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Tonight: Harris To Focus On Reproductive Rights At Houston Rally; Soon: Trump Speaks On Immigration At Event In Austin, Texas; Both Harris & Trump Campaigning In Texas With 11 Days To Election. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired October 25, 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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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: A Texas showdown, the presidential race coming to the Lone Star State where candidates are putting the spotlight on key issues for their campaigns. Now the Lone Star State may not be a presidential battleground, but there is some calculus and strategy here. We'll explain, as we take you live at the campaign trail.

And he's one of former President Donald Trump's biggest allies and donors, but a new report says that billionaire, Elon Musk, is in regular contact with one of the United States biggest adversaries. What we know about his secret conversations with Vladimir Putin.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN HOST: And also this hour, President Biden set to apologize to the Native American community for the federal government's role in abusive Indian boarding schools designed to destroy the native culture. Biden says this apology is long overdue.

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

SANCHEZ: Good afternoon. Thank you so much for joining us on the bro show today. I'm Boris Sanchez alongside Alex Marquardt, who is in for Brianna Keilar. The eyes of the country are on Texas today, as both campaigns make a rare visit to the non-battleground state. They are focusing on very different issues. Vice President Kamala Harris highlighting reproductive rights at a Houston rally tonight. She's going to be joined on stage by some music superstars, Beyonce and Willie Nelson as well.

MARQUARDT: In the meantime, former President Donald Trump is in Austin, Texas, focusing there on immigration and border security. He's going to be sitting down as well for an interview with the very popular podcaster, Joe Rogan. And with just 11 days until this election, on November 5th, CNN's brand new national poll shows a deadlock race. You can see it right there, 47 to -- 47 for both candidates coming from likely voters.

We have a team of correspondents covering today's race for the White House. Steve Contorno is with the Trump campaign in Texas. But let's begin with MJ Lee in Vice President Harris's trip to Texas. So MJ, what can you tell us about -- about Harris going to Texas, what she's got planned there? And -- and why she's going to the state that is not a battleground?

MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, as you noted, Texas is not at all a presidential battleground states. But really it comes down to two main reasons why they are holding one of their final rallies of the cycle in the state of Texas. The first one is just persuasion. And the second is getting out the vote, two important thing that any campaign has to do in this final stretch -- stretch.

With 11 days to go, the campaign does believe that there are some voters that are just starting to pay attention to the race, the winnable, the persuadable voters, and with early voting already underway, they believe that reaching some of these voters as they are sort of in the middle of their decision making process that is going to be a top priority for the campaign.

And this is precisely why they have chosen Texas as the Vice President is wanting to discuss the issue of reproductive rights. They know that because this is a state with one of the most strict abortion bans in the country, they can use this as sort of a symbolic, powerful backdrop for her to make that contrast. And essentially say, look, this is an America that I envision.

And in contrast to that, there is Donald Trump's America where, thanks to him, some of these abortion bans were able to go into place. And that's also why we're going to see some of these families that the campaign whose stories they want to promote. They're going to be on stage speaking about what they say are some of these devastating experiences they have gone through because of these bans.

And we know that -- that is actually going to sound pretty familiar if you have been watching some of the more recent Harris ads. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: For 54 years they were trying to get Roe v. Wade terminated. And I did it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He did it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was pretty devastating.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He is bragging.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bragging about the rights that he stole from --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: American women.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And Trump is promising to do more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: And that second, really important goal of getting out the vote, that's obviously where Beyonce comes in, not the only celebrity that the campaign has been leaning on in this final stretch. And they're hoping that that is going to turn into eyeballs and that it is going to convince some people that participating in this election is going to be worth it.

SANCHEZ: Having that kind of star power helps to sort of nationalize the attention that -- that event is going to get. MJ, thank you so much. Let's go to Steve Contorno who's in Texas with the Trump campaign for us. Steve, the former president is actually set to speak to reporters at any moment now. What are we expecting him to focus on?

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STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Well, there are two elements at play here that explain why he is spending this time in Texas so close to the election. One is logistical. Donald Trump will be recording an appearance on the Joe Rogan podcast, which is based in Austin, so that is a -- a reason why he is here today. But look, there's also some gamesmanship at play.

Donald Trump's campaign saw that Vice President Harris was holding a rally in Texas on this date, and they said, look, if she's going to come here, we -- we want her to be forced to answer questions about the top issue that they see facing this country, and that is immigration. So that is what he will be discussing when he takes the stage right behind me just moments from now.

Trump preview those remarks that he will deliver yesterday when he was in Tempe, Arizona. Take a listen to what he said.

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TRUMP: We're a dumping ground. We're like a -- we're like a garbage can for the world. That's what's happened. That's what's happened to our -- we're like a garbage can. You know, it's the first time I've ever said that. And every time I come up and talk about what they've done to a country, I get angrier and angrier. First time I've ever said garbage can. But you know what? It's a very accurate description.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONTORNO: Donald Trump also went on to say that he intends to engage one of the largest, no, the largest active deportations in American history. Some of the signs behind me say deport illegals. Now his running mate JD Vance recently suggested that that would include DREAMers as well. That -- that is those who came here as children to undocumented individuals. So just a sense of what is at stake and what they are putting forward in this election, in these final days.

Donald Trump really believes that this is the top issue facing this country. And he is making sure voters know that going into this election cycle -- cycle. Back to you bros.

SANCHEZ: Steve Contorno, thank you so much for this update.

MARQUARDT: That's going to stick isn't it? SANCHEZ: Yes. I think so. So with 11 days to go until the election, brand new polling continues to show an extremely tight race. CNN's Harry Enten joins us now to run the numbers, as he often does for us. Harry, what do you see in the newest polls?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Boris, let me just say Brianna has really changed in the last 24 hours. I don't know what the heck is going on there. But we'll discuss that afterwards. Anyway, look, we had our new CNN poll, right, that had a tie between the two of them. That is part of a larger pattern that we are seeing across the data right now. So this is Harris versus Trump National margin.

You know, we got the CNN poll showed a tie. That matches "The New York Times" poll out this morning, also showed a tie. If you like Donald Trump, look, "The Wall Street Journal" has him up by three. You like Kamala Harris, maybe you prefer "Ipsos" or "SAY24" that's a bunch of academics working with YouGov, that also has Harris up by three.

But the bottom line is that this race is very, very close, circling right around a tie in the national vote. And indeed, that is so much different from what we saw either four or eight years ago in elections involving Donald Trump. So let's take a look at the Trump versus Democrat margin on October 25th. Right now, Harris is averaging about a point advantage in the national polls. Four years ago at this point, Joe Biden was so far ahead. He was up by nine. Hillary Clinton was also pretty far ahead at this point in 2016, she was up by six.

And keep in mind, no Republican has won the popular vote since George W. Bush back in 2004. These polls and the average of polls really does raise the possibility, not just that Donald Trump could win in the Electoral College, but he could potentially win the popular vote be the first Republican in 20 years. Of course, we'll have to wait and see on that.

MARQUARDT: And Harry, we've seen extraordinary amounts of money spent in this election, so much of that on advertising, on negative advertising. Each candidate has been the subject of that. How do you think that's impacting their favorability?

ENTEN: Yes, it's not good. It's not good. Let's take a look at the net favorable ratings for Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. You go back last month, in September, according to our CNN poll, it was minus four points for Kamala Harris. Look at this, now she's down to a minus 11 point net favorability rating. That is 11 percentage points more of the public has an unfavorable than favorable view of her.

Look, Donald Trump's always been underwater on this metric. He was at minus 12 back in September. Now he's at minus 13. So the gap between the two of them has absolutely closed. Now this is well within the margin of error. Harris was considerably more popular than Trump back in September. Today, it's basically a dead heat. Turns out, there's a good chunk of the public that likes neither Kamala Harris nor Donald Trump.

SANCHEZ: Yes, It -- it's tough for any sitting politician at this point in American history to have a very positive rating. And -- and to that point, Harry, looking at the current president and his negative approval rating, how might that potentially impact the race?

ENTEN: Yes. When you look at a metric like this, I mean, look at Joe Biden's approval rating, if we could get this to go, there we go. Joe Biden's job as President approved just 36 percent, my goodness gracious. You can't really get quite lower than that, given the partisanship and polarization that we have at this point. Disapproval rating 64 percent, woof, well above 60 percent.

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If you look back through history, and guys, you know, I love looking back through history, so let's look back through history. Was the successor of the same party pre-election net approval ratings? Look at Harry Truman, when he had a net negative approval rating in '52, was he succeeded by a Democrat? No. How about in '68 Lyndon Baines Johnson, was he succeeded by a Democrat? No. Of course Richard Nixon won that election. George W. Bush in 2008, was he succeeded by a Democrat? No. Can Joe Biden actually be succeeded by a Democrat? Can Kamala Harris overcome Joe Biden's net negative approval rating? Only time will tell. But history ain't so kind guys.

MARQUARDT: We know you love looking back through history, but you're definitely beyond a lot more in the coming days asking -- being asked to -- to look forward into your crystal ball. Harry Enten, thank you so much for breaking down those numbers.

And joining us now to discuss are our senior CNN political analyst Gloria -- Gloria Borger and Mark Preston. Thanks both for -- for being here. Let's -- let's go back --

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Let's continue with the bros.

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. Can I say some before we start this whole real big discussion? Thank God that Gloria is here to break through this.

SANCHEZ: Agreed.

BORGER: Yes. That's right.

SANCHEZ: Agreed.

PRESTON: And thank God that my softer side is being her wing person.

MARQUARDT: We'd be remiss if we didn't give credit to Evan Perez, who coined that term. And I didn't -- I didn't think you were going to blow up his in our spot today, but you did right out of the gate.

BORGER: OK.

MARQUARDT: Gloria, let's -- let's talk about Texas. MJ touched -- touched on it briefly.

BORGER: Yes. MARQUARDT: But what do you make of both candidates going to Texas? Is it a smart move when that state is -- is firmly in the Trump column. What can they get out of it?

BORGER: Well, you know, for her, I think in terms of the question of abortion, it's ground zero. You know, it's got one of the strictest abortion laws in the country, no exceptions for rape or incest. And it gives her an opportunity to stand there and talk to these women who are -- who are going to be there on stage, apparently.

And let the American public know the stakes here in this abortion question, and that will get amplified. You know, you just don't go somewhere anymore, talk to a local T.V. outlet or newspaper and then expected to get local press. Now you go on, you know, podcasts, and that's why Trump is there to go on Joe Rogan.

And it gets amplified. And there's an echo chamber. And that's what she's doing it for. It's kind of the background. She's got -- it's a good point to be there.

SANCHEZ: It -- it strikes me, Mark, that -- that to what Gloria just said, that you don't really have candidates going to local markets that dominate the way that they used to in -- in the discourse of a -- of a certain geographic area that both of these candidates are trying to appeal to their base, and they're not necessarily doing it by reaching out to folks with the exception of Kamala Harris a few days ago in Pennsylvania, of folks that aren't already in their camp, right, like Beyonce is not going to drive a ton of Republicans toward Kamala Harris, and a ton of Democrats aren't listening to Joe Rogan. So what's the strategy in -- in that regard? Is there --

PRESTON: Well -- well, look, we're only looking at a handful of states right now. We're looking at about six states that are going to determine the election. And within those six states, we're only looking at a very small group of people who are going to determine, you know, that election.

And when you look at Kamala Harris, for instance, and we talked about this, or at least people started talking about this huge media blitz that she was on. She wasn't really on a big media blitz. She was reaching out to -- to podcasts into favorable media. "Call Her Daddy," right? She, you know, reaching out to young women.

Beyonce tonight, Beyonce tonight, her message is not for -- for Houstonians. Her message is to talk to folks in Michigan and in Wisconsin and in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Georgia, and try to get those last few women who may be, you -- you know, on the edge of not supporting Kamala Harris, but actually going out and voting for Kamala Harris, going and willing to devote a couple of hours. And that's what we've seen in this closing hours.

BORGER: You know, there's a bit of a problem here that Democrats that I talked to are a little worried about because you can be with her on the abortion issue, but split your ticket and decide not to go with her in the presidential campaign. I mean, in Missouri, for example, you know, Josh Hawley is likely to win. There's a -- there's a ballot issue there, and he's very anti-abortion. So you know, people are splitting tickets here. And what she's trying to say is, vote for me because this is important to you.

SANCHEZ: Yes. I also wanted to get your perspective, Gloria, on Donald Trump talking about the United States being a garbage can, a shining city on a hill that is not.

BORGER: I didn't know we were one of those s hole countries, you know, that he spoke about when he was in office.

PRESTON: What was that again? I'm sorry. One of those --

BORGER: S holes.

PRESTON: Oh, OK.

BORGER: And I think that -- that, you know, he speaks in these apocalyptic terms, and I've never heard a presidential candidate, and I don't know if you have, go out there and degrade and demean his own country so much. And it's remarkable that he gets such a positive response from his supporters, because his campaign is based on grievance, even about America.

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MARQUARDT: What -- what do you make of that? I mean, it doesn't seem like there's any other candidate in either party who can necessarily get away with that.

BORGER: Right.

PRESTON: Look, I mean, I hate to say this, but he's ripped the band aid off, you know? And a lot of people say Donald Trump has been the worst thing that's happened to America. Has been the worst thing happened to politics. What I would say in response to that is that Donald Trump may be the worst thing that happened to America. May be the worst thing happened to politics. I have no idea. But what I do know is that he has certainly lifted the cloud or -- or the veil of secrecy that once existed between you and your neighbor. You know who your neighbor supports for president now.

You see people who are willing to just attack each other who used to be friends. You see families broken up now over this all because we really aren't this United States of America. We're very divided.

BORGER: But, you know, an interesting thing in our poll is that I think more than half of voters said that Trump's demeanor was a reason not to support him.

SANCHEZ: It really is striking that there is a receptive audience for someone who says that the United States --

BORGER: Right.

SANCHEZ: -- is -- is a garbage can. There was something else that I found interesting. This is out of the "New York Times" poll. It finds that Harris has narrowed the gap on the number one issue that voters say is top of mind when it comes to this election, and that's the economy. I believe we -- we might have a graphic of it. Trump was leading by 13, he's now leading by only six points. How significant is that?

BORGER: Well, I think it's -- I think it's important she's not over, you know, surpassed him on the economy. But she's got a strong headwind, because seven out of 10 voters in this country think that we're headed in the wrong direction, and that's a real problem for her. Biden is usually unpopular, and so she's got these headwinds that are very difficult to -- to manage.

PRESTON: Usually, being an incumbent is -- is to be in a strong position. In this case, it's not necessarily a strong position for her.

MARQUARDT: There's another remarkable figure, more than 30 million people have already cast their votes in -- in early voting. Polling that we've seen finds that -- that Harris has likely gotten more votes than Trump at this point, so how much movement can there be in the next week and a half, given that more than 30 million people have already voted?

PRESTON: Well, I think traditionally, I mean, Democrats have been better at getting the early vote out. OK, so traditionally that has happened. Republicans have started to try to make a move towards that. Donald Trump try to stop Trump try to stop that. Remember saying it has to be a day of we don't really know yet. What we can tell you, though, we're not going to know who -- who won the election on election night. I mean, I would -- I would very much doubt that happening.

BORGER: Hang on for days.

SANCHEZ: For anything you can -- can. Don't change the channel, because we'll be here live bringing you the very latest details. Bit of a plug there at the end.

MARQUARDT: For days and days.

PRESTON: The bro show tonight.

BORGER: Lots of topic.

SANCHEZ: Always welcome.

MARQUARDT: It's still have us back after this.

BORGER: Yes.

SANCHEZ: Gloria and Mark, thank you both so much.

BORGER: Thanks guys.

SANCHEZ: Still plenty more news to come on News Central. We're standing by live in Texas, where, as we noted, any minute, former President Trump is scheduled to speak to the press in Austin. His appearance comes as another woman this time, a former Sports Illustrated swimsuit model has accused Trump of groping her in the 1990s. Stacey Williams giving a detailed account of the incident to CNN, you'll hear her story in her own words.

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MARQUARDT: Plus, an attorney for Lyle and Erik Menendez says that he hopes the brothers will be released from prison before Thanksgiving, as the LA's District Attorney files for re sentencing.

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MARQUARDT: Billionaire tech mogul, Elon Musk, has been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin since 2022, that's according to new reporting from "The Wall Street Journal." "The Journal" confirmed that the talks took place by confirming those with several current and former U.S. European and Russian officials. Now Elon Musk did not respond to requests for comment, and a Kremlin spokesperson told "The Wall Street Journal" that the only communication that Musk had with the Kremlin was one phone call where musk and Putin discussed, quote, space as well as current and future technologies.

Musk works very closely with the U.S. government on a number of different national security and space projects. He has also, of course, risen as a major figure in President, former President Donald Trump's campaign. A new filing show that Musk has poured $119 million into his own pro Trump Super PAC, spending nearly 44 million this month alone.

And yesterday, he again awarded two new $1 million prizes to registered voters in both Michigan and Wisconsin, despite the fact that the Justice Department had already warned that those payments may be illegal. I want to bring in Russia and cyber expert, Dimitri Alperovitch. He is the chairman of Silverado Policy Accelerator, a geopolitics think tank. Dimitri, thank you so much for being with us.

I know that you've got some questions about this contact between Putin and Musk. And we did note that the Kremlin said there's only been this one call back in 2022. But break down for us, if you will, the concern that national security officials would have here in Washington if those conversations did indeed take place.

DIMITRI ALPEROVITCH, RUSSIA AND CYBER EXPERT: Yes, thanks, Alex. As you said, we don't know if this is true. Kremlin is denying, I think in the past. Musk -- Musk has denied it. But look as a private citizen, he can certainly talk to whomever he wants to. He has freedom of speech rights under the Constitution. But he's not just a private citizen. He also says that he has a top secret government clearance.

He's, of course, a major contract at the U.S. government to NASA, to NRO, the National Reconnaissance Agency that sends up satellites into space, to the Space Force. And when you have a security clearance, typically, you're obligated to -- to report any contacts you have of foreign governments, and certainly with foreign intelligence and foreign -- foreign government leaders.

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So if he hasn't done that, and there are indeed these contacts, he could be in serious trouble. And they -- they might certainly question him about this. And, you know, if you're not telling the truth to the U.S. government officials, to law enforcement officials, that creates other criminal problems for you.

MARQUARDT: And he's been quite dismissive of his security clearance, saying that, in fact, what he sees is -- is really quite boring. But you and I both know how protective U.S. officials are about classified information. Expand, Dimitri, if you will, on the reliance that the United States has on Musk, whether it's DoD or NASA to -- to -- to help them out in space. How important is he to the U.S. government?

ALPEROVITCH: Oh, he's absolutely essential. And, look, we have to give him credit, because what he has done, particularly with SpaceX, is absolutely astonishing. Being able to create these reusable rockets that dramatically exponentially reduce the cost of lift into space allowed us to get back into the International Space Station on U.S. rockets for the first time in -- in decades since we retired the space shuttle, really, really fundamental.

So being able to fly -- fly cheaply into space. We rely on him on that. But -- but also with Starlink, which is this incredible low Earth orbit satellite communications network he has created that is providing communication services, not just to consumers, but to government agencies. And as you well know, Alex, these are essential to Ukraine in particular, because they really could not prosecute this war without Starlink.

MARQUARDT: And Dimitri, we've just gotten a note that the White House says that they are not in a position to corroborate this report in "The Wall Street Journal" about this contact between Musk and -- and Putin. Dimitri, before I let you go, I want to ask you about the -- the all the money that -- that Musk is donating to Trump. We noted $120 million to that Super PAC. What more do you think that Musk could get out of a Trump administration that he hasn't already with all these contracts under the Biden administration?

ALPEROVITCH: Well, I think you know, as -- as we know, Trump is considering putting him in charge of a government efficiency commission. And cert -- certainly, given the trajectory of where SpaceX is going and given that they're probably going to get more competition from companies like Amazon, they're setting up their own satellite constellations into space and Blue Origin from Jeff Bezos, building their own rockets, certainly being close to U.S. government, with whichever administration is going to be very helpful to Elon Musk.

MARQUARDT: Yes. And -- and I think you're absolutely right to -- to point out that the importance of Starlink, that -- that satellite internet company that -- that he started up hugely important in -- in Ukraine and elsewhere, which gives him, frankly, a huge amount of sway over the countries and the places that -- that he puts it in place. Dimitri Alperovitch, thank you so much for your thoughts today.

ALPEROVITCH: Thanks for having me.

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MARQUARDT: And still ahead this hour on CNN News Central, we are live in Austin, Texas, where former President Donald Trump is expected to hold a press event any minute. We also have reporters on the ground in Arizona, where President Joe Biden will be addressing the Native American community and apologizing for hundreds of federally run boarding schools which ripped thousands of Native American children away from their families over 150 years.

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