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Dark Rhetoric and Fear Mongering Focus of Trump's NYC Appearance; Harris Courts Black, Latino Voters in Pennsylvania; Escalating Tension in Middle East Amid Ongoing Conflicts; Ruling Coalition in Japan Loses Majority for 1st Time in 15 Years; Zelenskyy: Russian to Deploy North Korean Troops 'Any Day Now'; 'Washington Post' Facing Backlash Over Endorsement Decision; Scientists Develop A.I. Algorithm to Decode Pig Sounds. Aired 12-12:45a ET
Aired October 28, 2024 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes. Appreciate your company. Coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM.
[00:00:33]
The final push to the U.S. elections. Donald Trump speaks to a massive ground in New York City in a speech filled with dark rhetoric, fear mongering, and outright lies.
Kamala Harris, meanwhile, trying to court black and Latino voters, making several stops in battleground Pennsylvania.
And in the Middle East, a new round of ceasefire talks underway as the toll in Gaza continues to climb.
And later, using artificial intelligence to better understand the emotions of animals.
ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Michael Holmes.
M. HOLMES: Eight days and counting. The U.S. presidential race entering the final stretch. More than 40 million people have already cast their ballots, with early voting underway in most states.
CNN's latest national polling average shows little to no daylight between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
And it's a busy week ahead for both candidates as the campaigns blitz across the handful of battleground states expected to decide this election.
On Sunday, thousands of people queued up outside New York's storied Madison Square Garden for a Trump campaign rally. The gathering featured a slate of Trump loyalists and included racist, profane attacks against Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton, other Democratic leaders, and even the island of Puerto Rico. In a rare campaign appearance, Melania Trump introduced her husband to the crowd. During his disjointed and, as usual, meandering speech, the former president used dark rhetoric and invoked fear when talking about Democrats, women and immigrants; and made a slew of false claims or outright lies about his opponent.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Over the past four years, Kamala Harris has orchestrated the most egregious betrayal that any leader in American history has ever inflicted upon our people.
She has violated her oath, eradicated our sovereign border, and unleashed an army of migrant gangs who are waging a campaign of violence and terror against our citizens. There has never been anything like it anywhere in the world for any country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. HOLMES: It was quite something, Trump painting a bleak and frequently dishonest picture of the U.S.
Our Kristen Holmes was there and has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Former President Donald Trump spoke to a packed house --
K. HOLMES (voice-over): -- at Madison Square Garden in New York, giving what was his traditional campaign speech, filled with quite a few falsehoods, particularly when it came to immigration.
Just to go over a few of the things that he said, he talked about the fact [SIC] that criminal migrants were pouring in across the border from prisons and insane asylums. Just to be clear, that's something CNN has fact-checked on a number of occasions and found that even the campaign couldn't give any examples of that happening.
He talked about how Venezuelan gangs were taking over all of America and, in particular, Aurora, Colorado. I will say, as somebody who was with him in that rally at Aurora, Colorado, there was an incident at an apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado. We have spoken to a number of state and local officials who have said that it was completely blown out of proportion. And actually, the rhetoric around it was creating more for problems for the community.
He also talked about immigration in general and Springfield, Illinois [SIC], saying that a -- a load of illegal immigrants were dropped into Springfield, Illinois [SIC].
One thing we can say -- or excuse me, Springfield, Ohio. One thing we can say --
K. HOLMES: -- that we know is that most of the people who are on the ground in Springfield are here legally through a specific program at the Department of Homeland Security.
K. HOLMES (voice-over): In addition to that, he talked about the hurricane response to Helene, something that he's talked about a lot, saying that there were no federal officials on the ground, that no one was -- could be seen. Nobody was helping.
That we know not to be true from both Republicans and Democrats on the ground, who have described it as a helpful response, particularly the federal response.
He also said that FEMA didn't have enough money to help with disaster response -- they do -- because they had moved all of their money to help with migrant housing. That is not true. FEMA has multiple pots of money. One of them is for disaster relief. Another is for migrant housing.
But it's a congressional allotment, meaning that that money for migrant housing cannot be taken and used for disaster relief and same, not vice versa.
[00:05:02]
K. HOLMES: So, the other thing that he talked about, foreign policy. He said, without any evidence or proof, that neither Russia would have invaded Ukraine, was he in office, or the October 7 terrorist attacks in Israel. He said that both of those things would have never happened if he was in office.
But all in all, it was his --
K. HOLMES (voice-over): -- traditional campaign speech. And I will say that, despite using this dark, fear-based rhetoric on immigration, the crowd here, a full house at Madison Square Garden, was incredibly receptive to this rhetoric.
It's unsurprising that we learned the Donald Trump, who believes that this kind of rhetoric helped propel him to the White House in 2016, is also of the belief that it could help him again in 2024.
And if you base it just on this ground tonight, he might have a point. People were standing up. They were using applause lines for several of these various points, particularly the darkest points when it came to immigration.
K. HOLMES: Now, one thing I do just want to quickly point out is what happened before the rally, because as somebody --
K. HOLMES (voice-over): -- who has attended dozens of these Trump rallies, the pre-show rhetoric before Donald Trump took the stage was some of the darkest rhetoric I've ever heard at one of these rallies.
They were name calling. I just want to point out some of the things that we heard from these speakers ahead of time. One person called Kamala Harris the Antichrist and the devil.
Another person said -- referred to Puerto Rico as a floating island of garbage, something that has received massive backlash from both Democrats and Republicans.
Another person referred to illegal immigrants as "F"-ing illegals. Someone else said Hillary Clinton was a, quote, "sick bastard."
K. HOLMES: And that is just the actual specifics. We also heard a lot of nativist rhetoric, talking about how America is for Americans only and that type of thing.
It is clear that this is the tone that Donald Trump's team, Donald Trump's campaign is setting, because keep in mind what this event was. This was the kickoff of the final week of the campaign before voters head to the polls on November 5.
Kristen Holmes, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. HOLMES: Well, while Donald Trump focused on that crowd in New York, Kamala Harris took more of a grassroots approach to campaigning on Sunday.
She spent the day in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, visiting several Philadelphia neighborhoods to push a message of unity.
CNN's Priscilla Alvarez with that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday visiting battleground Pennsylvania as she tries to mobilize voters in the final push to election day.
The vice president --
ALVAREZ (voice-over): -- blitzing around the Philadelphia area over the course of the day, starting with a church service for a dominantly black church, then a barbershop, followed by a bookstore, and then a Puerto Rican restaurant.
All of that intended to court black and Latino voters as her team tries to lock in her coalition.
But similarly, they are trying to fortify the Blue Wall, which includes Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan, what her team sees as the most favorable path to 270 electoral votes.
ALVAREZ: And here at a community center in Philadelphia, the vice president stressing the stakes of the election, saying that it is, quote, "one of the most consequential elections of our lifetime." And then also talking about some of the broader themes of her campaign around unity, saying that her team has been trying to build a broad coalition --
ALVAREZ (voice-over): -- to unify Americans.
Now, the vice president, also speaking directly to young voters and young leaders. And then urging those in the crowd to vote and encourage those around them to do the same, noting that Pennsylvania holds --
ALVAREZ: -- extra significance and is the path to victory.
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I'm very excited about the reports that were getting about enthusiasm here in Philadelphia. And to your point, Philadelphia is a very important part of our path to victory. And it is the reason I'm spending time here, have been spending time here.
But I'm feeling very optimistic about the enthusiasm that is here and the commitment that folks of every background have to vote and to -- to really invest in the future of our country.
ALVAREZ: Now, Sunday's stop in Pennsylvania, or multiple stops in Pennsylvania, will kick off a blitz over the course of the week, as -- ahead of election day, as her and her team try to hit all the battleground states and shore up support.
Priscilla Alvarez, CNN, Philadelphia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. HOLMES: All right. Let's bring in Ron Brownstein, CNN's senior political analyst, and senior editor at "The Atlantic."
Good to see you, Ron.
I mean, the Donald Trump rally --
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hello, Michael.
M. HOLMES: -- was quite something. I mean, I watched it. I mean, a quote, unquote, "comedian" calling Puerto Rico a pile of garbage. Another speaker spoke about what -- said he spoke at what he called a Nazi rally.
Kamala Harris being called the Antichrist, and that was before Trump spoke and we know what he said.
Who is the Trump campaign trying to appeal to, literally, days out from the election?
BROWNSTEIN: I mean, you know, the two precedents of this kind of rally was George Wallace in 1968, which is what going in, I imagined it might be like. But of course, the darker, more distant precedent was the 1939 Nazi rally -- pro -- pro-Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden, which it may have had more overlap with in the end.
[00:10:06]
I mean, Trump is, you know, all in on trying to mobilize the voters who are most alienated from the way America is evolving; changing demography, changing cultural norms, changing relationships between men and women. And at the same time, he is counting on unprecedented support among Latino and black voters, who are the targets for much of this rhetoric. And indeed, for very sharp-edged policies like mass deportation and national stop-and-frisk.
And what you see tonight, I thought, was the inherent tension there may be coming to point, with all of the backlash, in particular, in response to those comments about Puerto Rico and the parade of Puerto Rican celebrities, the procession of Puerto Rican celebrities who came out tonight in support of Harris, which could be a critical factor, interestingly enough, in Pennsylvania, which still seems to be the tipping-point state in this election.
M. HOLMES: Five hundred thousand, I think, Puerto Rican voters in Pennsylvania.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
M. HOLMES: Kamala Harris more and more focusing on Trump's extreme comments, but also his cognition and so on. Is that smart tactically? Is that going to win people over?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, you know, someone said to me many months ago, before Biden got out of the race, someone smarter than me said, in many ways -- and I guess this is my paraphrase. In many ways, the question about the final days of this election is going to be what is the question?
You heard Trump's attempt, almost in passing, to point toward the question that most Republicans want voters to be asking: are you better off than you were four years ago?
Because most people will say no. I mean, there's a lot of frustration with the Biden economy. He's had a lot of accomplishments, but they've been overshadowed by inflation. And that, in particular, is opening the door for Trump with a lot of working -- you know, working families that are living paycheck to paycheck, including those in the minority community.
But that isn't necessarily the question we'll be asking in the final days. The other question is: is it too much of a risk to restore to power this Donald Trump, who is talking so overtly in xenophobic, racist, and authoritarian language?
And that rally tonight, you know, was a kind of -- potentially, a crystallizing moment for this small number of voters that we are talking about that are still in play, particularly in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, maybe Georgia, who are being reminded constantly that reelecting Trump entails more than potentially lower prices for groceries and gas.
There's a lot more that goes with it. And tonight was a kind of peel- the-mask-back moment to remind everyone, really, of exactly all that is involved there.
M. HOLMES: Yes, I always find the economy argument interesting. I mean, you had -- you had half of the living American Nobel Prize winners for economics --
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
M. HOLMES: -- saying Trump's policies -- just this last week, saying Trump's policies would tank the economy.
I wanted to ask you this, though, about the polling, because despite Trump, it's neck and neck. Young people, in particular, don't pick up the phone for pollsters. There -- there might be people who lie and say they're not voting for Trump then do, or perhaps there are some that might say they are voting for Trump and don't.
How reliable do you think these poll numbers are? Could -- could there be a surprise?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, I think there are two ways to think about this.
I mean, first, pollsters have done triple backflips in terms of honing and rethinking their methodology to try to avoid the problems that we saw in the 2020 and 2016 elections, when polls significantly understated the number of, particularly, non-college whites who would come out and vote for Trump.
But you know, I feel like, in some way, we are almost beyond this question, because if polls are telling you that they see a one- or two-point race in a state. that -- they're not really -- polls are not capable of, you know, divining down with the level of precision that would tell you who would win that.
You know, someone -- someone said to me earlier in this cycle, when you're dealing with a race that's within the margin of error in terms of polling, it's really within the margin of effort of the two sides.
And, if we're talking about Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, maybe Georgia, as I said, the states that are most likely to decide this race, all the polling can tell us, I think, is that they are within reach for both candidates. And the question is, both the execution at the end, but also, as I said, what is the question that voters are walking into the ballot box asking?
Are they asking, are you better off than you were four years ago? Or are they looking at everything that we've seen from Trump in this campaign and questioning whether they want to take the chance of giving him power again, even if they might lean toward his policies on issues like the economy?
And I do think that is the critical question in the final days.
[00:15:04]
M. HOLMES: Yes, yes, fascinating. Ron, always good to see you. Thanks for that.
Ron Brownstein there.
BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me. M. HOLMES: Now, we're learning a new round of Gaza ceasefire and hostage release talks have kicked off in Doha. A diplomat telling CNN on Sunday, those high-level negotiations have begun for the first time in more than two months, by the way.
Top negotiators from the U.S., Israel, and Qatar will be working to reach a deal as U.S. officials argue for renewed momentum following Israel's killing of the Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar.
Egypt, which has long played a key role as a mediator in ceasefire talks, is proposing to start with a limited deal and go from there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ABDEL FATTAH EL-SISI, EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): In Egypt during the past few days, efforts have been made to move the situation towards a two-day ceasefire, during which four hostages would be exchanged for some prisoners held in Israeli jails.
Then, over the next ten days, negotiations would proceed to complete measures in the area, or to reach a full ceasefire and allow aid to enter.
We affirm that our brothers in the Gaza Strip are facing an extremely difficult siege, reaching the point of starvation. And it is crucial that aid enters as quickly as possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. HOLMES: But for now, there remains no end in sight to the war in Gaza. On Sunday, Israel's military claiming it targeted Hamas in an airstrike on a school near Gaza City.
Gaza's civil defense says several people were killed in a place where hundreds of displaced people are sheltering.
This as the conflict in Lebanon rages on, as well. CNN's Jim Sciutto reports from Jerusalem.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF U.S. SECURITY ANALYST/ANCHOR: We had multiple reminders today that the war in the region is a war on multiple fronts. And arguably, each of those fronts is getting hotter, or at least not cooling down.
SCIUTTO (voice-over): Today, Israeli authorities are describing a truck that hit a bus stop just North of Tel Aviv as a terror attack that killed one person, injured more than 30 others, one in a series of terror attacks we've seen in recent weeks here in Israel.
SCIUTTO: There was also a stabbing attack targeting soldiers today.
In addition to that, the IDF announced today the deaths of six Israeli soldiers, one of them from ongoing fighting in Gaza, five others from fighting in Southern Lebanon, two other fronts, of course, of this war.
And then sources tell me today that, as part of Israel's strike on Iran overnight --
SCIUTTO (voice-over): -- on Friday and into early Saturday morning, a strike that involved some 100 Israeli warplanes, that some of those warplanes breached Iranian airspace during that attack. Not all of those warplanes, but some of them.
And that shows a significant Israeli capability to strike far away at Iran, hundreds of miles away. An operation that requires refueling in the air for many of these fighters.
But also, in the course of it, to take out Iranian air defenses. And in this case, reach Iranian airspace.
So, you have all those fronts in Lebanon, in Gaza, between directly, Israel and Iran. And of course, a front --
SCIUTTO: -- you might call it here inside Israel, ongoing terror attacks in this country.
And in each case, them getting more dangerous, not less so. And of course, these are developments we continue to follow.
Jim Sciutto, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. HOLMES: Still to come on the program, Japan's new prime minister faces some tough decisions after a snap election that did not go in his party's favor. Could his new position be at risk? We'll have more details in a live report.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:21:00]
M. HOLMES: Japan has been plunged into political uncertainty after the ruling coalition lost its majority for the first time in 15 years.
New Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba faces some tough decisions now. He'll have to team up with other smaller parties or risk pulling through a minority government.
CNN's Marc Stewart is following the story live from Beijing.
Good to see you, Marc. A wake-up call for a troubled coalition. What happens now?
MARC STEWART, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Michael. Good to see you, as well.
Look, here is the question: does this current coalition have the power, have the pull to tackle a very hefty list of issues facing Japan? Right now, I think it is safe to say that a lot of work is taking place behind the scenes to see if this coalition can be expanded, if support can be found elsewhere.
Because Japan has to confront some very challenging issues. And No. 1 on the list, you could argue, would be the economy. Right now, the yen is weak, inflation is high, and the economic outlook appears to be a little bit wobbly.
And that is something that the current prime minister has placed as a priority and as an issue, as we have heard in different reporting over the months, that is important to people in Japan. So, there is that to contend with.
In addition, there is -- there are other questions about a political scandal, where some lawmakers were accused of taking kickbacks and not properly disclosing their income.
All of that led to where we are now.
So, the real question is, can this existing government, after this election, tackle those challenges? I should say, Michael, that the Nikkei is up about 1.5 percent, which is -- is noteworthy.
So, perhaps the markets at least are signaling they like this new direction that the government may be taking.
M. HOLMES: And you -- you mentioned the scandal. Shigeru Ishiba was put in as leader to try to hose down the fallout from those scandals.
M. STEWART: Right. Right.
M. HOLMES: To take the tarnish off. I mean, is he safe?
M. STEWART: Well, we should get a better idea about his own future in the hours ahead. He's expected to hold a news conference. So, perhaps he will give some indication if he is going to stay or if he's going to go.
It's not as if right now there are loud cries for him to leave, but a number of stakeholders are watching this, including the United States, because in -- under this current political configuration, there has been a very good relationship with the United States.
And that's important, because Japan is so critical in the stability of this region. Its relationship with the United States, its relationship with South Korea, and it also relates to how the Asia-Pacific region, at least those nations, also view where I am here in China, Michael.
M. HOLMES: Yes, thanks for the wrap-up, Marc.
Marc Stewart there for us. Appreciate it.
Now, Georgia's pro-Western president is calling for peaceful protests in the hours ahead over Saturday's disputed parliamentary election.
The former Soviet republic's leader says the election was a, quote, "complete falsification," and alleges Russia is behind that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SALOME ZOURABICHVILI, GEORGIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We were not just witnesses, but also victims of what can only be described as a Russian special operation, a new form of hybrid warfare waged against our people and our country.
As the last independent institution in this country, I must clearly state that I do not recognize these elections. Recognizing them would be tantamount to legitimizing Russia's takeover of Georgia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. HOLMES: The ruling Georgian Dream Party's leader claimed victory before all the votes were counted amid reports of voter intimidation, harassment, and bribery, as well as ballot-stuffing.
One former U.S. representative says there was an atmosphere of fear during the election.
[00:25:04]
Russian missiles and air strikes across Ukraine killed at least five civilians over the weekend. The mayor of Kyiv says a teenage girl was killed when a Russian drone struck this residential building in the country's capital on Friday.
In Eastern Ukraine, as Russian forces pressed the front lines, Moscow is looking to supplement its ranks with foreign fighters. Ukraine's president says Russia is ready to send North Korean troops to the battlefield.
He says it's proof that Moscow wants to sow chaos and has no interest in a future peace.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Moscow is determined to continue aggression. They don't want anything else there. And that is why they are trying to increase their defense production by circumventing sanctions.
And that's why they're increasingly taking North Korea as an ally. And their soldiers may be on a battlefield against Ukraine any day now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. HOLMES: Sydney Seiler is a senior adviser and the Korea chair for the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He's also a former U.S. special envoy for six-party talks.
It's great to have you here, sir.
It's not, reportedly at least, a massive number of North Korean troops involved here. But what could be the potential impact of their boots on the Ukrainian battlefield in terms of capabilities and their role?
SYDNEY SEILER, SENIOR ADVISOR AND KOREA CHAIR, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: It's a great question. And I think when you look at the numbers of troops that have been shown -- thrown out there, the -- some of the sigint that's being recorded in the open- source arena about observation of these units moving into position.
Their numbers are likely to be modest. These are likely to be undertrained new young recruits with no particular battlefield experience.
But, you know, when it comes down to it, for every North Korean soldier on the ground, that frees up another Russian who might be involved in some type of logistics or a security type of a role to go out to the front.
And so, we shouldn't discount the -- the impact that having these extra 5,000, 10,000 bodies will have on the war.
But I don't think it will be a major game changer.
M. HOLMES: Right. I'm -- I was curious what your thoughts are on how -- on potential complications. I'm thinking, you know, what if Ukraine suddenly finds itself with North Korean prisoners of war, or if North Korean troops decide to desert?
I mean, that -- that could get messy diplomatically.
SEILER: Well, these types of preparations need to take place right now. And I think there's a unique opportunity, in particular, for South Korea, who has been providing some non-lethal humanitarian assistance to the war, to be -- be prepared to go help them logistically with, you know, the language challenges of handling POWs, North Korean POWs, as well as the mechanics of how they might be resettled after capture.
M. HOLMES: Yes. Yes. So -- so, what's in it for Kim Jong-un? I mean, what's the quid pro quo, potentially, given the risks of things like POWs or desertions or, you know, even information about life outside North Korea coming back into the country with those troops, which is something he doesn't like?
SEILER: Well, I think the -- the dispatch of troops to Russia, at the request of, obviously, Vladimir Putin, has to be seen within the context of the larger cooperation between Russia and North Korea that was originally reported back in 2022, when North Korea was said to be making arrangements for the shipment of munitions, artillery shells. We know missiles have gotten in there.
And in exchange for this type of material assistance to the conflict, Russia was going to provide help in the areas of WMD program, missile -- missile technology, space program, as well as conventional weapons systems: ground, air, and maritime.
And also, in terms of bringing -- modernizing North Korean munitions production capabilities to help support their war effort. And so, the benefits that Kim would be getting in terms of these
advanced technologies from Russia, obviously, the cash and, of course, the international prestige of being seen as a major player, being asked to do a favor for a like-minded partner.
This will translate into what Kim hopes, I think, is political and diplomatic capital down the road.
M. HOLMES: Yes, fascinating. I'm curious, you know, your thoughts on how closely the West will be watching the performance all of North Korean troops, you know, to learn more broadly about, you know, how they fight if they fight, and how they perform, and command and control and so on.
Is this an opportunity for, you know, the U.S., South Korea, and others?
SEILER: I think there will be a limited opportunity. I think when it all -- when it all comes down to who is sent, we'll find that the large troop formations largely are not included. These will be groups of soldiers that will be placed under some type of command and control of their Russian counterparts. They won't be operating independently.
[00:30:07]
So, it would be very difficult to measure their unit effectiveness or their level of training.
And again, they'll be young undiscipline soldiers who are -- you know, are just going to have just very basic skills. So, I don't imagine that we'll get a lot of insight.
If the support continues over time -- and I think it may -- and if it evolves, in particular, North Korea begins to send what they call soldier builders, these units that are able to engage in construction and reconstruction projects, we might be able to see what type of capabilities North Korea has over the longer term.
But for now, I don't really know that we'll get much insight from the types of troops we've seen reported as entering the battle.
M. HOLMES: Well, fascinating analysis. Great to have you. Sydney Seiler, thanks so much.
SEILER: Thank you very much for the opportunity.
M. HOLMES: Donald Trump and Kamala Harris crisscrossing battleground states as both presidential candidates remain neck-and-neck in the polls in the final stretch of the U.S. election. Where they're headed this week. We'll have that when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. HOLMES: We are only eight days away from the U.S. election, and Kamala Harris and Donald Trump remain statistically dead even, with polls still showing no clear leader. The candidates making final pitches across battleground states this
week: Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin. Harris planning to give her closing argument in a major speech on the National Mall in Washington on Tuesday. It' s being held at the same place where Trump spoke on January 6 before his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.
The former U.S. president kicked off his final week of campaigning at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, where he attacked his political rivals and repeated his dark rhetoric and lies about immigration.
"The Washington Post" newspaper facing backlash, meanwhile, for its decision to stop endorsing U.S. presidential candidates just days before the election.
People are canceling their subscriptions, and some staff are speaking out against their employer, or even resigning from the paper.
CNN's Brian Stelter with that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN STELTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, there. Yes, "The Washington Post's" P.R. nightmare does not seem to be going away anytime soon.
STELTER (voice-over): This all started on Friday when "The Post" publisher, William Lewis, announced that the paper would not endorse a presidential candidate this year or in the future.
Now, this stemmed from a decision by "The Post's billionaire owner, Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, who said he did not want to publish the drafted endorsement of Kamala Harris that the editorial writers had already prepared.
[00:35:04]
Bezos did not read the editorial, did not want to know what was in it. He decided the paper should not be endorsing anyone.
This may be a very innocent desire to strive for neutrality and independence.
STELTER: But to announce this just a few days, really on the eve of a presidential election, raised a lot of eyebrows, both inside and outside "The Post."
Thousands of subscribers have canceled their subscriptions in the past couple of days as a result. And a "Post" editor at large and a columnist have both resigned in protest.
Other editorial board members and columnists have signed onto a letter criticizing the decision.
And the criticism really is all about the following. It's about the concern that Bezos --
STELTER (voice-over): -- might be trying to cave to Trump and curry favor with the former and possibly future president.
Scholars who study authoritarianism describe this as anticipatory obedience: the idea that people in power will try to obey in advance, try to predict what an authoritarian leader might want, and then go ahead and give in ahead of time.
STELTER: That is exactly what some "Post" columnists and even some "Post" reporters are worried is happening in this case.
But we've not heard from Bezos directly. My attempts to gain comment from Bezos have gone unanswered.
STELTER (voice-over): Instead, we've heard from the publisher, as I mentioned, Will Lewis. He's been the face of the decision.
In a new statement on Sunday, he refuted a claim that there was a quid pro quo between Bezos and Trump. Here's what Lewis said: quote, "The decision to end presidential endorsements was made entirely internally, and neither campaign nor candidate was given a heads-up or consulted in any way at any level."
STELTER: That's important information, but it doesn't dispel the larger concern that I'm seeing from "Post" readers. If you look on "The Washington Post" website, you'll see lots of comments from readers who are worried that Bezos might be giving into Trump even before election day, even before we know the results of the election.
That's the concern that's going to basically hang over "The Post" for the foreseeable future.
And as I said, this nightmare is not going away anytime soon. The editorial page editor is supposed to meet with his staff on Monday afternoon for what will likely be a very tense meeting.
Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. HOLMES: All right. Thanks, Brian.
Now, there is the Rosetta Stone, and now scientists think they have cracked the porchetta stone. When we come back, how A.I. is being used to decode pig sounds and improve their well-being.
We'll be right back.
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M. HOLMES: There are two big storms in the Western Pacific right now. Forecasts showing Tropical Storm Kong Rey is expected to strengthen into a typhoon by Monday.
It could reach Taiwan on Thursday or Friday.
Meanwhile, Trami, a former tropical storm that made landfall in Vietnam over the weekend, is now a tropical depression. It dumped heavy rain in some areas, and there is more to come.
[00:40:09]
Those spots could get -- wind up getting a total of about 60 centimeters. The flooding risk: high, especially in urban areas.
Trami slammed into the Philippines late last week, triggering massive floods and landslides that killed at least 90 people.
Well, it looks like pigs are still a long way from flying, but thanks to scientists in Europe, they are that much closer to talking, sort of.
Our Anna Stewart with the story.
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ANNA STEWART, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Does this --
(PIG SQUEALING)
A. STEWART (voice-over): -- indicate happiness, discomfort, or stress?
With the help of A.I., European scientists developed an algorithm that may just be capable of decoding pigs' noises, as well as keeping farmers updated on their pigs' well-being.
To develop the A.I. algorithm, scientists collected thousands of recordings of pig sounds in various scenarios, including play, isolation, and competition for food.
Once collected, they were placed in a database.
ELODIE MANDEL-BRIEFER, BIOLOGIST, UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN: You had this huge database, of course, that are producing specific emotions, specific contexts by many different pigs and kinds of pigs.
A. STEWART (voice-over): Scientists found short grunts typically signal positive emotions. Long grunts often indicate discomfort. Screams or squeals could show stress.
MANDEL-BRIEFER: We developed A.I., so artificial intelligence that could tell us -- be trained to tell us if the calls that we recorded were emotionally positive or negative.
A. STEWART (voice-over): The study of animal emotions is a relatively new field. It highlights the importance of livestock's mental health to their overall well-being. Most welfare strategies today focus only on the animal's physical health.
MANDEL-BRIEF: And now with the explosions of A.I. methods, it actually becomes more and more easy to do these things.
A. STEWART (voice-over): Scientists hope this tool will be developed into an app for farmers' phones, helping to translate what pigs are saying in terms of their emotions.
Anna Stewart, CNN.
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M. HOLMES: Now you know.
Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes. You can follow me on Instagram, @HolmesCNN. I've given up on X.
Stay with us. I'll be back with more news in 15 minutes. WORLD SPORT coming your way next.
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