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The Lead with Jake Tapper
33 Million Americans Already Have Voted; McConnell & Johnson: "Reckless" For Harris To Call Trump A Fascist; Give Away The Votes?. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired October 25, 2024 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN HOST: And a year later, Iceland logged faster economic growth, than most other European countries.
[16:00:04]
And not only that, its unemployment rate is now one of the lowest in all of Europe. I really, really hope our bosses are watching.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Are you considering a potential move, the new CNN Iceland correspondent?
MARQUARDT: I would love it. It'd be fantastic. It is such a beautiful country. I can't imagine anything but.
SANCHEZ: I couldn't deal with the cold or the fermented shark that apparently -- Alex, thanks for being with us today.
THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER starts right now.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Republican leaders calling out dangerous political rhetoric, but not the rhetoric of what you might think.
THE LEAD starts right now.
House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, two Republican leaders calling out Vice President Kamala Harris, saying that her rhetoric has only, quote, fanned the flames of political animus. But it's not her calling conservatives the enemy within, right?
Plus, in a stunning proposal, Republican leader in a battleground state reportedly wants to do away with the election process altogether and just anoint Trump that state's electoral votes.
And, leaked audio of Russian soldiers questioning why there are suddenly alongside North Korean recruits asking what the F to do with them. Hear this intercepted recording.
(MUSIC)
TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.
We're 11 days away from the final day of voting. So let us jam to that election music while the jamming still good. Nice. Nearly 34 million Americans have already locked in their ballots. That's quite a bit. So today on the campaign trial, both candidates are heading west to the Lone Star State, which you may correctly note is not a battleground state in the presidential race. It is solid red, although they do have Senate race there.
But the Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, will rally in Houston tonight, on a mission to persuade people to get out the vote while showcasing her issue of abortion rights in the state with one of the strictest abortion bans.
Texas natives, Beyonce and Willie Nelson, will be there hoping to round up support for her.
Further west in Austin, Texas, Donald Trump just spoke on one of his main issues, immigration and the border. But a few hours ago, two top Republicans came to Trump's defense in a rare joint statement House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called on Vice President Harris today to end what they call dangerous rhetoric against Donald Trump, saying in part, quote, the vice presidents words more closely resemble those of President Trump's second would-be assassin than her own earlier appeal to civility. Labeling a political opponent as a fascist risks inviting yet another would-be assassin to try robbing voters of their choice before election day.
Okay. So the two are Republican leaders expressing concern about Kamala Harris calling Donald Trump a fascist lets show an example of Harris doing exactly but McConnell and Johnson are taking issue with.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She is a Marxist, communist, fascist, socialist.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: I'm sorry. Control room, that was actually Donald Trump calling Kamala Harris a fascist in September.
Control room, are you ready? Please run the clip of Kamala Harris calling Donald Trump a fascist, which offended the Republican leaders.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Somebody's got to explain this one. There's a radical left, Marxists, communist, fascist.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Okay, again, I'm sorry, that was Trump calling Harris a fascist I apologize.
Control room, can we get it together? Johnson and McConnell are very upset that Kamala Harris called Donald Trump a fascist. Please roll the clip. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We have a fascist person running who's incompetent. And we have a president who's not even around guys.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Guys, I'm trying to show the clip of Donald Trump being called a fascist. That's what speaker Johnson and leader McConnell are really worried about. You keep running different clips of Trump calling her a fascist, please humor me. Humor me.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
JOHN KELLY, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Authoritarian, admires people who are dictators. He has said that. So he certainly falls into the general definition of fascist, for sure.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
TAPPER: Okay. So that was Donald Trump being called a fascist, but not by Kamala Harris, that is retired Marine General John Kelly Trump's long serving chief of staff, coming to the conclusion that Donald Trump is a fascist in his view.
Guys, she did say this, she said it here on CNN, don't you have a clip from CNN?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: We have got to stop him, Milley said. You have got to stop him. By you he meant the press broadly. Quote, he is the most dangerous person ever. I had suspicions when I talk to you about his mental decline and so forth. But now I realize he's a total fascist.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[16:05:01]
TAPPER: Okay, so that was from CNN, but that was me reading a quote from former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, General Mark Milley, who Trump appointed. Milley calling Trump a fascist in an interview with Bob Woodward. That wasn't Harris calling him a fascist.
Control room, come on. I know we have this clip somewhere from CNN. Come on, show it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN MODERATOR: Do you think Donald Trump is a fascist?
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes, I do. Yes, I do.
(END VIDEO CLIP) TAPPER: Thank you, my control room going a little bit rogue there and making a point, perhaps.
This is obviously what Mike Johnson and Mitch McConnell are worried about Kamala Harris agreeing with the words of some of the people who have worked closely with Trump in the Oval Office in the Situation Room. That's -- that's what they have an issue with, not Trump using these very same words.
CNN's Rosa Flores is with the Harris campaign in Houston ahead of the big rally there tonight. And Alayna Treene is with the Trump campaign Traverse City, Michigan, ahead of the rally.
Alayna, what did we hear from Trump? But he went to Austin earlier this afternoon. He was talking a lot about immigration.
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: He was, and I'll say this, I mean, during those remarks in Austin, he said the reason he came to Texas was because he knew that Kamala Harris is going to be there. if I can tell you, Jake, from my conversations with Trump's advisers, he was already planning to go there to tape that podcast with Joe Rogan and that was a big part of this big trip today, they scheduled those remarks later.
So I just leave you do with that, but look, a lot of his remarks today obviously focused on the border. One of his top issues and as we've seen over the last several weeks now, Donald Trump has continued to really lean into inflammatory rhetoric and really demeaning language about immigrants. He repeated a line that he actually first stated yesterday in Arizona, where he likened undocumented immigrants to trash. He said that America was dumping ground for the world, calling it a garbage can and then went on to say that perhaps Kamala Harris should be disqualified from running because of her handling of the border.
Take a listen to how he put it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: They're letting their people out of jails, and bringing them right into our -- we're like a dumping ground, what Kamala Harris has done on our border is cruel, it's vile and it's absolutely heartless. Her policy of importing migrant gangs is a crime against our country. It's actually a crime against humanity and her abolition of our border should disqualify her for even running.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TREENE: So, first of all, Jake, the Biden administration and Kamala Harris are not trying to import gangs into our country, but all to put aside this is language we have heard from Donald Trump in the past. Remember, we've heard him argue that undocumented migrants are poisoning the blood of the country, language that people have said, likens back to language used by Adolf Hitler.
He's talked about, you know, arguing that day are criminals and rapists and other, you know, other horrible things about migrants. We've heard this before, but I think to put this into context, why is he doing this? Why is he leaning in heavily to this?
It's because he thinks it's working. He tells his advisers he thinks this helps him get elected in 2016, that type of rhetoric, and he thinks it will help him again. And to argue that point, they say, look at the polling, he is doing better, he is closing the gap. He's doing even better than he has in recent weeks. And that's why he's continuing to use this language.
So the question of is he going to stop doing this before Election Day, it's going to be the opposite. I think he's only going to lean in further and I expect will continue some of that language here in Traverse City in just a couple of hours.
TAPPER: All right. Rosa, tell us what you're seeing as you age the Harris rally in Houston to start and has the vice president, Vice President Harris responded to the joint statement from McConnell and Johnson?
ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, she has, taking the statement head on and responding during comments to reporters saying that there is no room for political violence, but that the American people should be presented about the facts when regards to Donald Trump. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: We almost speak out against any form of political violence and I'm very clear about. No one should be the subject of violence, much less political violence. But the American people deserve to be presented with facts and the truth, and the fact and the truth is that some of the people closest to Donald Trump when he was president, generals, including most recently, John Kelly, a four-star marine general, have been very clear about the danger and the threat that Donald Trump poses to America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FLORES: And about here in Houston and what's happening? Take a look behind me. There's a lot of energy, a lot going on here as lots of people are in line, waiting to see both vice president Kamala Harris and Beyonce.
So there is star power here and also, were expected to hear a lot of very powerful stories, Jake. We're expecting that Kamala Harris will be joined by several women, including Amanda Zurawski.
[16:10:05]
She's a Texas woman who it's not able to gain an abortion and she almost died. And a really at the end of the day would come when Harris said earlier today, is that Texas is ground zero for the abortion issue, and that is what she hopes that takes people to the polls.
Jake, back to you.
TAPPER: All right. Alayna Treene and Rosa Flores, thanks to both you. Our panel's here.
Bryan, what is your response to this disagreement about rhetoric?
BRYAN LANZA, SENIOR ADVISER TO TRUMP 2024 CAMPAIGN: You notice, the rhetoric gets hot, but I remind people, you know, when we talked about what -- what is fascism -- fascism is wanting to pack the court, extend beyond where it is nine, fascism is one that's going to censor people who have criticisms about their government. Fascism is actually wanting to get rid of the filibuster.
So what we're looking at issues of what are fascists activities as opposed to what are fascist rhetoric. The rhetoric gets hot. We all understand that there has been a president who's had two assassination attempts. I certainly see the concern of a Speaker McConnell and President McConnell and Speaker Johnson.
But the rhetoric does get hot, but let's be clear, the fascist actions that are taking place in this campaign or the result of Democratic policies, not Republican policies.
TAPPER: Karen?
KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah. Okay. So obviously I disagree and I think, yeah --
LANZA: Soft.
TAPPER: That's why we have you here to debate, yes.
FINNEY: Exactly. I'll point to "New York Times" piece earlier this week by Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman. And what they did is they went through everything Trump has said he wants to do and I think most don't really know if fascism is, but I'll tell you what he points out.
Donald Trump has talked about consolidating power in the executive branch. So that he could use the levers of government for his own agenda, for his retribution agenda for revenge. And to give people like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, who is a coward by stopping and endorsement that "The Washington Post" was going to run of Kamala Harris. They would get big tax breaks under him. He's not talking about the American people.
I think that's where we need to be having the conversation. And I think we need to remind me when were talking about throwing around these concepts about fascism, we're talking about how a leader would govern and whether or not that person is going to focus on you and your issues which you do not hear from Donald Trump versus Kamala Harris, who today, is going to be talking about the basic freedom of women to control our own bodies, and frankly, the men who love women and men who care about our lives and our freedom.
LANZA: Listen, I think certainly Trump wrote is no fan of Jeff Bezos. We've never called him a coward. You know, his newspaper.
FINNEY: I did. LANZA: Yeah, I understand that, but that's what it makes the rhetoric worse because now you're going to have some people who feel they're responding, use a more powerful language and that we sort of going down this cycle of insults.
Jeff Bezos has his reason why "The Washington Post" didn't endorse, "The L.A. Times", Kamala Harris is larger newspaper, they have the reason why did endorse, but they're not cowards, I think bringing in the language of constantly insulting other people, President Trump has done it. The Democrats have done it, is why were in this cycle of more and more insults is, why were now learning at the final term of Nazi related her term of Hitler, we're now getting into that term of fascism? Those are not good for American conversation.
FINNEY: But, I think, you know, Bryan, there's a difference -- I mean, I agree with you that the rhetoric gets hot, but there's a big difference between leveling things like America is the trash heap of the world or whatever the quote was. That's very different than saying, I believe that for the owner of "The Washington Post" to literally kill an endorsement that was set to run that his own editorial team, if you want to talk about stifling free speech, his own team --
LANZA: That's courageous, that's not cowardice.
FINNEY: His own team said this is what we'd like. This is what we believe and he said, no, we're not going to do that.
TAPPER: So, the Los Angeles -- the owner of "The Los Angeles Times" and the owner of "The Washington Post", both have instructed their editorial boards to not endorse in the presidential race. There's all sorts of arguments are for or against why newspaper should even be doing it. I know there are a lot of reporters that don't like it because they don't -- a lot of viewers out, a lot of readers don't understand that there's a firewall between the editorials and the reporting.
But it is odd to do it, so -- like so close to the election, it's unusual to do it so close to the election when the editorial boards of both papers thought that they were going to endorse. Why do you think it's courageous?
LANZA: Listen, it's courageous because you're going against the buck, you're going against your readership in Los Angeles, you're going against your readership here in Washington, D.C. You're going against the vast majority of your staff, which is Democrats.
And so, and by the way, these people are Democrats themselves. So they laid looked at, they looked at the last three months and they say Kamala Harris hasn't made the case. We understand where our reporters are there. Activists reported their --
FINNEY: They haven't said -- what we've seen some details of Los Angeles and he who he said, there reporters are left-leaning, but that's not where the country is and they didn't have enough time to analyze Kamala Harris's record because if you're from "The L.A. Times", it's very hard how you're going endorse Kamala Harris in this current environment.
She's a sanctuary city D.A. She's a sanctuary city attorney general. She's the one who said who said the ICE needs to be dismantled. That is contrary to what everything you need to be successful in California.
TAPPER: I would just take issue with describing the reporters at "The Washington Post", "Los Angeles Times" in such sweeping terms.
[16:15:04]
If you want to describe their editorial board, that way, fine. They are left-leaning, although "Washington Post" one could argue that a little bit more aggressively centrist.
But in any case -- interesting, thank you for both being here. Appreciate it.
Coming up next, the reaction today in Republican circles after Republican congressman, leader of the House Freedom Caucus suggested that his state should consider giving away its electoral votes to Donald Trump before Election Day. Why even -- why even have those pesky voters get involved?
And the parents of a soccer star on mission to make -- to save every family possible from the tragedy they experienced. We're going to talk to the parents of Katie Meyer that Stanford soccer star. Very important story, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TAPPER: In our politics lead, a stunning proposal from the Republican head of the house freedom caucus, give North Carolinas electoral votes to Donald Trump before any of the actual votes have been cast are counted. The argument being made is because of Hurricane Helene and the devastation it created in western North Carolina, which means that many people there might not be able to vote and that would be a shame and horrible and should be fixed so as to not allow that disenfranchisement.
[16:20:11]
Yet the only one right now, trying to disenfranchise any voters is Congressman Andy Harris of Maryland, the head of the House Freedom Caucus, because he said this yesterday to fundraiser in North Carolina following a presentation by a Trump activist arguing that multiple states should just give over their electoral votes to Trump before any ballots have been counted.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ANDY HARRIS (R-MD): You statistically can go and say, 'Look, you got disenfranchised in 25 counties. You know what that vote probably would have been, which would be -- if I were in the legislature -- enough to go, yeah, we have to convene the legislature. We can't disenfranchise the voters. (END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: The problem, of course, is that North Carolina as a competitive state and how those 25 counties vote is not necessarily how the entire state in aggregate is going to going to vote.
CNN's Lauren Fox here to help us understand.
Lauren, this is -- this is stunning I would soon that some Republicans from North Carolina are pushing back.
LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, and we should just note that Andy Harris is office the saying that this was a theoretical conversation and that its been taken out of context, but the state board of elections director are told our colleague Kurt Divine (ph), that this would actually be illegal what is being proposed here and a number of House Republicans from the state of North Carolina really jumped in to argue that this is not helping the situation.
A lot of work is being done on the ground to try to make sure that everyone in those 25 counties that were affected by the hurricane are able to vote so that their vote counts and their vote matters in the election, in fact, Patrick McHenry, an outgoing Republican from North Carolina, said today to reporters, quote, it makes no sense whatsoever to prejudge the election outcome. And that is a misinformed view of what is happening on the ground in North Carolina, unfortunately. Bless his heart, McHenry said.
Then you have Richard Hudson, who was the leader of the National Republican Congressional Committee. He's making sure that House Republicans can keep their majority.
He told me that he has not spoken to Andy Harris, but what I do know is that we should be spending every waking moment getting North Carolinians out to vote so we can elect Donald Trump and grow our house majority. Let's win at the ballot box, making it clear there that what Republicans want to be focused on is not conspiracy theories about what they should be doing with electoral votes ahead of the election. But instead they want to be focused on making sure they turn out voters to actually vote for Donald Trump at the polls.
TAPPER: And Vice President Harris was asked about this today. What was her response?
FOX: Yeah. I mean, obviously this is a huge and major moment trying to educate voters. This is what the vice president said today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: America deserves to have leaders who respect the importance of one of the pillars and foundations of our democracy which is free and fair elections and that they are not manipulated by elected leaders for the sake of their own political future or their own political strategy for how they themselves want to succeed. This has to be about what's in the best interest of the American people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOX: And what we have from the state board of elections so far is actual data, Jake, that shows that in those 25 counties that were affected by Hurricane Helene, that in-person voting is actually slightly up right now over 2020.
So, obviously this is something that house Republicans who want to win in November are very concerned about the comments being made here by Representative Andy Harris.
TAPPER: All right. Lauren Fox. Thanks so much.
Should the high ranking military officials who worked so closely with Trump in the past, who are now critical of him and his character, should they be more outspoken in public, less outspoken? Only 11 days before the election, we're going to discuss that next with Trump's former secretary of defense.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:27:52]
TAPPER: Back with our 2024 lead, warnings are pouring in from former military leaders who worked under former President Donald Trump, his former chief of staff, John Kelly, a retired four-star marine general, said this week, Trump would rule like a dictator if you want a second term.
Earlier this month, we heard from journalist Bob Woodward's new book, "War", in which General Mark Milley Trump appointed chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, specifically sought out Woodward to tell him he thought Trump was a, quote, fascist to the core, unquote. Woodward recently said the General Jim Mattis, the former secretary of defense under Trump for two years, also reached out to him after that came out.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOB WOODWARD, JOURNALIST: A couple of days ago, gotten an email from General Mattis saying he thinks the book is important. He believes it's true.
TIM MILLER, HOST: Did he take that as endorsement of kind of the warnings about Trump in the book?
WOODWARD: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Joining us now, the former secretary of defense under Trump, Mark Esper.
Secretary Esper, what do you think? You have all these people who know Trump saying that they think he's a fascist. These are military guys, conservative guys, people who worked with Trump, do you agree?
MARK ESPER, FORMER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Well, Jake, I have lot of respect for each of those men, whether it's Jim Mattis, Mark Milley, or John Kelly, they all served our nation honorably for decades, they -- they thought for the nation in combat, and they sacrificed a good deal, and I have no doubt in her integrity or what they're telling us.
Look, my view, and I'll just predicate with this, I believe that our public discourse has become too course. You know, we've -- it's angry, it's causing problems and I'm very concerned about political violence in the country. I've written about this.
So I don't ascribe had the labels per say, but what John Kelly laid out, he said, look, just -- just look it up in a dictionary what fascist means and come to your own conclusion. And I've -- as I've said, if you look at how its defined in elements, you cant help but come to the conclusion that he has those tendencies and so my -- my concern is we should take those warnings with due respect and regard.
TAPPER: We've heard Trump reference the enemy within multiple times over the past few weeks referring to protesters I guess.
[16:30:05]
That's what his -- that's what his supporters say, but also singling out Democratic officeholders like Congressman Adam Schiff or former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, even Nancy Pelosi's husband, Paul Pelosi, who I don't think has done anything except be attacked by a lunatic at his home, and Trump suggesting he would use the National Guard or military on the enemy within.
What's your take on that? I mean, you were secretary of defense. Do you think Trump believes that the military is there to go after people he doesn't like, to go after his political opponents?
ESPER: Look, and I don't -- we can disagree with one another's policies and positions, but I don't think we should demonize people from the other party. We're all Americans. We're all this together. I've said publicly on a few occasions that the greatest threat facing our country is not China, it's extreme political partisanship in this type of political violence talk.
So I'm very concerned about this, but that look at the end of the day, the military should not be involved in this at all. If there's concern about violence out there or enemies within, this is -- this is a role for law enforcement, not the United States military, and certainly not the active duty military.
TAPPER: Let's turn to a new development in Russia's war on Ukraine. The Pentagon says North Korea has sent thousands of North Korean troops to train in eastern Russia. And there's some leaked intercepts obtained by Ukraine revealing the Russian soldiers were condemning the new recruits, asking what the F to do with them?
What's your take on this? What does this tell you about Russia and Putin at this stage in the war against Ukraine? ESPER: Yeah, its very interesting development. I think at the tactical level, what it means or what it tells me is Putin is reluctant to mobilize another major tranche of Russian young men to fight in Ukraine. And so he's asked his -- now he's treaty partner, Kim Jong-un in North Korea to supply of troops and it's kind of interesting that he is deploying North Korean troops and its going to do so apparently in the Kursk region.
So he needs to use North Korean foreign troops to push Ukraine out of Russia. I just think it's great. That's really rich.
But the bigger strategic issue is this, Jake, this is evidence of a growing convergence between the autocracies of the world against the democracies of the world. And so, we saw over the past two-and-a-half years, North Korea providing munitions material to the Russians. Now they're providing troops.
And what really concerns me is what is North Korea getting back in return or they getting new? Their weapons technology missiles technology, or God forbid the means to pair the two up and have the means to strike the United States with a miniaturized nuclear weapon, a top of an ICBM.
That's my bigger concern here at the end of the day setting aside the tactical concerns and what Ukraine may face on the battlefield there.
TAPPER: All right. Former secretary of defense, Mark Esper, always good to see you, sir. Thank you so much.
ESPER: Thanks, Jake.
TAPPER: With just 11 days left until Election Day, CNN's John King is checking back with voters and one crucial battleground. They previously supported Nikki Haley and the Republican primaries. Have they decided to support the winner of those primaries, Donald Trump? Or are they going to cast their ballots for Kamala Harris or someone else or are they going to stay home? That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:37:25]
TAPPER: We're back with the 2024 lead and headed to battleground Pennsylvania, where both candidates are pulling out all the stops.
John King continues to special series "All Over the Map". And in this installment, he travels to the key suburbs of Philadelphia, the collar counties, to check in with people who voted for Nikki Haley during the Republican primary to see whether they've made a decision on whether they're going to stick Republican or do something else.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Berks County is a bit more away from the city, more rural and more Republican, yet not as deep and reliably red as just a few years ago. JOAN LONDON, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: This neighborhood is becoming a lot like the Philadelphia suburbs. This is a primarily Republican leaning borough, has always has been but when it comes to national elections, I do see more and more support for Democratic candidates.
KING: Attorney Joan London switched her registration to independent after voting for Haley in the Republican primary.
London was asked to join this local political program not long after our first visit, five months ago. Back then, she told us she would write in a conservative because she viewed President Biden as too old. Later, she said she viewed Vice President Harris as too liberal, and untested.
But then she watched the Harris-Trump debate.
LONDON: The last straw was what he said about the Ukraine, where he said that we have to have a negotiated settlement for someone who claims to be a conservative to say that was in my opinion, outrageous. It's appeasement.
KING: So London is now voting Harris, voting Democrat for president for the first time because she believes Trump must lose, because she gets the battleground state math.
LONDON: I needed to vote against allowing him to become president again, I don't want it on my conscience. That I contributed in some way to that. Sometimes you have to say American first, conservative, second, Republican, third.
KING: Media is in Delaware County, just outside Philly, reliably blue now but still a test of whether Harris can match or exceed Biden's 2020 map. It's also a big test for Trump.
He lost the Philly suburbs in 2016, but narrowly won statewide, but he lost the suburbs by a bit more in 2020 and he narrowly lost Pennsylvania.
We're getting to the end here.
Have you made up your mind?
CYNTHIA SABATINI, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: No.
KING: Cynthia Sabatini is another Never Trumper, another Haley primary voter, another Republican who won't vote for him, but isn't sure about her.
Finish this sentence: Madam Vice President, if you want my vote here in the very important Philadelphia suburbs, you need to do --
[16:40:09]
SABATINI: You need to answer questions on point. You need to provide more details about your economic plan. You need to provide more details about your vision. Also for this country, you know bottom line person, I want details.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING (on camera): And, Jake, we hear that last point. I want detail. What is your vision? We hear that a lot from people as we travel, including from committed Harris voters who say maybe she hasn't had the time, but they haven't heard enough about her. And what makes her tick.
Sabatini is interesting. She says she will make probably an Election Day decision either write in Nikki Haley or vote for Kamala Harris. And you know, the collar suburbs, you know, very well that is critical for Harris, especially if let's say she does lose a little bit about Black men in the city, a little bit of Latino vote from where Biden was, it's critical that she boost her support in those key collar counties and Sabatini is part of the math, still ten days out, undecided.
TAPPER: I love it when you go outside Philadelphia, I love the accent. It's just a melody, it's a symphony in my ears. Next time, just bring them a hoagie and see what happens.
KING: We'll have hoagies.
TAPPER: All right. John King, thanks so much.
Coming up, the parents of Katie Meyers, how they're turning to tragedy of their daughters death into activism and possibly saving other lives in the process. My conversation with them is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:45:19]
TAPPER: In our health lead, the important topic of mental health. You might recall this story of beloved Stanford university soccer star Katie Meyer, who tragically died by suicide in 2022. Later that year, her parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Stanford, alleging that the university mishandled potential disciplinary action against Katie Meyer, which led to her suicide.
Stanford says it strongly disagrees with that claim, but Katie's parents didn't stop there. They pushed for legislative action to try to fix this potential problem. And now, a California's public colleges and universities, a new law called Katie Meyer's Law offers students support in navigating what can be challenging and isolating situations on campus.
I recently traveled to Los Angeles where I spoke with Katie's parents about this new law that they believe will save lives.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GINA MEYER, KATIE MEYER'S MOTHER: They called her mama lion. She was very protective, I think, of her family, her teammates, her friend. STEVEN MEYER, KATIE MEYER'S FATHER: She was incredible, a ferocious competitor and athlete for sure, but then she had this whole other side to herself.
TAPPER (voice-over): You can hear the love and admiration, the Gina and Steven Meyer half for their daughter, Katie.
G. MEYER: She was so fun.
S. MEYER: Yeah.
G. MEYER: She was such a bright lights, such a spark.
S. MEYER: Just really an inclusive, warm-hearted human being.
TAPPER: Katie was in her senior year thriving at Stanford University. One day in August 2021, she was riding a bike when she allegedly spilled coffee on a football player, whom her friend had said sexually assaulted her.
Katie later received a formal charge letter from Stanford about disciplinary action related to that incident. She was then found dead in her dorm room. She died by suicide at the age of 22.
S. MEYER: Either case rings, by the way.
G. MEYER: Yeah.
S. MEYER: She had his dad's hands.
G. MEYER: Goalkeeper.
S. MEYER: It can happen to anybody.
G. MEYER: She could have been anyone's kid.
S. MEYER: She really could have been.
TAPPER: With the shock and pain that came with losing Katie, so did a mission. Gina and Steven began lobbying for more help for these very young adults facing big consequences on campuses where for so many students, it's the first time they've ever been away from their support system.
S. MEYER: We came up with Katie Save, which has evolved into 1575. That young person can now choose someone when on the outside of the university, that's the key.
G. MEYER: Trusted adults.
S. MEYER: Trusted adult, they choose, they trust that that person finds out on day one, so the young person does have time to worry and ruminate over days, months, and weeks, that there's something going on and they're advocate gets into education in terms of the resources at a university and they'll get a bi-weekly update on the status of it.
G. MEYER: Say something happened to you, whether it be academic probation, a disciplinary action, like something happening --
TAPPER: Anything, anything where you're in trouble in some sort of correct.
G. MEYER: Basically.
TAPPER: And the college knows.
G. MEYER: Any administrative or code of conduct issue.
TAPPER: When you're in college, 18 to 22, every things seem so incredibly important and consequential, and a 35-year-old, a 40-year- old, a 50-year-old can say, you're going to look back on this and not even remember it, I promise you.
But when you're 22, it doesn't feel that way.
G. MEYER: Jake, that's a huge part of us, that age group specifically, right there, a young adult with very little life experience, but yet just pulling back from it when they're 18, there are legal adult.
S. MEYER: We as parents, put a lot of trust in faith in these institutions and most of the time that can be the case and should be the case. But sometimes a young person is not treated as an individual. They can be treated like a number and just another policies and procedures, situation and their best interests aren't always looked out for.
TAPPER: Assembly bill 1575 or Katie Meyer's Law is now law in California. It mandates a university provides students facing disciplinary action and adviser of their choosing. It does not apply to private schools.
S. MEYER: Also here in California, there's a lot of private schools that we wish would take this on.
TAPPER: Like Stanford.
S. MEYER: Like Stanford, that'd be amazing.
G. MEYER: The school that she loved, the school that she adored. I mean, we hope to walk hand-in-hand with them at some point. We're a little disappointed that they having taken it yet.
TAPPER: Gina and Steve hope Katie Meyer's Law will one day become federal law.
G. MEYER: She lives on through this law. She's going to save lives.
S. MEYER: It has a similar spirit to her.
G. MEYER: Yeah. Yeah.
S. MEYER: Inclusive. Loyal, protective in the spirit of that lives on through this law.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TAPPER: We reached out to Stanford officials for comment and to ask if they had any plans to implement Katie Meyer's Law.
[16:50:04]
We have not heard back from them, and we just want to remind our viewers if you or anyone you know is facing mental health struggles, please contact the 988 crisis lifeline by calling or texting 988.
There is help for you. There is love for you. You are not alone.
As I mentioned earlier, Gina and Steve Meyer continue to share their daughters story and that includes with members of Congress here in Washington, D.C. The hope is a bipartisan piece of legislation that will be created to help support students nationwide who might be dealing with administrative or disciplinary conflict to have that help there for them.
I want to bring in one of the lawmakers with whom the Meyers met, Republican Senator Katie Britt of Alabama.
Senator Britt, it's so good to have you. Thank you for joining us on THE LEAD.
Tell us about when you met Gina and Steve Meyer and you heard them tell Katie story.
SEN. KATIE BRITT (R-AL): Absolutely. Well, Jake, thank you so much for allowing me to be on and to talk about such an important topic. So my meeting with Gina and Steve was no doubt one of the most impactful meetings I've had as a U.S. senator. When you think about how it came about, though, I think it gives you a little bit of a window into the U.S. Senate. I got a phone call from John Fetterman who said, hey, Katie, I want you to take this meeting and let's make it happen today.
After that, they came into my office and sat down and began to tell me their story, Jake. And as I've listened, probably very much like you, I listened as a parent and I just want to say as remarkable as Katie Meyer was on this world, there is no doubt to me where she got her tenacity, what Gina and Steve are doing is just incredible.
The resiliency and determination that they are showing in the face of the unthinkable -- I mean, they are parents to three beautiful young women, and yet they are not only working to protect them and to continue Katie's -- Katie's legacy, but they're working to protect young men and women all across this country from coast to coast and certainly, it was just an incredible meeting to hear the story, to hear their vision, and to be a small part of hopefully being able to bring this type of thing into reality nationwide. It's certainly an honor.
TAPPER: So I assume that you and Fetterman are talking about how to turn this into a nationwide bipartisan piece of legislation. It doesn't seem like it would cost that much because all you're doing is telling schools just offer students the opportunity to designate somebody as an advisor.
BRITT: That's right. What we're doing is we're going to take a look at what's happening in California, the implementation of the law there. You know, you can learn a great deal from that. Our teams are digging in to look and say, what does not national landscape look like? What would those hurdles be? And how do we work to make something like this a reality from coast-to-coast.
And look, I mean, John and I, Fetterman and I have worked diligently together on mental health issues and I think we heard it be said by the Meyers in the segment that you just played. But this can happen to anyone.
This is not a Democrat wrote this true. This is not a Republican issue. This is an American issue. We have an obligation patient to tackle it as such.
And when you think about Katie story, I mean, she was a highly flourishing, remarkable all-in individual. When her parents told me she's won a national championship, captain of her team was an R.A., was a Mayfield fellow -- I mean, was about to give a Ted talk.
I mean, you know that this literally knows no bounds. I was just talking to a wonderful woman right before I came on. And when I told her Katie story, she said, that reminds me of what I tell people. She said I tell them check on your strong friends, too.
And so I think bringing awareness to the mental health issues in front of us as a nation, knowing that when you look at Katie's story, her parents will share with you that she had no health history of mental illness more mental health challenges. And so to make that a reality, to talk to people, to break down the stigma, to talk about 988, if you need it, you are never alone. We are always here for you and we need to make sure that our students on college campuses know that too, Jake.
TAPPER: And I know you're working with Fetterman on other legislation having to do with mental -- mental health to tell us what and why? Why is this an issue that you're active in?
BRITT: Yes. So when you look at the mental health challenges of our young people, you know, John and I took a look at the data and it for 2011 and 2019 the rate of depression amongst our young people more than doubled, Jake. That perfectly coincides with the rise of social media.
When we got the CDC reports last year and we saw that one and three the high school young women actually considered suicide and then 9 percent of our high school population, Jake, 9 percent, actually attempted death by suicide, the time for action is now.
And so, what Fetterman and I have done is come together, our surgeon general came out in June of this year and said social media needs warning labels and we think -- we fully agree.
[16:55:04] You look at what morning labels have done in the industry like tobacco, warning people of the challenges and the health challenges that can occur from using, that's exactly what we want in the social media space. So, essentially, a warning label would pop up. It wouldn't prevent anyone from using it. It would just make them aware of the mental health challenges that can occur by usage.
And as you click through to that, obviously, that would be determined by the surgeon general, what is said, but the one thing that Fetterman and I have said we want to make sure that there is a link to help included on that morning. And we envision that and being something like 988, telling people if you are struggling, we want you to click here. We want you to call this number. We want you to take this Texas number so that we can get you the help that you need.
We're both parents and as Fetterman and I look at these issues, we look at it very similar to John and Steve as parents, who want to do what we what we can put up the proper guardrails that will allow our children to flourish and ultimately achieve their American dream.
TAPPER: Republican Senator Katie Britt, thank you so much, really appreciate it. Please come back talking more about these issues, about these policies, bring Fetterman with you. We love that big lug, appreciate it.
BRITT: Absolutely. We'll do it. We'll do it. Thank you.
TAPPER: All right. It sounds good. We'll be right back.
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