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Trump, Harris Court Latino Voters With Two Weeks Until Election; Obama Campaigning For Harris-Walz Ticket In Wisconsin & Michigan; Harris Unveils New Economic Proposals Targeting Latino Men; Secretary Of State Blinken Meets With Israel PM. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired October 22, 2024 - 13:00   ET

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

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BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Barack Obama back on the trail with Tim Walz and then later Eminem. The former president campaigning for Democrats in blue wall states that could decide the election while former President Trump focuses on the Latino vote, a bloc that could be decisive in swing states.

And pedal to the metal, General Motors nearing a record year for profits just one year after autoworkers walked off the job in a strike over salary demands. We'll speak with a member of the union for his reaction.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: And explaining the mystery of Liam Payne's death, a toxicology report for the One Direction singer shows what was in his system when he fell from a hotel balcony to his death.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KEILAR: It is another busy day for the Harris and the Trump campaigns with just two weeks to go to Election Day. In the key swing state of Wisconsin where early voting kicks off today and polls show both candidates locked into dead heat, former President Obama is back on the trail. He's joining vice presidential nominee Tim Walz for a rally in Madison.

SANCHEZ: And as Obama and Walz try to ramp up turnout, today Vice President Harris and former President Trump have their sights set on a critical voting bloc, both pitching their economic plans to Latino voters. CNN's Steve Contorno is in Miami covering the Trump campaign for us, but we start with CNN's Priscilla Alvarez who's in Wisconsin ahead of this Walz-Obama rally which is set to start later this afternoon.

Priscilla, what should we expect?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, this is going to be the two of them underscoring the stakes of the election. That is going to be part - a key part of the strategy for the Harris campaign in the next several days. But the timing, of course, is notable. It's the first day of early voting in this crucial battleground state. And this is going to be taking place here in Dane County, a county that Joe Biden won by a wider margin in 2020. And that is something that the Harris campaign wants to repeat going into Election Day. Early voting, a critical part of that strategy.

And of course, Tim Walz has been deployed by the campaign to criticize former President Donald Trump and try to appeal especially to men and especially in red and rural counties. So certainly all of that is going to be combined here when he appears alongside Obama.

Now this is not the only stop that Obama will be doing this week. Later in the week on Thursday, he will be in Georgia with Vice President Kamala Harris for their first joint campaign appearances. So this is the campaign bringing out all the stops ahead of Election Day.

I will also note, however, there's one stop on the calendar this week that is a bit of a surprise and that is the Vice President going to Texas on Friday, where she wants to amplify reproductive freedom. Of course, sources I've talked to say that that is the epicenter since the reversal of Roe v. Wade. And that is going to be a stop where the Vice President will be talking about reproductive freedom. And that's an issue that they say is a galvanizing one for voters and also in a red state, but one where they think they can, again, amplify this message to underscore the risks and the threat of a second Trump term.

So all of this to say that a lot of the strategy over the next several days is going to be that, elevating the stakes of the election, talking about freedoms, be it reproductive freedoms or otherwise. And here in Wisconsin, Walz and Obama trying to, again, widen those margins even further. Than what they saw in 2020.

KEILAR: And Priscilla, tell us about this Telemundo interview that she's taping later today.

ALVAREZ: Well, this has been an ongoing pitch by the Vice President to appeal to Latino voters. When you look at polls, the Vice President still leads former President Donald Trump among this bloc, but she lags when compared to other Democratic nominees.

Now, in addition to that, if you break down those polls, she has a lead with Hispanic women, not so much with Hispanic men. That is where they're evenly split. So this is an interview and an opportunity for her, the campaign says, to essentially draw out these economic proposals, to try to appeal to the voters by explaining how her economic policies can help on affordability and issues that are important to also Latino men.

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So certainly, yet another appeal by the Vice President to this bloc of voters, knowing that she has to lock down this coalition.

SANCHEZ: Priscilla Alvarez, live for us in Madison. Thank you so much for that.

Let's take you to Miami now with Steve Contorno. Steve, former President Trump also courting Latino voters today. He just wrapped up a roundtable at his golf club in Doral. Walk us through what he said.

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Boris, what stood out about his message today was how little it differed from the message that he delivers in front of other audiences. He talked about crime and energy. He talked about the economy. He attacked Vice President Harris in very deeply personal terms. He criticized transgender women competing in sports, all standard Trump fare. And that is to make the point that they believe that the concerns of Latino voters are the same concerns as many American voters, and that includes Trump's top priority this election cycle, which is closing the U.S. southern border. Take a listen.

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DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The only thing I would disagree with you on is that the economy is very important. I actually think that the biggest thing is the border because the border is destroying our country. I really think that the biggest problem this country has is what they've allowed to happen to us on the border. They've allowed our country to be destroyed. They're allowing thousands of murderers, and drug dealers, and terrorists and people from mental institutions.

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CONTORNO: It was striking to hear that message delivered in front of this Latino audience here, because, Boris and Brianna, as you know, I've covered Florida politics for the better part of the last decade. And many Republicans in this state during that stretch tried to meet Latino voters and the Hispanic populations here halfway on the immigration issue.

In fact, then-Governor Rick Scott, now U.S. senator, he was seated in this audience today. When he was governor, he signed a bill that let DREAMers get in-state tuition. He also signed a bill that let the children of undocumented immigrants become licensed lawyers in the state of Florida. It just shows you - and it's illustrative of how far Donald Trump has pulled the Republican Party toward him on this issue in a state like Florida, and even among Latino leaders in this state. You heard a lot of them echoing Donald Trump's remarks on the border and saying that that is a priority for them as well. It's a very different message than we heard just a decade ago, and it's very interesting going into these final weeks here.

SANCHEZ: Yes. It shows how very quickly things can change. Steve Contorno live for us in Miami, thank you so much.

Let's discuss with our panel. We're joined by Republican strategist and CNN Political Commentator, Shermichael Singleton. Also with us, Chuck Rocha, a Democratic strategist and senior advisor to Sen. Bernie Sanders' 2016 and 2020 campaigns.

Chuck, I want to start with you. A couple of things that Steve said caught my attention. One is the approach to immigration that Trump has taken and the way that Latino voters' attitudes toward immigration has changed over the years, also he's invoking Venezuela. He talked about the United States turning into Venezuela on steroids if Harris won. That I think for a broad audience has some significance, but specifically for Latinos in Miami, many of them folks that have fled regimes like the one in Venezuela, that carries added meaning.

CHUCK ROCHA, SENIOR ADVISER, BERNIE SANDERS' 2016 AND 2020 CAMPAIGNS: Very much so, and I think that he was playing to a home field in Florida, but you know this. You all both know this. The Latino vote in Florida is much different than it is in all the battleground states, and they're really not spending that much money in Florida. Call me (ph) and I'll call the whole interview today, and what really stood out to me was the difference in the way that they talk about policy, as I've done focus groups in places where the Latino vote will matter, in Arizona, Nevada and in Pennsylvania. When I talk specifically to these Latino men, who aren't performing as good as the Latinas, they say, what are you going to do, either party, to make my life better.

Latino vote is coming of age. They're more domestic born, they're more second and third generation, 15 years ago was just the opposite of that, so that's why you see a maturing of the vote. The average age of a Latino in America is 27. The average age of a black and white voter is 40.

If you look at just what's going on with what they're saying they're going to do, Donald Trump had an opportunity to say, this is what I'm going to do to make your life better. He just went down a litany of grievances, while Kamala Harris today put out a policy perspective on this is what my Latino men agenda is, and gave five things that would actually make people's lives better.

KEILAR: And Shermichael, I want to ask you, because in North Carolina today, or I should say yesterday, we heard Trump say something that he has referenced before, he's kind of doubling down on it. He said, we have to go back to 1798. He's talking about invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to expedite the removal of undocumented gang members if he's reelected.

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But just to be clear, this is a law that historically has only been used when the U.S. is at war with a foreign nation. This was the basis for interning Japanese-Americans during World War II. Is that an effective argument that he's making or is - do you think most people won't pay attention to those details?

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, look, I mean, I think most people would probably agree that you don't want gang members entering into our country illegally. You don't want gang members trafficking other human beings. You don't want gang members bringing in drugs across the border, which a significant percent of the American people have had to deal with.

You know, I want to touch on Chuck's point, though. I take his point about the Vice President attempting to release a plan to target Latino men. I understand why, as Priscilla Alvarez stated, her and Donald Trump are evenly split. She did the same thing a couple of days ago targeting black men. The reality is the Vice President is underperforming where Democrats typically traditionally perform on both of those very key groups. Can she close the gap in 14 days? I'm not necessarily sure, but what it does suggest is that the message that she's delivering to these communities is not resonating with them. Donald Trump appears to be performing better than 2016 and 2020 with both groups. That should not be underscored.

SANCHEZ: One of the things you noted, Shermichael, about undocumented immigrants, and there's clearly a distinction between gang members and undocumented migrants, the vast majority of which are not criminals. Trump multiple times hasn't made that distinction. When he talks about deporting undocumented migrants, you're talking about 11 million people roughly that are in this country, 8 million of which form a huge part of the workforce. Do you think it's just a scare tactic, a veiled fake promise to actually deport that many people from the country? Is he serious?

SINGLETON: Really I think there's a good opportunity to have a conversation nationally about reforming our immigration system. I think both Republicans and Democrats writ large would agree with that. From a Republican perspective, I think there's a great opportunity for us to speak directly to Latinos coming into the country from a conservative disposition. Many of them are conservative in their cultural values and their beliefs and how they perceive economic issues. Can the Republican Party target many of those new individuals coming into the country and say, wait a minute, the Republican Party is the party that believes in family values. The Republican Party is a party that believes in hard work. The Republican Party is a party that believes in economic opportunity and freedom.

I think that message would be palatable to many individuals wanting to come into the United States. So in the long run, Boris, I think that should be the message from the party. And if the president, former president, gets reelected, my hope is that he would focus on those issues over four years if giving that opportunity.

KEILAR: We see her releasing her economic proposals, sort of targeting different groups, whether it's Latino men or whether it's black men, but really it seems to be a messaging repackaging because what she's doing is selling her economic message with a different message maybe for each group. And as she has this interview she's sitting down for Telemundo with today, do you think that she needs to go further than that?

ROCHA: She's got to talk about economic issues. That's the cornerstone. There's a reason why when I was running Bernie's campaign, we got overwhelming support from Latino voters, men and women, because we centered our message around economic populace. I think that's where you see the pivot happening right now.

And it's literally giving a hat tip to the Latino men saying, look, I see you, I may not understand all your problems, but I want to start by having a conversation. And when you look at just the dollars being spent, there's one party talking about the Latino vote. And there's another party, my party, actually trying to do something in the last quarter of spending.

Democrats had spent over $25 million in Spanish language advertising on just the presidential race, while Republicans in the presidential race had only spent 2. So you have one party really working hard to get those voters back and another party who's talking about it, and they're performing good. I'm not giving anything against that, but at least we're working trying to say we want to get those voters back.

KEILAR: Chuck, Shermichael, we appreciate both of you. Thank you so much.

SINGLETON: I was just going to say, Brianna, if I could quickly - they're working at the last minute. I mean, the Vice President granted she entered into the race at the very end. I get it. But from the perspective of a lot of men in both of these groups, you look at the Democratic Party, they focus a lot on women, a lot on every other demo group, but men at the very last minute. So a lot of men are wondering, why should I just give you my vote when you're coming home lately with your message?

ROCHA: No peso, no say so, that's what I always say.

SANCHEZ: Shermichael, Chuck, thank you both for joining us today.

SINGLETON: Thanks, guys.

KEILAR: I might use that. I like that.

Secretary of State Tony Blinken says Israel needs to, quote, "capitalize on the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar." What that could mean for the war in Gaza and wider tensions in the region.

And also ahead, the Associated Press reporting that One Direction star Liam Payne had cocaine in his system when he died.

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We'll have the latest on the investigation into his death.

SANCHEZ: And later, an attorney representing victims of the gangway collapse in Georgia calls it a, quote, preventable tragedy. More details in just moments.

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SANCHEZ: We want to pivot our focus to the Middle East now, where U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is once again trying to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict between Israel and some of its neighbors.

KEILAR: Yes. Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today. But while he's pressing Israel to find what the State Department calls a new path forward, it's unclear if Netanyahu sees the situation the same way. In fact, indications are they see things very differently here.

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We have CNN's Kylie Atwood and Jeremy Diamond with us now.

Kylie, what are you learning about Blinken's visit?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, the State Department readout, when you compare it with the readout from Prime Minister Netanyahu's office of this long meeting that the Secretary of State had with the Israeli prime minister, it's abundantly clear that they are not on the same page when it comes to what they both want to see happen in Gaza in the short term. The State Department's readout said that the secretary underscored the need to capitalize on this moment following the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar to try and drive forth not just the release of all hostages, but also an end to the conflict.

Meanwhile, the readout from Prime Minister Netanyahu's office spoke about the need to continue working to make sure all of those hostages are released, but made no mention of an end to the conflict. So that's an area that we continue to watch as U.S. officials went into this meeting saying that one of the major problems that they had was that they didn't know who was going to actually be making the decisions for Hamas. So driving forth an end to the conflict in Gaza would be challenging because of that.

It's also clear that it's going to be challenging because of where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on this issue right now. And I do want to mention the humanitarian situation in Gaza, because in the readout from the State Department, it said that the secretary made clear that Israel needs to take steps to bring about more aid getting into Gaza. We have heard from these humanitarian organizations that it has been dire on the ground in Gaza, particularly northern Gaza, as of recent. Prime Minister Netanyahu's office didn't mention that part of the conversation at all.

SANCHEZ: Yes. There have been assurances that that would change over and over again, a consistent concern it appears. We just want to let our viewers know, this is actually a live view from Tel Aviv. This is outside the hotel where Secretary of State Blinken is staying, and you see some of the signs there, all eyes on Netanyahu, end the war, hostage deal now.

Let's go to Jeremy Diamond.

Because Jeremy, as Secretary Blinken tries to advance these talks, there's new evidence that Israel's war on Hezbollah is not stopping. Lebanon is now saying that the death toll yesterday, 63 people killed, was the highest in three weeks. And we also saw this missile just flatten a building south of Beirut today. What can you tell us about that?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Boris. And it's important to note that the Secretary of State's visit is indeed also focused on trying to push a resolution to the war between Israel and Hezbollah, in addition to the war in Gaza. And Israeli officials, though, we should note, don't view the kind of military operations that they're carrying out in Lebanon is separate from the diplomatic pathway. They view the military pressure as ultimately leading to that diplomatic solution. But whether or not that is true, ultimately what is clear is that the Israeli military is conducting some very heavy strikes inside of Lebanon in recent days, with yesterday being one of the deadliest days that we have seen in weeks now inside of Lebanon.

Today we saw that this strike on - across the street from a hospital in Beirut, the largest public hospital in Lebanon, killed at least 18 people, including at least four children, according to the Lebanese ministry of health. One woman who witnessed the strike described that there were children playing in a courtyard, and then moments later she saw this missile actually strike that area, tearing, she said, those children to pieces.

There was then this separate strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, where we saw a bomb actually flatten two buildings in the southern suburbs of Beirut. The Israeli military had actually issued an evacuation order, but it was only 30 minutes before that bomb actually hit those buildings, absolutely flattening the area. You can see the enormous plume of smoke in the wake of this.

And, of course, there is no sign that any of this is slowing down, as the Israeli military vows to continue pressing Hezbollah, continue hitting Hezbollah targets. And we're also, of course, watching as they are expanding their targets beyond just military targets. Yesterday also hitting financial institutions that they claim were linked to Hezbollah. Boris, Brianna?

KEILAR: Jeremy Diamond and Kylie Atwood, thank you to you both.

And still to come, judges in two battleground states have rejected Republican lawsuits that challenged ballots from overseas and uniformed voters. We'll have details ahead.

Plus, price cuts from another big retailer ahead of the holiday shopping rush. Stay with us.

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KEILAR: In these final weeks of the presidential race, former President Trump has repeatedly ramped up his dark autocratic and sometimes even lewd rhetoric. With the race neck and neck, instead of playing it safe at his rallies and in his interviews, Trump sounds more like an old school radio shock jock than a traditional politician running for president.

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DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is a guy that was old man. When he took showers with the other pros, they came out of there, they said, oh, my god. That's unbelievable. We can't stand you, you're a (expletive) vice president, the worst. You're the worst vice president. Kamala, you're fired; get the hell out of here. You're fired. Get out of here.

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White Dudes for Harris. Anybody know it? Are some of here, White Dudes for Harris? Doesn't sound like it.