worked for Mr. Trump. Now, Cassidy Hutchinson's in. This creates a permission structure. So it makes it okay. And here's the art in this. It's very hard to do. You have to do two things in the final 32, is you got to fire up your base and you've got to reach out to voters you don't already have.

That doesn't take wedge issues. It takes web issues. So, the same things that fire up the Democratic base, talking about the commitment to our Constitution and democracy in January 6, talking even about abortion rights were Liz Cheney disagrees, but Kamala is never going to get off of that issue, talking about first-time homebuyers, small business -- these are all things that rally her base and reach out to swing voters.

Meanwhile, Mr. Trump is talking about neighbors eating each other's cats in Ohio. And that does -- that rallies his base, God knows why, but it doesn't get him any votes he doesn't already have.

BROWN: What do you say to that one?

MIKE DUBKE, FOUNDING FATHER, BLACK ROCK GROUP: Well, this is going to be look -- we're going to look back on October 3 and say, this is a brilliant strategy by the Harris campaign or they really missed the boat, like Hillary Clinton did in 2016 when she thought she had the election in the bag and she went out to Arizona and Texas and all of these other states, instead of going to Wisconsin, and she ultimately lost the election.

I -- you know, I happen to agree, I think with many of the Democrats that are perplexed, why Vice President Harris isn't looking at her weakness with Black men, for example, and trying to solidify that. She's -- she's taking run at possibly under believing that Liz Cheney or any of these other surrogates are going to make a difference among undecided voters.

And I guess the last thing that I would say on this is I don't think -- this is Jamie, to your point -- I -- I agree with you that everyone knows who Donald Trump is.

[16:10:04]

I don't know that they know who Vice President Harris is. And maybe this is a way to validate Harris. And if I'm -- if I'm going to be charitable, then that makes sense to me.

BROWN: It's interesting because Debbie Dingell of Michigan congresswoman actually said that. It's an "AP" article that they're voters in Michigan who feel like they don't know her that well. They don't understand her policies that well. And she said there's no winner in Michigan right now -- of course, a key battleground state.

How do the polls look right now?

KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, right now, it's a very close race. I think she's slightly favored, but because it is so close and because there's a real question about what will turn out look like -- I do think this is all an open question. Think about the way that the coalitions in our politics have changed

over the last decade and a half, used to be that Republicans were the party that had the really reliable voters, country club Republicans who loved to turn out for Mitt Romney. And when Donald Trump came on the scene, he scrambled things a little bit. Suddenly, Republicans were bringing all of these, what we would call low propensity voters, people who don't turn out all the time, they're not watching cable news there. They're living their lives and maybe because they like Donald Trump, they'll participate and vote Republican.

But the GOP also shed a lot of those voters, those country club Republicans, the types of folks that Paul wisely notes, this is intended to give them permission.

The fight is not that these voters are trying to decide to vote for Donald Trump, or do I vote for Kamala Harris? They're trying to decide which leave it blank. Do I just wash my hands of all of this?

And so while I don't think that it's likely that this is its going to cause a turnout surge for Kamala Harris. While I don't think it's likely that it's going to tip someone who's on the fence between Harris or Trump, because I don't think there are many of those particular voters left.

She's really trying to make the case, I'm not the Kamala Harris of 2019. I'm not the person who is trying to pander to the progressive base. I'm really more palatable to Republicans than you think.

And frankly, she's got an unlimited long leash from the progressive base in the Democratic Party to do these sorts of things without turning them off because she's running against Donald Trump and he is a number one motivator of voters on both sides of the aisle.

BROWN: Yeah, and we are seeing these Republican defections now, again with Liz Cheney out campaigning with Kamala Harris, again, just to go back to what were discussing about just the turn of events from 2020 to now, you look at what the Trump campaign is pointing to today from August 2020, this tweet posted by Cheney, Kamala Harris has a more liberal voting record than Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Her radical leftist views, raising taxes, banning guns sales, taxpayer money for abortion, an illegal immigrant health care, eliminating private health insurance would be devastating for America.

Do you think that Cheney still feels that way on policy? And if so, what does it mean that she and her father are now throw their support behind the Democrats?

GANGEL: So, I can't wait to see what Trump posts about after Liz Cheney tonight, Trump's going to post what he's going to post, but I do think we cannot forget this is not a surprise.

We saw Liz Cheney as vice chair of the January 6 hearings. We heard her come out for -- for impeaching Trump. She has said this is not about policy. I will do whatever it takes that Donald Trump is so dangerous, he should never be allowed to return to the White House. She also I think we should remember on the policy front, Liz Cheney

sacrificed her political future. I'm not saying forever. But right now, they're really is no lane for her. So I think arguments about policy are just not what this is about.

One point about Black male voters and what I would just say is, as we'd like to say, two things can be true at the same time, Vice President Harris needs to go out after a lot of people that certainly one place, but I think the fact that she is in Wisconsin where Hillary Clinton didn't get to that she's going to be in Pennsylvania, that Liz Cheney and others are going to Pennsylvania, they're just going after every single -- they're going to live in swing states.

BROWN: Yeah. I just want to because you did mention on I just want to better understand what your point is trying to draw the parallel with Hillary Clinton because they are going to the states.

DUBKE: They are going to the states, but where are they going in the states? Ripon, Wisconsin, is not Milwaukee. So, I mean, they are going to different areas of the state than the nest -- than where the large number of Democrats reside in order to fire up, as Paul taught talked about firing up that base. So they're going there and they should be there seven states and every flight that Trump and Harris take are going to these seven states and that'll be the same, same way for the next 32 days. But -- but who are they talking to when they're in those states?

BROWN: So you're saying she's neglecting the base, the Democratic base in going into these battleground states. What do you say?

BEGALA: I'm in touch the Democratic base, I spent a lot of time yesterday with the African-American activists --

DUBKE: I'm not as in touch with the Democratic base.

BEGALA: And Kristen is right, first off, she's working it very, very hard. She has to earn these votes were in a different atmosphere.

Democrats used to think if they just eat right and exercise, you get the Black vote. Kamala Harris didn't think that. She knows better. So, she's working it very, very hard. At the same time, it's a both/and she's reaching out.

And I love it and it is true the left has given her huge leeway here. She is holding together coalition from AOC to Liz Cheney. That is hard to do. That's a broadest coalition I've seen in my lifetime and she's doing it. I think quite artfully.

So nothing she's saying to gain Liz Cheney's support or those normie Republican she's trying to create a permission structure, none of that is alienating her base of African-Americans and Latinos and white liberals. It's just -- it's a really difficult thing, but she's pulling it off.

ANDERSON: The one thing also keep in mind, Donald Trump also has a very broad, right? Just remember the GOP convention, you had everybody from Amber Rose to evangelical leaders. So we're just -- we live in interesting times.

BROWN: We certainly do.

Speaking of interesting times, I want to go to another battleground state of Arizona, where there were some interesting billboards that have been put up by the Arizona Republican Party. These billboards and the Phoenix area read drug traffickers for Harris, illegal aliens for Harris, and gang members for Harris -- clearly attacking her over border security.

He wants to take it? Paul?

BEGALA: I guess I got to do something.

BROWN: Yeah.

BEGALA: I make more money than sense.

I don't -- I don't think its going to move a soul, honestly. I -- they can do that if they like. The truth is, I think Harris did a good job going to the border. I still think she needs to toughen up and speak up more about border security.

It is true that the strongest border security bill in American history was killed by Donald Trump, not because he thought it was a bad for America. He thought it was bad for Donald Trump's politics.

And that's a case she can take to Arizona, my beloved Texas or any other state that's a border state. So I think she's got something she can run on there.

DUBKE: But what is also true is everything that Liz Cheney said in that quote that you read that she was to the left of Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. We've got -- you pick the number, 10 million, 20 million illegals who have come during the Biden administration that have come across the border.

She was in charge, whether we want to argue she was the border czar or not the border czar, she was put in charge by the Biden administration for fixing the border, and that's where we're at. So all this -- to your point --

(CROSSTALK)

BEGALA: I'm going to tell you, everything you said was factually false.

BROWN: Let me just -- can I just -- I just --

DUBKE: Which is not true though?

GANGEL: It's not.

BEGALA: Ten million is a total count. It's a guess. It's a total count from all of time, there was 10 million undocs, not the 10 million came over during Biden. BROWN: That is true. It's over decades, that is --

BEGALA: Number two, border crossings had collapsed far lower --

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: The last three months, they have gone down but they have also reached a high point, very high points during the Harris administration. But it is true to the Donald Trump killed that bill that could have fortified the border more.

And yet when it comes to immigration, as you can speak to, Donald Trump is still viewed by voters --

ANDERSON: Donald Trump is trusted more on the issue and America has really moved to the right on this issue over the course of the last eight years, things that when Donald Trump first came out and said, you know, build the wall, that was his signature thing he's going to do on immigration. People said that seems kind of extreme and now, not only is that considered a pretty mainstream policy, that majorities of Americans support. You have Democrats now saying we believe we need to build more physical structures at the border, too.

So, Donald Trump and his time as the main character of our politics, we've seen the issue of immigration and American public opinion shift to the right. And I think it's notable, too, you know, those billboards in Arizona -- this is why I encourage people from a polling perspective, these battleground state polls matter a lot more than national polls because billboards like that are not going up in Colorado. They're not going up in Virginia. They're going up in the battleground states where people think this question of who is Kamala Harris is more up for grabs. And so that's why just remember the information environment for a voter in a battleground state looks different and has a lot more negative messaging about Kamala Harris than somebody who lives in a non-battleground state.

BROWN: Really important point. We'll leave it there, but stick around because there is still more to discuss later in the show.

I also want to talk about Donald Trump's message moments ago to voters in Michigan. Plus, what he's saying one day after that major filing from the special counsel, 165 pages of evidence and a January 6 case coming just weeks before the November election.

Also ahead, surveying the destruction after an unprecedented storm. What some families in Florida tells CNN about losing practically everything they owned. Can you imagine?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:23:30]

BROWN: And we're back now with our law and justice lead a day after explosive details detailing former President Trump's scheme to overturn the 2020 election were unsealed. Trump took to social media today writing, quote: For 60 days prior to an election, the department of injustice is supposed to do absolutely nothing that would taint or interfere with said election. And that 165-page partially redacted filing, special counsel Jack Smith alleges Trump personally and criminally scheme to overturn the free and fair election.

Our star correspondents join us now to help us understand this.

Now, you know, the filing came out yesterday. We've had some time to digest it.

First off, how unusual is it for this information in a filing that come out so close to an election? And what stands out to you since you've had some time to really process?

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, let's hit on this issue of how unusual is this, right? Its not a surprise, is certainly not unusual that Trump accused the Justice Department of weaponization, but I want to reiterate. It was a Judge -- Judge Tanya Chutkan, who's overseeing this case. She was the one who decided to release this yesterday and he is accused of Justice Department of violating its rule that they try not to do things that could impact an election about 60 days before that election, but that is usually four you cases are taking concrete steps.

This is an ongoing investigation, so were going on for several years, so it's not clear that that would really fit inside that policy. But this is unusual. You don't usually get to see this much of a prosecutors case, including here, never before seen evidence like conversations the former president had with his then Vice President Mike Pence.

[16:25:06]

Pam, it's not even clear they're going to be able to get that evidence in at a possible trial based on what the Supreme Court decided. That's still being litigated. So I think that her decision to release this will be analyzed for a long time to come because it's not supposed to be the case where you're investigated by the federal government and they were able to just dump all the evidence to the public sphere without a trial.

But in the other side, there is an argument that voters have a right to see this evidence because the Supreme Court really made it impossible to bring this to trial.

BROWN: Right and I asked Congressman, a Republican, Mike Waltz about this earlier, what was brought up in this filing. And I want us to listen to what he said and then talk about it on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE WALTZ (R-FL): It makes no sense except for a political motivation that Jack Smith and the judge unsealed this before the Trump campaign even had a chance to respond, they were given to mid- October to respond.

This is politically driven. It's being done deliberately in the weeks before, and I got to tell you, I got to tell you -- I'm not hearing from single constituent any concerns about this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: What do you think? Do you think he has a point?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Look, I mean, I think it is going to drive voters on their respective sides on the Trump voters side, if the former president talks about this, which so far he has been talking in Saginaw, Michigan, this afternoon for quite some time at a rally and he's not made a mention of it at this moment. We will see if he does.

But look, this could motivate Trump supporters could motivate his base on the left, it could motivate some others. The vast majority of voters are looking at this election through their lenses of their own lives, through pocketbook issues through concerns about potentially immigration or other matters, not about the former president's legal case.

So I do not think this is going to be a driver of the election, but it certainly is a reminder and coming on the heels of Liz Cheney's endorsement and appearance in Wisconsin in the next hour. This is all tied together, so it is certainly an argument that bolsters the Harris campaign's really anthem of her candidacy about how a second President Trump administration would be dangerous for the country. But overall, voters, I don't think are going to be driven by this issue.

BROWN: Evan, on the other side, those voters who support Trump will say, see it is another example of him now, the victim here. But as Paula point out, look, the Judge Chutkan is -- is not part of the Justice Department, you know? But as we've seen all along, Donald Trump has tried to lump everything together here.

Bring us inside the Justice Department though, this extraordinary time, right? And the internal deliberations so close to an election.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: I mean, look, the quiet period is the real thing. I mean, I can tell you because were trying to do stories and people are like, well, if the story is going to run before -- within the 30 days before the election, there's a 30-day period as well that there they go quiet. They can't -- you can hear from Justice Department officials. And so it's a real thing and they are very cognizant of it.

But this is a prosecution as Paula pointed out, that began last year. These are charges that were brought last year and so even -- even within the Justice Department, there is no longer they are no longer in control. This is a judge who is in control. And so that's where I think they draw the line.

And I think Merrick Garland, as you know from Pamela, from watching him, an observing him, he is a rule follower. He is trying to make sure that he follows all of the restrictions and I think this is one of those cases where the judge is really deciding this case.

BROWN: And there's also we should note another deadline today, right? PEREZ: Right. There's a deadline today where Trump is responding to

the obstruction charges and, of course, we expect that that's going to argue that the Justice Department, that Jack Smith should dismiss those charges regarding obstruction as part of the January 6 investigation, the January 6 charges.

BROWN: We really are living in extraordinary times, to think we're talking about this so close still, exactly.

All right, thanks to you all. Do appreciate it.

And with 33 days to go before Election Day, every campaign stop is strategically selected.

So why Wisconsin, why Michigan, where the race stands in these two battlegrounds, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:33:34]

BROWN: And we are back with the 2024 lead and a closer look at the two battlegrounds where the Trump and Harris campaigns hope to make inroads today. That would be Michigan and Wisconsin.

CNN's Phil Mattingly is with us.

Phil, let's start with Michigan, where Trump is today. What advantage might his campaign see there?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNMN CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, the former president speaking in Saginaw, the kind of critical swing county, or closest swing county in that swing state. Look, let's take a step back for a second. This was the 2020 map, and you could see President Biden's path to the White House. Yes. He was able to flip a state like Arizona or flip a state like Georgia.

But it was right here in Wisconsin and Michigan, two key pillars of the blue wall where that path was made. It's also the same path Vice President Kamala Harris can take to the presidency.

Now, if you take a look at these two states, Michigan, President Biden won by 154,000 votes back in 2016, Donald Trump shocked everyone in politics when he won this state by just about 10,000 votes. Wisconsin, equally close 22,000 votes for Donald Trump and Joe Biden won it back in 2020 only by 20,000 votes.

So, where do things stand right now? And what is very clearly a bare- knuckle brawl for these two states. Look at the polling and the reason I'm showing you this polling, New York Times/Siena poll, most recent polling, these battleground states is, it is super close. One point towards Harris in each poll within the margin of error, the point of showing you this is that it doesn't matter, don't pay attention to the polls right now, because every poll is telling you the same thing. These states are extremely close. Every vote counts.

So, what matters: where campaigns travel and how much they're spending?

[16:35:01]

That's a critical point here.

Let's look at the spending. Just in the month of September alone, Michigan, almost 90,000 or $90 million in campaign spending, TV ad buys. Wisconsin, $57 million combined.

What about going forward, the reservations? These -- both of these states are in the top five in spending in these battleground states. Michigan, $46 million for Democrats, $26 million for Republicans. Wisconsin, $25 million and $19 million.

The money tells you a lot so does the travel most valuable thing a candidate has is his time? Well, in the state of Michigan, Donald Trump will be there or his event that he's been at throughout the course of the last couple of hours, his 12th visit since the start of this year.

And where's he going to be? He's going to be or he is in Saginaw County.

Why is Saginaw so important? You look at the spread here, the margin, Joe Biden winning this county by just about 400 votes back in 2016, Donald Trump won this county by a little bit over a point. In 2012, 2008, Barack Obama won this county so back and-forth, these are the battlegrounds that the Trump campaign knows they need to win going forward.

J.D. Vance was in western Michigan just a little bit of a couple of days ago after his debate saying this campaign is going to be in this state every week until election day.

But after that debate, we talked to a focus group and they raised some concerns about what they heard from Vance. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to be voting for Kamala Harris. One of the stark sort of aspects of that debate that really stuck with me was when they were talking about January 6 and how Mike Pence certified the election and they were wondering if J.D. Vance would certify the election should Trump lose. And J.D. Vance didn't really give us a definitive answer.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The one thing that stuck out to me was Vance's refusal to say whether or not Trump lost the 2020 election?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Obviously, anecdotal, Pamela, but very interesting from those undecided voters, particularly given where the vice president is about to be.

BROWN: Yeah, speaking of the vice president, we are expected to hear from her on that in just a little over an hour in Wisconsin.

So what more can you tell us about her plans tonight?

MATTINGLY: You know, when it comes to the state of Wisconsin, obviously Democrats have a lot of regrets from what happened 2016 when Donald Trump won the state. Harris very clearly trying to make up ground there or at least not do what was done in 2016. This is her fifth visit to the state since she got into the race.

What's interesting though, with this particular visit is where it's going to be. It's in Fond Du Lac County. This is not a Democratic stronghold. Donald Trump, actually, from 2016 to 2020 expanded his margin in this state, has expanded his vote share.

But where she's giving this speech matters. In Ripon, it's a town in Fond Du Lac, known as the birthplace of the Republican Party. And it's all about margins here, yes, they need to run a big vote in Dane County. They need to run up big vote in Milwaukee County if you were the Harris campaign.

But if you can keep margins down Trump strongholds like Fond Du Lac, that will help, too, given how close these states are going to be, disaffected Republicans may not be a huge population. But as we heard from our focus group and as we've seen in some polling, the message that Harris and Liz Cheney will be bringing tonight, that's directed exactly at them -- Pam.

BROWN: All right. Phil Mattingly, thank you so much.

And beyond Wisconsin and Michigan are going to battleground Pennsylvania next. See the targeted outreach to Latino voters isn't paying off. That's a key question.

We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:42:34]

BROWN: And we are back with 2024 lead. CNN's poll of polls for Pennsylvania shows the presidential race is locked in a dead heat with no clear leader.

CNN's Danny Freeman spoke with Latino voters, a key demographic who could play a decisive role and who wins this specific battleground.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fresh off his vice presidential debate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz was in Redding, Pennsylvania, stopping at a Puerto Rican owned restaurants to boost support among the city's majority Latino population.

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is going to come down to what wall states, come down to Pennsylvania, might come right through this restaurant. FREEMAN: But at the same time, just four blocks away, the Trump

campaign was holding its own phone bank, specifically targeting Latinos in the Lehigh Valley.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

FREEMAN: And end of war.

The dueling outreach, just the latest sign both campaigns understand the importance of Latino voters in the Keystone State.

In 2020, President Joe Biden beat former president Donald Trump in Pennsylvania by about 80,000 votes. But with this race, still extremely tight, the estimated 615,000 eligible Latino voters here could easily help decide the November outcome.

While recent national polls show Harris doing better than Biden was with Latino voters, they also show Trump outperforming past Republicans among this group, which in recent elections has solidly backed Democrats.

At a Harris campaign event this weekend in Allentown, another deeply Latino city, there were plenty of voters excited about the vice president.

This man told me he feels Harris represents hope and will help small businesses but there were warning signs, too.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

FREEMAN: Today, you have not made a decision on who you're going to vote for.

CARMEN DANCSECS, MORTGAGE LENDER: I think we have too many people that are kind of like on shaky waters. They don't know where they stand.

FREEMAN: To energize this community in Pennsylvania, the Harris campaign is turning to volunteers like Yamelisa Taveras.

The campaign featuring the Allentown small business owner and mom in a new ad focused on health care this week.

YAMELISA TAVERAS, HARRIS SUPPORTER: Latino voters will turn out for people that really get us that, people that represent us.

[16:45:03]

I believe we have a great shot with Harris-Walz. However, the campaign can do more. There's still so many people on the fence and having those conversations and knowing that there were truly are a lot of people that can benefit from so much more information. And again, that's why I said yes to the ad.

FREEMAN: For their part, the Trump campaign is turning to men like Daniel Campo, the Venezuelan born pilot, recently spoke at a Trump rally in northeastern Pennsylvania but campus said his biggest challenge when canvassing Latino neighborhoods are people who feel the former president is prejudiced against Latinos.

How do you convince them to vote for him?

DANIEL CAMPO, TRUMP SUPPORTER: So are you going to invite him to your wedding? Are you going by him for your birthday party or your kid's birthday party? You have somebody that did the job and did a good job and you're hiring him again for that job. Are you going to invite him to your wedding?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREEMAN: Now, Pamela, one thing that Democratic Latinos told me in this area over the course of the week is that they do hope that more popular Latino celebrities come out and show support for the Harris- Walz campaign, especially considering that former President Trump got some support from a few stars earlier this year. They say that star power and more face-to-face interactions could really make up for some of them energy gap they're seeing right now on the ground -- Pamela.

BROWN: All right. Danny Freeman, really important reporting there. Thank you so much.

And just ahead, heartbreak for families who have lost almost everything after Hurricane Helene. President Biden's message to them just moments ago, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:51:01]

BROWN: Well, you are seeing images of the utter devastation in North Carolina one week after Hurricane Helene decimated parts of the south and east, as search and rescue teams race to find survivors as the death toll continues to rise, 202 people are now reported dead across six states, and nearly a million customers are still without power. Most are in the Carolinas where floodwaters wipe down major portions of the power grid.

The destruction across the Southeast is so widespread that President Biden is now in his second day of surveying damage. Moments ago, he was in Ray City. That's in South Georgia where he said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLPI)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And I want you to know, I see you. I hear you. I agree with you, and I promise you. We have your back. We're going to stay until you're restored.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And earlier today, President Biden was in Florida to tour affected areas.

CNN's Carlos Suarez is also in Florida looking at the extensive flood damage from the storm surge of miles away from where Helene made landfall.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARIE ROWLEY, HOME DESTROYED BY HURRICANE HELENE: The shoes and the clothes and the roller blades and --

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The items that once brought joy to Marie Rowley's life litter the front yard of her house, again.

And you've been flooded out twice?

ROWLEY: Twice, yeah. I got hit by Idalia last year flooded my living room.

SUAREZ: A walk inside the 29-year-old's home captures at the damage left behind by the latest storm, Hurricane Helene's deadly flooding.

ROWLEY: Everything was underwater the drawers, I mean, in my closet that the almost the top drawers in my closet, just everything was shifted around floating at one point.

SUAREZ: Her sanctuary, the place that she called home for just over a year, destroyed by floodwaters, in one of the hardest hit areas of Pinellas County.

ROWLEY: The water was about to here. It was in some places over three feet. There's a lot of life that this place once housed and now it's -- it's gutted. This home has gone. All of my things are gone and ruined, but I had people and I had loved and I have my life.

SUAREZ: Rowley's story is one we encountered throughout St. Petersburg, days after Helene's close to seven foot storm surge left parts of the city underwater.

Sara Schaeffer's long embrace of a friend inside her muddied living room, captured how such a simple act in such a trying time can mean the world.

SARA SCHAEFFER, HOME DESTROYED BY HURRICANE HELENE: Any drop a kindnesses really appreciated, you know, just anything even if you don't know what to say, just -- just say something, you know, we all have our stories. This is ours. I think were all really thankful to be alive.

SUAREZ: In neighboring Tampa, over three feet of water swept through Julie Curry's (ph) bakery Bake'n Babes. Its waterlogged entrance, bright and pain gives weight to a dark in soaked kitchen filled with tens of thousands of dollars in damage to commercial refrigerators, freezers, and ovens.

JULIE CURRY, BAKERY OWNER: The water line was here.

SUAREZ: Sixty thousand dollars. Is that something that you can withstand? CURRY: We're trying to get to see if some of the equipment can be repaired. So it's not like a total so, you know, lost water came out. Yeah.

SUAREZ: Curry said the business which was not damaged in previous hurricanes, Ian and Idalia, recently scored a catering contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning. She's afraid her insurance policies won't cover much of the damage, leaving the fate of her business and the livelihood of more than a dozen employees, uncertain.

CURRY: We worked so hard, you know? And then, you know, everything's gone.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SUAREZ (on camera): All right. So, some of -- some of the barrier islands in Pinellas County, just reopen to the folks who live there on Tuesday. Pam, it's important to note here, just all of the damage we saw in Hurricane Helene remained well offshore and just about everyone that we spoke to told us they plan on rebuilding and everything that's on top of what they're dealing with is the anxiety of the fact that we still have two months left of hurricane season -- Pam.

[16:55:09]

BROWN: That's a really important and you just heard the DHS secretary saying that FEMA is running out of money for the hurricane season. It's very concerning. Thank you.

Well, coming up, that new video today from Melania Trump. Her message that makes you wonder, what did the Trump campaign think about it before its release? its really reasonable?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Pamela Brown, in for Jake Tapper. This hour, we've rarely they seen her on the campaign trail this election, but now Melania Trump is publicly taking a political stand, one that puts her at direct odds with her husband.

Plus, it's a battleground blitz today with both candidates rallying --