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CNN International: Trump Claims Without Proof Ukraine War, October 7 Attacks in Israel would not have Happened if he were in Office; Harris Calls Attention to Abortion Rights in Final Days on Campaign Trial; Georgia's President Claims Russia Meddled in Election; Backlash Over Failing to Endorse a Presidential Candidate; Ohtani Expected to Play in World Series Game 3 Despite Injury. Aired 9-9:45a ET
Aired October 28, 2024 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ERICA HILL, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: It is 09:00 a.m. here in New York. I'm Erica Hill. Thanks for joining me on "Connect the World". Sowing fear
and stoking divisions, the menacing rhetoric from Donald Trump and his supporters at his Madison Square Garden rally in New York. Campaigning in
the critical state of Pennsylvania, Kamala Harris telling voters her path to victory runs through Philadelphia.
And disenchanted voters in Japan give the ruling coalition a nasty surprise. So, what comes next? The stock market here in New York set to
open just about 30 minutes from now, and if we look at the futures, fairly positive picture on this Monday morning. Always nice to see some green to
start your week.
Investors anticipate earnings reports this week from tech giants including Alphabet, Amazon, Apple and Meta. Well, with just eight days now to go
until the official Election Day here in the United States, the candidates are making their final pitches to voters.
Donald Trump taking his campaign to Madison Square Garden here in New York in a marathon rally Sunday night featuring Trump loyalists who unleashed
demeaning, vulgar and racist rants on familiar Trump targets, including immigrants as well as Trump's current and former female challengers for the
White House.
One of the most disparaging remarks coming at the start of the rally from a Comedian and Podcast Host Tony Hinchcliffe, who went after the U.S.
territory of Puerto Rico.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY HINCHCLIFFE, 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)
HILL: Well, the response from Democrats, angry and swift Republicans, though a number of them also quick to jump on those comments, including
Florida Senator Rick Scott, who, state, of course, has a large Puerto Rican population. And in a rare move from the Trump campaign, a statement in an
effort to distance itself from the comments saying, quote, this joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign.
When Trump did finally take the stage, there two hours behind schedule, he launched into a meandering speech, what he calls weaving, of course, with a
number of familiar targets, assailing immigrants and promising as well, to invoke an 18th century law to pave the way for mass deportations. Kristen
Holmes is following the Trump campaign in New York.
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Former President Donald Trump spoke to a packed house at Madison Square Garden in New York, giving
what was his traditional campaign speech filled with quite a few false notes, particularly when it came to immigration.
Just to go over a few of the things that he said, he talked about the fact that criminal migrants are pouring in across the border from prisons and in
Salem asylum, just to be clear, that's something CNN has fact checked on a number of occasions, and found that even the campaign couldn't give any
examples of that happening.
He talked about how Venezuelan games were taking over all of America, and in particular Aurora, Colorado. I will say, as somebody who was with him in
that rally at Aurora, Colorado. There was an incident at an apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado.
We have spoken to a number of state and local officials who have said that it was completely blown out of proportion. Actually, the rhetoric around it
was creating more problems for the community. He also talked about immigration in general in Springfield, Illinois, saying that a load of
illegal immigrants were dropped into Springfield, Illinois.
One thing we can say, excuse me, Springfield, Ohio, one thing we can say that we know is that most of the people who are on the ground in
Springfield are here legally through a specific program, the Department of Homeland Security. In addition to that, he talked about the hurricane
response to Helene.
Something that he's talked about a lot, saying that there were no federal officials on the ground that no one was could be seen, nobody was helping.
That we know not to be true for both Republicans and Democrats on the ground, who have described it as a helpful response, particularly the
federal response.
He also said that FEMA didn't have enough money to help with disaster response. They do because they had moved all of their money to help with
migrant housing. That is not true. FEMA has multiple pots of money. One of them is for disaster relief. Another is for migrant housing, but it's
congressional allotment, meaning that money for migrant housing cannot be taken and used for disaster relief, and same, not vice versa.
So, the other thing that he talked about foreign policy, he said, without any evidence or proof that neither Russia would have invaded Ukraine was he
in office, or the October 7th terrorist attacks in Israel. They said that both of those things would have never happened if he was in office.
But all in all, it was his traditional campaign speech. And I will say that despite using this dark fear-based rhetoric on immigration, the crowd here
a full house.
[09:05:00]
And Madison Square Garden was incredibly receptive to this rhetoric. It's unsurprising that we learned that Donald Trump, who believes that this kind
of rhetoric helped propel him to the White House in 2016 is also of the belief that it could help him again in 2024 and if you base it just on this
crowd tonight, he might have a point.
People were standing up. They were using applause lines for several of these various points, particularly the darkest points that came to
immigration. Now one thing I do just want to quickly point out is what happened before the rally, because as somebody who has attended dozens of
these Trump rallies.
The pre-show rhetoric before Donald Trump took the stage was some of the darkest rhetoric I've ever heard at one of these rallies. They were name
calling. I just want to point out some of the things that we heard from these speakers ahead of time. One person called Kamala Harris, the anti-
Christ and the devil.
Another person said referred to Puerto Rico as a floating island of garbage, something that has received massive backlash from both Democrats
and Republicans. Another person referred to illegal immigrants as effing illegals. Someone else said Hillary Clinton was a quote, sick bastard.
And that is just the actual specifics. We also heard a lot of nativist rhetoric talking about how America is for Americans only and that type of
thing. It is clear that this is the tone, Donald Trump's team, Donald Trump's campaign is setting because keep in mind what this event was.
This was the kickoff of the final week of the campaign before voters, head to the polls on November 5th. Kristen Holmes, CNN, New York.
HILL: All right. Thanks to Kristen for that report. Democratic Congressman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is also reacting to those comments made about
Puerto Rico at the Trump rally last night. She joined CNN just a few moments ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): Those comments and that individual saying those things on that stage, inciting an entire arena of individuals
who have been previously incited to commit attacks like the ones we saw on January 6 by people like Donald Trump.
None of that was an accident. These campaign events are put together. They are vetted. That language was vetted by the Trump campaign, that that
person was approved by the Trump campaign because he is speaking on behalf of the Trump campaign.
And I think it's really important that people understand that when we see everything that's happening. What is being transmitted and said about
Latinos in the United States is exactly what the Trump campaign means.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Joining me now, Steve Contorno, who has been, of course, also following the Trump campaign. Steve, as we look at this, you know what we
heard from the representative there in terms of her reaction, and what we also heard from our colleague, Kristen Holmes, in terms of the speech that
Donald Trump himself gave.
I mean, this was really traditional campaign rhetoric. There is a sense that as close as this race is, the outrage is baked in. There is no shock
value anymore for Donald Trump, and so he clearly seems to be really leaning into that as a winning closing message.
STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: That's right. I mean, this is the candidate who said that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and it wouldn't have
any effect on his support. And has certainly been his posture going into these closing weeks of this race, where he has amplified this very dark
rhetoric and put a pedestal, given a pedestal, to people who are willing to say incredibly offensive things like we saw last night.
And look, he -- his campaign long ago, gave up on trying to win over people that they won in 2016 but lost in 2020. They don't think that that is a
winning strategy. They don't believe that if you were outraged by Trump, in 2020 that you suddenly will come back home.
But what they are targeting, and who they are going after are those voters who tend to not vote, and those voters who may be tired of the direction of
the country, but don't necessarily get engaged in politics very often. And that is who they are targeting with this this kind of messaging.
And by going to Madison Square Garden and having a whole bunch of comedians and influencers and Elon Musk involved in the closing days of his campaign,
because at the end of the day, the rhetoric from Trump has been incredibly dark and quite divisive, even if his campaign is trying to distance himself
from other remarks. Take a listen to, for example, what he had to say about his plans to deal with immigration on day one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: 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 blood thirsty criminals in jail. 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 law enforcement officer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CONTORNO: Also yesterday, Donald Trump's campaign aired an advertisement that played it during the Philadelphia Eagles game. Obviously, that's a
huge market.
[09:10:00]
That's a very important constituency in this election going after those Philadelphia voters were the message that his campaign put out was, quote,
our country has gone to hell. So even you know we heard them try to distance themselves from some of the more troubling remarks about Puerto
Rico.
The language coming from the Trump campaign is very clear that this is going to be a race to convince Americans that this country has deep
problems, and they are not backing away from putting that in the most offensive and stark terms.
HILL: Leaning into the grievances and the anger and those offensive, stark terms, as you point out, Steve, thank you. Well, Donald Trump is such a
rally in Georgia today. Kamala Harris making her way to Michigan, where her focus is expected to be on American manufacturing, spelling out how she
believes her policies would create large numbers of new manufacturing jobs.
Harris continuing as well to lean into her messaging on reproductive rights and abortion, and also hoping to contrast her character with Trump's.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S., (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: 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)
HILL: CNN's Priscilla Alvarez, who is of course, covering the Harris campaign, joining me now from Washington. So today, big focus on Michigan
and an interesting message in that final push there.
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, certainly, union workers buoyed President Joe Biden in 2020 when he was running so the vice president is
trying to shore up support among those voters as well, and speaking to manufacturing, it's not the first time she's done this in Michigan.
She's also had previous stops there where she's tried to relay a similar message, trying to draw that contrast with Former President Donald Trump,
often casting him as someone who has made big promises but hasn't executed on them, while essentially arguing that she has and will do that if she is
elected in November.
Now she is going to two of the most closely watched counties in the state. So certainly, the vice president's team trying to keep the focus on
manufacturing in those areas, while making sure that they can try to lock in that part of the coalition. And that's really what the last 24 hours or
so has been.
Has been the vice president and her team trying to shore up support in her core constituencies. For example, yesterday in the Philadelphia area, she
was courting black and Latino voters blitzing around the Philadelphia area, visiting multiple places, a church, a barber shop, a bookstore and a
community center and a Puerto Rican restaurant.
Now that was pre planned, but certainly campaign officials were quite pleased with the split screen that unfolded given the remarks that were
made at the Madison Square Garden rally for Former President Donald Trump, and it was after those comments about Puerto Rico that bad bunny actually
weighed in for the first time, indicating his support for the vice president and her plan for the island.
Now this is critical for the vice president and her team, because he does carry immense influence with Puerto Rican voters, who, by the way, make up
a sizable portion of voters in Pennsylvania, which is a crucial battleground state. Now, to get a good idea of the strategy from her team
here, it's Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, we call the blue wall.
So, her team is doubling down on those states in the final stretch of the election, while again, trying to lock in support, including with black
voters, where there has been winning enthusiasm. According to polls, the vice president trying to reach them through a podcast by Former NFL Player
Shannon Sharpe that was released today. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: You think he's having you over for dinner? You think that when he's going -- when he's with his buddies, his billionaire buddies, he's thinking
about what we need to do to deal with addressing, for example my work around what I'm doing to address disparities in Black men's health, around
colon cancer, around what we need to do around screenings.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALVAREZ: Now big picture here, Erica, the vice president, clearly trying to target her messaging for each of these constituencies, but she's also still
leaning on some of the bigger themes of her campaign, including, for example, reproductive freedom. She kicked off 2024 with a reproductive
rights tour.
She wasn't a Democratic nominee at the time, but this has clearly been an issue that her, her team Democrats, he has a galvanizing one. So certainly,
will continue to hear more about that in the coming days as well.
HILL: Absolutely. Priscilla, appreciate it. Thank you. An aggressive legal strategy by Republicans already in the works. It's designed to restrict
some people's ability to vote and to so doubts about the reliability of the 2024 election results, and it's been underway for some time.
[09:15:00]
More than 130 lawsuits have already been filed across the country challenging various voting rules and procedures. Some of those are still in
progress, even as votes are, of course, already being cast across this country. The legal tactics go hand in hand with Donald Trump's strategy to
preemptively cast doubt on the official results in case they do not go in his favor.
CNN's Marshall Cohen joining me now with more on all this. There have also been some suits filed by Democrats, but significantly more by Republicans.
What specifically are they trying to do, from a legal perspective, to muddy these waters?
MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER: More than 130 lawsuits, Erica, that's how many the Republican National Committee says they're involved in this year,
and not without controversy, they have filed cases challenging nearly every element of the election process, mail-in voting, signature matching, ballot
deadlines, certification procedures for after the election is over.
The Republicans have also filed cases involving the voter rolls, poll watchers and for the very first time, overseas voting by military members
and expats overseas. So, there is so much out there, and it's challenging to keep track of it, but our colleague Tierney Sneed has been looking at
the wins and losses.
And just in the past week, Republicans secured a major victory in a case in Mississippi. Obviously, that's not a swing state, and the ruling won't kick
in right away, but that could help the Republicans in other states, because that case was about the deadline for when mail ballots can get counted.
A conservative federal appeals court ruled that ballots must arrive by Election Day. They can't be postmarked by Election Day. That was a rare win
for the GOP, but in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, just last week, that court rejected the Republicans lawsuit that attempted to end ballot curing,
that's when voters whose mail ballots are rejected are given a chance to fix the problem.
So, one or two wins, but a bunch of losses for the Republicans, they have really not succeeded very much in court this time around.
HILL: Appreciate you staying on top of it for all of us, Marshall, thank you. Still ahead here, Japan's Prime Minister says he will not step down
after a snap election deals, a blow to the -- to his ruling party. So, what could come next? We are also following a developing story out of China
where five people, including three children, have been injured in a stabbing.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HILL: Election Results in Japan plunging the country into political uncertainty, with the ruling coalition losing its majority for the first
time in 15 years, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who took over less than a month ago, is now signaling he will stay on, despite masses of voters
punishing his Liberal Democratic Party over a funding scandal. Here's CNN Marc Stewart with more.
[09:20:00]
MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: After this monumental defeat, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is bruised, but defiant, he says he is not
stepping down. He has two big tasks, one, tackling a long list of issues, and two, winning the support of people outside his coalition and the
Japanese public. And as such, he's acknowledging the need for some reflection. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHIGERU ISHIBA, JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER: I recognize that the biggest reason is because people's doubts, distrust and anger regarding politics
and money have not gone away.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEWART: Among his challenges, Japan is reeling from a political scandal involving kickbacks and lawmakers failing to declare their income. There
are also economic issues, including a weak yen and high inflation. The prime minister also has a strong relationship with the United States, which
is important for diplomatic, economic and military reasons.
And by the way, Japan's stock index, the Nikkei, is responding favorably closing Monday showing some gains. The yen, however, slumped to a three-
month low. Marc Stewart, CNN, Beijing.
HILL: High level Gaza cease fire talks are expected to pick back up in the coming days after resuming on Sunday after more than two months. Egypt is
proposing an initial two day cease fire and the release of four Israeli hostages and some Palestinian prisoners. Israel meantime launching fresh
strikes on Gaza and a vital lifeline to the Palestinians could be cut off.
In the next hour, the Israeli Knesset is set to take up two bills that would ban the U.N. aid agency known as UNRWA from operating in Israel, and
severely limit its operations in Gaza and the West Bank. There is obviously a lot to get to today. I want to bring in my colleague, CNN Jerusalem
Correspondent Jeremy Diamond.
So, first of all, when we look at current operations in Gaza, where things stand, especially for what we saw over the weekend?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, we have watched this Israeli military assault on Northern Gaza continuing for nearly a month
now. And a military official telling me earlier today that they expect that it will continue for at least a few more weeks, at least as it relates to
the operation in Jabalia refugee camp.
And that is where, of course, we have seen a dire situation, not only in terms of hundreds of people who have been killed in recent weeks, but also
the hospital in Jabalia Kamal Adwan Hospital that has been damaged by an Israeli operation late last week, and where we saw dozens of medical staff
members detain and patients' lives certainly put at risk.
The Israeli military raided the hospital late last week after the Israeli military says they engaged in multiple fire fights with Hamas militants
around the hospital area. They said that they did not engage in fire fights on the grounds of the hospital itself, but claim to have recovered multiple
weapons and ammunition at that hospital.
They also dealt some damage to the hospital itself as they entered. There was a wall of the hospital that was damaged as Israeli troops entered, and
then the oxygen center at the hospital was also damaged by Israeli fire. The military official I spoke to today acknowledging that they did indeed
intentionally damage that oxygen center, saying that oxygen tanks could be booby trapped and that they had to be dismantled.
Now, as the Israeli military operation is set to continue for weeks to come, there are growing cries of concern from United Nations Human Rights
officials who say that the situation in Northern Gaza is catastrophic. The human rights envoy saying that there is such a blatant disregard, he says,
for basic humanities and the laws of war, and that this operation in Northern Gaza must stop.
In addition, of course, to those who have been killed and injured in the fighting, the fact that hospitals at this point have very little in terms
of supplies and fuel to be able to continue providing care to people in Northern Gaza, what we are also witnessing is that the conditions for those
who remain, whether those who are trapped inside of buildings, as the fighting intensifies, are not able to reach a sufficient aid because very
little humanitarian aid has actually gone in.
We are coming very close now to that 30 days that the U.S. told Israel they need to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza. So far, some steps
taken, but certainly not all, Erica.
HILL: Yeah, Jeremy, really appreciate it. Thank you. Still ahead this hour, the value of Donald Trump's truth social skyrocketing. So, what's behind
investors' enthusiasm there. Plus, absent endorsements, leading to canceled subscriptions, a lack of endorsement rather, two influential U.S.
newspapers sparking outrage after a decision by their owners for the editorial board not to endorse. Those details just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:25:00]
HILL: Welcome back. I'm Erica Hill in New York in today for Becky Anderson. You're watching "Connect the World". Georgia's pro-Western President is
calling for peaceful protests in the hours ahead over parliamentary elections over the weekend, which triggered a major controversy.
The president says she will not accept the official result, saying that Saturday's vote was, in her words, a complete falsification, is also
accusing Russia of meddling in that vote. The leader of the Georgian dream party, which already had a majority in parliament, is claiming victory
before all of the votes were counted.
This coming amid widespread reports of violations of election procedure. Both the U.S. and the European Union are calling for a full investigation.
Joining me now. CNN Contributor, Jill Dougherty, who is an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University. Of course, the Former CNN Moscow Bureau
Chief.
Jill, good to see you this morning. You had described this as intense and worrying, the -- what international election observers were describing in
terms of what they see as blatant violations here, is really something. Walk us through, where we stand now, ahead of these protests?
JILL DOUGHERTY, FORMER CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: Well, those reports came out. In fact, yesterday was the day after the election. So, there were
numerous press conferences by, excuse me, election monitors International and Georgian. And almost all of them said that there were, in some cases,
egregious violations.
They categorized those, you know, both pre-election and during the election. So even today, there was another one that came out saying that
this election cannot be considered a true reflection of the will of the Georgian people. So, I think you'd have to say the conclusion is this was
not a fair election that said, of course, the government who thinks it was now what's happening.
So, the opposition have traditionally been quite dispersed and not united, but the president, who was Western leaning politician, or the president,
has brought them together, and they are now trying to figure out their strategy. The first part of it is tonight. In fact, just in about another
1.5 hours or so, they're scheduled to hold a rally downtown.
I was down, Erica, at that location, and indeed, they're setting up speakers. Looks like, you know, they're preparing for a big crowd. We don't
know how many people would turn out. Then also, they are rejecting the results of the election, and they say that they will also boycott
parliament.
So, it's odd, because I can tell you, walking down the hill toward the location of that rally, it seemed quiet. It seemed like kind of a normal
day. Lots of people on the street. However politically it's quite tense, and the opposition is trying to figure out exactly what it can do. It
definitely wants to attract attention of the international community and the support.
[09:30:00]
HILL: In terms of what it can do, Jill, there is the attraction of international scrutiny and attention? That's certainly working. But what is
the recourse at this point?
DOUGHERTY: Well, I think you could certainly go the sanctions route, which they, to a certain extent have the United States has stopped some aid to
Georgia. And then the -- I think the most important thing is that the EU, the European Union, which Georgia was on track to join has basically shut
down that process.
They are not moving forward. And the reason is they passed at least two laws that really go against European norms, the foreign agent law, as it's
called, and the anti-LGBT law, both of which the opposition would say are modeled directly on Russian laws.
HILL: Yeah. Jill, really appreciate it, and good to have you joining us from Georgia as well today. Thank you. Well, you could call it a bit of a
monster come back in some ways as we shift gears here Donald Trump's media company, shares of that media company skyrocketing in the final days
leading up to the U.S. presidential election.
Trump Media and Technology Group, which, of course, is the company behind truth social, has surged more than 200 percent in less than two months.
Wall Street now putting the price tag at nearly $8 billion. Keep in mind, it was just five weeks ago that the company plunged to record lows, leaving
many, wondering how all these numbers add up?
That's why we call on our friend Matt Egan to help walk us through this. So, what is behind this surge?
MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Erica, no one said that the numbers actually do add up here, right? I don't think they have with this company, really
all year, and what we've seen is that the stock price has more than tripled since hitting a record low on September 23. That doesn't even include the
spike that we were expecting to see in the first few moments of trading this morning.
It's really been remarkable, and it's all driven by traders betting that Former President Trump is going to win the White House, right? Trump Media
has been basically a proxy for how traders think that this election will turn out. And that's not a new trend, as that chart shows.
It's really the bouncing around. It's incredibly volatile this stock. And in July, after President Biden stepped aside, we saw the stock price go
down, down, down, record low after record low. But now there's a sentiment shift in the market, with more and more traders thinking that Trump will
win.
And that win would increase the value of true social. Now, to be clear, just because traders are betting, that doesn't make it so, right? Markets
are not omniscient. They've been wrong before, and polls do still suggest that this could go either way. Still the venture capitalist Gene Munster,
he told me that if Trump wins, then this company will be worth more than $8 billion.
And if he doesn't, he thinks it could only be worth a billion dollars. It's so stunning to see such a, you know, an A and B situation there. Munster
told me, I've never seen anything quite like this. This company's value is almost entirely based on the outcome of an election. It's pretty stunning,
Erica.
HILL: It is stunning indeed. It's also been called a meme stock by some investors. What is that?
EGAN: Well, a meme stock is something that trades on momentum and hype, not fundamentals, things like earnings and revenue and user growth, it's really
being driven by just the mood of the market. It's what we saw with GameStop and AMC during COVID and other companies.
And a lot of experts are calling Trump media a meme stock. What's amazing is that this company is now being valued by Wall Street at almost $8
billion. Even though true social remains pretty tiny, and even though this company is generating very little revenue, when we compare it to other
companies that really stands out.
Now this stake that Trump owns, right, he's the dominant shareholder in Trump Media, and his stake was worth $1.4 billion back on September 23 when
this stock was trading at record lows, but now it's been tripled the value of that stake to more than $4 billion now those are paper gains.
If he wanted to actually sell shares, it would be pretty hard to do that, because then the stock price would take, but still, Erica, it's been going
straight up for weeks now.
HILL: Wow! It is really something. Matt, appreciate it. Thank you.
EGAN: Thanks Erica.
HILL: Here in the United States, two of the country's largest newspapers continuing to face backlash today after pulling the plug on presidential
endorsements.
[09:35:00]
The "Los Angeles Times", of course, announcing that it would not endorse a candidate, would not endorse Kamala Harris. And then some interesting
comments over the weekend, the daughter of the paper's owner said it was because of Harris' support for Israel's war in Gaza, which then had the
times owner refuting his daughter's comments, saying she did not take part in the decision making.
As for the turmoil at "The Washington Post", well, that, of course, came after the paper's owner, Jeff Bezos of Amazon announced the paper would
also not be endorsing a candidate in this year's election or any presidential election moving forward. CNN's Brian Stelter joining me now
here in New York.
Brian, to say there's been a backlash over the weekend, maybe putting it mildly, we see all of these posts about people canceling their
subscriptions. There are people who have left "The Washington Post" and "The LA Times" in protest over these decisions. It was initially thought
that these big-time owners would just let papers do their thing. That's not the case.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Yeah, this is having a real bottom line effect on these businesses. Thousands of subscribers at both the "LA
Times" and "The Washington Post" have canceled their subscriptions as a result of this controversy. You know, it is happening on two different
coasts of the United States, but it's a very similar issue with both newspapers.
There's a perception among readers, among some editors and reporters, that these billionaire owners are trying to curry favor with Donald Trump. Are
basically trying to appease Trump in case he wins the election, trying to stay on Trump's good side. That's especially palpable in the case of Jeff
Bezos, the billionaire Founder of Amazon who owns "The Washington Post", because Bezos was a target of Trump for years.
You know, all throughout the first Trump term, Trump was plotting ways to punish Bezos. He was criticizing Bezos publicly. So, to see Bezos decide,
apparently, last week, not to endorse Harris in the pages of his paper. It's really caused a rebellion inside the post.
I just spoke with Robert Kagan, who's the post editor at large, who resigned in protest on Friday. He says he feels like Bezos has no way to
spin this. There's no way to explain it rationally. So, Bezos just decided to pay the price, Bezos -- to Trump and pay the price with bad publicity
and subscriber losses.
I wish I could tell you what Bezos is saying in response, but Bezos has remained quiet about this. No comment from him about the decision Erica.
HILL: And that is fascinating as well. And yet we are seeing a number of the reporters who are still at the paper speaking out. It was so
interesting to see that as it played out online on social media over the weekend, even some of them, you know --
STELTER: Yes.
HILL: One thing -- cancels her subscription, and trying to impress upon people that canceling the subscription, in their view, is only hurting the
journalism.
STELTER Yeah, hurting the journalism, and not the billionaire owner. And to the credit of the post newsroom, it is covering this controversy
aggressively. Here's a headline, a new headline in the Post this morning, billionaires and CEOs are hedging their bets as Trump vows retribution.
So, you have Post reporters covering this controversy head on. They deserve credit for that. Over the weekend, there was another columnist who
resigned, and later today, there's a staff meeting that's probably going to be pretty contentious with the opinion boss and the staff, because this is
not something that's going to go away anytime soon.
It gets to a real deep fear inside American news outlets and also other institutions about whether the owners, whether the people in charge, are
going to stand up to Donald Trump. And Erica, we're talking about this before we know the results of the election. That's one of the strange
things about this.
But scholars who have studied authoritarianism describe this as something called obeying in advance, the idea that business leaders and others might
try to fall in line and appeal to Trump ahead of time. That's the grave fear, and that's what's causing the subscription cancelations.
HILL: Yeah, absolutely. And that is what merits keeping this at the top of the conversation, both here on TV online as well. Brian, appreciate it.
Thank you.
STELTER: Thanks.
HILL: Still ahead here, could Dodger Super Star Shohei Ohtani shoulder injury, keep him from game three of the World Series. What the team is
saying this morning.
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[09:40:00]
HILL: In sports, Los Angeles, Dodgers Super Star Shohei Ohtani is expected to play in game three of the World Series, despite injuring his shoulder
while trying to steal a base in game two. That injury, of course, comes as the Dodgers look to extend their lead in the series over the New York
Yankees.
Carolyn Manno joining me now. I have to say, when I saw that, it just and then kept seeing it on repeat, that did not look good.
CAROLYN MANNO, CNN HOST: It didn't look good, you and everybody else. It was like a balloon had been popped, and all the air was let out. People
speculating, was it his wrist is his arm, OK? And ultimately. it's his shoulder. But it seems like the Dodgers may have missed a bullet, so to
speak.
He is going to be available. We'll have more details on that, and what could potentially mean for the Dodgers heading into this game three in the
Bronx coming up on "World Sport". As you know, Erica, he gives them a ton of confidence.
HILL: Yeah, he certainly does. Carolyn, appreciate. We'll see you on "World Sport" with more of that update. Thanks.
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[09:45:00]
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