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GOP Lawmakers Denounce Trump Rally Speaker's Puerto Rico Comments; Concern Growing About The Use Of AI To Confuse Voters This Election; Asheville City Schools Reopen Today On Modified Schedule. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired October 28, 2024 - 07:30   ET

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

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[07:30:40]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, this morning something unusual. Republicans and even the Trump campaign trying to undo some of the damage from Donald Trump's big rally here in New York City -- specifically, comments made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe. He was invited, remember, by the Trump campaign to speak at this rally -- listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY HINCHCLIFFE, COMEDIAN: I don't know if you guys know this but there is literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now, yeah. I think it's called Puerto Rico.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, why are Republicans so nervous about those comments right there? Well, it has to do, as I said, with one of the most important voting blocs in one of the most important places, Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania, you'll remember, the commonwealth -- Joe Biden won it by just 81,000 votes in 2020. Donald Trump won it by 44,000 votes in 2016. So you get the idea. It's really close in Pennsylvania.

OK, there are around 600,000 by some counts -- 600,000 Latino voters -- I'll put an L right there -- in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Around, by some counts, 300,000 Puerto Rican voters in the state of Pennsylvania -- the third-highest Puerto Rican population in the entire country.

You will notice one thing about these two numbers here. They're both way bigger -- way bigger than the margin in Pennsylvania the last two elections. They are a key voting bloc in the commonwealth. And it's not just the numbers; it's where they are in the commonwealth.

Let's focus in here. Now, the darker the shade the greater the population. And there are a few places that are pushing 30, 40, 50 percent Hispanic population. I'm going to circle them right here around these three counties and these two counties here. And if I take out this filter and go back to the main map what you can see is that four years ago Joe Biden won three of these counties; Donald Trump really won two. And they're some of the swingiest in this swing commonwealth.

Let's just push in. Everyone knows Joe Biden, of course, is from Scranton, Lackawanna County. He got 53 percent there. It's really tight.

Nearby Wilkes-Barre in Luzerne County, Donald Trump won that. But again, 56 to 42. Pretty tight there.

You go a little bit south here. Reading is Berks County. Donald Trump, 53 percent. Again, very close.

Maybe the most telling is Lehigh County. That's where Allentown is. People know the Billy Joel song from Allentown. But Lehigh County has had huge demographic shifts over the years. It has nearly a 50 percent Hispanic population. And you can see Joe Biden won 53 percent of the vote there, 98,000 votes. He was able to get 17,000 votes more than Hillary Clinton did.

This is often seen -- Lehigh County -- as one of the most important swing counties in the entire country. A huge Puerto Rican population, Kate. You can understand -- you can understand why Republicans are nervous about this campaign.

Kamala Harris was in Pennsylvania talking to Puerto Rican voters while they were being made, Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Exactly. It would be the perfect illustration of exactly what is before us today.

Joining us right now to talk much more about it is former Trump White House associate counsel May Mailman, and longtime Democratic strategist Doug Thornell. It's great to see you guys.

May, this joke/non-joke -- this happening now attacking Puerto Rico from the stage -- this happening now is part of what is obviously very clearly both campaigns trying to lock in their closing argument. This happening now does what?

MAY MAILMAN, DIRECTOR, INDEPENDENT WOMEN'S LAW CENTER, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE ASSOCIATE COUNSEL (via Webex by Cisco): It doesn't do anything positive, right? Like, I don't know who this guy is. He doesn't seem very funny. I don't know why comedy has turned to just, like, picking out various groups and making fun of them but that sort of is the way that it is and it's, like, people need to get smarter.

But if you actually listen to what Trump said in his speech, he starts off by are you better off now than you were four years ago? Great -- that's on message. He says I'm here with a message of hope. He gives -- promises a tax credit to essentially women -- to home health providers. These are people who have older parents and often kids. Like, this is a getable group. So there was a lot of positive that happened. And then you have this random person saying something very not funny,

and I don't think he'll be getting a Netflix special anytime soon. So, you know, it's frustrating.

[07:35:00]

BOLDUAN: Doug, the Trump campaign did -- as John was pointing out, moved quickly to disavow this remark distancing themselves from it. But at the same time, they also did not move to disavow what else was said from the stage if we're just talking about in the lead-up to him coming on stage.

One of his warm-up acts calling Harris the devil and anti-Christ. Another likening her to a prostitute, saying that she and her "pimp handlers" will ruin the country.

That says what and does what?

DOUG THORNELL, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well remember, they approved all these speakers. I assume if they're a functional, competent campaign they approved what they were going to say on stage. So them trying to push back now is a little bit hard to believe.

I think it put the whole MAGA movement on display. And I can tell you from what I've seen doing a lot of races around the country the MAGA brand is deeply unpopular and brings Republicans down. And I think a week out from the election this being kind of the last big image of the campaign is going to be bad for Trump.

And I hear May on what Trump may have said in his speech but, quite frankly, what's being clipped and what's being sent out there, especially in Latino communities, isn't anything he said. It's all the other divisive stuff that was said by his surrogates. And that's not the way you close a campaign eight days out.

BOLDUAN: Doug, let me ask you this, though. At the same time, we have seen leading up to this point -- this isn't the first time that there has -- even Donald Trump himself has said something that would -- you would view as offensive to Latinos.

One thing we have seen though since 2016 to now is he's making gain -- he's made gains with Latino voters. Kamala Harris is seeing less support among Latino voters and other Democrats. He is making gains from where he was in 2016.

How do you explain that, and what do you think that means about where we are, Doug?

THORNELL: Well look, I think if you look at -- there was a competitor network poll out yesterday that showed Kamala Harris actually doing very well. In fact, better with Latino voters than Joe Biden did in 2020.

So I think that with a week out we have still a few number of undecided voters. They're tuning in. And I think if they're tuning in and they're seeing this MAGA movement on full display -- the bizarre, hateful rhetoric -- I think that's going to turn a lot of people away. And I think it also turns a lot of other voters away -- suburban voters that are up for grabs.

So I think what we're seeing from the campaign -- from the Harris campaign is an aggressive, targeted effort to actually match or do better than where Biden did in '20, and she's on track I think to do that. So -- and this doesn't help the Trump campaign by any means.

BOLDUAN: Let's -- I want to highlight another thing from this weekend to get both your take on it.

Michelle Obama in Michigan on the campaign trail on Saturday with a very direct appeal to men voters. Listen to this, guys.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: But to anyone out there thinking about sitting out this election or voting for Donald Trump or a third-party candidate in protest because you're fed up, let me warn you. Your rage does not exist in a vacuum. If we don't get this election right your wife, your daughter, your mother -- we as women will become collateral damage to your rage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Powerful statement.

May, what do you think of that as part of the closing message, especially in Michigan?

MAILMAN: I don't think it works. They're just -- men are not attracted right now to Kamala Harris not in -- because it doesn't feel like she sees that they can be part of her future. And then to have this message of -- that might be true but do it for your wife and your daughters. Of course, they care about their wife and their daughters. How condescending to think that they'd vote and don't think about their wife and their daughters. But that isn't the issue here.

When you hear the people who are interviewed outside of Madison Square Garden, they like that Trump doesn't talk down to them. They like that Trump seems like Le'Veon Bell who gave a really now viral video talking about Trump is a real one. This is somebody who they don't feel like is condescending. That they feel like they can be part of the future.

And that feeling is not recaptured by Michelle Obama saying hey, will you think about someone else beside yourself? We do -- then do. And I just don't think that it's going to work.

BOLDUAN: Final thought, Doug?

THORNELL: Look, Trump talks down to everyone and he doesn't care about anyone but himself. And that's why I think Kamala will actually -- the vice president will end up doing pretty well with men. Obviously, men have been moving slightly away from the party but when Trump talks about taking away over -- you know, hating overtime pay for working folks and goes into a room of millionaires and talking about how he's going to tax -- you know, cut their taxes.

[07:40:00]

I think her plan to move the working people and the middle class forward is going to end up paying off for her. And I think that Trump really has never laid out a real clear plan to strengthen the middle class or help working people.

BOLDUAN: Doug, May, thank you guys both very much -- Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right.

This morning a brand new CNN digital series, American Battleground, debuts. It's a deep dive into the final months of the 2024 presidential campaign from CNN's Tom Foreman who is joining us now.

Tom, this is really interesting because you say the fuse for this explosive, misogynistic, racist Trump rally at Madison Square Garden last night was lit way back in June. What do you mean?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what I mean is if you look back to the Biden-Trump debate, that is what pushed Joe Biden out in a simple sense, and that's what brought Kamala Harris in. And as we looked back over this period of time because face it, it's hard for any of us to remember what happened two weeks ago right now.

As we looked back and sort of distilled what happened, what we saw is that when Kamala Harris came in and suddenly Donald Trump who thought he might be on a coast pattern to winning was in a real fight. By many assessments he was frightened by this.

She's a woman. She's a woman of color. She's a prosecutor. She's all sorts of things that he normally doesn't have to answer to. And suddenly she was rising in the polls and he's in a fight for his political life.

And in so many ways -- you know about it -- obviously if he were to lose this, all of the cases against him, his business empire, his personal wealth, and his image of a winner goes out the window if he loses again this time after losing the last time.

So really that's why I say this all started back then when he was in that debate and then the next debate when she mopped the floor with him.

SIDNER: What about Harris? How has she adjusted to all of this after being thrust into the race?

FOREMAN: It's important to remember that both of them, in fairness, are in a very weird space.

He was one of the oldest candidates ever running for office and now he's the old one in this race. That happened suddenly.

She was on the sideline where vice presidents always are and suddenly, she had to mount an entire presidential campaign with just a few months left to go. That's a difficult thing to do. Yes, they very seamlessly took the Biden organization and stepped into it, and that gave them a framework to run with.

But she had to define herself to the whole nation. That's hard for vice presidents because they're always in the shadow of a president. And it's also hard because when he finally grabbed onto this fear message, which you heard last night, that started defining her. That's what has made the numbers draw together so that we don't really know at this moment who is going to win.

SIDNER: All right, Tom Foreman. It is always a pleasure. Thank you so much for being here -- John.

BERMAN: All right, for the first time in a decade there are new guidelines for stroke risk. CNN health reporter Jacqueline Howard is with us. So what are these guidelines, Jacqueline?

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Yeah, John. Well, these guidelines are to prevent having a stroke for the first time, so primary prevention.

And they recommend what you would expect -- having a healthy diet and regular exercise. It recommends a Mediterranean diet specifically. That includes nuts and healthy fats. It says a low-fat diet does not have as much of an impact on reducing risk.

And it recommends to avoid sitting too much during the day, so avoid having a sedentary lifestyle.

But for the first time, John, the recommendations include mention of GLP-1 drugs. Those are those popular diabetes and weight loss drugs. And it says that GLP-1 medications are effective in lowering the risk of stroke, and people with diabetes, and people with high cardiovascular risks. So these drugs include Ozempic, for instance. And this is a major development to have GLP-1 drugs mentioned in these recommendations.

The recommendations also specifically mention women and monitoring blood pressure during pregnancy -- postpartum. They recommend also monitoring during menopause. And for the first time the recommendations say that transgender women taking estrogens also should be monitored as that has been identified as having an increased risk of stroke.

So these recommendations also give a takeaway that a senior primary care physician is important and improving access to that level of health care is important as well, John.

BERMAN: How many die each year from strokes?

HOWARD: Oh, yeah. I mean, stroke is a major public health concern. Every three minutes someone in the United States dies from a stroke, and every 40 seconds someone in the United States has a stroke.

So this is a very, very important message to really focus in on prevention here. Stroke is not just a leading cause of death but also a leading cause of long-term disability. So that's why this is important, John.

BERMAN: Very important.

Jacqueline Howard, thank you --

HOWARD: Yeah.

BERMAN: -- so much for that -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right.

[07:45:00]

Did we just see the play of the year for the NFL? If you went to bed early you missed it. We'll have a recap for you.

And it's back to class for students in Asheville, North Carolina one month after Hurricane Helene devastated that area.

Those stories coming up.

(COMMERCIAL)

SIDNER: Artificial intelligence has opened up a new front in the war against disinformation and advances in technology have made detecting fake video harder than ever.

Earlier this year a political consultant used an AI-generated version of President Joe Biden's voice to generate robocalls to discourage Democrats from taking part in the New Hampshire primary. The FCC fined him $6 million, and he's pleaded not guilty to the 26 criminal charges he's facing.

[07:50:05]

But not all deepfakes, of course, get caught and not all campaigns have the resources to combat them.

Joining me now is Katie Harbath, former public policy director at Facebook and a fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center. Thank you so much for being here this morning.

You've made this argument that we don't really need to worry so much about deepfakes involving these huge races - obviously, the presidential candidates. Why is that?

KATIE HARBATH, FOUNDER AND CEO, ANCHOR CHANGE, FELLOW AT BIPARTISAN POLICY CENTER, FORMER FACEBOOK PUBLIC POLICY DIRECTOR (via Webex by Cisco): Well, it's because a lot of people are not paying attention to whether or not these deepfakes are going to be out there. The media is on top of it and a lot of civil society researchers. So those are going to get debunked really quickly.

What I am more worried about are deepfakes at more local races where there's not as big of a media environment, there's not as many fact- checkers watching that, and there could be such a high volume that even the platforms have a hard time detecting them.

SIDNER: What's an example of a deepfake in a local race that caught fire and may influence voters in that local election?

HARBATH: Well, one that I remember -- this wasn't necessarily an election but there was a deepfake of a principal in Baltimore I think late last year or earlier this year that took over a month for them to figure out whether or not it was fake. And it really ruined that principal's reputation. It caused a lot of tension inside that school district.

And so if you see something like this happen at a school board race or at even a congressional one it could have a real impact at the congressional level of even who controls the House.

SIDNER: Yeah. I mean, there was the example of the Indiana senator using a digitally altered political ad against his opponent.

What kind of deterrent or punishment is there to stop campaigns or super PACs from doing this sort of thing?

HARBATH: Well, as you mentioned in that Indiana race they actually have a law that requires disclosure of use of AI in political ads. And so they were actually caught quite quickly and required to make that change to that video.

Twenty-six states have a law like that. We don't have anything at the federal level. The FEC isn't requiring anything like this. So we're in a little bit of newly charted territory in terms of how to hold people accountable for when they do this type of technology.

SIDNER: What are we supposed to do with all of this? I mean, what can we do to try to distinguish from truth or deepfakes?

HARBATH: I think first is just being vigilant, knowing that if you see something that comes across your social media feed or is shared with you in messenger app to verify it, especially if it seems a little off. And these could even come in the form of deepfake audio of somebody that you know telling you something. And so really just double-checking when you hear something like this and making sure that it's real before you share it or even believe it.

SIDNER: How bad is this going to get with technology being enhanced it seems like every second?

HARBATH: So listen, I think we're at the very beginning of use of AI in these campaigns. It hasn't been as bad as any of us expected it to be. My mantra right now is to panic responsibly, which means to really separate out the signal from the noise of what is actually happening versus what could happen. But we do need to remain vigilant around how these things could be manipulated and remain so as we go past this election in future elections because I think that AI is only going to be used more.

SIDNER: Katie Harbath, I think you have the line of the morning -- panic responsibly. I have never heard that before. It is fantastic. I'm doing it right now.

Thank you so much. Appreciate your time this morning -- John.

BERMAN: All right. This morning life imitating art imitating Timothee Chalamet. Hundreds of people were in New York for a Timothee Chalamet lookalike contest, which is a thing apparently. That in and of itself is news and perhaps disturbing.

He showed up. Timothee Chalamet showed up to his own lookalike contest. I have to say I hope he won. I can't tell which one he is. They all are Timothee Chalamet there. There was like 100 Timothee -- what is it?

BOLDUAN: Tim-o-thee.

BERMAN: Oh, Tim-o-thee. I'm imitating his name, Tim-o-thee. I have no idea which one he is there because they're all looking like Timothee Chalamet.

BOLDUAN: Timothee.

BERMAN: The crowd went nuts. And as I say, all I can hope for is that he won -- he won the Timothee Chalamet lookalike contest. He's somewhere in there. I can see him.

BOLDUAN: What is happening right now?

BERMAN: All right. Two powerhouse singers sharing an embrace in Las Vegas. Adele was singing and making her way down to the crowd, and then she found Celine Dion and gave her a hug. Adele told the crowd Celine Dion is one of her favorite people of all time. This happened in the venue that was built for Celine Dion more than two decades ago when she launched her Las Vegas residency.

A turn of good fortune in one of the North Carolina counties hardest hit by Hurricane Helene. Jerry Hicks found $20.00 on the ground at a gas station. He used the money to buy scratch-off lottery tickets and guess what? He won. He brought home $430,000. First stop for his family, the Golden Corral buffet. Four hundred thirty thousand dollars buys a lot at the baked potato bar -- Kate.

[07:55:10]

BOLDUAN: As you would know.

This morning students in Asheville, North Carolina are returning to the classroom for the first time in a month -- one month since Hurricane Helene just devastated that region flooding and wiping some communities just off the map.

Over the weekend the star-studded Concert for Carolina took place in Charlotte, and it raised nearly $25 million for recovery efforts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC CHURCH, SINGER-SONGWRITER: Singing "Carolina." (END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Oh, it looks like just packed at the stadium. It's amazing what they did there.

CNN's Rafael Romo has more from North Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For some of the people that I've been in touch with this is a sign of hope, although they realize full recovery for Asheville and all the devasted areas in western North Carolina is going to take much longer.

In the city of Asheville, classes resume Monday on a modified schedule, and no after-school programs. Asheville City Schools superintendent Maggie Fehrman told CNN on Sunday that none of their schools were damaged in the storm, and all have power, internet, and running water. Asheville is in Buncombe County but operates in a city school system.

Buncombe County students went back to school Friday. Schools are on a two-hour delay and drinking water is being delivered just as Asheville schools are doing because what's coming out of the pipes is not yet safe for drinking.

Another challenge is that many students and staff were personally affected by the storm as the superintendent told us earlier.

MAGGIE FEHRMAN, SUPERINTENDENT, ASHEVILLE CITY SCHOOLS: We have several students that lost family members. We have staff members who lost family members. I think the most tragic was one of our staff members lost 11 members of her family in the Craigtown area, and that is just completely devastating for her and for our whole community.

ROMO: North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper reminded people over the weekend that Helene was the deadliest and most devastating storm ever to hit North Carolina, killing at least 98 people. More than 100,000 people had their homes damaged, the governor said, and thousands of businesses that were damaged have yet to reopen.

GOV. ROY COOPER, (D) NORTH CAROLINA: They're going to need our help collectively. They're going to need local government, state government, the federal government, the private sector, the volunteers, the nonprofits all pulling together so that western North Carolina can build back in a stronger way, more resilient way.

ROMO: Gov. Cooper also said the total damage caused by the storm is estimated at $53 billion.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Our thanks to Rafael Romo for that.

So this morning, Shohei will play. That is the expectation, at least, that Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani, the best baseball player on Earth, is expected to play in game three of the World Series tonight after suffering a shoulder injury in game two.

Let's get right to CNN's Coy Wire. What's going on, Coy?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Hi, John.

The Dodgers bring that 2-0 series lead to New York for tonight's game three against the Yankees, and all eyes will be on their superstar Shohei. Manager Dave Roberts says he's in a great spot despite injuring his left shoulder right here as he tried to steal second in game two in the seventh inning. And their training staff told Roberts that Ohtani was feeling good Sunday morning but a final determination on his status will be made later today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVE ROBERTS, MANAGER, L.A. DODGERS: I think that he's obviously very well aware of himself and his body, so if he feels good enough to go then I see no reason why he wouldn't be in there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: All right, John. Ohtani flew to New York separately from the team last night after undergoing some tests in L.A.

The first pitch is set for just after 8:00 Eastern.

Now, you have to come take a look at possibly the play of the year in football. It looked like the Bears had the Commanders beat. They scored a go-ahead touchdown with about 25 seconds to go. But that turned out to be plenty of time for Washington's rookie Jayden Daniels.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NFL ANNOUNCER: Daniels backs up. He's just going to have to let one fly. He goes to the right side and steps away from the defenders. He gives himself some time. Now, steps up, fires. Heads towards the end zone. It is good. (Screaming)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: A 52-yard Hail Mary to Noah Brown. Washington wins 18-15, John. Coach Quinn, the players, the fans, they're all going bonkers.

Daniels -- he scrambled 40 yards, about 12 seconds in the backfield before launching that thing 65 yards in the air. And remember, Daniels is dealing with a rib injury. It's incredible stuff. Congrats to Coach Quinn and all of Commanders Nation.

And congrats to your Patriots who have sent the --

BERMAN: Right.

WIRE: -- Jets further into the darkness.

BERMAN: Right. The Patriots beat the Jets. There is a team that lost to the Patriots.