Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Donald Trump To Speak At Madison Square Garden; Kamala Harris Campaigning In Philadelphia; President Biden On The Campaign Trail For Harris; Jessica Dean Interviews Keisha Lance Bottoms; Jessica Dean Interviews James Stavridis; Early Voting Is Underway In California. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired October 27, 2024 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: And our thanks to Dr. Sanjay Gupta there. And thank you for joining me today. I'm Rahel Solomon. "CNN Newsroom" continues with Jessica Dean right now.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You're in the "CNN Newsroom" and I'm Jessica Dean in New York. We are nine days out from Election Day in America. Over 40 million ballots have been cast with early voting underway in many states across our nation. That includes battleground Georgia and North Carolina, which have both seen record turnout so far, as well as Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan.

Happening right now in New York City, a rally at Madison Square Garden for former President Trump. You see there, Elise Stefanik. He will also be joined by running mate, J.D. Vance, one-time presidential hopeful RFK Jr. Again, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, who's going to join us a little bit later on this show, and billionaire Elon Musk.

Vice President Harris is in Philadelphia getting out the vote in some more intimate settings, meeting people in a church, a barbershop, and a bookstore. Her running mate, Tim Walz, is in Las Vegas. In the week ahead, Harris will head back to Michigan, North Carolina, and Nevada. Walz has stops scheduled in Wisconsin and Georgia.

As you can imagine, it's an all hands on deck moment as the race for the White House remains a toss-up. CNN's poll of polls showing it is just simply too close to call. And for more, we go to CNN's Kristen Holmes, who's with the Trump campaign at Madison Square Garden. Kristen, a huge turnout there. This is a homecoming of sorts for Trump, a rally in his hometown with his name in the bright lights of the MSG marquee. Tell us more about why he's picking this venue and what their strategy is here.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Just that they've been wanting to do this now for several months. They're referring to it as Donald Trump playing the Garden, which is how you generally refer to someone who play at Madison Square Garden. They were trying to get this booked. They didn't think it was going to work out because of the fact that New York is such a political place, liberal leaning political place, and also just the dates and time of it, but here we are.

Now you have to remember one thing. Donald Trump's team really doesn't believe at the end of the day it matters entirely where he is. So we are in the deep blue state of New York. They believe this is a national media episode. And people are going to be taking this across national media platforms as we are, as well as the biggest media market in the world. So they are trying to reach those people as well.

For Donald Trump, this is, as you said, somewhat of a homecoming. So despite the fact that he's not in a swing state, something that's incredibly important to him. The other thing to keep in mind here is how much money they're actually raising from this event. They've been selling packages in order to get people to take pictures with Donald Trump. They sold the suites here. There's VIP access to the former president.

They're actually treating this essentially like a second RNC. You see the list of speakers that's very similar to what we saw at the RNC and a kickoff as we get into this final week of campaigning ahead of the actual election. Now, if you're curious as to what some of the people here who are listening to, it's pretty vitriolic. We have heard somebody say that Kamala Harris is the devil. Another person say the anti-Christ. One person referred to Puerto Rico as a floating island of garbage.

So it gives you a little bit of an idea of what the tone is here in Madison Square Garden. Donald Trump, again, expected to speak roughly within the next hour. We'll see if he holds to that timing, but we wait and see what his closing message is as he kicks off the final week of this campaign before election day.

DEAN: And Kristen, look, New York is a blue state when it comes to presidential politics. Trump lost New York by more than 20 points in '16 and in 2020. But there are some key house races here that are quite competitive. What do they think about just in terms of being in New York State and what impact they can have here?

HOLMES: Well, obviously, if you ask Donald Trump, who has long said that he could win New York, he thinks that New York might still turn red. Now, if you ask any Republican operatives who actually work in the state or even if some of his senior advisors, they say that's not happening. But what they do hope is going to happen is that there is some enthusiasm from Republicans that drives them out to the polls from the former president that might help with some of those New York House seats that are particularly more vulnerable areas.

Donald Trump actually was on the phone last night doing a tele-town hall with Elise Stefanik as you mentioned as well as some of these vulnerable lawmakers trying to boost them up, trying to reach out to voters to get them to hit the polls for these people as well. We'll see if it works. Notably though, Jessica, even though this is part of the strategy, none of them are slated to speak today. So whether or not this actually helps boost those numbers, we'll wait and see.

DEAN: Yeah. I think that is an important data point for everyone to remember and keep in mind. All right, Kristen Holmes for us in New York City. Thank you so much for that.

[17:04:58]

Let's go to Philadelphia now where Kamala Harris just wrapped up an event with voters at a local community center there. Her speech capping a busy day in Philly for the vice president. That began with a visit to a local church, included a stop by a barber shop, a black- owned bookstore and a Puerto Rican restaurant. Then she toured a youth basketball facility. Let's go now to Priscilla Alvarez who is traveling with the Harris campaign. What have you heard from her today, Priscilla?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what was notable about the vice president's remarks here at this community center in Philadelphia is that she focused less on former president Donald Trump and attacking his policies and proposals or what he has said as of late. Instead, she focused on some of the broader themes of her campaign. For example, unifying voters and unifying Americans and building a broad coalition of voters as she also sought to mobilize those voters and encourage those in the crowd to essentially help in that process.

Now, the vice president is also keenly aware, as is her team, that this state is crucial and one that they are trying to lock down as they try to fortify the blue wall of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. And she spoke about that path to victory while here. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Because the election is here and the choice, Billy, is truly in your hands. The path to victory runs right through all the leaders who are here. All of you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now, the vice president also said that it was, quote, "one of the most consequential elections of our lifetimes." Again, trying to urge voters to go out to the polls. Now, this concluded what was a long day of multiple stops. Again, as you mentioned, going to that church service, the barbershop, a bookstore, and here at this community center and a Puerto Rican restaurant. All of this trying to court the black and Latino vote. Part of the effort by the campaign again, to lockdown their coalition as they blitz or they kick off this final blitz to Election Day, Jessica.

DEAN: And Priscilla, the campaigning continuing tonight during this NFL game between the Eagles and the Bengals with dueling ads that have been airing during the game. The gender gap is real. The latest CNN poll showing that Trump has the support of 51 percent of men, Harris 45 percent. What more do you know about the ad from the Harris camp?

ALVAREZ: Well, they're certainly trying to amplify their message and capitalizing on these moments, for example, as you mentioned, playing these ads over the course of the game and tailoring the ads for the markets. Of course, this ad that you mentioned has a lot of mentions of Phillies, and it is one that again, they're trying to use to convey the vice president's message. And that's really what the next few days are going to be.

They want -- her team, they want to tap into some of the good vibes that they had early on in the campaign, bring that back, while also trying to continue to draw that short contrast with former president Donald Trump and continue to issue their warnings of a potential second Trump term, but to do that they're having to increase exposure of the vice president and her message.

One of the ways they're doing that of course is through ads and playing them during these big moments, but it's also making sure that she's on the campaign trail often and what we have seen most recently is he's almost daily gaggles with reporters traveling with the vice president where she is rapidly responding to former President Donald Trump. So all of that together is part of the strategy by the Harris campaign to stay front and center and continue to feature some of their issues prominently in the closing days of the election.

DEAN: All right Priscilla Alvarez on the trail in Philadelphia. Thank you so much for that reporting.

Joining us now is senior political analyst and senior editor at "The Atlantic" Ron Brownstein. Ron good to see you.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah, Jessica.

DEAN: So New York, not typically a stop for candidates nearly a week out from election day. But the Trump campaign, as we heard Kristen Holmes' report, is betting that voters in all of the battleground states are going to hear about this, that this is a nationalized race when it comes to the media. I just first want to get your thoughts on this event.

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah. Well, it's not only voters in general in the battleground states, but given Trump's focus on trying to reach low propensity voters, especially men, this kind of splashy national event, I think, has a better chance of breaking through to those kinds of voters than say, you know, a 6:00 hit on the local news in Green Bay or Saginaw. So in that sense, it makes sense for him.

But it is, like many things, Trump does a two-edged sword, because the inevitable echoes of this rally with other far right rallies at Madison Square Garden in history, you know, a pro-Nazi rally before World War II, the George Wallace rally in 1968, is exactly the kind of messaging, inadvertent messaging in his case, that Harris needs to try to activate the voters at the edge of what Democrats call the anti- MAGA coalition.

[17:10:13]

So, like many things he does, it is something that could benefit him and inspire at least as much of a counter reaction.

DEAN: Yeah, we see that so often with him. I also just want to drill down on something that Kristen was talking about, just the fact that there are these really important and tight house seats, house races that are happening in New York State, that really matter when the Republicans are trying to hang on to the House. And yet none of these people are going to be on stage with Trump. And it seems like that tells us a lot.

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah, I'm a little surprised that at least one of them, you know, out on Long Island might not be there in a district that Trump won. But the fact is that those districts in New York, like the districts in California that are also gonna be critical in determining the outcome of the House, are being fought almost entirely in districts that voted for Biden four years ago.

And so Republicans are trying to surmount the underlying lean. Its possible Trump might run better in some of them than he did four years ago, but still the control of the House is largely being decided in the roughly 17 districts, I think it is, that Republicans hold that voted for Biden in 2020. And you don't see really many of those candidates trying to link too closely to Trump.

DEAN: And I just want to turn to the Harris campaign because she's planning for this final message in Washington, D.C., at the Ellipse where Trump, of course, very memorably spoke out before January 6th, right before the insurrection there on the Capitol. What do you make of that choice and clearly the closing argument, as James Carville said to me, he thought the closing argument yesterday, he said, should be it's the Constitution, stupid? Do you think that is it? That is the closing argument for her?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, you know, I think there's an enormous debate among Democrats about whether she should close by focusing on the unique threats that Trump has openly articulated to the American constitutional system of government. Today, his running mate agreeing with him that mainstream Democrats are a greater threat to the country than foreign adversaries like North Korea.

So on the one hand, you've got Democrats who want to emphasize that. And that is a message aimed primarily at white collar suburban college educated voters. They're the ones who respond most to it and the related arguments about Trump as a threat to rights, particularly abortion. Then you have the other camp of Democrats who say she has to emphasize bread and butter issues to try to reel back some of the voters of color who have moved away from Democrats over discontent about the economy and maybe more working class white women voters who are more economically squeezed.

I think she's actually come up with a pretty effective bridge of that with this one line that she says, Donald Trump will come into office again with an enemies list. I will come into office with a to-do list for you. And I think that is a pretty elegant way of bridging those two arguments. And I suspect that that's what we're going to hear from her, that Trump is so consumed by his desire for retribution against all those he thinks that has wronged him, that he will both threaten the Constitution and ignore your needs, your daily needs on everything from health care to home health for seniors to prescription drugs.

DEAN: And along those lines, you wrote a piece for "The Atlantic" this week about what is called the improbable coalition of voters that could help Harris win the White House. And I just want you to walk us through what that might be.

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah. Look, I mean, you know, if you think about where we are in 2024, the extent to which the ferocity with which the Trump campaign has portrayed Harris as an out of touch extremist coastal liberal leads me to think it is not unreasonable that he will perform even better than he did in 2020 in Trump country, small town rural ex- urban America where most of the voters are non-college whites, many of them religiously traditional.

He is putting enormous effort, which you see her trying to rebut today, into cracking, however slightly, the democratic, the towering traditional democratic margins in the inner cities of places like Philadelphia, Detroit, Milwaukee, and Atlanta. She's still gonna win the vast majority of those votes.

But this pincer movement from Trump, trying to cut away at the democratic vote from two direction, really leaves to me as a critical battlefield, these large populous, racially diverse inner suburbs outside the major cities, Montgomery, Delaware, Chester and Bucks outside Philadelphia, Oakland outside Detroit, Kent County, which includes Grand Rapids, the so-called WOW counties outside of Milwaukee and Dane County, which is Madison.

[17:14:57]

These are the places that are adding the most population in these states. They are places that have moved toward the Democrats. They are the places, as we said, who may be most receptive to the arguments about rights and values that Harris is hitting. And it is highly likely that Harris is going to have to run, I think, even better than Biden did in 2020 in these places in order to hold Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, which still by far represent her best opportunity to win the White House.

And so the improbable coalition is you have largely economically struggling inner city non-white voters and pretty comfortable suburban, mostly white voters whose lives intersect very rarely in any other context, except that they both have reasons to stick with the Democrats and oppose Donald Trump. Whether that's enough to hold those states, we'll probably determine who our next president will be.

DEAN: That is truly fascinating. And we're gonna find out in just under two weeks. All right, Ron Brownstein, as always, thank you for your time. We appreciate it.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

DEAN: Coming up here in "CNN Newsroom" I'm going to talk to former Atlanta mayor and senior adviser to the Harris-Walz campaign, Keisha Lance Bottoms. And next, which is days to go until Election Day, how often will we be seeing President Biden now on the campaign trail?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:20:00] DEAN: President Biden making rare stops on the campaign trail for Harris in recent weeks. And it may have something to do with this. CNN's poll of polls showing Biden's approval rating at just 38 percent. Of course, the Trump campaign trying to capitalize on this, trying to connect Harris to Biden and to his policies. Here's a new ad from them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: Kamala backed Biden on everything. She was the deciding vote for his disastrous economic agenda.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is joining us now with more. And Sunlen, what more can you tell us about this dynamic?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Jessica, it's so interesting to watch these higher profile surrogates, where they go, how they are deployed in the final weeks of the campaign really tells us everything about the strategy of the candidate at that moment. And for President Biden, he's certainly in an interesting spot with those approval ratings, as you mentioned.

And we are seeing him really strategically deployed but having very limited engagements since he dropped out of the campaign a few months ago earlier this year. And from what we know about his schedule right now, it seems like this last week will follow very much that same pattern. As of now, he is having two official events, first in Tuesday in Baltimore, Maryland, where President Biden will discuss the administration's work, investing in infrastructure and climate crisis.

And on Friday, the president will travel to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There he will be talking to all unions. It's no surprise that he is in Philadelphia. This is a core, the Commonwealth of Philadelphia, battleground state that he knows, of course, very well. So of course they are going to deploy him in that key area where he can really connect with working class voters. We saw him in Pittsburgh yesterday, where he went right after President Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I've never been this direct, but I tell you what, he's about making sure he pushes people down. He thinks the way you get ahead is push people down. Donald Trump is a loser.

(APPLAUSE)

He's a loser, the candidate. And more importantly, in my view, and I'm just going to say it straight up, he's loser as a man.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: Now behind the scenes, a Biden advisor tells CNN that the former president is working to really ratchet up the fundraising pitches. He has made several fundraising calls and several direct-to- camera videos urging grassroots supporters to support, as well as making calls to the labor community. So again, the Harris campaign is strategically using President Biden in this final stretch. It will be interesting, Jessica, to see if he adds any more events to his schedule.

DEAN: Certainly. All right, Sunlen Serfaty for us in Washington, D.C. Thank you so much. And tonight, former President Trump holding a rally at the world famous Madison Square Garden. Here's a live look at the packed house waiting for the president. We're going to bring that to you live. You're in the "CNN Newsroom."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:25:00]

DEAN: With nine days to go until Election Day, the sprint is on for both candidates. Former President Trump will soon speak at a rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Vice President Harris is in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, where earlier today she met people in a more personal setting at a church, a barbershop, and a bookstore moments ago. She also spoke at a rally in Philadelphia, where she said American democracy is not something to be taken for granted. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: The great thing about living in a democracy, as long as we keep it, is that we, the people, have the power to choose the direction of our country and its leadership. The power is with the people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: And joining us now to talk more about this former Atlanta mayor and senior advisor to the Harris-Walz campaign, Keisha Lance Bottoms. Mayor, great to have you here. Thanks so much.

KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS, FORMER ATLANTA MAYOR: Great to join you.

DEAN: In these final nine days, I think we're starting to see the vice president really come together on her closing message. It certainly centers around what she calls Trump's threat to democracy and also reproductive rights. Do you expect to see more of that? And what can we expect to hear from her as she tries to close this with voters?

BOTTOMS: We will continue to hear the Vice President make the cases of why she should be elected president, what the difference is between she and Donald Trump. And I just encourage people to pay attention to what each of these candidates are saying. The vice president has talked about how she will move our country forward, how she will help people with those kitchen table issues that we're all talking about.

[17:29:57]

From her down payment assistance of $25,000 to first time home buyers, to the $6,000 tax credit for those having children for the first time. And then contrast that with what you are hearing from Donald Trump. The vice president said that she's going to talk about her to-do list while Donald Trump is talking about his enemy list, who he is going after, who he intends to sick the military and the National Guard upon when he thinks that he will again serve as president of the United States.

So, we will see the vice president continue to be the adult in the room while Donald Trump will continue to do what he does best, and that is to insult people and to disparage our country.

DEAN: And at this point, the campaign is in full get out to vote mode, early voting well underway. I know we've seen record turnout in your home state of Georgia. Trump has done well when it comes to motivating voters who don't usually vote and haven't usually voted in the past, these low propensity voters. Can Harris outperform Trump and really do well? And what can she do to kind of overcome that?

LANCE BOTTOMS: Well, we know that there are a lot of issues that impact directly people in Georgia. We have a six-week abortion ban in Georgia. We've heard the vice president speak the name of Amber Nicole Thurman, this young mother who died from complications of an abortion because her medical care was delayed, and an independent state board said that her death was preventable. And we know that's been a direct result of doctors being confused and unwilling to provide treatment for fear of prosecution.

So, what we will continue to see again, people in Georgia paying attention. Uh, we know that there has been a record turnout on both sides of this election cycle. Uh, what I believe is happening is that we are seeing Republican voters who are turning out early, who normally wait until Election Day because we know that Donald Trump is now encouraging people to early vote. So, we still got a lot of people out there who still have not voted, have an opportunity to vote, and it's going to be a turnout game between early voting that end of this week and then, of course, on Election Day.

DEAN: And are you concerned about President Biden's low favorability rating? Right now, we have him polling at only 38% in our poll of polls. Do you think that that hurts Harris?

LANCE BOTTOMS: I absolutely don't think that it hurts Vice President Harris. We heard people talk about these supposed low favorability ratings for the president during the midterms, and we see how that turned out. President Biden is still very regarded by Democrats, especially across the state of Georgia, and they have a very strong record that they have accomplished as directly benefited people in this state and across this country.

I served as mayor of Atlanta while Donald Trump was president. It was chaotic to say the least. We couldn't look to the White House for any support, any guidance during COVID, this very trying time for people across this country when over a million people died in this country. And I was not able to exhale until the Biden-Harris administration came in and said, what can we do to help you, not work against you? So, I believe that President Biden is still very well-regarded by people across this country, and I think that Vice President Harris will obviously run on what she will do for this country, but I don't think that President Biden is going to hurt her in the least bit.

DEAN: All right. Former Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, thank you so much for being here.

LANCE BOTTOMS: Thank you.

DEAN: And former President Trump is expected to take the stage just moments from now in Madison Square Garden. We will be back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: Republican Senators Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham are coming to Donald Trump's defense this week, accusing the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, and former general and Trump chief of staff, John Kelly, of mischaracterizing their old boss.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: Do you think people like General Milley, like John Kelly, are lying?

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL): Yes, I do. And not more -- but even if they aren't lying or even -- let's say you don't want to call them a liar, I would say it's very dubious to see these accusations coming at the very last minute, right before an election.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): I think General Kelly's criticisms are not based on facts. I think it's emotional, it's sad, and it's not going to matter. What happened to joy on the democratic side? They went from joy to now Trump is Hitler. That's desperation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Both Milley and Kelly have made headlines for sharply criticizing the former president, each describing him as a fascist who would endanger the country. Retired U.S. Navy Admiral James Stavridis is joining us now. He's the former supreme allied commander of NATO and the author of the new novel, "The Restless Wave." Admiral, thanks so much for being here with us.

JAMES STAVRIDIS, FORMER SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER, NATO: My pleasure, Jessica.

DEAN: You've been watching this whole thing play out publicly.

[17:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

I just first want to get your thoughts on what you're seeing both from the comments from Milley and Kelly, and then Trump and J.D. Vance's reaction to them and his allies.

STAVRIDIS: Well, I'll start with what I know. And I know John Kelly. I've known him for 40 years. We served as junior officers together. I watched his family grow up, including his son, Robbie, who was killed under my command in Afghanistan. John Kelly is true, straight, honest. He's a rock-solid Bostonian, a hero of the United States of America. He doesn't lie.

Mark Milley, I don't know as well, but I've known Mark for close to 20 years. He's a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He served under my command as a one-star in Afghanistan. I know him to be true, direct, straight, coincidentally a fellow Bostonian to John Kelly.

These are two very straightforward individuals. And I'll close with this, Jessica. They spent not minutes, not hours, not days, not months, both of them spent years around President Trump. I take great stock in what they had to say about him.

DEAN: And I'm curious, and I -- because you do know John Kelly so well. You know, we've heard the former president talk very openly about what he describes as the enemy within, people here in America, Americans that he thinks are more frightening and more potentially threatening than our enemies that exist outside in the world. And he has named various politicians, but he's also posted on Truth Social that he would investigate and go after anyone that he thought was an enemy from within.

Do you think John Kelly and Mark Milley, yourself, anyone, might be concerned that they might be targeted if President Trump were to get back in office?

STAVRIDIS: I think any idea that we would, as a nation, use political power to go after our domestic enemies ought to frighten all of us. And let's go back to the U.S. Military. The U.S. Military swears an oath, not to the president as commander-in-chief, we certainly respect that office, but the oath that is sworn by every officer in the armed forces is to the Constitution of the United States. We are, must be, and I hope, and I believe always will be a nation of laws. That is critical. Our military will defend the Constitution in any crisis.

DEAN: And I also, while we have you here, want to broaden out our conversation internationally. And I want to ask you about Israel directly striking back at Iran this weekend. Of course, that was a long-promised retaliation to Iran's attacks on Israel on October 1st. What is your thought on where this conflict is right now, especially in that ensuing time period Israel killed Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas?

STAVRIDIS: It's a very good place at the moment for the Israelis. They've had three months of unbroken success going after, as you point out, Yahya Sinwar, the exorbitant leader of Hamas, now dead. Too much blood on his hands to even measure, including American blood. They have struck successfully against Iran. Iran has tried to strike them with very little effect. Again and again, you see Israel moving militarily.

As to where it goes from here, Jessica, I think, and let's hope this is true, that things will now settle down from this cycle of violence we've seen. The Iranians don't seem to have the stomach for another round of significant retaliation. Israel has been clear that they feel this most recent set of strikes are sufficient, at least for the moment. Combat operations are winding down in Gaza. They're continuing in Hezbollah to the north.

But I think the hard combat is going be measured, I hope, in a few more months, and this thing will not widen into a true total regional war. I think the chances of this settling down are about 80% at this point. I'm still worrisome, but I think better than where I might have predicted a month ago.

DEAN: Yeah, there has been so much that has happened just even in the last month. And then in Ukraine, we know that Ukrainian officials are saying North Korean troops could begin fighting alongside Russian forces as soon as this weekend. It really underscores these growing ties between those two countries.

[17:45:01]

And again, taking it back to Iran as well, these countries are really -- we see them working together a lot. What do you make specifically, though, of these North Koreans who will be fighting on behalf of the Russians?

STAVRIDIS: I think it's very concerning in terms of actual military manpower, know-how, discipline. These Korean troops will probably be at the top end of what Kim Jong-un has produced. And let's face it, North Korea is a one trick pony. It is a nation that is simply a militarized state. And so, these troops, which are currently training in Russia, will hit the front lines. I've seen numbers estimated between 3,000 and 12,000. It's a significant military addition to the forces of Russia who are losing so many.

And final thought on this, Jessica. In the midst of worrying about it, as we should appropriately, we also ought to reflect that this reflects Russian weakness. Believe me, Vladimir Putin doesn't like the image of him going on bended knee to Kim Jong-un to get troops to keep his offensive going. This is a sign of Russian weakness, but it could have real impact on the battlefield.

DEAN: And just, finally, we don't want to let you go without asking about your new book. It's called "The Restless Wave." Tell us what inspired you to tell this particular story.

STAVRIDIS: Winston Churchill said, to look to the future, you need to understand the past. And thus, this book is historical fiction set in the early days of World War II. It's a love triangle set against the horrors of the early part of the war. And it's a way, Jessica, to look back at Great Power War in the Pacific, something we worry about today between U.S. and China, then U.S, Japan, to worry about new technologies sweeping the battlefield as they did in the 1940s. And finally, the human cost of war comes out in the relationships between two young officers and a woman with whom they both fall in love in those early days.

DEAN: Yeah. So much -- yeah, it's so true that to know about where we are today, you got to go back and you got to understand the history that came before us. Admiral James Stavridis, thank you so much for being here.

STAVRIDIS: Thanks, Jessica.

DEAN: Uh-hmm. Forty million voters in 47 states have already cast their ballots ahead of Election Day. And up next, we're going to be live in Orange County, California where this weekend, voters are able to cast their ballots in person. You're in the "CNN Newsroom."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: Early voting is underway in California with just nine days now until Election Day. Across the state, more than four million ballots have been cast so far with in-person voting starting in 29 counties this weekend. Californians not only choosing a president but also for the first time in decades a new senator to replace the late Dianne Feinstein.

CNN's Julia Vargas Jones is in Orange County with more on this. Julia, what are you seeing?

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're hearing from voters, Jessica, they are keenly aware of the importance of their vote this time around, which is not something we usually hear in California, right? A state that goes traditionally blue. But Orange County, not so. And here, we are in the 45th congressional district that is one of the closest races and one that could determine who gets power of the House of Representatives.

Here we have an incumbent, Michelle Steel, Republican, running for her third term and being challenged by Derek Tran, Democrat running for the first time. Bill Clinton was here just yesterday campaigning for Tram. And this district, which went under redistricting in 2020, is now 40% Asian-American and about 30 percent Hispanic.

But we've been talking to all kinds of voters who've been coming here to vote in Cypress. I just want to -- I want you to hear from one of these voters about why they came in to vote early and what are some of the issues they care about.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: Yeah, the economy is not good, but it could be a thousand times worse if Trump gets in and starts putting tariffs on everything. Everything is going to go up higher. We just got things under control just recently. Personal rights, everything. Personal rights. We're picking out people and saying those who are in, those who are Asians, those who are Mexicans, and those who are saying that they're worse -- they're calling them scum and vermin. You know, people like that don't belong in government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VARGAS JONES: And so, Jessica, those are some of the concerns that we heard time and again, just the kind of rhetoric in politics. They are informing voters on how to vote up and down ballot. In this particular polling station where we spoke to voters, about 300 people came to vote just yesterday on day one and they'll continue to come for the next week.

DEAN: That's right, it is certainly underway. We are in an election as we speak. Julia Vargas Jones in California, thank you so much for that. And up soon, President Trump will take the stage and headline a rally at one of the most popular arenas on the planet, Madison Square Garden. You're in the "CNN Newsroom."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: You are in the "CNN Newsroom" and I'm Jessica Dean in New York. At any moment, Donald Trump will take the stage at a rally in Madison Square Garden in New York City. And CNN's Kristen Holmes is with the Trump campaign at the world's most famous arena. Kristen, what have you been hearing from Republicans who've already spoken tonight?

HOLMES: Well, look, there has been a lot of vitriol.

[18:00:00]

I mean, this is a Trump rally. We often expect to hear this kind of language. But even for a Trump rally, this appears to have gotten very heated.