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CNN International: Harris Campaigns In Michigan As She Turn up Heat On Trump; Harris Calls Trump "Increasingly Unstable And Unhinged"; Trump Stays On Stage Dancing To Music After Town Hall. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired October 15, 2024 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ERICA HILL, HOST, "CNN NEWSROOM": Hello, and welcome to our viewers from around the world. I'm Erica Hill in New York.
Ahead on CNN Newsroom this hour, three weeks, officially now, until Election Day here in the U.S. The candidates now sharpening their attacks against one another. We'll take a closer look. Plus, the Biden administration demanding Israel improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, suggesting U.S. military aid could be in jeopardy if they fail to do so. We are live in Jerusalem, and also the latest from the Pentagon. Plus, FEMA operating again in North Carolina, after being forced to halt its door-to-door work over threats to its employees. New details on an arrest made in connection.
It is now a 21-day sprint to the finish in the U.S. presidential race. Early voting underway as of this morning in the battleground state of Georgia. Donald Trump is set to travel there later today, where he will tape a town hall for Fox before holding an event in Atlanta. The former President also firing back at Kamala Harris after she called on him to release his medical records, attacking her medical history on social media, while labeling his own health as, quote, "flawless."
His behavior at a campaign event in Pennsylvania last night also sparking some confusion and a whole lot of head-scratching. The event, which was billed as a town hall, was interrupted twice for medical emergencies in the crowd, at which point Trump scrapped the Q&A and called, instead, for some of his favorite songs to be played, and then spent a fair amount of time swaying to that playlist on stage, in fact, nearly 40 minutes.
Earlier, he had called Harris not smart, and then once again repeated some of his baseless claims of election fraud.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If everything works out, if everybody gets out and votes on January 5th or before, it used to be, you'd have a date. Today, you can vote two months before, probably three months after. They don't know what the hell they're doing. But, we're going to straighten it all out. We're going to straighten that out too. We're going to straighten our election process out too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Kamala Harris set to do a radio town hall today. She is with the massively popular radio host Charlamagne tha God, and then is set to meet with black entrepreneurs in Detroit. All of this, of course, part of her push to boost her support among black voters, particularly black men. She is also stepping up her attacks on Trump, calling him unstable, an unhinged, at a campaign event in Pennsylvania on Monday, and warning a second Trump term would be a disaster.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S., (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He considers anyone who doesn't support him or who will not bend to his will, an enemy of our country. He wants to send the military after American citizens.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: We are taking a closer look at both the campaign. CNN's Edward- Isaac Dovere and Alayna Treene joining me now.
First to you, Isaac. So, as we look at what is happening in terms of today with Kamala Harris, she is really starting to make this push. We're seeing a lot more media out there, even it's not perhaps what people think of as traditional media. So, there is the town hall with Charlamagne tha God, also speaking to other very important black groups, of course, as she is trying to boost support there. Is there any evidence that this is starting to have an impact?
EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, the theory that the Harris campaign has here is that the people who are paying the most attention to, even what we're saying, or the traditional outlets, are largely decided about what they're going to do in the election. But, it's getting to the lower information, lower propensity voters, the people who are not as tuned into politics, and appealing to them both to vote at all and then to vote for her is what needs to be done here.
As you said, today, part of the focus is on appealing to black voters, especially black men. She will be talking with Charlamagne tha God, not just about the issues overall, but specifically about this agenda that she released yesterday, called the opportunity agenda for black men, and that has a bunch of things aimed at improving the economic status of black voters and black men, in the hopes that she can get those numbers to where she needs them to be in terms of turnout, in terms of turnout for her in key swing states across the country. That would be the ones that could help deliver her to the presidency.
HILL: She is also shifting her message a bit on the campaign trail, perhaps a little bit less joy, leaning into more aggressive attacks on the former President, and frankly, what she sees as a real threat.
DOVERE: Right. There has been an ongoing thing from Harris and from the campaign overall to say that Donald Trump is unstable. That has been something that has stepped up in recent days, when Harris released her medical records on Saturday.
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Part of the intent there was to show that not only is she healthy enough to the job, but that Donald Trump has not released his medical records, and she says, what is he hiding? What is he hiding? Why isn't he answering more questions? She is doing a lot of interviews. Why isn't he doing more interviews with not friendly differential outlets? And then zeroing in on some of the things that he has said in the interviews that he has done, like what happened last night when she was speaking at a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania. Let's take a listen to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: He is talking about that he considers anyone who doesn't support him or who will not bend to his will, an enemy of our country. He is saying that he would use the military to go after them. A second Trump term would be a huge risk for America and dangerous.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOVERE: So, what she did also last night is play clips of him, of Trump himself, speaking at her rally, so that the people there could see it with their own eyes. That is part of the larger push she is making, that she was talking about just then, of saying a Trump return to the White House would be something that America shouldn't want, that Americans shouldn't want, because it would be dangerous to America, really coming back at that argument.
HILL: All right. Really appreciate it. Let's get caught up now with what's happening with the Trump campaign. Alayna joining us with that. Alayna, there was, as Isaac just noted, the Harris campaign trying to get under the former President's skin, whether it's with the medical records, or some of these other interviews she has lined up, and going out there and saying Donald Trump won't do them, although we do know today he is actually set to sit down with Bloomberg.
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: That's right. I actually would argue that some of what the Harris campaign is saying is an exaggeration, and some of it isn't true. I mean, Donald Trump does do, for his part, a ton of media. He speaks to the press very frequently. I was just with him a couple of weeks ago where he was taking questions from us. I was able to ask him a question. He also is doing a lot of the same type of alternative media, as the Trump campaign calls it, going on these different podcasts, trying to reach voters that are normally not as political. Everything that Isaac laid out is the same kind of strategy that the Trump campaign is looking at when it comes to those types of media interviews.
However, we will see him today. I do want to talk about what he is going to do today, because, again, it does kind of -- it is a juxtaposition with what the Harris campaign is saying. So, this morning, he is going to be in Chicago, interesting, because, of course, we are 21 days to the election now. Donald Trump keeps visiting blue states or cities in blue states that really will not be consequential in the election for the point of it's not going to be a close race. Trump's team recognizes Chicago is not a battleground city or in a battleground state.
But, he is going to be taking questions from Bloomberg News. I do think you will see -- I mean, Bloomberg News, for the Trump campaign's part and opposite of what is -- what the Harris campaign is saying is a very mainstream, credible media outlet that is going to be pressing him on certain questions. So, you'll see that today, around 12:00 p.m. Eastern.
And then later, he is going to Georgia. Of course, early voting is kicking off in that state. That is a battleground state that Donald Trump's team is very much running aggressively in this cycle. For Georgia's part as well, I will say, when it comes to the overall battleground map, I know that the Trump campaign is actually far more worried about some of the blue wall states, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, far more than they are Arizona and Georgia. But, again, they recognize that he lost that state in 2020 to Joe Biden. So, he is going to be running in there very hard today and in the next couple of weeks.
HILL: Alayna, there are a lot of questions about what we saw, anybody who was watching last night on stage at Donald Trump's rally. Our colleague Kristen Holmes, who also covers the Trump's camp, said it was certainly weird. And some of the other reporters who have been at so many of these events were looking at these, sort of thinking, what's going on here? The Trump campaign is saying, hey, isn't it great to have a dance party? The former President loves the playlist. What's the real story?
TREENE: No. It was definitely bizarre. And as someone who goes to several of his rallies a week, I've never seen anything quite like that this entire campaign. So, definitely a weird moment, for sure. I agree with Kristen Holmes on that. Look. I think we have seen some people on the left, some speculation around whether this was some sort of medical episode that he had. I think that is a stretch, but it was, I think, without question, really bizarre.
What we know that had happened, and when I talked to Trump's team about this, they said, look, there were two medical episodes that happened at that town hall. We know, and I know this from covering many of his rallies, when someone in the audience has some sort of medical need or needs medical attention, Donald Trump typically will pause his remarks and wait for them to receive help before he continues on.
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What he did last night, of course, was a complete stretch of that where he paused the entire thing and then decided, we're going to end. We're going to stop taking questions. We're going to play some of the greatest hits, some of his favorite songs, and just stood up there for about 39 minutes and swayed. It was very weird. I want you to take a look at exactly what happened last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: Let's make it into music. Who the hell wants to hear questions?
Right? Let me hear that music, please. Let me hear that music loud --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everyone, let's thank President Trump.
TRUMP: -- nice and loud.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: God bless you.
TRUMP: Play YMCA. Go ahead. Let's go nice and loud.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here we go, everybody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TREENE: Now, Erica, I remember while I was watching this, and again, noting that this was not typical for Trump rallies, I thought maybe there could have been a security issue or Secret Service had wanted him to stay on stage for longer. They said that that had nothing to do with it. This was something that Donald Trump decided to do. Now, he did address this today on Truth Social. He basically said that he had a town hall in Pennsylvania last night, and it was amazing, and that he wanted to stop in and just play music for the crowd, while these people were having -- being seen by medical staff. And so, all in all, a very weird moment. I don't really know if this is going to be a feature that we see in future rallies or events, but definitely notable.
HILL: Yeah, notable indeed. All right. Alayna, appreciate it. Thank you.
Also with me this hour, CNN Political Commentator and Democratic Strategist, Maria Cardona, and Shermichael Singleton, CNN Political Commentator and Republican Strategist. Great to have both of you with me. I feel like it's been a little too long since I brought you -- saw you both.
Let's pick up where my colleagues left off, maybe starting with Alayna's reporting on what happened last night at that Trump rally. Shermichael, she makes an interest -- an important point, I should say. There is no indication that this was a health issue. It was awkward. It was weird from plenty of people on the ground. It was bizarre. There was no, apparently, no security issue that required him to stay on stage. But, given what we've seen, are you concerned at all about his behavior?
SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, & REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, what I think is, if you're running a campaign, you have to know your candidate, and the golden rule in politics is to do no harm. One thing that I have gleaned from Donald Trump, watching his campaign from when he first ran in 2016, is that he really sort of feeds off of the audience, off of the crowd. It's almost like he is an entertainer. He enjoys that.
And so, I probably would have shortened the Q&A, knowing this about my candidate. I would have shortened it to 20 minutes. Then I would have pivoted to allow him to make some remarks. I think that probably would have boded well for him. It would have been a little more controlled and sort of allowed his sort of natural tendencies to benefit him, which I think would have ultimately led to a better performance, and we probably would be covering this far differently than we currently are today.
HILL: There is a chance. Maria, as we look at what we're seeing from the Vice President, the Harris campaign, and Kamala Harris herself, really starting to get more aggressive here to go after, as I was just discussing with Isaac, to go after sort of the -- what they see as the threat of Donald Trump, maybe play into the fear. Look, we know, and campaign after campaign has showed it in terms of turnout. Joy sounds great. Fear tends to be a bigger motivator to get people to the polls. My question to that point is, is it too little, too late at this point?
MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, & DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: No. I don't think so, because I think what you're seeing from her is both and she is doing both. She has not abandoned the joy. She has not abandoned the optimism. She has not abandoned the hope and talking about what she is going to do to make sure that Americans can have -- cannot just get it -- not just get by, but to get ahead and have an optimistic, expanding opportunity economy. She absolutely is talking about that.
But, it's also critically important to remind people what a danger Donald Trump is, and it's not just fear, Erica. It is actual facts. Let's look at what he did when he was in office for four years. Our democracy was hanging by a thread because Donald Trump almost did not give up power and was forced to give up power, frankly. He would not have done it on his own. He tried to overturn a free and fair election. There was violence. Law enforcement officials died. Election officials have been threatened around the country and are being threatened again.
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And so, I think that Donald Trump's tendency, my dear friend Shermichael talked about wanting to play to your candidate's tendency, well, the Republican candidate's tendencies right now is to go dark, to go dystopian, to insult communities, to insult full on entire American cities, to talk down what this great country is. And so, for the Kamala Harris campaign to underscore and highlight that in terms of a contrast of what she will bring versus what he has brought, and what he will bring, 2.0 to this country, I think, is absolutely something that could work in her favor.
HILL: Maria, you brought up elections, and I do want to point out what happened earlier today in Georgia, a judge in Fulton County there ruling that the county election boards have to certify the elections. They cannot refuse to do so if they have a suspicion of a miscount or fraud, and specifically writing in that order, the judge's order, talking about the electoral process in the state, noting that participants in the state's elections management system have increasingly sought to impose their own rules and approaches that are either inconsistent with or flatly contrary to the letter of these laws, and this case, going on to say, involves one of those instances.
Shermichael, the former President continuing to push election lies, as we heard last night at his rally. I'm not expecting that to change. My question to you is, given this ruling in Georgia, do you think anything will change with other Republicans in terms of the way they are addressing election integrity?
SINGLETON: Probably not. I think most Republicans are going to stand behind the former President, at least publicly. Now, privately, they may say something very different. Look, I agree with the ruling from the judge. No one gets to superimpose, Erica, their own ideas against the letter of the law. Every single person in the country gets one vote. One vote should be counted. And all of the campaigns I've worked on, three presidentials, a slew of Senate and congressional races, you accept the results of the election. Hell, sometimes you want to win. Erica, your guy just doesn't quite get across the finish line. That is OK. You regroup. You go and legislate, and you have those policy debate, and then you try again in four years. That has always been the expectation, and I hope it's the expectation going forward.
HILL: We are going to have to leave it there, unfortunately, but I know I will see you both very soon. Maria, Shermichael, thank you.
SINGLETON: Thanks, Erica.
CARDONA: Thanks, Erica.
HILL: We're going to have a little bit more later this hour on the race for the White House, including on that ruling in the state of Georgia. We'll also take you live to a polling state in that swing state, where early in-person voting is underway today. Quite a line there outside in Atlanta. That's still to come. Also ahead, as Israel continues deadly airstrikes in Lebanon, Hezbollah is now warning of a new phase in the war. Plus, India and Canada locked in a diplomatic dispute over an alleged assassination on Canadian soil. Why both countries are now expelling each other's top diplomats?
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HILL: The Biden administration demanding Israel improve the situation, the humanitarian situation in Gaza within the next 30 days, or risk violating U.S. laws, which govern foreign military assistance.
[11:20:00]
Translation there, it could directly impact that aid going to Israel. All of this coming as UNICEF has also warned that the relentless Israeli strikes and a dire lack of aid have made Gaza essentially unliveable. Civilians in Lebanon also paying a heavy price. The fighting there continues. Israel, of course, launching attacks against Hezbollah, as it says. UN Human Rights Office says that most of the nearly two dozen people killed in a strike on a northern village yesterday were women and children. Hezbollah's deputy chief is now warning of a new phase in the war, saying that Hezbollah has the right to attack anywhere in Israel, since Israel has targeted all of Lebanon, and also urged Israelis to accept a ceasefire or warning they would face pain.
Israel's Prime Minister, though, making clear, this war will go on.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (Interpreted): I want to clarify, we will continue to strike Hezbollah without mercy everywhere in Lebanon, including Beirut. Everything is according to operational considerations. We have proven this recently, and we will continue to prove it in the coming days as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: The Pentagon is moving fast to help bolster Israel's defenses, of course. It says that the team, the advanced team of U.S. troops and some initial components of that sophisticated air defense system actually arrived in Israel yesterday.
For more, I'm joined by my colleagues, Jeremy Diamond in Jerusalem, Oren Liebermann at the Pentagon.
Oren, I want to start with you with this letter from the Biden administration, demanding some changes when it comes to the humanitarian situation in Gaza, and making it very clear that this is part of sort of the checklist that needs to be met for further aid. Has Israel responded?
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: We haven't seen a response from Israel yet, at least not that I have seen here, Erica. We have seen for months now the U.S. express openly its grave concern about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, saying Israel isn't doing enough to address the humanitarian situation, to get in enough aid, to facilitate the movement of people from the north to the south, to establish humanitarian zones. But, this is very much a step further than that.
This is Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in a letter directly to senior Israeli officials, saying, look, you have 30 days to improve the humanitarian situation. They write, quote, "They need to see urgent and sustained actions by your government this month to reverse this trajectory." That means to improve the humanitarian situation. They also point out that humanitarian aid to Gaza has dropped by 50 percent since the spring, and that September was, quote, "the lowest of any month during the past year in terms of humanitarian aid flowing into the Gaza Strip". So, this is what they want to see addressed.
It is the consequence here that is significant. For the past year, the U.S. has supplied Israel with effectively the weapons it needs to conduct its military operations, certainly defensive and very much offensive in Gaza and Lebanon, and they say, look, that's at risk by U.S. The U.S. has to continually evaluate that the foreign military assistance it provides is not being misused and does not violate U.S. law. They're saying that here is at risk if the humanitarian situation and Israel's efforts to address the humanitarian situation don't improve over the course of the next 30 days here, Erica. And it is worth noting that 30-day window, the deadline for that is after Election Day.
HILL: That is an important note. In terms of the impact of this letter on the already somewhat challenging, I would say, relationship between President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu, the fact that this is being put out there, is there a sense of how that could impact things, Oren?
LIEBERMANN: Well, look, the situation between the two, that is President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has been clear, that it has been rocky and tense for months now. Will this change that? It's certainly not going to improve the situation. Netanyahu has repeatedly been defiant, and the Israeli government has been defiant, trying to insist that it's doing enough to address the humanitarian situation in Gaza. So, we'll see the response here. And crucially, we'll see if there are any changes.
The U.S. had said for months, in terms of Israeli military operations in Gaza, that these were limited operations, until it became very clear that they were not military operations. On top of that is the -- effectively the request from the U.S. government that Israel put forward a strategy for what its goals are in Gaza, or what its day after plan is, and that, to this day, is conspicuously lacking.
HILL: Yeah, it is. Oren, really appreciate it.
I also want to bring in now Jeremy Diamond, who is joining us from Israel. So, Jeremy, we're also looking at, and as I just noted, hearing a little bit more from Hezbollah in terms of the operation in Lebanon. I know you had the opportunity to see a little bit more of that up close as these efforts by Israel continue. Walk us through what you saw.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. That's right, Erica. Look, this is the first major Israeli ground operation inside of Lebanon in nearly two decades.
[11:25:00]
And so, this was an important opportunity for us to be able to get a firsthand look at this ground operation, and to be able to ask the commanders of these ground forces on the ground the tough questions about what their objectives are, what they believe they are accomplishing, and of course, the cost that all of this is happening -- having on Lebanese civilians.
Now, I should note, before we air our piece, that we reported from Lebanon under Israeli military escort at all times, and we did retain final editorial control over this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DIAMOND (voice-over): In the ruins of this southern Lebanese village, amid flattened buildings, crumpled cars and mounds of rubble, there are also Israeli soldiers. Two weeks into their ground operation, they now control multiple villages like this one, but for how long and how much deeper into Lebanon will they go? Israeli Humvees now slice straight through the border into the rocky terrain of southern Lebanon.
DIAMOND: Nearly two weeks ago, Israeli ground troops came in here in the first major Israeli ground operation in nearly two decades, and they're now taking us to see one of their positions inside Lebanon.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Arriving on the ground, it's immediately clear, this village is now firmly in Israeli hands. Supplies are being brought in, tanks are parked in a courtyard, and troops have settled into homes where Lebanese civilians once lived.
DIAMOND: So, we're about two miles inside of southern Lebanon, and you can see the destruction around us that's been wrought by this ground operation, also by Israeli strikes over the course of the last year. What we're also seeing is that this is a clear Israeli position that has been established with artillery fire now firing off in the distance. And it's interesting because the Israeli military, of course, is describing all of this as limited, targeted raids. But, we are also seeing, of course, that they have established positions inside of southern Lebanon for an offensive that they insist is not going to go much deeper.
This is an established Israeli military position inside of southern Lebanon. How is this a raid?
COL. ROY RUSSO, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: Well, as you can see and as you walk by, those outputs that we're right now holding are temporary. There is no outposts designed, built and operated by the IDF. These are tactical, temporary, time limited.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Col. Roy Russo, the Chief of Staff of the 91st Division, says his orders are to clear the area closest to the border and nothing more.
RUSSO: There is no objective that was designed to us to go into Beirut or Dahiya or something like that. No. We need to limit the threat at the tactical range that enables Hezbollah to pose a threat on the communities.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Deeper inside this former Hezbollah stronghold, Col. Russo and his troops show us what they say that threat looks like --
COL. YANIV MALKA, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: You can see here anti-tank missiles. You can see rockets. You can see brand new AK-47.
DIAMOND (voice-over): -- multiple stashes of weapons which the Israeli military says Hezbollah planned to use in attacks on northern Israeli communities, a claim CNN cannot independently verify. Israeli troops are now fighting to clear other villages like this one, to remove what they say is a key part of the Hezbollah threat that has displaced some 60,000 residents of northern Israel. Soldiers here say Hezbollah has shown itself to be a tough, well-trained enemy, carrying out tactical ambushes that have already killed 10 Israeli troops.
Israel's war in Lebanon already stretches far beyond the battlefield of these border communities. More than 2,300 people have been killed in Israeli strikes across Lebanon, including several hundred women and children, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry, and more than a million people have fled their homes, as Israel intensifies its attacks, ordering residents of a quarter of Lebanon's territory to evacuate.
DIAMOND: That is an enormous cost for this kind of ground operation, the kind of strikes that you guys are conducting.
RUSSO: Right. I think the responsibilities of Hezbollah, I think if they haven't launched an attack on October 8th, we wouldn't be here.
DIAMOND (voice-over): As the cost continues to mount for Lebanon civilians, Col. Russo says he believes the Israeli ground operation will be counted in weeks, not months. But, as smoke rises beyond the tree line, a reminder that this war is far from over.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DIAMOND: And Erica, one of the reasons why this question about how long this war will last, how deep will Israeli troops go into Lebanon is so critical is because Israel does have a history of getting sucked deeper and deeper into conflict in Lebanon, as we have seen in the past. And right now, the military says they're just focusing on the border areas. They want to put the pressure on Hezbollah to stop firing rockets into northern Israel. But, the question, of course, is, what if Hezbollah doesn't stop? What if they don't agree to withdraw their forces some 30 kilometers north of the border? Will the Israeli military then go deeper?
Hezbollah, for its part, of course, they today floated the possibility of a ceasefire with Israel, although it's not clear that that would include withdrawing their forces from the border areas.
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And of course, we know that they have also said that if Israel stops its war in Gaza, then they will stop firing rockets on northern Israel. Erica.
HILL: Jeremy, really appreciate it. Thank you.
Here in the United States, the recovery effort after hurricanes Milton and Helene continues. FEMA now focusing on storm victims, many of them still in need and back out in the field, following some threats that forced them to pull back. Those details just ahead. Plus, as early voting kicks off in some states across the U.S. this week, the battle over ballot drop boxes is heating up again. Those details just ahead.
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HILL: Welcome back. You're watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Erica Hill in New York. Let's take a look at some of the international headlines we're watching at this hour.
North Korea taking some explosive steps to completely cut off its territory from South Korea. Earlier today, Pyongyang blew up two major road and railway links that once connected the two countries, mainly a symbolic gesture those roads hadn't been used for years, but still an interesting one. Last week, North Korea threatened retaliation over propaganda-filled drones, which it says the South had flown over Pyongyang.
Taiwan's Defense Ministry says China flew a record number of warplanes around the south governing island as part of a new round of war games. 153 Chinese aircraft were detected during military drills on Monday and Tuesday. China says the drills are a warning against what it calls Taiwan's independence forces.
Two giant pandas, we're doing a bit of panda diplomacy between the China and the United States, the special ambassadors are the first pandas that China has sent to Washington in decades. A previous pair made their way back to China with a new cub last November. This is the cargo jet that brought the new duo to the U.S. It is called, wait for it, the Panda Express. For its part, the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington spent a million dollars to revamp its panda exhibit before they arrived.
And Canada expelling six Indian diplomats, including the High Commissioner, after police linked them to the murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year and other acts of violence against Sikh separatists in Canada. India, in turn, retaliating by swiftly expelling six high-ranking Canadian diplomats.
Canada's Prime Minister is defending the need for a police investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUSTIN TRUDEAU, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: The evidence brought to light by the RCMP cannot be ignored. It leads to one conclusion: it is necessary to disrupt the criminal activities that continue to pose a threat to public safety in Canada.
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That is why we acted, because we will always, first and foremost, stand for the right of Canadians to feel safe and secure in their own country. We will never tolerate the involvement of a foreign government in threatening and killing Canadian citizens on Canadian soil.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: The Indian government releasing a statement which accuses Canada of smearing India for political gain, saying, quote, "The aspersions cast on the High Commissioner are ludicrous and deserve to be treated with contempt."
As the recovery effort continues in a number of states hit by recent hurricanes, certain counties in Florida that were slammed by Hurricane Milton last Wednesday are finally beginning to see a little light at the end of the tunnel. Governor Ron DeSantis says most of the areas struck by the storm have now had power restored. There are still some gas stations, though, without fuel, six days after Milton roared across the state. A number of Floridians dealing with increased anxiety and other mental health struggles after these back-to-back storms.
Meantime, in North Carolina, FEMA has resumed its work, going door to door to reach victims impacted by Hurricane Helene. That work, of course, was paused after the agency received several threats. A man was arrested and charged on Monday after being caught near a relief site, well, in possession of a rifle and a handgun, arrested in charge in connection with those threats.
For the latest on the recovery efforts, my colleague Gabe Cohen joining me now with more. So, there are the recovery efforts. There is also this arrest. Just bring us up to speed on where things stand.
GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. So, Erica, officials in North Carolina just wrapped up a press briefing, going through some of the latest numbers. They've delivered close to $100 million in aid to some of the victims there, particularly in western North Carolina. Nearly 200,000 people across that region have applied for assistance. And as you mentioned, FEMA workers are going door to door today once again, and yet, they are doing so with increased law enforcement presence and security around them. That's because there have been so many concerns about safety and security, the harassment that so many FEMA workers have faced in recent days, especially since Hurricane Helene hit much of the southeast.
We know as well that there was that arrest on Saturday. The Rutherford County Sheriff's Office in North Carolina arrested that 44-year-old who had been making threats to FEMA workers, and then was arrested in a vehicle outside of a relief site where donations had been given out, and he was armed with a rifle and a couple handguns.
And look, it is indicative, Erica, of this boiling point that we have hit, and FEMA is really concerned about the safety of their workers. Take a listen. This is FEMA's Administrator speaking just a little while ago at that press briefing about the misinformation that's flying around.
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DEANNE CRISWELL, FEMA ADMINISTRATOR: The ongoing spread of misinformation about operations is not OK. It has got to stop. And frankly, it's heartbreaking to see words or acts of hatred toward anyone, let alone federal responders who are here to help people in this critical time. So, let me be clear. I take these threats seriously, and the safety of these responders is and will remain a priority for me and my team.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COHEN: Erica, some of the claims might sound ridiculous, these rumors that FEMA is only helping Democrats, not Republicans, that the federal government is going to confiscate victims' land, but there is -- there are these concerns that it could cause delays for the people who are waiting for FEMA assistance, and also, what about the vulnerable people who might buy into those rumors and might not apply for assistance, even though they're entitled to money that could help them get back on their feet.
HILL: Yeah. It's such an important point. Gabe, really appreciate it. Thank you.
For more information about how you can help the victims of Hurricane Helene and Milton, just log on to cnn.com/impact.
We'll be right back.
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[11:40:00]
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HARRIS: Let's be clear that your underlying premise is not an assumption that I'm supposed to have black men in my back pocket in terms of their vote and that I should be taking that for granted because I don't. Black men are no different from anybody else. They expect that you have to earn their vote.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: The Vice President there, in one of her recent interviews with The Shade Room, also was asked questions about former President Trump, pardon me, former President Obama and his pitch to black voters, whether that was the right approach. You heard her talking there a little bit about what she sees as her approach. This is all, of course, these interviews, part of an effort by the campaign to help bring about a more diverse electorate to shore up support for the candidate amid concerns about the erosion of support, specifically among black males, in this battle with Donald Trump. And there is a significant concern in certain states, including the State of Georgia, where early voting is underway today. Both candidates will be making stops there this week. Foreign President Trump headed there today.
CNN's Nick Valencia is live at an Atlanta polling state. Look, this is also one of these states that we are, of course, zeroed in on moving, as we are, in the next three weeks toward Election Day. Things are busy behind you. I have seen a line there almost all morning, and as I understand it, the state is on track to actually set a record today?
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. We are breaking records here. At last check-in, 90,000 people had gone into early vote by the end of it. The Secretary of State's Office believes that by the end of early voting, it will be about 65 percent of the eligible voters. And you would think that the line behind me would be the major story here. But, just about an hour ago, we got a ruling that we were standing by for from Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney that has to do with certification. This was stemming from a lawsuit brought forward by Julie Adams. She is a Republican on the Fulton County Board of Elections, and she made news in the spring by refusing to certify the presidential primary results.
Judge McBurney, though, sending a very clear message in his ruling that certification is mandatory under Georgia law, and this is what he is saying and part of his ruling. "If election superintendents were, as Plaintiff urges, free to play investigator, prosecutor, jury, and judge and so, because of a unilateral determination of error or fraud, refuse to certify election results, Georgia voters would be silenced. Our Constitution and our Election Code do not allow for that to happen."
I mentioned two rulings on certification that we're standing by for, the other having to do with a reasonable inquiry law that was passed earlier this summer by the State Board of Elections here, which Democrats fear could give a rogue election county worker the ability to decline certification. All of that, of course, causing some air of anxiety around voters, but it doesn't seem to be much on the minds of Fred Choi here. Fred, come on in here. You're one of the 90,000 that has voted early. What made you come out here?
FRED CHOI, GEORGIA VOTER: Well, I mean, I don't want to wait till the last day, because they're more flexible for, you know, like early voting, and can just pick a day. I was thinking -- hoping that the line would be short and it would be in and out, like, in 30 minutes or something. But, that didn't happen.
VALENCIA: It was about an hour and 15 minutes, you were telling me.
CHOI: Something like that, yeah, because when I came, the line was pretty short. I thought, like -- I looked at that, I thought, like, tops 30 minutes. But, that wasn't the case. There was a -- they were wrapping around inside, actually.
VALENCIA: We see it snaking around the building here. Can you talk to us about some of the issues that brought you out to vote? We know, clearly, voting is so important for you, doing it early. What are some of the issues that you're voting on?
CHOI: Well, it's definitely the country is very divided. So, to me, it's important to follow my heart, what is important to me and pick the right candidate that can do it.
VALENCIA: The last question, I mentioned -- you heard me talk about all the last minute rules changes from the State Election Board. Did you consider that, or have you talked to any others that are worried about what that could mean, or the impact that could have in 2024?
[11:45:00]
CHOI: Actually, I wasn't even aware of that until you brought it out. So --
VALENCIA: Well, I'm glad there was an easy process for you. Fred Choi, thank you so much for taking the time.
Erica, you remember how hugely consequential Fulton County was in the 2020 election. We'll see if this county has a similar fate in 2024. Erica.
HILL: Absolutely. Nick, appreciate it. Thank you.
Well, the bizarre battle over ballot drop boxes is back, and it's really heating up in the battleground state of Wisconsin, where officials are still fighting over whether to allow the drop boxes in their counties, even though, get this, the absentee ballots have already started going out. Several Republican-run municipalities are opting against using the drop boxes, while they're being embraced in heavily Democratic cities. Critics allege that they could facilitate election fraud.
For more, I want to bring in my colleague Sara Murray. So, those were the concerns, of course. Then there are the realities and the facts of whether there have or have not been fraud. Where does all of this stand?
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. I mean, the reality is that voter fraud is very rare. But, we have seen, from Donald Trump and from many of his allies, huge misinformation, especially around ballot drop boxes. We saw a ton of this around the 2020 election. Trump out there saying that the ballot boxes were being stuffed, that you could just take a ballot box and walk off with it. That's not the reality.
But, what the reality is in some of these communities is that you have local mayors. You have local sheriffs who are not comfortable with these ballot drop boxes. They're worried about voter fraud or the appearance of voter fraud. And so, they're trying to make a decision for their communities that ballot drop boxes shouldn't be offered. And we attended a very feisty city council meeting where a mayor was trying to essentially do away with the community's ballot drop box, and the clerk was saying, look, this isn't your call. This is my call. And we saw very heated arguments from both sides of the aisle. We saw constituents who felt it was really important to keep this ballot box. This was in Wausau, Wisconsin.
And we heard from plenty of others who felt like this was going to be a magnet, again, for ballot stuffing, for voter fraud, for that kind of thing. Ultimately, the drop box lives on in Wausau, Wisconsin. But, as you pointed out, that is not going to be the case in a variety of communities. And the way it works in Wisconsin is it's up to these different municipalities to decide if they're going to offer this drop box option to return ballots or not. So, this is an evolving situation, as you pointed out, even as these absentee ballots have gone out, and it's time to decide whether to return them and how to return them.
HILL: Never a dull moment when covering the state of elections. That is for sure. Sara, appreciate it. Thanks.
October is, of course, Breast Cancer Awareness Month in the United States. After the break, an intimate conversation from my colleague Stephanie Elam, as two of her best friends, including our colleague Sara Sidner, are battling the disease.
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HILL: October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. In the U.S. alone, one in eight women will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in their lifetime, according to the American Cancer Society. It is the second leading cause of cancer death for women. 42,000 women die from breast cancer each year. The numbers are especially sobering, because when breast cancer is caught in its earliest stages, the five-year survival rate is as high as 99 percent, according to experts.
Stephanie Elam is with me now with more on a conversation she had with two of her closest friends battling the disease, including our colleague Sara Sidner. And Steph, this is -- I was really struck by this conversation, and I'm so glad that we can share it with our viewers.
[11:50:00]
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I thank you so much for it, Erica, because it is a very special position to be in watching two of your best friends fighting breast cancer, and I realize there was so much I just didn't know, and I felt like this was a good public service moment, and they were both so willing to open up, and this is especially important because black women are the people who died the most from breast cancer at any age. So, I hope this conversation, a piece of it that you're going to see now, will inspire some people to take their own care into their hands. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANANDA LEWIS, CONTENT CREATOR & FORMER 90S MTV VJ: I'm sorry. Yours was your left, right?
SARA SIDNER, CNN HOST: Yeah.
LEWIS: Mine was the right.
SIDNER: OK.
LEWIS: Little bit different.
(CROSSTALK)
LEWIS: We can mirror each other.
ELAM: It was crazy that we're joking about it. So, what about mammograms? I'll start with you, Ananda. Were you good about getting your mammograms?
LEWIS: No, I wasn't.
ELAM (voice-over): This is Ananda Lewis, and she has breast cancer. She is a content creator who is known for her time hosting BET's Teen Summit in the 90s, being a VJ for MTV and hosting her own talk show in the early 2000s. She is one of my best friends, as is CNN anchor Sara Sidner. She too has breast cancer stage three. Both of them found their lumps on their own. Sara's discovery was just months after a mammogram.
SIDNER: The American Cancer Society does not recommend self-exams anymore. But, to me, if you can tell, you know your body, you have to advocate for yourself so much, and I am terrible at advocating for myself. I will advocate for you. I will advocate --
ELAM: You're actually having to do it for everybody else.
SIDNER: I will. I will fight someone. Like, I am a ride or die bee. So, this has been a real lesson for me to self-advocate.
ELAM (voice-over): Sara had a double mastectomy. Ananda took a different approach. By the time she found a lump in her breast, her cancer had progressed to stage three, and doctors recommended a double mastectomy, but she went against the recommendation.
LEWIS: My plan at first was to get out excessive toxins in my body. I felt like my body is intelligent. I know that to be true. Our bodies are brilliantly made. I decided to keep my tumor and try to work it out of my body a different way. Looking back on it, I go, you know what? Maybe I shouldn't.
ELAM (voice-over): Ananda completely overhauled her diet, improved, her sleep, pursued aggressive homeopathic therapies, along with traditional medicine and radiation. She improved for a long time. She says removing the toxins, physical and emotional, from her body has been beneficial. But, last year, she found out her cancer had metastasized into stage four, which means the cancer spread to other areas.
LEWIS: My lymph system really flared up. And so, all through my abdomen, all those lymphs were very flared up my collarbone, and it was the first time I ever had a conversation with death, because I felt like this is how it ends. I was like, OK. So, I don't get afraid of things. I was just like, fudge, man. I really thought I had this. I was frustrated. I was a little angry at myself. I was -- and I said, man, listen, I know you're coming for me at some point, but I don't want it to be now. And if you could just wait, I promise when you do come, I'm going to make it fun for you.
ELAM: What's interesting me is that you both are saying, is it to appreciate life more now that you're going through this, or is it joy?
SIDNER: Mine is joy. And I didn't realize how little joy I had in my life. Like, I didn't realize that that was not a priority in my life.
LEWIS: My quality of life was very important to me. We've had that conversation before. Like, I -- there is certain things I know I'm not going to be OK with, and I know myself. I want to want to be here. And so, I had to do it a certain way, for me.
SIDNER: The fact that you, like, I want to want to be here, I've had times when I didn't want to be here.
LEWIS: Me too.
SIDNER: Right? And so --
ELAM: You mean in life.
SIDNER: In life, yeah. I didn't want to be here. I didn't want to go through all this --
LEWIS: Because of this, during this --
SIDNER: Before this. And then this journey came along, and it's so weird that it was cancer that was like, I want to be here. I insist on being here. And I insist on thriving, not just being alive, not just existing. I want to thrive in a way that I have never felt before.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ELAM: It's tough to hear your best friend say something like that. But, this is the kind of realness that we had in this conversation for them to really open up and just talk about what this journey has been like, even hating the word battle and saying -- calling it a journey. All of these are some of the topics that we discuss, and the longer version of this conversation, because this is just a snippet of it, will be on CNN's YouTube page later on today, Erica. But, I do hope, if we can just inspire one person, one person to go out there and get an examination and to keep an eye on their breast, to be OK touching themselves and seeing if anything is different, and that gets them to go in and get the treatment they need early, and we saved a life, then I count that as a win.
[11:55:00]
HILL: Oh, absolutely. And as we know, early intervention, early detection is really the key. It can make such a difference. Stephanie, appreciate it. Always good to see you, my friend. Thank you too.
ELAM: Thank you. Thanks, Erica.
HILL: Before we go, for more information, for resources on how you can help those impacted by breast cancer, log on to nationalbreastcancer.org.
Thank you so much for spending part of your day with me. I'm Erica Hill in New York. Stay tuned. Up next here on CNN, One World.
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