Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
CNN International: Harris & Trump Hold Dueling Events in WI with 4 Days to Election; Trump Uses Violent Rhetoric Against Liz Cheney; Israeli Military Resumes Strikes on Southern Beirut Suburbs; Inside the Effort to Undermine the Election if Trump Loses; Four Days to Election Day in U.S.; Labor Strikes and Two Major Hurricanes Muddied Jobs Data. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired November 01, 2024 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:00:00]
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Fredricka Whitfield, and this is the CNN Newsroom. Straight ahead, Donald Trump again using shocking and threatening language against his political opponents. Hear how Liz Cheney is responding to his violent rhetoric directed at her.
And Kamala Harris hit the campaign trail with J Lo last night. Today, Harris heads to Wisconsin with Election Day just around the corner. And the cleanup in Spain from deadly floods continues with warnings that more bad weather is on the way. The death toll is now above 200.
And we begin on the U.S. presidential campaign trail, high anxiety with four days until Election Day, continued outrage over comments made at a Donald Trump rally Sunday when a comedian called Puerto Rico, an island of garbage. Actress Singer Jennifer Lopez, whose roots are in Puerto Rico, campaigned with Kamala Harris on Thursday night in Las Vegas, in the heavily Hispanic state of Nevada. J Lo said Trump is alienating all Latino voters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENNIFER LOPEZ, SINGER/ACTRESS: He has consistently worked to divide us. At Madison Square Garden, he reminded us who he really is and how he really feels. It wasn't just Puerto Ricans that were offended that day. OK, it was every Latino in this country. It was humanity and anyone of decent character.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Trump stepping up dangerous rhetoric first on health care. Trump said that if he's elected, he will allow conspiracy theorist RFK Jr., to do anything he wants. I'm quoting him with vaccines. He also said RFK would look at women's health issues.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., we have, and he's going to work on health and women's health and all of the different reasons, because we're not really a wealthy or a healthy country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: And Trump is once again threatening violence against his political enemies, this time saying that he wants to see Former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney fired upon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: She's a radical war hawk. Let's put her with a rifle standing there with nine-barrel shooting at her. OK, let's see how she feels about it. You know when the guns are trained on her face.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Cheney, who is supporting Harris, responded to Trump's threat by saying in this statement, this is how dictators destroy free nations. They threaten those who speak against them with death. As the two candidates crisscross the swing states, they will be both of them in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in that area this evening.
And that's where we find our Jeff Zeleny, right now. Good to see you, Jeff. So, I mean very wild claims coming from the former president, very dangerous rhetoric, and he is saying quite emphatically that he wants to see Liz Cheney subjected to gunfire. Liz Cheney has responded, but has there been any more response coming from even the Trump campaign.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, I mean, this is where things stand four days before an election. That is the language from the man who is applying to be Commander-in-Chief once again. There's been no reaction from the Trump campaign or other Republicans.
But look, if past is prolog. Things will follow a similar pattern of outrage and perhaps denials. But moving forward here, the question is, politically speaking, does any of this actually move the electorate? My guess is no at this late date.
But Liz Cheney, of course, has emerged as one of the biggest surrogates and supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris. And you really do not have to look much farther than that to show just how politics here in the U.S. sort of upside down in this election.
She, of course, a long-time conservative Republican supporting the Democratic candidate to try and block Donald Trump. All of this comes together as voters in these seven battleground states have been watching this campaign up close. There's exhaustion from it. There is no doubt. We have been talking to many of them, if they make up their choices, what is on their mind here in the final days.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVE FLANNERY, WISCONSIN VOTER FOR HARRIS: I am ready for it to be over.
ZELENY (voice-over): Dave Flannery is exhausted by the election.
FLANNERY: It is getting more and more difficult to listen to all the vitriol and that sort of thing.
[08:05:00]
ZELENY (voice-over): From his apple orchard in battle ground, Wisconsin, he's at a front row seat to the caustic campaign. When we met earlier this year, Flannery was fed up with the political division and dysfunction.
ZELENY: What else can you think about it?
FLANNERY: It's a mess.
ZELENY: How does it get fixed?
FLANNERY: I wish I knew.
ZELENY (voice-over): With the election, days away, we paid another visit. He said he's voting for Kamala Harris.
ZELENY: Is it a vote for Vice President Harris or against Donald Trump?
FLANNERY: For Harris. No, let me rephrase that, both.
ZELENY: It's a vote against Trump and for Harris?
FLANNERY: Yes.
ZELENY (voice-over): The fight is on for Wisconsin.
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S., (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Are we ready to win?
ZELENY (voice-over): With Harris and Trump set to make dueling visits Friday.
TRUMP: We're winning. We're winning.
ZELENY (voice-over): For the second time in three days.
CAROLINE QUINLAN, WISCONSIN VOTER FOR TRUMP: I don't want to make any predictions, because I think it's that close.
ZELENY (voice-over): Caroline Quinlan does not see a perfect option on either ticket when we spoke this summer, her frustrations were clear.
QUINLAN: Both parties have their extreme side, and no one is in the middle. ZELENY (voice-over): From her vantage point in the critical suburbs of Milwaukee, no longer dominated by Republicans alone, she said issues are driving her decision.
QUINLAN: I'm going to vote for Trump. You know, when he talks in the big arena, sometimes I'm like, I wish he would tone down his rhetoric and everything. But at the end of the day, I want a person that's going to fix the economy, border and then national security.
ZELENY (voice-over): A year-long, conversation with voters, paints a more nuanced picture of the electorate. For one, the gender gap is hardly absolute.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: January 6th, which was a direct threat against our democracy, trying to overthrow a legal election. That was it for me.
ZELENY (voice-over): To win the Harris coalition depends upon people like Bruce Kneed (ph) raised in a Republican family whose front yard makes his disdain for the former president clear. And Tiffany Koehler, a Republican who is casting a rare vote for the Democratic Presidential Candidate.
TIFFANY KOEHLER, WISCONSIN REPUBLICAN VOTER FOR HARRIS: We used to be the party of limited government. We used to be the party of fiscal responsibility. I know there's a lot of Republicans voting for the vice president, because we really want to close this chapter in history.
ZELENY (voice-over): For Trump the path to victory not only depends on strength in deep red rural areas, but whether he diminishes Democratic margins in the suburbs outside Madison. Brandon Maly leads the Republican Party in fast growing Dane County.
BRANDON MALY, CHAIR, DANE COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY: People think of Madison as such a traditional liberal Bastion, but you get outside of Madison, Dane County is the second most populated county. If he does not get at least 23 percent of the vote in Dane County, he will not win Wisconsin. If he gets 25 percent or above, he wins guaranteed.
ZELENY (voice-over): The campaign draws to a close with many wild cards, including third party candidates like Robert F Kennedy Jr., whose name remains on the ballot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't want your vote. I want you to vote for Donald Trump.
ZELENY (voice-over): Back at the Apple Holler Orchard, Flannery sees a hopeful light at the end of a dark campaign.
FLANNERY: It's more than about politics. Future of the country is more important than whether you're Republican or Democrat.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZELENY (on camera): So, more than a million voters here in Wisconsin have already cast their ballots earlier. That number will keep rising until the deadline on Sunday. But Wisconsin, of course, such a critical piece of the so-called blue wall. Donald Trump, of course, won Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania in 2016 he went on to lose them and lose the presidency in 2020.
Fredricka, that is why Wisconsin has largely voted with the other states in the blue wall. Only twice in the last half century have they voted differently. So, it's why Trump and Harris both back in Wisconsin today, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Right. All right, to make those closing arguments. All right. Jeff Zeleny in Milwaukee, thank you so much. Our coverage in these final days of the presidential campaign now takes us to the White House. And CNN's Kevin Liptak, good morning to you Kevin. So, contrasting events last night from Kamala Harris, Donald Trump.
You know Harris hitting Donald Trump for his comments around protecting women, whether they like it or not, those were his words. Can we expect the same kind of messaging from her today when she is speaking in Wisconsin?
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: I think we should expect that, and certainly that has become the closing argument for Kamala Harris, as this campaign winds up to Election Day, really trying to expose what she says would be Donald Trump's danger for women if he were to be elected.
It really does underscore how much of a role the gender gap has played in this election. Kamala Harris very much working to shore up her support among women, white women, black women, suburban women, all of these constituencies that she will need to over perform if she is to be elected into the Oval Office.
And I think it will be interesting when she is in Wisconsin today to see how she responds to those comments that Trump made about Liz Cheney?
[08:10:00]
Harris has campaigned with Liz Cheney in Wisconsin, which is where Liz Cheney was born, so I can certainly expect that you will hear from her about those comments. That has been something of a practice that she has taken throughout this campaign is to respond in almost real time to some of the more outward and more dangerous statements that we have heard from Former President Trump.
And that's what she was doing in Arizona yesterday, really going after the former president for that comment he made about protecting women, and really trying to underscore some of the dangers that could be in place if Trump were to be elected when it comes to reproductive rights. Listen to a little bit of how she framed it in Arizona.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: He simply does not respect the freedom of women or the intelligence of women to know what's in their own best interest and make decisions accordingly. But we trust women.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIPTAK: Now in Arizona, her message is interesting because she also urged her supporters to go out and vote for a proposition on the ballot there that would enshrine abortion access up until the point of viability in the state's constitution. Democrats are hopeful that these ballot propositions across the country could help drive turnout among supporters for whom abortion rights and reproductive rights is a top issue.
And certainly, they -- their hope is that they will also cast their ballots for Kamala Harris, so this is certainly an aspect that she will continue hammering away on in the closing stretch of this campaign.
WHITFIELD: And then Kevin President Joe Biden, he is speaking today publicly for the first time since his -- you know the garbage gaff language. What are the expectations?
LIPTAK: Yeah, he'll be in Philadelphia. He will be talking with union groups. This is one of the limited campaign appearances that we've seen from President Biden throughout the course of this campaign. Certainly, that was true before that incident involving his comment about supporters of Trump being garbage that the White House later tried to clarify.
At the end of the day, a lot of Democrats just think President Biden is a liability on the campaign trail because of his penchant for misspeaking, for giving Republicans an opening to attack him and the vice president. Today, we will see him in Philadelphia.
Tomorrow, we'll see him in his hometown of Scranton, but we don't expect him to see -- we don't expect to see him alongside Kamala Harris until the end of this campaign. They don't have any joint campaign appearances scheduled, and I think that just tells you everything you need to know about how welcome he is on the campaign trail in the closing stretch of this campaign.
WHITFIELD: OK. Kevin Liptak at the White House, thanks so much. All right, so just four days left, everybody until the campaigning is over, and the voting begins in earnest. Let's join now CNN Political Director, David Chalian, David, great to see you. So, what is the one big thing that voters should know about this morning as they -- maybe they haven't voted yet and they're contemplating and trying to figure it all out?
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yeah, as you said, we're four days away from counting the votes. More than 60 million Americans have already voted in this election, and that number is going to climb through the weekend as those folks participate in early vote.
But I would say the one big thing to focus on today is the contrast in the closings. These two candidates in the way in which we see them making closing arguments, how they're appearing and presenting themselves. It's just a clear contrast.
I mean, Donald Trump sitting with Tucker Carlson and basically suggesting that Liz Cheney should face a firing squad plays in directly to what Harris is arguing to voters, which is that she is trying to present more of an image of unifying the country and calling out Donald Trump's divisiveness and urging voters that it doesn't have to be this way. And I think it's just intriguing, because her message seems to be one
where she's still trying to add in. Appeal to those last-minute undecideds. Really swing those swing voters her way. And Donald Trump seems to be -- you know quadrupling down on his strategic thing, which is not necessarily appealing to swing voters, but finding -- mining the earth for more voters aligned with him.
These tend to be low propensity voters who don't participate in every election, but that Donald Trump has a proven ability in 16 and 20 to bring these kinds of new voters into the fold and he believes his rhetoric is part of that appeal for those kinds of voters.
[08:15:00]
WHITFIELD: OK. And then Harris, she's headed to Wisconsin today. Last night, star studded rally in Nevada. J Lo being there in Las Vegas. So, what were the big takeaways there? I mean, what was the goal and the appeal?
CHALIAN: Well, I don't think J Lo was on the agenda until a late ad because of what we saw happen at Former President Trump's Madison Square Garden Rally on Sunday with that comedian who made those racist and disparaging remarks about Puerto Rico and of course, Jennifer Lopez, probably one of America's most famous Puerto Ricans.
And so, she was certainly there on the stage to help bring attention to those remarks and shore up the Latino vote for Harris. But as I said, listen to what Kamala Harris in each of her events now she's highlighting Donald Trump's own words to draw a contrast.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Listen to what he's saying as his closing argument. It's all about hate and division, and it's not just what he says, it's what he will do. Because if elected, you can be sure he will bring back family separation policies, only on a much greater scale than the last time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHALIAN: Now, of course, Donald Trump was also out in Arizona and Nevada and New Mexico trying to appeal to the Latino vote as well, a group of voters where the polling has shown all year, Fred that he's made some inroads. Obviously, this last week of controversy surrounding him has caused concern inside the campaign.
WHITFIELD: OK, David. And then we also have some new polling. New CNN polling out of battleground North Carolina and Georgia. What's it all about?
CHALIAN: Yeah, this is our final two battleground state polls of the cycle, and among likely voters, look at this, it's becoming a familiar story line. It is a dead heat, basically. I mean, these states could not be closer. In Georgia, we have Harris at 47 percent support among likely voters, Trump at 48 the reverse in North Carolina, Harris at 48 percent support Trump at 47. That is a -- that is basically a tie. And we are seeing that across all seven battleground states. And so, in these final days, just be aware, the seven states that are going to decide the outcome of this election are all basically a coin flip right now. That is why the cliche it all comes down to turnout, could never be truer as these campaigns try and I -- identify and make sure that their universal voters are the ones who show up on Election Day.
WHITFIELD: Yeah. All right. CNN Political Director, David Chalian, great to see you. Thanks so much.
CHALIAN: You too, take care.
WHITFIELD: All right. Still to come, the death toll continues to rise in Spain, after flash floods devastated some areas, we'll have a live report from the scene. And new Israeli air strikes hit Beirut suburbs. What this means for the push towards a truce?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:20:00]
WHITFIELD: The death toll has risen after the worst flooding in Spain in decades. A short time ago, emergency officials confirmed 202 people have died, and more rain is expected in some areas, cars swept up in the muddy flood waters still litter the streets days after Tuesday's disaster in southern and eastern Spain.
And a massive cleanup is underway, and emergency workers are still looking for dozens of people who are believed to be missing. Spanish Minister warns that as more days pass, it is less likely that anyone will be found alive. Pau Mosquera is just outside of Valencia and is joining us right now. Pau, what's the focus for authorities today?
PAU MOSQUERA, CNN SPAIN CORRESPONDENT: Well Fredricka, so far, the defense minister has deployed 500 more military personnel to try to help all those towns affected by these devastating floods. The main focus right now, as you just said, is to try to rescue and find those dozens of missing people, but also to clean up all the ways that lead to that towns that need this help.
This is the case, for example, where we are right now. We are four kilometers away from Chiva, one of these cities very affected and devastated by the flood waters. And you can see how it looks right now. The way that leads to the entrance of this town, it's absolutely covered by mud and water, and that's why, as you can see in your TVs in the image, there are some civil defense operators that are trying to help to remove all the debris that is on the road.
But also here, over the morning we have seen Fredricka how they have been removing all the cars, all the vans that got trapped in this point. I actually talked to some national police that was deployed here in this very position, and they told me that while they were removing these cars to lead -- the emergency service to get to their way to the Chiva, they found some bodies here from people that got trapped when the flood waters overflowed from the river very, very fast.
This is actually a very dramatic image that keeps repeating in many different points and many different cities. And actually, we are being told that inside of Chiva, the Mayor is asking for water, for food, because they are now somehow trapped inside, and all that they need cannot get inside. And that's why they are asking the government, the regional government, also, for some help to give some aid to the citizens, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Yeah. Pau Mosquera, it is quite unbelievable, and just seeing them at work behind you as well. Thank you so much from Valencia. All right, now new Israeli air strikes are pounding parts of Lebanon. The Israeli military targeted the southern suburbs of Beirut overnight into Friday. That's according to Lebanese state media.
We're also hearing that these new strikes may indicate Israel is rejecting efforts to reach a ceasefire. That's what Lebanon's Caretaker Prime Minister reportedly told UN peacekeepers a short time ago. At the same time, a military source says Israel is at a quote, high level of readiness and quote for a possible response from Iran.
This comes after the IDF strikes against Iran a week ago. Let's get right to CNN's Jeremy Diamond in Tel Aviv. Jeremy, so what do we know about these latest strikes in Lebanon?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well Fred, for the first time in nearly a week, the Israeli military struck the southern suburbs of Beirut, causing what the Lebanese state news agency NNA described as massive destruction, with dozens of buildings leveled in a series of intense air strikes overnight.
The air strikes followed evacuation orders that the Israeli military issued for parts of those southern suburbs, the -- which is known as a Hezbollah stronghold, but is also, of course, a residential neighborhood where many people have had to flee over the course of the last couple of months.
And it's important to note that those air strikes came following a deadly day in Northern Israel where four Thai workers and an Israeli were killed in the border City of Matula as a result of Hezbollah rocket fire. Two other civilians were killed just outside of Haifa in a separate Hezbollah attack.
And the Lebanese Prime Minister though speaking today about the Israeli air strikes, indicating that, in his view, he believes that that suggests that Israel is, quote, rejecting all efforts being made to ceasefire.
[08:25:00]
As we have seen, there has been a flurry of diplomatic activity in the last 48 hours trying to reach a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah, but the Israeli government views it quite differently. As one official told me, all negotiations are going to be conducted under fire. And the Israeli government very much believes that these air strikes that the military pressure that is being brought to bear on Hezbollah is actually part of their negotiating strategy, rather than a contradiction of it, Fred.
WHITFIELD: And Israel is bracing for possible retaliation from Iran. Is there any sense of when that might happen? What are they anticipating?
DIAMOND: Well, there has been some indications that Iran may carry out some kind of retaliation, even before Election Day in the United States on Tuesday, a high-level Iranian source told our colleague Fred Pleitgen earlier this week that Iran would carry out a quote, definitive and painful response, and that that response might come before Election Day.
We've now heard from an Israeli military source saying that Israel is that a quote, high level of readiness anticipating the possibility of an Iranian response, but they are still assessing the decision-making process inside of Iran. So still, a lot of uncertainty about whether or not Iran will respond with the scope of that response will look like and how quickly it will indeed come.
The Israeli government and the military have of course, made clear that if Iran retaliates, Israel will retaliate once again in turn, but I think that will also depend on what this Iranian retaliation actually looks like. Will it be another round of ballistic missiles hitting Israeli bases, hitting civilian areas inside of Israel?
Will it cause any casualties? Or will it be something more limited, something fired, perhaps not from Iranian territory, but from another country in the region where Iran has proxy forces as well. So, a lot of questions, but certainly high level of readiness here in Israel anticipating that potential Iranian response, Fred.
WHITFIELD: All right. Jeremy Diamond, thanks so much. Still to come, at a campaign event in Arizona, Donald Trump suggests one of his political rivals should be subjected to gunfire just days before the U.S. election. The former president's violent rhetoric reaches new levels.
Then the ballots haven't even been counted, but some Trump supporters are setting the stage for a stolen election by falsely claiming fraud with one claiming quote, January 6th is going to be pretty fun.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:30:00]
WHITFIELD: All right, with four days to go until the U.S. presidential election, Donald Trump is escalating his violent rhetoric by suggesting one of his most prominent critics should be shot at a rally in Arizona on Thursday. Trump said Liz Cheney is a war hawk. I'm quoting him now.
Who should be fired upon? He went on to say, quote, let's put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her. OK, let's see how she feels about it. You know when the guns are trained on her face, end quote. And at a rally in New Mexico, Trump repeated false claims about election fraud. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We almost won it twice. And let me tell you, I believe we won it twice. OK, you want to know the truth. And if you can watch your vote counter, if we could bring God down from heaven, he could be the vote counter, we would win this. We'd win California. We'd win a lot of states.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Vice President Kamala Harris also campaigning out west, criticizing Trump's language when he said he'd protect women, whether they quote like it or not, Harris calling that offensive. All right, some of Trump's supporters are already pushing false claims of voter fraud and promoting lies about a rigged election. CNN's Donie O'Sullivan has more now on the multi front plan, they have to contest -- to contest rather the election.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like, how much theft can they get away with in order to prevent Trump from winning?
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Do you think he's going to win?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we have a fair election, yes.
O'SULLIVAN: There's no way he can lose fairly?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fairly, there's no way.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): MAGA world is preparing its followers for a stolen election.
GREG STENSTROM, AUTHOR: We're just going to announce Harris is the winner. We're going to go we win again, and now try to stop us again. And what's different this time as we're going to be able to stop them.
MARK BURNS, PASTOR: Is there anybody here in North Carolina ready to take this nation back by any means necessary? Say, yeah, yeah, yeah.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): They're laying out, step by step plans to overturn a potential Harris victory. These are not random Trump supporters. These are influential figures in the MAGA movement.
IVAN RAIKLIN, MAGA ACTIVIST: It's all going to depend on what they end up doing. I have a plan and strategy for every single component of it, and then January 6 is going to be pretty fun.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Many of them, like Ivan Raiklin and Michael Flynn, have huge audiences online. And are involved in election denying groups that have spent millions of dollars furthering election conspiracy theories,
MICHAEL FLYNN, FORMER U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: And we should know by Tuesday night, by about 9 or 10 o'clock at night, that one party won.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Election officials across the country have explained that we likely won't know the full results on election night to conspiracy theorists. However, that is a sign of fraud.
FLYNN: In this case, I strongly believe that Donald Trump, if this thing is a fair election, he'll win all 50 states.
RAIKLIN: Now, if it's legit, we don't have to worry, right? Well, who thinks it's going to be legit? You think they're just going to give it to you? No, there's going to be a fight.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Raiklin has encouraged people to pressure their state representatives not to certify election results if they suspect fraud.
RAIKLIN: We try to play it fair. They steal it. Our state legislatures are our final stop to guarantee a checkmate. Be prepared on January 1 to apply the maximum motivation to your state reps, state centers --
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): In North Carolina, he and another right-wing activist are going as far to say there should be no election because of the destruction after Hurricane Helene. They say the Republican control state legislature should decide which presidential candidates gets their electoral college votes.
NOEL FRITSCH, NATIONAL FILE: We don't have to do this popular vote in the state stuff for this federal election. We don't have to do it.
RAIKLIN: You got 120 House Reps. How many of those are Republican, the majority? How about a significant majority? So then, how is the House body going to likely vote with your motivation for the Republican nominee. What about the Senate majority?
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): The idea is fringe and it is extreme, but a Republican Congressman endorsed the idea at an event with Raiklin.
REP. ANDY HARRIS (R-MD): Over -- hey, look, you got disenfranchised 25 counties. You know what that vote probably would have been, which would be if I were in the legislature not to go, Yeah, we got to be the legislature, we can --
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Before eventually walking it back. The idea that the only way Harris can win is if the election is stolen is being pushed across hundreds of MAGA media outlets and from the former president himself.
TRUMP: Because they cheat, that's the only way we're going to lose because they cheat.
[08:35:00]
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): And it's convincing his base.
O'SULLIVAN: What if the results show that Harris won? Do you think Trump will accept that? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think anybody will accept that, because we know it's going to be a lie. But if that's what it is, it's what it is, we'll go from there. We'll see what happens.
O'SULLIVAN: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, I just don't think that Trump's going to lose.
O'SULLIVAN: You think he won last time?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, definitely.
O'SULLIVAN: What happens if he loses?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If he loses --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're all going down January six.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: All right. Leslie Vinjamuri is with us now. She's the Head of the U.S. and the Americas Programme at the Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs. Well, some of what you heard there. Even though you're in London, you heard what's going on here in the U.S.
I mean, it may be a little shocking to hear, but perhaps nothing is more shocking than what people heard last night from the former president talking about Republican Liz Cheney, who is now supporting and even campaigning with the vice president. Here are the remarks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: She's a radical war hawk. Let's put her with a rifle standing there with nine-barrel shooting at her. OK, let's see how she feels about it. You know when the guns are trained on her face.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: So, Leslie, we have heard a response in written form you know, being posted by the Former Representative, Liz Cheney, saying, this is how dictators destroy free nations. They threaten those who speak against them with death. We cannot entrust our country and our freedom to a petty, vindictive, cruel, unstable man. So, I'm wondering from you, Leslie, you know, how do you think this is all resonating among global leaders?
LESLIE VINJAMURI, HEAD OF U.S. AND THE AMERICAS PROGRAMME AT THE CHATHAM HOUSE: I think people across Europe. I sit here in London with a very heavy footprint in the United States, but I can tell you that conversation, those optics and those words from the former president are not well received in Europe, because I think the difference for people sitting here is that they are watching America through the media. They are watching intensely focused conversations. They are seeing the words of -- hearing the words of the former president, but they're not really living America in a daily way. And so, the threat is, it is very significant. I think the concern for all of us about violence surrounding this election is very real.
But there's not a broader understanding that there are actually a number of people in the United States, across both sides of the aisle who are working this election and are dedicated to having a free and fair election. So, what we're seeing amongst global audiences is an even more intensified concern about America's ability to deliver not only a result from this election, but to see it certified to see a peaceful transition.
Because, of course, a Europe and much of the rest of the world depends on America's democracy functioning at a high level, you know, in a symbolic way, in a material way, in all sorts of ways. And in a year where, you know, well over a billion people have been voting elections across the world, it's really this election that people have been sort of hanging their hopes on and very concerned and very much waiting to see.
But the problem, the concerns for violence, are significant. I think our audiences globally also don't understand the level of preparation. You and I know that January 6 has been designated a national special security day by the Department of Homeland Security. There are measures in place.
We've seen this happen before. It isn't going to go without advanced preparation. Doesn't mean that it couldn't be very difficult. And I guess one of the questions is, you know, of course, who will win and by what margin? If this is a close race, the possibility for it to be contested seems extremely high.
Legal confirmation is fine. But when, when you start to talk about extra-legal contestation, in other words, violence, that is the deep concern.
WHITFIELD: Right. The thought of another type of January 6. I mean, that's in large part, why there is so much anxiety in the U.S. with just four days away from Election Day. But it's what happens after words. It also elevates anxiety. So, I wonder, how would you gage the level of anxiety, so to speak, abroad?
Does it match that of what a lot of Americans are expressing because of, you know, what might be right around the corner.
VINJAMURI: I think, here in the U.K. and across Europe, I've been taking teams of people across Latin America, across Asia, across Europe, talking to leaders, talking to experts.
[08:40:00]
It's about America's election and what comes next. They are much more focused on the consequences in policy terms, whether it's on the threatened tariffs, whether it's on America's security guarantees and America's democracy more generally. There's an awareness that this could be a bumpy transition, that it could have violence.
But the focus really here in Europe is very much on economic policy. It is on the question of war in Ukraine and America's future support, not only for Ukraine, but its participation in NATO, clearly their concerns in Mexico about what immigration policy will look like, about possible mass deportations, about the rhetoric.
And across Asia, we found all sorts of concerns, you know, a clear understanding and willingness to work with whoever America chooses, and a determination, a conviction that they can do this, that they have experience with the Democrats that they could certainly work with a President Harris.
That they could even work on with the President Trump, that they've done this before. But a deep concern about the predictability, about the certainty, about whether America's security guarantees would remain in place, and just about a style of governance that would be disrupt, chaotic and potentially damaging were Donald Trump to return.
So, it's a clear concern. But again, if you're sitting outside the United States, there's not a lot of alternatives to working with America. The scale and size of our economy, of our military, of our embeddedness in the economy, the role of the dollar is very difficult to work around the United States as much as there's a lot of conversation about how to do that.
WHITFIELD: Sure. All right. Leslie Vinjamuri, thank you so much. Great hearing from you. So, with this busy election season and the focus on campaigning, it can be hard to lose sight of the fact that Donald Trump is still dealing with a slew of legal troubles. Earlier this year, he was convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, and he's also facing three other indictments.
Some say Trump's best chance at possibly avoiding prison time might be an Election Day victory. CNN's Kara Scannell is joining me right now. Well, that's, of course, what, with certainty, how he and many are looking at it?
KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Fred, I mean, the impact on the election outcome obviously important for Donald Trump's political aspirations, but also very significant for his criminal cases. A number of the criminal cases that are he's still facing are federal cases.
If he wins and he's in the White House, he can make those go away. The one case that actually did go to trial, the New York State hush money case, he is supposed to be sentenced, on that -- on those charges, on that conviction, just three weeks after Election Day.
And lawyers and retired judges I spoke to say they believe if Donald Trump loses the election, that, that sentencing will happen. It might get delayed again, but they expect he will be sentenced. However, if Donald Trump wins the election, they say, then they're not even sure that sentence will happen, or maybe it won't happen for four years.
And part of the issues there is what the first step will be, that the state judge must decide this decision on presidential immunity. The Supreme Court had ruled, Trump has challenged the conviction on that. That ruling is expected the week after the election, one week from Election Day.
Now, after that, Trump's lawyers, if they lose, that, they're going to move to appeal that they're going to move to postpone the sentencing to allow them time to make these legal arguments. And they're going to go, we expect, to multiple courts, the state courts, and possibly back to the Supreme Court.
That all adds to potential delays in this. Now, if and lawyers that I speak to do think that if Trump wins the election, that one of these courts will grant the delay in the sentencing to allow him to challenge this immunity decision if it goes against him. Now, one of the other issues, of course, is that he has other legal challenges he's going to pursue, all of this does take time.
And so, if Trump is heading to the White House, you know, big question will be, does any judge want to sentence him before he takes his seat in the Oval Office? And lawyers think that, that will just not happen, Fred.
WHITFIELD: OK. Kara Scannell, thank you so much. And we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:45:00]
WHITFIELD: All right, this week, we've been shining the spotlight on trial blazers across business, sports and tech, as part of a new CNN series, "Visionaries". Today CNN's Business Correspondent Rahel Solomon speaks to the Former CEO of PepsiCo.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Indra Nooyi grew up in Southern India, born in 1955 her childhood was unconventional, encouraged by her parents, Indra had no interest in traditional roles. She played sports. She was on the debate team. She loved rock and roll music.
INDRA NOOVI, FORMER CEO OF PEPSICO: I was lucky to have been brought up in a family which was close knit, where the men believed that the women should dream, dream big and be allowed to do whatever. So, in many ways, as I always say, I won the lottery of life. The fact that I had a family. The family that encouraged us to study, gave us the opportunities to go to the best schools, and encouraged us at every step along the way.
My parents allowed me to do wild things like climb trees and fall down and play in a rock band. So, everything that a traditional woman in India didn't do, a traditional girl in India didn't do I was allowed to do. And so, my life has been a magical one, incredulous one.
If you go back and think of where I was born, where I was brought up, and how I was brought up. Becoming a business CEO is not something that you would dream of. So, it's an incredulous arc, but it happened.
SOLOMON: When you were tapped to lead PepsiCo in 2006 that was major for so many reasons that we'll get into. How did you do it?
NOOVI: You know, I didn't think of myself as a woman being tapped to run a fortune 50 company because PepsiCo was big, even in 2006. I just looked at the assignment and said, oh my God, I better do right by women, by people of color, by immigrants, by people of Indian origin.
I wanted to do right by everybody. And in retrospect, though I'm realizing now it was very frame breaking. And in so many ways, I broke so many barriers.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Nice, and you can see more from that interview on "Visionaries" premiering this weekend. All right, you might be packing away all your Halloween costumes this morning, but that doesn't mean you have to say goodbye to your signature style. As top designers at Paris Fashion Week told our Eleni Giokos, it's all about finding your edge.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ever failed on this outfit?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You didn't fail. It's just that --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Out of turn. I'll give you five.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The minute I saw you. I said that girl needs more edge.
GIOKOS (voice-over): I'm Eleni Giokos. In my correspondent Korea. I've covered wars, natural disasters and financial crises, but I've now been sent to cover Paris Fashion Week. Entering the epicenter of haute couture can be slightly intimidating, but pushing forwards like I belong. I'm here to find out how my style holds up at Paris Fashion Week.
GIOKOS: Would you be walking with me at Paris Fashion Week?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not distress.
GIOKOS: What did I do wrong?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're making yourself look older. Well, let's bring some edge, yeah.
GIOKOS: Yeah. Let's do it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A best-selling necklace, yeah.
GIOKOS: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Imagine if you wear that. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can see it on you.
GIOKOS: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would introduce masculine pieces in your closet, because you clearly have a lot of feminine pieces, look at that.
[08:50:00]
GIOKOS: It's the contrast, right?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah.
GIOKOS: It's always the contrast.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll put you in this black dress quickly, very shaky.
GIOKOS: This outfit that I'm wearing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You would completely rock it.
GIOKOS: Do you think so?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You would.
GIOKOS: -- try it on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There we go.
GIOKOS: There --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Accessorize with the right edgy items. My choice of sunglasses so fashionable.
GIOKOS: Yeah, but I mean, no -- ridiculous.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You don't.
GIOKOS: I do.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The boots are like, stick with those. The shoes are the ones that are contrasting, yeah. Heels would be like, oh, we cannot be friends. Sneakers are always edgy, by the way, so when in doubt, you can put on some sneakers, but these are my go-to when in doubt, you go for something like this.
GIOKOS: Isn't it difficult to balance what you need to wear for work versus actually showing your personality and bringing that edge without it being inappropriate?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is difficult, but you need to get it to a place where you are content and you know yourself. So, I could easily be a news anchor and I'm dressed like this.
GIOKOS: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, I don't look inappropriate to be reading the news, but I feel edgy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got a working style, my dear, never have an off day. Never.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, this is your new style?
GIOKOS: Yes, my new style. Got it. I would dress you like this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are edgy. This is it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My job is done here. Now you can conquer Paris.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fashion is about how you feel, and that's the most important. And if you made that choice, it means that you were feeling well in doing that choice, you know? And that's definitely what is important.
GIOKOS (voice-over): Fashion is a feeling, not about conforming your style, right?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are an amazing girl. I could totally be your friend.
GIOKOS: My outfit didn't make if it didn't do me initially.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Initially no.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Breaking news on the U.S. economy, despite a slew of good economic news this week, the U.S. jobs market was essentially unchanged in October. New numbers released just minutes ago shows the economy gained just 12,000 new jobs far below expectations.
But economists had warned that two major hurricanes last month as well as major labor strikes might distort the data. The unemployment rate was unchanged, holding steady at 4.1 percent. Our Matt Egan joining us now from New York with more on this.
MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Fredricka, we were bracing for a bad jobs report, and that is exactly what we got. But the big question is, why was it so weak? And it does look like the reason has a lot more to do with Mother Nature and labor strikes than anything related to the underlying strength of the economy.
So, let's go through the numbers quickly. 12,000 jobs added in October, way worse than expected. That is a very sharp slowdown from September, when this was above 200,000 and this is actually the weakest number since the end of 2020, during COVID, when the jobs market lost many positions. Now the unemployment rate stayed at 4 -- 4.1 percent that remains very low. So why did this happen? And why are we getting mixed messages? Well, what's important to note here is that the jobs report is actually put together by two different surveys. The unemployment rate comes from a survey of households, and that survey of households does not count people as unemployed if they're out of work due to weather or due to strikes.
[08:55:00]
But the other number here, that payroll number, that's from a survey of businesses, and that survey counts things differently. And so, we did see in the jobs report and special note from the BLS, which said that manufacturing jobs were down because of strike activity.
They also put a note here, saying that hurricane activity likely impacted payroll estimates, but they noted it's not possible to quantify the net effect from the storms on employment because the survey is not designed to isolate the effects of weather. So, when you put all this together, I think that we're going to have to put an asterisk on this report.
And it's not really possible to draw firm conclusions about the jobs market, because there's just so much noise between the strikes and the hurricanes. Big picture though, Fredricka, the economy does seem like it's in a good place. It's just a confusing jobs report.
WHITFIELD: Yeah. Lots of interruptions will say.
EGAN: Yeah.
WHITFIELD: All right. Matt Egan, thanks so much.
EGAN: Thanks Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, and thank you so much for joining me here in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. "Connect the World" with Erica Hill is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
