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Israel Preparing to Respond to Iran Attack; Trump Claims He Is 'Father of IVF'; Kamala Harris Set For FOX News Interview. Aired 1- 1:30p ET

Aired October 16, 2024 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:31]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: A media blitz trying to make the case to undecided voters, the two presidential campaigns taking their message to potentially critical audiences, former President Donald Trump speaking directly to women, as Vice President Kamala Harris sits down with FOX News.

Plus, paying the bills and the ballot box. We know the economy tops voter issues. New data shows that Americans haven't been this worried about their credit card bills since the pandemic. More on what those numbers tell us.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And more than 30 years after they were found guilty of murdering their parents, new evidence could lead to a review of Erik and Lyle Menendez's life sentences. The brothers' extended family is set to gather outside an L.A. courthouse just hours from now.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SANCHEZ: Thank you so much for joining us this afternoon.

In just 20 days, the United States will pick its next president. And right now, two candidates are on a media blitz hoping to reach as many voters as possible during this final sprint. Today, Vice President Kamala Harris is sitting down with FOX News for an interview that is set to air this evening.

A short time ago, we saw former President Trump telling an audience of all women that he is -- quote -- "the father of IVF."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (R) AND CURRENT U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Oh, I want to talk about IVF.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So do I.

HARRIS FAULKNER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: You don't hear that every day. TRUMP: I'm the father of -- I'm the father of I -- I'm the father of IVF.

We really are the party for IVF. We want fertilization. And it's all the way. And the Democrats tried to attack us on it. And we're out there on IVF even more than them. So we're totally in favor of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: The fertility treatment has, of course, become a flash point in the nationwide clash over abortion and reproductive rights and has come under threat since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.

Our correspondents are live with us now covering both campaigns.

So let's begin with CNN's Alayna Treene.

Alayna, what else did Trump have to say during the FOX town hall?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, Brianna, I do kind of just want to touch on those IVF comments, because I do think it was one of the more bizarre moments from last night.

Look, when I talked to Donald Trump's top advisers about that comment, where he called himself the father of IVF, they didn't respond directly to that exact quote, but they did argue that Donald Trump does believe that he has been a leader on that issue for the party overall, especially given, I mean, remember, back in February, when the Alabama Supreme Court had ruled essentially that frozen embryos are children.

That had led to many hospitals and clinics in the state to pausing access to IVF and IVF treatments. Donald Trump quickly came out and said that he supports IVF and that he thinks people should continue to be able to have access to it. So that is what I was told he was referring to last night.

But, as you said, and I think we have to be very clear on this, the reason that this is even a topic of discussion right now about questions over whether women can access those treatments is because of the Dobbs decision and because Donald Trump had put conservative Supreme Court justices on the bench.

But to get to the other part -- other parts of what he said during that town hall, I think another very striking moment was when he was asked directly about what he meant when he said over the weekend that the greatest threat to the United States is not our foreign adversaries, but the enemy from within.

And I want you to take a listen to how he defined it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It is the enemy from within and they're very dangerous. We have China. We have Russia. We have all these countries. If you have a smart president, they can all be handled.

The more difficult are, you know, the Pelosis. These people, they're so sick, and they're so evil.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now, Brianna and Boris, the reason that this is so notable is because -- well, there's a couple of reasons.

One is that obviously this comment received a lot of backlash as soon as he said it over the weekend. But a lot of Republican allies had actually taken to the shows and to social media to try and defend Donald Trump. They had argued that he was referring, when he said the enemy from within, that he was referring to protesters and rioters.

He had even said that he would send the military in to deal with that. But Donald Trump made very clear during that town hall that he was referring to Democrats and to political opponents. He directly mentioned the Pelosis.

[13:05:04]

So I think that's one thing to keep in mind. I think the other part of this, of course, is that some of what we have been hearing from Republicans for several weeks now is that their rhetoric, particularly when they argue that Donald Trump is a threat to democracy, could be to blame for the assassination attempts on the former president's life.

And they have argued that Republicans don't use that same type of language. I think it's very clear that Donald Trump is also using pretty dangerous language in the lead-up to the election, especially in this final stretch before November 5.

SANCHEZ: Alayna Treene, thank you so much for that update.

Let's go to CNN's Eva McKend now, because, Eva, Vice President Harris, is going to be in battleground Pennsylvania today alongside more than 100 Republicans who have come out in support of her. We're also going to see her on FOX News later tonight. She's obviously trying to reach disaffected Republicans.

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: She is, Boris. That's why we're going to continue to see Harris lean into this country over party message in an appeal to Republican voters.

The vice president plans to blast Trump for previously calling for the termination of the Constitution. She will also warn of the threat a second Trump term poses, in her view, and slam him for this comment that he made, that the military should handle the enemy from within.

And, at this point, we have a sense of what this campaign argument sounds like. She aimed to draw contrasts with the former president in a conversation with Charlamagne the God and answer to this criticism that she's too rehearsed on the campaign trail. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLAMAGNE THA GOD, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: What do you say to people who say you stay on the talking points?

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I would say, you're welcome. I mean, listen, here's the thing.

I love having conversations, which is why I'm so happy to be with you this afternoon. And the reality is that there are certain things that must be repeated to ensure that I have everyone know what I stand for and the issues that I think are at stake in this election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: And, Boris and Brianna, today at that event in Pennsylvania, she's going to be joined by Republican former Congressman Adam Kinzinger and former Georgia Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan, among others.

The event is going to take place in Washington Crossing, close to where George Washington and troops crossed the Delaware River in 1776, of course, a turning point in the American Revolution, so heavy on the patriotism theme there.

She then heads to Wisconsin back to Michigan, and then she ends the week in Georgia -- Boris, Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Eva McKend, thank you so much for that.

Let's talk about all of this with our political experts.

We have Meghan Hays, who was the director of message planning for the Biden White House. And Kristin Davison is a Republican strategist and a partner with Axiom Strategies.

All right, Kristin, the father of IVF, is this one you think Trump should lean into?

KRISTIN DAVISON, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: You know, I don't really know what that means, but I do know that Trump has been, for our party, the -- on the forefront of promoting IVF, women's health.

I mean, when you look back to the primary of last year, Trump was getting hit by his opponents in the primary for being too moderate on issues like abortion and women's health and IVF. So go back to that decision in Alabama. Trump was one of the first Republicans to come out and say, whoa, whoa, whoa, we are not going to do anything to harm that, to get in the way of it, been promoting it.

Now, I don't necessarily know the terminology. I think that town hall could have been a missed opportunity to have someone maybe like Megyn Kelly or Katie Britt or Melania or someone there to soften the message a little bit. But, I mean, no one can deny that in the party, he has been on the forefront pushing it. And I don't think women really think he's going to come and do

anything to take that away. That's a Democrat scare tactic. And look at what he says he's going to do, what he's pushed in the party. He's been the most vocal, basically told the whole party to get in line. No one's touching IVF, no one's jeopardizing it. And the party largely has.

SANCHEZ: That attack line from Democrats is based on what lawmakers, state lawmakers in Alabama put forth that eventually was overturned by the state.

Meghan, I'm curious though, what you think Trump is trying to do here, because, to Kristin's point, Trump caught a lot of Republicans off guard saying that the federal government should pay for IVF.

MEGHAN HAYS, FORMER SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT BIDEN: Right, I think that he's trying to muddy the waters, right?

He has overwhelmingly said numerous times that he is the person who overturned Roe v. Wade. He takes full credit for that. And I think that women, both Democrat and Republican women, see that their reproductive freedoms and their health decisions are not in their hands anymore. And so where he is, been more moderate on IVF.

I don't think that -- I think it's kind of too little, too late for these independent voters. I mean, obviously, we will see what happens in November, but I think that he is trying to muddy the waters and say, no, no, no, I actually did not go as far as you think I did, or I'm not here to take away your rights, when I think the message there is already laid.

KEILAR: I wonder what you think, Meghan, because in this same interview, he's doubling down on his enemy from within comments.

He -- as we just heard our reporter highlight, name-checking the Pelosis. And we should note certainly what some rhetoric has perhaps meant for one Pelosi, which is Paul Pelosi, when we look at his focus on that.

[13:10:08]

What do you think about him saying that and whether that may actually be a missed opportunity?

HAYS: So, I think that he is using fear as a motivator here and I think that he's trying to motivate the base. These things play well with his base in the social media.

Unfortunately, they're really disgusting comments, given the attacks on Paul Pelosi, but also we know that he will follow through with some of these things or try to follow through with some of these things. I think last time there were people in his administration that said, well, you can't actually go after your political opponents here. You can't actually go and prosecute these folks.

I don't know that he will have that same -- those same types of people in place next time, so I do think it is worrisome being on the other side.

DAVISON: Well, I don't know. I mean, no one's talking about how President Biden in 2022 compared his political opponents as domestic terrorists and said that they were like Jefferson Davis.

So, look, politics is very emotional and let's not pretend like Democrats haven't gone too far in some of their rhetoric as well. Just look at the many things that Democrats have said leading up to the assassination attempt against the former president.

And so we can sparse words here and there, but to say that Donald Trump is the only person who have said something a little bit harsh, let's go back and look at Joe Biden. Let's go back and look at every Democrat just a week after the former president, the assassination attempt on him, they lost their politics of joy and they were going right back at him.

SANCHEZ: I think the difference is that they were using maybe names that folks don't like, names that are outside what I guess you would call traditional politics for 2016, but they were calling voters to action, whereas Trump is saying that the National Guard and the military should step in to go after...

DAVISON: Let's not forget, the military went after Jefferson Davis too and Biden was saying, my opponents are just like Jefferson Davis.

SANCHEZ: They actually seceded from the Union.

DAVISON: Exactly. Well, I mean, that's what I'm saying. Biden was basically invoking a civil war in those 2022 comments and no one had outrage then. That was the sitting president of the United States.

So no one is saying that -- we can, again, say that those comments were right or wrong, but let's not pretend that every politician is innocent because both sides have had comments that have maybe potentially gone too far.

KEILAR: What do you think?

HAYS: I think that there is only one president that's called for an insurrection, and it wasn't Joe Biden. It was Donald Trump. So I think that there's a little proof in the actions there.

KEILAR: So, Kristin, Trump is taping an interview with Univision today. He's trying to court Latino support. Yesterday, though, he said that Hispanic and African-American voters who vote for Harris should have -- quote -- "their head examined."

What do you think about comments like that? Do you think that that works for him? Do you think that convinces some people? Do you think that turns people away?

DAVISON: I -- looking at the two campaigns, they have two very distinct strategies.

I do think the Trump campaign is a base turnout strategy. And so I think if you like Donald Trump, you're going to double down and say, yes, I can't believe someone's not going to vote for him. If you're a disaffected Republican or an independent or maybe not decided, you're probably going to take a step back and say, I don't think that's very helpful. He said the same thing about Jewish voters and Catholic voters.

And some of us kind of looked and said, I don't know if that was the best way to say that. So I don't think it brings people over, but it gins up the base, for sure.

Now, look at Harris. I think she is making those overtures to Republicans and to undecideds. Now it's going to -- whoever is going to win, it's going to be the kind of election we're going to have. If this is a base election, Harris is not going to win. If this is going to be the kind of election where it's going to be decided on the margins in places like Washington, Pennsylvania or elsewhere, then Harris might luck out.

But it's totally two different strategies. That was a base play and she is playing more to those undecided voters.

SANCHEZ: How do you see the outreach, Meghan, for Harris going after black and Latino voters and also Republicans tonight?

HAYS: I think it's a smart strategy. You have to meet voters where you are. I think that people get their news sources now and get their information from all different areas and all different corners of the Internet and TV. So I do think it's a smart strategy on her part.

But I do think that you're right that there is a base play from Trump and people aren't going to do that. I actually think that we are -- people are less undecided, and it's more about who's going to turn out. So if you're going to say things that are going to sort of affect your moderate conservatives, they may not turn out, where that will impact the actual outcome.

KEILAR: Meghan and Kristin, thank you so much to both of you. We really appreciate it.

SANCHEZ: Appreciate the conversation.

Still to come, sources telling CNN that Israel is ready to respond to Iran's ballistic missile attack. Ahead, exactly when U.S. officials believe it could be launched.

And it's been decades since the Menendez murder case captivated the country. Now the L.A. DA's office is reviewing the case against Erik and Lyle Menendez. Details on new evidence just released in moments.

KEILAR: And later: Many Americans are drowning in debt. Why they're more anxious now about making credit card payments.

You're watching CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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[13:19:06]

KEILAR: CNN is learning just how close Israel is to launching its counter strike on Iran, one source saying that Israel's plan is ready, and U.S. sources revealing that American officials expect Israel to retaliate before Election Day in the U.S.

Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have told the U.S. it will limit its attacks to Iran's military targets, rather than hitting oil or nuclear sites.

SANCHEZ: This is, of course, planned retaliation for Iran's offensive on October 1, its largest strike ever on Israel.

Let's take you live to CNN Jerusalem correspondent Jeremy Diamond.

Jeremy, what more are you learning about the timeline for this counterstrike?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, a source familiar with the matter telling us that Israel's plans for that retaliation against Iran are indeed ready.

It is just a matter of when the Israeli prime minister gives the order to go ahead. U.S. officials are telling us as well that they believe that this strike by Israel on Iran will come before November 5, that is, before Election Day.

[13:20:08]

And, of course, we know that there has been a range of discussions between the U.S. and Israel over the course of the last week-and-a- half to try and get on the same page in terms of what that Israeli retaliation actually looks like.

The U.S. has provided an anti-air defense system to Israel, which is arriving on the ground over the course of this week. And, of course, once it is active, that could be a moment for Israel to be able to go ahead and carry out that attack, as Iran is very likely to retaliate.

But, of course, the question is, how close will this all come before Election Day? Could certainly thrust this -- the Middle East tensions and, of course, a potential renewed crisis between Iran and Israel right into the center of the political maelstrom before Election Day.

KEILAR: And, Jeremy, tell us the latest on Gaza. We're hearing some pretty grisly details about conditions there.

DIAMOND: Yes, that's right.

The head of emergency services in Northern Gaza saying that he has now seen evidence that some of the bodies that have been brought in from the streets of Northern Gaza, where there has been fierce fighting over the course of the last week or so, that those bodies have been coming back with signs that they have been scavenged by dogs and animals in the streets of Northern Gaza. As far as the living, there are thousands of people, he says, who are

still trapped in their homes in Jabalia, where some of the fiercest fighting has been happening and where the Israeli military has really been laying a sort of siege on that area, trapped by the bombardments, but also by a worsening humanitarian situation.

We are seeing now hundreds of thousands of people in Northern Gaza who are at dire risk as it relates to the humanitarian situation there. And U.N. officials, as well as other humanitarian organizations, are having trouble even reaching parts of Northern Gaza.

Today, the Office of Humanitarian Affairs for the U.N. saying that it took their team 10 different attempts to be able to reach a hospital in Northern Gaza where they were going to be delivering fuel and supplies and then transferring some of those patients there to areas further south.

And it just shows you the difficulties that officials are having right now on the ground, and this all as the United States is saying that Israel is simply not doing enough to get humanitarian aid, sufficient humanitarian aid into Northern Gaza, warning that, if Israel doesn't do something to remedy that situation, in fact, if it doesn't take very specific steps to remedy that situation with some 350 aid trucks per day into Gaza over the course of the next 30 days, then the United States is warning that it may cut off some arms supplies to Israel.

So, obviously, that messaging being received by Israeli officials, but no official response yet -- Brianna, Boris.

KEILAR: All right, we will see how they receive it.

Jeremy Diamond, thank you for that.

We're going to discuss this further now with retired Army Major General James "Spider" Marks. He's a CNN military analyst. He's also the head of geopolitical strategy at Academy Securities.

General, Israel's plan to respond to Iran is ready. That's what the source is telling CNN. What does that signify to you? And what do they do now while it is ready, but it's not being implemented?

BRIG. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, Brianna, I think as Jeremy indicated, there is probably a waiting period for the arrival of the THAAD U.S. air defense system to thicken and kind of provide some additional layering to the Israeli air defense system. That's probably number one.

And, number two, when you're looking at the various targets within the master target list that's being prepared or has been prepared, there's always a final determination in terms of the currency of the intelligence, the validity of the intelligence, the source of the intelligence, and then a reading of the current condition on the ground, where you intend to strike.

That's a very laborious process, and they need to go through that. That's an absolute necessity before you make a determination that this is a target that you want to strike. So I would imagine that that target list is pretty robust.

Also, what type of delivery means? Is this going to be a kinetic strike? Are you looking at a drone? Are you looking at a ballistic missile? Or is there the application of cyber capabilities, where you really can do some mal -- the injection of some malware to cause some problems that may not pop up immediately, but then have some increased downstream effects, negative effects, obviously, on the Iranians?

All that calculation is taking place right now, and that takes time.

KEILAR: And so how do you expect Iran to be looking at this and preparing its defense?

MARKS: They are legitimately concerned, I can tell you, probably from the top to the bottom.

The Iranian leadership knows that they're on a hit list. They don't know what the target list looks like. They have heard what we have heard, which is, Israelis said they're not going after nuke facilities, and they're not going to go after the oil facilities.

[13:25:11]

That leaves a very wide target list of possibilities. The Iranians are probably taking some of their senior leadership, putting them in protected positions. They are probably reducing the footprint they have in terms of how they emanate. They're going to shut down some of their target -- their radar capabilities.

They're probably going to come off the Net in certain areas so that they now hopefully will blind or at least make the intelligence that the Israelis have already acquired latent, not as current as it could be. So these are the things that they're doing, I think, as a matter of routine.

And they're probably going to have prepositioned capabilities in terms of their air defense to counter whatever the Israelis decide to use in terms of attacking targets from the air.

KEILAR: So you said Israel will obviously have this time for the THAAD to be set up, but we're also learning that U.S. officials are expecting the counterattack on Iran to come before the election here in the U.S.

A senior administration official saying the Netanyahu appears actually highly sensitive to any potential political ramifications of Israel's actions in the U.S. How does the election figure into this, as you see it?

MARKS: Well, that's one of the factors, that, certainly, the administration is probably going forward saying, hey, we'd prefer not to have this thing explode on us days before the election. It may impact the number of folks who vote.

It may impact obviously what party is going to be elected. These are political determinations, but they very much drive the application of force. But politics is -- military is politics by other means. We understand that. We see that vividly. We have seen that in our history.

How Netanyahu responds is entirely up to him. If the calculus, if his determination is such that he needs to strike now, that there are targets that are fleeting, that might disappear, it wouldn't be surprising if he went early.

KEILAR: All right. We will be looking to see if that's the case.

General Marks, great to have you. Thank you.

MARKS: Thanks, Brianna.

KEILAR: Still to come on CNN NEWS CENTRAL: Former President Trump is seeing huge spikes in cash flow from one of his richest donors, that guy there, Elon Musk.

We'll have details ahead.

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