Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Interview With Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI); Presidential Campaigns Target Latino Voters. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired October 22, 2024 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:27]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: All right, we are exactly two weeks out from Election Day. The race, of course, could go either way. One group that could swing the election, undecided Latino voters.

You are looking at live pictures out of Miami, Florida, right now. Any moment for President Donald Trump will hold an event with Latino leaders, who are expected to pepper in with some questions. We will bring that to you live in just a few moments.

Also, Vice President Kamala Harris reaching out to this key voting bloc. This morning, her campaign unveiled new economic proposals targeting Latino men. And, tomorrow, she will sit down for a prime- time interview on Telemundo. Her campaign is also targeting battleground Michigan.

Tonight, in Detroit, former President Barack Obama will rally for Harris. And he will have a notable opening act, one of Detroit's favorite sons, Slim Shady himself, Eminem, the rapper set to introduce Obama, making a rare appearance out on the campaign trail. He is not expected to perform, we understand.

Of course, we will have to watch and see what happens live.

Good morning. You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.

At any moment, former President Donald Trump will join a roundtable with Latino leaders in Florida, Trump's campaign trying to shore up support among this crucial group of voters.

Steve Contorno joins us now.

Steve, what are we expecting to hear from the former president?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Well, his message to Latino voters will echo what a lot of the leaders here who have already addressed this crowd have said, which is that this is a population that cares about crime, the economy, inflation, and, yes, even the border.

And, in fact, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said, "We care about the issues that all Americans care about," so really trying to stress that there's no specials formula to courting Latino voters and that the issues that affects all other Americans are the ones that are ultimately going to drive these people when they go to the ballot box as well.

Now, he is choosing to deliver this message at his golf club in Miami area, which might seem somewhat interesting, given that this is not a swing state, but it's symbolic for two reasons.

One is that this is an area that Donald Trump won overwhelmingly in 2020, becoming one of the best performances by a Republican presidential candidate going back decades. And a lot of that was because of his support among Cuban Americans and Venezuelan Americans and Puerto Ricans here.

It's also one of the epicenters of the Spanish-language media. And this camera on this stage surrounding me are cameras representing many of the Spanish language outlets in this country. So even though it's a message being delivered outside of the battleground map, it will be -- reverberates to many Latino audiences in states like Nevada and Arizona, where those populations will be critical this election, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, Steve Contorno, we will be watching. Thanks so much.

My first guest is Democratic Senator Gary Peters from the all- important battleground state of Michigan.

Senator, thanks so much for being with us.

So far, in your state, more than 1.1 million people have voted. It's a very tight race there right now. Why do you think that is?

SEN. GARY PETERS (D-MI): Well, we always expected Michigan to be a very tight race. We are a battleground state, as you know very well. And, by definition, that's going to mean it's going to be a very tight race.

So this is where I expected that we would be here in Michigan. It's close. That's why we're working very hard these next two weeks. We have got a very aggressive ground campaign working to knock on doors, get our voters out. But it's going to be a close one. But I'm confident Kamala Harris will win.

ACOSTA: Yes, Senator, I mean, in this final stretch, one of the big storylines has been whether Harris has been making headway with groups that traditionally vote Democratic.

Her running mate, Governor Tim Walz, was asked about former President Trump's growing support among union voters, if you look at some of the polls. Let's listen to that.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Rank-and-file union members is one thing. Look, the leadership in unions, that's more political than what I'm doing.

QUESTION: Right.

WALZ: They have to cover their butt on their things. And I'm as frustrated as you are on this. I don't think that's the full blame on it. Certainly, Donald Trump is a master of manipulation, a master of what new media look like.

But I do think there's some ways is, what are we not doing to appeal to those rank?

(END AUDIO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Senator, I mean, are you concerned that the Democratic ticket is having a problem connecting with union voters?

PETERS: I think it's just a matter of us getting out and making sure we're talking to those union voters. You can never take it for granted. You have got to work very hard.

As was mentioned, we -- Kamala Harris has the support of all of the major unions, but we have got to make sure rank-and-file folks are turning out. And part of that is just explaining who she is.

[11:05:03]

Kamala has been a champion for unions her entire career. She's not just talked the talk. She's actually walked the walk. She's been on picket lines standing up for rights. And you can you contrast that to Donald Trump, who, when he was on a show with Elon Musk, said that, if you're striking you can be fired.

That is a horrible place to be,certainly someone who's not supporting union workers. And he also insulted autoworkers, the biggest union that we have here in Michigan when he was in Chicago, basically demeaning of the work they do, saying that what they do is basically something that children can do.

I can tell you folks are outraged by that comment. And when you're disrespected like our union members are by Donald Trump, we just got to make sure folks know that. And when they know it, they're going to support Kamala Harris and understand that she has been out there fighting for unions right along with Joe Biden, who has also been a champion for unions.

ACOSTA: And, Senator, you mentioned Elon Musk.

There are some calls on Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate Elon Musk for this $1-million-a-day giveaway to swing state voters, including ones in your state if they sign on to his political organization's petition. Do you think Elon Musk is breaking the law?

PETERS: I certainly think it needs to be investigated, because you can't pay people to be involved in politics in that way.

So I certainly hope it gets investigated. And if it is indeed breaking the law, it needs to stop immediately. ACOSTA: And I did want to ask you about the Senate as you're leading

the charge for Democrats to maintain that Senate majority. Are you seeing data or polling that is making you nervous about hanging on to some of these states that Democrats considered safe?

Apparently, they just bought ad time and traditionally blew New Mexico, National Democrats did. What are your thoughts on that?

PETERS: We're going to be fine in New Mexico. Obviously, we're keeping our eye, though, on all these states.

But I guess the point is, you're just seeing all the polls get tight. This is something that I had anticipated. We saw it last cycle. We saw it again. I told folks for the last couple years expect all of these races to be very close. That's where we are.

And it's basically going to be about getting our voters out in the ground game and making sure that we get people out. I have heard it explained, which I think is a good way to look at it, we're at the margin of effort right now. Whoever has the best team on the ground, making sure that their voters are going to have their voice heard, we're going to win.

I think we just have to execute our plan. I think Kamala Harris is doing a great job. And each of our individual Senate candidates, they're basically in candidate-versus-candidate races. And all of our candidates are running against, I would say they're either flawed to very flawed Republican candidates.

And, as a result of that, they continue to -- holding their own. And I expect us to still have the opportunity. In fact, I believe we're going to hold our majority, but it will be close. It's going to go right down to the wire.

ACOSTA: And, Senator, I mean, I just have to ask you.

Over the weekend, Trump continued to call Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi the enemy from within. He made these vulgar comments about Arnold Palmer. How is this -- I mean, are you scratching your head wondering, how is this race so close?

PETERS: Yes, I am. I am, because all you have to do is watch Donald Trump and you see that he is actually growing more unhinged as time goes on.

I would encourage folks who are out there who may be undecided, just watch one of his rallies. You can't feel comfortable with that. You mentioned enemies within. He has said that he would use the National Guard to go after the enemies within, which are his political opponents. That is as antidemocratic as you can get. That's authoritarian.

This is a guy who's unhinged. He should not be in the highest office in the United States. And people have to rise up, get out and vote and make their voice heard and make sure that this man is not elected. I mean, even folks who served with him who he appointed called him a

dangerous individual, whether it's the former secretary of defense or homeland security. These are people who knew him intimately and said he is a dangerous individual. He should stay as far away as possible from the White House, but it's up to us as voters to make sure that that does not happen.

ACOSTA: All right, Michigan Senator Gary Peters, thank you very much for your time. We appreciate it.

PETERS: Great. Thank you.

ACOSTA: All right, we're standing by awaiting Donald Trump's event down in Miami, set to speak with Latino business leaders, other Latino officials in the state. How do they feel about his claims linking immigration and crime?

Stay with us. More on that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:14:19]

ACOSTA: All right, you're looking at some live pictures right now of Donald Trump in Miami. He is going to be holding a roundtable with Latino business leaders, political leaders there in Miami. We're going to join that in just a few moments.

But, first, I want to talk about it with my panel here, CNN en Espanol political anchor Juan Carlos Lopez, CNN contributor Lulu Garcia- Navarro with "The New York Times." CNN senior reporter Daniel Dale is here to help us with some fact-checking. And Matt Mowers, he's a former senior White House adviser from the Trump administration.

And, Lulu, I mean, this looks more like a pep rally than that Univision town hall that we saw last week, which did not go very well for the former president. I mean, he was challenged on a number of fronts and there were some viral moments that did not look good at all. This looks like kind of a do-over event with the Latino community to some extent.

[11:15:03]

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, this is a different type of event.

ACOSTA: Yes.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: This is at his hotel, Miami, my people, Cuban Americans, always big supporters of the former president since he's come onto the scene.

That has only increased exponentially over the past eight years. And so this is a real homecoming for him. You can expect a very different tenor, which I think you have seen, lots of cheers and celebrations of him. The thing that really resonates among this community, which is not

only Cuban Americans, it's Venezuelans, it's Colombians, they see specifically his rhetoric on the Democratic side of the aisle here as being communist, as bringing in this kind of darker, leftist things into the American culture as resonant to them, because many of them did flee leftist regimes in Latin America.

And so he's very much celebrated in Miami.

ACOSTA: But, Juan Carlos, I mean, does Donald -- is a pep rally in Miami what Donald Trump needs right now? He's got to win states like Nevada, Arizona, where the Latino vote is a very different vote in those states.

JUAN CARLOS LOPEZ, CNN EN ESPANOL CORRESPONDENT: It's probably not what he needs. It's probably what he wants and what he wants to hear and he wants to be surrounded by people who have a different approach to him than the folks with the Univision rally were.

ACOSTA: Right. Yes.

LOPEZ: So this is for Donald Trump.

ACOSTA: Yes.

And, Matt, what do you think? I mean, right now, there's been a lot of talk about how Trump has been peeling away Latino voters from Kamala Harris. But in Miami, getting out the Latino vote, what does that really do for him? I mean, he's going to win Florida.

MATT MOWERS, FORMER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION AIDE: Yes, I think what you have seen the Trump campaign do, and whether it's the upcoming rally in Madison Square Garden, whether it's what they did in Coachella, California, is recognize that images cross over borders.

It's not like you're a Latino voter in Arizona Nevada and you're not going to watch this. They're probably tuned into CNN right now and they're watching this.

ACOSTA: All right. Let's listen to the former president now.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (R) AND CURRENT U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: ... more people voting than they had in 2016 or in 2020. Can you believe it? Nobody expected that. They thought if we got 50 percent.

I mean, you have to see the homes were just absolutely leveled, floated away, many of them. And there was death. There was death. And FEMA's responded not well. The White House has done a very poor job. They should be ashamed of themselves, actually.

But the people kicked in. Franklin Graham's been fantastic. And we have raised a lot of money.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: We have raised a lot of money for the area, a lot of money, over $8 million with -- given -- we have given out to various people that we know do a good job. I met some people there yesterday who were incredible.

A couple of them said the nicest things, I think the nicest, the most beautiful things I have ever had said about me. I thought I heard everything. I have heard everything, good and bad. And they said the most beautiful things. So I just want to thank them. The words were so beautiful.

So, Doral Mayor Christi Fraga, and thank you very much.

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: And Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, wherever Francis is. And I -- and I just saw him on television. He was on FOX and he was saying the best things about me. And thank you for everything and the endorsement and all. Thanks a lot, Francis. You're doing a great job too, both of you.

Everybody should have mayors like this. We see some mayors. We see a lot of mayors that aren't quite as good, I will tell you, and some that aren't good at all. The mayor of Hialeah, Esteban Bovo.

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: And why I love you is because he named their main street after Trump.

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: Going right into Hialeah, going into the track, it's Trump. So many people call me. They say, thank you, Mayor. They say, I just saw the most beautiful street. It's got your name on it. And that's sort of one of the first.

And I really appreciate it, Mayor. You have been great. Members of Congress, Maria Elvira Salazar. Thank you.

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: Thank you, Maria, very much. And a friend of mine for a long time, Carlos Gimenez, he's been a friend of mine for a long time.

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: And you were also great today, Carlos. I watched you. You got up and you let him have it. You said how bad she is, how good I am. And I said, that's my Carlos. And she is bad.

Look, we don't need bad people. We had four years of bad. And we're not going to have four more years. The country can't survive it. It is amazing. Think of it. I said, where is she campaigning today? Sir, she's got a day off. You have got 14 days left for the presidency. She's taking a day off.

This is not what you want. This is not what you want.

[11:20:01]

Matt. Say hello, Matt, my friend, for a long time, huh?

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: A man who has been incredible, he owns Goya, Goya Foods. I eat it whenever I can.

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: So, Bob -- and everyone knows him, but I think you're probably the most well-known. They attacked Bob. He announced that he's in favor of Trump. And the radical left lunatics went crazy. They just went crazy.

And they do things that probably...

ACOSTA: All right, we're going to continue to monitor former President Trump's event there in Miami.

We're going to take a quick break. More on the other side. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:25:20]

ACOSTA: All right, welcome back.

We are monitoring this event that former President Donald Trump is holding down in Miami with Latino business and political leaders. Let's listen in.

TRUMP: ... you would have said even two months ago. And I'm helping all of them, every one of them.

And we had some great results. We have had some results that are really surprising. But this is the one. This woman is the worst. The lying, it's just unbelievable, like the IVF, the fertilization. I came out totally in favor of it right from the beginning. She said I'm against it.

Carlos, she goes, he's totally against it. Every single item that having to do with energy having to do with everything, and it just -- and then she's got that -- the worst governor in the country, probably the worst. I think she made a horrible mistake. We will see what happens on November 5.

Yes, let's see what happens;. But there's something wrong with them, honestly. There's something wrong. And there's something wrong with her too. She's slow, low I.Q., something. I don't know what the hell it is, but they lie. (LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: We don't need another low-I.Q. person. We had one for four years. We don't need another one.

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: I mean, crooked Hillary lied, but she didn't do it like this. I mean, she wouldn't take things that were so obvious and just say the opposite. They say the exact opposite.

And, as you know, there are 15 different elements of policy that she changed. She was in favor of sex changes for prisoners at their will paid for by the government, and now she says, no, I don't think that would be a good idea. She was totally -- I mean, when you talk about fracking, she said no fracking under -- I mean, we have 25 commercials.

We put -- sometimes, we put them on simultaneously. She's just -- and now all of a sudden I love fracking. I think it's wonderful, although today, though, it came out -- they had a bad thing come out today. One of her people said she's against -- essentially against fracking.

And it's very interesting when that came out. It was sort of a big story. One of her top people said that, because that's where they are, Rick. That's where they are. They're against fracking. They're never going to -- and they're against anything having to do with what's under the ground.

And that's what -- Germany just went through it. They almost destroyed themselves. They went into a situation where they were putting windmills all over the place and the wind wasn't blowing so much. And if they kept that process going, Germany would right now be bust. That's one -- guess, one of the primary reasons that Angela is not there anymore. They tried it.

They had solar. They had solar fields that's so big. I mean, I saw a solar field come. And I'm in favor of solar, but it's not the same thing. It's got to fire up these massive plants. It's not going to -- but I saw a solar field the other day that looked like it took up half the desert. I never saw anything like it.

It's all steal and glass and wires and it looks like hell. And you see rabbits, they get caught in it and every -- for the environmentalists. It's just terrible. I like some applications where you have it on a roof or you have it on something. But I'm looking at solar fields that are like miles and miles of just -- and what it does to your desert areas or the areas that you're putting, it's just crazy.

We have stuff right into the ground, natural gas. We have things that -- we had the cleanest air that we have ever had during my administration. And yet we also had more jobs, more productivity. We had the best numbers we have ever had.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: We had the lowest taxes...

(CROSSTALK)

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: So, we're in a race, and we're really -- we're in a race with some very sick people. They're liars. They just lie. They lie about everything.

And I was going to hit her really hard on the trail today, but now I don't have to because she's off. She's off.

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: Now, I can't get over it. Who the hell takes off? You have 14 days left. And she will take a couple more days off too. You know why? She's lazy as hell. And she's got that reputation. She's a radical left lunatic.

She's further left than Bernie Sanders or Pocahontas. Now Pocahontas...

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: Because I think -- is Pocahontas -- Rick, is Pocahontas further left than Bernie? Just about, right? It's close. It's close.

Who the hell cares, right? Rick says, yes, I don't know. But they're out there. But she's furthest left. We can't have a person. She's a Marxist. Her father's a Marxist professor. By the way, the fake news, look at all of them. Where is the father? We should interview, because I'd find it interesting to see what he has to say.

He's -- I don't know. They -- I -- they seem to have a problem.