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CNN This Morning
Harris Spars With Fox News Host; Liam Payne, Former One Director Member, Dead At 31; Right Now: Closest Supermoon Of The Year Visible. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired October 17, 2024 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:32]
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Thursday, October 17th.
Right now on CNN THIS MORNING:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My presidency will not be a continuation of Joe Biden's presidency.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Breaking from Biden. Kamala Harris promising she will be her own president in her most contentious interview yet.
Plus this --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll continue to make voting accessible to the voters, and whether we need four-wheelers, forces or helicopters.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Battleground beat. The first day of early voting in North Carolina. How the aftermath of Hurricane Helene could impact turnout.
And later, an outpouring of grief. Fans around the world shocked and saddened following the death of former One Direction singer Liam Payne.
(MUSIC)
HUNT: All right, 5:00 a.m. in the East Coast, a live look at Capitol Hill in this Thursday morning.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.
There are just 19 days until Election Day. Voters have already started casting ballots in several states. And today, early voting begins in another critical battleground North Carolina.
Kamala Harris continuing to scale up her media appearances in this final stretch of the campaign, sitting down for an interview with Fox News's Bret Baier, where she looked to distinguish herself from the Biden administration.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Let me be very clear: my presidency will not be a continuation of Joe Biden's presidency. I represent a new generation of leadership.
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HUNT: The at times contentious interview seems to bring out a more prosecutorial side of Harris at times.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: You know what I'm going to talk about it.
BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS HOST: But just that number. Do you think it's 1 million, 3 million of apprehensions?
HARRIS: I'm not finished. I'm not finished. We have -- we have an immigration system -
BAIER: A rough estimate of 6 million people have been released into the country and let me just finish, I'll get to the question. I promise you.
HARRIS: I was beginning to answer. May I please finish? May I finish responding please? But you have to let me finish.
BAIER: You had the White House and the House and the Senate, and they didn't bring up that bill.
HARRIS: I'm in a middle of responding to the point you're raising.
BAIER: OK.
HARRIS: And I'd like to finish.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Her opponent, Donald Trump, also tried to win over undecided voters. He spoke to Latino voters during a Univision town hall that did touch on the issue of immigration.
Watch.
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DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We just want them to come in legally through a system because they've released hundreds of thousands of people that are murderers, drug dealers, terrorists. So we want workers and we want them to come in, but they have to come in legally.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: His comments didn't stop there. He repeated unsubstantiated claims that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, are eating their neighbor's pets.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: That's been reported, and eating other things too, that they're not supposed to be. But this is -- all I do is report.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right. Joining us now, Laura Davison, political editor for "Bloomberg News".
Laura, good morning to you. Thank you so much for being here.
So Kamala Harris's interest willingness to go on at Fox News billed as an attempt to win over some independent voters but also when I've talked to sources, an indication that they realized that they had have grounds that they need to make up before election day.
How did you view her performance on Fox News? Did she actually answer some of those questions? Obviously, it was very contentious, but in terms of the substance, what stood out to you.
LAURA DAVISON, POLITICAL EDITOR, BLOOMBERG NEWS: This is about as close as were going to get to a second debate, this was a really testy exchange. She was pressed on some issues and sort of dodge I mean, particularly at the opening question was how many migrants have come across the border and she'd pivoted to say, look, this is about the contrast between myself and Donald Trump, and that he did not want to pursue this bipartisan border bill and killed that earlier in the year.
So this is sort of an interesting way of her trying to reach out to these undecided voters, these independent voters, and frankly, people who are just now tuning in 19 days ahead of the election, you know, to try to reach them, realizing that she has ground to make up, that she is the momentum she had weeks ago. It started in a flat line and she needs to win over some of these Republican and Republican leaning voters.
HUNT: So one of the things that also stood out to me is that she continually in the interview pivoted back to talking about Donald Trump and it seemed like she viewed the forum that she was in as one where -- she kept referring to this idea that Fox News viewers needed to know more about Donald Trump, that perhaps that was why she was there.
[05:05:03]
Did she succeed in kind of painting that contrast between her and Donald Trump? Or we still have seen voters say they want to know more about her? How do you think she struck that balance?
DAVISON: So she spent the vast majority of the time talking about, you know, Donald Trump, as well as trying to even pivot away from look, this isn't a race about Joe Biden says, this is -- I will not be a continuation of Joe Biden's presidency.
She did at the very end, manage as to get in some of the details about her policy about housing, about affordable childcare, those sorts of things, referencing her -- her policy plans that she has on her website but if you're going into this not inclined to like Kamala Harris should probably not going to come out of this with your mind completely changed. But this will be a race of margins.
So if she picks up really 100 voters and Michigan, that is a -- that is a win for the campaign.
HUNT: Right. I mean, this is a game of inches as we -- as we have continually talked about. Let's talk about the Trump town hall up briefly, that clip that we showed of Trump talking about migrants coming into the country. He was asked by the voter there about his mass deportation plans, as well as if in fact all of these migrants were deported.
What would happen to the price of food in the country as so many of them, do work that many of our businesses say is absolutely necessary Trump did acknowledge but lots of workers do need into the country, need to come into the country to do that but he obviously avoided talking about the sort of mass deportation plans that are potentially really problematic for this audience. How did you look at how he handled that issue?
DAVISON: And so, that question was really interesting because it was asked by someone who actually said he picks strawberries and broccoli in the fields. So someone who is very acutely aware with how this process goes. This has been the whole big question about his mass deportation plan, every time he's asked, you know, how does this actually work?
Do you go knock on people's doors? How do you find them? What does this mean to the economy? There's some studies out showing that this would be a massive blow across the board. Not only people who'd be deported, but that's the economy that wouldn't be able to function.
So this has been really not a great interview for him. He took a lot of really pointed questions, was not able to answer on specific other questions he was asked directly. Do you really believe that the migrants in Springfield are eating pets? And he just said, yes, essentially that's been reported and dodge. So this is, you know, when he was asked some very pointed questions from undecided voters, you know, wasn't really able to meet that moment.
HUNT: Donald Trump, reporter for a day or just report what I hear.
Laura Davison for us this morning -- Laura, thanks very much for starting us off. I appreciate it.
All right. Coming up here on CNN THIS MORNING, a shocking death, 31- year-old pop star Liam Payne falling to his death in Argentina.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIFED FEMALE: It's really just like a shock, like I don't really -- I can't really believe it right now.
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HUNT: Reaction pouring in this morning from fans around the world with the latest on the investigation, next.
Plus, new evidence in the case of the Menendez brothers. Now there are relatives calling for their released after their spent more than 30 years in prison.
And after dancing around the issue for weeks now, J.D. Vance finally answering the question, did Donald Trump lose the 2020 election?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No, I think there's serious problems in 2020. So did Donald Trump lose the election? Not by the words that I would use.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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[05:13:03]
HUNT: This morning, fans around the world mourning the tragic death of British singer, former One Direction member, Liam Payne. Police in Argentina say the 31-year-old died Wednesday afternoon in Buenos Aires after falling from his third floor hotel room. 911 calls reveal hotel staff had been concerned about Payne leading up to the incident.
The hotel manager saying, quote, we have a guest who's overwhelmed with drugs and alcohol. He is tearing the whole room apart, adding quote, he is in a room that has a balcony and well, we're little afraid he'll do something.
New images of Payne's hotel room appear to show a cracked TV screen. Hotel staff requested urgent assistance from police, adding they hadn't been allowed inside the room for several days.
Heartbroken fans in tears, singing along to One Direction. They held a large vigil outside the Casa Sur Hotel in the Palermo neighborhood of Argentina's capital. Many say they are in shock.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's part of my past, like my adolescence basically, One Directions. So it's really like there yet. I haven't like processed it yet.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HUNT: All right. Joining us now live from London with more, CNN International's Max Foster, anchor Max Foster, who is in London.
Max, good morning to you.
This, of course, hitting where you are very hard as the papers have put this tragedy on their front pages today. What more are we learning about the investigation and what's been the reaction there?
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, it's interesting hearing that fan speaking. I think, you know, you do ask the question there why, it's social media blowing up with this one story when there are so many other tragedies around the world, but I think in many ways, he represented many young people at a time when the social media was blowing up.
Simon Cowell picked him out of obscurity.
[05:15:01]
He was just a regular guy from the north of England. Simon Cowell put him in a band, which happened to go on to be the biggest boy band in the world.
But then he obviously struggled with the fame that came with it. You know, it's a double-edged sword, isn't it? And health issues he had off the back of it. There might have pressure that came off the back of it. And how, you know, fame isn't all, what is cracked up to be.
So I think that people liked that fan like many of the fans here grew up with them and they are genuinely shocked so in terms of what we know, he came off this balcony, either, you know, the way they're looking at the investigation according to the government and police sources is they fell off or he jumped off. And then of course there was the scene that you described in the room before all of this happened when the receptionist called 911, said there were some violence, there were some drug-taking and we saw the TV and that image that you brought up earlier as what as well.
So an another tragedy, they're not looking for anyone else in relation to this as far as we know but it feels like a story that's come to a tragic end, which many young people have followed over the years.
HUNT: Well, he talked about his struggle with addiction, with drugs and alcohol, his attempts now to get clean. And in 2019, he spoke to 'Esquire" in the Middle East. And he said, I don't think I struggle in the sense of what you would naturally think of when I'm walking down the street with every person stopping me. I mean, it happens sometimes, but it's mainly mentally where you struggle with it. It's getting ready and always knowing that you might be photographed.
So to your point, obviously struggling to live with some of what came with his enormous fame, his stardom, and of course, fans across the world mourning him this morning.
Max Foster, very grateful to have you today. Thank you as always today.
And we're remembering him today. Liam Payne was 31-years-old. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:21:29]
HUNT: All right. Twenty-one minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup.
This morning, the Iran-backed Houthis say the U.S. will pay the price for Wednesday's strikes in Yemen. The Pentagon said it used B-2 stealth bombers to target five underground weapons storage facilities and said President Biden directed the strikes to prove that the U.S. can reach its targets, quote, anytime, anywhere.
The relatives of Lyle and Erik Menendez are calling for the brothers to be released from prison. The L.A. County district attorney is weighing new evidence in the murder of their parents after the pair has spent more than 30 years behind bars.
Former President Jimmy Carter has cast his vote for Kamala Harris. The 39th president submitted his absentee ballot by mail on Wednesday, according to his spokesperson. Carter, who turned 100 this month, lives in the battleground state of Georgia. He has been in hospice care since 2023.
All right. Time now for weather, a stunning lunar display. The closest supermoon of the year happening right now.
Let's get to meteorologist Derek Van Dam, who's watching the skies this morning in Atlanta.
Derek, you're outside. What are you seeing?
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Freezing, too, this morning.
Yeah. You know, its interesting, Kasie, I find that this moon, the moon has been this very constant in a lot of my live shots over my career, whether its the total solar eclipse where the moon blocked out the sun or talking about the tides or a lunar eclipse. But this morning, we're talking about a supermoon.
And if you're lucky enough, you still can get outside and enjoy it this morning, don't leave yet. Let me explain it first. So pan up to the moon for you what were talking about, what in the world is a supermoon?
Well, it all happens when the moon makes us closest approach to the Earth. Think about its path around the planet as more of an egg shape or an elliptical shape. So it is at its perigee, which means that its closest approach towards the planet. And that's roughly about 363,000 kilometers away.
So what that means for us here on the ground is that the moon is going to appear about 14 percent brighter and even about 6 percent larger. So its saying something if you step off side and look at it this morning because that supermoon is about to peak at its brightest point at 7:26 this morning. And you have another opportunity to see it after sunset tonight and again early tomorrow morning as well.
This is third -- four supermoons this year. It's moon known as the super hunter moon. And of course we need the clear skies just like we have here in Atlanta to enjoy it. Much of the east coast and into the Midwest are enjoying the clear conditions. So you do have that opportunity if you're waking up bright and early this morning/
But beware, it is called. I am freezing. We've got over 84 million Americans under some sort of frost and freeze alerts this morning. So if you are stepping outside, make sure you have the coat, and perhaps a scarf to keep herself all bundled up nice and warm -- Kasie.
HUNT: At the very least, if you're up and watching with us and you're on the east coast, look at, you know, you might see something cold.
Derek Van Dam for us this morning.
VAN DAM: That's right. There you go.
HUNT: Derek, go inside, get warm, come back next hour. We'll see you soon.
All right. Still coming up here on CNN THIS MORNING:
J.D. Vance definitively weighing in on whether he thinks Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. We'll show you his answer ahead.
Plus, early voting starts today in North Carolina. Will the damage from Hurricane Helene factor in. That's coming up in our battleground beat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Races are won or lost on the margin in North Carolina. We are officially a battleground state.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:29:42]
HUNT: All right, 5:29 a.m. on the east coast. A beautiful look at the West Coast, the Seattle, Washington, this morning.
Morning, everyone, I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.
After previously sidestepping questions on the issue, vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance now decisively answering whether or not he believes that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REPORTER: Did Donald Trump lose in 2020?
VANCE: I've answered this question directly a million times.
