Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
CNN International: Harris Visits Jan. 6 Location to Make Her Closing Argument; Democrats Blast Trump for Puerto Rico Joke at Rally; Hezbollah Names Naim Qassem as New Leaders Succeeding Nasrallah; Israeli Knesset Votes to Ban UNRWA Despite International Pressure; Bezos Defends Washington Post's Non-endorsement Decision; Steve Bannon Released From Prison in Time for Election; Ballot Drop Boxes Set on Fire in Oregon, Washington; Thousands Protest in Georgia Amid Vote- rigging Claims; U.S. Airlines Must Refund a Canceled Flight Automatically; L.A. Dodgers One Win Away From Becoming MLB Champions; Scammers Get Away With 22 Tonnes of Cheddar. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired October 29, 2024 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:00:00]
AMARA WALKER, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWSROOM: Hi, everyone. Welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Amara Walker. This is "CNN Newsroom'. Just ahead, with just one week to go until Americans cast their votes, Kamala Harris prepares to make her closing pitch to voters at a deeply significant site. Donald Trump on the defensive as his campaign tries to clean up the mess made at his controversial rally in New York Sunday. And Israel's move to ban the U.N. Agency for Palestinian refugees has met with global condemnation. We are live in Jerusalem.
All right. Just one week to go until Election Day and Kamala Harris today will remind American voters of what happened the last time there was a presidential election. Harris will deliver a speech this evening from The Ellipse in Washington, D.C. and that is where Donald Trump spoke to a crowd of supporters on January 6th, 2021, urging them to march down the street to the Capitol and fight like hell. But Harris' speech, which has been described as her closing argument, won't just focus on the threat that she says Trump poses to democracy, it's also expected to showcase an optimistic vision of what America could look like if she wins the race.
Our Senior White House Reporter, Kevin Liptak, has more on what to expect from Harris' speech tonight. He's joining us now from near The Ellipse. Kevin, talk to us more about the significance of this venue. Obviously, it was chosen intentionally and what Harris is expected to focus on during her very important speech.
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, and I think when you talk to Harris aides, they knew they had to check a few different boxes when they were selecting the venue for this speech. One, they did want to emphasize the chaos that she says Donald Trump would bring back to the White House. And certainly, we know why The Ellipse would evoke that, those memories of January 6th, 2021, when Donald Trump spoke from that very spot, encouraged his supporters to walk down to the Capitol and walk down they did, and create a death and destruction down there.
But the other box that they needed to check was to try and create a more proactive vision for the president that she would be if elected. And certainly, the spot does that as well. It's only about 500 yards from the Oval Office. You can see the South Portico of the White House from exactly where she'll be speaking. And so, they do want to create that balance in the themes that she'll talk about. And when aides used words to describe this speech, they say it'll be hopeful. They say it will be optimistic. They're not saying that it will necessarily dwell on some of the sober dark themes of January 6th that we might've expected when we first learned that this speech would happen here at The Ellipse.
And so, you will hear her talk about some of the visions that she has for the presidency when it comes to the economy, when it comes to reproductive rights, and really the goal is to try and convince what the campaign calls conflicted voters. People who aren't necessarily sure about Donald Trump, who may be turned off by some of the rhetoric that he's been using on the campaign trail, but aren't necessarily convinced yet that Kamala Harris is their candidate. To try and convince those voters that this is the candidate for them. And they liken this to a closing argument that Harris might have delivered in a courtroom when she was a prosecutor.
She's been laying out the evidence to the jury, in this case, the American voters, particularly in those seven battleground states. Now, she will bring all of those threads together into a cohesive argument for her candidacy. And we did hear her yesterday, preview some of the themes that she'll talk about. Listen to what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, (D) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: As I've said many times, I'll say tomorrow night in my speech, there's a big difference between he and I. If he were elected, on day one, he's going to be sitting in the Oval Office, working on his enemies list. On day one, I'm elected president of the United States, which I fully intend to be, I will be working on behalf of the American people on my to-do list.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIPTAK: So, those are the themes that she'll be striking tonight. Of course, it's hard to imagine that any single one speech is going to convince every undecided voter that Harris is the candidate for them. But her campaign really does view this as one of the final tent pole moments to speak to the voters in those battleground states.
[08:05:00]
And just because I'm here, I will mention that security is very tight. They've built a large perimeter around the site, tall 10-foot unscalable fencing. So certainly, security concern as well. The permit for this event lists 20,000 potential supporters who are going to be attending here tonight. Amara?
WALKER: Wow. All right. makes sense that security is so tight. Kevin Liptak, thanks so much. Live for us there in Washington.
Now as for Donald Trump, he is on the defensive over those offensive comments made about Puerto Rico from a speaker at his rally Sunday at New York's Madison Square Garden. Last night, Trump also lashed out over attempts to paint him as a fascist, telling a crowd of supporters in Georgia that Harris is the one who was a threat to democracy, and he said he is the opposite of a Nazi.
Trump allies reportedly think fallout from the New York rally could overshadow Trump's message in these closing days. And at least one prominent political analyst says that could be happening already.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: For a while, Trump was inching up. In fact, I would say it was more like millimeters than inches. But it was making a difference over time, you could see the change. Well, that's more or less been halted. And there's some indication, at least in this first day after that outrageous Madison Square Garden rally that Trump had, that there may be some millimeters back in Harris' direction, which is not unusual by the way.
In a close race, in the last week, small events can be magnified. And I don't think this was a small event because it involved so many voters, so many Puerto Ricans who are allowed to vote as long as they have established residency.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: Well, Donald Trump begins his day at Mar-a-Lago in Florida before heading to Pennsylvania. Our Alayna Treene is covering the Trump campaign for us. She is there in Florida. Let's start with this news conference that Trump is about to hold in the next few hours. What do we expect to hear from him? I mean, is he going to be going on the defensive and trying to contain the fallout from the Madison Square Garden rally?
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: I think that's the big question, Amara. So clearly, we are here inside Mar-a-Lago. Donald Trump's coming on in roughly two hours. Now, this event came together very quickly, within the last 24 hours. And when I asked one of Donald Trump's senior advisors about why he was holding this event, they said part of it was they really want to draw a contrast with the Harris campaign, one week out from Election Day, and have him do it on his own turf at Mar-a- Lago.
But I think the real reason, and this is what they told me, specifically the reason that they're holding this is because she is giving those remarks on The Ellipse, and he wants to draw a contrast with that, especially after we know, he gave that big speech a couple years ago, right before the January 6th Capitol attack. Now, I do think the big question is whether or not he is going to address, condemn, or even apologize for some of those racist and sexist remarks that were made at Madison Square Garden by some of those pre- programming speakers, specifically that comment from the comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who referred to Puerto Rico as a floating island of garbage.
One thing that's also interesting, Amara, is about where Donald Trump is going later. So he has two events in the battleground state of Pennsylvania today. That rally he has tonight is in Allentown. And I'm told that that location is actually in the center of a Puerto Rican neighborhood. We've learned, and other local media outlets are reporting this, that Allentown schools have also closed out of an abundance of caution with that rally happening there. So, all of this to say, it all comes of course, as he has been receiving a ton of pressure from a series of Puerto Ricans, of allies of Puerto Ricans, of Puerto Rican celebrities to address these and also to firmly condemn them.
And I think if he ends up taking questions, they have dubbed this as press remarks, if this ends up being a press conference and he actually takes questions from the press, which of course you never know with Donald Trump, he could just leave after this. I think that will be the key thing that is -- he will be faced with, is these comments over how he will respond to that. Now, I do also want to go back to what you had mentioned, which is what Donald Trump said in Georgia yesterday. He addressed some of the rhetoric around whether or not he is a fascist, and he also got pretty defensive when talking about -- trying to say that he's the opposite of a Nazi. I'll let you listen to it in his own words.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The newest line from Kamala and her campaign is that everyone who isn't voting for her is a Nazi. I had a great father, tough guy. He used to always say, never use the word Nazi, never used that word. And he'd say, never use the word Hitler, don't use that word. And yet, they use that word freely, both words. They use it. He's Hitler, and then they say he's a Nazi.
[08:10:00]
I'm not a Nazi, I'm the opposite of a Nazi.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TREENE: So Amara, he also had said, but it wasn't played in that clip that he believes that Harris is the one who is a fascist. But also (ph) say this is, we are seven days out from Election Day, and this stretch is supposed to be about Donald Trump giving his closing argument to voters and about what final impression he is going to leave on them. And I can tell you, this rhetoric and all of this attention over what was said at Madison Square Garden, not by Donald Trump, but by some of the people that they had there, is something that this campaign does not want. Amara?
WALKER: Alayna Treene, thank you so much. Let's talk more about that with CNN Political Director David Chalian. David, good to see you.
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Good to see you. WALKER: Let's start with Trump, David, because like Alayna was saying, this probably is not exactly what the Trump campaign wanted to deal with, the backlash just one week before Election Day. What is your sense of the mood inside the Trump campaign? CHALIAN: Well, obviously, you'll see in our reporting and others reporting that some internal advisors have expressed some concern, but I think it is totally unclear, Amara, that whether or not this blowback that Trump is receiving because of the comments made at his Madison Square Garden rally by some of the pre-programmed speakers is a true electoral disaster for him in some way or not. I -- we just don't --- we just don't know that. What we do know is there is no candidate on earth for any office that would want to spend on eight days before the election time saying, I am not a Nazi. I'm the opposite of a Nazi.
Like that is not in anybody's playbook of a desired message eight days out. So obviously, we have seen that the Trump campaign in these last 24 hours are not precisely where they would like to be. We saw that by the way, in the immediate aftermath of the rally, when they took the rare step of issuing a statement separating themself from that comedian's racist attempt at a joke. And we don't usually see that from the Trump campaign, that kind of statement or acknowledgement that something requires separation from Trump on.
So clearly, there are some indications that this did not go according to plan, but whether or not this is truly impacting the outcome of the race or the trajectory of the race, I don't think we know the answer to that.
WALKER: Absolutely. And Harris, tonight, she'll be making her primetime speech on The Ellipse. It'll be her closing argument. Speak to the significance of picking that location, obviously, because that was no accident. And also, the questions as to what exactly her speech will focus on. Will it be Trump being a threat to democracy, or will she focus more on the economy which has been the number one issue for voters?
CHALIAN: Yeah, the answer to the last question there I think is all of the above. But I will say the choosing of the location, obviously you are correct. It was no accident. In this very fragmented media environment, it is hard even for a presidential candidate to break through in a really forceful way. This is why the Harris campaign was so eager to get another debate with Donald Trump. So what they're hoping to do by choosing this location is command attention because they know the contrast it will draw. But Kamala Harris herself addressed what the physical backdrop of her speech would be when she was talking to CBS News earlier this week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: I think it is very important for the American people to see and think about who will be occupying that space on January 20th. And the reality of it is that most Americans can visualize the Oval Office. We've seen it on television, and this is a real scenario. It's either going to be Donald Trump or it's going to be me sitting behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office. (END VIDEO CLIP)
CHALIAN: So you are going to get a contrast message from Vice President Harris today. There's no doubt about that. But she is, also her campaign tells me, going to focus on her affirmative case for bringing down prices, for what she can do to protect and enshrine abortion rights back into national law. She's going to address some of these issues in addition to, as often as possible throughout this speech, draw a clear contrast with Donald Trump. That seems to be the plan.
WALKER: All right. CNN Political Director, David Chalian, always good to have you. Thanks so much.
CHALIAN: Thanks, Amara.
WALKER: Now, to the Middle East where Hezbollah has named a new leader, Naim Qassem will be the group's new Secretary General following Israel's killing of Hassan Nasrallah last month. This as Israel intensifies its operations in both Lebanon and Gaza. At least 60 people were killed as Israel struck several cities in Eastern Lebanon overnight.
[08:15:00]
That's according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. The attacks are set to be among the deadliest in Lebanon since Israel's war with Hezbollah ramped up. Israeli strikes also destroyed buildings in the southern port city of Tyre Monday, killing at least seven people.
And in Northern Gaza, the Health Ministry there says at least 77 people have been killed or are missing following an Israeli airstrike early Tuesday. Officials say many displaced people were sheltering in a five-storey building. The United Nations Secretary General says Israel's vote to outlaw the main U.N. agency that delivers aid to Palestinians could have devastating consequences.
Despite strong international pressure, Israeli lawmakers voted on Monday to ban the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA from operating in Israel. UNRWA supports nearly 6 million Palestinians across the Middle East, including in Gaza, the West Bank, and Jordan. It provides food, education, medical services, even jobs. And we spoke earlier to the Senior Deputy Director of UNRWA Affairs in Gaza.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAM ROSE, SENIOR DEPUTY DIRECTOR, UNRWA AFFAIRS IN GAZA: I mean, we're still waiting to kind of pick apart and understand precisely, but if implemented, it would be absolutely devastating. We have a population here that's on its knees, going through absolutely untold misery and suffering. And the role that UNRWA is playing here is unprecedented for any other humanitarian organization anywhere in the world, given the scope of our mandate, given the extent of our outreach.
The entire humanitarian system here relies every minute of every day on UNRWA to deliver services to 2 million people living in the worst possible condition. So any effort to change that, and this would appear to be much more than that, this is legislation now, will be -- will be devastating for us, devastating for other aid agencies, but more importantly, for the population here that's suffering so much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: All right. Let's bring in CNN's Matthew Chance, who's joining us now from Jerusalem. Matthew, as you know, this move is coming as the U.S. has been putting more pressure on Israel to allow more aid into Gaza. What's the reasoning behind Israel banning UNRWA?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean, Amara, there's been sort of animosity between the Israeli State -- Israeli government and the U.N. and UNRWA in particular, which provides humanitarian services, as you said, in the West Bank, in the Gaza Strip, in East Jerusalem as well, as well as surrounding countries as well, to Palestinian refugees in the surrounding nations. But specifically, since October 7th attacks last year, Israel has been adopting a very hard line approach when it comes to the U.N. It has accused members of UNRWA of being members of Hamas and other militant groups. And it's said that UNRWA properties, facilities have been used as a location inside the Gaza Strip, from which Hamas has been able to launch attacks against Israel and against Israeli soldiers fighting there. And it's taken this step now to ban the organization.
It's got three months to close down its activities and that's the justification basically that Israel has cited. Now, the big problem and the reason -- one of the reasons this has been criticized so roundly in the international community, including criticism from Israel's main ally, the United States, is that, as you mentioned, this U.N. agency provides humanitarian services, medical services, food, education, other things like that, to millions of Palestinians. And it's not clear at this point which organization, if any, is going to be equipped or able to sort of fill the vacuum when and if the UNRWA eventually is stopped from operating in the Gaza Strip, in the West Bank, and in East Jerusalem.
And that poses a huge challenge to the 6 million or so Palestinians who are assisted by that U.N. organization at the moment. And so, that's something there's a lot of concern about.
WALKER: And as you were mentioning earlier, Matthew, Israel continues to strike Gaza and Lebanon. What's the latest there?
CHANCE: Yes, there's no let up in Israel's military campaign in both of those locations you mentioned. In Lebanon, there have been more strikes in the south of that country by Israeli forces, dozens of people killed in the latest series of attacks according to Lebanese health officials.
[08:20:00]
Also in the Gaza Strip, we've particularly over the past couple of weeks, been seeing a renewed Israeli focus on the north of the Gaza Strip, around the Jabalya Refugee Camp, Beit Lahia which is right next door to Jabalya, has also been a target because the Israeli military say that Hamas that had once been pushed out of that area of the Northern Gaza Strip is now resurgent. And so, it's forcing them to go back in to evacuate people, to forcibly evict some might say, many tens of thousands of Palestinians in that devastated area, to leave again, so they can really pound Hamas in that region once more for a third time.
But of course, as we've seen repeatedly, it is civilians who are paying an extremely heavy price and there are dozens of people, and that figure is changing, which is why I'm not reporting it right now, but dozens of people who have been killed reportedly in the latest series of strikes in Northern Gaza. And so that's an ongoing, concern as well, Amara.
WALKER: No let up in the fighting. Matthew Chance, appreciate your reporting. Thank you as always.
Still to come, "Washington Post" owner Jeff Bezos defends his decision to stop the newspaper endorsing a presidential candidate. We'll look at what he is saying about it. Plus, Steve Bannon is released from prison, details on his plans to help the Trump campaign in the final days before the election.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALKER: "Washington Post" owner Jeff Bezos is defending his decision to end the newspaper's longstanding practice of endorsing a candidate in the U.S. presidential race. A rare op-ed from Bezos was published hours after three members of the paper's Editorial Board resigned over the decision. He wrote in part, presidential endorsements do nothing to tip the scales of an election. What they actually do is create a perception of bias and non-independence. Ending them is a principled decision and it's the right one.
Let's get more now with CNN's Hadas Gold. Hadas, I mean, this is becoming a bigger story now than perhaps if the Post had endorsed a candidate.
(LAUGH)
WALKER: What more can you tell us about the fallout as well?
HADAS GOLD, CNN MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I mean, had the Post endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, had they had planned to, I don't think anybody would've even blinked eye. Nobody would've been surprised. But also, had they made this announcement of a non- endorsement say back in September, which is when I'm told that Jeff Bezos first expressed doubt or skepticism about the endorsement practice, again, it maybe would've been a story for a day. But we are just days before the election when "The Washington Post" decided to make this decision late last week.
And today is when we're hearing our first public comments from Jeff Bezos about this, we had been trying to get comments from him and his team for days. And so he gave this, he wrote this op-ed, and essentially what he's saying is, listen, trust in the media is at an all-time low.
[08:25:00]
Everybody believes that the mainstream media is biased. People are now getting their news from off-the-cuff podcast and influencers, and increasingly newspapers like "The Washington Post" and "The New York Times" are speaking only to a certain elite.
Now, he did say that he wished he had made these changes earlier and that it was a scheduling, like inadequate planning. He also says there was no quid pro quo as a result of this. Because if you remember, last Friday, when the Post made this announcement, on that exact same day, executives from Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin space company met with former President Donald Trump. Now, Jeff Bezos in this op-ed says he sighed when he heard about this because he did not know this was going to happen. He says the executives didn't know it was going to happen until the day that it happened.
But from people I'm talking to, they're not so much worried about like a direct quid pro quo where Jeff Bezos gets on the phone says, I'm going to not do an endorsement, in exchange you're going to give me this. They're more concerned about the perception of self-censorship before a possible Donald Trump presidency because of all the threats that former President Donald Trump has made against the media, the threats he's made in the past against Jeff Bezos and Jeff Bezos' companies.
I spoke with David Hoffman. He is a actually 2024 Pulitzer Prize winner, who was one of the three members of the Editorial Board to step down from the Editorial Board. All three still have their positions, and he says that he believes there is a looming autocracy. He doesn't want to be silent about it. He doesn't want the Post to be silent about it. He says the fact that we're not going to endorse is a degree of silence that he cannot stand. Amara?
WALKER: Yeah, that's an interesting argument about self-censorship. But also the fact that Jeff Bezos says, it had to do with inadequate planning because it does raise a lot of eyebrows, that this -- his decision is being announced just days from the U.S. election. Hadas Gold, good to have you. Thanks so much.
Well, a source tells CNN, Steve Bannon was released from federal prison early today. The long-time ally of Donald Trump served four months for contempt of Congress after refusing to comply with the Congressional investigation into the January 6th attack on the Capitol. While Bannon is expected to return to the helm of his right- wing media platform in the lead up to Election Day, his team says he will hold a news conference this afternoon in New York. CNN's Sara Murray joining me now.
Wow. what can we read, Sara, into the timing of his release? I mean, just exactly a week from the U.S. election.
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I mean, I guess in some ways it's fortuitous timing for Steve Bannon. He served his four months behind bars for two counts of contempt of Congress for defying the House Committee that investigated January 6th. He got a subpoena and didn't provide documents, and didn't provide testimony. And so, I think what we can expect in the next week is a lot of inflammatory and incendiary rhetoric designed to try to push Donald Trump over the finish line and rev up the sort of Trump base and get them motivated.
What was interesting is that we talked to some folks who track these kind of podcast metrics, like the War Room Podcast, which is Bannon's primary megaphone, and they did know this precipitous drop off and its popularity in the time that Steve Bannon has been behind bars, as it started to tick up slightly in anticipation of his release. But he's going to have to do a little bit of work to bring this Trump audience that he had surrounding him, back into the fold.
I think one of the big worries though is not just what Steve Bannon can do in this next week between now and Election Day, but also the way he can use this sort of megaphone and embrace conspiracies and embrace lies about election cheating in the event that it looks like Donald Trump is coming up short on Election Day. He was a key voice of the 'Stop the Steal' movement in 2020, and there are plenty of election deniers, election conspiracy theorists who have still been on the show. And so, I think that it's not just a question of what Steve Bannon can do in the next week, but what happens if it appears Donald Trump is coming up short, and are we going to see Steve Bannon whipping people up again with more election conspiracies?
WALKER: Yeah, I think a lot of people would bet on that. Sara Murray, thank you. Good to see you.
MURRAY: Thanks.
WALKER: Still to come, the voters who could hold the key to victory. We're going to take you to one of the crucial swing states to see what Hispanic voters are saying about the candidates. Plus, some good news for air travelers in the U.S. just weeks before the holiday travel season, we will explain. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:31:40]
WALKER: Let's return now to our top story. One week until Election Day here in the U.S. and Donald Trump heads into the final stretch. In an unfamiliar place, on the defensive, Trump was forced to spend time at a rally on Monday in Georgia denying that he's a Nazi.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: They use that word freely, both words. They use it. He's Hitler, and then they say he's a Nazi. I'm not a Nazi. I'm the opposite of a Nazi. I don't know.
(CROWD CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: Apparently, he was responding to Kamala Harris calling him a fascist, and of course, reports that his former Chief of Staff, John Kelly also likened him to a fascist. Trump's allies are said to be worried that the fallout from Sunday's controversial rally in New York is overshadowing his closing message and hurting him when it comes to Latino voters. As for Kamala Harris, she will deliver a speech tonight from The Ellipse in Washington. Remember, that is where Donald Trump spoke on January 6th, 2021, just moments before his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol Building.
Now, in the battleground state of Arizona, Kamala Harris and running mate, Tim Walz will get -- will hold a 'Get out the vote' rally on Thursday. The Democratic nominees have been trying to pick up crucial support from Latino voters, among others. CNN's John King looks at how that effort is going.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Knock, knock.
JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Crunch time in the battlegrounds.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nice to meet you. My name's Meg. I'm with LUCHA, Living United for Change in Arizona.
KING (voice-over): One handout promotes the Arizona ballot initiative expanding abortion rights. The other promotes Kamala Harris and Democratic candidates for the Senate and the House.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think that your voice has power in this election?
KING (voice-over): LUCHA canvassers are at 600,000 door knocks and counting. They encourage early voting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know where your polling location is?
KING (voice-over): Many of the targeted homes are Latinos who are registered, but don't always vote.
KING: What's the most common question you get at a door knock about the vice president?
CLAUDIO RODRIGUEZ, ARIZONA VOTER: The most common question we get at a door knock is 'Why Kamala? Why Kamala?" And my answer to that is like, first, she's not a felon. One, she's a strong woman. And as a Latino man, we like strong women and we don't like weak men.
(LAUGH)
KING (voice-over): Claudio Rodriguez volunteers for LUCHA and also runs a community farm and food bank. He is upbeat about Harris' chances here, says encouraging younger voters to turn out is one big need in this final week.
RODRIGUEZ: You do get the folks who are like, kind of like feel hopeless, but then you got to bring them back in. You got folks who say like, voting doesn't matter. My vote doesn't matter. And my response to that is like, whether you believe it matters or not, it still exists. And so why not participate in it? Put your votes in there, your little two cents.
KING (voice-over): Tucson is in deep blue Pima County. Biden's giant 2020 edge here was critical to winning the state by just 10,000 votes.
TAMARA VARGA, ARIZONA VOTER: Mickey is one of our biggest sellers.
KING (voice-over): Tamara Varga is a lifelong Republican who came to Tucson 30 years ago from San Diego. She thought she lived in a blue pocket of a red state.
KING: Did it surprise you in 2020 when Biden won Arizona? Just barely, but he win.
VARGA: Absolutely surprised me. I was not expecting that.
[08:35:00]
KING (voice-over): Varga owns two candy shops and two food trucks, so she can provide jobs for individuals with special needs, including her sons. She says housing and other costs of living are up. Her gut says, Trump is stronger this time.
VARGA: I feel that Trump is ahead, but I felt that way in 2020 as well. So, it's hard to say. I feel that I have had more friends that are open to Trump and are flipping to a Trump vote.
KING: And the local friends who are doing that, do they cite a reason?
VARGA: The border and the economy, as people are having a hard time putting food on their table and gas in their cars, and it's really affecting them. So I think that they now think about their vote and how it will affect their household.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING (on camera): There's no doubt, voter anxiety over the cost of living and the immigration issue give the former president a chance to flip Arizona back to red and win its 11 electoral votes. But Trump's rhetoric and that of his allies sometimes lands wrong, and defends two critical voting groups here, moderates in the fast growing suburbs and Latino voters.
John King, CNN, Phoenix.
WALKER: What a beautiful backdrop, John. Thank you for that. Natasha Linstead is a Professor of Government at the University of Essex, and she's joining us now live from Colchester, England. Natasha, good to see you. I can't believe it, now we're just exactly a week away from Election Day. I'm just curious to hear your take on this debate amongst Democrats right now as Kamala Harris is set to give her primetime closing argument speech on The Ellipse in Washington.
I guess, there are concerns that perhaps Harris might focus too much on Trump being a threat to democracy versus emphasizing the number one issue on voters' minds and that's the economy, and what exactly she would do in her administration to improve things. Do you think she would be able to just strike a good balance by focusing on both?
NATASHA LINSTEAD, PROFESSOR OF GOVERNMENT, UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX: That's exactly what she has to do. She will have to focus on both. She can't ignore the fact that Trump -- that Trump poses such a huge threat to democracy, that he's admired Hitler, authoritarians, that he's fascist, that he basically wants to weaponize the justice system, go after his enemies, and that he's suffering from severe mental decline. Of course, she's going to focus on these things because this riles up the base and because he does pose such a huge threat.
But she will have to balance it with some positive messages about why people should vote for her, why she should be the next president. And she'll focus on issues such as reproductive rights, which has really resonated particularly with women, and that's why she's doing so well with women, and that this is not just about abortion rights, but this is actually about women's health, that we've seen a rise in maternal death rates because of the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
And then she's going to have to really put the focus on how she cares about the middle class, and that she cares more about people like you. That's one of the areas in the polling where she's doing better, and she can spell out her economic plans, while also dispelling this myth that Trump knows anything about the economy. He inherited a strong economy from Obama. He was able to engineer some sort of economic growth in spite of all of his policies that really benefited the rich. And she's going to talk to Americans about how she really cares about all of America, where Trump only really cares about himself.
WALKER: Trump gave his closing argument, what was supposed to be his closing argument, on Sunday at Madison Square Garden in New York. Unfortunately, some of his allies, along with him, they said some very insulting things, particularly the one that got the most attention was those racist comments about Puerto Rico, calling it in an island of garbage. There was a comedian who was speaking before Trump.
Trump will now be holding a news conference at Mar-a-Lago in about an hour and a half from now. But this obviously, presumably will address some of the backlash that they've been facing. This cannot be the position that Trump and his campaign wanted to find themselves in, on the defense, insulting a specific group of people just seven days before the election. LINSTEAD: I mean, no, definitely. I mean, what a mess. I mean, that was just a hate rally. That wasn't a campaign rally. I mean, it was just such a dark and terrible way to close a campaign. And we know that the comedian talked about Puerto Rico as being garbage, but that is really Trump's brand. I mean, what more evidence do we need that this campaign that he has built is xenophobic, it's racist, it's misogynistic, it's sexist, and now they're trying to walk back on this.
[08:40:00]
But that's the brand that he has really built up. It's very, very divisive and it will backfire. I mean, is he not aware that we have 90,000 Puerto Ricans that live just in Philadelphia? 470,000 Puerto Ricans live in the state of Pennsylvania, over 6 million Puerto Ricans that can vote in the U.S. election. It is not very promising and hopeful and optimistic (inaudible) focus on that.
WALKER: Right. Yeah. Just quickly, do you think that the Trump campaign, I mean, which was surprising to see, it distance themselves from these comedian's comments? Do you think they should be concerned about losing some of the Latino vote, which Trump had been slowly gaining on?
LINSTEAD: I think that they should be concerned. I mean, at the very least, it will depress turnout of Hispanic Americans that might have been leaning towards Trump or might have wanted to vote for Trump. I mean, it really presents a real quandary because he has stumped on Hispanics before. I mean, this is not the first time. In a way, he's denigrated Mexicans and Mexican Americans. But I mean, this was a direct hit at the Puerto Rican community, that I think it's hard to come back from.
He never apologizes and this is the first time that he's done so, because I think that they know in the last week going into the campaign, this is not the right message that they want to be communicating.
WALKER: Right. And not the final impression they want to give either. Natasha Linstead, we're going to have to leave it there. Professor of Government at the University of Essex, thank you for your time.
Authorities in the U.S. Northwest are investigating a number of incidents where ballot boxes were set on fire on Monday. Police in Portland, Oregon identifying a suspect vehicle after two boxes were set alight. They say an incendiary device was placed inside one of them. A ballot box was also set on fire just across the state line in Vancouver, Washington. Hundreds of the Washington state ballots were damaged.
Still to come, two days after a hotly disputed election, protestors fill the streets of Georgia's capital. We're going to hear from the president who has been speaking with CNN. And North Korean soldiers in Russia are preparing for the next step in their training. According to South Korea, they could soon be on the frontlines.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALKER: Tens of thousands of people gathered outside Georgia's parliament on Monday night, protesting the results of the weekend's general election. Opposition parties are claiming the ballot was rigged with Russia's help. The Georgian president, whose role is principally a ceremonial one, has been encouraging her fellow citizens to protect the country's future. She spoke with CNN's Christiane Amanpour.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Why exactly? I mean, people went to the polls. Are you not worried about, I don't know, violence or some awful crackdown or something?
[08:45:00]
SALOME ZOURABICHVILI, GEORGIAN PRESIDENT: Not at all, because we have seen protests in Tbilisi when the Russian laws were adopted. We have seen protests last year. This year, the Georgian population is very peaceful, but they peacefully defend their constitutional rights to have their vote, to keep their vote. And in this case, it's more than their votes. It's their European future.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: So the President is refusing to recognize the results. The official count gave the Moscow-friendly Georgian Dream Party, which is already in the government, 54 percent of the vote. The election commission tells CNN it has received over 400 complaints of irregularities on election day. And Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a good friend of Putin, paid a surprise visit to Georgia on Monday, congratulating the leaders of the Georgian Dream.
Joining me now from the Georgian capital is former CNN Moscow Bureau Chief and Professor at Georgetown University, Jill Dougherty. Jill, talk to us more about what we've seen taking place in the Capital.
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: Well, I was at the rally last night and I talked with a lot of people, and what they were saying is, they're obviously very unhappy, but they want the opposition to say, what's next? What can we do? Now, some of the opposition are saying, obviously, they're not going to recognize the election, but they wanted an actual another vote, which of course is not going to happen.
But I think it's important that CEC, the Central Election Commission, says that they're going to have a recount, and that would be from -- they would take ballots from five polling stations from each district, each voting district. But just a few minutes ago, I spoke to one opposition leader here, (inaudible), and he said, no way, this is not going to -- it's going to mean nothing. And another person from the opposition said, any misdeeds or any type of interference in the election didn't happen in the counting, it happened when people were casting their votes. So right now, unclear what the opposition will do, but it doesn't look very effective.
WALKER: Yeah. And interesting that you had Viktor Orban there as well. Obviously, as we were saying, a strong ally of Putin. Jill Dougherty, thanks so much, in Tbilisi, Georgia, watching this for us.
Well, North Korean soldiers may be heading to the frontlines in Ukraine to fight for Russia after being taught basic Russian commands. Now, this is according to South Korean lawmakers who said the commands include words like fire and in position. However, the language barrier is remaining a challenge, and it's not clear how they're going to bridge this divide. CNN's Mike Valerio reports on these latest developments.
MIKE VALERIO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, South Korea's spy agency just revealed some striking details about North Korean troops in Russia. They are training to fight in the war against Ukraine, and that is according to NATO, the United States and South Korea. But lawmakers who were briefed by South Korea's National Intelligence Service here in Seoul say that North Korea may be trying to hide from its own people that these deployments to Russia are actually happening. So, let's take you through what we know.
We have two lawmakers briefed by South Korea's spy agency, the NIS. And the NIS says that North Korean families of these soldiers are being told the troops went to a "military exercise", not to Russia, not to Ukraine. The lawmakers add news of these troops going to Russia has spread within North Korea, despite the regime's effort to contain the truth. And they say there is some "unrest" among North Korean residents and soldiers about why they're making this sacrifice for another country. That certainly would be remarkable, considering North Korea tolerates virtually no descent against the regime of Kim Jong- un.
We also heard from South Korea's president on this subject today. Listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YOON SUK YEOL, SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT (through translator): This illegal military cooperation between Russia and North Korea is a significant security threat to the international community and could pose a serious risk to our national security.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VALERIO: So what he means by that, North Korean troops potentially threatening South Korean security, analysts tell us that North Korean troops could potentially come back home with more knowledge about modern warfare than ever before. The Secretary General of NATO has also said that North Korean troops are already in Russia's Kursk region. That is where Ukraine has had a foothold in Russian territory since August.
The Pentagon is also saying that it assesses there are about 10,000 North Korean troops who have been deployed to train in Russia. Pyongyang and Moscow have neither explicitly confirmed nor denied these troop deployments.
Mike Valerio, CNN, Seoul.
[08:50:00]
WALKER: Still to come, a better deal for U.S. air travelers if they're left waiting for a late or non-existent flight, we'll have the details.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALKER: U.S. airlines are now required to give passengers an automatic refund if their flight is significantly delayed or canceled. The final federal rule requiring airlines to dole out refunds, not vouchers, took effect just a few hours ago. It is a major change and comes less than a month before what could be a huge holiday travel season in the U.S. CNN Aviation Correspondent, Pete Muntean joining us now from Washington, D.C. I'm sure a lot of travelers are happy to hear about this. What do we need to know, Pete? PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: The timing is really key here, Amara, huge with the holiday travel rush on the horizon. Hard to believe that we're 30 days until Thanksgiving here in the U.S. Change is really music to the ears of consumer advocates who've been pushing for this for some time. Also, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who originally announced this back in April, known officially as the automatic refund provision. The Department of Transportation says it is in full effect as of just yesterday.
Here's what it means. If your flight gets canceled or significantly delayed, the airline must give you your money back automatically. This is big because airlines have long offered vouchers or credits for you to use on a later flight, but this is in essence a cash refund. A little bit of fine print though. If the airline rebook you on a different flight, you must not accept that rebooking, essentially walk. Also must not accept any other compensation the airline offers you. Bottom line, choose not to fly, you get your money back.
The other big change here is that this defined what is a significant delay. If you're on a domestic flight, it's going to be three hours late or an international flight that's more than six hours late, you now qualify for a full refund. Big question here. How fast you get your money back? Well, it really depends on how you pay. The requirement says the airline must refund you within seven business days if you paid with a credit card, money goes back to your account. 20 calendar days if you used another form of payment.
Really the pushback for this came initially from the airlines who said this would be simply too complicated for them to implement. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg posted on X and then announcing this, and he says that passengers really deserve to get their money back when an airline owes them without headaches or haggling. He really put airlines on notice back in July, telling them to make it super clear to passengers when they are entitled to a refund. So the bottom line here is you're entitled to cash back from an airline if your flight is canceled or significantly delayed, not a voucher, not a credit. This is a really significant change.
WALKER: OK, really good information and good news for all of us air travelers. Pete Muntean, thank you. Thanks for putting a smile on our faces.
Well, the Los Angeles Dodgers are just one win away from becoming World Series Champions. Facing the Yankees in New York Monday night, Dodgers first baseman, Freddie Freeman hit a home run for the third straight game. That gave the Dodgers a 2-0 lead in the game. They went on to win 4-2.
[08:55:00]
So, game four is tonight in New York. If the Dodgers win, they will take home their eighth World Series Title. Go Dodgers, yes. LA is my hometown.
All right. Finally, one of Britain's most famous dairy companies has been victim of a sophisticated scam, losing more than 22 tons of cheddar cheese. Neal's Yard says it was approached by a fraudulent buyer pretending to be a wholesale distributor for a major French retailer. The company realized it had been the victim of a scam only after the cheese was handed over, resulting in a loss of around $390,000. Wow.
That's my time. Thanks for being with me here on "CNN Newsroom." I'm Amara Walker. "Connect the World" with Becky Anderson and Erica Hill is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:00:00]
