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Harris, Trump Campaigns in Wisconsin; 95 Killed, Dozens Missing in Spain's Flash Floods; Los Angeles Dodgers Claims 8th World Series Championship; Russia Targets U.S. Voters as Election Day Nears; U.S. GDP Expands to 2.8 Percent in the Third Quarter. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired October 31, 2024 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world and to everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church. Just ahead.
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump in the final stretch of the campaign making their pitches to voters. Why Trump decided to switch up his uniform at a swing state rally.
And cars, debris and people's precious belongings are piling up on Spain's roadways and streets as historic rainfall causes floods and devastation.
Plus fans celebrate as the Los Angeles Dodgers claim their eighth World Series title. We'll show you how it all went down at Yankee Stadium.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.
CHURCH: Thanks for joining us. Well, rival rallies in a key swing state. The U.S. Vice President and former president brought their campaigns to Wisconsin on Wednesday, a Midwestern state won by Joe Biden four years ago and Donald Trump in the 2016 election.
Kamala Harris speaking in the state capitol, Madison, where she briefly lived as a child and home to the University of Wisconsin. And Trump visiting Green Bay, the city best known for its NFL team, the Packers.
The latest CNN poll shows the race remains neck and neck in the battleground states that make up the so-called Blue Wall. Harris is holding a slight lead in Wisconsin and Michigan, but in must-win Pennsylvania, it is a dead heat. And all the figures you see here are well within the margin of error.
Well, meanwhile, Donald Trump showed up for his latest campaign event wearing an orange safety vest, similar to those worn by garbage collectors and he loudly mocked his Democratic rivals. CNN's Kristen Holmes picks up the story.
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KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Former president Donald Trump in Green Bay, Wisconsin, continuing to seize on president Joe Biden's remarks, calling his supporters, quote/unquote, "garbage".
Donald Trump has tried to use this as an opportunity to change the media narrative earlier in the evening, even taking questions from sitting in front seat of a garbage truck. He also addressed those comments once again for the third time or more in day while he was at this rally. Take a listen.
DONALD TRUMP (R), U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Crooked Joe Biden finally said what He and Kamala really think of our supporters, he called them garbage. No way. No way! My response to Joe and Kamala is very simple. You can't lead America if you don't love Americans. That's true. You can't be president if you hate the American people, which I believe they do.
HOLMES: He also, as you can see there, did the entire rally in his vest that he had worn when he was sitting on the garbage truck. They are clearly sticking to this stick.
Now, the important thing here is that this isn't just because Donald Trump wants to seize on this or change the narrative. It's also because they believe that this playbook has worked before. Remember in 2016, after Hillary Clinton said that Trump supporters were a basket of deplorables, they try to use same thing then with supporters.
They believe this kind of rhetoric could actually motivate people to go to the polls to back Donald Trump. Now whether or not that's going to happen, it's just not something that we're going to know until election day, but it is certainly something they are doing to really ramp up that enthusiasm.
Kristen Holmes, CNN, Green Bay, Wisconsin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: The Harris campaign says she will revisit all the swing states again between now and election day, which includes another stop in Wisconsin on Friday. While speaking in Madison, the vice president urged supporters to cast their ballots before the early voting deadline on Sunday, and she drew a sharp contrast with Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS (D), U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Unlike Donald Trump, I don't believe people who disagree with me are the enemy. He wants to put them in jail. I'll give them a seat at my table. And I pledge to always put country above party and self, and to be a president for all Americans.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CHURCH: Harris also directly addressed the many students and first- time voters in the crowd, telling them, you are all rightly impatient for change.
[03:05:04]
While ballot integrity is top of mind for election officials in the U.S., Republicans are asking the Supreme Court to block a Pennsylvania court ruling that would allow voters to cast a provisional ballot if they fail to encase their mail-in ballot in the required secrecy sleeve.
And Dominion Voting Systems is blasting Michigan's Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson over comments that their voting machines would make it harder for people with disabilities to cast their ballot.
However, Benson acknowledges this doesn't prevent voters from picking a candidate of their choice. After the 2020 election, Dominion had fought back against false claims from Donald Trump and his allies of flipping millions of votes.
Two U.S. envoys are expected in Israel today to discuss the situation in Lebanon. An official says Israeli, American and Lebanese officials are pursuing a short-term ceasefire deal that would stop the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah for at least a month. But for now, the Israeli strikes continue.
Lebanon's health ministry says at least 19 people were killed Wednesday near the city of Baalbek. The Israeli military says its forces were targeting command and control centers and terrorist infrastructure in its fight against Hezbollah and took steps to mitigate civilian harm. Residents of Baalbek could be seen fleeing after the Israeli army ordered the evacuation of the city.
Well, Palestinian officials say another Israeli strike on Beit Lahia in northern Gaza killed more than a dozen people. A CNN journalist on the ground says the strike took place Wednesday afternoon on a street that once housed one of the area's main food markets.
Civilians in northern Gaza have been facing a humanitarian crisis for weeks, with Israeli bombardment cutting off aid delivery. The strike comes a day after an Israeli strike on a building killed more than 90 people, including children. The U.S. says it has not yet received an explanation from Israel for that incident.
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MATTHEW MILLER, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: I will make clear, as we've said before, they are not doing enough to get us the answers that we have requested. They also need to provide the public with answers to these questions.
They're significant questions that you all ask, that countries have asked, that we believe Israel needs to answer publicly. I can't tell you where this is going to go. I can tell you that we are not just pressing them for answers, but also conducting our own reviews based on information that we are gathering independent of the government of Israel.
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CHURCH: Benjamin Radd is a political scientist and senior fellow at UCLA's Burkle Center for International Relations. And he joins me now from Los Angeles. Appreciate you being with us.
BENJAMIN RADD, POLITICAL SCIENTIST AND SR. FELLOW, UCLA-BURKLE CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: Thank you.
CHURCH: U.S. officials are heading to the Middle East to seek progress on resolving the wars in both Gaza and Lebanon and in the hope of deterring any Iranian response to Israel's strikes last week. Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister is optimistic, saying Hezbollah Israel's ceasefire can be reached soon after speaking with a U.S. envoy. But do you expect anything to come out of this?
RADD: No. In several reasons, number one, the draft proposal that's been we've heard that the press is obtained indicates that the requested the United States and Israel are making this for Hezbollah to withdraw out of southern Lebanon in compliance with U.N. Security Council resolution 1701 and to have forces they're replaced by the Lebanese National Army and possibly U.N peacekeepers that Hezbollah has not indicated is open to any such move whatsoever which only reinforces the idea that really Hezbollah is a militia acting not necessarily in the interest of this Lebanese state.
Secondly, we have -- the biggest news of all is we have an election in the United States next week on Tuesday, November 5th. And at this point, everything and everyone is sort of waiting to see what the results will be because the outcome of that election might dictate, provide options for Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel, options that he doesn't see as viable at the moment, but might be different, let's say, under a Trump presidency than under a Kamala Harris presidency.
So all of that is keeping everything sort of suspended and frozen and making it difficult to get momentum between now and next week.
CHURCH: Yeah. And Professor, there is significant concern, of course, that Iran could respond to Israel's recent attacks before the US presidential election on Tuesday. That's according to a high-ranking CNN source. So how likely is it, do you think, that Iran will do this, given that its initial attempts were to downplay the severity of the Israeli strikes and what would be the consequences if it does hit before Tuesday?
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RADD: Yeah. No. Indeed, I don't think it's very likely Iran that we've also heard that signal to European officials that they consider Israel's attack from over the weekend to be a proportionate response one that was very targeted very specific and one that wouldn't necessarily compel a counterattack or counter response by the Iranian government or the Iranian regime.
So I think that for you want to do that after having now having their defenses exposed in weekend and Israel did take out several of their air surface to air defense batteries, their missile capabilities and also some installations that Iran needs in order to build additional missiles fuel component things of that nature.
So their vulnerability has been exposed and Israel has demonstrated can fly in and fly out penetrate airspace do what it needs to serve Iran for it to then escalate again even further opens itself up now to again possibly greater a response from Israel, including if there is a President Trump emerging victorious after next week, the opportunity for Israel to strike Iran's nuclear and or energy facilities, its oil facilities, which would be the most severe blow to the country.
CHURCH: And Professor, Hezbollah's new leader Naim Qassem is evoking a global war, saying, and I am quoting here, "this is not an Israeli war on Lebanon and Gaza. This is an Israeli-American-European global war. It has all the capabilities on a global level to eliminate the resistance and eliminate our people in the region". What impact do words like this have, do you think?
RADD: Yeah, it's an interesting choice of words to sort of attempt to maybe rally or get people to rally around the flag, to rally, let's say, other Muslims or Arabs or non-Arab Muslims in the region to say this isn't just our conflict, us being those nations and those people that border Israel, but also the broader region, the broader world, because it involves the United States and also the Europeans.
Again, it seems like a desperate attempt, really, to try to expand and globalize the conflict when it really is, you know, a territorial and our regional dispute between the parties involved and doesn't necessarily involve these other countries.
So it's, again, it's I think it just underscores the disarray that Hezbollah find itself in with its leadership structure, having been decimated it's defensive and offensive capabilities have been weakened severely, and now it's finding itself having to explain to the Lebanese people why they the non-Shia Lebanese population are having to suffer as a result of Hezbollah's decision to join Hamas in its attacks against Israel. So I think it just again underscores the tough position Hezbollah finds itself in.
CHURCH: So Professor, where is the off ramp for this cycle of violence? So you've indicated you don't think it's the struggling talks for a ceasefire and we are in this holding pattern until the U.S. election is determined and that could be a week or so after the actual election we may not know the outcome sooner than that so where do they go from here in terms of trying to find an into this?
RADD: Yeah, and I think the key players in the meantime even beyond that are going to be the Arab states, the states are acting as intermediaries as negotiators the Egyptians, the Qataris, they have leverage here they have tremendous influence in sway more so that the United States.
I mean we've seen at this point especially President Joe Biden giving his tense relation with the Prime Minister Netanyahu and the U.S.' inability to really dictate the limits of Israel's behavior conduct against Palestinians in Gaza against Hamas I should say.
So I think that until then there are other allies or other participants in these talks who could have greater influence in bringing a and or at least a temporary sense of relief and again that would be the Egyptians, the Qataris, maybe even the Saudis who can step up and take a more active role.
CHURCH: Professor Radd, thank you so much for joining us. I Appreciate it.
RADD: Thank you.
CHURCH: People in Spain are struggling with heavy losses after deadly and severe flash floods.
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ANTONIO CARMONA, RESIDENT (through translator): We saw everything going down. It took cars, took down half of the house of one of our neighbors.
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CHURCH: Downpours leave a trail of destruction. We will have a live report from Valencia in Spain.
Plus, a powerful typhoon is lashing Taiwan with heavy rain and strong winds. We'll have the latest on Kong-Rey after the break.
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CHURCH: People in Spain are cleaning up after widespread destruction caused by severe flash floods. Weather officials say it was the worst rainfall in 28 years. The Spanish government has decreed three days of official mourning for the victims.
At least 95 people were killed after flood waters swamped the southern and eastern parts of the country on Tuesday, and the death toll is expected to rise. Emergency services are working to find dozens of people who are still missing. The rainfall destroyed homes and roads and left cars piled on top of other vehicles.
Atika Shubert joins us now from the flooded region. So Atika, what is the latest on the aftermath of these deadly flash floods?
ATIKA SHUBERT, JOURNALIST: Well, it's been a second sleepless night for people here. The rain has passed Valencia, fortunately, but what it's meant is that they can really see the devastation around them and the chaos that these floods have brought. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHUBERT (voice-over): Muddy waters gush through the streets of Spain, ripping through homes, leaving a trail of destruction behind.
Rescue services are working tirelessly trying to save residents from flash floods that have struck parts of southern and eastern Spain since Tuesday. The severity of the weather has killed dozens of people, according to authorities with torrential rain in many cities, and the death toll is only expected to rise.
SHUBERT: Now this is the Turia River bed in Valencia. Normally it's a dry river bed with hardly any water in it. But as of this morning, the water was nearly to the top, and that's because, according to meteorologist, a year's worth of rain, about 20 inches or 500 millimeters, was dropped here in an eight hour period that ended on Tuesday.
SHUBERT (voice-over): In Valencia, Spain's emergency military unit were deployed to help save locals, wading through the destruction to reach them and bringing them to safety. One local resident witnessed the severity of the water destroying his neighborhood.
CARMONA (through translator): We saw everything going down. The floods took cars, took down half the house of one of our neighbors, and we had to come in. Look how we have our torn clothes because we were saving dogs.
SHUBERT (voice-over): In other areas of Southern Spain, a kind of catastrophe took place with locals being hit by a severe hailstorm.
Look at the size of this ball this person says it's completely round. Leaving drivers to battle through extreme weather.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the storms were the worst the country has experienced in the last century and advised citizens to proceed with caution.
PEDRO SANCHEZ, SPANISH PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Our absolute priority is to help you. We are going to provide all the necessary means today and tomorrow and for as long as it takes so that we can recover from this tragedy. We are not going to leave you alone.
SHUBERT (voice-over): Scientists say a human-caused climate crisis is making extreme weather more frequent and more severe. And as the world warms, more intense and more frequent catastrophes are on the horizon.
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[03:20:03]
SHUBERT: This is the deadliest catastrophe that Valencia has had in decades. More than 92 people killed, 92 alone were killed here in Valencia. So much so that they've actually had to convert the courthouse here in Valencia into a makeshift morgue and we've seen several trucks coming in that regard. And they've also just lowered the flags to half-mast.
We are expecting a statement soon from the coordination center for the emergency and a visit by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez later on today, Rosemary.
CHURCH: Shocking images there. Atika Shubert, many thanks for that report. Appreciate it.
Well the biggest storm to hit Taiwan in nearly 30 years has made landfall on the island's south eastern coast. Heavy rain from Kong-Rey is lashing the region with winds near 200 km per hour, the equivalent of a category 3 Atlantic hurricane. The storm could impact almost the entire island. All cities and counties in Taiwan are shut down for the day. Financial markets are closed and flights have been canceled.
So let's bring in CNN's Steven Jiang. He joins us live from Beijing. Steven, what is the latest on this massive typhoon now lashing Taiwan after making landfall?
STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: That's right Rosemary, as you said, this powerful typhoon landed in the eastern part of Taiwan just a short while ago. Now, this is the third typhoon that made its landfall on the island this season.
Taiwan, of course, is no stranger to typhoons and they usually respond pretty well to these extreme weather systems. But still, the last time we have seen three or more typhoons hitting this island in one season was back in 2008. That's why the authorities there are taking no chances. You mentioned flights have been canceled. The market has been shut down. A lot of schools and offices throughout the island have also been closed as well.
And in addition to civilian first responders, the government there has placed more than 34,000 soldiers on standby to respond to aid in any potential rescue operations because the fortunate news here is the typhoon landed on the eastern side of the island which is less populated but still the potential risk here is with mountainous regions and remote villages that could see landslides not to mention a severe damage to infrastructure including a potential power outages.
Now a lot of this of course is going to impact other parts of the island as our colleagues in Taipei have been reporting very strong winds as well as heavy rainfalls even though that capital city is in the northern part of the island.
Now, Kong-Rey is forecast to move towards the East China Sea and impacting mainland China and potentially Japan as well in the coming days. Already, we see the outer bands of this typhoon prompting authorities in Shanghai, China's biggest city and its financial hub issued a blue typhoon warning, that's the lowest level warning in China's four-tier color-coded system.
But still, that means potential gusty winds as well as torrential rain starting Thursday evening, routing to Friday daytime. And that's why already millions of Shanghai residents are bracing for not-so-pleasant commute on Friday morning. Rosemary?
CHURCH: All right. Our thanks to Steven Jiang, bringing us that live report from Beijing. In the U.S., the Storm Prediction Centre has extended the tornado watch for eastern Oklahoma and northwestern Arkansas until the next hour. A tornado was observed in one Oklahoma town and there are reports of damage in another. A severe thunderstorm watch remains in effect for central Missouri. There were more than 80 reports of severe weather Wednesday, mostly high winds and large hail. The bullseye for severe weather today extends from Texas to southern Indiana and Ohio.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are world champions after winning Game 5 of baseball's World Series.
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Wild scenes in the Dodgers locker room as players hoisted the championship trophy and champagne sprayed everywhere. The rival Yankees had jumped to an early 5-0 lead, but the Dodgers staged an impressive comeback in the see-saw game, winning 7-6. It's the biggest comeback to clinch a World Series in baseball history and the eighth world title for the team from the City of Angels.
Well, if Japan had a hometown hero in the World Series, it was certainly Shohei Ohtani. He was born in Japan 30 years ago and is a veteran of Nippon professional baseball. Millions of fans in Japan dropped everything to watch their favorite slugger and Dodgers star, as CNN's Will Ripley reports.
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WILL RIPLEY, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): No wonder they call it baseball's World Series, and some of the most devoted fans are halfway around the globe.
RIPLEY: The games are in New York and Los Angeles this week, but here in Japan, more than 10 percent of the population is tuning into this iconic showdown between the Dodgers and the Yankees.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Game two alone drew a staggering average of 15.9 million viewers in Japan. The highest MLB postseason viewership ever in the country, the league says.
Japan's passion for baseball is legendary. But in this Tokyo bar in the famed Shibuya district, the focus is not just on the game, it's on one player. All-star sensation Shohei Ohtani, the L.A. Dodgers' 700 million dollar man. A two-time MVP, cross-cultural icon, and hometown hero.
UNKNOWN (through translator): Ohtani is an honorable person in Japan. Everyone shouts, Ohtani, Ohtani, and it makes me so happy. We've never had anyone like him. He's our dear Ohtani.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Wednesday night, Ohtani's Dodgers deliver a Game five win in New York City, earning them the World Series crown and a place in the hearts of baseball fans around the world from the United States to Japan. Will Ripley, CNN, Nara, Japan.
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CHURCH: Much more to come on CNN, including a look at the latest data showing a strong U.S. economy plus perspective from a noted expert.
Also ahead, a possible repeat of 2016. How Russia is conducting a new disinformation campaign targeting the U.S. election, apparently with a preferred candidate in mind.
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CHURCH: Welcome back to "CNN Newsroom". I'm Rosemary Church. Want to check today's top stories for you?
Senior U.S. officials are heading to the Middle East today as the Biden administration renews its push for peace in the region. The visits followed devastating Israeli airstrikes in Gaza and Lebanon, including a strike near the historic Lebanese city of Baalbek that killed 19 people. On Wednesday, Lebanon's caretaker prime minister expressed optimism for a potential ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel soon.
New CNN polling shows U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris holds a narrow advantage over Donald Trump in Michigan and Wisconsin. Those are two of the battleground states that could pave her path to victory. Vice President Harris leads Trump 48 percent to 43 percent in Michigan and 51 percent to 45 percent in Wisconsin.
[03:30:00]
Donald Trump wore an orange safety vest during his rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, the same kind worn by garbage collectors. He's been trying to capitalize on a gaffe by President Joe Biden, who sounded like he called Trump supporters garbage, which the White House denies. Trump also vowed to protect women, even though he says his advisers warned him not to say that.
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DONALD TRUMP (R), U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They said, sir, I just think it's inappropriate for you to say, pay these guys a lot of money. Can you believe it? They said, well, I'm going to do it whether the women like it or not. I'm going to protect them. I'm going to protect them from migrants coming in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Meanwhile, Kamala Harris held a rival rally in Wisconsin's Capitol Madison. CNN's Jeff Zeleny has our report.
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JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Vice President Kamala Harris taking her closing arguments on the road visiting three Battleground states on Wednesday: North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and right here in Wisconsin. Along the way, she's making her case to supporters to cast their votes early.
The deadline for early voting here in battleground Wisconsin, is on Sunday. She was imploring students to get out and vote. Some students we talked to said they waited in line 90 minutes or two hours to cast their ballot.
The campaigning near a college campus also comes with some risks, and that became clear in the early part of her speech when one protester shouted, ceasefire now. This is how Harris responded.
VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS (D), U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Listen, we all want the war in Gaza to end and get the hostages out to make it. And everyone has a right to be heard, but right now I am speaking.
ZELENY: Her supporters roared with applause when she said that and she went on to continue delivering her closing message. She is seeking to find common ground, she said, with Republicans and independents, even as she draws a sharp contrast with Donald Trump. Harris is heading west to campaign in Nevada and Arizona on Thursday before coming back to these critical blue wall states Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Madison, Wisconsin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Investigators believe the person who set three ballot drop boxes on fire in the U.S. Northwest intends to strike again. The fires were set in Oregon and Washington State over the past three weeks. Officials have recovered almost 500 damaged ballots from one of the incidents. Police in Portland say they will step up their presence ahead of Tuesday's election.
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BOB DAY, PORTLAND, OREGON POLICE CHIEF: This is not all hands on deck so we can suppress or enforce. This is really intended to be available in case something occurs, but otherwise I want us to be out and about and just showing that presence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Meanwhile, authorities in Michigan have charged a Chinese citizen with voting illegally. Sources tell CNN he is a 19-year-old student, but he is ineligible to vote as a non-U.S. citizen. And an 18-year-old in Florida is charged with aggravated assault after police say he threatened two women with a machete outside an early voting site. Police did not provide the political affiliations of the victims or the suspect, but the local Democratic Party identified the women as Kamala Harris supporters.
As election day gets closer, Russia is stepping up its disinformation campaign targeting U.S. voters. It's reminiscent of what we saw back in 2016. And U.S. intelligence agencies believe the Russians are again trying to tip the scales in favor of Donald Trump. CNN's Alex Marquardt reports.
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ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): It's from this 23-story building in Russia's St. Petersburg that some of the most effective Russian disinformation of the 2024 U.S. election has been cooked up. One of its occupants in recent years is believed to be the so-called Russian Foundation to Battle Injustice, or R-FBI.
CNN teamed up with researchers at Clemson University to investigate R- FBI's long tentacles and its impact.
PATRICK WARREN, CO-DIRECTOR, CLEMSON MEDIA FORENSICS HUB: The connection between Prigozhin and the R-FBI is cut and dry.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): R-FBI's origins can be traced back to Yevgeny Prigozhin, longtime ally of Vladimir Putin, and the founder of the Wagner Mercenary Group, who, after launching an audacious revolt on Moscow last year, was killed in a mysterious midair explosion. But Darren Linvill and Patrick Warren say that the story of RFBI makes it clear that Prigozhin's legacy persists beyond the grave.
[03:35:02]
DARREN LINVILL, CO-DIRECTOR, CLEMSON MEDIA FORENSICS HUB: They're pretending to be this really positive force of good in Russia, in reality, they're really an arm of the Russian state.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): One recent viral post baselessly accuses governor Tim Walls of sexually assaulting a minor.
WARREN: I mean, that thing flew across the internet in days, millions and millions of views.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): Senator J.D. Vance and Congressman Marjorie Taylor Greene even pushed a fake Russian story that Ukrainian officials used American aid dollars to buy yachts. There was one that Kamala Harris carried out a hit and run, and also that she killed an endangered rhinoceros while on safari, both wildly false.
But both pushed with the help of another shady Russian network, which researchers have dubbed Storm-1516, which Linvill and Warren believe works hand in glove with R-FBI.
MARQUARDT: When you look at all of the efforts that the Russians are undertaking in this space, where does the R-FBI rank?
LINVILL: In terms of disinformation, as opposed to just propaganda. I think that the R-FBI and Storm-1516 are probably the single most important actors in Russia right now.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): R-FBI is now led by Mira Tirada, who spent two years in American prison for money laundering connected to cocaine smuggling.
MARQUARDT: And she kind of took the effort and ran with it?
WARREN: It really kicked off upon her return.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): From there, she has joined forces with foreigners, including American John Mark Dugan, a former Florida sheriff's deputy who fled to Russia following felony charges. Dugan denied to CNN that he's acting on behalf of Russia.
WARREN: His face is there for a reason.
MARQUARDT: He's a useful idiot.
LINVILL: He's a useful idiot without question.
MARQUARDT: How much of a win is it for the Russians to be able to get an American like this to essentially launder their narratives?
LINVILL: I think that it's incredibly important, and you see the importance in how hard they've worked to recruit Americans like him.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): And what they're seeing this year is a much bigger impact on the social media conversation than in the past.
LINVILL: We know they work for the Russian state, but they're still allowed to -- to spread these messages, these completely false narratives, without any mitigation whatsoever.
MARQUARDT: How well do you think we're doing in this war against Russian disinformation more broadly?
LINVILL: Extremely poorly.
MARQUARDT: Do you see that changing anytime soon?
LINVILL: No.
MARQUARDT: Just moments after our interview, the Clemson researchers identified yet another piece of disinformation coming from these same Russian channels, a video claiming to show mail-in ballots for Trump being destroyed in critical Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Darren Linvill said it was immediately shared tens of thousands of times.
And as he says, it's going to be a rough few weeks. Neither Senator Vance nor Congresswoman Green responded about their roles in spreading that story about Ukraine. Meanwhile, the Harris campaign tells CNN that Putin wants Trump to win this election and condemned the Russian interference efforts.
Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: New numbers from the U.S. Commerce Department provide more evidence that the American economy has pulled off an historic soft landing after the pandemic. According to data released Wednesday, U.S. gross domestic product, the measure of all the goods and services produced in the economy, expanded at an annualized rate of 2.8 percent in the third quarter. U.S. President Joe Biden said the report quote "shows how far we've come since I took office from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression to the strongest economy in the world".
Earlier, I spoke with Catherine Rampell, CNN Economics and political commentator and "Washington Post" opinion columnist. We discussed how the US economy during the Trump administration compares to the situation today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CATHERINE RAMPELL, CNN ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL COMMENTATOR AND "WASHINGTON POST" OPINION COLUMNIST: So if we're talking about 2020, I think pretty much unequivocally the U.S. economy among other things about the world and you know well-being are much better today than in 2020 when we were having thousands of people dying per day here in the U.S. at various points.
And we did have very high unemployment in that spring period and when you know shortly after the pandemic was first declared I think we had something like 14 or 15 percent unemployment here in the United States. That was the bad time economically, health-wise, on all sorts of other metrics.
If we're talking about 2019, you know, I would argue that the U.S. economy today is about as good as it was in 2019, again, on everything other than inflation. Although inflation, 2019, not that different, frankly, from what it is today. It's just that memory, again, that very fresh memory of how much cheaper life used to be just a few years ago.
[03:39:57]
CHURCH: If Trump gets voted in, could he completely scuttle all of this and or would he just continue as is and all of the major promises he's made would you expect that they wouldn't necessarily occur and he might take advantage of the fact the economy is in a good place?
RAMPELL: I think if he actually delivers the agenda he has described it would be catastrophic now and by the agenda he's described I mean 10 percent or 20 percent global tariffs, 60 percent plus tariffs in China deporting 10 to 20 million people in the United States politicizing the federal reserve. All of those things that be very inflationary and would probably destroy economic growth not just here in the United States but I think that there would potentially be a global recession of sorts.
The point that I've been trying to make when I've been asked about this is I don't think there's a lot that the next president could do to improve the economy a lot, but I think there are quite a few ways that they could substantially hurt it. And that's what I'm more concerned about. Because the things that Trump has talked about would be very, very bad.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CHURCH: British taxes are going up drastically as the Labour Party seeks to shrink the country's growing public debt burden and plug the hole in its budget. The new budget would raise an additional $52 billion by targeting high earners, wealthy foreigners and businesses. Finance Minister Rachel Reeves, a former Bank of England economist, unveiled the plan Wednesday budgeting by the Conservative Party.
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RACHEL REEVES, U.K. FINANCE MINISTER: Together, the hole in our public finances this year, which recurs every year, the compensation schemes that they did not fund and their failure to assess the scale of the challenges facing our public services means that this Budget raises taxes by 40 billion pounds. Any Chancellor standing here today would have to face this reality, and any responsible Chancellor would take action.
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CHURCH: The new budget would also increase employer contributions to national insurance and boost public investment. It also extends a freeze on fuel duties and cuts a tax on draft beer in pubs.
A quid pro quo between Moscow and Pyongyang. Still ahead, what is North Korea getting in return for sending thousands of troops to possibly help Russia's war in Ukraine? We'll take a look.
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CHURCH: A deadly Russian strike on Ukraine's second largest city.
[03:45:02]
Ukrainian officials say one child is dead and 29 other people injured after a nine-story building in Kharkiv took a hit Wednesday night. Video from the scene showed emergency workers putting out fires and combing through the rubble in search for victims. The attack came on the heels of Monday's bomb strike that tore through one of the city's most iconic landmarks which dates back to the 1920s.
South Korea is laying out what it believes is the strongest threat of North Korea's troop deployment to Russia -- that Pyongyang could gain access to more advanced weapon technologies, including nuclear. CNN's Oren Liebermann has details from the Pentagon.
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OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: One of the big questions we've had about North Korean troops going to train in Russia and then perhaps to fight on behalf of Russia in Ukraine is, what does North Korea get in return? And this is an area where the U.S. has simply said they're very much watching this space, but they have nothing to say yet. They won't speculate here, but they have made clear that they're looking to see if there is some sort of quid pro quo between Russia and North Korea in terms of what does North Korea get in return. Now, the U.S. hasn't gone that far yet, but South Korea did. The South
Korean defense minister speaking alongside Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Wednesday at the Pentagon said it is quote, "very likely that North Korea will receive help in critical technology areas including perhaps nuclear weapons, specifically tactical nuclear weapons, intercontinental ballistic missiles, satellite technology, all of the areas we have seen North Korea trying to push forward with some successes and some failures."
Of course, that is technology that Russia already has at its disposal here and a space that the U.S. was watching in South Korea to see if that's what they would give in return. Now South Korea didn't say it definitively, but they said that's effectively what their indications are showing and what's very likely to happen.
Well that would effectively mirror a sort of arrangement that Iran has with Russia, where Iran provides drones and ballistic missiles, and in exchange Russia provides technology in the nuclear realm on ballistic missiles, on drones, as that relationship grows.
Now this is an area where South Korea and the U.S. will expand their intelligence sharing to see how this relationship grows and in what direction it goes. What sort of steps and advancements is North Korea able to make in these critical technology and crucially weapons areas so you're likely to see an expansion of that cooperation and intelligence sharing.
This, of course, all happens as Western intelligence officials tell CNN that a small number of those North Korean troops in Russia are already on the battlefield in Ukraine, a situation US President Joe Biden called, quote, "dangerous."
Oren Liebermann, CNN in the Pentagon.
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CHURCH: North Korea confirms it tested an intercontinental ballistic missile early Thursday. Japan's defense ministry says it flew for nearly an hour and a half and fell outside Japan's exclusive economic zone. North Korean state media says leader Kim Jong-un was at the launch site.
South Korea's intelligence agency has warned that Pyongyang might attempt a missile test around the time of the U.S. election. The U.S. has already responded to the launch, calling it a flagrant violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions. This is the first missile test of its kind from North Korea since last December.
Reuters is reporting that eight of Mexico's 11 Supreme Court justices have offered their resignation. This comes after a constitutional overhaul last month that will require all judges to be elected by popular vote. Judges who do not want to participate and who don't want to lose their pensions are required to resign ahead of the election next June. One justice will leave office at the end of November.
The other seven will leave next August. The judicial reform had created tension between Mexico's Supreme Court and the country's lawmakers, increasing the risk of a constitutional crisis. A resentencing hearing for the Menendez brothers is now set for December 11th.
Last week, the Los Angeles County District Attorney requested that the brothers be resentenced recommending a reduction from life in prison without parole to life with the possibility of parole. The brothers were sentenced in the mid-90s for the 1989 murder of their parents. Evidence has since come out that the brothers have been abused by their father. If they are resentenced, they could be released after a parole board hearing, but that would take at least six months to reschedule.
A jury has been selected in the trial of a former U.S. Marine accused of killing a homeless street artist on the New York subway.
[03:50:04]
Daniel Penny is charged with second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide over an altercation that happened in May of last year. That's when he held Jordan Neely in a chokehold after he started shouting at passengers and acting erratically.
Neely later died, but Penny says he was only trying to protect other people on the train. The incident led to demonstrations across New York, partly because Neely was black while Penny is white. Penny said race did not play any role in the altercation. Opening statements in the trial are set to begin on Friday.
Still to come with an E. coli outbreak impact in the U.S., we will have some tips on how to stay safe from foodborne illnesses. Back with that and more in just a moment.
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CHURCH: Federal health agencies say the likely source of an E. coli outbreak in the U.S. was fresh slivered onions served on McDonald's quarter pounders. The outbreak is being blamed for one death and at least 90 illnesses in more than a dozen states. Last week, supplier Taylor Farms issued a recall of four onion products. It's not likely that the recalled onions went to grocery stores or directly to consumers and authorities say the risk to the public is very low.
Well, as concerns grow about the E. coli outbreak, CNN's Sanjay Gupta explains the best way to stay safe from foodborne illnesses.
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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: There's been a recent spate of headlines about foodborne illnesses that you've probably seen. McDonald's, Boar's Head meats, Waffles. So we decided to ask our audience what questions they had about food safety. And so many of you wrote in, like Melissa, who wanted to know this. How do you decrease your chance of getting a foodborne illness?
Well, first of all, you should know that an estimated 48 million people every year become sick from foods that are infected with bacteria, like salmonella or E. coli. Some 120,000 plus of those people get hospitalized, 3,000 people die. So this is a big issue, an issue that really impacts a lot of people. And the truth is we do hear more about these outbreaks than ever before that might be in part because we become better at detecting the outbreaks, using new genetic surveillance, for example.
Now, a couple things to keep in mind. It takes just a small amount of bacteria to lead to illness. And that bacteria can multiply exponentially very quickly. So when you're cooking at home, you've got to remember the basics: to clean, separate, cook, and chill.
Now, when it comes to cleaning, wash your hands, obviously, and surfaces often with hot, soapy water. And don't forget to also rinse those fruits and vegetables with water. That by itself will go a long way.
But also remember to separate and not cross contaminate. Store raw proteins like meat and fish away from other foods and use a separate cutting board or plate for raw food. It's probably also time to go ahead and buy that meat thermometer if you've been thinking about it and remember to cook your food to the right temperature.
Finally, don't forget to chill and refrigerate your food. Again, bacteria can multiply really quickly, even in just a few hours. Now what is interesting is that a lot of these illnesses and infections seem to be occurring outside of the home.
[03:55:04]
Restaurants, delis, banquet halls. But you're not powerless there either. Know this, when you look at all the data, we find that there's a sort of danger zone for food in between 40 and 140 degrees. That means you want your food either to be nice and cold or steaming hot, not somewhere in between. That can help you gauge how safe your food is when you're eating out.
Melissa, I hope that helps.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: The U.S. fast casual dining chain Chipotle says it's going to focus on giving customers more food with every order. The company has faced criticism this year for serving wildly inconsistent portions from store to store.
In June, a Wells Fargo analyst ordered and weighed 75 burrito bowls across eight different locations and found the weight varied as much as 33 percent. On Wednesday, the company's interim CEO said the solution is, quote, "consistent and generous portions." He said customers are already posting proof they're getting bigger burritos.
Starbucks customers will no longer have to pay extra to customize their beverage with non-dairy milk. Starting next week, the company is eliminating the upcharge for ordering a drink with soy, oat, almond, or coconut milk. Customers who request those will pay around 10 percent less than they previously did. This is one of several changes Starbucks is making as the company looks to rebound from a third straight quarter of slumping sales and fewer customer visits.
The Berlin Zoo is inviting the world to witness something spectacular. This little pygmy hippopotamus taking her very first dip in the pool. Despite it being her first time, Tony knows exactly what to do, according to the zoo's director. Hippos don't actually swim, he says, they run underwater. Tony is just five months old and her life is full of adventures.
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ANDREAS KNIERIEM, HEAD OF ZOO BERLIN (through translator): What do you do every day as a little hippopotamus? You drink an incredible amount of milk, high in fat, high in protein. Then you eat a little bit, too. And then it's off into the water. You splash around and do things. Probably after an hour, you're a bit tired. Then you sleep a bit at the water line here, and that's the daily routine.
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CHURCH: And Tony is in good company with Mu Dang, the baby pygmy hippo in Thailand, who has become a darling of the Internet for the past few months.
Thank you so much for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. "CNN Newsroom" continues next with Max Foster and Christina Macfarlane in London.
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