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Philadelphia DA Files Lawsuit on Musk's $1M Giveaway; Trump and Harris to Visit North Carolina; Trump Ramps Up Anti-Migrant Rhetoric; Trump's Most Extreme Closing Argument Rhetoric; Washington Post Not Endorsing Presidential Candidate. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired October 28, 2024 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: Just in to CNN, the Philadelphia District Attorney just filed a lawsuit to halt Elon Musk's $1 million daily giveaway to voters in election battleground states. Paula Reid joins us now. Paula, this is fascinating, what are you learning?

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: It really is fascinating, Jim. As you know, Musk's PAC has been doing this daily lottery in battleground states where all you have to do to enter is sign a petition in support of the First and Second Amendment, but it is only open to register voters. And there have been questions about whether this is sort of an illegal inducement to encourage people to register to vote.

Now, last week, Musk received a warning from the Justice Department that this could violate federal law. He ignored that warning and continued doing this lottery. And this is the first legal challenge that has been filed against this controversial program. And here this has been filed by the Philadelphia district attorney. It's a civil suit alleging that Musk is violating consumer protection laws.

Now, Musk has insisted that he is not here trying to induce anyone to register to vote. Most legal experts, Jim, say this falls really in a gray area. There have been a lot of lawsuits over the years about what exactly it means to induce someone to register to vote or to vote. It's found that you can, for example, give someone a ride to the polls, but you can't give them a cash or booze.

So, here, it's unclear how this will proceed in terms of the legality. But of course, politically, we know this is likely going to devolve into a messaging war between a progressive district attorney and one of Trump's top surrogates was almost firing back against the Justice Department last week. And I would expect a similar response to the civil lawsuit as well.

ACOSTA: Yes, I was going to ask if Musk's team has responded at this point, what are we hearing?

REID: I have not seen that response to this lawsuit. But in the past, again, they have insisted that they are not inducing anyone to vote or to register to vote. So, though lottery is only open to those who are registered to vote. And of course, they are focusing on battleground states. And I will say half of the $9 million that Musk has given away, half of that, has gone to voters in the State of Pennsylvania, and we all know that Pennsylvania is really arguably the most significant state in the Electoral College right now, really essential for Vice President Harris if she wants to win the Electoral College.

So, it'll be really interesting to see what the courts do with this civil suit, because again, it falls in this gray area, but there's also sort of this proxy war between the Trump camp and progressive politicians at play here as well.

ACOSTA: All right. Paul Reid, thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Coming up as both candidates get ready to visit North Carolina this week, I'll speak to former Governor Pat McCrory on the messages that will resonate the most with voters. There he is right there. We'll talk to him just a few minutes. Stay with us.

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[10:35:00]

ACOSTA: All right. With just over a week to go until Election Day, Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are crisscrossing the country, making their final push to voters in key swing states, that includes North Carolina, where early voting is well underway.

Democrats are hopeful that Harris can deliver the state for the first time to Democrats since 2008, as Trump, who won there in 2016 and 2020, continues to ramp up his divisive anti-immigrant rhetoric with just days remaining until Election Day.

With me now is former Republican Governor of North Carolina, Pat McCrory. Governor, good to see you as always. Really appreciate your time. You, we've been asking about this event at Madison Square Garden last night for the former president. There were these racist attacks aimed American citizens of Puerto Rico, we should note they are American citizens, and more talks of an enemy from within from the former president. How is that going to play in North Carolina?

FMR. GOV. PAT MCCRORY (R-NC) AND FORMER MAYOR OF CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA: Right now, I don't think anyone's paying attention to Madison Square Garden, North Carolina. In fact, we had 85,000 people at the Carolina Panther football stadium trying to raise money for the hurricane relief. And that's still the big issue.

The question, I think, for North Carolina is not going to be the issues, it's who's going to come out and vote and which candidates going to bring out their voter? And in Western North Carolina, will everyone who's been impacted by this hurricane have access to voting? And it's kind of interesting, in a political sense, Asheville is very blue. The rural areas of the mountains are very red. So, it's going to be interesting how both sides play that.

I think the other big issue in North Carolina is what I call the COVID transplant vote. Since the last presidential election, we've had tens of thousands of people moved to North Carolina because of COVID because you could work anywhere you want. So, a lot of people have moved from New York and Pennsylvania and the Northeast and even California to North Carolina and some of the other Sunbelt states, which could be crucial states.

The question is, who are they going to vote for? And what type of voter are they? We really don't have data on them at this point in time. So, it's going to be very, very interesting and very close to North Carolina.

[10:40:00]

ACOSTA: Yes. I guess, Governor, I asked how you thought it might play in North Carolina. How does it play with you when you hear so-called comedian warming up an audience at Madison Square Garden saying things that Puerto Rico is an island of garbage and trash and so on, which is -- it could be further from the truth?

MCCRORY: It's --

ACOSTA: It's disgraceful.

MCCRORY: It's just a bad joke. And what makes me -- it's a bad joke. And what makes me really furious is the campaign commercials in North Carolina from both Democrats and Republicans for all the races are getting desperate. I mean, it's just -- they're just throwing everything at the TV set and the internet, and we're just getting bombarded. There's no place to breathe here.

Listen, I've been in this game for a long time. I saw commercials against me during the last week of many of my campaigns and I decided to vote against me. I mean, that's how bad the commercials and the negativity. And I think, right now, people are ignoring a lot of the information and they've already decided how to vote. The question is, will they vote?

ACOSTA: Yes. Do you think somebody like General John Kelly, the former White House chief of staff, coming out and essentially warning the American people that he views Donald Trump as a fascist, that he is absolutely against some of the rhetoric that Trump has used out on the campaign trail, talking about an enemy from within. How did that sit with you when you heard that?

MCCRORY: I hate the terms fascist by either candidate. I hear Trump calling the vice president a fascist and vice versa. I just think it's ridiculous. I think our constitution is stronger than any of them. And I don't think the rhetoric's going to sway one vote or another.

Another swing vote in North Carolina is going to be, what are the, what we call Nikki Haley voters going to do regarding their vote in North Carolina? South Carolina -- you know, Charlotte's right next to the South Carolina border. It's going to be interesting also how they vote, and that could make or break the election for either candidate.

ACOSTA: Well, I was going to ask you about that because I do wonder about what some wavering Republicans, centrist Republicans, Nikki Haley Republicans, as they've been called, might do in this election because there's been a lot of talk about Republican numbers up in early voting in certain places around the country. I suppose one of the things we don't know is what sliver of those voters might be voting against the former president. Is that possible? And are you seeing that dynamic at play in North Carolina? Are there Nikki Haley Republicans that could swing that state?

MCCRORY: One thing we're seeing are Republicans are doing early voting more than we've never seen before. The question is, we don't know how they're voting and what percentage. And if any of that is skimmed off by either voting for a third-party or writing in a vote, that could hurt Former President Trump. And vice versa, there are also some Democrats that are unsatisfied.

The biggest issue I have is we've got to make sure -- I'm a group with the right count here in North Carolina. We need to educate our voters on how the voting system works in North Carolina. So, regardless of who wins, there's support of the process and the results of that process. And there's no types of violence out on our street. That's my major concern.

And we've done some things in North Carolina, including voter I.D. now, including paper ballots, including no electronic connection to Dominion voting machines. We're trying to restore the confidence. So, regardless of the outcome of the election, people go. OK. The process worked.

ACOSTA: Well, and I want to ask you that because, you know, I would be remiss if I didn't point out. It is Former President Donald Trump who has, by and large, really undermined the public's faith in our election process in this country. You don't think that disqualifies him, that he continues to do this? He -- can he continues to say that the 2020 election was rigged?

MCCRORY: Well, it hasn't disqualified him. And this is a very close election, but I think it's my responsibility as a Republican, I asked Democrats to do the same thing, is to ensure, regardless of the outcome, that the voting process was done right.

You know, in my history here in North Carolina, you know, frankly, the Republicans in North Carolina have gerrymandered the races, so we were guaranteed a victory in the federal and state races. The Democratic Elections Board has tried to keep third-parties off the ballot, you know, things of that nature. OK. That's all legal. That's politics. What we've got to make sure is that we communicate that the early voting process works, the mail-in voting process works, voter I.D. works, that's my major concern because I think our constitution is stronger than any of this rhetoric.

ACOSTA: All right. Former North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory, thanks for your time.

MCCRORY: Thank you very much.

[10:45:00]

ACOSTA: All right. Coming up, it's being touted as the most extreme closing argument in modern presidential history. How Trump's rally at Madison Square Garden will be remembered and how it's viewed by presidential scholars. That's coming up next.

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ACOSTA: Donald Trump rallied his faithful at Madison Square Garden, the iconic venue in New York, his message in this final full week of campaigning, dark and ominous.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: For the past nine years, we have been fighting against the most sinister and corrupt forces on Earth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: But before he took the stage, guest speakers spewed vile, racist rhetoric.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[10:50:00]

ACOSTA: And the crass off-color jokes continued.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HINCHCLIFFE: Heck yes, that's a cool black guy with a thing on his head. What the hell is that? A lampshade? I'm just kidding. That's one of my buddies. He had a Halloween party last night. We had fun. We carved watermelons together. It was awesome.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Joining me now is Larry Sabato, the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. Larry, I know you were unnerved by what you saw last night.

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA AND EDITOR, "A RETURN TO NORMALCY?: THE 2020 ELECTION THAT (ALMOST) BROKE AMERICA": Oh, absolutely. You started off your show calling it disgusting. If anything, Jim, that's an understatement. And really what's happened is we now are so hardened to this kind of stuff. We're numb to it after nine years of Donald Trump so that we don't react the way we used to react and it doesn't affect the vote the way it used to affect the vote.

ACOSTA: And I know you saw some disturbing historical parallels. What about that? What did you think about that? SABATO: Oh, yes. I -- in one tweet, I referred to the 1939 gathering at the old Madison Square Garden of the American -- or the German American Bundestag, I guess, or the pro-Hitler, and it was funded by the Nazis that we found that out many years hence. But that happened there. That is not to say that the people were -- who were in the auditorium, the thousands and thousands of people who came were Nazis. It was a reference to what Donald Trump has been revealed as having said favorable to Adolf Hitler, which once would have been the kiss of death in politics.

And we know it's true because people who have more integrity in their pinky, like John Kelly and General Milley, have told us what Donald Trump has said, what he said during his first term. And my guess is he'll go even further in a second term.

ACOSTA: And I know that the Trump campaign has tried to distance itself from that comedian. Stephen Miller, who was one of Trump's top aides, tweeted that he didn't like these references being made to the 1939 German American Bund event at Madison Square Garden. I guess -- but to put all that to the side for a moment, what is the political and practical reality in terms of the effect that this might have in the final stretch of this campaign? I mean, could some damage have been done last night among Latino voters?

Larry, one of the things that we pointed out earlier on in this program is that there's a pretty sizable Latino population in Pennsylvania, Puerto Rican population. Puerto Ricans are Americans, they can vote.

SABATO: Yes, that is the one practical result of this that I can see that's possible at least. Maybe it's probable. I would say possible. You've got 580,000 Hispanics just in Pennsylvania. About half of them are Puerto Rican or Puerto Rican descent. By the way, all Puerto Ricans are American citizens. That's been true for well over a century and a quarter.

So, it may have some impact there. We'll have to see. But there isn't much time left. Maybe Bad Bunny can do a better job of communicating it than any campaign could.

ACOSTA: Yes, and Bad Bunny is a Puerto Rican artist who last night, in response to what he was seeing out of Madison Square Garden, put on an Instagram some videos supporting Vice President Kamala Harris.

And, Larry, I did want to ask you, quickly at the end here, just late last week The Washington Post for the first time in decades declined to post an editorial in the presidential race. The L.A. Times did the same thing. I mean, I'm just curious what your response to that was as a presidential scholar. I mean, we're seeing a lot of things that are different this time around during this election, but that is -- that's fascinating. What did you make of that?

SABATO: Well, look, it's not as though editorials really influence many votes. But the whole idea of these major news organizations really being intimidated even before someone is elected or takes office is shocking. The Washington Post slogan, during the Trump administration, was that democracy dies in darkness. Well, it also dies in silence, and they've chosen to be silent. And it sent exactly the wrong message to Americans before they go to the polls and potentially how we will approach a second Trump term.

[10:55:00]

ACOSTA: And I guess, you know, one of the things that is overlooked is that a lot of newspapers around America endorse Republicans too. I mean, it's not -- I mean, people focus in on The Washington Post, The New York Times, but a lot of newspapers endorse Republicans in small communities and so on, and they do have, I think some difference. They do have an impact to some extent.

SABATO: Yes. No, I think editorials matter in local offices, you're right about that. Not president. Not president.

ACOSTA: All right. Larry Sabato, thanks so much, we appreciate it. We'll be right back.

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[11:00:00]