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Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-CA) is Interviewed about the Harris Campaign; New Assault Claims against Combs; Kyle Schroeder and Chris Davis are Interviewed about the Youth Vote. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired October 29, 2024 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:31:36]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning, Kamala Harris saying just moments ago in a brand-new radio interview with "The Breakfast Club," she talked about some polls showing she's struggling with support among black men. She says those polls are flat-out wrong.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The brothers aren't saying that. I mean, I was just at the barbershop in Philly talking with very incredible and distinguished men who are leaders in their community and small business and education and these men, these black men, were talking about not only their support for me, but most importantly their support for my perspective.

But the black men in particular who are at the rallies have recently been saying to me, don't you listen to that and they got to stop with all that noise. We support you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: With me now is Democratic senator from California, Laphonza Butler.

Thank you so much for getting up early and coming on with us. You are Harris' campaign co-chair.

There was an uptick in support for Donald Trump among black men in 2020, about six percentage points or so. Do you think that the polling is incorrect and what she's hearing from black men at her rallies is right?

SEN. LAPHONZA BUTLER (D-CA): Well, thanks so much, Sara, for having me and congratulations to you on ringing the bell.

SIDNER: Thank you.

BUTLER: Look, as it relates to black men in this - in this election, you know, one of the first things I think is important, and I think the vice president spoke to it in her remarks on "The Breakfast Club," is we - I congratulate them for being the most loyal, high-performing demographic of electorate focusing on voting for Democrats, you know, second only to - to black men. And I think that this election is going to be no different. I - based on young black men and middle-age black men that I've talked to as I've traveled battleground states across this country on behalf of this campaign, they too are saying to me that they are supporting the vice president, that they stand in favor of the policies that she is promoting, and that they reject the division that is being promoted from the other side.

So, I - you know, polls are a snapshot in time. We'll all know in the next seven days how they will - how they'll turn out. And I think they're going to be showing up for Vice President Harris.

SIDNER: All right, I wanted to talk to you about this because before you came to Congress you were a Los Angeles based leader of the Homecare Workers Union. And you, back then, gave Kamala Harris some advice before she became vice president, that she actually took to walk a day in the shoes of homecare workers to understand the challenges.

So, I want to get your take on this. This political PAC in a memo warned the Harris campaign against attacking Donald Trump for being a fascist, saying it turns off voters. But this morning "The New York Times" is reporting the Harris campaign quietly thinks it's actually working, the attacks, and it's particularly working with moderate Republicans.

What are you advising on this issue?

BUTLER: You know, Sara, I think this is an election that is just about choices. And the vice president is both, I think, attempting to lay out a vision for the American people of what her governing style is going to be like, what are the policies that she's going to be bringing forward, and to contrast those - those policies and that to- do lists with the words, frankly, and actions of - of Donald Trump.

[09:35:06]

And so I don't think it's necessarily in this moment an either/or, it is a both/and. This is an election where people want to know who they're voting for and what are the threats that are on the other side. And I think we're trying to make that contrast really, really clear. And I think the vice president is doing a good job at that.

SIDNER: I want to ask you about what we saw at Madison Square Garden. The Trump campaign trying to distance itself from the racist jokes about Puerto Ricans being an island of trash. But they have said nothing about the racist joke by the same community talking about black folks and watermelons. What should Harris do with this?

BUTLER: You know, love, Sara, we - we a love a good joke. And, you know, you just take the words of the archbishop of San Juan. And, you know, and as he has demanded an apology personally from former President Trump. Look, I think that that - the - the rally, if you want to call it

that, at Madison Square Garden was a despicable display of hate and division. Nothing new from the - President Trump and those who have been supporting him.

And, you know, for president Harris - for Vice President Harris, I think she's got to just let Trump's words and the words of his allies stand on their own and talk about what her plan is to unite the country.

You know, when you look at the rallies all across the country that the vice president is having, these are coalitions and communities standing together, having a joyful time and knowing that the power of our country is when people from across different spectrums and lived experiences come together to do impossible things. And that's the work that we have in front of us. And I think that's the work that the vice president is going to be talking think about tonight.

SIDNER: Harris ha faced some real criticism for saying at first that she wouldn't change anything about Joe Biden's agenda, to saying that she is a very different person and a different candidate. How do you convince voters at the end of the day who she is and what she stands for?

BUTLER: Yes, look, I think President Biden and the partnership that he and Vice President Harris have had has, you know, had an incredibly positive impact on moving our country forward from a time where we were all living through the pain of losing a million Americans during the pandemic, to a point in our economy and in our - in the functioning of our government where we're making real progress.

The work and the presidency of Vice President Harris, if she were to be successful next - next Tuesday is a true - is going to be a true demonstration of who she is. And we've just got to continue to tell that story. The vice president's had 13 weeks to introduce herself to the American people. I think she's done an incredible job. But she very much is a very - is a different person with a different lived experience from a middle class family, and she's going to center what she has learned from the American people all across this country.

And I think that's - that has been apparent in how she has run and executed this campaign. The policies that she's put forth, being in everyday places where everyday voters are. And that's, I think, a clear demonstration on how she is going to lead and the work that we have in front of us to these next seven -- seven days.

SIDNER: Senator Laphonza Butler, I will say to you, good luck with your L.A. Dodgers. It could be a sweep. I'm not taking sides, but I am on this one. Thank you so much.

BUTLER: It's going to be. It's going to be. It's going to be a sweep.

SIDNER: We'll see tonight.

BUTLER: Thank you, Sara.

SIDNER: All right, Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: More than 8 million young voters will be eligible to make their pick for president for the first time this year. And both campaigns would really like their votes. But how are the - how is their messaging playing out to win those votes?

And a Minnesota man is now charged after allegedly shooting his neighbor while that neighbor was just doing yard work. Why the police chief now says, quote, "we failed this victim 100 percent."

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[09:43:47]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, Sean Combs is facing two new lawsuits accusing him of sexual assault. One of the accusers says Combs assaulted him when he was just 10-years-old.

CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister is here with the details on this.

Lay it out for us, Elizabeth.

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: These are incredibly disturbing allegations. So, I do want to warn our viewers that this is very sensitive material that I am about to talk about.

So, two new lawsuits against Sean Combs, both coming from anonymous male users who claim that they were minors at the time. Now, one of the accusers claims that he was just a ten-year-old boy when he was allegedly assaulted and he believes drugged by Combs in 2005. He says that he first met Combs at an audition of sorts, in a hotel room in New York. That is when he says that Combs gave him soda and then he felt funny after. So, he believes that that soda contained some sort of drugs. He says that Combs talked to him about how badly he wanted to be a star and said, quote, "you have to do some stuff you don't want to do sometimes." That is when this accuser says that he froze in terror as he was sexually assaulted.

[09:45:02]

Again, this was allegedly a ten-year-old boy at the time. He says that he lost consciousness and that when he woke up that he was in pain.

Now, the next accuser alleges that he was 17 years old at the time and that he also met Combs at an audition. He says that he was trying out for his MTV show "Making the Band," which was a very popular show. And over the course of the three-day audition, he says that he was sexually assaulted numerous times.

Now, Combs' attorneys deny these claims. When I reached out, they did not respond to these specific allegations, but I want to read you part of what they told me, John. They said, quote, "as we've said before, Mr. Combs cannot respond to every new publicity stunt, even in response to claims that are ridiculous or demonstrably false. Mr. Combs and his legal team have full confidence in the facts and the integrity of the judicial process. In court, the truth will prevail that Mr. Combs never sexually assaulted anyone or trafficked anyone, man or woman, adult or minor."

So, there you see, they are not just denying these two new lawsuits, but they are denying every allegation against him. John, this is the 27th lawsuit now against Combs. And, of course, he is incarcerated as he awaits his criminal trial.

BERMAN: All right, new information, it seems, every day in this case, or these cases.

Elizabeth Wagmeister, thank you very much.

So, the presidential election could swing on the influence of influencers. But there is a mystery over the money behind some of these posts.

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SIDNER: Just like the TV screen, your social media feed is likely flooded with political ads and posts right now. Influencers are playing a huge role in this election. Among them, YouTuber Jake Paul (ph), who posed a video pretending to square off with Trump, which he said got over 1.5 million likes. The Democratic National Convention had a whole content creators lounge that we passed by.

CNN's Clare Duffy is following this trend.

How do we know if the post is a paid endorsement or not a paid endorsement or just someone, you know, supporting?

CLARE DUFFY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Sara, that is the big question at this point. The campaigns themselves haven't said whether they are paying influencers, but we know that political action committees, other groups, are paying content creators at this point to get across their political messaging.

As just one example, the Democratic PAC Priorities USA and voter advocacy group Somos Votantes recently announced a three - nearly $3 million campaign that involved paying influencers to help get out the vote.

[09:50:01]

But here's the big challenge. There is no law that requires influencers to disclose if they have been paid for a political post. That's different from most branded content. Most of the time influencers are required to label if they've been paid to promote a brand or a product. But that's not the case when it comes to these political posts.

And that's a challenge, right, because we know that so many young voters especially are getting their news from TikTok, from social media right now. About 40 percent of young voters say they regularly rely on TikTok for news. And the fact that influencers are not required to disclose these kinds of endorsements means that voters and users are on their own to try to sess (ph) out, is this influencer's post just there genuine feelings, they're just telling me who they're going to vote for, or have they been paid to promote that point of view.

Sara.

SIDNER: Something that they will have to sort out. It may not matter to some people as well.

Clare Duffy, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: And joining us right now is Kyle Schroeder, he's the chairman of the Wisconsin Young Republicans, and the chair of the Colorado Young Democrats, Chris Davis.

Thanks so much for being here.

Chris, there's more than 8 million people who will be eligible to vote for the first time this year. If you look more broadly, just looking at the numbers, nearly 42 million people 18 to 27-years-old, which is, you know, gen z, are going to be - are eligible to vote. Bouncing off Clare's reporting, how big of a role do you think TikTok and social media are playing in how gen z and young voters are making their decision on who to vote for?

CHRIS DAVIS, CHAIR, COLORADO YOUNG DEMOCRATS: Well, initially, I just want to acknowledge that that's something that's kind of hard to measure. We don't have much data on it. That is definitely a more recent trend in our political happenings.

However, they are clearly having an impact given the amounting of engagement, the likes, all that kind of stuff. It really gets out there. And I find that especially on TikTok, is a platform that really a lot of young people feel enables them to get the straight truth and nothing but the truth a little bit more unfiltered as you would then perhaps maybe Facebook or Instagram.

BOLDUAN: Yes, advantages and disadvantages, right? If used well and harnessed well. And then the downsides of what we've - we've all - we've covered the downsides of that extensively.

Kyle, Kamala Harris was in Michigan yesterday. And it bring it up because she's near the University of Michigan's campus. And during her remarks, she made a direct appeal to younger voters. I want to play some of what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I love your generation. I really do. And one of the things about it is, you are rightly impatient for change. I love that about you. You are impatient for change.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Kyle, that message doesn't land with you. But what are you hearing from other young Republicans about what is landing? KYLE SCHROEDER, CHAIRMAN, WISCONSIN YOUNG REPUBLICANS: Well, first

I'll have to say, I wish Kamala Harris was impatient for change because she - if she was impatient for change, we'd have changed right now. We'd have a better economy. We'd have young voters that are graduating college with massive amounts of debts that her and Joe Biden promised to alleviate for them. They did not change that. We have a border crisis that she's failed on. She did not change that. We have an economy that's failing, and she hasn't changed that. So, I wish that Kamala Harris would change something right now. She can do that.

But I think that young voters are ready for change. And that's why in seven days that they're going to elect Donald J. Trump and J.D. Vance, who is the youngest ticket right now on the ballot for young voters to vote for by, yes, six months, but it is the youngest ticket. And J.D. Vance speaks directly to young voters. And she can spout that at a rally by the University of Michigan, but in Wisconsin, here, we're hurting. Young voters are hurting. We can't buy houses. We can't buy groceries. We don't know what we're going to do when we start families.

So, I wish that she would be that impatient - that impatient that she's saying young voters are. We are. We're going to vote for Donald Trump in seven days here.

BOLDUAN: So, change, but how change is defined and how young voters view change differently is a big issue that you're hearing about.

Chris, I have seen some reporting about Democrats spending about half a million dollars in like last - the last-minute push against third party candidates, Jill Stein and Cornell West. This is in large part is a push toward targeting young voters. The background is, Dems blame in part third parties for losses in 2000 and 2016. So now they're not looking past the third-party candidates this time is what you see in this - in this spending.

Are you hearing a lot of support for third party candidates still? Do you think it could be a problem for Harris?

[09:55:02]

DAVIS: I'm not too worried about the third-party support, to be honest. I think that a lot of young people are catching on to how our political system works. In short, basically, we understand that the stakes are high when it comes to a presidential race. And a lot of us are going to be voting not necessarily for the candidate that we feel most best represents our values, but creates an environment that will really empower young people to actually take the reins and come into leadership.

You know, I - we can always talk about how a presidential candidate can come in and bring change. But really, as I think president - or Vice President Harris, soon to be president Harris, would even acknowledge that change starts from the bottom up. And so if we're going to be engaging with youth voters, we need to recognize that these third party entities, while maybe they seem attractive at first glance to some new people into the political arena, people quickly see that they just don't have the record to run on to be able to run country or anything like that. And that's why I'm really glad that all the work that we've done as the Colorado Young Democrats has positioned us to really be in a position later, you know, post- election to bring that change.

BOLDUAN: Chris Davis, Kyle Schroeder, thanks for coming in.

Thank you.

SIDNER: And thank you for joining us. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL with John and Kate B., no relation. I'm Sara Sidner. "CNN NEWSROOM" up next.

BOLDUAN: Yes, the sister he never wanted.

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