Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Gaza Hostage & Ceasefire Negotiations Resume; Speaker At Trump Rally Calls Puerto Rico "Island Of Garbage"; Prosecutor Sues Elon Musk & Super PAC Over $1M Sweepstakes. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired October 28, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:39]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: It's 7:00 p.m. in London, 3:00 p.m. in Philadelphia, 9:00 p.m. here in Jerusalem. I'm Jim Sciutto. Thanks for joining me today on CNN NEWSROOM, and let's get right to the news.

The latest round of Gaza ceasefire and hostage release talks have now begun in Qatar. We will have more details on the Middle East crisis later this hour.

First, though, we begin with alarming moment in American politics, the dark anti-immigrant rhetoric at Donald Trump's Madison Square Garden rally in New York. And it's not just the words, the Republican nominee is also repeating his promise for massive deportations if he is reelected.

At last night's rally, Trump's top supporters flung racist and vulgar rhetoric. One of the most disturbing moments when comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico, quote, a floating island of garbage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Bloodthirsty criminals in jail and they kick them the hell out of our country as fast as possible. I'm here by calling for the death penalty for any migrant that kills an American citizen or a law enforcement officer.

TONY HINCHCLIFFE, AMERICAN COMEDIAN: 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, yeah. I think it's called Puerto Rico.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: It didn't end there. A speaker has called Harris, the vice president, the antichrist, Hillary Clinton, a sick son of a bitch, and railed against effing illegals, I'm not using the word they used there.

Trump's campaign is distancing itself from Hinchcliffe, saying in a statement, quote, this joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign. We should note the campaign did nothing to distance itself from several other offensive comments by speakers at the event and Trump himself did not do so during his hour long address.

Democratic Congressman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whose family is from Puerto Rico, decried the hateful rhetoric.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): There's really nothing that's an accident about what was said last night. It is an authentic depiction of how Donald Trump believes and what he thinks about Puerto Rico. He even talked about selling Puerto Rico and brought up the idea of selling Puerto Rico when he was president United States. This is what these people believe, and it's not a joke.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Well, to kick off what is a final week of 2024 presidential election campaign, Vice President Kamala Harris is fighting for undecided voters in the battleground state of Michigan. She is expected there to focus on American manufacturing and spell out how her policies would create large numbers of new manufacturing jobs. Officials there say more than 250,000 voters have already cast their ballot. This during the first two statewide early voting days.

Joining me now to discuss the state of the race, our senior political analyst, Mark Preston.

Mark, it's good to have you. You've been in politics a long time. Let's begin with that rally last night at Madison Square Garden, because to be clear, it's not an outlier. It is a message that has become very central to his campaign, and frankly, going back to 2016.

Is he winning or losing voters with that message?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, of course, Jim. I think that its, I mean, to your point, it's -- it's almost stunning to me that we are all stunned that Donald Trump would have this kind of rally one week out before election day. I mean, to your point, he has used this kind of rhetoric correct over the course of multiple campaigns in order to rally up his base. Now, what we're seeing in these closing days is as that rally was intended to reach a specific segment of America and that are his diehard MAGA voters at.

At this point, you have to wonder how many people are really undecided going into this final week of the election. And of those that are undecided, do their votes, are they going to matter in the six states that we are now looking at as these toss-up states.

So, Jim, we shouldn't be surprised by it at all, but that is exactly what he's trying to do is to try to turn out those voters who unfortunately, you know, some of them have these real hateful views.

[15:05:04]

SCIUTTO: We do. Yeah, and listen, he may have targeted this towards his base, but the fact is others saw it. It certainly getting a lot of play and not just on networks like this one, but via social media and the Harris campaign has quite deliberately clipped a lot of those, most lot of the most alarming comments to send out via TikTok. You name it.

I mean, if we can for a moment, zero in on Puerto Rican voters because the Puerto Rican population 500,000 voters in Pennsylvania. I mean, that's enough, you know, given the tight margins there to turn -- to turn a race potentially.

In your view and what you've heard from -- from those involved in the campaign, do they see this as impactful with that voting group?

PRESTON: Well, 100 -- 100 percent. And if we noticed, if you go back, Jim, if you go back, not even 24 hours, you back right after that comment was made last night, you saw the likes of Rick Scott down in Florida, who's -- who's in a race, right now you know what keep his Senate seat down their Republican who immediately came out and condemned it.

Look, where the race is expected to be so close on these margins, you could be in trouble. There's no doubt about that.

And we will see over the next week or so, the Harris campaign probably pour a lot of money into continuing to keep these remarks and the news in order to try to peel off every vote that they can.

SCIUTTO: All right. Before we go, I'm not going to ask you about polls, but I'm going to ask you based on your contact with the campaigns, given your experience and you're in touch with them all the time, do you have any sense right now of where each of the campaigns believes this race stands?

PRESTON: You know, it's interesting to ask that question because if you hear what they say publicly, don't ever trust them. If they say that they're ahead, don't trust them. If they said that they're behind, don't trust them. Everything that they are telegraphing very publicly, Jim, is intended to try to create something that would be beneficial to the campaign.

So, where -- where do they think they are right now? I think that they are desperately trying to get out every last supporter that they can in these key swing states. I do wonder though if Donald Trump himself thinks that he's got this in the bag, he seems very bullish on himself in the past couple of days. It's kind of a dangerous place to be I think six, seven days out.

SCIUTTO: Yeah, and he's been wrong before, we should note.

PRESTON: Right.

SCIUTTO: Mark Preston, good to have you on. I'm sure we'll be talking again in the coming days.

PRESTON: Thanks, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Well, among the indicators we're seeing in polling, a new CNN poll shows deep concerns among Americans about what could happen after the election, no matter who wins the race. Eighty-eight percent of registered voters think there is an obligation for the losing candidate to accept the results and concede. That's natural. That's what candidates have done, except in 2020.

Seven in ten think Donald Trump will not do that if he loses. The vast majority of Americans do believe Harris will concede see if she loses.

I want to talk now about the state of the race and the importance of those numbers there with pollster and communication strategist Frank Luntz, also long, long history in politics.

Frank, good to have you. I'm actually going to begin with the same question I started Mark Preston on given your experience and their focus groups and you're plumbing the numbers and the polling.

That rally last night, again, not an outlier message. It's central to his campaign. Is he winning or losing voters with that message?

FRANK LUNTZ, POLLSTER AND COMMUNICATION STRATEGIST: It doesn't seem to impact him and I have to tell you, I'll go to something even bigger than that, which is the presidential debate, watched by 75 million people. Donald Trump was horrific in that debate, a clear loser and it had no impact and I've had to acknowledge, I want to acknowledge than I thought that he had lost the election because of his debate performance.

And what did I see? Trump has come back. He's back in this race. He's dead even with the vice president, right now. And I don't know, it's just too close to call.

And so, if debates don't matter, and rallies don't matter and interviews don't matter, and facts don't matter, then what exactly matters in American politics. It's a frightening thought, but we have to entertain it.

SCIUTTO: Let's throw up some of the latest general election national polls that we've seen. And you do see some variety there as we've become used to with polls, some show, as you say, a dead heat, including CNN's poll of polls.

There was an ABC poll. There's one there. This is a CBS News poll actually showed a Kamala Harris up by one, but really within the margin of error, the ABC News poll showed a wider margin to Harris's advantage, 51 to 47. CNN averages out the polls that CNN finds meet its standards and they find about a dead heat.

[15:10:06]

When you look at the numbers, do you see a dead heat?

LUNTZ: I absolutely see a dead heat. I want you to consider this, Trump is indicted 91 times. He was convicted of 34 felonies. He was impeached twice. He -- January 6 and yet he's dead even with her.

And I know that was speaking about Donald Trump, but actually, with eight days to go, Trump's numbers are baked. They're done. You know, everything there is to know about him. We've heard everything there is, we've lived through it.

We really should be talking about Vice President Harris. Why is she not caught on? What's holding her back?

She had one of the most successful launches of any presidential candidate in modern history. She went from five points behind, to three points up in a matter of weeks and then she turns on Trump and then a campaign stops being about what she's going to do and starts being about what he's done and will do.

And I note that it just froze right there and in fact, she's probably retrenched a point or two since she hit her peak. The public wants to know more. They want to know what she will do in the first day -- in her first week, in her first month and the campaign is going more and more negative on Trump, using Trump's own words against him.

But it's a focus on Trump rather than herself and what point is she going to tell the American people what she's about? At what point is she going to get specific, detail oriented, who wins and who loses? I think that that's the most important attribute right now, and I don't see it happening.

SCIUTTO: I mean, you're not alone in that criticism, and you even heard that from some Democrats.

But, but the fact is that Harris has presented, for instance programs aimed at Black Americans, opportunity zones, et cetera, grants to start businesses. Similar directed at Latino voters that they're trying to target there.

I wonder, is it -- is it the campaign or is it how the campaign is discussed, right? I mean, it is -- it is it partly the way we cover this election in terms of a horse race, and so much focus on Donald Trump's words?

LUNTZ: Look at your question, and I liked the show, and I enjoy you as an interviewer, I think you're one of the best, and that's why I do your show. You asked about programs for Black Americans. You asked him on the program for Latino Americans.

What about a program for all Americans? What is going to happen with affordability? What's going to happen with the border? The two biggest issues, immigration and affordability?

She's done an excellent job on focusing on the abortion issue, on the women's health issues, and even on health care, but those aren't the number one and number two issues for all of America and she still hasn't said what she's going to do unless I missed it in the first hour of her presidency, in the first day of her presidency, and in the first week of her presidency.

And she's only got seven days to go. I'm wondering if she's too late.

SCIUTTO: Yeah, that old phrase, what is your plan during the first hundred days which almost seem to be requirement for presidential candidates in the past. Before we go, just quickly, I imagine with eight days to go, it's probably too late to do that for most voters.

LUNTZ: But you have to try. And the thing is, this has not been a good campaign. This has not been a good election. The Americans who are there, so many people who dislike both candidates.

I think that on Election Day, it's going to be the highest negativity for the Republican and Democratic nominee in modern history that people are going to hold their nose and vote for one or the other. I wish I could tell you viewers who's got the lead, but I think neither them do. I think the swing states are going to -- are going to break individually and not as a group.

And that frankly, we're not going to know who won for days after this election in replay, this interview, 48 hours after the election, because I still don't think we're going to know, but I do know this, the public in the end, the persuadables, are asking for more details. They don't feel like they've heard enough. They've heard the slams, they've heard the smears, and they've heard the criticism.

They simply want to know what are you going to do for them. And I think they've got the right to ask that question.

SCIUTTO: They absolutely have the right to. Frank Luntz, always to get your expertise. Always good to get your expertise. Thanks so much for joining us.

LUNTZ: Thank you. It's a privilege.

SCIUTTO: Well, coming up another round of ceasefire talks beginning in Doha, but for the people of Gaza -- the nightmare just continues. We're going to have more on that as they line up for food when we continue.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:18:10]

SCIUTTO: The U.N. Office of Humanitarian Affairs warned that, quote, the entire population of northern Gaza is at risk of dying, unquote, accusing Israel of what it calls, quote, blatant disregard for basic humanity and for the laws of war.

Israel, meanwhile, is pressing ahead with military operations in that area, forcing tens of thousands of civilians to flee. Gazan civil defense says at least 1,000 people have been killed in the incursion so far there. The Jabalia refugee camp has been especially hard hit.

It all comes as Israeli lawmakers, just a short time ago, approved a bill that bars the U.N. Agency for Palestinian Refugees from operating in Israel.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond joins me now.

And, Jeremy, this vote in the Knesset had been much anticipated. I wonder where humanitarian operations go from here in Gaza, given they're already food shortages, they're already shortages of basic medicine and medical care, and even basic inoculations.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: It could not come at a worse time. And I think you and officials have made that clear, and UNRWA is the main agency that has helped provide aid to Palestinians in Gaza. It also plays an enormous role in the occupied West Bank as well.

And this bill won't prevent UNRWA from operating in Gaza and the West Bank entirely, but it will make it a lot more difficult for them to operate there because it prevents aid. And people staff from transition -- transiting via Israeli territory into Gaza or into the west bank.

So it is going to hamper it and that's why we've seen the United States really lobby against this bill with the ambassador, I'm told Jack Lew, making calls Israeli lawmakers trying to urge them not to vote for this, and the United States, the state department today making very clear they oppose it and saying that if it passes, they were urging Israel not to then implement it.

[15:20:01]

We do know though, that it passed 92 to ten. So an overwhelming vote in Israel.

SCIUTTO: It's another case where U.S. influence did not move Israel.

Before we go, many in the Israeli government portray UNRWA as tied to terrorism, tied to Hamas. What do the facts show?

DIAMOND: Well, we know that they have made these claims in the past and it really has been the subtext for how Israel has interacted with UNRWA especially during this war. It stems from the fact that Israel has said that there were a dozen or so I don't remember that the exact number, but a dozen or so members of UNRWA who were members of Hamas and some of whom they claimed participated in October 7 attacks. They show phones being placed in Israel during the time of the attacks, for example, but it's such a small percentage of the thousands of UNRWA staffers who exist.

And so what Israel has done is they've painted this entire organization which provides vital services to Palestinians with a broad brush based on the actions of just a few. And that's why you have so few people voting against it because for so many in the Israeli parliament voting against this bill would have been political suicide.

SCIUTTO: Well, meanwhile, what is clear is the people of Gaza are struggling to get basic, basic supplies.

Jeremy Diamond, thanks so much.

On another, of course, aspect of this conflict is the straight up confrontation between Iran and Israel. Iran says it does not want a wider war, but is vowing, quote, an appropriate response to Israel's counter strike over the weekend.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

SCIUTTO: Israel says its strikes hit purely military targets and were in response to Iran's ballistic missile attack on Israel earlier this month, as well as one in April this year. Meanwhile, Gaza ceasefire and hostage talks, they're at least taking place in Doha, resuming after more than two months, not quite clear if they're making any progress.

Egypt's president is proposing a two-day truce in Gaza to allow for Israeli hostages to be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners. Of course there are some 100, some sadly dead still held there. Source says, no significant progress is expected, however until after the U.S. election.

Holly Dagres is a senior fellow and IranSource editor at the Atlantic Council. And she joins me now, live from Washington.

Good to have you here, Holly. Thanks so much for coming back.

So Iran is saying it will respond to Israel's retaliation, but does not seek a wider war.

I wonder what you're reading of Iran's most likely response to this is. And I wonder have Israel's attacks shown that Iran effectively is outmatched militarily and that that might make them less likely to respond.

HOLLY DAGRES, SENIOR FELLOW & IRANSOURCE EDITOR, ATLANTIC COUNCIL: Well, we've definitely seen a downplaying of the events on Friday night in Tehran, and Ilam and Khuzestan, but the big picture, of course, is that while they're downplaying the events, whether it'd be on social media or at some of the commentary coming out of Tehran from Iranian officials, it's really hard to say how they'll respond.

It's noteworthy that four Iranian soldiers and one civilian were killed. And if you remember what started the first direct attack against Israel in April was the fact that IRGC commanders were killed at the Iranian embassy compound in Damascus, Syria, where it living in an post-October 7th World War where it's really hard to gauge how Iran will respond to this. But for the time being, we're seeing that Tehran is at least not responding just yet, but that calculation can change, especially if there is a higher death toll announced I think that's certainly making things complicated as they discussed how they're going to proceed with us.

SCIUTTO: In Israel right now, my sense is that Israel feels quite confident, not only in the scale and success of its attack overnight on Friday but the success of its attacks against Hezbollah leadership.

From Israel's perspective, should we see Friday's strike as potentially the first wave of several -- part of the goal of Friday's operations were to take out air defenses which would make successive strikes, at least potentially easier for Israeli forces.

DAGRES: Well, that was certainly what we saw. I think this really tested Iran's capabilities on the ground and its abilities to defend its airspace. This was as I think it's noteworthy to say that this is the first time we've seen such a heavy attack against Iran since the bloody 1980s war with Iraq. And Israel was able to test those abilities. And I think that the read from Tehran is that this might be a precursor to something bigger. Maybe some attack on the country's nuclear facilities or oil facility is something that the Israelis had initially entertain reportedly were told not to by the U.S. government.

[15:25:01]

And so I think some of the read from Tehran is that we're vulnerable right now and they're I think nervously waiting to see if there is another wave or whether if they were to respond, would that trigger that wave?

SCIUTTO: Yeah, I wonder what difference do you believe the results of the U.S. election will make because there is a read here in Israel and among some in the U.S. that if Trump wins, the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu will feel unleashed for military operations in Gaza and Lebanon, but also the possibility of additional strikes against Iran.

DAGRES: Well, Tehran I think is very nervous about the outcome of the presidential election. They had to live through the Trump administration's maximum pressure policy. And that put a lot of strain on the Iranian economy, and also almost brought the U.S. and Iran to war after the assassination of Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani, that also triggered a response at a U.S. airbase in Iraq that gave over 120 brain injuries to American troops.

And so, I think there's really a concern that they're going to have to deal with a maximum pressure to 2.0, and as you noted, that potentially an unrestrained Israel. Israel currently does not have the bunker buster bombs to be used in Iran's nuclear -- to take out Iran's nuclear program. But very well might have that opportunity if there's a Trump administration in office come January.

SCIUTTO: Before, we go, just a topic Jeremy and I were discussing prior, which is Israel now passing legislation that will prevent UNRWA from operating at least on Israeli territory, further restricting its ability to get aid into -- into Gaza, where aid is already in short supply. What do you believe the effect of that change will be?

DAGRES: Well, I mean, just working on Iran and the Iranian perspective, this will be yet again, a propaganda tool for the Islamic republic to hit against Israel and the United States, which it believes is complicit in what's happening in Gaza right now.

SCIUTTO: Indeed.

Holly Dagres, good to have your views. Thanks so much for joining. Well, back in the U.S., the district attorney of Philadelphia believes

that Elon Musk's million dollars giveaway to voters is illegal, and now he wants a judge to agree. Payments are still going out. We're going to have details of what could come up, what, what -- what could happen next coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:30:52]

SCIUTTO: Never Trump Republicans and Nikki Haley supporters are difficult to quantify have emerged as a critical group, potentially in this presidential race, just because Haley backed the former president does not mean that her supporters will.

CNN's John King talked to some of these voters in the battleground state of Pennsylvania.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Michael Pesce if methodical, a stickler for detail and preparation.

Pennsylvania's archery gear season is now open. This range, a place to shoot targets and adjust your gear.

We go rifle season is a month away.

And at this stop, Pesce is no nonsense. Just a few shots to help him adjust the sight, two more to let a visit or get a feel for the 30- odd-six gear rifle. Conservative in every way, no wasted shots or time everything by the book, not a fan of surprises.

Yet Pesce is voting for Kamala Harris because he has even less of a fan of Donald Trump.

You're going to vote for her, but do you know what you're getting?

MICHAEL PESCE, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: No, I don't and that's the scary part is, you know, I'm not voting for a candidate. I'm not voting for a policy. I'm voting against a candidate and policies and not even all the policies just, you know, the unstableness, some of the things he says are truly scary.

KING: Pesce is a Reagan Republican, supported Nikki Haley in this year's GOP primaries, a never Trumper in a place where that really matters. Bucks County, one of the suburban Philadelphia counties crucial to the math in battleground Pennsylvania. He wants his party back and sees a second Trump loss as essential.

PESCE: Then I think that the Republicans will start coming back to what they were because they don't have that radical right side. They don't have the craziness and instability.

KING: Berks County is a bit more away from the city, more rural and more Republican, yet not as deep and reliably red as just a few years ago.

JOAN LONDON, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: This neighborhood is becoming a lot like the Philadelphia suburbs. This is a primarily Republican leaning borough, always has been but when it comes to national elections, I do see more and more support for Democratic candidates.

KING: Attorney Joan London switched her registration to independent after voting for Haley in the GOP primary. London was asked to join this local political program not long after our first visit, five months ago. Back then, she told us she would write in a conservative because she viewed President Biden as too old.

And later, she told us she viewed Vice President Harris as too liberal and untested.

But then, she watched the Harris-Trump debate.

LONDON: The last straw was what he said about the Ukraine, where he said that we have to have a negotiated settlement for someone who claims to be a conservative to say that was in my opinion, outrageous. It's appeasement.

KING: So London is now voting Harris, voting Democrat for president for the first time because she believes Trump must lose, because she gets the battleground state math.

LONDON: I needed to vote against allowing him to become president again. I don't want it on -- on my conscience. That I contributed in some way to that. Sometimes you have to say American first, conservative second, Republican third.

KING: Media is in Delaware County, just outside Philly, reliably blue now, but still a test of whether Harris can match or exceed Biden's 2020 math.

It's also a big test for Trump. He lost the Philly suburbs in 2016, but narrowly won statewide. But he lost the suburbs by a bit more in 2020, and he narrowly lost Pennsylvania.

We're getting to the end here. Have you made up your mind?

CYNTHIA SABATINI, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: No.

KING: Cynthia Sabatini is another Never Trumper, another Haley primary voter, another Republican who won't vote for him, but isn't sure about her.

Finish this sentence: Madam Vice President, if you want my vote here in the very important Philadelphia suburbs, you need to do --

[15:35:05]

SABATINI: You need to answer questions on point. You need to provide more details about your economic plan. You need to provide more details about your vision also for this country.

I'm, you know, I'm a bottom line person. I want details.

KING: Sabatini is mad at local Democrats she sees as a tax and spend happy.

Is she going to pay the price for that?

SABATINI: She may, she may.

KING: But she does see an upside for Harris over Trump.

SABATINI: I believe she's a person of character. I have no qualms about that. I really do. I think she's an upstanding individual. It's just that I really don't know what to expect from her if she is indeed elected.

KING: Sabatini meditates frequently to clear her mind and reduce stress.

SABATINI: Deep inhalations, and long exhalations.

KING: She predicts a final day decision to either vote for Harris or to write in Haley, a vote to help score the suburbs and settle the biggest of the battlegrounds.

John King, CNN, Media, Pennsylvania.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: A lot of folks could use those meditation techniques. Thanks to John King for that report.

Well, Pennsylvania is, of course, one of the biggest sources of Electoral College votes among the swing state that has 19 votes. That was key to Trump's win in 2016, key to Biden's win four years later. Both candidates were there this weekend, making their closing arguments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I will end Kamala Harris's war in Pennsylvania energy or we will frack, frack, frack, okay?

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have the ability to turn the page on that same old tired playbook because we are exhausted with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Well, today, Pennsylvania is the subject of our battleground break down. All fall, we've been talking to experts in each of the seven toss-up states on how exactly to win the White House.

With me now is Julia Terruso, a long longtime reporter for "The Philadelphia Inquirer".

Good to have you here. Enormous amount of focus on Pennsylvania, probably the biggest of the

seven swing states in the eyes of many, certainly intention focused there. Harris spent yesterday hitting the suburbs. She went to a Black church in West Philadelphia, Black-owned barbershop, Black-owned bookstore, Puerto Rican restaurant, notably given the comments we heard last night at MSG, that gives us an indicator as to the kind of voters I imagine that she's focusing on this date.

Based on what you're seeing there, is it working?

JULIA TERRUSO, POLITICAL REPORTER, THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER: Well, yes. She spent all day and it was actually in Philadelphia yesterday specifically Black and Latino neighborhoods, as you said -- really trying to do some more, I think intimate campaign stops and I think the hope there is that that can kind of cut through some of the noise on both sides to be at Pennsylvania voter right now is to get inundated with I mean, millions of millions of dollars of ads, of mailers.

So I think she was hoping that the more kind of personal campaign stops in these neighborhoods is that where she really needs to turn out turnout will help and it remains to be seen if it will. But there were certainly some excited crowds for her yesterday.

SCIUTTO: You can throw out the flyers that end up in your mailbox. But when you see a clip, like the one from that Madison Square Garden rally about Puerto Rico last night that comedian, they're calling it an island of garbage. It's been clipped and clipped again and again. And not just by the Harris campaign, by others as well, some of whom came out to quite publicly endorse her -- 500,000 Puerto Rican voters in Pennsylvania.

Is that a comment and is that a group that could turn the election in the state?

TERRUSO: I think that is a comment that Trump's campaign is absolutely trying to distance them from today. The former president is going to be in Allentown, Pennsylvania, tomorrow night. That's an area where there's a huge population of Latinos and Puerto Rican specifically.

Philadelphia is home to so many Puerto Rican voters and, you know, as the -- as the clock winds down and this comes down to a small number of undecided voters, I think it is possible. I also think it just kind of fuels Harris's closing argument that the former president is being very divisive and dark with his imagery about, you know, the nation.

[15:40:03]

But that's something that he clearly keeps going back to. We heard it from him in State College on Saturday. You know, I think he thinks it may pump up his base, but clearly, in this case, it really stepped over the line and in a pretty outrageous way.

SCIUTTO: Yeah, and let's be frank. It was not an outlier, who has been speaking about immigrants and people from different groups like that, going back to 2015, it -- central to his message.

I want to talk about fracking because that's, of course, a big issue, particularly in western Pennsylvania. Trump that line, "frack, frack, frack", kind of like use would say drill, baby, drill. Harris has changed her position on fracking based on what and now says she's in favor of it.

Based on your reporting there, has she convinced voters that that's a genuine switch?

TERRUSO: I think for voters in western Pennsylvania and in a lot of areas where manufacturing jobs have been lost even if, you know, she's perhaps convince them that this is how -- she -- this is her stance now, there are still questions for some voters about you know, does she represent some of these former Rust Belt places and is she speaking to them in connecting to them the way that the former president has since 2016.

So, she keeps repeating the stay her stance now, I don't know if it'll necessarily be fracking, but what that question about fracking represents to some of these voters.

SCIUTTO: No question. Well, a lot of issues that could be decisive ones for voters. Julia Terruso, thanks so much for giving us a view in the state of Pennsylvania.

TERRUSO: Thanks for having me.

SCIUTTO: Well, another issue in that race, Elon Musk's $1 million giveaway to registered voters. Could it be in jeopardy? Philadelphia's district attorney is now asking a judge to shut it down.

CNN's Marshall Cohen has been following it.

This is not the first time we've seen quite questions about this. And yet the payments have continued. And we are only eight days to the election.

I mean, is this lawsuit going to make a difference or is Musk just going to ride this out?

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER: Great question, Jim.

Well, there will be a hearing on Friday where a judge will weigh some of these questions and presumably issue a ruling because time is of the essence. So you mentioned the Philadelphia D.A., Larry Krasner, he is a progressive. He is a Democrat. No fan of Elon Musk, but he did make the argument today in court with this lawsuit that this is an illegal sweepstakes under Pennsylvania law, sweepstakes and lotteries in PA need to be regulated and operated by the state. And in the eyes of the district attorney in Philadelphia, this is clearly operating outside the law.

Let me read for you a little bit of what is in this lawsuit. The D.A. wrote, quote, running an illegal lottery and violating consumer protection is ample basis for an injunction and concluding that America PAC and Musk must be stopped immediately before the upcoming presidential election. It went on to say that America PAC and Musk hatched their illegal lottery scheme to influence voters.

So, a desperate plea from the D.A. there to shut this down immediately. That's not happening immediately. As I said, hearing will be on Friday. And for his part, Elon Musk has defended this program and they are full speed ahead, Jim, they announced another million- dollar winner this morning.

SCIUTTO: And if the hearings on Friday and the elections on Tuesday, you just wonder if the legal process has any influence whatsoever on this.

Marshall Cohen, thanks so much for covering.

Well, still ahead, Iran is now vowing a, quote, appropriate response to Israel's massive strike on Iran overnight Friday. Iran does say, however, it does not want a wider war. We're going to speak to a retired U.S. Army commander about what the most likely next steps are.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:47:24]

SCIUTTO: Welcome back. Jim Sciutto live in Jerusalem.

We continue to follow the widening war here in the Middle East and now, at least a potential response from Iran to Israel's latest counter strike, continuing a cycle we've been following here for weeks and months now.

Iran says Israel's strikes overnight on Friday killed five people according to Iranian state run media. The president there is vowing what he calls, quote, an appropriate response. However, Iran is also communicating. It does not want a wider war.

So what's their actual message? What comes next?

CNN military analyst, Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, joins me now.

Interesting messaging from Iran, right? First of all, using the phrase appropriate response, which sounds a lot to me like proportional, and we hear that all the time and this sort of back-and-forth, but also saying it doesn't want a wider war.

I wonder when you listen to that, do you hear a country here that is eager to shoot back, especially given how much Israel demonstrated it was able to strike inside Iran, a comprehensive strike with Iran, with Israeli fighter jets breaching Iranian airspace.

LT. GENERAL MARK HERTLING (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I don't hear that at all, Jim, and I think it's a good point to make both Iran and Israel have been fighting a war of escalation dominance. And during this lack attack -- last attack on Friday night, early Saturday morning, it appears to me that Israel has done a very good job of not only having ingress and egress of their Israeli air force into Iranian territory. But destroying some of the air defense capabilities that Iran has that would counter any kind of additional aircraft strikes inside of Iran.

The fact that they went toward Tehran is also an important factor, hitting targets that were not devastating to Iran, but showed them that they could not only enter into their territory, but also destroy their defense capabilities, spread specifically, the air defense capabilities, and also destroy their weapons, producing sites.

Now what we don't have is the target list of exactly what was struck. Israel claims it struck ballistic missile manufacturing facilities. I would suggest they probably also struck drone producing facilities, but this is to put around on their back foot in terms of supplying the proxies, Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis in Yemen with the kind of equipment they need to continue to fight as proxies against Israel.

So, yeah, I'm not sure what a proportional response by Iran would mean that would come just short of really expanding this conflict and them knowing that Israel could enter their territory at their will.

[15:50:13]

SCIUTTO: Can we take a moment here and we just put up all of Iran's regional affiliates, which has also a good demonstration of the many fronts of this war continuing underway inside Gaza, still going, inside Lebanon, expanding, we saw strikes in both Syria and Iraq leading up to Israel strikes on Iran overnight on Saturday. Then, of course, we had those strikes on Iran and you had a strike on Houthi rebels in Yemen a number of weeks ago.

Strategically, are Israel's multiple campaigns in these countries working are they making Israel safer for the long term?

HERTLING: I think they are, Jim. And here's why I say that. Iran is the enemy of Israel. They say it in their Constitution, but they also had these proxies and not just Hezbollah and Hamas and the Islamic Jihad union and the Houthis. But there he had all of the PMF forces, the professional military forces inside of Iraq and Syria, as you show on the map.

So if you're destroying the proxies it -- those are the forward armies of Iran. Iran has tried to claim deniability and saying, hey, these proxies work at their own leisure and have their own strategies. But everyone knows that's not true. They are all under the direction of Iran.

Iran is trying to destroy the state of Israel and by continuing their damaging attacks against both Hamas and more recently, Hezbollah, Israel has done a very pretty good job in my view of poking their fingers in the eyes of the proxy elements that are basically doing the will of the Iranian government.

SCIUTTO: Before we go one more question about Iran, because notably, several of the targets in those Israeli strikes were Iranian air defenses. Now that's natural when you're flying planes into the country, you don't want them to get shut down. But one could also argue this lays the groundwork for further strikes because it makes it harder for some of those other targets to defend themselves against Israeli attacks.

Do you see this as a first wave of potentially multiple waves of Israeli strikes?

HERTLING: Well, it could be that, Jim, or could simply be Israel saying we have the potential now to go after you if you strike back, that's why I see this threat by Iran to conduct another attack or two reciprocate against Israel as being somewhat of a farcical approach because they know the delivery of those weapons systems by Israel inside of Iran's territory, but also knocking out and destroying some of their air defense. And I would even put they likely struck other targets, primarily electronic warfare that would be jamming any kind of Israeli aircraft.

But I believe Israel went in with a pretty good strike package to ensure that they're bombing efforts were saw themselves through, but also sending a valid message to Iran saying, try it again, and we now have open, open skies. They come in and deliver a more fatalistic blow.

So all of that I think is part of the messaging by Israel in this attack on the territory of Iran.

SCIUTTO: Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, thanks so much, and well be right back with much more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:56:17]

SCIUTTO: There was a special guest in the crowd for Adele's Saturday night concert in Las Vegas. Check out an emotional hug between Adele and Celine Dion that brought the two powerhouse singers to tears as they hugged. Adele was in the final weeks of her Las Vegas residency. Of course, Celine Dion has been struggling with health issues.

Thanks so much for joining me today. I'm Jim Sciutto, live in Jerusalem.

"QUEST MEANS BUSINESS" is up next.