Return to Transcripts main page
CNN This Morning
Donald Trump Fills Madison Square Garden in a Final Pitch to Voters; Tony Hinchcliffe Trashes Puerto Rico at Trump Rally; Trump and Harris Hold Rally in Battleground Michigan As Election Clock Ticks Down. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired October 28, 2024 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:00]
KASIE HUNT, ANCHOR, CNN THIS MORNING: It's Monday, October 28th. Right now on CNN THIS MORNING.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: For the past nine years, we have been fighting against the most sinister and corrupt forces on earth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Donald Trump fills Madison Square Garden with his supporters to unveil a dark final pitch to voters. Plus --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY HINCHCLIFFE, COMEDIAN: There's literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now -- yes, I think it's called Puerto Rico.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Trashing Puerto Rico. A comedian at Trump's rally sparks backlash as Kamala Harris rolls out a plan to rebuild the island. And --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES & DEMOCRATICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Michigan, today, I ask you, are you ready to make your voices heard?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We win Michigan we win the whole deal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Battleground beat. We're going to take a look at the issues that are top of mind for critical voters in Michigan.
All right, 5:00 a.m. on the east coast, here is a live look at Capitol Hill. Good morning, everyone, I'm Kasie Hunt, it's wonderful to have you with us. Man, it's Monday, we got one more Monday after this before election day. Donald Trump intensifying his anti-immigrant rhetoric and condemning his political rivals during a marathon rally at Madison Square Garden yesterday.
Trump loyalists who opened for the former President, delivering some particularly inflammatory remarks, one Republican politician called Kamala Harris the anti-Christ, and this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HINCHCLIFFE: I don't know if you guys know this, but there's literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. Yes, I think it's called Puerto Rico.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Trump's campaign did something they rarely do. They distanced themselves from that comment after the rally, saying in a statement, quote, "this joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign." During an 80-minute speech, Trump himself leaned into hard- line immigration policies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The day I take the oath of office, the migrant invasion of our country ends and the restoration of our country begin.
(CHEERS)
TRUMP: November 5th, 2024, 9 days from now will be liberation day in America.
We will put these vicious and bloodthirsty criminals in jail, and then kick them the hell out of our country as fast as possible.
I'm hereby calling for the death penalty for any migrant that kills an American citizen or a law enforcement officer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Those kinds of comments, of course, nothing new for Trump. The anti-migrant rhetoric has been going on since that very first day when he launched his first campaign nearly a decade ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapists.
This could be the great Trojan horse of all time.
At this very moment, large, well-organized caravans of migrants are marching toward our southern border. Some people call it an invasion.
They're poisoning the blood of our country.
In Springfield, they're eating the dogs, the people that came in, they're eating the cats.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right, joining us now, Washington correspondent for "Spectrum News" and "New York 1", Kevin Frey, who was at that Trump rally last night. Kevin, good morning to you, thank you so much for being with us. Take us inside the Garden for what seems like it was a quite a spectacle and a pretty dark, stark portrait from Trump and his allies about the choice in this election.
KEVIN FREY, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, SPECTRUM NEWS NY1: Yes, I mean, it was a pretty raucous affair. And this was, of course, for Trump, kind of, you know, a homecoming. Listen, you're playing Madison Square Garden. This is kind of the peak for him in terms of what his existence as a New Yorker in some sense.
And so, this fed into that vibrant kind of moment for him. Now, in terms of the commentary inside, look, they're already sparking all this backlash as he was just walking through, particularly when it comes to things like what he said about Puerto Rico. Now, in terms of why he was there, it seems part of the thought process is yes, this is big for him as a New Yorker.
Yes, it allows him to play into his ego, but it also of course, is surrounded by all these competitive congressional districts that are so key.
[05:05:00]
And so, I was talking to the Congresswoman Elise Stefanik as she was going in yesterday, and the thought is, this can ramp up support amongst the MAGA base in some of these competitive congressional districts. But one has to imagine some of what was said yesterday in the garden, particularly when it comes to his comments about Puerto Rico, not this particularly the comedian earlier on, could only serve to rev up the anti-Trump base.
You already saw some of the -- one of the lawmakers in one of those competitive districts, Anthony D'Esposito trying to kind of separate himself from that comment about the island of garbage.
HUNT: Yes, I was going to say for Elise Stefanik to be right about that, you would have thought we would have seen some of these Republicans who represent swing districts in and around the Hudson Valley, that they might actually show up if they thought it was going to be so helpful, but were they there? Did I just miss them?
FREY: Well, they -- I just saw it was one go in, Congressman Michael Lawler. He declined to do an interview with me when he was walking in, he was in the kind of same flow of traffic as Stefanik and Malliotakis. And I believe Anthony D'Esposito was there based on some of what I saw on Twitter by RNC(ph) personally, but we didn't see them on the stage, no --
HUNT: Right --
FREY: They didn't, they couldn't shout out --
HUNT: I mean, yes --
FREY: When there was the event at Long Island, but they were not center stage here, kind of trying to rev up their own standing, if you will, at least in the national spotlight.
HUNT: All right, I mean I think it's -- they're caught, that's why some of these districts are so -- are so --
FREY: Yes --
HUNT: Hard for them. Let's talk about the Puerto Rican comment for a second, because I mean, look, if you -- if you know -- if you're lucky enough to know people from Puerto Rico, they're extraordinarily proud of where they come from, of --
FREY: Yes --
HUNT: Their -- of their heritage and they're American citizens and they vote, the ones who live here on -- in the mainland. Obviously, there are -- the rules for Puerto Rico itself are a little bit different, but there's about half a million people of Puerto Rican heritage who live in Pennsylvania, which is a critical swing state --
FREY: Yes --
HUNT: And it's very rare that you see the Trump campaign acknowledge or say, we shouldn't have said that, normally they'll approach it differently. How much of a potential problem is this for them?
FREY: Well, I mean, this is pure Math. I mean, you have half a million voters in a state where, you know, it could be -- come down to just the margins. So, that's one, a difficulty to deal with. Look, I grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, which has a very large Puerto Rican population, and it's one of those districts that the Biden campaign and now the Harris campaign has invested pretty heavily in, trying to do door-knock and trying to do outreach.
This is a county that typically goes red, but has a very blue, very multi-ethnic downtown center city. And so, if you're hemorrhaging support there from comments like this through a culture that is very proud of their culture, that often has the Puerto Rican flag displayed on their cars, on their homes, that's going to become a difficulty, for them.
And it kind of laid out this extraordinary way this comment was made at the same time the players are active pouring(ph) into them. For example, in the Philadelphia area, and selling out -- essentially, look, he did not all of -- during -- and this all goes -- at the same time you saw Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who has her own Puerto Rican background was on this Twitch feed with Tim Walz and they were talking about the -- this comment as well, playing it live for their audience with AOC essentially encouraging Puerto Ricans in states across the country to send this to their relatives and say, they're talking about you.
HUNT: Yes, all right, Kevin Frey for us this morning, Kevin, thanks very much for being with us. I appreciate it. All right, Tuesday, November 5th, in case you missed it, it's election night in America, and from the first votes to the critical count, no one covers it like CNN. Our special live coverage starts Tuesday, November 5th, 4:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.
And it goes all the way through the night into the morning, you can join me in the morning as we continue with my colleague John Berman to count those votes. We'll see when we get a call. All right, straight ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, how Iran plans to react after Israeli strikes crippled their ballistic missile production.
Plus, J.D. Vance insists that Trump's enemy from within attack line is not directed at political rivals. Plus, Donald Trump played a flip battleground Michigan by seizing on Arab-American and Muslim voters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Kamala is campaigning with Muslim-hating war monger Liz Cheney, who wants to invade practically every Muslim country on the planet. And let me tell you --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:10:00]
HUNT: All right, welcome back. Iran's ability to manufacture long- range ballistic missiles reportedly crippled by an Israeli strikes Saturday. According to "Axios", Israel hit 12 planetary mixers used to produce solid fuel for missiles. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's message, mission accomplished.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER, ISRAEL (through translator): Iran attacked Israel with hundreds of ballistic missiles, these attacks failed. We promised back then that we would respond, and in the early hours of Saturday morning, we kept our promise. The Air Force attacked across Iran, we harshly harmed the defense ability of Iran and its ability to manufacture missiles directed at us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[05:15:00]
HUNT: Israeli's goal was to deter Iran from launching further missile strikes. According to "Axios", the mixers that were destroyed are quote, "highly sophisticated" equipment that Iran cannot produce on its own and must purchase from China. Re-manufacturing the mixers could take at least a year. Meanwhile, Gaza hostage and ceasefire negotiations resuming in Doha for the first time in two months.
Egypt, a key moderator for Hamas in Israel now proposing an initial two-day ceasefire and hostage exchange. CNN's Max Foster joins us live now from London. Max, good morning, always wonderful to see you. How big a deal is this? I mean, how badly does it weaken Iran? And it does seem as though the way that people have reacted to this is bringing down tensions a little bit. What's your read?
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: Well, we have been talking, haven't we? About how America has been leaning on Israel not to attack that vital infrastructure, their nuclear plants and the oil infrastructure, which they felt would escalate tensions too much. So, I think this is an example of how actually Israel did listen to United States.
Some would say at last, it was a very targeted attack of these mixers that you described, which you know, if successful, if we're -- if we're right to believe what we've been told by Israel, it would certainly slow down Iran's ability to, you know, work, you know, have these long-range missiles, make them go effectively.
And so, it does disable them to some extent, but not completely. And we don't know what other weaponry they have. Of course, now we're waiting, Kasie, on how -- or if Iran decides to respond, although it has made very clear, it doesn't want a war, which is a positive.
HUNT: Indeed. So, let's talk a little bit about this -- the hostage and ceasefire negotiations because this obviously has been something that especially for these hostage families, it's just so emotional and so difficult, and there have been all these questions in the wake of the killing of Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas, about who might be negotiating on their behalf, how possible this actually is. Where do you think this stands and how hopeful are people about how this is going to go forward?
FOSTER: I think they're pretty on hopeful because, you know, there hasn't been any hope in these talks in recent times, but this is like for the first time in a couple of months, very high level talks in Qatar between Israel, Qatar and the Israelis. You also have Egypt involved in mediation, but this is the Qataris really ramping up their efforts and their influence into this process.
And they do in theory have a lot of influence over Hamas. So, momentum and the extent that Qatar seems to have renewed energy going into this, separately, the Egyptians are also working on their own plan and they've suggested, I think releasing about four Israeli hostages in return for a two-week ceasefire.
So, alternate plans here, but certainly, Israel after the death of Sinwar does seem to be more hopeful that there can be some sort of deal here. But there are several parties involved, but good news, I think that Qatar is really pushing forward with this.
HUNT: All right, Max Foster for us in London this morning, Max, always grateful to have you, thank you so much. All right, coming up here on CNN THIS MORNING, returning to a new normal one month after Hurricane Helene, students in Asheville, North Carolina are heading back to class after the storm killed nearly 100 people in their state.
Plus, battleground Michigan could have so-called secret group bloc of voters help Kamala Harris win there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:20:00]
HUNT: All right, 22 minutes past the hour, here's your morning roundup. Rudy Giuliani will be in federal court in New York this afternoon for a bankruptcy hearing. He has been ordered to turn over his Manhattan penthouse apartment and other possessions to the two Georgia election workers he defamed.
The former personal attorney for Donald Trump owes Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss -- get this, $150 million. The McDonald's quarter-pounder back on the menu this week, the burgers are at the center of a deadly E. coli outbreak. Colorado's Department of Agriculture said Sunday, the beef patties tested negative for the bacteria, but they will be sold without onions.
That ingredient is still under investigation. All right, today, students in Asheville, North Carolina are heading back to school. They haven't been able to be in class since Hurricane Helene hit one month ago. Students will ease back into a modified schedule over the next few days. The storm claimed nearly a hundred lives in North Carolina.
All right, time now for the weather. Parts of the U.S. on track to see record-breaking high temperatures this week as the warm and dry weather continues in parts of the central and eastern United States. Let's get straight to our meteorologist, the weatherman, Derek Van Dam. Derek, good morning, what do you got for us today?
DEREK VAN DAM, METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Kasie. It looks like people will be hitting the early voting polls, a little pleasant weather, and you really only need a light sweater perhaps for locations east of the Mississippi. Maybe even, you can ditch that sweater and head out there in short-sleeved shirts.
Because we're going to have warm temperatures for about 160 different locations, potentially breaking record highs. Yesterday, we saw records broken in parts of Texas, Louisiana, Alabama and Florida. Look at the day-time highs for today, reaching the upper 80s across the deep south, Atlanta, 72, with the exception here right across the northeast where day-time highs will be slightly cooler than average.
[05:25:00]
But you can see this type of weather pattern for Des Moines, Minneapolis and Memphis is roughly the early to middle parts of September weather, that's what we would normally feel in terms of the day-time high. So, a lot of people are focusing on what will happen towards the end of the week. A lot of us, including myself have children, Halloween, guess what? This could be one of the warmest Halloweens on record for many locations, New York all the way to Atlanta. So, a warm forecast and a dry one at that. We've been extremely dry for the month of October, potentially setting an entire month without having any rainfall falling from the sky for Atlanta, which would be a first for the ATL, but I do believe that there is some rain coming for a vast majority of the eastern parts of the country that have been dealing with this dry stretch as a cold front sweeps in.
But a lot of this rain actually going to settle in for the eastern seaboard by the end of the week, which of course would be early November. So, we'll kind of be splitting hairs here, but here's the rainfall. You could see returns to the nation's midsection this week. Kasie?
HUNT: All right, yes, right, it sounds like a rainy potentially election day, but man, 83 degrees --
VAN DAM: Right --
HUNT: On Halloween here in --
VAN DAM: I know --
HUNT: I mean, honestly, that's the news I could --
VAN DAM: It's not normal --
HUNT: Use this morning for what it's worth.
(LAUGHTER)
HUNT: Thank you very much, we'll see you next hour. All right --
VAN DAM: Yes --
HUNT: Still ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, battleground Michigan, the state flipping back-and-forth over the past several presidential elections. We're going to hear some -- from some voters there, plus J.D. Vance going on defense as Donald Trump doubles down on calling his opponents the enemy within.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JAMES DAVID VANCE (R-OH) & REPUBLICAN VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I am telling you that Donald Trump has said, and I agree with him, that we should use the U.S. military to go --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After Americans --
VANCE: People who riot, who burn down our city.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
