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Trump To Campaign Today At Site Of First Assassination Attempt; Harris To Visit North Carolina To Survey Helene Damage; Interview With Representative Gabe Amo (D-RI) About VP Harris' North Carolina Visit; Smoke Seen Rising After New Attacks Near Beirut; More Police Presence Amid Jewish Holiday A Year After October 7th Hamas Attacks; Recovery From Helene Damage Could Cost Up To $34 Billion; Harris Campaign Claims Win On Economic Numbers; L.A. Prosecutors To Review Menendez Brothers Murder Case; New Red Lobster CEO Takes Over A Chain In Turmoil. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired October 05, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:34]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, thanks for joining me. I'm Jim Acosta in for Fredricka Whitfield.

We begin this hour on the presidential campaign trail. Now just about a month away from election day and both campaigns revving up their supporters, appealing to undecided voters in key battleground states during this final critical stretch of the race. Voting already underway across several states and polls showing, there it is again, Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump locked in basically a dead heat at this point.

Their campaigns now navigating several big news stories that could obviously shape the outcome of this election, from the war in the Middle East to the devastating aftermath of Helene, another storm on the way to the Florida Gulf Coast apparently, and a surprisingly strong jobs report that just came out at the end of this week.

But let's start in battleground Pennsylvania, where in the next couple of hours former president Donald Trump will take the stage in the city of Butler at the site of his first assassination attempt back on July 13th. At the same location Trump narrowly survived an attempt on his life when a gunman opened fire and a bullet grazed his ear. One attendee at that rally died and two others were also injured.

And CNN's Alayna Treene joins us now from Butler.

Alayna, I mean, this assassination attempt on the former president back in July has really become a theme for Trump on the campaign trail. He talks about it. His surrogates talk about it. And they're going to talk about it again today.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right. When I talk to Donald Trump's campaign about what to expect out of this particular rally, they said it's going to be different from a traditional Trump political speech, though I imagine you're going to hear a lot of those same themes, Jim, and said they really are trying to do a lot to honor the community, which of course was upended after that July 13th assassination attempt on Donald Trump.

And specifically, though, they're really trying to do a lot to honor the victims, particularly Corey Comperatore, who was killed that day. Actually I'm not sure if you can see behind me, but in the crowd where he was -- Corey Comperatore was sitting on that in the bleachers behind the podium, they've actually put up -- he was a firefighter. They put up his old firefighter jacket and his helmet and also just had a sculpture artist or a painter, I should say, get up on stage and do a painting that ended up revealing him.

So a lot of focus today on the victims. Also those who were injured. We're also going to see some pretty high profile Republicans here with Donald Trump that includes Elon Musk of course. Remember here endorsed Donald Trump just moments after that shooting happened in July. We're also going to see J.D. Vance. We're going to see members of Donald Trump's family, including Eric Trump and Laura Trump. They are really trying to make this a huge event.

Now, as for the people on the ground, I spoke to many rally attendees some of whom were here on July 13th and were recounting those experiences. But others who were not and all of them said that they're glad Donald Trump came back, that they knew that he said, and I promised that he would, and they do thought this is somewhat of giving them the ability to turn the page on what had happened. Take a listen to what Sherry told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERRY O'DONNELL, ATTENDING TRUMP RALLY IN BUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA: I'm happy for today because Butler can now not have the reputation of having a near assassination attempt. It's redeemed I think as of today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So as you heard, that was Sherry O'Donnell, a woman who lives here in Butler. She said that she believes the community is now redeemed. I've heard a lot of similar stories here on the ground -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. Alayna Treene, thank you very much. We appreciate it.

Any minute now, Vice President Kamala Harris is set to arrive in North Carolina to survey the aftermath of Helene in that state. She -- you can see it right there at Joint Base Andrews earlier this afternoon. She lands in Charlotte in just a short time from now where she will get an on-the-ground briefing of storm recovery efforts.

A large portion of western North Carolina, of course, suffered catastrophic damage when Helene swept through that region last weekend,

CNN's Sunlen Serfaty joins us now.

Sunlen, we're getting closer to the vice president's event and briefing down there in North Carolina. What can you tell us?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Jim. Vice President Kamala Harris leaving here in Washington a short time ago and she'll be landing on the ground in Charlotte, North Carolina, shortly. This, of course, is a trip where she's eager to show her competency, eager to show leadership in the wake of a natural disaster as the southeast continues to dig out of that devastating storm that hit their area last week.

[15:05:06]

Now, Harris, when she is on the ground, she'll see aid being distributed to residents to we'll hear a briefing about the latest recovery efforts. She'll also talk to those who have been devastated by the flooding and the aftermath of the hurricane, hearing firsthand from people who have been impacted by the hurricane, and likely she's going to give an update on the federal response.

Now, this visit is in her capacity as the vice president, not as a presidential candidate, but it's certainly comes at a critical moment in the campaigned just about 30 days to election day. So certainly this visit is seen through the lens of politics, and that's why we've seen her over the course of the last week in part go to these battleground states. Georgia on Wednesday, today in North Carolina.

They have been damaged by the hurricane, ravaged by the hurricane. And we've seen her opponent, former president Donald Trump, traveling to battleground states that were ravaged by the hurricane as well. He was in Georgia earlier this week and there, he injected politics straight into his visit there, really pointing a finger at the administration, claiming without evidence that the Biden administration has been holding back aid.

That is something that the White House strongly just -- the White House is pushing back on and certainly something that leads optically speaking Kamala Harris in her capacity as the vice president will be pushing back for today when she's on the ground looking at the aid being distributed to the residents there -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. Sunlen Serfaty, thank you very much.

For more on the vice president's campaign let's bring in Democratic Congressman Gabe Amo of Rhode Island. He's a surrogate for the Harris campaign.

Congressman, thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate it so much. As you know, North Carolina is a critical battleground state. The vice president is going there to get a briefing on relief efforts. I guess one of the questions that I have is, should the vice president respond to former president Donald Trump, who has been making a number of false claims, as you know, about the administration's response to Helene? Would you like to see her respond to that? What do you think?

REP. GABE AMO (D-RI): Well, first off, thanks for having me, Jim. Look, the vice president is doing exactly what she should be doing. She is on the ground engaging with people who had been devastated. And of course, my heart goes out to all the people across the southeast. And she is focused on the response that includes moving the machinery of government, $100 million plus from FEMA flowing for response, moving to respond with thousands of personnel. That's what she should focus on and the politics a secondary to the pain that so many people are experiencing.

ACOSTA: And what's your response to what former president Trump has been saying?

AMO: Well, look, I think it's clear that he plays politics at the worst times. This is a time where we should be coming together. There is not a Democratic response or a Republican response to an emergency like this. There is a response that relies on the compassion of our leaders and to move forward in supporting people at their time of need. And we've seen, and we've heard reports that President Trump was known to play politics when it came to response, asking for information about the types of voters and the information related to his electoral prospects, rather than supporting people when they need government. So I don't think we should take him seriously and we should focus on the people who need our help.

ACOSTA: And Congressman, I do want to get to some politics. I mean, you've been meeting in North Carolina my understanding with African- American leaders there about Kamala Harris getting into the Oval Office. And the latest CNN polling shows that she's got a very huge lead over the former president when it comes to black voters who are likely to cast ballots in this upcoming election.

I'm just wondering, though, one of the -- and you probably know this all too well. One of the concerns for the Harris campaign is with black men and whether or not she's going to have the kind of support that she needs from black men to win come November. What's your sense of that? What's been your message to make sure that African-American men come out to vote for Kamala Harris?

AMO: Well, I'm here in North Carolina because this is a state where the black vote matters significantly. Remember, President Biden only lost this state to former president Trump by 1.3 percent. And so we have to share the message of the accomplishments of the Biden-Harris administration, but more importantly, where we're going in the future, which is why the vice president has been focused on things like wealth creation, emphasizing the importance of home ownership, of small business growth, of ensuring that everybody has the opportunity to thrive in our economy by expanding the child tax credit.

So it's got to be anchored in results, anchored in delivering material benefits to all Americans, but especially black Americans, who are going to play such a vital role in this election.

[15:10:06]

ACOSTA: And as you know, Congressman, former president Barack Obama is going to be getting out on the campaign trail over the next several days. Is he seen as sort of a closure on all of this? How does his presence out on the campaign trail help Kamala Harris at this point, do you think? AMO: Well, he is such an effective messenger. I am an alumnus of both

of his presidential campaigns and his White House, as well as working in the Biden-Harris White House. So I know that when you think about the ark of his journey as president, that connective tissue to what this administration has done, the historic work of the rescue plan and the infrastructure law. So much more, he will build a bridge between that promise of hope and turning it into action under a Harris administration. So I look forward to seeing him out there delivering the message like no one else can.

ACOSTA: All right. Democratic Congressman Gabe Amo of Rhode Island, thank you very much for your time. We appreciate it.

AMO: Thanks for having me.

ACOSTA: All right. And still to come, quote, "Israel will fight until the battle is won." That quote from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, addressing the expanding the conflict in the Middle East just moments ago as Israel has been launching new strikes across Lebanon.

Stay with us, in just a few moments, we'll break down some of the prime minister's comments. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:16:06]

ACOSTA: New this hour Israel's military says it has now destroyed more than 2,000 Hezbollah targets inside Lebanon. A spokesperson adding that 440 Hezbollah fighters have been killed in combat.

Israel and Hezbollah are continuing to exchange fire today. CNN's cameras capturing this smoke rising from Israel's attacks on Beirut suburbs, while Hezbollah launched rockets into northern Israel.

CNN's Nic Robertson is in Tel Aviv.

Nic, and we're also hearing from the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today. He's been using some fiery rhetoric. What can you tell us?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, he has. He's been reminding the public that the country is fighting on seven different fronts, not only against Hamas in south but Hamas in the West Bank, in Lebanon with Hezbollah, and Iranian backed militia militias in Iraq, the Houthis, and of course, Iran, and is telling the country to stand together.

But he has a lot of criticism for the French president today, Emmanuel Macron, who has talked about the possibility of withholding weapons supplies to Israel based on the high civilian casualty toll just in Gaza, but most recently in Lebanon as well. And this was what Prime Minister Netanyahu had to say to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: We're fighting against Iran, which last week fired over 200 ballistic missiles directly at Israel, and which stands behind the seven-front war against Israel. As Israel fights the forces of barbarism led by Iran, all civilized countries should be standing firmly by Israel's side. You had President Macron and some other Western leaders are now calling for an arms embargo against Israel. Shame on them. Is Iran imposing an arms embargo on Hezbollah and the Houthis, on Hamas, and its other proxies? Of course not. The axis of terror stands together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: So we know a few weeks ago the U.K. did withhold some licenses, about 30 or so out of 354 weapon systems to be sold to Israel. And I think what we're seeing is European countries really want to put down a marker about what's happening in Lebanon. The British Foreign Secretary David Lammy today spoke about his concerns that so many medical facilities are being hit by the IDF inside the south of Lebanon.

So raising that as a concern. So I think we're hearing more pushback against Israel's operations in Lebanon from the Europeans right now.

ACOSTA: And Nic, are we hearing anything more about a potential retaliation by Israel aimed at Iran?

ROBERTSON: The IDF spokesperson this evening said that the army is ready, that they'll do it when it's the best time that suits Israel. But I think the best indication we have about how tense the situation is many commemoration events, the big gatherings of people that were due to happen across the country, one of them here in Tel Aviv, where there were thousands upon thousands of people expected, the organizers of that anniversary commemoration have told all the people who've gotten tickets for it, look, please don't come. We're going to broadcast this out.

But the threshold on crowds gathering outside here in the center of Israel is 1,000 and they just don't want to put people in danger because they know that that today when Hamas, Hezbollah could respond, Israel might strike Iran. Iran might respond. So I think you've got a sense that for this day, October 7th at least, is falling in a frame that gives concern for the government here.

ACOSTA: Absolutely. All right. Nic Robertson, thank you very much. In Tel Aviv for us. We appreciate it.

In the meantime synagogues and places of worship in New York are getting increased police presence through the anniversary of the October 7th attacks in Israel.

[15:20:07]

Yesterday, law enforcement officials were made aware of bomb threats targeting synagogues across the state which turned out to be unfounded.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino is in New York for us.

Gloria, that has to have people on edge right now. What can you tell us?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and we have been watching here at Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan, one of the largest temples in the city and in the world. A significant symbol for Judaism hearing for New York City as police officers have been keeping watch over the building for the past several hours.

Now service is not until sundown today. We are in the middle of the Sabbath. So there's no one inside the temple right now, but there will be service here tonight. And following those bomb threats that were called into several synagogues across the state, Governor Kathy Hochul said yesterday that she was going to deploy the state police to partner with local law enforcement agencies to make sure that communities were being kept safe.

Now it's important to highlight, Jim, that none of those threats were deemed credible. But because we have the first anniversary of October 7th coming up on Monday, as well as the rising tensions in the Middle East, which you were just talking about, there is the potential for disruption according to law enforcement and that's what all of these protective measures are about.

It's not just here in New York, law enforcement is on high alert across different cities around the country. And both the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security said that the upcoming anniversary on Monday as well as the fact that we are in the middle of the high Jewish holidays could be a motivation for some extremist actors to commit acts of violence.

Again, no credible threats around New York City so far, but the NYPD is expected to keep their presence out here for the next several days, for the next few weeks. The anniversary of October 7th, the first-year anniversary, is on Monday, and then we go into Yom Kippur, which is a very important holiday in the Jewish calendar. So law enforcement here in New York City, as well as in other major cities around the country still on high alert -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. Gloria Pazmino with that very important update in New York. Thank you so much. We appreciate it.

When we come back, at least 227 people have died across six states in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. The number just keeps going up. Hundreds of thousands are still without power. The latest on the recovery and rescue efforts next. And just a short time ago, a new storm is setting its sights now on the Gulf Coast, we're now talking about Milton, Tropical Storm Milton. More on that in just moment. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:27:17]

ACOSTA: Just days after Helene devastated parts of the southeast, Tropical Storm Milton has formed in the Gulf of Mexico. The storm is forecast to strengthen and bring life-threatening storm surge to the Florida coast.

Here to tell us more, CNN meteorologist Elisa Raffa.

This is a very worrisome sign. What can you tell us, Elisa?

ELISA RAFFA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. I mean, we're ahead of schedule or ahead of pace for the hurricane season. We typically don't get that M storm until the end of October. So we are about two to three weeks ahead of schedule. It's Milton, 40-mile-per-hour wind sitting in the Gulf of Mexico right now expected to intensify. We already have flood watches in effect for the Florida Peninsula where some four to eight inches of rain is possible because we have a front that kind of is draped just north of Florida.

That's going to give them rain before Milton hits and will steer Milton straight into the Florida Peninsula. I do want to point out that that means we're not looking at this turn to the north into the Carolinas so that should at least help get the mountain communities out of this storm for this time around.

We're also looking at sea surface temperatures that are incredibly warm. Middle and upper 80s. So as we said with so many of the storm so far this season, this will act as fuel for rapid intensification. As we go into Monday, we're looking at a hurricane already, and it could grow in strength pretty rapidly. Category two hurricane, maybe even teetering on category three, as it makes landfall somewhere on that Florida Peninsula.

It takes its time to get out into the open waters, but it takes its entire trek over these very warm ocean waters. Again, that's fuel and that's food. Then it heads towards the Florida Peninsula maybe sometime late Tuesday into Wednesday, but again, you could see the outer bands already lashing part of the peninsula here. And look at how far this rain stretches, right? We're looking at it from top to bottom, from Jacksonville down to Miami.

We could be looking at some rain totals of four to eight inches, some isolated totals up to 10 inches. That could definitely cause some flooding. Also worried about storm surge. Where that eye goes will really depend on who gets the worst storm surge. That's something that we'll have to watch very closely. And again, it's coming on what's been such an active season already. Look at how many landfalls we've had just this season alone along the Gulf Coast from Texas through Louisiana, and to Florida. So it's been very busy and only getting busier -- Jim.

ACOSTA: My goodness. All right. Well, we're going to have to keep our eyes on that storm. That is a very scary forecast there for the Florida coast.

Elisa, thank you so much.

In the short term Helene's damage has been devastating, but in the long term, it could be catastrophic. Moody's Analytics has put the projected price tag of Helene's economic impact at up to $34 billion. Property damage is estimated to cost somewhere between $15 billion and $26 billion.

Joining us now is Pier Debbas. He is a real estate attorney and managing partner for Romer Debbas.

[15:30:06]

Pier, welcome. You know, this is scary stuff. Just how much this could really cost the country. And it just tells you how the damage is going to be around for a long time and it's going to take a lot of resources to clean it all up.

PIERRE DEBBAS, MANAGING PARTNER, ROMER DEBBAS: Yes, Jim, you know, in the last five years, we've seen unfortunately tremendous uptick in natural disasters. When you look at Hawaii, California, now what's going on in the sunbelt, there's no perfect answer to this. The problem is, you've also in that time period had housing values almost double since the inception of the pandemic.

So right now you have nothing short of an affordability crisis in America for housing. Now when you tack on insurance, which is going up at significant rates and on an annual basis, you know, the compounding affordability problem is inevitable. And you know, we can, you know, hope FEMA is funded, you know, by billions of dollars more to assist all these, you know, homeowners.

But at the end of the day how do you hedge for the replacement cost of all these homes that have been completely demolished? You look at insurance policies, majority of insurance policies in America don't cover for replacement cost or insurance for floods or tornadoes or hurricanes.

ACOSTA: Yes. And what does this mean for the insurance system? Because, I mean, that's already been a big question down in Florida and now in the Carolinas, I mean, a lot of folks moved up into western North Carolina because they were under the, you know, feeling that they were safe from these kinds of powerful hurricanes. I mean, it's just going to make an even bigger mess out of our insurance system it seems.

DEBBAS: Absolutely. I mean, insurance companies right now are looking for any reason not to insure any area that could be deemed to be a flood hazard area. If you're remotely close to any body of water, the insurance companies are running away. So it's definitely a problem because, you know, we're really going to need the regulators to, A, make sure that the insurance premiums are increasing at a reasonable pace commensurate with the risks they're assuming.

And B, that insurance companies keep continuing to ensure in these areas, or else what happens? If you deem these areas to be entirely uninsurable, you're going to make homeownership virtually impossible. You're going to have a massive detraction in investment desire in these areas. The economics of it will never work out and the risk will always be too high. ACOSTA: Right. Or you're going to have to come up with some other way

to ensure people's properties, which I mean, what does that entail? I mean, what do you make of the way the numbers are coming in on Helene's destruction? And I mean, we're already seeing another storm building in the Gulf Coast. I mean, this could end up being an extremely costly hurricane season.

DEBBAS: Yes, it's unequivocally across the hurricane season. And I think we have to get ahead of this issue in that how are we going to protect the consumer and your average American homeowner in these neighborhoods. And you know, obviously funding FEMA is the first possible solution. That's probably not going to be enough. I think we have to start also educating consumers in terms of what insurance policies they need to be aware of.

The consumer is a novice when it comes to insurance, especially homeowners insurance. A majority of them go online and they get the cheapest policy possible that will satisfy their lender. We need to really start educating the consumer in terms of what the risk is and what their actual coverages, and makes sure that the coverage and insurance is being given to the consumer at reasonable rates.

ACOSTA: And there's also the subject of climate change in the way that is super charging these storms. I mean, that's a factor heading into the future. I mean, how does the insurance system, how does the real estate system deal with that if things are just going to continue to get on this, you know, trajectory of more and more powerful storms?

DEBBAS: I mean, Jim, you're highlighting exactly what the nightmare is.

ACOSTA: Yes.

DEBBAS: You know, there's no perfect solution for this. And this is a huge problem. Again, you know, we're already in a big problem in the country when it comes to housing and affordability in these areas which are, you know, unfortunately being subject to these natural disasters. This is going to be a problem that's going to last for the next several years until we figured it out. I don't really have a perfect, you know, solution for you, except that we have to make sure that proper insurance is available to consumer and that FEMA is ready to help provide disaster assistance relief.

ACOSTA: All right. Pierre Debbas, we'll have to ponder some of those ideas and hopefully come up with some solutions, especially for these folks in these hard-hit areas. It's just -- it's been rough week.

Pierre, thanks for your time. We appreciate it.

DEBBAS: Thank you, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. Coming up the latest job report, it really blew past expectations. Lowered unemployment sparked a stock market rally. What it means for you and the presidential race after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [15:39:27]

ACOSTA: All right. You're looking at some live pictures right now of Vice President Kamala Harris on the tarmac in Charlotte, meeting with the governor of North Carolina, Roy Cooper. The administrator of FEMA, Deanne Criswell. She's going to be getting a briefing here in the coming minutes, hour or so, about Helene's aftermath and relief efforts. And then she's going to be doing some more background briefings with the local officials on the ground there about recovery efforts after that devastating storm swept through the southeast.

We're going to keep an eye on all of this.

[15:40:01]

We'll see if she talks to the cameras. If she does, we'll bring that to you in just a few moments. So stay with us for more on that.

In the meantime, what was looking like tough economic shocks to Kamala Harris' campaign is quickly turning into a win for the vice president. First, there is the unexpectedly strong labor market showing 254,000 new jobs were added last month and unemployment dropping to 4.1 percent. Also, thousands of port workers settling a massive strike just days after walking off the job, averting a deal deep economic impact.

Let's get some more analysis now with Catherine Rampell. She's a CNN economics and political commentator and "Washington Post" opinion columnist.

Catherine, good to see you as always. You know, I mean, you know, what we were hearing towards the end of this past week, you know, people were starting to panic buy toilet paper and they were worried about this port workers strike.

CATHERINE RAMPELL, CNN ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes.

ACOSTA: I mean, that was sort of ridiculous that people were doing that, but people were doing that. So that didn't look good from economic or political standpoint for the vice president. And then these jobs numbers came in. What did you make of all that?

RAMPELL: It's been great news. Great news for the economy certainly. Not only because we will not potentially have the kinds of supply chain disruptions that people were fearing and that we so far, you know, knock on wood, seem to be headed toward a soft landing for the U.S. economy, meaning that we are in the process of beating back inflation without having a dreaded recession so far.

All great news for the economy, all great news for the American people. But as you point out, also, quite welcome news for the Democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, who has been sort of playing this, you know, doing this dance where she half owned what's going on with the economy and half wants to avoid it because people are still pretty bummed about how the economy is doing, even as we get these relatively good numbers. ACOSTA: Yes, I mean, I remember when I covered the Romney-Obama race

in 2012 and we were still coming out of the Great Recession, and as the unemployment rate was ticking down, you sort of felt like Barack Obama's reelection prospects were going up. And -- but it seems this time around folks maybe aren't as focused on what the unemployment rate is. They tell us this anecdotally that they are just much more concerned about inflation even though the numbers showed that coming down.

What's your sense of all of that in terms of maybe that's muting what might be more of a win for Kamala Harris?

RAMPELL: I actually think the 2012 race is a very useful metaphor, the one that you just brought up, because at the time, as you may recall, about a year out of the election, Barack Obama, who's running for reelection, had these really poor job approval ratings.

ACOSTA: Right.

RAMPELL: It looks like he potentially had an uphill battle to go in his race against Mitt Romney and the conventional wisdom at the time was that poor views of the economy were really weighing on his job approval. But not only did the economy recover, but eventually consumer sentiment kind of caught up to it.

We're not quite there yet, but it does look like in the past few months, consumer sentiment, you know, views of the economy have been gradually improving. They're still relatively dour, at least in connection with what the hard data look like. Again, those relatively, those -- not relatively good, great jobs numbers, cooling inflation, strong GDP growth, et cetera. But it does seem like consumers are at least a little bit less grouchy about the economy than they once were.

I don't think the economy is ever going to be a winning issue per say, for Kamala Harris because she does represent the incumbent party, but I think it may be less of an albatross around her neck going forward.

ACOSTA: Yes. Typically a 4.1 unemployment rate is really good news for --

RAMPELL: Absolutely. It's fantastic. Yes.

ACOSTA: If you're part of the administration. Yes. We'll see how it all breaks down and maybe the interest rate news might also have some effect on all of this as we get close to election day.

Catherine Rampell, great to see you. Thanks so much. Appreciate it.

RAMPELL: Thank you.

ACOSTA: All right. Still ahead, they've served more than three decades in prison for murdering their parents, but new evidence in the Menendez brothers murder case could lead to a resentencing. We had a very interesting conversation about this earlier on in the program. More on that coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:49:02]

ACOSTA: It was one of the most notorious murders in American history. Now new evidence is being examined in the case of Erik and Lyle Menendez, the brothers convicted of shooting and killing their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion in 1989.

CNN's Camila Bernal is in Los Angeles for us.

Camila, what are we learning?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So, Jim, the attorney representing the brothers now says that he's very optimistic that the district attorney is going to look and review the evidence in this case.

Look, the question here is not whether or not these two brothers killed their parents. They admitted to doing this and doing it in their Beverly Hills home in 1989. But the question is now, should they be serving that life sentence? Their attorney certainly does not think so, and it's why he's been pushing for their conviction to be vacated and why he's been pushing for a review of this evidence.

Jim, you spoke to the district attorney earlier on the program and he admitted that, yes, part of the reason why he's looking at all of this is because of the attention that a lot of these documentaries and shows, the new one on Netflix, social media, because of all this attention, he has been looking at this case and it's why he made this announcement.

[15:50:11]

I want you to listen to part of that conversation with George Gascon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE GASCON, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, LOS ANGELES COUNTY: The reason why it would have become more public is because after the documentary, we began to get, you know, many, many requests from media and others about where was the case. The case is actually scheduled for a hearing on November 29th and -- but for the documentary, quite frankly, we probably would not be talking at this point.

We may be talking later, but that certainly has increased the attention by the public and that's why we're being public about where we are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERNAL: Now, there's also huge attention on the sexual abuse part of it, and the boys saying that that is the reason why they killed their parents in '89. And so the evidence that they want to be reviewed includes just evidence that proves that maybe they were sexually abused before this killing, and so again, the district attorney has not made a decision but says he's reviewing all of this and the next hearing for this case is November 29th -- Jim.

ACOSTA: Yes. Some fascinating comments from the D.A., maybe this Netflix documentary and the other documentaries will have an impact on all this.

BERNAL: Yes.

ACOSTA: Camila Bernal, thank you very much.

Just ahead, Red Lobster found itself on the brink of extinction. Next, meet the new 35-year-old CEO working to bring the iconic American chain back to life. And a quick programming note, tomorrow go behind the scenes of Ellen's trailblazing coming out episode. A new installment of the CNN Original Series "TV ON THE EDGE: Moments That Shaped Our Culture," premieres tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. on CNN.

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ACOSTA: The iconic restaurant chain Red Lobster is trying to claw its way out of bankruptcy protection after a high profile disaster where the company suffered huge losses from its endless shrimp promotion. The chain had little option but to seek protection from its creditors.

Now there's a new CEO who is stepping in to try to turn things around. He's just 35 years old and he spoke with CNN's Nathaniel Meyersohn.

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DAMOLA ADAMOLEKUN, RED LOBSTER NEW CEO: This is, without exaggeration, one of the most important companies in American history.

NATHANIEL MEYERSOHN, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER (voice-over): Embattled restaurant chain Red Lobster has a new CEO and a steep climb ahead.

ADAMOLEKUN: There were certainly big mistakes made over the last few years.

MEYERSOHN: In the wake of bankruptcy this year, the chain is leaning on Damola Adamolekun.

ADAMOLEKUN: There's a lot of regular.

MEYERSOHN: Formerly the CEO of P.F. Chang's, and just 35 years old.

ADAMOLEKUN: You know, when I took over P.F. Chang's, I was 30. So now I feel old.

MEYERSOHN: You're 35.

ADAMOLEKUN: I feel experienced.

Hey, how are you doing? You rained the food out earlier. It was perfect. I appreciate it.

MEYERSOHN (voice-over): So how does this new CEO plan to save Red Lobster?

ADAMOLEKUN: We'll get the ultimate feast.

MEYERSOHN: We sat down for a chat over some, well, lobster.

I've never had lobster on pizza.

ADAMOLEKUN: Well, you're about to try it.

MEYERSOHN: After ordering, we proceeded straight to the elephant, or shrimp, in the room.

When you saw endless shrimp, you know, what did you think?

ADAMOLEKUN: I said that's a very expensive product to give away endlessly. When you have endless shrimp and people are coming in and sitting down at the table and eating for hours as much shrimp as they possibly can, you stress out the kitchen. You stress out the servers. You stress out the host. People can't get a table. It creates a lot of chaos. And you saw a lot of that.

MEYERSOHN: Are you glad that endless shrimp is done? Was that pretty crazy?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Actually, yes.

MEYERSOHN: Yes.

ADAMOLEKUN: Food quality is very good at Red Lobster. It has been since its inception. Now the menu has gotten too big. So we're going to reduce the menu, but in a very intelligent way.

MEYERSOHN: Do you think you guys might need to close more restaurants?

ADAMOLEKUN: We intend to be done closing restaurants and intend to grow from here.

MEYERSOHN: Grow from here?

ADAMOLEKUN: In terms of the business, right? There's going to be investments in the product. That will take time. Infrastructure investment takes time. Technology investment takes time. There's 545 restaurants. So fixing every broken HVAC and every broken -- every torn carpet and every chair that needs replacing will take time. But the impact should be felt right away.

MEYERSOHN: I kind of want that -- a little of that lobster tail.

ADAMOLEKUN: You don't have any? Yes. We have to --

MEYERSOHN: We can split. I don't mind sharing.

ADAMOLEKUN: Please take the whole thing. I've had to (INAUDIBLE).

I think I matured relatively quickly. I've been in positions of authority for a long time. My 35 might be different than somebody else's 35 but these are just numbers. It's about your experience, who you are as a person, the quality of your character, your integrity, your intelligence, your communication ability. There's a lot of things that are different person by person. An age is just one of them.

They may feel like not work, like family.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are.

ADAMOLEKUN: You are family.

MEYERSOHN: You've in the past said that you don't separate work and life balance, that work kind of is life. That's -- you know, that's a pretty different philosophy than a lot of people have right now.

ADAMOLEKUN: Well, if you listen to what I said, I said this works for me and I don't expect anybody else to follow -- live life the way I do. Work to me is purpose. When you wake up every morning and you're excited to do something to it stops being work. Do I expect everybody who works for me to be like that? No. You know, maybe because I was a server when I was young, but I understand what it's like to work in the restaurant business.

So nothing keeps me up at night. I'm just -- I'm energetic about the work and the more quickly we can get it done and the better we are at achieving our goals, the better life will be for 30,000 people that work for us. That's the most important thing to me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: All right. It's official. I am hungry now.

Thanks very much for joining me today. I'm Jim Acosta. A new hour of CNN NEWSROOM with Jessica Dean starts right now. Have a great day.