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Harris: Trump Comment About Women "Very Offensive"; Today: Trump Stumps in New Mexico, Nevada and Arizona; Celebs Pick Sides in Battle Between Harris & Trump; Election Officials Fear Musk's Misinformation Machine; Cat People Still Hissing Mad at Trump Camp Weeks After Debate. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired October 31, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

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[15:00:49]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Just five days left in the 2024 campaign. And today, our last CNN battleground poll is out, now showing all seven battleground states up for grabs. We're going to break down what the numbers say in Georgia and North Carolina, some potentially key states.

Plus, Vice President Kamala Harris heading west to campaign with Latino stars in battlegrounds, but not before seizing on comments by former President Donald Trump saying he will protect women whether they, quote, "like it or not."

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And an Arizona election official inviting Elon Musk to examine all of their election equipment and observe the absentee vote counting. His only request, stop telling lies. How election officials are battling Musk's misinformation machine.

I'm Brianna Keilar with Boris Sanchez here in Washington, and we're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SANCHEZ: In case you missed it just there, welcome to CNN NEWS CENTRAL, I'm Boris Sanchez.

KEILAR: And I'm Brianna Keilar.

And it is five days - five - five - can you believe it?

SANCHEZ: Yes.

KEILAR: Five days to go, seven swing states, two candidates in a neck and neck race that may become the closest presidential race in modern American history. New, polling showing Kamala Harris and Donald Trump in a virtual tie in the key battlegrounds of North Carolina and Georgia. And in the meantime, the candidates are headed west.

The Vice President holding campaign events in Phoenix and Reno, followed by a rally in Las Vegas where Jennifer Lopez is going to join her on stage. And right now Trump is holding a rally in Albuquerque, New Mexico, just a day after making this comment about women.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Four weeks ago, I would say, no, I want to protect the people. I want to protect the women of our country. I want to protect the women. Sir, please don't say that. Why? They said, we think it's very inappropriate for you to say, so why? They said, sir, I just think it's inappropriate for you to say. I pay these guys a lot of money. Can you believe it? I said, well, I'm going to do it whether the women like it or not. I'm going to protect them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Let's turn now to our reporters following the candidates out on the campaign trail. We'll start with Priscilla Alvarez in Northern Las Vegas following the Harris campaign.

Priscilla, the Vice President was quick to slam Trump over those comments. What did she say?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: She has been quick and this is part of a strategy that the campaign has deployed and basically putting her in front of cameras daily to rapidly respond to what the former president is saying. In this case, the Vice President, of course, polls have shown she has a lead among women, and she used an opportunity this morning to slam the former president's remarks. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It actually is, I think, very offensive to women in terms of not understanding their agency, their authority, their right and their ability to make decisions about their own lives, including their own bodies. And this is just the latest on a series of reveals by the former president of how he thinks about women.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now, part of the closing argument for the Vice President is about women's rights, reproductive rights in particular. That's a message she's going to continue over the next few days, including here in Nevada. But this stop is also aimed at appealing to Latino voters. She has had a groundswell of support over the last few days among Latino celebrities and megastars like Jennifer Lopez, who will be here, but also Mana, and that is something that her campaign is trying to capitalize on, especially on the heels of those remarks by a comedian at the Madison Square Garden rally for former President Donald Trump assailing Puerto Rican.

And senior campaign officials tell me, look, this is a period of mobilization, especially in these battleground states. And here in Nevada, tomorrow is the last day of early in-person voting. In-person voting will commence on Tuesday, and in the interim, people can continue to mail in their ballots.

[15:05:01]

But the timing here is critical because the campaign wants to capitalize on early voting, so it is stops like these where the Vice President is aiming her message at, again, Latino voters, women as well, but also trying to urge them and mobilize them to vote and where they can do so early. Brianna? Boris?

KEILAR: All right. Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much.

Let's go to Alayna Treene, who is in Henderson, Nevada, just outside of Las Vegas. This is one of Trump's western stops today.

And Alayna, Trump, right now, we should mention is, interestingly, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Tell us why he's there and what his message is.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, I think one of the reasons that he's in New Mexico is because he is continuing to try and court the Hispanic community in this country. Of course, it comes after some of those really derogatory and racist remarks that a comedian on Sunday made about Puerto Ricans, saying that Puerto Rico is a floating island of garbage. We've continued to see the Trump campaign try and clean up those remarks.

Now, when I talk to Donald Trump's team, they argue that they're unsure how much, you know, this could - actually, those comments could actually affect the election at this point, with just five days to go, but they see it as a needless headache before the end of this cycle.

Now, I do want to point your attention to something Donald Trump just said moments ago. He made it clear why he is in New Mexico. He said it's to help with his credentials with the Hispanic or Latino community. I want you to take a listen to how he put it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: So, I'm here for one simple reason. I like you very much, and it's good for my credentials with the Hispanic or Latino community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now, Boris and Brianna, I think, you know, we have to say that New Mexico is a democratic border state. It is mostly, its majority population is Native American and Hispanic. Part of this stop, and this was scheduled before some of those really inflammatory remarks over the weekend, part of that stop is, again, to try and make inroads with voters that they believe will make a difference on the margins.

The Trump campaign, as has the Harris campaign, has really been courting Hispanic men. And I should note that Donald Trump has really all but erased Harris' gain with Hispanic men in this country. And so this has been a huge focus for the Trump campaign, and they're really trying to, you know, hone in on that message in these final days, even as they're receiving so much backlash for some of those comments that were made by people who they gave a platform to at Madison Square Garden, and you have yet to hear Donald Trump himself address it or condemn those remarks publicly. So, keep that in mind as you listen to the rest of his speech today in New Mexico.

KEILAR: All right. Alayna Treene, thank you so much.

SANCHEZ: In the battle for celebrity endorsements, the Harris campaign looks ready to say, let's get loud after a swell of support from Latino artists, including one who had endorsed Donald Trump and then walked that back.

KEILAR: That's right. CNN Entertainment Correspondent Elizabeth Wagmeister is with us on this.

Elizabeth, some big names speaking out in these final days.

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So Jennifer Lopez, as you said, will appear with Vice President Kamala Harris tonight, and just announced moments ago, Cardi B is going to be appearing with her on Friday night.

Now, Cardi B has been politically active throughout the past few years of her career. She was a staunch supporter of Bernie Sanders heading into the 2020 election and then supported Biden. But what's interesting is that when it was President Biden in the race, she said, I'm not voting for Biden or Trump. So now that she is going to be there with Harris is a big endorsement for her.

Now, along with our colleague Priscilla Alvarez, who you were just speaking with a few moments ago, we have some new reporting out that the Harris campaign, they had always planned to have these big A- listers with them towards the final stretch of their campaign. But what came as a surprise was all of these Latino superstars. And, of course, that came in reaction to those comments made at Madison Square Garden about Puerto Rico.

So you had Bad Bunny coming out, you had Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, Ricky Martin and Nicky Jam, who is a big reggaeton artist. He had previously supported former President Trump. He even appeared with him at a rally last month wearing a red MAGA hat. And yesterday, he told his 43 million Instagram followers that he is withdrawing that endorsement because he does not believe that Puerto Rico should be disrespected. So that was a big loss for Trump.

But I have to tell you, there are a lot of celebrities who are supporting the former president. Just moments ago, Jake Paul, who is a big personality on YouTube, he is a fighter who is going to be doing a Netflix fight with Mike Tyson next month. He just released a video to his 20 million followers on YouTube saying why he supports Trump.

So you have celebrities coming out for both sides.

[15:10:00]

There's always that question, do celebrity endorsements matter. In a race this close, anything and everything matters. KEILAR: Yes, that's certainly the hope.

Elizabeth Wagmeister, thank you so much.

Let's talk a little bit more about this now with CNN Political Director, David Chalian.

David, what are we looking at here? Specifically, I want to zero in a little bit on something which is the CNN battleground state polling that we're seeing in Georgia and North Carolina. What's standing out to you?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes, these are our brand new polls that are just out and our final two battleground state polls of the cycle. And what you see, it might be a familiar story to you guys, it's like a dead heat race. I mean, it is a total toss-up. You showed the numbers at the top. Look at them again, overall, you see in Georgia, among likely voters, Trump is at 48 percent support, Harris is at 47. The flip in North Carolina, Harris at 48, Trump at 47.

Those are tied races in those two critical Southeastern battleground states, which have 16 electoral votes each. I mean, it's their - they've got a substantial prize and we know that they split last time, right? Georgia was in Biden's column. North Carolina was Donald Trump's narrowest victory in the country in 2020.

SANCHEZ: Compared to Joe Biden, how is Harris faring in polling at this point?

CHALIAN: So if you look at some of the key constituency groups, we'll put these up that you see in our polls, you see that in among certain sectors of the electorate, here you could see among independent voters, okay? Independent voters, likely voters in North Carolina, you see that Harris is four percentage points ahead of Trump in our poll. A poll is different than exit polls, but when you compare that to what Biden did four years ago, according to the exit polls, it looks about the same.

Now again, Biden lost North Carolina, so she'd probably like to be doing better with independence, but look at black voters, guys. Harris in our current poll among likely African-American voters in North Carolina is 59 points ahead of Trump, obviously a big category for her and important.

But Biden four years ago had an 85 point advantage among African- American voters in North Carolina. You see in Georgia, a similar situation, perhaps not as dramatic there among black voters. If you look at that middle line, Harris and Georgia has a 71 percentage point lead in our poll over Trump. Biden won them by 77 points in Georgia four years ago.

But look at the independent voters there in Georgia at the top. Trump is running seven points ahead among likely independent voters in Georgia in our poll. Biden won them by nine when he won the state of Georgia, which was a big flip from a Republican state to a Democratic state, and that, Harris is definitely going to want to improve on what our polls show in terms of her performance with independent voters if she's going to be successful.

KEILAR: It's really interesting. We're also getting a better picture of the early vote, specifically the - on the gender gap, which is just such a big theme of this election. What are we seeing?

CHALIAN: It really is, Brianna. I think, guys, when we look at the results Tuesday night, no matter who ends up winning, we will look at what female voters did on election night. Our latest tally in the seven states that are the battleground states, according to our early vote data provided by Catalist, you see that on the right-hand side in 2024, there is a 10 percentage point advantage - I shouldn't say advantage - women are participating in the early vote. They're casting votes 10 percentage points higher than our men.

That's a little bit lower, just a tick below the spread, the gender gap spread in early vote at this point, six days out, five days out from the election in 2020, where women had an 11 percent of win advantage over men in terms of participation in the early vote. It's about 400,000 fewer votes this time around, the gap between women casting votes and men casting early votes that occurred four years ago.

I would not read too much into that because that could be made up on Election Day vote. We don't know. We will see. Overall, pre-election vote is about 27 percent lower at this point than it was four years ago when we were in the middle of a global pandemic.

SANCHEZ: Yes, a lot more people took advantage of early voting ...

CHALIAN: Exactly.

SANCHEZ: ... during the pandemic.

David, I have to ask you about New Mexico, and there are two things that I think are interesting. One is the wisdom of going to what has been a reliably blue state, but also the way that Donald Trump is talking about it. And I believe we have a sound bite of him in Albuquerque today talking about how he believes that he didn't lose New Mexico both times despite reality stating the opposite. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: You know, we almost won it twice, and let me tell you, I believe we won it twice, okay, you want to know the truth. And if you can watch your vote counter, if we could bring God down from heaven and he could be the vote counter, we would win this, we'd win California, we'd win a lot of states. A lot of states that they say, oh, a Republican can't win that state. They say a Republican can't win. Well, you know what? We're going to win it, we going to win it. You just going to keep the votes honest.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Peddling election lies. Just a point of fact, he lost in New Mexico by more than eight points in 2016. [15:15:04]

That margin expanded, lost by more than 10 points in 2020.

CHALIAN: And he knows that, he doesn't think he won New Mexico. But I'm very confused about God's role, he thinks, in this. Does he think that if God were a vote counter, he would be an unfair - or he or she or whatever - God would be an unfair vote counter? Because that is what Donald Trump just suggested, that if God came down and counted the votes, God would just count the votes for Donald Trump in places that he lost. That makes no sense. I don't quite understand what the point he's trying to make there.

SANCHEZ: There is an appeal, though, in his audience, this group that feels this enormous resentment towards the elites and whatnot. So that is a motivation, this idea that they're going to get revenge. So it is somehow permeating the space, even in a state like New Mexico?

CHALIAN: Yes, but it's permeating a space full of disinformation and lies, which has real-world ramifications that we've seen. And he is just doing this again. He's preparing his followers, his supporters, to be unjustifiably outraged if the election doesn't turn out their way in a free and fair manner. And that is a dangerous game to play.

SANCHEZ: David Chalian, always great to get your perspective. Thanks for joining us.

CHALIAN: Sure.

SANCHEZ: Still ahead, election officials say they feel outmatched by Elon Musk's misinformation machine. How one Arizona official is making a direct appeal to the tech tycoon, even inviting him to examine all of their voting equipment, though they have a bit of an ask of the billionaire.

KEILAR: Plus, cat people and lies about Haitian immigrants are still haunting Trump's campaign. We're going to break down how that may be affecting the race and how one district in Nebraska could decide who wins the White House. We're going to speak to the Republican congressman trying to hold onto his seat there and how he's walking the fine line between running away from Trump and needing his help.

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[15:21:14]

KEILAR: Elon Musk's misinformation megaphone has created a huge problem for election officials in key battleground states. Officials tell CNN that they're struggling to fight the wave of falsehoods coming from the tech billionaire and spreading wildly on his X platform.

SANCHEZ: CNN's Sara Murray has more on this.

Sara, your team has been speaking with election officials. What are they telling you? SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I mean, they're basically saying it's impossible to stem the wave of falsehoods and misinformation coming from Elon Musk and coming from X. And they've tried to do it all kinds of ways. They are trying to fact check him on the X, formerly Twitter platform. They are trying to plead with him on the platform. In the case of one of the top election officials in Arizona, Stephen Richer in Maricopa County, he's actually tried to have friends slip personal notes to Elon Musk to give him accurate election information.

And I just want to give you an idea of sort of how much they're trying to do this outreach. This is an example of a Stephen Richer tweet. It was from earlier this summer.

Elon Musk is basically saying that the only thing that's safe is paper ballots and voting in person for one day. And Stephen Richer says, "Can I please give you a tour of our election facility and mail voting process in Maricopa County, Arizona? You can go into all of the rooms. You can examine all of the equipment. You can ask any question that you want. We'd love to show you the security steps already in place, which I think are very sound." And then he goes on to say, essentially, please give us your recommendations after that. We'll run them up the food chain. We'd love to put your very entrepreneurial brain to good use.

But you see there the mismatch. Elon Musk's post about this had 27 million views, according to the, you know, ticker you see on X. And Richer's had like 232,000.

KEILAR: Yes, that - I mean, that's the thing. And we just had a Donie O'Sullivan report where there was this false rumor about election fraud that had gotten, I think, 7 million retweets. And then the election officials try to come out and combat it, and they have 50- something retweets. Is that the thing that makes it hard to combat on X or is it other stuff?

MURRAY: Well, yes. I mean, one of the things is that an election official usually doesn't have a super well-followed account. They're not known for making content that goes viral. Compared to Elon Musk, who has 200 million followers, who is in control of the algorithm on the X platform, which we've seen from reporting from other great news outlets, it's really driving conservative information into other people's feeds, whether they're asking for it or not. And essentially, they're just outmatched here.

Now, X has said it's still abiding with all of its publicly stated policies that have to do with election interference, misleading content, manipulated content. That just doesn't really match with the reality of what's going on, on the platform. I mean, Elon Musk announced his own election integrity community, and it was full of claims that had already been debunked by election officials.

SANCHEZ: Yikes. Sara Murray, thank you so much for the update. Yeah.

So this surge of misinformation and the work to debunk these false claims, it's been going on for years, and often at the center of these lies, former President Donald Trump.

KEILAR: Let's bring in CNN's Tom Foreman.

Tom, Donald Trump has told many outright lies, many times during his campaign, and in this installment of American battleground. I know you're focusing on this lie about immigrants eating cats in Ohio.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Yes, we focus on that one because it is so demonstrably false. It is easy to know that is not true, and yet it was wildly embraced. Why is that? Is that because Trump followers do not know it's false? No, some may believe it, but many of them absolutely know it's false. But one of the things, when you look back on this election that really counts, is the degree to which people say, on his side in particular, yes, the facts may say this, but this is the truth. It's a big issue.

Their view is whether they're eating cats or not is unimportant.

[15:25:01]

What's important is they don't belong here. They're not like us. We want to address this issue. Kind of what JD Vance said when he was talking on CNN, and he said, it doesn't matter if that's false, we're getting at a serious issue.

Of course, downside of it too, because they will not let go of lies like that, that alarms other people who say, yes, you going to start with facts.

SANCHEZ: So if they're saying those might be the facts, but this is the truth, then what is "the truth," in quotes?

FOREMAN: Well, for Donald Trump, you know, Maggie Haberman from The New York Times put it pretty well. She said, for Donald Trump, the truth is what he can get away with, which is a really an insidious way of thinking about that, isn't it? But it's a way of saying, and he wrote about this in his books, the idea of it's okay if you have this hyperbole, if you expand things, if you say things that aren't really true, if they get at the truth.

Well, the truth is always in his favor. That is one of the reasons why I think fact-checking has struggled so much in this election cycle. There are people out there who see the facts. They know the facts, but they think the facts are getting in the way of the truth of their lives, which is they are unhappy. They don't think democracy is serving them properly. They do not feel like Donald Trump could have lost the last election.

So they look at the facts and say, that may be the fact, but it's not true.

KEILAR: It's not true. Tom Foreman, thank you so much. And you can read - this is part of Tom's great series. You can read it, American Battleground on cnn.com. Please go and check that out. It is truly fantastic. And still ahead, a Republican fighting for his House seat in Nebraska's blue dot. We'll be joined by Congressman Don Bacon about his reelection bid and splitting the line between running away from Trump and still needing his help.

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