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Trump's Wild & Lewd Rhetoric Reaches A New Extreme; Judges In MI and NC Reject RNC Challenge Of Some Overseas Ballots; Officials Need More Time Before Releasing Liam Payne's Body; G.M.'s Profits Soars One Year After Costly Strike. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired October 22, 2024 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You're --

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: To White Dudes for Harris, does anybody know. Some of you here, does it sound like it?

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: But I'm not worried about them at all because their wives and their wives lovers are all voting for me.

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: I think the bigger problem is the bigger problem is the enemy from within. We have some very bad people. We have some sick people, radical left, lunatics.

And I think they are -- and it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard or if really necessary by the military. Because they can't let that happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: I'm joined now by Joe Walsh, former Republican Congressman from Illinois. He also spent years working as a conservative radio host, sometimes shocking to us the thing he would say.

Not like what we've heard from Trump though, Joe. And I wonder what you think about this. Is Trump just being bombastic. Is that just baked in? Is there a point for the basis of political analysis as we're looking for things that may actually sway voters and critically examining his current rhetoric.

JOE WALSH, (R), FORMER CONGRESSMAN FOR ILLINOIS: Brianna, good to be with you.

Look, he's trying to scare the hell out of the American people. I think that's what he's doing.

And, Brianna, you're right. I used to do some of that. That's still the realm of the coin in right-wing media is to anger their audience and scare their audience and inflame their audience and piss off their audience.

Look, Trump's an utterly horrible human being, but he is the product of an utterly broken political system. He's appealing to the very worst of us. He's appealing to our fears, Brianna.

I used to do some of that. Fear works. My -- my fear is this appeal of his is going to work.

KEILAR: But you --- you sort of said as much back in 2015 when he famously launched his campaign saying Mexico was not sending it's best across the border. They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapists and some I assume are good people.

You told "The Washington Post" that year that your instant reaction was to think he's going to be leading in the polls within two weeks. Are the dynamics any different now than they were in 2015?

WALSH: Yes, some are better and some are worse. I think the media, Brianna, makes a big mistake thinking that when Trump talks this way, when Trump talks with such hate and such cruelty that is only appealing to his base.

He's not. He's appealing well beyond his base, to white, black and brown voters who are scared and concerned about immigration and crime and threats with our economy.

He thinks that he can win through fear. And he probably can because more Americans are really can scare -- are scared and more concerned about immigration now than they were three to four years ago.

The whole migrant thing, the cats and dogs, they're eating our pets, that's just to make people think that brown and black people are coming after you. And there are a lot of Americans, Brianna, sadly, that, that will work with.

KEILAR: Oh, I think we just lost you, Joe Walsh. Let's -- oh, he popped back up. Let's see if we can reestablish our discussion with Joe.

There you are. Momentarily went to black.

Can we -- I can't hear you, Joe. I can't hear you.

All right. You're audios out, buddy. But you are brilliant for two questions and answers. So we'll catch up with you next time.

Joe, thank you so much.

Looking at him. He's so disappointed. That warms my heart a little bit.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: As are we. I hate it when that happen.

Does that count as another setback? Because we've got two --

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: Two separate setbacks --

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: -- for Republican efforts to target overseas voters.

Judges in Michigan and North Carolina have rejected lawsuits brought by the Republican National Committee and others that challenged ballots cast by American voters abroad who never resided in the states.

KEILAR: That's right. So many of those voters are actually members of the military. They're serving overseas. Could be their dependents or their spouses who are also stationed overseas with them.

We have CNN's chief legal affairs correspondent, Paula Reid, on this story.

Tell us what happened here. Paula.

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: So a little bit of context here. Historically, overseas ballots have been something that you just can't touch because they've long been associated with members of the military, right, exercising their sacred right.

But it's been interesting, over the past few years, the number of overseas ballots coming from civilian expats now outnumbers those coming from members of the military.

And this group is civilian expats, this is expected to be a bloc of voters that goes for Democrats. And they've spent a lot of money trying to garner their support.

This was not lost on former President Trump or his GOP allies. So in recent months, they have tried to target these overseas ballots with a series of lawsuits, specifically in North Carolina and Michigan.

[13:35:03]

They were targeting laws that say that, even if you've never lived in a state, specifically Michigan or North Carolina.

They were targeting laws that say, if you've never lived in a state, either Michigan or North Carolina, for example, your parents have lived there in Michigan or your spouse had lived there, you can still send your overseas ballot to that state.

Now this did not go well for them. For example, in Michigan, the judge called this lawsuit, quote, "ad attempt to disenfranchise voters.

And the North Carolina judge said that Republicans presented no substantial evidence of the fraud they claim they we're trying to prevent.

The judge has also took aim at the timing of these lawsuits, filed just a few weeks before Election Day, arguing that, if you really thought there was a problem here, you would have filed this earlier.

Most of these ballots have already gone out. We were in North Carolina. We watch the Board of Elections. They had boxes and boxes of overseas ballots from the military. How would you suddenly sort out the ones that were qualified if they were to prevail?

But of course, I know and talking from sources from both the Harris team and the Trump team, that's a little bit of war games going on here. Sowing seeds potentially of distrust or for litigation depending on how tight the election is.

And speaking with sources familiar with the Harris' thinking about this line? Litigation, they say, look, really the goal here is to sow seeds of confusion, even if the Trump team, if they lose in court, which they have so far, they're really just trying to sow confusion.

So if Michigan and North Carolina, two of the biggest prizes in the electoral college are really close, this is one of the ways they can say, see, look at that group of ballots, we tried to challenge them and they wouldn't let us.

So again, there's a war game strategy here beyond the legal arguments.

SANCHEZ: There's also a lawsuit in Pennsylvania over the same thing. What's the status of that?

REID: So I've learned there's always a lawsuit in Pennsylvania when it --

(LAUGHTER)

REID: -- comes to this election litigation. Because, really, I mean, that is the state that a lot of people who watch this closely expect that this entire election could come down to, right? A must-win for Harris.

And there has been a lot of election-related litigation, including on this issue.

But the Pennsylvania lawsuit is a little bit different. There are -- they are suing over how overseas ballots are vetted. The identification requirements, right?

You're not required to provide certain identification but you do have to either provide your social security number or your license. And these RNC lawyers who have filed this lawsuit, they would like some of those ballots pushed aside for further vetting.

But again, we go back to the war games. Many people think that this could come down to a handful of votes in Pennsylvania, widely expecting that this could go to the courts.

And this would be an issue that they could try to resurrect or just point to two sow distrust in the whole system.

KEILAR: Yes. And that I.D. change happened in September of 2022 and, yet, it has just been brought up --

REID: Serious.

KEILAR: -- mysteriously, in the last few weeks here.

Paula Reid, thank you so much for keeping us up-to-date on this important stuff

All right, so when we come back, we have new details in the death investigation of One Direction star, Liam Payne, We'll have details ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:42:16]

SANCHEZ: New today, it's been nearly a week since the death of former One Direction singer, Liam Payne, and officials say they're still not ready to turn over his body to his family pending further toxicology reports. Those results could take weeks to be made public.

But the Associated Press is now reporting on what was allegedly in his system.

KEILAR: CNN's Stephanie Elam is on the story for us.

Stephanie, tell us what you're learning here.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brianna and Boris, this is one of those things where people want answers quickly. But when it comes to this testing, it just takes a lot longer than what people would like.

But according to the Associated Press, there has been an initial report, cocaine found in Liam Payne's body -- that's what we are learning now -- when he fell to his death from that port four balcony.

The issue here, though, is that it still takes many days, and it could be it takes several weeks before we actually know what the toxicology of Payne's body was, as well as the histopathology, which is looking at disease within the tissues of Payne's body as well.

So that's going to take a long time, along with the autopsy as well. All of that needing to be done in this case.

Now we do know that Geoff Payne, Liam's father, did arrive in Buenos Aires on Friday in an effort to try to bring his sons body home. However, because of these tests, Argentinian officials say that they cannot release the body until those results have been reached, until they're able to find out what they are.

And then, at that point, they decide whether or not the body is ready to be released. But his father was able to see his son, from what we understand, that he was trying to see a hotel room but was not able to but was able to see one similar to that.

But obviously, you see how people have been arriving all weekend long, paying their respects to Liam Payne and also Geoff Payne going out, thanking the fans for that as well.

But this investigation is ongoing. And that is part of the reason why we still don't have answers. And it'll be a long time before we actually do -- Brianna and Boris? A

All right, Stephanie, we know that you'll keep an eye on that. Stephanie Elam, thank you so much.

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

Civil rights attorney, Ben Crump, is demanding a federal investigation into Saturdays gangway collapse that killed seven people off the coast of Savannah, Georgia.

Crump represents three of the victim's families. And he says what happened off Sapelo Island was a preventable tragedy that resulted from, quote, "malfeasance."

Those killed were all over the age of 70. They were set to board a ferry back from a heritage festival when that gangway collapsed, sending at least 20 people into the river below.

Authorities in Georgia are blaming catastrophic structural failure and they're promising a full investigation.

And disgraced movie producer, Harvey Weinstein, has been diagnosed with bone cancer. A source telling CNN he is being treated for chronic myeloid leukemia.

[13:45:06]

It is the latest in a slew of health-related issues for Weinstein, who also underwent emergency heart surgery last month. He's now receiving cancer treatments at the Rikers Island Prison where he is awaiting a new trial for some of the alleged sex crimes that he's accused of.

SANCHEZ: And some good news for consumers ahead of the holiday shopping season. Target is cutting prices on more than 2000 items including beauty products, toys, and food. It's the second time this year Target has lowered prices.

And it's move follows that of other big-name retailers, like Walmart, Ikea, and others who've also cut prices recently, hoping to bring in more inflation-weary consumers.

It's hard to go to Target to buy one thing. And now with this, it's going to be impossible.

KEILAR: It's impossible. I -- are they dropping prices on Hot Wheels cars and Pokemon cards? I have some little friends who want to know.

SANCHEZ: It's going to be toilet merchandise, t-shirt -

KEILAR: Yes, fortunately.

SANCHEZ: Yes. We'll find out after.

After that big auto strike, the negotiated wage hike at G.M. did not break the bank after all, it turns out. And in just moments, we're going to break down why quite the opposite is happening.

That story and more next on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:50:56]

SANCHEZ: What a difference a year makes. Today, General Motors is reporting stronger-than-expected third-quarter earnings. And by strong, we mean beating revenue forecast by nearly $800 million.

Just last year, G.M. was caught up in a week's-long strike, you might recall, that the company estimates cost it more than $1 billion, $1.1 billion to be exact.

At the time, G.M. claimed that it couldn't meet the union wage demands and remain competitive. But the company eventually agreed to give workers an immediate 11 percent raise and additional raises in the years to come.

I want to discuss with Tony Totty. He's the president of the United Auto Workers Local 14 in toledo, Ohio.

Tony, thanks so much for being with us.

I remember last year when we spoke during the strike your argument and the slogan for UAW was that record profits should result in a record contract. Are you satisfied now with the deal that UAW made and in light of this new record profits

TONY TOTTY, PRESIDENT, UNITED AUTO WORKERS LOCAL 14: Good afternoon, Boris. Good to be with you again.

We're very satisfied. And, you know, that's the goal of the union, is to just get our fair share. And these companies were very profitable then. And as we see, they're still very profitable now, and all the workers want is our fair share.

SANCHEZ: When it comes to seeing this news, how might that potentially change your approach when the contract is up and you're dealing with the next negotiation?

TOTTY: Well, you know, once again, I hope all workers get to see this. And it's not just us. It's other industries.

You know, without a union, I don't think that any one worker could get this. And let it be a lesson.

You know, all the fear tactics and the scare tactics that they used to say, you know, the company will go bankrupt if you get this, all these naysayers that we're saying that the exact opposite is true. And we see it in the earnings now.

So we need to learn from this and all workers need to learn from this. They have the money. And all we want is our fair share. We want our companies to be healthy.

So moments like this, especially with our profit sharing, you know, can be equitable.

SANCHEZ: So one reason for these higher profits is that G.M. is selling cars at higher average prices, at nearly $50,000 per vehicle.

I wonder if the average UAW employee could afford the average G.M. vehicle. And also if you are concerned about any long-term effects?

TOTTY: Well, that's one of the things that this contract corrected. We had so many temporary employees. Before the contract, I think the answer would be no.

But because we put different stipulations in this on, you know, new workers being kicked over to traditional employees or permanent employees, now I think they could afford this.

It's something to watch, especially with the E.V. future, where we are in the biggest transformation in this industry since its inception. And now we got to look to E.V. sales to see if this is sustainable or not.

But it looks like 60 percent of the trade ins for these new E.V.s are coming from non-G.M. vehicles. So people are excited about the lineup.

So only -- the new agreement I believe will be in about 3.5 years. Only time will tell.

SANCHEZ: Tony Totty, we very much appreciate the update. We look forward to catching up with you again soon. Thanks for joining us.

TOTTY: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

With just two weeks left before the election, the Harris campaign is bringing out the big guns, President Obama and the real Slim Shady himself.

[13:54:43]

Much more to come in another hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Courting a critical group at a critical time, former President Donald Trump meeting with Latino business leaders in Florida as Democrats bring back another former president, Barack Obama, to try to win in blue wall states.

Plus, a legal bombshell as the former CEO of Abercrombie and Fitch is arrested on charges related to sex trafficking. The indictment alleges that he and others would recruit and exploit --