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White House Tries to Explain Biden's 'Garbage' Comment; Polling Shows Trump, Harris Deadlocked; Gov. Shapiro: Trump Trying to 'Create Chaos and Stoke Division'; Trump Vows to Let RFK Jr. 'Go Wild' on Food & Medicine. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired October 30, 2024 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Wednesday, October 30. Right now on CNN THIS MORNING.
[05:59:12]
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KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have to stop pointing fingers and start locking arms.
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HUNT: A message of unity on a symbolic stage. Kamala Harris makes her final case to voters six days out from election day.
And this. Damage control: the White House trying to clean up after Joe Biden in a remark the Republicans are comparing to Hillary Clinton's line about deplorables.
Also --
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DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: They've already started cheating in Lancaster. They've cheated.
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HUNT: Sound familiar? Donald Trump already pushing claims of voter fraud, laying the groundwork to challenge the results again.
And later.
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HARRIS: The path to victory runs through Philly.
TRUMP: If we win Pennsylvania, we're going to win the whole deal.
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HUNT: The crucial commonwealth. In our battleground beat, we head to Pennsylvania, the must-win state. It's all tied up right now. All right, 6 a.m. here on the East Coast. A live look at Raleigh,
North Carolina, another battleground where both candidates are heading to the Tar Heel State today. Again, the last Wednesday before election day.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.
Six days to go. And this morning, we're hitting a major milestone. More than 50 million votes have been cast.
And with time running short, what Donald Trump and Kamala Harris say right now could be the last impression that many voters take with them into the voting booth.
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HARRIS: America was born when we wrested freedom from a petty tyrant. Across the generations.
They didn't do that only to see us submit to the will of another petty tyrant.
We are not a vessel for the schemes of wannabe dictators.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: That was the vice president standing in front of the White House. A lot of stagecraft and imagery there on the Ellipse.
And that was, of course, the same spot where Trump addressed his supporters on January 6 before a mob attempted to overturn his electoral defeat.
Even as she hammered Trump, Harris made explicit appeals to patriotism and bipartisanship.
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HARRIS: America, for too long, we have been consumed with too much division, chaos, and mutual distrust. And it can be easy, then, to forget a simple truth: it doesn't have to be this way.
We have to stop pointing fingers and start locking arms. It is time to turn the page on the drama and the conflict, the fear and division.
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HUNT: Harris's message of unity, however, was somewhat complicated by this comment from President Biden during a virtual appearance at a get-out-the-vote event.
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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a floating island of garbage. Well, let me tell you something. I don't -- I don't know the Puerto
Rican that I know -- or Puerto Rico where I've -- in my home state of Delaware. They're good, decent, honorable people.
The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters (ph). His -- his demonization, I think, is unconscionable, and its un-American. It's totally contrary to everything we've done, everything we've been.
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HUNT: The president later tried to clarify the remarks. He tweeted that he was referring to, quote, "the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by a Trump supporter at Sunday's rally."
The White House even released a transcript, claiming that what Biden was calling garbage was the "supporter's." That is singular, with an apostrophe "S." One supporter's, quote, "demonization" of Latinos.
The Trump campaign quickly seized on the comment. They sent this fundraising email saying, quote, "First lady -- first Hillary called you are deplorable. Then they called you a fascist. And moments ago, Kamala's boss, Biden, called you garbage."
At a rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania, last night, Trump responded, once again, attacking his former opponent's mental fitness.
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TRUMP: Remember Hillary? She said "deplorable." And then she said "irredeemable," right? But she said "deplorable." That didn't work out.
Garbage, I think, is worse, right? But he doesn't know. You have to please forgive him. Please forgive him. For he not knoweth what he said.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right. Our panel is here: Alex Thompson, CNN political analyst, national political reporter for Axios; Mark Preston, CNN senior political analyst; Karen Finney, CNN political commentator, and a former senior adviser to Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign; and Kristen Soltis Anderson, CNN political commentator, Republican pollster and strategist.
Welcome to all of you. Thank you so much for being here this morning.
Alex, I've got to start with you, because we were just sitting here yesterday, talking about the tensions between the Harris and Biden camps in terms of what exactly they're looking for from the sitting president in these closing days here.
And the reality is, of course, Biden's team trying very hard to clean this up. I think they recognize the damage that has been done. What's been the reaction from Harris's team? ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. Well, no one here at this
table knows what Joe Biden meant, unless someone here has talked to Joe Biden when he made those -- when he made those comments.
And the sad reality is that they were indecipherable, because this president is no longer able to coherently and consistently articulate a message. And that's just the sad reality. That is why he's no longer the nominee. Because at the debate, we all saw that very clearly.
And it's also why Kamala Harris does not want him on the trail.
This is a guy that just last week referred to former Representative Gabby Giffords in the past tense. She's very much alive.
[06:05:05]
This is a person that last week said that he wanted to throw Donald Trump in jail, and then very quickly tried to backtrack and said he just politically meant to lock him up.
And we are in this sad scenario where -- where clearly, Joe Biden and the aides around him, they want to make him feel better, want him to be able to sort of be inserted into this race, that see Kamala Harris's electric potential election as an affirmation of his record.
But that Kamala Harris does not want him to be inserted and would prefer that he basically be absent this last week this election.
MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: You know, I'm of the mindset that if you say you might as well embrace it.
And I do think that that's a problem for -- for Democrats.
HUNT: Let me ask the strategists over here.
PRESTON: Shocking that I would say that. No, but realistically, like, I do think if he said listen, yes, I do mean all those racist supporters of Donald Trump. Yes, I do think that they're terrible.
I think that -- that people would look at the Democratic Party a little bit different. I think -- look, I do think that the Democratic Party, in general, doesn't look like they are strong enough, and they will always back off of things. And I think that when Joe Biden backs off of saying what he really believes, I don't think that's a good look.
HUNT: Well, but Kristen, hasn't this been kind of one of the fundamental issues that Democrats have faced in trying to run against Donald Trump, and in fighting some of -- in dealing with the cultural divisions in our country, the idea that -- I mean, there are a lot of people out there who don't -- you know, feel like, well, I might support Trump. I may have my own reasons for doing that who may be alienated by a remark like this.
KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: There's nothing more powerful for someone than to hear a compliment. Someone likes me. And Donald Trump's stronghold on Republican voters is because he came around and said, the world tells you that you're racist. The world tells you that you're backward. The world tells you that you're neanderthals. And I don't think that. I like you. I like you and respect you, and I want to make sure that you have power.
And that's why he's been able to so strongly hold onto Republicans.
That's why this comment is so potentially damaging. It is bulletin board material. It is the sort of thing where you go, See they really don't like me.
And it motivates you in the same way that deplorables did, in the same way that for Mitt Romney, 47 percent -- only 47 percent of the country is contributing. That kind of comment. In the same way that the Puerto Rican garbage comments from Madison Square Garden.
When people feel like that candidate and their side doesn't like me, you will go to the mat for the side that you think does.
HUNT: Well, I mean, Karen, one of the things that Harris has been explicitly doing here in the closing days is to try to bring more people into the tent, to give Republicans permission to come on board. And she has been actually very careful to not talk this way.
KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think this is so absurd, you guys. If we're going to sit here and compare crazy statements by old white guys, let's please do that.
Because let's talk about what Donald Trump went on to talk about, right? When he talks about shithole countries and he talks about rapists and murderers, and how -- and accusing them of putting children in danger in Springfield, because they're eating cats and dogs.
And when we're talking -- Joe Biden misspoke. He said something stupid. He's not at the top of the ticket. Donald Trump is at the top of the ticket. He has been racist, misogynist, sexist. I mean, he's been attacking everybody for everything --
HUNT: So, do you think --
FINNEY: -- for hours. So, I'm just saying, let's do that. If we're going to make a list, let's please do that.
THOMPSON: We talk about all those things. I think I was on the stand with you when those things happened. We talked about them at the time.
FINNEY: And they -- they happened last night. I mean, the point is they --
HUNT: Do you think this comment doesn't matter? Does this thing that Biden said not matter?
FINNEY: I think it's a little absurd to put so much attention on it when he's not at the top of the ticket. You know, I'm sure it's going to matter, because the Trump campaign is going to make it matter.
But it has -- to my mind, there's no comparison to that to -- based on the kinds of things that Donald Trump has been saying, all campaign, every day, every single event that he does.
And didn't even apologize for any of it.
ANDERSON: It's damaging, because they're playing pin the apostrophe on the statement.
THOMPSON: Apostrophe-gate, yes.
ANDERSON: Saying he was saying "supporter's," apostrophe. You know, I'm saying that --
FINNEY: I'm saying it's absurd also because, by the way, Steve Bannon, fresh out of jail yesterday, started talking about election sabotage and violence and fomenting violence.
And we're talking about where an apostrophe goes? Are you joking? No.
THOMPSON: Well, the White House is talking about where an apostrophe goes. And granted, tens of millions, and perhaps the majority of Americans feel the exact same way that you do, that like, this does not matter to their vote.
I think the reason why a lot of Harris aides I talked to last night were very frustrated is because they felt like she delivered an incredible speech. It was like a great backdrop, a huge, excited crowd.
And then -- and why was Joe Biden even on this Zoom at this exact time? Like why -- why even, like, risk it? And I think that's the real frustration, and it has some Harris camp.
[06:10:02]
FINNEY: I completely get the frustration on the political context of it. I mean, yes, I walked out of that speech, which was fantastic, and was like, Oh, you're kidding.
But at the same time, it's like, really? Let's compare all white guy statements. And please, I'll have that conversation any day.
HUNT: Well, so I want to -- a before we wrap up this conversation, part of why we may we were talking about this is because in these final days, absolutely anything can matter and Kristen, you have this new piece in "The New York Times." And I think it underscores why everything has the possibility to matter.
Because you say, "I have to admit I laughed when I saw that Donald Trump and Kamala Harris were tied 48 to 48 among likely voters in the final 'New York Times'/Sienna College national poll. Despite untold sums spent on advertising, a cavalcade of wild events, felony convictions, assassination attempts, the incumbent president withdrawing from the race, here we sit on this razor's edge. Over the past few days, all these other national news outlets have showed -- released polls. The same story, but they don't actually tell the same story. Several of them show a dead heat. Beneath the surface, they diverge in how they arrive at that result. And we still don't know if we're looking at a realignment -- realignment or a reboot. There are different narratives one can discern about the new political story that's about to be told."
Can you explain that? And how this matters to the conversation?
ANDERSON: Sure. I would also add I laughed when CNN's polling came out, and I think showed it 47-47 on the same day. It was like, Oh, OK.
But if you look under the surface, you know, there's one of the polls, "The New York Times" poll, that really shows that we are facing a realignment this election, that we are going good to see a gender gap explode, a gap between voters that have a bachelor's degree and don't explode, with Republicans building a new coalition that looks a little more diverse, has more young people in it. And that would be a really interesting development in our politics.
At the same time, I think CBS's poll tells a story that's basically this is a reboot. That this is Harris assembling the Obama coalition back again. It's going to be supercharged. Yes, there will be a gender gap, but the real story will be that Harris put the Obama -- rebooted the Obama coalition. And we still don't know which of those stories is going to play out.
PRESTON: So -- so what happens a decade from now, because I have children that are 19 and 20 years old. They don't consider themselves Democrats. They don't consider themselves Republicans. They probably align more with the Democratic Party is my guess.
But they don't seem like they're going to be party stalwarts 10, 20 years from now. Is there a third party that comes along?
HUNT: Which door do you think is right?
ANDERSON: I think it's more likely to be the realignment, but I am curious to see. Can Trump actually put up the numbers that he's getting in some of these polls with, say, young voters? I'm a little skeptical of that.
HUNT: We'll see.
FINNEY: Which should always remind us: if the polls were right, Hillary would be in her second term, and we would have had a red wave. And we sat together the weekend before you said the red wave was coming. And I said I'm telling you, women are not taking it.
So, I mean, I think I think it's hard. When Celinda Lake says get off the roller coaster. I think we have to take every poll with a big grain of salt and realize, I don't think -- I think part of what's going on with young people, which we can't even measure.
Six hundred thousand young people have registered. They're not being measured by any pollster since -- since Britney (ph) -- we got our famous endorsements. We're not measuring those people.
And they don't like to align. That's part of what this younger generation is doing. They're not wanting to be part of either party, frankly.
HUNT: Well, I just say, we very much appreciate the work that you do, Kristen. And I know you guys have had a -- pollsters in general have had such a difficult time. And we have seen realignments and changes move so quickly.
I mean, my big question really is, is there something fundamental that everyone is missing altogether that may show that, you know, our understanding here in the -- especially the first post-Dobbs election, is that going to be -- is that going to be different and potentially drive outcomes?
All right, we're going to take a break. Coming up here on CNN THIS MORNING, stoking fears of voter fraud. Donald Trump already floating baseless claims about cheating in a key battleground state.
Plus, a successful rocket launch for China, a crucial step in its mission to the Moon. Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson here to talk about the new space race.
And battleground beat. All eyes on Pennsylvania. The key voting bloc that Republicans are trying to win back.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We Hispanics are funny. We have a sense of humor. And because we have a little humor, a lot of us do not care about that comment. And we took it as is. Because a lot of it is true.
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TRUMP: It looks like Pennsylvania is going to be ours by a lot. And then at 3:02 or whatever it was in the morning, all of a sudden, they're finding all sorts of stuff.
In Pennsylvania, there were 205,000 more ballots cast then there were voters. How do you get around that one?
How about Pennsylvania, where they throw the poll watchers out?
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HUNT: That was Donald Trump both before and after the 2020 elections, sowing doubt about the integrity of the vote.
And now, the former president claiming, without evidence, that two Pennsylvania counties are already experiencing voter fraud.
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TRUMP: They've already started cheating in Lancaster. They've cheated. We caught them with 2,600 votes. No, we caught them cold: 2,600 votes.
Think of this. Think of this. And every vote was written by the same person. I wonder how that happened?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: State and county officials in Pennsylvania are trying to reassure voters that they are investigating any alleged issues with ballots and protecting the integrity of the election process.
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GOV. JOSH SHAPIRO (D-PA): I understand that Donald Trump wants to, again, you know, use the same playbook where he tries to, you know, create chaos and stoke division and fear about our system.
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But again, we will have a free and fair, safe, and secure election in Pennsylvania. And the will of the people will be respected and protected.
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HUNT: So, it's important to point out that the issues that have been identified in Pennsylvania relate to voter registrations, not to ballots, as the former president was saying there.
I mean, Mark Preston, we are already seeing, we know, there are legal groups in the background, looking at potential challenges. We have seen the president [SIC] already -- the former presidents start to talk about cheating.
In an interview with on FOX News radio, he was pressed by FOX hosts to say, where are you worried about cheating? Which state? And he said, all of them.
What does that mean for -- I mean, you're going to be one of our people working really hard behind the scenes and on the air on election night. What does that mean?
PRESTON: It means probably the story, the most potent story for us to tell in the coming days is to be as transparent as possible about what is happening right now with the ballots that are being collected, to be as transparent as possible about when we think that we're going to be able to count the votes.
If you see, I think, "The New York Times" today, "The Washington Post" today, I think CNN.com today all have stories about explaining how the states are counting and when we think we will actually get their vote. The reason why that's so important is because, look, Donald Trump just
go out and says something. And just because he says it, it's true, and his supporters believe him.
HUNT: I was going to say, there's a lot of people that believe what he says, no matter --
PRESTON: A hundred percent. And, look, just going back to the difference between him and Joe Biden, is that there is a double standard.
Donald Trump can go out and say the most ludicrous things, the most absurd things, and get away with it. Joe Biden couldn't at that time.
HUNT: Yes. When do you think we'll know Pennsylvania on election night? What -- what are the scenarios?
PRESTON: Oh, my God, you're going to clip this and get me in trouble.
I mean, look, you know, I don't --
HUNT: We wrote about it on CNN.com.
PRESTON; No, no, no. No, no, I understand. Look, I mean, there's a good chance we're not even going to know that. And there's a good chance we could know early in the morning.
But the question is, it's not just Pennsylvania. What's going to happen -- like, Georgia, we expect to count quickly, but we may not see the same thing in Wisconsin. I'm just saying that, like, this is probably going to go to Friday. Perhaps Saturday.
HUNT: And again, just because it takes a while to count all the votes does not mean that they are being counted incorrect -- incorrectly or fraudulently.
All right. Straight ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, Kamala Harris won't get the Joe Rogan experience. Why the podcast host claims he refused an offer from the Harris campaign to appear on his show.
And an electoral milestone. More than 50 million ballots already cast. We'll dig into the issues driving voters.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm a senior. You know, Social Security, Medicare and your drug prices.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think men should be in women's sports.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Women's rights is huge. I think the economy is also a big thing.
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TRUMP: Robert F. Kennedy cares more about human beings and health and the environment than anybody.
Having him is such a great honor. I've been friends of his for a long time. And I'm going to let him go wild on health. I'm going to let him go wild on the food. I'm going to let him go wild on medicine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Robert F. Kennedy going, quote, "wild." The former independent candidate endorsed Donald Trump back in August and is now campaigning for him under the banner of, quote, "Make America Healthy Again."
Kennedy has long been a proponent of baseless anti-vaccine conspiracy theories and made numerous false attacks on the safety and efficacy of vaccines during his run for office.
Now, we're getting an idea of what Kennedy's role in a potential Trump administration could look like.
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ROBERT F. KENNEDY (I), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: President Trump has promised me is -- is control of the public health agencies, which are HHS and its sub-agencies, CDC, FDA, NIH, and a few others. And then also the USDA, which is -- which you know, is key to making America healthy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So, we have Elon Musk as government auditor and, potentially, RFJ Jr. in charge of all the agencies that he outlined right there.
Alex Thompson, is this a case where -- I mean, if Donald Trump were to win this election, we should believe him, that RFJ Jr. is going to be in charge of all these agencies that deal with all of these things that RFJ Jr. thinks are basically baseless and worthless?
TOMPSON: I mean, and Donald Trump has a very long record of promising -- promised things that seem incredulous, then actually trying to do them.
That being said, you know, in terms of in charge of HHS, that Senate confirmation hearing would be -- would be fascinating. I don't -- I don't necessarily know if he's going to get the boats there.
But RFJ Jr. is going to have a significant role within these agencies in a Trump White House. That part is -- has been made very clear.
And it is interesting in a political sense. In one way, you could argue RFJ Jr. is making inroads among sort of like the crunchy left, for lack of a better term. HUNT: Well, this is why --
(CROSSTALK)
THOMPSON: He has a long track record as environmentalist on the left. Like, there are --
(CROSSTALK)
THOMPSON: Some of the anti-vax crowd was on the left. It was not just, like, a right-wing thing.
That being said, while doing this, he also manage it -- he could still further separate the suburbanites, those parts in the middle that are already wary of Trump.
HUNT: Yes. So, I just want to remind everyone, I actually interviewed RFJ Jr. when he was still running. This was back in December of last year. And this is what he said about vaccinations. Watch.
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KENNEDY: It is, you know, safe and effective.
HUNT: So, you did say it? Do you still believe it?
KENNEDY: Well, here's what -- here's what I -- here's what I would say. First of all, I'm not anti-vaccine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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