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GOP Lawsuits in Key States Target overseas, Military Voting; Interview with Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA): GOP and Dems Battle Over Lawsuits Targeting Overseas Ballots; Pioneering Black CEOs Warn Companies Abandoning Diversity. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired October 15, 2024 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Three weeks to election day and the RNC and Republican lawmakers have filed lawsuits targeting overseas voting. Including ballots from U.S. service members serving abroad as well as their family members. The Washington Post spoke with veteran and active-duty service members after reporting on this initially to get reaction.

And Iraq War veteran Allison Jaslow, who's the head of the nonprofit Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America said, quote, Literally, these are the people who are putting it all on the line for what we have in America. And we're going to compromise their ability to have a say in how they vote for who sends them to war? It's just beyond the pale.

Democratic congressman and army veteran, Pat Ryan, whose district includes West Point calls it: An attempt to disenfranchise literal active-duty military members who are overseas, risking their life for our country.

And retired four-star Army General, Joseph Votel, reportedly: Compared it to a hostage-taking of the votes of men and women who have taken an oath to protect the U.S. Constitution.

Joining us now is Amy Gardner. She is one of the journalists behind that article. She is a national reporter for The Washington Post and covers voting on the Post's democracy team.

Amy, first, let's start with the premise of these challenges here. Has there been fraud within this population?

AMY GARDNER, NATIONAL REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: There's not been any reported evidence of fraud among UOCAVA voting in any measurable amount.

KEILAR: Those are the uniformed and overseas applicants for voting.

GARDNER: That's correct.

KEILAR: UOCAVA is the abbreviation for it.

GARDNER: Yes, sorry, jargon. Exactly. And it's a combination of civilians and militaries who live overseas. It's actually dominated more by civilian Americans than military. But the fact that these lawsuits are targeting all of them has really outraged people who love our military.

KEILAR: So traditionally, I think people would expect that the military votes might skew conservative. Is that still the case? I mean, is this a case where Trump or the RNC or Republican lawmakers could be shooting themselves in the foot with this?

GARDNER: Well, it's really interesting. That's one of the reasons why Republicans did not go after military and overseas voters in 2020. When they railed against absentee mail balloting, they said, we're not talking about military because of the assumption that it was a population that skewed Republican.

But more recently, folks have called that into question. The population overseas is dominated by non-military, and those do skew Democratic. And even though we think of the military as being more conservative, there are many members of the military of color who actually vote Democratic more often than not.

KEILAR: So overseas military votes, they were actually targeted four years ago after the election. In Nevada, we saw it done rather clumsily, I might add, where lawyers who were working on behalf of the Trump campaign flagged what were easily verifiable overseas military addresses. Now it seems though you have the work being done up front ahead of the election.

What is the strategy here?

GARDNER: Well, I think there's a couple things going on here. One is if they succeed, if they find a judge who agrees with them, they'll be able to set aside these ballots that they believe favor Kamala Harris, and that will give them an edge. I don't think there's any question that there is a political motive here.

But the other thing is that even if they don't succeed, I think that these series of lawsuits do the same thing that a lot of the activities of the RNC and the Trump campaign around the integrity of the election are doing. And that is sowing chaos, sowing mistrust in our elections, which, you know, potentially plants the seeds for civil unrest, even violence, after the election should Donald Trump lose.

KEILAR: And the backlash has been pretty severe, it seems like.

GARDNER: The backlash to these lawsuits has been incredibly severe. I mean, we're hearing from military groups, veterans groups, unprompted, and they're furious. I mean, you quoted some of the language from the story. We heard that from a lot of folks, yes.

KEILAR: Amy, great reporting. Amy Gardner with the Washington Post, we really appreciate it.

And joining us now is Democratic Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania. She's also an Air Force veteran. She is quoted in this story of Amy's. [15:35:00]

Congresswoman, it is worth noting that Pennsylvania does not require overseas voters to provide identification like a passport or driver's license. There isn't a record of fraud when it comes to this population of voters. But what do you say to your Republican colleagues who see a problem with that ID issue?

REP. CHRISSY HOULAHAN (D-PA): What I say or what I see is that they're running scared and that they are so scared that they are not going to be winning in the next 20 or so days, that they are literally disenfranchising the very people who have raised their hand and sworn an oath to the Constitution to serve us, to allow us to be able to have this right to vote. I am appalled and offended that six of my Republican colleagues in Pennsylvania have authored this legislation in Pennsylvania. And to me, the biggest indication of them being scared of the results of this election is the disenfranchisement of tens of thousands of voters.

KEILAR: So you, as The Washington Post reports, are among Democrats who are requesting of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin that he protect this pool of votes. Have you heard back from him? And what do you want from him?

HOULAHAN: As of right now, we have not heard back from him. I fully expect that he will respond favorably that this will be something that he will aggressively protect and defend. And I think that that's appropriate.

But we should not be having this conversation in the first place. To your point, most recently, this is about sowing chaos and discord across the electorate. This is about creating roadblocks and obstacles to validating this election.

Of those six people who authored this piece of legislation -- this lawsuit, all six of them voted against certifying the last election. But all six of them are sitting in Congress right now in seats that those votes allowed them to win their office with. And so it's horrific what they're trying to accomplish. And I'm deeply embarrassed for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that these people are leading the legislation on this or leading the lawsuit on this.

KEILAR: Two of the six of your Republican colleagues behind this lawsuit in your state, Guy Reschenthaler and Scott Perry, are veterans. They have service records, commendable ones. Have you talked to them about your concerns?

HOULAHAN: You know, I have to be honest, I don't have very many fruitful conversations with Representative Perry. I am disappointed with this stand by them because my guess is that each of them, in fact, I believe each of them has served overseas at one point or the other.

I myself was a little girl when my dad was stationed in Okinawa. And I know that my dad and my mom had to mail in ballots at that point in time. And I know they took their responsibility very seriously as residents of Florida at the time. And so I guess I'm embarrassed.

I have no other way of explaining this other than the fact that those same people were the people on the very wee hours of January 7th who were explaining that they were going to vote to not certify the election and instead to not certify it, but again, to take the oath of office, to take their seat in the House of Representatives, which is just crazy.

KEILAR: The lawsuit asks for all overseas ballots to be set aside, for them to not be counted until the identity of each voter is confirmed. And according to the secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Al Schmidt, 25,000 ballots have been sent out overseas so far from your state. What would the effect of that requirement be?

HOULAHAN: Well, we have seen elections determined by swings of fewer than 25,000 votes. I remember a certain former president talking about 10,000 or so votes that he needed to be found in Georgia. And so these kinds of volumes of votes really matter in the count.

And to set them aside, not only sets them aside in terms of time and space, but it also creates that sense of that this may not be real, that these votes are being rushed or dumped into the system. And that's exactly what they'd like to accomplish. And that's exactly why they're filing this suit right now.

And I'll share with you that I have a daughter who lives overseas, and one of my dearest friends and his wife live overseas, all American citizens, all voting from overseas in this way. And none of them are creating some sort of mischief in doing that. All of them are exercising their right to vote.

KEILAR: Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan, thank you so much for talking with us about this very important issue.

HOULAHAN: Thank you. I appreciate you.

KEILAR: So ahead, as some companies turn the page on their diversity, equity, inclusion programs, two prominent business leaders have come forward with a big warning.

[15:40:00]

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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: So, as of late, more companies have been ditching their diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. And as that's happening, two pioneering Black CEOs are speaking out, urging them to think twice.

KEILAR: CNN Consumer Reporter Nathaniel Meyersohn is with us now on this story. Nathaniel, let's start with why so many companies have decided to make a U-turn on DEI.

NATHANIEL MEYERSOHN, CNN CONSUMER REPORTER: So, guys, if you think back to 2020, after the murder of George Floyd, we saw companies kind of race to expand their DEI programs and their efforts to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion. We're now seeing that reverse. And that's particularly because of right-wing legal and political pressure on companies like Harley Davidson, John Deere, Molson Coors.

You know, right-wing activists, they've targeted these companies on social media and forced them to make changes. And now, guys, these companies really have Bud Light in the back of their minds.

[15:45:00]

Bud Light is really the cautionary tale of what can go wrong when companies lean into kind of inclusion programs.

Bud Light, of course, they partnered with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney last year. Then they retreated on this partnership after a conservative backlash. And it ended up costing the company $1.4 billion in lost sales. So Bud Light is kind of the cautionary tale hanging over all of this.

SANCHEZ: So, Nathaniel, these two CEOs that you spoke with, they climbed the ladder at some of the most prominent Fortune 500 companies. What do they say these companies risk by moving away from diversity programs?

MEYERSOHN: Yes, Boris, so I spoke to Ken Frazier, who is the CEO of Merck, and Ken Chenault, who led American Express. And both of these former CEOs, they tell me that there's significant risk for companies that pull back on DEI. Frazier told me that DEI is really about finding opportunities to identify hidden talent and disadvantaged talent in a world where not everybody has the same chance for opportunities.

So companies that roll back on their commitment to diversity are going to limit equal opportunities for people who face barriers because of their skin color or the neighborhood they grew up in or the school they went to. And there's also, guys, there's also significant business risk for companies that pull back on DEI. DEI is good for the bottom line, research shows.

So it boosts financial performance. It attracts talent. It makes employees more motivated. So companies that are reversing themselves on their commitments to diversity are taking big challenges here.

KEILAR: Yes, it's really interesting. Nathaniel Meyersohn, thank you for that report.

And now to some of the other headlines that we're watching this hour.

Honorable discharges have now been given to more than 800 service members who were kicked out of the military under the don't ask, don't tell policy with other than honorable discharges. That policy was repealed in 2011. And this change means it means so much.

It's not just about the label. It means these service members will now be eligible for VA benefits that they may have been denied, like home loans, health care and even some government jobs. SANCHEZ: Also in football, 49ers player Ricky Persall took to the field for practice Monday. The first time the rookie receiver practiced since he was shot in the chest during an attempted robbery just nine days before their season opened.

KEILAR: And the family of a Broadway dancer who has been missing for nearly two weeks has hired a private investigator to help in their desperate search to find him. Zelig Williams was last seen on October 3rd at his home in Columbia, South Carolina, and his family suspects foul play. Williams Broadway credits include Hamilton and MJ, the musical.

SANCHEZ: So a La Nina winter is coming. We're going to tell you what that means and why it could make this this winter considerably different to last year's.

[15:50:00]

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SANCHEZ: Fall is in full swing. Sad for those of us who love summer. Parts of the country are feeling the mid-October chill, but it's not too soon to look ahead to winter, and it is looking dreary. More than 60 million today under frost or freeze alerts.

KEILAR: You do not love winter.

SANCHEZ: No.

KEILAR: No, not at all, Miami over here.

All right, let's bring in CNN meteorologist Chad Myers. So, Chad, last winter was the warmest on record, driven in part by El Nino, but this year we're anticipating La Nina. What are we expecting?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hopefully for you, more snow. And that won't take a lot because you only have eight inches in a normal year. It's 30 for New York City. Haven't had a normal year since like 2020.

But here's the good news, Boris, about the frost and freeze advisories, at least for the people that live here. This will kill the ragweed. This is the first thing that hay fever sufferers look forward to. Get that ragweed dead and on the ground, and then the pollen stops flying. So they'll take that.

But temperatures are 10 to 15 degrees below normal for the highs. Even Saranac Lake picked up some snow flurries yesterday. There's still some rain around. It's a cold rain across parts of the Great Lakes.

But let's talk about La Nina. What does it do?

It makes a cold pool of water here. Here's South America. Here's North America. Makes a cold pool of water there, and it deflects the jet stream to the north. Maybe not this radical, but this is the idea. And then as it comes down through the Great Lakes, you get more cold and more wet. More snow, possibly. Not necessarily, because it could be rain in 34, but it will be dry in the desert southwest, unlike El Nino, where it's fairly wet. And then increased tornado possibilities across the lower Mississippi Valley.

This is what we've been facing over the past couple of years, where El Nino was in charge. Warmer to the north, drier in the middle part of the country, cool down across the Gulf Coast, and wet across parts of the desert southwest. Now it's still a desert, but it did get a little bit of water, and even some of the lakes went up.

But here's what the forecast is coming up on Thursday. This is what it looks like. This is kind of the preview of what the winter is going to look like.

Above normal temperatures, but yet also above normal precip in many spots. So that's that balance. Is it raining in 34, or is it snowing in 29?

[15:55:00]

And then, of course, across parts of the deep south, it will be below normal precip, except for this little area right through here, which could see those tornadoes that we talked about, because of the dip in the jet stream right there.

KEILAR: I didn't even tell him to say that, that it would kill the ragweed. They make fun of me on this show, Chad, because I'm always, someone has a stuffy nose, I'm like, is it the ragweed?

SANCHEZ: Yes, I got to say the most alarming thing I heard Chad say was that the last normal year we had was 2020. For who, Chad, was 2020 a normal year?

MYERS: Well, yes, well, we were all sitting in our house broadcasting from inside anyway, right?

SANCHEZ: Chad Myers, thank you so much.

MYERS: You bet.

KEILAR: Coming up, oh my gourd, one officer's pumpkin pursuit turns into a spooky situation fit for Halloween. The story is next.

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[16:00:06]

SANCHEZ: So because of an unforeseen timing issue, this is all we can show you. It's a giant pumpkin that swallows a police officer. Completely out of context video.

We are out of time. "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now. Go find the information about this online. I promise it's hilarious.

KEILAR: CNN.com. END