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Trump Rally Speakers Spew Extreme Rhetoric, Racist, Vulgar Comments; Trump Ramps Up Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric at New York City Rally; Harris Announces Economic Task Force for Puerto Rico. Aired 10- 10:30a ET

Aired October 28, 2024 - 10:00   ET

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

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JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. You are live in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.

Vile racism, anti-immigrant vitriol, retribution against political opponents and the press, that is the closing message from Former President Donald Trump and his allies. Before Trump even took the stage at Madison square garden in New York, a cast of speakers spewed hatred.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I welcome migrants to the United States of America with open arms, and by open arms, I mean like this.

These Latinos, they love making babies to just know that they do. They do. There's no pulling out. They don't do that.

I don't know if you guys know this, but there's literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. Yes, I think it's called Puerto Rico.

That's a cool black guy with a thing on his head. What the hell is that? A lampshade?

I'm just kidding, that's one of my buddies. He had a Halloween party last night. We had fun. We carved watermelons together. It was awesome.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She is some sick (BLEEP), Hillary Clinton, huh? What a sick son of a (BLEEP). The whole (BLEEP) party, a bunch of degenerates.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She is the devil, whoever screamed that out. She is the anti-Christ.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going to be pretty hard to look at us, and say, you know what? Kamala Harris, she's just -- she got 85 million votes because she's just so impressive as the first Samoan-Malaysian low I.Q., former California prosecutor ever to be elected president.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: After those disgusting warm up acts, Trump then ratcheted up his incendiary vengeful rhetoric.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I will launch the largest deportation program in American history to get the criminals out. I will rescue every city and town that has been invaded and conquered.

When I say the enemy from within, the other side goes crazy. Becomes the sound of, oh, how can he say? You know, they've done very bad things to this country. They are indeed the enemy from within. But this is who we're fighting.

They're the enemy of the people, the press.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: As CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale points out about Trump's claim of an immigrant invasion, this is nonsense. No U.S. town has been conquered by migrants. Trump's comments about using the military on political rivals that he views as the enemy from within have alarmed even those who worked for him, including his former chief of staff, retired Marine General John Kelly.

And the Trump campaign, we should note, has tried to distance itself from the racist remarks aimed at Puerto Rico, whose citizens are Americans. But the damage may be done with Puerto Rican celebrities like Bad Bunny now rallying behind Vice President Kamala Harris.

Let's bring in CNN's Alayna Treene and Priscilla Alvarez. Alayna, Trump's message at Madison Square Garden was dark and extreme and ugly. What else did he have to say?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: It definitely was, Jim, and one thing I just want to point out from that, you know, montage that you played of the sounds from his, speakers last night, one thing that I'm picking up on is that some people are arguing that that may have even upstaged Trump himself, because what is everyone talking about today? They're talking about the racist, inflammatory things that were said by the speakers before Donald Trump even got on stage, people like Sid Rosenberg, a radio host, saying that Hillary Clinton was a sick son of a bitch, his words, you know, the comments about Puerto Rico.

And this all comes as, of course, last night was supposed to be Donald Trump's closing arguments. That was supposed to be his speech, focusing on the end of this campaign. We now have eight days left to go. What does he want to leave? What impression does he want to leave on voters? And, really, as we know, a lot of Republicans behind the scenes are saying, focus on the policies, talk about the economy, talk about the border, talk about things in ways that Americans recognize that they want to vote for you, the policy things, except instead we really saw some of the more MAGA fanatics last night airing a lot of their grievances and saying some pretty racist things.

Now, as for what Donald Trump said, he did focus a lot of his time speech on the border. And I can tell you, you know, even as a lot of people, as I said, are telling him, talk about the economy, that is the number one issue in voters' minds right now. He believes, and he said this publicly, that he actually thinks the border is the number one issue.

And he leaned into that heavily last night. He repeated a lot of falsehoods about what he argued were the criminals pouring over the border from insane asylums and prisons, things that we know are not true.

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We have had fact-checked many times, and even when we asked the campaign to point to examples of this, they were unable to give us any.

But he leaned into that and also leaned into what you played before, which is him arguing that he wants a mass deportation. He wants to round up undocumented migrants in this country and deport them.

But listen to some of the other things he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The day I take the oath of office, the migrant invasion of our country ends and the restoration of our country begins.

We will put these vicious and bloodthirsty criminals in jail. We're going to kick them the hell out of our country as fast as possible.

I'm hereby calling for the death penalty for any migrant that kills an American citizen or a law enforcement officer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now, Jim, we've talked about this a lot, but as you can hear there, I mean, what Donald Trump has been doing in this final stretch before Election Day is to really ramp up that dark rhetoric. He is painting a very dark picture of America, one that is not incredibly accurate.

But when I talk to Trump's senior advisers, they say that they see it. think this message is working, and they pointed even last night to look at the reaction, the response from the crowd in the room. They think that this is a closing message that will work, and we'll see whether or not that's true.

ACOSTA: Yes. And Donald Trump got on stage and did not condemn that so-called comedian's comments. I mean, they knew about it. It went viral before he went up on stage.

Priscilla Alvarez, how is the Harris campaign responding to all of this? PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, campaign officials say that this should come as no surprise. Yesterday was a split screen that they didn't anticipate, but they are certainly happy to seize on it. Recall that earlier in the day on Sunday, the vice president was blitzing around the Philadelphia area trying to court black and Latino voters. And it was during one of those stops that she stopped at a Puerto Rican restaurant and laid out her plans for the island. Take a listen.

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KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Bringing the private sector with nonprofits with the Puerto Rican leadership around and the federal government around focusing on what we need to do around building economic opportunity on the island as an extension of the overall plan for an opportunity economy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now, the campaign had also posted a video of the vice president on social media where she did much of the same, laying out her vision for Puerto Rico. It was that video that was used by Bad Bunny, a Puerto Rican superstar, and he shared it to his 45 million followers.

Now, I am told that the Harris campaign had been working with Bad Bunny's team, hoping that at some point he could lend support to the vice president, again, her plans for Puerto Rico. But this certainly came as a surprise. It was an indication of his support. And him weighing in, of course, comes at a time where the vice president is trying to shore up votes with Latinos, especially Hispanic men, and also with black voters.

And on that front, the vice president also joining a podcast with former NFL player Shannon Sharp, where she also tried to relay her message in drawing that stark contrast between her and her Republican rival.

ACOSTA: All right. Alayna Treene, Priscilla Alvarez, thank you both very much.

Let's bring in Domingo Garcia, the chair of the political action committee for the League of United Latin American Citizens. LULAC, the PAC of the nation's oldest and largest Latino rights group, is backing Vice President Kamala Harris this election. It's the first time LULAC has endorsed a presidential candidate. And, Domingo, good to see you as always.

What's your reaction to what was said at this rally last night at Madison Square Garden?

DOMINGO GARCIA, CHAIR, LULAC ADELANTE PAC: Well, you know, really, it's unprecedented, the race baiting, the fear mongering, the scapegoating of immigrants, Latinos, African-Americans, gays by a political campaign saying that President Trump wants to be the president of all Americans. You can tell that it's just really divisive. It's dividing America. It's pitting us against the other. And, unfortunately, sometimes it plays well, as you can see the reaction of that crowd there at Madison Square Garden, like in 1938, when the American Nazi party had a rally there. It's the same type of rhetoric and hate that we've been seeing before, and that sometimes works.

ACOSTA: Domingo, I do want to ask you, Trump is threatening a mass deportation as soon as he takes office. His vice presidential candidate even suggested that DREAMERs could be among those forced to leave the country. What have you been hearing from the Latino community? Are you hearing from people in the community who are getting their documents together, making sure their documents are in order in the event of a Trump presidency?

GARCIA: Well, many Latinos are mixed. You have grandma, Abuelita (ph), who is undocumented and all their children are U.S. citizens. The grandkids are U.S. citizens. And, of course, that's creating fear. I've been in Arizona. I was in Nebraska, Florida. I just came back from there. And Latinos are fired up and ready to vote.

There was a problem with Latino men, but I think they're saying we got to defend our grandparents, our parents from this type of rhetoric and the fear that this might come to pass. And, therefore, I think there's going to be a vote of castigo, a punishment vote that's going to come out, especially in those battleground states like Nevada and Arizona.

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ACOSTA: Well, I did want to ask you about that, Domingo, because CNN's latest poll has Harris leading Trump by 17 points among Latino voters. That's a little lower than where it needs to be if she wants to win the presidency. I mean, that's the analysis by a lot of campaign experts. I'm just wondering, does that lead need to grow in the final days here. I mean, could it grow after what we saw last night? And might that make an impact in places like Pennsylvania? I mean, that's another state a lot of folks are not focusing in on where there is an expanding Latino belt, as it's called.

GARCIA: You know, there's over half a million Puerto Rican-Americans in Pennsylvania who are all American citizens and they don't like the comedian and that was no joke at all saying that, you know, there's a island of garbage in the Atlantic and it's Puerto Rico. They take offense on it and the fact that Bad Bunny came out against Trump and for Kamala Harris. I think that's going to make a difference.

I do think that that type of rhetoric is starting to get there and that Harris is going to pile up her lead in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada. And I think that might be able to push her over the top and Latinos are going to come back to the Democratic Party.

ACOSTA: And, I mean, what would you say right now to Latino voters who say they're voting for Trump? And, and what do you hear from Latino voters who say, you know what, I'm going to go for Donald Trump this time around, even in spite of all of the things that he has said over the course of this campaign? GARCIA: Your vote is your voice. It's very important that you make a decision for your families. If you want better wages, if you want to raise the minimum wage, if you want healthcare for your families, which are important to Latinos, if you want somebody that will pass a bipartisan immigration bill that will be able to fix the immigration problem, secure a border, then we need to have Kamala Harris there.

Trump is going to use that rhetoric to keep on dividing Americans, use Latinos as political pinatas and that's not going to work and that we need to stand up and fight against that. And I think Latino men are coming back to the fold as well as Latino families as a rule and I think that they're going to make the difference in this campaign and they're going to elect Kamala Harris as president of the United States.

ACOSTA: All right. Domingo Garcia, thanks so much, I really appreciate it.

GARCIA: Thank you.

ACOSTA: All right. We'll be right back.

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ACOSTA: At former president Donald Trump's Madison Square Garden rally last night, friends and allies of the former president launched some of the most vicious, racist attacks against migrants, as well as the people of Puerto Rico, who are, in fact Americans who can vote.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The (BLEEP) illegals, they get whatever they want, don't they?

TIFFANY JUSTICE, CO-FOUNDER, MOMS FOR LIBERTY: Do you believe that Americans deserve to be protected from illegal aliens who come into our communities?

Our way of life, our history, our culture and our inheritance are all at stake.

STEPHEN MILLER, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: Who's going to stand up and say the cartels are gone, the criminal migrants are gone, the gangs are gone, America is for Americans and Americans only.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Let's discuss now with CNN Political Commentator Paul Begala and former Spokesperson for Republican Governor Doug Burgum's Presidential Campaign Lance Trover.

Lance, let me start with you. What did you think of this rally last night at Madison Square Garden? Was that a good idea to have, you know, people like that comedian up there spewing that kind of hatred? LANCE TROVER, FORMER SPOKESPERSON FOR GOV. BURGUM'S 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: Well, Jim, I've said it many times in the show. I think it's best when Republicans stick to the issues because I think they're going to do very well next week if they stick to the issues. And, look, I don't think voters do the whole guilt by association thing usually with politicians, unless you're Kamala Harris, who's been V.P. to Joe Biden the last four years. I think that's the guilt by association that's been going on.

But I would just point to the Kamala Harris super PAC over the weekend put out a memo saying to the campaign, you need to stop the attacks on Donald Trump's character because they're not working. And that got me thinking that Democrats don't have much of a leg to stand on when it comes to the heated rhetoric. Tim Walz himself, before this event even happened over the weekend, was comparing it to a Nazi rally that happened in the 1930s. The last several weeks of the Harris campaign have been spent talking about Donald Trump as a fascist, saying he's a threat to democracy, comparing him to Hitler. So, I'm not sure they have much of a leg to stand on when it comes to this stuff.

And I would just point --

ACOSTA: Yes, but Lance, I mean, you have a comedian, you know, telling jokes that, you know, you would hear at David Duke's birthday party. I mean, this was vile, hateful stuff. And, by the way, Puerto Ricans are Americans. I'm going to say, I've said it once, I've said it again, I'm going to say it a bunch of times on this program. Puerto Ricans are Americans who can vote.

TROVER: Yes, absolutely. Do I think they could have got a better comedian last night? Heck, yes, I do. I mean, where's Shane Gillis when you need him? He does a great Trump impression, absolutely. But that's why I started this segment by saying, look, yes, I think that we're obviously needed to be focused more clearly on the issues, but I don't think voters go into guilt by association. And Democrats for weeks on end have been doing the same type of dark rhetoric on the Trump campaign and on Donald Trump that doesn't get nearly as much coverage and I think that's worth discussing.

ACOSTA: Paul, is this a both sidesy kind of thing going on here?

PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, no. Democrats are quoting Republicans in what they say about Mr. Trump. Look, there's a reason. First off, this rally was modeled on a 1939 American fascist rally at Madison Square Garden. There's a terrific short film by Marshall Curry called A Night at the Garden. People should all Google it and watch it. It's only 10 or 15 minutes, Lance. You got the time. It was modeled on that.

And the reason Trump had to have this collection of has beens and never wases and losers and the island of misfits is because he couldn't get anybody better.

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Not even just, could he not get Bruce Springsteen and Beyonce and Eminem like Kamala has, he can't get his own vice president. Mike Pence has said Trump puts himself above the Constitution. He couldn't get his own longest serving chief of staff, General John Kelly, a four star Marine and no liberal. General Kelly is the one who said Mr. Trump admired Hitler. He could not get General Mark Milley, his own handpicked, chosen chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a four star army general, who has said that Trump is a fascist to the core. That's not Kamala saying it. That's a four star army general who was a Trump appointed to be our highest ranking military officer.

He couldn't get his own national security adviser, General H.R. McMaster, who said Trump abandoned his oath to the Constitution. He couldn't get his own defense secretary, General Jim Mattis, who said Trump would make a mockery of our Constitution. Need I go on?

The reason he had to get some failed lounge act, some punk who just finished playing the Rama Room in Anniston, Alabama, is because the people who know him best think the least of him. And that's what the message that voters are going to take home in this election.

TROVER: Yes. I woke up this morning to three new polls, Donald Trump leading by one in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan. And what I was going to add is in the last 24 hours, I've received several texts from -- this is very anecdotal from friends. No one was talking about this rally last night. What I was getting texts on were the people watching the NFL games yesterday and the two-minute ad yesterday that ran saying Kamala broke it, Trump fixed it.

So, while I hear you, but again, it's the Harris super PAC that's even saying and telegraphing that they need to get off these attacks on Donald Trump's character. I've said it time and again, voters are very clear eyed about who Donald Trump is. And that's why she's struggling in the polls right now is because they've also Engaged in this similar dark rhetoric with the fascists and the Hitler and all that other stuff.

ACOSTA: Yes. I mean, Lance, and we do have to note I mean, just from a factual standpoint that his own running mate, J.D. Vance, once wondered whether Donald Trump was America's Hitler. I'm just saying that that has also been out there. So, it's not like this is just the Democrats who are saying this. I mean, J.D. Vance has said he's had a change of heart.

But, Paul, last night Trump once again referred to his political opponents as the enemy from within. Let's listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It's just this amorphous group of people. But they're smart and they're vicious. And we have to defeat them. They are indeed the enemy from within, but this is who we're fighting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Paul, I mean, I do want to ask about Lance's point that Kamala Harris is not putting some distance between herself and Donald Trump. And why do you think that is? BEGALA: It's a dead heat race. It's a divided country. Frankly, this should be a layup for the Republicans, right? I mean, I've been this a long time. The fundamental question you always ask in a poll is we moving in the right direction. We're off on the wrong track. Most people think we're on the wrong track. The Democrats hold the White House. The Republicans should win. Okay, just like drop me down, you know, from outer space, and that's what I would tell you.

The question is, why has Trump never -- he has been a presidential candidate for nine years and five months. He hasn't had one day, one day in over 3,418 days, one day where he's been over 50 percent. Why? Because the country just doesn't want him. They just don't. If the Republicans put up somebody sensible and nonracist and, I mean, non- fascist, they'd be winning this thing in a walk, just telling you candidly. But they, they have a cult of personality around a personality that the majority of the country just doesn't want.

And I do think Kamala should point out not only the things his generals and staff are saying, but also the things that Mr. Trump has said, where he wants to cut taxes for the rich and put a sales tax through tariffs of $4,000 on the middle class. I think that is a wonderful contrast to Kamala Harris, who wants to help small business with a $50,000 deductibility, wants to help first time homebuyers $25,000 aid, who wants to help people stuck in that sandwich caring for child care and elder care. So, she's got actual real middle class economic issues. Mr. Trump seems to only care about his fellow billionaires.

ACOSTA: And, Lance, I, I do want to ask you a new CNN poll finds most voters think Trump will not concede if he loses the election. We're showing this to our viewers. Just 30 percent think Trump will accept the election results. Nearly 70 percent don't. I mean, that is also baked in when it comes to Donald Trump, isn't it?

TROVER: He's not conceded the 2020 election. I mean, so, look, these are things that are down the road. And, look, I have faith in our government that there will be a fair and honest transfer of power here in the coming months.

But I do want to go back to what Paul said. Kamala Harris has had a coronation unlike any other. In modern America, maybe in even in all of American politics and the most media and spent the most money over the course of the last 75 days and Donald Trump is still leading in the polls eight days out. So, I think it's pretty clear who voters are not wanting right now.

ACOSTA: Quick final word, Paul.

BEGALA: Yes. She's had -- actually it's like 95 days and she's gone from 39 to 48, okay?

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All the movement is in her direction. Trump is stuck. He got 45.9 against Hillary, he got 46.9 against Joe. He's going to get 47.0 against Kamala. If Kamala can put together the anti-Trump majority, which spans from AOC to Liz Cheney, I mean it's the broadest political coalition in history.

The only thing they have in common Is that they know that Donald Trump will attack our Constitution and destroy our middle class. And that's a hell of a coalition. And that's why Mr. Trump had reduced to just having these really sad, pathetic people at his rally last night.

ACOSTA: All right. And the polls show that --

BEGALA: I mean, speakers, not the attendees. His voters are lovely people. Some of them are related to me, and a lot of friends are for Trump. I'm not attacking them, but those speakers, they were just a clown car.

ACOSTA: Yes, it was awful stuff. All right, Paul and Lance -- and the polls are deadlocked, we should note. And there was an ABC poll yesterday that showed Kamala Harris ahead. Anyway, I just want to make sure we have that out there as well. Thanks guys, I appreciate it very much.

Just in to CNN Philadelphia's district attorney wants to stop Elon Musk's controversial million dollar voter sweepstakes that a lot of legal experts say is just flat out unlawful. What we're learning about a new lawsuit, next.

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