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Laura Coates Live

Harris Goes After Trump for "Enemy from Within" Remark; Can Harris Win Back Young Black Men?; WSJ Editorial Board: Transgender Sports is a 2024 Sleeper Issue; New Accusers file Lawsuits Against Diddy. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired October 14, 2024 - 23:00   ET

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

[23:00:00]

ASHLEY ALLISON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: On my hot take pop the balloon. Okay, so if you don't know --

(LAUGHTER)

-- it's an internet sensation dating game. Sometimes, I just wish our politics was this simple and I could just pop Trump's balloon and he would go away in this election --

(LAUGHTER)

-- because I'm over it. I'm over it. Twenty-two days. We got to get this done. And Republicans should want his balloon to be popped, too, so that --

UNKNOWN: Let's pop that balloon.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR AND SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: If you were like me and didn't know what this was about --

(LAUGHTER)

-- Google it. Everyone, thank you very much, and thank you for watching "NewsNight: State of the Race." "Laura Coates Live" starts right now.

LAURA COATES, CNN HOST AND SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, tonight, Kamala Harris lays out the stakes in the election using Donald Trump's own words against him. The must-see moment that's already being turned into an ad.

Plus, Harris set her sights on the Motor City in a bid to rev up support among Black men. Will it be enough?

And new accusers file suit against Diddy. What's different about these claims? I'll tell you more tonight on "Laura Coates Live."

So, with 22 days until the election, Kamala Harris did something tonight, frankly, right out of Donald Trump's playbook. I mean, we haven't really seen her do a whole lot of, if ever. And she did it in Erie, Pennsylvania of all places, a critically swing county in a critical battleground state.

Now, Harris has told voters before to actually watch, watch Trump's interviews, watch his rallies for themselves so that they can then judge what she says is the difference between herself and him.

But tonight, she said forget you watching it, take legwork out of it. About 20 minutes into her stump speech, she actually played Trump's own words for the crowd and for the cameras. I'll play for you with a view of Harris so you can actually see her reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Please roll the clip.

(LAUGHTER)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The worst people are the enemies from within.

The enemy from within. Those people are more dangerous, the enemy from within, than Russia and China.

These people should be put in jail, the way they talk about our judges and our justices.

Now, if you had one really violent day, one rough hour, and I mean really rough.

I think the bigger problem are the people from within. We have some very bad people, we have some sick people, radical left lunatics, and I think they're the -- and it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Now, you saw Harris there shaking her head in apparent disgust as Trump suggested that the National Guard or even the military should be used on Election Day to control the -- quote -- "enemy from within." It is a label he has now put on squarely on Democrats to which Harris simply said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Donald Trump is increasingly unstable and unhinged.

(APPLAUSE)

And he is out for unchecked power. That's what he's looking for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Now, speaking of power, to be very clear, Donald Trump cannot order the National Guard, can order the military to do anything in this election. He's not the commander-in-chief, right? But Harris's point is about what Trump would do if he wins and resumes power. That's the argument hoping we'll get across ideologies and party affiliation and gender, and yes, also race.

Tomorrow, Harris will talk to Charlamagne in Detroit, a part of her new urgent push to try and boost her appeal among Black men. In a moment, I'll ask the campaign's co-chair, Patrick Richmond, about that interview and a separate one she's doing with Fox News on Wednesday.

We're going to go and begin with those enemy from within comments. I mean, Trump himself has not even sought to clarify it. His campaign statement was this: "President Trump is 100% correct -- those who seek to undermine democracy by sowing chaos in our elections are a direct threat, just like the terrorist from Afghanistan that was arrested for plotting multiple attacks on Election Day within the United States" -- unquote.

Joining with now, retired Major General Randy Manner. He endorsed Kamala Harris for president. General, thank you for being here. That phrase, I wonder what your immediate thought was when you hear the enemy from within. I mean, the vice president took that on quite forcefully tonight, talking about his threats possibly to use the military. What was your take and reaction?

RANDY MANNER, RETIRED MAJOR GENERAL, U.S. ARMY: So, first of all, you're absolutely -- the vice president is correct, you're correct. While he's not in office, he cannot do anything to harm Americans directly. If he is to be the commander-in-chief again, everything changes.

[23:05:00]

The Supreme Court has given him immunity. And the threshold for turning the National Guard into his personal police force is quite low. As long as he has a consenting governor, he can authorize the funds to pay them as the commander-in-chief, and he can use the National Guard almost in any way that he wants. And most Americans don't know how very easy it would be for an unhinged president to use the military against our own citizens.

COATES: Could he force an unwilling governor to do the same or he would have to have one complicit?

MANNER: So, it's easy if the governor is complicit. If it's an unwilling governor, he could consider using the act of duty. There are so many things that could be done because these are areas where sane men don't go. It's basically the guardrails of our democracy. The rule of law prevents civilian leaders from going where they should not go. But President Trump is not like any sane leader.

COATES: One of the common pushbacks I hear when anyone sort of opines about the prospect of him using the military is they say that you are undermining the military, you are not giving them enough credit, they would not perform or follow an unlawful order of any kind. What do you say to that?

MANNER: So, it's very important to understand that the president of the United States, he or she selects all the officers for promotion in our military. Congress -- the Senate approves those nominations, but it's the president who does it.

So, under Project 2025, it is proposed that he's going to require the equivalent of a loyalty oath or they call it an interview, of all three and four-star generals. Well, you can imagine. It's only because we had people like Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and then the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Milley, with their strong personalities that served as a guardrail on the way to block the president from doing some, quite frankly, illegal and inappropriate actions while he was president.

COATES: Speaking of Joint Chiefs Mark Milley, he told Bob Woodward, he's a chairman of that, of course, "Trump is now the most dangerous person to this country. I had suspicions when I talked to you about his mental decline and so forth, but now I realize he's a total fascist." This is a stunning statement from somebody of such high ranking.

MANNER: Yes.

COATES: What does it say that someone like Milley would vocalize this and believe it?

MANNER: Well, I'm very proud of General Milley for saying what he did to Bob Woodward. It's important that we step back for a second.

I'm so surprised how many people do not even know what the concept of fascism is. It's something -- so let's just back up a second. So, if you go to Webster online, you're going to find that fascism is defined as -- it's usually nationalistic. It's far-right.

Okay, let's see. So, that's certainly the Trump campaign. And Trump is going to be intolerant of dissenting opinions. Okay, we got to check on that. There's a contempt for the rule of law or only the laws they want to follow. Hmm, we got to check on that. And then also unquestioning obedience to the supreme leader. Okay, check. And then lastly, it's this concept of a supremacy, of a race or a religion. Well, check, check. White and Christian are the backbone of his people.

Here's -- that is actually the definition of fascism. I encourage your viewers to look it up themselves and draw their own conclusions.

Well, Mark Milley, extremely well-educated, he's very articulate, very smart man. He and I worked together in the Pentagon many years ago, literally person to person for a long time. If he, as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, is calling the president a fascist, I am so proud of him for breaking that barrier to say, to speak to the truth, that he is.

The challenge is, because most MAGA Republicans, and please understand, I am not referring to Republicans in general, but the very far right, the hardcore, they don't understand what fascism is. The reality is, they are in fact fascists themselves by the definition.

And here's the sad part: The people who vote for Trump, they don't realize that they are also supporting a fascist. And that is very bad for our country, and it's done out of ignorance in most cases. It's a very sad state of affairs that we have a fascist running for the president of the United States.

COATES: General, it's stunning on two fronts. On the one hand, so often, we are surprised, with good reason, when there is a crossover from military personnel and others to talk about politics.

[23:10:04]

And there's a reason there is distance from there. But to feel so strongly, to articulate the way that you have or that the former joint chief -- chairman spoke about, is very telling about how perhaps nervous you must be at the prospects of Trump being in office again.

MANNER: That's absolutely correct. As a commander-in-chief, he's the only president who has ever called our military and veterans suckers and losers.

COATES: Which, of course, he denies.

MANNER: Of course. And I actually respect General Kelly for his integrity as well to report it as it actually happened, backed up by others. I think it is also very important to remember that I've been apolitical all of my life.

COATES: Right.

MANNER: I'm part of an organization of over a thousand generals and admirals and ambassadors and senior enlisted leaders who support Vice President Harris and Governor Walz. We have been apolitical. And it is very difficult for us to be able to speak up at this time, but we must.

COATES: General, thank you so much for joining us this evening.

MANNER: It's a pleasure. Thank you so much.

COATES: The Harris campaign this week also focusing on shoring up support among Black male voters. Just today, she has unveiled what she has called her opportunity agenda for Black men. It's a litany of new proposals aimed at helping Black men like a million loans to Black entrepreneurs to start a business that would be forgivable up to $20,000, also training and mentorship programs to help Black men secure jobs, and a national health initiative focusing on challenges that disproportionately impact Black men.

Joining me now to discuss, former congressman and Harris-Walz campaign co-chair, Cedric Richmond. Good to see you this evening, sir. Let me begin with what has been released today. As you know, Trump has been appearing to court Black men for months. Why is this campaign for the Harris-Walz campaign releasing this information today? Why now?

CEDRIC RICHMOND, CO-CHAIRMAN, HARRIS-WALZ CAMPAIGN: Well, it's the same thing we did over the weekend when we launched the health care plan for those people who are stuck in the sandwich generation care and for both a parent and a child and expanding Medicare to provide home health to seniors. And so, we just rolled that plan out.

And today, we're rolling out a plan aimed at African-American men who -- our thought process is the same. We have to talk to everybody to earn their vote. And you have to answer an age-old question, which is, what's in it for me?

COATES: Hmm.

RICHMOND: And so, what this does is create an opportunity for us to articulate to African-American men what's in it for them, and they get a chance to be co-architects of their own future and determine what they want that to be.

And so, they can look at the plan that the Harris-Walz team is offering, and they can contrast that with what Donald Trump is offering, which is stop and frisk in the same old negative stereotypical policies and tropes that he has always used. So, we want to earn that vote, and that's why we released the plan today.

COATES: You know, I've read through it, and it is comprehensive. But it also runs the gamut. I mean, the scope of information, the scope of what's within the opportunity economy for Black men in particular, it is where -- very wide ranging. And I noticed that there are some areas that the lawyer immediately is saying this will be challenged.

I mean, you know there are recent economic programs that have been aimed at boosting racial groups. They have become the target of legal challenges like a federal debt relief program to help minority farmers. Do you have concerns that these proposals, as articulated, would be able to stand up to legal challenges in the end?

RICHMOND: Well, yes, I do. And if we look at what the Biden administration did by giving Black farmers $5 billion to write the discrimination that the Department of Justice has done since almost its inception, the Trump supporters took it to court, challenged it, and his Supreme Court overturned it. Same thing they did with student loans, same thing they did with diversity, equity, and inclusion. Same thing they did with affirmative action and higher education. Same thing they did with women's right to choose.

And so -- but the administration was still able to double back and create and find a way to give Black farmers relief for that past discrimination. They were still able to figure out a way to do student loan relief so that our students wouldn't be burdened with just massive debt going into their adult years as they start families. And so, it's that same can-do spirit and where there's the will, there's a way.

COATES: That certainly been what has been voiced consistently not just in this campaign, but throughout really modern American history. One that Black voters, not a monolith -- that the vote must be earned and can't be taken for granted.

[23:15:07]

And, of course, even though there might be a hurdle, doesn't mean you don't climb over the legal hurdles as well and try to do something more with it. But on that point, there's a new poll from "The New York Times," Cedric, and it found a 13-point gap between Black men and women. What is accounting for this gap in terms of support for the Harris-Walz ticket? What do you think?

RICHMOND: Well, I'm not necessarily assuming that that gap is right. Let's start there.

COATES: Okay.

RICHMOND: But, you know, I'll follow along with you. We have work to do. And the good thing is the plan was released today. But Vice President Harris has been meeting with African-American men and leaders for over a year now, and this before she was -- had any idea that she would be the top of the ticket.

This is an issue that is important. This is an issue that is a sincere effort to make sure that we lift up the Black community because what we know about African-American men, Black men, is they want to be leaders in their community, they want to be entrepreneurs, they want to be coaches, they want to be very active in the family unit. And what we want to do is make sure that with those great ideas, with that hard work, that they have the opportunity to achieve their wildest dreams.

COATES: Now, one of the things you've highlighted is providing one million loans that are fully forgivable to Black entrepreneurs and others to start a business on that very notion. There's also some reporting tonight that the vice president is considering sitting for an interview with Joe Rogan. Can you confirm that?

RICHMOND: Uh, look, I don't have any news on that. I know that tomorrow, a schedule is to do a virtual live town hall which Charlamagne, and we're going to keep going everywhere to talk to everyone.

COATES: She's sitting with Fox News on Wednesday, I think, for her first interview with the network. Is there any strategy with going on that particular network? And the overall -- they're calling it a media blitz right now. Who do you hope the audience will be?

RICHMOND: Well, the goal is to talk to American voters. And we're not going to concede any voter to Donald Trump, we're not going to concede rural voters, we're not going to concede women, we're not going to concede Black voters, we're not going to concede white voters, Latino voters. We're not. And we're going to go where people are. We're going to continue to talk to them about Vice President Harris's vision to wake up and work for them every day and build an economy that works for them and help them prosper.

And Donald Trump wakes up every day talking about himself or sharing every day that he's really unfit, unstable, and unhinged, and we cannot afford to have that in the White House. And I'll just close on that. The people who know him best know he's unfit. So, look at his former chief of staff, his former vice president, his former military generals, everyone. The people closest to him are the ones that are most concerned that his unchecked, unhinged power is a threat to the future of this country.

COATES: Cedric Richmond, thank you so much for joining tonight.

RICHMOND: Thanks for having me.

COATES: Well, the polls show Harris is losing her grip on another major voting bloc of the Democratic Party. Latinos. Lulu Garcia- Navarro, Bryan Lanza, and Chuck Rocha will talk with me about that next. Plus, the 30-minute singing and dancing moment raising eyebrows from the end of Donald Trump's rally.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COATES: Tonight, another sign that cracks are forming in the Harris coalition. We had a new poll from "The New York Times" showing that Harris is trailing Biden's 2020 performance of Latino voters. Now, overall, Harris still leads among Latino voters. But Trump, he has made some gains. But even a marginal change could actually influence the result.

With me now, Lulu Garcia-Navarro, CNN contributor, "The New York Times" journalist, and podcaster, Bryan Lanza, senior advisor to the Trump-Vance 2024 presidential campaign, and Chuck Rocha, a Democratic strategist and former senior advisor to Bernie Sanders' presidential campaigns. Glad to have all of you here.

Chuck, let me begin with you. What's the change with the Latino voters in particular? Do you have a sense of why?

CHUCK ROCHA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Yeah. The way you've got to look at this is that the Latino vote is coming of age. Let me give you two quick things. One is the average age of a Latino voter is 27. The average age of a Black and white voter is in their 40s. They're just different and coming of age quicker than any other demographic.

That don't mean an excuse for them to be Democrat or Republican. It just means that they're different than their parents that were mainly foreign-born. This is mainly a second and third generation. Twenty-two percent of Latino voters that will vote in this election will be their very first election. Forty percent will be their very first election since 2016.

Donald Trump is a known figure. He's doing extremely well with Latino men more so than Democrats are. So, you're starting to see a little bit of a shift. But she has moved the number exponentially from where it was with Biden. I think she'll get at least to the Biden number by Election Day.

COATES: I won't make you follow the hat, it's too good. So, I'll give you a break for a second. On this, Lulu, though, Trump's rhetoric, as you know, has gotten darker and darker. And some have wondered if it would alienate voters, if it would offend, if it would have people staying home.

But then there was this poll, especially the comment about bad genes. There was a CBS poll that found that two-thirds of Hispanic voters surveyed believe that Trump isn't talking to them or talking about people like them.

[23:25:04]

Why isn't the rhetoric turning off the voters?

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR, JOURNALIST FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES, PODCAST HOST: It's one of the things that I think is really interesting about Trump, which is that he does a very good job of segmenting people. That's why he uses, for example, talking about Haitians the way that he has talked about Haitians, right? Because it's taking a group that you have the whole moniker of being an immigrant, you have the whole idea of being from somewhere else doing something terrible. And so, people can hear that and think, that's not us, these are foreigners, these aren't citizens.

You know, I just had an interview with J.D. Vance, and he used the word "citizen" over and over and over again. It's this idea of saying, there is us and there is them. And that kind of rhetoric, I think, to certain people who might not be so tuned in to how words are used, can really play into their sense that he's really trying to protect the "us" while push out the "them."

COATES: Is that what's happening strategically?

BRYAN LANZA, FORMER DEPUTY COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR FOR TRUMP 2016 CAMPAIGN: Yeah. Listen, I think you have to say yes to that. I mean, listen, I was in California when Proposition 187 came about, and that was Pete Wilson banning services for illegal immigrants in California. The messaging was all off for Republicans.

By the time the campaign came along, and I was a Democrat at that moment, by the time the election came about, you literally felt, Latinos felt, that he was targeting all immigrants, not just illegal immigrants.

And so, I think we've learned from that model in Prop 187. Now, we have the conversation. We do speak about illegal immigrants more. We do speak about Haitian refugees. We use the proper term. It is because we're not going to be pushed around by the media and by the Democratic left to say that we're conflating both. There is a clear line that this campaign and President Trump stands against illegal immigration, and we welcome legal immigration.

ROCHA: And there's a process. There's a bigger point here. I think it's really important. I joined the Democratic Party in 1990 when I was fighting to keep my job in America because it got shipped overseas with NAFTA. I was building tires in East Texas. I also got involved in the union then because I wanted to fight back against folks that had immense influence in our government. Let's say we need to get rid of all them and drain the swamp. So, I was for keeping jobs in America. I wanted to drain the swamp. I wanted to make sure that we put America first, start investing in communities that look like mine that had just been devastated because my daddy's factory had left. That sounds a lot like Donald Trump.

And that's what drives me crazy, is I -- in my opinion, I don't think he cares about any of that, but he knows that if he goes and talks to working-class brown guys like me, he can get a certain percent of them over to you because he's talking like Democrats, like Dick Gephardt, who I worked for, sounded like in 1996.

COATES: Especially for men. I move on. I want you to finish this point. But especially around men, there has been a new report, a new poll that suggests that Latino men trust Trump more than Harris on the economy specifically. And, of course, the economy, stupid phrase comes to mind. Should Harris be focusing more on that to bridge that gap?

GARCIA-NAVARRO: This is what we're seeing not only with Latinos. You just had a segment on Black men. I just saw a Chiron talking about Native Americans. I mean, this is something that actually transcends ethnicity. It transcends race. It is now about class and it is now about gender. This is the actual election that we are in at the moment.

We are --yes, of course, Latino voters and Black voters and all sorts of different parts of the population do have specific interests and their roots are different, but at the end of the day, they are looking more like other parts of the electorate. And so, the same issues that you see among white voters, you are seeing among Latino voters. Latino voters are not that different. The top three issues are the same as the ones that are for everyone. It is the economy, it is -- sorry, now I'm blanking out.

LANZA: Immigration.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Immigration, the economy, and --

LANZA: Foreign affairs.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Well, I wouldn't say foreign affairs --

LANZA: Yeah.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: -- but anyway --

COATES: Healthcare.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Healthcare, right. Sorry, healthcare and education. These are the things that really matter to Latinos as they do, as they matter to any other voter.

COATES: Well, there is this moment, and I think it's -- that is saying something, the idea of how strategically as a campaign in the last 22 days or so, you try to bridge gaps, speak to everyone, speak to somebody and particularly in the unique, and know that you can't isolate and alienate based on these differences. It's not an easy role to be in.

But meanwhile, you know, Trump is dancing. There was a moment, in fact, that we saw where he was just dancing. And there was, at the end of it, 30 minutes of Andrea Bocelli, other music, Trump kind of dancing throughout and meandering and talking to some voters. What was going on here, Bryan?

LANZA: Well, first of all, he likes to dance, and we're stuck with that situation. We're going to see more of it. But my understanding --

COATES: I do, too. But 30 minutes?

LANZA: My understanding, from the campaign that I heard recently, is that there was somebody who was suffering from a medical emergency, and that the music was playing while that medical emergency was taking place to sort of not offer distraction but, you know, let that emergency take place. And while that emergency was taking place, they played music and president --

GARCIA-NAVARRO: At least it's not the "Macarena." I mean, we are three Latinos here, and so like we have now been --

LANZA: Fearful that might --

GARCIA-NAVARRO: We've actually saved that it's not the "Macarena," so like as far as I'm concerned, we're good.

LANZA: It was a good set.

[23:29:57]

COATES: Well, I don't know. If I'm having a medical emergency, does the YMCA playing "Make Me Feel Better?" Is that -- I mean, I had to say --

LANZA: "Hallelujah" played, too. So, yeah.

COATES: Okay, maybe I'll take that. Chuck, I'll give you the last word on this because if 22 days left, what are they supposed to do on both sides?

ROCHA: In modern campaigns, we know every voter, we know what you're watching, we know what your magazine subscriptions are. If you still get one of things called a magazine, it's about getting at the people we know are with you. This election is going to come down in just a handful of battleground states to folks who have newly registered in the last two or three years, who posters aren't talking to because they only talk to likely voters.

COATES: Uh-hmm.

ROCHA: And there's hundreds -- I just was in Arizona this weekend. Hundreds of thousands of new Latinos registered in those two states that no poster is talking to. Lots of other white and Black kids in Pennsylvania who nobody is talking to. Those -- because it's such a close election, I think we're going to determine what happens. COATES: Well, we'll see. Everyone has to stick around, of course. We've got 22 days. Stand by. We have more questions for all of you. Republicans, though, are spending tens of millions of bucks across the country on one issue. An issue "The Wall Street Journal" says will be 2024's sleeper issue. We'll tell you what that issue is and what voters really think next.

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[23:35:00]

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COATES: All right, it's time for tonight's take, which comes to us from "The Wall Street Journal" editorial board. They write -- quote -- "Transgender sports is a 2024 sleeper issue." Going as far as to suggest it could cost Democrats control of Congress this year. The board pointing to Republican- backed ads across the country targeting Democrats like this one against Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Brown backed Biden, voting to let transgender biological men participate in women's sports.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Or this one against Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: As the mom of a daughter, I'm livid that boys are now being allowed to compete in girls' sports. It's just wrong. And I blame Tammy Baldwin. She voted to let biological men into women's sports.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Or in Montana, against Senator Jon Tester.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Tester ignored parents who don't want biological men competing in girls' sports. Tester voted to let men compete against our girls in their sports.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Now, my panel is going to debate this in just a minute. But first, we did ask CNN's Harry Enten to look at what Americans think of the issue. Harry?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Hey, Laura. So, the bottom line is Republicans are running on this issue because it's a winning issue for them. In fact, it's a rare issue that unites Republicans and divides Democrats. So, take a look here. Think transgender athletes should only plan teams that match their birth gender? Look at this. Forty-eight percent of Democrats, the slight plurality, actually agree with that idea. Forty-seven percent opposed. Among Republicans, it's a blowout. Ninety-three percent agree with the idea versus just 6% opposed.

But it's not just that we see Republicans overwhelmingly agreeing with this idea and Democrats split down the middle. Take a look at the trend line here because I think it's illustrative of something that's going on here. Again, it's, think transgender athletes should only play on teams that match their birth gender? You go back to 2021, 62% of Americans agreed with that. You look at 2023, look at that number now, up to 69%. The movement is actually growing here, that believe that, in fact, transgender athletes should only play on teams that match their birth gender.

I think there's something else that's also going on here, Laura. And that is Democrats have been running, of course, on the idea that abortion should be legalized nationwide. It's a social issue that works for them. And indeed, 65% of Americans believe that Roe v. Wade was wrongly overturned. That is very close to the 69% of Americans who believe that athletes should only play on teams that match their birth gender. So, I think Republicans are trying to essentially find a social issue of their own.

Of course, you may be asking yourself, could Republicans go too far? And I think that they could, because take a look here. Even though most Americans believe that transgender athletes should only play on teams that match their birth gender, they also believe, get this, should society accept that transgender people as having the gender identity they identify with? Fifty-six percent of voters across key battleground states agree with that idea.

So, look, Americans don't want to chastise transgender folks, they just don't want them playing on teams that don't match up with their birth gender. Laura, back to you.

COATES: Fascinating, Harry. Thank you so much. Lulu Garcia-Navarro, Bryan Lanza, and Chuck Rocha are all back with me. Chuck, I mean, this is a pretty significant issue, talking about a sleeper issue. Should Democrats be worried about the way this is running?

ROCHA: It's about what we just talked about in the last segment about motivation. I'm never going to disagree with Harry, but I'm more disagree with him a little bit here on this. When I do focus groups, when I do polling, this is not an issue that comes up with American voters. They're not talking about this being a motivating issue for them to vote.

But Harry made the right point of saying 93% of Republicans are all about this because if we don't, if they don't motivate each party's people to come vote, then you're not going to win because most folks have picked a side at this point. And we're looking for issues. Democrats use abortion every day to motivate women, women are overperforming men at every stage of this election because it's a motivational factor, and Republicans think they can do the same with this issue.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: And also, just to say to compare abortion to transgender athletes playing in sports, I mean that is a niche issue that has been blown up to -- to be like a moral panic by the right, whereas abortion does affect, you know, the 50% of women in this country. And so, these are not the same thing.

LANZA: I would say it's an easy issue for parents to understand.

[23:40:00]

You know, it goes to fairness. You know, should my daughter have to compete against male athletes in these sports? And most parents that have a daughter --

GARCIA-NAVARRO: How many -- how many teams actually does this affect? How many people does this actually impact? Very, very few.

LANZA: But it's at the starting point. It is not at its ending point. It may be 2% now, it's 4% next year, it's 10% the following year. It's going to be a percentage that grows. And so, parents are entitled to have that concern, to sort of be dismissive of a dad's concern about their daughter.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: No one is dismissing of it. To say that the election will be decided on it, I think, is a little bit of a stretch.

LANZA: I think that's what -- I think that's what the -- I think that's what the Democratic Party is. They're being dismissive of parents' concerns on these issues, which is why we bring it up, which is why you see the polling split.

And I'll add one more thing. I think the thing that makes it an even hotter issue is government funding of this sort of transition, you know, these transition operations that are done, you know, in states like California and states like New York. Taxpayers don't want to pay for that. And that becomes a larger problem that they're going to have, and they don't have an answer for that.

And Harris was the person leading the charge nationally for prisoners to get sex changes at taxpayer expense. That's not a winning issue at this particular moment for her.

COATES: You know, there is at least one Democrat we talked with issue who is trying to push back on all this. And it is, of course, Texas Senate candidate Colin Allred, who's in a competitive race against Senator Ted Cruz. Listen to what he's saying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. COLIN ALLRED (D-TX): Cruz is lying again. But now, he's lying about our children. I'm a dad. I'm also a Christian. My faith has taught me that all kids are God's kids. So, let me be clear. I don't want boys playing girl sports or any of this ridiculous stuff that Ted Cruz is saying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROCHA: Look, I'm also a dad. I'm also a Christian. And like we like to talk about on this program --

COATES: Here he comes.

ROCHA: -- I'm also a former football player --

(LAUGHTER)

-- just like Colin Allred is. But I'll disagree with him a little bit. You know, my nephew is transgender. It's very personal for me. But it's a small issue in many families because there's not a lot of transgender kids compared to women in this country.

Republicans are using this issue like they use immigration. Folks in Kentucky are like, why are folks running immigration ads in Kentucky? And I'm like, because they want to scare you into these strange people coming to harm you, just like they're trying to scare folks with transgender kids, which is a tactic. Now, look, I'm a tactician. I get it. You've got to motivate people to go vote and you got to find your issue. They think this is it. I just disagree.

COATES: Well, but if there are the -- it's in the minority, essentially, of the issues that are going to be ranking very high among voters. This suggests then, to put this in all these ads, particularly in the most competitive races, that they believe that this is galvanizing, this is motivating people out.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Well, it's targeting women. I mean, this is the thing that this is actually targeting. It's not targeting dads, no offense. It is not targeting football players, no offense. It's really targeting women. You're saying girls are at risk. Your young women are actually going to be penalized in some way by having transgender athletes playing on their sports teams. So, it really is actually very, very targeted towards women, a group that they have not been doing well with.

COATES: I'll add, too, on the national stage. Harris, as you have pointed out, is getting hit pretty hard on trans politics as well. I mean, there was an ad the Trump campaign started running. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: Kamala supports taxpayer-funded sex changes for prisoners.

HARRIS: Surgery, um ---

UNKNOWN: For prisoners.

HARRIS: For prisoners. Every transgender inmate in the prison system would have access.

UNKNOWN: Hell, no, I don't want my taxpayer dollars going to that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: So, she's interviewing with Charlamagne tomorrow. There is -- we're hearing the reports that she might be considering an interview with Joe Rogan. It will undoubtedly come up in either of those forums. How should she handle that?

ROCHA: She should go in and be honest. Like she needs to be careful on backtracking on things that she said because she's already starting to get the mantra of flip-flopping. She just to lean into it and talk about it as an American, as a mother, as Mamala, all the things, try to be as relative as she can.

But also, to Bryan's point, like, this is the reds that Republicans do well. I remind folks about the bathroom bill in Virginia. They'll make it about something like the government funding piece. It's hard to answer. It's hard to answer for Democrats. So that's where I would put it.

COATES: But there is this risk of going too far with rhetoric. I mean, surprise, surprise. There is -- there is a moment when it can become one notch to the wrong direction and alienate voters who would otherwise be persuadable. How do Republicans guard against that risk?

LANZA: I think they do it gingerly, and they have to be very careful. They have to, you know, if you're speaking about transgender kids, let's be clear, this is a group that suffers at the suicide rate that's higher than anybody else. So, you have to be empathetic to what their kids are going through. I think if Republicans have that conversation, you know, talk to people like Chuck who've gone through these experiences, I think that's a good thing.

But at the end of the day, taxpayers and voters aren't there where the Democratic Party is on this issue. They certainly don't want government funding. And you're right, my wife is a mom, right? She has a daughter. She doesn't want to see her kid get roughed up by a male transgender thing. It's just person, so I don't know what the -- excuse my language, a person. But I think that's going to be the challenge. It's such a personal connected tissue to women specifically.

[23:44:57]

And you're right. Moms want to protect their daughters, and they don't think that's fair. And women don't find it fair, and that's going to be the issue that the Democratic Party has with. The issue is just, it's never going to be fair for some of these young girls to be competing with anyone else.

COATES: Well, we'll see if voters are in line with what Democrats are thinking or what the Republican ads are attacking and what they prioritize and what motivates people to vote and what they understand. Thank you to everyone very much.

Four women, two men -- sorry, four men, two men, all suing Diddy today, accusing him of sexual assault. And the lawyer taking up the case says there could be over 100 of these lawsuits coming. Joey Jackson is here to talk about it after this.

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COATES: Disturbingly graphic accusations piling up against music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs. At least six brand-new lawsuits filed anonymously today in the Southern District of New York, accusing Combs of sexual assault against two women and four men, including one boy who was 16 years old at the time of the alleged abuse.

In the lawsuit, he says that Combs explained to him the alleged assault was right of passage to becoming a music star. Quote -- "Don't you want to break into the business?" -- unquote. The new findings come on the heels of the announcement of Combs's federal sex trafficking trial date, May of next year.

Attorneys for Combs saying in a statement, "Mr. Combs and his legal team have full confidence in the facts, their legal defenses, and the integrity of the judicial process. In court, the truth will prevail: that Mr. Combs has never sexually assaulted anyone adult or minor, man or woman."

Joining me now, CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson. Joey, look, others are getting wrapped up in these new lawsuits now as well. You've heard some details. But now, Macy's, Marriott, they're each being sued. One of the John Doe says that he was assaulted in a stockroom at the Macy's flagship store. A Jane Doe says that she was assaulted at a party at a Marriott hotel. We've reached out, by the way, to both Macy's and Marriott. No comment yet.

You know, these are civil suits. What is their responsibility if they were the environment in which these allegations took place?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yeah, Laura, good to be with you. And so, obviously, all of these allegations are concerning. I would hasten to add, of course, from a defense perspective, that they are allegations. And certainly, people have a right to sue. They are suing. And the claims that they're making will be vetted out in the court of law.

So, we'll see how that plays both from a civil perspective involving monetary damages, which these lawsuits are, and of course, from a criminal perspective that we saw that was filed by federal prosecutors.

But, obviously, any location has a duty and responsibility to keep people safe, to ensure that anyone who's on the premises has a sense of safety and security and that no acts of violence, sexual or otherwise, should take place against them.

And so, people will pursue their claims for relief, and to the extent that any location fell short of that goal and that standard, they'll be held accountable just as will Mr. Sean Puffy Combs in the event that it's determined that he's civilly responsible and criminally responsible.

COATES: I should note, of course, that civil level of proof, preponderance, more likely than not, obvious different than beyond a reasonable doubt. I would wonder about whether they had knowledge, whether there were videotapes, surveillance photos or otherwise, that would let them be aware that something had taken place on their premises. We'll see what the evidence unfolds, if any.

There's also, Joey, a picture of a then 16-year-old victim and Diddy at the party where his alleged sexual assault took place. I wonder, I look at a picture like this, and I'm immediately going back to the fact that Diddy is a high-profile figure who I'm sure takes photos with a lot of people. As a defense attorney, you probably are looking at this and saying, this proves nothing, but what corroboration could this provide to the prosecution?

JACKSON: Yes, so, a lot needs to take place, right, Laura? I mean, you know from the perspective of a former outstanding prosecutor that you need more. Professionals and athletes and certainly entertainers and many others take a lot of photos. And so, that certainly establishes that you were present at the location, that you were with Diddy at the location, that you attended the party.

But with regard to the other facts that are going to have to be established in terms of the conduct, that's a different story. Was there other witness who saw it? Is there surveillance that could otherwise establish that? Are there recent outcry witnesses? In English meaning, of course, people -- you said, I can't believe this happened to me. Did you make any phone calls or are there text messages or other things that would establish that?

And then, of course, we have to look at how this play into the criminal case, right? The civil cases are different.

And by the way, Laura, I think many people might be asking, why the avalanche of civil lawsuits now? It's because New York City actually extended the statute of limitations, which would include a two-year period, which would end in March of next year, 2025, which would allow people who were aggrieved in the past for gender-motivated violence to come forward and to file their lawsuit. And so that's why we're seeing this avalanche of lawsuits as we look there. I think we're going to see a lot more.

And so, the issue is going to be how they play out, the civil cases on their own, and how they impact, if at all, the federal litigation concerning the crimes, whether they could be used as prior bad acts, whether the feds decide to supersede, right? Their indictment, meaning they decide to file again with new claims. All that will be vetted out.

[23:54:58]

But I think at a minimum, the feds are going to want to talk to these witnesses to see if they could supply new, fresh and potentially more damaging information that they can use in the federal prosecution. COATES: And if so, that trial date could change in any event. We know that Diddy has already said that he wants to be released, pending trial. I assume the judge will look at some of these circumstances and allegations, they are allegations, and decide whether they present a threat to the community or otherwise, and might change his bail conditions. We'll have to see. Joey Jackson, thank you.

JACKSON: Always. Thanks, Laura.

COATES: And hey, thank you all for watching. "Anderson Cooper 360" is next.

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