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One World with Zain Asher
New CNN Poll: Harris Leads In Michigan And Wisconsin; Pennsylvania Too Close To Call; Harris Hits Three Battleground States In Campaign Blitz; White House In Damage Control Mode After Biden's Remark; CNN And Clemson University Probe Russian Misinformation Campaigns; Kenyan Startup Creates An Alternative To Plastic Packaging; Yankees Fight Off Elimination, Beat L.A., 11-4 in Game Four; "Electsomnia," How The election Cycle Can Trigger Insomnia; Aired 12-1p ET
Aired October 30, 2024 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[12:00:31]
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Hello, everyone. Live from New York, I'm Bianna Golodryga. Zain is off today. You are watching ONE WORLD.
Well, the last time Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin didn't back the winner of the U.S. presidential race was 20 years ago. The iPhone hadn't
even been invented then.
And a brand-new set of CNN polls released just minutes ago finds some good news for Kamala Harris in what is her most likely path to winning the White
House, 270 electoral votes. CNN finds that she has small but significant leads in both Michigan and Wisconsin, but Pennsylvania, where many expect
to be the closest state in the race, is a dead heat. In the new CNN poll, there is no clear leader there.
And, of course, if we're talking polls at the top of the show, you know who we're going to bring in, and that's CNN senior data reporter, Harry Enten,
our friend.
Harry, just you and me today. Tell us what these polls show, specifically about some gains it appears that Kamala Harris has made recently in
Michigan and Wisconsin.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: You know, I think we can sort of sum it up with this right here.
GOLODRYGA: Yes.
ENTEN: It is close in Pennsylvania, close. I don't have a magic wall with me, so we're reliant on the yellow board.
Look, what's so interesting to me is we compare our polls now to where they were back in August. And it's just basically the same race, actually,
right? What do we see? We see that in Pennsylvania, we had a tie back in August. We have a tie today.
You know, if you look in Michigan, Kamala Harris was slightly favored back in August. Now, she's favored again. You look in Wisconsin, the exact same
thing.
Now, what's so important if we look at the road to 270 electoral votes is that what you see is that if you, in fact, give Michigan to Kamala Harris,
you give Wisconsin to Kamala Harris, and then the rest of the states you essentially say they match the polling averages, but Pennsylvania is a
toss-up. Look at this. Nobody gets -- nobody gets to 270 electoral votes.
Now, why is Pennsylvania so important? Why is Pennsylvania so important? Because I want you -- you know, you were mentioning history before. You
were mentioning history before. Why don't we go back? When was the last time that a Democrat won the presidency without Michigan? You have to go
all the way back to 1976 when Jerry Ford, who of course was the Republican nominee for president, who was from Michigan, a long-time congressman from
there.
Yes. How about Wisconsin? You have to go all the way back since 1960. And, of course, Pennsylvania, which at this point is way too close to call. You
have to go all the way back since 1948, 1948 for the last time that a Democrat won the presidency without Pennsylvania. So when you look at that
electoral map, you look at how close these polls are, you know that Kamala Harris' best path to the White House runs through those Great Lakes states.
And ultimately, I've been saying it all along, I believe that this election comes down to Pennsylvania, and at this particular point, it is close in
Pennsylvania. It is close in the Keystone State. It is way too close to call.
And I think, my dear friend, that if there's any state that keeps us up late on election night and into election week, it will be the Keystone
State, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
GOLODRYGA: Love it or hate it, it's going to keep us guessing and questioning where this election is going throughout the course of this week
as we get ever so close to next Tuesday.
Harry, I love the fact that you have foregone all of our glitzy --
ENTEN: No.
GOLODRYGA: -- technologically advanced graphics for your yellow pad.
ENTEN: You mentioned 2,000. Remember, back then, who was standing there with the whiteboard? It was Tim Russert who said Florida, Florida, Florida.
And in this election, it is Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania.
GOLODRYGA: Good thing you're not holding up your iPhone, which as we noted, was not invented even --
ENTEN: It was not. And I don't even have an iPhone anyway.
GOLODRYGA: Oh, Blackberry.
All right. Harry Enten, good to see you as always, my friend. Keep us posted.
ENTEN: Bye. We shall.
GOLODRYGA: Well, as the candidates -- as for the candidates, they are busy crisscrossing swing states today. Both Trump and Harris will be in North
Carolina in the next couple of hours, and they will both be in Wisconsin this evening.
In between those two stops, Harris also has a rally in Pennsylvania this afternoon. Donald Trump may be laying the groundwork, meantime, to claim
that the election is rigged just in case he loses.
[12:05:07]
In a speech Tuesday, in Pennsylvania, he told his supporters that Democrats are trying to steal the election. And while it is true that there is an
investigation going on into some Pennsylvania voters' registration forms, there is no evidence that a single fraudulent vote has been cast.
Listen to what the former president had to say, though.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: If you have a mail-in ballot, get that damn ballot in, please, immediately, because they've
already started cheating in Lancaster. They've cheated. We caught them with 2,600 votes. Now we caught them called 2,600 votes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: Well, as Donald Trump continued to make false claims about election fraud, Kamala Harris was presenting what she called a new
generation of leadership and a different way forward.
Standing in the very same spot where the former president incited the insurrection nearly four years ago, Harris made her closing argument to
American voters Tuesday night. She promised to walk into the Oval Office on day one with a to-do list, vowed to work with all Americans, and said there
is a better alternative to the chaos, division, and fear that's been engulfing the country for far too long.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: 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. It is time for a new generation of leadership in America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: And shortly before Kamala Harris took the stage and promised to turn the page on division, U.S. President Joe Biden made a remark that
seemed contrary to that very message.
During a video call with Latino voting group Tuesday night, the president responded to racist comments made at Donald Trump's New York rally and
appeared to call Trump's supporters garbage. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: 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'm in my home state of Delaware. They're good,
decent, honorable people.
The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters. His demonization is seen as unconscionable, and it's un-American. It's totally
contrary to everything we've done, everything we've been.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: Well, the White House is now in damage control mode, saying the president was talking about the words of one comedian, not all of Trump's
supporters.
And while the Trump campaign is now fundraising off of Biden's remark, it's worth noting that the former president has repeatedly made disparaging
comments comparing America to a garbage can, just the latest one last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We're like a garbage can for the world.
The United States of America and dumped like we're a -- like we're a garbage can, like we're a garbage can for their people.
They said, we're the garbage can for the world. We are --we're a garbage can. We're like a garbage can and they dump.
The press gave me a hard time in this one, they said it was very just. I don't think it's just. It's like we're a giant garbage can.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: Kamala Harris is hitting three battleground states today in a campaign blitz. Her first stop, Raleigh, North Carolina. And that's where
CNN's Eva McKend joins us now live.
Eva, but first up on her agenda this morning was to respond to and distance herself from Biden's comments last night. What did she say?
EVA MCKEND, CNN U.S. NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bianna, the hope is that they can move on from this. I will tell you from following her
campaign, they run a very disciplined operation. They believe that they can't afford to have any space for error.
That unlike the former president, she can't get up on stage and meander or weave, as he puts it, for several hours. That's why she's on and off stage
within about a half an hour.
And this entire episode also contradicts a central theme of her campaign, that Republicans are welcome, the water is warm, that she very much wants
to be a president for them as well.
Take a listen to how she's responding to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: I think that, first of all, he clarified his comments. But let me be clear, I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who
they vote for. You heard my speech last night and continuously throughout my career.
I believe that the work that I do is about representing all the people, whether they support me or not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[12:10:08]
MCKEND: And, Bianna, she's today here in Raleigh, and this was the very city a few months ago where she first rolled out her economic agenda.
What the campaign will tell you is that they are confident in the strength of their argument here, especially on issues like reproductive rights. They
don't only think that they're competitive in the blue wall states, but right here in the Sun Belt as well. Also, because in their view, there is a
weak Republican candidate for governor.
And lastly, it's because of the turnout in operation here. They have built an infrastructure over time prior to even Harris becoming the nominee that
they now feel that they can fall confidently on. Bianna.
GOLODRYGA: All right. Eva McKend, thank you so much, reporting to us live from Raleigh, North Carolina.
Let's now go to Steve Contorno who joins us from Rocky Mount, North Carolina as well. From there, he will be headed to Green Bay, Wisconsin
tonight. What are we expected to hear from the former president today, Steve?
STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Well, we're -- yes, we're just about an hour away from where Eva just joins you in Raleigh, North Carolina. So these two
presidential campaigns are in many ways converging on each other and these key battleground states.
The key point today is this sign behind me that says, vote early. Donald Trump is out in these states trying to convince them, trying to convince
his voters that they need to get out there and cast those mail-in ballots, get in line now to vote so they can bank their vote in.
A very different message than what we hear from Donald Trump in recent years when he has criticized so many of these methods that are popular that
voters take advantage to get their ballot in early, but today, he is pushing that message here in North Carolina where 3.2 million people have
already cast ballots as of yesterday. That's about 40 percent of the registered voters in this state. So, clearly, many people have already
weighed in on this presidential race.
Now, Donald Trump's team believes that they have an advantage because they have pushed a message geared toward people who don't normally turn out to
vote. They have long given up on the idea that they could turn those independent-type voters who find Trump's mannerisms and language and style
offensive.
And instead focus on getting new voters out there, when you look at the polling in this state that shows it neck and neck between Vice President
Harris and Donald Trump, they're saying those polls don't factor in the thousands and thousands of people they have convinced to vote for the first
time in many election cycles.
Now, those are the hardest individuals to track. They're the hardest individuals to convince to show up to vote. And whether or not that
strategy pays off, we will find out in a week. But that is what is giving them confidence in states like North Carolina, where Donald Trump was able
to pull off a very narrow victory four years ago, and why they think that he might be able to pull off a win in one of the other Sun Belt states like
Arizona, or he can steal one of those blue wall states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, or Wisconsin, Bianna.
GOLODRYGA: And Nevada as well. Steve Contorno, thank you so much.
Let's dig a little deeper on where the race stands with just can't believe it's six days to go. Chris Wallace is the author of "Countdown 1960." He's
also the host of "Who's Talking to Chris Wallace?" and he joins me now live from Washington. Always great to see you, Chris. Welcome to the program.
So I think, objectively, we can say in her short campaign, Kamala Harris started off flawless from that message of joy to her DNC to the debate
between Joe Biden -- between her and Donald Trump, which most agree that she won, hands down.
But since then, her campaign has sort of plateaued. We've seen the polls getting tighter and tighter.
Given her message last night, her closing message to voters from The Ellipse, do you think that she's sold, she closed the deal, sold selling
her message to the American public?
CHRIS WALLACE, CNN HOST: Well, I -- good afternoon, Bianna.
I certainly don't know that you can say that she closed the deal but, you know, it's interesting. Here she is, and we're what, just a few days before
the election, and she still feels that she needs to and I think the polls indicate she does need to. One, explain who she is and what she would do.
Remember, she didn't go through two years of primaries and have ups and downs and debates with democratic opponents to get the nomination. It was
kind of handed to her when Joe Biden dropped out two months ago.
And so it's kind of a rushed marriage for her to try to get a majority of Americans to vote for. And I agree with you. I think that she had a -- just
a rocket boost of a start of the campaign through the debate with Trump and then it seemed to kind of plateau, to level off, maybe even to stall.
[12:15:08]
The key is last night was a big night. I mean, it was probably the biggest crowd of the campaign for either candidate, some estimates of 50,000 people
on The Ellipse. I think the idea of holding it in the exact same spot that Donald Trump made his speech on January 6th before that mob went down to
the Capitol was a smart idea.
And -- but what's interesting is that it was kind of an all-of-the-above approach. On the one hand, she wanted to make that point that this is where
Trump tried to overturn democracy, but then she introduced herself, and then she tried to say, well, Trump will have an enemies list, I'll have a
to-do list, and she laid that out, which indicates to me that probably the Harris campaign understands they've still got some work to do, even in
these last final days, to persuade those key swing voters to come to her side, that she doesn't think that she has made the sale yet.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. And also on the point of preserving democracy, we know that that's an argument Joe Biden constantly made throughout his campaign, and
it's one that Kamala Harris was trying to do as well while also focusing on the economy, because according to polling at least from "The New York
Times," only seven percent of Americans view preserving democracy as their top priority. Clearly, there are other issues that they find more pressing.
Let me ask you about Biden's gaffe last night, whether or not he was speaking to all of Trump's supporters or specifically to that one comedian
regarding his remarks and derogatory remarks against Puerto Ricans.
Did that overshadow her moment last night? The two haven't appeared together at a campaign event since Labor Day. So, clearly, the Harris
campaign does, in some sense, view him as a liability and has been distancing from Joe Biden. How damaging were those comments?
WALLACE: Yes. I certainly don't think you could say that it overshadows, but did it take some of the luster, the shine off what she said last night
and the event that she held? Sure. I mean, the fact that you're asking me about it, and, you know, a lot of people are talking about it.
And, you know, just for folks who are wondering, the argument that he's making and the White House is making is that when he said garbage, the
garbage is his Trump supporters. They're saying, it's supporter, apostrophe S, meaning the remarks made by that one supporter.
But if you're listening to it, it sounded like it said the garbage is his supporters, which the Trump campaign is comparing to 2016 when Hillary
Clinton talked about the basket of deplorables. And obviously it was a big enough deal that Kamala Harris today there at the tarmac, before she got on
the plane, had felt she had to distance herself from Biden.
And I can tell you, inside the Harris campaign, I think they would be delighted if Joe Biden just disappeared between now and election day. He
not only had that, he also had a gaffe earlier in the week when he talked about lock him up, lock Trump up.
And, of course, one of the things Harris wants to say is any of these prosecutions have nothing to do with politics. It's about justice, law and
order. And when he said lock him up Biden had to scramble and say, well, lock him up politically, not lock him up literally.
So I think they view Biden, at this point, as somebody they would just as soon stay in the background and stay silent between now and November 5th.
GOLODRYGA: Well, speaking of keeping people silent or at least not utilizing them to the max, let me switch gears and talk about Nikki Haley
who had been very popular, continues to be very popular amongst Republican voters.
She, despite her differences with Donald Trump, has been adamant about offering to campaign with him in these final weeks. And it appears that
Donald Trump himself is the one who has nixed that.
Last night on Fox News, she said the two haven't spoken since June. And then she weighed in on some concerns she has about the direction that the
Trump campaign has taken as of late. Here's what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIKKI HALEY, FORMER U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is not a time to have anyone criticize Puerto Rico or Latinos. This is not a time
for them to get overly masculine with this bromance thing that they've got going. Fifty-three of the electorate are women. Women will vote. They care
about how they're being talked to and they care about the issues.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: As you know, Nikki Haley was pulling in about 20 percent of the Republican vote even after she dropped out of the race. And this is a
constituency that we know Kamala Harris has been aggressive in trying to appeal to. One could argue she even spoke to them yesterday, last night, in
her speech at The Ellipse.
How much of a missed opportunity is this for the Trump campaign?
WALLACE: Big. It's a big mistake. I mean, you know, to use no cliche, politics is about addition, not subtraction.
[12:20:05]
They were able to work out for Nikki Haley. And, clearly, there's no love lost between Donald Trump and Nikki Haley. He thought she should have
gotten out of the race earlier. And she didn't -- he didn't like some of the things that she said.
But she did come to Milwaukee to the Republican convention and endorse him, I think somewhat through gritted teeth.
And you're exactly right, Bianna. I mean, her hold on that 20 percent of the Republican vote. I mean, these are precisely the suburban women who
could put Trump over the top and who Harris is very much counting on.
And it feels like it's just sheer ego on the part of Donald Trump that he doesn't reach out to her, he hasn't campaigned with her. And you could see
a little bit of that resentment playing out yesterday in those comments that she was making on Fox. Instead of saying, man, Donald Trump would be
great and he should be the president, she's criticizing the garbage remark. She's talking about that he's appealing too much to the bros and to a big
masculine argument.
You know, she needs -- Donald Trump needs Nikki Haley in his corner. And at this point, she's at the very least sort of standing in the neutral corner
and maybe a little bit on the side of Harris. So it's just a completely self-inflicted wound by Trump, which I think is all about his ego.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. And it appears he's not receptive to one of the few people offering publicly some tough love on what the campaign needs to do to
course correct in these final few days.
Let me ask you about, because every time we talk to historians, you want to see if there are any parallels with previous elections. And given your
book, "Countdown 1960," the behind-the-scenes story of the 312 days that changed America's politics forever, do you see parallels between this
election and that between Nixon and JFK in 1960?
WALLACE: Well, I see a parallel, but it's kind of completely opposite. It's turning it on its head because the key to the 1960 election is that that's
one that may, I'll only say may, really have been stolen. There seem to be rampant voter fraud, both in Illinois on behalf of Kennedy and in Texas on
behalf of Kennedy.
And if just those two states had switched, Bianna, Illinois and Texas, had it gone to Nixon instead of Kennedy, Nixon would have been the president in
1961.
So on one hand, I think that's an election that really was stolen as opposed -- as opposed to 2020 and so far at least 2024. But Richard Nixon
had to make the decision, was he going to contest the election or not? And for a variety of reasons, but one of them, I think, was because he felt
that particularly at the height of the Cold War, it was just too dangerous, too destructive to try to contest the peaceful transfer of power.
He conceded to Kennedy the day after the election. He met with him a week after the election. And as the vice president, he presided over the count
of the electoral vote on January 6th of 1961 and declared John F. Kennedy the duly elected president of the United States.
So everything that happened in 1960 is exactly what we -- the opposite of what we're seeing right now and what we've seen since the 2020 election and
Trump, you know, refusing to admit that he lost.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. And correct me if I'm wrong, was it Nixon a few decades later that sent a letter to Donald Trump saying that his wife had seen him
on television and was really impressed by what she saw and said, if he ever wanted to run for president, he would make a great candidate?
WALLACE: Yes, that is --
GOLODRYGA: I guess it came full circle.
WALLACE: That indeed happened and Donald Trump showed me that letter in 2016 when he ran. So, you know, he and Nixon had something of a tie but,
you know, of a bond. But having said that --
GOLODRYGA: Yes.
WALLACE: -- they conducted themselves very differently 60 years apart, 1960 and 2020.
GOLODRYGA: Nixon certified the election, important to note.
Chris Wallace, always great to see you. Please come back.
WALLACE: Thank you. Please invite me.
GOLODRYGA: Always invited. Open invitation.
All right. Well, the U.S. has waged a war for years against Russian trolls trying to spread chaos and confusion.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: How well do you think we're doing in this war against Russian disinformation more broadly?
DARREN LINVILL, CO-DIRECTOR OF THE MEDIA FORENSICS HUB AT CLEMSON UNIVERSITY: Extremely poorly.
MARQUARDT: Do you see that changing anytime soon?
LINVILL: No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: What a new investigation into Russia's disinformation campaigns reveals and who is behind the operation.
And later, why this play caused two New York Yankees fans to be ejected from the World Series. Such an embarrassing moment last night. We'll have a
live report, straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:25:27]
GOLODRYGA: Well, it's no secret that Russia has, for years, used misinformation to try and sway U.S. elections and public opinion. Some of
the false stories still get traction online. So CNN and Clemson University investigators teamed up to find one of the sources of the bogus
information. Alex Marquardt shows us what they found.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUARDT (voice-over): It's from this 23-story building in Russia's St. Petersburg that some of the most effective Russian disinformation of the
2024 U.S. election has been cooked up.
One of its occupants in recent years is believed to be the so-called Russian Foundation to Battle Injustice, or RFBI.
LINVILL: It's good but not perfect.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): CNN teamed up with researchers at Clemson University to investigate RFBI's long tentacles and its impact.
PATRICK WARREN, CO-DIRECTOR OF THE MEDIA FORENSICS HUB AT CLEMSON UNIVERSITY: The connection between Prigozhin and the RFBI is cut and dry.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): RFBI's origins can be traced back to Yevgeny Prigozhin, longtime ally of Vladimir Putin and the founder of the Wagner
Mercenary Group.
Who after launching an audacious revolt on Moscow last year, was killed in a mysterious mid-air explosion. But Darren Linvill and Patrick Warren say
that the story of RFBI makes it clear that Prigozhin's legacy persists beyond the grave.
LINVILL: They pretending to be this really positive force of good in Russia. In reality, they're really an arm of the Russian state.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): One recent viral post baselessly accuses Governor Tim Walz of sexually assaulting a minor.
WARREN: I mean, that thing flew across the internet in days, millions and millions of views.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): Senator J.D. Vance and Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene even pushed a fake Russian story that Ukrainian officials
used American aid dollars to buy yachts.
There was one that Kamala Harris carried out a hit-and-run, and also that she killed an endangered rhinoceros while on safari, both wildly false.
But both pushed with the help of another shady Russian network, which researchers have dubbed Storm-1516, which Linvill and Warren believe works
hand in glove with RFBI.
MARQUARDT: When you look at all of the efforts that the Russians are undertaking in this space, where does the RFBI rank?
LINVILL: In terms of disinformation, as opposed to just propaganda, I think that the RFBI and Storm-1516 are probably the single most important actors
in Russia right now.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): RFBI is now led by Mira Terada, who spent two years in American prison for money laundering, connected to cocaine smuggling.
[12:30:04]
MARQUARDT: And she kind of took the effort and ran with it?
WARREN: It really kicked off upon her return.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): From there, she has joined forces with foreigners, including American John Mark Dougan, a former Florida sheriff's deputy who
fled to Russia following felony charges. Dougan denied to CNN that he's acting on behalf of Russia.
WARREN: His face is there for a reason.
MARQUARDT: He's a useful idiot.
LINVILL: He's a useful idiot without question.
MARQUARDT: How much of a win is it for the Russians to be able to get an American like this to essentially launder their narratives?
LINVILL: I think that it's incredibly important. And you see the importance in how hard they've worked to recruit Americans like him.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): And what they're seeing this year is a much bigger impact on the social media conversation than in the past.
LINVILL: We know they work for the Russian state. But, you know, they're still allowed to spread these messages, these completely false narratives
without, you know, any mitigation whatsoever.
MARQUARDT: How well do you think we're doing in this war against Russian disinformation more broadly?
LINVILL: Extremely poorly.
MARQUARDT: Do you see that changing anytime soon?
LINVILL: No.
MARQUARDT: Just moments after our interview, the Clemson researchers identified yet another piece of disinformation coming from these same
Russian channels, a video claiming to show mail-in ballots for Trump being destroyed in critical Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
Darren Linvill said it was immediately shared tens of thousands of times. And as he says, it's going to be a rough few weeks.
Neither Senator Vance nor Congresswoman Greene responded about their roles in spreading that story about Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the Harris campaign tell CNN that Putin wants Trump to win this election and condemned the Russian interference efforts.
Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GOLODRYGA: All right. Still to come for us, the final sprint as both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump try to sway undecided voters. We'll take a closer
look at the Vice President and the democratic strategy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:35:06]
GOLODRYGA: Welcome back to ONE WORLD, I'm Bianna Golodryga.
Well, with just six days to go before a deadlocked presidential race, the candidates are trying to win over voters in crucial swing states. Both
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have events in the battleground states of North Carolina and Wisconsin today.
Harris will also appear in Pennsylvania after she delivered a closing message to voters on Tuesday. She spoke at The Ellipse outside of the White
House, and that's where Trump, you'll recall, incited an angry mob to go to the Capitol and fight nearly four years ago.
And she warned about the threat Trump posed to democracy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: On day one, if elected. On day one, if elected, Donald Trump would walk into that office with an enemies list. When elected, I will walk in
with a to-do list. Full of priorities of what I will get done for the American people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: Meanwhile, the White House is in damage control mode today. President Biden trying to clarify remarks he made earlier when he was
attacking the rhetoric about Puerto Rico used by a Trump supporter.
Time now for The Exchange, where our guest says the contrast between the two candidates is quite clear. Democratic strategist, Antjuan Seawright, is
the founder of a political consulting firm based in South Carolina. Antjuan, good to see you again.
So if I could get you to respond to a point that Chris Wallace made earlier in the show And that is the quite ambitious objective Kamala Harris set out
for herself last night, delivering that speech at The Ellipse, as we noted, quite the contrast, from what we heard and saw from President Trump nearly
four years ago that incited the riot on the Capitol, while also speaking to Trump voters, saying that there is room for them and her campaign, that she
would be their president as well, and also laying out her economic messages to the country.
Was she able to accomplish all of those goals, given the number of Americans who still feel that they don't know her as well as they would
like to?
ANTJUAN SEAWRIGHT, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, the name of the game in politics is much like NCAA basketball, it's survive in advance. And that's
what she was able to do last night. That was, by far, the most consequential speech that she's given in her entire career.
And I think she did a hell of a job of laying out the case of what she would do to bring this country together, what she would do to deliver for
the American people, Democrats, Republicans, independents, and those who may not even identify, but also drawing the contrast between she,
extremism, Donald Trump, and J.D. Vance and all the things that come along with Trumpism.
And I think, by far, most reasonable people would agree that the 75,000 plus crowd that witnessed that historic address last night think that she
did enough to live another day to fight another political battle.
GOLODRYGA: How much did the comments from President Biden, at least, muddy her message last night and the spotlight that her campaign had hoped would
stay focused on her message and instead sort of deviated to breaking down whether or not the president was speaking about all Trump supporters or
whether he was really just referring to that one comedian, given his damning and vitriolic remarks about Puerto Ricans?
SEAWRIGHT: I think that's a conversation folks are having on K Street, but elections are won on my street and Main Street. And that's where the
Harris-Walz campaign is focused, focusing its attention and its efforts, putting fresh paint on that blue wall, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin,
making their rounds down south, North Carolina, Georgia, and certainly pivoting to Nevada and Arizona, the map and the math that will take us to a
path of 270.
And so while many folks on the conservative side or the extremist side want to make this attempt to distract us with the rhetoric that they are quite
frankly showing up as hypocrites, because we know all the things they have said and done.
For example, last night, it was proof that you can have a rally with reasonable Americans, and no one has to storm the Capitol and call it a
peaceful protest. And that's the deep contrast you see between the two parties and the two candidates. So how dare Republicans attempt to lecture
us about words and deeds when we know they are the most extreme that perhaps this country has seen in most of our lifetime?
[12:40:02]
GOLODRYGA: Are you concerned clearly that this isn't having an impact on her ardent supporters? But are you concerned about what kind of comments
this -- what kind of effect these comments could have on some undecided voters who, for whatever reason, can't seem to distinguish Kamala Harris'
campaign from that of Joe Biden's, even though, as she laid out last night, that her administration would be her own and not a continuation of the
Biden administration?
SEAWRIGHT: Well, I'm not concerned because she addressed it head-on, the candidate herself. She didn't need a spokesperson to do it. She addressed
it head-on to the media. And now we move on as a campaign, and now Democrats move on, reasonable Americans move on.
And I think it's -- I think quite frankly, it's a disrespect to the process that we've allowed a few people to allow their manufacturer outrage to
distract us from the real issues that matter to the American people.
We want to deal with bread and butter, barbershop and beauty salon, kitchen table issues. And while the extremists on the other side who've hijacked
the Republican Party want to strip away rights like a woman's ability to be trusted for their own healthcare decisions, like ripping away the
Affordable Care Act, like the extreme defensive right wing radical rhetoric we heard at that hate rally on Madison Square Garden, I think the contrast
is clear. And I don't think we should allow ourselves to get distracted because, one, a few people in one party want to pull the narrative away
from the reality.
GOLODRYGA: As we know, and finally, Antjuan, this is going to be an election determined by numbers and turnout. And at least per some of our
most recent polling, it does suggest that there was more voter enthusiasm in 2020 than there appears to be today.
Is that of concern for you and for Democrats?
SEAWRIGHT: Well, if you're not concerned, then you're arrogant. But there's a difference between being concerned and worried.
What I am sure of, or what I am excited about, is the necessary infrastructure that Democrats had going into these next pivotal five days
in a wake-up that's going to determine the next 46 to 50 years of this country.
I'm also excited about the candidate quality I know we have. And the fact that we put together a policy agenda that speaks directly to the needs,
fears, concerns, hopes, and aspirations of all Americans, not just a sum, not just a wealthy and well-connected.
And so when you add those things up, I think the map and the math surely should be on our side, but we have to earn every vote and earn the trust of
the American people because this is going to be a base plus election.
GOLODRYGA: Antjuan Seawright, thanks so much for the time.
SEAWRIGHT: Thank you.
GOLODRYGA: We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:45:26]
GOLODRYGA: In Africa's rapidly expanding startup ecosystem, one segment has continued to attract global attention and of course investment. It's called
Clean Tech (ph) and Kenya has become its hub of innovation.
In one Nairobi lab, a young inventor has found an eco-friendly answer to plastic packaging and it comes from an unlikely source.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOSEPH NGUTHIRU, FOUNDER, HYAPAK: We have this love-hate relationship with plastics, where we use plastics almost on an everyday basis. But we've
realized that these plastics are going to end up in landfills, as trash in the sea and so on. And we just can't live like that anymore.
But imagine if you were to buy that loaf of bread and the packaging is sustainable and you throw it away and it actually acts as manure in your
garden. That's cool, right?
JOSHUA MURIMA, HEAD OF ENGAGEMENT AND INVESTOR RELATIONS, BRITER BRIDGES: There is this current discourse around climate action. You know, moving
away from fossil fuels to cleaner ways of getting energy and connecting agriculture and all of that, right?
So all of that has actually contributed to its growth.
NGUTHIRU: HyaPak is a Kenyan-based startup that solves the plastic waste pollution problem by converting water hyacinth, which is the world's most
problematic weed, into biodegradable alternatives to single-use plastic products.
Basically, we're using one problem, which is water hyacinth, to solve the other problem, which is plastic waste pollution.
Kenya loses as much as 10.8 million years deep per annum, because of this water hyacinth. And the problem behind this is that when hyacinth floats on
water, it forms a dense mat underneath that fish die because of lack of oxygen.
SIMON MACHARIA MAINA, FISHERMAN: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(TEXT ON SCREEN)
NGUTHIRU: We first start by the water hyacinth being harvested by the affected fishermen from these local communities. They ride on site,
transport it over to our facilities here.
After crushing into powder format, we then start adding our proprietary binders and additives, making it into a liquid format that's like a slurry.
Then it is put in trays so that it can dry in a greenhouse.
And after that, we then convert that into the final products where they are sized and shaped to make different kinds of products.
One of our products is biodegradable seedling bugs, unlike the plastic ones, are inserted together with the seedling into the soil. And as they
are in the soil, they also disintegrate and decompose, and they release nutrients, such as nitrogen and so on, that then tend to act as manure and
accelerate the growth of these plants.
At the moment, we are making small scale products, especially for use in agriculture. The big picture for us is to replace the whole packaging
industry for single use plastic products.
So you want to be there in the food packaging, you're going to be there in the consumer packaging, and every other kind of packaging that you can
imagine that's usually used in single-use plastic products.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:50:16]
GOLODRYGA: The New York Yankees were able to avoid getting eliminated in the World Series. In game four on Tuesday, Anthony Volpe hit this grand
slam in the third inning, giving the Yankees a 5-2 lead over Los Angeles. Thank goodness, sending New York fans into a frenzy. The Yankees never
looked back, winning the game 11-4. Game five takes place hours from now, with the Dodgers up three games to one in the series.
CNN sports correspondent Coy Wire joins us now.
Now it still would be unprecedented, Coy, for the Yankees to make a comeback like this. But listen, we love setting precedents, so, you know,
never say never.
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: And did you let your son stay up and watch last night?
GOLODRYGA: He did. He did.
WIRE: OK. Good mom.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. He did.
WIRE: Those Yankees, they had their backs against the wall, right, Bianna? And they did find a way to win, getting their first win in the series in
Game 4. They got off to a rough start though, very first inning.
Freddie Freeman, there it goes. It's gone. The Dodger slugger continuing to prove he's one of the best clutch performers we've seen. He's homered in
all four games this World Series.
And dating back to his time with the Braves, he now holds the record for most consecutive World Series games with a home run, six of them.
But the Yankees weren't going to go down without a fight. And unfortunately, that was sort of foreshadowed by this. Two fans grabbing
Dodger star, Mookie Betts' glove as he's trying to make a catch.
I mean, they're grabbing his wrist, Bianna. I don't think we've ever seen anything like this. It's just awful conduct there by the fans. He could
have been hurt. Umpires called it in out.
Both fans were ejected from the game. Didn't even make it one full inning in those pricey World Series seats. Here's what Mookie had to say
afterwards.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOOKIE BETTS, LOS ANGELES DODGERS RIGHT FIELDER: When it comes to the person in play, it doesn't matter. We lost. It's irrelevant. I'm fine. He's
fine. Everything's cool. We lose the game. We lost the game and that's what I'm kind of focused on. We have to turn the page and get ready for
tomorrow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: All right. Let's go to that moment, Bianna, you showed when the Yankees found their mojo, third inning, New York native, Anthony Volpe, had
the bases loaded, grand slam.
I mean, it sent Yankee Stadium into a frenzy. It put New York up, 5-2. The Yankees would add five more runs in the eighth. Austin Wells, Gleyber
Torres also hitting home runs in this game.
New York goes on to win 11-4, staying alive in the series.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTHONY VOLPE, NEW YORK YANKEES SHORTSTOP: I pretty much blacked out as soon as I saw it go over the fence. But, no, we just want to keep putting
pressure on them. And I think everyone had confidence in everyone in the lineup that someone was going to get the big hit.
AARON BOONE, NEW YORK YANKEES MANAGER: Look, we just showed up today ready to play and, you know, we're trying to get one, you know. And trying to --
trying to get it to -- trying to get it to tomorrow, you know.
You know, you don't even get ahead of yourself and start thinking about the series. It's like our guys were ready to play.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: All right. So, Bianna, the Yankees are just the fourth team ever down, 0-3 in the World Series to force a game five. No team has ever forced
a game six. Will they be the first to do it tonight? We shall see.
GOLODRYGA: For my son's sake, and for no other reason, I hope they do. And those two fans should be ejected for life. They do not represent New York
Yankees fans.
WIRE: Unacceptable.
GOLODRYGA: I should say that.
All right. Coy Wire, thank you so much.
WIRE: You got it.
GOLODRYGA: Well, we're less than a week out from election day in the U.S., if you haven't noticed. And if you've been tossing and turning in your
sleep in the days or even months leading up to November 5th, you probably can't wait to put this issue to bed.
Mandy Gaither has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MANDY GAITHER, CNN NEWSOURCE (voice-over): If this election is causing you to lose sleep, you're not alone.
MICHELLE DRERUP, SLEEP SPECIALIST, CLEVELAND CLINIC: We call it electsomnia, so it's insomnia linked with the election season.
GAITHER (voice-over): Sleep specialist Michelle Drerup with Cleveland Clinic says in her clinical practice, she's seeing more people being
triggered with election related sleep issues. She says the election can worsen symptoms in those who already struggle with insomnia and can also
trigger sleep issues in those who don't have chronic sleep problems.
[12:55:18]
DRERUP: The person has difficulty falling asleep and they may be kind of thinking about the election or potentially what the future might look like,
waking up in the middle of the night and struggling to fall back asleep or even just poor sleep quality.
GAITHER: Drerup says to prioritize sleep before you even go to bed by limiting social media and election news exposure, which can worsen stress
and add to sleep difficulties. Also, be aware of your negative thoughts and challenge them.
DRERUP: Just try to stay in the moment of where things are at right now.
GAITHER: Finally, Drerup says not to focus on the election what ifs, instead zone in on things you can manage.
DRERUP: We have survived many elections. We'll get through this, right? It's only four years trying to figure out what I do have the ability to
control. I'm going to go out and vote. I'm trying to, you know, do things to support others to vote. So thinking about what I can do versus a lot of
what's out of my control.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GOLODRYGA: Some good tips. Keep that phone down when you go to bed. A lot of us suffer from electsomnia.
Well, that does it for this hour of ONE WORLD. I'm Bianna Golodryga. Thanks for watching. "AMANPOUR" is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:00:00]
END
