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Visiting the Most Pro-Trump County In the Swing States; Supreme Court Upholds PA Law On Open-Carry Gun Rights; 800-Plus Servicemembers Ejected From U.S. Military Under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Receive Honorable Discharges; Former MTV VJ Ananda Lewis & CNN's Sara Sidner Get Real About Breast Cancer. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired October 15, 2024 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[14:30:39[
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Right now, voters are casting ballots. We've seen it happened during the show, live, on day one of early voting in the critical battleground state of Georgia.
There they are. People lining up even before polls opened. One election official saying that the first day of early voting is a blow- out set to be a record breaker for the state.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: In one rural county, Donald Trump won more than 90 percent of the vote four years ago. Georgia's Brantley County maybe the most pro-Trump county across all of the swing states.
CNN's Elle Reeve went there to find the elusive Democrat.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KATHY HENDRIX, RESIDENT, BRANTLEY COUNTY, GEORGIA: Ms. Barber, I promise you this is not a trick question. Where are you at? Gosh, all right. I have the CNN reporters here and they want to talk to a Democrat.
I'm serious as a heart attack. Who is here in town that would talk to them? Hmm, that's sad when you have to hunt a Democrat.
ELLE REEVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
REEVE (voice-over): It's hard to find an open Democrat in Brantley County, Georgia, where Trump won more than 90 percent of votes in 2020. Of all the counties in all the 2024 swing states, it's the most pro- Trump and we wanted to know why.
RONALD HAM, GOP CHAIR, BRANTLEY COUNTY, GEORGIA: We vote 92 percent Republican not because of anything Ronald Ham does, OK? Let's get that on the board. This ain't about me.
We're a small rural county. A lot of folks here live paycheck to paycheck and when there's too much month at the end of the money people vote with their wallet. At one point in time, the Democratic Party was for the working man and
the Republican Party was for all the elites, and somewhere that got switched around.
HENDRIX: This is some of that stuff I -- Everybody here calls him President Trump. As far as the people around here is concerned, he's still the president.
REEVE: Democrats didn't used to be rare here. Almost everyone we spoke to said their grandfather had been one. But those days are gone.
HENDRIX: Numbers do not lie. Watching people five and six years ago, they had successful businesses. They were thriving. They were doing well. Every time somebody comes, they say we'll have to close. It honestly hurts.
REEVE: Hendrix got a heat press to make custom T-shirts, and it turned out that one kind of design really helps pay the bills.
HENDRIX: I've learned how to put it on my computer and kind of change things. As long as I can still sell Donald Trump stuff, we're doing good.
They're just five dollars. That's --
REEVE: One her customers was Sherri Rowell. We met her while she was buying a Trump sign, and she said we could come see her put it up.
Her grandson, Talan, died in an accident his summer before he could vote in his first election.
SHERRI ROWELL, RESIDENT, BRANTLEY COUNTY, GEORGIA: He did (INAUDIBLE) trying. He couldn't wait to get 18 so he could vote.
MICHAEL TANNER, RESIDENT, BRANTLEY COUNTY, GEORGIA: Yep.
ROWELL: He wanted to vote for Trump.
TANNER: Now he had just got his first job, and he was like I make $9.00 an hour and I work this many hours. Why do I only make this much money? And I told him -- I said, son, it's politics. You've got to pay taxes.
Talan became really intrigued with it and started doing some more research. And he said, you know, dad, looking at what me and you talked about, we need Donald Trump in office, and he just became a huge Trump supporter.
REEVE (on camera): His parents said he would want people to know he was for Trump, and so they put this sign up because he's not here to say it himself.
ROWELL: Things change pretty fast when we went from Trump to Biden. Even they could see the difference.
REEVE: You mean the kids? ROWELL: Yes. I could take you to the Piggly Wiggly in Nahunta and you just look at the prices. I don't know where you all come from, but compared to what we've had four years ago it's tripled.
REEVE: There's some statistics that show that younger women are more likely to be for Harris. Do you see any evidence of that here in this county?
ROWELL: No, not really in this county, but I do know some younger females that are very much a Harris person.
And I'm -- I mean, I'm not against her. If I thought she was going to do different than what was already in there. You know what I'm saying? Like, she should have come out running Independent and I might have listened to her a little more.
REEVE (voice-over): Ron Ham invited us to breakfast the next day at a diner where regulars talk politics.
BUTTON LEE, RESIDENT, BRANTLEY COUNTY, GEORGIA: When Biden claims that he had more jobs and created more jobs, that's only because of corona because everything shut down. That was not Trump's fault.
REEVE: The jobs report numbers were really good for September. That just came out this week.
DAVID HERRIN, RESIDENT, BRANTLEY COUNTY, GEORGIA: The American people resist --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The job is an issue of numbers.
LEE: It's just they --
(CROSSTALK)
LEE: HERRIN: Hold on, though. You can't take that and give credit to Washington, D.C. You give credit for that to the American people that go to work every day even when they down, even when it's against them, even when it's going uphill.
[14:35:02]
We get up and we continue to work. We continue to fight. And we've made this country better. There ain't nobody in Washington got a right to take credit for what the American people have done.
REEVE: But we didn't want to leave town without hearing a different point of view, so they called some old friends to come by.
HERRIN: I'm still at the breakfast. They is some folks up here that wants to talk to you.
LEE: Tell them to hurry up. I want to go fishing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that right?
HERRIN: Yes.
She made me do it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sit down.
HERRIN: This is a real live CNN reporter, and she wants to meet a Democrat in Brantley County.
(LAUGHTER)
CORBET WILSON, RESIDENT, BRANTLEY COUNTY, GEORGIA: Oh.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were few and far between us so they -
(CROSSTALK)
HERRIN: We called you and Donald both. A registered Independent.
WILSON: Well. Hey, I ain't a Democrat but I'm an Independent.
REEVE (on camera): OK. What are your views on the election?
WILSON: Well, I ain't going to vote for a criminal. What he did on January the sixth and you'll know. And the way he could have did something, you know. They went beating on them cops down there.
HERRIN: There's your other Democrat right there.
REEVE: Hi. Come join us.
HERRIN: She's a CNN reporter and she wants some Democrats in Brantley County, and she can't find one. I told her I knew a couple and she said please call them -- please -- and she wouldn't quit till I --
REEVE: Thank you.
DONALD LEWIS, RESIDENT, BRANTLEY COUNTY, GEORGIA: I haven't voted Republican, you know? Yeah. I vote for the man; I don't vote for the party.
REEVE: So what are your thoughts on the election?
LEWIS: What are my thoughts on the what?
REEVE: On the election.
LEWIS: Ain't much to think about it.
REEVE: Well, who are you going to vote for?
LEWIS: For the right person.
REEVE: Well, who do you think the right person is?
LEWIS: It won't be Donald Trump.
REEVE: OK, tell me why.
LEWIS: The last time you saw him talking did you watch his lips?
REEVE: Uh-huh.
LEWIS: Were they moving?
REEVE: Uh-huh.
LEWIS: He's lying.
(LAUGHTER)
REEVE: All right. Well, so Mr. Wilson here was telling us that January 6th was a big disqualifier for him.
LEWIS: It should have been.
REEVE: What -- how do you feel about that?
LEWIS: I feel about it like he's anti-American. He's trying to overthrow our government.
REEVE: And so are you thinking about voting for Harris?
LEWIS: Yes, I have to or not vote. She's the only choice we have other than Trump.
REEVE: Yes.
LEWIS: If (INAUDIBLE) would run, I'd vote for him.
REEVE (voice-over): Elle Reeve, CNN, Nahunta, Georgia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: What a fascinating piece. That was a terrific piece by Elle Reeved. I wish I would have been in the diner not only for the conversation, but also something tells me that the banana pudding in there is outstanding.
KEILAR: I -- I'm -- I think that's a good bet.
SANCHEZ: Still to come on CNN NEWS CENTRAL, the Supreme Court overturns a firearms ruling in Pennsylvania. What it means for those under 21 in that state.
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[14:42:04]
SANCHEZ: An important Supreme Court ruling today in the battle over gun rights. At issue, a Pennsylvania state law barring 18- to 20-year- olds from carrying firearms during declared states of emergencies. KEILAR: Today's decision tosses out a ruling from a lower court that
found such limitations violate the Second Amendment.
We have CNN chief legal affairs correspondent, Paula Reid, with us on this ruling. And here to explain what it means.
So the justices actually declined to hear arguments. So how did the ruling come down?
PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: So this is really interesting because we're hearing the Supreme Court weigh in on something that states across the country has been grappling with for two years since the high court issued their landmark ruling in Bruen.
This was two years ago where they issued the ruling saying, when governments pass gun laws, they need to find historical precedent in order to make that constitutional.
And that left a lot of judges scratching their heads, exactly what did you mean by that? And this has been something that has been making its way through the courts.
And here in this case, you have the state law similar to over 30 other states that bars 18- to 20-year-olds from open carrying firearms during declared states of emergency. And that would, of course, include the Covid-19 pandemic.
A three-plaintiff suit, along with two gun rights advocates groups, and they lost at the trial court level. But then the court of appeals, again, looking at Bruen, decided that this was actually unconstitutional.
But here, the Supreme Court weighing in, overturning that. But as you noted, they didn't hear oral arguments. But this is significant because it does give judges some clue about exactly what the justices meant during that Bruen case.
But I have a feeling this is far from the last Second Amendment question we're going to see as judges and plaintiffs try to clarify exactly what they meant in Bruen.
SANCHEZ: So that gives you an idea of what to expect moving forward.
How about geographically? What could this mean for other states?
REID: So since this comes from the Supreme Court, right, this is nationally binding. This is the highest court in the land. But it depends on what these other issues are that come up.
But you can look at this as instructive. It might've helped a little bit more if they had had oral arguments, if he had heard the justices, their questions.
But again, this is -- this is a data point for these judges as they try to interpret that enormous case that really just shifted the understanding ending of the Second Amendment here in the U.S. KEILAR: We always like more information. Why don't --
(CROSSTALK)
KEILAR: Why don't they just give that to us?
REID: Give --
(LAUGHTER)
REID: -- Chief Justice Roberts.
KEILAR: All right, Paula Reid, thank you so much. We appreciate it.
And now to some major news from the Pentagon. Secretary Lloyd Austin announcing today more than 800 records of servicemembers, who we're kicked out of the military under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, have had their discharges upgraded to honorable.
SANCHEZ: This is a big deal.
CNN's Oren Liebermann is live for us at the Pentagon.
Oren, this can be life changing for some of these veterans.
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Brianna and Boris, and it's not just about doing the right thing. As you point out, there are real consequences here, this such an important decision.
[14:44:59]
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced a year ago that DOD would look at cases where those discharged or effectively booted from the military under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," had either a dishonorable discharge on other than honor discharge.
The total number of those servicemembers is 13,500 who were separated under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
Not all of them got that other than -- other than honorable or dishonorable discharge. But in this case, over the course of the past year, DOD looked at about 850 cases proactively and in 96.8 percent of those cases, decided those should be upgraded to an honorable discharge.
And the reason that has such a real-life consequence is that affects V.A. benefits, benefits under the G.I. Bill, the ability to get home loans, the ability to get some government jobs.
So this has a true impact for those who were separated, or effectively removed from the military under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
And with this latest step here, that means that some 96 percent of servicemembers who were separated under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," that's that much bigger 13,500 troops number, 96 percent now have honorable discharges.
This was the big effort from Austin and from the Pentagon. And now you see it coming to fruition here for so many of those servicemembers who were separated under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy -- Boris and Brianna?
KEILAR: Yes, really amazing, Oren, and so sad that it has taken so long and that it came to that in the first place.
Oren Liebermann, live for us from the Pentagon, thank you.
Some GOP lawmakers there are facing backlash after they filed a lawsuit in key battleground states targeting overseas and military voting. Ahead, what military personnel, their spouses, and veterans are saying about the move.
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KEILAR: One in eight women are diagnosed with breast cancer. And when our colleague, Sara Sidner, was diagnosed, she shared her courageous journey battling the disease.
SANCHEZ: CNN's Stephanie Elam joins us now.
Stephanie, I want to let everyone know Sara is one of your best friends. I'm fortunate to call you both friends. But she wasn't the only close friend of yours to get this diagnosis?
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At the same time, Brianna and Boris, and that's what's just been so riveting for me to watch these two incredibly strong women go through this.
I want you to know that Ananda and I've been friends since our freshman year right before it started actually at Howard University. We found out we were both from California, boom, that was it.
Sara moves to L.A. for CNN and sometimes your work gives you the friends didn't know you needed.
So to listen to these two women have totally different responses to their breast cancer was eye-opening for me. And I felt like it was a time for everyone to learn a little bit more about what it's like to support people going through this.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANANDA LEWIS, CONTENT CREATOR & FORMER 90S MTV VJ: I'm sorry. Yours was your left, right?
SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.
LEWIS: Mine was the right. SIDNER: OK.
LEWIS: Little bit different.
(CROSSTALK)
LEWIS: We can mirror each other.
(LAUGHTER)
ELAM: It was crazy that we're joking about it.
So, what about mammograms?
I'll start with you, Ananda. Were you good about getting your mammograms?
LEWIS: No, I wasn't.
ELAM (voice-over): This is Ananda Lewis, and she has breast cancer. She is a content creator who is known for her time hosting BET's Teen Summit in the 90s, being a VJ for MTV and hosting her own talk show in the early 2000s.
She is one of my best friends, as is CNN anchor, Sara Sidner. She too has breast cancer, stage three. Both of them found their lumps on their own. Sara's discovery was just months after a mammogram.
SIDNER: The American Cancer Society does not recommend self-exams anymore. But, to me, if you can tell, you know your body, you have to advocate for yourself so much. And I am terrible at advocating for myself. I will advocate for you. I will advocate --
(CROSSTALK)
ELAM: You're actually having to do it for everybody else.
SIDNER: I will. I will fight someone. Like, I am a ride or die bee. So, this has been a real lesson for me to self-advocate.
ELAM (voice-over): Sara had a double mastectomy. Ananda took a different approach. By the time she found a lump in her breast, her cancer had progressed to stage three, and doctors recommended a double mastectomy. But she went against the recommendation.
LEWIS: My plan at first was to get out excessive toxins in my body. I felt like my body is intelligent. I know that to be true. Our bodies are brilliantly made.
I decided to keep my tumor and try to work it out of my body a different way. Looking back on it, I go, you know what? Maybe I shouldn't.
ELAM (voice-over): Ananda completely overhauled her diet, improved her sleep, pursued aggressive homeopathic therapies, along with traditional medicine and radiation. She improved for a long time.
She says removing the toxins, physical and emotional, from her body has been beneficial. But, last year, she found out her cancer had metastasized into stage four, which means the cancer spread to other areas.
LEWIS: My lymph system really flared up. And so, all through my abdomen, all those lymphs were very flared up my collarbone, and it was the first time I ever had a conversation with death.
Because I felt like this is how it ends. I was like, OK. So, I don't get afraid of things. I was just like, fudge, man, I really thought I had this. I was frustrated. I was a little angry at myself.
I was -- and I said, man, listen, I know you're coming for me at some point, but I don't want it to be now. And if you could just wait, I promise when you do come, I'm going to make it fun for you.
ELAM: What's interesting me is that you both are saying, is it to appreciate life more now that you're going through this, or is it joy?
SIDNER: Mine is joy. And I didn't realize how little joy I had in my life. Like, I didn't realize that that was not a priority in my life.
LEWIS: My quality of life was very important to me. We've had that conversation before.
[14:55:02]
Like, I -- there is certain things I know I'm not going to be OK with, and I know myself. I want to -- want to be here. And so, I had to do it a certain way, for me.
SIDNER: The fact that you, like, I want to want to be here, I've had times when I didn't want to be here.
LEWIS: Me, too.
SIDNER: Right? And so --
ELAM: You mean in life.
SIDNER: In life, yes. I didn't want to be here. I didn't want to go through all this --
LEWIS: Because of this, during this --
SIDNER: Before this.
And then this journey came along, and it's so weird that it was cancer that was like, I want to be here. I insist on being here. And I insist on thriving, not just being alive, not just existing. I want to thrive in a way that I have never felt before.
(END VIDEOTAPE) ELAM: Thriving. And it is difficult when you hear your friends say something like that. But it's important for people to hear and understand how to be there.
It's also worth pointing out that black women have the highest death rate from breast cancer. And there's several reasons for that. And that's why this also hits home so close to me.
But on top of it, it's worth pointing out the good. And that is that the death rates from breast cancer have been steadily declining since 1989. And that is because people are catching their cancer earlier.
So that's why we want everyone to go out, get tested. Because if this conversation saves one life, that's all that matters. We're winning.
SANCHEZ: All right, that was such a powerful conversation.
We are glad to hear that --
(CROSSTALK)
ELAM: There's more coming, more coming. The long version coming out. CNN's YouTube channel. So you can watch our whole conversation. That'll be happening this afternoon.
SANCHEZ: I look forward to that.
Stephanie Elam, giving us all the feels this afternoon. Thank you so much for bringing us that conversation.
ELAM: Thank you, guys.
SANCHEZ: Of course.
Stay with CNN. We'll be right back.
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