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Dark Rhetoric at Trump's Rally at Madison Square Garden; Kamala Harris Campaigns in Pennsylvania; Ceasefire Talks Resume for Gaza; Georgia President Calls for Peaceful Mass Rally Over Election. Japan Ruling Coalition Loses Majority For First Time In 15 Years; Scientists Develop A.I. Algorithm To Decode Pig Sounds; Harris, Trump Locked in Tight Race With 8 Days Left; North Carolina Schools Re-Open One Month After Hurricane. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired October 28, 2024 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAULA NEWTON, CNN HOST: Hello and a very warm welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world and streaming on CNN Max. I'm Paula Newton in New York.

Just ahead, venom and vengeance. Donald Trump delivers his closing arguments with a speech full of dark rhetoric, fear-mongering, and outright lies.

In the Middle East, a new round of ceasefire talks now underway as the toll in Gaza continues to climb.

And the looming political crisis in Georgia. The president announcing the country's recent election results and calling for protests in the streets of Tbilisi.

So Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have eight days left to convince Americans they're the right choice to lead the U.S. for the next four years. CNN's latest national polling average shows little to no daylight. You can see it there between the two candidates. So it'll be a busy week, of course, on the campaign trail as both Harris and Trump barnstorm across the handful of battleground states that experts have been telling us will decide the election.

On Sunday, Trump went back to his hometown of New York City for a massive rally at Madison Square Garden and he was joined by more than a dozen of his most loyal supporters who set a dark tone and a slew of insults in nativist language.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SID ROSNBERG, RADIO HOST: You got homeless and veterans, Americans. Americans sleeping on their own feces on a bench in Central Park. But the (BLEEP) illegals they got whatever they want, don't they?

TONY HINCHCLIFFE, COMEDIAN: There's a lot going on, like I don't know if you guys know this, but there's literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. Yeah. I think it's called Puerto Rico.

(LAUGHTER)

Okay.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Trump took the stage, introduced by his wife Melania in a rare campaign appearance, and continued the theme of ugly rhetoric and untruths.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Over the past four years, Kamala Harris has orchestrated the most egregious betrayal that any leader in American history has ever inflicted upon our people. She has violated her oath, eradicated our sovereign border, and unleashed an army of migrant gangs who are waging a campaign of violence and terror against our citizens. There has never been anything like it anywhere in the world for any country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Kamala Harris took more of a grassroots approach to campaigning on Sunday. She spent the day in the battlegrounds state of Pennsylvania, visiting several Philadelphia neighborhoods, and pitching her message to Gen Z voters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: You know, you are rightly impatient for change. You are rightly impatient. You who have only known the climate crisis, you are leaders in what we need to do to protect our planet.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

You who grew up with active shooter drills, do you know what we have to do to fight for safety in our school.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: CNN reporters are on the campaign trail covering all the action. Priscilla Alvarez is with the Harris campaign in Pennsylvania, but first to our Kristen Holmes with Donald Trump in New York City.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Former President Donald Trump spoke to a packed house at Madison Square Garden in New York, giving what was his traditional campaign speech, filled with quite a few falsehoods, particularly when it came to immigration, just to go over a few of the things that he said. He talked about the fact that criminal migrants were pouring in across the border from prisons and insane asylums.

Just to be clear, that's something CNN has fact-checked on a number of occasions, and found that even the campaign couldn't give any examples of that happening. He talked about how Venezuelan gangs were taking over all of America, and in particular, Aurora, Colorado. I will say as somebody who was with him in that rally at Aurora, Colorado, there was an incident at an apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado. We have spoken to a number of state and local officials who have said that it was completely blown out of proportion. Actually, the rhetoric around it was creating more problems for the community.

[02:04:57]

He also talked about immigration in general in Springfield, Illinois, saying that a load of illegal immigrants were dropped into Springfield, Illinois. One thing we can say, or excuse me, Springfield, Ohio. One thing we can say that we know is that most of the people who are on the ground in Springfield are here legally through a specific program of the Department of Homeland Security.

In addition to that, he talked about the hurricane response to Helene, something that he's talked about a lot, saying that there were no federal officials on the ground, that no one could be seen, nobody was helping, that we know not to be true for both Republicans and Democrats on the ground who have described it as a helpful response, particularly the federal response.

He also said that FEMA didn't have enough money to help with disaster response. They do because they had moved all of their money to help with migrant housing. That is not true. FEMA has multiple pots of money. One of them is for disaster relief. Another is for migrant housing. But it's a congressional allotment, meaning that money from migrant housing cannot be taken and used for disaster relief and same not vice versa.

So the other thing that he talked about foreign policy, he said without any evidence or proof that neither Russia would have invaded Ukraine while he's in office or the October 7th terrorist attacks in Israel. They said that both of those things would have never happened if he was in office. But all in all, it was his traditional campaign speech.

And I will say that despite using this dark, fear-based rhetoric on immigration, the crowd here, a full house at Madison Square Garden, was incredibly receptive to this rhetoric. It's unsurprising that we learned that Donald Trump, who believes that this kind of rhetoric helped propel him to the White House in 2016, is also of the belief that it could help him again in 2024. And if you base it just on this crowd tonight, he might have a point.

People were standing up. They were using applause lines for several of these various points, particularly the darkest points when it came to immigration. Now, one thing I do just want to quickly point out is what happened before the rally because as somebody who has attended dozens of these Trump rallies, the pre-show rhetoric before Donald Trump took the stage was some of the darkest rhetoric, I've ever heard at one of these rallies.

They were name calling. I just want to point out some of the things that we heard from these speakers ahead of time. One person called Kamala Harris the anti-Christ and the devil. Another person said, referred to Puerto Rico as a floating island of garbage, something that has received massive backlash from both Democrats and Republicans. Another person referred to illegal immigrants as effing illegals. Someone else said Hillary Clinton was a, quote, "sick bastard." And that is just the actual specifics.

We also heard a lot of nativist rhetoric talking about how America is for Americans only and that type of thing. It is clear that this is the tone that Donald Trump's team, Donald Trump's campaign is setting because keep in mind what this event was. This was the kickoff of the final week of the campaign before voters' head to the polls on November 5th. Kristen Holmes, CNN, New York.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday visiting battleground Pennsylvania to try to mobilize voters in the final push to Election Day. The VICE PRESIDENT blitzing around the Philadelphia area over the course of the day, starting with a church service for a predominantly Black church, then a barber shop, followed by a bookstore, and then a Puerto Rican restaurant. All of that intended to support Black and Latino voters as her team tries to lock in her coalition.

But similarly, they are trying to fortify the Blue Wall, which includes Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan, what her team sees as the most favorable path to 270 electoral votes. And here at a community center in Philadelphia, the vice president stressing the stakes of the election, saying it is, quote, "one of the most consequential elections of our lifetime."

And then also talking about some of the broader themes of her campaign around unity, saying that her team has been trying to build a broad coalition to unify Americans. Now, the vice president also speaking directly to young voters and young leaders. And then urging those in the crowd to vote and encourage those around them to do the same, noting that Pennsylvania holds extra significance and is the path to victory.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: I'm very excited about the reports that we're getting about enthusiasm here in Philadelphia. And to your point, Philadelphia is a very important part of our path to victory. And it is the reason I'm spending time here, have been spending time here. But I'm feeling very optimistic about the enthusiasm that is here and the commitment that folks of every background have to vote and to really invest in the future of our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now Sunday's stop in Pennsylvania or multiple stops in Pennsylvania will kick off a blitz over the course of the week as ahead of Election Day as her and her team try to hit all the battleground states and shore up support. Priscilla Alvarez, CNN, Philadelphia.

NEWTON: Caroline Heldman is a political scientist and democratic strategist and she joins us now from Los Angeles.

[02:10:00]

Really good to see you. As this thing continues to really surprise so many. Now, I caution everyone, look, we really have to throw conventional wisdom out the window and zero in on why such dark and divisive rhetoric would be center stage at Madison Square Garden and clearly Trump and his advisors believe that this kind of campaigning will work.

CAROLINE HELDMAN, PROFESSOR, OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE: And Paula, it just does, right? This is fear-mongering in politics. This works relatively well and certainly has been Trump's bread and butter. And I've been to a lot of Trump rallies. I've been watching his rallies as we all have for years. I've never seen anything like the darkness and the vulgarity and the open racism and xenophobia of this rally.

His warmup speaker called Puerto Rico an island of trash. This is on the heels of Donald Trump now referring to the United States as a trash can, meaning that immigrants are coming here. So what is the trash? Immigrants. So this really unsettling, dehumanizing language. We know that dehumanizing a group of people is the first step in violence toward that group. So, it was startling to hear his closing pitch, but it really resonates well with his base.

NEWTON: We say it resonates with his base, but he has had some traction as well with voters of color, whether they be Latinos or African-Americans. This is different than 2016, isn't it?

HELDMAN: It's very different than 2016, but Trump is still relying on low propensity voters, meaning voters who don't commonly show up to the polls are showing up to the polls for him. And one interesting thing is he does seem to have a ceiling. So that 83 million Americans have voted for him, but about 91 million have turned out to vote against him in various elections and so the question is whether or not Trump can get that turn out.

And what we're seeing in terms of the melt (ph) for Harris is not with Black and Latino voters' writ large. It's specifically with mostly younger Black and Latino men. And I think, you know, we can very easily look at this and say that biases against women in leadership positions is driving this. We know that in general there's about a 13 point bias or 13 percent of Americans say they are angry or afraid of the idea of a woman in the White House.

And with Kamala Harris being a woman of color, I'm always worried looking at the polls that they're not going to be accurate as they weren't for Clinton. There were just a whole lot of folks who said, yeah, I'm going to turn out and vote for her. And they got on the voting booth and they didn't. It was very much driven by sexism.

NEWTON: You know, Melania Trump made an unexpected appearance at the rally today. She hasn't been really on the campaign at all. Let's take a listen to her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MELANIA TRUMP, FORMER U.S. FIRST LADY: This town has produced America's most fearless leaders, whose mark changed the course of the world. New York City and America needs their magic back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Needs heir magic back. I mean, you had mentioned it as well, look, there is a gender gap here as well. Do you believe that she could help her husband in the next few days with conservative leaning women who really do not admire her husband but may vote for him anyway?

HELDMAN: Yeah, that's a great point, Paula. I mean they're definitely trying to route at the end of this campaign. T is the first time she's spoken, right, that it's just surprising to see Melania. I think she softens him. She is an immigrant so maybe some of that anti-immigrant rhetoric, certainly appealing to Republican women.

And Harris, this happening at a time where Harris is openly trying to peel off Republican women by saying look, your vote is anonymous. Your husband's not going to know. And she's mostly using reproductive freedom and rights to do that. So I think it's a very wise move to put Melania on the campaign trail for this last push.

NEWTON: I want to go to Kamala Harris now. She's had some spirited rallies in recent days. That was after weeks of very little media exposure. I mean, she's out there now. But I have to ask you, do you believe that perhaps it came too late? That she really should have put herself out there on all kinds of platforms much earlier?

HELDMAN: Well, that's the big question, right? They have been so careful and can curating her for the first month or so and she only had just under three months to get this done. What we do know is that the more voters are exposed to Kamala Harris, whether it is through a podcast, social media or a live -- perform a live rally, the better they like her, and this is consistent.

So, yes, I think in retrospect maybe getting her out sooner would have been better mostly because people like her when they see her. They like what she has to say. And I think that the hope and the optimism is a very stark contrast to Donald Trump's kind of doom and gloom.

[02:14:59]

NEWTON: Yeah, indeed it is. I don't have a lot of time left, but one thing that surprised me was the golf (ph) between the college-educated Americans voting for Vice President Harris. It really is a wide golf (ph), even bigger than it was with Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden. Is that a group that she will really be counting on to show up? And that might be what takes her over the line.

HELDMAN: Well, that's why this is so unpredictable. Yeah, they are high propensity voters, folks with college degrees, and they do tend to turn out to vote at rates over 90 percent so she's very much relying on that. So as she's losing Black and Latin male support, she's gaining support with independent republican women and she's gaining support with more educated voters. So, it is really anybody's guess as to what's going to happen on November 5th.

NEWTON: Yeah, and I think that's the one truism, right? If anyone tells you they know how this is going to go, they may just be lying to you. Yeah. Caroline Hellman, thank you so much. We'll leave it there.

HELDMAN: Thank you.

NEWTON: Now we're learning a new round of Gaza ceasefire and hostage release talks have now kicked off in Doha, a diplomat told CNN on Sunday. Those high-level negotiations have now begun. That is for the first time in more than two months. Top negotiators from the U.S., Israel, and Qatar will be working to reach a deal, as U.S. officials argue for renewed momentum following Israel's killing of Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar.

Egypt, which has long played a role as a key mediator in those talks, is proposing an initial two-day ceasefire. For now, there remains no end in sight in the war in Gaza. On Sunday, Israel's military claimed it targeted Hamas in an airstrike on a school near Gaza City. Gaza's civil defense says several people were killed in a place where hundreds of displaced people were sheltering. This as the conflict in Lebanon also rages on. CNN's Jim Sciutto reports now from Jerusalem.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF U.S. SECURITY ANALYST: We had multiple reminders today that the war in the region is a war on multiple fronts, and arguably each of those fronts is getting hotter, or at least not cooling down. Today, Israeli authorities are describing a truck that hit a bus stop just north of Tel Aviv as a terror attack that killed one person, injured more than 30 others, one in a series of terror attacks we've seen in recent weeks here in Israel.

There was also a stabbing attack targeting soldiers today. In addition to that, the IDF announced today the deaths of six Israeli soldiers, one of them from ongoing fighting in Gaza, five others from fighting in southern Lebanon, two other fronts of course of this war. And then sources tell me today that as part of the Israel strike on Iran overnight on Friday and into early Saturday morning, a strike that involved some 100 Israeli warplanes, that some of those warplanes breached Iranian airspace during that attack. Not all of those warplanes, but some of them.

And that shows a significant Israeli capability to strike far away at Iran, hundreds of miles away, an operation that requires refueling in the air for many of these fighters, but also in the course of it to take out Iranian air defenses and in this case, breach Iranian airspace. So you have all those fronts, in Lebanon, in Gaza, between directly Israel and Iran, and of course a front you might call it here inside Israel, ongoing terror attacks in this country, and in each case, them getting more dangerous, not less so. And of course these are developments we continue to follow. Jim Sciutto, CNN, Jerusalem.

NEWTON: After the break, the president of Georgia is calling for protests amid an election dispute while she alleges Russia is involved. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [02:20:00]

NEWTON: Georgia's pro-Western president is calling for peaceful protests in the hours ahead over Saturday's disputed parliamentary election. Now, the former Soviet republic's leader says the election was a, quote, "complete falsification" and alleges Russia is behind it. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SALOME ZOURABICHVILI, PRESIDENT OF GEORGIA (through translation): We were not just witnesses but also victims of what can only be described as a Russian special operation, a new form of hybrid warfare waged against our people and our country. As the last independent institution in this country, I must clearly state that I do not recognize these elections. Recognizing them would be tantamount to legitimizing Russia's takeover of Georgia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: The ruling Georgian Dream Party's leader claimed victory, though, before all the votes were counted amid reports of voter intimidation, harassment, bribery and ballot stuffing. One former U.S. representative says there was an atmosphere of fear during the entire election.

Joining us now out of the Georgian capital of Tbilisi is Jill Dougherty. She's an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and a former CNN Moscow bureau chief. Jill, so when we were speaking yesterday, we were waiting to see what the actual reaction would be. We just heard from the president, and her comments were quite dramatic, but also, she included that call to action. So what are we expecting in the hours ahead?

JILL DOUGHERTY, ADJUNCT PROFESSOR, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: Well, I think there are three things. Number one, the opposition, which is definitely led by the president, is saying, we are not going to accept the results of this election. Then also, they're calling, as you mentioned, for a rally, peaceful rally on the main street here in Tbilisi tonight at 7:00 p.m. local.

And then they are also saying that they are going to boycott any parliament that would be created. And because of this election, of course, that parliament could be dominated, would be dominated, by the Georgian Dream Party.

[02:24:58]

So there are essentially three things. But I can tell you, Paula, it was really a dramatic day yesterday because the opposition was gathering together, trying to figure out their strategy. And they are supported, you could say, by international observers who also held numerous press conferences yesterday explaining some of the things that went on during the election. And as CNN has been reporting, there were there were a lot of violations, there are actually is video of some of them and they are calling upon the international community to take a stand.

We've got some statements from the U.S. government and others supporting this, but I think it's a dramatic moment as a showdown. It literally is a showdown, but not clear what the opposition can do other than at this point counting on the international community and having that rally tonight.

NEWTON: Yeah, and as you've mentioned to us before, the fact that the opposition is in some way, shape or form showing unity here is important. You also mentioned international observers, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken also set out a statement. But I'm wondering, whether it's the United States, the E.U. or other people who were there in terms of observing this. What kind of leverage do they really have to influence anything?

DOUGHERTY: Well, I think if you look at the United States and Europe, it's essentially sanctions against individuals here in Georgia and, you know, generally against the government to try to convince it that it should not be doing this. But it is difficult, because it's quite obvious that the government and the Georgian Dream Party, which is the ruling party, want to stay in power. And that's why I think I was quite struck by the language yesterday about the Russian operation, you know, hybrid warfare.

That's really raising, you know, the level here of accusing Russia directly of interfering. And why Russia? Of course, it's important, because the government itself has been parroting things that Russia is saying, warning Georgians, for example, you know, if you want to have what is happening in Ukraine, then that's what could happen unless you stick with us. It's messaging, its propaganda, and other ways of influencing Georgians.

NEWTON: Yeah, and we will wait to see what transpires in the coming hours. Really good to have you there. Jill Dougherty for us in Tbilisi. Appreciate it.

Still to come for us, Japan's new prime minister says he won't step down after a snap election delivers bitter results for his ruling party. More on how Shigeru Ishiba is reacting. That's straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:31:15]

PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR: Japan has been plunged into political uncertainty after the ruling coalition lost its majority for the first time in 15 years.

Now, new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba faces some tough decisions. They'll have to team up with other smaller parties or risk ruling through a minority government.

CNN's Marc Stewart is following the story, live from Beijing.

Now good to see you, Marc.

Japan's prime minister was hoping for a mandate. He obviously didn't get one, but this really is creating quite a bit of turmoil.

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Paula, and I think one of the big headlines first and foremost, the fact that the prime minister within the last hour or so said that he is not going to step down and that he's going to fulfill his duties, and before we look to the next steps, he said that at this point, this is a moment for introspection and reflection. In fact, to use his words, this defeat is something that needs to be taken seriously and solemnly, he says this is the party receive very harsh judgment from the people of Japan.

With that said, he does have issues he wants to attack and power through and how to do that without a coalition, he is going to have to he and his colleagues are going to have to meet with leaders of other political factions within the Diet, that's the Japanese legislature, to try to win support.

There are really two big issues that they are going to have to deal with. One is the Japanese economy. The yen still continues to be weak, inflation is high and the economic outlook is still very uncertain. So there's going to have to be work done on that front of which he is going to have to try to get some kind of consensus.

And then, two, the government also has to do a cleanup act of sorts after a political scandal in which some lawmakers were accused of taking kickbacks and not properly disclosing their true income so there are those two issues that he desperately wants to tackle. That's in addition to maintaining a strong relationship with the United States.

The Japan American relationship important. One, because America, the United States provides military -- has a military agreement fort for Japan and second of all, through treaties. And then second of all, in recent months, in the last year or so, we've really have seen the relationship between Japan and South Korea strengthen. The United States certainly has encouraged that, especially amid some of the political uncertainty from where I am here in China.

So those are his mandates for the future. Whether or not he is going to be able to win the support from -- from lawmakers and supporters outside that coalition is going to be the broader challenge. Paula, I should point that at this point, it seems that this decision by the voters is being met with acceptable response.

Japan's Nikkei is up about 2 percent and as you know, as someone who follows the markets like me, arise about 2 percent is significant, it is telling so perhaps this is the reboot that so many people had felt was necessary perhaps is actually happening.

NEWTON: Yeah, certainly, a signal from the voters that they wanted to shake things up here and challenge the status quo. And as you just pointed out, the markets so far seem to indicate it may actually be a good thing.

Marc Stewart for us, really appreciate it. Now, Bolivia's former president, Evo Morales, says he was the target

of an assassination attempt on Sunday. In this video, Morales is in the passenger seat of a car. He says he was headed to a radio station where he hosts the weekend program when for hooded officers, open fire you can see what appear to be bullet holes in the car's windshield.

Morales says 14 bullets hit the car, in fact, his driver was wounded in the head and the arm. Morales himself was not hurt not. Morales was Bolivia's first indigenous president. He led the country for more than a decade before claiming he was forced out in a coup and fled to Mexico return to Bolivia in 2020. He's now running for reelection against his former ally, Bolivia's current president, Luis Arce. Morales blames, in fact, his former opponent for Sunday's attack. He has not provided evidence though, for that accusation.

And we will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:38:47]

NEWTON: Okay, stay with me on this one. It looks like pigs are still a long way from flying, but thank scientists in Europe, they are that much closer to talking.

Our Anna Stewart has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Does this indicate happiness, discomfort, or stress? With the help of A.I., European scientists developed an algorithm that may just be capable of decoding pigs noises, as well as keeping farmers updated on their pigs' well- being.

They develop the A.I. algorithm, scientists collected thousands of recordings of pig sounds in various scenarios, including play, isolation, and competition for food.

Once collected, they were placed in a database.

ELODIE MANDEL-BRIEFER, BIOLOGIST, UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN: We had this huge database of calls that are producing specific emotions in specific contexts by many different peaks and kinds of peaks.

STEWART: Scientists found shot grunts typically signal positive emotions. Long grunts often indicate discomfort. Screams or squeals could show stress.

MANDEL-BRIEFER: We developed A.I., so -- artificial intelligence that could tell us -- be trained to tell us if the calls that we recorded where emotionally positive or negative.

[02:40:11]

STEWART: The study of animal emotions is a relatively new field. It highlights the importance of livestock's mental health to that overall wellbeing. Most welfare strategies today focused only on the animal's physical health.

MANDEL-BRIEFER: And now the explosions of A.I. methods, it actually becomes more and more easy to do these things.

Scientists hope this tool will be developed into an app for farmers' phones, helping to translate what pigs are saying in terms of their emotions.

Anna Stewart, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: OK. Imagine being called a discount Timothee Chalamet and finding yourself -- yeah, face-to-face with the real thing, the real celebrity. That's what happened in New York City Sunday where the "Dune" actor crashed his own look-alike contests.

Look at that. Fans went completely nuts when Chalamet surprised his doppelgangers. According to variety, more than 2,500 people, RSVP to the event. The winner was awarded $50 in the form of a giant check made out to "Best Tim". It's not clear how the real Tim felt about that.

Okay. L.A. Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani is expected to play in game three of the World Series on Monday, despite injuring his shoulder during game 2 on Saturday. Ohtani was hurt while trying to steal second base in the bottom of the seventh inning. Team manager Dave Roberts says Ohtani will have to go through this team workout and batting practice, but doesn't see a reason to bench Ohtani if he can play through his pain. It is the World Series after all, right?

The Dodgers currently have to nothing lead over the New York Yankees in the best of seven series.

I want to thank you for joining us. I'm Paula Newton in New York. For international viewers, "WORLD SPORT" is next. For our viewers in the United States and Canada, I'll be back with more CNN NEWSROOM after a short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:46:46]

NEWTON: We're only eight days now from the U.S. election. And Kamala Harris and Donald Trump remain statistically dead even, with polls still showing no clear leader.

Now the former U.S. president kicked off his final week of campaigning at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, where he repeated his dark rhetoric on immigration and attacked his political rival.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Now, the fate of our nation is in your hands. Next Tuesday, you have to stand up and you have to tell Kamala Harris that you've done a terrible job, that crooked Joe Biden has done a terrible job. You've destroyed our country. We're not going to take it anymore. Kamala, you're fired! Get out, get out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Harris, in fact, plans to give her closing argument on the National Mall in Washington on Tuesday. It's been held at the same place where Trump spoke on January 6 before his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.

Meantime, Trump's running mate, J.D. Vance, sat down with CNN's Jake Tapper for what turned into be a very contentious interview. Tapper asked Vance about Trump's former chief of staff John Kelly's comments that Trump fits the general definition of fascist.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST, STATE OF THE UNION: So, let me ask, you.

Obviously, Trump former Chief of Staff General John Kelly...

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Sure.

TAPPER: ... was alarmed, he says, by what he heard when Trump said he wanted to use the National Guard or the Pentagon to go after the enemy within, Americans with whom he disagrees, including the Pelosis, Adam Schiff.

And then he gave an interview. He said that Trump -- quote -- "certainly falls into the general definition of fascist," that he is -- quote -- "certainly an authoritarian, admires people who are dictators."

You've called him a disgruntled former employee.

VANCE: I actually think there's a -- there's an interesting conversation here to have, Jake, which is, why does John Kelly not support Donald Trump? It's about policy. It's not about personality.

TAPPER: No, he says he agrees with Trump on most policy.

VANCE: No.

TAPPER: He agrees with Trump on most policy.

VANCE: The fundamental --

TAPPER: He disagrees with Trump on how Trump views his role and his -- and the fascism and the authoritarianism.

VANCE: I don't -- I don't buy that. Jake. I don't buy that, because if you actually look at John Kelly, at folks like Liz Cheney, the fundamental disagreement they have with Donald Trump is, even though they say that they're conservative, they're conservative in the sense that they want America to get involved in a ton of ridiculous military conflicts.

They want America to police the world and Donald Trump wasn't.

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: John Kelly lost a son in Afghanistan. Why are you saying that -- he -- like, I've never heard John Kelly say whether he supports Iran or Afghanistan.

VANCE: His -- and I -- and I honor his son's sacrifice and I honor his family sacrifice. That doesn't mean he is not wrong about policy.

Absolutely.

TAPPER: It's not like these are conservative...

(CROSSTALK)

VANCE: Absolutely. Absolutely, that's my argument. Jake, all of these people...

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: These aren't conservative Republicans who are concerned about Donald Trump? They're not? That's not right?

(CROSSTALK)

VANCE: All of these people, Jake, they came into office thinking that they could control Donald Trump, that when he said he wanted peace in the world...

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: Mike Pence thought he could control Donald Trump?

VANCE: Yes, he did.

TAPPER: Really?

VANCE: And when he found out that he couldn't, they all turned on Donald Trump. And a lot of them got fired. And we are running and we're trying to staff the government with people who are going to govern according to principles of peace and prosperity.

TAPPER: Let me ask you...

VANCE: They're pissed off about it.

[02:50:01]

TAPPER: Let me ask you, because we're being told that we're over.

VANCE: Yes.

One more question, because we have to go to this rally. TAPPER: Yes. Yes.

You are running to be vice president of the United States.

VANCE: Of course.

TAPPER: And there is a 50/50 chance, maybe better, I don't know, that you're going to succeed. Are you running to be vice president of the United States or are you running to be vice president of the red states?

Because if you win, and there's a decent chance you will, you're going to be vice president of childless cat ladies. You're going to be vice president of legal Haitian -- Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio. You're going to be their vice president, too.

Are you running to do that?

VANCE: Jake, of course, I'm running to be the vice president of all Americans. I'm running because I want people to be able to afford a good life in this country.

You know how I grew up. You know that I grew up in a family where things were often tough. I want, whether you're in a blue state or a red state, whether you're going to vote for Trump or you're going to vote for Harris, I want you to be able to have a good life in this country.

But that's not going to happen with the broken leadership in Washington, D.C.

Let me give you a statistic, Jake, because here is what the leadership of people like Kamala Harris and Nancy Pelosi and, yes, Mike Pence, over 30 years in this country has led to.

A person with a bachelor's degree lives seven years longer than a person without a bachelor's degree. There are a lot of people who have gotten rich and powerful off -- off of American decline. Some of them have had R's next to their name. Some of them have had D's next to their name.

And the first person who I believe is really putting the interest of the American people first is Donald J. Trump. So, yes, we're going to be the president and the vice president for all people.

The only way to do that is to reject the failed consensus.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Now, Vance also defended Trumps attacks on quote, the enemy within saying there were, they were directed at what he called, quote, far left lunatics who may riot if Trump wins the election.

"The Washington Post" is facing backlash for its decision to stop endorsing us presidential candidates, and that's just days before the election. People are canceling their subscriptions over it and some staff are speaking out against their employer or even resigning.

CNN's Brian Stelter has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Hey, there. Yeah, "The Washington Post" PR nightmare does not seem to be going away anytime soon. This all started on Friday when "The Post" publisher William Lewis announced that the paper it would not endorse a presidential candidate this year or in the future.

Now, this stemmed from a decision by the post billionaire owner, Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, who said he did not want to publish the drafted endorsement of Kamala Harris, that the editorial writers had already prepared. Bezos did not read the editorial, did not want to know what was in it. You decided the paper should not be endorsing anyone.

This may be a very innocent desire to strive for neutrality and independence, but to announce this just a few days really, on the eve of a presidential election, raised a lot of eyebrows both inside and outside "The Post".

Thousands of subscribers have canceled their subscriptions in the past, a couple of days as a result and a "Post" editor at large and a colonist have both resigned in protest. Other editorial board members and columnist have signed onto a letter criticizing the decision and the criticism really is all about the following. It's about the concern that Bezos might be trying to cave to Trump and curry favor with the former and possibly future president.

Scholars who study authoritarianism described this as anticipatory obedience. The idea that people in power will try to obey in advance, trying to predict what an authoritarian leader might want, and then go ahead and give in ahead of time. That is exactly what some "Post" columnist and even some hosts reporters are worried has happened in this case.

But we've not heard from Bezos directly. My attempts to gain comment from Bezos have gone unanswered. Instead, we've heard from the publisher, as I mentioned, Will Lewis, he's been the face of the decision. In a new statement on Sunday, he refuted a claim that there was a quid pro quo between Bezos and Trump.

Here's what Lewis said, quote: The decision the end presidential endorsements was made entirely internally and neither campaign nor candidate was given a heads-up or consulted in any way at any level.

That's important information, but it doesn't dispel the larger concern that I'm seeing from "Post" readers. If you look on "The Washington Post" website, you'll see lots of comments from readers who are worried that Bezos might be giving into Trump, even before Election Day, even before we know the results of the election. That's the concern that's going to basically hang over "The Post" for the foreseeable future. And as I said, this nightmare is not going away anytime soon. The

editorial page editor is supposed to meet with his staff on Monday afternoon for what will likely be a very tense meeting.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: One month after Hurricane Helene washed out roads and flooded some North Carolina town, some schools are now restoring power and water and students are getting ready to go back to class.

CNN's Rafael Romo reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, for some of the people that I've been in touch with this is a sign of hope, although they realize full recovery for Asheville and all the devastated areas in western North Carolina is going to take much longer.

[02:55:07]

In the city of Asheville, classes resume tomorrow, but on a modified schedule and no after-school programs.

Asheville City School superintendent Maggie Fehrman told CNN on Sunday that none of their schools were damaged in the storm and will have electricity, internet, and running water.

Asheville is in Buncombe County, but operates an independent city school system.

Buncombe County's students went back to school Friday. Schools are on a two two-hour delay and drinking water is being delivered just as Asheville schools are doing because what's coming out of the pipes is not yet safe for drinking.

Another challenge is that many students and staff were personal affected by the storm as a superintendent told us earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. MAGGIE FEHRMAN, SUPERINTENDENT, ASHEVILLE CITY SCHOOLS: We have several students that lost family members. We have staff members who lost family members. I think the most tragic was one of our staff members lost 11 members of her family in the Craigtown area and that is just completely devastating for her for and for our whole community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper reminded people over the weekend that Helene was the deadliest and most damaging storm ever to hit North Carolina, killing at least 98 people, more than 100,000 people had their homes damaged, the governor said, and thousands of businesses that were damaged to have yet to reopen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ROY COOPER (D), NORTH CAROLINA: They're going to need our help collectively. They're going to need local government, state government, the federal government, the private sector, the volunteers, the non-profits all pulling together, so that western North Carolina can build back in a stronger way, more resilient way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: Governor Cooper also said that the total damage caused by the storm is estimated at $53 billion. He made those remarks at a press conference before the beginning of a benefit concert highlighting some of country music biggest stars, like North Carolina natives, Eric Church and Luke Combs, and others like Sheryl Crow and Keith Urban. All proceeds from the concert will be used for storm relief efforts.

Rafael Romo, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: I want to thank you for your company this hour. I'm Paula Newton. I'll be back with more CNN NEWSROOM after a short break.