Harris on Fox News, Trump on Jan 6, Edwards on North Carolina
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It's Thursday, October 17th, right now on CNN This Morning. May I please finish? Yes, ma'am. May I finish responding, please? But you have to let me finish.

A fiery back and forth, Kamala Harris in a tense Fox News interview hoping to peel away voters in the final weeks plus. They didn't come because of me, they came because of the election. But that was a day of love. A day of love. Once again, Donald Trump downplays January 6th when pressed on his role that day. And. Candidates are using people's misery to sow chaos.

Battleground beat North Carolina starts early voting while recovering from Hurricane Helene. GOP Congressman Chuck Edwards joins us live. And then, worldwide shock, the latest on the investigation into the stunning death of the former One Direction star, Liam Payne.

All right, 6 a.m. here on the East Coast, a live look at Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I believe that they are on central time. The vice president waking up there ahead of a campaign event today. Good morning, everyone. I'm Casey Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us. With just 19 days until Election Day, more than 6 million ballots have already been cast. And this morning, early voting begins in the swing state of North Carolina. With time running out, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris each trying to find new ways to reach swing voters.

Let me be very clear. My presidency will not be a continuation of Joe Biden's presidency. I represent a new generation of leadership. Harris sitting yesterday for an interview with Fox News host Brett Baier pressed Harris on issues from immigration to transgender rights and the economy, leading to a number of contentious moments.

You know what I'm going to talk about. Yeah, but just a number. Do you think it's 1 million, 3 million? I'm not finished. I'm not finished. We have an immigration system that needs to be... It's 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. I was beginning to answer. May I please finish? Yes, ma'am. May I finish responding, please? But you have to let me finish. You had the White House and the House and the Senate, and they didn't bring up that bill. I'm in the middle of responding to the point you're raising, and I'd like to finish.

Trump also heading into less familiar territory. The former president traveling to Miami for a town hall with Latino voters that was hosted by Univision. Trump, too, was asked about many of the topics that are among his favorites, immigration and the economy. When it came to January 6th, Trump once again tried to rewrite the history of that day. It's great to see you again, sir.

They didn't come because of me. They came because of the election. They thought the election was a rigged election, and that's why they came. Some of those people went down to the Capitol. I said, peacefully and patriotically, nothing done wrong at all, nothing done wrong. This was a tiny percentage of the overall, which nobody sees and nobody shows. But that was a day of love.

All right. Our panel's here to discuss Alex Thompson, CNN political analyst, political reporter at Axios, Megan Hayes, former Biden White House director of message planning, and Mark Lauder, former special assistant to President Trump and former press secretary to Vice President Pence. Welcome to all of you. Good to have you with us this morning. So, Alex, watching the Fox News interview last night with Kamala Harris, it seemed like her mission there was to essentially be

be a contrast with Donald Trump, right? To say to viewers who are consistently getting what Democrats view as pro-Trump coverage from Fox News, to air some of the things that she thinks are, that she disagrees with, with him. Did she succeed in doing that? It was obviously contentious throughout.

Yeah, and I think she did succeed in the fact that she's often much more comfortable in an adversarial setting. The fact is that when she, you know, some of her biggest moments as a politician, the Kavanaugh hearings, when she really gets to sort of grill into somebody, have been in more adversarial moments. Some of her biggest, if you want to call them gaffes, have happened actually in friendlier settings.

Like in The View last week when she said she couldn't think of anything she'd do differently with Joe Biden. This time she was very clear, no, I'm not going to be a continuation with Joe Biden. It also is very clear, not just from what happened in the interview, but the aftermath. They were also looking to pick a fight with Fox News. And this also goes back to the whole strength versus weakness argument that both campaigns are trying to make.

Megan Hayes, what did you think of the way she handled what she faced there and whether it's going to matter in the big picture? I think it matters that she did it. I think it matters that she showed up to Fox News and to those viewers. They have an incredible viewership and I think that's important to be there. I think that she showed that she has strength and she's willing to fight back and push back on different ideas.

and to really show the contrast in leadership. I don't know that it matters at the end of the day for votes, but I do think that people, both Democrat and Republican, admire the fact she went on Fox News. That's something Joe Biden did not do during the 20 campaign. And I think that that shows a lot of strength and courage on her part. - I mean, you can't say she doesn't do interviews

anymore. Well, no. I mean, Chelsea did the interview. I think it was a train wreck for her. I mean, because if you're an undecided voter and that very small sliver that might be left, her answer to every question about your immigration record was Donald Trump, your economy, Donald Trump, your plans for the presidency. I'm not Donald Trump. That's not a reason to vote for you. It's a reason which I think is their closing message. They've given up joy and vibes. It's just I'm not him. And that's it. And I think that might be enough, though.

for people that some of these independent voters that might end up being enough. - Right, well, and we've talked a lot on this set too about the couch, right? That it's maybe it's less about, okay, I was gonna vote for Trump, now I'm gonna vote for Kamala Harris and more like, well, did I care enough to get out there and vote and whether or not they're gonna make that argument. Let's talk though about Trump because one of the other contentious moments

in the interview that Harris did was around what Donald Trump has had to say about the enemy within. She had wanted them to play a different clip. She said, "You're not playing the one where he talks about this." Well, Trump also on Fox News, he did a town hall, he doubled down on the comments that he had made about the enemy within. He was pushed to explain, okay, well, who are you talking about? So let's watch what Trump had to say when he was pushed, watch. - They're very different.

And it is the enemy from within. And they're very dangerous. They're Marxists and communists and fascists. And they're sick. The more difficult are, you know, the Pelosi's, these people, they're so sick and they're so evil. I heard about that. They were saying I was like threatening. I'm not threatening anybody. They're the ones doing the threatening.

Well, he was actually talking about using the National Guard and the military, potentially, if there was violence in the streets after the election, having named some of these people Mark Glatter. Is this kind of rhetoric from him? I mean, clearly the Harris campaign is eager to highlight it. There are also other comments, like when he said that he was going to be a dictator on day one. He says it's a joke.

but this is the kind of thing that perhaps reminds voters about some of the things that happened during the Trump presidency that perhaps they don't want to see again. What do you make of him and how he answered this question? Well, I think he's bringing out, we're moving out our bases now at this point. And look, both sides are doing it. I mean, we get called Nazis, we're dark MAGA, we are, you know,

all of these things from the left to the right. The right to the left is going, you're fascist, you're all of these liberal socialists, Marxists. I mean, this is what political campaigns do. I don't like it, but that's how you motivate people on both sides of the aisle right now. Point taken. But he is playing with fire in particular on mentioning the Pelosi's, not Nancy Pelosi, the Pelosi's. And the fact is that

When, you know, in 2022, Paul Pelosi was almost killed by someone that was really incited by some of this. - And Donald Trump was almost killed twice. I mean, that we know of right now. - That's just a what about-ism. I'm just saying, you know, he's mentioning the Pelosi's, not just Nancy Pelosi. And it feels like that's flowing, you know, throwing gasoline on the fire.

Megan? Yeah, I mean, I would tend to agree with that. I also think that, I think the difference here is you don't hear these things coming out of the vice president's mouth. You don't hear the vice president saying that she's going to go after people with the military if she's elected. And I think that that's what makes people anxious and uncomfortable. But I do agree that this is getting people off the couch and it is, they are, you are motivating your base and social media. It's a fundraising ploy and it's a getting people off the couch ploy.

All right, we are barreling towards quite a reckoning here. Straight ahead on CNN This Morning, early voting underway today in the Tar Heel State, how the aftermath of Hurricane Helene might impact the race there. We're going to speak live with North Carolina Republican Congressman Chuck Edwards, plus...

J.D. Vance says no. That's how Donald Trump's running mate answered when asked if Trump lost the 2020 election. We'll play it for you. And the former president raised some eyebrows when he declared himself to be this before an audience made up of women. I'm the father of IVF, so I want to hear this question. There's clearly a gender gap.

But I think it's not nearly as big as the polls say it is. And I think that's important to point out is, look, I think we're going to get a lot of women supporting the Trump vans ticket. And of course, a lot of men, too, because we're united for common sense.

Donald Trump's running mate, J.D. Vance, addressing one of the Trump campaign's weak spots, women voters. Recent polls show both Trump and Kamala Harris have struggled to shore up support from women and men, respectively. It's really a double gender gap. In an effort to fix their side of it, Trump participated in a Fox News town hall with an all-women audience that aired yesterday.

And the states are now voting for it. And honestly, some of them are going much more liberal. Like in Ohio, I would have thought it might be a little bit different. Some of them are not. And some of them are not, but it's going to be redone. It's going to be redone. You end up with a vote of the people. And some of them, I agree, they're too tough. And those are going to be redone because already there's a movement in those states.

Trump also addressed his support for IVF procedure that of course became the center of a political firestorm earlier this year after a court ruling in Alabama and Democrats have ceased on it as an example of Republicans endangering reproductive rights. I want to talk about IVF. I'm the father of IVF. I got a call from Katie Britt, a young, just a fantastically attractive person from Alabama. She's a senator.

And she called me up like emergency, emergency, because an Alabama judge had ruled that the IVF clinics were illegal and they have to be closed down. We really are the party for IVF. We want fertilization and it's all the way.

the father of IVF, Megan Hayes. I mean, okay. I don't understand how he can say that with a straight face, but I do think he's trying to appeal to women, so he's trying to, but I think that this is already baked with women. I think that people know that he overturned Roe v. Wade, and he will own that, and this is part of that, and this is

only going to be on the ballot or only being on the ballot in these different states because of that. So I just don't think that this is going to, I think it's going to fall flat with women. I think you're already seeing that fall flat. It's the number one issue. I don't know why he continues to talk about it because every time he does, it just draws more attention to the fact that he's the one who overturned, Roe v. Wade overturned. Yeah.

Mark Lauder, I mean, do you think talking about it like that is going to achieve the goal that he's set out to accomplish? I think we overgeneralize this. I mean, there is a certain percentage of women who they are single-issue voters, and that could be their pro-abortion or their pro-life. But I think the vast majority of women have...

nuanced on many issues. So this town hall being an hour on issues just with women, whether it's the economy, IVF, he did, they did, Republicans did quickly move to protect it, to make sure that it was covered. And so I think this is reminding people of that. That was a judge that made that decision, not a legislature and not the president. - There was one other moment yesterday at this town hall where Harris Faulkner, the host raised

The story of Amber Thurman, who is the Georgia woman who died after medical care was delayed because of the abortion law in Georgia. Let's watch that moment. Amber Thurman's family have come out on a press call and they're doing what's called a pre-buttle to our town hall right now. Oh, that's nice. Yeah. And I want to get better ratings, I promise.

Better ratings, I promise. So again, they're talking about a woman who lost her life after she was unable to get the care that she needed. Alex Thompson, obviously the Harris campaign immediately sees on the IVF comments, they see things like this and

And think about how that actually plays with women with whom they have a major advantage. Yeah, and they've featured that woman not just at rallies, but also in ads. I also think Trump's flip response there and the crowd's reaction also shows that that was a very pro-Trump crowd. You also saw local Republican groups boasting on Facebook about how they had hosted the events. They later changed that and said they were that. But it really goes to show this was like,

Donald Trump is appealing to women infomercial on Fox News. All right, coming up here on CNN this morning, he's done deflecting J.D. Vance, answers the question, did Donald Trump lose the 2020 election? But it's not actually what happened. Plus... A shocking death in the music world, 31-year-old British pop star Liam Payne falling to his death in Argentina. How fans are remembering the former One Direction singer.

This year, using the pretext of the China virus and the scam of mail-in ballots, Democrats attempted the most brazen and outrageous election theft. And there's never been anything like this. It's a pure theft in American history. Everybody knows it. That election, our election, was over at 10 o'clock in the evening. And then late in the evening or early in the morning, boom, these explosions of bulls**t.

That was Donald Trump on January 6th, 2021. That day, a violent mob of rioters swarmed the US Capitol in an effort to stop the peaceful transfer of power after Trump lost the election. And even though it is a fact that Trump lost in 2020, his running mate J.D. Vance says this. Did Donald Trump lose in 2020? I've answered this question directly a million times. No.

I think there are serious problems in 2020, so did Donald Trump lose the election not by the words that I would use? We've not heard him say a million times directly that no, Donald Trump did not lose. Vance went on to say why he thought there were issues. I think that big tech rigged the election in 2020. That's my view. And if you disagree with me, that's fine. All right, our panel is back. Mark Lauder, you worked for many, many years for the former Vice President Mike Pence.

who wrote in his memoir and has broken with Donald Trump over that because he says that he later learned after he was evacuated from the Capitol that many had come looking for me, he said. And the reason why they were looking for him was because of what Donald Trump had said. It was because he had said he did not lose the election. He had ginned up that mob to be angry about what they thought was happening inside the Capitol.

How dangerous is it for the country, for Vance, now the number two, to be saying that? And what lessons should Vance have learned from Mike Pence's experience? Well, look, this is not a new phenomenon. There are Democrats who still think the Supreme Court stole the election from Al Gore. There are still Democrats who think Russia influenced the 2016 election. And by the way, it's a fact.

George Bush won based on the Electoral College. Donald Trump won based on the Electoral College. And so when you see him saying- - Yeah, but there was no violence, you know, when Bill Clinton left the White House and the Al Gore conceded it. - Well, that's different. And I have long condemned anyone who crossed that police line and gone into the Capitol. You violated the law. If you were at the Ellipse, you were practicing your First Amendment right. If you crossed into the Capitol, you violated the law. But what we've got to do is stop on both sides. It's been happening now for 24 years.

where the losing side is going to claim that something was rigged with the election. 2004, they challenged Ohio. I mean, we've got to stop it. Challenging the election and the Democratic Party challenging election is very, very different than the leader of their party challenging election and blatantly lying and saying it's been rigged and that he won and Hillary Clinton still believes it was stolen out. Gore thinks the Supreme Court stole it. They're not out there. They said George Bush was an illegitimate president. Hillary Clinton to this day says

No one is arguing that Donald Trump did not have a right to the court system in the wake of the election or that any of the candidates that you name had a right to the court system. If they have concerns about whether or not something was fairly counted or evaluated, there are ways to deal with that in our system. But the fact is that Trump did all of that in this period between the November election in 2020 and what we were playing on January 6th, 2021. He lost them all. And then that's what happened.

Well, again, I condemn the out the the the riot at on January 6th at the Capitol. But it's fake news to say that there's I've seen it. There's endless amount of clips of Hillary Clinton leading Democrats, Al Gore saying the duly elected president of the United States months, years after the inauguration were illegitimate. They were they were fake presidents. It's been well documented.

Even after all of the losses. They concede the election, though. Let's be honest. There's a difference between those things and also sicking and riling up a mob to attack the Capitol on the day of certification. Right. And not showing up to the inauguration and not actually having a peaceful transfer of government. But I

But to the point of this election, I think that people see this. And when J.D. Vance played the clip earlier where he said people are the party of common sense or people who have common sense are going to vote for us, I don't see how he's showing common sense and he is appealing to those people saying that they won the election. I just don't see the correlation there. I mean, Mark...

Donald Trump tweeted on January 6th at 2:24 p.m., quote, "Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done," end quote. It was read over a loudspeaker, and the crowd chanted, "Hang Mike Pence."

There is no other leader in the United States of America that has gotten us to the point where there's a mob chanting to kill someone of the same party. Mike Pence is one of the most conservative leaders this country has ever seen. And I've covered him for decades, and I think anyone that has worked with him would consider him to be an upstanding person. I mean, we can agree on that. The comparison doesn't, it just doesn't hold up.

Well, again, what you saw J.D. Vance saying yesterday was that big tech, in his estimation, because big tech censored the information about Hunter Biden's laptop, that that influenced the election. There's a difference between saying that big tech or the Supreme Court or Russia changed the outcome of an election and what we saw on January 6th. Do you think that J.D. Vance has the same kind of character as Mike Pence? Would he have stood up and done the right thing on January 6th?

Because that is the question at hand here. Absolutely. I think he would act within the color of what he thought the law says and his responsibilities as Vice President of the United States would be. But he said otherwise. That's probably the reason why he was picked, right? He said that he wouldn't have certified and that he would have sent it back to the state. Then he's going to have to come, he's going to have to make that legal determination that he believes that power exists or doesn't exist. Mike Pence made his decision based on legal, obviously, and that's why he acted the way he did. If we get to that position...

then whether it's Kamala Harris on January 6th certifying Donald Trump's victory, even though she's not a fan of it, or whether it is a future Vice President Vance, they will look, they will advise their lawyers and act accordingly. So it's a question of legal interpretation? There's not one clear? Of the power of the Vice President as the President of the Senate.

I'm not a legal scholar on that. I just don't understand how this helps the Republican Party long term. I don't see how this helps the election. I think the people, the American people, both Democrat and Republican, have found January 6th to be abhorrent and disgusting. And here we are still talking about it because one person just can't own the fact that he lost. And he's so upset that he just can't own it. And it's just, I mean,

I mean, toddlers can say that they did something wrong and take responsibility for that and move on with their actions. I just don't see how this helps him. I don't see how this impacts voters or helps him get more voters. Look, people who are deciding on January 6th have made up their mind. If you wake up every day and you think January 6th is the reason why you should vote, you know where you're voting. But I don't know.

I'm wondering who, if reminded of January 6th, might be more likely, again, to get off the couch and go vote. Or stay home. Or stay home. There are Republicans that are like, I don't want to vote for Kamala Harris, but I'm going to stay home. And this is an election, as you've said many times, of inches. They are just not going to go the extra step to vote for someone who can't even own the fact that he did not win the election. And they are running a campaign based on lies. I just don't understand. It does not hold water.

What you saw in the Univision town hall last night, there was a man that clearly wanted to vote for Trump, thought his life was going to be better if Donald Trump was president again, but said, like, listen, January 6th, please explain. Please, please help me try to explain. And Donald Trump basically did not walk away from it and said, well, I at least said that they should be peaceful.

And again, those voters who believe every day is January 6th will make their decisions. They probably already have made their decisions. But as opposed to fixing the problem, you had Kamala Harris last night who don't think people in rural areas can Xerox a photocopy and make a photo ID. We're never going to fix this problem if we just keep using it. I would just say that it's clear that Mike Pence has made his decision.

about all of this. We're going to leave it there because we do need to get also to this story this morning. A shocking, tragic death. Pop star and One Direction member Liam Payne has died. You know I love it when the music's loud, but come on, strip that down for me.

The 31-year-old died Wednesday in Buenos Aires after falling from his third-floor hotel room. 911 calls revealed that 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's tearing the whole room apart. Adding, quote, he's in a room that has a balcony. And, well, we're a little afraid he'll do something.

New images of that room appear to show a cracked TV screen. Hotel staff noting they hadn't been allowed inside for several days. Fans across the globe mourning the singer this morning.

I can't really believe it right now. It's part of my past, like my adolescence basically One Direction. So it's really like there yet. I haven't like processed it yet. I'm a fan of One Direction since I was a kid. I'm nervous, really nervous because it's my idol and I'm shocked. I don't believe this is happening.

Joining us now, Brittany Spano. She's a senior writer for Rolling Stone. Brittany, good morning. Thanks very much for being with us. Obviously, fans, fellow musicians are reacting to this extraordinarily tragic news. What are we hearing from them this morning?

Yeah, I mean, it's such shocking news. Liam was only 31 years old. You know, I think people are still just trying to wrap their head around it, around him being so young, around him being so sudden. You know, I think there were rumors and kind of indications that he had been struggling for a long time with addiction, with his mental health, but obviously no one really knew the extent of which he had been struggling.

Brittany, One Direction was discovered by the British talent show The X Factor and it was back in 2010 that that happened. They became one of the best selling boy bands of all time. After they were no longer together, Payne went on to have his own solo career. Talk to us a little bit about what all that was like.

Yeah, I mean, Liam was the first to audition for the show of the Five Boys in One Direction. He'd auditioned prior to the 2010 year and ended up coming back and being put together with this boy band. And I mean, we all sort of witnessed the phenomenon that was One Direction. I mean, that's still ongoing. They're still so popular and beloved, as we can see by the responses by fans across the world.

and were just on a, they were the zeitgeist for years. They were on tour constantly playing stadiums, released these massive albums, you know, and built a huge, huge global fan base. And when it ended, you know, the band all went their separate ways. They all pursued different solo careers and we've seen different levels of success over the course of the solo careers. And Liam's never really took off, I think, the way that

There was an indication he might be able to after One Direction had ended. He released one album in 2018 and a few singles here and there. And so the last few years, it's sort of been up in the air what Liam would do next in his career and kind of where he would go from there. All right. Brittany Spanos for us this morning as we remember Liam Payne. Brittany, thank you very much. I really appreciate you being here. Thanks so much for having me.

All right, ahead on CNN this morning, the Trump and Harris campaigns descend on the Tar Heel State this week as early in-person voting kicks off today. We're going to speak live with North Carolina Republican Congressman Chuck Edwards. Plus, the age-old question for candidates during the election cycle, how Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are answering it this time around. What are the three virtues that you see in Vice President Kamala Harris? That's a very hard question. That's the toughest question. The other ones are easy.

I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta, host of the Chasing Life podcast. I'm taking care of my kids and I'm running myself into the ground and selflessness terrifies me. That's Dr. Becky Kennedy. Time Magazine dubbed her the millennial parenting whisperer. Our conversation got pretty personal. But the reason that I'm sharing this is because I hope this will help some of you out there the way that it helped me. Listen to Chasing Life, streaming now, wherever you get your podcasts.

Let's get our people out there. Even the ones that don't care about politics, maybe especially the ones that don't care about politics, we gotta make sure they get out there and vote. Maybe they're gonna vote early, maybe they're gonna vote on election day, just get out there and vote before November the 5th.

That was Vice Presidential Candidate J.D. Vance encouraging North Carolinians to head to the ballot box as the Tar Heel State begins early in-person voting. Both campaigns will be out in full force throughout North Carolina this week. The Team Trump bus already making its way across this battleground state. Today, former President Bill Clinton set to campaign alongside Governor Tim Walz in Durham and Winston-Salem.

Their visit comes three weeks after Hurricane Helene's deadly landfall and amid recovery efforts that the governor says have been disrupted by misinformation. This is happening in the middle of an election where candidates are using people's misery to sow chaos for their own political objectives.

And it's wrong. We don't know how many people are not going to apply for FEMA because they have heard misinformation about FEMA taking their property or other wild accusations that are out there. All right, joining us now, Republican Congressman Chuck Edwards of North Carolina. Congressman Edwards, I'm very grateful to have you on the show today. Thanks for being here. Yeah, good morning.

So you've become somewhat famous for this press release that you put out as your region has struggled to recover from Helene. And as you have tried to debunk the myths that are making it harder for FEMA to help some of your constituents, you said Hurricane Helene was not geoengineered by the government. FEMA is not stopping trucks. The FAA is not restricting access to airspace. FEMA has not diverted disaster response funding. That top

one in particular stood out to me, not geoengineered by the government. My question for you today, as people start to be able to head to the polls for early voting, how much do you think the response to Helene, the recovery efforts from Helene have enabled people to be able to get to their early voting locations if they want to? And is this misinformation that's still circulating around the hurricane affecting voting as it gets underway?

I don't think that the misinformation, the rumors that have been out there are going to affect voting at all. I believe that while here in Western North Carolina, we've been very busy, not necessarily paying attention to politics, but trying to dig out from underneath this storm and help people put their lives back together. But now that early voting has kicked off today, it is clear, it's apparent that

that the political season is here, and I just encourage everyone to make a plan to get out and vote. We can't procrastinate as we always have. We need to put together a plan.

Congressman, J.D. Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee, has called for the leadership of FEMA to be fired in the wake of Helene. Of course, they're also grappling with the hurricane that hit Florida, Milton as well. Do you think firing the FEMA leadership would be productive for your state at this time?

I think that we definitely have to have a discussion once we get out of the emergency that we're in right now. I'm more concerned about the Harris and Biden administration and how they've directed and run FEMA. Ultimately, it is their agency. The buck stops there. They are responsible for responding to folks

that are going through a crisis and in many ways they have failed the citizens here in Western North Carolina. Can you talk to me a little bit more about that? We're obviously weeks from Hurricane Helene having hit. What is not being done right now on the ground that you think needs to be done? Well, first of all, I think we've got to remember the slow response. It took over three days.

before we saw the first FEMA boots on the ground, before we saw the first supplies coming in of water and food. While we had about 300,000 households without power, most of those without water, the county leaderships that I represent were clamoring, asking for supplies.

It took more than three days for us to see FEMA, even in the region. One county, it took six days. Right now, the weather has turned cold. It got down into the low 30s last night. We've got many folks in our rural mountains that still have no power. They have no heat. Counties are waiting on...

Mobile housing units, counties are waiting for FEMA to still set up stations to take applications. The process, I've learned, is just so incredibly clunky. There's plenty of room for improvement in that system.

- Sir, in terms of misinformation and some of the threats that we've seen that have impeded FEMA's work, have you seen that continue to affect whether or not your constituents can get what they need from the government? Do you have any updates for us to that press release that you put out? What would you say today about this?

I would say that my press release and the fact that folks like you have been working to report that most of this information is misinformation and rumor, the rumors have very much subsided and we've been able to get more focused on the task at hand, which is helping folks here in Leicester and North Carolina rebuild.

Well, I'm glad to hear that. And our thoughts continue to be with you, with everyone in the region that is struggling with the aftermath of this really historic disaster for you. So I really appreciate you taking some time to talk to us today, sir. Thank you. Congressman Chuck Edwards, thanks very much. All right, let's turn to this now. It's a question that sometimes comes up in debates and town halls.

"Can you say something nice about your opponent?" Well, here's how Kamala Harris and Donald Trump answered that question recently. -That's a very hard question. That's the toughest question. The other ones are easy. I'm not a fan. I'm not a fan. But she seems to have an ability to survive, and she seems to have a nice way about her. I mean, I like the way, you know, some of her statements, some of her -- the way she behaves.

I think he, um, I think Donald Trump loves his family, and I think that's very important. I think family is one of the most important things that we can prioritize. But I don't really know him, to be honest with you. I only met him one time on the debate stage. I'd never met him before. Hmm. If you think that was frosty, here's how some other familiar faces answered that somewhat awkward question. This was back in 2007 at a Democratic primary debate.

I admire what Senator Clinton has done for America, what her husband did for America. I'm not sure about that coat. Senator Clinton? Yeah, John, it's a good thing we're ending soon. I actually like Hillary's jacket. I don't know what's wrong with it. Senator Biden?

I don't like a damn thing about him. No, I'm only kidding. Only kidding. Dennis and I have been friends for 25 years. I think this is a ridiculous exercise. Dennis, the thing I like best about you is your wife. Oh, and we didn't even get to the, well, you're, what was it? You're nice enough, Hillary?

Obama said. I mean, look, this is one of our most divided times. I mean, you could see them both really struggle to come up with something, anything. I mean, what does that say about where we are? I mean, what do sports broadcasters often say? These two teams just don't like each other. That is essentially what you saw here. And part of it is because they don't know each other, but also part of it, I was also thinking back to 2016 when

Donald Trump was asked the same thing about Hillary Clinton. And actually, it was a really notable answer because he said, she's tough. She never gives up. There clearly was a little bit more of a respect factor, partly because they did know each other in that exchange than there is with Kamala Harris. Yeah. What do you make of it?

I mean, it just shows like where we are with all the vitriol. You just you can't help but think about how, you know, that that famous thing when John McCain stood up and, you know, stuck up for Barack Obama, not being, you know, in that that town hall moment. And we just like we are not there anymore. We are not there as a country. And that's like sad and unfortunate. No, it's I mean, I agree with all of that. And this is something you actually prepare for. I mean, having prepped many candidates, I mean, you actually have to work with them to go, OK, you're going to get this question. We've got to come up with something to say.

And clearly, they struggled even after that. Yeah. I mean, do you think they got there in the end? I mean, like, she did say, okay, he cares about his family. He seemed to be...

walking right up to the line he clearly wanted to say a little bit more about what he liked about her but but decided not to it seemed yeah it's also like this goes to like rallying your base right like I think that the that everything is so divided that I don't actually think that they are able to cross over and and say maybe things that they genuinely did like about each other or see positives about each other because I think that that will impact the base which also goes to show how divided we are as a country it's not just them that are divided like there are actual

families that have are divided from the politics of our of our time yeah some of the um there's polling on people feeling stressed out about their family relationships especially young people and it's also an instant uh social media ad exactly if whatever she says nice about him he says nice about her there the other side is going to turn it in put it up on social media yeah and use it it's different times yeah also for what it's worth I think all of our coats are great

Everyone looks wonderful today. Thank you. So look, this is also part of this conversation that we're having. This has been one of my favorite events to cover on the campaign trail, and it's usually a rite of passage. The annual Al Smith charity dinner, it's a Catholic fundraiser that features a roast between the two major party nominees. Watch. I must say, I have...

That was Ronald Reagan at the 1984 Al Smith dinner. Seemed to joke about the absence of Walter Mondale, who was his opponent in that year's election.

And at this year's dinner, Kamala Harris is going to be the one who's missing. She's instead going to be campaigning in battleground states. There are some who think that that's a mistake. Peggy Noonan, who of course was a speechwriter for the man you just saw there, now she's of the Wall Street Journal, she wrote this recently, quote, the Al Smith dinner is the only occasion each presidential year when both major party candidates come together, sit, talk, have a drink, give dueling speeches, and give them not only with wit and humor, but also with a sense of humor.

but while radiating a deep democratic regard. It is a splendid thing. Those candidates demonstrate through the act of their togetherness that our democratic system, which often seems so frail, so ready to give way, still holds, still endures, that it has a hidden health, a latent strength that will bear us through. Politicians speak plaintively of finding common ground. This dinner is common ground.

It's common ground and a little fun because not taking yourself too seriously as one of these presidential candidates is historically what has made the Al Smith dinner different. And whoever wins this election, the outcome will be historic. We'll either have the first female president or the first president who started a Twitter war with Cher. Michelle Obama gives a speech and everyone loves it. My wife Melania...

gives the exact same speech and people get on her case.

I will say, I was admittedly bummed to hear that Kamala Harris wouldn't be at the dinner. I don't know what you think, Megan, about her decision to skip it. I remember we didn't play the comment where Mitt Romney shows up in white tie and tails and says, hey, you know, like, it's great for Ann and I to be in our pajamas. This is just what we wear around the house. I got to cover that one in person. It's kind of a special thing. And it speaks to what we're talking about a second ago in terms of

the ability of people to set aside politics. Yes, but I also think this dinner is a little bit tone deaf and a little bit out of touch with where we are right now. And I do think that it's more important for her to be in battleground states talking to voters who are actually going to impact the election. And I think that the stakes are too high for her. I mean, this is a crucial time in the election cycle, but I understand the point of these things. I understand how important they are, but I do think that she's making the right decision to be in battleground states.

I disagree. Not politically, though, Megan. And I could never say it as well as the great Peggy Noonan. But this is an opportunity to have people smile and laugh. And I think one of the things we're missing and maybe that undecided voter, if you if you cracked the good joke, you're a little self-deprecating. Michael, I've never seen that side of Kamala Harris before or Donald Trump before. And that's the opportunity I think will mean more than just another rally speech.

Well, Peggy Newton's also focused on Catholic voters, too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And Democrats are divided. Some Democrats definitely agree with Meghan. Others are sort of surprised because it's denying her a moment. At a moment when a lot of polls show that they don't really know Kamala Harris, they were surprised that she didn't take up the opportunity to sort of sit on stage with Donald Trump, which would attract viewers, ratings, etc. Yeah, interest for sure.

All right. Guys, thanks very much for being here this morning. I really appreciate it. Thanks to all of you for joining us as well. I'm Casey Hunt. Don't go anywhere. CNN News Central starts right now. Don't let CNN's John King have all the fun. Experience the CNN magic wall on your mobile device. Get live results, expert insights, and an immersive election experience. Find it at CNN.com slash magic wall or the CNN app today.