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Trump and Harris Hitting Battlegrounds Hard With Six Days to Election; Biden Tries to Clean Up Garbage Remark About Trump Supporters; Trump Speaks During Campaign Stop in Battleground North Carolina. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired October 30, 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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[13:00:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Campaigns collide in North Carolina, both candidates in the Tar Heel State, a battleground where anything could happen on Election Day. Former President Trump expected to speak this hour as comments by President Joe Biden leave Vice President Harris and her campaign scrambling and a razor-tight race.

But new CNN polling shows an advantage for Harris in two blue wall states that could be key to her getting those critical 270 electoral votes. We'll take a look at the numbers.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: And new numbers show that the U.S. economy seems to have pulled off a remarkable and historic achievement. We'll break down exactly how it happened and what this could mean as it remains a top issue for voters.

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

KEILAR: We do begin this hour with some brand new CNN polling that is giving us a fresh snapshot of where the race for the White House stands with the election now less than a week away. In two of the must-win blue wall states, Michigan and Wisconsin, Vice President Harris has a slight edge over former President Trump, but they do remain Deadlocked in Pennsylvania, which, of course, as we have talked about so much, is the biggest electoral prize of the three.

And in the meantime, the candidates are targeting a different battleground right now, which is North Carolina. Soon, Trump will rally supporters in Rocky Mount, while Harris is in Raleigh.

SANCHEZ: And she just began speaking there. We're monitoring her remarks, and we will bring them to you live. Obviously, the vice president fresh off of this, her closing argument speech in Washington, D.C., last night, where she reminded Americans of what she believes is at stake in this election. But her message was almost immediately complicated by President Biden, who is now trying to clean up after making this remark during a virtual get out the vote event yesterday.

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JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: And just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a floating island of garbage. Well, let me tell you something. I don't know the Puerto Rican that I know or Puerto Rico where I'm in my home state of Delaware. They're good, decent, honorable people. The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Biden later clarified that he was referring to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by a Trump supporter at the former president's controversial Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday.

CNN's Kevin Liptak joins us now live. Kevin, you actually had reporting just yesterday that the Harris campaign was weary of injecting too much of President Biden because of potential gaffes, because of his unfavorability rating at the moment, and not a few hours later, we get this.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, and this is part of the reason why Biden has been such a limited presence on the campaign trail this year. Certainly, there are the political imperatives, Harris is trying to put some distance between herself and the current administration. But at the end of the day, so many Democrats are wary of President Biden because they think he's a liability because he does have a tendency to say these things on the campaign trail that can be misconstrued, that can be turned by Republicans into an attack line on Vice President Harris. And that is exactly what's taking place today.

And certainly I don't think it's unreasonable. The explanation that President Biden has put out that he was talking about that single comedian, but that doesn't mean that his words aren't damaging. And certainly because they're on video, they speak for themselves in a way.

Now, Vice President Harris was out this morning. She's on her way to a battleground state swing, as we're seeing there. And she was asked to clarify and asked to respond to what Biden said. Take a listen to what she said.

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KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I think that, first of all, he clarified his comments. But let me be clear, I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for.

As you heard in my speech last night and continuously throughout my career, I believe that the work that I do is about representing all the people, whether they support me or not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: You know, I don't think there's anything that Kamala Harris wants to be doing less in the final week of this election than trying to clarify what President Biden is saying. It's not even trying to clarify one of her own remarks that's trying to clarify what Biden is saying.

I think when Biden dropped out of the race, there were so many sighs of relief among Democrats because they didn't think that they were going to have to spend this campaign trying to clean up his remarks. But I think this is an indication that that is still a challenge for Democrats even heading into this election.

SANCHEZ: And as you said, the last thing that she wanted to be talking about coming off of this huge speech or one week out from election day. Kevin Liptak, thank you so much for the reporting.

Let's get you out to Raleigh right now and listen to Vice President Harris to hear if she brings this up.

[13:05:02]

HARRIS: Either he or I will be in the Oval Office.

Thank you. Thank you.

And here is the thing. There are many big differences between he and I, but I would say a major contrast is this. If he is elected on day one, Donald Trump will walk into that office with an enemies list. When I am elected, I will walk in with a to-do list full of priorities about what I will get done for you, the American people.

And at the top of my list is bringing down your cost of living. That will be my focus every single day as president. I will give a middle class tax cut to over 100 million Americans, enact the first ever federal ban on price gouging on groceries, and fight to make sure that hard working Americans can actually afford a place to live.

And if you are caring for an elderly parent, my plan will cover the cost of home care under Medicare so that seniors can get the help and care they need to stay in their own homes.

And my plan will lower the cost of child care, cut taxes for small businesses, and lower healthcare costs, because I believe healthcare should be a right and not just a privilege of those who can afford it.

KEILAR: All right. We are listening there to Vice President Harris in Raleigh, North Carolina, as she does make some stops on the trail today.

Let's go to CNN's Steve Contorno, who is with the Trump campaign, also in North Carolina. He is in Rocky Mount. And, Steve, Trump is seizing on Biden's garbage comments. How's he responding? And I suspect he'll be talking about this at his rally.

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Yes. If the speakers today already are any indication, Brianna, this will come up quite a bit today. They have already been getting a lot of mileage out of that gaffe from President Biden. Donald Trump also addressing those remarks on Truth Social yesterday, writing, quotes, Vice President Harris has spent all week comparing her political opponents to the most evil mass murderers in history. Now, on top of everything, Joe Biden calls supporters garbage. You can't lead America if you don't love the American people.

And, yes, I expect him to continue to harp on that message when he takes the stage later today in North Carolina. We're just about an hour down the road from where Vice President Harris is holding her event. So, these two campaigns are colliding on this critical battleground state where about 3.4 million ballots have already been cast, but more than 40 percent of the number of registered people here. So, clearly, a lot of people are already taking advantage of voting early here.

And you see this sign behind me that says vote early, Donald Trump encouraging his supporters to take advantage of those methods of early voting even as he continues to cast doubt in the safety and security of these elections. Yesterday in Pennsylvania, he continued to push this false narrative that there is something untoward already happening in Pennsylvania, because some election officials in one county discovered some ballot, or excuse me, some voter registration forms that had some discrepancies on them.

So, you can see, even as he is continuing to push those conspiracies, he wants his voters to get out there and vote. He calls it swamping the vote, and that is his message here in North Carolina with just five days to go before Election Day.

KEILAR: All right. Steve Contorno, thank you so much for the preview there.

Let's talk about this now. We have Alex Thompson, CNN political analyst and national political reporter for Axios. And we have Sabrina Rodriguez, national politics reporter for The Washington Post.

Alex, Axios had reported over the weekend that the Harris campaign viewed Biden as a political liability. We've been talking about this. We just talked about it with Kevin. It kind of seems like maybe a little bit of a nightmare came true.

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ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, he is unpopular and he is undisciplined in the eyes of the Harris campaign. And last night was not the first time. You have to remember last week, he talked about former Representative Gabby Giffords in the past tense. She's still very much alive. He went to New Hampshire, said that they need to lock Donald Trump up, then tried to clarify. Again, we're getting this pattern, right, where he says something and tries to clarify.

And then last night, you know, she had this big speech, 75,000 people, got a ton of earned media because she made it about January 6th. She did it on The Ellipse. It was very well received by the crowd. She also got a ton of coverage and basically was delivering her stump speech with a little January 6th done in, and now we're here talking about this.

The truth of the matter is that Joe Biden now is no longer able to deliver a consistently coherent message at his age, the reason he's not the nominee and she is, and she knows that. But, you know, Joe Biden knows that his legacy is wrapped up in her winning and he wants to get on the trail. He wants to help her. And that's where this tension is coming in.

SANCHEZ: It's notable because it's not the first time that something the president has done, even as recently as a few weeks ago, has overshadowed the message that Harris is trying to get across.

Sabrina, to you, notably, this coming from Biden for Republicans is like a gift because over the weekend and into yesterday, a large part of the discussion was about the rhetoric at his rally in Madison Square Garden on Sunday, and Biden was actually speaking with a progressive Latino voter group when he brought this up. I mean, again, this is like a gift from President Biden to Republicans.

SABRINA RODRIGUEZ, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Absolutely. I mean, this isn't just about Biden distracting from what Kamala Harris wants to be her closing message to the American people. I mean, this was -- you know, this just gave fuel and ammunition for Republicans to talk about Democrats and criticize them.

I mean, for the past three days, we've been talking nonstop about the comment that was made by the comedian at Trump's rally where he called Puerto Rico an island of garbage. I mean, ahead of Trump's rally in Allentown, a lot of the narrative wasn't about what Donald Trump's closing messages are really about Donald Trump. It was about the anger and outrage around this and if it would cost him votes with Puerto Ricans and other Latinos, and just seeing, you know, just the way it happened last night. You know, I was at the rally in Allentown and saw when Senator Marco Rubio came on stage and he was able to amp up the crowd by saying this just in, you know, Biden called us garbage.

And that is something we're going to be hearing Republicans talking about nonstop from here to Election Day. And I think that's what's also really important to keep in mind. We're not a few months out. We're a few days out. So, this just was a gift on a platter for Republicans.

KEILAR: Yes. And certainly they are feasting on it and will continue to. We see it at that rally going on right now in North Carolina of Trump's.

Sabrina, Harris is going to appear with a huge name, Jennifer Lopez, tomorrow. She'll be in Nevada, a key swing state. And there's new CNN polling that has her up with likely Latino voters by double digits. How are things looking with this key voting bloc?

RODRIGUEZ: You know, the Harris campaign is definitely feeling more confident today than they were a week ago, just given that Puerto Rico insult and given other insults that were said at that rally about Latino voters. I think it's too soon for them to get overconfident. You know, we see that, yes, she has a lead with Latino voters, but it's still in many polls is short of what Biden's performance was in the exit polls in 2020 and that of Democratic nominees and in recent election cycles.

So, I think there's still this concern about her shoring up that support, especially in a place like Nevada, where she will be tomorrow.

So, I think just seeing that rally that she has planned tomorrow, you know, it's the combination of two things, you know, huge Puerto Rican star, Jennifer Lopez, and then as well as Mexican rock band Mana, so clearly trying to hit at these two groups within the Latino community and hopes of shoring up that support that right now is not guaranteed.

SANCHEZ: Alex, we see Harris in North Carolina today. We just got polling from the blue wall states where she's leading in Michigan and Wisconsin by I think roughly five percentage points, but it's essentially even when it comes to Pennsylvania. Where is the Harris campaign hyper focused on these final days? I imagine they're going to spend a lot of time there.

THOMPSON: Yes. The seven swing states have sort of begun to shrunk to five. So, basically, it's in part because of just travel logistics, Nevada, Arizona, it's possible they still may go out there, but increasingly the resources are focused on Georgia, North Carolina, and then those blue wall states. And that's because all of those states are within the margin of error, you can also hit multiple of them in one day. And so you are seeing the campaigns really double down in these states, most in Georgia today. She's obviously in North Carolina. But you're going to see them barnstorming, particularly Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, those five.

SANCHEZ: The clock is ticking. Alex Thompson, thank you so much. Sabrina Rodriguez, the duchess of Hialeah, Florida, I'm going to say it every time you come on, Sabrina.

[13:15:03]

Thank you so much for joining us.

RODRIGUEZ: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Of course. Up next, we have an inside view from the Harris campaign. We're going to speak with Congressman Maxwell Frost from Florida about that gaffe by President Biden and what he is hearing from voters during recent stops in battleground Pennsylvania.

KEILAR: Plus, markets are up. The reason, new economic numbers have some experts saying the American economy may have officially pulled off a soft landing,

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KEILAR: On the campaign trail, all eyes are on North Carolina this hour, Harris and Trump both holding these rallies in the battleground state.

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Harris is in Raleigh right now. She just wrapped up her speech there where she talked about the stakes in this election. The Harris campaign needing to refocus the narrative today after President Biden appeared to refer to supporters of Donald Trump as garbage, a remark he later tried to clarify, saying that he was referring only to comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who made a racist joke about Puerto Rico at Trump's rally at Madison Square Garden this weekend.

Joining us now is Democratic Congressman Maxwell Frost from Florida. Congressman, thank you so much for being with us.

I do want to ask you, the White House sort of saying that this is about him saying, supporter, apostrophe, S, garbage. And I just wonder if when you're debating the existence of an apostrophe, if you've lost the argument here.

REP. MAXWELL FROST (D-FL): Well, this is what I'll tell you. The comments that we heard at that rally were completely disgusting about Puerto Rican Americans. I was very angered about it, and I think the president was very angry about it, thinking about and talking about it. I think he misspoke. And all you got to do is look back at the last four years of his presidency. He's always been a president for everybody.

I mean, we all saw that video like a month ago of him in a fire station in Pennsylvania surrounded by people wearing Donald Trump merch, Donald Trump shirts, a pretty what you would consider a hostile environment. But he was going throughout the room with ease, having conversations with people, laughing with people. He had the MAGA hat as a joke, right? He's someone who -- he loves every American.

I think he misspoke because he was angry thinking about the bigotry we heard at Madison Square Garden. And, honestly, I think that's it.

KEILAR: You think he misspoke. Do you think that there actually is an apostrophe S that he was talking about Hinchcliffe?

FROST: Yes, I think he was talking about that specific supporter that people were speaking on that stage. And we've got to be clear, it wasn't just the comedian that was spewing hatred and bigotry. We heard a ton of anti-Semitism on that stage, anti-blackness, Islamophobia, it's anti-immigrant hatred. So, there was just so much hatred on the stage. And I think the president was talking about that guy specifically, but also just everything said from that stage at that rally.

KEILAR: So, I want to ask you last week, he said we got to lock him up. I mean, Trump, he clarified that pretty quickly where he said, lock him up politically, but still bad choice of words, obviously, especially historically, having been used by Trump and his supporters. Harris has been very careful to shut down any talk of that at her rallies. Is Biden a liability here in the home stretch? Or let me put it another way, do you want to see more of Joe Biden weighing into this election right now? FROST: I do not think Joe Biden's a liability. Number one, the reason we're here at this point in time is because Joe Biden did something that doesn't exist in U.S. politics usually. He made a very selfless decision to take a step back and hand over the baton to Kamala Harris. We right now are seeing that an economy that's bouncing back from the pandemic because of Joe Biden, Kamala Harris. And so I do not believe he's a liability here. The work that he's done have really put us into this moment where we're about to elect the first woman to be the president of the United States.

And we're going to continue to do the work we're doing. We see the vice president is in North Carolina today. She's not taking any vote for granted. She wants everybody to know that she's going to be a president for every American, just like both of them have done over the last four years,

KEILAR: We have this new blue wall polling showing Harris was slim leads in Wisconsin and Michigan, tied in Pennsylvania, where I know that you've been on the ground for the campaign. When you take a closer look, she's leading with black voters in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by 55, which may seem like a lot. But according to exit polls, Biden actually carried black voters in that state in 2020 by 85 points. Does that worry you?

FROST: Well, I mean, of course, I think it's important to look at polls. I'm not one of these people that says polls don't matter. We look at them. But, look, at this point, the game, Kamala Harris has put forth an actual plan for black America, for black men. People are listening to it. There's another poll that came out a couple days ago that show that she's bounced back from some of the attrition we saw with black men, and that's because she's not taking these votes for granted.

So, I think at the end of the day, when exit polls are done for this race, we're going to see that she was able to have much more of the black community behind her side, not just because she's a black candidate, as she said, but because she actually has a platform that's speaking to that community as well.

KEILAR: There are at least ten states with abortion on the ballot, including yours, Florida. But I wonder if you're concerned that voters could actually vote to protect abortion rights and then vote to elect Trump, kind of like a line item veto on his abortion stance, because there's actually polling that we look at in your state, in Arizona, that is showing abortion measures outpolling Democrats.

[13:25:08]

FROST: Yes. And we see this on a lot of different issues. I mean, there's a lot of states, quote/unquote, red states that have voted to codify abortion rights, yet they voted for anti-choice candidates, which doesn't make much sense to me. But we see this on a lot of other progressive policies as well.

In the state of Florida, yes, there will be a large group of voters who vote yes on Amendment 4 to codify abortion rights, yes on Amendment 3 to make sure that we legalize adult use marijuana. And there will be a large group that votes yes on those two and yes on Donald Trump and voting for Donald Trump.

We're going to have to build a bipartisan coalition, and we will, we are, here in the state of Florida because these issues aren't about a specific party. It's about everybody. It's about patients. It's about stories. And the work that we have to do as Democrats in the state of Florida over the next, you know, six days, but also the next several years is connecting those issues to our platform even more, and that's how we're going to expand our coalition.

But, 100 percent, there will be a contingency of people in the state of Florida that vote for both. I'm not sure -- you know, I think it'll look a little different, though, in other states, especially states like Arizona.

KEILAR: All right, many issues on the ballot, giving voters a lot of choices there, Congressman Frost, thanks for being with us.

FROST: Thanks for having me.

KEILAR: Any minute, former President Trump is set to speak in North Carolina, and we're going to see what, if anything, he says about President Biden's gaffe.

Stay with CNN News Central.

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SANCHEZ: Straight to Rocky Mountain, North Carolina, and former President Donald Trump on the campaign trail. Let's listen in.

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: -- with your vote in this election. Oh, it's coming up so nice with down to six days, maybe sort of five, maybe five, the way you count it.

Six days, can you imagine? I will end inflation. I will stop the massive invasion of criminals into our country, and I will bring back a thing called the American dream. Isn't that nice? Because we haven't had that. We haven't had that in a long time. Our country will be bigger, better, bolder, richer, safer and stronger than ever before.

And this election is the choice between whether we'll have four more years, think of this, four more years of gross incompetence, the most corrupt, horrible people.